Chapter 2782: Relic Enters the Body
"Arrogant words."
Nan Sheng unfurled the gray bone fan in his hand. Under the impetus of powerful spiritual power, blood-thread-like talisman patterns emerged on the twelve fan ribs.
A three-zhang-tall humanoid talisman beast charged out from the fan.
The talisman beast had no skin, only flesh, blood, and bones, appearing extremely ferocious.
Nan Sheng was not only a god through spiritual power but also a talisman grandmaster. His mastery of talisman arts could overpower low-tier false gods.
"Roar!"
The humanoid talisman beast let out a long howl. Blood light swirled across its body as it struck a punch at Zhang Ruochen with immense force.
Its fist was as large as a water vat.
Zhang Ruochen neither dodged nor retreated. The burial gold rule divine patterns within his body fully emerged, radiating golden light for ten thousand zhang. He threw a punch, colliding with the talisman beast's fist.
The two forces clashed, erupting with a surge of energy like mountains collapsing and seas roaring.
"How can Zhang Ruochen's strength be this great, far surpassing the time of the Ten Realms Battle?" Nan Sheng's pupils contracted. He formed hand seals, fully unleashing his seventieth-level spiritual power to execute the Death Mind Power.
The Death Mind Power directly attacked Zhang Ruochen's sacred soul.
"Boom!"
The Truth Realm Form manifested around Zhang Ruochen, encircling his body like a sea of stars. His fist's attack power surged thirtyfold, sending the humanoid talisman beast flying in an instant.
Sensing the attack of the Death Mind Power, Zhang Ruochen also released his seventieth-level spiritual power, forming a spiritual defense.
"How is this possible? You've become a god through spiritual power!" Nan Sheng said, incredulous.
Zhang Ruochen replied, "Nothing is impossible."
Nan Sheng quickly suppressed the shock in his heart, steadying his mind. "So what if you've become a god through spiritual power? When it comes to the application of spiritual power, you're still ten thousand miles behind."
Other spiritual power cultivators at the early or middle seventieth level could at most contend with low-tier false gods.
But as a successor of the Tiannan Life-and-Death Ruins, Nan Sheng was confident that with his early seventieth-level spiritual power, he could rival second-rate false gods of the lower third tier, or even challenge first-rate false gods of the lower third tier.
He refused to believe Zhang Ruochen possessed such strength.
"Wrath of Death."
Behind Nan Sheng, a massive, grayish Death God shadow rose. An icy, chilling aura rapidly spread, covering the space with a thick layer of ice crystals.
In Zhang Ruochen and Hai Shui's ears, countless undead voices emerged, assaulting their sacred souls and devouring their sacred qi.
Even with his own seventieth-level spiritual power, Zhang Ruochen could not defend against it.
"Soul-Devouring Bells!"
Zhang Ruochen pressed two fingers together, channeling both spiritual power and sacred qi. Twelve bells flew out from his sleeve.
The Soul-Devouring Bells were a supreme sacred artifact he had seized from Ghost Lord's second son, Zi Yuan.
The twelve bells grew to the size of bronze bells, hovering before Zhang Ruochen. Supreme inscription runes fully emerged on the bells, and countless nether souls surged out from them.
"Clang, clang, clang."
As the bells shook, all the nether souls, like soul-reaping envoys, charged toward the Death God shadow.
Nan Sheng felt frustrated. He had miscalculated Zhang Ruochen's ability to use a spiritual power supreme sacred artifact to compensate for his lack of skill in spiritual power application. With his own spiritual power mastery, he was utterly unable to handle this martial-arts-focused cultivator.
Other cultivators struggled to obtain even one supreme sacred artifact, yet Zhang Ruochen had one after another.
Zhang Ruochen held the Soul-Devouring Bells with one hand, resisting the Death God shadow Nan Sheng had summoned, appearing quite relaxed. "If this is all you've got, then this day next year will be your death anniversary."
"Sword, out."
The sound of a sword's cry rang out.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword pointed at Nan Sheng, spinning rapidly as the Heavenly Sword Soul merged into it.
"Whoosh!"
Sword light flew out like a black beam of light.
Nan Sheng's bone fan flew out, filling the sky with talisman patterns.
The twelve fan ribs transformed into twelve heavenly pillars, standing before him to block the incoming Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Excellent. Zhang Ruochen, you are indeed strong enough. The stronger you are, the more satisfaction I'll get from killing you."
Nan Sheng knew his own strength could not threaten Zhang Ruochen. He leaped up, landing atop one of the talisman-patterned heavenly pillars, and pressed his right hand against his chest.
"Whoosh!"
A black light mass flew out from the top of his head.
The light from the black mass grew increasingly intense, containing powerful dark force and releasing a scorching heat, like a black sun.
In truth, the heat it emitted far exceeded the surface temperature of a sun.
In Zhang Ruochen's vision, everything around him turned completely dark. Only by using his Truth Eye could he make out Nan Sheng's silhouette, standing in the air like a true god.
"Forcing me to use a divine talisman—even if you die here, you should be proud of yourself," Nan Sheng said.
Zhang Ruochen had witnessed the destructive power of a divine talisman in Goddess City on Ice King Star. Its might was such that even an ordinary true god would have to evade.
"Winter Sword!"
Zhang Ruochen struck first, executing the Time Sword Art.
Throughout the entire space, time imprint points all manifested, forming a unique chill aimed at freezing time.
As he struck with his sword, time nearly stood still.
But Nan Sheng was no ordinary opponent. He had already unleashed the Ink Sun Divine Talisman, pressing it toward Zhang Ruochen. Under the impact of the divine talisman's power, the time imprint points were annihilated one after another. Zhang Ruochen knew he had lost the initiative. He quickly withdrew his sword and struck forward with both palms.
The Wuji Sacred Will erupted.
The power of the Nine Paths condensed into a Taiji imprint, spinning rapidly to form a spiral energy current, resisting the descending black sun.
Buddhist qi, dark qi... all the forces of heaven and earth were pulled in by the Wuji Sacred Will, turning into his own power and gathering before Zhang Ruochen.
Heaven and earth were him, and he was heaven and earth.
"Impressive."
Nan Sheng sighed inwardly, feeling both envy and jealousy toward Zhang Ruochen's sacred will.
"Even if you have a first-rank sacred will, you can't block a divine talisman." Nan Sheng spread his hands and pushed forward, pouring all his spiritual power into the divine talisman.
The black sun seemed to weigh billions of jin, carrying earth-shattering heat. Zhang Ruochen's hands caught fire, invaded by dark force, his ten fingers turning black.
Flesh burned away, revealing the finger bones.
"This time, you have no chance to turn things around!" Nan Sheng laughed.
Enduring the piercing pain, Zhang Ruochen's eyes sharpened. He summoned the Buddha Relic he had kept in his bosom.
The Buddha Relic flew to the center of the Taiji imprint.
"Whoosh!"
In an instant, the Taiji imprint's light surged dramatically. Buddha light shone everywhere, and the voices of ten thousand Buddhas resounded, echoing without end.
The dark force unleashed by the Ink Sun Divine Talisman was continuously purified by the Buddha Relic, its power diminishing. Meanwhile, aided by the Buddha Relic, Zhang Ruochen's strength grew rapidly.
Nan Sheng recognized the Buddha Relic, his heart stirring with excitement.
Killing Zhang Ruochen would mean obtaining a shocking divine treasure, making his journey to the Abyss of Darkness a complete success.
"Pfft!"
Nan Sheng struck his chest with one palm, spitting out divine blood onto the divine talisman.
The divine talisman's power grew even more formidable, continuing to press down.
Even the Buddha Relic and the Wuji Sacred Will could not withstand it. The Taiji imprint suspended before Zhang Ruochen was pushed back.
"Senior Brother Ruochen, let me help you."
Hai Shui pressed both palms against Zhang Ruochen's back, channeling the Buddhist qi within her into him.
But the moment her hands touched Zhang Ruochen, she was sent flying backward, crashing into the golden Buddha wall. This was a battle between god-level beings—how could she, a half-god at the peak of the saint realm, participate?
The Buddha Relic and the Taiji imprint had been pressed to within a hair's breadth of Zhang Ruochen, on the verge of collapse.
The Buddha Relic was first forced by the divine talisman's power to sink into Zhang Ruochen's body, drilling into his chest. In an instant, Zhang Ruochen's body became translucent and radiant, like a Buddha lamp.
Previously, Zhang Ruochen had never considered refining the Buddha Relic.
After all, it was a relic of a Buddha-level powerhouse. If a saint-level cultivator swallowed it, they would likely be burst apart.
But to Zhang Ruochen's surprise, the Buddha Relic could directly seep into his body, and the power it released was gentle, not unbearable.
The next moment, Zhang Ruochen felt the spiritual power thoughts in his sacred heart being nourished by the Buddha Relic's power, growing stronger and stronger.
His spiritual power intensity rapidly increased.
As his spiritual power grew stronger, the power Zhang Ruochen unleashed with the Wuji Sacred Will also increased.
He could even divert his attention to control the Soul-Devouring Bells, attacking Nan Sheng from behind.
"Bang, bang, bang."
The twelve Soul-Devouring Bells struck Nan Sheng repeatedly.
With each impact, the bells devoured part of his sacred soul.
Nan Sheng coughed up large amounts of blood, letting out a miserable cry as he fell from the talisman-patterned heavenly pillar, no longer able to control the divine talisman.
With the loss of spiritual power to drive it, the divine talisman's power sharply decreased. Zhang Ruochen used the Taiji imprint to suppress it in turn, capturing it in his hand. It was a black jade talisman, only three inches long.
Perhaps because it had been used, a crack had appeared on the jade talisman.
"What a powerful divine talisman. Fortunately... I have a formidable master teacher, even though he fell a hundred thousand years ago, he still protects me."
Not just anyone could refine the Buddha Relic. The residual spiritual will within the Buddha Relic—even an ordinary true god could not refine it and would instead risk backlash.
But Zhang Ruochen was the successor of Xumi Saint Monk.
The spiritual will within the Buddha Relic naturally would not reject him.
Zhang Ruochen touched his burning chest, looking down at the dazzling golden light at the center of his ribs. Dense Buddhist script appeared and disappeared intermittently.
The moment the Buddha Relic merged into his body, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power intensity increased severalfold, leaping across three levels to reach the peak of the seventieth level.
Strangely, after the life-threatening danger of the divine talisman passed, the spiritual power stopped growing.
"Does it require being attacked for the Buddha Relic's power to be released?"
Zhang Ruochen looked at Nan Sheng, who lay on the ground with cold eyes and a face full of unwillingness. "Get up. Hit me."
Nan Sheng's sacred soul had been devoured too much, his back smashed bloody by the Soul-Devouring Bells, his internal organs shattered. He didn't even have the strength to stand. Hearing such a humiliating remark from Zhang Ruochen, he roared, "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated!"
"Pfft!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword descended from the sky, carrying the Heavenly Sword Soul, piercing through his body and pinning him to the ground.
The Heavenly Sword Soul completely extinguished the sacred soul within him, pierced through his sacred heart, and the spiritual power thoughts were mostly severed by the sword qi.
Zhang Ruochen saw that he intended to self-destruct his sacred source and naturally would not give him that chance.
...
There will be another chapter tonight.