Chapter 511: Third on the Heavenly Ranking, Bishui City
Wanting to collect Huang Shenyi's corpse was by no means an easy task.
Because Zhang Ruochen was still standing on the battle stage.
Would Zhang Ruochen just stand by and watch them take away the sacred swords and Huang Shenyi's body?
Di Yi smiled at Zhang Ruochen, then walked to another direction of the battle stage. With a *chi* sound, he pulled Huang Shenyi's sword from the ground.
This sword was also a sacred artifact.
Earlier, when Zhang Ruochen and Huang Shenyi were fighting, this sacred sword had been knocked off the Heavenly-ranked battle stage and stuck into the stone slabs.
A sacred artifact was a rare treasure for any faction, so Di Yi naturally wanted to retrieve it.
But this was only one of them; the other six were still on the battle stage.
Who could snatch the food from the tiger's mouth and retrieve those six sacred swords?
A knight clad in glazed bone armor, holding a dragon-bone long spear, charged onto the Heavenly-ranked battle stage in large strides. His voice was rough as he said, "I am here on the orders of my young master to retrieve the remains and belongings of Star Envoy Huang Shenyi. I hope Young Master Zhang will grant us this convenience."
With these words, the glazed knight walked toward Huang Shenyi's corpse.
It had to be said that Di Yi always acted meticulously. Even though he was from the evil path, he still tried to occupy the moral high ground.
Di Yi had made it very clear: he was only sending someone to retrieve the remains and belongings, not to seize treasures.
If Zhang Ruochen interfered, it would be a sign of disrespect to the dead.
If it were a rigid and pedantic person, they might really just stand by and watch Di Yi's people take away the sacred artifacts and the corpse.
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, "Since Star Envoy Huang Shenyi lost to me, everything he had is my spoils of war. Are you trying to rob me openly?"
With these words, Zhang Ruochen stomped his foot on the ground, sending a surge of powerful true qi into the earth, shaking the six sacred swords into the air.
*Whoosh—*
Then, Zhang Ruochen waved his arm, releasing a stream of true qi that formed a wave, sweeping up the six golden sacred swords.
Each sword rapidly shrank, and by the time they fell into Zhang Ruochen's palm, they were only three inches long, like six golden leaf-shaped blades.
The glazed knight snorted coldly and stopped pretending to be polite with Zhang Ruochen.
He twisted his arm, and the dragon-bone long spear in his hand began to spin rapidly.
A ball of crimson flame surged from the spear tip, forming a spiral-shaped light shuttle that stabbed toward Zhang Ruochen's palm, trying to reclaim the six sacred swords.
Daring to step onto the battle stage to confront Zhang Ruochen and contend for the position of Star Envoy Huang Shenyi, this person's strength was naturally formidable.
When he was at the Heavenly Extreme Realm, he was already a top expert, once ranking in the top ten thousand of the Heavenly Ranking.
Now, he had broken through the limits of mortals and advanced to the first transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, "Innate Fetal Breath," making his strength many times greater than before.
In terms of combat power, he was now even a bit stronger than Huang Shenyi at the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Extreme Realm. After all, he was already a full major realm higher.
"Daring to intrude within three zhang of me, aren't you afraid of my sword?"
Zhang Ruochen's eyes turned cold. He stepped forward with a footwork technique, rushed ahead, quickly drew his sword, and with a *shua* sound, slashed out.
At the moment of drawing the sword, Zhang Ruochen captured a Time Imprint, fused it into his sword technique, and executed "Instant Trace."
*Puff!*
The Abyssal Ancient Sword turned into a flash of light, striking the glazed knight's neck, piercing through the glazed bone armor, and cutting off his head.
Blood, like a pillar of water, gushed down from his neck, dyeing most of the battle stage crimson red.
The air was filled with the smell of blood.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was sweeping and majestic, full of auspicious energy. He glanced at the evil path martial artists from the Black Market below and said, "Anyone who dares to step onto the Heavenly-ranked battle stage, I will treat as challenging me, and I will show no mercy."
Although killing was prohibited on the Chaotic Myriad Realms Mountain, the Heavenly-ranked battle stage was the sole exception.
Zhang Ruochen had to establish his authority. He had to use decisive measures to intimidate those evil path martial artists from the Black Market. Otherwise, there would be an endless stream of people stepping onto the battle stage to fight over Huang Shenyi's remains and belongings.
No matter how strong Zhang Ruochen's strength was, he would eventually run out of true qi.
Only by making them afraid of death would they feel terror and dare not step onto the battle stage.
"Zhang Ruochen, don't be so arrogant. I, Bishui City, will come and test you."
Bishui City stood up from the viewing platform, spread his arms, and streams of true qi surged from the palms of both hands, forming a pair of true qi wings. Like a large bird, he landed on the Heavenly-ranked battle stage.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Bishui City standing opposite him and said, "Bishui City? Third on the Heavenly Ranking, Bishui City?"
"That's right, it's me."
Bishui City crossed his arms in front of his chest, speaking coldly and arrogantly.
Zhang Ruochen said, "As far as I know, you don't seem to be a martial artist from the Black Market."
Bishui City glanced at Di Yi below the battle stage and said, "Di Yi only said that whoever retrieves Huang Shenyi's remains and belongings can become the new Star Envoy Huang Shenyi, but he never specified that person has to be from the Black Market. Di Yi, I want to be the new Star Envoy Huang Shenyi. That should be fine, right?"
Di Yi laughed loudly and said, "Of course, you are most welcome. Mr. Bi choosing to align with our Black Market is a wise move, truly admirable. However, Zhang Ruochen's strength is formidable and not easy to deal with. You must be careful."
Bishui City sneered and said, "I am wearing the Bishui Sacred Armor. Even if Zhang Ruochen's swordsmanship is superb, if he can't break through my defense, it's all in vain. When his sword techniques become useless, how can he fight me?"
In Bishui City's view, Zhang Ruochen was only most formidable with his sword.
As long as Zhang Ruochen's sword couldn't break through his armor, defeating Zhang Ruochen wouldn't be difficult.
Defeating Zhang Ruochen would not only make him number one on the Heavenly Ranking, earning 12,410,000 military merit points, but also make him the Black Market's Star Envoy Huang Shenyi.
How could he, Bishui City, miss such a triple-win opportunity?
Zhang Ruochen looked at Bishui City and saw that he was indeed wrapped in a set of azure-green armor, like pieces of jade crystal embedded on the surface of his body, covering him completely without any gaps.
The Bishui Sacred Armor was a sacred artifact-level battle armor, forged from 9,999 pieces of millennium turtle bone, with extremely complex inscriptions carved inside. It not only had powerful defensive capabilities but also some offensive abilities.
Sacred artifact-level battle armor was far more precious and rarer than sacred artifact-level swords.
At the same level, sacred armor was ten times more expensive than sacred swords.
It was precisely because he wore sacred armor that Bishui City didn't take Zhang Ruochen seriously, believing he was already in an invincible position.
Bishui City said, "Zhang Ruochen, if I were you, I would obediently hand over the six sacred swords and Huang Shenyi's remains, saving me the trouble of taking them myself."
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, "You are too confident in yourself. But your strength still falls far short. If it weren't for the Bishui Sacred Armor, you probably wouldn't be ranked third on the Heavenly Ranking."
"You dare to look down on me?"
Bishui City was furious, clenching his fists.
Since childhood, others had always looked up to him and praised him. No one had ever dared to look down on him like this.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I'm not looking down on you; I'm just stating the facts. Actually, to defeat you, I don't even need to use a sword."
"Zhang Ruochen, you dare to insult me! I'll tear you to pieces."
Bishui City took three steps forward, and in an instant, he was in front of Zhang Ruochen.
The surface of the Bishui Sacred Armor emitted a dazzling green light. Driven by true qi, the nail plates on Bishui City's ten fingers extended, turning into sharp claws.
He struck out with both claws simultaneously, aiming for Zhang Ruochen's heart, then channeled a surge of immense force through his arms, trying to tear him apart left and right.
But his claws grabbed nothing but air.
"I'm behind you."
Zhang Ruochen stood behind Bishui City, executing the "Elephant Force Ninefold," unleashing twelve times the power, striking Bishui City's back.
*Bang!*
Bishui City flew out, face down, rear up, and fell off the battle stage in a dog-eating-shit posture.
The entire Martial Market Arena erupted in a burst of laughter.
"Truly overestimating himself. What kind of person is Zhang Ruochen? Does Bishui City really think that putting on a sacred armor can defeat him?" Zhuang Xingtian shook his head with a laugh.
Xun Long said coldly, "To think I was ranked behind him on the Heavenly Ranking. Just thinking about it is embarrassing."
Zhuang Xingtian said, "With Brother Xun's current strength, he is more than qualified to be in the top three of the Heavenly Ranking."
Xun Long said proudly, "After Huang Shenyi's death, in this world, only Brother Zhuang and Zhang Ruochen are worthy of being my opponents."
Zhuang Xingtian shook his head, pointed a finger toward Di Yi's direction, and said, "See that masked man over there? His name is Di Yi, the young master of the Black Market's First-Class Hall. He is less than eighteen years old. But his strength is unfathomable. Although he once lost to Zhang Ruochen by half a move, his talent is no less than Zhang Ruochen's..."
"Brother Zhuang, look, Bishui City has climbed back onto the battle stage. Haha! What a fool."
Xun Long had no interest in Di Yi. In his eyes, only Zhang Ruochen was worthy of being his opponent.
Xun Long laughed again and said, "The Bishui Gate Clan was once a hegemon in the Southern Domain, producing over a dozen saints. Unfortunately, it has now declined. I thought that giving birth to a genius like Bishui City could revive the clan, but I never expected him to be such a piece of trash."
On the battle stage.
Bishui City roared, "Zhang Ruochen, I was just a bit careless earlier, which is why you defeated me. This time, you won't have another chance. My Bishui Sacred Armor is not only powerful in defense but also has offensive capabilities. Try hitting me with another palm. The armor's counterattack force alone will break your hand."
Zhang Ruochen frowned deeply, truly unable to understand how Bishui City, with such intelligence, had managed to survive until now. How had he become third on the Heavenly Ranking?
Zhang Ruochen had lost interest in him and didn't want to continue fighting. Somewhat regretfully, he said, "Bishui City, you rely too much on the Bishui Sacred Armor. You've already gone down the wrong path. The path of martial arts is about cultivating oneself. Weapons and armor are ultimately external objects. If you can't understand this, no matter how high your talent is, you will never become a saint."