# Chapter 1126: Ninth-Level Half-Saint
At the center of the seven-colored radiance was the altar that had been abandoned since ancient times. Now, within the altar's grooves and patterns, crimson blood surged, emitting a sacred radiance.
The sacrifice was complete. The sacred pill had been formed.
The pill furnace had already been put away. Only Zhang Ruochen remained, sitting cross-legged at the center of the altar, eyes closed, in a state of deep meditation.
Earlier, Zhang Ruochen had indeed been struck by the Daylight Arrow shot by Crown Prince Qingtian, suffering severe injuries. His life force had rapidly drained away, and he had nearly fallen.
However, after falling into the seven-colored radiance, the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree within the Scroll World had released a vast surge of life force, penetrating through the Cosmic Divine Wood Map and injecting it into Zhang Ruochen's body, helping him dissolve the deathly force of the Daylight Arrow.
The wounds on Zhang Ruochen's back and chest had long since healed, leaving only faint scars.
Now, Zhang Ruochen had taken a sacred pill and was making a full-force breakthrough to the Ninth-Level Half-Saint realm.
The sacred pill was refined from the sacred flower and divine dew that carried the Sacred Source Spiritual Spring, combined with various sacred medicines. Naturally, it possessed extremely potent medicinal properties.
As the sacred pill's medicinal power was released, Zhang Ruochen's internal sacred qi grew increasingly dense and surged continuously. From his pores, seven-colored light emanated, making his physical body appear like seven-colored crystal.
The sacred pill refined by Xiao Hei was even more potent than a Ninth-Rank Sacred Yuan Pill. The power fluctuations emanating from Zhang Ruochen grew stronger and stronger, even causing the surrounding space to tremble slightly.
Fortunately, the spatial structure around Dragon Summit Mountain was extremely stable; otherwise, collapse would certainly have occurred.
Huang Yanchen, Sun Dadi, Murong Yue, and the others received Xiao Hei's telepathic message and all withdrew to the mountaintop, retreating to the edge of the altar. They looked toward Zhang Ruochen, who sat cross-legged at the center, and saw that his life force was vigorous and his aura was climbing steadily. They all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Boss really has an undying body. Even after suffering such a severe blow, he didn't fall," Sun Dadi said with a laugh.
"His Highness carries the fortune of the Holy Bright Central Empire. He is a true Son of Destiny. Who could possibly kill him?"
Murong Yue had been severely wounded, but now her eyes shone with bright light.
As long as Zhang Ruochen was still alive, the backbone remained. No matter how critical the situation, everyone could continue to persevere.
Standing on the back of the azure dragon stone carving, Xiao Hei looked at everyone and laughed: "This time, a total of eight sacred pills were refined. Each of you can have one."
"Swoosh—"
Xiao Hei took out five of the sacred pills, suspending them with sacred qi above his claws.
The sacred pills were like pigeon-egg-sized white jade, emitting brilliant and crystalline light. On the surface of the pills, rings of medicinal qi ripples spread outward.
"Excellent! The pills are finally formed. I'll swallow a sacred pill and undergo my second quasi-saint tribulation."
Sun Dadi's eyes gleamed. He let out a long roar, snatched one of the sacred pills, and swallowed it in one gulp.
Then, he jumped to a recessed spot on the altar, still maintaining his Flame Giant Spirit Ape form, and began refining the sacred pill with all his might.
After fighting until now, everyone was severely wounded and had paid a tremendous price.
But as long as the sacred pill was successfully formed, everything was worth it.
Huang Yanchen, White Li Princess, Murong Yue, and Qing Mo also swallowed their sacred pills and began to break through to higher realms.
The sacred pill had healing properties. As the medicinal qi spread, the wounds on everyone's bodies healed at a visible rate.
Xiao Hei continued to control the illusion formation, blocking the barbarian beasts and Undying Blood Clan members who tried to break in, buying them time.
Zhang Ruochen was the first to break through, reaching the Ninth-Level Half-Saint realm. The sacred qi emanating from his body surged outward in all directions, forming a layer of sacred qi waves several zhang high.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen could clearly feel that his power had more than doubled. Every movement of his hands and feet produced cracking explosions.
"The sacred pill's medicinal power is indeed strong. Even after refining only a small portion, I've broken through the bottleneck and reached the early stage of Ninth-Level Half-Saint. If I refine it all, I should reach the peak of Ninth-Level Half-Saint." Zhang Ruochen was quite satisfied and nodded gently.
One must know that the span of Ninth-Level Half-Saint was enormous. Early stage, middle stage, late stage, peak—each minor realm increase brought a significant boost in strength.
The sacred pill's medicinal power could help Zhang Ruochen elevate his realm to the peak of Ninth-Level Half-Saint. This showed just how powerful the medicinal power contained within the pill was.
Since the sacred pill had been formed, Zhang Ruochen released the Devouring Saint Flower.
The Devouring Saint Flower's roots were like countless tentacles, spreading in all directions, completely enveloping the altar and penetrating deep into the soil, beginning to absorb the essence of the entire Dragon Summit Mountain.
One must know that countless Sixth-Tier barbarian beasts had died on Dragon Summit Mountain. Large amounts of blood had merged with the soil, containing extremely powerful essence and sacred power.
Absorbing that essence and sacred power, the fruit at the top of the Devouring Saint Flower was slowly growing, becoming larger and larger.
As the fruit continued to grow, the Devouring Saint Flower's cultivation also increased rapidly.
"Zhang Ruochen, have you broken through? The power of the illusion formation is about to fail against the barbarian beast tribes and Undying Blood Clan experts," Xiao Hei said.
Zhang Ruochen stopped refining the sacred pill and slowly stood up. "No need to block them. Let them in."
"Alright."
Knowing that Zhang Ruochen's cultivation had greatly advanced, Xiao Hei revealed a smile and stopped controlling the illusion formation.
Moments later, more than a dozen beast kings and a large group of Undying Blood Clan experts passed through the seven-colored radiance and arrived below the altar.
"What is the ancient relic?"
Those Undying Blood Clan experts were all very excited.
The Kui Niu Beast King had shrunk considerably, now only about four to five meters long, its ox hair like iron needles.
Its large eyes searched in all directions, trying to find the ancient relic.
However, the Kui Niu Beast King saw Zhang Ruochen standing at the edge of the altar. In an instant, all its ox hair stood on end, and it exclaimed in shock: "Could it be that we still haven't left the illusion formation?"
A human who had been struck by the Daylight Arrow was standing before it completely unharmed. Any living being seeing this would suspect they were hallucinating.
The other beast kings also thought they were still inside the illusion formation, believing it was just an illusion. They paid no attention to Zhang Ruochen and continued searching for the ancient relic.
"Bang!"
Zhang Ruochen pointed a finger, and a sword light flew from his fingertip, directly blasting a quasi-saint-level beast king into a cloud of blood mist.
"An illusion, definitely an illusion."
Earlier, the barbarian beast tribes and Undying Blood Clan experts had suffered greatly in the illusion formation, even turning on each other.
Therefore, they were now very cautious and would not easily be fooled.
"It must be an illusion. They're trying to scare us off. The more they do this, the more we shouldn't retreat. They're at the end of their rope. As long as we break the illusion formation, we can kill them all."
An elder from the Undying Blood Clan thought he had seen through the truth and spoke accordingly.
Only the Kui Niu Beast King looked doubtful.
Its spiritual power was extremely strong, close to achieving sainthood through spiritual power. It suspected that the scene just now was not an illusion.
"Bang."
Zhang Ruochen pointed again, sending out another sword qi, killing the Undying Blood Clan elder who had just spoken.
The Kui Niu Beast King's fur stood on end as it stared intently at Zhang Ruochen.
Just then, Zhang Ruochen turned his gaze toward it, a faint smile on his face.
Something was wrong.
That was no illusion; it was definitely Zhang Ruochen's true body. He hadn't died.
"Quick... run..."
The Kui Niu Beast King finally realized the danger. It roared, spread its four hooves, and tried to flee.
However, it had only roared out the word "quick" before Zhang Ruochen appeared before it, extending a fist and striking it on the lips.
"Bang."
Now, Zhang Ruochen's palm power was immense. With just one strike, he shattered all the teeth in the Kui Niu Beast King's mouth, caving in half its head, with large amounts of blood flowing out.
"Bang."
Zhang Ruochen struck a second time, hitting the Kui Niu Beast King's neck, sending it flying.
The Kui Niu Beast King was ranked forty-second on the Half-Saint List as an ancient remnant beast. Every strand of its ox hair could transform into a black spear. It had once nailed hundreds of elite human cultivators to the walls of Yingsha City.
But now, before Zhang Ruochen, it had no power to resist, rolling on the ground like a calf.
Because its mouth was smashed, it couldn't even cry out in pain.
Finally, Zhang Ruochen formed a large hand seal and slapped the Kui Niu Beast King into a pulp of flesh, killing it completely.
Then, Zhang Ruochen threw the Kui Niu Beast King's corpse to the Devouring Saint Flower.
Even at this point, some beast kings and Undying Blood Clan experts still thought the scene was just an illusion. Only a few realized something was wrong and slowly retreated, trying to escape Dragon Summit Mountain's peak.
Zhang Ruochen's figure shifted horizontally, appearing behind two beast kings. "Where are you going?"
The two beast kings felt a chill run through their bodies and roared simultaneously: "Run!"
In the end, they couldn't escape. Zhang Ruochen extended both hands simultaneously, condensing two enormous palms, directly crushing their bodies.
Next, Zhang Ruochen didn't strike again. He only used some attack methods to kill those trying to flee.
The Devouring Saint Flower's roots extended outward, each root containing extremely powerful strength, killing all the creatures that had broken into the seven-colored radiance, turning them into its nourishment.
Zhang Ruochen didn't rush out of the seven-colored radiance. He was protecting Huang Yanchen, Murong Yue, and the others, hoping they could refine the sacred pill as quickly as possible.
"Such a strong smell of blood."
Ghost Mist flew in midair, staring at Dragon Summit Mountain's peak, sniffing with his nose, his expression very grave. "Your Highness the Crown Prince, something seems wrong. Could they have encountered some unforeseen incident within the seven-colored radiance?"
Although Xiao Hei had stopped controlling the illusion formation, its power hadn't completely disappeared. Those outside couldn't see clearly what was happening inside the seven-colored radiance.
"Indeed, it's somewhat strange."
Crown Prince Qingtian grabbed the Qingtian Bow and flew downward, arriving at the edge of the seven-colored radiance. Then, leading the experts of the Qingtian Tribe, he charged inside. (To be continued. Your support, dear readers, is my greatest motivation.)