Chapter 2878: Senior Brother, Do You Still Need Women?
“Let me try. I might be able to break the formation.”
Countless rule divine patterns spread out from Ancient Crow’s body, like a spider web extending in all directions.
Wherever the rule divine patterns passed, the temperature plummeted sharply, and the space nearly froze.
Even Blood Butcher, with his mid-level god cultivation, felt a bone-piercing chill and retreated far away, thinking to himself: “As expected of an upper-level god, truly terrifying. How many years must I, the Emperor, cultivate to reach such a level? Unfortunately, Senior Brother is already dead. Otherwise, borrowing his Sundial to cultivate should allow me to catch up to Ancient Crow quickly.”
Only a time divine formation could support gods cultivating inside it.
But in the universe, time divine formations were extremely rare, a scarce resource.
Fortunately, the Destiny Temple had two such formations, and new gods did not need to pay divine stones; they could cultivate inside for free until reaching the mid-level god realm.
Xu Rulai had been queuing outside the time divine formation for decades, waiting for Blood Butcher to come out before entering the formation to cultivate.
But no matter how powerful a time divine formation was, how could it compare to the Sundial?
“The Sundial must have fallen into Chi Yao’s hands. As his junior brother, I, the Emperor, should go demand it back. No! That would lack proper justification. If I could get Master to write a divine decree and claim it in Master’s name… hehe!” Blood Butcher’s lips curled upward.
This master, of course, was Xue Hou.
Blood Butcher knew he was no match for Chi Yao.
But as long as he had proper justification, he could scold Chi Yao into submission with just his mouth.
Then, he could incite Luo Sha Princess, Yan Zhexian, Xia Yu—these fierce characters who already wanted to deal with Chi Yao—to form an alliance of conquest, set up a heaven-encompassing net, and surely seize the Sundial.
Although letting Chi Kunlun go earlier made Blood Butcher feel some regret.
But thinking that he was, after all, Senior Brother’s descendant, using him to threaten Chi Yao would make the Great Butcher War God Emperor seem too heartless and ungrateful? Too despicable in his methods? Too lacking in principles?
No, no.
As a disciple of a God Venerable, he still had to maintain some face. He should at least measure up to Yan Wushen and Yan Yu.
Dealing with Chi Yao, however, had far fewer scruples. After all, Senior Brother might very well have been killed by that wretched woman. Attacking her would be avenging Senior Brother, and many would support him.
Blood Butcher was formulating strategies in his mind when suddenly the space beside him violently shook. Before he could figure out what was happening, a protruding spatial wave pierced through his protective divine fire and struck him.
“Not good! How could I lose focus in such a dangerous place? What was I thinking?”
Blood Butcher spread his nine pairs of blood wings on his back, and a sea of blood spread beneath his feet, trying to stabilize the space.
Gradually, the space calmed down.
But Blood Butcher found himself trapped in a spatial divine formation, with pitch-black darkness below and countless stars shining above.
At least he wasn’t in the void space.
Blood Butcher warily looked around but didn’t see Ancient Crow. He snorted coldly: “This Ancient Crow is unreliable. No wonder he’s the worst disciple under Master. He doesn’t understand the Way of Space, yet insists on trying to break the formation. He’s harming both himself and others.”
Although they were fellow disciples, this was their first time carrying out Master’s orders together.
There was no real bond between them.
Being able to maintain superficial courtesy and call Ancient Crow “Senior Brother” was already giving him enough face. Of course, it was also out of necessity, given Ancient Crow’s upper-level god cultivation.
In front of Ancient Crow, Blood Butcher didn’t dare kill Taluo to seize the divine source, which already showed his distrust of this senior brother.
“Aren’t you afraid Ancient Crow will hear that?”
“Who’s there?”
Blood Butcher spun around and stared behind him.
He saw a figure identical to Zhang Ruochen standing in the void, with space twisting around him and numerous spatial ripples.
Moreover, those spatial ripples around Zhang Ruochen emitted bright light visible to the naked eye, illuminating him as sacred and mysterious, as if standing in another time-space, speaking to Blood Butcher.
Blood Butcher was momentarily stunned but quickly sensed that the other’s aura was completely different from Zhang Ruochen’s. He then put on a look of great joy and flew over: “Senior Brother, Junior Brother knew you couldn’t be dead. Haha!”
“Who’s spreading rumors that I’m dead?” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Go to hell!”
When he got close, Blood Butcher’s murderous aura surged to the sky, and he spat out divine fire from his mouth.
The divine fire transformed into a phoenix, erupting with heat that could melt everything in the world, crashing toward Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen extended a palm, using the formation to twist space and neutralize the power unleashed by the divine fire phoenix.
“Who exactly are you? Show your true form!” Blood Butcher’s eyes blazed with fury, his entire body burning, his divine body like red-hot iron.
No matter how much destructive power he unleashed, the spatial ripples easily neutralized it.
Zhang Ruochen met his gaze and said, “This is my true form.”
“Still pretending? Do you think I, the Emperor, am as easy to fool as ordinary cultivators? Your transformation technique is too crude—you’ve only changed your appearance and voice. Your aura is completely different from Zhang Ruochen’s.”
Blood Butcher’s voice boomed like thunder, deafening, as he condensed a divine ability fist technique and struck out.
“So that’s what you think. Fine, I’ll prove it to you.”
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his hand.
Blood Butcher’s divine power was ferocious, and with unstoppable force, his fist pierced through the twisted space and landed on Zhang Ruochen.
The fist was even larger than Zhang Ruochen’s body.
“Boom!”
Like a heavenly bell striking.
Zhang Ruochen’s body erupted with ten thousand feet of golden light, and dense Sanskrit characters appeared, returning the fist force Blood Butcher had struck back at him intact.
“Rumble!”
Blood Butcher was sent flying backward, spitting out a mouthful of divine blood.
At that moment, the flow of time seemed to slow down. As Blood Butcher flew backward, he locked eyes with Zhang Ruochen, and the expression on his face underwent a rich transformation, completing a four-stage transition: shock—astonishment—calm—excitement.
Why calm came before excitement, rather than excitement before calm, was anyone’s guess.
After flying hundreds of miles, Blood Butcher finally stabilized himself.
He was so moved that tears streamed down his face, completely ignoring his injuries as he flew toward Zhang Ruochen: “Senior Brother, I was wrong! I didn’t recognize you, and I even dared to speak your name directly.”
Zhang Ruochen knew Blood Butcher all too well.
This guy called him “Senior Brother” enthusiastically with his mouth, but in his heart, he had countless schemes. If his combat power couldn’t suppress him, he would never call him “Senior Brother.”
Moreover, he was someone who wouldn’t lift a finger without profit.
But the fact that he had stepped in to save Chi Kunlun earlier and returned the Abyssal Ancient Sword greatly exceeded Zhang Ruochen’s expectations.
Regardless of Blood Butcher’s motives, deep down he still remembered past kindness and friendship. He wasn’t the type to be purely mercenary and without principles.
And at this moment, Blood Butcher was secretly relieved that he had suppressed his greed earlier.
He put on a bitter face and said: “Senior Brother, I saw Kunlun earlier. Without you by his side, even a false god dared to bully him. Taluo is dead meat—even Qingxuan Ling Shen can’t save him. I was afraid Ancient Crow would use this to blackmail me later, so I swallowed my anger and didn’t kill that bastard.”
Zhang Ruochen withdrew the Buddha light from his body and said, “You did well.”
Blood Butcher groped around Zhang Ruochen’s body, focusing on his head, and said: “Senior Brother, what exactly happened all these years? Where did you go? Why did your Esoterica, your war weapons, and your cultivation all end up with Chi Yao? What did she do to you?”
Seeing Buddha light flickering on Zhang Ruochen’s body again, Blood Butcher quickly withdrew his hands.
Zhang Ruochen said: “It has nothing to do with her. Esoterica, war weapons, cultivation—these are all external things. I gave them all to her.”
External things?
Blood Butcher gasped sharply and said: “Senior Brother, do you still need women?”
“What, do you want to turn into a woman?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Butcher said: “Junior Brother is serious. My father god has many children, including two twin sisters with extraordinary talent and beautiful faces. I wouldn’t dare say they could be Senior Brother’s concubines, but how about taking them as servant girls?”
“Stop joking. Meeting you this time is about serious matters.”
Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands behind his back, walking through the pitch-black void, with space automatically solidifying beneath his feet. “Do you know why I came to Xinghuantian?”
Zhang Ruochen didn’t use divine qi, yet he could control space, which impressed Blood Butcher.
Blood Butcher said: “Could Senior Brother also want to marry Bai Qinger? But the resentment between you two runs deep. Unless you obtain the Heavenly Venerable Gauze, Senior Brother has no hope.”
“Whether to marry or not, let’s set that aside for now.”
Zhang Ruochen said: “I came to find you because I want you to help me deal with someone.”
“Say it, who to kill? If Junior Brother even frowns, I don’t deserve to be called the Great Butcher War God Emperor.” Blood Butcher pounded his chest loudly, full of confidence.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes sharpened: “Shang Hong!”
“Pfft!”
Blood Butcher spat out a mouthful of blood and quickly said: “Senior Brother, don’t worry about me. It’s just that I was too heavily injured by the power of the Buddha Emperor Relic earlier. I’m afraid I can’t fight against god-level opponents for a while. Shang Hong? Fine, once I recover, I’ll be the first to take his life.”
Zhang Ruochen had controlled the power of the Buddha Emperor Relic, so he knew Blood Butcher’s injury was actually scared out of him by Shang Hong’s name.
“Don’t be so afraid. I know you’re no match for him.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Butcher said with a mournful face: “It’s not that Junior Brother is afraid of him, but I’m short by a hundred thousand years of cultivation! If Senior Brother activates the Sundial and lets me cultivate inside for a hundred thousand years, I’ll definitely beat Shang Hong until he begs for mercy. But right now, Shang Hong can crush me with one hand—and crush me thoroughly at that.”
“What if the Destiny Temple makes the move?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Butcher squinted his eyes and said: “If Hai Shang Ming Gong is willing to act, and we unite a few veteran divine sons and divine daughters, even if Shang Hong is strong, he’ll have to fall. But that’s impossible!”
“Why?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Butcher said: “Ancient divine sons like Hai Shang Ming Gong—any one of them has boundless combat power and is a key surveillance target of the Heavenly Court. If several ancient divine sons and divine daughters all come to Xinghuantian together, how could the Heavenly Court not know something major is about to happen here?”
“Moreover, what kind of figure is Shang Hong? A Truth Envoy, cultivator of the ‘Three Corpses Refining the Dao,’ groomed by the Paradise Realm as a future God Venerable, and the grandson of Shang Tian. Is he so easy to kill? Once we make a move, Shang Tian will sense it immediately. This is a matter that affects the whole body when one part is moved!”