Chapter 2227 - The Fight for Leadership
Chapter 2227: The Fight for Leadership
As soon as Zhang Ruochen finished speaking, all the Immortal Vampire cultivators turned to look at Supreme Saint Yi Xuan, Gu Chenzi, and Lord Xia Yu. Obviously, they thought that the leader of the Bloodysky Clan could only be one of them.
The Three Top Elites of Bloodsky Clan were well-known. Not only the elites born in the last thousand years but even those masters of the old could also hardly be their opponents.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan laughed and said, “Gu Chenzi, Lord Xia Yu, it seems that our fight is inevitable. Which of you will be my opponent first?”
Amongst the Three Top Elites of Bloodsky Clan, Supreme Saint Yi Xuan loved to battle the most. He was famous for being a battle maniac. Other than cultivation, he loved to challenge the elites.
“You guys can go and fight amongst yourselves. I have no interest in being a leader,” Lord Xia Yu said calmly.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and Gu Chenzi did not find it strange upon hearing this. Lord Xia Yu had never liked to fight, especially during the past hundred years. No one knew how powerful she had become.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan said, “It’s good that Lord Xia Yu chose not to participate. I would prefer others not to think that I do not have manners to treat the nobles. Gu Chenzi, let’s spar to see if you have mastered Blood Nethertouch.”
Gu Chenzi stood up and said calmly, “It’s been decades since we last fought. I want to see how much you’ve improved.”
“Then, what are we waiting for?”
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan moved, and he flew straight out of Vastsea Garden.
Vastsea Garden was crowded with cultivators, so it could not be their battleground. Moreover, the land outside was wide with many Divine Marks engraved on it. So they were not afraid of the surroundings being damaged and could unleash their full might.
Gu Chenzi did not hesitate and immediately followed.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and Gu Chenzi faced off midair. Before they could make a move, the wind and clouds had already begun to stir and their surroundings changed color, the precepts and Saint Qi of heaven and earth gathered from all directions around them.
The immense pressure emanated from Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and Gu Chenzi. It made many cultivators with weaker cultivation tremble with fear and could not help but kneel before them.
“Gu Chenzi, have a taste of my palm strike.”
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan took the initiative to attack. An immense amount of precepts was absorbed into his palm, and it seemed like a world was about to be created.
This palm contained a terrifying amount of precepts, which seemed like it could suppress everything with unstoppable force.
Gu Chenzi was unperturbed, and the eight huge silver wings on his back unfolded as he absorbed the Saint Qi from his surroundings at an unimaginable speed. Tens of thousands of streaks of silver lightning formed. They were like spiritual snakes countering the palm strike of Supreme Saint Yi Xuan.
Boom
The lightning and the palm strike collided, the impact releasing a terrifying amount of energy. The surrounding precepts instantly turned chaotic.
Fortunately, with the existence of the Divine Marks, no matter how powerful the force was, it did not cause much damage.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and Gu Chenzi did not stop. Instead, they used even more powerful techniques and fought with more ferocity.
Anyone could see that the two were evenly matched. It would be difficult to determine the victor quickly.
At this moment, all the cultivators in Vastsea Garden were paying close attention to this battle. Such a battle between elites was not something that frequently occurred.
Zhang Ruochen was also paying close attention. Since he wanted to be the leader of the Bloodysky Clan, his fight with one of them was unavoidable.
There was a saying that “if you know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated”.
Observing the techniques of Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and Gu Chenzi would make it much easier for him to deal with them later.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and Gu Chenzi fought fiercely, and they exchanged more than 1,000 moves within a brief period, but neither had the upper hand.
Suddenly, Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and Gu Chenzi stopped simultaneously and retreated away from each other.
Gu Chenzi folded the silver wings on his back and said, “It’s hard to tell who’s stronger between us unless it’s a life-and-death battle. Fine, I won’t fight with you this time and let you be the leader of the Bloodysky Clan instead.”
“If that’s the case, I couldn’t accept…” Supreme Saint Yi Xuan did not decline immediately and pondered for a moment.
However, at this moment, an evenly measured and calm voice sounded, “I also want to fight Supreme Saint Yi Xuan.”
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan immediately turned around and locked his gaze on the person who spoke.
Not only him, but all the other cultivators from the Immortal Vampires that were present also turned towards the sound.
When they saw the person who spoke, many of the cultivators couldn’t help but look puzzled.
“Cousin Ruochen wants to challenge Supreme Saint Yi Xuan, this…” Xue Ningxiao was stunned.
The person who spoke was Zhang Ruochen. It was also the reason why everyone was surprised.
Zhang Ruochen was indeed extraordinary because he had defeated Yan Wushen and also possessed an astonishing battle record in Kunlun. However, he had just entered the Neverwilt Realm. How could he compete with Supreme Saint Yi Xuan?
However, Zhang Ruochen still dared to challenge Supreme Saint Yi Xuan after watching the fierce battle between them. Maybe he was confident that he could defeat Supreme Saint Yi Xuan.
However, was this possible?
Under the eyes of the gathered cultivators, Zhang Ruochen walked out of Vastsea Garden step by step and stopped in front of Supreme Saint Yi Xuan.
Supreme Saint Xueqi stared at Zhang Ruochen with a puzzled look in his eyes.
He had always valued the honor of his family. This time, he wanted to make a name for the Xue Jue Family, especially at such a special moment when Wargod Bloodximius became the chief of the Bloodysky Clan as he believes the chief should come from the Xue Jue Family.
However, he wasn’t strong enough. The gap between him and the Three Top Elites of Bloodsky Clan was too big to be compared.
Now, Zhang Ruochen had stepped forward. His courage alone had slightly changed Supreme Saint Xueqi’s highly personal impression of him.
‘Zhang Ruochen, if you can defeat Supreme Saint Yi Xuan and become the leader of the Bloodysky Clan, you’ll have a firm foothold in the Xue Jue Family. From then on, no one within the family will dare to criticize you,’ Supreme Saint Xueqi thought to himself.
Supreme Saint Xueqi had heard all kinds of legends about Zhang Ruochen, and he was still quite curious about Zhang Ruochen’s strength.
Yan Wushen could not be simply defeated by just anyone.
Of course, if Zhang Ruochen lost in this battle, then Xueqi could take this opportunity to challenge Zhang Ruochen and seize the position as clan leader.
The weak were not worthy of leading the Xue Jue Family.
Xue Tu stared at Zhang Ruochen with anticipation in his eyes.
He knew Zhang Ruochen better than all the cultivators present, and he knew more than half of Zhang Ruochen’s past. For example, he knew that Zhang Ruochen had a demigod-level physique and the legendary ten golden vampire wings. With countless trump cards, this battle would be surely wonderful.
In the air, Zhang Ruochen and Grand Saint Yi Xuan stood midair facing each other. Both of them were only 330 meters apart.
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan looked at Zhang Ruochen deeply. He thought for a moment and released an extremely powerful Saint Aura, which flew directly towards Zhang Ruochen.
With his cultivation and strength, even an ordinary Hundred-Shackle Realm Supreme Saint wouldn’t be able to withstand his Saint Aura.
Zhang Ruochen remained calmly in place and easily dissipated Supreme Saint Yi Xuan’s Saint Aura.
When Supreme Saint Yi Xuan saw this, his interest was piqued, and he said, “Zhang Ruochen, I’ve heard of your achievements in Kunlun. I also want to see what tricks you have that defeated Yan Wushen. Do not disappoint me.”
“Supreme Saint Yi Xuan, please enlighten me,” Zhang Ruochen said and cupped his hands submissively.
He had to treat the strong with due respect.
The fingernail on one of Saint Yi Xuan’s hands rapidly elongated and turned into a sharp claw. A vast amount of murderous blood power surged out, filling the entire space with the metallic smell of blood.
Whoosh!
As Supreme Saint Yi Xuan waved his sharp claw, a Blood Claw tens of thousands of feet long materialized and clawed directly at Zhang Ruochen.
If it wasn’t for the Divine Marks which stabilize the area, the space would have been torn apart.
Zhang Ruochen pointed with his finger and caused Precepts of Dimension to appear by millions and merge into the space around him.
Creak!
Streaks of silver light flashed, with thin and long cracks appearing in the space.
The huge Blood Claw that Supreme Saint Yi Xuan used was broken into more than ten pieces. It was a clean-cut that left a nice finish.
In the next moment, the cracked Blood Claw exploded and turned back into blood power. However, it did not dissipate and continued to surge towards Zhang Ruochen.
In the process, the blood power surged violently. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a viscous sea of blood and tried to absorb surrounding precepts as well as the Saint Qi of heaven and earth. It expanded rapidly as if it wanted to flood the entire land.
Zhang Ruochen gathered powerful dimensional power at the tip of his finger and condensed it into silver light. It displayed unrivaled sharpness as if it could cut through everything.
Puff
The silver light flew out and cut the sea of blood apart. It could no longer fuse together afterward.
Then, Zhang Ruochen took the initiative to attack. He rushed out of the blood sea and stretched out his hand. The seven orifices in his palm all opened, releasing a huge amount of Blood Qi.
Instantly, an extremely solid illusory image of Lord Ming appeared. It held up the heavens and earth with its majesty and swung its hand toward Supreme Saint Yi Xuan.
In the dark, a powerful divine might was added to the illusory image of Lord Ming. It became even more majestic and spiritual. It was like the actual avatar of Lord Ming.
The Seven-Orifice Netherblood Palm was created by Lord Ming. It was extremely mysterious and was not as simple as an ordinary Saint Technique.
As long as one’s Blood Qi was strong enough, the power of the Seven-Orifice Netherblood Palm could increase infinitely.
In this aspect, Zhang Ruochen had a lot of advantages.
He had the ability to grow ten golden wings. In terms of Blood Qi, even a Supreme Saint from the Hundred-Shackle Realm couldn’t compare to him.
That was why Zhang Ruochen had spent a lot of time studying the Seven-Orifice Netherblood Palm when he was in seclusion. He wanted to perform it at a higher level.
The moment the illusory image of Lord Ming appeared, the vast sea of blood shattered as it could no longer be maintained.
The Precepts and Saint Qi of heaven and earth gathered towards the illusory image of Lord Ming. They seemed to be completely controlled by the illusory image.
“Interesting.”
Supreme Saint Yi Xuan chuckled and did not retreat. Instead, he went up to meet it.
As he waved his hands, sharp claw shadows filled the sky. The resulting powerful force caused a large area of space to become distorted.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen and Supreme Saint Yi Xuan fighting, many Immortal Vampire’s cultivators couldn’t help but be surprised. They didn’t expect that Zhang Ruochen possessed the ability to fight against Supreme Saint Yi Xuan.
Even at the same level, only a few people could fight with Supreme Saint Yi Xuan. Someone fighting Supreme Saint Yi Xuan across realms was something that shouldn’t have happened within logic.
“Such strong Blood Qi, such a strong body, and such keen battle awareness,” Gu Chenzi said.
He was strong enough, so his vision was naturally incomparable. He quickly saw through Zhang Ruochen illusions and couldn’t help but to praise him.
Among the Three Top Elites of Bloodsky Clan, Gu Chenzi’s Blood Qi was the strongest, but Zhang Ruochen seemed stronger than him.
It was hard to imagine what had happened to Zhang Ruochen after he had died in front of the Dimensional Rift that made him change so much.
Lord Xia Yu’s eyes also showed traces of surprise. Her gaze became deep as if he wanted to see through Zhang Ruochen completely.
“Cousin Ruochen is too powerful. Even Supreme Saint Yi Xuan can’t do anything to him so would he become the leader of the Bloodysky Clan?”
Xue Ningxiao’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Xue Chen muttered, “Zhang Ruochen isn’t an impulsive person. Since he dares to attack, he is surely confident.”
To be honest, Zhang Ruochen’s strength had increased at speed beyond Xue Chen’s expectation.
When Kunlun had just become the Battlefield of Merits, Zhang Ruochen was still very weak. If they had met at that time, Xue Chen would certainly have ignored him.
However, he did not expect that in a short time, Zhang Ruochen had first become a top elite in the Saint Kinghood, and now he could even fight against the Three Top Elites of Bloodsky Clan. Such a speed of improvement in strength was terrifying.
Xue Chen wasn’t surprised by Zhang Ruochen’s battle strength.
What he was more curious about was why Zhang Ruochen would fight to become the leader.
Zhang Ruochen had no sense of belonging in the Xue Jue Family. He couldn’t have fought for the honor of the family. Besides, based on Xue Chen’s understanding of Zhang Ruochen, he might not be interested in the Celestial-Hunting Festival.
Could it be the will of a God?
Only a god could influence Zhang Ruochen.
Not only the cultivators in Vastsea Garden were paying attention to this battle, but the deities of the Bloodysky Clan in the divine blood temple were also paying attention. Most of them were paying more attention to Zhang Ruochen.
It couldn’t be helped. Zhang Ruochen’s identity was too special. If it wasn’t for the Wargod Bloodximius, Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t have a foothold after entering the world of the Bloodysky Clan.
If he wanted to survive in Infernal Court, he needed the approval of the deities of the Bloodysky Clan first, and the best way was to prove his worth with his strength.
This was also one of the reasons why the Blood Empress asked Zhang Ruochen to join the race.
Bang
Zhang Ruochen and Supreme Saint Yi Xuan exchanged a palm strike that caused the Blood Qi around to surge.
The more Supreme Saint Yi Xuan fought, the more shocked he became. He had already mobilized the power of the Shackles in his body, but he couldn’t gain the upper hand. Instead, he was being slowly suppressed.
“Zhang Ruochen, if you can withstand this blow of mine, then you will win this battle,” Supreme Saint Yi Xuan said.
As he spoke, he had already fully mobilized the Precepts that he had cultivated himself. At the same time, he released the 80 Shackles, and the immense power that he had obtained was all gathered in one hand.
In an instant, the temperature within tens of thousands of miles suddenly dropped. Each of the divine lakes around froze. The grass and trees were frozen. Large amounts of ice crystals floated down from the sky, and the entire world seemed to be frozen.
With a gesture, the entire world was frozen. Everything was still.
With Supreme Saint Yi Xuan’s power, he was able to unleash an advanced Saint technique at Hundred-Shackle Realm entirely. One could imagine the power of this technique.
The first thing Supreme Saint Qingsheng did was to activate the Divine Marks in Vastsea Garden to isolate it from the outside world so that it would not be affected.
After all, the weaker cultivators in Vastsea Garden could not resist the terrifying power of Frost.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes narrowed. He reached out both hands simultaneously and formed a mysterious and overbearing Palm Seal. There was a terrifying Yang energy that surged out of his body.
In an instant, Zhang Ruochen turned into a huge furnace. Every inch of his skin turned red hot as if it was going to melt.
In the Divine Light Sea of Qi, the Golden Sun of Destructio and the Divine Sun formed by Sacred Seven-star Lingzhi’s Sun Leaf spun rapidly. They released majestic Yang energy which combined with Zhang Ruochen’s own Yang energy.
In the next moment, the Yang energy released by Zhang Ruochen was millions of times more than that of an ordinary person. It exuded a terrifying destructive qi.
“Dragon-Elephant Destruction.”
Zhang Ruochen shouted to himself.
Roar
Along with the earth-shaking dragon’s roar and elephant’s roar, three divine dragons and three divine elephants flew out of Zhang Ruochen’s palms at the same time. They were all enormous, with solid bodies that exuded a vast and mighty pressure that suppressed the heavens.
The divine dragons and divine elephants were burning with raging flames. They melted everything in their path, as if they wanted to burn the world.
Boom
The two opposing forces clashed violently and unleashed an even more terrifying destructive force.
Even though the space within the Xue Jue Family was extremely stable, it was still rippling intensely. A small area suddenly shattered, and countless pitch-black cracks extended in all directions. It was a terrifying scene.
The heat waves in the heavens and earth churned and melted all the ice. And the land that had experienced the ice age was once again illuminated by the sunlight.
Under the impact of the violent might, Supreme Saint Yi Xuan could not help but take a step back with his bodily qi and blood surging violently.
However, Zhang Ruochen stood tall and upright. No matter how the destructive power battered him, he did not budge even in the slightest.
For Zhang Ruochen, who had the body of a demigod, this attack was nothing.
Phew
Exhaling lightly, Zhang Ruochen activated the Golden Sun of Destruction and regulated the violent Yang energy in his body to gradually calm it down.
It was also because his body was strong enough now. Otherwise, if he released this vast Yang energy, he would have been severely injured before he could hurt the enemy. Even his Saint Soul might have been damaged.
In Vastsea Garden, many cultivators of the Immortal Vampires opened their eyes wide with reverence.
The Immortal Vampires worshiped the strong, and only displays of strength would convince them.
Now that Zhang Ruochen was undoubtedly strong in their eyes. No one cared about his background anymore. Strength was everything.