Chapter 3025: The Three Great Gods of Darkness
Ai Lianjun said, "Who says otherwise? If the Ice King hadn't imprisoned himself on Ice King Star, he would already be the Hall Master of the Undying Divine Temple. A powerhouse of that level—the Yaksha Clan cannot afford to offend."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze turned peculiar. "He really went to patrol the Yaksha Clan's ancestral realm?"
Ai Lianjun, who prided himself on being exceptionally intelligent, found himself utterly helpless against the Butcher of Heaven and Earth Emperor. "Butcher Tian went to the Yaksha Clan's ancestral realm, specifically barging into various forbidden grounds, entering and leaving the divine temples of various gods as if they were his own home. Seeing any valuable treasures, he simply took them. Now, the gods of the Yaksha Clan are all on edge, terrified he might pay them a visit."
"A bandit! Shameless! Poor Ice King, a hero of his generation, yet he spawned such a degenerate." Zhang Ruochen stamped his foot in righteous indignation.
Ai Lianjun said, "It wouldn't be much if Butcher Tian only took some treasures. But he has settled down in the ancestral realm, showing no signs of leaving. The clan leader personally asked him what he wanted, but he refused to say and even berated the clan leader in a fit of temper."
Zhang Ruochen fumed, "The Yaksha Clan is only tolerating him out of respect for the Ice King. Don't worry, in a few days, when I go to the Yaksha Clan's ancestral realm, I'll get to the bottom of this and find out what he really wants!"
"What? Realm Lord Ruochen doesn't intend to go to the Yaksha Clan's ancestral realm right now?" Ai Lianjun asked.
Zhang Ruochen pointed to the White Feather Peacock Sacred Carriage. "The person inside said they want to help me elevate my spiritual power a bit more first. After all, our plan is of great importance and cannot afford any mistakes—the stronger our strength, the better."
With that, he entered the White Feather Peacock Sacred Carriage.
"Is raising spiritual power that easy? Could the person in the carriage be that ancient existence on Xinghuantian with spiritual power reaching the ninetieth rank?" Ai Lianjun gazed at the White Feather Peacock Sacred Carriage and bowed deeply.
...
A crimson metallic divine ship, three hundred miles long, traveled through the universe at a speed of sixty thousand miles per second, landing on a rocky planet at the edge of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain.
Lixiao Great God, with his hundred-zhang-tall skeletal body, descended from the divine ship and strode directly toward a magnificent temple on the planet.
From the crimson metallic divine ship, saint-level cultivators of various minor clans continuously disembarked and gathered on the planet.
Rain Master was a top-tier expert of the Spirit God Hall of the Darkness Temple. After the Demon Scorpion Spirit God died on Xinghuantian, she became the second-strongest in the Spirit God Hall, second only to its master, Wu Yue.
The Spirit God Hall was personally founded by Divine Master Wu Yue, aiming to cultivate spiritual power cultivators for the Darkness Temple.
Although it had been established for a short time and was far from comparable to the other halls of the Darkness Temple, Divine Master Wu Yue's influence was astonishing, and the Spirit God Hall now boasted a wealth of talents.
Rain Master's spiritual power had reached the seventy-eighth rank, and she was Divine Master Wu Yue's senior disciple. She wore a loose black robe, held a withered wooden staff, and her face was invisible—only a mass of mist seemed to fill the robe.
Another great god was present in the temple: Frost City Demon, the Darkness Temple's foremost sword dao expert, who wielded the divine artifact "Darkness Divine Sword."
When Lixiao Great God entered, he could not see Frost City Demon's true form, only a ten-zhang-tall black light sword standing before the divine throne at the temple's highest point, radiating a formidable aura.
Rain Master's voice rang out with cold sarcasm: "I heard you clashed with Zhang Ruochen at Hundred Clans Royal City and were defeated by his formation?"
Lixiao Great God snorted heavily: "Where did that rumor come from? I was not defeated! I only made a move to test his strength."
"A dignified great god, forced back by a fledgling junior—isn't that shameful enough? If that's not a defeat, what is?" Rain Master said.
Lixiao Great God fumed: "The Yin Escape Nine Formation suppressed Second Armor Blood Ancestor. I'm not boosting Zhang Ruochen's morale to diminish our own—even you, Rain Master, would have trouble if you fell into the Yin Escape Nine Formation."
Rain Master said, "With Zhang Ruochen's seventy-sixth-rank spiritual power, he thinks he can contend with me? I've already found a way to break that mere Yin Escape Nine Formation. Let me tell you plainly, I came here this time to cut off Zhang Ruochen's head and present it to my master as a birthday gift."
"Stop your bickering!"
From the black light sword above, Frost City Demon's voice rang out: "Lixiao's probing of Zhang Ruochen was correct. That boy inherited the seven soul swords of the Sword Ancestor—his strength cannot be underestimated."
Lixiao Great God said, "Unfortunately, he repaired the Yin Escape Nine Formation and didn't force him to use his soul swords. It's hard to judge under what circumstances he can employ them."
"I have some idea about that."
Frost City Demon said, "According to the notes left by the Night Sword Emperor, the so-called soul swords are the seven human souls, fused into seven different emotions: sorrow, love, desire, anger, joy, disgust, and fear. The stronger the emotion, the greater the power unleashed by the sword dao. However, even with the Night Sword Emperor's ability, he spent his entire life only theorizing this—he never created a cultivation method for the soul swords."
Rain Master said, "So, if we launch a surprise attack and kill him in one blow, we wouldn't need to fear his soul swords at all?"
Lixiao Great God let out a long laugh: "For spiritual power gods, the weakest point is the physical body. A single hit, and they're dead for sure."
"If we're to ambush him, Rain Master is the best choice. Your spiritual power far surpasses his, allowing you to evade his perception."
Frost City Demon added, "Zhang Ruochen is a minor matter. Once he enters the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain, he's just a small prey of ours. What we truly need to be wary of are the sword dao experts from the Yaksha Clan and the Heavenly Court. Just now, I received news that the aura of a sword dao god from the Radiant Divine Temple was detected in the starry sky. I must go immediately to deal with them first."
"Swoosh!"
The ten-zhang-long black light sword flew out of the temple, shooting straight into the cosmic starry sky, leaving a dense web of spatial cracks in its wake.
...
Zhang Ruochen was, of course, uneasy about the Yaksha Clan. He knew that cooperating with them was like courting a tiger—they might even stab him in the back. So, he drove the carriage to the Demon Wolf Clan for another visit.
He had considerable trust in the Demon Wolf Clan.
On the third day, when Zhang Ruochen arrived at the Yaksha Clan again, his spiritual power had already reached the peak of the seventy-sixth rank, with the medicinal power of the spiritual power divine pill continuing to ferment within him.
Although Ai Lianjun's cultivation was far inferior to Zhang Ruochen's, he could still sense a clear change in his temperament and aura. His heart tightened, and he quickly stepped forward to greet him, asking, "Why has Realm Lord Ruochen come alone? Where is that senior?"
"The senior has his own matters to attend to. If dealing with a few great gods of the Darkness Temple still requires his intervention, then I'm unworthy of being a realm lord. Let's go—to the Yaksha Clan's ancestral realm." Zhang Ruochen said.
Passing through the space teleportation array of Night Rain Sea and jumping through space wormholes, before long, Zhang Ruochen and Ai Lianjun arrived at the Yaksha Clan's ancestral realm.
Standing on the ground, they looked up.
Half the sky was filled with brilliant starlight.
The other half was pitch black.
This was a unique sight of the Yaksha Clan's ancestral realm, as it was close enough to the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain.
Ai Lianjun took out a star map imprinted on a scroll, unfurled it, and explained, "Since ancient times, the Yaksha Clan has never stopped exploring the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain. From this direction, we pushed inward and found a path three thousand million steps deep. Beyond that, we haven't ventured."
The "steps" here clearly referred to divine steps.
One step equaled one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred miles.
Three thousand million steps was roughly four trillion miles.
"Inside the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain, there is almost no danger. The most dangerous part is its darkness and the interference of dense dark rules on a cultivator's spiritual power and divine soul, making it easy to get lost inside."
"However, the celestial bodies within the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain are different from the outside—they don't keep moving but remain stationary. It's by using these celestial bodies as reference points that we were able to explore a three-thousand-million-step path and return without getting lost."
Zhang Ruochen thought to himself, The Yaksha Clan must know some secrets unknown to the outside world, otherwise, why would they expend such massive manpower and resources to explore the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain?
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen suspected that this star map was likely incomplete—they wouldn't show everything to an outsider like him.
The Yaksha Clan's exploration of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain probably extended much further.
The ironic thing was that they had spent so much effort exploring to a depth of three thousand million steps, yet they never realized that at the very edge of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain, there was a Sword South Realm.
He wondered what expression the Yaksha Clan's gods had when Sword South Realm first emerged.
Ai Lianjun pointed to a spot on the star map and said, "Here, our Yaksha Clan named it the Star Fragment Bowl, located five hundred thousand steps from the edge of the Dark Great Triangle. If we set a trap here, even a great god-level divine war would go undetected by the outside world. The vast darkness would smooth out the fluctuations of divine power."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Setting a trap would probably take quite some time, wouldn't it?"
"Actually, we don't need to wait any longer. We're only missing Realm Lord Ruochen to lure the Darkness Temple's gods into the trap." Ai Lianjun said.
Zhang Ruochen understood—the Yaksha Clan had long been prepared. Setting up such a trap, he wondered who they intended to harm.
He would have to be cautious, lest he fall into the pit himself.
"Swoosh!"
A message light talisman flew into Ai Lianjun's hand.
After reading its contents, Ai Lianjun's expression changed. "Please, Realm Lord Ruochen, come with me. Butcher Tian is about to break into Ancient Ink Sea."
"What is Ancient Ink Sea?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Ai Lianjun said, "That is where two of our Yaksha Clan's ancestors are in closed-door death seclusion. If they are disturbed and fail to recognize Butcher Tian's identity, they might kill him. Wouldn't that trigger a war between the Yaksha Clan and Ice King Star?"
Zhang Ruochen's heart also raced. He hadn't expected Xiao Hei to be so troublesome.
When he had sent Xiao Hei to the Yaksha Clan earlier, it was only to have him set things up in advance, preparing for the exploration of the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain. He never told him to come and throw his weight around, causing trouble.
The Yaksha Clan's ancestors were Infinite Realm existences. It was said they had been severely injured in the divine war a hundred thousand years ago and had been in seclusion recovering ever since. If they were disturbed, the consequences would be dire.