Chapter 3696: Eighty-Ninth Rank Mid Stage
"Haha!"
Zhang Ruochen laughed and said, "Your spiritual power is profound, I suspect it surpasses even Yan Wuque's. I, a mere junior at the early stage of Great Unbound Infinite, am naturally far inferior to you."
"You are too modest! With your First-Rank Divine Path and various heaven-defying methods, the gap between you and a peak Great Unbound Infinite is not large! Defeating you would not be too difficult. But capturing you alive—that still presents some challenge," the voice in the darkness said.
In the Great Unbound Infinite realm, figures like Emperor Ancestor Divine Lord, Dragon Lord, and Ice King—those considered Eon-level existences—could only claim invincibility within their own realm. Encountering someone one realm higher, while not entirely without a chance of victory, was as difficult as ascending to heaven. If they met someone two realms higher, they could only retreat, unable to contend.
Being evaluated as having combat power not far from a peak Great Unbound Infinite while only at the early stage of Great Unbound Infinite—in all the world today, only Zhang Ruochen could claim such. This showed that the person in the darkness not only did not underestimate Zhang Ruochen but held him in high regard and understood his strength well.
However, even if the gap was small, there was still a difference from a peak Great Unbound Infinite.
Lightning crackled on Zhang Ruochen's fist gloves as he said, "I am not being modest at all! I mean to tell you that even if your cultivation far surpasses mine and you have the power to easily defeat me, aren't you also constrained?"
"First, you have to divert considerable spiritual power to activate the temple's formations and obscure the heavenly secrets. Otherwise, once the fluctuations are sensed by the outside world, at least three Heavenly Venerables will come to slay you."
"How much power do you have left to capture me?"
"Second, your main focus is spiritual power, right? In close-quarters combat like this, you are at an absolute disadvantage."
"With these factors offsetting each other, unless you are a Heavenly Venerable, your chances of subduing me are too slim!"
"Besides, I still have one last trump card!"
"One last trump card?"
The voice in the darkness chuckled, "No, you won't self-destruct your divine source. Besides, do you really have a divine source?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Feel free to try."
The dark figure said, "The very fact that you said this reveals your weak nature—you lack the confidence to fight me."
"Perhaps I am deliberately feigning weakness?"
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen grabbed Chi Yao's hand.
The power of the Heart of Truth became complete.
"Swoosh!"
Truth divine light burst forth from the two of them, forming a resplendent sea of stars that expanded outward, gradually illuminating the darkness.
The darkness in the hall was created by the opponent's eighty-ninth-rank spiritual power. The spiritual power interfered with Zhang Ruochen's vision, perception, and thoughts. Gods with insufficient cultivation, falling into such an environment, would instantly become living dead.
The Truth divine light broke through the opponent's spiritual power, rendering all means visible. Layers of formation spaces emerged like bubbles, overlapping and countless.
Zhang Ruochen's heart sank.
He saw the shadowy figure and Xuan Yin Silver City appear. They stood beyond a hundred formation spaces, as if separated by a hundred worlds, unreachable.
The shadowy figure called out, "Now, do you still think this is a close-quarters battle? That Truth substance within you and Chi Yao is quite interesting—did you obtain it from Truth Divine Mountain? Capturing you will yield a great harvest."
"Stay back, Xiu Chen, don't act rashly."
Zhang Ruochen narrowed his eyes, his form transforming into a Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal. Spinning rapidly, he charged toward the layers of formation spaces.
The formations within the Space Divine Temple were left by past Infinite realm powerhouses, all profound and complex divine arrays.
But Zhang Ruochen seemed to transform into rules and energy, unimpeded by the formations, shuttling through the formation spaces, rapidly closing the distance with the shadowy figure.
In a battle with a spiritual power cultivator, the closer the distance, the greater the advantage.
The shadowy figure naturally would not give Zhang Ruochen the chance. His right hand formed a seal, with inscription patterns weaving through his palm, then struck the temple wall behind him.
"Swoosh!"
Dense formation inscription patterns emerged on the wall, each rule like a mountain range, all pressing down toward the charging Zhang Ruochen.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen's divine body burst forth from the center of the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal, throwing a punch.
Lightning interwove on his fist gloves.
Formation inscription patterns shattered continuously, various destructive forces erupting around Zhang Ruochen.
Wearing the Heavenly Venerable Treasure Gauze and possessing a powerful physical body, these forces that could severely wound Divine Kings and Divine Venerables could not harm him in the slightest.
While Zhang Ruochen blocked the shadowy figure, Chi Yao merged with Zangjin Baihu and charged in another direction. She manifested divine abilities, slashing with her war sword, continuously attacking the temple's defensive formations.
As long as she broke the temple's defenses, allowing the outside world to know what was happening inside, the shadowy figure would have no place to die. Even if she could not break the defensive formations, she could force the shadowy figure to divert more spiritual power to reinforce the formations, reducing the pressure on Zhang Ruochen.
After several rounds of exchange, Zhang Ruochen found he could not mobilize the Space Essence within the temple. Seizing a moment, he tested, "Being able to suppress my mobilization of Space Essence—you must be the Temple Master, right? Since you've already revealed your identity, why not show yourself openly?"
"If you were certain I was the Space Divine Temple Master, you wouldn't have asked that probing question! Zhang Ruochen, I now have a clear understanding of your strength. It is time to suppress you."
The shadowy figure had long been forming seals, with countless formation inscription patterns flowing around him. A complex formation light diagram appeared on the temple ceiling.
Then came a second, a third...
His formation mastery was not far behind Yan Wuque. His spiritual power was even stronger!
Zhang Ruochen felt an increasingly powerful spatial compression. His body shrank, as if heaven and earth were collapsing, and his bones cracked continuously.
This spatial compression was more terrifying than a billion-fold spatial gravity.
This was the true power of an eighty-ninth-rank spiritual power cultivator.
Zhang Ruochen was alarmed. Someone with such formidable spiritual power and spatial mastery was rare. Could he really be the Temple Master?
"Whoosh, whoosh!"
A bright yellow wooden box flew out from Zhang Ruochen's sleeve.
Three hundred and sixty formation flags flew out from the box in all directions, intending to form the Snow Wind Continent Divine Array.
Array against array!
"Using formations against an eighty-ninth-rank spiritual power cultivator is the most foolish act."
The shadowy figure appeared eerily above Zhang Ruochen's head.
Before the three hundred and sixty formation flags could form the array, they were caught by three hundred and sixty small spatial vortexes, then vanished from their positions, appearing in the shadowy figure's palm.
"This set of formation flags is quite extraordinary—you got it from Yan Wuque, right? What a pity, such exquisite and powerful flags falling into your hands is a waste of their brilliance."
The shadowy figure stepped on layers of formation light diagrams, pressing down rapidly from above, and said, "Ten Thousand Realms! One realm suppresses one god, ten thousand realms suppress the Heavenly Venerables."
The technique the shadowy figure displayed had surpassed formations, perfectly integrating spatial power into it.
It was both a formation and a divine art.
The four directions—east, south, west, north—were sealed off. Heaven and earth offered no escape.
The pressure from all sides grew stronger. Zhang Ruochen's body could not move, but as rule divine patterns surged from within him, a stretch of divine soil manifested beneath his feet.
The divine soil expanded ever wider.
At the center of the divine soil, a dazzling blood-red light appeared.
It was the blood-red Sword Ancestor Divine Tree.
Countless sword qi flew out from the tree, slashing cracks into the continuously descending formation light diagrams.
Suddenly, the shadowy figure noticed a white-boned skeleton clad in a divine robe standing beneath the Sword Ancestor Divine Tree.
Though just a skeleton, it exuded a powerful aura that made everyone in the hall tremble.
"Is this the Sword Bone? The remains of the Sword Ancestor?"
The shadowy figure's tone carried excitement.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen's blood flowed rapidly, a Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal manifesting above his head. He broke free from the spatial compression and retreated swiftly.
His body, which had been compressed to just three inches tall, returned to normal size.
Zhang Ruochen's sword soul had long been hidden within the Sword Bone. Therefore, after retreating to the Sword Ancestor Divine Tree, his true form instantly merged with the Sword Bone.
In an instant, Zhang Ruochen's aura transformed dramatically, as if an Ancestor had emerged into the world.
"Sword... Twenty!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword in the Sword Bone's hand lifted, slashing upward.
"Bang, bang!"
A series of explosions followed. All the formation light diagrams were torn apart like paper.
"Your Ten Thousand Realms is far from enough! It cannot suppress the Heavenly Venerables, nor can it suppress me."
Zhang Ruochen stood back-to-back with the Sword Bone, transforming into a beam of sword light that pierced through layers of formation barriers and struck the shadowy figure.
Before this, the shadowy figure, unhurried, spread his arms wide, and a purple-black spatial vortex appeared before him.
This sword strike, no weaker than a peak Great Unbound Infinite's attack, struck the spatial vortex and was swallowed, failing to harm the shadowy figure.
A hint of surprise appeared in Zhang Ruochen's eyes. "Your spiritual power has reached the eighty-ninth-rank mid stage?"
The gap between the eighty-ninth-rank initial stage and mid stage was like the gap between Yu Dongxuan and Zhao Gongming. Their combat power was entirely on different levels.
"Your combat power surprises me even more. I retract my earlier words—you already possess the strength to contend with peak Great Unbound Infinite powerhouses," the shadowy figure said.
Zhang Ruochen acted decisively, immediately drawing upon the Ancestor Divine Qi and Ancestor Rules within his Xuan Tai. Nine-colored divine light shot out as a thousand beams.
"Boom!"
The spatial vortex blocking the shadowy figure was shattered by the nine-colored beams in an instant.
With a muffled cry of pain, the shadowy figure flew backward. The left side of his chest was pierced, and a small portion of his body was shattered. The three hundred and sixty formation flags he had seized earlier scattered across the ground.
Without a second thought, the shadowy figure immediately fled.
As he fled, he continuously raised formation barriers behind him to block Zhang Ruochen's pursuit.
It was not that he feared Zhang Ruochen. For a spiritual power cultivator, physical wounds had little impact on combat power. He fled because he knew that capturing Zhang Ruochen today was impossible—the plan had failed.
Zhang Ruochen summoned the God-Defying Stele, continuously smashing through the formation barriers, and said, "I told you, I have one last trump card, yet you insisted on foolishly thinking I wanted to self-destruct my divine source. With your spiritual power, few below the ninetieth rank can match you. Why flee? Stay and fight."
The shadowy figure rushed out of the temple, and with a sweep of his arm, a several-meter-long spatial rift appeared before him.
"Better not follow, or you will regret it."
The shadowy figure looked back at Zhang Ruochen, then leaped into the rift.
"Take Xuan Yin Silver City!"
Leaving these words, Zhang Ruochen chased after the shadowy figure, entering the rift just before it closed.
Chi Yao captured Xuan Yin Silver City and immediately sent out light talismans to inform Jie Tian, Zhao Gongming, and Xuanyuan Lian.
(End of this chapter)