1077 Meeting

There was an army formed by evil spirits and corpses on the ground. They stretched into the horizon, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

Some of them could already form solid bodies, meaning they reached the Wuchang level. Some of the corpses were Half-Saint generals and rode on beast corpses. They held eerily white bone spears and emanated icy auras.

The bone dragon under Han Qiu spiraled up and spat out blue-brown fog. Its long tail was made of connected bone. It swayed lightly and hit a thousand-meter-high pile of sand.

Thud!

The pile of sand exploded. A Beast King was probably this strong as well.

This mere branch of the ghost army could give Han Qiu enough power to counter an ancient sect in the Blue Dragon Void World.

Han Qiu's eyes were eerie as she stared at Huang Yanchen. "It's not too late for you to surrender."

Whoosh—

Huang Yanchen waved her sword, creating a white sword burst hundreds of feet long. She shattered countless evil spirits and corpses, tearing a passage open.

There was a blue saintly cloud above her head and a huge Xuanwu under her feet. They forced the dead soul army apart and went straight for Han Qiu.

"Kill her," Han Qiu called softly.

Thousands of attacks flew over at Huang Yanchen instantly.

The Xuanwu's outer shell swelled into a semicircle shield. It blocked the attacks from the spirits and corpses.

Zhang Ruochen stood to the side, watching carefully. This should be Han Qiu's first time summoning the dead spirits of the netherworld, he thought. She doesn't know how to maximize their strength yet.

If she'd combined that attack with a combination formation, even a weaker lower Saint would be hurt, let alone Senior Sister Huang.

The dead soul army that Han Qiu had summoned was indeed powerful. With their numbers, they could kill even a Beast King. However, Han Qiu had lost too much blood and was very weak.

If Huang Yanchen could break through the siege, she would be close to victory.

Kaboom!

Huang Yanchen's Holy Qi seemed to be boundless. Each attack would shatter a portion of the corpses, scattering hundreds of spirits. With her combat ability, she was definitely above the Blue Eagle Beast King. She could combat some of the more powerful Beast Kings.

After all, Huang Yanchen had just reached the Ninth Level while the Blue Eagle Beast King was the descendant of a divine beast that had survived the last disaster.

She still had a lot of potential. Becoming the Heir had improved her greatly.

If Zhang Ruochen wasn't seeing this with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe that these two women were fighting so intensely. Even if he wanted to stop them, he wouldn't be able to pull them apart.

Huang Yanchen walked forward, getting closer and closer to Han Qiu.

Han Qiu felt pressure again. She had to steer the bone dragon and join the fighting.

The bone dragon was thousands of meters long. When it was alive, it had already reached the lower Saint Realm. Even though its combat ability had been reduced in death, it was still terrifying.

Boom!

It waved a talon and broke the Xuanwu's defense. It crashed against Huang Yanchen's sword technique, sending her flying back.

Huang Yanchen used a mysterious physical technique. Transforming into a streak of light, she started attacking the bone dragon.

Thud, thud!

Blue light streaked through the air and kept crashing against the bone dragon. Each crash would form a deep sword gash on the dragon.

Zhang Ruochen's eyes narrowed. He focused his Spiritual Power with all his might because the victor would be determined next.

Huang Yanchen's physical martial technique was possibly a saint spell. It was incredibly fast. Since it was a saint spell, it also used up a lot of Holy Qi.

If the bone dragon could survive until she emptied her Holy Qi, Han Qiu would win.

If Huang Yanchen could break through the dragon's defense, then she would defeat Han Qiu.

After dozens of attacks, the bone dragon couldn't take it anymore. With a boom, the huge skeleton shattered into seven parts and fell down.

Han Qiu obviously wouldn't sit and wait. She poured her limited power of darkness into her saint sword again.

Whoosh—

A beam of sword light flashed past Han Qius eyes. The next moment, she felt a prick of pain coming from her neck. She was already shrouded in the threat of death. She didn't dare to move now.

The slightest movement might kill her.

"You've lost!"

That moment, Huang Yanchen was holding the saint sword indifferently to Han Qiu's neck. The tip pierced the skin and drops of blood dripped down, dyeing Han Qiu's collar red.

Han Qiu clenched her fingers, unwilling to surrender.

She could lose to anyone but Huang Yanchen. Losing to her meant that she'd lost everything.

Han Qiu stared at Huang Yanchen with troubled eyes and laughed at herself. "I know that if I fall in your hands, I will die without a doubt."

Huang Yanchen gazed at Zhang Ruochen for his opinion.

"Let her go!"

With that, Zhang Ruochen walked away with his arms behind his back, disappearing in the yellow sand and wind.

Huang Yanchen put her saint sword away and stared hard at Han Qiu. Then she caught up to Zhang Ruochen. Only Han Qiu remained there. Her pretty and spirited eyes were now dull.

Han Qiu couldn't figure out why Zhang Ruochen could accept Huang Yanchen but not her.

In the desert, Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen walked side to side. They left two long trails of footprints.

"Actually, you should've agreed to Han Qiu," Huang Yanchen said. "Her condition wasn't that bad and you wouldn't lose anything. Not only would you get a beauty, but but the Sacred Sect will also have an additional member with boundless potential."

Zhang Ruochen glanced at her eyes, wanting to find out if she was speaking the truth or not.

"Why are you looking at me?" Huang Yanchen asked. "Am I wrong?"

Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "Han Qiu indeed has boundless potential and her future is difficult to predict. However, some people can only be friends and aren't suitable for furthering the relationship. Plus, I wish for my feelings to have a natural process. I don't like people using them as bargaining chips."

Huang Yanchen was quite satisfied with this explanation. "Since Han Qiu has boundless potential, why didn't we kill her today? Aren't you afraid that her love will turn to hate and become your true enemy after letting her go today?"

Zhang Ruochen thought carefully. "Actually, Han Qiu isn't a bad person. She has just risen through the levels too quickly and lack challenges. Her mindset can't control the power of darkness and has already been taken over by it.

"It's time to let her go through hardship alone. After more challenges, only then will she truly mature. In the future, when the passage to the netherworld opens up again, she'll be truly able to stand her ground."

Huang Yanchen blinked and smiled faintly. "You're that sure that she will be on your side when that time comes?"

"She will definitely return as long as the power of darkness hasn't completely corroded her heart," Zhang Ruochen replied with confidence.

"And what if it corrodes her heart completely?"

Instead of replying, Zhang Ruochen stared into the distance. Right before them in the desert was a huge six-colored saint flower. It was countless meters long and bloomed right under the sun.

The saint flower was supposed to have seven flowers and seven petals. It was now missing one petal.

Zhang Ruochen walked over. On one petal, there were some sharp words. Zhang Ruochen, I will prove to you one day that I am ten times better than Huang Yanchen and that you made a mistake.

Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen just smiled. He put the saint flower and the Saintly Source Spring in it inside his spatial ring.

Late at night, Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen reached the bank of Nisha River. They met up with Blackie, Sikong One and Two, and the others.

Blackie looked behind Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen. "Where's the other person?" it asked.

Zhang Ruochen didn't explain. "She's not coming back for now," he replied nonchalantly.

Sun Dadi rushed over. He pushed Blackie aside and said anxiously, "There's a disaster! The Sky-swallowing Demonic Dragon captured thousands of humans as captives. It claims that if you don't kneel down and apologize within three days, it will eat 1,000 humans per day. What do we do now? What should we do?"

Zhang Ruochen was still calm. As if he didn't hear Sun Dadi's words, he took out the black saint flower and six-colored saint flower. He gave it to Blackie and said, "Make a Grade Seven Divine Origin Pill for me. I want to try for the Seventh Level."

Blackie stared at the two saint flowers and large amount of Saintly Source Spring with wide eyes. Cackling, it said, "No big deal. I got it."

Zhang Ruochen thought of something suddenly. "What exactly is the medicinal value of the saint flower?"

Blackie glanced at Zhang Ruochen. "What do you know? Medicinal value? The saint flower's medicinal value is only its side effect. The saint flower is condensed from a shred of Origin Qi from the Blue Dragon Void World. If you refine it, you can use its Qi to get closer to the Blue Dragon Void World's Origin Qi."

"In other words, you're only qualified to compete for the Origin Qi by refining a saint flower?"

"The Blue Dragon Void World is an upper Void World. The Origin Qi may have already formed a conscience and become the World Spirit."

The so-called "World Spirit" was like the god that had created the Blue Dragon Void World or Celestial Way. The top figures here had all come to take the World Spirit.

Of course, the World Spirit would only appear at the last moment before the Blue Dragon Void World was destroyed. Right now, he couldn't sense the World Spirit's exact location even if he refined a saint flower.