Chapter 3535: The Twelve Ancient Tribes?
“Boom!”
The prayer beads exploded, activating the formation on the surface of the sea of corpse blood, which surged with a cyan divine-killing flame. The divine flame, like a thousand-zhang-tall wave of water, swept directly toward Yuan Jieyi.
Zhang Ruochen activated the power of the Ancestor Boots, carrying Yuan Sheng and Yan Wushen as he burst forth with incredible speed, heading straight for the western city gate. He had no intention of going to the Witch Temple ruins to seek help from the Divine Ancestor Lord—who knew if the situation there was even more dire?
Yuan Jieyi displayed strength that shocked Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen. He seemed to ignore the divine-killing flame entirely, passing through it without any damage to his body. However, his speed fell short of the Ancestor Boots. Seeing Zhang Ruochen fleeing farther and farther away, he condensed a divine ability.
“Dark Spirit Dao Arrow!”
He roared, and from the dark forest behind him, the sound of breaking air rang out incessantly as dense arrows flew forth. These arrows were like countless black dots streaking across the sky.
“Leave it to you!”
Zhang Ruochen tossed Yuan Sheng to Yan Wushen, his speed sharply decreasing as he stopped.
Yan Wushen caught Yuan Sheng, finding her divine sea sealed and her physical body locked by Space Rule Divine Marks. Only then did he avoid fumbling, grabbing her by the belt on her back and lifting her as he tore through the air. He didn’t forget to remind Zhang Ruochen, “Be careful!”
Zhang Ruochen landed on the head of a divine corpse of an insect clan god, watching the incoming Dark Spirit Dao Arrows. Though he felt pressure, he was unafraid.
“Rise!”
The Shaoyang Divine Mountain flew out, acting like a shield blocking the front. In front of the divine mountain, space twisted.
“Shush, shush!”
All the Dark Spirit Dao Arrows flew into the mountain.
Yuan Jieyi inwardly admired Zhang Ruochen’s formidable divine abilities, but he hadn’t pinned his hopes on capturing Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen with the Dark Spirit Dao Arrows alone. Instead, he used them to hold the two back and then pursue.
“Choosing to stay means choosing death.”
Yuan Jieyi rapidly closed in on Zhang Ruochen, arriving in an instant.
“Return!”
The Taiji Four Symbols Diagram scene rotated once, and the Dark Spirit Dao Arrows originally stuck in the divine mountain all shot out together, flying toward Yuan Jieyi.
Yuan Jieyi gained a deeper understanding of this young cultivator from the upper realm. Such a divine ability and Dao method were almost heaven-defying—able to take an opponent’s divine ability and convert it into one’s own battle technique.
“Bang, bang!”
Yuan Jieyi’s physical body was as tough as indestructible and immortal, enduring the Dark Spirit Dao Arrows head-on as he closed the distance further.
Only ten li remained!
He took a deep breath, inhaling all the divine qi within ten thousand li into his body, and punched directly at the divine mountain blocking his path.
The divine mountain shifted aside.
Zhang Ruochen emerged from behind the mountain, his entire body wrapped in lightning, transforming into a lightning Qilin as he punched back.
“Boom!”
The two fists collided.
The two thunder beads and the Blunt Void Stone on the Qilin Fist Gloves all released the power of divine artifacts. Two thunder dragons surged along Yuan Jieyi’s arm toward his heart. The Blunt Void Stone erupted with a billion-fold space gravity, causing Yuan Jieyi to lose his balance and sway in midair.
The fists separated, and Zhang Ruochen blasted back dozens of li, crashing through seven ancient divine corpses, covered in foul-smelling corpse blood. Seeing that Yan Wushen and Yuan Sheng had already gone far, Zhang Ruochen dared not linger for a moment. The Ancestor Boots flashed, and he vanished from the spot.
Yuan Jieyi flew back a hundred zhang, landing heavily on the ground. Watching Zhang Ruochen speed away into the distance, he didn’t rush to pursue. Instead, a strange light flickered in his eyes.
Just then, the Jin Clan’s plea for help reached his ears.
“How dare you harm Yuan Sheng! Our Yuandao Clan will make sure you die in the lower realm!”
Yuan Jieyi spat out a divine sound, then headed toward the Witch Temple ruins.
Earlier, the battle between the Divine Ancestor Lord and Wu Wei had already carved many bottomless canyons into the Witch Temple ruins. Now, the stone walls of these canyons were covered in formation inscription patterns.
A ten-thousand-zhang-tall silhouette of the Heavenly Mother stood atop the Witch Temple ruins. Her white hair fluttered like ten thousand swords flying in unison, cleaving dragon-phoenix strange beasts in two, their blood spilling across the city. The strange beast corpses fell into the canyons.
“Boom!”
The Heavenly Mother’s silhouette stomped down, crushing a ghost-type strange beast comparable to a great god into a mist of soul smoke. It was like a slaughter—no strange beast could withstand a single strike from the Heavenly Mother’s silhouette. A single strand of hair could slay a god-level strange beast.
The Divine Ancestor Lord had no chance to act, hiding in the shadows without revealing himself.
Yuan Jieyi arrived outside the Witch Temple ruins and saw this scene. He didn’t approach, knowing the Jin Clan must have triggered a terrifying killing formation left by the Heavenly Mother. He called out, “The Heavenly Mother left behind a demon spirit, and you’ve awakened her. Withdraw from the Ancient Desolate Ruins City immediately. Only a clan emperor coming in person can suppress this demon spirit.”
Standing at a distance, Yuan Jieyi channeled Rule Divine Marks from his palm. He swung his arm, and the divine marks wove into a ten-thousand-meter-long hand seal, striking out toward the Heavenly Mother’s silhouette. He intended to temporarily hold back the silhouette, buying time for the Jin Clan’s strange beasts to escape.
“Boom!”
The Divine Ancestor Lord descended like a beam of light, piercing through the hand seal with a single halberd strike. Then, he summoned nine golden dragons, flying toward Yuan Jieyi a thousand li away.
Yuan Jieyi sensed the terrifying aura emanating from the Divine Ancestor Lord and didn’t engage him head-on. Instead, he immediately transformed into a state of Heaven and Earth Rules, vanishing without a trace in the darkness.
“Rumble!”
The nine golden dragons crashed into the ground, destroying a large area of the Ancient Desolate Ruins City, leaving shocking earth fissures everywhere.
The Divine Ancestor Lord landed on the ground, releasing his divine soul. He was astonished—though he sensed the opponent was nearby, he couldn’t lock onto him. What kind of technique was this?
...
Escaping through the western city gate and seeing that Yuan Jieyi hadn’t pursued, Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen stopped, looking back at the majestic Ancient Desolate Ruins City.
Yan Wushen laughed, “These strange beasts really underestimated the Ancient Desolate Ruins City! Even if the Heavenly Mother has left, the city’s passive defensive power alone can suppress them.”
Yuan Sheng, held in his hand, said coldly, “The ten-eon prohibition will soon end. When it does, figures at the clan emperor level will lead a great army to level the entire Ancient Desolate Ruins City and then emerge from the lower realm.”
“What prohibition?” Zhang Ruochen pressed.
Yuan Sheng remained silent.
“Boom!”
“Boom, boom!”
The Ancient Desolate Ruins City trembled continuously from the divine battle, the space shaking. Inside the mountain-like city walls, ancient divine formations were activated, shooting up beams of light.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression grew grave, “The Heavenly Mother was forced to leave the Ancient Desolate Ruins City by the Quantity Organization. The responsibility of guarding this city should have fallen on Jiusi Yitianhuang. But now... it seems the Divine Ancestor Lord’s concerns weren’t unfounded. Jiusi Yitianhuang doesn’t have the great sense of duty for all living beings that the Heavenly Mother had!”
“These aren’t our problems to consider. With our current cultivation, we can’t bear such heavy responsibilities either.”
Yan Wushen tossed Yuan Sheng back to Zhang Ruochen, “Here’s your live catch! Do you want to question her or just perform a soul search?”
Zhang Ruochen felt this place wasn’t safe. Carrying Yuan Sheng, he ventured deeper into the Abyss of Darkness, traveling millions of li, passing through black fiend wind and sand, and stopping by the bank of a great white river.
This white river, visible to the naked eye, was ten thousand zhang wide. What flowed in it wasn’t water, but glowing flames. Even more astonishingly, along both banks of the river, there was a vegetation-covered area about ten thousand li wide. The plants growing here were all pitch-black, with only the blooming flowers being white, their petals covered in flames.
Beneath the vegetation, the ground was littered with countless bones—human, dragon, demon, and various other races.
“This should be the River of Light and Flame, one of the three rivers recorded in ancient texts!”
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his gaze from the River of Light and Flame and threw Yuan Sheng to the ground, “You mentioned the word ‘clan emperor’ earlier. Tell me, how many tribes of strange beasts are there in the Abyss of Darkness?”
Yuan Sheng rolled on the ground, her delicate, beautiful face covered in dust. She gritted her two rows of snow-white teeth, her eyes filled with coldness and killing intent. There was no hint of willingness to answer.
Yan Wushen picked a fruit burning with flames from some plant, seemingly unafraid of poison, and took a bite as he walked over, “Just perform a soul search! Why waste words with her? If you can’t bear to be ruthless, I’ll do it.”
“Twelve tribes.”
Yuan Sheng glared viciously at Yan Wushen.
Zhang Ruochen nodded, “Twelve tribes! If I remember correctly, back then at the Great Dark Mountain, the ancient beings that submitted to the Nether Ancestor were also twelve tribes. So, the so-called strange beasts are actually ancient gods? Or rather, the humanoid strange beasts are ancient beings?”
Zhang Ruochen had heard some things from Cang Jue before, which led to this speculation.
“Don’t call us strange beasts!”
Yuan Sheng couldn’t move but struggled fiercely, causing the Space Rule Divine Marks enveloping her body to flicker incessantly.
Zhang Ruochen walked over and helped her up.
“Don’t touch me!” Yuan Sheng said coldly.
After she sat up, Zhang Ruochen immediately let go, trying to calm her, “Alright, I won’t touch you. Everything before... was a misunderstanding. I won’t call you strange beasts...”
“Hypocrite! What are you scheming?” Yuan Sheng said.
Yan Wushen, standing nearby, laughed heartily, “Even the Romantic Sword God can’t win over a woman like this. Better just perform a soul search!”
In truth, both Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen knew that Yuan Sheng’s cultivation had reached the Infinite level, and her spiritual will was strong. A soul search wouldn’t be easy. If something went wrong during the search—if she self-detonated her divine source or triggered her divine flame—it would be even more dangerous.
There was also a third reason: Zhang Ruochen held the identity of “Young Lord.” Though he didn’t know what this “Young Lord” meant, Cang Mang and Cang Jue both addressed him as such, likely linking him to Ling Yanzi in some way. Thus, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t afford to completely antagonize the strange beasts. As long as he didn’t forge a mortal enmity, there might still be room for negotiation in a life-or-death crisis.
Yan Wushen repeatedly mentioning “soul search” was purely to intimidate her.
Yuan Sheng, clearly worried they might actually do it, relented, “Strange beasts is just a name imposed on us by the upper realm! As time passes and eras change, your ancestors erased the truth, but we can never forget the humiliation. We’ve always remembered the hatred!”
(End of Chapter)