Chapter 1604: Trap and Dividing Self

The five-foot dwarf, the absolute saint with a crocodile head, and the evil woman with fangs were all shocked by Blood Cliff’s yelling.

All of them were top-tier great beings, so they immediately spread, mobilized their saint Qi, and covered their bodies with saint light.

As for Blood Cliff, he immediately wielded a blood-red thorn, hitting where the space ripples came from.

The blood-red thorn was a ten thousand patterns saint weapon that he’d been hiding in his sleeves.

Blood Cliff had triggered the First Yao Complete Power of the thorn, and the second Zhang Ruochen showed up, he could ambush Zhang Ruochen with it.

Even if he couldn’t kill Zhang Ruochen, he’d gain fame among the evil-way monks if he could harm Zhang Ruochen.

“So quick.”

Zhang Ruochen originally meant to get all seventeen heads, but now, he had to change his strategies. After all, a ten thousand patterns saint weapon with its First Yao Complete Power could definitely hurt him.

Whoosh!

Ripples emerged in the space.

At the center of the ripples extended a golden palm, hitting the blood-red thorn. Suddenly, great saint Qi spread everywhere.

“Zhang Ruochen’s here!”

“How did he get through three levels of defense formation without us noticing him?”

“Whatever. Let’s activate Three Yuan Devil Star Formation to trap him.”

The five-foot dwarf, the absolute saint with a crocodile head, and the evil woman with fangs all infused the killing formation under them with saint Qi, and then, inscriptions emerged, covering the area within hundreds of square feet around them.

Stone balls with a diameter of a hundred feet were formed above them, and the engravings on them made them look like small planets.

All three stone balls were made of asteroids with a diameter of a thousand miles. After merging them with a killing formation, it could kill a fist-step saint king.

The three killing formations were activated at the same time, forming Three Yuan Devil Star Formation, which could freeze space to some extent, even killing a second-step saint king and trapping a third-step saint king.

“Let’s suppress Zhang Ruochen together.”

All three absolute saints from the evil way were exhilarated. If they could capture Zhang Ruochen, they’d make a huge contribution, and with the help of Three Yuan Devil Star Formation, they were somewhat confident in accomplishing it.

However, just as they were about to trigger the formations and throw the stone balls away, they found that the formations were out of their control already.

Before they realized what had happened, they felt a breeze in their hearts.

Their bodies were pierced through by vines.

On the vines emerged threads that penetrated their flesh, turning them into mummified corpses.

Sizzle!

Divine Fire Jingmie gushed out of the corpses, burning them into ashes.

Demonic Sound walked out and frowned. “I’ve become a saint king, but I feel so full after absorbing only three absolute saints. It seems the blood Qi and saint power of absolute saints are much stronger than other saints’.”

As a plant creature attached to Zhang Ruochen, Demonic Sound gained a lot from Zhang Ruochen.

For example, she absorbed a trace of Divine Fire Jingmie from Zhang Ruochen to attack people.

Boom!

The golden palm in the space ripples held off the blood-red thorn for an instant, and then, its surging power knocked the thorn back.

Blood Cliff was dazed, immediately running off.

Zhang Ruochen walked out of the space ripples. Instead of chasing Blood Cliff, he flew to above the gate of Yin and Yang Palace to release his second senior brother.

A feeble but nervous voice came out of the dry head. “Little brother, step back. They did something to my head.”

“Run, run!”

Third senior brother yelled in agony.

“Stop trying to save us, little brother… Leave now… We’ll be brothers and sisters in the next life… Perhaps we won’t even have a next life…,” said his fifth senior sister.

Granny Baisu said, “Your highness, this is a trap. Please go…”

“Don’t try to avenge us, your highness. Please stay alive for everyone from Sacred Central Empire.”

The seventeen subordinates from Sacred Central Empire all spoke with desolation as if they were nearing the end of a brutal battle.

Sizzle!

All the seventeen dry heads were being hung on the chain, and now, crimson engravings emerged on the iron chain, and the destructive forces were released.

Only shrill screams came out of the heads.

“Can’t believe they’re so vicious.”

Zhang Ruochen knew what was happening, and he knew that he couldn’t bring them back today. They were right in front of him, yet he couldn’t save them.

Zhang Ruochen recalled everything he’d gone through.

“Your third senior brother was always stingy, but I’m not like him. You’re my junior brother, why wouldn’t I give it to you.” Zhu Hongtao breathed out a Beast Yuan Golden Pill and gave it to Zhang Ruochen.

“I want to become a half saint as well, but I won’t follow this way. Swallowing your Beast Yuan Golden Pill would be like sucking your blood.”

“I admire your character, but we’re brothers. You don’t need to be so polite.”

…

“I’ll be your guardian, little junior brother. I’ll protect you for thirty years. If someone dares do you any harm, I’ll teach him a lesson.”

“Take this Meteor Invisibility Blouse, little brother. I don’t need it anymore.”

…

“Your highness. Are you really our crown prince, your highness? Are you really back?” Granny Baisu said with tears in her eyes.

…

“As long as you’re back, Sacred Central Empire will never die.”

…

“We’ll blow up our saint sources for you, your highness.”

…

Zhang Ruochen recalled everything that had happened before, and without realizing it, his eyes were full of tears.

The seventeen saint sources in the seventeen heads exploded, triggered by a secret technique.

Boom!

The power from the explosion of saint sources triggered by secret techniques couldn’t compare to that of the self-explosion of monks, yet they were still horrifying. The power shook half the Heavenly Capital Saint Market.

Many monks were shocked as they realized something major had happened in Yin and Yang Palace.

Those creatures all speculated that Zhang Ruochen had just attacked Yin and Yang Palace, so they all rushed to Yin and Yang Palace as soon as possible.

Outside Yin and Yang Palace, the demonic dog had been blasted by the explosion of the seventeen heads.

Demonic Sound had retreated into the distance, gathering with Ling Feiyu.

Blackie was controlling the three stone balls to ward off the waves coming out of the explosion of the human heads, but the stone balls all cracked after the clash.

As for Zhang Ruochen, he was standing in front of the three stone balls, looking dazed. His body was rugged as if it would fall at any time.

After the dust dispersed, there were already lots of evil beings standing outside Yin and Yang Palace. Some of them looked like human beings, some looked half-human, and some just looked like pure evil beasts.

They surrounded Zhang Ruochen.

Wang Xu, who was wearing a mask, was standing at the front, spinning his Xu Moon Blade and smiling. “My cultivation has surged again, and I want to fight you myself. You’re such a great competitor, but unfortunately, you won’t have a chance given how injured you are.”

Zhang Ruochen looked around at the evil beings, seeing their fierce, smug, or overbearing smiles, and he said with the most solemn voice possible, “You’ve really pissed me off this time.”

Blue Fang, who was ranked seventy-third on the ‘Saints Merits Rank’ opened his mouth, showing his blue teeth, and said, “Everyone can trash talk. So what we’ve pissed you off? It’s the law of nature. It all boils down to who’s stronger.”

A great being on the ‘Saints Merits Rank,’ Zhan Yu, walked out, holding a golden blade with dragon engravings, and said, “Zhang Ruochen has been severely injured. You might look down on him now, Lord Xu, but I really want to fight this person who’s ranked first on the ‘Saints Merits Rank’.”

Aside from Zhan Yu, a couple of other powerful half-step saint kings also walked out and wanted to fight Zhang Ruochen by themselves. They even started to argue with each other.

After all, Zhang Ruochen was ranked first on the ‘Saints Merits Rank’, so it didn’t matter whether Zhang Ruochen had been injured or not, as long as they could defeat Zhang Ruochen, their reputation would be boosted, and they would have something to brag about.

They wanted to use Zhang Ruochen’s life to reap the most benefits.

Zhang Ruochen suddenly started to laugh, louder and louder, and his laughter spread across the sky.

“Wait. Look, guys!” a monk from the evil way yelled.

The prominent beings from the evil way who were arguing immediately stopped and looked to Zhang Ruochen. They saw his body burn into ashes immediately.

“That is only Zhang Ruochen’s dividing self…”

All the monks from the evil way realized what had happened.

They all thought Zhang Ruochen was tricked and had been severely injured, yet it seemed Zhang Ruochen had expected that, so he only used his dividing self.

That dividing self looked too real.

Blood Cliff curved his lips and thought, “We’re both half-step saint kings, yet Zhang Ruochen’s dividing self is stronger than me. How powerful is his real body?”

Blood Cliff wasn’t weak. He was one of the top-tier half-step saint kings who could rival a first-step saint king.

The sound of footsteps came from the dark across from Yin and Yang Palace.

Zhang Ruochen walked out with his real body and said, “Who set up the forbidden formation in the heads? I’ll drain you of your blood.”

Zhang Ruochen had expected the monks from the evil way to mess with the heads, and that he wouldn’t be able to take away the heads, which was why he used his dividing self to test it.

Even though he’d anticipated what would happen, he still felt deep grief.