Chapter 3239: Five Phases of Nether Law
The Mani Pearl flew into Zhang Ruochen's hand, its light flickering and flashing. Even without deliberate activation, it illuminated a vast area.
Juemiao Channie had clearly placed great trust in Zhang Ruochen, as she could calmly hand the Mani Pearl over to him. The Mani Pearl's effect in resisting spiritual power attacks surpassed even the Earth Cauldron. Wielding it, Zhang Ruochen could more easily counter Liang Lai's spiritual power assaults.
The phantom of the Nether Ancestor manifested by Juemiao Channie was over a hundred thousand miles tall, forming a divine might field whose core region extended tens of millions of miles outward. This was the bearing of a top-tier great god!
Zhang Ruochen retreated to the edge of the divine might field, but the six divine swords hovered around him, always in their most powerful state, ready to strike at any moment, splitting heaven and earth.
Liang Lai's eyes beneath the mask grew increasingly sharp. Standing below the Nether Ancestor phantom, his aura surged step by step.
"Rustle, rustle!"
In the vast star domain, the world's spiritual energy, sacred energy, and divine energy converged toward him in a mighty torrent. In an instant, a storm vortex tens of thousands of miles in diameter formed. Planets were pulled in, spinning rapidly within the vortex before collapsing into rubble.
The spiritual power storm erupted, affecting beings on planets billions of miles away. Many mortals fell to the ground in agony, their heads splitting with pain.
"Boom!"
The storm vortex collided with the Nether Ancestor phantom, shattering space like paper into countless fragments.
Nether sounds echoed through the starry sky, like ancient god incantations or the whispers of heaven and earth.
Juemiao Channie's Buddhist aura faded completely, her eyes turning a sinister green, exuding an evil and fierce presence. Amid the Nether sounds, the winding, roaring Nether River manifested, the majestic Nether City pressed down, and a Nether Soul identical to her slowly overlapped with the Nether Ancestor.
"Four Phases of Nether Law!" Zhang Ruochen said.
Liang Lai's inner shock was even greater than Zhang Ruochen's. In the Nether Clan, even among God Kings and God Venerables, few had simultaneously cultivated all four volumes of the *Nether Scripture*. The simultaneous appearance of the Four Phases of Nether Law signified that Juemiao Channie's mastery of all four volumes had reached an exceptional level. She was on the verge of breaking through to the Infinite Realm and becoming a God Venerable at any moment.
The moment the Four Phases of Nether Law manifested, the storm vortex over a hundred thousand miles wide was breached.
Just as Liang Lai was about to be struck by the shockwave of the Four Phases, his spiritual power field unable to withstand it, he remained calm and did not flee directly.
A crimson red staff appeared in his hand.
The staff, about a zhang long, resembled a red flood dragon, with lifelike dragon head, claws, and scales. Under the influence of his spiritual power, the Red Flood Dragon Staff trembled violently, emitting roars and forming an arc-shaped light barrier.
Liang Lai flew backward thousands of miles, space splitting into a void dark path of the same length. Yet, the Four Phases of Nether Law failed to pierce the arc-shaped light barrier released by the Red Flood Dragon Staff.
The Red Flood Dragon Staff spun once in Liang Lai's hand before striking heavily against space.
"Whoosh!"
The torn space instantly reconnected, becoming incredibly stable. Such spiritual power techniques surpassed even those of Space Path cultivators.
Even more astonishingly, the diameter of the range from which Liang Lai could draw the world's spiritual energy, sacred energy, and divine energy doubled. In other words, the celestial force he could mobilize was eight times greater than before.
In the starry sky, spiritual energy, sacred energy, and divine energy converged toward him like a thousand great rivers, condensing into a gaseous planet the size of a star. He stood at the center of this multicolored gaseous planet, surrounded by lightning and flames, his aura formidable enough to make ordinary gods tremble.
Juemiao Channie, her Buddhist robe fluttering and Nether aura fierce, stood within the four-phase realm of the Nether River, Nether Soul, Nether City, and Nether Ancestor, and said, "The Red Flood Dragon Staff! I never expected this sacred staff of the Holy Clan to fall into your hands."
"As I said, *The Great God Treatise* cannot truly evaluate the great gods of the world. With the Red Flood Dragon Staff in hand, who below the Infinite Realm can fight me?" Liang Lai was full of confidence, his aura growing even stronger.
Zhang Ruochen had read some surviving records about the Holy Clan and had an impression of the Red Flood Dragon Staff. It was said that the Holy Clan possessed five sacred staves, all spiritual power artifacts. Among them, the "Green Mountain" staff was the most revered, held by the Holy Clan's Grand Elder. However, in the mysterious historical case that destroyed the Holy Clan a hundred thousand years ago, all five staves were lost, their whereabouts unknown.
Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly. The Four had a rather low ranking on the comprehensive list of *The Great God Treatise*, not even in the top twenty. Yet, he possessed a trump card like the Red Flood Dragon Staff, and he had yet to reveal his power over beast taming and soul control. Had Juemiao overestimated herself this time?
These ancient top-tier gods of the Tai Xu Realm had lived too long, each with countless hidden cards. Not to mention others, even Xue Changjin—if his divine ghost substitute hadn't been destroyed by Chi Chaluo, and if Zhang Ruochen hadn't taken half of his Fist Path Esoterica in advance—would have had a greater chance of defeating Zhang Ruochen before he condensed the true Lesser Yin.
As Zhang Ruochen calculated the subsequent battle situation, the third clash between Liang Lai and Juemiao Channie erupted.
This time, Liang Lai struck first. Within the gaseous planet, lightning intensified, the destructive aura surging, transforming into jealous-gold lightning capable of slaying gods. The lightning storm surged like a tsunami toward the Four Phases of Nether Law.
"I don't know about *The Great God Treatise*, nor do I care. But with your strength, you truly have no right to speak such arrogant words before me."
Juemiao Channie's hands continuously formed seals, and above the Four Phases of Nether Law, a fifth phase manifested.
The Nether Soldiers!
Over the years, Juemiao Channie had been in seclusion, studying not only the curse techniques for controlling divine corpses in the *Nether Soldier Volume* but also the volume's methods themselves. Boundless Nether Soldiers appeared in the starry sky, banners covering the sky, war drums thundering. Strands of fierce battle qi converged onto Juemiao Channie.
Zhang Ruochen noticed that the aura emitted by the Nether Soldier phantom was inferior to that of the Nether River, Nether City, Nether Ancestor, and Nether Soul, lacking solidity, likely due to Juemiao Channie's shorter cultivation time with it. However, once the Five Phases of Nether Law manifested, their auras intertwined, their powers stacking. Adding one phase increased the power by more than just one or two levels.
"Rumble!"
The two forces clashed, the starry sky seeming on the verge of collapse. Blazing light could be seen from distant starfields, visible billions of miles away.
Zhang Ruochen, standing tens of millions of miles away, was pushed back dozens of miles by the lightning storm and Nether qi. He quickly steadied himself, Truth light appearing in his pupils as he peered into the shattered, blinding space ahead.
He saw that both the gaseous lightning planet and the Five Phases of Nether Law had collapsed!
But Juemiao Channie was clearly at an advantage. Her divine fire armor manifested, turning into a path of flame light as she reached Liang Lai's front.
"The outcome is decided!" Zhang Ruochen said.
A spiritual power god, no matter how strong, once closed in on by a martial path cultivator of the same level, was bound to lose. Yet, at this moment, Zhang Ruochen became even more cautious, stepping with Divine Spirit Step as he slowly approached the center of the shattered space.
...
Liang Lai used the Red Flood Dragon Staff as a brush, quickly drawing a flame great talisman.
"Compassion for the World!"
Juemiao Channie punched out, her arm like a vajra pestle, surrounded by rings of Buddhist light, shattering the flame great talisman into countless sparks.
Her fist continued unabated, striking Liang Lai's front.
"Bang, bang!"
The spiritual power field's small world, protective divine talismans, formations—all of Liang Lai's defenses shattered in an instant. His physical body exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
"The Great Compassion Fist!" Zhang Ruochen exclaimed in awe.
The Great Compassion Fist was one of the ten great divine abilities of the Western Buddha Realm. Across the entire Heavenly Court and Hell, it ranked very high among the myriad divine abilities. *The Great God Treatise* listed Xian Mingkong of the Pangu Realm as the number one in fist path. But if Qingyusheng knew that Juemiao Channie had cultivated the Great Compassion Fist to such a level, the top spot in fist path might not remain unchanged.
Liang Shi's divine robe spun like a black war banner, swiftly sweeping away the Red Flood Dragon Staff and all the blood mist. At the same time, a deafening flood dragon roar came from within the robe.
A three-eyed flood dragon flew out from the sleeve of Liang Shi's divine robe, its body covered in purple scales, exuding an ancient aura and an overwhelmingly powerful presence.
It swung its claw, striking at Juemiao Channie as she pursued.