Chapter 2706: Unrivaled Under Heaven
Feng Yan looked at that sea area where holy light blazed and peerless figures stood, his heart filled with bitterness. He sighed, "This day has finally come! It cannot be avoided."
"Since it cannot be avoided, then face it calmly. In the torrent of the great trend, those who can even drift with the current are already heroes. You cannot change anything! What Zhang Ruochen said earlier was right. Being able to be friends is certainly exhilarating. Being able to be enemies—isn't that another kind of exhilaration?" Feng Xi said.
Feng Yan said, "Sister, I understand! On the battlefield, there are no brothers. Only when we gather at the ends of the earth can we drink freely and sing loudly, lamenting the helplessness of life, and recounting life, death, joy, and sorrow."
With the intrusion of the Ten Thousand Ruins Realm Alliance Leader, Zhang Ruochen's Dao Domain had already gathered the eight top experts of the Heavenly Court, all of whom at least reached the level of quasi-Eon-level representatives.
Seeing this scene, Lan Ying and Yuan both secretly breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how high Zhang Ruochen's cultivation was, facing the assault of the top experts of the entire Heavenly Court, even if he didn't die, he would surely be severely injured. How could he have the strength left to deal with them?
Blood Butcher's eyes rolled, thinking this was an excellent opportunity.
Zhang Ruochen was now so powerful. After returning to the Hell Realm, he would surely command the wind and rain. If he could show goodwill now, he might gain considerable benefits in the future.
Bore saw through his thoughts and, seeing him eager to act, said, "Those cultivators of the Heavenly Court cannot yet threaten Zhang Ruochen. Rushing up there would be meaningless. Instead, it would send a wrong signal to the Green Deer Divine Hall, Earth Fiend Ghost City, and Death God Temple, making them think that the Death Divine Palace has chosen Zhang Ruochen."
Blood Butcher awkwardly stepped back two paces and laughed, "The eight experts of the Heavenly Court, plus the unfathomable Yin Yuanchen, would be more than enough to besiege and kill a False God. Yet the Divine Maiden still has such faith in my senior brother. Truly..."
Blood Butcher's voice abruptly stopped because Bore's glare was fixed on him.
"This Emperor means to say that the Divine Maiden is indeed exceptionally wise and perceptive, far beyond what we can match." Blood Butcher quickly changed his tune.
He was quite wary of Bore.
This Divine Maiden's methods were extremely formidable; it was better not to offend her.
On the sea surface, the battle had already erupted.
The eight experts of the Heavenly Court were all well aware that none of them alone could be Zhang Ruochen's opponent. Only by combining their strength could they repel him.
Of course, some among them wanted to annihilate Zhang Ruochen.
"First, break Zhang Ruochen's Eternal Return Unity Dao Domain. Attack together and split his Dao Domain into eight parts." Donghua Emperor said.
The eight experts simultaneously released their Dao Domains, unleashing hundreds of trillions of Sacred Dao Rules, filling heaven and earth and squeezing out the natural rules.
How could Zhang Ruochen let them have their way?
Zhang Ruochen's figure shuttled through space, appearing before Donghua Emperor. The Abyssal Ancient Sword spun rapidly before him, with thousands upon thousands of sword Qis condensing around its blade.
"Slash!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword swung down, with Sword Dao Sacred Intent and Sword Dao Essence all merging into it.
Thousands of sword Qis surged outward.
Donghua Emperor sensed an extremely dangerous aura. From his sleeve, a Supreme Sacred Artifact, the Azure Bell, flew out, expanding to the size of a hill, meeting the incoming war sword.
"Boom!"
This strike from Zhang Ruochen was at full power, breaking through Donghua Emperor's Dao Domain with irresistible force. The sword's edge clashed with the Azure Bell, pressing it back until it struck Donghua Emperor.
"Pfft!"
Donghua Emperor held his hands in a void embrace, forming a hundred-zhang-wide light seal, but still couldn't withstand it. The Azure Bell, forced back, struck him, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
Zhang Ruochen was about to add another strike to completely cripple Donghua Emperor and take him out of the fight.
But from his left and right sides came two shouts.
Attacking from the left was Chu Jian.
Its body was as massive as a mountain, flowing with primordial aura, churning up layers of giant waves. From its mouth, it spat out a pillar of purple lightning, instantly turning a thousand miles of sea into a lightning ocean.
Attacking from the right was the Ten Thousand Ruins Realm Alliance Leader. This man was powerful, one of the Heavenly Court's Eon-level representatives. He breathed out Divine Qi, performing a divine ability, condensing thirteen planets above his head—whether they were real planets or refined star battle weapons was unclear.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
The Diamond Moon Wheel and the Mountain-Hiding Demon Mirror both erupted with Supreme power, flying to the left and right.
The Diamond Moon Wheel's radiance surged, becoming enormous, like a golden light wheel, colliding with the lightning pillar spat out by Chu Jian. Finally, it struck heavily against Chu Jian's body.
"Boom!"
Chu Jian let out a low, painful roar. Its massive body flew up from the sea.
A strike from a Supreme Sacred Artifact was terrifying. Even with Chu Jian's powerful physical body, it couldn't withstand it. As it flew through the air, its flesh and blood exploded, turning into a bloody mist. Only its skeleton remained intact.
When it fell back to the sea surface, the skeleton and blood mist merged, but the physical body couldn't quickly reform. So, the skeleton, carrying the blood mist, frantically fled outside the Eternal Return Unity Dao Domain, completely losing its earlier ferocity.
Unfortunately, it couldn't escape. The spatial aspects within the Dao Domain had been reversed, and the skeleton and blood mist were instead pulled back toward Zhang Ruochen.
By the time Chu Jian realized this, it was too late.
Zhang Ruochen reached out and grabbed. In the void, a giant hand over ten thousand meters long appeared, wrapping around the skeleton and blood mist, crushing them to pieces—Divine Form Annihilation.
A quasi-Eon-level genius had thus been annihilated, body and soul.
Chu Jian's fall was like a heavy punch to the hearts of all Heavenly Court cultivators.
Especially for the cultivators of the Demon God Realm, it was as if the sky had fallen and the earth had split. They couldn't accept it, thinking what they saw was an illusion. That was Chu Jian, the strongest below the gods in the Demon God Realm. How could he be so easily defeated?
Even a False God couldn't kill him so effortlessly.
How could they have imagined that Zhang Ruochen was so ferocious?
On the other side, the Ten Thousand Ruins Realm Alliance Leader was clearly much stronger than Chu Jian. He blocked the Mountain-Hiding Demon Mirror thrown by Zhang Ruochen, suffering only minor injuries.
"Those who block me will die." Zhang Ruochen shouted.
If Zhang Ruochen wanted to return to the Hell Realm, he naturally had to kill a few heavyweight figures from the Heavenly Court. He couldn't afford to be soft-hearted. The gods of the Hell Realm were watching. Not just Chu Jian, but even Zhen Yuan and Ci Hang Xianzi, with whom he had deep ties, he would have to kill.
On the battlefield, such was the cruelty.
Shang Zihong urgently shouted, "Don't treat Zhang Ruochen as a Saint-realm cultivator. Treat him as a god. Only by using our strongest trump cards can we possibly kill him. Otherwise, he will pick us off one by one, and we will all die here."
Zhen Yuan was very rational, saying, "Killing Zhang Ruochen will inevitably come at a heavy price. There's no need to do that. Right now, our priority should be to break the Eternal Return Unity Dao Domain and rescue you."
"Woman's thinking! Chu Jian has already been killed, and we just run away? Where is the face of the Heavenly Court?"
Shang Zihong's gaze fell on the distant Yin Yuanchen, and he said coldly, "Zhang Ruochen's greatest strengths are his Time and Space powers. That's why Chu Jian couldn't escape, not even having a chance to fight to the death. Yin Yuanchen, when will you use the Heaven-Reaching Floating Tower to suppress Zhang Ruochen's Eternal Return Unity Dao Domain? Do you think that after he kills us, you alone can be his match?"
"Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal!"
Shang Zihong's Merit Qi burned, and five-colored flames emerged from outside his body, pouring into him.
Above his head, the void appeared with patches of colorful clouds. From within the clouds, a hand shadow reached out.
Like the hand of the heavens.
While burning Merit Qi, the Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal that Shang Zihong performed was even more powerful than before.
Zhang Ruochen clashed with Yao Guang and Zhen Yuan, flipping back. He glanced at the Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal, slowly moving his hands, with Taiqing clouds and mists appearing in his palms.
"Taiqing Cloud-Pushing Hand!"
Zhang Ruochen slowly pushed out a palm. On his arm, countless Burial Gold Rule Divine Marks flowed, with vast Divine Might and the power of the World Origin surging outward.
Having stepped into the Supreme Realm, this Taiqing Cloud-Pushing Hand was now countless times more powerful than when he was in the Ten Thousand Deaths One Life Realm.
"Boom!"
The hand seals clashed.
The Great Dao Heavenly Desolation Seal shattered, and Shang Zihong's body flew backward, falling into a Space-Time Vortex within the Eternal Return Unity Dao Domain, suppressed within the space.
Above his head, the sound of Buddhist chanting rang out, like thousands of monks and Buddhas reciting scriptures.
Zhang Ruochen looked up and saw that the sky had completely turned golden and was collapsing.
It wasn't really the sky collapsing; it was the Heaven-Reaching Floating Tower becoming enormous, its base alone a thousand miles in diameter, covering the entire battlefield.
Too shocking!
At this moment, the Heaven-Reaching Floating Tower truly lived up to the name "Heaven-Reaching," standing tens of thousands of miles tall, its unleashed might comparable to Divine Might.
The onlookers from the Heavenly Court and Hell Realm retreated further away.
Yin Yuanchen's full-force strike gave the Heavenly Court cultivators a dose of reassurance. With him here, he could counterbalance Zhang Ruochen.
"In the same realm, do you think you can still suppress my Dao Domain?"
Zhang Ruochen remained calm and composed. The Sundial flew out, with dense Time Imprint light points forming a rain of light, clashing with the descending Heaven-Reaching Floating Tower.
Seizing this opportunity, Donghua Emperor struck out with the Azure Bell, piercing the Space-Time Vortex and rescuing Shang Zihong. He said, "Let's go! Below the gods, no one can kill Zhang Ruochen. If we continue fighting, more cultivators will die because of you."
"Want to leave? Do you think it's that easy?"
While resisting the Heaven-Reaching Floating Tower, Zhang Ruochen condensed thirty-six translucent Space Swords in his Dao Domain, directly attacking Donghua Emperor and Shang Zihong.
Donghua Emperor charged forward, rapidly circulating the Saint Qi in his body, pouring it all into the Azure Bell.
He struck the Azure Bell with his palm. The bell's sound exploded, turning into layers of sonic wave giants, colliding with the thirty-six Space Swords, blocking this wave of Zhang Ruochen's attack.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen still had the strength to attack them while resisting the Heaven-Reaching Floating Tower, Shang Zihong felt a hint of despair in his heart. He realized that killing Zhang Ruochen today was indeed as difficult as reaching the heavens. Only by breaking through to become a god would he have a chance.
But with his current state, breaking through would undoubtedly be a dead end.
Even if he succeeded in breaking through, how could the gods of the Hell Realm stand idly by as they were now? Would they give him a chance to kill Zhang Ruochen?
"Ultimately... he is invincible."
Shang Zihong let out a helpless sigh and charged out of the Eternal Return Unity Dao Domain.
"You can't escape!"
Zhang Ruochen roared. On the base of the Sundial, a Buddha shadow appeared, greatly increasing its power, sending the Heaven-Reaching Floating Tower flying away.
Zhang Ruochen's figure moved like a streak of light, either striking with his palm or throwing a fist, clashing with Donghua Emperor and Ci Hang Xianzi who tried to block him. In a flash, he shattered Donghua Emperor's head and crushed half of Ci Hang Xianzi's body, catching up to Shang Zihong and slapping his palm down onto the top of his head.