Chapter 3252: Swift Battle and Quick Resolution
Making Liang Ce willingly hand over the Earth Cauldron, divine artifacts, and profound meanings was clearly impossible.
Therefore, Liang Mu believed they must first catch him off guard, severely wound him, and then properly "negotiate" with him.
Zhang Ruochen transmitted his voice: "Huang'e Divine Lord is an existence listed on the 'Divine Discussion' comprehensive rankings. Severely wounding him is no easy task. How about this: he definitely won't expect me to attack him, so I'll strike first with a sneak attack, and you two will seize the opportunity to strike and take him down in one go."
Liang Mu's admiration for Zhang Ruochen grew, and he laughed: "With the three of us joining forces at such close range, catching him off guard, even a Divine King would likely be injured."
After the discussion was settled, Zhang Ruochen stood up and walked toward Huang Tian.
Liang Gu, sitting nearby, opened his eyes beneath his mask.
Zhang Ruochen naturally had to strike first; only by taking this opportunity could he convey some information to Huang Tian, preventing him from truly being severely wounded by the sneak attack.
Zhang Ruochen arrived beside Huang Tian and said: "Today, if not for the Divine Lord's intervention, I would surely have died. Unfortunately, I have implicated the Divine Lord. Divine Lord, please accept my bow!"
Zhang Ruochen bowed deeply.
The two were only two steps apart.
Liang Nan and Liang Mu both knew Zhang Ruochen was about to make his move, secretly circulating divine Qi within their bodies, with rule divine patterns converging toward their palms hidden in their sleeves.
But they had their own schemes: if Zhang Ruochen's sneak attack succeeded, they would naturally strike and deal with Huang'e Divine Lord first. If Zhang Ruochen's sneak attack failed, it would mean Huang'e Divine Lord was indeed formidable, and they could then take down Zhang Ruochen first.
Either way, they remained in an invincible position.
The moment he bowed, a cold gleam flashed in Zhang Ruochen's eyes. His right hand formed a sword finger, and billions of sword path rule divine patterns surged from his body, converging toward his fingertip.
He thrust out a finger, and a dazzling sword light tore through the darkness of the Liang God Hall.
Zhang Ruochen's strike was undeniably fast; even someone as strong as Huang Tian could not dodge. Though confused in his heart, recalling Zhang Ruochen's secret transmissions with Liang Nan and Liang Mu, he suddenly grasped something.
"Boom!"
The sword pierced through the rule divine pattern field and stabbed into Huang Tian's body.
"Zhang Ruochen!"
Huang Tian roared, divine Qi erupting from his body.
This divine Qi, transformed from the Great Derivation Qiankun Divine Path, matched the divine Qi attribute of Huang'e Divine Lord perfectly—yin-cold, decaying, and thick with deathly aura.
The divine Qi shattered the rule divine sword that had entered his body.
Huang Tian struck Zhang Ruochen heavily with a fist.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen's shoulder collapsed, the sound of bones breaking emanating from his body. He flew out of the Liang God Hall's gate and crashed into the underground stone layers outside.
Both Zhang Ruochen and Huang Tian were well aware of each other's recovery abilities. They struck fiercely but did not inject rules, divine Qi, or spiritual will into each other's bodies; these injuries could heal quickly.
Huang Tian staggered backward, corpse blood spilling from his black robe.
Liang Mu and Liang Nan, who had been waiting to strike, attacked simultaneously.
Liang Nan wielded a scythe-shaped supreme sacred artifact, its blade green and oily, containing terrifying toxicity no weaker than Three Corpse Corpse Poison.
Liang Mu struck out with a palm, the wind and thunder within his palm exploding deafeningly.
They knew very well what combat methods to use in such a confined space. In close-quarters combat, physical strength and speed were especially important.
Conversely, profound meanings and divine abilities were difficult to execute.
Liang Mu and Liang Nan were no weaklings, moving at extreme speed, but Huang Tian was prepared and turned to strike out with two palms even faster.
"Boom!"
The palm strikes clashed.
Liang Mu felt as if he had struck a divine wall; his entire body trembled, so uncomfortable he nearly vomited blood, sliding backward.
Liang Nan's cultivation was even higher than Liang Mu's, and he struck with a supreme sacred artifact.
But Huang Tian wore bone fist gloves on his hands, immune to toxins. The palm and scythe clashed, producing a metallic ringing, and he retreated several steps.
Huang Tian did not know what trick Zhang Ruochen was playing, but he roughly guessed that he intended to deal with Liang Mu and Liang Nan first, then Liang Gu, breaking them apart one by one.
Because he dared not reveal his identity.
Unable to reveal his identity meant many powers could not be used, which was why he was forced back several steps.
But to Liang Nan and Liang Mu, it seemed that Zhang Ruochen's sneak attack had weakened Liang Ce. That sword strike must have driven powerful sword intent and sword path rules into Liang Ce's body.
Rumor had it that Zhang Ruochen had cultivated a third-rank sword path; sword intent and sword Qi rampaging within the body was no pleasant experience.
Liang Nan and Liang Mu attacked again, their internal rule divine patterns spreading outward like a spider web covering the entire hall.
Zhang Ruochen flew back in from outside, six divine swords orbiting around him, charging straight at Huang Tian. As he had guessed, Xuan Yi chose to watch from the sidelines and did not intervene.
The six divine swords appeared blazing with flames, their divine artifact might domineering, but there were too many of them, and the space was too narrow. While attacking Huang Tian, they also caused no small trouble for Liang Mu and Liang Nan.
"You're asking for death!"
Huang Tian's eyes turned fierce, and he grabbed a scorching divine sword that came slashing through the air with his bare hand.
All six divine swords were severely corroded, lacking edges. Especially Old Six, which was no different from a rusty iron rod; once grabbed by Huang Tian, it was hard to break free.
Huang Tian seized the sword, swung his long arm, and horizontally slashed it across Liang Nan's waist.
In that instant, Huang Tian unleashed a bizarre movement technique, as if directly performing a spatial displacement, shifting ten zhang horizontally. In Liang Nan's shocked gaze, pain shot through his waist.
"Boom!"
Divine blood splattered.
Liang Nan's upper body flew off, his black Liang Envoy divine robe soaked through with blood, crashing heavily onto the bronze table. Xuan Yi slightly turned aside to avoid the splattering divine blood.
Strangely enough, where Liang Nan's lower body had been, it suddenly exploded, transforming into a dense swarm of mantis-like bizarre creatures.
These mantis-shaped beings had hard shells, emitted metallic divine light, and their forelimbs resembled two sharp broadswords.
Even the blood Liang Nan had spilled turned into fist-sized mantises, covering the ground, walls, and pillars.
"So it's a son of the Mother Goddess Qiwada!"
All cultivators in the hall recognized Liang Nan's origin.
In the Demon God Realm, there was an ancient deity of unknown age called the Mother Goddess Qiwada, who had once given birth to three hundred and thirty million divine sons in a single instance.
These divine sons killed and devoured each other, and in the end, only three hundred and eight survived.
Every single one had reached the divine realm!
Moreover, these divine sons continued to kill and devour one another. It was said that the one who ultimately survived would devour all its siblings and become the new pinnacle powerhouse of the race.
Regardless of who Liang Nan was, there was no doubt that the Liang Emperor behind him was the Mother Goddess Qiwada.
Because the Mother Goddess Qiwada was one of the Twenty Heavens of the Heavenly Court, qualified to hold the position of Liang Emperor.
Xuan Yi was suspicious by nature and highly doubted that Liang Nan was one of Xuanyuan Lian's people.
The mastermind behind today's events was likely Xuanyuan Lian. Because he knew that not long ago, Xuanyuan Lian had secretly met with three of the Mother Goddess Qiwada's divine sons.
Unfortunately, Xuan Yi did not know that Xuanyuan Lian's secret meeting with several of Qiwada's divine sons was because he had found new clues and identified suspects among the Liang organization members in the Demon God Hall, testing them one by one.
Suddenly, Liang Mu's plan to use Jia Tianxia to break through the second starry sky defense line seemed full of holes in Xuan Yi's mind. Xuanyuan Lian had Zhuang Tai'a and Qingyusheng by his side; if Jia Tianxia had issues, how could Xuanyuan Lian be completely unaware?
Since Xuanyuan Lian knew that Bula Zhenjun was Liang Ying, how could he not keep an eye on Jia Tianxia?
Thus, Liang Mu was most likely also a pawn of Xuanyuan Lian.
In an instant, Xuan Yi thought of many things—whether Bula Zhenjun had been soul-searched by Xuanyuan Lian before his death, leading to the exposure of large amounts of Liang organization information.
He thought of the connection between Xuanyuan Lian and multiple Liang Envoys appearing simultaneously in Fengdu Ghost City.
He thought of Zhang Ruochen's multiple contacts with Xuanyuan Lian.
But soon, Xuan Yi cleared these distracting thoughts, feeling there was no need to dwell on them; they could easily mislead him.
Behind Xuanyuan Lian stood the Red Dust Peerless Tower and the Red Cloud Flying Immortal Valley; behind Zhang Ruochen stood the Starry Sky Cliff and the Goddess Twelve Pavilions. Competing with them in information and schemes, he would surely lose.
There was no need to pit his weaknesses against his opponents' strengths.
Countless thoughts dispersed in an instant. Xuan Yi did not overthink; no matter the truth, suppressing everyone present would naturally yield the answers.
...
The overwhelming swarm of mantis divine insects emitted piercing divine sounds, as if all three hundred and thirty million children of the Mother Goddess Qiwada had arrived, attacking Huang Tian.
At the same time, Liang Nan's upper body transformed into a massive insect form, his Liang Envoy divine robe and mask enlarging, his pupils like two fireballs.
"Do you think you can act recklessly before me? I won't hold back anymore—all of you, die!"
"Earth Calamity Profound Yellow Force!"
Huang Tian used the Great Derivation Qiankun Divine Path to evolve Huang'e Divine Lord's Great Perfection Infinite divine ability.
Beams of Profound Yellow Qi erupted from his body, piercing in all directions. Every mantis divine insect touched by the Profound Yellow Qi beams was annihilated into nothingness.
Zhang Ruochen worried that the Great Derivation Qiankun Divine Path might have flaws that Xuan Yi could detect, so he unfolded the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram, covering the entire Liang God Hall, and roared: "Huang'e Divine Lord, you are already severely wounded. The longer you fight, the heavier your injuries. How long do you think you can last?"
Within the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram, the Shaoyang, like a divine mountain, clashed with the Profound Yellow Qi beams emanating from Huang Tian's body, and Zhang Ruochen retreated repeatedly.
As expected, Xuan Yi's attention was drawn to the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram.
Few things in the world could pique his interest, but a first-rank divine path was certainly one of them.
Huang Tian caught the meaning of swift battle and quick resolution from Zhang Ruochen's words, and he let out a long roar. His form flickered another ten zhang, and the divine sword in his hand plunged straight into Liang Nan's head.
After his battle with Xuan Yi, Huang Tian had consulted various divine ability texts and finally integrated them, creating the "Ten Zhang Unobstructed" movement technique.
"Ten Zhang Unobstructed" meant the ability to ignore time and space, advancing or retreating ten zhang.
Of course, that was the ideal highest realm. Currently, Huang Tian could not truly ignore time and space; it only meant time was shortened to the limit, and space's obstruction was minimized to the extreme.
With this move, before Liang Nan could react, his head was pierced.
His divine sea was shattered by the divine sword.
Worse still, the divine sword struck his divine source precisely.
(Chapter End)