Chapter 3764: Battle of Time
Countless bright formations, stacked like solid rocks, formed a fortress wall.
Clusters of holy light and bursts of divine might were released from the fortress, giving off a spiritual will of unity and collective determination.
Clearly, the cultivators of the Thunder Clan who had reached a certain level of cultivation were no rabble.
Xiu Chen Heavenly God unleashed the River of Time, vast and mighty, containing not only the power of time but also her divine energy, which had recovered to the middle stage of Great Unbound Infinite.
"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
In the sea outside the entrance to the Guixu, islands shaped like giant beasts collapsed under the impact of the River of Time.
The splashing earth and stone suddenly slowed their descent, as if frozen in midair.
Seeing this, Thunder Yin Divine Venerable inside the formation fortress sensed great trouble.
The divine power of the middle stage of Great Unbound was easy to block, but the power of time was pervasive.
If the power of time were to rush into the fortress, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Formation emerges as the dusk drum, boundary stands by the gnomon."
Thunder Yin Divine Venerable shouted.
Inside the fortress, countless formations shifted and rearranged, their light coalescing into a circular drum three thousand miles in diameter.
As the formations operated, this extraordinary drum resounded.
"Boom!"
Like thunder, a ring of force waves filled with time power exploded outward from the edge of the circular drum, dispersing the River of Time that had surged this far.
With the drum's sound, the blood-red sky turned dark red, as if night had fallen.
The drumbeat continued incessantly, and the River of Time was completely blocked.
Holding the Sundial, Xiu Chen Heavenly God said, "The Dusk Drum and Dawn Bell are two legendary time artifacts.
When the Dusk Drum sounds, night falls.
When the Dawn Bell rings, the sky brightens at dawn.
These two artifacts can easily alter the cycle of day and night in a realm! They are using formations to manifest the time power of the Dusk Drum."
"Zhang Ruochen, let's join forces, using the time artifact and time essence to attack.
Let's see how these ants can stop us."
As soon as Xiu Chen Heavenly God finished speaking, a pillar-like yellow-brown gnomon flew out from the Guixu and plunged into the sea in front of the fortress.
It was impossibly heavy and towering; its simple descent caused waves a hundred zhang high.
This gnomon was refined from all the matter of a great world, filled with time imprints inside, a time artifact recorded in ancient texts that had not appeared since ancient times.
The owner of this gnomon now stood proudly inside the formation fortress. Her voluptuous, curvaceous body was wrapped in an apricot-yellow robe, her skin white as porcelain, devoid of any blood color. She appeared to be in her thirties, a stunning beauty, yet she exuded a gloomy, deathly aura.
Thunder Yin Divine Venerable only knew that she was a former Hall Master of the Time Divine Temple in history, who had returned by seizing her own corpse and transforming into a Corpse Clan cultivator.
Thunder Ancestor called her Wan.
Other cultivators of the Thunder Clan called her "Venerable Wan."
Venerable Wan was stern and unsmiling, saying, "Zhang Ruochen once used the Wuji Divine Dao to transform into the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal and broke through the protective divine formation of the Space Divine Temple.
Now, his cultivation is even stronger than before, and his First-rank Divine Path is miraculous. Everyone, be mentally prepared for a battle to the death."
"Indeed, we must fight to the death! Of the ten major formations, five have been destroyed.
If he breaks through our formation fortress, the elite of the Thunder Clan will all perish, and we won't recover our strength even in a million years.
Conversely, if we can hold him off until the Heavenly Venerable arrives, that will be the moment of his defeat."
A Thunder Clan Great God with a pair of lightning wings spoke.
"Here he comes!"
Thunder Yin Divine Venerable, on high alert, shouted.
Zhang Ruochen channeled all his divine energy into the Sundial, which spun rapidly within the Shaoyin Divine Sea. The sound of flowing water grew louder, as if summoning the true River of Time.
Unfortunately, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation realm was still far behind, and he couldn't achieve the great feat that Qishier Pin Lian had accomplished at Buzhou Mountain.
But his ability to influence the Heavenly Dao and make the sound of the River of Time echo outside the Guixu had already shocked the Thunder Clan gods.
As the Sundial flew toward the formation fortress, the power of time erupted.
"Boom!"
Although the thirty-thousand-mile-long formation dusk drum, driven by countless Thunder Clan cultivators, continued to resound with sky-splitting force, it shattered like a bubble upon collision with the Sundial.
The Sundial headed straight for the formation fortress.
Venerable Wan's sleeves billowed, her yellow robe fluttering as she flew out of the formation fortress and appeared behind the gnomon.
"Activate the combined attack formation to assist Venerable Wan in slaying the invading evil."
Thunder Yin Divine Venerable gave the order.
Hundreds of thousands of formations instantly transformed into a combined attack formation.
From each formation, a beam of light shot out, striking the gnomon.
Venerable Wan struck out with her palm, and between her palm and the gnomon, a massive circular time imprint formation plate appeared, moving forward.
"Boom!"
The Sundial and the gnomon collided, with the bright formation plate between them.
The formation plate trembled violently, and in the next moment, it sent the Sundial rebounding.
Zhang Ruochen used spatial means to catch the returning Sundial, looking at the fortress before him, as solid as an iron wall. His gaze finally settled on Venerable Wan. "Your time mastery is so profound, and you carry the gnomon. You must be one of the former Hall Masters of the Time Divine Temple, aren't you?
May I ask how many Hall Masters of the Time Divine Temple have returned?"
After the battle at Buzhou Mountain, Zhang Ruochen had to consider whether the Time Divine Temple also had a large number of former Hall Masters whose remnant souls had descended into this era.
If so, the power that Qishier Pin Lian and Thunder Punishment Heavenly Venerable wielded was far too terrifying.
Even if he couldn't exterminate them all, at least weakening them was an urgent matter.
After all, every ancient Hall Master could cause great upheaval in a star domain.
Venerable Wan said, "You will get no answers from me."
"Then I'll capture you and directly search your soul."
Zhang Ruochen said.
Thunder Yin Divine Venerable's voice, like thunder, came from the fortress: "Zhang Ruochen, today the Thunder Clan has forged a blood feud with you. Dare to enter the Guixu, and we will ensure you never return.
What First-rank Divine Path? What young Ancestor? With your current cultivation, you cannot defy heaven."
"The Thunder Clan gods are here. Who can break this formation fortress?
Even if a Heavenly Venerable comes, they will die here in regret."
Another Infinite divine voice rang out from within the formation light.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I wouldn't be so sure."
As if responding to Zhang Ruochen, inside the formation fortress, the suppressed Xuqiong expanded its body, filled with endless dark power, quickly reaching hundreds of thousands of miles in length.
From its algae-like dark tentacles, countless void bubbles surged.
The formations within the fortress were continuously swallowed by the void bubbles.
Cultivators in the formations screamed in agony, turning into nothingness, leaving no matter behind.
Zhang Ruochen knew the terror of Xuqiong well. Even if the Thunder Clan's formation fortress had no flaws, they couldn't suppress Xuqiong while also blocking him.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Ruochen simultaneously struck out with the Heaven Cauldron and the Earth Cauldron, repeatedly slamming them into the gnomon.
Venerable Wan ignored the chaos behind her in the formation fortress, remaining calm and focused. She used the combined attack formation and the gnomon to block the Heaven Cauldron and the Earth Cauldron.
Just as she thought, "The Nine Cauldrons are nothing special," Zhang Ruochen directly passed through the circular formation plate and appeared before her.
Although her cultivation had been restored to the Great Unbound Infinite level, and she had once been Indestructible Infinite, facing Zhang Ruochen's overwhelming might, her divine soul was still suppressed. Without a second thought, she ghost-like retreated toward the formation fortress.
"Still trying to escape?"
She collided with Zhang Ruochen, who appeared before her as if out of thin air.
"Pfft!"
Zhang Ruochen struck down with a palm blade, directly severing her head from her neck. The neck bones snapped, and divine blood stained his robe red.
Such physical strength terrified all the Thunder Clan cultivators.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Venerable Wan's head and began to search her soul, only to find that her divine source and divine sea were not in her head.
Regretting his haste, he prepared to pursue, but Venerable Wan's headless body had already rushed into the formation fortress.
Fortunately, Xiu Chen Heavenly God had followed closely behind Venerable Wan and also entered the formation fortress.
With Xiu Chen Heavenly God and Xuqiong both wreaking havoc inside the formation fortress, the Thunder Clan gods were no match for them. The formation became increasingly chaotic, and the fortress's collapse was only a matter of time.
Zhang Ruochen unhurriedly collected the gnomon, holding the bloody head, and confronted Venerable Wan, who had regrown her head inside the fortress, gnashing her teeth in hatred. He waited quietly, and when the time was right, he activated the four cauldrons, preparing to deliver the final blow to the formation fortress.
Venerable Wan knew Zhang Ruochen's prowess well. Without the formation fortress, she was no match for him, so she decided to retreat, fleeing deeper into the Guixu.
"Boom!"
A blood-leafed parasol tree, countless miles tall, pressed down from the depths of the Guixu, sweeping away the entire formation fortress.
Formations shattered like bubbles in sunlight, and countless Thunder Clan cultivators turned into clouds of blood mist.
With a single strike, most of the Thunder Clan cultivators were annihilated, with over a million saint-level cultivators falling.
The air was filled with broken bones, remnant souls, and blood energy. The sea was a scene of devastation.
Zhang Ruochen had not yet made a move, the four cauldrons orbiting around him, a look of surprise in his eyes.
The blood-leafed parasol tree was not this powerful.
It was Feng Tian.
Was Feng Tian dissatisfied with his slow progress in breaking the formation fortress and had decided to act personally?
"Stop them! Don't let them escape!"
Feng Tian's divine voice came from the depths of the Guixu.
Zhang Ruochen sensed the auras of Thunder Ancestor and Fei Ma Wang, both rapidly approaching the exit of the Guixu.
He immediately understood why Feng Tian had personally broken the formation fortress. If Thunder Ancestor and Fei Ma Wang entered the fortress and joined forces with the Thunder Clan cultivators to activate the formations, it would be a tremendous problem.
Zhang Ruochen had little interest in Thunder Ancestor and Fei Ma Wang, finding the secrets of Venerable Wan far more important.
Moreover, Thunder Ancestor and Fei Ma Wang were no ordinary beings. With his current cultivation, facing both alone would surely end in defeat.
Zhang Ruochen had never felt compelled to obey Feng Tian's orders, so he directly pursued Venerable Wan.
But he miscalculated: Thunder Ancestor and Fei Ma Wang were very interested in him. After rushing out of the Guixu, they immediately chased after him.
Seeing the sea covered with floating corpses for thousands of miles, Thunder Ancestor's murderous intent soared. He roared, "The Thunder Clan's calamity today must have someone buried with them."
Venerable Wan, who had been fleeing, stopped upon seeing powerful reinforcements arrive. She unleashed a torrent of time rules from within, manifesting a time divine sea beneath her feet.
In an instant, the situation reversed dramatically. Zhang Ruochen found himself in a dangerous position, with a wolf ahead and two tigers behind.