Chapter 2940: The Old Corpse’s Ferocious Might
The pillar of flame stood upon the earth, its radiance blindingly intense, the terrifying heat melting the soil. Cultivators within the Divine Maiden City, peering through the barrier of the formation light screen toward that direction, saw the sky turn golden, a towering figure flickering in and out of view.
Across the entire star domain, this bright light could be seen.
Within the Void World, beneath the Blood Leaf Parasol Tree, Feng Caiyi opened her eyes.
The patriarch of the Undying Blood Clan, standing on a rocky dead star, stroked his sparse beard on his chin, his two eyeballs bulging out.
Seeing the old fellow like this, Xue Jue War God was quite satisfied. "Now do you understand why I value this kid so much? He always brings surprises, constantly challenging his own limits, and then breaking them."
The Undying Blood Clan patriarch said gravely, "With seven soul swords, this child can already stand among the strong of the universe."
"Isn't that obvious? That Sword God is the number one strong of the Sword God Realm, and the Nine-Headed Dragon God is the true ruler of the Western Dragon Clan. To be able to spar with them will surely make his name resound across the cosmos and look down upon all the gods under heaven." Xue Jue War God was proud, somewhat smug.
The Undying Blood Clan patriarch nodded. "To have mastered such powerful strength and to be able to wield it well—it's hard to believe this kid has been cultivating for less than ten thousand years."
"A thousand years only," Xue Jue War God said.
The Undying Blood Clan patriarch knew that Zhang Ruochen had obtained the Sundial. On the surface, he seemed to have cultivated for only a thousand years, but the actual time spent in cultivation was far more than that.
But there was no point in arguing.
The Undying Blood Clan patriarch said, "However, the power he has summoned right now exceeds what he can bear."
Xue Jue War God restrained his delight, deep worry in his heart.
---
Within the gray death qi, the evil divine corpses all kowtowed and paid homage to the pillar of flame.
The malevolent aura on them grew even heavier.
Zhang Ruochen, standing atop the pillar of flame, was not faring well. The "Ming" token was frantically devouring his spiritual power. Just as the Undying Blood Clan patriarch had said, the power he now controlled had exceeded what he could bear.
But he had to keep supporting it, buying time for Bai Qinger.
The Heavenly Court gods present had only been stunned at the very beginning. They quickly noticed that Zhang Ruochen was rapidly weakening. With his seventy-fourth-level spiritual power, he would likely burn out in moments.
The human head at the center of the Nine-Headed Dragon God smiled, its voice spreading across the Divine Maiden City: "A moth has no offensive capability at all. But when it ignites itself, the flame it creates can hurt others. Yet the flame is only a momentary brightness; soon it will turn to ashes."
Blood Butcher, hiding under a tree by the riverbank, looked at Zhang Ruochen on the pillar of flame. It was as if he had finally made a major decision, his gaze shifting to a nearby ruin.
That ruin was several thousand meters in diameter, with a large pit at its center, surrounded by towering, arched buildings.
Within the pit, sword qi was dense, divine light awe-inspiring.
Earlier, Yu Yao had been pierced through by the Sword God's divine sword, falling into the pit and never getting up again.
Blood Butcher transformed into a beam of divine light and charged into the pit, quickly finding Yu Yao lying in a pool of blood. She was severely wounded, her flesh mangled, and the sword qi of the divine sword suppressed her self-healing.
"If it weren't for Zhang Ruochen, I wouldn't be taking this risk."
Blood Butcher took a step forward. The sword qi lingering around Yu Yao sensed his presence and transformed into a torrent of sword qi, surging toward him.
Blood Butcher was prepared. His blood wings spread open, and he turned to flee.
Just as Blood Butcher lured the sword qi away, Yu Yao, lying in the pool of blood at the bottom of the pit, suddenly opened her eyes.
In midair over the Divine Maiden City, Blood Butcher screamed as countless sword qi pierced through his body, blood gushing out. He plummeted straight down, crashing into a lake.
He had known that the residual force of the Sword God's strike was powerful, but he hadn't expected it to be this strong.
The Sword God was the first to sense the disturbance in the Divine Maiden City. Transforming into a streak of sword light, he flew straight toward the city.
Zhang Ruochen stomped hard on the ground. From beneath the pillar of flame, a rotting corpse hand burst out of the earth, reaching into the sky and slapping toward the Sword God.
The Sword God had long sensed an extraordinary power fluctuation beneath the pillar of flame.
Feeling the terrifying force of the corpse hand, he quickly changed his flight path, attempting to enter the city from another direction.
Chi Xingtian's voice rang out above the Sword God's head, each word like thunder: "With me, Xue Jue War God, here, who dares to enter the city?"
A Heavenly Demon phantom appeared, towering between heaven and earth, wielding a battle axe, and slashed straight down at the Sword God.
The Sword God swung his sword, cleaving through the battle axe and piercing the Heavenly Demon phantom, but his momentum was halted, and he landed on the ground. A Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription stele then pressed down upon him.
He stood upright, his sword clashing against the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription stele. Divine power radiated outward like a tidal wave.
Fortunately, Xinghuantian was the ancient land of the Heavenly Venerable, and the space around the Divine Maiden City was stable. Otherwise, this single strike alone would have caused a large-scale collapse of an entire great world.
Chi Xingtian had already obtained the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription stele; there was no real need for him to continue participating in this battle. Moreover, he saw the Heavenly Court's conquest of Xinghuantian as a good thing.
But he had promised Zhang Ruochen, and he would never break his word.
Chi Xingtian might be unreasonable, but he always kept his promises.
Chi Xingtian said, "Your cultivation is not bad; you're a rare opponent. And you two, come at me together. Today, I'll take on four."
"Take on four? I alone am enough to defeat you."
The Sword God shook his arm, dragging out a crescent-shaped sword light that sent the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription stele flying. In the blink of an eye, he brought his sword down vertically, straight at Chi Xingtian's head.
The Nine-Headed Dragon God and Array Extermination Third Elder naturally sensed that Yu Yao had awakened and knew that the Sword God was deliberately going all out to block Xue Jue War God for them.
"It seems the plan to wear Zhang Ruochen to death has failed. We'll have to take the initiative. Let's see how he can hold the Divine Maiden City."
The Nine-Headed Dragon God knew the corpse hand underground was not to be trifled with and chose not to engage in close combat. From all nine mouths, he spewed divine fire. The flames, like giant waves in an ocean, were reddish-gold, forming a thousand-mile wave of fire.
Where the divine fire passed, the soil vaporized and space twisted.
"Swoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen spread his arms. Under the mobilization of the Wuji Divine Dao, the power of heaven and earth continuously converged into his body.
His body burned like a torch.
The earth cracked even more violently. Half of the old corpse's body burst out from underground, its murderous aura soaring to the sky. Its divine body was no longer over ten thousand miles tall as it had been underground, but its head was still as large as a divine mountain, its corpse qi capable of corroding all things in the world.
Seeing the half of the old corpse's divine body on the ground and the terrifying aura emanating from it, the Nine-Headed Dragon God's expression shifted repeatedly.
On the distant city wall, Yu Yao's bloodied figure reappeared. Pointing to the sky, she unleashed her spiritual power, reactivating the Divine Maiden City's city-protecting grand formation. Formation inscription patterns emerged across millions of miles of mountains and rivers outside the city.
The divine fire wave spewed by the Nine-Headed Dragon God was blocked by the city-protecting grand formation, unable to spread into the city.
"Boom!"
"Boom, rumble!"
...
The old corpse walked underground, rapidly approaching the Nine-Headed Dragon God.
The Nine-Headed Dragon God's body radiated 1,872 divine lights, countless rule divine patterns flowing over the lights as he retreated swiftly. "Zhang Ruochen, you still dare to persist? Do you know that death is very close to you now?"
Zhang Ruochen swallowed an Eon Sacred Medicine to replenish his continuously depleting spiritual power. "I only know that death is closer to you."
Though his spiritual power was being consumed massively, his spiritual will remained unbroken as he held on desperately.
Earlier, when he thought he had reached his limit, the power of the Divine Wood Heart and the Buddha Relic hidden deep within his body rapidly released, beginning to fully merge with him, causing his spiritual power to surge.
Since that was the case, he had to hold on even more, even if it cost him his life.
The old corpse's palm contained an unfathomably strange power, like a five-fingered world. No matter how fast the Nine-Headed Dragon God retreated, he couldn't escape and was struck by the palm.
"Bang, bang..."
A series of explosions.
Over a thousand divine lights were shattered.
The Nine-Headed Dragon God's face changed in shock. "Whose corpse is this? How can it still possess such terrifying power after death? Could it be the legendary Heavenly Venerable's divine body?"
"Boom!"
The old corpse's second palm came down, shattering all of the Nine-Headed Dragon God's protective divine lights into specks of light rain. It slammed the Nine-Headed Dragon God, who had been flying in midair, down to the ground, divine blood spilling from his body.
Array Extermination Third Elder had initially wanted to assist the Nine-Headed Dragon God, but seeing the old corpse's ferocity, he immediately abandoned that thought and turned to fly toward the altar they had built earlier.
Too terrifying.
Just an old corpse, yet its combat power was horrifying to the extreme. Every palm strike seemed capable of shattering a piece of the sky, beating a Tai Xu realm great god like the Nine-Headed Dragon God as if he were a toy.
It was practically like an Infinite Realm overlord.
"Nine-Headed Dragon God, don't run. I'm just a thousand-year-old ant. How can a Dragon God be scared into fleeing by an ant?" Zhang Ruochen's seven orifices were bleeding, his skin cracking with blood lines, but his battle intent boiled, murderous aura surging.
The Nine-Headed Dragon God was burning with rage, wanting nothing more than to crush Zhang Ruochen with one claw.
But the old corpse's third palm struck down, shattering two of his dragon heads into two clouds of blood mist, dragon bones turning to powder. The power was simply unstoppable.
In the starry sky, the Hell Realm army was in an uproar.
"Has Zhang Ruochen summoned some ancient god king? He's completely overwhelming the Nine-Headed Dragon God." A Rakshasa Clan god exclaimed in astonishment and disbelief.
Luo Yan Great Emperor's true form stepped out from the void, imposing and majestic, cursing, "Summon an ancient god king? If god kings could be summoned like that, why would anyone bother cultivating? You're daydreaming all day!"
Luo Sha was overjoyed and immediately went to greet him. "Father, you've finally arrived! Should we attack Xinghuantian immediately to save brother?"
Although Zhang Ruochen was currently controlling the old corpse, beating even a strongman like the Nine-Headed Dragon God into retreat, Luo Sha could see that Zhang Ruochen couldn't hold on much longer. His divine soul and spiritual power were likely nearly exhausted, and his physical body was about to split apart. She didn't want Zhang Ruochen to die.
Luo Yan Great Emperor said, "Don't rush! To resolve the crisis in Xinghuantian, we must first deal with the problem of the God-Defying Clan. And to solve the God-Defying Clan's problem, we need to invite a sufficiently influential figure. It all depends on whether Wuqing Zong's side is successful."
Luo Yan Great Emperor and Wuqing Zong had deep ties with the God-Defying Clan from 300,000 years ago. That was why they both sympathized with White Queen and had looked after her over the years.
Now that White Queen had fallen and the God-Defying Clan was in imminent danger, the two of them naturally would not stand idly by.