Chapter 1068: A Pair of Saintly Arms
Wei Longxing was relatively young among cultivators of the same realm, with broad shoulders, a sturdy build, and a resolute face. The five-colored sacred armor he wore was a defensive sacred object, and even when he stood casually, it was as if he were stepping on a patch of five-colored auspicious clouds.
Wei Longxing’s gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen, who sat cross-legged on the ground, unable to move. A smug smile spread across his face. “The Divine Son is indeed the number one prodigy of the Blood God Sect. At just the sixth-order Half-Saint level, the combat power you unleash makes me somewhat wary.”
“Of course, that’s precisely why I had to fight my way out of the beast horde surrounding Yingsha City and rush here.”
“I’m well aware that only before you break through to the seventh-order Half-Saint do I have a chance to kill you. I absolutely cannot let you grow, or else I’ll only be waiting for death or fleeing to the ends of the earth.”
“It seems luck is on my side, catching the right moment. If you hadn’t used the Thousand Ripple Annihilation Force and exhausted your sacred Qi, dealing with you would have taken quite a bit more effort.”
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen was in terrible shape—not only injured, but also drained of sacred Qi, leaving his body weak.
That was why Wei Longxing wasn’t in a hurry to kill him. Instead, he adopted the posture of a victor, flaunting the achievements he was about to gain in front of him.
Wei Longxing chuckled again. “The black sacred flower, the seventh-rank sacred source liquid, the Life-and-Death Mirror, and the Seven-Kill Fist Gloves—all treasures that would make even Saints’ hearts race. With them, my strength will soar to another level, easily surpassing Hai Lingyin to become the number one powerhouse below the Saint realm in the Blood God Sect. At that point, the so-called Blood God Sect Holy Maiden will be nothing more than a plaything for me... Oh, right, it seems all of this should have been yours.”
Wei Longxing deliberately tried to provoke Zhang Ruochen, wanting to see how he would react in despair and anger.
To his disappointment, Zhang Ruochen remained utterly calm from start to finish, showing no emotional fluctuation.
Wei Longxing glanced around, his eyes gradually turning cold. “Where did you hide the black sacred flower?”
Zhang Ruochen had already stored the black sacred flower in his space ring, but Wei Longxing was unaware of this.
Zhang Ruochen lifted his eyelids, a hint of mocking smile appearing on his pale face. “Hidden it, of course.”
“Hidden where?” Wei Longxing demanded.
“On my person, naturally,” Zhang Ruochen replied.
Wei Longxing naturally didn’t believe him. The black sacred flower was at least four meters in diameter—if it were on him, how could he not see it?
“At this point, you still dare to toy with me? Do you really think I won’t kill you?”
Wei Longxing spread his five fingers into a claw shape, with streams of air swirling between them, and reached for Zhang Ruochen’s neck.
“I’ll destroy your physical body first, then torture your sacred soul. I refuse to believe I can’t get the location of the black sacred flower out of you.”
In an instant, Wei Longxing was in front of Zhang Ruochen, his five fingers gripping his neck, about to exert force.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen’s fingers pressed forward quickly.
Between two fingers, he held a black pill, which he pressed against Wei Longxing first.
“Bang.”
The black pill burst open, forming a large cloud of deathly fiend Qi, like ink enveloping Wei Longxing’s body completely.
The deathly fiend Qi seeped through the gaps in the five-colored sacred armor into Wei Longxing’s body, corroding his flesh with a hissing sound.
Gradually, his skin turned black.
Zhang Ruochen, using his powerful spiritual power, condensed a purple lightning ball in his palm and struck it toward Wei Longxing’s heart.
But Wei Longxing, a top expert below the Half-Saint List and the Outer Half-Saint List, managed to hastily throw out a palm strike despite the erosion of the deathly fiend Qi.
“Bang.”
The two palms collided.
Zhang Ruochen was sent flying backward, landing dozens of zhang away, his injuries worsening.
With his sacred Qi depleted, Zhang Ruochen could only rely on spiritual power to fight.
However, with his forty-ninth-level spiritual power, he could only contend with cultivators at the middle to late stages of the ninth-order Half-Saint, still far from matching Wei Longxing.
Wei Longxing stepped back three paces, quickly steadying himself, and began circulating his technique to temporarily suppress the deathly fiend Qi.
“Gu Linfeng, you still have... trump cards...”
Wei Longxing gritted his teeth, furious at nearly being caught off guard.
He decided to finish the fight quickly, kill Gu Linfeng, and then focus fully on refining the deathly fiend Qi invading his body.
Zhang Ruochen took out a scroll of sacred edict, still maintaining a calm and composed demeanor. “Next time we meet, it will be your death.”
A layer of white light emerged from the sacred edict, enveloping Zhang Ruochen’s body.
The next moment, Zhang Ruochen shot into the sky at a speed comparable to a Saint. “You won’t escape.”
Wei Longxing’s resolve to kill him was firm. He also took out a sacred edict, activated its power, and gave chase.
Before long, Zhang Ruochen had traveled several thousand li. He looked back, sensing Wei Longxing’s aura rapidly closing in.
“Persistent, aren’t you?”
A cold glint flashed in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes.
Then, he activated the sacred edict’s power again, changing direction and continuing his escape.
The two chased and fled, covering an unknown distance.
After more than ten flights, Zhang Ruochen finally shook off Wei Longxing.
After all, the sacred edict Zhang Ruochen used was a blood-seal sacred edict written by Shengshu Cainü with her own blood, containing far more sacred power than ordinary sacred edicts.
Wei Longxing naturally couldn’t catch up.
The desert at the center of the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm was vast beyond measure. Zhang Ruochen calculated that he had flown seventy to eighty thousand li, yet still hadn’t reached the desert’s edge.
He remained in the desert, entering a completely unfamiliar area.
“Wei Longxing could catch up at any moment. I need to heal quickly.”
Zhang Ruochen took out the Cosmic Divine Wood Map and released the Swallowing Elephant Rabbit and the Demon Ape, briefly explaining the situation to them.
“I’m going into the Scroll World to heal. You two carry the Cosmic Divine Wood Map and move around the desert as much as possible—don’t stay in one place.”
With that, Zhang Ruochen entered the Scroll World and began his recovery.
The two Withered Wood Pills he had bought at the auction were already used. Now, he could only take ordinary healing pills and recover step by step.
Fortunately, his injuries weren’t too severe.
The main issue was the depletion of sacred Qi, which left his body extremely weak.
Using the vast spiritual energy and life force emitted by the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree, after half a day, Zhang Ruochen’s injuries healed completely, and his sacred Qi returned to full capacity.
Zhang Ruochen immediately communicated with the Swallowing Elephant Rabbit outside the Scroll World. Learning that Wei Longxing hadn’t caught up, he decided not to leave the Scroll World just yet.
“I’ll take this chance to fully sanctify all thirty-six acupoints in my hands and arms. Maybe I can even push my cultivation to the peak of the sixth-order Half-Saint.”
Zhang Ruochen took out a jar of divine blood, raised a hand, and gently lifted it upward.
A surge of sacred Qi flowed from his palm into the divine wood jar.
“Whoosh—”
Over a hundred drops of divine blood flew out of the jar simultaneously, hovering around Zhang Ruochen, shining with the brilliance of stars.
At his current cultivation level, he no longer needed to refine divine blood drop by drop—that process was too slow.
Zhang Ruochen spread his hands, and the seven acupoints in his palms opened.
The divine blood suspended in the air each emitted a hair-thin red thread, connecting to the seven acupoints in his palms.
The power of the divine blood surged continuously into Zhang Ruochen’s meridians and sacred channels, beginning to sanctify the other sixteen acupoints in his arms.
After half a month of effort, Zhang Ruochen refined nearly six hundred drops of divine blood, finally sanctifying all thirty-six acupoints in his hands and arms.
Zhang Ruochen slightly raised his arms, and the air immediately echoed with the roar of dragons and the cry of elephants.
The phantom images of a dragon and an elephant appeared, standing on his left and right sides, radiating a surging sacred power.
His two arms had changed noticeably compared to before, now crystal clear, as if carved from gemstones.
“This is a pair of saintly arms. Even clashing with an ordinary thousand-mark sacred artifact-level sword, they probably wouldn’t get injured.”
Zhang Ruochen took out the Abyssal Ancient Sword, intending to test the strength of his arms.
But in the end, he held back the impulse. The Abyssal Ancient Sword was no ordinary thousand-mark sacred artifact—it was too sharp, and even saintly arms might not withstand it.
“With a pair of saintly arms, if I arm-wrestled a lower-level Saint, I wonder if I’d win?” Zhang Ruochen felt his hands brimming with power, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
Although a lower-level Saint had already stepped into the Saint realm, their physical body hadn’t become saintly yet. In an arm-wrestling match, they might not necessarily beat Zhang Ruochen.
Through this cultivation session, Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation reached the peak of the sixth-order Half-Saint, and he vaguely felt on the verge of breaking through to the seventh-order Half-Saint.
In his current state, he only needed to take a seventh-rank sacred source pill to immediately break through.
“With my current strength, even if I faced the peak-state Fire Golden Crow Beast King, I could fight it to a standstill.”
Zhang Ruochen practiced his palm techniques a few more times, thoroughly mastering the power of his saintly arms before leaving the Scroll World.
Although he had spent over half a month cultivating in the Scroll World, only about two days had passed in the outside world.
“Where is this?”
Zhang Ruochen gazed ahead, frowning.
Beneath his feet was a blood-red Gobi, where the sand and rocks seemed soaked in blood. Even the sky was blood-red, giving off an eerie, ominous feeling.
Around him stood weathered rock mountains, some towering thousands of zhang, taking on bizarre shapes resembling ancient alien beasts.
The Swallowing Elephant Rabbit said, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know, yet you still dared to barge in?”
Zhang Ruochen instinctively sensed that this area was fraught with danger and far from peaceful.
The Swallowing Elephant Rabbit looked innocent. “You told us not to stay in one place and to move around. Who knew we’d accidentally stumble into this area, and then we couldn’t find our way out?”
The Demon Ape stood nearby, nodding vigorously.