Chapter 1960: One Person Against the World
The s.p.a.ce-time barrier formed in an instant, and no one could withdraw from Xianji Mountain in time. All of the 400,000 Celestial Court troops and close to 200,000 Deathkin troops were all trapped within the area.
In the shortest period of time, both sides regrouped and were on high alert.
Even Lu Baiming and Ming Gu had stopped fighting, with both retreating to their own camps.
Baaam!!!
In the air, Qi Yang swung the demonic blade with all of his might, splitting the Tortoise Sh.e.l.l Formation Map and the Chaotic Dimension as he broke free. The brilliant blade light appeared before all of the cultivators like a heavenly stream.
“Retract!”
Qi Yang stretched out a giant hand tens of feet long and wanted to take the Tortoise Sh.e.l.l Formation Map, unfortunately for him, the map seemed to have its own consciousness as it submerged underground and disappeared.
Qi Yang frowned and could only give up. His figure flickered and appeared above the Altar of Death as he stood beside Yuanmo Shenzi.
“What happened?” Qi Yang looked up into the sky and felt a force that suffocated him somewhat.
A grim look appeared on Yuanmo Shenzi’s face as he said, “It’s probably a hidden hand left behind by that old monk, Xumi, trapping us in here. This barrier isn’t that simple by the looks of it.”
“A hidden hand left behind by that old monk? What is going on? Where’s Shengku?” Confusion filled Qi Yang’s eyes.
Yuanmo Shenzi said, “It’s very likely. After all, this barrier is made from the power of time and s.p.a.ce. Aside from that old monk, Xumi, who else in Kunlun would have such technique at hand? As for Shengku, he is already dead. He died at the hands of Zhang Ruochen.”
Hearing this, Qi Yang could not help but show a look of surprise and find it hard to believe.
He knew that Zhang Ruochen was the Scion of Time and s.p.a.ce and he had many techniques up his sleeve. However, with Zhang Ruochen’s current cultivation strength, how could he kill Shengku?
The difference in their cultivation bases was heaven and earth.
Whoos.h.!.+
At this very moment, two figures rushed out from the gloomy underground. They were Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin.
Ji Fanxin held the Tortoise Sh.e.l.l Formation Map in her hand, and she was clearly the one who had retrieved the map earlier.
Zhen Yuan transformed into a blue light stream and flew to Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin’s side. Opening his mouth, he asked, “Junior Brother Zhang, what is this barrier?”
A smile appeared on Zhang Ruochen’s face, and he said, “Senior Brother Zhen, don’t worry. I’ve created this barrier using Saint Monk Xumi’s divine powers in order to trap the Deathkin.”
Zhang Ruochen then sent him a telepathic message in secret. “Next, I will use some special means to deal with the Deathkin. To avoid friendly fire, I hope you will pull the Celestial Court army out of Xianji Mountain, Senior Brother Zhen.”
“How confident are you?” Zhen Yuan sent another telepathic message back, clearly feeling a little uneasy.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the Altar of Death in the distance as a confident smile appeared on his face and telepathically replied, “Senior Brother Zhang, don’t you worry. If I don’t have absolute confidence, how would I dare to go and challenge the Deathkin alone?”
It was a swagger of someone high and mighty!
It was reminiscent of how Saint Monk Xumi sat among the stars in the past, looking down at the G.o.ds. Although he was but one person, he gave off the aura of a person who could make the G.o.ds kneel before him.
Zhen Yuan stared deeply at Zhang Ruochen and said nothing else. He immediately sent word for the Celestial Court army to withdraw.
A moment later, the Celestial Court army was back in their wars.h.i.+ps.
Even Bi Yunhai followed Zhen Yuan onto the wars.h.i.+p. His eyes were fixed on Zhang Ruochen as he broke into a derisive smile. “You’re really full of yourself; you think you can destroy the Deathkin Army just by borrowing Saint Monk Xumi’s remaining power? Once you die, no one will even come to collect your corpse.”
Zhang Ruochen only gave Bi Yunhai an indifferent look and did not pay any attention to him. While Bi Yunhai was very strong, he was not so strong that Zhang Ruochen feared him. Therefore, he naturally could not be bothered to argue with him.
The future achievements of a person with such a wicked heart would for sure be limited.
On the Altar of Death, the Deathkin elites all had confused looks. They wondered what the Celestial Court cultivators were up to.
Pan Ruo noticed something wrong and said, “No, they plan to leave. Stop them!”
Yuanmo Shenzi and Qi Yang were also elites who had experienced countless battles, and they too noticed something was amiss and immediately attacked.
Yuanmo Shenzi’s arms met as a series of demonic dragon-like air streams rushed out of his body. They proceeded to interweave into a vast demonic cloud above his head.
He struck his palm out, and a demonic handprint that was thousands of feet long flew out.
Qi Yang waved his Blood-drinking Demonic Saber and slashed out a three-hundred-mile-long blade light. In its wake was a shrill cry of the blade as if the world were being sliced apart.
“What terrifying power.”
Zhang Ruochen immediately activated the Secret Tome of s.p.a.ce and Time to open a dimensional tunnel that connected directly to the outside of Xianji Mountain.
Whoos.h.!.+
All of the Celestial Court wars.h.i.+ps took to the air instantly and left the area through the dimensional tunnel, appearing thousands of miles away.
The ones who remained were only Ji Fanxin, Feng Yan, Xiang Chunan, Pei Yutian, and the Evil Spirit. Unlike others, they would always advance and retreat with Zhang Ruochen at a moment’s notice. They did not want to leave at all, and nothing could convince them to do so.
Zhang Ruochen used the Secret Tome of s.p.a.ce and Time to envelop them as he used the Greater Dimensional s.h.i.+ft.
The moment they disappeared, Yuanmo Shenzi, as well as Qi Yang’s attacks, swept past and bombarded the s.p.a.ce-time barrier. The impact caused countless layers of ripples to appear as if it was a water curtain.
On the Altar of Death, Yuanmo Shenzi hissed coldly. “Zhang Ruochen, so it was you all along. Have you planned all this? I did not expect you to have such things so well hidden, as expected of old monk Xumi’s heir.”
Zhang Ruochen held the Secret Tome of s.p.a.ce and Time in one hand and kept his other hand behind him as he stepped on the scorched earth. He walked toward the Altar of Death step by step while he said, “I’ll give you lot one last chance. Withdraw from the Kunlun Realm, and I will spare your lives.”
As he said this, his eyes were affixed on Pan Ruo.
However, what came in response to that was a burst of laughter, as if laughing at his ignorance and hubris.
“Zhang Ruochen, have you even figured out what situation you’re in? Do you really think that you can deal with our Deathkin army with an incomplete s.p.a.ce-time barrier? Even Xuanyuan Liekong isn’t as crazy as you,” Yuanmo Shenzi sneered.
Qi Yang’s finger gently tapped his nose as he laughed. “Looks like someone is overconfident here! What’s that saying again… He’s too full of himself!”
Qi Yang and Yuanmo Shenzi were both top ten Deathkin elites beneath a Supreme Saint. They were existences that could challenge a Supreme Saint, and Zhang Ruochen was no different than an ant in their eyes.
They were not the only ones who felt that Zhang Ruochen had a death wish, even the Celestial Court army that had withdrawn from Xianji Mountain thought the same.
Feng Wuxing frowned deeply as he stared at Zhen Yuan, bitterly saying, “Brother Zhen Yuan, is Zhang Ruochen trapped on Xianji Mountain in order to allow us to retreat?”
Looking into the distance, Zhang Ruochen was facing off against hundreds of thousands of Deathkin troops alone, and the scene was just too tragic.
Although Zhen Yuan had full confidence in Zhang Ruochen, how could a single person fight against so many Deathkin elites? However, as a Scion of Time and s.p.a.ce, it won’t be too difficult for Zhang Ruochen to retreat.
“Hahaha, I’ll go and deal with this arrogant lunatic!”
A pair of grey wings on Chixing Shenzi’s back spread open and expanded into two death clouds as he flew out of the altar.
With a distance of a dozen of miles, Chixing Shenzi punched out, and a deafening airburst thundered as countless grey lightning appeared, presenting a very bizarre scene in the sky.
“The Skyshatter Bane Fist is a fist technique that’s comparable to a high-level Saint Art, and its power is limitless. By virtue of this fist technique, Chixing Shenzi has fought a Neverwither Supreme Saint head-on for twelve exchanges before vomiting blood and losing.”
“It’s over. With Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation, once the Skyshatter Bane Fist locks on him, he will die for sure.”
…
Even Pan Ruo, who was standing on the Altar of Death, both her eyes were locked onto Zhang Ruochen. Before the Skyshatter Bane Fist, Zhang Ruochen appeared extremely fragile and miniscule, as if he would be turned into ashes in the next moment.
Yet, no one expected the words to come out of Zhang Ruochen’s mouth would simply be, “Courting death.”
Whoos.h.!.+
Zhang Ruochen did not say anything else, and with a wave of his hand, he took out the Xianji Compa.s.s as he infused it with a powerful surge of Saint Qi. That caused the Xianji Compa.s.s to quickly stir back to life.
“The Xianji Compa.s.s!”
The expressions of all of the Deathkin elites could not help but change.
Earlier on, the Xianji Compa.s.s was taken away by a mysterious powerhouse, and no one could find there the person was, so how did the Xianji Compa.s.s now appeared in Zhang Ruochen’s hands instead?
There were only two possibilities in this situation: one was, the powerhouse who took the Xianji Compa.s.s had met Zhang Ruochen.
Second, it was Zhang Ruochen who had s.n.a.t.c.hed the Xianji Compa.s.s for himself. He had disappeared back then, and it was very likely he had gone to pull that off.
No matter what, with the Xianji Compa.s.s now in Zhang Ruochen’s hands, it was not a good thing.
The Xianji Compa.s.s rose by itself and floated before Zhang Ruochen, and as it rotated, it released a very arcane energy.
Suddenly, many ancient formation patterns, hidden deep underground, surfaced. Although they were severely defective, the aura that radiated from them was still very terrifying. It made one’s Saint Soul tremble.
During the ancient days of yore, the Xianji Sect had Arch Array Masters and deployed many powerful formation arrays around Xianji Mountain. Even after a long period of time, despite being destroyed by the Deathkin, some of the powerful formation arrays still remained and were hidden deep in the ground. Only by using the Xianji Mountain could they be activated.
Hummmmm…
The stone blade in Pei Yutian’s hand flew out of the Secret Tome of s.p.a.ce and Time and trembled violently as it spiraled out of control.
The next moment, the stone blade broke free from Pei Yutian’s grip and flew over Zhang Ruochen’s head.
The power of the formations, which were drawn by Zhang Ruochen using the Xianji Compa.s.s, all converged toward the stone blade. The power was so ma.s.sive that an ordinary sacred artifact simply could not bear its might.
The stone blade continued to vibrate as lines and patterns appeared on its surface. It perfectly linked with the mountains and the rivers of the Northern Region.
At this moment, the stone blade was revived just like when it was at the bottom of the Cliff of Doom, as it drew upon the power of the entire Northern Region.
A vast power of heaven and earth pa.s.sed through the s.p.a.ce-time barrier and merged into the stone blade.
For a time, lightning and thunder roared across the entire Northern Region as various terrifying visions appeared, and the commotion caused was even larger than the one at the bottom of the Cliff of Doom.
With just a slash, it tore the Skyshatter Bane Fist as if it were cutting through air.
“Impossible… This power…”
Chixing Shenzi’s expression changed drastically as he felt a power even more terrifying than a Supreme Saint surrounding Zhang Ruochen. At this moment, Zhang Ruochen was like the G.o.d of Xianji Mountain, and that struck extreme fear in him.
Chixing Shenzi immediately flapped his wings as he tried to escape.
“Too late to escape now!”
Zhang Ruochen pointed his finger, and the stone blade slashed out again.
Schiiing!!
The blade rent Chixing Shenzi into two.
The power contained inside the blade was so devastating that Chixing Shenzi’s corpse shattered after it was struck, being reduced into two blobs of chilling death fog.
The two blade strikes were too awe-inspiring and too devastating, so much so that they shocked the Deathkin and Celestial Court cultivators to the point of being speechless.
Some of the cultivators had their souls shocked to the point of trembling, and they almost fell to their knees in wors.h.i.+p of Zhang Ruochen. At that moment, Zhang Ruochen was like a Sword Divine that had descended upon the world.
Holding the Xianji Compa.s.s in his hand, the world trembled along with every step Zhang Ruochen took.
“Activate the Altar of Death.”
Yuanmo Shenzi dared not underestimate Zhang Ruochen anymore, and he roared menacingly. Immediately after, he continuously poured all of his strength into the Altar of Death.
He was not the only one; all of the Deathkin elites standing on the Altar of Death were doing the same thing.
Everyone could see that Zhang Ruochen was almost invincible now, and only by joining hands and breaking through the s.p.a.ce-time barrier would they have a chance to survive today.
The power of the Altar of Death was pushed to its limits as a gloomy light rushed into the sky and trying to break through the s.p.a.ce-time barrier.
The Deathkin had originally intended to let the Altar of Death draw enough power and use it to unleash an annihilation maneuver to break the dimensional barrier between the star region they were in and the Kunlun Realm. That would allow the Deathkin army to march in directly and swiftly to conquer the Northern Region.
They never expected that it would ultimately be used to resist Zhang Ruochen, their accursed nemesis.
“Shatter!”
Yuanmo Shenzi roared violently, as he empowered the Altar of Death with all of his might.
As long as they break the s.p.a.ce-time barrier, Zhang Ruochen and the other Celestial Court elites were not to be feared.
Even though the s.p.a.ce-time barrier was related to Saint Monk Xumi, the Saint Monk had fallen so many years ago. How much divine power could be left?
With the arcane powers of the Altar of Death, it was not impossible to rip the barrier open.
“You won’t escape!”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes were cold and teeming with murderous intent.
Vooos.h.!.+
The power of the stone blade was pushed to the extreme as it suddenly slashed down at the Altar of Death with a brutal stroke.
A terrifying blade light blasted out, and the dimension became extremely unstable as tiny cracks begin to appear.
Boom!!
The Altar of Death emanated an even more brilliant glow as it tried to ward off the blade light.
Yet, the blade light could cut through everything, and no matter how strong the Altar of Death’s defensive power was, it was like cut through like paper.
Crack!
The moment the blade light made contact, the Altar of Death cracked.
Booom!
Like a thunderclap, the blade light exploded as a destructive force spread out in all directions, totally engulfing the Altar of Death.
With the Altar of Death as the center, a large plate of Xianji Mountain ruptured, and similar to a major earthquake, it was beyond anyone’s ability to stop.
A series of cyan brilliance emerged from the gloomy underground, protecting the Blue Temple.
A moment later, the Altar of Death completely shattered and was reduced to billowing ashes.
Not only was the Altar of Death reduced to ashes and wiped out without a trace, but even the dozens of top elites on the altar were all gone. Nothing was left of them.
The Deathkin elites on the Altar of Death were all extremely powerful, and at least a dozen of them had reached the Heaven’s Reach realm.
Seeing this, Xiang Chunan’s eyes could not help but pop out as he said in shock, “b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, this is just too d.a.m.n terrifying, no? So many Deathkin elites were annihilated just like that. Not even a splatter’s been left behind.”
It now appeared that his previous worries were all completely unnecessary.
“Run!”
Seeing this, the Deathkin army fell into disarray as they routed and fled in all directions.
Even the Shenzis and Shennüs were all annihilated, how could they fight against Zhang Ruochen?
Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly and looked at the location where the gloomy light from Altar of Death had struck.
The moment the stone blade smashed into the Altar of Death, he vaguely felt a slight fluctuation in the s.p.a.ce-time barrier.
Unsurprisingly, at that exact moment, someone likely crossed the barrier and escaped.
It was just that he could not determine how many had escaped and who had escaped.
It was important to note that these Deathkin were really powerful, and in that situation earlier, there were people who had actually escaped.
“A pity, all of the Deathkin elites were completely destroyed without leaving anything behind. That’s so many merit points wasted.” Feng Yan sighed.
Xiang Chunan nodded and said, “Yeah, what a waste. All of the treasures in their possession are also completely busted.”
“There are still many merit points left.” Zhang Ruochen cast his eyes on the fleeing Deathkin.
As he spoke, he once again activated the Xianji Compa.s.s to control the incomplete formations hidden within Xianji Mountain. He had no intentions of letting any of the remaining 200,000 Deathkin troops go.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was about to use the same trick again, Xiang Chunan hurriedly said, “Big Brother, relax a little. Don’t go annihilating all of them. All our efforts will then be in vain!”
Zhang Ruochen responded, “Don’t worry, I know my limits.”
Boom!!
The formation roused to life, and thousands of silver bolts of lightning appeared out of thin air, striking the fleeing Deathkin.
“Arrrghhh!!!”
Screams rang out one after another.
Whoever were struck by the silver lightning, those Deathkin all fell from the air one after another. Many straight-up perished, and some, even when they were not killed outright, were so seriously injured that they lost any ability to fight back.
Some of the Deathkin were very courageous and did not panic as they moved into battle formations and tried to fight Zhang Ruochen.
Sadly for them, there were no top elites among them, and the strongest was only of the Precept Dominion realm. Even with their numbers, they were of no help.
It did not take too long for Xianji Mountain to become quiet. Most of the Deathkin were slain by Zhang Ruochen using the formation. Meanwhile, the rest were dealt with by Feng Yan, Xiang Chunan, and Pei Yutian.
“It’s over!”
Zhang Ruochen exhaled lightly, and then sent the Xianji Compa.s.s deep into the gloomy earth.
With the war ended, the Xianji Compa.s.s was returned to its original owner.
Without stopping even for a moment, Zhang Ruochen and the other six quickly swept through the battlefield and collected their spoils of war.
Everything aside, all of the near 200,000 Deathkin troops were Saints and above. The merit points that could be exchanged were also at least two to three billion points. That was enough for two or three of them to ascend to the Saint King Merit List.
Plus, two to three billion merit points could be exchanged for an even larger amount of precious merit treasures. It was extremely significant.