706 A Chess Piece

If Zhang Ruochen wanted to, he could have used the Buddha spirit in the Dragon Pearl to get rid of the Death Qi inside Saint Lady's body.

However, doing so would've exposed his true identity.

If Saint Lady finds out his true identity, there was no way out for him.

What else could he do to get out of danger?

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

...

Qi Hong's attacks became more and more ferocious. The ground started cracking and the lights from the Spiral Dragon Array started dimming. The array looked like it could disintegrate any time soon.

Saint Lady glanced at Zhang Ruochen, her eyelashes curling upward. She pondered and asked, "What level is your Spiritual Power at?"

"Level 44," Zhang Ruochen replied.

There was really nothing to hide. Once Saint Lady recovered her true cultivation, she could easily probe and find out his true Spiritual Power level.

If he concealed the truth now, she would be even more suspicious when she learned the truth later.

Saint Lady was quite amazed. She had not expected his Spiritual Power cultivation to be that powerful.

Of course, from her point of view, a Spiritual Power of the 44th level was not that amazing.

She continued, "Not too bad. You are only one step away from becoming a Spiritual Half-Saint. You are just as gifted in your Spiritual Power as in your Martial Arts. That should make things easier!"

"What are your plans, Your Excellency?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

Saint Lady stretched out her snowy white hand. A faint aureole appeared at the center of her palm.

A black chess piece emerged from the center of the aureole.

It looked like a tiny chess piece but it was full of light spots.

If you observed it closely with your Spiritual Power, you would discover that these light spots were like stars amidst the universe––there were countless.

She handed the chess piece over to Zhang Ruochen. "This chess piece was sculpted out of a Holy Jade and contains 10 percent of my Spiritual Power. Use it properly and you can slay Qi Hong with this."

"Remember, once its Spiritual Power is used up, the chess piece will be no different from an ordinary one. To survive, we must kill Qi Hong before this happens."

Zhang Ruochen took the chess piece and felt ice-like power pouring out from it. It crept into his palm, almost converging with his Spiritual Power.

At that moment, a strong feeling overtook Zhang Ruochen. He felt as if he had broken into a safe containing a vast Spiritual Power storage.

The Spiritual Power stored inside was several dozens, even hundreds of times, more powerful than his own.

Now, he could mobilize that Spiritual Power as his own.

Saint Lady handed him her folding fan and said, "This is a Spiritual Power Holy Weapon. Just inject your Spiritual Power into the fan and you can mobilize it to attack."

"No, I shouldn't have this. It's your Spiritual Power Holy Weapon. Others may not control it as well as you do. I have a weapon that is just as handy and uses a little less Spiritual Power."

Zhang Ruochen tookout the Thunder Pearl and gripped it tightly in his hand.

Now that he had a Psychic Device, Saint Lady stopped talking. She took back her folding fan and retreated to a far-off tombstone, sitting cross-legged behind it. She used all her power and tried suppressing the Death Qi.

"BOOM!"

Qi Hong's final strike finally breached the Spiral Dragon Array.

Qi Hong's body was now bloody and his hair was dishevelled. He had a grotesque look as he walked over to Zhang Ruochen, panting. He laughed dryly, "I have broken through your array. Why aren't you running away?"

Zhang Ruochen said nonchalantly, "Why should I? Not only are you badly injured, but your Holy Qi is also almost depleted. How much power can you even exert now?"

Qi Hong laughed even louder, glaring at Zhang Ruochen as if he was an idiot. He said disdainfully, "Even if I am left with only one breath left, it'll still be easy to kill you."

"SWOOSH!"

Qi Hong dashed over with great speed. As swift as a streak of lightning, he struck out a fist toward Zhang Ruochen's chest.

His powerful fist strength took the shape of a gourd. It rotated constantly and would have disintegrated Zhang Ruochen's body had it been a successful hit.

"Perfect!"

Zhang Ruochen pinched the chess piece in one hand and the Thunder Pearl in the other. 99 thunderbolts, each the thickness of a bowl, now converged before him, surrounding him like 99 lightning dragons.

Qi Hong caught sight of this and his face fell. He cried, "How is this possible?"

The 99 thunderbolts had converged into a lightning ball, striking out at Qi Hong. It dispelled the strength of the gourd fistaway.

Chaotic power from the lightning ball started devouring Qi Hong's body like a raging tide.

"Sword Two!"

Qi Hong clapped his hands together and raised them to the top of his head.

All of a sudden, the power of the Yin and the Yang gushed out, swirling rapidly around his body. It formed a gigantic Tai Chi mark.

"Swoosh!"

Qi Hong soon soared into the air. Turning into a light column, he broke through the thunderbolt formation and escaped.

"He's indeed a sword practitioner. He still managed to escape, even after suffering such bad injuries."

Zhang Ruochen condensed his Spiritual Power once more. He mumbled to himself, "Lightning of Great Destruction."

This Second-Level thunderbolt spell was cast with the help of the Spiritual Power stored within the chess piece. It was capable of emitting terrifying power.

The entire sky was transformed into a sea of thunderbolts, making incessant crackling noises. It forced Qi Hong to the ground rapidly.

"POW!"

The great power from the thunderbolts engulfed the entire graveyard. Lightning wriggled like fire snakes on the ground. Several thunderbolts even crept into the graves.

Strangely, there seemed to be some power hidden within the graves, absorbing all the power from the thunderbolts.

Zhang Ruochen had his entire attention to Qi Hong. He could not spare being distracted, even for a second. As such, he did not notice these changes within these ancient graves.

Qi Hong's whole body was charred as he lay vulnerably on the ground.

Even though he was protected by the Shooting Star Invisible Cloak, he received an unprecedentedly heavy injury. His skin and flesh were charred like charcoal. Streaks of lightning wriggled on his skin.

His face was bloody and completely mangled. He crawled on the ground, his body shivering. "I've already sent a message to... the Saint... of the Qis. He will be here... very soon. Lin... Yue... if you dare kill me, our Saint will grind your bones to dust."

"Is that so?"

Zhang Ruochen shook his head and smiled. He struck his palm against Qi Hong's forehead.

"BAM!"

A bloody crack appeared on his head and the Qi Sea between his eyebrows exploded.

A ball of white light soared out from his Qi Sea. It emitted brilliant holy light, escaping into the horizon.

It was Qi Hong's Half-Saint's Light that contained his Half-Saint Divine Soul as well as all of his Saint Power.

"Do you think you can escape this easily?"

Zhang Ruochen took out his Auspicious Vase and threw it into the air, sending it above the Half-Saint's Light.

The Half-Saint's Light shrieked horrendously and started to shake violently. It could not resist the power of the Auspicious Vase and was absorbed inside.

Zhang Ruochen retrieved the Auspicious Vase back to his hand. The voice of Saint Lady was behind him. "Is that a Space Treasure?"

Zhang Ruochen covered its lid and remained very calm. He turned around, gazed at her and nodded, "Yes."

Saint Lady was not suspicious of him and said coolly, "You must be rather lucky to have possessed treasures like this."

Zhang Ruochen took out the black chess piece and returned it to her. "Here's the piece. I've only used about one-fifth of the Spiritual Power inside."

Saint Lady stared at the chess piece and a brilliant glow flashed across her beautiful eyes. "I'll leave it with you first. I'm afraid there might be another battle that we have to fight."

Zhang Ruochen kept the chess piece quietly. He asked, "Have you managed to remove the evil Qi?"

Saint Lady pursed her lips lightly and shook her head. "The evil Qi is very peculiar. There's no way I can get rid of it using my Spiritual Power alone. Once I return to the Yin and Yang Sect, I will get help from Martial Arts Saints to get rid of it."

"Let's return to the Yin and Yang Sect before it's too late," Zhang Ruochen replied.

"There's no hurry."

Saint Lady pondered for a while and her eyes stared at Zhang Ruochen. "I have a question I need to ask you."

"Please do," Zhang Ruochen said.

"Why did Qi Hong want to kill you?"

Even with her loss of cultivation, Saint Lady's eyes were still gleaming with wisdom. They stared intently into Zhang Ruochen's eyes.

Actually, Saint Lady was still somewhat suspicious of Zhang Ruochen.

The only reason why she did not interrogate him, was simply because he had saved her and her cultivation was now wholly lost. Hence, she tried a gentler method, probing Zhang Ruochen indirectly.

Zhang Ruochen's face did not change color. "I discovered a conspiracy involving Qi Hong and the Qis. He wanted to kill me because he wanted to silence me."

"What did you discover?" Saint Lady asked.

Zhang Ruochen paused for a moment. "The Qis may be secretly colluding with the Demonic Sect."

Saint Lady's eyes brightened. "Do you have any evidence?"

Zhang Ruochen shook his head, "If I did, I would have reported it to the Sect. Why would I investigate it alone? I tailed Qi Hong because I needed evidence. He discovered me after I tailed him into the Ancient Gods Mountain altar, so he tried to kill me. You wouldn't doubt me, would you, Your Excellency?"

"Of course not."

Saint Lady gave a faint smile. "Actually, I know a few secrets of the Qi family myself. I may know even more than you. The whole matter is more complicated than you think. I didn't want to alert them before the upcoming Sword Technique Conference, so I chose not to investigate for the moment."

"I was planning to take my time to gather evidence after the Conference. Then, I will mobilize my people and set up a trap to get rid of them all. I never expected them to make a move first."