Chapter 1429: Half-Real, Half-Void
Ancestral Spirit Realm, Northern World.
On a vast desert stood a rocky mountain nearly ten thousand meters high. Within the mountain were densely packed wind caves, emitting a sinister demonic force that shrouded the sky above in a strange, dark cloud.
The Nine Nether Sword Saint arrived beneath the desert, his long hair flowing, a cold expression in his eyes. "Come out!"
"Swoosh—"
From those wind caves, densely packed Rakshasa cultivators surged forth, numbering over a hundred thousand.
Among them, more than sixty Rakshasa had wings, soaring through the sky as they charged to kill the Nine Nether Sword Saint.
It was well known that any Rakshasa with wings possessed the cultivation of the Saint realm.
The Nine Nether Sword Saint showed no fear. His sacred eyes glared forward, and instantly, a dense mass of sword energy shot out, like waves dozens of meters high, cleaving the attacking Rakshasa into clouds of blood mist.
At the same time, the Nine Nether Sword Saint grabbed a sacred sword, flew into the sky, and charged into the midst of the Rakshasa Saints.
With every sword strike, a Saint fell.
About two hours later, the desert was piled high with the corpses of Rakshasa cultivators, tens of thousands in number.
Only the Nine Nether Sword Saint remained standing upright on the desert, not a speck of dust on him.
Some major figures from the Heavenly Court Realm watched this scene with some surprise.
"This Saint from the Kunlun Realm is too powerful. He probably already has the strength to contend with a Saint King."
"This person is only at the Saint realm, yet his mastery of the Sword Dao, according to the Daoist lineage's classification, should have already cultivated Sword Eight to Great Perfection. Keep a close eye on him. Write down his name. We must recruit him to our Ten Thousand Cities Realm."
...
Ancestral Spirit Realm, Western World.
Chu Siyuan stood at the center of a great lake, holding a two-meter-long painting brush. Using blood as ink, he was painting on the lake's surface.
"Kill."
From all sides of the lake, hundreds of thousands of Rakshasa troops, including over eighty Rakshasa Saints, charged toward him. The entire sky and earth were enveloped in a dark red demonic aura.
Chu Siyuan infused his spiritual power into the painting and shouted, "The sun shoots blood pearls about to drip to the ground; the wind stirs flames, wanting to burn people."
In the next moment, the water in the lake seemed to turn into oil, burning fiercely.
In an instant, a thousand miles around turned into a sea of fire.
In less than a quarter of an hour, hundreds of thousands of Rakshasa troops were burned to ashes.
Of course, the Rakshasa Saints with higher cultivation levels were not burned to death. They spread their wings and immediately fled into the distance.
"Still trying to escape?"
Chu Siyuan used his painting brush to quickly sketch on the lake's surface.
With every stroke, a fire dragon rose from the lake, chasing after the dozens of surviving Rakshasa Saints. Soon, the sky was filled with over a thousand fire dragons flying together, burning all the fleeing Rakshasa Saints to death.
Once again, the major worlds of the Heavenly Court Realm were stirred.
"This old man's spiritual power is infinitely close to the fifty-fifth rank. The key point is, his mastery of the Painting Dao is truly terrifying."
"Why hasn't such a person broken through to the Saint King realm? Could it be that he is deliberately suppressing his realm, just waiting for the Saint Merit War?"
"Not necessarily. It might be that the cultivation environment in the Kunlun Realm is too poor, making it difficult for them to break through to the Saint King realm."
"Write down his name. With such high attainments in the Painting Dao, after arriving in the Heavenly Court Realm, with plenty of cultivation resources, breaking through to the Great Saint realm is only a matter of time."
Whether it was the Nine Nether Sword Saint, Chu Siyuan, or other older figures from the Kunlun Realm, they all possessed quite terrifying talent. However, the environment had suppressed them, keeping them stuck at the Supreme Saint realm even after centuries of cultivation.
The Nine Nether Sword Saint's Sword Dao and Chu Siyuan's Painting Dao had both reached extremely high levels. Their centuries of accumulation were not something the younger generation could compare to.
Soon, more than twenty days passed. Zhang Ruochen had cultivated for a full three months in the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, refining all the Condensed True Sacred Dew on him.
"I've reached the Half-Real, Half-Void realm, but I'm still a bit short of the True Saint realm."
The Heavenly River in Zhang Ruochen's Qi Sea had become much more solid, with numerous Sacred Dao Rules appearing and flowing within it.
He was only one step away from "transforming void into reality."
"I still underestimated the Heavenly River's demand for Condensed True Sacred Dew. It seems I need about three thousand more drops of Condensed True Sacred Dew to break through to the True Saint realm."
"Other Saints only need five hundred drops of Condensed True Sacred Dew to go from the early stage of the Heavenly River realm to the True Saint realm. Even a genius like Bu Ji only needs two thousand drops. But I've refined ten thousand drops, and it's still not enough."
"Where can I find another three thousand drops of Condensed True Sacred Dew?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly and shook his head. Then, he walked out of the Time-Space Crystal.
Arriving in the Ancestral Spirit Realm, the growth rate of the Sacred Devouring Flower became exceptionally fast. The flower at the top of the vine had withered, replaced by a small fruit.
This was the second fruit borne by the Sacred Devouring Flower!
The first time the Sacred Devouring Flower bloomed, the fruit it bore was its Void Body.
The Void Body had already merged with its true body.
The second time the Sacred Devouring Flower bloomed, the fruit it bore was its Physical Body.
Of course, the second fruit had only just taken shape and was still some distance from maturity.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "How much blood and Saint Souls have you collected?"
The Sacred Devouring Flower took out two precious bottles and handed them to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen probed them with his spiritual power and frowned slightly. "Only one thousand five hundred and forty drops of blood and two thousand and thirty-two strands of Saint Souls."
"Master, I have been traveling at full speed. I only killed Rakshasa when I encountered them along the way," the Sacred Devouring Flower said.
Zhang Ruochen put away the two bottles, took out a map, and asked, "Where are we now?"
"Jade Gold Mountain Range," the Sacred Devouring Flower said.
Zhang Ruochen found the location of the Jade Gold Mountain Range on the map. "Traveling two million miles in over twenty days shows you've done your best."
"But it's still a long way from the Giant Whale River Basin," the Sacred Devouring Flower said.
"So, we need to save time... we have to use a wormhole. Look, at the head of the Jade Gold Mountain Range and the Giant Whale River Basin, there is a wormhole connecting the two places," Zhang Ruochen said.
The map marked the locations of various wormhole spaces.
The Sacred Devouring Flower advised, "Master, absolutely not. All the wormholes in the Ancestral Spirit Realm are controlled by the Rakshasa Clan, with large armies and powerful warriors stationed there."
"I have also scouted that wormhole in the Jade Gold Mountain Range. The Rakshasa army stationed there numbers in the millions, with over a thousand Saints. There is even the aura of more than one Supreme Saint emanating from the army."
"With so many powerful warriors gathered together, if they all strike at once, even a Saint King couldn't withstand it. Moreover, there are numerous formation inscriptions near the wormhole. Breaking through would be suicide."
Zhang Ruochen squinted his eyes slightly. "So many Rakshasa cultivators gathered there. It seems capturing a wormhole is no easy task."
"That's right," the Sacred Devouring Flower said.
"But they also represent a huge amount of merit points. I'd really hate to give that up. Turn back and take me to see that wormhole space," Zhang Ruochen said.
Since Zhang Ruochen had made the decision, the Sacred Devouring Flower had no choice but to obey. It led him to the wormhole at the head of the Jade Gold Mountain Range.
Zhang Ruochen sat in the Golden Step Dragon Carriage. While traveling, he took out the several thousand weapons collected by the Sacred Devouring Flower and handed them to the Abyssal Ancient Sword to refine.
The quality of those weapons was not high, so the Abyssal Ancient Sword refined them very quickly, almost refining three or four weapons with every breath.
Zhang Ruochen picked up one of the axe-shaped weapons and felt the aura on the giant axe, sensing an extremely evil force. "Is this the demonic aura mentioned in the books? Compared to Death Evil Qi, it's weaker, but similar to the Blood Fiend Qi of the Undying Blood Clan. It seems that in the Hell Realm, the Death Clan's status should be higher than the Rakshasa Clan and the Undying Blood Clan."
The advantage of the Undying Blood Clan was their powerful life force. Their physical bodies were stronger than ordinary human cultivators, making it easier for them to achieve physical sainthood.
Rakshasa males were almost all born with divine strength, their physical bodies also extremely strong, comparable to the Undying Blood Clan.
Rakshasa females, on the other hand, had very high talent in spiritual power, making it easier for them to become Half-Saint or even Saint-level spiritual power cultivators.
...
While Zhang Ruochen was heading to the Jade Gold Mountain Range wormhole, a large number of Saints from one of the Seven Sand Tuo Realms, the Blade Hell Realm, had also gathered there.
This was because they had received news that the Blade Hell Realm's Realm Son had discovered the Merit Wall in the Giant Whale River Basin and was preparing to meet up with him there.
At this moment, they were gathered in a canyon about twelve thousand miles from the wormhole, numbering over eight hundred and fifty Saints.
Among them, the leaders were two Supreme Saints and six True Saints.
A male True Saint with scales on his face said disdainfully, "Apart from those few First-Class Marquises, the rest of the Rakshasa are all rabble, nothing to fear. Today, we'll surround and kill all the Rakshasa guarding the wormhole. It's the perfect chance to earn a large amount of merit points before meeting the Realm Son."
A Supreme Saint sitting at the top, who had six arms and a long white beard, snorted lightly, "Xu Fang, don't think that just because you rank in the top twenty among the True Saints of the Blade Hell Realm, you can be arrogant. A few days ago, I encountered a Second-Class Marquis from the Rakshasa Clan and was almost killed by him. How do you think your strength compares to mine?"
"Really? Is a Second-Class Marquis that terrifying?"
The True Saint named Xu Fang showed a shocked expression.
The Six-Armed Supreme Saint nodded. "In the Rakshasa Clan, only those who have reached the Saint realm can be enfeoffed as Marquises. Marquises are further divided into ten ranks."
"Lower-level Saints are Tenth-Class Marquises."
"Mid-level Saints are Ninth-Class Marquises."
...
"Those who have just reached the Supreme Saint realm are only Third-Class Marquises."
"Only the top experts among Supreme Saints can be enfeoffed as Second-Class Marquises."
"As for First-Class Marquises, each one is a legend, considered invincible below the Saint King realm. Right now, only a few First-Class Marquises have appeared. Everyone should have already heard their names. In just over twenty days, each of them has killed over a thousand Saints from the Seven Sand Tuo Realms."
"Even if there is just one Second-Class Marquis among the Rakshasa Saints guarding the wormhole, it would cause us heavy losses. If we encounter a First-Class Marquis, we might be completely wiped out."
"It's better to be cautious. After all, we have already collected a lot of blood and Saint Souls and must deliver them safely to the Giant Whale River Basin."