Chapter 3783: Battle of Wits and Ruthlessness
For the cultivators of Chajie Realm, this was a heart-stopping day. Legendary deities clashed, piercing through the Flowing Ember Fire Sea and shattering the void. Divine blood merged with the waters of the Flowing Ember Fire Sea, turning into red rain that fell upon every inch of Chajie Realm's land.
At this moment, the battle had already spread from the Void World into the starry sky. Stars fell one after another, turning into dense fireballs streaking across the sky, presenting an apocalyptic scene. Chajie Realm was known as the "Realm Where Ten Thousand Evils Converge," but now, all evils knelt trembling on the ground. They witnessed the fall of Divine Kings and God Venerables, saw Heaven-level powerhouses shatter time and space into chaos, causing the entire star domain to shake.
"Boom, rumble!"
The battle between Zhang Ruochen and Murong Tailai shuttled back and forth between the Void World and the starry sky of the Real World. The spatial barriers were as fragile as paper, everything was chaotic and hazy, as if the world was about to return to the dawn of creation, where nothing existed.
This was a life-and-death battle, completely different from their brief clash last time. Both in mental state and battle intent, the two had reached their peak, continuously unleashing various trump cards and methods, even burning divine blood and divine souls to unleash their strongest combat power. The determination they displayed was that no matter the cost, they must kill the other.
Murong Tailai naturally had to kill Zhang Ruochen. Since he had already made his move, there was no turning back. If he couldn't kill Zhang Ruochen today, given Zhang Ruochen's cultivation speed, there would never be another chance. Under Murong Tailai's momentum of "burning one's boats and advancing fearlessly," Zhang Ruochen had no way to retreat; he could only fight to the end. If he retreated or showed fear, even with full combat power, he could only exert seventy to eighty percent, and Zhang Ruochen would immediately collapse. Moreover, the dark power within Zhang Ruochen's body had not been completely eliminated, preventing him from unleashing full combat power.
When powerhouses of their level clash, if their combat power hasn't reached a crushing level, mentality, spirit, and will often become the key factors determining victory or defeat.
"Murong Tailai, your divine soul has suffered considerable damage. You must have suffered a great loss at the hands of Murong Buhuo, right? Or perhaps half of your divine soul is in Murong Buhuo's control?"
As the dark power within his body was absorbed by the Taiyin "Jade Tree Ink Moon," Zhang Ruochen's blood energy grew increasingly vigorous, his spirit high. He handled the confrontation with Murong Tailai more effortlessly and was already able to transmit sound wave divine thoughts, pointing out Murong Tailai's greatest weakness.
Murong Tailai sighed, seeing that Zhang Ruochen had already resolved most of the injuries from Krusa's self-detonation of the divine source. Killing him today was now a fantasy.
"Whoosh!"
After one strike, Murong Tailai immediately retreated far away.
"Tailai Heaven, leaving so soon? It's only polite to reciprocate."
Zhang Ruochen crossed space, catching up to Murong Tailai in an instant, thrusting the Eternal Spear forward. The Eternal Spear was a heritage divine artifact of the Time Divine Temple, containing time order pattern marks. With this thrust, Zhang Ruochen pushed the power of time to its extreme. The strange scene of "Jade Tree Ink Moon" manifested behind him, like a vast starry nebula. The time power of the "Jade Tree" struck Murong Tailai even before the Eternal Spear, drastically slowing his speed.
"Pfft!"
Murong Tailai dodged the vital point, but his right shoulder was shattered.
Even though he had gained absolute superiority and wounded his opponent, Zhang Ruochen grew alert, immediately stopping and raising the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal to guard a perimeter of eighteen zhang. The blood and flesh splattered from Murong Tailai's shattered right shoulder hit the edge of the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal, immediately igniting into five-colored flames that burned through the diagram and spread toward Zhang Ruochen's true body. However, with the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram's obstruction, Zhang Ruochen had already calmly evaded.
"The Daoist Five Flavors Five Elements Divine Fire!"
Zhang Ruochen was secretly shocked. Murong Tailai, as a Heaven-level figure, had too many trump cards. If he hadn't sensed the danger in advance and been touched by the flames, he would have been severely injured.
Zhang Ruochen stopped pursuing, looked up, and said, "This is not a flame you could have cultivated."
Murong Tailai put a vast distance between himself and Zhang Ruochen, holding a whisk with his long hair loose, and said, "The Murong Clan has stood at the pinnacle of the universe for who knows how many eons, producing countless powerhouses. They naturally left behind foundations to protect the clan's eternal prosperity. This Five Flavors Five Elements Divine Fire is one of them! Does Grand Elder Ruochen still wish to experience this old man's other methods?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled faintly: "If treasures like the Five Flavors Five Elements Divine Fire were abundant, the Murong Clan would have long surpassed the Xuan Yuan Clan and the Yan Clan to become the number one clan in the universe. Why would they be as declined as they are now? If Tailai Heaven still carried other foundational methods, he would have used them long ago. How could he wait until now?"
The wound on Murong Tailai's right shoulder was difficult to heal, affected by the power of time order, with flesh withering and spreading throughout his body.
"Alas! You've seen through my reality. Truly, heroes emerge from youth. Today, this old man admits defeat!"
Murong Tailai shook his head with a bitter smile, his surging battle intent and spiritual sharpness gone in an instant, becoming decrepit and aged. This behavior instead made Zhang Ruochen wary, uncertain if he was deliberately luring him to attack. Zhang Ruochen had to secretly sigh that indeed, the older, the more cunning. In adversity, actively showing weakness could indeed have an extraordinary effect. Even if Zhang Ruochen was ninety-nine percent sure that Murong Tailai had exhausted his tricks and had no countermeasures left, as long as there was that one percent possibility, Zhang Ruochen, in his absolute advantage, dared not gamble. After all, losing the gamble could cost him his life. True gamblers are mostly those at the end of their rope, hoping for a turnaround. Who knew if Murong Tailai still had Five Flavors Five Elements Divine Fire on him?
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's composure, Murong Tailai didn't attack but instead withdrew the Yu Cauldron and then summoned the Hong Cauldron, Di Cauldron, and Tian Cauldron in succession. His expression turned somewhat ugly, and he sighed, "Grand Elder Ruochen, you should understand that if I self-detonate my divine source, I can certainly take you with me."
"You are a Heaven-level figure. How could you self-detonate your divine source over a junior? Wouldn't that lose all face and bear a lifetime of infamy?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Murong Tailai said, "In fact, your greatest enemies should be Beixi, Afuya, and Qingcheng Yun. Do you think Krusa could have been so decisive in self-detonating his divine source? His eyes definitely belong to Beixi from three hundred thousand years ago. This old man is older than you and has some understanding of Beixi and the campaigns of three hundred thousand years ago. I can tell you for sure that if you don't leave this star domain quickly, you will be buried in Chajie Realm."
Zhang Ruochen nodded, "If Beixi is still secretly alive, it only shows that he can't escape responsibility for the fall of the Twenty-Four Heavens three hundred thousand years ago. If he appears, will Haotian let him go? The first ones the Heavens of the Heavenly Court and Hell Realm would kill are him. As for Qingcheng Yun... this junior is somewhat puzzled. Please enlighten me, Tailai Heaven?"
Zhang Ruochen looked into the distance. Xiuchen Heavenly God had already suppressed the severely injured Qingcheng Yun and was rushing toward their location. For some reason, Zhang Ruochen suddenly had an extremely ominous premonition, thinking of a key point, and said, "I understand!"
As Shang Tian's proud disciple, how could he have only cultivated the Path of Flowing Light? How could he not have cultivated the "Three Corpses Dao Refinement"? The fact that Ci Hang Fairy was taken away by Qingcheng Yun and then disappeared was already very telling. Qingcheng Yun had at least one more corpse hidden in the nearby starry sky.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen rushing toward Xiuchen Heavenly God, Murong Tailai finally let out a long breath, spitting out a mouthful of blood, his body seeming about to crack. He had burned divine blood and divine soul, fighting beyond his limits, and his injuries were far heavier than Zhang Ruochen imagined.
Zhang Ruochen shuddered, a chill running through him. He suddenly realized he had been tricked by Murong Tailai, immediately stopped, and shouted to Xiuchen Heavenly God, who was rapidly approaching from hundreds of thousands of miles away, "Stop! Don't come near me!"
Xiuchen Heavenly God, holding the sealed Qingcheng Yun, was first stunned, then a cold expression appeared on his face, feeling greatly wronged, and said, "Zhang Ruochen, what do you mean?"
Zhang Ruochen retreated again, simultaneously releasing the perception of his Truth Heart, and said, "Keep your distance from me."
Earlier, Zhang Ruochen had been tied down by Murong Tailai, and the two had been locked in fierce battle. With such a good opportunity, Qingcheng Yun's other corpse was nearby but hadn't shown up to rescue the severely injured "corpse." What did that mean? He was most likely waiting for Murong Tailai to self-detonate his divine source and take Zhang Ruochen away. Murong Tailai had seen through Qingcheng Yun's scheme and guessed that Qingcheng Yun must have a final plan: to control this suppressed "corpse" to self-detonate its divine source, killing Zhang Ruochen in one blow. Losing one corpse to kill Zhang Ruochen—this was a last resort but extremely cost-effective.
Zhang Ruochen didn't fall for the trap, so Qingcheng Yun's second corpse had no need to remain hidden. It stepped out from a nebula three hundred million miles away. Ci Hang Fairy stood behind him, bound by Infinite Rule Divine Pattern chains. Qingcheng Yun's second corpse sighed, "The world indeed lacks no intelligent people. Killing you, Zhang Ruochen, is truly difficult!"
Xiuchen Heavenly God looked at the Qingcheng Yun in his hand and immediately felt a creeping dread, finding it too hot to handle, wanting to throw it as far away as possible. But Qingcheng Yun clearly had no intention of using one corpse to exchange for Xiuchen Heavenly God's life at a loss. He said, "Ci Hang Fairy is a good friend of Grand Elder Ruochen. The Grand Elder values loyalty and friendship most. I imagine he wouldn't watch her die before his eyes. Exchange her life for my corpse. How about it?"