Chapter 1106: Seven-Colored Radiance
This matter was difficult to explain, and Zhang Ruochen had no intention of explaining it himself. So, he summoned the Grand Minister of Works and the Second Minister of Works from the Scroll World.
The two monks were fairly reliable and managed to explain the entire sequence of events from beginning to end.
"So that's how it was."
Qing Mo stuck out her tongue, a look of apology on her face, not daring to meet Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
From start to finish, Princess Baili had stood to the side, listening to the Grand Minister of Works and the Second Minister of Works. She nodded in sudden understanding and said, "Zhang Ruochen, since you did this to prevent a war between the barbarian beasts and the human race, it counts as a good deed. I'm not an unreasonable person; I can understand your good intentions. Return the Memory Source Pearl to me, and we'll wipe the slate clean. How about it?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "I'll return the Memory Source Pearl to you after we leave the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. But for now, no."
Princess Baili's two delicate brows knitted tightly together. After careful thought, she agreed, saying, "Fine. But within the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, I must stay with you to prevent you from going back on your word and escaping alone."
Princess Baili chose to compromise because she had no other choice.
The other side had superior numbers, each one a top-tier expert. She was certainly no match for them, so compromise was her only option now.
"Alright, I, the Emperor, approve of you staying. Hehe!"
Xiao Hei was the first to raise a paw, then secretly transmitted a message to Zhang Ruochen, saying, "Don't worry about your secrets being exposed. Before we leave the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, we can erase her memory again."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head noncommittally, too lazy to bother with Xiao Hei and Princess Baili. He stepped into the Scroll World first.
"Wait for me."
Princess Baili immediately chased after him, stepping through the Space Gate one after the other and entering the Scroll World.
Once inside the Scroll World, Zhang Ruochen immediately dispatched the six high-rank Half-Saints of the Murong Family to gather information.
Zhang Ruochen was very eager to know whether the Devouring Demon Dragon, leading a group of beast kings to hunt down the Undying Blood Clan of the Azure Heaven Tribe, had already wiped them out completely.
At the same time, the situation in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm was changing rapidly, with major events happening at any moment. Zhang Ruochen had to stay informed to prepare in advance.
After giving these orders, Zhang Ruochen went to the base of the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree to consolidate his newly broken-through cultivation realm.
Princess Baili followed Zhang Ruochen all the way to the base of the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree and was immediately captivated by the lush, thriving divine tree before her, letting out an exclamation of awe.
Xiao Hei walked out from behind Princess Baili, standing upright on two legs, and said, "This is the legendary Sky-Connecting Divine Tree. Pretty shocking, isn't it?"
"Yes," Princess Baili nodded.
"Cultivating beneath the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree is far more wondrous than cultivating in any sacred land or spirit mountain. You can comprehend the most profound Sacred Dao Rules, and your cultivation speed will be ten times faster than elsewhere. Do you want to cultivate here?" Xiao Hei said with a sly grin.
"Of course I do!"
Having said that, Princess Baili walked straight over to Zhang Ruochen, sat down cross-legged beside him, activated a very profound cultivation technique, and immediately entered a meditative state to begin cultivating.
"This…"
Xiao Hei had originally planned to take it step by step, using the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree to tempt Princess Baili into staying in the Scroll World forever.
But he hadn't expected Princess Baili to act as if she wasn't an outsider at all, sitting down and starting to cultivate without giving Xiao Hei a chance to continue speaking.
Half a month later.
A rich, unusual fragrance drifted over from afar.
Zhang Ruochen and Princess Baili were both jolted awake from their meditation. They stood up and looked toward the northwest.
In that part of the sky, strands of seven-colored radiance filled the air. The strange fragrance was emanating from within that radiance.
Zhang Ruochen extended a palm and caught a wisp of the radiance, saying, "Such dense dan qi."
"This is dan qi?"
Princess Baili was extremely surprised. She had never seen dan qi so thick before.
From her position, looking ahead, the entire sky was filled with seven-colored radiance. It was truly shocking.
"It should be that pill Xiao Hei was refining, about to be completed."
Zhang Ruochen's figure flickered and vanished from the spot.
Moments later, Zhang Ruochen arrived at a mountain that burned with perpetual flames. At the summit was where Xiao Hei was refining pills.
The seven-colored radiance was emanating from a medicine furnace at the mountain's peak, turning the clouds above the mountain into seven colors as well.
The scene before him was extremely striking. Faintly, he could even see purple lightning bolts gathering in midair, accompanied by a deep, rumbling sound.
"How did it cause such a commotion? Could it be that he refined a Sacred Pill?" Zhang Ruochen clicked his tongue in amazement, somewhat shocked.
Only when a Sacred Pill emerged from the world would it attract such astonishing phenomena, even triggering a Pill Tribulation.
Sacred Pills were extremely rare, practically impossible to find even one.
The Sacred Essence Pill was the most basic Sacred Pill, yet even so, a single Sacred Essence Pill could sell for an astronomical price, beyond the reach of ordinary Half-Saints.
The phenomena before him were quite remarkable, clearly indicating that a Sacred Pill even more precious than the Sacred Essence Pill was about to be completed, filling everyone with anticipation.
Huang Yanchen, Qing Mo, Zhao Shiqi, Sun Dadi, the Grand Minister of Works, and the Second Minister of Works had already arrived at the Flame Mountain, each standing at a position near the summit.
They were all circulating their cultivation techniques, fully absorbing the dan qi permeating the air.
Even the dan qi that leaked out was of great benefit to them.
Princess Baili also arrived, reaching the mountainside. She took a deep breath, drawing tens of thousands of strands of dan qi into her body.
Gradually, a faint layer of seven-colored light appeared on her skin, making her entire body appear crystalline and translucent, as if forged from seven-colored glass.
Zhang Ruochen climbed to the summit and asked Xiao Hei, "How much longer until this furnace of pills is complete?"
"At least two more days," Xiao Hei said.
This furnace of pills used the Sacred Flower that had carried the Sacred Source Spirit Spring and the divine dew gathered from the Seven Star Divine Ling as the main ingredients, along with twenty-eight types of auxiliary sacred and spirit medicines. After refining for several months in the Scroll World, it was finally showing signs of completion.
They had already waited months; two more days were nothing.
With so many precious ingredients used, what kind of astonishing effects would the resulting pill have?
Zhang Ruochen had asked Xiao Hei, but Xiao Hei told him that even he wasn't sure what the final pill would be like.
Because this was his first time refining it.
Moreover, he had never been able to find the Sacred Flower and divine dew before. Xiao Hei had only matched the ingredients based on their medicinal properties to create this new type of Sacred Pill.
"Don't get your hopes up too high. There's a good chance this first attempt will fail."
Xiao Hei was worried that, given the current momentum, a failure would make him lose face, so he stated the worst-case scenario in advance.
…
…
About eight hundred miles from the Flame Mountain was a vast grassland.
Now, that grassland was covered in snow and ice, with ice nine zhang thick covering an area three hundred miles in radius, turning the grassland into a white, icy wilderness.
Currently, the Scroll World also contained some birds and beasts, all brought in by Xiao Hei leading the Demon Ape and the Swallowing Elephant Rabbit.
At that moment, a black eagle over ten meters long strayed to the edge of the ice field.
"Sizzle."
In an instant, the black eagle was frozen stiff, fell from the sky, and shattered into a pile of ice shards with a loud crack.
The next moment, at the center of the ice field, a black figure burst out from the ice, flying up to a height of several hundred zhang before stopping.
She stood above the clouds, muttering to herself, "I've finally mastered the Extreme Yin Body."
"Whoosh"
The black figure turned into a streak of light, crossing the sky, and soon arrived at the base of the Flame Mountain, landing on the ground.
The moment she landed, the perpetual flames on the mountain quickly extinguished, turning the mountain into a pitch-black, rocky peak.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
The black figure knelt on one knee, bowing respectfully to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen looked at Murong Yue at the foot of the mountain and revealed a smile, saying, "Judging by your current state, it seems you've successfully mastered the Extreme Yin Body."
"It hasn't reached Great Perfection yet," Murong Yue said.
"Any physique can only reach Great Perfection after becoming a Saint. Achieving this step is already quite impressive. Rise," Zhang Ruochen said.
"If Your Highness hadn't bestowed upon me a large amount of divine dew, I wouldn't have been able to master the Extreme Yin Body." Murong Yue slowly stood up, retracting the pervasive cold qi back into her body.
Even so, the ground within ten zhang of her was still covered in a layer of white frost. Any ordinary cultivator who approached would instantly freeze into an ice sculpture.
Refining the divine dew had not only allowed Murong Yue to master the Extreme Yin Body but also propelled her cultivation to soar, reaching the Seventh-Rank Half-Saint realm.
Of course, at each cultivation level, Zhang Ruochen had provided her with the corresponding grade of Sacred Essence Pill; otherwise, her cultivation wouldn't have advanced so quickly.
"Oh no, the tribulation thunder is here!"
Just then, Sun Dadi, who had been absorbing dan qi, suddenly opened his eyes wide. Crimson flames erupted from his entire body.
A violent, ferocious power was released from within Sun Dadi.
Then, Sun Dadi rushed out of the mountain, sprinting toward the ice field where Murong Yue had previously been in seclusion.
Still on the way, a black thundercloud gathered above his head. Dozens of purple lightning bolts wove through the cloud, releasing a suffocating aura of destruction.
"Crack!"
A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, hitting Sun Dadi on the head, spreading from his head to his feet, shattering the ground beneath him into a pitch-black crater.
Soon, a second bolt of lightning gathered, striking Sun Dadi's head again.
…
From that direction, the rumbling was unceasing. Thunder and fire continuously fell, melting the nine-zhang-thick ice field.
Princess Baili was jolted awake, looking toward the distant thundercloud, and asked, "What's happening?"
Zhang Ruochen squinted his eyes, glancing at Princess Baili with some surprise, and said, "His cultivation has broken through the limit of the Ninth-Rank Half-Saint, triggering his first Quasi-Saint Tribulation, the Forty-Nine Tribulation. Don't you even know this? Haven't you passed your Quasi-Saint Tribulation?"
Princess Baili pointed a fair finger at her own head and said, "I'm afraid… I'm about to face my first Quasi-Saint Tribulation too!"
Sure enough, above Princess Baili's head, a thundercloud was also appearing.
This thundercloud emitted an even more terrifying aura of destruction. Each bolt of lightning was twice as thick as those above Sun Dadi's head, like dozens of electric dragons. (To be continued…)