Chapter 2748: Breaking the Diagram
Wolf howls shook heaven and earth.
"Hiss, hiss."
Fierce divine lightning storms surged from within the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General's body.
His divine blood burned, his divine body swelled continuously, his flesh and blood turning purple, emitting a blindingly brilliant radiance.
The Nine-Toothed Wolf God General had never imagined he would be forced by a Saint-realm cultivator to the point of burning divine blood.
"Slash!"
Zhang Ruochen's long hair flew like willow branches, his gaze sharp as he swung his sword, unleashing a golden, peerless edge.
The nine sharp fangs of the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General flew from his mouth, merging with the divine lightning storm to meet the dazzling golden sword light.
Each of the nine fangs was fused with a high-grade Monarch Sacred Artifact, forming a set that, when combined, unleashed power comparable to a Supreme Sacred Artifact.
This was the reason he had been titled a god general with "Nine Teeth," and it was also his greatest trump card.
The sword Zhang Ruochen struck was astonishing, tearing through the divine lightning storm and slashing into the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General's left shoulder.
The blade clashed with the divine body, and the mighty divine power exploded.
"Pfft!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword cut more than a meter deep, severing the shoulder bone of the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General as a fountain of blood gushed forth.
However, his divine body had now grown to dozens of meters tall, so the vital organs and fatal foundations remained unharmed.
"Boom!"
The Nine-Toothed Wolf God General struck out with his left fist, hitting Zhang Ruochen in the chest.
A series of Zangjin Burial Gold rule divine patterns condensed into a golden light shield on Zhang Ruochen's chest, blocking the punch. The impact sent Zhang Ruochen flying backward.
Blood dripped continuously from the Abyssal Ancient Sword in Zhang Ruochen's hand.
"What a pity. The Dark Array Diagram seals heaven and earth, preventing me from using Sword Dao Essence to mobilize the sword rules of heaven and earth. Otherwise, this strike could have at least severed one of his arms."
Zhang Ruochen understood that the main reason was his shallow understanding of Essence. Otherwise, even if the Dark Array Diagram were refined by a Divine Array Master, it could not withstand the power of Essence.
The Nine-Toothed Wolf God General touched the blood on his left shoulder with his claw, his eyes turning red as he let out a ferocious roar: "Your strongest attack is nothing more than this—hardly a fatal threat to a god. Now, let me show you the power of a deity."
Above his head, a gray divine cloud materialized, spreading for a thousand miles.
Countless rivers of lightning flowed within the cloud.
All these lightning rivers surged into the nine fangs, which merged into a single gray bone blade, cutting through the array inscriptions of the Dark Array Diagram as it descended toward Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen looked up, feeling the awe-inspiring pressure.
He had to admit that, as a second-tier false god among the lower three tiers, the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General was far stronger than those bottom-tier false gods—completely on a different level.
If he hadn't exchanged paths with Zangjin Baihu, he would have surely lost.
Even after the exchange, without using Essence, he could at best fight to a draw.
With the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General burning divine blood, merging his nine fangs, and striking in fury, the power was unimaginably great. Zhang Ruochen sighed softly as white light surged from his body.
One percent of Origin Essence was released.
Zhang Ruochen transformed into an Origin Envoy, becoming the heart of heaven and earth, the source of the Dao. Various Origin phenomena manifested around him—blooming Divine Illumination Lotus, surging Origin Tower, and radiant Origin Cloud Sea.
"Hiss, hiss."
Even though the Dark Array Diagram sealed heaven and locked earth, the Origin rules of heaven and earth still rushed endlessly into the Scroll World, converging toward Zhang Ruochen.
...
"What's happening? Why are the Origin rules so active?"
"Is a great god who cultivates the Path of Origin using divine powers on the Life-and-Death Star?"
"All the Origin rules are gathering toward the banks of the Santu River."
The Saint-realm cultivators in the Seven Grievances Saint City sensed the disturbance, feeling alarmed and uneasy, with panic spreading among the crowd.
The fluctuations emitted by the Origin Envoy were even more terrifying than divine might.
"Something must have happened!"
Xiao Hei, clad in a dark robe, turned into a blur and was the first to rush out of the Divine Maiden Tower.
Gu She Huanhuan followed closely behind.
Inside the Scroll World.
Zhang Ruochen manipulated the gathered Origin rules and pointed a finger, meeting the tip of the merged bone blade head-on. Ripples of energy spread outward in rings.
"Boom!"
The bone blade exploded.
It shattered into nine three-meter-long wolf fangs, which flew backward in all directions.
The Nine-Toothed Wolf God General was filled with terror, spitting blood as he staggered backward.
"You... you... you are actually an Origin Envoy..."
Wrapped in Origin divine light, Zhang Ruochen soared into the air and pushed out a light palm strike, colliding once more with the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General, sending him crashing into a metal mountain and embedding him in the array inscriptions of the Dark Array Diagram.
The Nine-Toothed Wolf God General wanted to flee but found no escape, so he quickly shouted, "Boundless True God!"
Boundless, who was locked in combat with Bore, only then noticed that the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General had been pushed to the brink by Zhang Ruochen. The moment he was distracted, Bore's Five-Colored Stone Sword slashed across his waist, leaving a long bloody gash.
In a battle of top-tier experts, not a single flaw could be afforded.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen's fist came down, shattering the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General's head into a mist of blood.
The Qi Sea hidden within the blood mist also shattered.
From the broken Qi Sea, Zhang Ruochen grabbed a scorching-hot Divine Source, burning and heavy as a star, with dense rule divine patterns flowing inside.
This was the Divine Source cultivated by an Upper-level God.
Unfortunately, knowing he couldn't self-destruct his Divine Source at the moment of death, the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General had destroyed his own divine soul. The rule divine patterns within the Divine Source were extremely scattered, with most lost.
Such a Divine Source was already incomplete.
A Saint-realm cultivator would need ten times the effort to refine it and might only become a false god. However, its value for refining divine pills remained unaffected.
The headless corpse of the Nine-Toothed Wolf God General still contained some divine soul fragments, its limbs twitching, not yet fully dead.
Zhang Ruochen quickly sealed it and stored it in the Mountain-Hiding Demon Mirror for temporary suppression.
"Zhang Ruochen! Excellent. The Origin Essence within you—no, all the Essence within you—will belong to me."
Boundless was furious to the extreme, yet also excited to the extreme.
Zhang Ruochen actually possessed one percent of Origin Essence, making him an Origin Envoy. If that one percent of Origin Essence were his, Boundless was confident that within a few hundred years, he could gain the combat power of an Upper-level God.
Boundless stood in the sky, laughing continuously as he poured his spiritual power and divine Qi into the Dark Array Diagram.
The diagram world began to contract, the space compressing.
The array inscriptions grew denser, transforming into countless chains.
Bore had already regrouped with Zhang Ruochen. She slammed the Fate Decision Staff heavily into the ground, forming a spherical light shield with the Gate of True Self.
A winding Styx flowed across the surface of the light shield.
But even with all her effort, she could barely resist the Dark Array Diagram, as the light shield was continuously compressed.
Zhang Ruochen raised both hands, supporting a vast Origin Light Sea.
"It's useless. Though you are an Origin Envoy, you are still only at the Saint realm, with limited power you can mobilize. This Dark Array Diagram of Boundless's was refined by a Divine Array Master. Even if we join forces, we can't hold out much longer." Bore sighed softly.
"What if we weren't trapped inside the diagram?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"If we weren't trapped, I would have a sixty percent chance of defeating him. Unfortunately, there is no 'if.'"
Bore's beautiful eyes shifted between tenderness and coldness.
Zhang Ruochen considered transferring the Origin Essence to Bore, but he realized that although she was a true god, she didn't primarily cultivate the Path of Origin and couldn't fully utilize the Essence's power.
"Enjoy your final moments. Soon, the darkness will devour you, and everything you now possess will be mine." Boundless's voice came from the darkness.
Zhang Ruochen and Bore saw only endless darkness, unable to locate him.
To prevent Zhang Ruochen from escaping, Boundless no longer held back, intending to refine Bore to death within the diagram as well.
"Hmph!"
Flames flickered in Bore's eyes as she prepared to use a forbidden technique to forcefully break through the Dark Array Diagram. No matter the cost, she had to take Zhang Ruochen and escape.
"Wait a little longer," Zhang Ruochen said.
Bore glanced at him, seeing that he was calmer than even her, a true god. She then suppressed the flames in her eyes and continued to resist the pressure of the Dark Array Diagram.
Moments later.
When the light shield and Origin Sea were compressed to just over a meter in diameter, twenty-eight stars appeared in the darkness above their heads.
The twenty-eight stars trembled, driving away the darkness.
Zhang Ruochen smiled. "Reinforcements have finally arrived."
The twenty-eight stars grew brighter, tearing a circular hole in the world formed by the Dark Array Diagram. Xiao Hei's voice came from outside the hole, arrogant and bold: "A mere array diagram—how could it possibly trap this emperor?"
"This array diagram was refined by a Divine Array Master," Gu She Huanhuan's voice added.
"So what if it was refined by a Divine Array Master? It's just a defective product, and it's not like the Divine Array Master is here in person."
"Watch this emperor's divine array—Heaven and Earth, Slay Gods and Demons."
"Boom!"
Three Supreme Sacred Artifacts and twenty-eight Monarch Sacred Artifacts formed an array, clashing with the Dark Array Diagram. The array inscriptions collided violently.
Soon, a large section of the Dark Array Diagram was shattered.
The pressure on Zhang Ruochen and Bore immediately lessened, and the array inscriptions receded like a tide.
The twenty-eight stars in the sky were the radiance emitted by the twenty-eight Monarch Sacred Artifacts.
The array Xiao Hei had refined was called the "Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions Grand Array," a sub-divine-level formation. However, after he stepped into the divine realm and spent significant resources refining it, the array had finally reached the divine level.
Bore raised her staff and swept away the dark power. The shaft of the Fate Decision Staff even crossed space, striking Boundless and sending him tumbling into the Santu River.
Boundless glared at Xiao Hei with intense hatred.
If not for this strange deity in dark robes suddenly appearing and using his profound array mastery to break the Dark Array Diagram, he would have needed only a few more moments to refine Zhang Ruochen to death and seize a vast amount of Essence.
How infuriating!
Utterly infuriating!
"What are you staring at? I'll gouge your eyes out!" Xiao Hei said darkly.
Bore, wielding the Five-Colored Stone Sword in one hand and the Fate Decision Staff in the other, charged into the Santu River to engage Boundless in close combat. No matter what, Boundless had to die.
Moreover, he couldn't be allowed to send any messages out.
Zhang Ruochen sent a telepathic message to Xiao Hei: "Help me kill Boundless. He knows secrets he shouldn't."
Zhang Ruochen did not send a message to Gu She Huanhuan, as Boundless's identity was extraordinary. If Gu She Huanhuan openly intervened, it would undoubtedly mean the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm declaring war on the Underworld Clan and the Darkness Temple.
Gu She Huanhuan would surely weigh the consequences, and Zhang Ruochen didn't want to force the issue.
(End of Chapter)