BOOM!
The light seal formed by the Eight Trigrams Disk finally shattered and dissolved into threads of Genuine Qi light haze.
Countless ice swords converged, their sword Qi alone was equivalent to 10,000 streaks of light and swallowed Red Wish Emissary whole.
Her expression shifted as she stood in the sword radiance. Her blood and Genuine Qi circulated at their fastest as she awakened an ancient Saintly power in her body.
Her arm became as translucent as a piece of white jade, her skin emanating specks of light that formed a powerful Saint Power.
She lifted her right arm and struck with her palm.
Boom!
White holy light spilled from her palm, resembling a whirlwind that was capable of destroying the world.
All the ice swords shattered, becoming pieces of broken ice.
Though Red Wish Emissary wasn’t able to practice her body into becoming a Saintly Being, the Holy Blood nevertheless dormant in her body. Her right arm was completely Saintified, allowing her to utilize a thread of Saint Power.
The ice swords had barely shattered when Zhang Ruochen charged at Red Wish Emissary, striking her with his palm.
“Elephant Galloping.”
Red Wish Emissary took two steps back and froze the river water beneath her feet to steady her steps. She once again cast out her palm, emitting Saint Power to meet her opponent’s attack.
The two palm power collided, splitting the surface of the water and causing two waves to spill the left and right.
A quiet noise came from Red Wish Emissary’s mouth. Her face became deathly pale. The strength of Zhang Ruochen’s palm power had continually forced her backward. She had to block the attack with great difficulty.
Not only didn’t his palm power weaken, it even became stronger.
BOOM!
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and sent a bolt of secret energy flying from his palm. It struck Red Wish Emissary, sending her flying backward.
“Ah!”
Her five internal organs took heavy damage from the attack and caused her to cough a mouthful of blood.
“If my eyesight served me well, Red Wish Emissary had used all her Saint Power earlier. How could Zhang Ruochen still injure her?” On board the warship of the Duanmu family, a white-haired elder narrowed his eyes. A thoughtful expression crossed his face.
That elder was called Hua Shenyi. On the surface, he was a guest of the Duanmu family, but in reality, he was one of the Elders of the Moon Worship Demonic Sect.
To think that Red Wish Emissary would possess a Saint hand! Even if she wasn’t a Saintly Being, she could still be considered a Half-Saint.
Yet Zhang Ruochen was even stronger despite not being a Saintly Being. This greatly shocked the heresy Elder.
Next to Hua Shenyi was Qin Ya. She stared at the faraway Zhang Ruochen with a trace of confusion in her eyes. “Could Zhang Ruochen be some sort of a Saintly Being?”
“Impossible.”
“Only the Posteritys of Saints have diluted Holy Blood running in them, thus giving them the opportunity to cultivate to be Saintly Beings. There isn’t even a Half-Saint in the family tree of the Yunwu Commandery. How could their Posteritys have a Saintly Being?”
Hua Shenyi furrowed his brow and said, “No matter how you look at it, Zhang Ruochen is a talent. His potential isn’t fully developed yet but you can already tell he’ll be a great talent. If we can’t recruit him, then we must eliminate him.”
Qin Ya replied, “There’s no rush. Let Saintness deal with it!”
Hua Shenyi nodded.
The battle continued over on the water, with one party visibly crushing the other.
Zhang Ruochen had completely familiarized himself the power of the Heaven Realm with the passing of time. The more he battled, the stronger he became. He managed to force Red Wish Emissary to continuously retreat.
Though she wasn’t as strong as he was, her bodily movement was exquisite. He wasn’t able to completely pin her down at the moment.
“Time for this to end!”
“Nine-folds of Elephant Power.”
Zhang Ruochen struck out nine times consecutively, each handprint condensing a giant illusion of a colossal elephant. The nine-headed elephant became one body and followed his palm to strike with him.
His power, nine times its usual, spilled out in a flash.
Facing the approaching attack, Red Wish Emissary could only feel piercing pain everywhere on her body. She could tell she would definitely be torn apart if the strike hit her.
“Zhang Ruochen, you really don’t know how to act like a gentleman, do you? Are you trying to kill me?”
A trace of coldness flickered in Red Wish Emissary’s eyes. A speck of red light floated to the surface of her glabella, like a bright and beautiful bindi.
She prepared to use the Holy Weapon in her Qi Sea.
That was the only way she could save her life.
Usually, only Half-Saint families and upper three level Suzerains owned Holy Weapons. Owning a Holy Weapon could be considered the equivalent of owning a legion of earth-wrecking weapons. The amount of power such weapons had was beyond the imagination of ordinary warriors.
It was also the only weapon that could be taken into the Qi Sea.
Given her current realm, she would have to burn large amounts of fresh blood to be able to use the power of the Holy Weapon.
Even just using the weapon once would heavily damage her core. She would be reduced into a weak state for a long time before she would recover.
Just as Red Wish Emissary was about to use the Holy Weapon in her Qi Sea, a bundle of orange light rushed up to her left. Enveloped in that bundle of light was a veiled woman.
She landed in front of Red Wish Emissary and said, “Put away the Holy Weapon and leave Zhang Ruochen to me.”
It was one of the Seven Kills Emissaries, Orange Star Emissary.
Orange Star Emissary hovered in the air, her long hair spilling over like a waterfall. She fell into the water. A layer of light enveloped her, leaving only a blurry shadow behind. The image gave off a sense of mystery and beauty.
They were both Seven Kills Emissaries but Orange Star Emissary had stronger martial cultivation and was in the Advanced Stage of the Heaven Realm.
She struck with her palm.
Swoosh!
Zhang Ruochen felt like his nine-fold strike had hit a metal mountain. Not only did it not move the other party, it shook and numbed his arm.
Orange Star Emissary staggered but steadied herself in the end. She turned her fingers and formed a fist, which she drove toward her opponent’s palm.
Like a falling star, more than 5,000 kilograms of power exploded from her fist in an instant.
“Not good.”
Zhang Ruochen immediately executed his bodily movement, pushing his feet out against the surface of the water. He moved his body like the wind and urgently retreated.
Once a warrior reached the Heaven Realm, his increase in speed would slow.
However, Zhang Ruochen had already achieved the speed velocity when he was still in the Earth Realm. When he broke into the Heaven Realm, that gave him a great advantage in terms of speed.
When it came to speed, Zhang Ruochen was faster than even Orange Star Emissary.
The gust of fist strike of Orange Star Emissary landed before Zhang Ruochen but was blocked by the Celestial Bodyshield formed out of Blue Genuine Qi.
Zhang Ruochen steadied his footing and stared at Orange Star Emissary and Red Wish Emissary before him. “Does Orange Star Emissary also wish to battle me?”
“If I strike, will you have a chance to win?” Orange Star Emissary replied in a booming voice, giving her the impression of being unfathomable.
“How will we know if we don’t try?”
“Since that’s the case, I’ll fulfill your wish. Even if you die by my hands, it’s enough to propel you to fame throughout the Eastern Region.”
The tip of her fingers formed threads of fire that converged into a fireball on her palm. Thin threads of lightning flashed through the fireball, making crackling sounds.
The fireball appeared only the size of a fist yet contained a great power. The heat that it radiated caused the water around the city to boil and bubble.
“Will the Seven Kills Emissaries of the Black Market Excellence Hall be joining hands to defeat an internal student of the Martial Market School? If words get out, I fear it’ll impact the reputation of the Seven Kills Emissaries.”
In the distance, Lei Jing and Chen Ying flew up. They landed beside Zhang Ruochen in a flash, flanking him.
Both Lei Jing and Chen Ying were warriors of the Fish-dragon Realm. They were famous in the Omen Ridge and were figures of utmost importance.
The rest of the Seven Kills Emissaries rushed out almost simultaneously, circulating their Genuine Qi in preparation for fighting a strong enemy. They were worried that Lei Jing and Chen Ying would suddenly strike and kill Di Yi.
The Seven Kills Emissary stood in seven different places in seemingly casual positions but they had already formed an array which connected their powers.
Lei Jing laughed. “Are you attacking? That’s good. I have long wanted to see just how powerful the Seven Kills Emissaries are.”
“I’m afraid you won’t last,” Purple Wind Emissary said coldly.
Purple Wind Emissary was the oldest and most powerful one among them. He naturally had incomparable strength.
Each of the Seven Kills Emissary, whose name rings across the land, was a dragon and phoenix among mortals. Naturally, they wouldn’t think much of a warrior of the Omen Ridge.
In their eyes, even warriors of the Fish-dragon Realm were just slightly more powerful ants.
Lei Jing stared at Purple Wind Emissary, feeling his strength grow. “Since that’s the case, there’s no way I wouldn’t meet your challenge.”
Streaks of light emerged from his body in a flash and converged into a 30-meter-tall illusory image of a cow.
SWISH!
The entire water city turned blood red. Lei Jing’s body exploded with an immeasurable power that flew into the sky, parting the clouds.
“This person is very powerful. He’s more than 10 times stronger than the chief chairman of the Poisonous Spider Club. It’s no wonder that the Martial Market Bank would completely suppress the Black Market in the Omen Ridge, causing them to unable to rise.”
“Purple Torch Spear.”
Purple Wind Emissary’s gaze turned serious as he expelled any earlier thoughts of underestimating his opponent.
The long spear on his back flew up and landed on his hand.
He raised his arm and pointed the spear at the sky. A streak of Genuine Qi flew up and turned into a purple light column.
Countless bolts of lightning formed and gathered at the tip of his spear.
He rushed forward and struck Lei Jing with his spear.
At the same time, Lei Jing also threw a punch at Purple Wind Emissary with the power of the Blood Magic Shadow.
Boom!
The strike landed on Purple Wind Emissary, knocking him backward.
But he wasn’t hurt. The light on the tip of his spear glowed even brighter and his war intent boiled.
Lei Jing was stunned. “Amazing! No wonder you’re the head of the Seven Kills Emissaries. You’re so powerful even though you’re not yet 50.”
“Your power is what truly surprised me.”
Purple Wind Emissary had used all his strength in the attack earlier, yet was still forced back by Lei Jing. If their battle continued, it was difficult to say who would win.
“You may be unaware of this, but Master Lei in front of you was once the conqueror of the Saint Academy. To be forced back in one strike by him isn’t a shameful thing.”
Di Yi walked up, appearing very relaxed. He held out a hand to block Purple Wind Emissary who was getting ready to attack.
“Today, it’s a battle between Zhang Ruochen and me. All of you stand down.”
The Seven Kills Emissaries immediately retreated.
There was a thread of blood at the corner of Red Wish Emissary’s mouth. She stared at Zhang Ruochen that stood in front of her, looking unsatisfied. “I still have unique techniques up my sleeve. If we battle again, I might not necessarily lose.”
Zhang Ruochen smiled lightly and didn’t argue.
Who didn’t have a unique technique of their own?
Lei Jing frowned at Zhang Ruochen. “Is this fight inevitable?”
“I promised a friend that I’d avenge her. So this fight is inevitable.” Zhang Ruochen said, his voice powerful and resonating. His gaze became even sharper.
“Di Yi isn’t an ordinary person. He’s one of the most talented warriors in the last century of the Black Market Excellence Hall. You mustn’t let down your guard,” Lei Jing said.
If he hadn’t seen the battle between Zhang Ruochen and Red Wish Emissary, he would never have agreed for him to duel Di Yi.
Though he still didn’t think that Zhang Ruochen could challenge Di Yi, he didn’t think their strengths were too far apart. Even if Zhang Ruochen couldn’t win, he was at least capable of preserving his life.