Chapter 1154: The Edge of the Starry Sky
Zhang Ruochen did not continue to impact his acupoints. Instead, he stopped, intending to calm himself first.
Zhang Ruochen arrived at Huang Yanchen's cultivation residence and asked, "Have you crossed the third quasi-saint tribulation?"
Huang Yanchen gently shook her head. "Half a year ago, I completely refined the medicinal energy of the sacred pill, and my cultivation reached the peak of the Second Tribulation Quasi-Saint. However, the third quasi-saint tribulation is extremely dangerous, known as the Life-and-Death Tribulation. Without full confidence, I dare not cross it yet. I need to continue accumulating and settling."
Huang Yanchen poured a cup of spiritual spring water and handed it to Zhang Ruochen, asking, "What about you? Why haven't you crossed the first quasi-saint tribulation yet?"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head with a wry smile. "I've encountered some problems in my cultivation that are difficult to resolve."
Huang Yanchen's expression turned serious, showing concern. "Tell me about it. Maybe I can offer some advice."
"You?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled faintly, took the spiritual spring water, and took a sip.
Huang Yanchen pouted, looking displeased, feeling that Zhang Ruochen was looking down on her. She said, "First, ever since entering the Half-Saint realm, you've been self-studying, lacking a high-level master to guide and instruct you by your side."
"Second, the paths you walk are many and mixed. Not only do you cultivate martial arts, but you also cultivate your physical body, spiritual power, sword path, fist techniques, and the way of time and space. Human strength is limited—how can you cover every aspect?"
"At the same cultivation level, you are indeed invincible, but the process of cultivation is ten or even a hundred times harder for you than for others. If you continue cultivating like this, major problems are likely to arise."
Zhang Ruochen looked at Huang Yanchen with newfound respect because every word she spoke hit the mark.
Indeed, Zhang Ruochen had exceptional talent, rare in ten thousand years, but he was not a god. Without a master's guidance and instruction, it was easy to take wrong turns.
Huang Yanchen seemed to guess what Zhang Ruochen was thinking and smiled. "Why are you looking at me like that? After all, I am the personal disciple of the number one person in the Kunlun Realm, having received her true teachings. My understanding of sacred path cultivation naturally surpasses that of most saints. Is it so surprising that your wife is a little more capable?"
Zhang Ruochen touched the tip of his nose and smiled slightly.
Then, Zhang Ruochen recounted the problems he had encountered and discussed them with Huang Yanchen.
"So that's it."
Huang Yanchen covered her mouth with a smile, her eyes carrying a charming allure. "Actually, you have indeed taken some detours."
"How so?"
Zhang Ruochen humbly sought advice, wanting to understand the reason.
When three walk together, one can always find a teacher.
A proud and complacent person will never achieve great things.
If someone could help resolve his doubts, even if that person was only a martial artist at the Yellow Extreme Realm, Zhang Ruochen would humbly seek their guidance.
Huang Yanchen said, "If you had crossed the first quasi-saint tribulation, impacting your acupoints would be much easier. Crossing the second tribulation would make it even easier."
"The quasi-saint tribulation is not only a test for cultivators but also tempers their physical body and sacred soul, allowing them to undergo a transformation and lay a solid foundation for becoming a saint."
Huang Yanchen shot Zhang Ruochen a sidelong glance and added, "You haven't even crossed the first quasi-saint tribulation, yet you have already sanctified one hundred and thirty-two acupoints. For cultivators of the physical body, this is simply unimaginable. What more do you want?"
"I see."
Zhang Ruochen suddenly felt enlightened, his mood greatly improved, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the clear sky. "Senior Sister Huang, I have to see you in a new light now."
"As your senior sister, knowing a little more than you—is that strange?"
Huang Yanchen lifted her chin, looking a bit proud, then smiled with bright eyes and white teeth. "Since we have become dao companions, we should always help and support each other. In the past, you were always the one helping me, which made me feel quite useless."
As the saying goes, haste makes waste.
Having identified the cause, Zhang Ruochen no longer rushed to continue cultivating his physical body. He decided to wait until he had crossed the first quasi-saint tribulation before impacting the other acupoints in his head.
Zhang Ruochen knew that his quasi-saint tribulation would be extremely fierce, so he did not immediately undergo the tribulation. Instead, his thoughts turned to the space teleportation array he had unearthed from the underground of Dragon Summit Mountain.
"Why did Xumi Saint Monk set up a teleportation array in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm? Are there other teleportation arrays in this vast starry sky?"
The more he thought about it, the more puzzled he became. Zhang Ruochen could no longer suppress his curiosity.
Before long, Zhang Ruochen, Huang Yanchen, and Xiao Hei carried the space teleportation array out of the Scroll World and onto the surface of the rocky asteroid.
The teleportation array had a diameter of over two hundred meters, emitting a seven-colored light that bathed the asteroid in a dazzling, multicolored glow.
Xiao Hei was also shocked upon learning the secret of the space teleportation array and had shamelessly insisted on coming along.
"That old bald donkey Xumi actually set up a space teleportation array underground in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. He must be hiding some huge secret. Could that old bald donkey have hidden some treasure in the starry sky?"
Xiao Hei studied the space teleportation array as he spoke.
Zhang Ruochen walked to the center of the teleportation array, staring at the space coordinates engraved on the sacred stone. "I'm more curious about where these space coordinates lead. There should be another teleportation array there to ensure fixed-point transmission between the two arrays."
"Could it be some secret place in the Kunlun Realm?"
Xiao Hei rushed over, extending a claw to touch the space coordinates.
"Unlikely."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "Earlier, I observed the approximate position of the Kunlun Realm. It is very different from the space coordinates engraved on this sacred stone—they are not in the same starry sky at all... What are you doing?"
The space teleportation array began to operate. Every piece of sacred stone and sacred jade emitted a bright light, and the surrounding space started to distort.
Zhang Ruochen was slightly startled and looked down.
He saw that Xiao Hei had actually injected sacred qi into the sacred stone engraved with the space coordinates, activating the space teleportation array.
Xiao Hei chuckled. "Since you want to know the answer, let's go take a look."
Zhang Ruochen quickly calmed down because he indeed wanted to investigate the truth at the location marked by the space coordinates.
"Whoosh!"
The light of the space teleportation array grew increasingly dazzling, and the spatial fluctuations became stronger.
Zhang Ruochen felt his body become weightless, entering a state of weightlessness. His entire body seemed to lose sensation. He did not know how long passed before he regained his senses.
The light emitted by the space teleportation array gradually faded, and Zhang Ruochen's vision returned.
He looked around. The surrounding scene had undergone a dramatic change.
Previously, they had been standing on the surface of a rocky asteroid. Now, they were standing on an isolated island, surrounded on all sides by an endless expanse of golden seawater.
That's right. The seawater was actually golden, like liquid gold.
The space teleportation array was located on top of a corpse's head at the center of the island. It was clearly not the same array that Zhang Ruochen had unearthed from the underground of Dragon Summit Mountain.
The corpse below was just a skull, but it was as massive as a rocky asteroid. It was impossible to tell what kind of creature's remains it was.
However, its bones were golden, as if they had been forged from gold.
"Where is this place? Have we returned to the Kunlun Realm?"
Huang Yanchen was quite shocked. She looked around the island, seeing golden plants, golden soil, and golden beaches and seawater.
"This is not the Kunlun Realm. It should be a high-rank ruins realm."
Zhang Ruochen opened his celestial eye to observe this unfamiliar world and made this judgment.
The natural laws of this world were completely different from those of the Kunlun Realm.
The density of natural qi here was much thinner than in the Kunlun Realm, roughly on the same level as the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. That was why Zhang Ruochen thought it was a high-rank ruins realm.
Xiao Hei's eyes darted around. "Could it be the legendary Golden Glory Ruins Realm?"
"Golden Glory Ruins Realm."
Zhang Ruochen's heart stirred, and a peculiar expression appeared in his eyes. "Legend has it that the Golden Glory Ruins Realm is already very far from the Kunlun Realm, located deep in the starry sky. Very few people can reach this world."
"The Golden Glory Ruins Realm, where all life is metallic?" Huang Yanchen asked.
Zhang Ruochen nodded. "It should be correct. High-rank ruins realms are rare to begin with, and a high-rank ruins realm filled with metallic natural qi can only be the Golden Glory Ruins Realm."
"Have we come to the edge of the starry sky? Can we still go back?" Huang Yanchen asked with some concern.
After all, they were now extremely far from the Kunlun Realm. If something went wrong with the space teleportation array, they might never be able to return.
"The edge of the starry sky? I don't think so."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fell on the center of the space teleportation array, fixed on a two-meter-tall sacred stone.
On that sacred stone, another set of space coordinates was engraved.
This set of space coordinates was completely different from the previous one, pointing to another place, seemingly even farther away.
"I have a feeling that this is just a transfer station," Zhang Ruochen muttered to himself.
Xiao Hei added, "I feel like the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm was also just a transfer station. Who knows how deep into the universe that old bald donkey Mituo went? Do you think we might encounter a great world as vast as the Kunlun Realm?"
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen felt his heartbeat quicken, and his breath caught slightly.
He had just had the same thought.
The universe was vast and boundless. Since various ruins realms of different sizes could appear, encountering a world as vast as the Kunlun Realm did not seem strange.
However, everyone had always believed that the Kunlun Realm was the center of the universe, the most powerful world, ruling over countless ruins realms.
If another ruins realm as vast as the Kunlun Realm were discovered, once the news spread, it would cause an unimaginable shock.
The Golden Glory Ruins Realm was already the farthest edge of the universe known to cultivators from the Kunlun Realm. Going further, no one knew what they might encounter.
Zhang Ruochen was still thinking about whether to first explore the Golden Glory Ruins Realm to find some clues.
However, Xiao Hei was impatient. He once again injected sacred qi into the sacred stone, activating the space teleportation array.
"Whoosh—"
Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen's vision was once again covered by a riot of colorful light, and they entered a state of weightlessness.
At this moment, the two of them had no idea where they would be transported to. (To be continued. If you like this work, your support is my greatest motivation.)