Chapter 700

Ding Huan directly slammed a spiritual thought arrow into the Cultivator of Suffering's body; the Cultivator of Suffering's Primordial Spirit let out a piercing scream, its already unstable soul-body trembling violently in the void.

Emperor Hou Hen awkwardly tossed out a divine herb: "Darkness Daojun, considering how you once helped me, I give you a single-leaf Body-Transcending Herb."

The Body-Transcending Herb is a divine herb capable of reshaping the body, and its value is extremely high.

Ding Huan glanced at Emperor Hou Hen—this guy had zero sense of timing, handing the old bastard Cultivator of Suffering material to reshape his body right in front of him.

The Cultivator of Suffering took the divine herb, then heard Emperor Hou Hen continue:

"From now on, I'm friends with Brother Ding. Let me give you some advice: don't even think about targeting Brother Ding unless you absolutely must."

The Cultivator of Suffering finally understood.

Emperor Hou Hen and Ding Huan had indeed teamed up—but not as he'd assumed. It wasn't Ding Huan following Emperor Hou Hen; it was Emperor Hou Hen following Ding Huan.

"Thank you, Emperor Hou Hen," the Cultivator of Suffering forced out a few words.

"I apologize, Brother Ding. My earlier actions were an offense—please forgive me," the Cultivator of Suffering bowed again to Ding Huan.

Ding Huan chuckled. "Cut the grass but leave the roots, and the spring wind will bring it back."

He'd just seized this old bastard's divine vein; even if Emperor Hou Hen begged for mercy, he'd still kill him.

"Brother Ding, may I also join your team?"

Just as Ding Huan was pondering how to kill the Cultivator of Suffering without causing friction with Emperor Hou Hen, the Cultivator of Suffering himself proposed joining him.

Ding Huan paused slightly, then realized: this kid cultivates Dark cultivation arts—he must have mastered the Dark Dao to its utmost limit, otherwise how could he be called the Darkness Daojun?

Having such a person at his side would be immensely helpful.

No, this guy's no good—better kill him and be done with it…

Ding Huan had just made up his mind when he saw the Cultivator of Suffering had already vanished.

"He ran away?" Ding Huan asked.

Emperor Hou Hen grimaced: "If he's determined to flee, even a Saint can't catch him. His Dark cultivation arts let him dissolve into a strand of Dark Dao and disappear without a trace."

There was another thing Emperor Hou Hen didn't say.

During Ding Huan's silence, he'd clearly intended to kill the Cultivator of Suffering; after all this time, if the Cultivator of Suffering didn't realize Ding Huan wanted him dead, that'd be strange.

Ding Huan's spiritual sense swept out—he quickly pinpointed the Cultivator of Suffering's escape direction; the bastard had entered the void.

If he wanted to chase, he still had a chance to catch him.

He too understood the Dark Dao, but the void's transformations were infinite; chasing a fragmentary soul felt unnecessary, too time-consuming.

"Forget it. Let's go," Ding Huan said bluntly. Since he wouldn't chase the Cultivator of Suffering, he'd leave this place immediately.

He had a major task ahead: go to the Divine Clan's Eternal Divine Abyss and find Void Nirvana Gold.

His treasure was simply too weak.

When Ding Huan controlled the Cosmic Cauldron and burst out of the Dao Ruins, then reappeared at the Dao Ruins Plaza, he froze.

The Dao Ruins Plaza was in ruins.

His spiritual sense swept out—the once-bustling Dao Ruins streets were now nothing but shattered walls and broken pillars.

The former throng of people was gone.

And above the Dao Ruins Plaza, eleven people were impaled.

Among those impaled were several Ding Huan recognized.

Yuan Qing, leader of the Tiancaishen Alliance; Wang Wang Zhenjiu, sect master of the Great Expansion Holy Dao Sect; Meng Danjian, Hu Dongjian, Lan Li…

All of them had their dantians and souls locked, their flesh and Primordial Spirits being burned by divine flames.

"I've been out of circulation for years—has the Divine Realm become like this?" Emperor Hou Hen gazed at the line of cultivators impaled in the void and sighed.

Ding Huan initially thought it was a Divine Clan invasion, but quickly realized it had nothing to do with them.

There wasn't a single trace of Divine Clan attack.

He raised his hand—the eleven impaled cultivators were all pulled down and landed before him.

"Brother Ding, impressive," Emperor Hou Hen genuinely praised.

Ding Huan's move wasn't simple.

The technique of impaling someone in the void and burning their soul required extreme precision; one misstep and the victim's soul would be obliterated instantly.

Only someone with a mastery of array techniques dozens of times stronger than the attacker's, and with intimate knowledge of all array seals and forbidden patterns, could extract them so effortlessly.

"What's that? Harder than unsealing your own forbidden marks?" Ji Luo felt Emperor Hou Hen's flattery had no limits.

Ding Huan's unsealing of Emperor Hou Hen's forbidden marks had been a hundred times harder—yet this guy was praising a trivial feat.

For Ding Huan, his true strength lay in healing.

After lowering the cultivators, he immediately began healing Yuan Qing and the others.

Yuan Qing spotted Ding Huan at once, but his injuries were too severe to speak—he could only cooperate as Ding Huan healed him.

Two full hours passed before Ding Huan finally exhaled.

All eleven impaled cultivators were saved—now safe and sound.

All they needed now was quiet seclusion and rest.

"Brother Ding, thank you. Without you, I'd be dead—and dead in the most humiliating way," Yuan Qing stood and bowed deeply.

"What exactly happened?" Ding Huan asked.

"Elder, it's my fault," Meng Danjian stepped forward nervously, bowing. Ding Huan, hearing Meng Danjian speak, felt a flicker of understanding.

Indeed, Meng Danjian's face was filled with sorrow:

"I killed Qi Yi, sect master of the Moon Gan Holy Sect. His master emerged from seclusion and slaughtered my entire sect. We're still alive only because he wanted to impale us here and burn our souls slowly to death."

Ding Huan stared at Meng Danjian in silence—just as he'd feared, the event had come to pass.

But something still felt off. Ding Huan turned to Yuan Qing:

"Leader Yuan, if I'm not mistaken, you're also a nominal disciple of that Shen Cuo fellow—why did he impale you here?"

Yuan Qing sighed deeply: "This matter is somewhat related to Brother Ding."

"Related to me?" Ding Huan suddenly thought of Liyin Divine Valley.

He immediately summoned the Cosmic Cauldron: "Grand Alliance Leader Yuan, did Shen Cuo go to Liyin Divine Valley?"

Yuan Qing nodded: "He did go to Liyin Divine Valley, but given his speed, he hasn't arrived yet."

"How long have you been pinned here?"

"Five days…"

In one look /p>

Ding Huan exhaled in relief; even if Shen Cuo had reached Liyin Divine Valley now, he had no cause for concern.

The Level-Seven Divine Array he had set up on Daxing Peak was no mere decoration.

As long as Xian Wushang and the others relied on the great array of Daxing Peak, they could hold off Shen Cuo for at least ten days.

Fortunately, he hadn't gone after Ku Xinren; otherwise, upon returning, Shen Cuo would very likely have broken through Daxing Peak.

"Climb on. We'll talk as we head to Liyin Divine Valley." Ding Huan landed atop the Cosmic Cauldron.

Yuan Qing's face was pale; he truly did not wish to see Shen Cuo again.

But Emperor Hou Hen stretched out a hand and seized Yuan Qing by the neck, dropping him onto the Cosmic Cauldron.

Wang Wang Zhenjiu, the sect leader of Zongde Sect, brightened: "Brother Ding, may I also accompany you to take a look?"

"Then climb on," Ding Huan said indifferently.

Although he had been thrown onto the Cosmic Cauldron by Emperor Hou Hen gripping his neck, Yuan Qing actually sighed in relief.

In his eyes, this man must be the Divine Ancestor Huan of the human race.

"Greetings, Master Huan," Yuan Qing bowed deeply.

Wang Wang Zhenjiu followed suit, bowing to Emperor Hou Hen.

Master Huan?

Emperor Hou Hen looked at Ding Huan, thinking: Isn't Master Huan this Ding Huan?

Ding Huan waved his hand: "Forget Master Huan, forget not Master Huan—Yuan Qing, quickly tell me why Shen Cuo pinned you to Daoxu Square?"

Aren't you and Qi Yi both his registered disciples? How come Qi Yi fares so much better than you?"

Yuan Qing was embarrassed: "Qi Yi really does fare better than me—Shen Cuo even preserved a fragment of Qi Yi's divine soul."

Added to that, Qi Yi's origins are extraordinary; no one dared touch his corpse left on Daoxu Street, so it remained there."

When Shen Cuo returned and saw Qi Yi's corpse, he actually used a treasure capable of repairing divine souls to revive Qi Yi."

Ding Huan thought inwardly: If there's no problem here, that would be the biggest problem of all.

Even if Shen Cuo were magnanimous, he wouldn't use such a rare material to resurrect a registered disciple, would he?

But the nature of the problem here was still unclear to him now.

Perhaps Meng Dan Jian lacked the strength and never truly killed Qi Yi—that would make sense.

"After Qi Yi was revived, his first words were that you killed Cang Qing. He claimed you attacked him solely to silence him, because he knew you killed Cang Qing…"

Ding Huan was utterly stunned.

He had killed Cang Qing, and Yuan Qing knew—because Yuan Qing had sensed the Five Elements' aura within Cang Qing's Five Elements World during Ding Huan's Tribulation Crossing, when he prepared to fuse the Five Elements Worlds.

How did Qi Yi know?

Ding Huan's gaze toward Yuan Qing turned hostile.

Sensing Ding Huan's killing intent, Yuan Qing hurriedly said:

"Brother Ding, I swear—I never revealed a single word. Qi Yi had no knowledge of this; he was completely making things up."

Ding Huan calmed down; making things up was indeed possible.

Qi Yi knew he had no hope of revenge, and he also knew Shen Cuo greatly favored Cang Qing, so he used the lie that Ding Huan killed Cang Qing to provoke Shen Cuo.

Shen Cuo would have known immediately upon leaving seclusion that Cang Qing had perished; at that moment, when Qi Yi claimed Cang Qing was killed by Ding Huan, he naturally believed it.

Ding Huan was speechless—this bastard could blurt out nonsense and still hit the truth.

"After Shen Cuo learned Cang Qing had been killed, he immediately came to me and asked if I knew about it. I denied it outright, but my strength paled beside Shen Cuo's; under the pressure of his Dao, I could only speak the truth."

After speaking, Yuan Qing looked at Ding Huan with regret—he truly did not wish to reveal this.

When Shen Cuo questioned him about this, with such a vast gap in strength, he could not possibly hide it.

"After discovering you had concealed the fact that I killed Cang Qing, he pinned you to Daoxu Square?"

"Yes. I thought I was surely dead, but I never expected to be saved by Brother Ding. The luckiest thing in my life is that I believed in Brother Ding."

Yuan Qing's final words were truly heartfelt.

(Good night, brother!)

(End of Chapter)