The Blood Wasp Ashuran King stood with his back against the mountain, holding his sword to push back the Azuresky Pagoda while earthworm-like dense patterns squirmed on his sacred armor.
The sacred armor had neutralized half of the supreme power.
“Impossible! Even the supreme artifact can’t kill him?” Butcher was in disbelief.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King roared and a tall and burly Supreme-Saint War Soul lunged out of his body.
The mountain behind the Blood Wasp Ashuran King exploded into gravel and dust in the air when his power overloaded it.
It was common to see cultivators make the souls of vicious beasts their War Souls.
Zhang Ruochen was one of them. He possessed thirteen dragon souls and thirteen elephant souls in his body.
However, it was rare for a Supreme-Saint cultivator to make another Supreme Saint’s Saint Soul his War Soul. This was as difficult as killing a Supreme Saint.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King apparently still could not hold a candle to Supreme Saints.
But his physical strength and willpower far surpassed that of Precept-Domain cultivators.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King broke free from the Azuresky Pagoda’s suppression with the help of the Supreme-Saint War Soul. He lunged up and over the Azuresky Pagoda and charged at Zhang Ruochen and others.
He knew very well that he could not fight the Azuresky Pagoda, and that their vulnerabilities were themselves.
“We have got to stop him!”
Zhang Ruochen took out a stack of talismans and held them in his hand as he directed the Azuresky Pagoda, readying to launch a second attack.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King could withstand a round of attack, but might not hold up against ten.
Fairy Tianchu’s Saint Qi formed into a white divine river and flowed into that jade stele in the air, making the semicircular light shield even brighter.
“Sword of Slaughter: Cross Slash!”
“Crush it!”
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King waved the sword in his hand, summoning the original divine power in the sword to combine with Sword of Slaughter to perform a Cross Seal.
The semicircular light shield broke apart and the jade stele pulverized.
“It is coming. What are we going to do?” Butcher looked over at Zhang Ruochen.
The few cultivators from the Tianchu Civilization looked upon Zhang Ruochen as their leader unconsciously.
“Drifter and Wayfarer are standing in our way. We couldn’t possibly get out of the blood fog soon enough. The only way forward is to take the Blood Wasp Ashuran King head-on,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“Damn those two bastards! I swear I will cut them into pieces later!” said Butcher in anger.
“Don’t let the Blood Wasp Ashuran King come near. Otherwise, none of us could withstand his sword attack.”
Zhang Ruochen’s face looked grave. He cast out all the talismans from his hand in a saturation attack.
“Do you really think you can stop me by performing the same trick the second time?” said the Blood Wasp Ashuran King.
He and the sword in his hand became one as he broke through the attack range of the shattered talismans, coming within a hundred feet from Zhang Ruochen and others.
“Eat this!”
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King made his first sword strike at Zhang Ruochen.
Since the Azuresky Pagoda was a distance away, no way Zhang Ruochen could use it against the Blood Wasp Ashuran King. He quickly gathered the Saint Qi in his left leg.
Flames bursting out of his left leg released a searing heatwave.
Before Zhang Ruochen could make his move, a beautiful figure flew up and stood in front of him. She was none other than Fairy Tianchu. She was graceful even looking from behind, her dark long hair fluttering in the air, her curvy body alluring.
Not that Zhang Ruochen was looking at her from behind for the first time.
But at this moment, he found himself gazing at her in the little world of his own.
“She…” His eyes seemed a little unfocused right now.
Fairy Tianchu performed an Orchid Finger, and her vertical eyes opened. Her pupils were gleaming with brilliant starlight as if the inside was a vast starry sky.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King found the scene disappeared before him as he had entered a world of a starry sky.
As a colorful nebula rapidly spun and turned into a vortex, a beam of light shot out from the center of the nebula and hit him.
He fell backward and crashed to the ground several miles away.
Blood was dripping out of Fairy Tianchu’s vertical eyes. She closed her eyes, her beautiful face pale and her body shivering.
That strike she made earlier had cost her a lot of vitality.
Zhang Ruochen found himself becoming furious. Summoning the power of Yanshen’s Leg, he leaped forward and approached the Blood Wasp Ashuran King from above.
Looking up, the Blood Wasp Ashuran King saw a cloud of fire coming down with a giant foot.
“Supreme-Saint War Soul!”
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King planted the sword in the ground and summoned the Supreme-Saint War Soul, lunging up with his hands striking upward.
Yanshen’s Leg crushed him back down into the ground. His black wings were scorched, and his sacred armor turned red hot.
He had suffered injuries when he fought with Fairy Tianchu earlier.
Now that Zhang Ruochen had struck him with Yanshen’s Leg in full force, his injuries became worse with blood spurting out of his mouth.
Yet, shockingly, he still did not buckle but pushed up against Yanshen’s Leg with his arms.
As the power of Yanshen’s Leg subsided, he roared. “Go to hell!”
Zhang Ruochen felt powerful energy traveled up his leg, forcing him to fall back. The bones in his leg crackled as if they were falling apart.
There is still a vast cultivation gap between us. Even Yanshen’s Leg was useless against him. Zhang Ruochen forced a smile.
Drifter and Wayfarer looked on from afar in astonishment.
“Zhang Ruochen… He has hurt the Blood Wasp Ashuran King. Is he really just an Eight-Step Saint King?”
“No way. The Blood Wasp Ashuran King could easily crush a Precept-Domain cultivator. An Eight-Step Saint King couldn’t have hurt him.”
Right then, Mr. Godcliff descended from the air and landed in front of Drifter and Wayfarer.
Seeing Mr. Godcliff there, Drifter and Wayfarer were delighted. They were not as worried as before.
“Good to you see you, Mr. Godcliff.”
Drifter and Wayfarer cupped their hands as a sign of respect.
With his hands on his back, Mr. Godcliff looked into the distance and laughed. “So much for the notorious Blood Wasp Ashuran King. Even a little kid from the Celestial Court is putting you to shame. If news of this battle leaks out, I am afraid your reputation will go down the drain.”
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King looked bitter. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at Mr. Godcliff with a never-before-seen wary expression.
He was not in a hurry to make his move. “Look who has come! Mr. Godcliff is here in Luoshui. What a surprise! If you are making me your target, you had better perish the thought.”
Mr. Godcliff had still not fully recovered from his injuries yet. So he did not want to provoke a formidable rival like the Blood Wasp Ashuran King now. “You may leave now.”
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King knew better than to fight a two-front battle with an array master and Zhang Ruochen at the same time. So he picked up his sword and retreated into the blood fog.
They all may be cultivators from the Celestial Court. But by the looks of them, there must be bad blood between them. Let them fight, and once one of them kills the other, it is still not too late for me to make my move.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King was eyeing Zhang Ruochen’s supreme artifact and Fairy Tianchu; he would not want to leave empty-handed.
Mr. Godcliff shifted his attention to Zhang Ruochen and Fairy Tianchu, his smile fading, replaced by a grim expression. “You shouldn’t have gotten so close to Zhang Ruochen, Fairy. Less so against me. Did you ever imagine what your fate would be today when you made your move in Eastern Region Holy City?”
Fairy Tianchu looked pale, but she was principled and stubborn. “Who knows how the end will turn out today?”
“If you all think of relying on the supreme artifact to get away from me, you are sorely underestimating what an array master could do,” said Mr. Godcliff.
Zhang Ruochen sniffed; there was a faint floral scent in the air.
Has she arrived?
There was a sense of delight in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes.
Mr. Godcliff’s spiritual power was higher than every other cultivator at the scene. He had also sensed it, and he spun around and looked.
Flowers bloomed on the barren earth as a beautiful shadow exuding an otherworldly aura emerged from the horizon.
“Ji Fanxin, Fairy of a Hundred Flowers,” said Drifter.
“How come she is here in Luoshui, too?” said Wayfarer.
Mr. Godcliff frowned. But he quickly eased up and looked at Ji Fanxin with a smile. “I have been hearing about you, Fairy of a Thousand Flowers. I wonder what makes you come to Warsoul Star, Fairy?”
“I am not interested in you. I just want to earn some merits in Warsoul Star.” Ji Fanxin pressed her lips together.
Mr. Godcliff seemed to have guessed her intention. “Are you trying to kill the Blood Wasp Ashuran King, the mortal malady of the Celestial Court? Don’t say I didn’t warn you; the Blood Wasp Ashuran King is too powerful for you, Fairy. Why don’t we work together?”
What Mr. Godcliff did not know was, Ji Fanxin had been hiding her true capability all this while, making him think that she was just another talented cultivator of the Path with a strength no higher than of the Precept-Domain cultivators.
“What’s your suggestion?” Ji Fanxin was getting closer.
“I will help you get rid of the Blood Wasp Ashuran King as long as you look the other way, pretending to see nothing today. You can exchange many merits with the Blood Wasp Ashuran King’s head, Fairy,” said Mr. Godcliff to her through telepathy.
Mr. Godcliff’s target was to get rid of Zhang Ruochen and Fairy Tianchu to avenge what they had done to him in the Eastern Region Holy City.
So he had to silence the Blood Wasp Ashuran King by killing him.
He did not want to kill Ji Fanxin because if two fairies of the Portrait of the Nine Beauties died on Warsoul Star at the same time, it would draw too much attention.
By then, the Celestial Palace would surely investigate the matter.
If they found something, not even an array master like Mr. Godcliff could escape death.
However, if he could drag Ji Fanxin into this, using her as a witness to testify that it was the Blood Wasp Ashuran King who killed Fairy Tianchu and the others, it would free him from all suspicions.
There was a faint smile on Ji Fanxin’s face. “I appreciate that, Mr. Godcliff. But I already have an ally. Unfortunately, this ally of mine is also your enemy.”
