Chapter 3461: Master Zhi Makes His Move
The sword light blazed with extreme brilliance, soaring straight into the sky, severing countless formation inscription marks, and was ultimately neutralized by the city-protecting divine formation within the rolling black clouds.
This shocking, world-stunning sword strike caused Yue Gujun and Master Zhi Shenzun's expressions to turn heavy.
"The power of an Ancestor, the aura of an Ancestor!"
"Has Zhang Ruochen taken control of the Sword Ancestor's sword?"
...
The deities of the Snow Sea Divine Kingdom and the Dingzu lineage were all shaken to their cores, feeling suffocated.
Fear and chaos spread through the divine city.
Demon-Ending Divine King was nearly exploding with rage. He had wanted to seize the supreme treasure through opportunism, but who would have thought that even though the Sword Ancestor had fallen so many years ago, a mere skeleton could still be this terrifying?
His giant divine body contracted, retreating back into the divine temple.
"Whoosh!"
The temple doors, pillars, walls, and crimson roof of the Demon-Ending Divine Temple all lit up with formation radiance, as formation plates manifested, encompassing the surrounding heavens and earth.
Outside the temple, the graceful, colorful-robed women all panicked and retreated inside.
Demon-Ending Divine King released his divine thought, drawing in the energy of heaven and earth, transforming it into gaseous tentacles in an attempt to retrieve his severed arm.
"Clatter!"
A rain of swords fell from the sky, endless and unceasing, the metallic clashing sounds dense and fierce, smashing the divine king's severed arm into pieces.
Then, these war swords flew back to the Sword Bone Avatar, circling around it in all directions, forming a sword domain that no one dared approach.
All the sword spirits chirped joyfully.
The flesh on the surface of the Sword Bone Avatar had already melted, but the bones within shone brilliantly, and the silver-white divine robe on its body was as neat and new as ever.
"Since the Sword Bone is merely Zhang Ruochen's avatar, where has his true body gone?" Yue Gujun showed a puzzled expression, vaguely sensing something was wrong.
Master Zhi Shenzun let out a deep snort: "Let's suppress the Sword Bone first. Otherwise, once his true body arrives and merges with the Sword Bone, it will be even harder to deal with."
"Before coming, the Heavenly Venerable bestowed the Wind-Thunder God-Slaying Formation. Now is the perfect time to use it. Otherwise, if the battlefield continues to expand, it will surely cause heavy casualties in the divine city."
Master Zhi Shenzun held his hands as if embracing emptiness, and a series of purple formation flags manifested before him.
"Swish, swish!"
The formation flags flew out, landing in various parts of the city.
On the surface of each formation flag, the silhouette of Thunder Punishment Heavenly Venerable appeared, exuding an overbearing aura that seized the soul.
The formation activated, drawing in the power of heaven and earth, transforming it into lightning and thunder.
The Wind-Thunder God-Slaying Formation was composed of over a hundred formation flags, containing the divine power of Thunder Punishment Heavenly Venerable.
Master Zhi Shenzun raised the Wind-Thunder Pearl in his hand, and instantly, within the city district sealed by the formation flags, fierce winds howled and thunder and lightning raged.
The wind was like divine blades, the lightning like purple sabers.
...
On the long street, Bore stood beneath the Ghost Cloud Shirt tree, looking toward the direction of the Divine Prison.
There, a city district spanning a hundred li was shrouded in lightning and fierce winds, a gray, hazy expanse containing terrifying fluctuations of divine power. If it erupted, it seemed as if it could destroy the entire Rakshasa Divine City.
The Wind-Thunder God-Slaying Formation had isolated the city district, making it impossible to sense the battle situation within the formation.
If not for the protection of the city-protecting divine formation, the Wind-Thunder God-Slaying Formation alone could have refined and killed all the Rakshasa cultivators in the city.
The divine city was already in chaos, with panicked Rakshasa cultivators filling every street and alley. Unfortunately, the city-protecting divine formation had already been activated, and no one could escape the divine city.
Some cultivators knelt on the ground, shouting the names of various divine kings and divine venerables, both in awe and madness.
Bore was extremely worried, feeling a deep sense of powerlessness.
This was a clash of the Infinite Realm!
Below the Infinite Realm, no one could participate. To go was to die.
...
Nie Divine King urged the divine ship to leave the area covered by the Wind-Thunder God-Slaying Formation.
In contrast, Demon-Ending Divine King drove his divine temple, carrying a surge of deathly energy, charging into the Wind-Thunder God-Slaying Formation. Clearly, he still coveted the Sword Bone and the divine sword, wanting a share of the spoils.
On the divine sword, a young, beautiful black-robed sacrificial priest asked curiously, "In this battle, the Rakshasa clan holds every advantage. They will surely suppress the Sword Bone and capture the deities who came to rescue Luo Sha and Luo Shengtian. This is a battle to wash away shame and display the might of the divine temple. Why doesn't the divine king join in?"
Nie Divine King's gaze was deep, sometimes looking at the gray clouds of the formation intertwined with lightning, sometimes toward the clan mansion, toward Dingzu Mountain. The sense of crisis in his heart grew stronger.
He always felt something was off.
He said, "Dingzu Mountain, the clan mansion, and the Great Luo Divine Palace must all have deities stationed there. With such a major incident happening, why has only one section of the city-protecting divine formation been activated? And the city-protecting divine formation only activated its defensive power, without any active attack?"
The black-robed sacrificial priest said, "Does the divine king believe that the Venerable One intentionally let Zhang Ruochen and Princess Luo Sha off?"
Nie Divine King shook his head, "If the Venerable One wanted to let them leave, he wouldn't have activated even the defensive power of the city-protecting divine formation. In that case, they would have already escaped the divine city by now."
The black-robed sacrificial priest said, "Is the Venerable One deliberately trapping them in the divine city? But... but doesn't the Venerable One know what a catastrophic disaster a divine battle of the Infinite Realm would cause in the divine city?"
"This is the most suspicious part."
Nie Divine King looked toward Dingzu Mountain, "This Venerable One, I know him well. If the lives of the Rakshasa cultivators in the divine city were truly in danger, no matter who it was, he would activate the formation to kill them. Perhaps... the section of the city-protecting divine formation that was activated isn't controlled by the clan mansion at all, but by Dingzu Mountain."
Nie Divine King wanted to leave Rakshasa Divine City immediately, but when he looked up at the thick formation cloud layers in the sky, a bitter expression appeared on his face.
"Let's go, to the clan mansion."
...
The Sword Bone Avatar retreated back into the Divine Prison, joining Luo Sha, Luo Shengtian, Xue Tu, Dai Xue Divine King, Quan Zhongsheng, Xu Yin Great God, and other deities in activating the divine formation to resist the attacks from all sides.
The Snow Sea Divine Kingdom faction had many deities, with over a hundred true gods.
Not only were there Rakshasa deities, but also a large number of deities from other clans, led by Demon-Ending Divine King and Master Zhi Shenzun, who had joined the fray.
The struggle for the Rakshasa clan's patriarch position was a monumental affair. If they succeeded in helping Snow Sea Emperor ascend to the patriarch seat, they would reap endless benefits in the future.
"Boom!"
"Boom, rumble!"
...
The Divine Prison's formation was suppressed by the Suppression Inscription Altar, cracks increasing continuously, on the verge of being breached.
The silver-white divine robe on the Sword Bone Avatar fluttered, and strong spatial fluctuations appeared in its sleeves, as it planned to take them all into its sleeves and then break out with the sword.
This silver-white divine robe had been worn by the Sword Ancestor since ancient times, enduring the ages without decay, so it was naturally no ordinary item.
But just then, a massive change occurred outside.
Screams and panicked shouts came incessantly.
"What is this... such terrifying corpse energy... ah... my divine body is rotting..."
"Three Calamity Corpse Poison! The Three Calamity Emperor is here! Run!"
...
Unbeknownst to them, the outside had been enveloped in three-colored corpse energy, throwing all the deities into chaos.
Heaven-Repairing Realm deities, upon just touching the corpse energy, had their divine bodies decay, their flesh necrotize, and their life force stripped away. In no time, they turned into corpses and fell to the ground.
Even great gods were terrified upon seeing the Three Calamity Corpse Poison, immediately deploying their strongest defensive measures, avoiding it like snakes and scorpions.
The people in the Divine Prison also changed color in unison.
"Could it really be the Three Calamity Emperor?"
Xue Tu's face was whiter than paper, and he couldn't help but look at Luo Sha and Luo Shengtian, desperately hoping they were members of the Quantity Organization. That way, facing the Three Calamity Emperor, they could at least shout, "Emperor, we're on the same side!"
But Luo Sha and Luo Shengtian's expressions were very grim, clearly not having such a deep connection with the Quantity Organization. This disappointed Xue Tu greatly.
The former patriarch of the Corpse Clan, a Heavenly Venerable of the Hell Realm—who wouldn't be intimidated?
The Sword Bone Avatar, now completely reduced to white bones, looked toward a certain direction within the corpse energy mist, its gaze fixed on Master Zhi Shenzun, and said, "It's not the Three Calamity Emperor who has come. Master Zhi Shenzun is carrying a large amount of Three Calamity Corpse Poison. This poison has been refined and poses a certain threat even to Infinite Realm existences."
"Yue Gujun and Demon-Ending Divine King clearly didn't guard against Master Zhi Shenzun and have already been invaded by the Three Calamity Corpse Poison."
Just as the Sword Bone Avatar was speaking, Master Zhi Shenzun had already struck with a sneak attack. His claw pierced through Yue Gujun's back, tearing his heart out from his body.
A large amount of Three Calamity Corpse Poison invaded Yue Gujun's body.
A divine venerable's heart not only had thick blood energy but also contained spiritual will thoughts, making it, besides the divine sea, the most important part.
Master Zhi Shenzun's palm emitted divine flames, refining the divine heart. He took a deep breath, and all the essence energy entered his body.
A crackling sound came from within his body, and Master Zhi Shenzun's physical body instantly grew significantly.
Yue Gujun used a divine book to protect himself, retreating behind a divine talisman where Snow Sea Crown Prince and others had gathered. He rapidly refined the Three Calamity Corpse Poison that had invaded his body, his gaze fixed on Master Zhi Shenzun's claw-shaped hand.
On the skin of that hand, many spots appeared, with Space Rules, Sword Dao Rules, and Darkness Rules flowing.
Snow Sea Crown Prince's eyes were cold and fierce, "Master Zhi Shenzun, what are you doing? Do you want to become an enemy of the Snow Sea Divine Kingdom?"
Master Zhi Shenzun laughed uproariously, "The Snow Sea Divine Kingdom? What is that, worthy of threatening me? Ten epochs ago, even the entire Rakshasa clan was nothing in my eyes."
Snow Sea Crown Prince said, "Who exactly are you?"
Master Zhi Shenzun revealed a contemptuous expression.
"He is Lie Tian! One of the Heavenly Venerables from ten epochs ago, a contemporary of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable." Yue Gujun said.
All the cultivators who heard this were stunned.
They had naturally heard of Lie Tian's reputation—the demon clan's Heavenly Venerable from ten epochs ago. But that was such a distant era. How could Lie Tian still be alive?
The people in the Divine Prison were on the verge of losing their composure. The sudden turn of events was too abrupt.
"What's going on? Why are they fighting among themselves? And what is this Lie Tian? Is Yue Gujun crazy? The Great Venerable has long passed away. How could an ancient Heavenly Venerable still be alive?" Xue Tu said.
Dai Xue Divine King and Quan Zhongsheng vaguely formed a guess, and almost simultaneously said, "It's a remnant soul possession!"
Quan Zhongsheng showed a constipated, strange expression and added, "Lie Tian can be called the most infamous Heavenly Venerable of ancient times. His unique skill is called the ** Divine Hand. What he just used on Yue Gujun was exactly that move. There's no other signature move like it!"
"**..."
Xue Tu tensed up, looking left and right, and after confirming with the corner of his eye that no one was behind him, he said, "Yue Gujun is lucky, he only had his heart gouged out."
In fact, when Zhang Ruochen first met Master Zhi Shenzun, he had already guessed that he was an ancient Heavenly Venerable who had taken a new body through possession.
Because Master Zhi Shenzun's divine soul was too strong, his perception was astonishing. Even with Zhang Ruochen's aura concealed, he couldn't fool him.
Moreover, the Sword Bone Avatar had been seen through by him earlier.
Luo Sha said, "Strange. Even if Master Zhi Shenzun has some plan, he could have first used the Snow Sea Divine Kingdom's deities to kill us, then made his move. Why is he so impatient? Isn't he afraid we'll join forces with the Snow Sea Divine Kingdom?"
The Sword Bone Avatar said, "That was definitely his initial plan. Something must have happened at Dingzu Mountain, forcing him to strike early."
"What exactly is he trying to do? Does he think that with the Three Calamity Corpse Poison and the Wind-Thunder God-Slaying Formation, he can kill us all? Isn't he underestimating the Rakshasa clan too much?" Luo Shengtian said in a deep voice.