Chapter 3267: Suppression
Qiangu Nüdi's sword dao attainment was extremely high, but her mastery of the Way of Time was even greater.
From the very beginning, Lei Yu was suppressed, utterly unable to fight back.
When the Nüdi brought out the Time Source Bead and mobilized the Time Esoterica, Lei Yu was enveloped by Time Imprint light spots and Time Rules, imprisoned within a cycle of time.
Inside a bright mass of light, Lei Yu continuously swung his hammer, repeating the same motion over and over.
The lightning erupting from his body contained destructive power, but it could only ever tear through space, never breaking the cycle of time.
His lifespan drained away rapidly, and he grew weaker and weaker.
Seeing that Qiangu Nüdi had already ended the battle, Zhang Ruochen's heart pounded wildly. *Too strong, right? Lei Yu was no weakling, yet he was trapped and killed so quickly.*
In terms of physical strength, cultivation base, and close combat, she indeed still fell short of Xuan Yi and Huang Tian.
But, relying on the Time Source Bead and a vast amount of Time Esoterica, if it truly came to a fight, the Nüdi would not be much weaker than them. Mastering time meant that no matter how fast your speed or how strong your body, you couldn't get close to her.
It was a good thing Xiao Hei wasn't here, or he would surely be prostrating in worship on the spot.
"Miao Li, there isn't still some of your divine power left in that Time Source Bead, is there? Lei Yu lost too quickly; he didn't even manage to escape." Zhang Ruochen said.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God, who was locked in combat with Lei Suling, felt her heart bleed.
It wasn't just divine power; a considerable amount of divine soul remained as well.
The Time Source Bead was both a divine artifact and her divine source!
With Qiangu Nüdi wielding the Time Source Bead, it was equivalent to controlling a weakened version of Xiu Chen Heavenly God, completely suppressing Lei Yu's spiritual will, preventing him from self-destructing his divine source or using any desperate, mutual-destruction techniques.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Weren't you going to show us the methods of a Heavenly God? I've been using the Wuji Divine Dao to mobilize the power of heaven and earth to fully assist you, yet you've been fighting for so long and still haven't taken her down? If you're this unambitious, how can I negotiate with the Nüdi?"
"Stop holding back; show your Heavenly God methods. The Nüdi is looking this way. If you still can't take her down, she will surely act personally. Where will my face be then?"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God was so angry she wanted to just walk away. It was too much. Zhang Ruochen stood on Shaoyang Divine Mountain making sarcastic remarks the whole time, while she was the one fighting desperately at the front.
Yes, it was true that from the Shaoyin Divine Sea, an endless stream of heaven-earth power surged forth, giving Xiu Chen Heavenly God the strength to contend with Lei Suling.
But in the end, the gap was still too great!
If her divine soul could reach twenty percent of the Infinite Realm, Xiu Chen Heavenly God was fully confident she could defeat Lei Suling. If she had thirty percent of the Infinite Realm's divine soul, she could capture her alive.
Unfortunately, her current divine soul didn't even have ten percent of the Infinite Realm!
Zhang Ruochen's face was full of disappointment. "Forget it, I'll do it myself."
He had to act, because after Lei Yu was trapped in the cycle of time, Lei Suling had already shown signs of wanting to retreat. He couldn't let her escape.
Zhang Ruochen waved his sleeve. The six divine swords hummed and trembled, blazing flames filling the sky as they slashed down in unison.
Sword light instantly illuminated the dark void, and countless sword qi flew out like rain.
"Slash the Origin!"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's long hair flowed like a waterfall, and a dazzling jade-colored radiance burst from her body. Using her arm as a blade, she executed a time-type Infinite Realm divine ability.
As her arm slashed down, time power surged violently, like a crescent blade striking Lei Suling.
It was too fast; Lei Suling had no way to dodge.
"Clatter!"
The sound of flowing water filled heaven and earth.
The black metal staff in Lei Suling's hand erupted with deep, profound divine light. A black great river manifested, wrapping around her body and blocking the Infinite Realm divine ability struck by Xiu Chen Heavenly God.
The power of the black metal staff was extraordinary. The spiritual power defense it formed was so strong that even time could not break through.
"Black Water Divine Staff!"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God recognized the staff in her hand, a strange expression appearing on her face.
"Boom!"
The six divine swords slashed down, striking the black great river and raising waves a thousand zhang high, surging and turbulent.
Countless sword qi continuously battered Lei Suling's spiritual power defense.
It was as if billions of lightning bolts were interweaving inside Lei Suling's body. Her skin seemed to melt away, leaving only a lightning body. Her divine voice boomed with ferocity: "If you want to die, I'll grant your wish!"
"Black Water Connects the Heavens, Five Thunders Descend Upon the Body!"
With her eighty-fourth level spiritual power, combined with the Black Water Divine Staff, the combat power she unleashed was astonishing. The surface of the black great river was filled with electric light, surging towards Zhang Ruochen and Xiu Chen Heavenly God. The six divine swords and time divine abilities could not block it.
"Isn't it just a spiritual power divine artifact? Do you really think you're invincible?"
Having faced the four great beings far stronger than Lei Suling, Zhang Ruochen was fearless. He had multiple ways to resist spiritual power attacks.
Standing atop the towering divine mountain's peak, Zhang Ruochen slowly raised his hands. The God-Defying Stele emerged within the chaotic divine qi. It wasn't particularly large, but it appeared heavy, profound, and mysterious.
The God-Defying Stele stood before him as Zhang Ruochen flew towards Lei Suling, colliding with the black great river.
"Boom!"
Seeing the God-Defying Stele and Zhang Ruochen drawing closer, Lei Suling's expression grew tense. Spiritual power gods feared being approached more than anything.
This Zhang Ruochen kid was very strange. Although his cultivation wasn't particularly strong, the divine path he had cultivated was likely the number one under heaven.
From their earlier clash, she had already sensed something unusual.
Lei Suling directly executed a spiritual power divine technique, attacking Zhang Ruochen's divine soul.
"No matter how astonishing you are, you're still just a junior of the new generation." She pointed the Black Water Divine Staff straight at him.
The God-Defying Stele dissolved most of the spiritual power attack. Zhang Ruochen activated the power of the Buddha Emperor Relic and the Heart of Truth within him, using his own spiritual power to protect his divine soul. Even so, his divine soul still throbbed with pain.
But it was bearable.
A thousand li, five hundred li, three hundred li...
Closer and closer.
Panic flickered in Lei Suling's eyes. She retreated rapidly, approaching the lightning cage and activating the divine formation on it. The formation, spanning over a million li in diameter, released a million bolts of lightning as thick as water buckets.
"Miao Li!" Zhang Ruochen called out softly.
The Sundial flew over, carrying a divine sea of time, and together with the God-Defying Stele, blocked in front of Zhang Ruochen.
Spiritual power, divine qi, lightning, the river of time... all kinds of power converged, shattering vast stretches of space, creating a vast and expansive chaotic zone within the Dark Great Triangle Star Domain.
"Young Lord, I'll help you!"
Behind Lei Suling, a pillar of ghostly qi tore through the lightning cage, soaring upward.
Cang Jue transformed into a ten-thousand-zhang tall giant ghost, swiping a claw at Lei Suling.
No matter how strong Lei Suling was, she couldn't defend against attacks from all sides. While dealing with Zhang Ruochen and Xiu Chen Heavenly God, she couldn't suppress Cang Jue, allowing him to break out of the formation.
Now that the lightning cage was shattered and she was caught in a pincer attack, she was even more hard-pressed.
"Shua!"
She commanded the Black Water Divine Staff, transforming into a streak of bright electric light, attempting to break out from the side.
Zhang Ruochen had long anticipated her escape. The Yin Yang Eighteen Formations manifested in the void.
Just as Lei Suling rushed out, she fell into a space-gravity divine formation, as if an entire great world was pressing down on her.
"Shua!"
"Shua!"
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen, Cang Jue, and Xiu Chen Heavenly God appeared one after another in three different formations of the Yin Yang Eighteen Formations, each standing in one position, firmly suppressing Lei Suling.
The four Taixu Realm old Daoists from the Heavenly Beginning Civilization were all deeply shaken. They hadn't expected Zhang Ruochen to have grown so strong that he could suppress an existence with eighty-fourth level spiritual power.
"Although the three factions of Xinghuantian, Starry Sky Cliff, and Kunlun Realm are powerful, Zhang Ruochen himself is no small matter either. He should soon reach the Infinite Realm and won't become their puppet."
"In any case, once the Sword Realm is established, the Heavenly Beginning Civilization will inevitably be the weaker side. It's a pity about the old Heavenly Lord... sigh..."
"All we can do now is place our hopes on Zhang Ruochen. Only if he becomes strong can the Heavenly Beginning Civilization hold a higher status within the Sword Realm. As for the new Heavenly Lord, he is still far too inferior; he must obtain Zhang Ruochen's protection."
...
These elders of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization all understood very well that the Sword Realm's momentum was already established, only awaiting the right wind.
That wind was the increasingly powerful Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen was the key figure uniting the various forces of the Sword Realm. His number-one divine path under heaven also destined him to soar to great heights, with limitless future potential.
The Heavenly Beginning Civilization had no existence at the level of the Heavens. How to establish a foothold in the Sword Realm was a question these elders had been pondering.
Without a doubt, if Zhang Ruochen were to become the Sword Realm's Realm Lord in the future, or declare himself Emperor there, they could only rely on the new Heavenly Lord's connection to make the Heavenly Beginning Civilization a pole of the Sword Realm.
In the long run, the interests of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization were completely tied to Zhang Ruochen. Whether the new Heavenly Lord could find favor with Zhang Ruochen was already a matter of great importance concerning the future rise or fall of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization.
If the old Heavenly Lord hadn't fallen, they naturally wouldn't need to consider these things, nor would they need to place their hopes on an outsider, nor would they need to make the Heavenly Lord of an ancient civilization dependent on a future upstart. Everything was dictated by the situation!
The strength Zhang Ruochen had now displayed, along with the forces united around him, was not far from him becoming a regional overlord in the universe.
Lei Suling could only barely hold off the eighteen divine formations with all her might. Her body was completely immobilized, and the lightning radiance on her body was constantly being worn away. She said, "Zhang Ruochen, do you truly want to be an enemy of the Thunder Clan? It's not too late to shake hands and make peace now."
The void around Zhang Ruochen was filled with formation divine patterns flickering like stars. "It's not that I want to be an enemy of the Thunder Clan, but that you all are too unfriendly and too greedy. Coveting the Sundial, coveting the Sword Realm—how can I shake hands and make peace with you?"
Lei Suling knew the situation was very bad today, with the danger of falling. She lowered her posture and said, "As long as you release me and Lei Yu, it will be an expression of the greatest goodwill. The Thunder Clan will surely be grateful, and cooperation will naturally follow. Our earlier attack was entirely to test your strength and that of the Sword Realm. Now you have proven your strength. It is formidable; Suling even admires it!"
Changing her tone, she added, "But if Realm Lord Ruochen insists on going his own way and forcing us to death, the price may be one you cannot bear, and you will surely regret it."
"Is that so? I'll just have to try."
Zhang Ruochen sent a message to the four Taixu Realm old Daoists of the Heavenly Beginning Civilization, asking them to help suppress Lei Suling's spiritual will. Then, the six divine swords merged into one, descending from the sky, straight towards the top of Lei Suling's head.
Lei Suling's physical body was fragile. As the sword tip stabbed down, her skull cracked inch by inch, and divine blood gushed out like a fountain.