Chapter 1918: Arriving in the Northern Region
An unknown location in the Northern Region.
A layer of violent ripples formed in the void before it broke up to form a gigantic dimensional vortex, readying to swallow things in it.
As Zhang Ruochen, Ji Fanxin, and Xiang Chunan emerged, the dimensional vortex caught them.
“No good!”
Xiang Chunan was shocked.
In that split second, Zhang Ruochen grabbed Ji Fanxin in one hand and Xiang Chunan in the other.
Only a Scion of Time and s.p.a.ce like him could perform a countermove inside a dimensional vortex.
He stabilized his posture and immediately performed a Dimensional s.h.i.+ft.
Just at that moment, a dimensional blade struck at where the three of them were.
If Zhang Ruochen were a second slower, they would have been killed instantly.
They re-emerged out of thin air ten yards away from the dimensional vortex.
A ten-yard s.h.i.+ft was the limit considering the suction force of the dimensional vortex.
They did not stop there but moved at high speed, trying to pull further away from the dimensional vortex. They did not want to be sucked into it again.
“Where is Brother Luo Yi?”
Xiang Chunan looked worried.
The four of them were performing teleportation at the same time. But why Luo Yi was not with them?
Just then, Luo Yi emerged.
Like the three of them, Luo Yi was trapped inside the dimensional vortex.
“Brother, help Brother Luo Yi!” Xiang Chunan called out anxiously.
At that time, Zhang Ruochen had lunged into the dimensional vortex.
He appeared before Luo Yi and grabbed him.
The force of the dimensional vortex was stronger before. It was not easy to perform another Dimension s.h.i.+ft to get out.
Zhang Ruochen quickly took out the Secret Tome of Time and s.p.a.ce to freeze the dimension. Using the power of the Secret Tome of Time and s.p.a.ce, he brought Luo Yi out before the dimensional vortex collapsed.
“Phew!”
Xiang Chunan let out a sigh of relief as Zhang Ruochen and Luo Yi descended from the air.
It was a close call. All of them nearly could not get away.
“Previous teleportations have been very stable, so why is it so perilous this time?” asked Ji Fanxin with a frown.
Starting from the Sword Vault Palace, they had performed six teleportations, and this was the last one. At first, they thought that they could reach the vicinity of Xianji Mountain. They did not expect to encounter such serious trouble and be almost wiped out.
“I have no idea. Probably there is some problem in this area. I have checked; this dimension is chaotic, extremely unstable.” Zhang Ruochen shook his head.
“No matter what the cause is, it is good enough that we are still alive. it scared the h.e.l.l out of me.”
Xiang Chunan patted his chest, still looking in nervous apprehension.
“Fear not. I have this handled. Let me check to see where we are now.” Zhang Ruochen smiled.
Ji Fanxin faded into a beam of white light as she flew into the air above the clouds. She quickly found out the exact direction as she probed with her spiritual power.
“Follow me,” she said.
“Let’s go. Fairy has probably found something with her powerful spiritual power.”
Zhang Ruochen took out a black altar and fired it up.
The three of them drove the altar to catch up with Ji Fanxin.
“Brother Zhang, thank you for saving my life.” On the altar, Luo Yi cupped his hands with a smile.
“Think nothing of it,” said Zhang Ruochen.
Luo Yi did not feel awkward when Zhang Ruochen did not want to talk. She took out a dark-green gourd bottle. “I have some wonderful wine that I took from a Nine-Step Saint King of the Infernal Court. Would you like to have some, Brother Zhang?”
While speaking, he pulled out the stopper and gulped a mouthful.
He did not care if Zhang Ruochen would drink; he just threw the gourd bottle to him.
Zhang Ruochen caught the gourd bottle in his hand and gave Luo Yi a long, hard look. Luo Yi just returned a smile and a nod.
“Well, since Brother Luo Yi has got a wine, I will give it a shot.”
Zhang Ruochen was wary of Luo Yi. But he was not worried that the wine was spiked. So he took a mouthful.
“It is an excellent wine indeed,” said Zhang Ruochen.
Luo Yi suddenly reached to wrap his arm around Zhang Ruochen’s shoulder. “Where are we heading on this Northern Region trip, Brother Zhang? Tell me so I know what to expect.”
“Xianji Mountain.”
Zhang Ruochen was a little uncomfortable. He shot a glare at Luo Yi, telling him to take off his hand.
Instead of letting off, Luo Yi curled his arm around Zhang Ruochen’s neck, manly, as if they were brothers-in-arms. “Xianji Mountain? What are we going to do there? Join the War of Merit?”
The Kunlun Realm, an eternal macroworld with a vast territory, had many world’s fissures in existence after the late ancient divine war.
Each world’s fissure was a pa.s.sage from where the Infernal Court could invade the Kunlun Realm.
There was a large world fissure in Xianji Mountain too. At one end of the fissure was the territory of the Infernal Court’s Deathkin. Facing the onslaught of the Deathkin army, the Battlefield of Merits had become extremely brutal.
The territory had become a dead place in just a short time. Death engulfed the land; all lives were extinct.
“I want to get something in Xianji Mountain. You will know when we get there.” Zhang Ruochen did not want to reveal too much.
Luo Yi and Zhang Ruochen were in close proximity. Their noses almost touched each other when Zhang Ruochen turned his head around.
Luo Yi’s face looked feminine and comely, with no hint of masculinity.
More importantly, Zhang Ruochen had smelled what might seem to be the faint fragrance of a female on Luo Yi’s body.
Besides, he also noticed the strange expression in Luo Yi’s eyes; the way Luo Yi looked at him was different from how he looked at others.
They were inches apart.
When their eyes met, time seemed to especially come to a standstill.
Next second, a sense of disgust rose within Zhang Ruochen. How he wished he could smack Luo Yi away.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen and Luo Yi holding each other intimately, Xiang Chunan could not help but nod. “Good brothers. We are all good brothers.
“Take your hand off me, and keep away from me,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“Why?”
“Take your hand off me.”
Zhang Ruochen had clenched his hands into fists with his eyes closed.
“Not fun.”
Luo Yi pulled back his hand, shaking his head as he walked to the other side of the altar.
They finally stopped after two hours of flight.
It was nightfall.
A city appeared in sight up ahead. The towering city wall went on for hundreds of miles, but most of it had collapsed. It was almost a ruin.
The air of death filled the place; there was not a hint of life.
“Linyang City.”
Zhang Ruochen gazed at the plaque above the city gate.
When he saw the words on the plaque, he finally knew their locations.
Linyang City was a county city in Linyang County. It used to be a bustling metropolis with thousands of citizens, and it was 60,000 miles from Xianji Mountain, not that far.
It was because of this reason that when the seal at Xianji Mountain broke, an army of Deathkin invaded the Kunlun Realm. Linyang City suffered terribly and became what it was today.
Zhang Ruochen had a deep impression of this city. He received news at the Main Courier Station of Merit a few days ago that Pei Yutian had attacked Linyang City and single-handedly taken down the entire city.
However, the Deathkin were too strong for him. Pei Yutian was badly wounded when he fled. Pursued by the Deathkin, he fell down the Cliff of Doom.
Zhang Ruochen could sense powerful energy still lingering in the city. The evil air of death was too strong to ignore.
“I will pick up what Pei Yutian has not finished.” Zhang Ruochen had a murderous look in his eyes.
Anger rose within him when the image of thousands of Linyang City’s residents being killed by the Deathkin came to mind.
Zhang Ruochen rose to the air above Linyang City.
He performed a Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike. A red dragon flew out with an ear-shattering roar. It broke up the evil air of death surrounding the city before flying into the city.
Boom!
The earth shook, and the half-sunken Linyang City collapsed completely before sinking into the ground. Around the sinkhole were cracks of hundreds of miles long in the earth. It was a shocking sight.
Roar!
Amid an angry roar, five evil air of death lunged out of the ground.
There was a vast number of Deathkin cultivators in Linyang City at first, but when Zhang Ruochen struck with his palm, only a few survived.
The surviving five Deathkin elites were of the powerful Precept Domain. One of them was in the Heaven’s Reach realm.
“It seems that the Celestial Court cultivators have no fear of death. Since all of you have come, I will make sure that no one will get to leave,” said the Heaven’s Reach elite.
He was the one commanding the Deathkin army in the city.
When Pei Yutian attacked the city a few days ago, his army suffered a heavy loss.
He did not expect that someone else would come today. This someone, more brutal than Pei Yutian, had just performed a move and wiped out his entire army.
“Because I am here to kill all of you,” said Zhang Ruochen bitterly.
“You have got a death wis.h.!.+”
The Heaven’s Reach elite roared in anger as he struck out a skeleton hand.
The skeleton hand soared against the headwind, and his evil air of death formed gaseous skeleton dragons. The sky turned dark as horrifying energy crashed down from above.
Zhang Ruochen struck his palm out with a hiss.
He had summoned the Precepts of Truth, and his palm was eight times more powerful.
The evil air of death broke up, and the skeleton hand was sent flying backward.
The skeleton hand shattered into pieces of Saint Bones and flew across the air in all directions.
“What the h.e.l.l? My Six-Radiance Thousand-Inscription sacred artifact could not even withstand his palm!”
Shocked, the Heaven’s Reach elite retreated.
Following immediately, he felt a mighty spiritual power engulf him as if there were a thousand shackles locking him up. He found himself immobilized.
The spiritual power came from clouds as a beautiful lady was standing on above with a sea of petals falling from the sky.
“Another elite fighter!”
The Heaven’s Reach elite took a deep breath and broke away from the spiritual power suppression. “Let’s go up together and kill them all!” he roared.
Four Precept Domain elites made their moves at once when the Heaven’s Reach elite gave his command. They cast out their evil weapons charged with evil air death at Zhang Ruochen in a saturated attack.
However, that Heaven’s Reach elite decided to flee.