Chapter 3358: Fate Should Not End
In the dark, desolate, and icy void, the Yulan Ghost City burned with faint ghostly flames.
Within the Ghost City, there were both Divine King Guo's divine soul thought doppelganger and the formation spirit of the divine array, but both were firmly suppressed by the Nine Palaces Divine Seal.
Divine King Yu stood before the Ghost City, manifesting his divine king true body thousands of feet tall. The myriad rules and divine patterns transformed into colorful clouds as he said, "Divine King Guo, you are at the end of your road. Where do you think you can still flee?"
Divine King Guo laughed loudly, "With just you lot, how could you possibly keep me here? Once I return to the Hell Realm and come again, I will surely travel alongside the Heavenly Venerable."
Divine King Guo was very decisive. He directly abandoned the Yulan Ghost City, spread his wings, and fled.
This was a move born of desperation!
He and Divine King Yu and Grandmaster Taiqing were all at the middle stage of Qiankun Infinite. Originally, controlling the Yulan Ghost City was a major advantage that allowed him to surpass divine kings and divine venerables of the same realm. But Divine King Yu possessed the Nine Palaces Divine Seal, and Grandmaster Taiqing's cultivation was frighteningly high, already very close to the peak of Qiankun Infinite.
Thus, against either one alone, he had no certainty of victory.
Furthermore, Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin were both divine king-level combatants, capable of stalling him for a time.
One against four...
If he did not retreat now, he risked falling today.
"Still trying to flee?"
Grandmaster Taiqing unleashed the Heavenly Sword Soul. A ten-thousand-zhang soul sword hung in the void, crossing space to strike down, directly targeting Divine King Guo's divine soul.
Ji Fanxin activated a Heavenly Divine Art, launching a spiritual power attack.
Divine King Yu unleashed a long river of time, winding for a hundred thousand li, spreading out before Divine King Guo.
Zhang Ruochen activated the Wuji Divine Dao. The Taiji rotated, space shifted sideways, and he directly crossed space, appearing before Divine King Guo.
In terms of spatial mastery, it was clear that Zhang Ruochen had surpassed the older generation of divine kings present. He was a true world-shaking prodigy, sharp and aggressive, achieving in a mere few tens of thousands of years of cultivation what others could not in hundreds of thousands of years of bitter training.
"Just a Great God dares to block this divine king's path?"
Divine King Guo was wreathed in ghostly qi, his killing intent thick.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Heavenly Venerable Scroll, making as if to open it.
Divine King Guo immediately turned and fled in another direction, his heart filled with both resentment and helplessness.
The Infinite had all marched north. He had thought that emerging this time would allow him to sweep the world and look down upon all living beings. Yet he never expected to be so stifled, forced to retreat even from a Great God.
This retreat caused him to be swept into the long river of time unleashed by Divine King Yu, greatly slowing his speed.
"Whoosh!"
The soul sword struck him, wounding his divine soul.
The Ghost Clan was known for its powerful divine souls, giving them a huge advantage in long-range combat. But Grandmaster Taiqing's soul sword was too strong, suppressing him completely.
According to Divine King Guo's estimation, Grandmaster Taiqing's soul sword posed a considerable threat even to those at the peak of Qiankun Infinite. How had he cultivated such a thing?
It could be said that only Grandmaster Taiqing's soul sword and the Heavenly Venerable Scroll in Zhang Ruochen's hand posed a threat to him.
After a series of magical battles, Divine King Guo was ultimately outnumbered. He was struck repeatedly by the soul sword, and the damage to his divine soul grew increasingly severe.
Continuing like this was very dangerous!
"If you want to kill me, see what price you are willing to pay!"
Divine King Guo directly burned his divine soul. The ghostly flames on his body grew fiercer and fiercer. By sacrificing his soul power, he forcibly elevated his combat strength.
The darkness was covered by ghostly flames.
A tall ghostly shadow manifested behind him, holding the sun and moon, treading on the Yellow Spring. Beside the Yellow Spring, strange white flowers bloomed. It resembled a Primordial Ancestor of the Ghost Clan, the Yellow Spring Great Emperor.
He was activating a divine ability created by the Yellow Spring Great Emperor, causing a resonance with heaven and earth and awakening the Primordial Ancestor's shadow of the Yellow Spring Great Emperor.
Everyone present felt a sense of horror, sensing the arrival of a crisis, as if the heavens were about to collapse and the earth to be destroyed.
When a divine king was pushed to the point of desperate resolve, they became terrifying, often able to drag one or two opponents of the same realm down with them.
Grandmaster Taiqing let out a deep snort. The divine blood within his body burned as he manifested Sword Nineteen. Even if he had to pay some price today, he would leave Divine King Guo behind.
Zhang Ruochen strode forward, approaching Divine King Guo.
Only by getting closer could the Heavenly Venerable Scroll unleash its full power. He was also preventing Divine King Guo from dodging the scroll's attack with his speed.
Ji Fanxin appeared beside Zhang Ruochen, silently forming one array after another.
"The Yellow Spring's startling voice fears there are those who will not return."
Divine King Guo unleashed the divine ability "Yellow Spring's Unreturned Ones." The Yellow Spring surged, and ten thousand flowers bloomed like divine lamps. What had been a shadowy illusion suddenly transformed into a tangible world.
The Yellow Spring Great Emperor's shadow clashed head-on with Grandmaster Taiqing, who had manifested Sword Nineteen.
On the other side, the Heavenly Venerable Scroll unfurled. One character after another flew out, carrying Hao Tian's divine power, smashing through the Yellow Spring and annihilating the ten thousand flowers.
The wooden sword in Grandmaster Taiqing's hand burned to ashes, but Sword Nineteen did not fade.
His own body was the strongest sword. He forcibly broke through the Yellow Spring Great Emperor's shadow, striking Divine King Guo with a single sword strike. On the other side, Hao Tian's divine power surged forward.
The two forces from front and back finally broke Divine King Guo's peerless divine ability. His divine king body was blasted apart, turning into a mist of soul.
Once a divine king's body was shattered, before he could reform it, he was at his weakest. This brief moment would determine whether Divine King Guo could be left behind.
Although Grandmaster Taiqing had broken the Yellow Spring Great Emperor's shadow, he was severely injured. His wooden sword was destroyed, his body was covered in blood, and wounds were dense.
All the power of the Heavenly Venerable Scroll had been used for the attack. The power of the "Yellow Spring's Unreturned Ones" divine ability pierced through the layers of protective divine arrays Ji Fanxin had condensed. Both she and Zhang Ruochen were sent flying, suffering considerable injuries.
In the Infinite Realm, if one's cultivation could not achieve absolute suppression, killing a divine king or divine venerable would always result in losing a thousand of your own to kill eight hundred of the enemy.
Failing to kill was the norm.
Just like when they had besieged Wen Tianjun. The ten clan leaders of the Hell Realm had all come out. It was not that the ten clan leaders together could surpass Wen Tianjun, but that the Hell Realm wanted to form an overwhelming advantage and kill Wen Tianjun without paying any price.
Divine King Yu knew the opportunity was precious. He abandoned suppressing the Yulan Ghost City and struck out with the Nine Palaces Divine Seal, aiming at the cloud of ghostly mist that Divine King Guo had become.
If he could split the ghostly mist cloud into nine parts, Divine King Guo would be dead for sure today.
Blood dripped from the corner of Zhang Ruochen's mouth, but he still immediately struck out with the Earth Cauldron, activating the ancient desolate world patterns on the cauldron's body. As long as he could collect half of the ghostly mist cloud, Divine King Guo would effectively be split in two.
"Boom!"
At that moment, Divine King Yu, who was closest to the chaotic space zone, changed expression and looked back.
He saw that the chaotic space zone had become extremely active. Space rifts were spreading toward them. In an instant, they swallowed the Yulan Ghost City into the rifts.
Divine King Yu immediately withdrew the Nine Palaces Divine Seal to protect himself, dodging the space rifts and the Time Nether Light flying out from within them.
Grandmaster Taiqing knew the power of the space rifts and Time Nether Light here. He transmitted a message to Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin, saying, "It must be the intrusion of Divine King Feixue and Divine King Shikai that has made the chaotic space zone active. Forget about Divine King Guo, run..."
Before he could finish, Grandmaster Taiqing was swept into the chaotic space.
In his attempt to warn Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin, he missed his last chance to escape.
The Earth Cauldron had only taken away about one-tenth of the ghostly mist. Forced to, Zhang Ruochen had to recall it and flee at top speed with Ji Fanxin.
"Haha, fate should not end for me. Now, your nightmare begins."
Divine King Guo reformed his divine king ghost body. In the last moment before the chaotic space closed in, he spread his wings and flew out.
Divine King Guo kept pursuing Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin, flying for who knows how far.
But his divine soul was severely damaged, and his cultivation had declined significantly. Zhang Ruochen's spatial mastery was extraordinary, and he was extremely fast at escaping. After spending several days, Divine King Guo still could not catch up.
Divine King Guo was no longer afraid of the Heavenly Venerable Scroll, because he had noticed that the power Zhang Ruochen had unleashed in his two uses had dropped significantly.
As long as he was careful and cautious, it would not be too difficult to avoid.
Divine King Guo could only catch up to Zhang Ruochen by sensing his divine soul. The more he chased, the more Divine King Guo felt the strangeness of the space-time here. Even with his divine soul strength, he felt a sense of disorientation and could not determine his direction.
The space was too chaotic, fragmented.
Time was sometimes fast, sometimes slow. In some areas, the flow rate was a hundred times that of the outside world. In others, it was so slow it was like time had stopped. He had to rely on time rule divine patterns to open a path.
What was even more deadly was the darkness here, which had a great impact on the divine soul.
After chasing for nearly half a month, Divine King Guo was completely lost, and his ability to sense his own divine soul grew weaker and weaker.
On this day, Zhang Ruochen completely refined one-tenth of Divine King Guo's divine soul, turning it into divine soul pills. The quality was extremely high, and the soul power was pure.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's voice immediately came from the sundial: "Having refined that divine soul, Divine King Guo will never be able to catch up to us again! Xinghuantian is too heavy. Truly worthy of being the Heavenly Venerable's former realm. I, this god, am finding it increasingly difficult to bear the burden."
"The more times like this, the more you must persevere."
Zhang Ruochen took out a divine soul pill and handed it to Ji Fanxin, storing the rest away.
Throughout this pursuit, Ji Fanxin had been the one blocking Divine King Guo's divine soul attacks.
Ji Fanxin carefully studied the divine soul pill in her hand. After confirming that no residual aura of Divine King Guo remained, she returned it to Zhang Ruochen, saying, "I, this venerable, have long sworn never to easily accept favors from others again."
"Am I considered 'others'?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Ji Fanxin looked at him and said, "If it weren't for having received your favor back then, and later you treated me, this venerable, so lightly, how could I have simply walked away? At the time I hated you the most..."
"You wanted to kill me?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Ji Fanxin said, "I wanted to dig out the Divine Wood Heart and return it to you, and also to sever all the grace, love, and karma between us."
The two experiences in the Origin Divine Temple and the Heavenly Beginning Civilization were, for the always ethereal and otherworldly Hundred Flowers Fairy, truly unbearable. Each time was more devastating than the last, pulling her from the clouds down into the mortal dust.
Compared to Bai Qinger and Luo Sha, who were raised with certain ideologies and showed indifference, Chi Yao's resilience and forbearance, and Luo Ji's compromise, Ji Fanxin's heart found it the hardest to accept.
Clearly, any woman would hope that the man she loved would love only her.
Zhang Ruochen had to admit that although the Jie Venerable was the culprit that time, he himself was also at fault. He could not treat them like ordinary women. Each of them had their own dignity and pride.
Zhang Ruochen put away the divine soul pill, as if forgetting the dangerous environment they were in. His eyes were gentle and sincere as he said, "Fanxin, you don't owe me anything. On the contrary, I owe you a great deal. The fact that you came to the Hundred Clans Royal City Star Domain, that you acted immediately when I was in danger, that you stood by my side when facing a powerful enemy—I am deeply moved. I don't believe you are trying to sever our karma through this. Do you remember our first meeting?"
Ji Fanxin fell into recollection, her gaze softening considerably.