Chapter 3169: The Number One in Kunlun Today
Stepping into Heavenly Demon Mountain, the ground beneath was black divine soil, overgrown with blood-streaked vines, and demonic patterns flickered through the air from time to time.
From within the thick demonic qi came strange sounds, as demonized powerful lifeforms stirred. Yet, they clearly sensed Zhang Ruochen's aura, knew they could not provoke him, and retreated one after another.
When a great god of the present age appears, demons and monsters naturally flee.
On Heavenly Demon Mountain, ruined halls stood one after another, revealing the place's former prosperity.
Halfway up the mountain, suddenly, the demonic qi surged violently, and a vast number of demonic path rules converged into the qi. A tiger's roar rang out, and a claw as large as a house, sharp and ferocious, struck out from the demonic qi.
Zhang Ruochen gazed at it, talisman light flickering in his pupils.
Dense talismans flew from his eyes, colliding with the demonic claw.
"Boom!"
The demonic claw was torn apart by the talismans and shattered into pieces.
A faint sound of surprise echoed through Heavenly Demon Mountain!
Then, the thick demonic qi condensed into a demon god over a hundred meters tall, with a ferocious face, clad in armor, hair disheveled, wielding a blood axe, striking the pose from the *Heavenly Demon Blood Axe Diagram*.
The blood axe descended, and it seemed as if all the demonic qi in the entire Eastern Domain surged into it in an instant.
Zhang Ruochen remained calm and composed, his hands held up as if supporting something. Eighteen Space Divine Arrays manifested, one array linked to the next, colliding with the descending blood axe.
With a thunderous "boom," heaven and earth shook.
The blood light radiating from the blood axe and the mysterious light emitted by the Yin Yang Eighteen Formations split the world into two colors, with ripples of energy spreading outward through the air.
The blood axe withdrew, and the demon god dissipated into wisps of demonic qi.
Chi Xingtian's true form appeared before Zhang Ruochen, his bell-like eyes scrutinizing him carefully. He said in disbelief, "Unbelievable, truly unbelievable. How long has it been since you started cultivating, kid, and your spiritual power has already reached the eightieth rank, even stronger than mine. Are you really Zhang Ruochen?"
How could Chi Xingtian fail to distinguish whether Zhang Ruochen was real or not?
This question was purely because he couldn't accept this painful truth!
Zhang Ruochen's legs had been driven deep into the ground by the blood axe strike, sinking to his knees. He pulled his legs out and said, "I'm still far from matching the War God Chi Xingtian! What's this, War God, haven't you managed to collect Heavenly Demon Mountain yet?"
"How could a mere Heavenly Demon Mountain be impossible to collect?"
Chi Xingtian changed the subject and said, "However, within Heavenly Demon Mountain, I discovered a sealing power left by the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable. It will take considerable time to refine it."
Zhang Ruochen showed a strange expression and said, "Why did the Great Venerable seal Heavenly Demon Mountain? As far as I know, the Heavenly Demon Sect was destroyed in the infinitely distant past, long before the Great Venerable appeared."
"It might be related to the eighteenth layer of the Nether Prison! What happened back then has been over ten eons, and I've only heard a little about it."
Chi Xingtian no longer treated Zhang Ruochen as a junior; any secret could be spoken directly.
With Zhang Ruochen's current strength, he could stand on equal footing with him.
Zhang Ruochen had once heard from the Dragon Lord that the eighteenth layer of the Nether Prison seemed to imprison some terrifying existence. Back then, Shangqing had tried to open it and was slain by Biluozi.
Chi Xingtian said, "Kunlun Realm is a world that has never been destroyed through the ages, holding many forbidden secrets. You'd better be careful, kid, and not think you're invincible just because your cultivation has advanced."
As he spoke, Chi Xingtian led Zhang Ruochen to the stone giant formation at the top of Heavenly Demon Mountain.
Hundreds of giant stones, each a thousand meters tall, stood like stone peaks.
At the center of the stone formation was a talisman seal dozens of zhang long.
The aura emitted by the talisman seal indeed belonged to the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, ancient and heavy. But over the years, the lines of the seal had become extremely faint, with many parts blurred, as if they might disappear entirely.
Despite this, with Chi Xingtian's cultivation, it was still difficult to refine, requiring a great deal of time to slowly wear it away.
Zhang Ruochen crouched down, his hand stroking the edge of the talisman seal, and said, "This talisman seal isn't too strong; it can't compare to the power that suppressed the old corpse ghost. It seems the Great Venerable only wanted to hide Heavenly Demon Mountain underground back then, to keep people from finding it."
Chi Xingtian nodded and said, "Chi Yao sent me a message saying that Xuanyi might break into Kunlun Realm at any time and start a massacre."
"The ones he wants to kill are me and Chi Yao. Of course, he might also include you!" Zhang Ruochen said.
"Truly lawless and reckless."
"Mainly because the Boundless Ones have marched north. Even if he kills us, no one will know it was him. As the number one under heaven today, what wouldn't he dare to do?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Chi Xingtian said, "With your current spiritual power, once you thoroughly study the formations left by the Island Master, using Kunlun Realm as your foundation, dealing with a Xuanyi shouldn't be too difficult, right?"
Zhang Ruochen hadn't yet gone to the Central Imperial City and didn't know how strong the realm-protecting formation and city-protecting divine formation left by his grandmaster were. But how weak could the means left by a Formation Tai Shang be?
With his current spiritual power, even if he couldn't fully control the formation's power, mastering ten to twenty percent would be enough to make Xuanyi regret coming.
The same formation would obviously unleash greater power in the hands of someone with higher spiritual power.
Zhang Ruochen said, "If Xuanyi were someone like you, senior, I would naturally be confident in making him regret coming. But Xuanyi is Xuanyi—would he confront the formation head-on? Don't be angry, War God; I'm just saying you are more honorable and upright than Xuanyi."
Chi Xingtian's expression softened slightly, and he said, "Your concern is not without merit. Kunlun Realm's realm-protecting formation is indeed powerful, but Kunlun Realm is too vast. Unless the formation is fully activated to protect every corner, doing so would greatly drain the realm's divine veins."
Zhang Ruochen said, "What I worry about isn't the formation having a single oversight, but the people. The cultivators of Kunlun Realm can't stay inside forever. And outsiders can't be kept out of Kunlun Realm forever either."
Chi Xingtian said, "To solve the problem once and for all, we have to kill that traitor. Aren't you full of schemes? Why not think of a way to lure him to Kunlun Realm and kill him in one strike?"
"Are you serious, senior?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Chi Xingtian's eyes were filled with killing intent, and he said, "To kill Xuanyi, I will be the first to strike."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and said, "There has never been a strategy to lure a powerful enemy into one's own world. Even if the enemy is killed, how many of this world's living beings would be buried with him? Besides, Xuanyi's mind is so sharp—how could he fall for such a trap so easily?"
Chi Xingtian said, "Then there's only the second strategy. I'll go to Haishi Xingwu and find Huaying Qingchan. With the two of us combined, we can contend with Xuanyi and stop him from acting recklessly."
"That's what I was thinking too!"
Zhang Ruochen wrote characters in the air with his finger, and they fell down, condensing into a letter.
He handed the letter to Chi Xingtian and said, "It's too dangerous for you to go to Haishi Xingwu alone, senior. Take this letter to Xinghuantian and find Xu Wenzhi, and let Senior Xu accompany you."
Even someone like Qiangu Nüdi had gone to Haishi Xingwu and never returned, so Zhang Ruochen was truly uneasy about Chi Xingtian going alone.
As the disciple of the Xingtiantan Cliff Master, Xu Wenzhi was obviously very familiar with Haishi Xingwu.
Taking the letter, Chi Xingtian agreed readily.
Seeing him agree so quickly, Zhang Ruochen felt a bit uneasy instead, a hint of doubt rising in his heart. But Chi Xingtian was straightforward by nature and probably didn't have so many hidden motives.
Besides, he was at least a top-tier expert below the Infinite Realm. Even if he was unreliable, how many people in the world could actually harm him?
"Miss Mu is at the Jiuli Divine Temple ruins and might have run into some trouble. She hasn't come out yet. Since your cultivation is so strong now, I'll leave all the matters of Kunlun Realm to you!"
With these words, Chi Xingtian couldn't wait to fly away, shooting out of Kunlun Realm's atmosphere.
Zhang Ruochen looked down at the talisman seal in the stone formation and sighed, "So, the War God Chi Xingtian does understand the urgency of the situation. For Kunlun Realm right now, the threat of Xuanyi is too great!"
What Zhang Ruochen didn't know was that shortly after leaving Kunlun Realm, Chi Xingtian headed straight for Paradise Realm.
When Chi Yao had sent a message to Chi Xingtian, she told him that the five great divine monks of the Western Buddha Realm had temporarily restrained Xuanyi. At that time, Chi Xingtian had wanted to rush to Paradise Realm immediately to rescue Princess Shenba.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Even knowing the danger, he had to go.
Otherwise, how could he face Wen Tianjun?
But Xuanyi could come to Kunlun Realm at any time, and Kunlun Realm couldn't be left without a strong guardian, so Chi Xingtian suppressed this impulse.
It wasn't until Zhang Ruochen arrived, seeing his spiritual power so strong, and with the formations left by the Island Master capable of threatening Xuanyi, that Chi Xingtian felt at ease enough to leave.
The reason he used finding Huaying Qingchan as an excuse to leave was entirely because he thought Zhang Ruochen was too cautious and would definitely stop him if he knew he was going to Paradise Realm to rescue someone.
How could Zhang Ruochen not stop him?
How could the secret of Chi Xingtian escaping from Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm and returning to Kunlun Realm be hidden?
After the battle at Xinghuantian, the major forces of the Heavenly Court had probably already deduced it.
How could Xuanyi, so cunning and treacherous, not anticipate that Chi Xingtian would go to Paradise Realm to rescue Princess Shenba?
Breaking into a ruling world to rescue someone was definitely more dangerous than Xuanyi coming to Kunlun Realm to kill.
Although the Boundless Ones had marched north, the realm-protecting means they left behind still prevented even great gods from acting recklessly.
The more an opportunity seemed to present itself, the more dangerous it often was.
Standing atop Heavenly Demon Mountain, Zhang Ruochen looked down at the three thousand peaks below, like small mounds. Unknowingly, returning to Heavenly Demon Ridge, he had become the strongest in all of Kunlun Realm.
At least, for now.
But the stronger his cultivation, the greater his responsibility. Now, the great enemy Xuanyi was something he had to deal with.
"First, go to the Jiuli Divine Temple ruins."
Worried about Mu Lingxi's safety, Zhang Ruochen could only set aside the thought of going to the ancestral land to find the Immovable Wisdom King Fist.
As soon as he entered the desolate secret realm, he saw dense black dots on the horizon.
The black dots gradually flew closer, letting out piercing cries. They were flocks of birds, each as large as a small mountain, fierce as demons, fleeing toward the Eastern Domain.
The ground shook as savage beasts ran through the forest.