# Chapter 413: Overwhelming
Xu Jiali held two silver flying knives, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she stood prettily to the side, a look of eager anticipation on her rather attractive face.
She had considerable confidence in Xu Qing's strength. After refining the Golden Divine Fungus, Xu Qing's cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, leaving Zhang Ruochen far behind.
This battle was almost without any suspense.
She only hoped that after Xu Qing killed Zhang Ruochen, he would be in a good mood and give her some Golden Divine Fungus as well.
Unexpectedly, after hearing Xu Qing's words, Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head and said, "I won't fight you."
Xu Qing revealed an "I knew it" expression. With his current cultivation, how could Zhang Ruochen possibly dare to fight?
Zhang Ruochen patted the demon ape's head and said, "Demon Ape, go and eliminate him."
Dealing with Xu Qing, Zhang Ruochen simply couldn't be bothered to act personally.
"What? Sending a barbarian beast to fight me?"
Xu Qing's face stiffened. He hadn't expected Zhang Ruochen to be so arrogantly overconfident.
"Roar!"
The demon ape raised its head, opened its bloody maw, and let out a long howl.
A massive barbarian beast aura surged from within the demon ape's body, spreading outward like tidal waves in all directions.
Earlier, the demon ape hadn't unleashed its power. Although its aura was strong, Xu Qing hadn't taken it seriously.
Only now was Xu Qing shocked by that power.
This wasn't a fourth-rank barbarian beast—it was a fifth-rank barbarian beast.
Both Xu Jiali and Xu Qing's faces changed dramatically as they immediately retreated backward. They couldn't understand how Zhang Ruochen could have subdued such a powerful barbarian beast.
"Run! That's a fifth-rank barbarian beast—we can't withstand it."
Xu Qing's face twisted with ferocity as he turned his head and glared fiercely at Zhang Ruochen. How could this be? Zhang Ruochen wasn't a beast tamer, so how did he have a fifth-rank barbarian beast as his mount?
They had thought they could easily deal with Zhang Ruochen, but instead, before Zhang Ruochen even made a move, they were already being chased in retreat by his mount.
Although their cultivation was strong, it was still far from sufficient in front of the demon ape.
In moments, the demon ape caught up to Xu Jiali. Its massive black fist struck down toward the top of her head.
"Boom!"
The necklace Xu Jiali wore around her neck was a protective treasure. Activated by her true qi, it emitted a silver radiance, forming a spherical true qi barrier to resist the demon ape's attack.
Bang!
In an instant, the true qi barrier was shattered.
The demon ape's fist, as large as a water vat, landed solidly on Xu Jiali's body, crushing her into a bloody pulp with bones flying everywhere.
Even a beautiful, proud daughter of heaven could not escape death in the face of absolute power, as fragile as ceramic.
Seeing Xu Jiali's complete obliteration, Xu Qing's heart trembled. He immediately activated his true qi to its fullest, pushing his movement technique to the extreme.
"Boom!"
The demon ape kicked off the ground, shooting up like a cannonball, instantly catching up to Xu Qing and swatting downward with its palm.
Xu Qing gritted his teeth, took out a half-saint bone bead, and injected his true qi into it.
"Swoosh—"
Runes surfaced on the bead's exterior, emitting a blinding white radiance that formed a ten-meter-tall half-saint phantom, enveloping him at its center.
The demon ape's palm struck the top of the half-saint phantom. Ripples spread across the phantom's surface, reflecting the palm force back and sending the demon ape stumbling backward.
As a descendant of a saintly clan, Xu Qing's protective treasures were clearly on an entirely different level from Xu Jiali's.
An ordinary Fish-Dragon realm cultivator could not possibly break through Xu Qing's defense.
That half-saint bone bead had been condensed from an entire half-saint skeleton over nearly a year of refinement into a pigeon-egg-sized bead.
Half-saint bones were already extremely hard and contained some saintly power.
The half-saint bone bead's hardness was comparable to a sacred artifact.
Moreover, formation masters had inscribed defensive runes on the half-saint bone bead, making its defensive power truly astonishing.
Of course, each use of the half-saint bone bead consumed a large amount of true qi. Even with Xu Qing's profound cultivation, he could only activate it ten times at most before his internal true qi was depleted.
"Roar!"
The demon ape beat its chest with both palms, producing loud thumping sounds, then attacked Xu Qing once more.
Its enormous fists struck Xu Qing continuously, unleashing power that was utterly ferocious to the extreme.
Even with the half-saint bone bead's defense, Xu Qing was still pushed back repeatedly, like a leaf enduring the impact of violent winds and raging waves, on the verge of being torn apart at any moment.
"This demon ape has terrifying strength. Even with the half-saint bone bead, I probably can't hold out much longer. And it's incredibly fast—even if I wanted to escape, I couldn't. What should I do?"
Xu Qing had never imagined he would fall into such a desperate situation in the Five Elements Ruins Realm.
If he had known, he should have acted together with Nie Wenlong.
Nie Wenlong was the Heaven List expert that Three Blades Half-Saint had sought out, ranked 6,547th on the Heaven List—even more powerful than Xu Qing. He had once killed a cultivator at the First Change of Fish-Dragon.
Heaven List martial artists were peak experts at the Heavenly Extreme Realm.
Although ordinary Heaven List martial artists were far from a match for Fish-Dragon realm cultivators, those ranked in the top ten thousand almost all had the strength to fight cultivators at the First Change of Fish-Dragon, and could even kill some weaker ones.
It was worth noting that the Heaven List covered the entire Kunlun Realm. Any Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist in Kunlun Realm who accumulated enough merit points—ten thousand—could enter the Heaven List.
Currently, there were over a million Heaven List martial artists.
Those who could enter the top ten thousand had accumulated at least one hundred thousand military merit points.
Three Blades Half-Saint had sent Nie Wenlong into the Five Elements Ruins Realm ahead of time to assist Xu Qing in eliminating Zhang Ruochen.
Even if Xu Qing regretted it now, it was useless. Nie Wenlong was currently at the Evil Wood Palace and couldn't possibly come to rescue him.
"Boom! Boom!"
As time passed, under the demon ape's attacks, Xu Qing's internal true qi was rapidly depleted, and the half-saint bone bead's defense was quickly weakening.
Xu Qing's heart grew anxious. He shouted, "Zhang Ruochen, if you're a real man, fight me fairly. Sending a barbarian beast to deal with me—what kind of skill is that?"
Zhang Ruochen said solemnly, "If you can't even defeat one of my barbarian beasts, what qualifications do you have to fight me?"
Xu Qing was so angry he could spit blood.
The half-saint phantom was beginning to crack.
Xu Qing said urgently, "Zhang Ruochen, first make that demon ape stop. I have something important to tell you—about your fiancée, Huang Yanchen."
Zhang Ruochen's expression froze, and he slightly waved his hand, signaling the demon ape to stop.
The demon ape revealed a pair of bloodshot eyes and roared fiercely at Xu Qing, nearly blowing him away. The bloody aura from its mouth made Xu Qing extremely uncomfortable, almost vomiting.
Finally, the demon ape stopped its attack, took two steps back, and stood behind Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Speak."
Xu Qing took a long breath, staring in terror at the demon ape, and said, "First let me leave, then I'll tell you."
"Shua!"
Zhang Ruochen shifted his foot, turning into a streak of light as he rushed in front of Xu Qing, grabbing his neck and lifting him up.
"Uh... you..."
Zhang Ruochen's two fingers clamped down like iron pincers on Xu Qing's windpipe. With just a slight application of force, he could crush it.
"Speak!"
Zhang Ruochen said in a deep voice.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen released powerful spiritual power, using an overwhelming spiritual will to impact Xu Qing's martial soul, suppressing him until his entire body trembled violently.
Only then did Xu Qing truly feel the gap between himself and Zhang Ruochen. It was a chasm—even if he cultivated to the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Extreme Realm, he probably still wouldn't be Zhang Ruochen's match.
Zhang Ruochen's powerful spiritual power shattered Xu Qing's firm martial heart, filling him with timidity and fear.
Xu Qing trembled as he spoke, "I'll talk... I'll talk... Yesterday, the Evil Wood Palace's intelligence organization discovered Huang Yanchen's whereabouts and sent experts to capture her. The reason I came here today was actually to rendezvous with them. I never expected to run into you."
Zhang Ruochen frowned and said, "Evil Wood Palace? How are you cooperating with Evil Wood Palace?"
Xu Qing said, "It's not me contacting Evil Wood Palace—it's Nie Wenlong. Nie Wenlong represents our Xu Holy Clan in contacting Evil Wood Palace, and he promised them that when the Xu Holy Clan takes over the Five Elements Ruins Realm in the future, Evil Wood Palace will be allowed to manage it on our behalf. From now on, the other four great holy lands of the Five Elements Ruins Realm will all be annihilated."
Generally speaking, after capturing a lower-rank ruin realm, it could be handed over to a saintly clan to manage.
Only medium-rank and upper-rank ruin realms had to be directly managed by the imperial court.
If the Xu Holy Clan fought with all their might, they indeed had a chance to obtain control of the Five Elements Ruins Realm.
Zhang Ruochen said, "And who is Nie Wenlong?"
Xu Qing hesitated for a moment, then finally said, "Nie Wenlong is a holy disciple of the Holy Academy, one year senior to us. He is also a Heaven List martial artist. He was sent into the Five Elements Ruins Realm on the orders of our ancestor to take your life. Zhang Ruochen, I've told you everything. Can you let me go now?"
Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment, then raised his head, staring at Xu Qing, and said, "I never said I would let you go."
"Crack!"
Zhang Ruochen's fingers tightened, crushing Xu Qing's windpipe.
Then, with another palm strike, he severed Xu Qing's cervical vertebrae.
Bang!
Xu Qing fell to the ground, becoming a corpse.
For someone like Xu Qing, who would go to any lengths to kill him, Zhang Ruochen would show no mercy.
"Since Xu Qing was waiting here, it means the experts sent by Evil Wood Palace to capture Huang Yanchen will definitely pass through this place. In that case, I'll wait for them here."
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Xu Qing's corpse, crouched down, pried open Xu Qing's right hand, and took out the half-saint bone bead.