Chapter 2483: Who Is the Real Mantis?
In the northern cosmic space, one hundred seventy million miles from Ice King Star, a spatial vortex suddenly formed, and the Xuanwu Divine Corpse emerged from it out of thin air. Then, the spatial vortex disappeared, and the starry sky remained silent.
Duan Lingfeng looked back at the distant Ice King Star, now only the size of a washbasin, a smug smile spreading across his face. No matter how many strong experts the Destiny Temple had, wasn't the divine artifact still taken by me, this old man?
Unfortunately, this matter was too significant to publicize; otherwise, with this single feat, he, Duan Lingfeng, would become famous across the world.
Shang Yue, Yunhuan Iron Blood King, Gu Yanzhi, and a group of Great Saints gathered around joyfully, their hearts filled with excitement.
Seizing a divine artifact and succeeding—such a great feat was enough to make them proud for a lifetime.
Shang Yue said, "Uncle Master, the Great Radiant Sword was taken away by Fortune Priest!"
Duan Lingfeng waved his hand and laughed, "A small matter! With the Celestial Pivot Needle, it surpasses a thousand Great Radiant Swords. Besides, our goal is to make the Destiny Temple believe that the Paradise Realm stole the Celestial Pivot Needle."
"Old Duan's strategy is masterful; even the Destiny Temple and the Nine Great Dark Powers were fooled. Admirable, truly admirable." Yunhuan Iron Blood King cupped his hands and laughed flatteringly.
"This old man cannot take all the credit; it was all Junior Sister's planning. She is the one with the wisdom in hand, deciding victory from a thousand miles away." A strange glint flashed in Duan Lingfeng's eyes, and the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.
Gu Yanzhi had not known beforehand that the purpose of this trip was to seize a divine artifact. Earlier, his heart had nearly jumped out of his chest, and even now, he was still worried, saying, "The Destiny Temple will definitely seal all space wormholes on Ice King Star. There's no way we can take the divine artifact away."
"Who said space wormholes only exist on Ice King Star?" Duan Lingfeng said.
Gu Yanzhi said, "The nearest seventh-level major star to Ice King Star is called Emptiness Star, located three light-years away, tens of trillions of miles apart. Flying there would take at least a thousand years. And that's assuming we don't get lost in the universe."
The universe was vaster than the ocean, and it was even easier to lose one's bearings.
Duan Lingfeng took out a star chart and spread it on the ground.
At the center of the star chart was a large white star, marked with the tiny words "Ice King Star."
Around the white star were drawn more than twenty small spheres and the orbital paths of those spheres.
Each small sphere represented a planet.
"Second-level planet, Blue Haze Star."
"First-level planet, Ghost Ball."
...
Duan Lingfeng pointed to the east of Ice King Star, at the edge of the star chart.
There, densely packed black dots were distributed, labeled "Aoyun Asteroid Belt."
"This is where we need to go!" Duan Lingfeng said.
Gu Yanzhi was puzzled, saying, "Is there a space wormhole here? The Aoyun Asteroid Belt is more than two billion miles from Ice King Star. With my cultivation, even if I rushed at full speed, it would take half a year to reach. That place is just a barren rubble zone; no cultivator has gone there for many years."
Duan Lingfeng said, "Junior Sister once observed the stars and noticed that those densely packed asteroids were not naturally formed. So, she consulted ancient scrolls and discovered that in the distant past, there was a seventh-level ore planet there, named Aoyun Star."
A seventh-level planet had a diameter of at least a million miles.
Moreover, wherever there was a seventh-level or higher major star, there was bound to be a space wormhole.
Duan Lingfeng continued, "Later, Aoyun Star's ores were exhausted, and the star's body collapsed, turning into an asteroid belt. Since then, it has been abandoned, and no cultivator has gone there."
Gu Yanzhi's hanging heart finally fell. So Miss Bai had already prepared an escape route—truly infallible and watertight.
The Aoyun Asteroid Belt was to the east, but their spatial teleportation direction was north. Clearly, they intended to lure the Destiny Temple's strong experts northward to avoid being relentlessly pursued.
Duan Lingfeng said, "The blood of the Xuanwu Divine Corpse was spilled on the battlefield. The Destiny Temple's high priests will surely calculate our location. This old man must immediately suppress the artifact spirit of the Celestial Pivot Needle, then abandon the Xuanwu Divine Corpse. You all retreat to a distance, use sacred artifacts to stabilize space, and prevent the Celestial Pivot Needle from escaping."
"Swoosh!"
One by one, the Great Saints flew off the Xuanwu Divine Corpse, hovering in the pitch-black cosmic space. Each summoned their Monarch Sacred Artifact, activated it with full force, and formed a circle.
The light emitted by dozens of Monarch Sacred Artifacts formed a sphere hundreds of miles in diameter.
Duan Lingfeng held the Crimson Gold Xuanwu Staff, standing alone on the back of the Xuanwu Divine Corpse. He muttered indistinct sounds, and his powerful spiritual power spread out like countless silk threads in all directions.
The formation inscriptions of the Xuanwu Swallowing Heaven Array carried the top shell of the Xuanwu Divine Corpse, detaching from the corpse and flying higher and higher.
Without the Xuanwu Swallowing Heaven Array, the Celestial Pivot Needle turned into a divine light, breaking through the corpse and flying toward Ice King Star.
Duan Lingfeng's beard and hair flew wildly as he laughed loudly, "Still trying to escape? Xuanwu Swallowing Heaven, devour heaven and earth."
The formation inscriptions of the Xuanwu Swallowing Heaven Array completely detached from the Xuanwu shell, turning into dense light patterns, like a Xuanwu woven from light patterns, once again swallowing the Celestial Pivot Needle into its belly.
The Celestial Pivot Needle rampaged inside the light-pattern Xuanwu, producing deafening sounds.
Space trembled incessantly.
"Seal!"
Duan Lingfeng gritted his teeth, his eyes fierce. His hands trembled as he controlled the Xuanwu Swallowing Heaven Array to shrink continuously, pressing the formation inscriptions one by one onto the Celestial Pivot Needle.
Using the array, he suppressed the artifact spirit.
Gu Yanzhi sighed in admiration, "The formation inscriptions can actually detach from the Xuanwu Divine Corpse. It seems Old Duan is only a hair's breadth away from becoming a Grand Master."
On the shell of the Xuanwu Divine Corpse, Zhang Ruochen, who had been lying on the ground like a dried corpse, opened his eyes.
Duan Lingfeng was fully focused on suppressing the Celestial Pivot Needle and did not notice the "revived" dried corpse behind him.
"I'll wait until this old fellow suppresses the Celestial Pivot Needle before making my move."
Zhang Ruochen quietly pulled out the Black Gold Heaven-Shattering Pillar and hid it beneath his body.
"Seal!"
Duan Lingfeng roared again, his eyes bloodshot, veins bulging all over his face. He released all his spiritual power, like a star blooming in the void.
As his spiritual power was heavily consumed, his mental state grew weaker, but Duan Lingfeng was ecstatic.
This was a divine artifact!
Originally belonging to the Destiny Temple, it was about to become his.
Yes.
He had no intention of handing the Celestial Pivot Needle over to Bai Qinger. He planned to keep it for himself.
Who in the world would be foolish enough to give away a divine artifact?
When the last formation inscription fell onto the Celestial Pivot Needle, the divine light it emitted completely dimmed. It fell from the sky into Duan Lingfeng's trembling hands.
The Celestial Pivot Needle was a black disc the size of a palm. On the disc were densely packed, countless lines, along with patterns so fine they were unrecognizable to the naked eye.
One would probably need to enlarge the disc to the size of a planet to see the lines, text, and patterns clearly.
At the center of the disc was a white needle embedded in it.
Now, the Celestial Pivot Needle was wrapped in dense formation inscriptions, and on the back of the disc, a Xuanwu array mark had appeared.
Duan Lingfeng's eyes burned with desire. He quickly took out a black cloth bag made of special materials and placed the Celestial Pivot Needle inside to prevent the Destiny Temple's strong experts from calculating its location.
The dozens of Great Saints floating in midair put away their sacred artifacts, all of them overjoyed.
In their view, with the artifact spirit suppressed, this operation was a complete success.
A dark glint flashed in Duan Lingfeng's eyes. He considered killing them all to silence them, but his spiritual power was severely depleted, leaving him unable to act. He thought to himself, "Once my spiritual power recovers a bit, I'll make my move."
Duan Lingfeng said, "Everyone, with the cultivation of the Destiny Temple's top experts, they can reach this place in at most two days. We must immediately set out for the Aoyun Asteroid Belt..."
"Boom!"
Before he could finish, Duan Lingfeng's head exploded as a black-gold rod struck it.
The others still floating in midair were all stunned.
They saw that, somehow, a dried corpse had appeared behind Duan Lingfeng.
In the moment of their shock, the dried corpse picked up the black cloth bag containing the Celestial Pivot Needle and fled south at top speed. In the blink of an eye, it had escaped dozens of miles away, astonishingly fast.
"Damn it, he was hiding among those spiritual power saint masters. Who is this?"
"Could he be a strong expert from the Corpse Clan?"
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Who knew there was a venomous snake behind the oriole? Chase him, stop him!"
...
Shang Yue, Yunhuan Iron Blood King, and Yue Lin Blood Emperor, the city lord of Jifeng Holy City—three Great Saints at the Ten-Thousand Deaths One Life Realm—immediately struck with their sacred artifacts, attacking Zhang Ruochen.
Shang Yue's sacred sword, Yunhuan Iron Blood King's bone spear, and Yue Lin Blood Emperor's blood-devouring bracelet—each was a powerful Monarch Sacred Artifact. Unleashed with their cultivation, they had the power to destroy heaven and earth.
Zhang Ruochen did not want to reveal his identity, so he did not activate his sacred qi.
Holding the Black Gold Heaven-Shattering Rod, he used pure physical strength to deflect the sacred sword, bone spear, and blood-devouring bracelet in succession. Leveraging the impact of these three forces, he instantly fled a hundred miles away.
As for the overflowing energy from the three Monarch Sacred Artifacts, it could not even scratch his skin or flesh.
Shock appeared in Shang Yue's beautiful eyes. "Just with physical strength, he deflected my war sword. How powerful must his body be?"
She did not know that Zhang Ruochen had broken his hundredth shackle. Although he had not yet reached the Great Perfection of the Hundred Shackles Realm, most of the power of his demigod body had been unleashed.
"I'll shoot him down."
A mysterious Great Saint in white robes took out a pure white jade bow and nocked an arrow radiating light power onto the bowstring.
His name was Tianmu, a peak Ten-Thousand Deaths One Life Realm cultivator. Originally a cultivator from the Paradise Realm, he had been subdued by Bai Qinger and reduced to a servant.
The Great Radiant Sword was his tribute to Bai Qinger.
He drew the bowstring, and light rules flowed rapidly over the bow and arrow, emitting a dazzling radiance.
"Twang!"
The sacred arrow trailed a tail thousands of miles long, flying like a meteor.
"Bai Qinger's methods are too formidable—she even subdued a cultivator from the Paradise Realm."
Zhang Ruochen quietly released his Virtual Time Domain. As the sacred arrow entered the domain, its speed slowed drastically.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen spun around swiftly, swinging the Black Gold Heaven-Shattering Rod to deflect the sacred arrow.
But Tianmu's second and third arrows came in quick succession, firmly pinning him down.
Shang Yue, Yunhuan Iron Blood King, and Yue Lin Blood Emperor, three Ten-Thousand Deaths One Life Realm experts, each led several Great Saints and surrounded him from three different directions.
On the back of the Xuanwu Divine Corpse, Duan Lingfeng's shattered head reformed under the pull of his spiritual thoughts. His eyes burned with fury, and his old face twisted in rage.
...
There will be another chapter today.