Chapter 3858: Sword Source Breaks the Seal
Hearing Void Heaven's voice, Zhang Ruochen suppressed the joy in his heart and said loudly, "Don't come in, it's dangerous inside."
How could Void Heaven believe Zhang Ruochen?
A treasure like the Sword Source Divine Tree was unparalleled in the world; which sword cultivator wouldn't want to seize it?
Did he not know what Zhang Ruochen was thinking?
Before Zhang Ruochen's voice faded, Void Heaven had already charged into the Sword God Hall, saying, "The Sword Source Divine Tree is mine for the taking. No matter how dangerous, can it be more dangerous than the Heavenly Court... what the hell..."
Void Heaven released the Gate of Destiny, knocking back the flying metal ball divine artifact, and said coldly, "You little chick of a Void Kun Battle God, dare you ambush me?"
Void Heaven was anxious, worried that Zhang Ruochen might have taken the Sword Source Divine Tree. He swung his hand, striking the massive head of the Void Kun Battle God, causing a chicken-like cry of agony and blood to splatter.
"Eh! Old Six, White Skin, Nine Madman, Big Turtle..."
The Great Emperor Shiva, White Cloud Divine Ancestor, Old Drunkard, and Black Tortoise Divine Ancestor, who had been chasing Zhang Ruochen, turned around and unleashed their divine abilities, surrounding Void Heaven.
The Great Emperor Shiva's six arms spun like a windmill, his corpse roar echoing continuously, accompanied by endless black mist, crashing into the Gate of Destiny.
The Divine Furnace on the back of the Black Tortoise Divine Ancestor flew up, surging with towering flames.
The White Cloud Divine Ancestor activated the Great Witch Heavenly Dao, and countless witch runes appeared on his skin, turning into a rain of characters.
Old Drunkard controlled the Ten Thousand Buddha Formation, descending from the sky, intending to suppress Void Heaven within the formation.
...
With Void Heaven holding off the five top experts, Zhang Ruochen had already arrived beneath the Sword Source Divine Tree. Returning to this familiar place, he had no time for any sentimental feelings and immediately struck out with the God-Defying Stele.
Breaking seals and formations—nothing worked better than the God-Defying Stele.
"Boom!"
The God-Defying Stele slammed into the trunk of the Sword Source Divine Tree.
Countless black light marks rose from the surface of the trunk.
Not only did the God-Defying Stele fail to shatter or erase these black light marks, but it was also slowly being absorbed into them. Zhang Ruochen could not retrieve it with his divine Qi.
"Two forces, actually mutually reinforcing and counteracting each other."
Zhang Ruochen could sense that those black light marks were becoming faint under the influence of the God-Defying Stele. However, the strange substance of the God-Defying Stele was also slowly disappearing.
Of course, the amount disappearing was minimal, almost negligible.
This had never happened before, and Zhang Ruochen was naturally astonished.
"Roar!"
The several dozen-zhang-long dark beast caught up, its fangs sharp, claws fierce, spewing space tides from its mouth as it recklessly attacked Zhang Ruochen.
The Demon Ancestor Ziwu Halberd spun rapidly, flying out, breaking the space tides, and slashing into it.
The dark beast's neck was struck, and it was sent flying backward, falling into the darkness.
"Whoosh!"
The next moment, it charged out even faster.
In an instant, a claw landed on Zhang Ruochen. He caught its massive claw with his bare hand. Looking at its neck, he found that even the Demon Ancestor Ziwu Halberd's power could only cut a half-foot-deep wound.
This physical defense was even stronger than Zhang Ruochen's Indestructible Divine Body.
"Whoosh!"
The talisman patterns of the Emperor Talisman were released from Zhang Ruochen's body, landing on the dark beast, suppressing it firmly.
Each talisman pattern was like a divine mountain.
Thousands of divine mountains pressed down on it, causing the dark beast's legs to tremble, its body sinking, and it let out a mournful roar.
"Get down!"
Zhang Ruochen shouted, and the dark beast's entire body sank, cracking the ground around it.
Just then, another dark beast, faster than light, charged from the darkness.
Zhang Ruochen was already on guard, releasing his spiritual power, and the talisman patterns formed a wall of light.
"Not good..."
The dark beast crashed into the talisman pattern light wall, and the divine source inside it instantly self-destructed, creating a terrifyingly destructive storm that spread in all directions.
The talisman pattern light wall shattered.
The destructive storm, at close range, slammed into Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the Sword Source Divine Tree. Fortunately, the Emperor Talisman protected his body, though his entire body ached as if splitting, his internal organs were damaged, and his Indestructible Divine Body was injured.
But, in the end, he had withstood it.
The divine sources within these dark beasts belonged to the ancient Hall Masters of the Space Divine Temple. They were neither at the Indestructible Infinite level nor the Qiankun Infinite level.
But after self-destruction, they could definitely threaten an Indestructible Infinite.
A few more of these, and even the Emperor Talisman might not hold.
Zhang Ruochen immediately sent a telepathic message to Void Heaven: "Be careful of them self-destructing their divine sources! They self-destruct extremely fast, seemingly controlled by another spiritual will, making them hard to suppress."
Void Heaven stood behind Old Drunkard, locking one of his arms, and cursed, "Damn it, what kind of ghostly things have you stirred up? This doesn't look good!"
Void Heaven had already understood the situation in the Sword God Hall, especially the depths of the Sword Soul Marsh, which made him feel very dangerous.
The spiritual power he released sank like a stone into the sea, never to return.
"Don't kill them; they can still be saved," Zhang Ruochen said.
"If I were going all out, they'd already be dead and buried."
Void Heaven kicked Old Drunkard away, then faced the combined attacks of the Great Emperor Shiva and the White Cloud Divine Ancestor.
He could be ruthless with the Void Kun Battle God and the Black Tortoise Divine Ancestor, who were already beaten to the brink of death.
But the Great Emperor Shiva and the White Cloud Divine Ancestor were top experts of the Hell Realm, with whom he had ties. Unless absolutely necessary, Void Heaven wanted to save them.
From the darkness, one roar after another sounded.
Clearly, those ancient Hall Masters were continuously transforming into dark beasts.
If ten Indestructible Infinite-level dark beasts emerged, even with the Emperor Talisman, Zhang Ruochen would be beaten to death.
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen was very worried that the unknown in the Sword Soul Marsh, after nurturing all the ancient Hall Masters of the Space Divine Temple into dark beasts, would then target Old Drunkard and the others.
Ordinary Infinite Realm cultivators could be nurtured into dark beasts comparable to Indestructible Infinite.
What level of monsters would Old Drunkard and the others become?
The only thing that gave Zhang Ruochen some peace of mind was that nurturing dark beasts was not easy; it took time. The higher the cultivation, the more dark and strange Qi would be consumed, and the more time it would take.
The unknown in the Sword Soul Marsh went to such great lengths for some reason, likely unable to leave the Sword Soul Marsh itself.
It might also be that it had not fully awakened, only able to use its consciousness.
With such a commotion and such a battle, what if it really woke up?
Zhang Ruochen dared not delay any longer. He struck out with his palm, hitting the God-Defying Stele embedded in the trunk of the Sword Source Divine Tree, continuously pouring out divine Qi.
With a crash, the Sword Source Divine Tree exploded, turning into powder, merging with the dark light patterns on the trunk.
Centered on Zhang Ruochen's palm, the dark light patterns quickly dissipated.
Gradually, the radiance of the Sword Source Divine Tree once again illuminated the Sword God Hall, driving away the black clouds.
In the hall, the light rain falling from the Sword Source Divine Tree clashed with the black clouds emanating from the Sword Soul Marsh.
"Roar!"
"Growl!"
Six of the Space Divine Temple's Hall Masters had already been nurtured into dark beasts.
The light rain from the Sword Source Divine Tree fell on the remaining few Space Divine Temple Hall Masters, and their eyes brightened. They immediately stood up and fled out of the Sword God Hall.
Aside from the dark beast that had self-destructed its divine source and the one suppressed by the talisman patterns, the other four dark beasts slowly approached the Sword Source Divine Tree.
Black, tentacle-like things appeared beneath their feet, spreading toward Zhang Ruochen. But they had no substantial power or matter, like shadows of tentacles.
One or two dark beasts, Zhang Ruochen could handle.
But now, he was suppressing a large group of experts while facing four dark beasts—a tremendous pressure.
The dozen or so Infinite Realm cultivators in his sleeve were attacking fiercely.
The dark beast suppressed by the talisman patterns was also slowly standing up again.
The Five-Eyed Golden Insect, Yun Zunzhe, Yu Jingzhen, and Fei Ma Wang, sealed in the cauldron, were all impacting the seal.
Even the lower half of Fei Ma Wang, buried in Zhang Ruochen's Divine Realm World, was trying to crawl out, but Ji Fanxin in the Divine Realm World buried it back.
"What, all of you are getting restless? Do you really think this is your chance to escape?"
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the Sword Source Divine Tree.
His sword soul, sword spirit, and sword intent all flew out, surging toward the sword seal embedded in the trunk.
"Whoosh!"
On the trunk, the spiritual imprints left by the gods of the Sword Realm in the past fell off, transforming into figures holding swords.
Three thousand Sword God figures stood behind Zhang Ruochen.
From the Sword Source Divine Tree, dozens of streams of light rain flowed into Zhang Ruochen's body.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen merged with the Sword Source Divine Tree and the spiritual imprints of the three thousand Sword Gods. He formed a sword finger with his hand and slashed out.
The sword Qi was like a long river, bright and dazzling, cutting through the ground, dispersing the black tentacle shadows spreading to his feet.
Zhang Ruochen stood upright, his figure tall and vigorous. Though his expression was calm, his entire being exuded an aura of invincibility, as if the Sword Ancestor were alive in this era.
"Pfft!"
The dark beast closest to Zhang Ruochen broke through the talisman pattern suppression and attacked, only to be cut in half by Zhang Ruochen's sword.
"I told you, the Sword Source Divine Tree is mine. Zhang Ruochen, you can't go back on your word!"
Void Heaven's eyes were red with greed. The Sword Source Divine Tree was more mysterious and precious than legend, definitely able to help him cultivate Sword Twenty-Four.
He was completely enraged. Sword rain flew from his body, piercing Old Drunkard, White Cloud Divine Ancestor, and the Great Emperor Shiva all over, turning them into sieves as they flew out, their injuries unknown.
Void Heaven raised the Seven Star Divine Sword, divine fire spreading beneath his feet, charging toward the Sword Source Divine Tree.
The four dark beasts all attacked him simultaneously, spouting beams of light from their mouths, causing space to shrink and collapse, crushing various substances in the Sword God Hall into fragments.
The Sword God Hall had long been reshaped by dark and strange power, incredibly stable. Otherwise, when the dark beast self-destructed its divine source earlier, it would have been destroyed.
The dark and strange Qi, to some extent, neutralized the destructive force of the self-destructing divine source.
"Get lost!"
Void Heaven used the Gate of Destiny to prop up space, walking through that dark path, single-handedly fighting the four dark beasts.
Dark and strange power, space power, sword Qi, and Void Divine Light filled that area.
In moments, two dark beasts fell to his sword, their divine souls severed by the sword soul, their life force and spirit erased by the void.
"Old Ghost Void is truly formidable," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
Dark beasts, of course, could not compare to true Indestructible Infinite cultivators. But fighting four at once and quickly killing two would make any Indestructible Infinite cultivator think twice.
More importantly, Void Heaven could simultaneously suppress their self-destruction of divine sources, handling it with ease. This was a skill Zhang Ruochen could only admire from afar.
This was not a gap in spiritual power but in divine soul strength.