Chapter 1177: Spiritual Power Saint
Zhang Ruochen had indeed entered an extremely dangerous state, because he mobilized the yang energy within his body that was ten thousand times greater than that of an ordinary person, taking a huge risk by fusing it with his blood energy to impact the 143rd aperture. His entire body's blood boiled, scorching hot like lava, surging violently through the ten blood spirit veins toward the top of his head.
The 143rd aperture, known as "Baihui," was located at the very center of the crown of the head. Once opened, it would unlock the gate of the spiritual platform, allowing him to connect with heaven and earth, absorb the light of the sun, moon, and stars, and convert it into spiritual power. Sanctifying the Baihui aperture would also greatly increase his spiritual power.
Therefore, Zhang Ruochen was willing to risk the danger of qi deviation to open the Baihui aperture. Even if he couldn't cultivate his physical body to sainthood, he would first cultivate his spiritual power to the Saint realm.
"Rumble."
Thunder seemed to roar within Zhang Ruochen's head. After a moment, his eardrums in both ears burst, and blood flowed out from his ears. Then, flames surged from his ears, eyes, nostrils, and mouth, spreading downward until his entire upper body was covered in flames. The yang energy turned into golden ripples that surged outward in all directions.
"What an astonishing power fluctuation! He hasn't even cultivated his physical body to the Saint realm, yet he already far surpasses a lower-level Saint. Once his physical body reaches the Saint realm, how strong will he become?"
Qing Mo opened her mouth wide, feeling utterly incredulous.
Huang Yanchen's eyes were fixed on Zhang Ruochen, calm as still water. She wasn't worried about any accidents happening to him, having full confidence in him.
The last two apertures in the head, Baihui and Shenting, were the hardest to open. Many physical cultivators with extraordinary talent got stuck at this final step, never able to achieve sainthood.
Within the ten blood spirit veins, blood energy and yang energy intertwined, repeatedly striking the Baihui aperture. The force was so intense that Zhang Ruochen's scalp split open, blood continuously streaming down. The pain in his brain grew more severe, as if it were about to explode.
Zhang Ruochen could sense that the Baihui aperture was gradually loosening. At this moment, he had to push through with all his might, or all his previous efforts would be wasted.
"Boom."
Finally, after persisting for half an hour, a loud sound echoed in Zhang Ruochen's mind, nearly knocking him unconscious. Then, a cool stream of air flowed in through the Baihui aperture at the top of his head, like spring water pouring into a desert, quickly repairing the damage to his head.
"I've opened it! I've finally opened the Baihui aperture!"
Zhang Ruochen guarded his mind, calming his excited emotions. He didn't stop cultivating but instead took out the Azure Dragon Divine Dew and swallowed it into his abdomen.
As the saying goes, "The dragon is spirited, and the tiger is fierce." The White Tiger Divine Dew could be used to cultivate the physical body, while the Azure Dragon Divine Dew helped cultivators enhance their spiritual power.
With the Baihui aperture opened, Zhang Ruochen could sense that his spiritual power had greatly increased, now just a hair's breadth away from the 50th rank. Therefore, he decided to press on and take this opportunity to push his spiritual power into the Saint realm.
Zhang Ruochen had always had high talent in spiritual power, and with the fusion of three lifetimes of memories and insights into the Sacred Dao, he held a significant advantage. Breaking through to the Spiritual Power Saint realm wasn't too difficult; it only took two days and one night to cross the threshold.
"Sizzle."
Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power attribute was the manipulation of lightning and thunder. The moment his spiritual power achieved sainthood, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a thousand miles transformed into countless threads of lightning. These threads twisted together, forming thick thunder shuttles and electric blades.
"Thunder God Venerable."
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged on the ground, slowly raising both arms and bringing them together. All the thunder shuttles, electric blades, and lightning threads in the sky converged toward him, coalescing behind him into a hundred-zhang-tall lightning giant.
This was the saintly manifestation he had condensed after his spiritual power achieved sainthood.
Under Zhang Ruochen's control, the Thunder God Venerable's body shrank until it was exactly the same size as his true form. All the lightning was absorbed inside, making it look very much like a flesh-and-blood body.
Beneath the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree, there were now two Zhang Ruochens—one sitting, one standing.
"I didn't expect my spiritual power to advance first, achieving sainthood ahead of my physical body."
Zhang Ruochen stood up, looking at the Thunder God Venerable beside him, and nodded slightly. "Even just the power of the Thunder God Venerable should be stronger than that of an average lower-level Saint."
Zhang Ruochen extended a hand and pointed a finger at the Thunder God Venerable's brow. In the next moment, the Thunder God Venerable transformed into thousands of electric shuttles, surging into Zhang Ruochen's finger and merging with his physical body.
"Sizzle."
Every inch of Zhang Ruochen's skin crackled with electric light, as if a web of lightning covered his body's surface. The electric light gradually penetrated his skin, merged into his blood, and flowed toward his heart. Soon, his heart transformed into a radiant white Sacred Heart.
Every Spiritual Power Saint possessed a Sacred Heart, as important as the "Sacred Source" of a martial artist Saint.
After his spiritual power achieved sainthood, Zhang Ruochen's strength increased to a certain extent. His own combat power was already formidable, far surpassing that of an ordinary 50th-rank Spiritual Power Saint. Even achieving sainthood in spiritual power only boosted his combat strength by a small margin.
However, in other aspects, Zhang Ruochen had made tremendous gains after his spiritual power reached sainthood. A Spiritual Power Saint could completely control their spiritual power to move mountains and seas, create illusions, and even influence the will of some lower-level Saints.
For example, if a lower-level Saint wanted to self-detonate their Sacred Source and Qi Sea to die together with Zhang Ruochen, Zhang Ruochen could mobilize his powerful spiritual power to surge into their mind and prevent that action.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen's five senses became sharper. His hearing, smell, and sight all reached an astonishing level. Any cultivator below the Saint realm trying to transmit sound near him couldn't escape his ears.
Afterward, Zhang Ruochen refined some White Tiger Divine Dew to sanctify the Baihui aperture on his crown.
"Having sanctified 143 apertures and broken through to the 50th rank in spiritual power, with my current combat strength, even without using the power of time and space, defeating a middle-level Saint like Liao Teng shouldn't be difficult." Zhang Ruochen smiled slightly, thinking to himself.
Huang Yanchen walked over, a faint fragrance emanating from her, and smiled, "Congratulations."
Zhang Ruochen walked toward Huang Yanchen, reached out a hand, and gently stroked her cheek, smiling back, "You've also stepped into the Saint realm, haven't you?"
Huang Yanchen had already crossed her third Quasi-Saint Tribulation. Since she had previously fused with a Xuanwu Sacred Source, she no longer needed to accumulate and settle, directly reaching the Saint realm.
Huang Yanchen said, "Want to spar and see who's stronger?"
Having reached the lower-level Saint realm, Huang Yanchen could use all her various techniques to fight on par with a middle-level Saint.
"I still have more important matters to attend to. Let's spar another time," Zhang Ruochen said.
Huang Yanchen put on her Phantom Gold Mask, covering half her face, and said, "I'll go with you. I might be able to help."
"Alright."
Zhang Ruochen agreed.
Leaving the Scroll World, Zhang Ruochen summoned Ji Shui and Zhao Shiqi.
"How have your operations been going these past two days?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Zhao Shiqi stepped forward, speaking first, "We've eliminated thirty-five Half-Saints from the list, accounting for one-third of the total. Among them, twenty-four were Undying Blood Clan infiltrators, and nine had close cooperation with the Undying Blood Clan. The remaining two couldn't be identified, so I took the liberty of executing them."
Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly, "Rather kill the wrong person than let one go?"
From outside the door came Elder Yuan Zhou's voice, "In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken. If even one slips away, it would be a disaster for us."
The next moment, before anyone could see clearly, Elder Yuan Zhou appeared in the center of the Hidden Dragon Hall. His white beard and hair fluttered, giving him an immortal air.
Then, Shangguan Xianyan entered, carrying a green jade tray. She walked up to Zhang Ruochen, lifted a cup of clear tea from the tray, and placed it on the table.
"Divine Son, please have some tea."
As she served the tea, Shangguan Xianyan smiled at Zhang Ruochen, truly acting as if she had accepted her role as a maidservant, without a trace of the pride befitting a Holy Maiden.
Zhang Ruochen didn't pursue the previous matter further and asked, "Since we've already eliminated one-third of the Undying Blood Clan Half-Saints, the remaining infiltrators will surely heighten their vigilance and defenses. You'd better be careful."
"I'll go help them."
Huang Yanchen stepped forward, a smile on her lips.
Zhao Shiqi knew Huang Yanchen's identity. Seeing her step forward, he immediately knelt on one knee and flattered, "Greetings, Saint. With a Saint overseeing us, even if we encounter Undying Blood Clan Saint-level figures, we can suppress and kill them."
Elder Yuan Zhou's gaze locked onto Huang Yanchen, carefully observing, secretly guessing her identity. Every Saint was a dominant force that could shake a region, not to be underestimated. Who was she?
In the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, Shangguan Xianyan had seen this mysterious woman before. At that time, she was only at the ninth-rank Half-Saint level. Not long had passed, and she had already reached the Saint realm. Shangguan Xianyan felt a sense of crisis, harboring hostility toward this mysterious woman, feeling she might compete with her for the position of the Sect Leader's wife.
Zhang Ruochen sensed the subtle tension in the atmosphere and changed the subject, asking, "Elder Yuan Zhou, has the Elder Council finished cleaning up the subordinates of Hongyuan Saint and Liao Teng?"
"It's almost over. Most cultivators in the sect believe this storm has passed," Elder Yuan Zhou said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "In that case, let's go do something big."
Everyone present turned their eyes to Zhang Ruochen, eager to know what major action he planned next.
Elder Yuan Zhou's eyes gleamed with sharp light. He had long been impatient and asked, "Who are we killing?"
"Isn't Diyuan Dharma King still locked up in the Elder Council? With such a good opportunity, how can we miss it?" Zhang Ruochen said with a smile, already having a meticulous plan.