Chapter 3373: Elephant Dharma Heaven
Two eyes, appearing liquid-like with watery ripples inside, were enormous and hung inverted in midair.
A sinister and strange power radiated from the eyes, corroding the earth and chilling the soul.
Only a pair of eyes were visible; the true body had not yet manifested.
The blood-mud figure, who had been locked in a magical contest with it, revealed a solemn expression and said, "We have coexisted peacefully for so many years. Today, is it finally time for a decisive battle?"
The two eyes flew out of the Sword Soul Marsh, exposing themselves to the rain of Sword Source light, and stopped in midair.
Clearly, the Sword Source light rain suppressed it greatly.
A low divine voice emanated from the eyes, echoing across thousands and tens of thousands of miles of the temple, saying, "The Sword God Temple is about to face a great event, and its master can only be one—that is... me!"
The final word "me" contained a power that shook the heavens and deafened the ears.
Even the gods at the Great God realm present felt a piercing pain in their divine souls.
Part of that sinister divine power penetrated through layers of formations and landed on them.
The Heavenly Staircase said, "You want to become the master of the Sword God Temple? Do you truly regard us as nothing? Fight! Today, we will charge into the Sword Soul Marsh and slay him."
One by one, the stone steps revealed ancient carved patterns and flew out.
Accompanied by sharp sword qi, they slashed toward the two dark, abyss-like sinister eyes.
This was an attack at the God Venerable level, seemingly unremarkable in power but in truth earth-shattering. In the outside world, it could destroy star domains and shatter the rules of heaven and earth.
"Bang! Bang!"
From the two sinister eyes surged circles of black ripples, sending all the flying stone steps flying back.
The low voice sounded again: "You still haven't seen the situation clearly? The Sword Soul Marsh is no longer what it was. There are unimaginable powerhouses about to descend, and when they do, you will all become soul slaves."
The blood-mud figure remained very calm, saying, "If there truly were some unimaginable powerhouse, even if they did not descend, they could dominate everything across time and space. Since they still need to descend, it means they are not that terrifying."
Thick blood mud surged toward the Sword Soul Marsh, like waves on the ground, reaching a hundred zhang high.
The vast blood qi was like a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, containing infinite killing intent.
Moments later, the blood-mud figure and the two dark, abyss-like sinister eyes collided. Blood qi and black mist clashed, with countless electric sparks and flashes flickering within.
"Boom, rumble!"
Waves of terrifying shockwaves spread outward, causing the entire Sword God Temple to tremble violently.
The Heavenly Staircase also attacked the Sword Soul Marsh, engaging in magical combat with the two black silhouettes formed by the giant bird and the woman.
Zhang Ruochen stood on the God-Defying Stele, firmly suppressing Divine King Guo within the cauldron.
Both the cauldron and the stele flickered with strange radiance, causing the surrounding time and space to be in great chaos.
Divine King Guo's voice came from within the cauldron: "Junior, you cannot suppress me from self-detonating my divine source. If you try to refine and kill me, we will only perish together."
The divine king's spiritual will was powerful; with Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, he truly could not suppress him from self-detonating his divine source.
However, if Divine King Guo self-detonated his divine source within the Earth Cauldron, he would still be far from killing Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I can sense that your divine soul has been eroded by a sinister force. What exactly did you encounter in the Sword Soul Marsh? Were you controlled by them?"
Divine King Guo, who had been attacking the Earth Cauldron, suddenly stopped.
Zhang Ruochen continued, "You are right. I cannot stop you from self-detonating your divine source. If I push you too far, I will die too. So, we can talk."
For now, Divine King Guo was no longer a major threat. Zhang Ruochen planned to stabilize him first.
To dispel his wariness, Zhang Ruochen added, "You know that unless there is deep-seated hatred or I am pushed too far, I, Zhang Ruochen, do not like making enemies, let alone driving them to their deaths."
If one could live, who would choose to die?
Divine King Guo did believe Zhang Ruochen's words, for Zhang Ruochen had spared too many mortal enemies, even gods from the Heavenly Realm Faction.
Feeling Divine King Guo's spiritual will waver with hesitation, Zhang Ruochen continued, "Compared to the Hell Realm, the Sword Realm is still very weak. Toward Fengdu Ghost City, at least for now, I am more willing to build friendly relations rather than turn it into a mortal enemy. If you are willing to become a bridge of friendship between us, then today, there is something to discuss."
Suddenly, Divine King Guo laughed, a cackling sound: "It's useless! A mere junior like you dares to spy on the Sword Soul Marsh? Haha! I have no way out, and you will die too... you all... will die... ah..."
A piercing scream came from within the cauldron.
Zhang Ruochen's expression changed drastically. He immediately leaped down from the God-Defying Stele and struck the Earth Cauldron with his palm.
The Earth Cauldron shot up into the sky.
"Boom!"
A powerful destructive force erupted from within the Earth Cauldron.
In midair, all the Sword Source light rain was scattered, and the entire Sword God Temple shook violently. At the center of the destructive force, fine cracks appeared in space.
The cauldron's body rang like a heavenly bell.
Even tens of billions of miles away, beyond the Dark Night Star Gate, the sound waves continued without end.
Outside the War Dharma Divine Temple, the sword formation that Jade Pure Ancestor had set up with three hundred and sixty war swords was directly shattered by the destructive force. All the war swords cracked and turned into sword fragments.
Beneath the Earth Cauldron, all of Zhang Ruochen's defenses were breached. His hair was disheveled, and blood flowed from his mouth and nose.
Divine King Guo had ultimately self-detonated his divine source.
This was by no means his will, for Zhang Ruochen had clearly felt his will waver, showing signs of compromise.
Zhang Ruochen looked up and saw that the light of the Sword Source Divine Tree had dimmed even further.
Under the Truth Divine Eye, the originally invisible black threads gradually receded due to Divine King Guo's self-detonation.
What exactly had Divine King Guo experienced in the Sword Soul Marsh?
An unknown force had controlled a divine king like a puppet on strings, forcing him to self-detonate his divine source.
This was too terrifying.
This was definitely not something a being at the Qiankun Infinite realm could do!
The Earth Cauldron fell back down, completely unharmed.
However, the body of the God-Defying Stele was covered in many cracks.
This was not surprising; the God-Defying Stele was never indestructible. Its most miraculous aspect was its ability to erase all divine patterns and inscription patterns in the world.
After it had merged into one, Zhang Ruochen discovered an even more incredible property.
It seemed... it could even erase rules.
Including the rules of heaven and earth.
"The origin cauldron has emerged, and the god-defying stele has arrived. All is fated by heaven. I shall take them!"
From the depths of the Sword Soul Marsh walked a figure with four eyes, clad in long-sleeved robes, with ears like palm-leaf fans, a nose three feet long, and a humanoid form but a head resembling that of an elephant.
Behind him, dark light stretched for a thousand miles, manifesting towering cities, winding rivers, and mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Eerily strange.
Zhang Ruochen felt his body locked in place, with space from all directions pressing in on him.
Moreover, his divine soul was under attack. The Bodhi tree grew dimmer, and the attached armor began to crack.
"This is..."
The person before him felt familiar, as if Zhang Ruochen had seen him somewhere before.
He seemed to have stepped out of time and space, carrying an ancient charm, yet also an immense majesty that ordinary kings and venerables could not compare to.
"Elephant Dharma Heaven, you are still alive?"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's voice rang out from within the War Dharma Divine Temple, filled with surprise.
The elephant-headed old man glanced toward the War Dharma Divine Temple, muttering to himself, "In this era, there are still those who remember me?"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God walked out of the War Dharma Divine Temple, looking toward the Sword Soul Marsh, and said, "No, you are merely a remnant soul."
Zhang Ruochen remembered now. Elephant Dharma Heaven was a former supreme powerhouse of the Underworld Clan, once a Heavenly Venerable, even older than Yinyue Heaven. Yinyue Heaven had defeated him to establish her position as the number one powerhouse of the Underworld Clan.
This was from ten eons ago, the era of the Great Venerable, wasn't it?
One by one, figures that had only existed in legends were appearing, even if only as remnant souls, still awe-inspiring.
Perhaps, because his cultivation had reached this level, he was now touching a different world—a world previously unimaginable.
One of the duties of the current Boundless was to suppress those who were dead yet undying.
These dead yet undying individuals were all astonishingly brilliant, each wanting to live another life, descending from Lihentian to the real world. How could the current Boundless allow them to succeed?
"Now I am a remnant soul, but in the future, I may not be able to revive, reverse life and death, and descend to the real world. As long as the divine soul is not extinguished and the spirit endures, there are infinite possibilities."
Elephant Dharma Heaven observed Xiu Chen Heavenly God and said, "You carry the aura of my Underworld Clan. If you submit, you may live today."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God chuckled lightly: "Elephant Dharma Heaven, you must be living in a dream. What era is this? Do you still think you are the number one of the Underworld Clan? A million years have passed; your era has long ended. I am a current God Venerable. Submit to a remnant soul like you?"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's divine soul in the real world had not been extinguished, his divine source still existed, and now he had the Sundial as his body. As long as he survived the Eon Calamity, he could indeed be considered a current God Venerable.
As for Elephant Dharma Heaven, his divine body, divine source, and divine soul in the real world had all turned to ashes in the Eon Calamity.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God's pride soared to the clouds as he looked down on Elephant Dharma Heaven, saying, "You had better retreat to Lihentian quickly. Once the rules of heaven and earth sense you, I fear you will be completely annihilated."
"This is the Sword God Temple!"
Elephant Dharma Heaven merely said this, and a dark light wind force burst from his body, surging toward Zhang Ruochen in a sky-covering, earth-blanketing manner.
Zhang Ruochen stood guard beside the two ancestors, his posture unyielding, feeling the terrifying danger approaching.
That aura was like Qingtian's strike back then, making Zhang Ruochen feel despair, as if he would be crushed.
But such a feeling of despair only appeared for a moment before Zhang Ruochen cut it away, his eyes returning to tranquility.
This was an illusory false image painted by Elephant Dharma Heaven using his former Heavenly Venerable-level aura.
Its intent was to shatter Zhang Ruochen's resolve with willpower and collapse his will to resist.
In reality, with Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, even Qingtian would find it no easy task to kill him across a vast, distant void.
"Miaoli, what are you waiting for? A Heavenly Venerable's remnant soul—if you absorb it, you will surely gain boundless benefits." Zhang Ruochen said.
"Today, I shall weigh the measure of the former number one of the Underworld Clan!"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God spread a pair of black wings on his back, flew out of the War Dharma Divine Temple, and collided with the dark light wind force.
Beneath her feet, a sea of time imprint light erupted, and above her head, black clouds appeared, radiating the Heavenly Venerable power belonging to Beixi.
Zhang Ruochen stood behind, finding that Xiu Chen Heavenly God had become much more cunning, not as "reckless" as she appeared on the surface. She seemed to despise Elephant Dharma Heaven, but when she actually moved, she directly activated the power of Beixi within the black wings.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God said, "You carry a sinister aura on you. You should be very afraid of the Sword Source light rain, right?"
"It doesn't matter; the light rain is about to dissipate."
Elephant Dharma Heaven walked out of the Sword Soul Marsh, his steps seemingly slow, but each step could stride several miles, continuously crushing the Time Divine Sea manifested by Xiu Chen Heavenly God. He said, "You call yourself a current God Venerable, but you are too weak! With such cultivation, contending with me will surely end in your soul scattering and spirit vanishing."
Xiu Chen Heavenly God transmitted to Zhang Ruochen, "Elephant Dharma Heaven's remnant soul is very strong. How about we join forces? You use the Wuji Divine Dao and the Earth Cauldron to assist me!"
Zhang Ruochen felt a strong sense of danger, believing that even if he and Xiu Chen joined forces, they could not stop Elephant Dharma Heaven, and said, "Use the Heavenly Banner!"
"It has to be this way!"
Xiu Chen Heavenly God quickly retreated and regrouped with Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen gave her a disdainful look. The former Xiu Chen Heavenly God, who feared nothing in the world, was truly gone forever. Now, she was... too flexible.
She never lost when throwing harsh words.
But when she knew she couldn't win, she retreated faster than anyone.
Elephant Dharma Heaven's figure grew taller and taller, carrying an overwhelming sense of oppression, as if a true Heavenly Venerable was approaching, about to shatter heaven and earth.
This momentum was unparalleled.
Even though Zhang Ruochen kept telling himself that the other party was only a remnant soul, his mind was still affected.
Suddenly.
A sword cry sounded behind Zhang Ruochen and Xiu Chen Heavenly God.
Joy appeared in Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
A light sword condensed from a sword soul hovered above Jade Pure Ancestor's head.
The powerful sword soul momentum shattered Elephant Dharma Heaven's Heavenly Venerable aura.
Jade Pure Ancestor, who had been sitting motionless, stood up, like a heavenly sword being unsheathed, meeting Elephant Dharma Heaven's gaze, and said, "Thank you, sinister ones, for your pressure. Otherwise, I might not have broken through today."
"Ruochen, you did well. If you hadn't stood in front of us earlier, I, the ancestor, might have already fallen. Now, you can step back and rest. Someone must shield you young ones from the wind and rain."
Jade Pure Ancestor's aura was completely different now, far more powerful.
With his breakthrough in realm, it was as if he had stepped onto the heavens in one stride, standing at the peak of the universe.
To Zhang Ruochen, Jade Pure Ancestor's current power fluctuations were no less than those of the famous enfeoffed kings and honored venerables of the Heavenly Court and Hell Realm. The twelve God Venerables of the Destiny Temple, for the most part, should be at this level.
Countless sword rains accompanied Jade Pure Ancestor as he advanced toward Elephant Dharma Heaven, saying, "Today, I, a current God Venerable, shall slay the remnant soul of a former Heavenly Venerable. If you wish to descend to the real world, this era does not welcome you!"
"Swish!"
The heavenly sword soul hovering above Jade Pure Ancestor's head slashed out, cutting through all the dark light.
Elephant Dharma Heaven did not engage in a direct confrontation with Jade Pure Ancestor and retreated decisively.
But Jade Pure Ancestor was unwilling to let him go. He directly arrived outside the Sword Soul Marsh, raised both hands, and behind him, sword rains converged into an ocean of sword qi.
Not only did Elephant Dharma Heaven retreat into the Sword Soul Marsh, but the two dark, abyss-like sinister eyes also retreated after Jade Pure Ancestor's breakthrough.
Now, facing the overwhelming sword rain, Elephant Dharma Heaven and the dark, abyss-like sinister eyes simultaneously unleashed divine abilities, manifesting a ten-thousand-mile dark river and a black mist city wall.