Chapter 2904: Divine Battle
Naturally, Xue Jue War God had not come.
Truth divine light flowed within Shang Hong's eyes as he perceived this fact. "Zhang Ruochen, you actually dared to come alone. I don't know whether to call that boldness or stupidity."
Zhang Ruochen let out a loud laugh. "How do you know I came alone?"
"If Xue Jue War God had truly arrived, he would have struck first," Shang Hong said.
Lan Jun, Mo Yu, Yan God, Jia Linnan, and Kailan Feili—five divine beings—all breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously, silently admiring Shang Hong's sharp perception.
Indeed!
If Xue Jue War God had truly come, they would likely have been suppressed and unable to move, let alone have the chance to speak.
Blood Butcher was stunned, his heart filled with bitterness.
What was Senior Brother doing?
Even if he couldn't invite the War God, transforming into the War God's appearance to intimidate the Heavenly Court's deities might have given him an opportunity to rescue him.
Now, charging straight over like this—how was it any different from walking to his death?
"Senior Brother, I appreciate your willingness to share life and death, but you should flee quickly. Go to Wuding Divine Sea to summon reinforcements." Blood Butcher said with a mournful expression.
"Since I'm already here, where would I flee to?"
Lan Jun's sinister voice rang out. His figure flickered and appeared behind Zhang Ruochen.
"Shua!"
"Shua!"
Sounds of wind breaking echoed.
Yan God appeared to Zhang Ruochen's right.
Jia Linnan and Kailan Feili appeared to Zhang Ruochen's left.
Yan God spoke coldly and deeply, "I never imagined that the brat who once could only hide behind Moon God would so quickly become renowned across the cosmos and step into the divine realm. Today, I'll collect the debt of Moon God's humiliation of me from you."
No wonder Blood Butcher thought Zhang Ruochen had come to die. Setting aside the three Upper Gods who had long shaken the world, even Yan God alone was extremely formidable. Gu Ya and Blood Butcher had paid no small price to suppress him.
Although Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power was strong enough to overpower Wuma Jiuxing, compared to Yan God in his three-corpse-separated state, there was still a gap.
Shang Hong, cautious by nature, said, "Attack! Finish this quickly. I want him alive."
"Ding ding!"
Twelve Soul-Stealing Bells flew out, surrounding Zhang Ruochen in twelve directions.
Under the impetus of spiritual power, the bell's sound roared like thunder, the resulting sound waves tearing apart the nearby nebula. Jia Linnan and Kailan Feili, weaker in cultivation, felt as if their divine souls were about to fly out of their bodies, drawn in and devoured.
Their faces twisted in pain, blood flowing from their eyes.
Recently, Zhang Ruochen had experienced two sudden enlightenments, his spiritual power advancing by leaps and bounds, equivalent to thousands of years of bitter cultivation, rising from the early stage of the seventy-fourth rank to the middle stage.
"This spiritual power Supreme Sacred Artifact is not bad, but unfortunately, your cultivation is too low to threaten me."
Lan Jun was an Upper God with a powerful divine soul. He let out a lion-tiger-like roar.
Sound waves and divine qi surged from his mouth, dispersing the sound waves formed by the Soul-Stealing Bells and pressing them back like a tidal wave.
Just as the sound waves and divine qi were about to strike Zhang Ruochen, a massive and brilliant Gate of Destiny appeared before him, completely absorbing Lan Jun's power.
At the position of the Gate of Destiny, a massive vortex formed, as if trying to pull Lan Jun in as well.
Seeing the Gate of Destiny, Lan Jun's expression changed. He immediately stopped his roar and retreated rapidly.
Shang Hong let out a soft exclamation, his gaze shifting to the top of the Gate of Destiny.
There, a graceful and handsome figure stood, holding a flaming white bone long spear, his long hair flowing like a beautiful waterfall.
His posture was even straighter than the spear in his hand.
It was the Ancient God Son of the Destiny Temple, Hai Shang Ming Gong.
Hai Shang Ming Gong's eyes held a smile. "Attacking a deity of the Destiny Temple—do you not take me seriously?"
"Boom!"
Without any visible effort from Hai Shang Ming Gong, the five-colored divine mountain suppressing Blood Butcher shattered with a crash.
Blood Butcher's two severed divine bodies soared up, coalesced in midair, and then flew down to land beneath the Gate of Destiny. He cupped his hands in salute to Hai Shang Ming Gong. "Greetings, Lord Hai Shang!"
The several Ancient God Sons and Ancient God Daughters of the Destiny Temple were all exceptionally talented, with unmatched combat power, each possessing the potential to become a future War God or Palace Lord.
Even if Blood Butcher was arrogant, he knew he was still far inferior to Hai Shang Ming Gong. Offering a bow now might bring him considerable benefits in the future!
Lan Jun sneered with arrogance. "So it's the loser of the Heavenly Grandson. Hai Shang Ming Gong, it would have been better if you hadn't come. Since you're here, be careful—your life might end here too."
"What if we join in?"
Yan Yu and a burly man in heavy black armor flew out from the nebula.
Lan Jun glanced at the man, who was three times taller than a normal human, and immediately lost some of his previous arrogance. This man was Mi Lian Shan, son of the Yama Clan's Mi Tian War God.
He was an Upper God of the utmost strength, capable of contending with Shang Hong and Hai Shang Ming Gong.
"Today is my hundred-thousandth birthday. Who wants to have some fun with me?"
Mi Lian Shan clashed his fists together, producing a clanging sound. Bright divine light spread outward, shaking Yan God, Jia Linnan, and Kailan Feili—three Middle Gods—until they wobbled unsteadily.
Even before Lan Jun, lightning and fire intertwined, and his protective divine qi nearly failed to hold.
Zhang Ruochen had originally planned to summon Yu Long Xian, but seeing the current situation, the Hell Realm had already gained the upper hand. There was no need for him to reveal his trump card and steal the spotlight.
He didn't want to stand out, but that didn't mean others didn't.
Seeing Hai Shang Ming Gong and Mi Lian Shan arrive together, Blood Butcher regained his confidence. He summoned his Divine Throne Planet and glared at Jia Linnan. "I challenge you to a one-on-one fight, you southern bastard! Do you dare to accept?"
Jia Linnan was not afraid of Blood Butcher, but whether to fight or not was no longer his decision.
His gaze turned to Shang Hong.
Shang Hong remained calm and composed. "You go first. I'll hold them off. Capturing Gu Ya and bringing him back to the Heavenly Court is already a great achievement."
Mo Yu had clearly already communicated with Shang Hong via divine sound. In an instant, he carried the divine painting suppressing Gu Ya and charged into the nebula.
Lan Jun, Yan God, Jia Linnan, and Kailan Feili followed closely, all stepping with Divine Spirit Steps, moving at incredible speed.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Divine fate light surged from Hai Shang Ming Gong's pupils, piercing through space and flying hundreds of thousands of miles away.
If the Heavenly Court's deities captured Gu Ya right under his nose, wouldn't he become a laughingstock in the Hell Realm? For the Destiny Temple, losing an Upper God was also a heavy blow.
"Void Bloom!"
Lan Jun executed a divine technique, manifesting a peach grove in the void.
Countless peach blossoms danced in the starry sky, dissolving Hai Shang Ming Gong's divine fate light.
Hai Shang Ming Gong was about to strike again, but Shang Hong's Divine Realm World swept toward him, enveloping him.
Facing Shang Hong, Hai Shang Ming Gong had to focus his mind and strike with full force. The flaming white bone long spear thrust out violently, piercing a massive hole in space.
"Boom!"
The two deities fell into the void space.
Mi Lian Shan was also swept into Shang Hong's Divine Realm World.
"Come at me together!"
Shang Hong separated his three corpses, transforming into three equally powerful giant divine beings, each with a Supreme Sacred Artifact floating above its head.
"Good for you, Shang Hong, trying to fight two at once. Today, I'm going to have a good time with you!"
Dark power emanated from Mi Lian Shan's armor, and a sea of divine qi appeared beneath his feet. He threw a iron fist the size of a star, striking at one of the Shang Hongs.
"Don't get bogged down. Breaking through his Divine Realm World and rescuing Gu Ya is the top priority," Hai Shang Ming Gong said.
...
When Shang Hong unfolded his Divine Realm World, Zhang Ruochen and Blood Butcher had already escaped first.
Their escape was, of course, thanks to Hai Shang Ming Gong's obstruction.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on the direction where Mo Yu, Lan Jun, and the other deities had fled, a contemplative expression on his face.
Blood Butcher, afraid Zhang Ruochen would make a wrong decision, said, "Don't chase them. Lan Jun and Mo Yu are both Upper Gods—we can't afford to provoke them yet. Give me a few tens of thousands of years to cultivate, and I guarantee I'll beat them until they don't even know their own names."
"Gu Ya is your senior brother," Zhang Ruochen said.
Blood Butcher replied, "Just a nominal senior brother. It's not worth risking our lives for him."
After a moment's thought, he added, "He can't compare to you, my true senior brother. If it were you who had been captured, I, Blood Butcher, would chase after them even at the cost of my life."
"You can't say that. Gu Ya is a deity of our Hell Realm. If he's captured by the Heavenly Court like this, where would the Hell Realm's face be? Where would the Destiny Temple's face be?" Zhang Ruochen said with righteous indignation.
Blood Butcher was stunned.
What was going on?
Had Senior Brother developed such a sense of belonging to the Hell Realm?
Yan Yu flew over and said, "I agree with Ruochen. We may not be a match for Mo Yu and Lan Jun, but we need to find a way to delay them. Shang Hong can't possibly defeat the combined forces of Hai Shang Ming Gong and Mi Lian Shan. As long as one of them can break free quickly, we'll have a chance to rescue Gu Ya."
Without giving Blood Butcher any other choice, Zhang Ruochen grabbed his wrist, stepped out with Divine Spirit Steps, and chased after them at high speed alongside Yan Yu.
"They're catching up!" Mo Yu said.
Lan Jun sneered. "Three new gods whose combined age doesn't even reach ten thousand years, daring to chase us. You go ahead. I'll capture them all."
Lan Jun stopped, took out a folding fan, and waved it leisurely in the void.
Three beams of divine light arrived in an instant.
Without any unnecessary words, Lan Jun's folding fan flew out, shattering in midair. The twelve fan ribs transformed into twelve jade swords, flying straight toward the three.
He struck with full force from the start, intending to severely wound all three at once and render them combat-ineffective.
"Boom rumble!"
Blood Butcher's Divine Realm World was shattered by the jade swords.
"A dignified Upper God, ambushing us... If you have the guts... fight me one-on-one... ah..."
One of the jade swords struck Blood Butcher's Divine Throne Planet, sending it flying. Another jade sword pierced through his protective divine light, through his lung, and carried his divine body into a collision with a small planet.
Yan Yu's talisman robe blocked four jade swords, enduring dozens of attacks in a series of explosions.
Finally, the talisman robe was pierced through, and Yan Yu was split in two by a jade sword.
The gap in cultivation was too great; there was simply no power to resist.
Zhang Ruochen had long known that Lan Jun's cultivation was formidable, a strong Upper God, but he hadn't expected him to strike so decisively and ruthlessly, clearly aiming for a quick resolution to take them all down at once.
It was evident that all deities were shrewd—none were fools. They wouldn't give them a chance to stall for time.
Zhang Ruochen was also struck by a jade sword, but brilliant Buddha light appeared on his body. The Seventh Patriarch's Sanskrit script dissolved the mountain-overturning divine power on the sword.
"Buddha Emperor Relic!"
Lan Jun's eyes lit up, and then his face filled with delight. "Zhang Ruochen, you really do have quite a collection of good things."