Chapter 2766: Killing Kongzhi
The world within the Abyss of Darkness was pitch-black and boundless.
Darkness power greatly affected a cultivator's eyesight and perception. Kongzhi was well aware that if he could escape a thousand miles away, then conceal his aura, he could successfully get away.
He felt a strong fear toward the God-Defying Stele.
This fear stemmed from fragments of memories from his past life.
Kongzhi ignored the strange beasts surrounding him on all sides, relying on his divine golden body to charge straight through.
"Bang, bang."
The bodies of the strange beasts he encountered exploded, flesh and blood splattering.
No beast could stop him.
Kongzhi's divine soul sensed that behind him, Beiyu, Langu, and Ailongxing had died miserably under the God-Defying Stele. The force surged from behind, and his fear grew even stronger.
Just as he was about to escape, two deafening dragon roars echoed through the hollow, freezing darkness.
Two incredibly powerful dark auras rushed toward his location.
"Damn it, how could dragon-type strange beasts have come here?"
As a false god, Kongzhi had some understanding of the Abyss of Darkness and knew the terror of dragon-type strange beasts. He couldn't help but feel deep regret inwardly.
To his left front, two dark red moons rose, growing larger and larger.
To his right front, two purple-red moons rose.
The two dark red moons on the left front were the first to crash toward Kongzhi. As they drew closer, the shape of the strange beast's head finally became clear. It resembled a leopard, enormous, like a planetoid in the shape of a beast's head.
The two dark red moons were embedded in the leopard's head—they were its eyes.
"Ssss."
The leopard-dragon strange beast spewed dark red flames from its mouth, the temperature reaching one million five hundred degrees, melting the ground beneath Kongzhi's feet.
Kongzhi's entire body flickered with golden light, and a golden sea appeared above his head. Within the golden sea, lotus flowers, Buddhist pagodas, treasure trees, and other strange phenomena manifested, blocking the flames spat by the leopard-dragon strange beast.
To his right front, a tiger-headed tiger-dragon strange beast flew closer, spewing purple-red freezing cold energy from its mouth, attacking the golden sea Kongzhi had erected.
Both the flames and the freezing cold energy were fused with darkness power.
Zhang Ruochen, holding the God-Defying Stele with one hand, flew down nearby.
Under the illumination of the dark red flames and purple-red freezing cold energy, he saw the forms of the two dragon-type strange beasts. Their bodies were like dragons, hundreds of miles long, covered in black scales, with claws.
Their heads were in the forms of a leopard and a tiger.
The dark energy fluctuations erupting from their bodies were extremely powerful, surpassing low-tier false gods like Beiyu and Langu, and could corrode the Buddhist golden sea Kongzhi had raised.
In the Abyss of Darkness, they moved like fish in water. Even though Kongzhi's cultivation was higher than theirs, he was suppressed and unable to escape.
The darkness energy of heaven and earth continuously flowed into their bodies.
Kongzhi transmitted his voice: "Zhang Ruochen, if you don't help me kill these two strange beasts, when more dragon-type strange beasts arrive, you'll die here too."
Zhang Ruochen stood quietly at the edge of the boiling lava lake, unmoved.
Kongzhi let out a furious roar.
Immediately, golden light pillars surged from his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears—his seven orifices. Thirteen bright spots appeared within his body. These were the thirteen relics he had cultivated in his past life, erupting with powerful Buddhist force, combining with the divine source he had refined.
"Hua!"
Kongzhi transformed into a golden beam of light, charging out of the golden sea, following the dark red flames into the leopard-dragon strange beast's mouth.
Moments later, the leopard-dragon strange beast let out a miserable roar. Its abdomen exploded, blood raining down like a storm. At the same time, large amounts of dark red flames escaped from its abdomen, igniting its own body.
Kongzhi rushed out from the leopard-dragon strange beast's abdomen, flying rapidly upward.
"Trying to escape?"
Zhang Ruochen spread his fourteen golden wings and chased after him, his speed slightly faster than Kongzhi's.
At the same cultivation level, the speed of the Golden-Winged Undying Blood Clan was top-tier, comparable to Golden-Winged Roc, Nine-Claw Divine Dragon, Heavenly Phoenix and Mysterious Phoenix, and cultivators who primarily cultivated the Way of Flowing Light.
"How can he be this fast?"
Kongzhi gritted his teeth and activated a forbidden art. Divine blood and Buddhist energy burned within him, doubling his speed.
With Kongzhi's cultivation, even when activating a forbidden art, he could survive against weaker true gods. This was the capability of a top-tier false god among the lower three ranks.
Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly.
If Kongzhi escaped, wouldn't the secret of the God-Defying Stele be exposed?
Even though Zhang Ruochen himself knew very little about the God-Defying Stele.
"Xiao Qi!"
He called out like this.
The seven-colored ring on his finger came to life, transforming into a worm the size of an earthworm.
The Space Chaos Worm let out a cute breath, its silkworm-like head rubbing against Zhang Ruochen's finger before flying off, growing to several dozen zhang in length, becoming a giant seven-colored insect.
It opened its mouth and gnawed at the void.
A wormhole was chewed out.
Zhang Ruochen stood on the back of the Space Chaos Worm and flew into the wormhole.
Zhang Ruochen had spent a large amount of divine stones to purchase various cultivation resources, many of which were used to feed the Space Chaos Worm.
In the Abyss of Darkness, even Zhang Ruochen found it difficult to traverse space over long distances. However, the Space Chaos Worm lived within space itself; no environment could hinder it, not even the Abyss of Darkness.
It could be said that in the Abyss of Darkness, the Space Chaos Worm was one of Zhang Ruochen's most important trump cards for survival.
"Hua la."
The next moment, the Space Chaos Worm brought Zhang Ruochen across the void, appearing in front of Kongzhi.
Its body was like a rainbow.
Kongzhi looked at Zhang Ruochen standing on the "rainbow," his face turning ashen. "Why must you go to such extremes? Zhang Ruochen, I... I am willing to submit to you and become your divine general."
"Is that so? Your cultivation is far higher than mine," Zhang Ruochen said.
Kongzhi said seriously, "A fine bird chooses its tree to perch on. You are a worldly myth, unprecedented and unmatched. Once you break into the divine realm, it will be like a trapped dragon ascending to heaven. The universe is vast, and you can roam freely."
"Alright. A false god of your caliber is rare. It would be a pity to kill you. Hand over half of your divine soul, submit to me, and I will spare your life today," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Good! Thank you, Ruochen Sword God, for sparing my life."
A cold, ruthless glint flashed deep in Kongzhi's eyes. He thought to himself, Even if I lose half my divine soul, I must kill you. As long as I seize the God-Defying Stele, what can true gods do to me?
Thinking of the various treasures on Zhang Ruochen, Kongzhi's mind churned with excitement.
But his face showed no ripple.
He placed his hands on his head and began to extract strands of his divine soul.
However, contrary to his expectations, just as he was extracting his divine soul, Zhang Ruochen, who had been standing on the "rainbow," leaped up with the God-Defying Stele, swinging the broken stele and smashing it heavily down on him.
"Crack!"
Even though Kongzhi's reaction speed was fast enough, the God-Defying Stele still shattered his arms, covering his entire body with cracks. His divine body plummeted straight down into the abyss.
The power erupted by the God-Defying Stele was like an invisible Dao lock, piercing through his divine body, sealing the divine energy within him, suppressing his rule divine patterns, making it difficult for him to move.
"Ruochen Sword God, why do you go back on your word? I am truly surrendering."
The cracks on Kongzhi's body grew more numerous, like a cracked golden ceramic.
Zhang Ruochen stood atop the God-Defying Stele, pouring all his power into it, his eyes calm. "I have long refined the Heart of Truth, able to perceive the subtleties of the world, recognize the flaws in your heart, and probe your thoughts and soul. How could you deceive me? Tell me the secret of the God-Defying Stele."
With Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, the Heart of Truth could not directly probe the memories and thoughts of a false god, but it could for weaker cultivators.
"Haha! Telling you means death, not telling you also means death. In that case, let's die together."
Kongzhi muttered strange words: "You should know that all things in the world are determined by heaven. Follow the heavenly Dao, act on behalf of heaven. Go against heaven, and you will be buried by the four calamities..."
Divine blood burned wildly within him, his lifespan dissipated into divine fire.
The temperature of the flames reached over three million degrees, breaking free from the suppression of the God-Defying Stele.
Divine energy circulated, rushing toward his divine source.
This divine source of his was left behind by a great god of the Underworld Clan, containing incomparable energy, far more powerful than the divine sources within low-tier false gods.
Unfortunately, Kongzhi had only been a false god for ten thousand years. His understanding of this divine source was still insufficient; otherwise, his combat power could have doubled.
How could Zhang Ruochen give him the chance to self-destruct his divine source?
"Seven Swords, out!"
All seven soul swords flew from Zhang Ruochen's brow, forming a sword path, successively piercing through Kongzhi's body, extinguishing his spiritual will and divine soul.
It was a close call, barely in time.
Kongzhi's divine source was ultimately not triggered, and the golden Buddhist light on his body dimmed.
"Shua, shua."
The seven swords returned to his body.
Zhang Ruochen put away the God-Defying Stele, came before Kongzhi, and struck out with a palm. Instantly, the indestructible golden divine body shattered with a crack, turning into a pile of golden, glass-like fragments.
Only a fist-sized, scorching divine source and thirteen relics remained, suspended in midair.
Zhang Ruochen extended his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers onto the divine source, closing his eyes to sense.
After a long while, he shook his head slightly.
Then, Zhang Ruochen opened his palm, grabbed the thirteen relics, and sensed again.
This time, images finally appeared in his mind.
In the images, the complete God-Defying Stele stood atop a divine mountain.
Below the God-Defying Stele stood figures with imposing auras, each different in appearance, from various races. At the same time, more such powerful figures flew toward the divine mountain from all directions.
It seemed like a gathering, or a solemn ceremony.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen's entire body trembled, his mind aching as if splitting. The figures in the images were like fireballs, capable of burning his sacred soul and spiritual power, preventing him from continuing to probe.
"A gathering of gods, including monks and Daoists, demons and monsters, humans and dragons. Defy the gods, defy the gods—why defy the gods? They themselves should all be gods. It can't be that they are defying themselves, can it?"
Just as Zhang Ruochen was deep in thought, the roars of the two dragon-type strange beasts came from below.
At the same time, the sounds of more strange beasts came from all directions, turning into tidal sound waves that entered Zhang Ruochen's ears, like a thousand troops and ten thousand horses charging toward his current position.