Chapter 1786: Fighting a Nine-step Saint King

The ground shook violently, and the air current vibrated.

Yuan Che was a Nine-step Saint King who had been cultivating for over two thousand years. Even the Supreme Power was not able to kill him.

“Raaaaawwwwr!!”

He turned into a Vajra Snowsea Ape that was more than twenty feet tall and stormed forth on the ground. It had golden skin and white fur, while numerous layers of Saint aura halos spread from its body, sending the ground and rocks within a hundred-mile radius into the air.

Zhang Ruochen’s expression changed a little as both of his legs sank and his upper body leaned forward. At the same time, an inscription armor was activated to wrap around his entire body.

Despite that, Zhang Ruochen was still pushed back by the erupting force from the Saint Qi halo. Every time he was pushed back, the ground beneath him would crumble.

“Is this the power of a Nine-step Saint King?”

Zhang Ruochen felt a dull pain in his chest; the blood and Saint Qi in his body were not flowing smoothly. His scalp also felt somewhat painful as if it was about to be torn apart by the terrifying Saint Path Qi.

There were three massive wounds on the Vajra Snowsea Ape’s body, each measuring several meters long. That only added more dread to his appearance.

Tian Lanzi released a black light and floated in the air not too far away from the Vajra Snowsea Ape. “Damn it, for four top-level elites of the Fane of Youshen to fall here… Since Youshen only wants Zhang Ruochen’s Saint Soul, how about we flay him alive and grind his bones to dust?”

“I have the same thoughts as well.”

A thunderous sound came from the Vajra Snowsea Ape.

Immediately after, he expelled a cold breath and turned into a blue torrent.

There were three sacred swords in the torrent. All of them were sacred artifacts with majestic power, and with their full strength unleashed, everything across a few hundred miles quaked.

Zhang Ruochen dared not go against the ape head-on, so he had to use the Dimensional Shift to dodge.

However, the space was vibrating so violently that Zhang Ruochen’s shifting deviated, and one of the sacred swords before him charged straight at him.

Zhang Ruochen promptly extended his palms to block it.

Sching!

The Fire God’s Gauntlet collided with the sacred sword’s light, and sparks flew all over the place.

Zhang Ruochen was then sent flying to the right by the sacred sword’s power. He landed a few miles away, supporting himself with his hands so that he did not fall on the ground.

Unfortunately, his left hand was particularly painful.

“Zhang Ruochen, I am here to help you.”

Awesome, the Little Taoist flew over, and just as he was about to take out his Purple-gold Bagua Mirror, not too far away, a stream of golden light began to speed toward it.

“What the hell is that? Oh goodness, it is a Goldthread Dragonviper.”

Awesome, the Little Taoist immediately waved the Purple-gold Bagua Mirror and slapped the Goldthread Dragonviper with it, causing it to whirl back.

However, the Purple-gold Bagua Mirror’s Supreme Power had not been activated, and it failed to kill the Goldthread Dragonviper. Besides, the Dragonviper was extremely fast, and barely a second later, it was charging at Awesome, the Little Taoist again.

The Goldthread Dragonviper was the little snake that had been coiling around Tian Lanzi’s wrist earlier.

Zhang Ruochen had heard of the Goldthread Dragonviper. It was a rare Nine-order beast. Once it reaches adulthood, it will be a Beast Emperor on par with a Supreme Saint. The most terrifying thing about the Dragonviper was its venom, and even if it was a Supreme Saint who was bitten, it would be difficult to neutralize the venom.

That said, the Goldthread Dragonviper before him was obviously not an adult.

It wanted to swallow Awesome, the Little Taoist so that it could continue to grow and gain stronger powers.

Zhang Ruochen stared at Tian Lanzi and noticed that she was using some kind of secret technique to control the Goldthread Dragonviper. So, he pulled out his Azuresky Bow and Whitesun Arrow in preparation to shoot her.

“Zhang Ruochen, I am your opponent!”

The Vajra Snowsea Ape ran swiftly and left the ground trembling in its wake as it closed in on Zhang Ruochen.

The three sacred swords were like three gleaming sacred rivers, slashing at Zhang Ruochen from three different directions. Zhang Ruochen wanted to dodge the attacks, but his left leg was just too heavy. His movements were getting slower and labored.

Seeing that the three swords were about to slice him, Zhang Ruochen cursed in his heart, “What kind of bloody leg is this? Is it really crippled?”

He stomped his foot fiercely, and the divine power of fire rushed out from his left leg, spreading in all directions.

Boom!!

The ground within a radius of a few dozen miles sank in the form of a massive, footprint-shaped crater, just like a sinkhole. In turn, the flames’ divine power blew the three sacred swords back.

Zhang Ruochen stood at the bottom of the large crater, feeling slightly lost.

Is this… the power of the god’s left leg?

The Vajra Snowsea Ape was astonished too. How could Zhang Ruochen’s stomp be so terrifying? If that stomp were to land on it, it would be enough to smash it into a paste.

Awesome, the Little Taoist was fighting the Goldthread Dragonviper, and he shouted, “That’s it! Stomp it to death.”

Zhang Ruochen was about to rouse his Saint Qi and use the god’s left leg again, only to find that the Saint Qi in his body was gone. It had seemingly been exhausted by that stomp earlier.

“Can you not screw around?”

Zhang Ruochen slapped his left leg and wanted to cry.

Suddenly, the area before Zhang Ruochen darkened as a huge shadow appeared above his head.

The Vajra Snowsea Ape had obviously been startled by Zhang Ruochen’s previous stomp, so it grew its body hundreds of times larger. It morphed into a colossal ape with its feet on the ground and its head in the heavens. It swung its hand, which was large as Mount Wuzhi, and slammed it against Zhang Ruochen.

Boom!! Boom!!

A palm print that was a dozen miles in length appeared on top of the equally large footprint.

Just as the Vajra Snowsea Ape thought that Zhang Ruochen had been smashed to smithereens, it felt a sudden surge of extreme pain in the middle of its palm.

Whoosh!

Golden light penetrated its palm, and Saint blood gushed out.

The ray of golden light soared into the sky and turned into eight golden dragons. At the center of the eight dragons was a golden umbrella.

As it opened up in midair, the umbrella revealed Zhang Ruochen and a black skeleton beneath it.

The black skeleton held the umbrella for Zhang Ruochen as they both slowly landed on the ground.

The black skeleton had been condensed from the Yi Huang Bone Staff, and the evil spirit energies that were emanating from its body were not much weaker than that of the Vajra Snowsea Ape.

After refining about three percent of Amber Ash’s soul mist, the evil spirit energies within the Yi Huang Bone Staff were no longer weaker than a Nine-step Saint King.

Zhang Ruochen swallowed a pill that could quickly restore his Saint Qi and said to the black skeleton, “Go!”

The black skeleton lifted the Fane of Bloody War’s ancient artifact, the Treasure Wheel of War as dark qi and blood mist spewed outward, quickly covering Royal Mountain. All of this turned the mountain into an eerie and terrifying place.

Bam! Bam!!

The Vajra Snowsea Ape and black skeleton fought head to head, and their fight caused the entire dimension to shake. The mountains collapsed in droves as if the world was about to end.

Thousands of miles away at Yunwu Royal City, the sky was dim as gale winds blew. The ground shook as houses and pavilions began collapsing.

The evil spirit within the black skeleton let out a piercing laugh and attacked ferociously; it wanted to kill the Vajra Snowsea Ape. As long as it could absorb the ape’s Saint Soul, the evil spirit’s power would grow by leaps and bounds again.

Noticing that Zhang Ruochen was seemingly unable to move, a brutal smile appeared at the corner of Tian Lanzi’s lips as she said, “Zhang Ruochen, going against the Fane of Youshen will only end badly for you. I will let you taste the agony of having ten thousand insects chewing on your bones.”

Tian Lanzi took out a bamboo basket, and what looked like thousands of black spots, flew out of it.

Each of those black spots was a Saint insect, and they swarmed toward Zhang Ruochen like a bug torrent.

“Did you really think I was just standing here for you to kill me?”

Zhang Ruochen pulled out a talisman and tossed it at the bugs.

The talisman exploded with a loud bang and turned into a cloud of Divine Purification Flames. Instantly, the entire swarm of insects was reduced to fireballs, and they all fell to the ground, charred.

After the battle at Xumi Dojo, Zhang Ruochen had seized many talismans from the Heavenly Realm Saint Kings.

Even if he could not use his martial arts or spiritual powers and could only rely on the talismans in his possession, Zhang Ruochen was not afraid of Yuan Che and Tian Lanzi. It was just that when he used one, the amount he had would drop by one, so naturally, Zhang Ruochen did not take them out willy nilly.

Seeing that all of her carefully cultivated Saint insects had died, Tian Lanzi’s heart ached, and she hated Zhang Ruochen even more.

Zhang Ruochen’s Saint Qi had recovered by twenty to thirty percent, so he stood up abruptly and fit the Whitesun Arrow to the Azuresky Bow. Drawing it, he said, “It would be impolite if I did not return the same favor. Try taking one of my arrows, then.”

Whoosh!

The Whitesun Arrow zipped through the air and left a trail of Saint light, which was dozens of feet long.

Tian Lanzi’s expression changed as she immediately raised the bamboo basket in her hand. Thousands of inscriptions then appeared around it, radiating a purple-golden light.

Boom!! Boom!!

The Whitesun Arrow hit the bamboo basket, and the force of the collision sent Tian Lanzi tumbling through the air.

Although the Whitesun Arrow was blocked, the Mark of Time on the arrow had landed on Tian Lanzi’s body, immediately cutting two hundred years off her lifespan.

The very moment she was weakened, Zhang Ruochen used the Great Dimensional Shift and reappeared beside her. Soon after, he swung the Eight-Dragon Umbrella in his hand and stabbed her heart with it.

Tian Lanzi’s Saint heart shattered, and she died immediately.

At the same moment, the Goldthread Dragonviper hesitated a little.

Bam!!

Making use of the opportunity, Awesome, the Little Taoist captured it and threw it into an ancient bronze bottle.

Upon seeing Tian Lanzi killed, Yuan Che knew that the tide had turned and instantly transformed back into a human. After that, he flew toward Yunwu Royal City.

Yuan Che was well aware that Zhang Ruochen could use Dimensional Shift, and it would not be easy for him to escape. Only by rushing toward Yunwu Royal City would Zhang Ruochen be forced to hold back and let him go.

He simply needed to wait until the other elites from the Fane of Youshen rushed over. Then, dealing with Zhang Ruochen would not be difficult.

Yuan Che was close to leaving Royal Mountain, and he could see the royal city’s magnificent silhouette. Just as a hint of joy appeared on his face, there was a loud roar behind him. “Running away? This little Taoist will kill you today and shock the Kunlun Realm.”

A purple cloud in the shape of a grinding disc appeared above Yuan Che’s head.

Then, a massive Bagua Seal burst out of the purple clouds and came crashing down with Supreme Power in its wake.

This time around, the Supreme Power unleashed from the Purple-gold Bagua Mirror was even stronger because it was being powered by Awesome the Little Taoist, Zhang Ruochen, and the evil spirit.

“Noo….”

Yuan Che felt a trace of despair and blasted all kinds of attacks with the sacred artifacts and talismans on his body.

Boooommm…

The Bagua Seal continued to press on and crushed Yuan Che beneath it, forcing him to return to his original form and become a colossal Vajra Snowsea Ape that was bloodied all over.

Once that was over, the Bagua Seal’s remaining power flowed out and surged across Yunwu Royal City. It shook the walls so hard that they cracked as if they were about to collapse, scaring all of the cultivators and mortals in the city.