Chapter 3151: Putuo Ancient Buddha
Star Heaven Cliff had vanished, clearly both the Star Sea Angler and the Old Woodcutter had marched northward.
However, the Devourer God Insects had been brought to Xinghuantian by Xu Wenzhi.
The Devourer God Insects had already evolved to the fifth generation, and, perhaps having acquired the terrifying reproductive ability of the Red Crow Tree, their numbers had now exploded. Released from the coffin, they flew in the sky like a crimson cloud of insects.
After consulting Xu Wenzhi about many secrets and meticulously examining the mountain of intelligence information piled up in the Goddess Twelve Pavilions, Zhang Ruochen finally set off for the Starry Sky Battlefield with Yu Ling Shen.
Zhang Ruochen had altered his appearance and features, becoming ordinary and unremarkable, suppressing his aura to the Great Saint level.
Yu Ling Shen wore a purple star-moon veil that could conceal her appearance and aura, disguising herself as a False God, yet her temperament remained seductive.
"The Giant Spirit Civilization has a divine medicine called Purple Orchid. When this medicine crossed the Eon Calamity, a purple aura spread for a hundred thousand miles, and the medicinal fragrance filled the entire civilized world, impossible to conceal," Zhang Ruochen said.
Yu Ling Shen said, "The Giant Spirit Civilization was destroyed by Void Heaven. That day, the entire civilized world was cleaved into a dozen or more fragments by a single sword strike. In that sword slash, more than half of the realm's living beings exploded into blood mist."
When the Starry Sky Defense Grand Formation of the Starry Sky Defense Line and the Giant Spirit Civilization's Realm-Protecting Grand Formation were breached by the Four Yang Heavenly Lord, how could a civilized world of an ancient civilization withstand the attack of a Heaven-level powerhouse?
But it had to be said, that old man Void was indeed monstrously strong.
After all, the Giant Spirit Civilization must have had many gods guarding it, even Boundless Realm gods, yet they still couldn't withstand his single sword strike.
Zhang Ruochen sighed, "In the eyes of Heaven-level powerhouses, all living beings are like ants. Ordinary gods in their eyes are probably not much better than ants."
Yu Ling Shen deeply agreed. Facing a powerhouse like Void Heaven, only a prodigy like Zhang Ruochen, or a god with significant connections, could negotiate terms with him.
She said, "The Heavenly Beginning Heavenly Lord's sacrifice of his life bought the gods of the Giant Spirit Civilization a chance to escape. They took away some world fragments, and many of the Giant Spirit Civilization's living beings survived, retreating behind the second Starry Sky Defense Line. If the Purple Orchid is among those world fragments, we will have no chance to seize it."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Don't worry about that. I've already reviewed the intelligence from the Goddess Twelve Pavilions. The Giant Spirit Civilization has five world fragments that couldn't be taken away and remain on the Starry Sky Battlefield. On one of those fragments sits the Giant Spirit Divine Temple, and a large number of Divine Realm powerhouses from both sides have rushed there."
An ancient civilization ranked in the top ten must possess immense strength and profound heritage.
As the main divine temple of this civilization, even Heaven-level powerhouses would be tempted by it. The treasures it contained were unimaginable. If the Boundless Realm powerhouses hadn't marched north, how could ordinary gods have a chance to touch it?
Yu Ling Shen said, "Is the Purple Orchid in the Giant Spirit Divine Temple?"
"No, it's on another world fragment," Zhang Ruochen said.
Arriving at the starry domain where the Starry Sky Battlefield was located, the scene was one of destruction and ruin, with broken planets, burning giant stone fragments, corpses, and broken weapons visible everywhere.
Teams of Saint Realm cultivators flew through the void, cleaning up the battlefield.
A majestic ghost ship escorted a large number of towering Giant Spirit Clan members, flying towards the Shura Star Pillar Realm.
War always brings destruction, leaving behind a scene of devastation.
In this starry domain, Zhang Ruochen sensed several Divine Realm powerhouses. He and Yu Ling Shen suppressed their auras and slowly flew towards a world fragment of the Giant Spirit Civilization.
On the way, they encountered many spatial holes, filled with the residual divine power of Heaven-level powerhouses, which would take ten thousand years to completely dissipate.
The so-called world fragment was over seventy million miles long, more than a hundred times larger than an ordinary star, and could accommodate a trillion cultivators without feeling crowded.
The gods of the Heavenly Court and Hell seemed to have reached some tacit understanding, not engaging in divine warfare within the world fragment.
After all, doing so would destroy all the resources, treasures, and living beings within it. Neither side wanted to fight a bloody battle only to end up with a barren desert.
Only Saint Realm cultivators entered the realm.
Outside the world fragment, divine power fluctuations were intense, with gods from both sides engaged in fierce magical combat.
Their cultivation levels weren't too high; none were in the Grand Void Realm.
"Grand Void Realm gods have probably all gone to compete for the Giant Spirit Divine Temple," Yu Ling Shen said.
"Perfect, that saves us a lot of trouble."
Half an hour later, Zhang Ruochen and Yu Ling Shen, evading the perception of the gods, descended upon a sea area within the world fragment.
The divine battle in the outer heavens stirred the tides of the sea.
Waves surged a hundred zhang high, and a fierce wind howled.
"This is the sea area. According to Xu Wenzhi, the Purple Orchid should be growing on an island called Cloud Cliff Island. The island has a large amount of divine soil, nurturing countless sacred medicines."
Zhang Ruochen released the Yin-Yang Taiji Seal, spreading it outward to sense carefully, and his expression changed slightly.
"What's wrong?" Yu Ling Shen asked.
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen executed the Great Space Teleportation, appearing at the bottom of the sea with Yu Ling Shen.
At the bottom of the sea stood a high, flat platform, as if carved by a sword, very smooth.
Yu Ling Shen's heart sank. She sighed, "Cloud Cliff Island has been taken. We were ultimately too late."
Zhang Ruochen landed on the platform, which was a thousand miles long and had faint residual divine power. Using the Heart of Truth to sense it, he said, "It was taken not long ago. There are residual traces of Buddhist divine power."
Yu Ling Shen said, "Cloud Cliff Island must have been a very secret place in the Giant Spirit Civilization. The one who took it is most likely a god of the Giant Spirit Civilization. It should be Putuo, one of the six Grand Void Realm Great Gods of the Giant Spirit Civilization and a disciple of Yuan Yi Ancient Buddha of the Western Buddha Realm. Should we pursue?"
Yu Ling Shen knew that Zhang Ruochen had ties to the Buddhist sect, and given his nature, he likely had sympathy for the Giant Spirit Civilization.
If the divine medicine was needed to cross the Eon Calamity for Xue Jue War God or Xue Hou, Zhang Ruochen might have pursued and seized it without hesitation. But for her, Yu Ling Shen, he might not do so.
Zhang Ruochen, who was sensing and calculating, suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Such strong ghostly aura! It's the aura of Xue Li from Fengdu Ghost City."
...
Xue Li and Mo Fei were two Grand Void Realm Great Gods of Fengdu Ghost City.
Above their heads floated a ghost banner covered in blood runes, completely concealing their auras as they stealthily followed behind a monk in plain clothes.
They chased him all the way out of this starry domain!
Mo Fei's divine body was like a skull the size of a house, floating in a dense cloud of ghostly energy. He laughed, "We're far enough away now. We shouldn't be sensed by the Heavenly Court's Great Gods. Should we make our move?"
"Although we have the Blood Inscription Banner, we still need to finish this quickly."
Xue Li was cautious. He spat out a mouthful of ghostly aura.
The ghostly aura surged out like a black river of Yin, pouring into the Blood Inscription Banner.
"Hua!"
The Blood Inscription Banner's blood light surged, becoming several thousand miles long, transforming into a blood-red sky that enveloped the monk in plain clothes.
The monk sensed the danger, looked up, his gaze solemn, and circulated his Buddhist Qi. He struck out with a palm, intending to shatter space and escape into the Void World.
"Boom!"
The space was as hard as rock, revealing dense blood runes that instead knocked the monk back several steps.
"It's useless. The Blood Inscription hides the sky, the ghost banner is like a cage. Putuo, where do you think you can still flee?" The skull flew out, its two eyes blood-red, countless Yin souls dancing around it.
Xue Li emerged from another direction, a ghost city floating above his head, Yin energy forming a sea beneath his feet. He said, "Putuo Ancient Buddha, you are a Grand Void Great God of the Giant Spirit Civilization. Why aren't you guarding the Giant Spirit Divine Temple? What were you doing on that world fragment? Could there be a treasure on that fragment precious enough for a Grand Void Realm Great God to personally retrieve?"
"Amitabha!"
The monk in plain clothes pressed his palms together, his body radiating Buddhist light. His form instantly expanded to tens of thousands of meters tall, like a golden divine mountain. He let out a lion's roar.
He instantly transformed into a lion-bodied human image, the sound waves shaking the heavens, Buddhist patterns following, surging in rings towards Great God Mo Fei.
Relatively speaking, Mo Fei, who was at the early Grand Void Realm, was far weaker than Xue Li and easier to break through.
Great God Mo Fei's laughter was incessant, sinister and ruthless. He released his Divine Realm World and a golden-patterned black shield to withstand the impact of the lion's roar, slowly retreating.
Behind him, Xue Li struck out with the ghost city in the form of Fengdu Ghost City, directly smashing towards Putuo Ancient Buddha.
A sky full of ghostly aura poured down, continuously eroding the Buddhist light.
Putuo Ancient Buddha was at the early Grand Void Realm. How could he be a match for two opponents? After a few exchanges, the ghost city pierced his defenses, and Buddhist blood flowed from his mouth.
He couldn't escape because the Blood Inscription Banner had sealed this space.
Forced into a corner, Putuo Ancient Buddha looked up to the sky and let out a long roar, executing the "Sacrifice Self Great Art." He burned his Buddhist blood, his combat power instantly soaring. With one punch, he sent Great God Mo Fei flying, and the souls around the skull were all annihilated.
"Sacrificing yourself is useless. An absolute difference in cultivation cannot be made up by burning Buddhist blood."
Xue Li attacked fiercely, driving the ghost city to clash with Putuo Ancient Buddha.
The difference between the mid Grand Void Realm and the early Grand Void Realm was an absolute gap in cultivation, often representing a difference in power accumulated over tens of thousands of years, or even an entire Eon. After all, not everyone was like Xue Jue or Huang Tian, who could defeat a Grand Void Realm peak expert at the early Grand Void Realm.
Who among those who could cultivate to the Grand Void Realm was weak?
Unless they possessed a divine artifact or were a main god of a path, other Grand Void Realm Great Gods couldn't defeat a mid-stage opponent with an early-stage cultivation.
Great God Mo Fei didn't attack again. Instead, he summoned a white bone altar, whose main body was the skeleton of a god with eighty-sixth-level Spiritual Power.
He released a large number of living beings from his Divine Realm World.
He was ready at any moment to use the power of sacrifice to suppress Putuo Ancient Buddha from self-detonating his Divine Source.
Zhang Ruochen and Yu Ling Shen chased to this starry domain, and suddenly all traces of aura disappeared.
"They must have fled into the Void World. There's no hope now," Yu Ling Shen said with a bitter smile.
The Void would erase all traces.
"Not necessarily."
Zhang Ruochen manifested the Truth Realm Form around him, like a boundless universe with countless stars, peering into one stretch of void after another.
Suddenly, sensing something, Zhang Ruochen looked towards an area a million miles away. Although it was empty and dark, with no fluctuations at all, it couldn't fool the Heart of Truth.
Carefully approaching the area, Zhang Ruochen drew a circle with his hands, forming a Truth Light Mirror.
"Hua!"
The power of Truth penetrated the cover of the Blood Inscription Banner, revealing the scene inside.