Chapter 3450: Ruochen Divine Venerable
On the banks of the Santu River, space had been shattered into fragments by the divine battle, the heavens and earth bathed in a bloody glow.
The three Rakshasa true gods were all lying on the ground, their bodies drenched in blood, utterly wretched.
They had never imagined that in just a few thousand years, Blood Butcher would have reached the Great God realm. Earlier, when they saw him release his divine might, they thought it was just a bluff.
One of the Rakshasa gods, who cultivated the path of archery, had his supreme sacred artifact war bow seized by Blood Butcher.
Seeing the anger in his eyes, Blood Butcher put away the war bow and said, "Don't look so unconvinced. Offending a Great God is a price you have to pay."
That Rakshasa god, who had reached the upper god level, slowly stood up under the suppression of Blood Butcher's rule divine patterns, and said, "Blood Butcher, we were capturing a Heavenly Court god. By interfering, are you trying to betray the Hell Realm?"
Another Rakshasa god said, "Blood Butcher, could you really be a member of the Quantity Organization?"
Blood Butcher's killing intent gradually thickened, and he sneered, "First you accuse me of betraying the Hell Realm, then you slander me as a member of the Quantity Organization. You have quite the nerve. Don't you know that I am a close friend and relative of your Divine Prince and Princess Luo Sha?"
The three Rakshasa gods exchanged strange glances.
Sensing something was wrong, Blood Butcher asked, "Tell me, why are you really chasing her?"
Shang Yue endured the pain, pulled out the divine arrow that had pierced her lower abdomen, and threw it to the ground. Her face covered in blood, she said, "Because they imprisoned Princess Luo Sha and the Divine Prince. I had to stop at nothing to prevent them from stopping me from seeking reinforcements."
Blood Butcher sucked in a breath of cold air, realizing that this matter was indeed no small thing. It seemed he had gotten himself into big trouble.
What status did Princess Luo Sha and Luo Shengtian hold? They were the only two children of Emperor Luo Yan. How could they be imprisoned?
What great upheaval had occurred in the Rakshasa Clan?
Blood Butcher asked Shang Yue to describe the current situation of the Rakshasa Clan in detail.
After listening, Blood Butcher fell silent, unable to calm his heart.
That Rakshasa upper god, named Shaluo Lie, lowered his posture and said, "Blood Butcher Great God, we have no intention of being your enemy, but this woman is a god of the Heavenly Court, and may even be connected to the Quantity Organization. If you protect her, how can you clear your own name? Your father is a member of the Quantity Organization!"
Seeing that Blood Butcher seemed hesitant to intervene further, Shaluo Lie shifted his form, appeared beside Shang Yue, and struck like lightning, sealing her cultivation with divine power and binding her with divine chains.
The other two Rakshasa gods stood up. Their war weapons had been taken by Blood Butcher, and naturally, they harbored resentment.
But now was clearly not the time to make a move; they had to endure.
Once they returned, they could file a serious accusation and make Blood Butcher suffer eternal damnation.
Just as they were about to take Shang Yue away, Blood Butcher weighed his options repeatedly, then laughed, "I, Blood Butcher, am a Great God of this era. What I say is set in stone."
"I said I would protect Shang Yue, and you all completely disregard me?"
As the last word left his mouth, billions of rule divine patterns surged from his lips, striking the three Rakshasa gods, causing their skin to burst, blood mist to rise, and sending them all flying.
Blood Butcher waved his hand, cutting the divine chains on Shang Yue, enveloping her with divine qi, and said, "Follow me."
Shang Yue truly hadn't expected Blood Butcher to have such courage, and she couldn't help but look at him with new respect.
From the void above the Santu River, a deep divine voice resounded: "Blood Butcher, daring to rescue a Heavenly Court god is an open betrayal of the Hell Realm. Even if you are Feng Tian's disciple, you cannot escape death today."
A divine shadow, tens of thousands of miles tall, manifested in the void.
Evil Rakshasa qi rolled beneath the shadow's feet. With a furious expression, he swung a heavenly blade ten thousand miles long, slashing straight down.
"Big trouble. It's the Rakshasa Great God, Xu Yin."
Blood Butcher immediately stopped, turned around, grabbed his golden divine staff with both hands, and struck downward.
The staff struck as if hitting the surface of a lake, causing ripples in space.
At the tail of the golden divine staff was a pattern of two fish with their backs facing each other.
At this moment, the pattern blazed with light, forming a double-fish light shadow that enveloped him and Shang Yue.
"Boom!"
The heavenly blade fell but was blocked by the double-fish light shadow.
Blood Butcher and Shang Yue were sent flying thousands of miles, and the space for thousands of miles was covered in countless cracks.
Xu Yin Great God's true form manifested, clad in white armor, his physique imposing, as he swung his blade again.
Seeing the Great God's arrival, the three Rakshasa gods were greatly invigorated.
"Blood Butcher rescued a Heavenly Court god, wounded three Rakshasa gods, and seized several of our war weapons. Without a doubt, he has betrayed the Hell Realm. We can testify to this."
"With such a crime, even Feng Tian cannot protect him."
...
Blood Butcher blocked several of Xu Yin Great God's strikes, but he couldn't break free. The opponent's cultivation far surpassed his own.
As the double-fish light shadow grew fainter, Blood Butcher grew anxious. He threw the severely injured Shang Yue onto the back of the Mo beast and said, "You go first! Damn it, I don't believe that now that I've stepped into the Great God realm, I can't even have a moment of glory?"
"Xu Yin, come fight!"
Blood Butcher charged forward to attack.
He had been fighting Xu Yin Great God for only a short while when Shang Yue rode the Mo beast back to the battlefield.
Blood Butcher knew he was no match for Xu Yin Great God, but escaping wasn't a big problem, which was why he stayed to hold him off.
Seeing Shang Yue return, he was naturally furious and roared, "Why did you come back? With your lower god cultivation, you can only be a burden to me. Get lost!"
Shang Yue looked at him coldly, then turned her gaze behind her.
Deep within the Santu River, the vast mist parted, and a figure in a black robe walked on the river's surface, stepping across the water.
Each step landed on the spatial veins, covering a distance of one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred miles.
The black-robed man released no divine might, yet an intangible aura filled the heavens and earth, bringing immense pressure.
Xu Yin Great God had already condensed a divine ability, ready to strike, but when he saw the black-robed man appear, his pupils sharply contracted. The blade in his hand froze mid-air, unable to slash down.
The three Rakshasa gods turned deathly pale, wanting to flee.
But their legs seemed rooted to the spot, and the divine qi within them seemed to solidify.
Blood Butcher was overjoyed and immediately rushed forward, saying, "Senior Brother, why trouble yourself to come to the Hell Realm for such a trivial matter? Your junior brother can handle it."
Zhang Ruochen's black robe moved with the wind, the fabric folding and fluttering, but his expression was cold as frost as he swept his gaze over the four Rakshasa gods present.
"This aura..."
Initially, Xu Yin Great God had wanted to flee, but after forming a terrifying guess in his mind, he immediately abandoned that thought.
"Greetings, Ruochen Divine Venerable!"
Xu Yin Great God bowed deeply.
The other three Bu Tian realm gods also bowed, not daring to utter a single word.
Hearing Xu Yin call out "Divine Venerable," Blood Butcher jolted in realization, feeling both shock and ecstasy.
He had bet correctly!
After learning that Princess Luo Sha was imprisoned, Blood Butcher had concluded that his senior brother would definitely take action, perhaps even go to the Abyss of Darkness to invite Heavenly Mother out of seclusion.
With Heavenly Mother's backing, those Rakshasa gods would be nothing but chickens and dogs.
So, he decisively chose to protect Shang Yue!
But there was an unexpected surprise.
His senior brother had broken through to the Infinite realm and been titled Venerable.
Zhang Ruochen directly drew upon the life rules and heavenly and earthly qi, turning them into gaseous streams that poured into Shang Yue's body.
In an instant, Shang Yue's injuries were fully healed.
"Tell me, what is the current situation in the Tian Luo Divine Kingdom?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Xu Yin Great God, Shaluo Lie, and the other gods didn't know if Zhang Ruochen was asking them, so none dared to speak rashly.
Shang Yue told Zhang Ruochen everything she knew.
The situation was worse than Zhang Ruochen had anticipated.
Logically, although Emperor Luo Yan had fallen, there were still many gods loyal to him, and with the support of the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, Luo Sha and Luo Shengtian might have been sidelined due to power shifts, but they shouldn't have been imprisoned.
But who would have thought that Ding Zu, the person Emperor Luo Yan trusted most, would go to such extremes?
Zhang Ruochen looked at Xu Yin Great God and said, "Shang Yue knows too little! You are a Rakshasa Great God; you should know more, right? This is your only chance to live."
Xu Yin Great God did not hesitate, saying, "The situation may be worse! As far as I know, Feng Zun and the gods loyal to Emperor Luo Yan have all been dispatched by Ding Zu to the Starry Sky Battlefield. Without protection, the princess and the Divine Prince will face brutal interrogations, for they know too many secrets!"
"Moreover, in the most extreme case, the princess and the Divine Prince may be secretly executed."
"Xu Yin Great God, are you going to betray Ding Zu?" Shaluo Lie said.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze locked onto him, and Shaluo Lie's divine body was torn apart from the inside out by spatial forces, his body shattered into pieces, divine blood splattering across the void.
Everyone present, including Blood Butcher and Shang Yue, felt their hearts stop.
That was a true god, killed on the spot.
Killing a true god crossed the line, and the two forces would inevitably go to war.
The other two Rakshasa gods knelt on one knee and said in unison, "We were only following orders. Please, Ruochen Divine Venerable, forgive our sins."
"Divine Venerable is the envoy of Heavenly Mother, walking the world in her stead. We are willing to submit to the Divine Venerable, to serve the Divine Venerable, and to serve Heavenly Mother."
One of the gods offered a suggestion, "Divine Venerable can draft an edict in Heavenly Mother's name, commanding the Rakshasa gods to crusade against Ding Zu. This will surely rescue the princess and the Divine Prince."
Blood Butcher stood to the side, his eyes red with envy.
This was the might of a Divine Venerable—able to pressure even enemies into submission, unlike him, who had to fight tooth and nail without convincing anyone.
Without the authority of a Divine Venerable, Xu Yin Great God and the others might not have accepted the identity of Heavenly Mother's envoy.
Xu Yin Great God said, "This cannot be done! Issuing a crusade edict now would lead to two disastrous consequences. First, the Rakshasa Clan would surely split and fall into civil war, for we lack a just cause."
"Second, the princess and the Divine Prince are still in their hands!"
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What do you suggest?"
Xu Yin Great God said, "I can pretend to capture Shang Yue and return to the Divine City to report. There, I will likely be able to see the princess and the Divine Prince. The Divine Venerable can hide within my divine realm world!"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Do you know what happens to someone who plays tricks before a Divine Venerable?"
Xu Yin Great God said, "Xu Yin will speak plainly! If it were only the Divine Venerable alone, I would not dare to offend Ding Zu, and I might indeed harbor some luck and play tricks. But behind the Divine Venerable stands Heavenly Mother, the strongest in the Rakshasa Clan, the true master of the Rakshasa Clan, whom all Rakshasa gods revere!"
Blood Butcher snorted coldly, "Playing tricks before the Divine Venerable? You're not worthy! The moment that thought was born, you would have already died! Senior Brother, even if the Rakshasa Clan is a dragon's den and tiger's lair, your junior brother will go with you! Rescue the sister-in-law, purge the Rakshasa Clan, and kill all those bastards."