Chapter 3819: Demon Ancestor Meridian Halberd
Zhang Ruochen, protected by the Dao Soul Platform guarding his divine soul and the Mani Pearl resisting spiritual power attacks, dared to provoke the Tiger Whiskers of Kui Liang Huang.
However, with the twelve Fate Divine Lights upon him, Zhang Ruochen still felt a profound sense of powerlessness from deep within, as if he were gradually becoming a mortal, utterly incapable of matching Kui Liang Huang in combat.
He understood clearly that the twelve Fate Gates alone could not weaken him to such an extent.
It was a spiritual power attack.
An invisible spiritual power attack, bypassing the Dao Soul Platform and the Mani Pearl, was eroding Zhang Ruochen's will.
The intent was to capture him without a fight, catching him off guard.
In White Clothes Valley, Zhang Ruochen had already faced Kui Liang Huang directly and even severely wounded him, so he harbored no fear of him.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen quickly used his will and spirit to block Kui Liang Huang's spiritual power attack, his gaze sharp as a sword, staring straight ahead, and said, "You scheme your whole life, yet fail every time. You say I am terribly wrong—could it be that this time, like before, you are the one in error?"
"Losing to Kong Fan Nu and Hao Tian is not failure; rather, it is a rare tempering on the path of cultivation. A pity, though—you, Zhang Ruochen, are neither Kong Fan Nu nor Hao Tian."
Kui Liang Huang's heart remained undisturbed, his feet treading upon trails of light, his invisible spiritual power field covering the entire void.
Even A Fu Ya and Bing Huang, standing far away, could feel their divine souls suppressed and their divine qi circulation hindered. It was evident that Zhang Ruochen, surrounded by the twelve Fate Gates, bore ten times the pressure they did.
In this contest, the disparity in power was too vast.
That Zhang Ruochen could remain calm in the face of danger had already earned the admiration of those present; at the very least, they could not match his composure.
"Then today, I shall boldly seek instruction from Kui Liang Huang, considering it a tempering on the path of cultivation!"
Zhang Ruochen stood tall and straight, a sea of time light unfolding beneath his feet, with the four cauldrons rising and falling within that sea. In his hand, a long spear pointed at Kui Liang Huang, his battle intent steadily rising, exuding a world-shaking aura as if he could hold up the heavens and fill the earth.
"Heh heh, kid, you'd better step aside. What business do you have meddling in the clash of the older generation?"
The divine voice of the old man in black, for some reason, sounded above Zhang Ruochen's head.
"Luo Can, your true body has finally been lured out. I thought you would keep hiding forever!"
Above Zhang Ruochen and the twelve Fate Gates, the massive star body of Bai Cang Xing rotated and rolled, causing the void to twist violently and the heavenly and earthly rules to leap and pulse with fervor.
Naturally, Bai Cang Xing was not merely home to the Great Qi Ancestral Rune Divine Formation.
In truth, the concealment formations on Bai Cang Xing were the most formidable; otherwise, why would it have remained undiscovered by foreign cultivators for so many years?
Thus, while Zhang Ruochen worked to draw Kui Liang Huang's attention, Bai Cang Xing managed to evade his ninety-second-level spiritual power and silently appear above the Fate Gates.
"Boom! Boom!"
The twelve Fate Gates were crushed by Bai Cang Xing.
After breaking free, Zhang Ruochen immediately withdrew the Emperor Talisman, tore open space, and rushed inside.
The Emperor Talisman was indeed immensely powerful, but since it could remain undisclosed, Zhang Ruochen naturally chose to conceal it, so that when he encountered an invincible foe in the future, it could achieve a surprise effect.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen charge into the spatial rift, the Hall Master and Qing Yun Que, who had been watching from afar, both changed expression drastically, then fled at their fastest speed into the depths of the universe.
Unfortunately, Zhang Ruochen did not regard them as his opponents. Instead, he appeared in the void where the Corpse of Shang Tian was located.
"Let us fight again!"
Zhang Ruochen burst out of space, thrusting his spear with all his might, twisting the heavens, earth, time, and space, aiming straight for the brow of the Corpse of Shang Tian.
With the four cauldrons guarding the four symbols and stabilizing the four directions, Zhang Ruochen had greater confidence to face this veteran Indestructible Infinite.
The Corpse of Shang Tian had long anticipated that Zhang Ruochen would target him as the main opponent. The moment Zhang Ruochen emerged from space, he unleashed the strongest strike from the Eight Techniques of Desolate Heaven: Heaven Desolate Earth Old.
Gathering momentum, divine power surged—the heavens could wither, the earth could perish.
"Boom!"
The clash of Indestructible Infinite levels annihilated all matter in the time-space, even breaking the rules, turning everything into chaos.
In terms of cultivation and strength, Zhang Ruochen was far inferior to Shang Tian. Even wielding the Eternal Spear and carrying four of the nine cauldrons, he still found himself at a disadvantage.
Yet, his energy was vigorous, his blood qi burning like divine fire. Even as he was pushed back step by step, he still clashed head-on with Shang Tian.
"Immovable Wisdom King Fist!"
"Hong Cauldron!"
"Freeze time, seal space."
...
Zhang Ruochen did not release the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, but the Corpse of Shang Tian fought with difficulty. Though he held the absolute upper hand, he could not defeat his opponent.
Even when Zhang Ruochen's chest was pierced by his finger force, he still charged forward, launching counterattack punches.
With the support of Ancestral Divine Qi and Ancestral Rules, the power of the Immovable Wisdom King Fist surged mightily, as if the Great Venerable had returned, unsettling the Corpse of Shang Tian's mind and stirring ripples within his heart.
"What a Zhang Ruochen! With my current cultivation, defeating him would come at a considerable cost. Moreover, he has yet to use the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation!"
Shang Tian understood clearly that Zhang Ruochen refrained from using the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation to avoid being slowed down, intending to keep him here, creating a favorable environment for A Fu Ya and Bing Huang to deal with Qing Yun Que and the Hall Master.
Shang Tian was confident that as long as he was cautious enough, no matter when Zhang Ruochen deployed the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, he could escape outside the formation in the gap of time.
In other words, neither he nor Zhang Ruochen could do anything to the other.
Relatively speaking, his advantage was greater, allowing him to advance or retreat freely.
But the existence of the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation remained a considerable threat.
What troubled Shang Tian even more was that Kui Liang Huang's true body had fallen into the Ancestral Rune light of Bai Cang Xing's thick, blood-red atmosphere.
Clearly, the mother tree growing on the tomb of the Great Qi Heavenly Emperor was not the formation source of the Great Qi Ancestral Rune Divine Formation.
They had been tricked!
Their escape from Bai Cang Xing was a strategy pre-planned by the Corpse Buryer and Zhang Ruochen.
"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
Within the atmosphere of Bai Cang Xing, the figures of Kui Liang Huang and the Corpse Buryer swayed and drifted, unleashing bursts of divine power clashes.
"Break!"
Kui Liang Huang kept his distance from the Corpse Buryer, then scattered a patch of Ancestral Blood of the Fate Ancestor, causing the Lamp of Life and Death to burn fiercely. Amid the talisman light filling the sky, he tore open a crack several zhang long and escaped.
After breaking free from the confinement, Kui Liang Huang charged straight toward Bing Huang.
Kui Liang Huang knew well that, compared to Zhang Ruochen, the Corpse Buryer would care more about Bing Huang's life or death.
With his spiritual power, he might not be able to kill Zhang Ruochen quickly, but he could certainly kill Bing Huang.
"Where do you think you're going!"
The Corpse Buryer mobilized the power of the entire Bai Cang Xing and the Great Qi Ancestral Rune Divine Formation, condensing it into a blood-drenched Ancestral Rune that sealed the heavens and earth, chasing closely behind Kui Liang Huang.
"Qi Shi, relying on just one talisman, I'm afraid you cannot keep me here."
The Lamp of Life and Death hovering above Kui Liang Huang's head released billions of beams of light, transforming into a green umbrella the size of a nebula, colliding with the Ancestral Rune.
Amid the roar, Kui Liang Huang spat blood from his mouth, clutching the Lamp of Life and Death as his body was flung backward.
"The Great Qi Ancestral Rune is nothing special. The power of Bai Cang Xing cannot kill me, Luo Can."
Though injured, Kui Liang Huang let out an old, triumphant laugh, leaping through space, constantly closing the distance with Bing Huang.
Both Shang Tian and Zhang Ruochen saw Kui Liang Huang's goal: killing Bing Huang was a pretext; the real aim was to force the Corpse Buryer out of Bai Cang Xing.
Zhang Ruochen desperately chased after Kui Liang Huang, while Shang Tian unleashed all his trump card divine abilities and techniques to block his advance.
"Zhang Ruochen, you are no longer calm, and your battle methods are no longer flawless. If you continue like this, you will lose sight of one thing while attending to another, and today you will die by my hand."
Shang Tian stood amidst thick demon clouds, his hair and beard flying, his right hand pointing to the sky.
From his fingertip flew a demonic artifact of bizarre form, like the sun and moon overlapping. As this artifact spun, hundreds of millions of miles of void spun with it.
The demonic might was so vast, the killing aura so intense, that Zhang Ruochen's entire body turned cold, and the blood within him showed signs of solidifying.
Such power was no less than that of a first-rank divine artifact.
"Demon Ancestor Meridian Halberd."
Zhang Ruochen had anticipated that Shang Tian would possess many trump card methods, and that his war weapons were certainly more than just a Demon God Stone Pillar.
But he had not expected that the demonic artifact left by the Demon Ancestor of old would be in his hands.
"This halberd was dug out from the body of a chaotic ancient demon god. Today, with your blood, I shall re-sharpen its blade."
Shang Tian unleashed the Demon Ancestor Meridian Halberd. The artifact's flight speed instantly surpassed the speed of light, vanishing from Zhang Ruochen's divine sense perception.
Too fast!
Meridian, meaning yin and yang.
The Meridian Halberd cut through yin and yang, having once nearly wiped out all Dao cultivators under heaven.
If Zhang Ruochen had not cultivated the perfect Five Elements, he would certainly have had his Dao broken by a single strike of the Demon Ancestor Meridian Halberd, with yin-yang and the four symbols unable to block it.
At this moment, activating the Emperor Talisman and the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation was already too late.
"Four Cauldrons, fly together!"
Zhang Ruochen commanded the four cauldrons to meet the Demon Ancestor Meridian Halberd.
"Boom!"
"Crash!"
...
One defense, one offense—five earth-shattering war weapons collided in the universe, each impact producing a sound like a great bell or giant drum.
The sound waves could reach the Heavenly Court Universe and the Yellow Spring Star River.
Some powerful gods had already sensed the disturbance here.
"You want to fight? Then I'll give it to you!"
Zhang Ruochen's divine might surged, his killing intent boiling. Ignoring the ferocity of the Demon Ancestor Meridian Halberd, he endured injuries to continuously close in on Shang Tian.
Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Shang Tian initially planned to retreat.
But at such a critical moment, how could he retreat?
The opponent's cultivation was far inferior to his—how could he retreat?
His inner pride and immortal demon heart compelled him to face Zhang Ruochen head-on. Even if he lost, he would lose with grandeur.
"I wield the Demon Ancestor Meridian Halberd, cutting both yin-yang and breaking time-space. Even the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation can be destroyed."
The demonic qi beneath Shang Tian's feet condensed into liquid, forming a boundless black sea stretching billions of miles.
Within the sea, waves rose ten thousand zhang high.
"Good! All beings are equal."
Zhang Ruochen had already deployed the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation. Rows of Xumi Tuo Silver Trees took root in the demon sea, with silver Buddhas of myriad postures on their trunks, emitting resounding Sanskrit chants and incantations.
At the same time, from Bai Cang Xing came a long sigh from the Corpse Buryer.
Then, he flew out of the blood-red atmosphere.
The moment he left the atmosphere, his body began to burn uncontrollably, flames continuously escaping from the gaps in his black burial cloth, like a human torch.
"Zhang Ruochen, the Eternal Spear!"
He reached into the void, his figure no longer stooped but straight and towering.
Cultivators of the Undying Blood Clan were adept at using long weapons like spears, halberds, and lances, and the Corpse Buryer was no exception.
"What fun is there in always fighting with formations? We of the Undying Blood Clan first refine blood qi, using our physical bodies to clash with all enemies under heaven. Luo Can, today I will make you know that your Qi Shi will always be your Qi Shi."
Catching the flying Eternal Spear, the Corpse Buryer thrust it forward.
The time order on the spear surged, instantly freezing all heavenly and earthly rules in the void.
He strode through the frozen rules, transitioning from a walk to a run, faster and faster, charging straight at Kui Liang Huang.
The Reader