Chapter 4222: Ancestor Falls
“Is this his combat power when going all out?”
Yan Wushen’s tiger-like eyes were fixed on the shattered void, his emotions incredibly complex.
He had to admit that even if he broke through to become an Ancestor, he would still be far inferior to Zhang Ruochen as he was today.
In this state, even the Corpse Demon would make the Dark Lord retreat. Yet when fighting Zhang Ruochen, he was completely at a disadvantage. Though he had the strength to fight back, every move ended in failure.
“I will catch up! Under the Minor Calamity and Great Calamity, there must be a place for me, Yan Wushen, to fight. Life, death, and fate—I will contend for them myself.”
The fighting spirit in Yan Wushen’s eyes did not extinguish. He immediately ordered the gods of the Yama Clan.
He commanded them to use their Divine Realm Worlds to transfer the cultivators and resources within the World Tree.
Their strategic goal had been achieved. They had successfully dismantled the forces below the Ancestor level in the God Realm, forcing the Immortals of the God Realm to step in prematurely, turning Imperial Dust’s position from passive to active.
Next came the battle between Ancestors. There was no need to continue holding onto a World Tree that was already riddled with holes.
Preserving their effective strength was the most important thing. Returning to Yama Heaven-Outside-Heaven was the only place where all altars had been cleared. Therefore, it was taken into Yan Yu’s Divine Realm World for safekeeping.
This was the root of the Yama Clan!
Yan Yu, Yan Zhexian, Yan Huangtu, Mitian War God, as well as the older generation’s Baiyun Shenzu, Daiyue Zhenren, Wangqing Popo, and the other gods of the Yama Clan, took one last look at the World Tree before turning into a meteor shower, fleeing into deep space.
All over the World Tree, countless altars were in operation. The sacrificial beams they emitted connected to the God Realm, forming spatial holes linking the two realms. The Yama Clan could no longer control it.
The God Realm was constantly drawing closer to the Real World.
Chi Yao and Zangjin Baihu did not leave. They did not show joy at Zhang Ruochen’s defeat of Shi Yan. Their expressions remained grave.
If Shi Yan was pushed to the brink of death, would he not self-detonate his Ancestor Divine Source?
Moreover, the Dark Lord and the Second Confucian Ancestor were still watching from the side, eager to strike. These two were far more terrifying than the Corpse Demon.
Would they allow Zhang Ruochen to seize the Calamity Demon Essence from Shi Yan?
Were they not interested in the Nine Cauldrons? Did they not want to put Zhang Ruochen to death?
Danger lurked everywhere!
No one knew how much worse the battle situation would deteriorate in the next moment.
Chi Yao noticed Feng Tian standing not far away in the void and said, “You should leave quickly. This place is extremely dangerous. A destructive storm from an Ancestor’s self-detonation could erupt at any moment.”
“If it’s so dangerous, why have you chosen to stay?” Feng Tian asked.
Chi Yao, clad in divine armor over a golden robe, held the Blood-Dripping Sword, which cast a red glow over a vast star domain. She possessed both the beauty of a celestial goddess and the fierce aura of a war god. “I will live or die with Chen Ge. Death is not frightening.”
“I am the Death God Venerable. I also find death not frightening.”
Feng Tian held the Blazing Halberd, her long hair flowing like a waterfall. Around her, the *Fate Heavenly Scripture* and the Gate of Destiny revolved, while beneath her feet lay a gloomy sea of corpses.
Chi Yao said, “At the critical moment, I can lend Chen Ge a hand and won’t become his burden. As for you, you should go reorganize the Fate Twelve-Phase Divine Formation and suppress the escaped Wandai Jiuzu. If these people escape, the consequences will be endless!”
“So, I am a burden, and you are a helping hand?” A hint of disdain appeared in Feng Tian’s eyes.
Chi Yao had no intention of arguing. She nodded and said, “That’s about it!”
Yan Wushen and Fengdu Dadi also did not leave. They stood in two other starry skies, healing their injuries as quickly as possible, ready to join the Ancestor battlefield at any moment.
They might die in battle, but they would never retreat.
Nutian Shenzun, carrying the Nether River and the Great Venerable’s Twenty-Seven Layers Heavenly Realm World, rushed back. He glanced at the infinitely vast spiritual power dharma image of the Eternal True Arbiter.
Jie Tian, standing at the top of the Twenty-Seven Layers Heavenly Realm World, was eager to try. “How about hitting him from behind?”
This startled Chan Bing, who was also in the Heavenly Realm World!
Nutian Shenzun quickly stopped Jie Tian from this dangerous idea. Just a single spiritual power dharma image already exuded immense pressure. If they truly provoked the Eternal True Arbiter to act, one stomp might grind them into dust.
Jie Tian then turned his gaze to Feng Tian. “Feng Caiyi, why don’t you leave quickly? Leave this place to us! The Hidden Corpse was seriously injured and fled. Only you have the strength to suppress it.”
Nutian, Jie Tian, Chan Bing, and the Snow Domain Star Sea Divine Lord, by activating the Twenty-Seven Layers Heavenly Realm World, indeed had combat power surpassing the Hidden Corpse, but their speed and mobility were far inferior.
Feng Tian, on the other hand, excelled in speed, and with the *Fate Heavenly Scripture*’s predictive ability, she was the best candidate to pursue the Hidden Corpse.
One could say Jie Tian’s words were not wrong at all. But they still provoked Feng Tian to respond with a cold glare. “You let a Hidden Corpse with only fifty percent of its combat power escape, and you want to leave this place to you? How can I, this Heavenly God, be at ease?”
Jie Tian was left speechless.
Nutian Shenzun and Chan Bing also felt disgraced, their expressions awkward.
“What’s going on?”
Nutian Shenzun felt Feng Tian was acting abnormally and sent a voice transmission to Fengdu Dadi to inquire.
“It’s not a matter of mental or Dao heart injury… but then again, it might not be that either!” Fengdu Dadi only responded with this.
The combat power Zhang Ruochen displayed left the Dark Lord suspicious and uneasy.
Until now, he had always speculated that Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation had just broken through to Ancestor.
But…
Was this really just breaking through to have a beginning and an end?
This was clearly stepping into the realm of consistency from beginning to end!
The Dark Lord glanced at the Eternal True Arbiter’s massive spiritual power dharma image. Seeing that it still remained aloof, with no intention to act, he even suspected whether Zhang Ruochen had reached some unknown deal with it.
He couldn’t stay steady any longer!
He couldn’t wait any longer.
A vast expanse of black clouds surged into Lihentian, condensing into a giant black hand containing the power of Myriad Forms Formless, ready to seize the Witch Cauldron first.
Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen smiled and, riding the Chaos Vortex, moved ahead of the Dark Lord to seize the Witch Cauldron and the Darkness Cauldron.
“Imperial Dust, you’re being a bit greedy!”
The Dark Lord’s voice carried anger.
“Tit for tat. Why so much talk? Let’s see the real deal in combat.”
The Chaos Vortex, formed from forty-nine clusters of Dao light, tore through the violent Witch Dao rules and Darkness Dao rules, pulling the Witch Cauldron and the Darkness Cauldron inside.
“Haha! You’re too confident! You caught Shi Yan off guard earlier and injured him. Do you really think you’re invincible under heaven?”
The Dark Lord’s laughter shook the heavens.
The dark giant hand crashed into the Chaos Vortex, forcibly seizing the two cauldrons.
It had to be said that the Dark Lord’s Dao techniques were profound, and his combat power had truly entered the realm of consistency from beginning to end, bringing considerable pressure to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen had to respond with full force. The hand carrying the Earth Cauldron channeled the vast Source Sea and struck out with a palm, clashing with the dark hand that had entered the Chaos Vortex.
“Boom!”
The moment the two palms collided, the Dark Lord remotely controlled the Darkness Cauldron, pressing it down heavily toward Zhang Ruochen’s face.
Zhang Ruochen stood as immovable as a mountain, showing no intention of using any technique to block.
“Whoosh!”
As the Darkness Cauldron descended, the Victory Crown manifested above Zhang Ruochen’s head, radiating brilliant divine light.
The collision of darkness and light sent energy flying everywhere. Black and white light split Lihentian, like two completely different universes colliding.
Taking this opportunity, Shi Yan broke free from Zhang Ruochen’s suppression. His form flickered and shifted, grabbing the Witch Cauldron. He was utterly ferocious, his hatred for Zhang Ruochen even greater than for the God Realm.
“Die!”
He squeezed this word out from between his teeth. The power of the Witch Cauldron and the Ancestor overlapped, descending toward Zhang Ruochen’s back, intending to smash him into pulp.
Facing two opponents alone, Zhang Ruochen’s pressure multiplied.
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
The Universe Cauldron and the Epoch Cauldron appeared on Zhang Ruochen’s left and right legs respectively, the patterns of the cauldrons covering his limbs.
One foot stepped on time, the other on space.
With a slight shift of his step, time and space flowed.
The ferocious Witch Cauldron and Corpse Demon flew past him.
Zhang Ruochen could even clearly see the shock in Shi Yan’s eyes.
The Nine Cauldrons, in Zhang Ruochen’s hands, unleashed a might and displayed a mystery that even Ancestors could only marvel at. It was as if the Nine Cauldrons were tailor-made for him.
The Dark Lord also found it unbelievable, muttering to himself, “Is it because of the Strange Domain, or because of the unique-in-all-ages Wuji Divine Dao?”
Separated by hundreds of billions of miles, the soul attack from the Seventy-Two Layer Tower nearly shattered Lady Shiji’s spiritual will.
The sound of a flute rang out. Lady Shiji broke free from the Seventy-Two Layer Tower’s soul attack and immediately activated the Eternal Darkness Ancestor Order Field and the Boundless World as dual defenses.
Then, she fled into a tributary of the Santu River.
Lady Shiji had conducted deep research on the Santu River, cultivating an unparalleled water escape technique.
Using the water of the Santu River as a medium, she had some confidence in escaping even from the most powerful beings.
But just as she entered the Santu River, the Seventy-Two Layer Tower absorbed the power of the God Realm and launched a physical attack. Crossing vast distances of space, the tributary of the Santu River broke apart section by section.
In just a moment, Lady Shiji’s true body was forced out.
Her face was as pale as death, clearly injured. The flute sound grew clearer, but the Seventy-Two Layer Tower came even faster.
“Rustle, rustle!”
From the seventy-two tower gates, trillions of war swords flew out, forming a river of sword qi that crashed toward her.
Lady Shiji had no time to dodge. She could only prop up the Finite World she had cultivated over many years. Finite matter formed a boundless dark domain, unfolding above her head.
Its thickness was no less than any Ancestor Realm.
This was the foundation of her path to becoming an Ancestor!
“Boom, rumble!”
The river of sword qi struck the Finite World, and the entire star domain collapsed.
Heaven and Earth rules ceased to exist, cosmic energy was in chaos, and Ancestor divine qi and killing intent intertwined.
Lady Shiji was well aware of the terror of the Seventy-Two Layer Tower. She knew she could not hold out until her true form arrived. So, she formed seals with her jade-white, slender hands, channeling the Void Essence.
In her previous life—
More precisely, two lives ago, under the push of the Nether Ancestor, she had become the artifact spirit of the Void Cauldron. Her attainments in the Way of Void were naturally profound, surpassing even Void Heaven.
“Creation Boundless, Void Incarnation, One Thought to Nine Nether Heavens!”
This was her last resort, a life-saving technique when all else failed.
She abandoned the Finite World, her physical body turning into billions of strands, merging into Void rules and Void Essence, fleeing in all different directions.
She only needed the time of one thought to escape to the Nine Nether Heavens Beyond.
That was equivalent to nine quadrillion miles!
One could say that with this escape technique, even an Immortal could not stop her.
But the price paid was also severe. The finite matter could not be taken away, and years of effort turned to nothing. To return to her peak, who knew how many years it would take?
The Seventy-Two Layer Tower flew over, its momentum magnificent, countless Great Dao rules twisting and entangling, as if telling all living beings in the universe that no one could escape from before it.
“Boom!”
The Seventy-Two Layer Tower landed heavily, shattering the Finite World.
The energy ripples that erupted, in an instant, crossed the Nine Nether Heavens, smashing all the three-realm space within the Nine Nether Heavens into pieces. Star domains collapsed one after another.
The energy storm stirred up towering waves in Lihentian.
Comparing the universe to a pond, the destructive power unleashed by the Seventy-Two Layer Tower at this moment was comparable to a stone thrown into the pond.
Just as Lady Shiji recondensed her physical body, this energy shattered it into a cloud of blood mist.
A scream came from the blood mist. Then, still struggling against fate, it transformed into blood qi rivers like tributaries of the Santu River, rushing outward.
The Seventy-Two Layer Tower hovered in the Void World. Its seventy-two tower gates opened wide, radiating brilliant divine light, like seventy-two gates to the universe, frantically absorbing all energy in the Void World.
It formed a terrifying vortex with a diameter of nine Nether Heavens. The vortex continuously expanded, devouring the three realms.
The range of the destructive storm far exceeded nine Nether Heavens.
The billions of stars in the universe were all affected, slowly beginning to revolve around the Seventy-Two Layer Tower as the center.
The trajectories of all celestial bodies were shifting.
Lady Shiji’s blood qi and soul could not escape. They were refined into Ancestor Great Medicine, all crushed, becoming part of the vortex, and collected into the Seventy-Two Layer Tower.
In the starry sky, the gods who witnessed this scene trembled uncontrollably, as if all their strength had been drained, kneeling on the ground.
The Seventy-Two Layer Tower did not leave the Void World. Instead, as it moved toward Murong Dominator, it continued to absorb the energy of the Void World.
If one reached the Ancestor level, they would notice that the Void World was contracting.
Murong Dominator was being pursued by the flute sound, and the Three Realms Ten Directions Killing Formation had long been shattered.
The flute sound turned the cosmic star sea into a true ocean.
At least, in Murong Dominator’s view, he was on a vast ocean. Waves of giant surges came crashing down, and his body was like a small boat, tossed about in the storm.
In the giant waves, every drop of water was as heavy as a star. He had tried to withstand it once earlier, and his physical body was annihilated.
Fortunately, the physical body of a spiritual power Ancestor was not that important, having limited impact on combat power.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Two Ancestor Talismans flew out and exploded, each comparable to a Half-Ancestor self-detonating their Divine Source.
But they only shattered two giant waves.
Murong Dominator had never encountered such a terrifying existence. What made his heart tremble even more was that behind the boundless sea, a stone cauldron was flying over.
“The legendary Void Cauldron…”
“So what if it’s the Void Cauldron? So what if the Nether Ancestor is not dead? Back then, Ksitigarbha King burned his blood qi and lifespan, able to contend with the Nether Ancestor for a short time. How could I be weaker than him?”
Murong Dominator steadied his mind and fighting spirit.
But as the stone cauldron approached, its power grew stronger, and the invincible Ancestor heart-mind in him gradually collapsed.
Once the heart-mind will collapsed, his combat power would inevitably plummet. How could he still resist the Nether Ancestor?
So, he decisively chose to flee.
“Flee back to the God Realm, and there will be a way to survive.”
Murong Dominator was certain that the Nether Ancestor would never dare to go to the God Realm. So, he struck his chest’s divine heart, releasing over seventy percent of the Heavenly Mechanism Essence, mobilizing the Heavenly Mechanism rules in the universe, and executed the Heavenly Mechanism Escape Technique.
In an instant, the Heavenly Mechanism of the entire universe became chaotic.
Almost without spending any time, Murong Dominator fled into the Heavenly Mechanism and returned to the God Realm.
The stone cauldron pursued closely.
“Boom!”
The cauldron’s body shattered the boundary wall between the God Realm and the vast universe, forming a void hole with a diameter of one light-year.
Murong Dominator’s spiritual power Ancestor body, after returning to the God Realm, had not yet steadied itself before it shattered into pieces, turning into a cloud of spiritual power particles in the void hole.