Chapter 2487: Great Perfection
The sundial hung in the void, resembling a rough stone block.
Yet, after the divine stones were embedded into it, it emitted a cyan radiance, sending out dense specks of time imprint light, like a swarm of fireflies, surrounding Zhang Ruochen.
A sound like flowing water came from somewhere unknown, growing increasingly rapid.
"That is the sound of time flowing."
Yunhuan Iron Blood King felt the ever-strengthening power of time and finally accepted the fact that the old man before him was Zhang Ruochen.
However, Zhang Ruochen's claim that he would kill him seemed laughable in his eyes.
Instead, Yunhuan Iron Blood King's heart relaxed considerably, even feeling a hint of unexpected delight. He said, "It seems your injuries have fully healed, and you can mobilize the power of the world now?"
If Zhang Ruochen hadn't borrowed the power of the world, how could he have blocked his palm strike?
Zhang Ruochen did not bother to explain. "If you flee now, you might still be able to escape."
Yunhuan Iron Blood King said, "Even if you can mobilize the power of the world and possess several supreme sacred artifacts, it is far from enough to kill me. I'll return your words to you: if you flee now, you might still be able to escape."
Zhang Ruochen was well aware that the moment Yunhuan Iron Blood King discovered him, he must have sent out a message. The Great Saint-level experts under Bai Qinger's command, including Duan Lingfeng, were likely already on their way.
He had to finish this quickly.
It was a good thing that Yunhuan Iron Blood King did not flee.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen slapped his palm against the sundial, and the sound of flowing water within it grew even louder. The specks of time imprint light surged like a primordial river, rushing toward Yunhuan Iron Blood King.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King explosively retreated, while a dark light flickered in his pupils as he muttered incantations under his breath.
"Life-Death Curse!"
The power of the curse silently descended upon Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen felt a chill run through his body, his flesh withering, and the life force within him rapidly diminishing.
But it lasted only an instant. The Ten-Thousand Curse Heavenly Bead hanging on his body absorbed all the curse power attacking him. Zhang Ruochen lifted the Black Gold War Heaven Pillar, transformed into a streak of light, and charged forward, stomping down with one foot.
On his left leg, a hundred million flame divine patterns fully emerged, condensing into a blazing sea of fire clouds. The fire clouds churned like a dragon probing its claws or a divine sea stirring waves.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King thrust out his bone spear with a heaven-splitting momentum, piercing through the fire clouds and clashing with Zhang Ruochen's sole.
The bone spear was forged from divine bones.
Zhang Ruochen's leg was also a true god's leg with all seals removed.
This head-on collision produced an earth-shattering wave of energy, as if two spaces had smashed into each other, with dense explosive sounds echoing through the surrounding void.
Zhang Ruochen was sent flying backward.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King also retreated. The power of Zhang Ruochen's stomp, capable of crushing a Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm Danghu, was naturally not easy to withstand.
Even a peak Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm expert could not block it.
After steadying himself, Yunhuan Iron Blood King discovered that his lifespan had been reduced by over two hundred years. His body felt slightly weakened, and his battle intent had significantly diminished, unable to reach its peak state.
He looked closely and saw that the sundial had been floating behind Zhang Ruochen all along, hidden in space and hard to detect.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King roared in anger, "You are so treacherous!"
"In a life-and-death battle, you talk to me about treachery? None of us are saints or gentlemen. Why bother with so many formalities? Use whatever means you have, just bring them out."
Before his words had even faded, the space where Yunhuan Iron Blood King stood suddenly shattered, splitting into countless cracks like a broken mirror.
Then, the space collapsed inward.
"Do you think your current mastery of space can kill me?"
Yunhuan Iron Blood King let out a furious roar, releasing one trillion four hundred billion sacred dao rules.
The sacred dao rules surged like an ocean of rules, scattering everything in their path—whether space rules, time imprints, or any other rules of heaven and earth—all swept away by Yunhuan Iron Blood King's sacred dao rules.
Over a trillion sacred dao rules transformed into a bizarre and bloody Nether Dao Domain.
Within the domain, there were ruined Nether cities, bones scattered everywhere, and burning war banners...
Zhang Ruochen felt as if he had been forcibly dragged into Yunhuan Iron Blood King's world. His feet trod on Nether soil, the air was thick with a nauseating bloody stench, and before his eyes lay Nether cities and mountains of corpses, with a sacred warship suspended in the sky.
"Is this your true strength?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Standing on the sacred warship, looking down, Yunhuan Iron Blood King said, "When I fought you in Divine Maiden City, I had sealed ninety percent of my cultivation, and many of my techniques could not be used. Otherwise, do you think a Hundred Shackles Realm cultivator could truly contend with a peak Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm Great Saint?"
Most Great Saints who had cultivated to the Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm had lived for over a thousand years.
Over a thousand years of cultivation, they would have more or less studied space and time. Even if they couldn't master them, it wasn't difficult to develop some simple defensive measures.
It wasn't that Zhang Ruochen's space mastery was insufficient; it was that the space rules he had comprehended were still too few.
Zhang Ruochen was well aware that in terms of cultivation and sacred arts, he was far inferior to Yunhuan Iron Blood King. He absolutely could not compete with him in sacred dao rules and sacred arts.
Physical strength was his advantage.
"Your domain cannot suppress me."
Zhang Ruochen thrust the Black Gold War Heaven Pillar into the ground and clasped his hands together. Instantly, a golden radiance of ten thousand zhang radiated from his body.
The Immovable Wisdom King Sacred Image manifested, with nine layers of heavens above its head, rising higher and higher until it broke through the Nether soil, carving out a space belonging to Zhang Ruochen within Yunhuan Iron Blood King's domain.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King was shocked. His cultivation was over a hundred times greater than Zhang Ruochen's, so why could this brat repeatedly accomplish what even Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm Great Saints could not?
What cultivation technique was he practicing, and why was his sacred image so formidable?
Yunhuan Iron Blood King let out a long roar, activating the ninth-rank formation "Seventy-Two Heavy Demon Tower Grand Formation" on the sacred warship. In an instant, vast demonic qi spread into the Nether Dao Domain, devouring the golden light emitted by the Immovable Wisdom King Sacred Image.
Zhang Ruochen fully released his spiritual power, sensing the myriad changes within the Nether Dao Domain.
This was his first life-and-death battle with an expert of Yunhuan Iron Blood King's caliber. He had to be extremely cautious, with no room for error.
"Boom!"
Above his head, the demonic qi descended rapidly.
An invisible, powerful force pressed down on Zhang Ruochen. Even wearing the Flowing Light Merit Armor, he found it difficult to move.
The demonic tower, condensed from the formation, fell from the sky.
The tower had seventy-two levels, but Zhang Ruochen's eyes could only see fifty-four. The rest of the tower was already tens of thousands of miles away. In other words, the tower's body was over ten thousand miles tall.
One could imagine that if this strike landed on a major world like the Kunlun Realm, an area ten thousand miles in radius would sink into the ground, all life within tens of thousands of miles would be annihilated, and even areas a hundred thousand miles away would be affected.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King seemed to envision Zhang Ruochen being crushed on the spot. His blood boiled with excitement, and he said, "If it weren't for that extraordinary time treasure of yours, I really wouldn't have been willing to use the Seventy-Two Heavy Demon Tower Grand Formation. Good, good. Killing you will make all your treasures mine."
Yunhuan Iron Blood King was usually an extremely rational and composed person, but thinking of Zhang Ruochen's various treasures, how could he remain calm?
The demonic tower had already pressed down on the thousand-mile-tall Immovable Wisdom King Sacred Image, crushing the nine layers of heavens and continuing to descend, grinding away the sacred image.
"Kill me? It's not that easy!"
Zhang Ruochen's body flickered with divine light, and a surge of energy swirled around him.
Soon, a second flicker came, the divine light growing brighter.
A third.
A fourth.
...
Gradually, Zhang Ruochen became like an incarnation of a true god, with blazing divine light emanating from his skin. His breath and exhalation turned divine qi into clouds.
In his left leg, a hundred million flame divine patterns flowed like tiny fire dragons slithering.
He stomped down with one foot.
"Boom!"
The Nether Dao Domain trembled, cracking open with fissures.
At the cracks, sacred dao rules snapped.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King's expression changed. "How can Zhang Ruochen's power be so great? Can he really break through my domain? Impossible, absolutely impossible."
"Boom!"
With the second stomp, large areas of the Nether Dao Domain shattered, like continental plates floating in the cosmic void.
Then came the third, fourth...
Yunhuan Iron Blood King suddenly understood. "I see! You have cultivated to the Great Perfection of the Hundred Shackles Realm. Your demigod physical body has completely broken free from its restraints, and your physical strength has reached a level comparable to the Supreme Realm Great Saint's Supreme Dharma Body."
Only now did Yunhuan Iron Blood King realize that Zhang Ruochen's time power, space power, and even his supreme sacred artifacts were nothing special. They might be useful against Thousand Questions Realm or even early and middle-stage Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm Great Saints.
But against a peak Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm Great Saint, these were just flashy tricks with little threat.
And these were all deliberately revealed by Zhang Ruochen to mislead him.
Zhang Ruochen's true trump card for fighting him was his demigod physical body.
Over the past few days of travel, Zhang Ruochen had stopped to activate the sundial for cultivation, effectively training for several years. He had indeed broken all the fine shackles within his body, reaching the Great Perfection of the Hundred Shackles Realm.
"Realizing it now is too late!"
Zhang Ruochen stomped down with his eleventh step, and the divine power erupted from his physical body, completely shattering Yunhuan Iron Blood King's Nether Dao Domain.
With the domain's suppression gone, Zhang Ruochen breathed a slight sigh of relief. He could finally use his space techniques. He looked up and saw the seventy-two-level demonic tower almost directly above him. He shouted, "Break!"
The space for dozens of miles around instantly shattered, turning into a chaotic zone where reality and void intertwined.
Zhang Ruochen's body sank into the chaos, falling into the void space.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King roared, "Do you think fleeing into the void space will save you? You still have to die!"
Yunhuan Iron Blood King sensed a threat from Zhang Ruochen and was desperate to kill him. He flew out of the sacred warship, landing on top of the seventy-two-level demonic tower. Taking a deep breath, he dispersed the Nether Dao Domain, and over a trillion sacred dao rules were added to the demonic tower.
The demonic tower shrank in size, breaking through space, and chased Zhang Ruochen into the void space, suppressing him.
"Boom, rumble."
The demonic tower was continuously devoured by the power of the void, becoming part of the nothingness.
Yunhuan Iron Blood King withdrew all his sacred dao rules into his body. A sacred light flickered in his pupils as he searched for Zhang Ruochen's traces in the void.
He wasn't sure if the demonic tower had killed Zhang Ruochen.
But even if Zhang Ruochen was dead, his treasures could not be lost in the void space.
As a peak Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm expert, Yunhuan Iron Blood King could briefly stay in the void and even break through the void on his own to return to the real world.
After surveying the area, Yunhuan Iron Blood King found neither Zhang Ruochen nor any treasures. He immediately sensed something was wrong and urgently tried to break the void to retreat.
Zhang Ruochen suddenly revealed himself, his body blazing with divine light. Like a war god, he swung the Black Gold War Heaven Pillar.
"Boom!"
The Black Gold War Heaven Pillar erupted with an unparalleled force, striking Yunhuan Iron Blood King's abdomen. It sent him flying like an iron ball, blood spraying from his mouth.
"Hmm?"
Zhang Ruochen was surprised. That strike hadn't broken Yunhuan Iron Blood King's body in two?
"The armor he's wearing has strong defensive power, able to withstand the strength of a demigod physical body."
This strike from Zhang Ruochen was purely physical.
The power of the supreme sacred artifact could be ignored; at best, it was just an indestructible iron rod.
Because supreme sacred artifacts required sacred qi to activate. With Zhang Ruochen's Great Perfection Hundred Shackles Realm cultivation, the quality and quantity of his sacred qi meant the supreme sacred artifact's power was far inferior to his demigod physical body.
Unless Zhang Ruochen broke through to the Thousand Questions Realm, activating a supreme sacred artifact to deal with a peak Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm Great Saint would be easy.
For now, he still had to rely on his demigod physical body.
The armor Yunhuan Iron Blood King wore was called the "Iron Blood Nether Armor." Only Great Saints who joined the Iron Blood Nether Cavalry were eligible to obtain one, and its defensive power was extraordinary.
Back on the merit battlefield, Yunhuan Iron Blood King had relied on the Iron Blood Nether Armor to survive an attack from a Supreme Realm Great Saint of the Heavenly Court.
Before Yunhuan Iron Blood King could catch his breath, Zhang Ruochen's second strike came down on his head.
"Boom!"
The Black Gold War Heaven Pillar clashed with the Iron Blood Nether Armor, sparks flying, the sound ringing like a divine bell.
No matter how strong the Nether Armor's defense was, Yunhuan Iron Blood King inside the armor could hardly bear it. This strike left him dizzy and disoriented, nearly losing consciousness.
Zhang Ruochen was in no hurry. He flew over with the Black Gold War Heaven Pillar in hand. "Actually, with my current cultivation and spiritual power, my use of the demigod body is still very low. I can't kill a peak Ten-Thousand Death One Life Realm Great Saint. But you made a fatal mistake by chasing me into the void space."
"Although the void restrains space, aside from void cultivators, space cultivators actually have a huge advantage in the void space. You are constantly eroded by the void, and even your perception is severely diminished. How can you be my match?"
Zhang Ruochen struck through the void space with his pillar, dragging the barely alive Yunhuan Iron Blood King back into the cosmic space.
"Losing... to you... I am not... reconciled... I still have... many trump cards... not used... cough, cough..." Yunhuan Iron Blood King said weakly.
"No chance! Yunhuan Iron Blood King, accept the judgment of light!"
Zhang Ruochen gestured with his finger, and a "whoosh, whoosh" sound rang out. Twelve Judgment Swords flew out in a sword path, converging in midair into a single sword that reached the level of a supreme sacred artifact, emitting a dazzling radiance.
The light power radiating from the sword body purified all the Nether qi and demonic qi in the cosmic void.
"Boom!"
The Judgment Sword descended, finally breaking through the Iron Blood Nether Armor, cleaving Yunhuan Iron Blood King in two.
The power of light seemed to specifically counter the Nether Clan, causing Yunhuan Iron Blood King's body to ignite, turning into grains of pure white light points, sacred to the extreme.
Zhang Ruochen did not take any of Yunhuan Iron Blood King's belongings. He cleaned up all traces of his presence left in this void space, leaving only the power of light, before swiftly fleeing.
Not long after, Duan Lingfeng arrived at the scene. He picked up Yunhuan Iron Blood King's body, which had been purified almost to the point of having no flesh, and flew onto the black sacred warship. His old face twisted with rage. "The power of a light-attribute supreme sacred artifact—the Paradise Realm, it's definitely the Paradise Realm! Those sons of bitches are going too far, snatching everything, crossing the line! From today onward, I, Duan Lingfeng, will be at war with the Paradise Realm until one of us is dead."
Duan Lingfeng had already learned that Kailuo Earth Master and others had taken Zhang Ruochen's corpse, and he was burning with anger.