Chapter 3480: Detained
"This matter has nothing to do with the God Venerable." Feng Tian was unyielding, her tone cold.
Fu Lu Shen Zun said, "I know I cannot sway Feng Tian's will, but Ruochen is, after all, the Heavenly Mother's divine envoy. With the Heavenly Venerable missing, the current Hell Realm still needs the Heavenly Mother to take charge."
"Is that so? I believe the Destiny Temple can also take charge."
Feng Tian looked ahead and said, "Look, Void Heaven has already made his move!"
The battlefield was now right before their eyes.
Of course, the actual distance was still a billion miles away. But for an Infinite, that distance could be seen through at a single glance.
"Shash!"
The void was stained red by divine blood, forming clusters of gorgeous crimson clouds.
Countless war swords shuttled through the crimson clouds, and a sky-covering sword intent pierced through Lihentian, the Real World, and the Void World. A massive hole appeared across the three realms!
Qiangshake was enveloped by billions of war swords, utterly unable to escape, only letting out earth-shaking roars.
The roar seemed to connect past and present, stretching all the way back to the Primordial Era.
The Heavenly Mother stood at the highest point of this heaven and earth, manifesting seventy-two Demon God Stone Pillars, which anchored all directions and fixed time and space.
At the same time, space behind the Heavenly Mother trembled violently.
A stone giant, who knew how many billions of miles tall, slowly squeezed out from space, causing the entire starry sky to shake, emitting a "humming" sound.
It was not a stone giant.
It was the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm!
The entire Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm had been summoned by the Heavenly Mother, pressing down toward the area shrouded by the seventy-two Demon God Stone Pillars.
"You slaughtered billions of living beings in my Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, so you must use yourself to pay with your life. I will use your blood to water the dead soil and nourish a more prosperous great world!"
The Heavenly Mother's white hair stretched for three thousand zhang, and her red robe fluttered like a war banner.
Void Heaven stood in another void opposite the Heavenly Mother, spitting out divine words: "All gods of the Hell Realm, hear my command! Join forces to suppress Qiangshake's spiritual will. Do not allow him to unleash a forbidden technique of mutual destruction."
"As commanded!"
Snow Sea Emperor, Zhou Qi Ghost Emperor, Fu Lu Shen Zun... the strong ones of the Hell Realm stood in various positions, simultaneously releasing their spiritual power and divine souls.
Feng Tian's jade hand lifted gently, and one divine artifact after another flew out, striking into the blood clouds beneath the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, continuously tearing apart Qiangshake's remnant body.
The battle fluctuations erupting before them, even from a billion miles away, still made one feel suffocated, as if the entire universe were about to be punched through.
Under this level of encirclement and hunting, no matter how strong one's cultivation, they could only drink in hatred.
"If I had recovered my cultivation, how could it have come to this? How could you all have kept me here?" Qiangshake's roar spread across the starry sky, filled with unwillingness. Many great worlds and life planets in the Rakshasa Clan star domain could hear it.
Fu Lu Shen Zun said, "It's a pity you'll never have another chance."
Hearing this, Qiangshake fell silent for a long while, then burst into laughter: "Even if I am buried here, you still cannot stop the Primordial Era from reappearing in the world. The day the Great Demon God returns, whether it be the Heavenly Court or the Hell Realm, all living beings will tremble beneath his feet. Just wait and see!"
"Chi chi!"
Qiangshake's divine soul ignited.
The blood clouds suppressed by the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm emitted increasingly powerful energy fluctuations, causing the gods of the Hell Realm present to either spit blood or wail in spirit.
"Hua!"
The Heavenly Mother transformed into a red light, charging into the blood clouds, swinging her sword in continuous slashes.
After a long while, the blood clouds fell completely silent.
The Heavenly Mother emerged from the blood clouds holding a divine sword, spotless, with the majestic Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm behind her, as if the Demon Ancestor had been resurrected, standing in the universe.
The aura condensed by the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm and the Heavenly Mother together left the Hell Realm's strong ones deeply shaken, spontaneously generating a sense of submission.
It was like a hundred beasts seeing a lion or tiger.
Except for Feng Tian and Void Heaven, all the other gods bowed in salute.
This was the aura impacting their divine souls, forcing them to bow.
"Shua!"
Void Heaven, like a beam of light, appeared before the Heavenly Mother and said, "How is it? Can you perform a soul search?"
"He severed part of his memories himself!" said the Heavenly Mother.
Void Heaven showed disappointment but had clearly anticipated this, saying, "After all, he is a Supreme Pillar with millennia-old fame. Being able to suppress him smoothly is already a blessing. How long will it take to completely refine him?"
"Ten thousand years!" said the Heavenly Mother.
To avoid being soul-searched, when gods know they cannot escape and cannot self-destruct their divine source, they sever their memories and souls. This is much easier than self-destructing the divine source.
However, for weaker gods, even if they sever their memories, when encountering a god far stronger than them, using the Path of Fate, the severed memories can be restored.
The Heavenly Mother glanced at Zhang Ruochen standing behind Feng Tian, and the divine sword in her hand flew out. Then, she turned and took a step.
With that single step, she vanished directly before the gods.
"Heavenly Mother..."
Zhang Ruochen called out, but the sound behind him could not be transmitted, blocked by Feng Tian's divine power.
The divine sword flew past Feng Tian, and a voice from the Heavenly Mother, like the wind, came from the sword's body: "I will remain in the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm for ten thousand years. If any strange changes occur in the Abyss of Darkness, I can only leave them to you to handle. Zhang Ruochen is a hope against the Calamity of Quantities, and a very great one."
This voice only sounded in Feng Tian's ears, unheard by outsiders.
The divine sword flew to Zhang Ruochen, circled him once, and disappeared.
Void Heaven watched the Heavenly Mother leave, his eyes full of admiration. He wanted to make a few comments but ultimately closed his mouth, not daring to offend.
This was someone about to step into the Half-Ancestor realm at any moment. Even the most reckless person would have to think carefully.
"Goddess!"
The Undying Blood Clan Patriarch stepped on a huge blood mill, flying over.
The blood mill was blocked by the atmospheric layer outside the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm and could not get close.
Void Heaven showed a contemptuous look and said, "For the next ten thousand years, the Heavenly Mother will seal off the Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm to refine and kill Qiangshake. Don't go disturbing her."
Seeing the Undying Blood Clan Patriarch's dejected expression, Void Heaven's contempt deepened. He shook his head and was about to look for Zhang Ruochen when he found that Zhang Ruochen and Feng Tian had already left.
Void Heaven snorted coldly, his eyes slanting, his gaze falling on Fu Lu Shen Zun. Then, he broke into a smile and said, "Fu Lu, I was just looking for you. Come, follow me to investigate the battlefield traces and find the Calamity Measuring Emperor."
"I was just thinking the same thing! The Heavenly Venerable encountered a calamity, such a big matter. The truth cannot all be buried!" said Fu Lu Shen Zun.
Void Heaven said, "The truth is already very close. The Thunder Punishment Heavenly Venerable was already seen through by the Heavenly Mother. How could he hide? Haha!"
Fu Lu Shen Zun's expression did not change, and he laughed along.
...
The creature named Xu Qiong, shaped like algae, was as huge as a star, flying through the starry sky, quickly moving away from the Rakshasa Clan star domain.
The Blood Leaf Parasol Tree was rooted on Xu Qiong's back, emitting a strong bloody aura.
Under the tree, a man and a woman stood side by side.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Did you reach some agreement with the Heavenly Mother?"
"No."
Feng Tian did not even look at Zhang Ruochen, only taking out one divine artifact after another, releasing the suppressed Shi Zhi Shen Zun, Gu Xin, Tian Sheng Jun, and some other gods from the inner space of the artifacts, like a woman counting her favorite makeup boxes.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Impossible."
Feng Tian said contemptuously, "Why is it impossible? Do you think you are very important? You're wrong. In the Heavenly Mother's eyes, you are just a dispensable divine envoy. Now that she has emerged, you have lost your value. Even if I kill you, as long as it doesn't hurt her face, she won't have the slightest emotional fluctuation. It's like... an ant being crushed."
"Bang!"
Feng Tian grabbed Tian Sheng Jun into her jade-white hand, her five fingers flowing with rules, directly crushing him into a cloud of blood mist.
She looked at the blood mist in her palm and said, "Earth Cauldron!"
Zhang Ruochen hesitated for a moment, then took out the Earth Cauldron, channeling divine Qi to activate it.
Feng Tian waved her hand, throwing Tian Sheng Jun into the Earth Cauldron.
Then, with a casual palm strike, she formed a Death Dao Seal at the cauldron's mouth.
Zhang Ruochen struck out with both palms, continuously spraying divine Qi from his palms to refine Tian Sheng Jun, saying, "I want to return to the Rakshasa Divine City."
"Don't worry about matters over there. Your only value is to help me refine divine pills," said Feng Tian.
Zhang Ruochen said, "The God-Defying Stele is still in the hands of Emperor Luo Yan."
"Luo Yan is a man of face. No matter how precious the God-Defying Stele is, he won't borrow it and not return it in this way." Afraid that Zhang Ruochen would talk too much, Feng Tian added, "Return to the Destiny Temple. I have more important things to do."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Is it related to Fu Lu Shen Zun?"
A strange light flashed in the depths of Feng Tian's pupils, and she said, "Not too stupid."
With that, she had no further interest in speaking, stepping up the stone steps one by one, walking to the gate of the Origin Divine Temple. Death Rule Divine Patterns surged out of her body like a storm, striking directly at the Shen Tu Ghost Emperor inside the hall.
Throwing the Shen Tu Ghost Emperor directly into the Earth Cauldron carried the risk of him successfully self-destructing his divine source.
She had to first beat the Shen Tu Ghost Emperor to a sufficiently weakened state.
Zhang Ruochen was silently thinking. If all the "supplements" now in Feng Tian's hands were refined by the Earth Cauldron, it might allow her to break through to the middle stage of Indestructible Infinite within ten thousand years.
Should he really aid this evil?
But, aside from obeying her, there seemed to be no other way!
Having already reached the Infinite Realm, yet still so unable to control his own fate, Zhang Ruochen felt mentally exhausted.
However, thinking that going to the Destiny Temple would allow him to see Lingxi and his father, his mood improved somewhat.
"After this great earthquake, there will surely be an aftershock. Going to the Destiny Temple will allow me to cultivate in peace, striving to break through as soon as possible."
Zhang Ruochen believed that with the Heavenly Mother around, Feng Tian would never harm him. Even if he lost his freedom now, Feng Tian couldn't keep him detained forever, could she?
As long as he became strong enough, there would always be a day to break free.
(End of chapter)