Chapter 2798: Senior Brother, I Understand You
Zhang Ruochen struck the sundial with his palm, sending it flying through the air to crash against the White Jade Divine Sword.
At the same time, the Abyssal Ancient Sword flew into his hand.
"Whoosh!"
With the empowerment of time power, Zhang Ruochen's speed was unparalleled. In an instant, he crossed over twenty miles and slashed his sword at Situ Yunlin's neck.
Situ Yunlin was a true god. Even though she was suppressed by time power, she was still incredibly fast, dodging away in a flash.
This strike only managed to cut off a strand of her jet-black hair.
On the other side, the sundial and the White Jade Divine Sword had only just collided.
The White Jade Divine Sword split the sea of time, striking the sundial with a thunderous "boom." The sundial crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up rolling clouds of dust.
Zhang Ruochen did not stop his attack. He employed the Time Sword Art, using speed to overpower slowness, moving like lightning as he struck out with one sword stroke after another. He did not use any exquisite techniques, only horizontal slashes and vertical chops.
"Such a formidable Zhang Ruochen! Although he has not yet achieved godhood through martial arts, his combat power is already not much weaker than a lower-ranked god. With such extraordinary talent, once he steps into the divine realm, won't he be able to attack an upper-ranked god?"
The more Situ Yunlin fought, the more alarmed she became. Although the current Zhang Ruochen was not yet a threat, thinking about the near future sent chills down her spine.
"Flowing Tassel Thousand Swords!"
A string of silver small swords wrapped around Situ Yunlin's slender waist flew out, totaling eight hundred and sixty-four blades. Combined with the previous two hundred and sixteen, they made exactly one thousand and eighty swords.
All the silver small swords surged forth like hummingbirds leaving their nests, a thousand swords taking flight.
Zhang Ruochen's sword momentum was blocked, and his speed slowed down.
As soon as his speed slowed, Situ Yunlin seized the opportunity. Merging her person with her sword, she shot forward like a streak of light, driving her sword toward Zhang Ruochen.
The tip of the sword instantly reached Zhang Ruochen's chest.
Zhang Ruochen seemed completely unable to react, standing still and motionless. Situ Yunlin's red lips curled slightly, believing this strike would be enough to decide victory or defeat, life or death.
"Boom!"
The sword struck Zhang Ruochen's chest, but contrary to her expectations, Zhang Ruochen did not shatter into pieces. Instead, golden light radiated from his body, Buddhist sounds thundered within him, and a powerful, boundless force surged back out.
Situ Yunlin was struck by this counterattack as if her divine soul were about to leave her body. She flew backward, her hair bun coming undone, countless divine patterns on her divine robe breaking and becoming loose.
Zhang Ruochen was not in a good state either. He also flew backward, crashing into the body of a black divine corpse.
Catching his breath, Zhang Ruochen acted decisively. Holding the Ten-Thousand-Curse Heavenly Bead, he chanted, "Death Soul Curse!"
Situ Yunlin had been injured by the power of the Buddha Emperor Relic. Her porcelain-white, beautiful divine body was now covered in many blood lines, with traces of blood at the corners of her mouth. Her body felt as if it were falling apart, wracked with excruciating pain.
The Death Soul Curse struck her like adding frost to snow.
She realized that she had once again fallen into Zhang Ruochen's trap. He had deliberately provoked her to attack, using the power of the Buddha Emperor Relic to counterattack her.
"Sword Soul Divine Domain."
Situ Yunlin grabbed the sword hilt with both hands, her gaze cold. The White Jade Divine Sword plunged into the ground.
As a divine sword cultivator, her sword soul was powerful.
She used her sword soul to resist the Death Soul Curse.
"Whoosh!"
The Sword Soul Divine Domain manifested. On the ground, sword spikes grew like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, rising from near to far, spreading toward Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen spread his golden wings and lifted off the ground, flying into the air.
At the same time, tens of thousands of sword soul projections gathered around Situ Yunlin, like an army of divine swords, turning into a hurricane that surged toward Zhang Ruochen, who was hovering in midair.
"The combat power of a true god is truly extraordinary. Even with such severe injuries, she is still this powerful."
Zhang Ruochen released his Eternal Return Dao Domain and summoned the Mountain-Hiding Demon Mirror to protect himself. He also activated the Mo Yang Divine Talisman, transforming it into a black sun that collided with the overwhelming sword soul projections.
No matter how strong Zhang Ruochen's cultivation was, Situ Yunlin did not take him seriously. However, the numerous powerful treasures on him, appearing one after another, left her feeling a sense of helplessness.
If this stalemate continued, Xue Tu would likely break through to the divine realm. By then, with her severely injured state, her situation would become very dangerous. After all, Xue Tu was a representative figure of the Eon level and a disciple of the Death God Venerable, no ordinary person.
Situ Yunlin glanced at Xue Tu in the distance and saw that he had successfully passed the divine tribulation and was now condensing his Star Soul Divine Throne.
So, she summoned the one thousand and eighty silver small swords, turning them into a river of sword energy. With a "clattering" sound, the river flew straight toward Xue Tu.
But at that moment, the sound of rushing water echoed through the void.
A winding Nether River, majestic and imposing, appeared like a heavenly river or a great Yellow Spring river. It collided with the river of sword energy, scattering the one thousand and eighty silver small swords, which all fell to the ground, creating pits.
"Whoosh!"
The Nether River coiled around like a demon dragon thousands of miles long.
At the center of the Nether River, Bore's peerless figure emerged, radiant with divine light. Holding a staff, she landed on the ground a hundred zhang behind Situ Yunlin.
Situ Yunlin quickly withdrew her sword soul, raised her sword, and stood up, facing Bore as if confronting a great enemy.
Seeing Bore arrive, Zhang Ruochen withdrew the Mo Yang Divine Talisman into his hand and called out loudly, "You came just in time. Lend me a hand, and let's capture this god from the Sword God Realm."
"Capture her? Why not just kill her directly?"
Before the words had even faded, Bore had already crossed a hundred zhang. The Fate Decision Staff struck down on Situ Yunlin's head.
Situ Yunlin blocked with her horizontal sword, but her body flew backward, crashing into the ground and plowing a furrow hundreds of meters long, knocking over a stone mountain over a thousand meters high.
Even if Situ Yunlin had not been injured, she would have been far inferior to Bore in her prime state.
She acted decisively, burning her divine blood and using forbidden techniques to enhance her state. She rose on her sword and fled at top speed.
"You can't escape."
Zhang Ruochen stood atop a divine corpse. Using the Ten-Thousand-Curse Heavenly Bead, he cast the Nether Light Curse, trapping her within it.
"You can't kill me. If you try, we'll all perish together today."
Facing the powerful Bore and the spiritual power god Zhang Ruochen, Situ Yunlin was at her wit's end. She could only resort to her final threat. Most gods could use this tactic of mutual destruction to intimidate their opponents and save their lives.
That was why, unless there was a huge gap in cultivation, gods would not push their opponents to the brink of death.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen and Bore both stop their attacks, a smile appeared on Situ Yunlin's face. She shattered the Nether Light Curse and swept her phoenix-like eyes over the two of them. "Zhang Ruochen, I already know that treasure is on you. Even if you leave the Abyss of Darkness alive, you will never have a moment's peace."
"Roar!"
In the distance, Xue Tu's long howl rang out.
His divine body, tens of thousands of miles tall, blazed with blood-red light. In his hands, he held a blood moon.
He pressed his hands downward, and the blood moon descended from the sky, straight toward Zhang Ruochen, Bore, and Situ Yunlin.
Zhang Ruochen and Bore quickly retreated far away, but the blood moon pursued Situ Yunlin relentlessly.
As the blood moon got closer to the ground, it revealed itself to be a blood-red divine star, probably over a hundred thousand miles in diameter, an extremely shocking sight.
"Where did he summon such a large planet?" Bore frowned, feeling that Xue Tu's display was too grand and might attract the ghostly strange beasts.
Zhang Ruochen said uncertainly, "This is... his Star Soul Divine Throne!"
The reason for his uncertainty was that he had personally witnessed Xue Tu condensing his Star Soul Divine Throne. But such a bizarre planet did not seem like a Star Soul Divine Throne at all.
Why was the Star Soul Divine Throne so small?
And where were the other Star Soul Divine Thrones?
In short, it was very strange.
Influenced by the aura of the divine corpses on the ground, the blood-red divine star shrank more and more as it approached the ground.
"Boom!"
When it struck Situ Yunlin, the blood-red divine star had shrunk to only about a dozen miles in diameter, like a giant iron ball.
The earth trembled, and waves of divine energy swept across a thousand miles.
Xue Tu's massive divine body had already shrunk to the size of a normal human. He stood atop the "giant iron ball," exhaled a breath, and muttered, "Ah, that feels good!"
Earlier, he had been unable to control his divine body, which had grown to tens of thousands of miles in size.
But the power of the Ancient Desolate Ruins City pressed in on him from all directions.
It felt like his body was being blown up into a huge balloon, while a powerful external force was squeezing it from the outside. At that time, Xue Tu dared not move an inch, afraid he would explode and die.
If Zhang Ruochen and Bore had not intercepted Situ Yunlin, Xue Tu would have already perished, body and soul.
Now that his divine body had shrunk, the oppressive force of the Ancient Desolate Ruins City dissipated, and Xue Tu naturally felt extremely comfortable.
Zhang Ruochen and Bore's figures appeared, their expressions somewhat cold and gloomy.
"What are you doing? Causing such a commotion—do you want to die?" Zhang Ruochen said in a deep voice.
Hearing Zhang Ruochen's rebuke, Xue Tu felt even more comfortable inside. He knew that Zhang Ruochen was cold on the outside but soft on the inside, and that he truly cared deeply for Xue Tu.
He was a true senior brother!
If before, Xue Tu had always obeyed Zhang Ruochen's orders because of the Blood Absolute Family's influence in the Blood Heaven Tribe, because of Zhang Ruochen's formidable combat power, because of Zhang Ruochen's ruthless methods, and because of Zhang Ruochen's great fortune.
But after experiencing this, seeing Zhang Ruochen willing to fight a true god to protect him as he became a god, how could he not be moved? He felt that he had been worse than a beast in the past, having misunderstood his senior brother.
"Senior Brother, don't worry. I'll put away the Star Soul Divine Throne right away."
Xue Tu took out the gourd that the Death God Venerable had given him and stored the "giant iron ball" beneath his feet inside.
Below, everything was in ruins, stained with patches of divine blood.
In the dim dust, wisps of blood energy seeped into the ground, gathering together.
"Boom!"
The ground exploded, and rocks flew everywhere.
Situ Yunlin burst out from underground, her body broken and tattered. Wisps of blood energy drilled into her body through her wounds.
"Still not dead? Senior Brother, don't worry. I understand you. Let me help you capture her."
Xue Tu's blood energy and divine pattern surged out, condensing into a hundred-zhang-sized blood-colored claw that enveloped Situ Yunlin at its center. Wisps of blood energy, like chains, wrapped around her.
"Boom!"
The Fate Decision Staff descended from the sky, shattering the blood-colored claw that Xue Tu had condensed.
The staff, like a long spear, stabbed down from the top of Situ Yunlin's head, shattering her divine body once again. Even her divine source and unbroken divine sea were suppressed beneath the Fate Decision Staff, making it impossible for her to reform her divine body.
The light of fate emitted by the Fate Decision Staff continuously eroded Situ Yunlin's divine soul and spiritual will.
Xue Tu was stunned, looking at Bore.
Bore's gaze was icy cold. "Capture her? What if she escapes? That would lead to endless trouble."