Chapter 917: Critical Figure
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Boom!
Zhang Ruochen rode the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit and rushed out of the collapsing mountain. He set off the dirt and pieces of rock.
He reached out and collected the Abyss Ancient Sword. Grasping it, he stared at the blood sword. His expression showed that he was facing a huge enemy.
Beside him, the Demon Ape let out a low roar. It slowly climbed up and sat on the ground.
“Demon Ape, go and recover in the scroll world.”
Zhang Ruochen pulled the Universe Spiritual Map from his Sea of Qi. He opened the scroll. The surface shone with shimmering light and absorbed the Demon Ape.
Whoosh!
The blood sword flew back and landed in the Second Prince’s hand.
The Second Prince stood dozens of miles away. He didn’t get close because he was a bit worried. Zhang Ruochen still had a pill that contained the Evil Death Qi. Once he touched the Evil Death Qi, he could be dissolved even with his cultivation and physique.
“Zhang Ruochen, if you hand over the Taotian Sword, I can consider not killing you.”
The Second Prince stood hundreds of feet above the ground. He wore blood-red armor and had a dense blood cloud under his feet. He was like a domineering demon king.
Zhang Ruochen was miles away, but he could still smell the bloody scent radiating from him. He chuckled. “Do you think you can stop me if I want to escape?”
The Second Prince sneered. “You think that you can escape from me with Sword Saint Xuanji’s saint decree? To be honest, I have a saint decree as well. However, this one is from Blood Emperor Qingtian. No matter how powerful Sword Saint Xuanji is, can he be more powerful than Blood Emperor Qingtian?”
“Really? If Blood Emperor Qingtian is so powerful, why doesn’t he dare to go confront Empress Chi Yao in the Central Emperor City?” Zhang Ruochen retorted.
Eight hundred years ago, Blood Emperor Qingtian had been one of the top ten blood generals under the Blood Empress. At that time, he’d been a lord that ruled over the world. Known as Blood General Qingtian, he’d killed countless human Saints.
Now, 800 years had passed. Blood General Qingtian became Blood Emperor Qingtian. His cultivation must have reached a level that even a Saint could only dream about.
The Second Prince’s eyes darkened. “How long do you think the Empress can live for? Once Pluto escapes from the Underground Spirit Prison, she’ll be the first person he kills. Once the Empress dies, Kunlun’s Field will be ruled by the Immortal Vampires. All of humanity will be animals that we raise to provide us with blood. They’ll be generation after generation of slaves.”
Zhang Ruochen’s fingers tightened involuntarily around the sword hilt. “Do you really think that anyone can enter the Underground Spirit Prison? If the Immortal Vampires could rescue Pluto, he should have been able to escape 800 years ago.”
“Do you think that the current situation is the same as 800 years ago?” The Second Prince clearly thought that he definitely had control over Zhang Ruochen, so he wasn’t worried. He revealed, “The Immortal Vampires lost 800 years ago because the Blood Empress underestimated the Six Swordsmen.”
“Who would’ve thought that the Six Swordsmen could borrow the power of their ancestors? Each Swordsman is like a dozen Sword Saints put together. The Blood Empress broke into the Pluto Sword Tomb two times, but was resisted by Emperor Ming and Emperor Qing and failed in the end.”
“Now, Emperor Ming has gone missing and Emperor Qing has retreated. Plus, after the two intense battles 800 years ago, the Immortal Vampires know how powerful the Six Swordsmen are. We’ll focus on them. We already started plotting a century ago.”
“Other than Sword Saint Xuanji, we’ve also used tactics against the five other Swordsmen. To be honest, only Ling Feiyu noticed something wrong and killed the strong cultivators of the Vampires. The other Swordsmen are either dead or were captured personally by Blood Emperor Qingtian.”
“Other than the Heaven-Burier Sword and Zhutian Sword that Ling Feiyu has and your Taotian Sword, the other three are all in the hands of us Vampires.”
Even Zhang Ruochen was shocked at this news. No wonder only Ling Feiyu had hurried back to the Pluto Sword Tomb. It was very likely that the other Swordsmen were all killed by the Vampires.
If Blood Emperor Qingtian attacked personally, even a Sword Saint would be in trouble.
Zhang Ruochen tried to suppress his strong feelings and said calmly, “You only have three saint swords. What can you do? Rescue Pluto?”
Zhang Ruochen knew from the various ancestors of the Taotian Sword that the six saint swords were actually six keys. One could only open the 15th level of the Underground Spirit Prison and release Pluto by having the six swords at once.
The Vampires must know this secret as well. This was why they would risk everything for the six saint swords.
In other words, the Vampires couldn’t rescue Pluto without having all six swords.
The Second Prince smiled oddly. “While the Guardians of the Prison attacked the Vampires of the 8 cities and 12 mountains, Blood Emperor Qingtian has also led an army to attack the Pluto Sword Tomb. If everything goes as planned, the Pluto Sword Tomb should have fallen already. Ling Feiyu’s two swords should be in Blood Emperor Qingtian’s hands as well.”
“However, he miscalculated one thing. He didn’t think that you little fish wouldn’t stay obediently inside the Pluto Sword Tomb. You escaped instead. That’s okay though. As long as I take your Taotian Sword, we can still collect all six swords. It’s enough to open the 15th level.”
Zhang Ruochen stared at the Second Prince’s eyes. He could see that the prince wasn’t lying.
If Blood Emperor Qingtian really attacked the Pluto Sword Tomb personally, his terrifying cultivation and the Vampires’ well-prepared formations there would be enough to break through the defenses.
This way, Zhang Ruochen’s Taotian Sword became extremely important. It couldn’t fall into the Vampires’ hands no matter what.
Without any more hesitation, Zhang Ruochen immediately pulled out Sword Saint Xuanji’s saint decree and filled it with Holy Qi.
Whoosh!
The saint decree shone, forming light that covered both Zhang Ruochen and the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit. Then it transformed into a streak of light that flew quickly toward the horizon.
“You’re already caught and you still want to run?”
The Second Prince scoffed. He took out a saint decree and, using the saintly power within it, quickly caught up to Zhang Ruochen.
Whoosh.
The Second Prince flew above Zhang Ruochen’s head. He raised the blood sword, creating a long trail of sword light, and cut downward.
Zhang Ruochen stared at the descending Sword Qi. Clenching his jaw, he immediately activated spatial power and thought, Spatial Freezing.
The entire space suddenly stopped as if frozen. Other than Zhang Ruochen, everything else stopped moving. Even the Second Prince’s falling Sword Qi paused slightly before cutting through the power of time.
However, in the short time that the Sword Qi froze for, Zhang Ruochen already flew forward. The Sword Qi fell down a few hundred feet behind Zhang Ruochen. It struck the green forest, leaving a mark a few hundred meters long.
“The power of space again.”
The Second Prince feared spatial power but also envied it. If he could take Zhang Ruochen’s body and become the next Time and Space Descendant, what level would his abilities rise up to?
His eyes shone with fanatic light and he pursued once again. However, he ran for thousands of miles without seeing Zhang Ruochen. Even his aura had disappeared.
“He just disappeared?”
The Second Prince immediately retreated. He carefully searched for Zhang Ruochen’s remaining aura. He believed that, no matter what secretive methods Zhang Ruochen used, he must have left some marks.
Right now, Zhang Ruochen had already jumped into a hundred-foot-wide river and activated the Shooting Star Invisibility Cloak. He covered his aura completely.
The water pushed Zhang Ruochen downstream, leaving the Golden Sparrow City.
When night fell, Zhang Ruochen finally flew out of the river. He stood on the water with powerful Holy Qi flooding out of him, forming the five-colored cloud of Chaotic Qi.
While hiding in the water earlier, Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation had broken into the second level of the Half-Saint Realm.
Huff.
Zhang Ruochen sucked all the Holy Qi atop the water back into him. His 36 meridians and five saintly meridians thundered like dozens of rivers flowing through him.
When he returned to the riverbank, the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit asked, “Lord Chen, what should we do now? Return to the Pluto Sword Tomb?”
There was no moon tonight. The sky was pitch black and he couldn’t see his hands before him. There was only the cold wind wailing as it blew across the river.
Zhang Ruochen thought for a long while before shaking his head. “If Blood Emperor Qingtian really attacked the Pluto Sword Tomb, it means that he already has five of the six saint swords. Thus, I cannot return to the Pluto Sword Tomb. If the Taotian Sword is also taken, the consequences would be unimaginable.”
“Then where are we going now?” the Elephant-swallowing Rabbit asked.
“I’ll find a place to hide for now,” Zhang Ruochen said. “We can make a decision after we get news from the Pluto Sword Tomb.”
Even if Blood Emperor Qingtian conquered the Pluto Sword Tomb, he couldn’t find the Taotian Sword in a short time. In that case, Chi Yao from the Royal Capital, the Martial Lord of the Martial God Mountain, and the Hierarch of the Moon-worship Demonic Sect might hurry toward the Pluto Sword Tomb.
After all, none of the top fighters of Kunlun’s Field wanted Pluto to escape. It would be a disaster for the entire human race.
Zhang Ruochen had now become the most critical figure. There were probably countless Vampires searching for him at this very moment.