Huang Yanchen wielded her sword, and a trace of sword Qi cut three Corpse Kings and two Ghost Kings in half.
Huang Yanchen rushed forward, trying to stab Han Qiu in the forehead.
Han Qiu was using all her strength to control the Corpse Kings and Ghost Kings, so it seemed that she couldn't dodge the attack of Huang Yanchen at all.
However, Han Qiu suddenly smiled bizarrely as the sword light got closer.
Whoosh!
A dark phantom that looked exactly like Han Qiu flew out of her body and hit Huang Yanchen.
Huang Yanchen trembled and spit out blood. She bounced away like a kite without its string.
That dark phantom went back to Han Qiu's body.
Han Qiu stopped controlling the Corpse Kings and Ghost Kings, instead, she rushed toward Huang Yanchen and was about to stab Huang Yanchen's neck with her sword. She sneered and said, "My dark dividing self is just as powerful as my original body, isn't it?"
Huang Yanchen stood on the square, bleeding. She closed her eyes and said, "If you want to kill me, do it now."
Han Qiu smiled at Zhang Ruochen smugly and said, "Should I kill her, your highness?"
Everyone at the peak of Saint Wood Mountain looked to Zhang Ruochen.
Even the heavenly kings from the imperial government didn't dare try and save her as Huang Yanchen would definitely be killed by Han Qiu if they failed. Nobody could afford to bear that responsibility, which meant Huang Yanchen's life was totally in Zhang Ruochen's hands now.
Mu Lingxi grabbed Zhang Ruochen's hand, shook her head and said, "No! You can't kill sister Chen."
Mu Lingxi was worried that Zhang Ruochen would regret killing Huang Yanchen in the future. If someone did something regretful, he or she would spend the rest of the life wallowing in pain and sorrow. She couldn't allow Zhang Ruochen to do something like that.
"Kill? Nobody's going to kill anybody! I haven't said anything yet. Who dares to kill!"
An immortal bird with a cat head walked out of the crowd.
It had a chubby body. It twisted its butt with its wings spread, walking toward Han Qiu and Huang Yanchen.
The eyes of that immortal bird bulged, and it yelled at Han Qiu, "Didn't you hear what I just said? Put down your sword, otherwise, I'll beat you half to death."
And then, the immortal bird knocked Han Qiu's sword away with its wings.
Han Qiu had originally planned to seize the chance to kill Huang Yanchen once and for all so that Zhang Ruochen's lingering feelings toward her would be gone, yet she was interrupted by a beast who didn't look like any animal.
"Where did you come from? How dare you stop me?"
Han Qiu picked up her sword and swung it toward the immortal bird with a cat head.
Bang!
She didn't manage to hurt the immortal bird with that move at all.
Han Qiu felt that her arms went numb after that. She immediately put her saint sword away and looked to the immortal bird in shock.
The immortal bird smiled and said, "Do you really think you can hurt me?"
"Ugh!"
Han Qiu mobilized her dark power, and dozens of traces of black demonic forces gushed out of her forehead and gathered in her arm, and then, she hit the belly of the immortal bird.
There were many characteristics of dark power. It could swallow, erode, and kill.
However, just as Han Qiu hit the immortal bird's belly, it was only to find out that the immortal bird's feathers started to burn.
Even dark power couldn't penetrate its body.
The immortal bird shook its body and knocked Han Qiu away. It guffawed, "I'm invincible. Do you really think you can hurt me?"
The other monks were all amazed.
Huang Yanchen stared at that immortal bird that was standing in front of her. She found the way it talked resembled that of Blackie too much.
However, its forces were completely different from those of Blackie.
Besides, Blackie was a cat, but this was an owl.
Huang Yanchen heard Blackie transmitting its voice to her. "Obviously, Zhang Ruochen came here to kill Qiu Yu today. Nobody but you stood up and tried to protect him. Are you an idiot?"
Huang Yanchen then confirmed that the immortal bird was Blackie.
She said, "The empress told us before she left that Qiu Yu is the spiritual root of Kunlun's Field, which makes him the hope of Kunlun's Field. If Zhang Ruochen kills him, he'll be executed by the empress without a doubt. I don't have a choice."
"Leave that to me."
Blackie transmitted its voice to Huang Yanchen again.
Blackie looked to Qiu Yu and said, "Come over here, tree."
Qiu Yu didn't give a damn about Blackie. He then looked to Huang Yanchen and said, "Lord heir, do you really think I don't know you still have some lingering feelings toward Zhang Ruochen? I know it was you who ordered the monks from the imperial government not to attack the Sacred dregs, otherwise they wouldn't have been that arrogant. I suggest you follow the oracle of the empress, otherwise, you know what'll happen to you if you go against a God."
Blackie flapped its wings and dashed toward Qiu Yu like a black goose with a cat head. It yelled, "How dare you ignore me? I'll kill you!"
Qiu Yu looked disdainful. He moved his body and dodged Blackie at a speed faster than an absolute saint.
Blackie didn't hit Qiu Yu. Instead, it hit a saint ancestor of the Fire Tribe that was standing behind Qiu Yu.
Bang!
That saint ancestor performed handprints seventeen times and hit Blackie's chest. Blackie was knocked away like an artillery shell into the Golden Dragon Carriage.
Just as Blackie was knocked away, Zhang Ruochen performed spatial move and disappeared with his Abyss Ancient Sword.
In the next moment, Zhang Ruochen showed up right above Qiu Yu and slashed down.
Qiu Yu's speed was nothing compared to spatial move, so he couldn't dodge Zhang Ruochen's sword at all.
Bang!
Zhang Ruochen's sword clashed with Qiu Yu's arms, releasing an enormous amount of power and cracking the ground.
Qiu Yu was wearing two arm protections and two hand protections, which warded off the Abyss Ancient Sword.
Martial Saint Canglan was a bit surprised. She said, "Fire God Armor."
The Saint Lady was also a bit surprised as well. She said, "Indeed, but that isn't the complete Fire God Armor, only arm protections and hand protections."
"I asked her majesty to bestow upon me a Fiery God arm protection, yet she didn't even say yes," Martial Saint Canglan said.
The Saint Lady smiled and said, "Qiu Yu has the body of a true god. He's the spiritual root and the hope of Kunlun's Field. Of course, her majesty values him more."
Martial Saint Canglan was a bit upset. She said, "So what? His cultivation is way stronger than Zhang Ruochen's, and he has Fiery God Armor, yet he's still being suppressed by Zhang Ruochen. If there were another seedling of the Divine Trees, he would never have been valued by her majesty like this."
The Saint Lady said, "You've underestimated Qiu Yu. His true god body constitution makes him stronger than Xue Wuye and Lidi, however, his state of mind is indeed his weakness, otherwise…"
"Otherwise what?" Martial Saint Canglan asked.
"Nothing." the Lady Saint smiled.
In the past half a month, Zhang Ruochen had refined part of the pill Qi of Chongling Pill and reached the middle stage of Absolute Ground Realm.
As for Qiu Yu, he had reached the pinnacle stage of Absolute Ground Realm.
"Aren't you supposed to be invincible among those at the same level?" Zhang Ruochen asked coldly while suppressing Qiu Yu.
Qiu Yu kneeled on the ground with one knee as he was completely suppressed by the Abyss Ancient Sword. He couldn't even say one word.
Zhang Ruochen was still able to talk while suppressing him, which meant he hadn't used all his strength yet.
Zhang Ruochen then changed his move and hit Qiu Yu's head with the blade.
Bang!
Qiu Yu's head was cracked, and his head caved, then, he bounced away.
Just as Qiu Yu bounced away, Zhang Ruochen hit his belly, and his sword pierced his body, causing him to bleed.
Boom!
Qiu Yu fell to the ground.
However, the Abyss Ancient Sword failed to cut Qiu Yu's body in half as Qiu Yu's backbone seemed to be extremely solid.
Zhang Ruochen immediately understood that Qiu Yu's backbone was the trunk of the Divine Phoenix Tree, and he could only kill it if he cut off the trunk.
Qiu Yu's body had completely turned into wood. He was pressed onto the ground by the Abyss Ancient Sword, and he couldn't move at all.
Two saint ancestors of the Fire Tribe tried to save Qiu Yu, but they were suppressed by Ling Xiu's mind power.
"Isn't the body of a true god invincible? They're both at Absolute Ground Realm, so why did Qiu Yu only ward off three moves of Zhang Ruochen?"
"What do you mean warding off three moves? He didn't ward off any moves."
"Zhang Ruochen was suppressing Qiu Yu the entire time with ease."
…
Qiu Yu couldn't feel more humiliated and furious. He only wanted to hide himself forever. He was the Divine Phoenix Tree, yet he was not only robbed of his fiancé but also defeated by Zhang Ruochen within three moves.
Countless people would laugh at him in the future for that.
Zhang Ruochen knew that he couldn't kill Qiu Yu with the Abyss Ancient Sword, so he put his sword back and picked up Qiu Yu as if he were a dead dog, throwing him into the Kaiyuan Deer Cauldron.
Zhang Ruochen then stuck the Abyss Ancient Sword into the ground and said, "I'll sacrifice the Divine Phoenix Tree for the heaven and earth."