Chapter 495: Heaven Ranking Sixteenth
The sudden sword strike severely wounded the Mingyi Tree King, creating a hole two meters in diameter straight through its trunk.
However, tree people possessed strong vitality; as long as the trunk wasn't severed, they wouldn't die easily.
"It's... it's the Outer Realm Death God... Hurry, set up the formation!" the Mingyi Tree King shouted.
"Shwoosh!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword flew in an arc through the void, trailing a long sword light as it slashed diagonally once more.
The blade clashed against the trunk, producing a scraping sound and sparking tiny flames.
It was like striking an iron pillar with a sword.
The Tree King's trunk was extremely hard; ordinary weapons couldn't harm it.
But the Abyssal Ancient Sword was no ordinary weapon—it was a Sacred Sword.
In the end, the Mingyi Tree King's trunk was severed, leaving only a long stump on the ground, with blood continuously gushing from it.
A powerful Tree King collapsed heavily like that.
Originally, the four Tree Kings were supposed to join forces with other thousand-year-old tree people to set up the Heavenly Wood Absolute God Formation, using the formation to suppress Zhang Ruochen. But the sudden death of the Mingyi Tree King caused the formation to collapse on its own.
Now, even the thousand-year-old tree people began to flee, making it impossible to continue setting up the formation.
"I don't believe that the three of us together can't handle an Outer Realm Death God."
The three Tree Kings exchanged glances and immediately charged forward.
Each of them unleashed a Fire Vine, transforming them into three long fire serpents that spun continuously, striking from three different directions.
Under Zhang Ruochen's control, the Abyssal Ancient Sword spat out a long sword light, spinning rapidly in midair to form a massive sword qi circle a hundred meters in diameter.
"Shwoosh! Shwoosh!"
The three Fire Vines were severed by the sword qi, chopped into pieces that flew away.
Zhang Ruochen's Martial Soul mobilized the world's spiritual energy, channeling it into his body, boosting his combat power to a level comparable to cultivators at the third transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
Keep in mind, Zhang Ruochen was only dealing with three Tree Kings, not three human cultivators or ferocious beasts at the third transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm. Thus, with his strength alone, he forced the three Tree Kings to retreat, able only to defend.
However, even with his current power, Zhang Ruochen could only suppress the three Tree Kings; killing them was no easy task.
Zhang Ruochen fought the three Tree Kings for half an hour. Finally, seizing an opportunity, he struck one Tree King's trunk with his sword, killing it.
"Not good! The Jinyue Tree King was killed by the Outer Realm Death God. The two of us can't defeat him. Let's go, leave this place and return to the altar. Only by asking the Tree Ancestor to act can we suppress him."
The two Tree Kings fought while retreating rapidly, charging toward the heart of the Black Wood Plains.
Tree Kings had strong defenses and were also very fast. If they wanted to escape, even Zhang Ruochen would find it hard to kill them.
"You won't escape!"
Zhang Ruochen extended an index finger and pointed toward the direction the two Tree Kings were fleeing.
"Boom!"
The entire space shook, then rapidly tore apart, collapsing inward from the outside.
The two Tree Kings screamed, sucked into the collapsing space. Their trunks shattered, and their branches and leaves turned to dust.
When space restored itself, the two Tree Kings had completely vanished.
Above, leaves drifted down, landing on the ground.
The leaves were stained with drops of blood.
Ao Xinyan watched this scene, feeling both shocked and somewhat sad. For some reason, she felt those tree people shouldn't have died. She and Zhang Ruochen were invaders, disrupting the peace of this world.
"Captain... Captain, why must we kill these tree people? Just to earn military merit points?" Ao Xinyan looked at the bloody stumps on the ground, feeling confused.
Zhang Ruochen sheathed his sword, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "The Ruins Realm battlefield is inherently this cruel. There's no right or wrong, no good or evil—only the clash between the beings of one world and those of another."
He turned and looked deeply at Ao Xinyan. "If you harbor compassion, it's best not to come to the Ruins Realm battlefield. On the battlefield, there's only killing and being killed. If you show mercy, you'll likely be the one killed."
Was the Wood Essence Ruins Realm considered a Ruins Realm battlefield?
Of course it was.
The Ministry of War's Ruins Realm warriors clashed with the tree people of the Wood Essence Ruins Realm every year, with casualties on both sides. The tree people never gave up resisting, and the Ministry of War's warriors consistently suppressed them.
However, the Wood Essence Ruins Realm was a relatively peaceful Ruins Realm battlefield, with a lower mortality rate.
The true Ruins Realm battlefield was ten or a hundred times more brutal than this. Those with compassion couldn't survive there.
When he set foot on the Ruins Realm battlefield, Zhang Ruochen had mentally prepared himself.
He came to the Ruins Realm battlefield to forge an iron heart.
Of course, if he could avoid killing, Zhang Ruochen wouldn't slaughter indiscriminately—at least not targeting the poor among the Ruins Realm natives, only the strong.
While Zhang Ruochen clashed with the tree people in the Wood Essence Ruins Realm, a commotion arose below the Heaven Ranking stele at the Chaos Myriad Realms Mountain.
The Heaven Ranking stele stood 676 meters tall, magnificent and imposing, having stood at the Chaos Myriad Realms Mountain for who knows how many years.
Every day, many martial artists gathered in the square below the Heaven Ranking stele, observing changes in the rankings.
If a name suddenly disappeared from the Heaven Ranking, it meant that martial artist had either fallen on the Ruins Realm battlefield or broken through to the Fish-Dragon Realm.
The top 1,000 names on the Heaven Ranking—those famous experts—were naturally the focus of everyone's attention.
"Incredible! Zhang Ruochen is defying the heavens! His military merit points are growing too fast. In just a few days, he's reached 16th place on the Heaven Ranking, with 1,297,000 points."
"Zhang Ruochen? You mean the young king from the Eastern Domain?"
"Of course it's him. There are many people with the same name in the world, but a young prodigy like him, breaking into the top 20 of the Heaven Ranking at such an age—there's no one else."
Another young martial artist chimed in with admiration, "At this rate, he might soon accumulate 30 million military merit points and reach the Supreme Extreme of the Heavenly Extreme Realm."
From nearby came a cold laugh. "Reaching the Supreme Extreme of the Heavenly Extreme Realm isn't that easy. Even with the current martial arts boom, those who achieve that level are few and far between."
Everyone turned to look. At the edge of the square, in a stone house, sat a yellow-robed man.
He appeared to be in his early twenties, quite tall, about two meters. His arms were unusually long, half a palm's length longer than an ordinary person's.
His features were well-defined, with piercing eyes and a high nose bridge, making him look quite handsome.
But no one dared approach him.
Anyone who stepped within ten steps of him immediately felt a powerful killing intent, involuntarily inspiring fear and forcing them to retreat.
Of course, no one who came to the Chaos Myriad Realms Mountain was weak.
Some bold ones walked over, standing ten steps away from the yellow-robed man. "Though it's rare, some have still accumulated 30 million military merit points, drawing the resonance of the gods and reaching the Supreme Extreme."
"For example, the current Great Virtuous and Great Virtue Female Saint Emperor. Eight hundred years ago, she reached the Supreme Extreme. Legend says the corpses of the Ruins Realm natives she killed could pile into a mountain, their blood forming a sea. She nearly slaughtered all the beings in one Ruins Realm, accumulating 90 million military merit points—a record no one has surpassed."
"Another example: six hundred years ago, the rebel of the Ten Thousand Buddha Path, the Dead Zen Heretic Monk, also killed 100,000 Ruins Realm natives and successfully reached the Supreme Extreme. But six hundred years have passed; we should now call him the Dead Zen Heretic Ancestor."
"Then there's the Demon Sect's Holy Maiden 'Ling Feiyu' from three hundred years ago, the Ghost Talent 'Luo Xu' from two hundred years ago, and the Little Saint Heavenly King 'Wan Zhaoyi' from seventy years ago—all reached the Supreme Extreme."
"With the martial arts boom and geniuses emerging, more and more martial artists will reach the Supreme Extreme. With Zhang Ruochen's talent and his rate of accumulating military merit points, it's not impossible for him to reach the Supreme Extreme of the Heavenly Extreme Realm."
The yellow-robed man chuckled, took down a wineskin, took a sip, and placed it back on the table.
A cold gleam flashed in his eyes as he continued laughing, "Zhang Ruochen's talent is indeed high, but unfortunately, his luck is bad. There's still someone on the Heaven Ranking who can suppress him. If that person acts, even if Zhang Ruochen has the strength to challenge the Supreme Extreme, he won't live to see that day."
"You mean the number one on the Heaven Ranking, Huang Shenyi?"
Another person said, "Huang Shenyi is indeed a peerless genius. At his current rate of accumulating military merit points, he'll likely reach 30 million within a year. Zhang Ruochen's current strength probably still lags behind his."
The yellow-robed man smiled. "Of course. Huang Shenyi encountered a great opportunity while training in the Black Tortoise Ruins Realm. With his current strength, even Hua Li, number two on the Heaven Ranking, might not withstand three of his moves. As for dealing with Zhang Ruochen, half a move would be enough."
Huang Yanchen, along with a group of young disciples from the Eastern Domain Saint Prince Mansion, had been standing in the crowd. Hearing this, she could no longer hold back. She stepped forward and snorted coldly, "Sir, you overestimate Huang Shenyi! Zhang Ruochen is the number one of the Eastern Domain Saint Academy. If they truly fought, no one knows who would live and who would die."