Chapter 1416: Condensed True Saint Dew
"No battle, no time."
Zhang Ruochen said indifferently, then his figure shot forward as he executed a movement technique, preparing to return to Yuanxu Peak Holy Land to continue his secluded cultivation.
"You can't leave. You must settle victory and defeat with me."
Bu Ji's body arched, his entire meridians and saint veins taut like a great bow. Then, with a loud bang like a bowstring snapping, the next moment, Bu Ji's body shot toward Zhang Ruochen like an arrow leaving the string.
A peculiar expression appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face. He then sank his stance and retreated backward, evading Bu Ji's charge.
"Your speed is faster than many Supreme Saints," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Your speed isn't slow either."
Bu Ji was extremely fast but could control his movements with ease, stabilizing his stance in an instant. He added, "You're at the early stage of the Tongtian Realm. I, this Saint, won't bully you. I'll suppress my cultivation to the early stage of the Tongtian Realm as well. How about it?"
Although Zhang Ruochen hadn't formally fought Bu Ji yet, he knew this person was a formidable opponent; otherwise, he wouldn't have been forced to retreat.
"Since you want to fight, I'll fight you once. Don't suppress your realm. Go all out," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Go all out? I'm afraid you won't even last a single move."
Bu Ji was true to his word, directly suppressing his cultivation realm to the early stage of the Tongtian Realm.
"Whoosh—"
Bu Ji's one hundred and forty-four saintly acupoints all opened, looking like one hundred and forty-four stars embedded in his body.
"Physical body attaining sainthood," Zhang Ruochen murmured.
Bu Ji clenched his hands into fist seals and burst forth with extreme speed again, like a golden hurricane roaring toward Zhang Ruochen.
Within the hurricane, a massive golden fist seal condensed.
Despite the opponent's fierce approach, Zhang Ruochen stood still, not moving an inch. Only when the golden fist seal was about to strike him did he swiftly strike out with a palm.
"Boom." All the fist force was shattered.
Bu Ji's burly figure flew backward, landing over ten zhang away, staggering and nearly falling to the ground.
Zhang Ruochen stood calmly in place, having unleashed a palm strike like a mountain overturning the sea, yet not even a strand of his hair was stirred.
Inside the Red Dragon Saint Hall, Man Sword Great Saint and Nine Spirits Great Saint were secretly observing their battle. Seeing such an outcome, they exchanged knowing smiles.
Su Qingling was quite surprised and bit her lip, saying, "With Bu Ji's strength, at the same realm, he couldn't even block one of his attacks. Impressive—much stronger than I imagined."
...
...
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Can I leave now?"
Bu Ji rubbed his aching and splitting fingers, clearly realizing that at the same realm, he was no match for a supreme perfect physique. He roared, "Wait until I suppress my cultivation to the middle stage of the Tongtian Realm, and we'll fight again!"
"I'm really busy. I don't have time to play games with you," Zhang Ruochen said.
Fight one match at the early stage of the Tongtian Realm, then another at the middle stage...
How many matches would that take?
Zhang Ruochen didn't want to become someone's sparring partner and decided to leave.
"Hold on."
Bu Ji blocked Zhang Ruochen again, revealing two rows of snow-white teeth, and smiled, "You just broke through to the Tongtian Realm, right? You must need Condensed True Saint Dew, don't you?"
"Condensed True Saint Dew?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Knowing Zhang Ruochen had little understanding of the Tongtian Realm, Bu Ji took out a precious bottle refined from saint jade and held it in his palm.
From the bottle, a bone-chilling cold aura emanated outward.
Bu Ji said, "Cultivators in the Tongtian Realm can only break through to the True Saint Realm by continuously condensing saintly dao rules and making them real from the virtual. Condensed True Saint Dew is a treasure that helps Tongtian Realm saints condense saintly dao rules."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on the precious bottle, and he murmured to himself, "So that's how it is."
In the Kunlun Realm, there was no Condensed True Saint Dew. Tongtian Realm saints had to spend a great deal of time condensing rules step by step to break through to the True Saint Realm.
That was why even top-tier prodigies like Wan Zhaoyi, Qingxiao, and Pei Yutian had spent a long time in the Tongtian Realm before breaking through to the True Saint Realm.
More Tongtian Realm saints died of old age before they could condense their saintly dao rules into reality, never reaching the True Saint Realm in their lifetimes.
For this reason, True Saints were already first-class figures in the Kunlun Realm, capable of becoming the saintly master of a medieval aristocratic clan.
The Heavenly Court Realm had treasures like Condensed True Saint Dew, which could help Tongtian Realm saints save a great deal of cultivation time and allow more True Saints to emerge.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's interest in Condensed True Saint Dew, Bu Ji pressed on, "In the Red Dragon Saint Domain, you need to spend a thousand saint stones to buy one drop of Condensed True Saint Dew. Moreover, there are requirements for the saint's merit points."
"A saint with ten thousand merit points can buy at most ten drops of Condensed True Saint Dew."
"A saint with one hundred thousand merit points can buy at most one hundred drops of Condensed True Saint Dew."
"This saint jade bottle contains a total of one hundred drops of Condensed True Saint Dew. If you can defeat me in one match, I'll give you ten drops. How about it?"
Inside the Red Dragon Saint Hall, Su Qingling's beautiful eyes blinked, and she smiled sweetly, "That dull-witted big fool actually has a smart moment sometimes. Not bad, there's another good show to watch."
Zhang Ruochen currently had no merit points, and even if he had saint stones, he couldn't buy Condensed True Saint Dew. If he could win some from Bu Ji, it seemed like a good deal.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "From the early stage of the Tongtian Realm to the True Saint Realm, how many drops of Condensed True Saint Dew are needed in total?"
Bu Ji was eager to continue fighting Zhang Ruochen, so he patiently explained, "From the early stage to the middle stage of the Tongtian Realm, you need about one hundred drops. From the middle stage to the late stage, about three hundred drops. From the late stage to the peak, about six hundred drops. From the peak to the True Saint Realm, about one thousand drops. In total, you'd need about two thousand drops of Condensed True Saint Dew to break through to the True Saint Realm."
"Of course, using Condensed True Saint Dew only speeds up your cultivation. Whether you can quickly break through to the True Saint Realm still depends on your saintly dao insights. In short, breaking through to the True Saint Realm is no easy task."
Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment and said, "Alright, give me ten drops of Condensed True Saint Dew first."
"Why?" Bu Ji asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "You already lost to me in one match."
"That... seems right."
Bu Ji frowned, thought for a moment, and finally opened the saint jade bottle. He pressed his palm on the bottle mouth and drew upward. Immediately, ten bright specks of light flew out from the bottle.
Inside each speck of light was an immensely vast saintly dao aura, emitting a captivating fragrance.
Zhang Ruochen caught the ten drops of Condensed True Saint Dew, took out one drop, examined it with his spiritual power, and then swallowed it into his mouth.
The Condensed True Saint Dew entered his body and immediately turned into a stream of icy cold air, surging into his Qi Sea and rushing into the Tongtian River.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen quickly activated his cultivation technique, condensing the saintly dao rules in the Tongtian River.
After a moment, the drop of Condensed True Saint Dew was fully absorbed, and a few saintly dao rules indeed became somewhat more solid.
"With the medicinal power of Condensed True Saint Dew, I'd probably need five hundred drops to cultivate to the middle stage of the Tongtian Realm," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
It wasn't that Bu Ji had exaggerated the medicinal power of Condensed True Saint Dew; rather, Zhang Ruochen had too many saintly dao rules in his body, requiring several times or even dozens of times the amount of Condensed True Saint Dew compared to other saints.
An ordinary saint had only about twenty or thirty types of saintly dao rules in their body.
A saint at the level of the Kunlun Realm's nine realm sons could comprehend around one hundred types of saintly dao rules.
Zhang Ruochen, however, had over three hundred types of saintly dao rules in his body, including the two eternal dao paths, "Time" and "Space." As a result, he needed far more Condensed True Saint Dew than other saints to make his saintly dao rules real from the virtual.
"It really can speed up cultivation."
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen swallowed the remaining nine drops of Condensed True Saint Dew into his mouth and fixed his gaze on Bu Ji, saying, "Let's fight! Defeat you once, ten drops of Condensed True Saint Dew."
Bu Ji said, "You want to refine the Condensed True Saint Dew while fighting me?"
"That's right," Zhang Ruochen said.
Bu Ji's eyes blazed with two raging flames, and he roared, "You dare to underestimate me, this Saint? You'll pay the price."
Bu Ji suppressed his cultivation to the middle stage of the Tongtian Realm and attacked Zhang Ruochen.
A moment later, Bu Ji was sent flying again, crashing heavily to the ground.
"I'll suppress my cultivation to the late stage of the Tongtian Realm and fight again!"
Unwilling to give up, Bu Ji got up from the ground, circulated the saint qi in his body, and a golden divine lion phantom appeared, merging with his body. Then, roaring, he charged at Zhang Ruochen.
"Boom."
Zhang Ruochen struck out with a Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, sending him flying once more.
"I'll suppress my cultivation to the peak of the Tongtian Realm. Fight, fight, fight!"
Bu Ji roared three times, mobilizing his full power to the extreme. The divine lion phantom became even more solid, and the light it emitted turned the entire Red Dragon Saint Land golden.
"Roar!"
The lion's roar shook the saint halls, causing them to tremble slightly.
This time, even Zhang Ruochen had to take Bu Ji seriously. His eyes narrowed slightly as he sensed a power fluctuation on Bu Ji that resembled that of a beast emperor.
"Is that... the saint soul of a beast emperor?"
A peculiar expression appeared in Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
Bu Ji's teeth became extremely sharp, and he said, "When the Golden Lion Great Saint fought against a powerful enemy from the Hell Realm, gravely wounded and dying, he gave me his Great Saint remnant soul and his inheritance. So this time, I must win. For the dignity of the Golden Lion Great Saint, I absolutely cannot lose. I don't believe that with peak Tongtian Realm cultivation, I can't defeat a saint who has just reached the Tongtian Realm."
The battles against the Hell Realm were incredibly brutal.
Every year, many powerful figures from the Heavenly Court Realm fell, but those powerful figures left behind their inheritances.
Whoever obtained their inheritance could gain immense power, not only speeding up their cultivation but also smoothing their future path of cultivation.
Bu Ji had obtained the Golden Lion Great Saint's inheritance and also had the Golden Lion Great Saint's remnant soul within him. Although he couldn't unleash the full power of the remnant soul with his current cultivation, it was enough to elevate his combat strength to a terrifying level.
"Lion Emperor's Power."
Bu Ji's hands transformed into two golden, radiant lion claws, and a majestic beast emperor aura surged wildly from his palms, pressing down on Zhang Ruochen like a sky-covering force.
Instantly, that space was completely enveloped by the ferocious lion emperor aura.
...
(Regarding yesterday's first live stream, there were many things I didn't understand. It seems I forgot to save the video... Sigh. First, thank you all, dear readers, for your support. Next time we have the chance, we'll find another opportunity to do a live stream.)