Chapter 3519: A New Evolution
"Swish!"
The Absolute Zen Nun transformed into a streak of cyan light, flying out of the White Clothes Valley. "The realm-protecting grand formation is in your hands. I will go to the East Extreme Peak to channel the earth veins."
Wu Yue swept her large sleeves backward, like a black sparrow riding the wind into the sky, catching up to the Absolute Zen Nun.
"Boom, rumble!"
Fifty-three Divine Throne Planets crashed down, pressing the atmosphere layer ever lower.
The sky grew increasingly low, turning entirely into a dark gold color.
The light and energy emitted by the Divine Throne Planets were all blocked by the realm-protecting grand formation.
Two streaks of light, one black and one cyan, flew over the mountains and rivers of the Kongming Realm, heading east all the way.
The White Clothes Valley lay in the west of the Great World.
The eastern extremity of the Great World had undoubtedly become the weakest point of the realm-protecting grand formation.
Wu Yue said, "Although the Kongming Realm's realm-protecting grand formation is strong, it protects too vast an area and is destined to be breached. Rather than this, it would be better to abandon the living beings of this Great World and concentrate all defensive measures on the White Clothes Valley."
"Since you understand this reasoning, why did you follow me? Do you not know that once the realm-protecting grand formation is broken, the two of us may never be able to return to the White Clothes Valley?" the Absolute Zen Nun said.
Wu Yue said, "With your spiritual power, even if you go to the East Extreme Peak, it will be difficult to achieve much."
The Absolute Zen Nun gave her a deep look. "I originally thought that your marriage to Zhang Ruochen was entirely a scheme of Jiusi Yitianhuang. Now it seems you have your own opinions, and your feelings toward Zhang Ruochen are not entirely coldness and exploitation."
Wu Yue said coldly, "Competing with a Heaven-Complete Unlacking One has always been the goal I pursue. We will give our all and see if Zhang Ruochen can truly break through Kui Liang Huang's spiritual power suppression as you claim."
Arriving at the East Extreme Peak, the two women landed on the mountain's summit.
"East Extreme Peak Mountain God pays respects to the Zen Nun!"
Five deities flew out from the soil, bowing to the Absolute Zen Nun.
The Absolute Zen Nun gazed at the endless rivers and plains of the Kongming Realm, releasing her divine soul thoughts and forming finger seals.
Instantly, beneath the soil, earth veins flowed rapidly along the mountain ranges, surging out from the peaks of thousands of mountains, forming countless rivers of energy and pillars of light.
Wu Yue took out her staff, floated into midair, fully released her spiritual power, and guided these rivers of energy into the realm-protecting grand formation to resist the divine formation pressing down from beyond the heavens.
Outside the White Clothes Valley.
Nie Zang Venerable's body grew gray fur, his head transforming into a canine skull. He raised his head and howled to the sky, his spiritual power at the eighty-ninth level instantly filling most of the Kongming Realm, causing a dazzling pillar of light to shoot up from every city on the land.
The great battle to defend the Kongming Realm had officially erupted.
...
Nutian Shenzun flew out of the thunder sea formed by Tai'a Divine Thunder and rushed back to the Kongming Realm.
Kui Liang Huang glanced sideways into the starry sky behind him and pointed a finger. Instantly, twelve Gates of Fate manifested, forming a formation that trapped Nutian Shenzun inside.
"Boom!"
Nutian Shenzun, with his golden body, crashed through one of the Gates of Fate, roaring, "The Way of Fate!"
"Crackle!"
Dense lightning, like a purple river, flew above Nutian Shenzun's head, racing ahead and condensing into the towering figure of Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable.
Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable said, "You are far too disrespectful to your opponent. Fighting me, yet you dare to be distracted?"
"Refining God Tower!"
Space twisted, turning into a spiral shape.
The Refining God Tower, ten thousand miles tall, had already floated above Nutian Shenzun's head, spinning rapidly downward, locking onto him tightly.
The lightning within the tower fell like a waterfall.
"The Refining God Tower cannot refine me."
Nutian Shenzun's arms released dazzling divine light, and countless rules gathered above his head, condensing into layers of bizarre Heavenly Domain Nether Cities, all manifested in solid form, completely blocking the lightning released by the Refining God Tower.
The twelve Gates of Fate flew in from twelve directions, emitting Fate Divine Light to suppress Nutian Shenzun's cultivation.
At the same time, from within the gate worlds surged formation inscriptions like divine chains, interconnecting to form a sealing divine formation that continuously compressed and contracted toward Nutian Shenzun at the center.
Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable stood opposite Nutian Shenzun, two thunder pearls spinning above his head. "The outcome is decided!"
"Is that so? Do you think that with just one divine formation and one Refining God Tower, you can suppress me?"
Flames of fury burned in Nutian Shenzun's pupils, his battle intent still growing.
Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable said, "Your cultivation far exceeds my estimation. It would indeed be very difficult to suppress you. But our purpose in coming here is not you, but the White Clothes Valley."
"You may not have enough time to break the realm-protecting divine formation," Nutian Shenzun said.
Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable shook his head, smiling. "Don't forget, there is also the God-Defying Stele."
He then pointed to Kui Liang Huang in the distance.
Kui Liang Huang had already released his spiritual power, searching for the God-Defying Stele on Zhang Ruochen.
Just then, Nutian Shenzun threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Knowing that the unfathomably deep spiritual power of Kui Liang Huang was coming, and that he would certainly use formation methods, why would you think the God-Defying Stele is still on Zhang Ruochen?"
Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable thought of something, his pupils contracting sharply as he immediately activated the two thunder pearls to attack.
The God-Defying Stele flew out from a Nether City above Nutian Shenzun's head, directly shattering into sand grains, crashing into the twelve Gates of Fate.
"Boom!"
The divine formation formed by the twelve Gates of Fate vanished into thin air in an instant.
Nutian Shenzun threw a punch. On his arm, a fist glove had appeared at some point, colliding violently with the two flying thunder pearls.
Then, a blinding thunderstorm spread from that point of impact into the starry sky.
After leaving the White Clothes Valley, Nutian Shenzun had borrowed the Qilin Fist Glove from Zhang Ruochen.
The reason was simple: Nutian Shenzun had already witnessed the power of the re-refined Qilin Fist Glove. Such a level of offensive war weapon was something even he did not possess.
Why had he seen it before?
Because the divine artifact refiner that Luo Yan Great Emperor had found was Nie Zang Venerable.
Nutian Shenzun had inherited the true teachings of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable, Yinxue Tian, and the Sixth Patriarch, so he naturally also cultivated the Immovable Wisdom King Fist. His fist path combat methods were not inferior to any powerhouse in the world.
"Boom!"
"Boom, rumble!"
...
Punch after punch struck out, causing heaven and earth to shatter and time and space to become chaotic.
The two appeared sometimes in the Void World, sometimes in Lihentian. The two divine artifact thunder pearls could not block him at all. Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable retreated twenty-two steps in a row, withdrawing over two million miles, before finally using the Refining God Tower to stop Nutian Shenzun's assault.
"Whoosh!"
A golden Buddha sea manifested beneath Nutian Shenzun's feet, and the Mani Pearl appeared in the void, releasing a radiance that sealed the five senses of cultivators.
Seeing the Mani Pearl, Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable immediately showed a cautious expression, activating his Esoterica. The heaven and earth rules from a star domain hundreds of millions of miles away converged toward him, transforming into lightning power, condensing into a one-horned purple electric giant that attacked Nutian Shenzun.
"So it's the Thunder Dao Overlord. Good, very good!"
Nutian Shenzun's golden body stood ninety-nine zhang tall, unleashing the Great Immovable Wisdom King Fist. In an instant, stars a hundred billion miles away shattered, and time seemed to flow backward, as if he would strike from this era into another.
In that moment, Nutian Shenzun and Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable vanished!
"Whoosh!"
Half an hour later, they reappeared in the starry sky.
The storm of power from earlier had been too terrifying. They had vanished from the present era, striking into the future half an hour later.
All heaven and earth rules were in chaos.
When Lei Fa Heavenly Venerable used his Overlord-level Esoterica, Kui Liang Huang knew they could no longer conceal it. The entire Hell Realm, and even all the Heavens of the universe, would surely know that a great change had occurred in the Kongming Realm.
Their time was running out.
Kui Liang Huang manipulated the Primordial Lamp at the top of the Ebony Staff.
This divine lamp flew out, suspending itself at the center of the fifty-three Divine Throne Planets.
In the blink of an eye, the light emitted by the lamp completely overshadowed those Divine Throne Planets.
He said, "Burn the Divine Throne Planets, strike with full force."
The seven Infinite Realm powerhouses simultaneously released divine qi, injecting it into the Divine Throne Planets beneath their feet.
The fifty-three Divine Throne Planets rapidly contracted, their diameters shrinking a hundredfold, collapsing inward. All light vanished instantly, transforming into fifty-three black holes, plummeting straight down.
"Boom, rumble!"
The realm-protecting grand formation continuously sank inward, with cracks appearing in some places.
"Pfft!"
Nie Zang Venerable spat blood from his dog mouth, his body collapsing to the ground.
"As long as I live, the Kongming Realm and the White Clothes Valley will never fall."
Nie Zang Venerable shouted the words he had spoken when Yinxue Tian left back then. His withered, firewood-like hands pressed into a pool of blood, trembling as he extended his fingers, using his own blood to draw formation patterns, combining them with the power of heaven and earth.
Instantly, the blood condensed into red petals, turning into a rain of flowers that flew toward the realm-protecting divine formation in the atmosphere.
Nourishing the formation with blood, even if the blood runs dry, there is no regret.
Cracks appeared in the realm-protecting grand formation, and Kui Liang Huang's spiritual power took the opportunity to surge in, directly severely wounding the Absolute Zen Nun and Wu Yue at the East Extreme Peak.
Blood threads flowed from all seven apertures of the Absolute Zen Nun, but she remained as still as a pine, her fingers forming seals, drawing the earth vein qi of the Kongming Realm straight upward.
Wu Yue's spiritual power was stronger, and she was less injured. "Retreat to the White Clothes Valley. The Kongming Realm can no longer be defended. Time is running out. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to escape!"
"I believe in him! I will not retreat, I have no fear."
The Absolute Zen Nun activated a forbidden art, her body burning like a torch.
Even if she turned to ashes, today she would die at the East Extreme Peak.
...
Darkness, coldness, emptiness, and immense pressure came from all directions.
Zhang Ruochen guarded his spirit with deathly determination, maintaining his will unextinguished.
After the Four Symbols were crushed by the darkness, Zhang Ruochen, with his powerful will, immediately evolved Wuji, which then evolved Taiji... and so on, cycling repeatedly.
Kui Liang Huang could not make him completely lose consciousness, but he could not break through the darkness and awaken from his slumber either.
Every time the Four Symbols collapsed, Zhang Ruochen felt as if he had died once.
After the Four Symbols collapsed for the thirteen thousand seven hundredth time, suddenly, the pattern traces of the Luo Shu manifested in the darkness. Then, the black and white light points of the He Tu also appeared in his consciousness, the two overlapping, jointly bearing the Four Symbols.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen blocked the darkness!
Moreover, the Four Symbols expanded outward, pushing the darkness back.
Kui Liang Huang, who was fully focused on activating the divine formation, felt a shock in his heart and looked toward Zhang Ruochen lying in the water beside him.
He saw Zhang Ruochen's tightly shut eyes suddenly open.
From the Xuan Tai, Ancestor Divine Qi and Ancestor Rules, carrying the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram scene, burst forth. The skull head of Zhan Shen Ming Zun was sealed within the Jade Tree Ink Moon.
Kui Liang Huang's brow tightened. Just as a dangerous thought arose in his mind, the Jade Tree Ink Moon had already decomposed, and the skull head of the Zhan Shen Ming Clan instantly turned to powder. The terrifying and domineering destructive energy surged outward in all directions.
Zhang Ruochen and Kui Liang Huang, being the closest, bore the brunt of it.
(End of Chapter)