Chapter 3020: The Death Knell Sounds
The divine battle erupting at Seven Peaks Linked Mountain had sent shockwaves spreading from the moment Zhang Ruochen raised his sword against Mani God. The news alarmed the deities of one hundred thirty-seven small clans within Hundred Clans Royal City.
It must be understood that any small clan able to join Hundred Clans Royal City necessarily had a deity within its ranks. The strength of any such small clan was no different from a realm under the Heavenly Court's command.
Hundred Clans Royal City was a miniature Heavenly Court.
That Hundred Clans Royal City could negotiate terms and contend for benefits with the Ten Clans of Hell and the Destiny Palace naturally meant it possessed extraordinary power. Though it could not compare to the ten great divine cities of the Hell Realm, it was nonetheless a pole of power beneath them.
But at this moment, all the deities within the city were horrified. They emerged from their sacred lands, cave heavens, and divine temples, casting their gazes toward the place within Seven Peaks Linked Mountain where the surging dark power was most intense.
Xue Yao Divine Lord and a white-haired elder clad entirely in a blood robe had just entered the city.
Around them flowed bizarre and unparalleled divine rule patterns. Although worldly Saint realm cultivators passed by in an endless stream beside them—some driving carriages, others carrying swords on their backs—they could not see them, nor could they even touch their bodies.
The world of deities and the mortal world existed within the same world.
Yet they were not in the same world.
The white-haired elder held an iron staff, his blood robe emblazoned with sun and moon divine patterns. His voice was dry and hoarse: "The whole world thought he was finished. That the battle at Xinghuantian was a radiance bestowed by Heavenly Mother, that Heavenly Mother was pitying the descendant of the Great Venerable. But now, only a few decades later, relying on formations, he can already challenge a Great God. How many throughout the ages have been able to do this? Even that Yunshen Daozhu could not do it in his youth. Is Zhang Ruochen truly walking the path of becoming a Formation Tai Shang?"
"Wouldn't it be excellent if the Undying Blood Clan produced a Formation Tai Shang?" Xue Yao Divine Lord said.
The white-haired elder laughed: "I truly envy your Blood Heaven Tribe. It seems that in a few more eons, you will become the greatest tribe of the Undying Blood Clan. No one can contend with Xue Jue for the position of clan leader."
---
Eight Hundred Li Night Rain Sea, Ten Trillion Corpse Burial Ground.
The Yecha Clan's sacred land, "Night Rain Sea," was perpetually dim, filled with vast deathly energy. It occupied eight hundred li of precious territory within Hundred Clans Royal City. Piled bones formed a shocking alternative ocean, with blood flowing and corpse water murky.
"Each one is more arrogant than the last! Great God-level existences actually making a move within the city—do they truly think Hundred Clans Royal City fears them?" A deep, angry voice seemed to come from the end of time and space, causing the entire Night Rain Sea to churn.
A woman with a jade-like face, wearing a blue-and-white divine garment, sat quietly like a secluded orchid within a divine temple in the Night Rain Sea.
She sat within a spatial vortex, cultivating, extremely calm: "The divine battle erupted in the Demon Wolf Clan. Amuer has not yet shown himself, so why are we so impatient? Besides, after those Great Gods of the Darkness Temple arrived at Hundred Clans Royal City, they directly bypassed our three great clans, casually dispatching cultivators from various small clans to help them investigate the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain. It is also a good thing for someone to teach them a lesson. I just did not expect that the one stepping forward would be a junior who only became a deity a hundred years ago."
It must be noted that although one hundred thirty-seven clans had united to establish Hundred Clans Royal City, some small clans had openly or secretly defected to the top-tier great powers of the Hell Realm, greatly weakening the ruling power of the three great clans.
In truth, this was also the Hell Realm's ten great clans, the Destiny Palace, and the Darkness Temple's way of dividing Hundred Clans Royal City, not wanting them to be too unified.
The voice from the end of time and space was full of disdain: "Hmph! What do you mean, a deity for a hundred years? As far as I know, that junior possesses Xumi's old Sundial from back then. He activated it for ten thousand years at Xinghuantian and also refined the Third Elder of Array Destruction Palace into a spiritual power divine pill, thus achieving a breakthrough in his spiritual power. But such forced growth is merely draining his potential."
"Whether it is draining potential or truly having the talent of a Formation Tai Shang, the future will provide the answer. For now, let us watch from the sidelines and see if this junior can truly check the Darkness Temple."
The woman sitting in the divine temple drew circles in the void with her hands, cultivating some unknown Dao method. Her entire being shifted from solid to ethereal, finally disappearing completely from the spatial vortex.
Yet she was indeed still sitting there, absorbing the divine qi from the earth veins.
The voice from the end of time and space said: "Relying on his own strength alone is far from enough. Xinghuantian and Star Heaven Cliff have just fought a battle with the Heavenly Court and likely dare not openly oppose the Darkness Temple. The Blood Absolute Family is even more insignificant before the Darkness Temple."
"If there is an opportunity, we will lend him a hand, push him to the forefront to fight the Darkness Temple, and the Yecha Clan can stay out of it, offending no one." The woman's voice was extremely pleasant, distant and vast, capable of immersing one in illusory dreams.
---
Li Xiao Great God stood atop a sea of dark qi clouds, laughing coldly: "Your Yin Escape Nine Formation is indeed formidable, but it can only achieve self-preservation. I can advance to attack and retreat to escape. If we were to clash in the starry sky, I would only need to shatter space and pull you into the Void World. There, without the sacred qi and divine qi of heaven and earth to draw upon, your formations will soon collapse on their own and cease to function. At that point, killing you would take just one finger!"
"Zhang Ruochen, do you think I would make the same mistake as Second Grade Blood Ancestor? As long as I do not fall into the Yin Escape Nine Formation, with your current spiritual power, you pose no threat to me whatsoever."
Zhang Ruochen withdrew the Yin Escape Nine Formation, his figure straight and tall: "In truth, your cultivation is still a far cry from Second Grade Blood Ancestor's."
"You are seeking death!"
Thunder and lightning roared within the dark divine clouds above Li Xiao Great God's head, revealing his extreme fury at this moment.
"Deng!"
"Deng!"
...
The heavy, murky sound of a bell tolled within Hundred Clans Royal City, its sound waves spreading across thousands of li of city territory.
"The death knell sounds! Another clan emperor has fallen!"
"The bell comes from the Maya Clan's sacred land."
"Such audacity! Who is it? They dare to commit murder again!"
The deities atop the Fourth Peak all released their divine thoughts, probing toward the Maya Clan's sacred land.
Some deities mobilized divine qi, concentrating it in their eyes. Two beams of light, thousands of li long, shot from their pupils, illuminating the land where the Maya Clan's sacred land was located, searching carefully.
In recent days, the death knell had sounded eighteen times.
Whether in the world of deities or among worldly cultivators, all were in an uproar, filled with anger.
A clan emperor was the secular emperor of each clan, often possessing the potential to become a deity.
This was already the eighteenth clan emperor to fall!
The perpetrator had enraged all the deities within Hundred Clans Royal City, yet with so many deities' divine thoughts, they could not detect even a trace of the opponent's aura.
"It is absolutely Qiangu Nüdi! Only she possesses such masterful stealth techniques."
"Let's go! To the Maya Clan!"
Yun Jun waved his arm, and a fiery divine path surged from his palm, spatial veins intersecting, capable of piercing through the formations and divine patterns above Hundred Clans Royal City, reaching the Maya Clan's sacred land directly.
Mani God, Ai Lian Jun, and other divine realm experts stepped onto the fiery divine path.
"She has struck again! Let me see exactly which divine being it is, capable of coming and going without a trace within Hundred Clans Royal City, reaping clan emperors like cutting vegetables."
Zhang Ruochen enveloped Yu Longxian and Han Xue with his spiritual power, flying onto the fiery divine path. In an instant, crossing countless barriers, he arrived at the Maya Clan's sacred land, Thousand Camel Ridge.
As a starry sky giant city where deities stood in abundance, every district and every street of Hundred Clans Royal City was blocked by formations and divine patterns, with formidable defenses. Only a local deity like Yun Jun could open such a divine path.
Thousand Camel Ridge was ten thousand zhang high, shrouded in divine mist, its full form unclear.
Mani God's resentment had not yet dissipated, and he deliberately said: "Boundary Lord Ruochen has formidable spiritual power and certainly surpasses us in perception. I wonder if he can help us find the murderer?"
Many deities of Hundred Clans Royal City had long identified the murderer as Qiangu Nüdi. They did not believe Zhang Ruochen would seriously search, nor did they think he could find anything.
One deity with a horse head said: "The Maya Clan's clan leader is a Taiyi Realm Great God! He himself sits at Thousand Camel Ridge, yet Qiangu Nüdi still managed to infiltrate and kill the clan emperor. For a powerhouse like Qiangu Nüdi, not even a seventy-sixth-level spiritual power deity, let alone an eightieth-level one, could find her."
"Let's go! First, let's examine the Maya Clan clan emperor's corpse and see if it was again killed by Time Sword Art."
Their prejudice against Zhang Ruochen was deep. None of them had a good expression. They abandoned Zhang Ruochen and flew into Thousand Camel Ridge.
Han Xue was not afraid that they were true gods. She wanted to defend the Nüdi, but Zhang Ruochen stopped her.
"Master, why do these people slander the Nüdi? If the Nüdi had truly come to Hundred Clans Royal City, I guarantee they would all be too scared to even speak," Han Xue said.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, silently releasing the invisible Taiji circle, searching inch by inch: "Someone is deliberately diverting their attention to the Nüdi. Ai Lian Jun, why have you not entered Thousand Camel Ridge?"
Ai Lian Jun was the most outstanding genius born in the Yecha Clan this eon. His master, Yu Ling Shen, was an ancient god of the Yecha Clan who had survived three eon calamities.
The last time Zhang Ruochen came to Hundred Clans Royal City, he had seen him several times and was quite impressed.
Ai Lian Jun was heroic and spirited, with a jade-like face and divine bearing, his sideburns three feet long. He said: "The Maya Clan is a major clan within Hundred Clans Royal City, and its clan leader is an ancient Great God. Even if the murderer's stealth technique is superb enough to evade a Great God's perception and enter Thousand Camel Ridge, the clan emperor's death could not escape the Great God's awareness."
Zhang Ruochen said: "Correct! The moment the clan emperor was killed, the Great God must have sensed it."
Ai Lian Jun said: "The murderer could not have gone far. It is very likely they are still hidden within Thousand Camel Ridge. The divine formation of Thousand Camel Ridge has been activated. Perhaps a powerful cultivator could break out from within, but they absolutely could not do so silently."
"So you believe that from now on, the first person to come out will inevitably be the murderer?"
Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes and looked toward the red-leaf-covered mountain path of Thousand Camel Ridge. He saw a bright divine light flying down from the clouds and landing on the ground.
It was the horse-headed deity who had just entered Thousand Camel Ridge with Yun Jun and Mani God.
The horse-headed deity came from the Ghost Horse Clan and was a mid-rank god. He said: "Why is the divine formation not being opened?"
Two Maya Clan Great Saints did not dare offend a true god and quickly opened a three-zhang-long crack of light in the divine formation.
The horse-headed deity walked out of the divine formation, facing Zhang Ruochen and Ai Lian Jun, his expression grave: "As expected, he was killed by Time Sword Art again. Qiangu Nüdi is truly formidable. No wonder she managed to escape from Fu Lu Divine Venerable's grasp back in the Fate Divine Domain. I must immediately return to the Ghost Horse Clan to take command. I take my leave!"
"Hu Ma True God, wait a moment. Let me accompany you to the Ghost Horse Clan. It will be better for us to look out for each other."
Although Ai Lian Jun said this, he blocked the horse-headed deity's path and took out a talisman, mobilizing divine qi to activate it.