Chapter 3821: The Half-Ancestor Realm
The Corpse Burier carried the Eternal Spear, blood dripping from its tip, gazing into the distance as Que Liang Huang's spiritual power soul mist, wielding the Life and Death Lamp, fled into Lihentian. He did not give chase.
Que Liang Huang had first been struck by the radiance of the Emperor Talisman, then wounded in the divine heart by a spear thrust from the Corpse Burier.
His lifespan, divine soul, and spiritual power were all damaged, prompting his decisive retreat.
Zhang Ruochen also did not pursue.
Even though Que Liang Huang was severely injured, his spiritual power remained formidable, far beyond what Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation could handle.
Moreover, activating the Emperor Talisman consumed a great deal of spiritual power.
With his current spiritual power at the eighty-ninth level, he could not sustain it for long.
The reason his strike had succeeded, allowing him to cooperate with the Corpse Burier in wounding Que Liang Huang, was entirely because Que Liang Huang had been unaware of this trump card. He had been too careless, caught off guard.
Zhang Ruochen was self-aware. He believed that Que Liang Huang had retreated out of fear of the dying Corpse Burier, not because of him.
If he pursued, he would certainly not gain any advantage.
"Will he come back?" Zhang Ruochen's gaze was heavy, filled with worry.
The Corpse Burier returned the Eternal Spear to Zhang Ruochen and said, "If he dares to return, this old man will self-detonate his divine source, giving him no second chance to escape. He should understand my resolve!"
"Besides, he has already injured his divine heart. Even if he wanted to suppress you, it would inevitably worsen his injuries, costing him a heavy price. In this era of great upheaval, he cannot afford to be too severely wounded, or he will miss many opportunities."
"He is better at calculating these accounts than we are. I can't hold on any longer. I must return to White Cang Star. The rest is up to you!"
"Zhang Ruochen... today, this old man owes you a favor!"
Zhang Ruochen understood clearly that the favor the Corpse Burier spoke of was not about borrowing the Eternal Spear, but about Zhang Ruochen stepping forward with the Emperor Talisman at the most critical moment to confront Que Liang Huang.
If Zhang Ruochen had not acted, the Corpse Burier would have already self-detonated his divine source by now, choosing the most tragic and helpless way to perish together with Que Liang Huang.
But in truth, the Corpse Burier certainly did not want to die yet, at least not now.
There were still many things he had not arranged properly.
...
Qing Yun Que was naturally no match for A Fuya; he could not even escape.
His star-sized divine body was bound by chains formed from the divine runes of light rules, dragged back from the dim void by A Fuya.
Many parts of his divine body were frozen by ice.
A Fuya was in a good mood, a strange light shining in her eyes.
She had seized the Arrow Dao Essence, divine bow, and nine divine arrows that Qing Yun Que controlled, further increasing her strength, step by step making up for the shortcomings of an ancient Descender.
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, "The First Queen's methods are truly impressive. Qing Yun Que possesses the divine soul of the Qing Tian Ancestor, with combat power comparable to a Heavenly Venerable, yet before you, he could not even escape."
"That is all because the Imperial Dust severely wounded him earlier, reducing his combat power significantly, allowing me to capture him. Moreover, the divine formation of the Wind and Snow Continent trapped him, preventing his escape."
A Fuya's tone was faint and elegant, a light smile on her lips, lacking some of her usual overbearing aura and distant coldness.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Zhang Ruochen sensed a worldly air about her that had not been there before, no longer holding herself aloof with the posture of an Ancestor.
Zhang Ruochen knew A Fuya's strength well, smiling without saying a word, not exposing her.
The various ancestral secret techniques A Fuya cultivated, along with her unfathomable divine soul, seemed unremarkable on the surface, but in truth, Zhang Ruochen was quite wary of them.
Capturing a being comparable to a Heavenly Venerable alive was something even a cultivator at the initial stage of Indestructible Infinite might not be able to accomplish.
Wu Bian, after having a large portion of his lifespan severed by Zhang Ruochen, was sealed by A Fuya and the Ice Emperor.
Now, only the Ice Emperor and the Hall Master remained in a life-and-death battle.
The two had already fought across trillions of miles, clashing within the Void World.
Initially, the Hall Master believed that with the Universe Cauldron, he could easily repel the Ice Emperor.
But when he actually used it, he discovered that he could not activate its spatial power at all; it was like wielding a heavy piece of scrap metal.
Zhang Ruochen and A Fuya arrived one after another, appearing at the edge of their battlefield.
A Fuya's long hair flowed with flames and divine light. On her back, she carried nine divine arrows of various shapes. She drew the divine bow she had seized from Qing Yun Que and nocked a bone arrow onto the bowstring.
Instantly, a gray, deathly aura gathered on the bone arrow.
She intended to test the power of the divine bow and arrows.
Zhang Ruochen raised his arm to stop her, saying, "This is a personal grudge between the two of them. Let them settle it themselves."
Zhang Ruochen understood well the pain and hatred in the Ice Emperor's heart. He had to kill the Hall Master with his own hands to find release.
Otherwise, when he attempted to break through to Indestructible Infinite, the barrier of his state of mind would be very difficult to overcome.
In a one-on-one duel, the Ice Emperor and the Hall Master were evenly matched.
But with Zhang Ruochen and A Fuya watching, how could the Hall Master maintain a calm state of mind?
If the mind is unsettled, defeat is certain.
Moreover, the Ice Emperor carried the Undying Bone, was young and full of blood energy. In a prolonged battle, his advantage would only grow.
A Fuya lowered the divine bow and put away the divine arrows. Then, she secretly activated a sealing secret technique to prevent the Hall Master from self-detonating his divine source in desperation.
Zhang Ruochen glanced sideways and said, "Is the First Queen determined to throw in her lot with me?"
"Since ancient times, strength has been paramount. With the Imperial Dust's current cultivation, I am afraid I cannot yet submit. However, the world has changed prematurely. To survive, I can only join the Sword Realm's camp."
A Fuya said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What level must my cultivation reach for the First Queen to be truly convinced?"
A Fuya's bright eyes met Zhang Ruochen's gaze, and she said, "When you want to kill me, and I cannot resist."
"If that is the condition, there are many in this universe with such power."
Zhang Ruochen said.
A Fuya said, "But the only one with a chance to reach the Ancestor Realm is you, Zhang Ruochen. The only one who can cultivate a First-Rank Divine Path and transcend Yin-Yang and the Five Elements is also you."
Zhang Ruochen said no more. He released his Wuji Divine Dao to perceive the outside world.
He sensed the starry domain where White Cang Star was located, as well as the distant Starry Sky Defense Line and Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm.
In his divine sense perception, Zhang Ruochen discovered that a divine venerable from the Southern Universe's Demon Clan had arrived at the periphery of this starry domain to investigate.
Clearly, the previous divine battle had alarmed many cultivators.
White Cang Star was no longer suitable to remain in this starry domain.
Zhang Ruochen was about to communicate with the Corpse Burier...
The Corpse Burier's voice transmission reached Zhang Ruochen's ears first: "After this battle, I ask the Imperial Dust to take White Cang Star to the Undying Divine Temple."
The Corpse Burier spoke to Zhang Ruochen in this tone, clearly acknowledging his strength, treating him as an equal.
A Fuya stared intently at the distant battlefield, saying, "Even with us blocking the retreat of the Undying Divine Temple Hall Master, Xia Huang Chao's victory will not be achieved overnight. As for killing the Hall Master, there is little hope within a thousand years. Are we really going to wait here?"
"There is no need to rush. The battlefields of the Starry Sky Defense Line and Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm are already too late to reach. Instead, let us take this opportunity to digest the gains from this battle and strive to break through to Indestructible Infinite as soon as possible."
After sensing that his Grandmaster had acted against Jiusi Yitianhuang, Zhang Ruochen's heart calmed completely. He extended his right hand, and a Taiji Four Symbols Diagram Seal appeared in his palm, spatial power penetrating the void.
"Whoosh!"
The Universe Cauldron, which had been in the Hall Master's hands, was retrieved by Zhang Ruochen.
Then, Zhang Ruochen activated the Universe Cauldron, stimulating the spatial veins of this starry domain, bringing trillions of miles of void under his control.
Spatial veins crisscrossed like a spider's web.
Zhang Ruochen sat down cross-legged, took out the Demon Ancestor Yin-Yang Axe, and refined it with divine fire.
A Fuya was curious and asked, "Aren't you going to refine and kill the Shang Tian Demon Corpse first?"
"Why refine and kill it? If I refine it, the other two corpses of Shang Tian will not come to see me willingly. I still have many questions that need him to answer."
Zhang Ruochen was fearless, confident that with the Corpse Burier's current state, no one would dare to come looking for trouble.
Moreover, he and A Fuya were also at the Indestructible Infinite level. With such a powerful force, having wounded even Que Liang Huang, who would dare to provoke them easily?
Time passed.
Zhang Ruochen used the Earth Cauldron to refine Wu Bian and Qing Yun Que, turning them into two furnaces of divine pills.
These divine pills were all poured into the Pill Realm by Zhang Ruochen.
The Pill Realm was a realm Zhang Ruochen had opened within his Five Elements Great Dao, hidden within the Taiyin "Jade Tree Ink Moon."
During this ten thousand years in the Heavenly Court, he had refined and killed too many top-tier cultivators. Combined with his practice of alchemy, he had accumulated countless pills.
He himself did not need to take pills for cultivation; he only needed to spend time condensing the Five Elements.
But the cultivators around him could not consume pills as fast as he could produce them.
The accumulation of pills was too great, and they needed a place to be stored, naturally forming a Pill Realm.
Of course, the most important reason was that Zhang Ruochen urgently needed to improve his alchemy skills. With the abundant resources at his disposal, he could refine tens of thousands of pills every year.
With these two furnaces of divine pills poured in, billions of pills in the Pill Realm boiled over. Some converged into rivers of pills, some transformed into flocks of birds, and some roared like divine beasts.
Xue Tu stood nearby, his eyes turning red.
This was truly an uncountable number of pills, directly piled into a world.
"Senior Brother is practically the Tai Shang of alchemy. I, your junior brother, am utterly prostrate with admiration. I was thinking, with so many pills, not using them would be a waste... How about I go in and train for a while?"
Xue Tu said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Don't act like you've never seen the world before. You won't be left out. Let me ask you, where has your master gone?"
In the vast universe, Zhang Ruochen could not sense any fluctuation of Feng Tian's aura.
This was very abnormal. Logically, given Feng Tian's warlike nature, he should have made a move long ago.
"Would my master tell me about his affairs?"
Xue Tu shrugged, looking helpless.
Zhang Ruochen was about to ask about Mu Lingxi and Bore's recent situation when he suddenly looked up, gazing toward the Yellow Spring Star River, his eyes locking onto the location of Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm.
Where his gaze fell, a large area of stars was annihilated, as if they had vanished.
The surrounding starry sky was distorted and shaken.
Light could not have traveled here so quickly. All of this was feedback from Zhang Ruochen's divine soul, which had crossed time and space, transmitted to his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen felt a surge of energy rush to the top of his head. He stood up abruptly and said, "Heavenly Mother has stepped into the Half-Ancestor Realm!"
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