Chapter 3727: Curse
Mu Rongheng flew out from amidst the rubble of collapsed mountains. Countless talisman lights radiated from his body, transforming into mysterious secret-symbol patterns that spread across the void, visible everywhere.
The Golden Axis Star turned into a sea of talismans.
"Go find the answer yourself! But don't blame me, the Hall Master, for not warning you—when you find the answer, that will be the day of your death."
Mu Rongheng stared at Zhang Ruochen, let out a cold, resonant laugh, and then, under the effect of the talisman light, burst forth with extreme speed, like a meteor, flying into the vast and boundless starry sky.
The space around the Golden Axis Star had long been locked down by Zhang Ruochen using the Four Symbols and Space Essence. Mu Rongheng could not tear through space and could only rely on speed to flee.
But how could his speed compare to Zhang Ruochen's?
Zhang Ruochen pursued him.
"Shush, shush!"
The endless secret-symbol patterns floating in the void condensed into dazzling life-and-death war swords, emitting sharp sounds of piercing air as they flew toward him.
They were sword talismans!
Each talisman seal contained immense power, capable of piercing stars and beheading gods with a sword strike.
"Bang, bang!"
Zhang Ruochen neither dodged nor avoided. He used his physical body to withstand these talisman war swords, breaking through them one by one.
"His physical body... how has it become this powerful? He just broke through to Great Unbound Infinite? No, even the All Heavens might not compare to this physique!"
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's ferocity, his body beneath the Buddha light resembling a human-shaped divine artifact, Mu Rongheng felt a chilling dread for the first time.
Zhang Ruochen had not yet fully absorbed the eighty-three thousand nine hundred and ninety sarira formed from the Bright Mirror Platform. He was still far from achieving the Indestructible Dharma Body, and the Buddha light could not yet be controlled freely. Otherwise, his physical body would be even stronger.
On Mu Rongheng's chest and back, a foot-long Divine Movement Talisman flickered. He flew at light speed while retrieving the Golden Cicada Divine Staff, holding it in his hand.
The Golden Cicada Divine Staff was as thick as a baby's arm and about ten feet long. At the end of the staff was cast a lifelike golden cicada—one of the five divine staves of the ancient God-Defying Clan.
The sound of cicadas echoed across the starry sky.
Cultivators on planets trillions of miles away could hear the cicada's call from deep space.
Mu Rongheng raised the Golden Cicada Divine Staff high, fully unleashing his mid-level eighty-ninth rank spiritual power.
"Since you're all looking for death, I'll grant your wish."
In the starry sky, a bright river of time imprints condensed, stretching hundreds of thousands of miles long. It surged violently, its energy tides shaking heaven and earth, madly rushing toward the Golden Axis Star.
Dragon Lord, who had been closely pursuing Mu Rongheng, saw this river of time and his expression changed. He immediately retreated into the Divine Dragon Sun-Moon Chaos Pagoda.
Even with his cultivation, he was not confident he could withstand the impact of this river of time. If he failed, his lifespan would be greatly diminished.
Zhang Ruochen let out a long roar, flew out from the Golden Axis Star, and fearlessly charged toward the river of time.
His body was like a sword, radiating Buddha light, and he collided with it.
His skin was wrapped in time rule divine patterns, immune to the erosion of the time power within the river.
"Without Time Essence, even if you are the Hall Master of the Time Divine Temple, what can you do to me?"
A Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal, larger than a star, appeared around Zhang Ruochen, slowly rotating. The four symbols alternated, drawing upon space power to continuously compress the river of time.
"Boom!"
With a violent tremor in space, the river of time that Mu Rongheng had unleashed was redirected, like a white divine dragon, following Zhang Ruochen as he pursued Mu Rongheng.
"As expected of Xumi's heir. At such a young age, his mastery of time has already reached this level!"
Mu Rongheng gritted his teeth. Losing to Xumi Saint Monk back then was one thing, but now being suppressed and hunted by Xumi's heir made his heart burn with frustration.
If he possessed Time Essence, the time divine arts he cast would not be so easily broken.
Mu Rongheng swung the Golden Cicada Divine Staff, carving a crescent-shaped golden arc through the void. It swept a planet ten thousand miles in diameter flying toward Zhang Ruochen, who was chasing behind him.
The planet was coated in a metallic sheen, emitting a rumbling sound as it crushed and deformed space.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen pierced through the planet with his physical body, sending countless fragments of the star flying out as fireballs.
He summoned the Sword Ancestor Divine Tree and swung it at Mu Rongheng from hundreds of thousands of miles away.
"Shush, shush!"
Sword rain, like a downpour, pierced through space and struck Mu Rongheng.
After enduring this wave of sword rain, Mu Rongheng's talisman robe visibly dimmed. He was furious.
Seeing that Dragon Lord had not yet caught up, he decided to stop. Gripping the Golden Cicada Divine Staff with both hands, he poured all his spiritual power into the divine staff. His pupils turned into deep blue "X" shapes, and rings of nether light emanated from them.
"Soul Devour!"
He uttered these two words, striking the void with the Golden Cicada Divine Staff. Ripples of spiritual power surged outward.
Mu Rongheng was a contemporary of Xumi Saint Monk, and his spiritual power cultivation was unfathomably profound.
Facing the divine art he unleashed, Zhang Ruochen did not dare to be careless. He immediately activated the Eight Trigrams Compass and condensed layer upon layer of Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seals. Countless rules revolved, forming a defensive light barrier.
But all of Zhang Ruochen's protective measures failed. A sharp pain shot through his brain.
However, it quickly subsided.
"Are you casting a curse?"
"How is this possible? With my spiritual power, casting the Soul Devour Curse, how could you possibly resist it?"
Mu Rongheng began to doubt his own cultivation and strength, his face full of shock.
Zhang Ruochen did not bother to explain. He urged the Eight Trigrams Compass and struck it toward him.
Dragon Lord arrived. The Divine Dragon Sun-Moon Chaos Pagoda grew as massive and bright as a star, radiating scorching divine flames as it descended from the sky to suppress Mu Rongheng.
"Boom!"
Mu Rongheng fought while retreating.
He was proficient in all kinds of spiritual power secret arts, and his mastery of time and talisman techniques was at the pinnacle. His combat power was among the best below the All Heavens. If he had not lost Time Essence and the Eternal Spear, he would never have been so suppressed by Zhang Ruochen and Dragon Lord.
The Golden Axis Star was not a remote place like the Soul Realm. It was located in the central region of the Heavenly Court Universe.
The divine battle among the three soon alarmed all sides. Gods from many great worlds sensed it.
But when they saw the river of time flowing rapidly through the starry sky, the Divine Dragon Sun-Moon Chaos Pagoda as massive as a star, and the Taiji Four Symbols Divine Diagram a myriad times larger than a star, they were all terrified and quickly fled far away.
The divine battle threw the rules of heaven and earth into chaos, shaking time and space, annihilating stars one by one.
"That's Dragon Lord's aura! The Divine Dragon Sun-Moon Chaos Pagoda has been pushed to its limit. One strike could destroy an entire great world."
"Can you feel it? The flow of time has slowed down a bit. How terrifying! I can't imagine how violent the time fluctuations are at the center of the battlefield."
"That Taiji Four Symbols Divine Diagram looks like it's about to devour the entire universe. The power it emits, even standing here, shakes my soul."
"I just heard that a huge upheaval occurred in the Soul Realm, with a God Venerable falling. How did the battlefield spread here so quickly? Where are the All Heavens of the Heavenly Court? Isn't anyone going to stop this?"
...
Many cultivators were horrified, feeling that Zhang Ruochen was a bloodthirsty madman who shattered heaven and earth wherever he went.
A God King-level Infinite Realm cultivator arrived in the area and sent voice transmissions to Mu Rongheng and Dragon Lord, trying to mediate.
But the transmissions sank like stones into the sea, receiving no response.
Instead, the battlefield among the three spread toward him, scaring the God King into fleeing for his life.
He simply could not afford to get involved.
Dragon Lord said, "Use the Nine Cauldrons. We need to finish this quickly, or All Heavens-level experts will arrive soon."
"Alright!"
Zhang Ruochen took out the Earth Cauldron and swung it out.
The cauldron erupted with Origin Divine Light, illuminating the dark and cold void. The shadow of a primordial world over a billion miles long appeared, heavy and majestic, with the power to break through all divine abilities in the world.
Mu Rongheng's talismans were almost completely depleted, and his physical body had suffered severe damage.
At this moment, how could he dare to clash with the Earth Cauldron?
"One day, I'll make you pay back everything with interest!"
After leaving this venomous remark, Mu Rongheng's figure vanished into thin air.
All his aura disappeared along with him, as if he had never been there.
The Earth Cauldron, having lost its target, hovered in the void.
Dragon Lord immediately released his divine soul to search for traces of Mu Rongheng.
Zhang Ruochen activated his Truth Divine Eye while unleashing his Wuji Divine Dao to sense the surroundings.
Dragon Lord said, "Mu Rongheng is carrying an extremely profound talisman. The moment he disappeared, I saw a flash of talisman light. If I'm not mistaken, it's a talisman similar to an invisibility talisman. He hasn't gone far."
"With Mu Rongheng's talisman mastery, he shouldn't be able to fool the perception of my Heart of Truth. It seems that talisman was bestowed by Bu Huo Ancestor again."
"Let me try again!"
Zhang Ruochen summoned the Hong Cauldron and struck the copper bead, shaped like an eyeball, on the cauldron's body with a finger.
"Swoosh!"
Both Zhang Ruochen and the Hong Cauldron erupted with Truth Divine Light.
In Zhang Ruochen's vision, all the Truth Rules in this starry sky became clearly visible, crisscrossing and omnipresent.
"I see you!" Zhang Ruochen said.
Mu Rongheng had been moving stealthily, but suddenly, he felt a sensation and knew that Zhang Ruochen's gaze had locked onto him. A chill ran down his spine.
"How is this possible? Even the True Hidden Divine Talisman refined by Bu Huo Ancestor can't escape his perception?"
Mu Rongheng tore through space and quickly fled into the Void World.
"Didn't you claim that one day you'd make us pay back everything with interest? No need to wait for that day. Let's settle it today!"
As if an invisible hand were drawing a Space Teleportation Array beneath Zhang Ruochen's feet.
"Swoosh!"
The array activated.
Zhang Ruochen teleported, appearing in the Void World, only a few thousand miles away from Mu Rongheng.
For a Great Unbound Infinite cultivator, this distance was practically within arm's reach.
Zhang Ruochen activated the Hong Cauldron, and a bright beam of Truth Light shot out from the eye on the cauldron's body.
The Truth Light from the Hong Cauldron could break through the defenses of Xuan Wu True Ancestor, so Mu Rongheng naturally could not withstand it.
"No!"
Mu Rongheng desperately released his spiritual power, casting defensive divine arts.
"Bang!"
The Truth Light was unstoppable. All the defensive divine arts he had cast were shattered.
His physical body turned into a cloud of blood mist.
Even the powerful talisman robe was torn to shreds.
Worried that Mu Rongheng might self-destruct his divine heart, Zhang Ruochen did not approach immediately. Instead, he manipulated the Earth Cauldron, intending to suppress the blood mist and spiritual soul mist to prevent Mu Rongheng from reforming his body.
"Swoosh!"
Suddenly, the Real World and the Void World were torn apart, revealing a bright rift.
From within the rift emanated a wisp of blue divine light.
Though only a wisp, it was as brilliant and vast as a star river, freezing the Earth Cauldron as it flew toward Mu Rongheng.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the rift, his eyes narrowing. "Mu Rong Tailai! I didn't expect the first All Heavens to arrive would be you."
(End of this chapter)