Chapter 3722: Battle Against Xuanwu True Ancestor
Xuanwu True Ancestor sensed Zhang Ruochen's intense killing intent, but felt no fear.
It was not Xun Yangzi. It possessed a half-ancestor remnant soul, a half-ancestor body, and half-ancestor divine power. Just in terms of defense, few below the Indestructible Infinite realm could break through.
Excitement instead flickered in the black serpent's eyes.
The large amount of blood Zhang Ruochen had absorbed earlier—suspected to be that of an Immortal—along with the eighty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety relics beneath his skin, and the nine-colored ancestral divine qi flowing on his skin's surface, were all things it craved.
It was now walking the path of the Corpse Clan and urgently needed to restore the powerful might of its half-ancestor body.
The corpse of a dead half-ancestor was far inferior in strength to the living half-ancestor's physical body by a factor of tens of thousands.
The longer the time since death, the more fragile the half-ancestor's body became.
If it had even one-tenth of the divine power of its living half-ancestor body, Xuanwu True Ancestor would be confident in contending with the current Indestructible Infinite realm experts. Even if their divine artifacts were stronger and their esoterica more abundant, it would fear nothing.
Clearly, like Xuanyuan Second, Xuanwu True Ancestor's half-ancestor corpse had decayed severely, its power dropping below the Indestructible Infinite realm.
Still tens of thousands of miles apart, Zhang Ruochen struck out with the Eight Trigrams Compass.
This compass was seized from "Wuji Tianhuang," one of the two Daoist sages of the Ancient Era. It was octagonal, with a black-and-white Taiji mark at the center and Eight Trigrams Dao seals around the perimeter.
"Bang! Bang!"
The Eight Trigrams Compass shattered countless ice swords and slammed into Xuanwu True Ancestor's serpent head.
Although Xuanwu True Ancestor's defense was formidable, every part of its body had varying degrees of strength and weakness. Without a doubt, the serpent body was the weak point of its physical form.
"Boom!"
The Eight Trigrams Compass collided with the serpent head, producing a blinding flash of energy and sending waves of divine force and qi outward.
Yet, the serpent head was completely unharmed, withstanding a divine artifact strike without damage.
Such defensive power was enough to fill any cultivator below the Infinite realm with a sense of helplessness.
The serpent head rose high, its pupils blood-red, looking down at Zhang Ruochen charging from below. It spoke in a resonant voice: "You seek an endless fight to the death, yet you don't realize that with your cultivation, you have no right to say such words. I stand firm in the sky, unmoving; any attack of yours is like rain striking a rock—utterly meaningless."
"Swish!"
Zhang Ruochen vanished from its sight.
He reappeared, having crossed space, above the serpent head.
He brought down a heavy punch!
This punch gathered the divine artifact might of the Qilin Fist Gloves, the fist intent of the Immovable Wisdom King Fist, and the heaven-earth qi Zhang Ruochen had drawn from the starry sky. It was his most comprehensive strike.
All his power was unleashed in an instant.
"Boom!"
The serpent head was sent flying sideways by the fist force, scales dented, and the sound of bones shifting could be heard from within.
"Kid, your physical strength has indeed grown considerably, but this is you seeking death..."
Countless complex, eerie divine runes flew from Xuanwu True Ancestor's turtle shell, striking at Zhang Ruochen.
"Swish! Swish!"
The Sword Ancestor Divine Tree emerged from the space beside Zhang Ruochen, its blood-red leaves falling, turning into a rain of swords that blocked all the eerie divine runes.
Xuanwu True Ancestor's defense was stronger than Zhang Ruochen had anticipated. Even a full-power punch couldn't break through the serpent scales.
No wonder the Dragon Lord, wielding the Pure Yang Divine Sword, couldn't harm it in the slightest.
"Whoosh!"
Xuanwu True Ancestor's serpent tail swept across, corpse-fiend qi spreading, scattering countless leaf sword rain and striking Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen blocked with his arms, his body flying backward.
As he flew, he slashed out nine spatial rifts in succession.
But the serpent tail swept through, and all the spatial rifts collapsed like bubbles, vanishing without a trace.
"If this is all the strength you have, then today you are destined to fail in your revenge and will lose your own life as well," Xuanwu True Ancestor said.
Qishier Pin Lian's voice transmission reached its ears: "Lady Shiji has half-ancestor cultivation and profound divine power; she is nearly unmatched in the current era. The Soul Mother is hard to save. Finish this quickly, capture Zhang Ruochen, and leave immediately."
As the blood waves and the Soul Mother's divine soul were largely absorbed by the Xuan Cauldron, the battle between Lady Shiji and Qishier Pin Lian took a new turn.
The River of Time was severed by the stone sword, and with the assistance of the Truth Hall Master, Qishier Pin Lian's momentum was suppressed, putting her at a disadvantage.
The Dragon Lord and A Fuya broke free, intending to assist Zhang Ruochen, but were blocked by the sky-filling talisman light unleashed by Blood Talisman Evil Emperor, unable to break through for the moment.
Zhang Ruochen's body was undergoing tremendous changes every moment, continuously fusing with the relics and the unknown blood. At the same time, his cultivation realm was steadily rising. Each passing moment brought a power increase equivalent to a hundred years of bitter cultivation.
But to forge the "Indestructible Dharma Body" that the Truth Hall Master had mentioned, he was still far off.
Xuanwu True Ancestor would not give him the chance to forge the Indestructible Dharma Body. Half-ancestor rules and half-ancestor divine qi emanated from its body, extremely dense, filling tens of thousands of miles of void. Like threads, they spread to even farther places.
Know that mastering a wisp of half-ancestor divine qi could slay a god.
Xuanwu True Ancestor possessed a half-ancestor divine source and could mobilize enough half-ancestor rules and half-ancestor divine qi to kill an Infinite realm cultivator.
In the surrounding star region, water mist condensed into great rivers, completely enveloping the space to prevent Zhang Ruochen from escaping.
Seeing the scene above, the Dragon Lord showed concern and immediately sent a voice transmission: "Blade Venerable, please make a move and assist Ruochen. Below the Infinite realm, I fear only your blade can break Xuanwu True Ancestor's half-ancestor defense."
The Dragon Lord's second sentence pleased the Blade Venerable. He lifted his blade and flew toward Xuanwu True Ancestor, saying coldly, "No need for you to say it; I, the Venerable, want to test it myself. What half-ancestor? Just a corpse!"
Qishier Pin Lian's gaze shifted sideways, and where her eyes fell, a vast, desolate netherworld of corpse mountains and blood seas materialized in the starry sky.
The realm body stretched for hundreds of millions of miles, spanning heaven and earth, its momentum covering all directions, directly suppressing the Blade Venerable beneath the realm's soil.
No matter how sharp his blade, it could not cut through the netherworld.
This was absolute suppression in terms of realm!
Zhang Ruochen, with disheveled long hair and wounds already healed, stood amidst the decaying half-ancestor divine qi. The Four Symbols guarded the four directions, the Sword Ancestor Divine Tree before him, and the Eight Trigrams Compass hovering above his head, staring straight at Xuanwu True Ancestor.
Yes, a direct face-off.
Xuanwu True Ancestor's divine soul was powerful, especially its serpent eyes, which contained a eerie soul-capturing power. Once it launched a soul attack, even the Blade Venerable would have to flee far away.
But Zhang Ruochen's earlier punch had struck the serpent head. Although it hadn't broken the scales, it had injured both eyes. Xuanwu True Ancestor's soul-capturing power could no longer threaten Zhang Ruochen.
This was precisely why Zhang Ruochen, knowing the vast gap in physical strength, had risked closing in to deliver that punch.
Xuanwu True Ancestor's half-ancestor body was indeed powerful, but its speed was inferior to Zhang Ruochen's, so he had no fear.
Xuanwu True Ancestor's half-ancestor divine qi and half-ancestor rules were indeed a great threat to any cultivator below the Infinite realm. But Zhang Ruochen controlled a large amount of Space Esoterica, allowing him to come and go freely, so he was not afraid either.
The only thing Zhang Ruochen feared was its soul attack.
But now, that too had been greatly diminished.
In the current situation, although Xuanwu True Ancestor seemed to have the upper hand, Zhang Ruochen was not afraid of it at all.
"Still too slow! To cultivate the Indestructible Dharma Body will take considerable time. To perfect the Metal Dao will take even longer," Zhang Ruochen muttered.
Xuanwu True Ancestor said, "Cultivation realm is not achieved in a single day. What are you fantasizing about?"
"Do you think your defense is truly unbreakable? Ordinary divine artifacts can't break it, but what about the Nine Cauldrons?"
Zhang Ruochen reached into the void, and a five-legged, five-eared bronze cauldron appeared in his palm, growing larger and spinning before him.
The huge eye pattern on the cauldron's body was especially striking, with spiral eyelids and a bronze bead several meters in diameter as the pupil.
Wisps of Truth radiance flowed over the cauldron's surface.
The heaven-earth Truth rules throughout the starry sky became extremely active, and even some of the rules around the Truth Hall Master were pulled away.
"This is..."
The Truth Hall Master was moved, looking upward.
"The Truth Cauldron, Hong Cauldron!" Qishier Pin Lian's eyes narrowed as she uttered these words.
A Fuya found it hard to believe, saying, "He still has another cauldron!"
"Bang!"
Zhang Ruochen summoned the God-Defying Stele and struck it heavily against the cauldron's mouth.
The formation at the mouth of the Hong Cauldron was directly smashed through by the God-Defying Stele, causing countless formation inscription lines to break, then fade, and finally vanish without a trace.
Xiong Hai Divine Venerable had used the Hong Cauldron to refine a furnace of pills.
For that furnace of pills, he had risked being suppressed to sneak back into the Destiny Temple. This showed how important the Hong Cauldron and its pills were to him.
To refine that furnace of pills, countless rare treasures had been used, including three divine medicines.
Zhang Ruochen speculated that he had prepared this furnace of pills to assault the Indestructible Infinite realm.
Zhang Ruochen had not touched the Hong Cauldron, intending to slowly nurture it and use it only when his cultivation reached the peak of Great Unbound Infinite, to maximize its value.
But now, he couldn't care less about that.
As the formation shattered, a rich pill fragrance emanated from the Hong Cauldron. Each wisp of pill qi took on different forms—some turning into dragons, some into divine trees, some into vast seas...
Zhang Ruochen held the Hong Cauldron with one hand and tilted it toward his mouth.
The pill inside had not yet taken shape; what poured out was a golden liquid, hot as magma.
Xuanyuan Second quickly fled far away, escaping that star region. He looked back and cursed, "Refining so many good things into your body, aren't you afraid of bursting? If it were me, I could fight an Indestructible Infinite realm!"
...
Xuanwu True Ancestor activated its half-ancestor divine qi and half-ancestor rules, condensing an ice-blue battle sword.
This sword was far more powerful than the previous ice swords. As it flew, waves surged, and a divine sea poured down from beyond the sky with the sword's qi.
After taking a gulp, Zhang Ruochen's eyes turned cold. He slapped the body of the Hong Cauldron, pouring divine qi into it continuously.
"Whoosh!"
The huge eye on the cauldron's body rotated once, then emitted a beam of Truth divine light several meters thick.
This beam collided with the incoming ice-blue battle sword.
With a "crack," the battle sword shattered. The beam pierced through the vast divine sea and struck Xuanwu True Ancestor's serpent body, knocking off over a dozen scales and causing blood to flow.
The power of the Hong Cauldron exceeded Zhang Ruochen's expectations, actually breaking Xuanwu True Ancestor's defense.
This power was extremely concentrated, like a sword tip, capable of piercing through a point. It was the opposite of the Earth Cauldron, which condensed a primordial world and was more like breaking a point with a surface—one cauldron could crush an area.
Zhang Ruochen took another gulp, then lifted the cauldron and flew toward Xuanwu True Ancestor: "Come on, fight to the death!"
"Whoosh!"
A second beam of Truth light shot out from the giant eye.
(End of this chapter)