Seeing Zhang Ruochen being smashed into the ground by Gu Tianyin’s claw, Chi Sheng immediately flashed to Gu Tianyin’s side as he looked at the crater and said, “You, with the Gu name, you sure didn’t hold back. Relax a little, don’t go killing Zhang Ruochen by accident.”
“Ziyan mentioned that we have to take Zhang Ruochen alive and let him see his friends and family die one by one. We need to make him wish that death took him.”
Gu Tianyin ignored Chi Sheng as his eyes twitched. His gaze was fixated on the huge dusty crater.
At this moment, the Imperial Purple Qi was still falling continuously from the air into the crater.
“He’s really tenacious.”
The evil Qi around Gu Tianyin’s body swirled as a sharp light flashed in his eyes.
Immediately, the tall figure behind him struck again, as the sinister claws swiped at the crater a few times.
Seeing this, Chi Sheng’s eyes widened as he exclaimed. “Eh, you, the one named Gu! Are you insane? You’re really going to kill Zhang Ruochen?”
“You absolute dunce, if Zhang Ruochen is so easily killed, Ziyan would not had have us stay behind at Shengming City together.” Gu Tianyin growled.
Chi Sheng snapped. “Who are you calling a dunce? I dare you to repeat that again.”
He had always been hot-tempered and would light up with just a little provocation. Trouble would befall anyone who rubbed him the wrong way.
“Gu Tianyin is right, Zhang Ruochen is a tenacious one. As long as the Imperial Purple Qi does not dissipate, that means he is still alive. Now is not the time for infighting. Take him down first, don’t delay any further.” Feng Gudao said with a slightly grim expression.
Hearing this Chi Sheng could not help but snort coldly and put aside his grievances against Gu Tianyin for the time being as he leapt into the crater.
“RAAAWRRR!”
The Evil Spirit raised its head from the crater, letting out an earth-shaking roar.
Accompanying the roar, an extremely putrid poison flame blasted out.
“B*stard, die!”
Chi Sheng yelled violently and did not dodge the attack and instead took it head on.
The supreme overlord’s aura shook as a terrifiying glint converged on Chi Sheng’s fist as he struck out in an unassailable force.
The line of Bashen cultivates a very special Supreme Overlord’s Aura and was equally powerful in both offense and defense with a particular specialty in melee combat.
Whooosh!
The poison flames spat out by the Evil Spirit were scattered by Chi Sheng’s fist as they dissipated away in all directions.
Whenever something came into contact with the poison flames, be it vegetation or rock and stones, all of them instantly melted, its destructive power terrifying.
BAAAMMM!!!
Chi Sheng’s fist once again hit the Evil Spirit square in the head again.
Naturally, while the divine python corpse was fine, but the Evil Spirit’s soul was subjected to a massive impact and was almost seperated from the body by this punch.
“Zhang Ruochen, I am at my limits. If this continues, my soul will definitely be destroyed.” The Evil Spirit said in a panic.
After suffering repeatedly attacks from Gu Tianyin, and then another two punches from Chi Sheng, its soul was severely damaged, and its synchronization with the divine python corpse had dropped drastically.
The only thing it hated was its saint soul was too weak. If it could return to its former peak state and the divine python corpse, it could simply kill Gu Tianyin and Chi Sheng with just a flick of its tail, and how could it allow itself to suffer being in such a state?
Zhang Ruochen still stood on the Evil Spirit’s head, his body straight and his eyes as sharp as an eagle as a large amount of Imperial Purple Qi swirled around his body.
There were traces of blood at the corner of Zhang Ruochen’s mouth, and he was clearly wounded.
He had to admit that Gu Tianyin’s attack was indeed terrifying. Even the Meritorious Armor of Flowing Light and the divine mark that Yueshen had carved could not completely ward off the attack.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen’s physical body was extremely powerful, and was stronger than the average Supreme Saints. After taking the brunt of the remaining blow, he was only slightly injured.
If it was a person with a weaker body, they would have been ripped to shreds.
Zhang Ruochen did not say a word, but instantly opened the Qiankun Realm and taking the seriously wounded Evil Spirit back into it.
The next moment, an extremely powerful aura erupted from Zhang Ruochen, like a magma erupting from the core of the planet.
Both of his arms shook as a dragon and an elephant flew out, each of them massive, as if they could fill the entire realm with their size.
“Dragon-Elephant Across the Heavens.”
Borrowing the power of the Imperial Purple Qi, Zhang Ruochen roused the might of heaven and earth, as he blasted out the twelfth palm strike of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm.
The Imperial Purple Qi blended into the dragon and the elephant, causing their form to be extremely corporeal, exuding a very oppressive aura as they charged at Gu Tianyin and Chi Sheng.
Seeing this, the faces of Gu Tianyin and Chi Sheng both changed slightly. They did not expect after taking the brunt of their repeated violent attacks, not only Zhang Ruochen was safe and sound, but he had also instead taken the offensive to them.
They could all clearly feel that the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike Zhang Ruochen had just unleashed was extremely powerful as if two real divine dragon and divine elephant were charging at them.
Gu Tianyin quickly mobilized all of the precepts of claw he had cultivated and combined them with the Evil King aspect as two evil claw shadows flew out.
BAAMM!!
The Purple Divine Dragon was torn apart by the claws as both the claws were shattered in the process.
“Break!”
Chi Sheng let out a violent howl.
With just a simple word ‘Break!’, the voice transformed into a terrifying sound wave as it crashed against the Purple Divine Elephant that was flying over like an ancient sacred mountain.
BOOM!!
The Purple Divine Elephant exploded into pieces as the space vibrated violently.
The collision between the two produced a terrifying ripple of power that spread out in all directions.
BOOOMM!
The sacred mountain was hit full on by the shock wave and instantly disintegrated as a surge of saint Qi of heaven and earth gushed out and forming thick layers of clouds.
The dozens of Nine-step Saint Kings released by Feng Gudao all staggered back, some were spitting blood as the formation array, they had formed was instantly destroyed.
Even Gu Tianyin and Chi Sheng all staggered a few steps back before neutralizing all of the impact.
For a moment, the eyes of the two became grimmer as their gazes were affixed on Zhang Ruochen.
Whoosh!
Zhang Ruochen charged out of the crater and flew into the air.
A majestic surge of Imperial Purple Qi descended from the sky and blessed Zhang Ruochen. A five-color halo naturally appeared, making him look like a Supreme Emperor that was revered by all races. He was mighty and unparalleled as he surged in the air, making people want to kneel and worship him.
At the same moment, an even more astounding scenery appeared over Shengming City as a majestic force of heaven and earth roiled as the skies changed.
“RAWWWRRRR!”
For a moment, the sound of dragons and phoenixes rang out.
The power of heaven and earth took the form of dragons, phoenixes, qilins, divine tortoises and the likes as the various auspicious beasts flew and danced in the air, seemingly to guard the Supreme Emperor in Zhang Ruochen.
At the same, countless of auspicious Qi rose from the ground as lights of all kinds of shades descended from the sky, creating an extraordinary scene.
“What’s going on here? Is there mystical treasure inside Shengming City?”
“No, all of this is because of Zhang Ruochen. All of Shengming’s former Imperial Providence had been awakened and were all blessing Zhang Ruochen bit by bit.”
“Kicking up such a commotion, I suppose even the coronation of the previous Emperor Ming was just as loud as this.”
“With the blessing of the Imperial Providence, the situation in the city may very well see a great reversal.”
…
Outside Shengming City, all of the spectating cultivators were startled.
Originally, the vast majority of people were not optimistic about Zhang Ruochen’s chances, feeling that Zhang Ruochen was literally throwing himself into his death by rushing into Shengming City. With the setup Shang Ziyan had arranged, there was no chance for Zhang Ruochen to turn the tide around.
But now, things were obviously turning around, and no one knew how strong Zhang Ruochen, now with the blessing of the Imperial Providence, will be.
Atop Mount Kongyue, a tall and beautiful figure appeared out of thin air. She wore an Elemental Sacred Robe as she radiated an unparalleled nobility; she was the Rakshasha Princess, Luo Sha.
Luo Sha’s eyes were cast on Shengming City as everything happening inside the city were clearly reflected in her eyes.
“To be able to draw upon such powerful Imperial Providence, and facing four top-tier elites alone, as expected of my destined one.” Luo Sha whispered as a strange glint appeared in her eyes.
Without a doubt, Luo Sha was here for Zhang Ruochen. If there was an opportunity, she would strike without hesitation, take Zhang Ruochen down, and bring him back to the Infernal Court.
And once she had brought him to the Infernal Court, she would have ways to make Zhang Ruochen absolutely compliant.
As time passed, the sky gradually darkened.
However, the skies of Shengming were filled with auspicious Qi and rays of light, looking extremely bright.
Feng Gudao, Zi Linglong, Chi Sheng and Gu Tianyin all seperated as they stood in four spots, surrounding Zhang Ruochen in the middle.
Sensing the vast, powerful aura coming from Zhang Ruochen’s body, Feng Gudao’s face was slightly grim as he said. “Zhang Ruochen, Zhang Ruochen, you actually have such a trump card in your hand. We had really underestimated you.”
They simply could not have anticipated such a situation happening.
“Those who dare destroy my Shengming City, kill my people, no matter who it is, there is a price to pay.” Zhang Ruochen looked around and made no secret of his killing intent.
Gu Tianyin smiled wickedly, as he said coldly. “Pay the price? That depends on whether you have the capability.”
“Cut the nonsense, end this quick.” A chilling light appeared in Zi Linglong’s eyes.
The longer this dragged on, the Imperial Providence that is blessing Zhang Ruochen would get even stronger, and the combat situation would be disadvantageous to them.
“Zhang Ruochen, eat this fist!”
Chi Sheng struck first, as a special rhythm was produced by his entire body muscles, and all of his strength was concentrated at the tip of his fist.
At this moment, Chi Sheng was like a raging Overlord Dragon, and his charge was unstoppable, seemingly able to destroy an ancient divine mountain with it.
Zhang Ruochen formed a mudra with his hand as a translucent dragon shadow appeared from his body and merged with himself as both of his hands transformed into two huge dragon claws.
“Luoshui Fist, Thirty-fifth style, Luoshui Dragonform.”
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen was like a real dragon as he rode the wind and broke the waves.
BAAAMMM!!!
The powerful dragon shadow crashed against Chi Sheng.
Even when the dragon shadow shattered in an instant, but the terrible force that it had carried with it shook Chi Sheng so much that he staggered over a dozen steps back.
On the other hand, Zhang Ruochen stood as steady as Mount Taishan.
Zhang Ruochen actually had the upper hand in a head-on confrontation and had surpassed Chi Sheng who was nigh-invincible in melee combat by sheer strength.
Seeing this, a grim look appeared in Feng Gudao, Zi Linglong and Gu Tianyin’s eyes.
If they knew of this, they would have struck together, and not give Zhang Ruochen any chance to resist.
“Again.”
Chi Sheng roared as the momentum of his body climbed quickly.
Nearly 60 million saint path precepts rushed out of Chi Sheng’s body as they resonated with the heaven and earth, trying to draw a large number of precepts of heave and earth in a large area.
It was only through this that he could unleash his strongest attack.
“Hmm?”
Chi Sheng’s expression changed a little as he noticed something was off.
For some reason, it had become extremely difficult for him to mobilizing the precepts of heaven and earth at this very moment.
Even when using all of his strength, he had only managed to mobilize one percent of the precepts of heaven and earth within a thousand-mile radius.
At this moment, Feng Gudao, Zi Linglong and Gu Tianyin also were aware of the anomaly, and could not help but to use their abilties to try to mobilize the precepts of heaven and earth.
In the end, their situation was the same as Chi Sheng, and could manage to only mobilize barely a percent of the precepts of heaven and earth within a thousand-mile radius. The precepts of heaven and earth also appeared unusually dormant and were not active at all as their effect in increasing the potency of a saint art were very diminished.
“No good, it’s the Shengming’s Imperial Providence locking down the precepts of heaven and earth within the city!” Feng Gudao’s expression changed drastically.
The difficulty in mobilizing precepts of heaven and earth was undoubtedly a very bad thing for them.
At the same time, the four could really feel that a surge of precepts of heaven and earth were converging upon Zhang Ruochen, and the one percent that they could mobilize earlier was now completely inert.
“Pull out of Shengming City, now!” Gu Tianyin roared.
How can they fight against Zhang Ruochen while being in a disadvantaged situation?
At this moment, all of the Heavenly Realm faction elites were in full retreat as they wanted to withdraw from Shengming City.
“Dimensional Lockdown.”
Zhang Ruochen stretched a handout and gently tapped on the space before him.
Over 70 thousand precepts of space surged out of Zhang Ruochen’s fingertips and penetrated into the surrounding space.
Suddenly, with Zhang Ruochen as the epicenter, the space with a radius of thousands of miles froze, and the movement of anyone within it was greatly restricted.
“This is bad!”
All of the Heavenly Realm elites’ heart sank, as they sense the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
Their current situation was like being trapped in a Null Dimension, everyone was moving slowly and only Zhang Ruochen was not affected.
With a twitch, Zhang Ruochen appeared not too far away from a Nine-step Saint King.
His right hand formed a palm seal, the scorching flames roared as he struck the seal at the Nine-step Saint King.
With Zhang Ruochen’s current cultivation, the force of his full-powered palm strike was extremely destructive and was not something an ordinary Nine-step Saint King could withstand.
However, the Nine-step Saint King did not dodge, but instead, a sinister smile appeared on his face.
“Sh*t!”
Zhang Ruochen sensed danger as he immediately cancelled his attack as he retreated backwards.
BOOM!
The Nine-step Saint King’s suddenly exploded as an unstoppable surge that could destroy the world was unleashed, and instantly drowning Zhang Ruochen in it.
Who could have imagined that a Nine-step Saint King would self-destruct their saint source so decisively?
Those who have reached the realm of a Nine-step Saint King are those with potential to attain Supreme Sainthood; choosing self-destruction meant total annihilation of body and soul. Even in the face of death, those who would blow themselves up were extremely rare.
The Dimensional Lockdown was unraveled in an instant as a terrifying power rippled outward, resonating with the space as it rapidly spread out in all directions, and was unstoppable.
The already collapsed sacred mountain was the first to bear the brunt once again as its disintegrated in its entirety, and even the sacred stones hidden inside the mountain quickly melted away like snow under the sun.
A vicious look appeared in Feng Gudao’s eyes. The reason why this Nine-step Saint King blew himself up was because of his control.
Without a doubt, he had grasped the timing extremely well, and did not give Zhang Ruochen any chance to react.
The power of a Nine-step Saint King blowing himself up was just too terrifying, and even if Feng Gudao had secretly informed, some still did not have the time to defend against it.
“ARRRGGHHHH!!!”
The Heavenly Realm faction cultivators were affected by the blast as baleful screams rang out.
“What happened?”
Sensing the huge commotion inside the city, the cultivators outside the city were all startled.
“It’s a Nine-step Saint King blowing his saint source up, and Zhang Ruochen was right at the epicenter of the explosiuon.” An elite standing in midair said.
His eyesight was extraordinary, and even at such a distance, he could clearly see what was going on in Shengming City.
Hearing this, many cultivators could not help but to show a look of shock. It was totally beyond their anticipation that a Nine-step Saint King would choose to blow his saint source up.
“Has Zhang Ruochen been killed by that Nine-step Saint King’s self-destruction?”
Many of the cultivators guessed in their hearts, wishing they could rush into the city to find out.
At this moment, a massive crater hundreds of miles in diameter appeared inside Shengming City, as if it had been struck by a meteorite.
The Heavenly Realm cultivators were only on the city’s periphery, and had known of the self-destruction ahead of time, yet there were three Nine-step Saint Kings that could not dodge in time and perished, with a few wounded by the blast.
The power of a Nine-step Saint King self-destructing was simply just terrifying.
The eyes of countless of cultivators were all cast to the epicenter of the explosion.
The reasn was naturally to see if Zhang Ruochen was alive or dead.
“Huh? Where’s Zhang Ruochen?”
Seeing the epicenter of the explosion was empty, Feng Gudao and the others could not help but frowned.
