Chapter 3918: Encountering Strange Beasts on the Road
Blood Absolute War God’s mission this time was to lead a group of divine realm cultivators from the Undying Blood Clan to garrison the Abyss of Darkness.
Given the current situation, it was clear that Hao Tian had reached some kind of agreement with Heavenly Mother and Lady Shiji. Under normal circumstances, the Heavenly Court Universe and the Hell Realm would not go to war, and the pressure on the Starry Sky Battlefield had sharply decreased.
On the other hand, in the Abyss of Darkness, conflicts between the Hell Realm and the Primordial Beings had been escalating in recent years, with the risk of all-out war increasing daily.
All the clans of the Hell Realm were mobilizing troops and deploying forces to reinforce the Upper Three Clans, who were building the defense line at the Abyss of Darkness.
…
The Sundial had been activated on White Pale Star for nine hundred years. In other words, the time under the Sundial had already passed more than three hundred thousand years.
Both Blood Absolute War God and the Undying Blood Clan had experienced rapid development in their strength.
“The Immortal’s blood you sent is truly a rare and extraordinary treasure. Without its help, your grandfather might still be lingering at the initial stage of Great Unbound Infinite.”
“However, giving the Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Divine Pills to Ice Emperor and Luo Yan was a waste! One is the Hall Master of the Undying Divine Temple, the other is the Emperor Emeritus of the Rakshasa Clan. Their own clans have divine medicines, and over the past hundreds of thousands of years, they must have been well-prepared to break through their realms. Besides, allowing them to cultivate under the Sundial was already an enormous favor.”
Blood Absolute War God continued, “How can they repay these two great favors you’ve given them? They can’t!”
Back at the Unmoving Mountain in the Space Divine Temple, it was Zhang Ruochen who had seized that Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Orchid and used many rare auxiliary ingredients to refine it into ten divine pills.
Three of those pills were given to the Dragon Lord, the Five Dragon God Emperor, and the Thousand Star God Ancestor, to help them break through to Indestructible Infinite.
However, the Thousand Star God Ancestor, knowing his advanced age and the slim hope of breaking through to Indestructible Infinite, did not take that Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Divine Pill, intending to leave it for a promising cultivator of the Thousand Star Civilization.
Ice Emperor and Emperor Luo Yan had both been at the peak of Great Unbound Infinite for many years, with deep accumulations. Therefore, Zhang Ruochen had given them the Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Divine Pills to give them a boost.
The Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Orchid was a top-tier divine medicine coveted even by Heavenly Venerable-level cultivators. Qishier Pin Lian had used half of such a plant to reach the Heavenly Venerable level in a short time.
Feng Tian and Void Heaven had also broken through their realms rapidly, with the Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Orchid playing a crucial role.
Using a divine pill refined from the Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Orchid to help someone already at the peak of Great Unbound Infinite with a deep foundation break through was already somewhat wasteful! In this era of loosening Heavenly and Earthly Rules, how could they possibly fail to break through?
Zhang Ruochen and Blood Absolute War God walked side by side at the front.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Ice Emperor has unparalleled talent, rare throughout history. Even without the Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Divine Pill, breaking through to Indestructible Infinite was only a matter of time. In the future, reaching the Heavenly Venerable level, Half-Ancestor, or even Ancestor is possible. I was merely using the resources at my disposal to go with the flow. Ice Emperor is a man of immense pride; he won’t owe favors. He will surely repay me manifold in the future.”
“Ice Emperor, I can tolerate. But Luo Yan? What qualifications does he have to reach Indestructible Infinite? Honestly, in terms of talent and potential, he can only reach up to my knee at best. Ice Emperor is acceptable—he can reach my chest.”
Blood Absolute War God, clad in heavy armor, kept gesturing, first pointing to his knee, then to his chest.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Well… what can I say? Who can blame him for having a son-in-law hailed as the future Ancestor?”
Blood Absolute War God was speechless, unable to argue.
Zhang Ruochen said, “But so much time has passed. Even if Emperor Luo Yan hasn’t broken through, Ice Emperor should have done so long ago. Why haven’t I received any news?”
“Of course you haven’t received any news, because the information has been sealed.”
Blood Absolute War God lowered his voice, “The Undying War God and the Yama Clan Chief took them to the border universe beyond the North Marsh Great Wall to break through. All Heavenly secrets were concealed.”
Zhang Ruochen suddenly understood, “So they succeeded! Hiding their strength is also the right move. Only then can they better respond to unexpected changes.”
Zhang Ruochen could understand Blood Absolute War God’s mood. Over the years, with the help of the Sundial and the Immortal’s blood, his cultivation had advanced rapidly, allowing him to catch up to Ice Emperor and Emperor Luo Yan and leave Desolate Heaven behind.
But Desolate Heaven, with the full support of Lady Shiji, had refined the World Spirit and become the master of a Divine Throne Planet, achieving a meteoric rise in cultivation.
Ice Emperor and Emperor Luo Yan had both broken through to Indestructible Infinite. For the always arrogant Blood Absolute War God, not cursing was already quite restrained!
When would he ever see the end of this?
Zhang Ruochen said, “Grandfather, rest assured. Your share of the Purple Heart Heavenly Venerable Divine Pill has always been kept for you.”
“You are my blood absolute’s grandson. If outsiders have it, how could I not?” Then, Blood Absolute War God added, “But anyone can have it, except you must promise me that Desolate Heaven cannot.”
Zhang Ruochen showed a knowing expression, “Since Grandfather has spoken, I will naturally comply. After all, we are family.”
“The favors owed by Ice Emperor and Luo Yan must be collected. Two Indestructible Infinite cultivators shamelessly used the Sundial and then took the pills. How can they have the face? If you can’t bring yourself to ask, I’ll go…”
“There’s a situation.”
Zhang Ruochen squinted, looking ahead.
With a whoosh, Zhang Ruochen’s figure blurred and vanished from the spot.
Blood Absolute War God immediately summoned the Blood Dragon War Halberd and shouted, “All gods of the Undying Blood Clan, heed my command! Form a battle formation!”
Zhang Ruochen reappeared in a strange starry region.
Here, the Ancient God Path was broken, and the void was shattered.
Corpses of Rakshasa Clan gods and Great Saints floated in the broken space. Their bodies were cold but still relatively intact.
Zhang Ruochen approached the corpse of a Rakshasa Clan mid-rank god and found that its divine soul was completely gone, its divine source had been dug out, and its divine blood had frozen into ice.
“What happened?”
Blood Absolute War God’s voice came.
The corpse of the Blood Absolute Half-Ancestor flew here, head first and feet last, like a human-shaped warship.
The gods of the Undying Blood Clan all stood on its corpse, with Blood Absolute War God at the brow. Together, they activated the formation inscriptions, wrapping the Half-Ancestor corpse warship in a layer of blood-colored mist.
The ancestor was unkind, feeding on descendants.
Blood Absolute War God, being unfilial, refined the ancestor into a warship to continue protecting the Blood Absolute Family and the Undying Blood Clan.
There was no other choice. The current universe was too dangerous. Without some means of self-preservation, one wouldn’t even know how they died. Just like this group of Rakshasa Clan cultivators!
They were also heading to reinforce the Abyss of Darkness, but they had been attacked by someone and all fell here.
The starry region the enemy chose happened to have no Hell Realm experts within a radius of millions of billions of miles. The Heavenly secrets couldn’t spread outward and were only discovered now.
Qi Sheng dragged all the Rakshasa Clan cultivators’ corpses he could find back onto the Half-Ancestor corpse warship, “Five True Gods, twenty-seven False Gods, eighty-four Great Saints. The other cultivators’ bodies were completely destroyed. Their identities have been confirmed—they are cultivators from the Rakshasa Clan’s Yuegu Divine Kingdom.”
“This group of Rakshasa Clan cultivators doesn’t even have a single Great God. It doesn’t seem like the work of those few.” Bore said.
“Those people either don’t act, or when they do, they target the All Heavens and aim for clan annihilation.”
Blood Absolute War God’s eyes turned cold, and he immediately ordered the repair of the Ancient God Path.
The gazes of Blood Absolute War God, Bore, Qi Sheng, Yinghuo, and others all fixed on Zhang Ruochen, who was suspended in the void.
They saw Zhang Ruochen slightly spread his hands, and a brilliant sea of Truth Star light appeared beneath his feet.
“Whoosh!”
Countless rays of spiritual power light, like a divine sun shining everywhere, radiated outward in all directions.
After a moment, Zhang Ruochen finished his calculations.
He waved his finger, cutting through layer after layer of space.
Each layer of space was as thick as one Divine Spirit Step, one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred miles.
But now, one Divine Spirit Step was compressed to the thickness of a sheet of paper. With a wave of his finger, Zhang Ruochen cut through tens of thousands of layers of space.
Two ghost-type strange beasts, hiding on a small rocky planet a hundred billion miles away, were digesting the divine souls they had devoured when suddenly, a terrifying aura and pressure that made their hair stand on end fell upon them.
They had just rushed out from the planet’s depths when they saw a five-fingered giant hand tear through space and descend from the sky.
Zhang Ruochen crossed a hundred billion miles of space, captured the rocky planet and the two ghost-type strange beasts, and didn’t even bother interrogating them—he directly performed a soul search.
Such methods shocked all the gods present, increasing their awe of Zhang Ruochen by more than tenfold.
Hearing a thousand words is not as good as seeing once.
This was the power of a Perfect Heavenly Circle. Once he began his calculations, nothing in the world could hide from him—unless their cultivation was high enough.
After the soul search, Zhang Ruochen threw the two ghost-type strange beasts to the gods of the Undying Blood Clan, “They sneaked through from the northern part of the defense line. Their goal was to destroy the Ancient God Path.”
Blood Absolute War God’s eyes sharpened, “Even if the Ancient God Path is destroyed, it can be quickly repaired. Could it be that the Primordial Beings are preparing to launch an all-out war?”
Bore said, “That should be the case. Destroying the Ancient God Path is meant to delay reinforcements from other Hell Realm clans to the Abyss of Darkness defense line and also to cut off the transport of cultivation resources. But the Ancient God Path isn’t the only one. There must be more than just these two that have slipped through the defense line.”
Blood Absolute War God said, “If a large number of powerful strange beasts quietly infiltrate the Hell Realm and cause trouble everywhere, destroying the Ancient God Paths, it might not affect cultivators like me and Ruochen much, but resource transport will certainly be severely impacted. If resource transport fails, the defense line’s formations will be hard to sustain for long, and healing pills and sacred artifact war weapons will also run short.”
“If the Hell Realm pulls divine realm experts to patrol the various Ancient God Paths, that would play right into their hands. First, the situation at the Abyss of Darkness defense line is already tense. Losing one expert creates another weak point in the defense line.”
“Second, if divine realm experts patrol the Ancient God Paths, how could taboo figures like Qishier Pin Lian and Jiusi Yitianhuang not make a move? Even if they don’t, they will send the remnant souls of ancient powerhouses to act.”
“The Primordial Beings are killing two birds with one stone! It’s very possible they have already coordinated with Qishier Pin Lian and Jiusi Yitianhuang.”
The faces of the Undying Blood Clan gods present turned very grim.
Having experienced one devastating war after another, they were no longer as eager for battle as they had been during the Heavenly Court’s merit wars. Now, once a divine war broke out, Indestructible Infinite cultivators would inevitably be involved, and ordinary gods would die in droves.
In such a war, even the most battle-hungry cultivator had to calm down.
Moreover, in the past, when fighting the Heavenly Court, the Hell Realm had always held the upper hand. Now, with internal and external troubles, the Hell Realm was at a clear disadvantage against the Primordial Beings.
In a favorable situation, one fights more fiercely.
In an unfavorable situation, everyone fears for themselves.
Of course, none of those willing to go to the Abyss of Darkness defense line were afraid of death. What they feared was dying meaninglessly, or being crushed like ants—that would be too frustrating!
Bore said, “That’s not right! Although the Abyss of Darkness defense line is vast, it’s no easy feat for a large number of strange beasts to slip through silently. Not to mention the Heavenly Mother stationed there, even the Book of Fate Wall built by Feng Tian with the Fate Heavenly Book is infinitely mysterious. Once a strange beast passes through, it will be revealed on the book.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “These Primordial Beings were handed over by someone across the defense line. In the memories of these two ghost-type Primordial Beings, I saw a corner of a divine realm world, like a stretch of Nether Soil. Their memories had been severed, but I used the Path of Fate to repair them.”
Blood Absolute War God said, “Has a traitor emerged from the Underworld Clan?”
“Not necessarily! Having a stretch of Nether Soil in the divine realm world doesn’t mean the other party is an Underworld Clan cultivator. It might be a trap set by the enemy themselves. Of course, it can’t be ruled out that the other party anticipated my anticipation.” Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly.
Blood Absolute War God said, “Then there are two possibilities! First, a traitor has appeared in the Hell Realm. Second, the cultivator who sent these Primordial Beings across the defense line is extremely powerful, so much so that even the Book of Fate Wall couldn’t detect them.”
“Perhaps Heavenly Mother can give us the answer. After all, she is stationed there. Let’s go. We must hurry to the Abyss of Darkness defense line.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression was grave because there was one thing he hadn’t mentioned: these two ghost-type Primordial Beings seemed to already know that the top experts of the Heavenly Court and the Hell Realm would soon enter the Nether Prison.
Was this a calculation based on the situation in the Soul Realm Star Region? Or had someone really leaked the information?
Those who knew this secret were extremely few—at least they had to be among the top five giants of a clan.