# Chapter 628: Settling Accounts One by One
"How is this possible? Caught up so quickly?"
Caught off guard, Di Yi had no choice but to once again use the Hell Ghost King Claw, his hands radiating icy cold aura as he struck toward the incoming Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Pfft!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword broke through like a bamboo splitter, piercing through Di Yi's right palm, passing through from the center, with half of the blade stabbing into Di Yi's chest.
Crimson blood continuously gushed from Di Yi's palm and chest, flowing down past the dimly glowing Saint Leather Soft Armor, dripping onto the ground.
"How... how could this be..."
Di Yi's face was extremely pale. Although he knew the Abyssal Ancient Sword was formidable, he still found it hard to accept the current outcome.
A Hundred-Pattern Sacred Artifact simply couldn't pierce through Saint Leather Soft Armor. Had Zhang Ruochen's sword reached the level of a Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact?
The Abyssal Ancient Sword naturally hadn't reached the Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact level. However, its blade was forged from Creation Divine Iron, which was already extremely sharp, and it had also absorbed a large number of True Martial Treasures and Sacred Artifacts. Therefore, the sharpness of the Abyssal Ancient Sword was naturally incomparable to other Hundred-Pattern Sacred Artifacts.
Zhang Ruochen flew down from midair, pressing his index and middle fingers together to form a sword seal, controlling the Abyssal Ancient Sword as he suddenly pushed forward.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword embedded in Di Yi's body erupted with even stronger sword light, pushing Di Yi's body backward as it charged into the distance.
The sharp blade continued to penetrate deeper, the sword tip already emerging from Di Yi's back.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword carried Di Yi's body for several thousand meters, spilling blood all along the way.
"Pfft!"
Finally, the Abyssal Ancient Sword pierced through Di Yi's body, flying out from his back.
Zhang Ruochen reached out, grabbing the blood-drenched sword hilt. With a flick of his arm, a spray of blood was shaken off the blade.
Holding the Abyssal Ancient Sword, Zhang Ruochen walked up to Di Yi and said coldly, "Did you still think you could escape today? That sword strike was my promise to an old acquaintance—revenge for her brother."
If it were any other cultivator, suffering such severe injuries would surely mean certain death.
But Di Yi did not die. He still stood firmly in place, his eyes filled with venomous light. Black Saint Qi surged from within his body once more, gathering toward the wounds on his chest and palm, making a "hissing" sound.
The two wounds were rapidly healing.
His body truly seemed undying.
Zhang Ruochen watched quietly until Di Yi's injuries had recovered by seventy or eighty percent, then swung his sword again, dragging a streak of sword light toward Di Yi's neck.
Di Yi's eyes widened, his heart filled with fury. He reached out with both hands, trying to grab the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
But his fingers had barely touched the blade when they were severed, all ten fingers flying away.
With a bang, the Abyssal Ancient Sword struck Di Yi's neck, directly severing his head.
Although Di Yi's head rolled away, the Heavenly Demon Shadow on the ground quickly fled as a dark silhouette, reaching a spot thirty zhang away.
"Hiss!"
Black flames surged from inside Di Yi's head and headless body, quickly burning the corpse to ashes, sending up a stream of black Saint Qi and a stream of red blood energy.
The Saint Qi and blood energy flew to where the Heavenly Demon Shadow was, once again condensing into Di Yi's body, completely unharmed, without any injuries at all.
Although Di Yi had reformed his body, Zhang Ruochen could see that Di Yi's aura had become much weaker, and even his cultivation realm showed signs of regression.
This showed that the so-called undying body was not truly undying.
Zhang Ruochen said coldly, "The second sword is for the thousands of innocent souls of the Yunwu Commandery royal clan. This debt I have always remembered. I am... collecting it on their behalf."
"Zhang Ruochen, you cannot kill me."
Di Yi gritted his teeth and roared angrily.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Is that so? If I kill you once more, your cultivation will probably drop to the first transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm."
Di Yi's eyes turned bloodshot. He pressed his palms together, and at the center of his brow, a Divine Martial Mark emerged, forming a tiny vortex centered on it.
The force emanating from the vortex grew increasingly intense, its range of coverage expanding, as if it were about to sweep Zhang Ruochen in.
From deep within Di Yi's brow, a crimson light flew out, condensing into an ancient seal.
The crimson ancient seal hovered above Di Yi's head, spinning rapidly. With each rotation, the seal grew larger, and the power it emitted grew stronger.
In moments, the crimson ancient seal became over thirty meters tall, completely enveloped in blazing flames, radiating an ancient and majestic Saintly Might.
The crimson ancient seal was called the "Red Copper Brahma Seal," already at the peak of Hundred-Pattern Sacred Artifacts. A single strike could crush a large mountain into flat ground.
Its grade even surpassed the current Abyssal Ancient Sword.
Di Yi let out a great roar, controlling the Red Copper Brahma Seal as it pressed down toward Zhang Ruochen.
At the same time, the Heavenly Demon Shadow on the ground also charged toward Zhang Ruochen, attacking his legs from below.
The Red Copper Brahma Seal above, the Heavenly Demon Shadow below—two attacks launched simultaneously. Clearly, Di Yi was also pushed to the brink, ready to fight Zhang Ruochen to the death.
The powerful Saintly Might of the Red Copper Brahma Seal seemed to suppress the entire space, greatly limiting Zhang Ruochen's mobility and preventing him from using Spatial Displacement to escape.
This was not Zhang Ruochen's first time fighting Di Yi, so he naturally understood the trump cards Di Yi possessed.
Just as Di Yi unleashed the Red Copper Brahma Seal, Zhang Ruochen took out the Cosmic Divine Wood Map and tossed it into the sky. The scroll unfurled, a Space Gate opened, and a devouring force emerged, drawing the Red Copper Brahma Seal inside.
"No..."
Di Yi sensed something was wrong and desperately circulated his true qi, trying to retrieve the Red Copper Brahma Seal.
But it was all in vain. His cultivation was a realm lower than Zhang Ruochen's, putting him at a disadvantage to begin with. Moreover, how could the Red Copper Brahma Seal possibly contend with the Cosmic Divine Wood Map?
In moments, the Red Copper Brahma Seal was taken into the Scroll World, losing all connection with Di Yi.
While unleashing the Cosmic Divine Wood Map, Zhang Ruochen also mobilized his Spiritual Power, condensing a spherical lightning bolt that struck the ground, hitting the Heavenly Demon Shadow.
With a thunderous roar, wisps of green smoke rose from the ground.
The Heavenly Demon Shadow suffered severe damage, dimming considerably as it quickly fled back.
Seeing the Red Copper Brahma Seal taken away, Di Yi's face turned deathly pale. He murmured, "What... what kind of Sacred Artifact is that, able to take away the Red Copper Brahma Seal?"
Zhang Ruochen retrieved the Cosmic Divine Wood Map, holding it in his hand as he stared at Di Yi across from him. "Just a scroll painting. If you have any other Sacred Artifacts to unleash, I can take them all as well."
Holding his sword, Zhang Ruochen walked step by step toward Di Yi. "Di Yi, my third sword will be revenge for my mother. Dragging her into the conflict between us is a capital offense. I won't make you suffer too long. The final sword will give you a quick end, completely settling the grievances and grudges between us."
After the first two sword strikes, Zhang Ruochen had already seen some clues.
As long as he drained the black Saint Qi and blood energy from Di Yi's body, he could kill him completely.
"Tap, tap."
Each footstep sounded like a death knell ringing.
Di Yi finally understood that Zhang Ruochen's purpose in coming to the Eastern Region Evil Land was entirely to seek revenge against him.
One debt after another, settled one by one.
Only Di Yi could experience the pain of being killed each time. That feeling was utterly unbearable, worse than death itself.
Originally, when Di Yi learned of Zhang Ruochen's death, he had breathed a long sigh of relief, believing himself to be the number one heavenly prodigy of the Eastern Region, looking down on everyone.
Even when he learned that Red Desire Star Envoy had ambitions to contend for the young master position, he only regarded her as a minor character, thinking that as long as he arrived at Qingyun Commandery, a single wave of his hand would reduce her to ashes.
Zhang Ruochen's reappearance, however, shattered his confidence and pride completely.
Only now did Di Yi suddenly realize that he had indeed underestimated his opponent too much and had been too careless. Otherwise, with his many powerful subordinates, even if Zhang Ruochen and Red Desire Star Envoy joined forces, how could they possibly be his match?
"Zhang Ruochen, you truly are like a mirror. Only by clashing with you have I truly discovered how many weaknesses I possess." Di Yi laughed instead of becoming angry.
Zhang Ruochen said, "It's not too late to realize, but it's too late."
"Not too late, not too late." Di Yi shook his head.
There was no trace of panic or anger on his face, giving one a feeling of returning to simplicity.
"Oh? Do you think you can still escape?" Zhang Ruochen said.
"Aren't you curious why I fled toward the direction of the Fallen God Mountain Range instead of toward the Evil Emperor City?" Di Yi asked in return.
"Why?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Di Yi smiled, raising his head to look toward the Fallen God Mountain Range.
There, a crimson fire cloud at the edge of the sky was flying over rapidly. Faintly, countless golden shadows could be seen moving within the cloud, making "cawing" sounds.
Zhang Ruochen activated his Heavenly Eye, focusing his mind to look. That flying fire cloud turned out to be thousands of Red Blazing Crows.
Red Blazing Crows were third-rank upper-level Barbarian Beasts, possessing the bloodline of the ancient divine bird "Golden Crow," with strength comparable to Earth Extreme Realm Great Perfection martial artists.
Since the establishment of the First Central Empire, the imperial court had begun large-scale sieges against Barbarian Beasts. The Barbarian Beasts of the entire Kunlun Realm had long since gone into hiding. The appearance of thousands of Red Blazing Crows at once was a rather rare spectacle.
Among the crow flock was a Red Blazing Crow King, its body enormous, radiating blazing flames, just like the legendary Golden Crow.
Looking from afar, the Red Blazing Crow King was like a blazing sun within the crimson clouds, erupting with astonishing power.
"Caw, caw!"
The crow flock flew to the sky above Zhang Ruochen and Di Yi, then swooped down, circling around them, turning the land within a hundred li into a domain of flames.