701 Strike Back

From his point of view, this seemingly simple attack was just like the sky collapsing. As the palms fell down on him, he was unable to move.

"Is this the power of a Half-Saint?"

Zhang Ruochen's Holy Qi was being suppressed by Qi Hong's Holy Aura, so he was not able to run it in his meridians.

Even if he were to use spells by mobilizing his Spiritual Power, he definitely would be unable to run away from a Half-Saint. Instead, he was better off hiding his Spiritual Power cultivation and seeking opportunities to escape.

Qi Hong's hand fell on Zhang Ruochen's left shoulder and tore off his Shooting Star Invisible Cloak.

As his Divine Body Shield was broken through, Zhang Ruochen was swatted away more than 30 meters.

With a bang, Zhang Ruochen crashed through an ancient tree trunk and fell into its withered leaves.

Qi Hong mainly wanted to take away his Shooting Star Invisible Cloak, he did not want to kill Zhang Ruochen. Even so, Zhang Ruochen was seriously injured by his martial technique.

With a layer of heavy white frost on his skin, Zhang Ruochen was freezing cold as he trembled on the ground.

His left shoulder had become badly mutilated.

A violent streak of pain ripped through most of his body. He could clearly sense that a current of icing air flowed from the wound in his left shoulder to his meridians, freezing his Genuine Qi inside.

Qi Hong held the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak, looking greedy. He constantly stroked it and highly praised it. "Splendid! It's really splendid! No wonder you could run away from that altar with your cultivation, for you have such a precious treasure."

The Shooting Star Invisible Cloak was very helpful to a Half-Saint. As long as he wore it, Qi Hong would be confident that he could run away from a Saint.

"Who on earth... are you? Why did you... break into the... altar?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

Qi Hong glanced at Lin Yue on the ground, put on a sarcastic smile, and said insidiously, "Actually, I didn't know there was such a large altar in the Ancient Gods Mountain. I entered the altar by following you."

"You... you followed me?" Zhang Ruochen was a little surprised.

However, he felt relieved soon after.

It was indeed easy for a Half-Saint to follow him.

But few Half-Saints would follow a monk in the Fish-Dragon Realm.

With a murderous look in his eyes, Qi Hong grinned cruelly and said, "I did not want to follow you, I wanted to kill you. You should understand why I wanted to kill you."

"Because I defeated Qi Feiyu and enraged the Qis, so the Qis wanted to kill me, right?" Zhang Ruochen asked tentatively.

"The Qis? Hmm, funny! No, it's because your existence affected my plan."

"What's your plan?" Zhang Ruochen continued asking.

"It is certainly..."

Qi Hong was aware that he had spilled the beans, so he stopped and said with a smile, "Are you trying to trap me? With that petty trick, you dare to fool a Half-Saint! You'll certainly come to a bad end.

"Honestly speaking, you really are capable. I had planned to send a man to kill you, but I rejected that in the end. Can you guess why?"

Zhang Ruochen said, "Because they would not be able to kill me."

Qi Hong nodded and said, "That's correct. You're really powerful. A Half-Saint can deal with you, but any others would not be guaranteed to kill you."

"Grr!"

Zhang Ruochen gritted his teeth, endured the severe pain, and stood up with difficulty.

Qi Hong put the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak on and looked surprised when he saw Zhang Ruochen stand up. "How can you stand up after suffering the 'Lethal Icebound Claw'? Are you really at the Fifth Change in the Fish-dragon Realm?"

Zhang Ruochen was covered with a heavy white frost. His bones and muscles became extremely rigid. He tried his best to straighten his back, then said with a smile, "If I remember correctly... the Lethal Icebound Claw is... a martial technique from the Demonic Sect. You're... the Sword Holder of the Sword Pavilion. Where did you get... this martial technique?"

Qi Hong laughed grimly and spread his hands out. "What does it matter that you recognize me? Anyway, you'll die soon."

"Swoosh!"

Qi Hong stepped forward and displayed the martial technique, "A Thousand Miles in One Step". All of a sudden, he appeared in front of Zhang Ruochen and hit him on top of the head.

Blackie, who had been hiding in Zhang Ruochen's sleeves, snatched up the Yin Yang Wooden Graph, wanting to open the door of the space to the Scroll World.

However, Zhang Ruochen pushed it aside.

Qi Hong was quite outstanding among the Half-Saints. Perhaps he would have taken away the Yin Yang Wooden Graph before Zhang Ruochen and Blackie entered the Scroll World.

Furthermore, even if they ran into the Yin Yang Wooden Graph, they would be doomed to die.

If Qi Hong could not refine it, he would be probably present the Yin Yang Wooden Graph to the leader of the Qis.

With the background of the Qis being like an Aristocratic Family in the Middle Ages, it would be easy for them to refine the Yin Yang Wooden Graph.

And once they did that, Zhang Ruochen would still do nothing but die.

"Do you want to know the secret of the altar? To be honest, I came to the Yin and Yang Sect to investigate it," Zhang Ruochen said.

Qi Hong suddenly stopped his palm and said in an overbearing manner, "Go ahead then, tell me! What on earth is the altar? Where do you come from?"

"Is this the way you negotiate?" Zhang Ruochen laughed.

While he was trying to teach him a lesson, Qi Hong glanced behind him because he sensed that somebody was coming.

"For the moment, you can live a little longer. But I'll deal with you later."

Taking Zhang Ruochen with him, Qi Hong activated the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak and disappeared from the site. He rushed out of Legsmist Forest at full speed and flew to the mountain gate of the Yin and Yang Sect.

About an hour later, Qi Hong and Zhang Ruochen were far away from the domain that was under the Yin and Yang Sect. They arrived at a bleak hill and stopped temporarily.

A Half-Saint was able to cross a distant territory within an hour.

"It's really a treasured cloak and it has doubled my speed. With its help, the Saints can do nothing to me." Qi Hong tenderly stroked the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak, loving it even more now.

Then, he threw Zhang Ruochen to the ground. He ceased his laughter and said, "Go on! What's the secret of that altar?"

Zhang Ruochen just smiled and remained silent.

Qi Hong smiled as well and then said gloomily, "Man, will you say it voluntarily? Or else, I'll play extreme tricks to unravel the secret in your mind."

For an hour, Zhang Ruochen had been running the Scripture of Emperor Ming's Empyrean, which had dissolved more than half of the icing air inside his body.

However, Zhang Ruochen still pretended that he could not move. He delayed by saying weakly, "Well, I can tell you. But why are you staying so far away from me? Don't you want to know the secret of the altar?"

"You'd better not be playing tricks. It will be useless," Qi Hong said grimly.

No matter how mischievous he was, a monk who was only in the Fish-Dragon Realm could not cause much of a disturbance.

Qi Hong did not think that Zhang Ruochen could threaten him, so he went over to him with a relaxed mind. He stopped just three steps away from Zhang Ruochen.

"Why are you so scared? Don't you dare to come a little closer?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

Qi Hong condensed a three-foot-long ice sword and said, "If I come a little closer, I'll cut your head off and use my Soul-searching Occult to search your past memory from your Martial Soul. You'll be overwhelmed with sorrow. Are you sure that I can come closer?"

Zhang Ruochen snorted and stood up. He came closer to Qi Hong and said, "I can tell you that the altar in the Ancient Gods Mountain was ordered to be built by Empress Chi Yao. The altars were not only built in the Yin and Yang Sect, but also in the other regions of Kunlun's Field and all major Primitive Worlds."

Obviously, he was attracted by Zhang Ruochen's words and looked startled. He could not help moving forward, then asked hurriedly, "Why did Empress Chi Yao build these altars?"

Zhang Ruochen looked at Qi Hong's feet and gave him a flickering smile. "That's because..."

Before he finished his words, he took out some black elixir from his sleeves and threw it at Qi Hong.

"Bang!"

The black elixir exploded and formed a mass of black evil Qi, enveloping Qi Hong.

Even though he used the holy light, Qi Hong was not at all able to withstand it. His skin had been tainted with black evil Qi and was immediately corroded.

"What's this?" Qi Hong was a little terrified.

The black evil Qi contained the terrifying power of death. It easily penetrated his skin, entered his Blood Meridian and Meridians, and began to devour his life force.

The black evil Qi was the Death Qi from inside Cyan Fire Xuanwu.

Cyan Fire Xuanwu had been suppressed under the sea by the Pillar of the Vicious Sea for 100,000 years. Therefore, its Holy Blood was naturally tainted with the Death Qi of the Pillar of the Vicious Sea.

While extracting the Xuanwu Sacred Blood, Zhang Ruochen separated the Death Qi from the Holy Blood. And then, he gave it to Blackie to refine elixirs, which were used for handling powerful Half-Saint Class enemies.

Certainly, the Half-Saints would react rapidly. Once they discovered any danger, they would immediately escape.

If he had not deliberately shown weakness and tempted Qi Hong to approach him, Zhang Ruochen would not have been able to hurt him, even though he had elixirs refined with Death Qi.