Chapter 3226: Hundred Gods Formation Battle
The Array Hall was the most crucial hub within the Ghost Emperor's Mansion, serving as one of the foundational nodes of Fengdu Ghost City's city-protecting divine formation, controlling thousands of large and small formations throughout the city.
In times past, the Array Hall of the Western Ghost Emperor's Mansion had been personally overseen by Consort Yao Guang, making it as secure as an iron fortress.
Golden Jade Heavenly God was blasted into the Array Hall by the shockwave erupting from the Earth Cauldron. Without any sense of shame or frustration from the setback, he stood up and instead burst into laughter, his gaze gradually turning cold and fierce.
Boundless divine patterns cascaded like waterfalls of light, countless and uncountable, sealing off the interior from the exterior of the hall.
Above the Earth Cauldron, Zhang Ruochen withdrew his divine power, ceasing his attack, and said in a deep voice, "So the Array Hall has long fallen under your control. Not a bad move."
Yao Guang, her long skirt fluttering, descended from the sky and landed on the ground outside the Array Hall. "Bai Cang," she said, "activate the formation."
Inside the Array Hall.
A young woman dressed in white robes, holding a divine staff, appeared beside Golden Jade Heavenly God. Her voice was sweet and alluring as she said with a smile, "The Consort's divine soul has been controlled by Gong Shang. I, Bai Cang, cannot obey that order."
A flicker of disappointment appeared in Yao Guang's eyes. "It seems you've joined the Quantity Organization as well," she said. "Failing to detect this before is my mistake."
Zhang Ruochen could tell that the woman named Bai Cang possessed considerable spiritual power, reaching the seventy-ninth rank, but he doubted she would be a match for Yao Guang. So he said, "I'll leave this to you. Any problems?"
He was very worried about Hai Shang Youruo's safety.
"No need to worry. For a place as important as the Array Hall, I have long left countermeasures in place, enough to handle it. Go on!"
Yao Guang stepped forward, and at once, the wind and clouds stirred.
Spiritual power surged from within her like a tidal wave, rushing toward the ground beneath.
"Rustle!"
On the ground, black patterns emerged, piercing through the divine formation that enveloped the Array Hall and spreading inward, tearing apart countless boundless divine patterns.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the Earth Cauldron, his gaze locking onto a nearby chaotic void that burned like flames. With a single strike, he smashed the cauldron into it.
"Boom!"
The divine realm world of Yan Ju was shattered, and Zhang Ruochen leaped up, charging inside.
...
"Not good. The protective divine formation of the Array Hall has a flaw; she's breaking through it."
Bai Cang knew well how formidable Yao Guang was. Panic set in, and she immediately split into dozens of clones, positioning herself at various points within the Array Hall. Using her spiritual power, she manifested hundreds of hands, engaging Yao Guang in a battle of formations.
One broke the formation.
The other repaired it.
Golden Jade Heavenly God knew Bai Cang was no match for Yao Guang. He snorted coldly, "What's the point of repairing the formation now? We have to kill her."
Golden Jade Heavenly God strode forward, reaching the central Glazed Small Pagoda within the Array Hall. With both hands raised as if supporting something, his divine realm world flickered faintly behind him—a vast, endless sea of bones stretching to the horizon.
Within that bone-sea divine realm world, divine qi surged out like wide rivers, flowing into the Glazed Small Pagoda.
The pagoda, standing dozens of zhang tall, lit up layer by layer like a lamp.
A beam of light shot out from its top.
Along that beam, every hundred zhang, a formation disc materialized, each one grander than the last.
The yin-sha divine qi from the underground divine veins beneath Fengdu Ghost City converged endlessly toward the Western Ghost Emperor's Mansion.
"Damn it! The foundation of the city-protecting formation has been activated. What are Bai Cang and Golden Jade Heavenly God trying to do?"
"Madness, absolute madness. Don't they want to live? When the Heavenly Venerable returns, they'll all die."
...
The ghost clan gods outside the Array Hall were all shocked, rushing toward the hall in fury.
In the long history of the ghost clan, the city-protecting divine formation of Fengdu Ghost City had been activated only a handful of times, each instance during a life-or-death crisis.
What Golden Jade Heavenly God and Bai Cang were doing was nothing short of insane.
The gods of the Destiny Temple, who had been hesitant to act, now fully understood the situation, distinguishing friend from foe. Some far-sighted gods among them changed color, realizing that a major upheaval was about to erupt within the Destiny Temple.
Yao Guang advanced step by step toward the Array Hall, stepping into the formation, and said to the gods within the Ghost Emperor's Mansion, "The city-protecting formation isn't so easy to activate. Hurry and activate the defensive formations within the Ghost Emperor's Mansion to buy me some time."
"Quick! As the Consort says, activate all defensive formations."
Within the Ghost Emperor's Mansion, beams of divine light shot through the air, each plunging into a different divine hall.
These halls quickly erupted with formidable divine might.
Dense formation inscriptions, centered on each hall, emerged one after another.
Above, at a height of a hundred zhang, a formation disc covering a thousand li in radius unleashed hundreds of thousands of lightning bolts like a torrential downpour.
This was the devastating attack unleashed by Golden Jade Heavenly God using a corner of the city-protecting formation, aimed at killing Yao Guang.
"Bang! Bang!"
From the Ghost Emperor's Mansion, dozens of defensive divine formations surged forth, condensing into dazzling light screens, crimson cloud seas, and five-colored starry skies, clashing against the cascading lightning.
A formation battle involving nearly a hundred gods erupted within the Western Ghost Emperor's Mansion, fierce and spectacular.
Not only did the divine qi of Fengdu Ghost City boil over, but the shockwaves from the formation clash spread beyond the World Tree, shaking the entire Wugui Forest.
From afar, within the various leaf-worlds of the World Tree, countless specks of light like fireflies flew out, rushing toward Fengdu Ghost City.
From the World Tree where the Fate Divine Domain was located, and from the World Tree where the Yanluo Heavenly Outer Heaven stood, powerful gods surged forth—some with wings spanning a thousand li, others standing tens of thousands of li tall...
Divine might blazed, shaking the starry sky.
It didn't last long—only a few breaths of time—before Yao Guang broke through the Array Hall's defenses and stepped inside. Her gaze locked on, and with a thought, Bai Cang's divine soul was wounded, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Golden Jade!"
Yao Guang's voice carried spiritual power attacks capable of soul-seizing.
Golden Jade Heavenly God was still desperately trying to activate the Glazed Small Pagoda, but he could never fully light it. Sensing the spiritual power attack surging toward him, he immediately released the Gate of Destiny to block it.
"Boom!"
An invisible spear formed of spiritual power pierced through the Gate of Destiny, striking Golden Jade Heavenly God with full force.
The space around Golden Jade Heavenly God twisted, and his divine realm world manifested into a heaven and earth, blocking the spiritual power spear.
But without the support of divine qi, the Glazed Small Pagoda extinguished layer by layer.
Golden Jade Heavenly God let out an unwilling roar, his face contorted. He punched through the spiritual power spear and charged at Yao Guang, killing intent blazing in his eyes.
"Bang! Bang!"
Though Yao Guang's spiritual power was strong, she was not suited for close combat. In a short time, she could only fight Golden Jade Heavenly God to a standstill.
Above the Array Hall, the beam of light vanished, and the formation discs dimmed one by one.
The gods within the Ghost Emperor's Mansion all breathed a sigh of relief.
The battle within the Array Hall had reached the level of Tai Xu Great Gods. Divine power leaked out, splitting the ground zhang by zhang, shaking space incessantly. No one dared to enter.
"Don't fight me for this. Golden Jade Heavenly God is mine."
Ting Yunsheng burst out of Yan Ju's divine realm world, battle intent boiling over. With the Qilin Diagram beneath his feet and the Gate of Destiny above his head, his face full of fury, he charged into the Array Hall.
Zhang Ruochen, supporting the injured Hai Shang Youruo, flew out of the divine realm world a step later and said to Ting Yunsheng, "So, Great God Yunsheng volunteered for this. If Golden Jade Heavenly God escapes, your suspicion won't be easy to shake off!"
Ting Yunsheng had always had a good relationship with Golden Jade Heavenly God and had spoken up for him many times before. Now that Golden Jade Heavenly God was under heavy suspicion, how could he distance himself?
If he wasn't anxious, that would be strange.
The divine realm world, like a fiery cloud, contracted, condensing into a flame giant covered in chains. "Golden Jade Heavenly God is indeed highly suspicious," Yan Ju said, "but Hai Shang Youruo, you falsely transmitted Feng Tian's decree, so you're also under suspicion. You can't leave my sight."
Hai Shang Youruo was speechless. She had explained herself many times within the divine realm world, but Yan Ju simply wouldn't believe her.
In his view, if Feng Tian was in Fengdu Ghost City, there was no way he wouldn't have informed him. He was Feng Tian's most loyal and powerful war god!
Now that the situation was settled, she couldn't be bothered to argue with this brute.
Zhang Ruochen took out a thumb-sized, jade-white fruit and handed it to Hai Shang Youruo, signaling her to take it.
"A Changqing Fruit! This is a divine-grade healing fruit, said to grow on the divine medicine vine of immortality. Truly rare and precious!" Hai Shang Youruo looked at the fruit in her hand, reluctant to swallow it. Then, her round eyes turned to Zhang Ruochen. "Do you have more?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "No, just this one."
The Changqing Fruit, Zhang Ruochen had picked from the seventeenth floor of the Sword Pavilion. Of course, he had more than one.
Hai Shang Youruo became even more reluctant to take it and put it away. "This injury isn't serious," she said. "It didn't damage my divine soul or divine source. I might need it more later."
"If you're not going to take it, give it back to me!"
Zhang Ruochen couldn't bring himself to say that. Suddenly, his expression shifted as he sensed something unusual. His gaze locked onto the Array Hall.
Golden Jade Heavenly God, clutching a talisman in his hand, burst out of the Array Hall. Many bones in his divine body were broken, and his long hair was disheveled.
The moment he emerged, the ghost clan gods and Destiny Temple gods waiting outside unleashed divine abilities and supreme sacred artifacts simultaneously, piercing through the divine realm world around him. Blood mist exploded from his body repeatedly.
The blood mist kept reforming into a divine body.
With nearly a hundred gods attacking, anyone below the Infinite Realm would be daunted.
Golden Jade Heavenly God let out a long roar and crushed the talisman in his hand.
"Boom!"
It was as if space itself had exploded. A thousand li of the Ghost Emperor's Mansion shook violently. A gray-white deathly mist, like light, surged outward in all directions.
Ordinary divine formations couldn't withstand its assault.
Anything it touched immediately turned to bone, including gods.
Outside the Array Hall, dozens of gods—whether they had flesh-and-blood bodies or not—all transformed into skeletal forms, frozen in place.
Ting Yunsheng and Yao Guang, who had chased out of the Array Hall, could only barely resist. Large portions of their bodies turned to bone, their divine qi and spiritual power unable to circulate.
Before Golden Jade Heavenly God crushed the talisman, Zhang Ruochen had sensed the danger. So he activated the Earth Cauldron, using its origin divine light to protect himself and Hai Shang Youruo.
"That's a Bone Talisman refined by the Xionghai God Venerable, containing his death divine power," Hai Shang Youruo said with fear. Even she would be in serious trouble if she touched such power.
Golden Jade Heavenly God didn't linger. He charged through the dozens of skeletal gods, his divine qi as sharp as divine swords, slicing them all into bone fragments.
Then, he sped toward the gate of the Ghost Emperor's Mansion.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Roar!"
Yan Ju let out a long roar. The divine chains on his body flew out as he pursued and attacked.
Though the boundless power of Xionghai God Venerable was terrifying, Yan Ju's cultivation was strong enough to withstand it.
(End of Chapter)