Chapter 2061: The Storm Is Not Over Yet
Sensing the murderous energy emanating from Zhang Ruochen’s body, Zhou Yu and Mosheng gritted their teeth. They exchanged a look with each other spontaneously and agreed in unison. “Okay, I’ll bet with you.”
Both Zhou Yu and Mosheng were extremely confident of their abilities. They would never be afraid of Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen restrained his murderous energy and broke into a faint smile. “Very good. A smart choice. To ensure that you will abide by the agreement, I hope that you two make an oath in the name of the immortals. Rest a.s.sured I will also take an oath.”
When it came to the Canon of Truth, no one could guarantee that Zhou Yu and Mosheng would not pull a trick on him. So he couldn’t be more careful.
However reluctant they were, they could not say no and had to do what Zhang Ruochen told them as Zhang Ruochen had got them by the b.a.l.l.s.
But they were not really at a disadvantage either. If they won, they could get away; and if they lost, they would give up the Canon of Truth voluntarily. It was a fair deal.
“Are you sure you want to bet against them, Zhang Ruochen? If you lose, you will have to let them go. Then what about Yueshen?” said Blackie through telepathy.
Since it was a gambit battle, there would be risks, certainly. He had to expect the worst.
“Yeah, I did say I would let them go if they won. But I never said when,” said Zhang Ruochen, also through telepathy.
“Ahh! I get it. That’s a clever trick of yours. It seems that no matter what the outcome is, Heavenly Realm faction will inevitably pay a heavy price.” Blackie nearly burst into laughter.
Not long after, Zhang Ruochen, together with Zhou Yu and Mosheng, made a divine vow to include the rules of the gambit battle.
In this gambit battle, they only competed in hand-to-hand combat. No use of Precepts, weapons, and saint techniques. It just depended on who was stronger physically.
In fact, Zhang Ruochen was at a disadvantage in this gambit battle. He was two levels below Zhou Yu and Mosheng in terms of cultivation base, and both two levels involved the bodily strengthening.
Heaven’s Reach and Path’s Anterior was about drawing the energy of heaven and earth into the body, strengthening the body, and even making a part of the body immortal.
Both Zhou Yu and Mosheng were not ordinary Path’s Anterior cultivators. They surely wanted to forge the strongest immortal saint body. So they must have strengthened their physical bodies to be extremely powerful now.
Given the same realm, there should be few people physically stronger than them.
But Zhang Ruochen still insisted on fighting them in the flesh. He considered it a challenge to hone his physique through fighting Zhou Yu and Mosheng and to prepare himself for Heaven’s Reach.
“Which of you two will come first?” asked Zhang Ruochen.
“I will.” A grim light flashed in Mosheng’s eyes.
Zhang Ruochen flipped his hand. An Exquisite Dimensional Orb appeared in his hand and took Mosheng into it.
Zhang Ruochen followed suit immediately afterwards.
“Eat this, Zhang Ruochen!”
Mosheng shouted as he charged at Zhang Ruochen like a human-shaped tyrannosaurus.
His arms clearly exuded an aura of immortality, as if they had become immortal, and even the best Thousand-Inscription Sacred Artifact could not hurt them.
Zhang Ruochen appeared calm. Instead of dodging the attack, he went straight up to greet Mosheng.
“You must have a death wis.h.!.+”
Mosheng smirked when he saw that Zhang Ruochen did not dodge.
b.u.mp!
Powerful ripples formed in the dimension when the two palms collided.
Both of them did not use any saint Qi or Precepts but purely physical strength.
If this were to happen in the outside world, such a collision would have blown a planet into pieces.
“Huh? I can’t believe that he could take the attack of my immortalized arms!” Mo Sheng’s heart skipped a beat.
At first, he thought Zhang Ruochen would break his bones and tendons with such a powerful impact force. He could see no reason Zhang Ruochen could walk away in one piece.
“What an immortalized arm! If it weren’t for the immortality of the dragon and elephant souls infused in my arms, and the strengthening from the Bronze Furnace of Life and Death, I could have gotten crushed.” Zhang Ruochen was shocked as he thought to himself.
While thinking, Zhang Ruochen made his move by performing a ferocious strike with all his strength.
He just wanted to find out his own flaws through battle so that he could fix them.
Wumpth!
Zhang Ruochen’s body shuddered as a powerful blood Qi surged violently in his body. The sound of gus.h.i.+ng rivers sent the air vibrating around him.
There were wisps of chaos lingered around Zhang Ruochen’s body, along with a five-color halo bursting out of him, as if he was about to open up a new world.
His Five-element Chaotic Body had undoubtedly reached an extreme level of strength. His body was as if a vast starry universe that contained infinite strength.
Mosheng’s eyes looked deadly. There was a huge phantom of a voracious wolf appearing behind him. It looked fierce and mighty, as if it was going to break free from the void and turn imagination into reality.
“Kill!”
His body seemed to have turned into a fearsome, voracious wolf as he exclaimed.
b.u.mp!
The two violently clashed, starting a brutal fight.
Mosheng’s strength came from the fact that demonic cultivators placed great importance on bodily cultivation, and Mosheng was the best among them. His body was tougher than the best Thousand-Inscription Sacred Artifact.
Zhang Ruochen and Mosheng had fought for hundreds of rounds in the blink of an eye. The two were evenly matched with terrifying power burst out again and again, almost shattering the Exquisite Dimensional Orb.
The repeated exchange of blows left many bruises and wounds on their bodies, their clothes soaked in blood.
Swis.h.!.+
Mosheng’s voracious wolf claws slashed across and left behind a few hideous claw marks on Zhang Ruochen’s chest, with blood oozing out from the wounds.
Since it was a hand-to-hand combat, they did not wear any armor.
Zhang Ruochen did not seem to feel anything. His right hand transformed into a dragon claw and thrust through Mosheng’s chest.
“You… Rpppooopppf!” Mosheng burped up a mouthful of blood, vomited blood, irreconcilability filling his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen looked indifferent. He did not pull back his right hand. “You have lost, Mosheng. Give up the Canon of Truth.”
Mosheng spurted a mouthful of blood again upon hearing that.
He did not want to admit it, but he had indeed lost. Zhang Ruochen had got him by the heart.
A bet is a bet. Not to mention that they had made an immortal oath. As much as Mo Sheng did not want to admit defeat, he had no other choice but to abide by the agreement.
Just then, Zhang Ruochen sensed something strange pa.s.sing up into his body.
“Nine-ten thousandths of the Canon of Truth, as expected of a leader of Blackdemon Realm.” Zhang Ruochen was delighted.
Hence, he had got 29/10,000th of the Canon of Truth now.
It was extremely difficult to get the Canon of Truth. Few non-Supreme Saint cultivators could get more than ten thousandths of it by themselves in the Sea of Truth. Even the top ten direct disciples of the Fane of Truth were no exception.
The fact that Mosheng had 9/10,000th of the Canon of Truth—1/10,000th more than what Shang Ziyan had—was already extremely extraordinary.
Of course, Mosheng’s cultivation base was much higher than that of Shang Ziyan. Had Shang Ziyan been still alive and continued to cross the Sea of Truth, he should have gotten more Canon of Truth, which was expected to exceed 10/10,000th.
After successfully getting the Canon of Truth, Zhang Ruochen retrieved his right hand from Mosheng’s chest. He then took Mosheng with one hand, exited from the Exquisite Dimensional Orb, and held him on the Blood G.o.d Altar again.
He then performed an Empyrean Emperor Ming’s Scripture. The divine sun in the Divine Light Sea of Qi quickly came to life and released vital essence into his body.
Before starting a fresh round of gambit battle, he had recovered to his best state of health.
…
On Mount Yueshen in Celestial Court.
Yueshen was standing outside the Guanghan Temple, looking calmly at the several divine figures hovering outside Mount Yueshen.
“Don’t say we didn’t warn you, Yueshen. Ask Zhang Ruochen to release Zhou Yu and Mosheng immediately, Yueshen,” said a divine figure with a commanding tone of voice.
“Not only must Zhou Yu and Mosheng be released, but Zhang Ruochen also must be severely punished. The Sect of the Blood G.o.d should not continue to exist.” Another bitter voice sounded with the same commanding tone of voice.
“Zhang Ruochen had repeatedly violated the heavenly rules, acted unbridled, and killed the leaders of the worlds. He should be punished according to the law.” Another low-sounding voice spoke.
Yueshen swept her eyes over the six divine figures in the air, her voice icy when she said, “You all know better than anyone else what has actually happened. Stop talking to me like that. There is a price to pay for Zhou Yu and Mosheng’s release. I am not your easy target.”
“What do you want, Yueshen?” asked Blackheart Demonlord in a deep voice.
Mosheng was his direct disciple, extremely talented, and hopeful of becoming an immortal in the future. So Mosheng was of great significance to him. He must let nothing happen to Mosheng.
“Five top-cla.s.s divine artifacts of five elements, one hundred thousand pieces of G.o.dstones, and a better celestial domain.” Yueshen’s voice was unemotional.
The top-cla.s.s five-element fetishes were meant for Zhang Ruochen.
100,000 pieces of G.o.dstone were meant for her.
Guanghan Realm needed a better self-cultivation environment, and naturally it would have to occupy a higher level of celestial domain.
“Don’t be so greedy, Yueshen. We can’t accept such conditions,” said the divine figure with eight pairs of snow-white wings.
It was one of the big names from the Fane of Light, Zhou Yu’s mentor. He came specifically for Zhou Yu.
The five-element fetishes were so rare that Saint Kings and even Supreme Saints were fighting tooth and nail for them. But they were nothing to the immortals.
But still, 100,000 G.o.dstones were no small matter.
The reason was, G.o.dstones only existed in the extremely ancient worlds. They were so scarce that even immortals did not have many of them.
Besides, Guanghan Realm was aspiring to move to a higher celestial domain, which was something unacceptable to Heavenly Realm. It took them 100,000 years to drive Guanghan Realm to Shatuo Domain, the most barren celestial domain.
Yueshen’s eyes suddenly turned grim. “Since there is no deal, Zhou Yu and Mosheng will have to stay in the Sect of the Blood G.o.d. Those two Saint Kings seem not worth the price, eh?”
“Do you want to start another battle of the immortals, Yueshen?” said a big name from Heavenly Realm.
Yueshen looked at the Heavenly Realm figure, who spoke and said with a bitter voice, “The battle of the immortals? Bring it on.”
While speaking, a divine energy burst out of Yueshen’s body. The air around Mount Yueshen vibrated and black cracks started to form.
The hearts of the six divine figures skipped a beat when they sensed this powerful energy. Yanshen, who used to fight Yueshen before, was even more shocked.
“Yueshen has recovered her strength in such a short time!”
Yueshen was a high-handed ancient immortal. She was well known throughout Celestial Court. During the war between Kunlun Realm and Infernal Court 100,000 years ago, Yueshen was seriously injured, nearly losing her life. It took her 100,000 years to recover, as her divine power had almost been exhausted.
She had recovered part of her divine power when she got her hands on the Moonleaf of the Sacred Seven-star Lingzhi. She could defeat Yanshen and Bloodlord Erjia at that time.
Now that she had recovered even more of her divine power. No one could be sure how strong she was now.
While the six divine figures were deep in thought, an ancient cauldron appeared in Yueshen’s hand. The cauldron was engraved with mysterious characters, which contained some magical power.
Yansheng gasped in terror at seeing this ancient cauldron.
It reminded him of the last battle of the immortals. It was exactly the power of this ancient cauldron that had bounded and nearly consumed him.
The gazes of the other five divine figures froze when they recognized this ancient cauldron. They knew how terrifying its power was.
Since Yueshen had summoned this ancient cauldron, it meant that she was not afraid of starting another battle of the immortals.
“You have gone too far in your demand, Yueshen. It is not fair. Since it is a negotiation, there should be equal terms.” Blackheart Demonlord frowned.
“Exactly. We will only agree to all but some of your demands,” said the big name from the Fane of Light.
Yueshen looked at the ancient cauldron spinning in her hand. “Then make me an offer.”
They then communicated with each other through spiritual power spontaneously.
It concerned major things like 100,000 G.o.dstones and the migration of celestial domains. They had to be cautious, even though they were the immortals. Whoever agreed would have to cough up 100,000 G.o.dstones, which even immortals would find it hard to swallow.
After some discussion, the big name from Heavenly Realm spoke. “While we can give you five types of five-element divine fetishes, we can only give sixty thousand G.o.dstones to you—ten thousand from each of us. As for Guanghan Realm to move to a better celestial domain, we will have to consult Celestial Palace, which will make the decision.”
“It seems that none of you really care about the life and death of Zhou Yu and Mosheng. If this is the case, there is no point in continuing with the negotiation.” While speaking, Yueshen was about to turn around and return to the Guanghan Temple.
The big name from the Fane of Light called out immediately. “Hold on a second, Yueshen.”
The faces of the Heavenly Realm immortals were grave, as Yueshen stuck to her guns, refusing to compromise. Zhou Yu and Mosheng had the potential of attaining immortality, which was impossible for them to give up.
But the most important thing was about face-saving.
They would become a laughingstock and those young cultivators in Heavenly Realm would feel disheartened if Heavenly Realm could not even save their two potential immortals. Who else would follow Heavenly Realm in the future?
At last, they agreed. They would pay five top-cla.s.s five-element sacred artifacts, 60,000 G.o.dstones, and agreed to let Guanghan Realm move to Ziluo Domain.
But they had also made Yueshen agree on one thing: An Emissary Vigilant was to be dispatched to the Sect of the Blood G.o.d for an investigation. This was Celestial Palace’s condition.
Celestial Palace had come up with the heavenly rule, which must be enforced and was not proper for Yueshen to interfere with.
In the Sect of the Blood G.o.d, Zhang Ruochen had just recovered from his injury. The first thing he did was block Zhou Yu and Mosheng’s five senses, and then take out the Staff of the Divine Envoy.
Yueshen’s phantom appeared. “Zhang Ruochen, an Emissary Vigilant will arrive at the Sect of the Blood G.o.d with five top-cla.s.s Five-element sacred artifacts and twenty G.o.dstones, which are the consideration for releasing those two guys.”
“Mosheng and Zhou Yu are only worth twenty G.o.dstones? Heavenly Realm is freaking stingy.” Zhang Ruochen had no words.
“That’s all they could give. But I have to give you the credit because Guanghan Realm will move to Ziluo Domain in Celestial Court, where the self-cultivation environment is better,” said Yueshen.
“I can’t ask for more when Heavenly Realm is willing to compromise to such a degree for the sake of just two Saint Kings,” said Zhang Ruochen. But deep down, he was puzzled. Were 20 G.o.dstones all that Heavenly Realm could afford?
The point was, did Yueshen really ask for 20 G.o.dstones only?
But who was he to question Yueshen? She was an immortal. 20 G.o.dstones was better than nothing.
When he completed the collection of the Five-element divine artifacts, he could forge the Five-element Chaotic Immortal Saint Body.
“There is one thing that I need to remind you: the appearance of Xue Lingxian has attracted the attention of Celestial Palace. Infernal Court was using this as an excuse to demand an explanation from Celestial Palace. So six Emissaries Vigilant will come to the Sect of the Blood G.o.d next. They represent Celestial Palace, Guanghan Realm, Kunlun Realm, Heavenly Realm, Blackdemon Realm, and Infernal Realm,” said Yueshen.
“These Emissaries Vigilant are all powerful beings. Guanghan Realm is sending Emperor Ji Mie, and Kunlun Realm Emperor Wen. The other Emissaries Vigilant are also equally mighty. So, you’d better not mess around. Stop doing anything stupid like how you beat the h.e.l.l out of the avatar of the Emissary Vigilant last time. Think about how to deal with it.”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing that. He knew things were not that simple. Not only Celestial Palace but Infernal Court was also coming into the picture.
“Thanks for the heads-up, Yueshen. I know what to do,” said Zhang Ruochen after pondering for a moment.