Chapter 3838: Darkness Comes from All Sides
Qinxue Palace covered three acres of land, its environment quiet and secluded. An outer stone wall enclosed it, with its eastern side bordering a cliff that overlooked a waterfall of clouds.
The formation was built along the stone wall, isolating the area from the outside world, making it quite private. Even the divine thoughts of a Great God would find it difficult to penetrate.
Clearly, Yu Qiancheng had considered things carefully and arranged everything properly for Zhang Ruochen.
"You don't need to follow me in. Go do whatever you need to do."
Having given this instruction to Yu Qiancheng, Zhang Ruochen walked into Qinxue Palace.
This garden was a scene at every step. Both sides of the stone path were lined with colorful exotic flowers, their fragrance pleasant and soothing. Sacred trees covered in blood-red leaves stood tall and straight, with lanterns hanging beneath their leafy canopies, their lights dim and tranquil, creating a wonderfully serene atmosphere.
The sound of a zither suddenly rose, gentle as the wind.
Following the zither music, Zhang Ruochen spotted Qing Wan by the cliff's edge, dressed in a jujube-red robe, playing the instrument.
She had changed her clothes, her black hair still damp, and a trace of mist clung to her snow-white, jade-like cheeks—clearly she had just bathed.
A red robe over a jade-white body, slender fingers plucking nine strings. Against the backdrop of the vast sea of clouds behind her, she looked like a celestial maiden from a painting, truly beautiful beyond compare.
Zhang Ruochen walked up to her and said in a hoarse voice, "You've surprised me. I didn't expect you to actually wait for me here. Why?"
She placed both hands flat on the instrument, pressing her ten fingers against the strings.
The zither music trembled slightly.
Qing Wan's clear, water-like eyes fixed on the old man before her. "You saw through my transformation earlier, didn't you? Who exactly are you?"
"Quite calm, aren't you?"
Zhang Ruochen made no move to attack immediately. "You still haven't answered my question."
"I waited for you here because the person you went to meet was that Earth Envoy from the Death God Temple. That means you must be connected to the Kunlun Realm. I just didn't expect your eyesight to be so sharp... Your cultivation must be considerable too, right?"
Qing Wan's slender fingers swept rapidly across the zither strings.
A crescent-shaped sound wave shot straight toward Zhang Ruochen.
Powerful time power was woven into it, making the sound wave travel faster than light, beyond the perception of sight.
At such close range, with such speed, who could possibly react in time to defend?
The sound wave struck three feet away from Zhang Ruochen, blocked by an invisible spatial barrier.
The sound wave shattered, its formidable force rippling outward in all directions.
The entire space of Qinxue Palace seemed cut off from heaven and earth. The divine power fluctuations scattered only ten zhang before dissipating into nothingness.
Qing Wan could no longer maintain her composure. Though it had only been a probing attack, it was enough to confirm that her opponent's cultivation surpassed her own.
"I know who you are! I didn't expect that in just ten thousand years, your cultivation would have risen another level. No wonder you were once the Lord of the Time Divine Temple. Your cultivation must have been considerable in your previous life, right?"
Divine light flickered around Zhang Ruochen's body as he transformed back to his true appearance.
A flash of shock passed through Qing Wan's eyes. Her red sleeve swept out, and the nine-stringed zither before her was enveloped in white divine light. It spun rapidly, emitting a dragon's roar that shook the nine heavens, transforming into a Time Divine Dragon that flew toward Zhang Ruochen.
At the same time, she retreated backward, her arms spread wide, her sleeves billowing like clouds. She shattered the formation of Qinxue Palace and fled toward the sea of clouds below the cliff.
She had long prepared for this, considering such a dangerous possibility. That was why she had chosen to sit by the sea of clouds—so she could escape in time.
Her cultivation had already risen from the mid-stage of Great Unbound Infinite to the peak of Great Unbound Infinite. She believed that even against an Indestructible Infinite, she could retreat safely. Her only concern was that fighting Zhang Ruochen might attract the attention of the Undying Blood Clan's gods.
Once trapped within Undying God City, escape would be far more difficult.
"Since you've already bathed and cleaned yourself, why are you running away?"
Zhang Ruochen laughed. His body moved like a sword, his speed like light. He shattered the Time Divine Dragon, and the nine-stringed zither scattered into fragments.
In an instant, he had already passed through the Time Light Sea that Qing Wan had deployed. No time power seemed capable of slowing his steps.
Qing Wan stared at Zhang Ruochen, who was now right before her eyes. Her confidence in a "safe retreat" vanished completely. She deeply realized that over these ten thousand years, her opponent had progressed even more than she had.
And by a much wider margin.
The sea of clouds beneath her feet had already turned into five-colored brilliance. She had lost all connection to the outside world.
She had been dragged into Zhang Ruochen's Five Elements World!
Qing Wan's eyes turned cold. The flower ornament between her brows blazed with divine flame, transforming into a sky-burning fire serpent.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen struck out with his palm. The roar of dragons and the cry of elephants echoed.
Wherever his palm force reached, it crushed all her power.
Qing Wan spat blood, utterly powerless to resist. Her body flew backward, the transformation technique on her body shattered, revealing her true form.
It was none other than the Zun Venerable who had fought Zhang Ruochen in the Wuding Divine Sea.
Back then, Zhang Ruochen had wanted to capture her to learn whether the ancient lords of the Time Divine Temple, like those of the Space Divine Temple, had preserved their corpses and descended en masse into this world. But she had escaped!
Divine blood burned within Zun Venerable's body, her combat power surging. She summoned a jade ruler and slashed straight down.
But before the jade ruler could fall, Zhang Ruochen had already grabbed her wrist. His other hand struck her shoulder like a heavy hammer.
"Crack!"
The divine bones in Zun Venerable's arm were broken. Her entire body was entangled by Five Elements rules, and she had already been captured by Zhang Ruochen.
"He hasn't broken through to the Indestructible Realm either. Why is the gap so huge?"
This thought flashed through her mind. A ruthless, desperate look appeared in her eyes. She activated her divine Qi, intending to self-detonate her divine source and take Zhang Ruochen down with her.
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen struck her back with his palm, dispersing all the divine Qi and rule divine patterns within her body.
At the same time, the power of the Five Elements invaded her body, turning her flesh and skin into a translucent, crystalline five-colored hue, like jade.
"Trapped within the Five Elements, all things are under my control."
Zhang Ruochen snatched the jade ruler from her hand. Without any further words, he pressed a finger against her brow. Strands of dazzling divine light interwove and entered her body.
First, to locate her divine sea and divine source, preparing to break her Dao.
Second, to perform a soul search.
But in just an instant, Zhang Ruochen immediately withdrew his finger. His expression turned grave as he looked around.
Darkness surged from all directions, devouring the five-colored sea of clouds.
Zhang Ruochen did not deploy the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, because he knew exactly who was coming. The Ten Thousand Buddha Formation could not stop this opponent.
A blurry black figure emerged from the darkness, his steps unhurried. But each step was like a heavy punch striking Zhang Ruochen's body.
Zhang Ruochen's physical body and divine soul both endured unimaginable pain.
Though the opponent had not attacked, Zhang Ruochen felt as if his divine soul was about to shatter, his Indestructible Dharma Body about to turn into bloody mud. Countless cracks appeared in his internal organs, and even his hardest bones were breaking.
This was the Heavenly Venerable level—in another era, one who could be invincible across the universe.
The gap between the peak of Great Unbound Infinite and the Heavenly Venerable level was already as vast as the difference between heaven and earth, clouds and mud.
"No, this is impossible. With my current cultivation and combat power, even a Heavenly Venerable-level opponent couldn't kill me with just their aura alone. This is soul suppression, an illusion—breaking my spirit through sheer presence."
Golden Buddha light radiated from Zhang Ruochen's body. At the same time, the "Boundless Universe" Truth Realm Form erupted like the Big Bang.
Though the Truth Realm Form and Buddha light only expanded eighteen zhang before being suppressed by the darkness, they successfully broke through Jiusi Yitianhuang's soul suppression and illusion.
Zhang Ruochen's mind cleared, his gaze calm.
"No wonder Shang Tian fell to your hands. You indeed possess strength at the Indestructible Infinite level," Jiusi Yitianhuang said.
Zhang Ruochen replied, "I never expected that Jiusi Yitianhuang, who shakes the universe, would be hiding in my Divine Maiden Tower. If you came for entertainment, you could have come openly. I would have instructed them to charge you nothing."
Jiusi Yitianhuang was like the embodiment of the dark night. Even with his Truth Divine Eye, Zhang Ruochen could not see through his true appearance.
He remained silent for a long time, clearly surprised that Zhang Ruochen could remain so calm.
Zun Venerable was bound by Five Elements rules, unable to move, but she had regained her composure. "Zhang Ruochen, now do you understand who truly controls all things?"
"Boom!"
Zhang Ruochen struck down with his palm, hitting the top of Zun Venerable's head and driving it into her neck.
Then her entire body exploded. Bones shattered, flesh and blood separated.
Zhang Ruochen's palm grasped a ball of blazing divine sea, holding it before his eyes. From within the divine sea came Zun Venerable's furious curses, showing how deeply she hated him.
Jiusi Yitianhuang said, "Why make it so bloody? They say you, Zhang Ruochen, are the romantic Sword God, most gentle and protective of the fairer sex. But you look less and less like that now."
Zhang Ruochen had to kill Zun Venerable first.
Once Zhang Ruochen and Jiusi Yitianhuang began fighting, the Five Elements rules would certainly be unable to hold her. If she broke free and, with her peak Great Unbound Infinite cultivation, fought from the sidelines, Zhang Ruochen would have no chance of escape today—certain death.
Fortunately, Jiusi Yitianhuang was absolutely confident in his own cultivation. He watched as Zhang Ruochen sealed Zun Venerable's divine sea but made no move.
Zun Venerable's shattered flesh and blood reconstituted her body, retreating to Jiusi Yitianhuang's side.
Without her divine sea, she was no more than a flesh-and-blood clone, posing no threat to Zhang Ruochen. Zhang Ruochen saw no need to waste effort completely annihilating her.
Jiusi Yitianhuang said, "Your calmness exceeds my expectations. Are you not afraid of me?"
"If I were afraid of you, would you let me leave?" Zhang Ruochen countered.
Jiusi Yitianhuang shook his head.
Zhang Ruochen immediately added, "Actually, you should be the one afraid of me."
"Oh? Are you so blindly confident in yourself?" Jiusi Yitianhuang's voice carried a hint of mocking laughter.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Your divine soul must be severely damaged, mustn't it? Otherwise, how could I, merely at the peak of Great Unbound Infinite, break your soul suppression?"
"This is Undying God City. Not only are the gods of the Undying Blood Clan here, but Void Heaven is also present. If you make a move, your aura will leak out, and you'll be surrounded. Your death will not be far off!"
"Haha!"
Jiusi Yitianhuang's laughter came from all directions: "What a naive junior. You know nothing of the Heavenly Venerable level! When they killed Lei Fa, how many people attacked, and he still nearly escaped. Do you think a mere Undying God City can bury me?"
"Do you believe that the gods of the Undying Blood Clan not only won't dare to attack me, but will respectfully escort me out of Undying God City?"
"Because even if they had the power to kill me, the saints and gods of the entire Undying God City would have to be buried with me. They cannot afford that price. Moreover, how many in this god city dare to face a Heavenly Venerable-level opponent directly?"
"Do you think that if I attack you, my aura will leak out and be sensed by Xu Fengjin? You overestimate yourself. Whether taking your life or capturing you, to a Heavenly Venerable-level being, it's merely a matter of raising a hand."