Chapter 1951: It’s Her… How Could It be Her?
Boom!
The Evil Spirit made its move, swinging its gigantic python tail and lashing at the ground as an enormous divine power surged.
As solid as the ground in the heart of Xianji Mountain was, cracks had formed in the earth, revealing an underground dimension hidden deep within the earth.
At first, Zhang Ruochen had planned to enter using his dimensional skill, but strange energy stopped him from doing so. He had no choice but to use force.
As the enchantment broke apart, a massive underground dimension came into view. The Altar of Death and the Shadow of Death looked especially conspicuous against the pitch-dark backdrop.
The last time Zhang Ruochen did a recess, the Shadow of Death was only 500-yard tall. Now it had grown to over a thousand-yard. The power he possessed must be higher than before.
The three white-robed priests were still sitting leg-crossed on the altar.
The only difference was, they were higher in their cultivation base, which had attained Path’s Anterior realm.
Obviously, other than that they had attained the peak of Heaven’s Reach realm in self-cultivation, the Altar of Death had a mysterious power. That was the reason they could achieve a breakthrough in their self-cultivation so quickly.
“What is happening?” Bi Yunhai came up and asked.
He came all the way from Southern Region to Northern Region for Ji Fanxin. He did not really know the situation in Northern Region.
“The Deathkin uses the Altar of Death to draw the Power of Revival of Northern Region for producing fighters. They want to open up the passage between their realm and the Kunlun Realm. The strength of the Deathkin is increasing by the day,” said Zhang Ruochen.
There was a strange look in Bi Yunhai’s eyes. “The Deathkin are scheming to fuel war with war. We can’t let that happen! Won’t they build another Altar of Death somewhere else after this one is destroyed?”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “Not that easy to construct this Altar of Death. They need not only special materials but also a special location. Xianji Mountain was the base of Northern Region’s most powerful force—the Xianji Sect. This is the place of origin of Northern Region’s ancestral line, and only this place is suitable for building the Altar of Death.”
Xianji Mountain was an unusual place. Otherwise, the trunk of the Divine Sky-Connecting Tree would not have been here. Not that it was impossible to find a land of awakening similar to Xianji Mountain in Northern Region. Just that it was definitely not easy.
So, destroying this Altar of Death meant ruining the hope of the Deathkin.
“Step back. Let me destroy this Altar of Death.” Bi Yunhai was full of confidence.
Earlier, he had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Qi Yang. He wanted to take this opportunity to redeem his pride. He could not afford to let Ji Fanxin look down on him.
Zhang Ruochen and others were more than happy to let him do the honor. So they quickly stepped aside.
It was mainly because they had no idea what lay behind this Altar of Death. It was a good idea to let Bi Yunhai check it out first.
Bi Yunhai took out his regal weapon, using all this strength to summon one-third of the Precepts of Heaven and Earth within 7,000-mile radius as he was prepared to perform a most powerful strike ever.
He knew he was no match for Qi Yang, but he could not believe that he could not destroy something like an Altar of Death.
There were over 250,000 regal-class inscriptions appeared on the sky-blue gourd. It looked immensely powerful when combined with the countless Precepts of Heaven and Earth.
A vast amount of regal Supreme Power spurted out of the gourd and turned into a brilliant saint light.
The saint light did not hit the Altar of Death as a layer of faint light shield had blocked the saint light.
Following immediately, the Altar of Death released an immense energy that spread in all directions like water ripples.
By swaying its massive divine python body, the evil spirit neutralized all the energy emitted from the Altar of Death. Zhang Ruochen and four others were standing on the evil spirit’s head. So they were not affected.
Bi Yunhai used his regal weapon to block in front of him and was unharmed. Just that he could not calm himself down as he stared dead at the Altar of Death.
“Could it be that this thing is even more powerful than Qi Yang?” Bi Yunhai was astounded.
Zhang Ruochen looked grave, realizing that destroying the Altar of Death was more difficult than he had expected.
But it made sense. When the Deathkin had spent so much effort to build this Altar of Death and made it their trump card, no way the altar could be destroyed so easily.
The three white-robed priests finally stood up on the altar. They first gave Zhang Ruochen and others a once-over, then quickly locked their eyes on Bi Yunhai.
Bi Yunhai was a Path’s Anterior fighter. He was powerful enough to rival a Neverwither Supreme Saint. Naturally, he was a bigger threat than Zhang Ruochen and others were.
“Those who attack the Altar of Death, death is the only punishment for them,” said a white-robed female priest.
“Death? Then I would like to see who could take my life!” Bi Yunhai sneered.
“Death Slit!”
The three white-robed priests joined hands to direct the thousand-yard Shadow of Death.
Wielding a sickle, the Shadow of Death struck out a black sickle light that looked as if a dimensional rift at Bi Yunhai.
“Heck! That is all what you have got?”
Bi Yunhai hissed as he performed a palm strike.
Several hundred thousand Precepts appeared and that triggered the Precepts of Heaven and Earth. Together, they formed a vast azure sea with a massive tidal wave rushing toward the Shadow of Death.
“Now!”
Zhang Ruochen cast out the Azuresky Pagoda.
In a situation like this, they could not possibly stay away from this. No way they could retrieve the trunk of the Divine Sky-Connecting Tree without destroying the Altar of Death.
With no hesitation, Ji Fanxin, Feng Yan, Xiang Chunan, and Pei Yutian made their moves, performing their saint techniques and casting out their sacred artifacts.
The evil spirit did not sit idle either. It swayed its divine python tail and lashed at the Shadow of Death with an immense amount of divine power.
Compared to others, Zhang Ruochen had nothing to lose. His attack ability might not be the most powerful here, but his defense was incredible.
In fact, the evil spirit could still not fully control the power of the corpse of the divine python at this stage, because its saint soul was still relatively weak. The divine power was too much for it to rein in.
The strength of the evil spirit had not attained the level of the Neverwither Supreme Saint. Otherwise, it would have been invincible in the Kunlun Realm.
Bang!
The shadow of the sickle could not withstand the powerful blow. It shattered and disappeared at once.
“Help me drive the Azuresky Pagoda, everyone. Keep attacking!” Zhang Ruochen called out.
Ji Fanxin, Feng Yan, Xiang Chunan, Pei Yutian, and the evil spirit acted, each injecting power into the Azuresky Pagoda.
The Azuresky Pagoda vibrated and became bigger instantly. It looked like a divine mountain with azure light releasing and an endless stream of Supreme Power.
Probably because of the divine power from the evil spirit, the dormant consciousness of the implement spirit suddenly woke up.
The earth-shattering roar of a beast came from within the pagoda as it put out an even more powerful Supreme Power.
Bi Yunhai’s eyes flashed at seeing the Azuresky Pagoda.
Had he possessed a Supreme Artifact, he would not have lost to Qi Yang. Destroying this Altar of Death would have been a piece of cake.
Many thoughts flashed across his mind. He pulled back his eyes. Squeezing out a drop of blood from his fingertip, he dropped it onto the sky-blue gourd and let it permeate. The sky-blue gourd glowed brightly and gave out a full power.
In times like this, he must not let Zhang Ruochen or any others steal the limelight, no matter what.
Boom!
A Supreme Power and real saint power burst out at once. As the world was going to fall apart, it was unstoppable.
The Shadow of Death shuddered with a hint of Will of Death leaking out.
Down below, the Altar of Death was shaking, too. It became very unstable and was nearly blown away by the Supreme and the regal saint powers.
Below the altar, cracks that looked like spider webs formed in the solid earth. As soil and rocks started to sink, dust rose from the bottom and finally revealed a dark hole inside. The majestic Altar of Death looked as if it had left the earth and was suspended in the air.
Because of this, the altar could not draw the Power of Revival of Northern Region for a moment.
While the situation seemed to be in their favor, Zhang Ruochen’s expression suddenly changed.
Just a while ago, he had noticed a trace of dimensional shock wave coming from the dark hole below the altar.
Danger.
Suddenly, a scream came, followed by a Death Knight lunging out from the underground. His body was engulfed in blue flame and his face looked hideous.
Before long, he dropped to the ground and was reduced to ashes by the blue flame.
Out of the ashes came a bug with a blue flame. It was the size of the nail of a finger, extremely beautiful.
“A God-Eater bug!”
When Zhang Ruochen recognized the fire bug, his expression became worse. He quickly called out Xiang Chunan and the rest through telepathy, telling them to retreat and keep away from the God-Eater bug.
He knew it; the trunk of the Divine Sky-Connecting Tree was right below the altar.
And the God-Eater bug was living inside the trunk. Apparently, their attack had ripped apart the dimension where the trunk was, leaving a rift behind. That was why the God-Eater bug had come to the surface.
Without a doubt, the God-Eater bug was the nastiest thing, which could give even god a big headache.
This one right here was considered the smallest one.
Back then, when Zhang Ruochen and Canglan Warrior Saint entered the strange dimension, the God-Eater bugs they saw were the size of a fist, some as large as a washing basin.
The bigger the bug was, the more terrifying it became.
While the God-Eater had every cultivator terrified, a voice came out of a blanket of fog on the altar. “Legend has it that the God-Eater bugs are the tree worms of the Divine Sky-Connecting Tree. They were born together with the tree. It really is a surprise to see one here. Could there be a Divine Sky-Connecting Tree in the space under the altar?”
Along with the voice came a Nether River. It flowed out of the Altar of Death slowly. There was a behemoth inside the river. The behemoth had nine heads, and it was a Nine-Headed Black Tortoise.
A girl was standing on the back of the Nine-Headed Black Tortoise. She was tall and slim, surrounded by chains formed by the Precepts of Destiny, as if the fate of all souls in the world was under his control.
She was none other than one of the three candidates of the Lady of the Fane of Destiny, Pan Ruo.
“I can’t believe that there really is something under the altar!”
“Since there is a God-Eater Bug here, the Divine Sky-Connecting Tree is surely here. Did the tree grow a new plantlet again?”
“Entirely possible. Otherwise, how could the Kunlun Realm revive?”
…
Even the Deathkin cultivators did not expect to see another dimension beneath their Altar of Death. They were so excited that they all rubbed their hands and could not wait to storm in to loot whatever treasure that lay inside.
Pan Ruo stood on the Nether River. She looked as beautiful as a fairy. She swept her eyes over them, before her eyes landed on Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen had long been staring at her.
As soon as their eyes met, Zhang Ruochen could not help but shiver for a second, his pupils dilated as he stood like a fossil on the spot.
The beautiful figure on the Nether River also looked shocked—albeit very subtle.
For a moment, both of them were motionless like a statue, their heart stopping. It felt as if the world had come to a standstill and time stopped flowing.
Everything in the surroundings had disappeared, leaving only the two of them.
They were standing at a far distance from each other, but it felt as if the dimension had disappeared. They were now close to each other. They could see the face of each other clearly.
After a long while, Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath. As he came out of his daze, things in the surroundings reappeared in his vision, and he regained his sense of hearing and perception.
The appearance of the girl in front of his eyes had totally changed, but he recognized her from her eyes.
“It is her. It must be her. How could it be her?”
He clenched his fists involuntarily as he could not believe what he saw.
For a moment, his heart screwed up, and he felt a great pain. Countless images started to appear in his mind’s eye, and he finally found as if he was standing in front of the Ziwei Palace.
Scenes from the past that he had never forgotten seemed to be so clear.
He used to tell himself to let go. But now he realized he was merely deceiving himself.
He stared at her for a long time and his heart almost pounding through his chest. “I am sure it is her. Why did she go to the Infernal Court, and how did she become one of the Deathkin? Everything has changed. What happened to her for all these years?”
Never had there been a moment he felt so confused, had so many questions with so many types of emotions. Yet he could tell no one.
The person who was supposed to have died was now standing in front of him.