Chapter 3004: Invincible Within Eighteen Zhang (Chapter 3)
At the City Lord’s Mansion, the Fire Seed Assembly.
Zhuang Tai’a’s gaze was sharp, devoid of any scholarly air, as he raised his voice: “A spy from the Shura Clan has appeared at the Fire Seed Assembly, undoubtedly with malicious intent. Seize him.”
Shang Hong noticed many pairs of eyes deliberately or inadvertently fixating on him, and he understood what they were thinking. Thus, he acted decisively, executing the Heavenly Desolate Great Seal Technique to suppress Lan Jun.
Lan Jun’s body surged with baleful aura, forming a black Shura cloud above his head. He roared to the sky: “You should know that the Calamity of Quantities is imminent. All your struggles now are futile. Only the Hell Realm can overcome the Calamity of Quantities; only by receiving the blessing of fate can one endure for eternity. Burn my Divine Source, sacrifice to fate, return to dust, and be reborn after death.”
Lan Jun was no weakling; he was a peak Upper-level God. The moment his identity was exposed, he already knew his fate.
Thus, at that time, he was already activating the secret technique to self-destruct his Divine Source, acting decisively without any fear of death.
Even if it were Shang Hong, or even a Great God present, at this moment, they would have already missed the final opportunity to stop him from self-destructing his Divine Source.
Generally speaking, the ability to suppress a god’s self-destruction of their Divine Source relies on the god themselves not wanting to die, harboring hope, and being forced to the last moment before resorting to it.
Therefore, as long as one’s Spiritual Power is strong enough, they can suppress the will to self-destruct the Divine Source.
But Lan Jun’s situation was completely different.
“Damn it!”
Shang Hong saw Lan Jun’s divine body cracking inch by inch, even witnessing his Divine Source fissuring, with divine light radiating out in streaks. His heart sank to the depths, and he realized it was too late to retreat.
The destructive force of a peak Upper-level God self-destructing their Divine Source was unimaginable.
“Whoosh!”
Suddenly, Shang Hong found countless Time Imprint light points appearing around him, as if the entire space-time had frozen.
The Time Imprint light points emerged around the golden chariot, converging toward Lan Jun, coalescing into a massive hand of time. In the palm of that time hand, Lan Jun’s body rapidly withered, aged, decayed, and finally turned into a pile of dry bones and fragments of Divine Source.
The destructive power unleashed by the Divine Source dissipated over the long stretch of time, merging into Shang Hong’s Divine Realm World.
As the chaotic power subsided, the gods in the City Lord’s Mansion finally let out a long sigh of relief.
The self-destruction of a peak Upper-level God’s Divine Source was too terrifying. Even with the powerful defensive divine formations of the City Lord’s Mansion, they still trembled with fear.
Shang Hong bowed to the golden chariot and said, “Thank you, Young Master Lian, for saving my life and bestowing divine power. Having absorbed Lan Jun’s divine power, I will surely break through to the Tai Zhen realm soon.”
“What a pity! Just now, I was distracted elsewhere, allowing Lan Jun to successfully self-destruct his Divine Source. I didn’t expect the power of fate to be so terrifying, making an Upper-level God utterly fearless of death.”
Xuanyuan Lian paused for a moment, then continued, “All gods present who have any connection with Lan Jun need not continue participating in the Fire Seed Assembly. Please, Mr. Zhuang, take them to the military camp outside Doushuai City. Until the divine war on the Starry Sky Battlefield ends, anyone who dares to step out of the camp will be killed without mercy. Shang Hong, you go as well.”
Shang Hong secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That is only right! I had a good personal relationship with Tao Lan and was a Truth Envoy, yet I failed to see through that he was a Shura. Naturally, I cannot escape suspicion. Mr. Zhuang alone may not be able to keep an eye on me; please, Young Master Lian, seal my cultivation.”
“No need! If you dare to flee the camp, I will personally slay you,” Xuanyuan Lian said.
…
“So the Heavenly Fox Grandmother was guarding the Divine King’s Mansion. That explains everything!”
All of Zhang Ruochen’s previous doubts were now resolved.
If a major upheaval occurred at the Fire Seed Assembly, it could lure away Yu the Divine King, but with the Heavenly Fox Grandmother still there, Feng Qi and the gods of the Hell Realm couldn’t get close to the Array Spirit.
They also had to neutralize the Heavenly Fox Grandmother.
How to neutralize her?
By curing the Three Baleful Corpse Poison.
According to Feng Qi’s plan, Zhang Ruochen, as a Bu Tian realm god, would help the Heavenly Fox Grandmother resolve the corpse poison, which would inevitably take a lot of time.
That was exactly the time Feng Qi needed.
In other words, there was no need to guess anymore—Feng Qi was definitely problematic.
Feng Qi was a peak Upper-level God, while Qing Shen was a mid-level Lower-level God. Even with the assistance of formations, she was absolutely no match for him. That was why Zhang Ruochen was so eager to return.
In the guest reception hall of Doushuai City’s City Lord, Luo Jincheng, a divine battle had already erupted.
After Feng Qi arrived and saw no sign of Luo Jincheng for a long time, nor did Qing Shen produce the rubbing scroll of the “Luo Shu,” he realized he had fallen into a trap—that matter had likely been exposed.
So he forcibly tried to leave.
Seeing this, Qing Shen became even more convinced of Zhang Ruochen’s suspicions and immediately activated the formations in the hall to trap Feng Qi.
When Zhang Ruochen arrived, the divine battle in the hall had already ended.
Feng Qi had destroyed all the formations with lightning speed, using Rule Divine Marks to condense a flaming phoenix claw, one zhang long, and gripped Qing Shen’s delicate body within it.
He said coldly, “Speak! How did you find out?”
Qing Shen struggled against the sharp phoenix divine claw, but the tips of the claws still pierced into her body inch by inch, spilling divine blood. Divine flames invaded through the wounds, refining her divine soul.
“Feng Qi, the Divine King treated you like his own son. When you were ostracized by the Phoenix Clan, he passed down the Great Dao to you, helped you step into the divine realm. Aside from not letting you study the ‘Luo Shu,’ his treatment of you was no different from that of Jincheng or Jinshu. Is this how you repay his kindness?”
Qing Shen used her strong will to stay conscious.
Feng Qi’s eyes were already somewhat crazed as he roared, “Tell me quickly, who else knows about this? Is it Luo Jincheng or Luo Jinshu?”
“Pfft!”
A phoenix claw directly pierced through Qing Shen’s chest, and divine flames spread across her entire body.
“Bang!”
The hall’s door was slammed open by Zhang Ruochen with a single palm strike.
“Feng Qi, do you think you can bully someone from my Goddess Twelve Pavilions?”
Zhang Ruochen strode forward, walking straight toward Feng Qi.
“Who are you?”
Even though Feng Qi knew that the one approaching was the Yellow Ox Daoist, his instincts told him this was no mere Yellow Ox Daoist, which is why he couldn’t help but ask that question.
“You don’t need to know.”
A Taiji circle appeared around Zhang Ruochen’s body, crashing into Feng Qi.
Feng Qi was a peak Upper-level God, standing at the top tier below the Great Gods. But struck by the Taiji circle, it felt like a divine sea crashing against him—an unstoppable, overwhelming force that sent his body flying.
The phoenix claw formed from Rule Divine Marks dissipated, and Qing Shen’s bloodied body fell from midair.
Feng Qi’s blood and Qi churned within him, his divine energy inexplicably thrown into chaos. Staring at Zhang Ruochen’s gaunt face, he was utterly shaken, unable to muster any will to resist.
“Whoosh!”
A pair of phoenix wings appeared on his back, and he activated the Phoenix Clan’s speed-type divine ability, “Colorful Phoenix Returns.” Instantly, the hall was filled with countless afterimages of Feng Qi.
These afterimages turned into hundreds or thousands of streaks of light, rushing out in all directions.
“It’s useless. Do you think you can still escape today?”
Within eighteen zhang, Zhang Ruochen was confident he was invincible below the Great God level, and no god could escape.
His arm moved like lightning, like a polar ray, grabbing out and seizing one of Feng Qi’s wings. Instantly, all of Feng Qi’s divine afterimages in the hall dissipated.
Zhang Ruochen raised his foot and stomped down on Feng Qi’s back, slamming him heavily to the ground. The sound of divine bones shattering and breaking rang out.
At the same time, with a flash of blood light, Zhang Ruochen tore off the wing on Feng Qi’s back with his bare hands.
Feng Qi had never encountered such a terrifying enemy. He was utterly powerless to resist. Though he was honored as a phoenix, he now felt as weak as a quail, suppressed with a mere wave of the hand.
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his foot, righted the divine iron dragon throne that had been knocked over by the surge of divine energy, and sat down. “Speak. Where is the Heavenly God Sacrificer?”
Just now, Zhang Ruochen had probed Feng Qi’s Divine Realm World and found no trace of the Heavenly God Sacrificer.
Feng Qi’s body was immobilized, sealed within space. He stared at Zhang Ruochen in disbelief, muttering, “Impossible, impossible. How could you be him? Who exactly are you?”
Qing Shen slowly walked over, looking at Zhang Ruochen with grateful eyes, and said, “I owe the Goddess Twelve Pavilions another life.”
Earlier, when Zhang Ruochen had said, “Do you think you can bully someone from my Goddess Twelve Pavilions,” it had stirred a long-lost, warm memory in her, reminding her of the White Queen who had rescued her from suffering back then.
Moreover, the combat power Zhang Ruochen had displayed truly stunned her. She couldn’t find words to describe the shock in her heart.
Was this the strength of the new City Lord of the First Goddess City?
Qing Shen glared at Feng Qi, her eyes flashing with cold light. “Let’s just perform a Soul Search directly. I’m worried time is running out.”
“Alright, since he won’t speak, this is the only way,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Although forcibly performing a Soul Search on a peak Upper-level God with his current cultivation was extremely risky, there was no time to interrogate Feng Qi further. He had to give it a try.
Based on Feng Qi’s performance when fighting the Hell Realm gods in the sea forbidden zone, he seemed to have a personality that favored avoiding danger, so his will might not be too strong.
But Feng Qi displayed a will far beyond Zhang Ruochen’s expectations, roaring, “I am not wrong, I am not wrong! Dying here is worth it… Master…”
Just as Zhang Ruochen’s hand was about to press down on his head.
He saw Feng Qi’s body rapidly decay, his skin turning black, oozing foul, rotting pus.
The god’s powerful life force was extinguished in an instant.
“It’s the Three Baleful Corpse Poison!”
Zhang Ruochen’s pupils sharply contracted. He retreated swiftly, waving his sleeve to solidify the space inch by inch, preventing the Three Baleful Corpse Poison from spreading. He grabbed Qing Shen’s wrist and pulled her back to the entrance of the hall.
…
The reason for the three chapters today is not to beg for monthly votes, nor has Feitian Yu gone crazy! Nor did I split two chapters into three—each chapter is three thousand words.
It’s because during last night’s live-streamed writing session, I foolishly agreed to a reader’s suggestion to compete in a PK with a female streamer, promising an extra chapter if I won. I was too hasty! The PK lasted only five minutes, but I had to work hard for two hours to write.
Also, thanks to the readers who helped with the PK last night. Unfortunately, I was too busy watching the female streamer to notice who sent the gifts.