# Chapter 2921: Star Huan Heavenly Venerable's Third Disciple
The demonic qi was bitterly cold and piercing to the bone, causing a layer of ice to form on the narrow passage.
Blackheart Demon Lord walked forward step by step, his robe wide and loose, his black hair flowing loose. Divine runes of rules surged around him, stretching the space. The passage, originally less than two meters wide, suddenly became more than twenty miles wide.
He stared at Zhang Ruochen and the other two, displaying a domineering and ruthless aura, clearly enraged to the extreme.
Luan Eagle True Lord, flapping his wings, saw Blackheart Demon Lord and nearly burst into tears.
If he had known Blackheart Demon Lord was nearby, he should have held out a little longer.
Now it was a disaster. He had just defected to Empress Chi Yao, and an even more formidable figure appeared. How would Blackheart Demon Lord view him?
He might even be killed along with them.
Blackheart Demon Lord's gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen. "That sword strike earlier was not your power."
Zhang Ruochen sensed Blackheart Demon Lord's aura locking onto him, as if ten thousand chains were binding him, but he remained calm and composed. "That's right, it was the power of Sword Ancestor."
"Sword Ancestor? That's impossible!" Blackheart Demon Lord refused to believe it.
If it were truly Sword Ancestor's power, not only would he, Blackheart Demon Lord, have been pierced through and killed by a single sword strike, but even the most powerful ancient gods among the great gods would not be able to withstand it.
Zhang Ruochen smiled faintly, too lazy to explain. "I really can't understand why you still dare to chase after us. Having been struck by Sword Ancestor's sword, your divine soul should have suffered severe damage, right? Has your physical body recovered?"
"Chasing after us is nothing short of seeking death."
Chi Yao swung the Blood-Dripping Sword, severing all of Blackheart Demon Lord's aura in a single stroke.
Immediately, Zhang Ruochen, Bai Qinger, and Luan Eagle True Lord felt much lighter, as if leaping out of a quagmire.
"As expected of Her Majesty the Empress, able to break even a great god's aura with a single sword strike. Her strength is probably not inferior to a peak upper-rank god, or even comparable to a great perfection upper-rank god. Truly a future All Heavens!"
"With Her Majesty's cultivation, even if she can't win today, escaping with us should be no problem."
Luan Eagle True Lord thought to himself, inadvertently glancing at Zhang Ruochen with disdain in his eyes, secretly resolving to destroy the relationship between the Empress and Zhang Ruochen. The Empress's bright future could not be ruined by this freeloader.
Blackheart Demon Lord said, "Zhang Ruochen, do you have a second sword strike?"
"So you thought I only had one sword strike, which is why you dared to chase after us." Zhang Ruochen said.
"Isn't that the case?" Blackheart Demon Lord was extremely confident, continuing, "If you had a second sword strike, why didn't you continue attacking when I was wounded? After a hundred thousand years of cultivation, I have seen every kind of situation. Do you think bluffing can scare me off?"
Although Blackheart Demon Lord's guess was wrong, it wasn't entirely incorrect.
Zhang Ruochen's seven soul swords could only unleash their full power under the most extreme emotional states. If he were to attack with his soul swords now, they would pose no threat to Blackheart Demon Lord at all.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen fall silent, Blackheart Demon Lord curled his lips, decisively struck, and pressed his palm toward the ground.
Demonic qi condensed into thick chains as thick as a bowl, like steel furious dragons, surging along the ground toward Zhang Ruochen and the other two.
Chi Yao's figure flickered, as if shifting positions, appearing at the very front. Holding the Time-Space Chaos Lotus, a vast amount of chaotic qi flew out from the lotus, colliding with the demonic qi. In a brief moment, it actually formed a stalemate.
"The Thirty-Three Heavens is indeed formidable. Great Venerable truly deserves to be called the number one figure in Kunlun throughout the ages."
A demonic seal shot out from Blackheart Demon Lord's palm, like a black sky pressing down toward Chi Yao.
The time-space power of the Time-Space Chaos Lotus was activated, forming a time-space tide that crashed against the demonic seal.
Chi Yao let out a muffled grunt, stepping back one pace, but she also broke the demonic seal. At the same time, the Blood-Dripping Sword transformed into a streak of blood-colored light, evolving into countless sword lights, actively attacking Blackheart Demon Lord.
"Did you teach her both time rules and space rules?" Bai Qinger asked.
Zhang Ruochen changed the subject. "Blackheart Demon Lord is indeed heavily injured, far weaker than before. If we were outside and could use esoterica, he might not be a match for Chi Yao right now."
In front of Bai Qinger, Zhang Ruochen did not address Chi Yao as "Yao Yao" but called her by her name directly.
Just as Chi Yao called Zhang Ruochen by his full name, rather than "Chen Ge," deliberately not acting overly intimate.
The way two people interacted and three people interacted was a very subtle matter.
Here, it wasn't that esoterica couldn't be used, but with the divine venerable substance isolating them, even if esoterica were used, the amount of heaven and earth rules that could be mobilized was very limited.
"Since his divine soul is severely injured, I could try the Seven Souls Horror Dream again." Bai Qinger said.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head at her, not wanting her to take risks. "Leave it to me. I'll use him to test my sword."
"Blackheart Demon Lord!"
Zhang Ruochen merged his spiritual power with sound waves, forming a vibrating force, deliberately attacking Blackheart Demon Lord's divine soul.
At the same time, a cunning gleam appeared in Bai Qinger's beautiful eyes, and her jade finger traced across the bronze chime bells. A series of bell sounds rang out, also striking Blackheart Demon Lord's divine soul.
Blackheart Demon Lord's head throbbed with intense pain, and he nearly fell backward.
How could Zhang Ruochen miss this perfect opportunity? He reached out with his right hand, and flames and sword patterns simultaneously appeared on his arm.
"Swish, swish!"
The Six-in-One Sword Formation, Startling Divine Formation was activated, and dense sword lights flew out from Zhang Ruochen's palm, piercing through the demonic qi with irresistible force.
Blackheart Demon Lord was greatly alarmed and quickly raised his divine realm world, mobilizing the four Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription Divine Stele.
"Bang, bang!"
Even a great god's divine realm world could not withstand it, shattered by the sword lights.
Finally, these sword lights collided with the four Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription Divine Stele, producing one deafening boom after another, forcing Blackheart Demon Lord to retreat continuously.
"Heavenly Demon Blood Burning Art!"
Forced into a corner, Blackheart Demon Lord activated a forbidden art. Ten three-inch-long bloody wounds appeared on his body, and a large amount of blood surged out from within, igniting and transforming into ten rivers of fire flowing around his body.
Chi Yao, who had retreated to the side, saw the stone walls of the passage unable to withstand the divine power of the two colliding, cracking open. A sense of foreboding arose in her heart.
She was about to warn Zhang Ruochen...
"Boom!"
The passage exploded, dust flying, and debris continuously falling.
Zhang Ruochen flew backward, Buddha light appearing on his body, before being caught by Bai Qinger's divine realm world, quickly stabilizing his form.
On the other side, Blackheart Demon Lord flew out from the rubble, six huge bloody holes appearing on his body, his entire body stained red, countless bones broken.
The bloody holes could not heal.
The sword qi of the divine sword invaded his body, continuously destroying his physical form.
Luan Eagle True Lord rushed out from the ruined underground, his eagle eyes nearly falling to the ground, completely unable to believe that Zhang Ruochen could be so powerful, even severely wounding a great god.
Hadn't Zhang Ruochen's martial cultivation been crippled by Qingtian?
How could he be even more powerful than the Empress?
This was truly seeing ghosts!
Zhang Ruochen's calm gaze met Blackheart Demon Lord's cold, heavy eyes, their auras mutually pulling at each other.
But this state did not last long before the two were startled by a long, deep, and vigorous breathing sound. They looked up toward the direction from which the breathing came and saw a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
The stone walls had shattered, the passage had collapsed, and above their heads appeared a starry sky.
A completely unfamiliar starry sky!
Completely different from the starry sky above Xinghuantian, here... a thousand stars in a line!
Countless stars were arranged in a straight line in the starry sky, with no end in sight.
A flame pillar, tens of thousands of miles high, stood in the starry sky, emitting a majestic aura, hotter than any star. An old man, exuding intense corpse qi, was bound by tens of thousands of snake-shaped chains, densely covered with scales.
Each scale bore a divine pattern.
The old man's body was tens of thousands of miles tall. Even a single white hair falling down was like a river filled with corpse qi, containing worlds within.
One hair, nurturing one world.
Standing before him, Zhang Ruochen felt as insignificant as a speck of dust, unable to calm his heart.
Even Blackheart Demon Lord, who had seen countless storms, drew in a cold breath, his face slightly pale. He quickly restrained his demonic qi, afraid of disturbing it. "Zhang Ruochen, cease hostilities. Let's leave this place first."
Luan Eagle True Lord trembled in fear, muttering to himself, "It's over, it's over. How did we come back again!"
But no sound came out.
No one thought about who this old man was, why he was chained here, why there was a starry sky underground, nor did they want to think about whether this old man was alive or dead.
They only wanted to flee this place immediately.
Bai Qinger observed the old man for a long time, especially the facial patterns on his face. Then she looked toward the black divine temple floating above the starry sky, a glint of eagerness appearing in her eyes.
Zhang Ruochen noticed something was wrong with her, knowing she was bold to the point of recklessness. He grabbed her soft, boneless wrist. "What are you trying to do?"
"Do you know who he is?" Bai Qinger asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "No matter who he is, he is not someone we can provoke. I know you fear no danger, but life only comes once. Not every time will you be so lucky."
"He is Star Huan Heavenly Venerable's third disciple, Yu Hun. Look at the facial patterns on his face—it's the character for 'soul'." Bai Qinger said.
When Bai Qinger said the name "Yu Hun," the old man chained to the flame pillar's ears twitched slightly. But his divine body was too massive, and Zhang Ruochen and the others did not notice this at all.
Zhang Ruochen found it hard to believe. "That's impossible! How many tens of thousands of years has it been since Star Huan Heavenly Venerable died? Even if Yu Hun's cultivation was extremely strong, he couldn't have survived until now. Look, although his corpse qi is intense, he is breathing, and the aura he emits is exactly the same as an old corpse ghost."
"Moreover, this is the underground of the Dao field of Star Huan Heavenly Venerable's second disciple, Yu Chen. How could Yu Hun be chained here?"
Bai Qinger said, "It is precisely because Yu Hun is chained here that everything makes sense. Clearly, after the Four Sons Dismemberment, Yu Hun was unwilling to only obtain the Heavenly Venerable's divine body, so he led the gods under his command to attack Yu Chen."
"In that battle, Yu Chen's temple was destroyed, and the gods on both sides fell, buried underground."
"Yu Hun was most likely defeated and thus chained here. But Yu Chen should also have been severely injured, unable to kill Yu Hun. It is very possible that he sat down and passed away in that black divine temple many years ago. Do you know what Yu Chen obtained? It was the Heavenly Venerable's divine source!"
"The Heavenly Venerable's divine source is very likely in that black divine temple."
Zhang Ruochen had heard the story of the Four Sons Dismemberment. He had to admit that Bai Qinger was indeed extremely intelligent. Just by observing the surrounding environment, she had already guessed seven or eight parts of what had happened back then.
Even if she wasn't entirely correct, she was probably not far off.
But she lacked a sense of reverence and was too bold. Even Yu Longxian had suffered calamity, even Cai Yi Shen had been killed and ground down by the old corpse ghost, even Blackheart Demon Lord had fled at the first opportunity, yet she still wanted to search for the Heavenly Venerable's divine source.
This kind of personality—whether it was right or wrong was hard to say.
Zhang Ruochen couldn't help but tap her forehead, as if scolding a little girl. "Nonsense! Even if the Heavenly Venerable's divine source really is in that black divine temple, that place is not something we can barge into with our current cultivation. From now on, you are not allowed to take such risks so easily! Come with me!"
Bai Qinger touched her snow-white forehead. No one had ever scolded her like this before. After all, she was a god who had lived for thousands of years.
But this feeling was wonderful. Although she stared coldly at Zhang Ruochen, she was not angry in her heart. Instead, she felt a warmth, as if that tap had struck into the lake of her heart.
Because Zhang Ruochen was concerned about her safety and did this.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's serious and nervous expression, and recalling the first time she had faced Zhang Ruochen head-on, completely dominating him—back then, she was so proud and looked down on everything.
Thinking of this, Bai Qinger, for some reason, could no longer maintain her aloof demeanor and couldn't help but let out a laugh.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at the old corpse ghost on the flame pillar and said seriously in a low voice, "In such a dangerous place, you can still laugh? Let's go, quickly!"