Chapter 4053: Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Chapter 4053: Birds of a Feather Flock Together

The true body of the Nether Sea Spirit was, naturally, the Nether Sea itself.
But this current spirit body was also extremely powerful, possessing both "void" and "solid" attributes.
In its void state, it was empty of all things, impervious to myriad techniques of destruction.
In its solid state, it was as indestructible as diamond, comparable to indestructible matter and a Half-Ancestor's physical form.

This method of cultivation was similar to Lady Shiji's.
Both were spirits.
However, Lady Shiji had cultivated a physical body, while the Nether Sea Spirit had cultivated a Nether Body.
They shared the same goal: upon stepping into the Ancestor Realm in the future, they wished to abandon the "Darkness Cauldron" and the "Nether Sea," cultivating their true selves to achieve genuine transcendence.
At their current level of cultivation, they already possessed this ability to a preliminary degree.

But after leaving the Nether Sea's true body, the Nether Sea Spirit's combat power had clearly plummeted. Otherwise, even with the assistance of the Golden Lion Ancestor, Zhang Ruochen would have found it difficult to defeat him.

The Abyssal Ancient Sword sliced across the Nether Sea Spirit's neck, an arc of light flashing.
The Nether Sea Spirit's neck turned gaseous, attempting to neutralize the sword's power as it had earlier with Zhang Ruochen's finger sword.
Yet two-thirds of the neck was severed, and the Half-Ancestor divine soul suffered damage.

The Nether Sea Spirit retreated explosively, a Nether River and a Time Divine River appearing beneath his feet to prevent Zhang Ruochen from pursuing.
After creating distance, he touched his mostly severed neck with a finger, his face filled with disbelief. "This is... God-Defying Stele substance..."

"It's Nether Ancestor substance."
Zhang Ruochen deliberately said this, hoping to probe the connection between the God-Defying Stele substance and the Nether Ancestor.
After all, Hao Tian had once said that the God-Defying Stele substance had been struck down from the Nether Ancestor's Nether Light.

The Nether Sea Spirit sneered coldly, revealing no information. The wound on his neck healed rapidly. He raised the Heavenly Demon Stone Knife once more. "Zhang Ruochen, you should not have entered the Eighteen Layers of Nether Prison. Here, I can continuously draw upon the power left behind by the Nether Ancestor, holding an absolute geographical advantage."

"So what?"
Zhang Ruochen bathed in the golden divine radiance emitted by the Golden Lion Ancestor, his pupils radiating the light of Truth, as he surveyed his surroundings.

Above, the twelve layers of Nether Prison world that had been split open were repairing themselves.
World plates moved rapidly.
The Heaven and Earth rules unique to the prison world flowed and shuttled between the layers. These rules carried ancestral Nether Qi and energy-churning clouds and mists, steadily stabilizing the space, transforming it into a true prison.

A prison is a place of confinement.
Back then, even with the combat power of the Lamp of Remnant Master, he had been trapped in the eighteen-layer prison world for three full days.
Zhang Ruochen had witnessed the profound and unfathomable cultivation of the Lamp of Remnant Master and knew he was not yet his match. Once trapped in the eighteen-layer prison world, he might never escape.

His calm composure naturally came from having a backup plan.
Because he was not fighting alone.

"Rustle!"
Zhang Ruochen clenched his five fingers, and the four thunder beads on the Qilin Fist Gloves shot out four blinding electric dragons.
The four split into sixteen, the sixteen into sixty-four... and then, countless bolts of lightning shuttled through the thirteenth layer of the prison world, unleashing devastating, tyrannical energy.
Darkness was torn apart, light and shadow alternating.

The Nether Sea Spirit's eyes sharpened as he swung his blade.

"Woof!"
The Golden Lion Ancestor did not dodge or evade, charging head-on toward the Heavenly Demon Stone Knife.

The Nether Sea Spirit knew the power of the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable's mount, but he refused to believe it could withstand his full-powered slash with its physical body alone.
Moreover, he wielded the Heavenly Demon Stone Knife—an Ancestral blade.

"Whoosh!"
Light flickered.
The Space-Time Chaos Lotus flew out from between the Golden Lion Ancestor's brows, spinning slowly, forming a vortex of space and time. The vortex evolved into a lotus enveloping the Golden Lion Ancestor's entire body, with the forces of time and space interweaving in the surrounding heavens and earth.
After Chi Yao had cultivated the Twenty-Fourth Heavenly Domain, her divine Qi rank had ascended further, and the Golden Lion Ancestor's divine intellect had mostly awakened.

"Boom!"
The Heavenly Demon Stone Knife clashed with the Space-Time Chaos Lotus.
The ground beneath the Nether Sea Spirit and the Golden Lion Ancestor shattered inch by inch, spreading into the distance.
This was an absolute collision of Half-Ancestors, devastating and unstoppable.

Zhang Ruochen, carrying the full force of the lightning, struck a heavy punch at the Nether Sea Spirit's head at the critical moment when the latter was fully focused on resisting the Golden Lion Ancestor.

"How dare you!"
The Nether Sea Spirit let out a long roar, spitting a blinding Nether Light from his mouth.
The fist punched through the Nether Light, landing heavily on his body.
The Nether Sea Spirit flew backward, tumbling across the ground.

"I told you, separating your spirit from the sea was the worst decision you could have made."
The Golden Lion Ancestor and Zhang Ruochen, one in the sky and one on the ground, pursued relentlessly, sending the Nether Sea Spirit flying several times in succession.

The Nether Sea Spirit mobilized the power of the Nether Ancestor within the eighteen layers of Nether Prison, condensing a mountain-sized Nether Ancestor shadow. Both palms struck out simultaneously.
The two palms were like two clouds, raining down endless Nether Flames.
Such an attack could severely wound a Heavenly Venerable-rank, but it could not harm Zhang Ruochen and the Golden Lion Ancestor.

Seeing Zhang Ruochen and the Golden Lion Ancestor break through the Nether Ancestor shadow, the Nether Sea Spirit retreated even faster, looking upward. The twelve layers of the prison world were nearly completely sealed, leaving only a sliver.

"Zhang Ruochen, in your haste for a quick victory, you gave up the chance to escape the Eighteen Layers of Nether Prison. That will also become your worst mistake. Once the twelve layers above close completely, you will never escape!"

The Nether Sea Spirit had barely finished speaking when—

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
An unending series of explosive sounds came from above.

Chi Yao had mobilized the Ancestral power within the Immovable Bright King Great Venerable's Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World, gathering it into a nine-colored Chaos Long River. She plunged downward, piercing through the not-yet-fully-closed twelve layers of the prison world.

"Whoosh!"
With a wave of her hand, she sent the nine-colored Chaos Long River into the Earth Cauldron.
On the Earth Cauldron, a magnificent and grand Primordial World emerged, descending to suppress the Nether Sea Spirit.

The Nether Sea Spirit looked at the descending Primordial World, then at Chi Yao standing atop it, and at the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World in the cosmic void. His pupils blazed. "No need to wait any longer. Red Crow King, make your move."

Zhang Ruochen's eyes sharpened, a bad premonition rising within him. He raised the Abyssal Ancient Sword above his head with both hands.
Sword intent condensed into a pillar of light, shooting out of the Nether Prison and into the starry sky.
The Sword Heart within the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World sensed this sword intent, flew out, and shot straight toward the thirteenth layer of the prison world.

The Nether Sea Spirit knew the power of the Sword Ancestor's Sword Heart well and did not dare to take Zhang Ruochen's strike head-on. "Zhang Ruochen, if you care even a little about the lives of the gods in the Nether Kingdom, do not waste your time on me. I am confident I can fight you in this prison for ten thousand years."

Just as the Sword Heart was about to arrive, the Nether Sea Spirit's body dissipated into wisps of Nether Smoke, merging into the Nether Prison.

"Boom!"
Bearing the brunt of this sword strike, the thirteenth layer of the prison world completely collapsed.
Then came the fourteenth layer, the fifteenth layer...

Zhang Ruochen retrieved the Sword Heart, holding it in his palm.
The destructive energy contained in the Sword Heart was less than a third of its full power.
It required the Ancestral Divine Qi from the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World to unleash its ultimate power.

Each layer of the prison world was as vast as a true major world, boundless and filled with mountains and rivers.
Fragments of the collapsing worlds fell like rain. But Zhang Ruochen knew that the eighteen-layer prison world would not be destroyed by this; its rules were stable, its inscription forms could not be dispersed, and its spatial structure would rapidly reshape.

"Has he vanished, or merged with the eighteen-layer prison world?"
Chi Yao used the nine-colored Ancestral Divine Qi to drive the Earth Cauldron, borrowing the light of the Primordial World to continuously absorb matter from the Nether Prison.
Shattered continental plates were constantly pulled into the Primordial World.

"That sword strike definitely wounded him! If I just had enough time..."
Zhang Ruochen knew he did not have that time; he had to rush to the Nether Kingdom immediately.
But if he gave up this chance to eliminate the Nether Sea Spirit, it would be like releasing a tiger back to the mountain, an endless source of trouble.

Leaving Chi Yao and the Golden Lion Ancestor here to continue dealing with the Nether Sea Spirit made him uneasy.
Although the Golden Lion Ancestor's cultivation had reached the Half-Ancestor realm, his divine intellect was not fully awakened. In the short term, he could hold off the Nether Sea Spirit, but over time, he would surely lose.
As for Chi Yao, her cultivation was only at the Indestructible Infinite peak, still too weak compared to a Half-Ancestor.
Both had clear weaknesses.

Zhang Ruochen somewhat regretted not bringing the Calamity Venerable to the North Marsh Great Wall. If that old fellow had come, he could have helped activate the power within the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World.
Ultimately, with Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, he could not fully mobilize the Ancestral power of the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World, nor could he easily bear that power. Even with Chi Yao's assistance, the mobilization speed was still very slow.

Chi Yao said, "What if we use the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World to directly absorb the Nether Prison?"

"No."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head gently. The Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World still suppressed two Dark Hands, each a Half-Ancestor-level threat.
If he added the Nether Prison and the Nether Sea Spirit...
Even if the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World was extremely stable, it could not hold.
The Dark Remnant hidden in the shadows might be waiting for just that moment.

"Imperial Dust, go to the Nether Kingdom. Leave this to me."
From the cosmic void came the deep, distant voice of Pan Yuan Ancient God.
He manifested his ultimate giant divine body, his form as large as a star, millions of miles tall, radiant and blazing, suspended above the Nether Prison.

"Senior Pan Yuan, why have you only arrived now? I have been waiting for a long time!"
Seeing Pan Yuan Ancient God radiating Half-Ancestor aura, Zhang Ruochen was overjoyed, his dilemma resolved.
With Pan Yuan Ancient God stationed here, plus Chi Yao and the Golden Lion Ancestor, even if the Nether Sea Spirit had heaven-defying means, it would be difficult for him to escape with the Nether Prison.

Pan Yuan Ancient God secretly transmitted to Zhang Ruochen: "The one Eternal Heaven has sent to the North Marsh Great Wall is the Fourth Confucian Ancestor. Be careful if you encounter him."
Zhang Ruochen had already suspected this and was mentally prepared. He transmitted back: "The Dark Remnant is hiding in the shadows, its allegiance unclear. Be careful as well, Senior."

"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen teleported to the top of the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World, glanced into the depths of the starry sky, and sensed two familiar auras. He muttered to himself, "These two, birds of a feather, have truly come together."
Ignoring the battle fluctuations in the depths of the starry sky, Zhang Ruochen drove the Twenty-Seventh Heavenly Domain World, charging without hesitation toward the rolling black clouds shrouding the Nether Kingdom.

...

Ba Er fled through the Void World, using time, space, flowing light, and various Dao techniques simultaneously, moving at incredible speed.
Having reached the Half-Ancestor realm, aside from his primary Dao, he had inevitably dabbled in the Nine Eternal Daos, the Seventy-Two Supreme Saint Daos, the Three Thousand Great Daos, and the Hundred Thousand Minor Daos.
Only by mastering all Daos could one reach such a realm.

After fleeing over a hundred light-years in one breath, Ba Er, seeing that Zhang Ruochen had not pursued, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Returning from the Void World to the Real World, Ba Er, with disheveled hair, looked back at the North Marsh Great Wall, his expression dark to the extreme.
Struck by the Sword Heart, his divine soul was severely wounded.
Pierced by the golden staff, his arm severed, his physical body was heavily damaged.
At this moment, he was extremely weak, his confidence shattered as never before. He felt he was drifting further and further from the Ancestor Realm, having lost all his former vigor.

Once upon a time, he too had been dashing and heroic, battling across the universe, rarely meeting a worthy opponent.
He never imagined he would one day be at the end of his rope, as wretched as a homeless dog.

"Whoosh!"
The Heaven and Earth rules of the entire universe trembled, showing signs of slight disorder.
Ba Er's face showed shock. He immediately waved his hand, breaking the world barrier between the Real World and Lihentian, gazing toward the highest "Formless Realm" of Lihentian.

"This is... how can there be three Ancestral fluctuations..."
Ba Er quickly recovered from his shock, then revealed a wild joy: "Heaven does not abandon me, Heaven does not abandon me..."

The fluctuations of the Ancestral battle undoubtedly came from Eternal Heaven.
Even the Heaven and Earth rules of this star field were resonating, indicating that the Ancestors had been dueling for some time.
An Ancestral duel would inevitably cause panic.

With the opening of the Jade Desolate Realm, the top experts of the Heavenly Court, Sword Realm, and Hell Realm had likely gone there in large numbers.
Coupled with the forces tied down at the North Marsh Great Wall, Ba Er felt that the Heavenly Court, Sword Realm, and Hell Realm were mostly empty inside. With his cultivation, he could definitely refine the living beings of a few major worlds to restore his divine soul and blood Qi.

Of course, his goal did not stop there.
He wanted revenge. While Zhang Ruochen was at the North Marsh Great Wall, he would go to the Wuding Divine Sea and completely destroy the Sword Realm, making him pay a heavy price.

"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, Ba Er sensed danger, his pupils blazing with sharp light: "How dare you!"
This roar, infused with Half-Ancestor divine power, shook the attacker out of hiding.

The attacker was shrouded in thick darkness, devouring all light and energy, like a black hole dozens of feet in diameter, already right before his eyes.
Ba Er was secretly shocked by the attacker's terrifying cultivation, even as he swung the Auspicious and Auspicious.
If his divine soul had not been severely wounded, he would never have been caught so off guard by the attacker's heavenly secrets.

"Roar!"
From the black hole burst three ferocious demonic evil dragons, their heads ferocious, claws sharp.
Even as weakened as Ba Er was, he was still a Half-Ancestor. The Auspicious and Auspicious he swung blasted one of the demonic evil dragons apart, turning it into ink-like black clouds.
His Half-Ancestor body collided with the black hole.

He knew who the attacker was, and that knowledge only enraged him further. He wanted to drag him out and grind his bones to ashes.

"Yi, even you dare to ambush me?"
Charging into the black hole, Ba Er immediately thought, "Not good."
The true body of Jiusi Yitianhuang was not inside the black hole.
This black hole was the divine artifact wielded by Jiusi Yitianhuang—the Night Curtain!

Jiusi Yitianhuang's voice rang out within the Night Curtain: "Supreme Pillar, your foundation has been destroyed by Zhang Ruochen. You will never reach the Ancestor Realm in this lifetime. Why not grant me the Nine-Headed Stone Man substance you have refined within your body? When I break through to Half-Ancestor, I will surely avenge you."

In that battle sixty thousand years ago, the Nine-Headed Stone Man had been dismembered and plundered by various powerful beings.
Ba Er had obtained three pieces of its remnant body; Jiusi Yitianhuang had only gotten one.
But even that single piece, after being refined, had greatly advanced Jiusi Yitianhuang's cultivation, showing him another path to assault the Half-Ancestor realm.

Seeing Ba Er severely wounded by Zhang Ruochen, how could Jiusi Yitianhuang pass up this opportunity? As long as he obtained the three pieces of Nine-Headed Stone Man substance within Ba Er, he was confident he could quickly break through to Half-Ancestor.
Of course, if he could devour Ba Er entirely, that would be even better.

"Haha! You truly are insatiably greedy. A mere Heavenly Venerable-rank dares to covet the treasures of a Half-Ancestor... No, you covet me."
Ba Er spread his arms, raising twelve Gates of Destiny, striking in twelve directions.
He intended to use the Gates of Destiny to tear open the Night Curtain.

"Pfft!"
A crimson divine light flew out from the Night Curtain, piercing through Ba Er's abdomen and out his back.
It was a tower!

How could Ba Er have imagined that another powerful being was hidden within the Night Curtain?
Bone Yan Luo, holding the blood-stained Red Stain Tower, stepped out from the Night Curtain, step by step. "You were once the Hall Master of the Destiny Temple, yet you could not foresee the approach of danger? Hehe, Ba Er, your injuries are even heavier than I imagined. Zhang Ruochen is truly the most terrifying rising star of this era."

"Tap, tap!"
Jiusi Yitianhuang's true body walked out from directly in front of Ba Er, his nine heads stacked upon his neck, the Eight Aspects of Nether Law manifesting around him. He had cultivated all eight volumes of the *Nether Book*.