Chapter 2729: War Erupts
Returning to the Blood Heaven Tribe, Zhang Ruochen immediately used a secret seal to contact the Wujian Pavilion.
A thousand years ago, although the Wujian Pavilion had been bloodily purged by the Destiny Temple, the empress's hundred thousand years of management could hardly be eradicated so easily.
The secret seal was left in Tianlin Ancient City, and Zhang Ruochen could not find them.
He could only wait for them to initiate contact.
In the following period, Zhang Ruochen spent divine stones to purchase a large quantity of cultivation resources, activated the Sundial, and began cultivating within the Blood Absolute Family.
He had too many matters to attend to.
Mo Yin had not yet fully refined the Five-Colored Merit Divine Stele.
The several Supreme Sacred Artifacts he had seized needed to be refined.
Sword techniques, palm techniques, fist techniques, and various high-rank sacred arts all required cultivation and polishing.
...
As for the curse mentioned by the Heavenly Mother, Zhang Ruochen naturally took it to heart, consulting many texts to study the Severing Dao Curse.
Time passed extremely quickly; in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.
Under the Sundial, Mo Yin spent fifteen years and finally completely absorbed and refined the Five-Colored Merit Divine Stele.
A blood-red lake.
The water's surface was calm, as bright as blood jade.
Mo Yin extended both hands, and her ten pale jade fingers transformed into vines that surged outward. The vines were five-colored, and the leaves growing on them were as crystalline as glass.
Suddenly, Mo Yin sensed something and glanced toward the right.
"Whoosh!"
She swung her right arm.
Instantly, a sky-covering mass of five-colored vines pressed down toward a mountain peak several hundred meters high.
On the vines, electric light flowed, turning into arrow-like electric shuttles.
On the originally empty mountain peak, a black-robed figure appeared, exuding a dense ghostly aura, with an extremely cold and yin power fluctuation.
Mo Yin originally possessed the strength of an Eon-level representative figure, and now, having refined the Five-Colored Merit Divine Stele, her cultivation had reached a higher level. To withstand her attack, few cultivators below the divine realm could manage.
Yet the black-robed figure standing on the mountain peak remained unflustered.
Beneath his feet, a formation spanning dozens of zhang rose, distorting the surrounding space and reflecting all the lightning Mo Yin had attacked back at her.
"Space techniques—I know them too!"
Mo Yin's graceful and alluring figure soared into the air, and she slashed down with both arms simultaneously.
Space was torn apart, forming two pitch-black rifts that forcibly broke through the distorted space around the black-robed figure and pressed down toward his head.
The black-robed figure let out a surprised exclamation, quickly summoned a staff, and raised it above his head. A powerful spiritual power erupted, shattering the two space rifts Mo Yin had slashed out.
Mo Yin withdrew her hands and stopped attacking, saying in surprise, "I didn't expect that you, old ghost, have actually achieved godhood through spiritual power!"
The black-robed figure was none other than Yeyou Dashi.
Yeyou Dashi held his staff, his demeanor proud, and laughed hoarsely with satisfaction, "My spiritual power is still stuck at the early stage of the seventieth rank—nothing special, nothing remarkable. This little achievement isn't worth mentioning."
"Indeed, it's not worth mentioning. Your spiritual power has just reached the seventieth rank, and your combat strength is probably only at the level of an ordinary false god," Mo Yin said.
Yeyou Dashi's laughter faded, and his ghostly face stiffened considerably.
If it weren't for the fact that Mo Yin had the strength to contend with him and was Zhang Ruochen's parasitic plant, as a god, being so looked down upon by her would have provoked his anger.
Spiritual power cultivators also had to undergo a divine tribulation to break through the seventieth-rank barrier and become spiritual power gods.
However, the spiritual power divine tribulation was much easier than the martial divine tribulation.
The difficulty of achieving godhood through spiritual power lay not in crossing the divine tribulation but in improving spiritual power itself. The vast majority of spiritual power great saints, by the time their lifespans were exhausted, could not cultivate their spiritual power to the sixty-ninth rank.
Spiritual power cultivation and martial cultivation were two different systems.
Although, after achieving godhood through spiritual power, cultivators could also gain a lifespan of one eon, spiritual power gods with only seventieth- or seventy-first-rank spiritual power were far from being a match for true martial gods and could only contend with false gods.
Crossing the divine tribulation through martial arts was difficult.
But once successful, one's cultivation and combat power could achieve a leap.
Each had its pros and cons.
Yeyou Dashi said in a deep voice, "I want to see Zhang Ruochen. Lead the way!"
"What did you say? See who?"
"Zhang Ruochen."
Mo Yin smiled charmingly and said, "If I remember correctly, you should address the master as..."
"Why should I? I am now a god—how noble is a god, with unyielding pride. Do I still have to acknowledge a saint-realm cultivator as my master? There's no such ridiculous thing under heaven."
Yeyou's voice was cold and sharp, and he even released divine might from his body.
From the small island at the center of the blood lake, Zhang Ruochen's voice came: "Bring Yeyou Shen to see me."
Yeyou Dashi chuckled at Mo Yin, then transformed into a beam of divine light and flew directly toward the small island.
"Be careful," Mo Yin warned.
Yeyou Dashi naturally wouldn't take her warning to heart. As a spiritual power god, aside from encountering true gods, what was there to be cautious about?
But as soon as he approached the small island, Yeyou Dashi's expression changed.
The time flow around the small island was terrifyingly fast.
In an instant, he lost several hundred years of his lifespan.
Yeyou Dashi rapidly retreated backward, but the space was bizarrely twisted and winding. No matter how he retreated, the distance to the small island remained unchanged.
His lifespan continued to drain away in large amounts.
Yeyou Dashi also cultivated the Way of Space and was a top-tier expert. Given some time, he was confident he could break the space here and escape.
But by then, who knew how much of his lifespan would have been lost?
Yeyou Dashi was shrewd enough to realize that Zhang Ruochen was teaching him a lesson, so he quickly shouted, "Master, please withdraw your divine power! Your disciple has important matters to report to you!"
"What important matters? Come to the island and speak." Zhang Ruochen's voice came from the island.
The space and time forces surrounding the small island dissipated.
Yeyou Dashi flew down onto the island, feeling deeply dejected. In just that brief moment, he had lost three to four thousand years of his lifespan.
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have been so arrogant earlier and provoked Zhang Ruochen.
The Sundial was placed at the center of the island.
Zhang Ruochen stood beside it, sometimes activating it and sometimes stopping, carefully studying the patterns on the Sundial.
Ever since the Sundial had awakened once in Xiu Chen Heavenly God's Time Sea, its power had been growing day by day, as if it were continuously repairing itself. But Zhang Ruochen still couldn't actively enter the ancient space inside the Sundial.
Behind him.
Yeyou Dashi quickly walked up, showing no sign of holding a grudge, and laughed loudly, "Congratulations, Master! Congratulations, Master! On the Ten Realms Battlefield, you displayed divine might, defeating all the top experts from both the Heavenly Court and Hell. Your aura swallowed mountains and rivers, your might covered the world—truly the greatest hero of all time!"
Zhang Ruochen ran his fingers over the Sundial without looking at him and said, "You are a spiritual power god—how noble, with unyielding pride. Isn't it inappropriate for you to call a saint-realm cultivator like me 'master'?"
Yeyou Dashi's expression turned serious, and he said righteously, "Although Master is not a god, you have already been deified."
"Oh?"
"After the Ten Realms Battle, Master's name as the Romantic Sword God has spread across the starry sky."
Zhang Ruochen frowned. "Romantic Sword God?"
Yeyou Dashi chuckled slyly. "Master need not be modest! The title 'Sword God' is one you fully deserve."
"I was referring to 'Romantic'..."
Yeyou Dashi said, "The word 'Romantic' is something only Master is worthy of. Master has countless confidantes in both the Heavenly Court and Hell, each peerless and unmatched. Countless cultivators under heaven envy and are jealous of you."
"Master's unparalleled elegance gives you such charm."
"Master is a worldly legend, able to make all the beauties under heaven bow."
"Master's methods are superb, allowing you to steal the hearts of one proud daughter of heaven after another."
"Admirable! Your disciple admires you to the point of prostrating himself! Master is a role model your disciple will study for a lifetime!"
At this point, Yeyou Dashi had already bowed deeply.
"Romantic Sword God."
Zhang Ruochen muttered this phrase, then let out a long sigh.
Back then, the Ming Emperor had named him "Ruochen," hoping he would become a figure like Xue Hongchen.
Now, he had not disappointed the Ming Emperor's expectations.
In terms of romance and swordsmanship, he had surpassed Xue Hongchen.
"You said earlier that you had something important to report?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Yeyou Dashi's expression turned serious. "The war in the starry sky of the Ancient Civilization Faction has officially erupted!"
Zhang Ruochen finally turned around and asked him, "What's the specific situation?"
Yeyou Dashi said, "The news just reached the Blood Absolute Family. The first defensive line established by the Ancient Civilization Faction has already collided with the Shura Star Pillar Realm."
"This defensive line was composed of over five hundred planets. But it was fragile—upon colliding with the Shura Star Pillar Realm, they all turned into fireballs and flew toward the nearest Heavenly Beginning Civilization."
"Now, the Shura Star Pillar Realm is only a few billion miles away from the Heavenly Beginning Civilization. The saint-realm armies of the Heavenly Court and Hell are slaughtering each other in this starry sky. At every moment, over ten thousand saint-realm cultivators fall."
Saint-realm cultivators were finite in number.
If the battlefield was as brutal as Yeyou Dashi described, then in a single day of slaughter, all the saint-realm cultivators of a major world could be wiped out.
"Have any gods entered the battle?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Yeyou Dashi said, "Not yet, for now."
Zhang Ruochen took out the star map and fully unfolded it, his gaze falling on the starry position of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization, studying it carefully.
Yeyou Dashi looked at the star map and said, "Within a month, the Heavenly Beginning Civilization will collide with the Shura Star Pillar Realm and be destroyed. Within a hundred years, at least seven ancient civilizations will be annihilated by our Hell Realm. Master, this is a great opportunity! The Blood Absolute Family must participate in this war—we can plunder a vast amount of resources and blood food. In the mortal world, who can rival you?"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "The Heavenly Beginning Civilization won't be destroyed. The old heavenly master will surely take the civilization's secret realm and retreat in advance."
"Impossible to retreat."
Yeyou Dashi said decisively, "Even if the old heavenly master of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization wants to retreat, Hao Tian won't allow it. Only by turning the Heavenly Beginning Civilization into a super war fortress can the Shura Star Pillar Realm be held back for a time. If everyone retreats without fighting, then the Shura Star Pillar Realm will charge straight in, unstoppable."
"Even more deadly, if this trend takes hold, even the Heavenly Court's armies will follow suit, collapsing at the first clash."
"If the Heavenly Court's cultivators lose their fighting spirit, they will be nothing but sheep under our blades, ready for slaughter! Haha!"