Zhang Ruochen first passed the Eight-point Formation and then directly rushed toward the Life Gate.
A man, who looked to be in his early 20s, went out of the Life Gate and met Zhang Ruochen with a heavy knife in his hand. “Zhang Ruochen, I am ordered by the young master to kill you.”
Zhang Ruochen gazed at him for an instant, asking, “Can you block me?”
“If I had not broken through to the Heaven Realm, I would not be your opponent. But now, I am afraid that we are not at the same level!” That man was obviously overconfident in his strength.
Si Xingkong also rushed out of the Eight-point Formation and went up to Zhang Ruochen. He warned him, “Zhang Ruochen, he is Murong Bairen, one of the seven young masters of the Black Market and a disciple of the Shadow Sword Sect. I will deal with him after taking the petals of the Nirvana Fire Spirit Flower and breaking through to the Heaven Realm.”
“Si Xingkong, do you think that you have an opportunity to break through into the realm?”
Murong Bairen looked at the rest of the 25 warriors at the Initial Stage of the Heaven Realm, saying, “Everyone, listen to me. Anyone who passes through the Eight-point Formation must be killed immediately. I will deal with Zhang Ruochen.”
A short time ago, Si Xingkong had taken the liquid refined from the petals of the Nirvana Fire Spirit Flower and performed his exercises to fully absorb its efficacy and break through to the Heaven Realm.
By Si Xingkong’s side, Zhang Ruochen waved his sword sideways and glanced at Murong Bairen. He said, “Murong Bairen, you are not my opponent, even if you have broken through to the Heaven Realm. Pitting yourself against me is a losing game.”
Murong Bairen laughed and said, “Zhang Ruochen, you are so complacent! Even if you are in the top 100 on the Earth Board, how can you belittle other geniuses? If you are so skilled, show me what you’ve got.”
Murong Bairen moved laterally and performed the “Eight Step Cicada Catching”, a mid-class martial technique of the Spiritual Stage. He thrust forward a single step to form a figure. Subsequently, he formed the other figure 10 meters away.
When he took the fifth step, five figures had been left behind.
At that moment, he appeared behind Zhang Ruochen and slashed obliquely with his knife.
As one of the seven young masters of the Black Market, Murong Bairen had to be a top-notch person. When he was in the Earth Realm, he had the power to fight against warriors in the Heaven Realm.
Now that he had reached the Heaven Realm, he was even more extraordinary.
Strong men, such as Guo Shisan and Jin Yeyun, could not be counted as his opponent.
For this reason, Murong Bairen was overconfident after reaching the Heaven Realm. He thought that he had ranked on the list of first-class masters, so he belittled Zhang Ruochen, who was in the Earth Realm.
Without turning around, Zhang Ruochen stood there and directly backhanded his palm.
Urged by the Genuine Qi, Zhang Ruochen’s arms looked like dragon’s arms.
“Dragon and Elephant Returning to Earth!”
Zhang Ruochen slapped Murong Bairen’s lower abdomen with massive hand strength pouring out.
“He reacted so quickly that, without it even touching his body, my knife was struck and flung away by the strength of his hand.”
Murong Bairen remained calm, promptly performed exercises, and activated the Genuine Qi inside of him to support a half-meter-thick Celestial Bodyshield.
Zhang Ruochen pitted Murong Bairen’s Celestial Bodyshield against his palm, which was the most masculine.
When the layer of Celestial Bodyshield would be destroyed soon, Murong Bairen promptly placed his knife transversally to ward him off. He held the hilt with his right hand and pressed the blade with his left. He lowered his legs and sank into the ground to burst out all of his strength.
“Bang!”
The Celestial Bodyshield was smashed by his palm strength and collided with the saber.
A mounting momentum poured out of the saber into Murong Bairen’s arms, which shook him and forced him to slip backward, leaving a half-meter-deep fissure in the ground.
“What a powerful palm!”
As Murong Bairen’s arms trembled with pain, he surprisingly stared at Zhang Ruochen with an incredible look.
“I have broken through to the Heaven Realm. How can I be defeated by him with one palm?”
A little stunned, Zhang Ruochen never thought that his all-out palm would ward him off.
“He has proven himself to be one of the seven young masters in the Black Market. If I had not broken through to the Completion of the Earth Realm, I would be unlikely to win a fight against him. However, since I have already reached the Completion of the Earth Realm, it should not be difficult to cope with him.”
To defend him, Zhang Ruochen was still standing by Si Xingkong, rather than chasing Murong Bairen.
Meanwhile, two warriors at the Initial Stage of the Heaven Realm wanted to ambush him. However, Zhang Ruochen repelled them with his sword, so that no one could step any closer.
Murong Bairen snorted and said, “Zhang Ruochen, you really have some skill. Now, it seems that I must get serious!”
“I am also curious about how strong you will be when you are serious.” Zhang Ruochen looked at ease and faintly smiled.
“Thousand Foot Gravity Dungeon.”
Murong Bairen clapped his hands to release the tremendous Genuine Qi inside of his body, resulting in a vision of heaven and earth.
Affected by his Genuine Qi, all of the Spiritual Qi in the water gathered around him to form a gravity dungeon, covering an area of a thousand feet.
In the gravity dungeon, everyone had to bear tenfold gravity, so their speed and power were greatly restrained.
However, Murong Bairen could make an exception.
Because he had just broken through to the Heaven Realm, he could burst out tenfold gravity. If he broke through to the Mid Stage of the Heaven Realm, he would burst out twentyfold gravity.
Faced with an ordinary army, Murong Bairen would do nothing but perform the “Thousand Foot Gravity Dungeon”, which could cripple tens of thousands of soldiers.
After entering the Heaven Realm, a top genius could be considered to have gained the mastery of martial arts and reached a higher level in martial arts.
What Murong Bairen initiated was the Sixth-level Gravity Sacred Mark, which had gravitational property in Genuine Qi.
Thus, he was so mighty that he could ward off one move of Zhang Ruochen’s Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm.
“Zhang Ruochen, how much more power can you unleash under tenfold gravity?”
Murong Bairen laughed loudly, lifted his heavy knife, and attacked Zhang Ruochen once again.
Murong Bairen was not affected and kept a surprising speed. In an instant, it broke through the sound barrier.
“Bang!”
There was a loud cracking sound.
Murong Bairen rushed at Zhang Ruochen and a grim smile appeared on his face. He held the knife with both hands and thrust forward toward Zhang Ruochen’s heart with its tip.
Tenfold gravity indeed had some influence on Zhang Ruochen. However, Zhang Ruochen had practiced the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm under thirtyfold gravity. Thus, the “Thousand Foot Gravity Dungeon” performed by Murong Bairen had only a minor influence on Zhang Ruochen.
Murong Bairen was faster than Zhang Ruochen, so Zhang Ruochen could not avoid his knife, but could only take it.
Zhang Ruochen gained mastery by striking only after his enemy had struck. He chopped with one stroke and Murong Bairen’s saber broke apart in his hands and dropped to the ground.
Then, Zhang Ruochen slapped Murong Bairen’s chest, which shattered his Celestial Bodyshield and sent him flying him away again.
“How could it be possible…”
Murong Bairen could not figure out how Zhang Ruochen could be so fast and so strong under tenfold gravity.
Zhang Ruochen left no chance for Murong Bairen to fight back.
Moving forward two steps, he held the blade with both hands, mobilized the Genuine Qi in his entire body, and swung his sword to chop down.
Although Murong Bairen flew through the air and could not borrow any force, cyan beams appeared on his body.
“Swoosh!”
Cyan beams gathered to form a big clock, four-meters high, to guard him.
“Bang!”
After the Abyss Ancient Sword chopped at the big clock, a layer of ripples appeared on the surface of the big clock of Genuine Qi.
A strong impact force erupted to burst apart the big clock, which smashed into the crystal wall of the Dragon Palace along with Murong Bairen.
After the big clock of Genuine Qi had dispersed, Murong Bairen and his heavy broken knife dropped to the ground.
“He has an amulet treasure on his body.”
Zhang Ruochen rushed out once again and chopped at Murong Bairen’s neck with his sword.
Half kneeling on the ground, Murong Bairen quickly drew out a golden dagger and held it up, intending to ward off Zhang Ruochen’s sword.
With a bang, the Abyss Ancient Sword chopped at the golden dagger. Under the inverted power, the back of the dagger got directly close to Murong Bairen’s neck.
Like a thunderstrike, Murong Bairen’s right knee crashed into the flagstone with a loud bang. A big pit centered on his body with a seven-meter diameter was formed in the ground.
“Boom!”
Under the impact of Genuine Qi, a torrent of water poured out in all directions. More than 20 masters at the Initial Stage of the Heaven Realm in the Black Market walked unsteadily and continually retreated.
That meant that the power of Zhang Ruochen’s blow was quite strong.
Obviously, the golden dagger drawn out by Murong Bairen later was of a very high grade because it could withstand a strike of the Abyss Ancient Sword without fracturing.
Holding the hilt with both hands, Murong Bairen was still struggling to ward off Zhang Ruochen’s sword.
If he failed to ward it off, his neck would be chopped off.
Qin Ya stood on the warship and overlooked the Dragon Palace, telling herself, “Zhang Ruochen is really a genius. Without breaking through to the Heaven Realm, he is capable of beating Murong Bairen. It seems like Di Yi can be suppressed only by Zhang Ruochen cooperating with Xingling.”
At present, she was most concerned that Di Yi would slaughter people in the Dragon Palace. Considering Di Yi’s cultivation, Duanmu Xingling would not be able to defeat Di Yi, even if Duanmu Xingling unlocked the seal inside.
However, it would not be difficult to deal with Di Yi if Zhang Ruochen were to team up with Duanmu Xingling.
At that moment, Duanmu Xingling, Huang Yanchen, Chen Xier, Chang Qiqi, and warriors of the Duanmu family successively passed through the Eight-point Formation and arrived at the square in front of the Dragon Palace to join Si Xingkong, who was breaking through to the Heaven Realm.
“All of them have only reached the Earth Realm, so the 10 of us can kill them. The others should go to help the young master deal with Zhang Ruochen,” said an elder just at the Initial Stage of the Heaven Realm.
25 warriors at the Initial Stage of the Heaven Realm in the Black Market were divided into three groups. The five strongest warriors were responsible for guarding the Life Gate; 10 warriors went to kill the warriors of the Duanmu family; and the remaining 10 people rushed toward Zhang Ruochen and Murong Bairen.