Chapter 3345: The Heavenly Court's Strongest Heavenly Group
Xiongguan Star hung in the universe like a massive iron ball, with surrounding stars appearing as tiny as specks of dust compared to it.
On the star's surface, divine formations had been fully activated, forming layer upon layer of dazzling light curtains that condensed into various majestic and magnificent strange realms.
A sea of bones appeared in the void as if real, five-fingered stone pillars propped up the starry sky, and golden crow-shaped fire birds spread their wings and flew...
Above the star, a gray, misty divine mountain hovered.
Hundreds of Death Clan deities floated around the divine mountain, channeling their full power to activate the God King Battle Formation.
"Whoosh!"
Over a hundred Supreme Sacred Artifacts transformed into a torrent of war weapons, flying out from the God King Battle Formation and striking toward the void where Zhang Ruochen and the others stood.
Each Supreme Sacred Artifact seemed personally activated by a God King, blazing with intense light capable of igniting a sea of stars.
It was utterly shocking—this wave of attacks could destroy an entire major world, turning it into tens of millions of miles of scorched earth and annihilating billions of living beings.
Divine war was the greatest catastrophe in the universe.
Zhang Ruochen and the others did not retreat.
Shenba Princess instead stepped forward several paces, raising the bronze staff in her hand.
This staff was actually the Black Water Divine Staff in disguise.
"God King Battle Formation? Watch this Elder's Yin Yang Eighteen Formations!" she declared.
Eighteen Space Divine Formations manifested around the bronze staff, like eighteen gears enveloping the heavens and earth, interlocking to throw the surrounding star domain's space into chaos.
In some directions, space shattered, revealing large cracks.
In others, space contracted, making a thousand miles feel like an inch.
"Boom!"
The Yin Yang Eighteen Formations, like eighteen divine shields, clashed with the flying hundred-plus Supreme Sacred Artifacts, producing an unending cacophony of impacts.
The Supreme Sacred Artifacts failed to breach the eighteen Space Divine Formations; instead, they were continuously pulled and dragged by the formations, disappearing into the formation world.
Was this devouring war weapons?
All the deities of the Hell Realm were stunned.
It was hard to believe that the Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace was so powerful.
Wait a moment!
Had the Formation Destruction Palace also refined a set of Yin Yang Eighteen Formations?
This set of Yin Yang Eighteen Formations was quite different from the one Zhang Ruochen had used before, but no one suspected anything. In terms of formations, the Formation Destruction Palace indeed had the capital to dominate the world.
This God King Battle Formation of the Death Clan was activated by the divine blood of a Yaksha Clan God King, thereby acquiring God King-level power.
Seeing that the few ancient gods of the Heavenly Court had not retreated but instead intended to use the Yin Yang Eighteen Formations to contend with them, Kong Can, who was presiding over the God King Battle Formation, was not angered but pleased.
Could the Yin Yang Eighteen Formations really contend with a God King Battle Formation?
Could the Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace truly match hundreds of Death Clan deities? Only Wu Yue, the First Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace, or the resurrected Fourth Elder of Tiannan might have a chance.
"Formation, rise!"
Kong Can's Divine Realm World hovered above his head, pouring down thousands of divine qi waterfalls into the divine mountain beneath his feet.
On the divine mountain, the God King's blood flowed like a red river, trickling gently.
A Yaksha Clan God King's phantom, towering over a hundred thousand miles tall, manifested on the divine mountain, exuding a terrifying aura and overwhelming divine might.
Over a hundred Death Clan deities, like a hundred stars, adorned the surroundings of the God King phantom.
The God King phantom took a single step, covering exactly one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred miles with a Divine Spirit Step.
"The Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace definitely can't hold out. Let's go help Big Brother." Feng Yan raised his Pure Yang Divine Sword, preparing to rush over.
Chi Chaluo stopped him, saying, "Don't rush. Zhang Ruochen and the others haven't retreated, which means they have confidence. Let's not expose ourselves for now; we can act when the critical moment comes."
Xiang Chunan muttered under his breath, "How many deities did the Heavenly Court actually send? Why haven't they shown themselves yet?"
"Maybe it's just the four of them," Mandala Flower God said thoughtfully.
Xiang Chunan's eyes widened. "Four fighting the entire Hell Realm?"
"Bang!"
The hundred-thousand-mile-tall Yaksha Clan God King phantom punched down, its divine power surging and colliding heavily with the Yin Yang Eighteen Formations.
Shenba Princess retreated several steps in succession, her spiritual power nearly scattered.
Although her spiritual power was formidable, her understanding of space was insufficient to fully unleash the Yin Yang Eighteen Formations' power. Clashing with the God King Battle Formation, she immediately fell into a disadvantage.
Xu Wenzhi, disguised as Huang Daozi, charged into the Yin Yang Eighteen Formations, releasing his spiritual power to activate the formations and share Shenba Princess's burden.
"Watch this Elder's doppelganger!" Shenba Princess intoned.
The Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace sighed inwardly, knowing he couldn't escape and would still have to act.
The Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace appeared beside Shenba Princess, as if he were truly her doppelganger.
He launched a hundred Qilin Hollow Gold Balls, which spun with a clatter and condensed into a divine formation.
Within the formation, a golden Qilin manifested, letting out a long roar imbued with spiritual power attacks. The Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace stood atop the Qilin's head, wielding his staff as he soared into the air.
The Qilin, like a primordial ferocious beast, swung its ten-thousand-mile-long golden claws, striking the Yaksha Clan God King phantom.
Inside the phantom, over a dozen Death Clan deities spat blood, suffering severe injuries.
"This is a palace-guarding divine formation of the Formation Destruction Palace—the Hundred Sons Qilin Formation!"
"The Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace already holds such authority in the palace? He brought two invincible formations at once?"
"A doppelganger alone is this powerful. This Second Elder's strength might already surpass the First Elder. With two divine formations backing him, who below the Infinite Realm can match him in combat?"
The deities of the Hell Realm had mixed feelings, realizing they had underestimated the Heavenly Court.
Figures like Famous Sword God and the Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace could each sweep across a battlefield. If the Hell Realm's preparations were insufficient, they would suffer greatly.
Zhang Ruochen remained calm, then suddenly sensed something. He said to Xiuchen Heavenly God, who was eager to strike, "They're here—behind us. Someone wants to cut off our retreat."
"With them? Zhang Ruochen, remember our deal: any deity I suppress, you must help refine into a Soul Divine Pill," Xiuchen Heavenly God said.
Zhang Ruochen replied, "Rest assured, this Realm Lord never deceives women. Oh, and call me Young Lord."
Xiuchen Heavenly God snorted, transforming into a beam of divine light and flying toward the rear.
Behind them, two divine cities, one on the left and one on the right, flew through the void.
The cities were forged from exotic divine iron, with tall, thick walls. The city bodies were like complete war artifacts, wrapped in divine formations and countless Rule Divine Marks.
On the wall of the left divine city stood a stone leopard, thirty zhang long, fully armored. It was the number one Great God of the Peacock Divine Star, one of the Stone Clan's Ten Divine Stars, titled "Leopard Lord."
On the wall of the right divine city stood a man wearing a golden mask, his skin purple and glowing with crystalline radiance. He was the number one Great God of the Purple Jade Divine Star, titled "Ice Lord."
"Lihen Ancient God has arrived!" Ice Lord said in a soft, amused tone.
"Just a mere Lihen Ancient God—what courage does he have to face us directly?"
Leopard Lord roared to the heavens.
Sound waves, divine power, and Rule Divine Marks surged out together, forming ripples that struck Xiuchen, who was disguised as Lihen Ancient God.
Xiuchen Heavenly God ignored the sound wave attacks, breaking through the Rule Divine Marks and divine formations surrounding the war city with unstoppable force.
"Something's wrong—this Lihen Ancient God is strange!"
Leopard Lord's expression shifted drastically as he spat out a war weapon burning with divine flames, shaped like a sword, which shot through the air.
Xiuchen Heavenly God casually snatched his war weapon with bare hands.
The divine flames on the weapon instantly extinguished.
Leopard Lord was completely stunned, having never encountered such a terrifying opponent. He immediately unleashed his famed speed and movement technique, charging toward Ice Lord's war city while transmitting a message: "Activate the city's strongest defenses immediately! Lihen Ancient God's true cultivation might rival Xixuan Beishi—no, stronger... stronger than Xixuan... ah..."
Leopard Lord didn't make it in time. Xiuchen Heavenly God struck his head with a palm.
"Bang!"
His head, harder than divine stone, exploded into fragments.
Leopard Lord's headless stone body cracked extensively, crashing into the war city and carving a deep trench, nearly splitting it in two.
Countless buildings in the city collapsed, and numerous Stone Clan cultivators turned to stone powder.
Ice Lord poured out his divine power, activating the city's formations and divine marks. At the same time, all the Stone Clan soldiers in the city mobilized, enhancing the city's defensive power.
Who wasn't shocked?
A war city's defenses were breached in an instant.
The number one expert of the Peacock Divine Star had his head shattered in a single exchange.
The Stone Clan's Ten Divine Stars were all ninth-level planets, equivalent to the Undying Blood Clan's Ten Great Tribes. As the Peacock Divine Star's number one expert, Leopard Lord, though inferior to Yuman Lord, was still at the Taixu Peak Body-Stop cultivation level.
Ice Lord's cultivation was even stronger, reaching Soul-Stop.
Seeing "Lihen Ancient God" heading toward his war city, he immediately triggered the city's divine formation.
The divine formation spun rapidly, unleashing a dense swarm of tens-of-miles-long metal blades. Each blade's power was no weaker than a deity's attack, as if countless deities were striking together.
Xiuchen Heavenly God traced a shield with his finger, holding it before him as he approached the war city.
With the war city and Stone Clan army's power backing him, Ice Lord was unafraid even against a Heart-Stop level expert.
Using his esoterica, he drew upon the world's rules to manifest a divine ability, turning this stretch of cosmic void into a frozen, snowy expanse where even space seemed to freeze.
"Petty tricks! Ice Lord, you haven't even mastered a single Great Perfection Infinite Divine Ability, have you?"
Xiuchen Heavenly God launched Lihen Ancient God's sub-god-level Supreme Sacred Artifact war weapon, piercing through layers of frozen mountain ranges and melting all the incoming metal blades.
Then, Xiuchen Heavenly God manifested an Infinite Divine Ability.
In the void, a divine lotus of flames bloomed, burning through the Rule Divine Marks protecting the war city and sending the entire city flying hundreds of miles.
Just as the cultivators in the city were celebrating their survival against "Lihen Ancient God's" divine ability, the "Lihen Ancient God" they saw had already broken into the city, striking Ice Lord's divine body into four or five pieces.
The divine power rippled outward, reducing tens of thousands of Stone Clan Saint Realm soldiers in the city to dust.
In the direction of Xiongguan Star, the Hell Realm deities erupted in uproar.
"This is impossible! How could Lihen Ancient God be this strong?"
"Are Leopard Lord and Ice Lord really that fragile? Has Lihen Ancient God reached the Infinite Realm?"
"It's not the Infinite Realm—he's still far from a God King or God Venerable."
"But those were two war cities with formidable offensive and defensive power! How could a Great God break through them?"
...
Many Hell Realm deities were terrified, no longer daring to show any contempt.
They believed that Famous Sword God, the Second Elder of the Formation Destruction Palace, Lihen Ancient God, and Huang Daozi formed the Heavenly Court's strongest heavenly group—secretly cultivated elites who had previously hidden their true strength.
Before this strongest heavenly group of the Heavenly Court, unless Mitian War God, Jue Miao Chan Nu, Xixuan Beishi, and Wu Yue came together, who could stand against them?
The fall of Yuman Lord and Nine-Headed Bone Serpent was now understandable!
Leopard Lord and Ice Lord hadn't fallen, but their divine bodies were severely damaged.
The Hell Realm deities no longer dared to hold back, unleashing their full power.
"Excellent! It's been a while since I've enjoyed such an exhilarating divine war!"
Ban Zun's eyes turned profoundly dark as he formed strange hand seals.
Immediately, the divine temple beneath his feet lit up with countless bright patterns, releasing an ancient and weighty aura.
This black divine temple, hundreds of thousands of meters tall, was a War Dharma Divine Temple, once belonging to a Great Unbound Infinite realm God Venerable in the Death Clan's history.
Ban Zun had inherited this God Venerable's legacy.