Chapter 2523: Following One's Heart
Who in the world did not know that Yuan Qianmo wished to marry Yan Zhexian, to pave the way for seizing control of the Death God Temple after becoming a god?
The Yama Clan was also very satisfied with Yuan Qianmo, a flawless Eon-level prodigy.
Under the deliberate matchmaking of the gods on both sides, Yan Zhexian and Yuan Qianmo had met several times. Perhaps there was no deep affection yet, but mutual appreciation certainly existed.
So much so that news of their impending engagement had spread throughout the Hell Realm.
What seemed like a done deal was suddenly disrupted by Zhang Ruochen, who directly cooked the rice before it was even harvested, causing Yuan Qianmo, ranked first on the Divine Reserve Scroll, to lose immense face and become a laughingstock.
And you, Zhang Ruochen, actually had the nerve to claim you had a friendship with Yuan Qianmo? To call him "Brother Yuan"?
That Yuan Qianmo hadn't chopped you into pieces was already a sign of extraordinary magnanimity, with the breadth of a God Venerable.
The crowd thought it over and understood.
A large number of Great Saint-level experts from the Death God Temple had gathered here, their imposing presence terrifying. Even an ordinary Supreme Realm Great Saint would have to bow their head, let alone Zhang Ruochen.
Clearly, Zhang Ruochen was afraid.
The number of jeering and mocking voices grew.
Zhang Ruochen remained unfazed, saying, "Everyone, withdraw. That's enough for today."
Que Shenzi was not about to let Zhang Ruochen slip away so easily. He said in a deep voice, "Zhang Ruochen, you killed a Great Saint of our Death God Temple with such arrogance and insolence. If we don't flay you and pull your tendons, where will the face of the Death God Temple be?"
Zhang Ruochen frowned, "I have already made it clear to Brother Yuan. Shanqiu was killed by Ji Fanxin. Why are you still holding a grudge? Is the mighty Death God Temple so petty? Where is your magnanimity?"
Que Shenzi said, "It's useless to blame anyone else. Today, I'll give you two choices. Either walk out of the Seven Star Imperial Palace yourself and fight me, settling the grudge between the Death God Temple and you."
"Or, I'll breach the Seven Star Imperial Palace, flay you, and pull your tendons to avenge Great Saint Shanqiu."
As he spoke, he took out a fist-sized Town Pattern Stone.
This Town Pattern Stone was refined by a Formation Heavenly Master of the Death God Temple. Before it was even activated, the surrounding formation inscriptions, Great Saint patterns, and divine patterns began to destabilize.
Experts from various factions had gathered here, and many among them recognized its value.
Que Shenzi might not be able to breach the Seven Star Imperial Palace, but with the aid of the Heavenly Master's Town Pattern Stone, Zhang Ruochen might not be able to hold out.
Xuan Zehai sighed, "The Death God Temple is too ruthless. With so many experts gathered, they've effectively blocked Zhang Ruochen's escape routes. And now Que Shenzi is forcing him with the Heavenly Master's Town Pattern Stone. No matter what Zhang Ruochen chooses, he'll suffer humiliation today. He might even..."
Yan Zhexian instinctively felt that Zhang Ruochen deserved it, but then she thought, no matter what, he was still the father of the child in her belly. If Zhang Ruochen was humiliated, wouldn't she be humiliated too?
What could she do? The Death God Temple was pressing down with overwhelming force. Zhang Ruochen couldn't escape, couldn't win, and no one stepped forward to help him—not even a single cultivator to mediate.
Who was to blame?
It was his own fault for being arrogant and unrestrained.
Yan Huangtu noticed Yan Zhexian's expression and smiled, "Xian'er, if you can't bear to watch, I can mobilize the Yama Clan's power to help him resolve this crisis. We might not be able to suppress the Death God Temple, but with our help, they won't go too far."
In the Royal City of the Hundred Clans, the only ones who could make the Death God Temple think twice seemed to be the Yama Clan.
Yan Zhexian asked, "What do you mean by 'won't go too far'?"
Yan Huangtu, seeing that Yan Zhexian was soft-hearted after all, said, "Preserving Zhang Ruochen's life and cultivation should be achievable."
First, Yuan Qianmo was humiliated, and then a Great Saint was killed. How could the Death God Temple easily let Zhang Ruochen off?
Preserving Zhang Ruochen's cultivation and life was the limit of what Yan Huangtu could do.
As for whether the Death God Temple would make Zhang Ruochen kneel and apologize, or flay him, or take his Supreme Sacred Artifact—that was beyond the Yama Clan's control.
Even the Destiny Temple couldn't control it.
Hadn't the Destiny Temple just mediated in the Aoyun Asteroid Belt, only for actions against Zhang Ruochen to resume here?
While Yan Zhexian was lost in thought, Zhang Ruochen on the street agreed without hesitation, "Alright! Settling the grudge with a battle—that's a good proposal."
As he spoke, Zhang Ruochen openly walked out of the defensive formation of the Seven Star Imperial Palace.
The Great Saints of the Death God Temple were overjoyed.
Excellent!
Zhang Ruochen was so foolish as to actually leave the Seven Star Imperial Palace. Without it, dealing with him would be as easy as turning over a hand.
Four White-Clad Death Gods at the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm deliberately shifted positions and released their Sacred Dao rules to form a Dao Domain, preventing Zhang Ruochen from retreating back into the Seven Star Imperial Palace.
Among the watching cultivators, countless shook their heads, believing Zhang Ruochen had become a turtle in a jar, a fish on a chopping block for the Death God Temple.
Since Que Shenzi dared to challenge him, he naturally had absolute confidence in victory.
Once he defeated Zhang Ruochen, it wouldn't just be a simple loss. Any humiliation, even crippling his cultivation, was possible.
Que Shenzi wasted no words. Divine light burst from his body, and deathly evil qi infused with divine power surged out like giant waves, rushing toward Zhang Ruochen.
Peak of the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm!
And... possessing pure divine power.
Que Shenzi was no half-god body nor a transformation from a divine corpse.
It was because his mother was a god. In the womb, he was nourished by the purest divine qi, with patterned divine marks spread throughout his flesh and blood.
Luo Shengtian and Luo Sha also had divine mothers and received the same treatment, but their divine power had been sealed since childhood, and the seal had yet to be fully lifted.
Que Shenzi was the first person Zhang Ruochen had encountered who had a divine mother and whose divine power had been fully released.
At the same realm of Ten Thousand Deaths One Life, Que Shenzi was far stronger than Yunhuan Tiexue Wang.
"Sizzle!"
A hundred million flame divine patterns on Zhang Ruochen's left leg all emerged, transforming into blazing divine fire that blocked the deathly evil qi.
"A hundred million patterned divine marks, and you dare to show them off?"
Que Shenzi roared darkly, charging out from the oppressive deathly evil qi. He pressed his palm forward.
On his palm alone, there were tens of millions of patterned divine marks.
On his entire arm, the patterned divine marks numbered three hundred million. Moreover, the patterned divine marks on his shoulders, chest, abdomen, head... were gradually brightening, releasing terrifying divine power.
Zhang Ruochen sighed softly, stabilizing his body with the Blazing God Leg. A tiger's roar shook the heavens from his right arm as he struck out with a Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm.
The palm force was vigorous and fierce, incredibly domineering.
"Bang!"
Strength met strength.
Both of them were sent flying backward.
Que Shenzi looked surprised, unable to help raising his hand to examine it.
Just now, Zhang Ruochen's palm force had been supremely yang and firm, like a burning star. But upon impact, Que Shenzi felt a vortex-like force that devoured all his power, with some of it even rebounding back at him.
"Again."
Que Shenzi's eyes turned serious. He let out a long roar as patterned divine marks densely emerged on his body. The power waves he emitted turned the bluestone street into stone powder.
It must be noted that the bluestone streets of the Hundred Clans Royal City had been walked upon by countless gods since ancient times.
A single footprint of a god was stronger than a hundred divine patterns.
Thus, the bluestones on the street had remained undamaged for ten thousand years.
Que Shenzi struck out with both palms. Before the palm prints arrived, the patterned divine marks surged forward first, unleashing a power that could shatter the heavens and scatter clouds.
The watching cultivators were startled into retreating, fearing that the various defensive inscriptions here couldn't withstand such immense power.
Strangely, Zhang Ruochen did not use space power to escape or dodge. Instead, he struck out palm after palm.
Each palm print was accompanied by tiger roars and dragon cries, fierce and domineering.
Yet, when their palms collided, all the power vanished without a trace, with little residual energy spilling out. It was as if they were sparring in a fake fight.
All the watching cultivators frowned in confusion.
Xuan Qingying said, "Que Shenzi doesn't seem as strong as I imagined."
"No, Que Shenzi is still very strong. With thirty-six billion patterned divine marks in his body, he can continuously unleash infinite divine power. Even I have to be cautious. It's more accurate to say that Zhang Ruochen isn't as weak as everyone thinks," Xuan Zehai said.
Yan Huangtu had been watching intently and sighed, "Zhang Ruochen's Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent has likely been fully integrated, reaching the great perfection of following one's heart. Too terrifying—he achieved this so quickly. I still underestimated him."
What Yan Huangtu saw was that with each palm Zhang Ruochen struck, in an extremely short time, a faint Yin-Yang Five Elements imprint appeared in his palm, dissolving Que Shenzi's palm force without a trace.
The seamless combination of palm technique and Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent—wasn't that the great perfection realm?
However, he didn't know that after Zhang Ruochen's enlightenment and surge in spiritual power, he could indeed use the Sacred Intent as he pleased, but he was still far from the great perfection realm.
For now, he had only fused six types of Sacred Intent.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Zhang Ruochen knew he would need to fuse three more types of Sacred Intent to truly reach the level of a first-rank Sacred Intent. At that point, it probably couldn't be called Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent anymore.
Because Yin-Yang and Five Elements would also need to fuse Time and Space.
This was something Zhang Ruochen understood only after receiving guidance from the Dragon Lord.
If he only fused Yin-Yang and Five Elements, he would likely end up as Bai Qinger had predicted—dying on the path to fusing a first-rank Sacred Intent. Even if he succeeded, he would at most reach the level of Yan Wushen's "Six Paths Reincarnation," which could be considered a pseudo-first-rank.
But Xumi Saint Monk had already paved the way for Zhang Ruochen eight hundred years ago, passing down the legacy of Time and Space to him.
With Time and Space as vessels, they could bear the weight of Yin-Yang and Five Elements.
The fusion of all nine paths was the true "embracing all rivers, encompassing all phenomena." Yin-Yang, Five Elements, Time, and Space could change in countless ways, evolve infinitely, encompass everything, and merge the myriad things of the universe into one.
Setting that aside for now, because Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power had reached the sixty-eighth rank, his control over his half-god physical body had reached an unprecedented level. Coupled with his ability to freely integrate the Sacred Intent into his palm techniques, no matter how powerful Que Shenzi's strikes were, they were easily neutralized.
As the battle continued, the more the crowd watched, the more terrifying Zhang Ruochen seemed, as if unfathomable.
Those who had planned to see Zhang Ruochen humiliated were already dumbfounded.
...
Everyone, feel free to suggest a name for Zhang Ruochen's nine-path fused Sacred Intent. I'll see if there's a reasonable and impressive one. I've thought of a few myself, but they always feel like they're missing something.