Blowing the Cover
Blowing the Cover
"Go now, Your highness Fairy. We will hold back the Blood Wasp Ashuran King."
Butcher roared and covered his eyes with a saber in his hand. His body muscles swelled, emanating a violent aura that only the primordial beasts possessed as golden hair growing on his body.
He struck the saber at an angle, colliding with the Blood Wasp Ashuran King's sword.
Sparks flew as the saber and the sword clashed.
The powerful Saint Path Power turned into ripples and spread in all directions.
Butcher's strength increased tremendously, almost as powerful as a Precept-Domain cultivator when he transformed into a semi-beast. But he still could not hold a candle to the Blood Wasp Ashuran King. The powerful Sword Path energy hit him, forcing him to fall back as blood continued to spurt out of his mouth.
"You are not bad in terms of strength. Surrender and you will live."
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King struck his sword and hit Butcher on the shoulder, dragging with it several hundred feet of Sword Force. Butcher's saber had intercepted the sword, yet the pressure was immobilizing him.
There were only two choices for him: surrender or die.
"Surrender my foot!"
Butcher cursed. He gathered all his strength in his arms as he gritted his teeth and roared.
But he could still not move the Blood Wasp Ashuran King's sword one bit.
"Since you choose death, I will have no choice but to oblige."
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King struck the sword sideways at Butcher's head with the twist of his hand; he was cold and merciless.
"Butcher…"
Fairy Tianchu cast out a Rain Sword. It clung to the Blood Wasp Ashuran King's neck but did no harm to him. A layer of bloody luster appeared and formed into what might look like scales on his neck.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King's sword abruptly stopped an inch from Butcher's throat.
Time came to a standstill at this moment.
Zhang Ruochen moved like a bolt of lightning. He went up to the Blood Wasp Ashuran King, striking the sword blade with one hand and the Blood Wasp Ashuran King's chest with the other.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King took the hit. He was not hurt but just fell three steps back and ground to a halt 200 feet away.
"You all go first. I will bring up the rear."
Zhang Ruochen took out a bundle of talismans and held them in his left hand as he fixated his eyes on the Blood Wasp Ashuran King, just in case.
Butcher thought he would die. Little did he expect Zhang Ruochen to come to his rescue in the nick of time. He was deeply grateful to him.
He picked up his saber and held it in front of him as he stood beside Zhang Ruochen. "If we leave, we all leave together. If we die, we all die together."
Fairy Tianchu retrieved her Rain Sword and stood on the other side of Zhang Ruochen. "I couldn't agree more."
Fool and the other Great Elder of Tianchu Civilization came up and stayed with Zhang Ruochen.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King shifted his attention to Zhang Ruochen. "No wonder I have a strange feeling about you. It turns out that you are a cultivator of Time. But it's a shame that your cultivation base is still not up to snuff. Otherwise, you could be a worthy opponent."
Before his voice trailed off, his sword had come right up in front of Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen was no slouch. He had vast experience in combat and his speed was no slower than the Blood Wasp Ashuran King.
He cast out a dozen talismans at almost the same time as the Blood Wasp Ashuran King thrust his sword at him.
The talismans exploded to release violent energy, which had not only intercepted the sword but also engulfed the Blood Wasp Ashuran King in it.
By the time the energy of the talismans subsided, the Blood Wasp Ashuran King found that Zhang Ruochen and his gangs had gone.
"Who that guy is, and where did he get so many powerful talismans? But as powerful as they are, talismans are just extraneous. They couldn't change the fact that you are going to die under my sword."
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King received a message from a wasp king; a swarm of blood wasps was pursuing Zhang Ruochen, Fairy Tianchu, and the others, not letting them get away.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King flew into the blood fog immediately.
Blood wasps were flying faster than Zhang Ruochen expected. They were right on their tails, no matter how fast they ran.
Fairy Tianchu used the Crimson River Portrait to summon the power of the red sun and divine river to ward off the blood wasps' attacks and keep them from coming close.
"We can leave using the Dimensional Teleportation Scroll as soon as we are out of this blood fog," said Zhang Ruochen.
The dimensional structure inside the blood fog was rigid. Not even the Dimensional Teleportation Scroll worked in this environment, let alone Dimensional Shift.
So they had to get out of the area first.
The blood fog was getting thinner as they went, and their visions started to clear up.
Butcher, Fool, Zhang Ruochen, and Fairy Tianchu felt relieved.
But their relief did not last long; their faces collapsed the next moment.
Two shadows with a powerful aura were standing in their way at the edge of the blood fog.
"It is them. I knew it! Mr. Godcliff has come to Warsoul Start, too." Zhang Ruochen's heart sank.
When Drifter and Wayfarer saw the beautiful Fairy Tianchu, they exchanged a look with each other and chuckled.
"I said it long ago that the maiden of Tianchu Civilization surely had something up her sleeve. No way she would die easily in the Blood Wasp Ashuran King's hand," said Wayfarer.
Drifter nodded in agreement. "Follow us, Fairy Tianchu. We can save you. Otherwise, you and your men will die when the Blood Wasp Ashuran King catches up."
"Damn it! How come are they here?"
Fool and an Elder of Tianchu Civilization performed an intermediate Saint Technique each as they changed at Drifter and Wayfarer, respectively.
Boom!
Boom!
Blood spurted out of Fool and the Elder's mouths as their opponents struck them back, crashing to the ground.
Fool clambered to his feet, pressing his hand on the bloody wound in his chest, looking in disbelief. "You all have attained Precept Domain realm!"
Smelling blood, the swarm of blood wasps immediately surrounded Fool and the Elder.
Butcher gritted his teeth in fury. "Instead of working together to fight the Infernal Court, these two bastards are fishing in troubled waters! How I wish I can chop them into pieces now."
Zhang Ruochen appeared calm. "You go save the two Elders, while Butcher and I take care of Drifter and Wayfarer."
"Be careful. They have attained the Precept Domain realm," said Fairy Tianchu.
If not for her needing the Crimson River Portrait to hold back the blood wasps, she would use it against Drifter and Wayfarer.
She worried about Zhang Ruochen, who had many tricks up his sleeves and could challenge Precept-Domain cultivators. But because his cultivation base was still not up to snuff, it was very dangerous to fight the Precept-Domain cultivators.
"Don't worry, Fairy. Brother Ruohan only needs to engage Wayfarer. I will come to his aid after I kill Drifter."
Butcher made his move first to engage Drifter. They both performed a Precept Domain skill and clashed, sending a tremor through heaven and earth with dust rising into the air.
Wayfarer did not recognize Zhang Ruochen. Hearing what Butcher said, he thought Zhang Ruochen was just a young cultivator from Tianchu Civilization and did not treat him as a worthy opponent.
Zhang Ruochen wanted to fight a quick battle. So he held back no more and summoned the Azuresky Pagoda.
Wayfarer was wearing a monk's robe, all smiles as he fiddled a string of prayer beads in his hand. "Why choose death over life, gentleman? Why don't you bring Fairy Tianchu and defect to the Fane of Youshen… Supreme Power…"
The Azuresky Pagoda became several hundred feet tall, glowing green. It rotated rapidly in the air and crashed down like a divine mountain down at Wayfarer.
Wayfarer was almost wide-eyed as if he had seen ghosts. He quickly performed a Precept Domain skill and cast out the string of prayer beads in his hand.
The prayer beads scattered in the air as they formed into thirty-six bright Buddha beads.
Lunging out of each Buddha bead was a white-robed Buddha statue.
Thirty-six Buddha statues sat cross-legged and performed different seals to fight back the Azuresky Pagoda.
The Azuresky Pagoda was a complete piece of supreme artifact, several times more powerful than the Purple-Gold Bagua Mirror of Awesome, the Little Taoist. The thirty-six Buddha beads exploded into tiny white fragments upon impact.
The Azuresky Pagoda hit the ground with an earth-shattering loud boom, leaving behind a massive crater in its place.
A powerful shock wave blast through Butcher, Drifter, Fairy Tianchu, and the others, forcing them all back.
After attaining the Eight-Step Saint Kinghood, Zhang Ruochen's power was in a different league compared to the last time when using the Azuresky Pagoda.
The only thing was, Wayfarer was still alive with minor injury as he had bounced thousands of feet away in the nick of time.
Wayfarer anguished over the loss of the thirty-six Buddha beads, crushed by the supreme artifact. "Where did you get this Azuresky Pagoda? Who are you, really?"
Zhang Ruochen retrieved the Azuresky Pagoda and held it in his palm. He looked Wayfarer in the eyes, trying to provoke him further. "You are in no position to talk to me with your current cultivation base. Ask Mr. Godcliff to talk to me.
"You—"
Wayfarer was now sure that this guy in front of him was none other than Zhang Ruochen.
Right at this moment, a burst of laughter came from afar. "Why come to seek death in Luoshui when you could have stayed back at Eastern Region Holy City, Zhang Ruochen? But fret not. I'm not going to kill you, but I make sure your fate will be worse than death."
It was Mr. Godcliff's voice, which came from thousands of miles away, and it was getting closer.
"We need to leave the blood fog immediately. Give me a hand, everyone. Let's power the Azuresky Pogoda together." Zhang Ruochen knew that he had to leave before Mr. Godcliff arrived. Otherwise, they could never have.
Butcher, Fool, and the Great Precept World Elder of Tianchu Civilization summoned their Saint Qi and injected it into the Azuresky Pagoda.
A large number of inscriptions appeared on the pagoda, the supreme power of which doubling than before.
Drifter and Wayfarer sensed the supreme power, their faces collapsing, and they quickly retreated.
At this time, the Blood Wasp Ashuran King flew out of the blood mist and saw the Azuresky Pagoda getting brighter and brighter. Instead of fear, he looked excited. "Yet another supreme artifact. It seems there is a ton of good stuff in the Kunlun Realm. This supreme artifact will set to boost my combat strength to another level if I could get my hands on it."
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King spread his wings wide as he faded into a beam of black light toward Zhang Ruochen below the pagoda.
Sensing the presence of the Blood Wasp Ashuran King, Fairy Tianchu cast out a translucent jade talisman with the flick of her finger. The talisman turned into a jade stele in the air.
Over 300,000 runes gushed out of the jade stele to form a semicircular light shield.
Boom!
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King collided with the light shield collided, and the impact sent him flying back out.
The Blood Wasp Ashuran King was an ardent believer in his own strength, and he had never bothered to use any talismans or arrays.
Today, however, Zhang Ruochen and Fairy Tianchu, who possessed a ton of talismans, became a real pain in his a**.
The Azuresky Pagoda flew up and released a layer of several-hundred-foot-tall supreme power to dispel the blood fog. Zhang Ruochen did not go after Drifter and Wayfarer. Instead, he directed the Azuresky Pagoda and struck at the Blood Wasp Ashuran King.
However, the Blood Wasp Ashuran King was unperturbed. He clenched the sword with both hands and struck at the supreme artifact.
Boom!
The Azuresky Pagoda sent the Blood Wasp Ashuran King flying back before he plunged to the earth, causing the ground to sink and leaving behind a thousand-foot-tall mountain.