Chapter 1434: A Bountiful Harvest
The Six-Armed Ultimate Saint, however, blocked the Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint, a smile once again appearing on his face. He said, "Since you have saved our lives, it is only right that we repay you. Crimson Saint, take out your two bottles and hand them over to this friend."
The Six-Armed Ultimate Saint appeared very magnanimous, taking out his own two bottles first and tossing them to Zhang Ruochen.
The Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint hesitated for a moment, then also took out his two bottles and threw them over.
Zhang Ruochen didn't even glance at the four bottles on the ground. "What about the other bottles?"
A flicker of strangeness passed through the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint's eyes. Feigning ignorance, he asked with a puzzled expression, "What do you mean? Haven't we already given you all our bottles?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "The Blade Prison Realm had several hundred saints attacking the wormhole. How dangerous was that battle? How could they possibly carry their own bottles on them? Weren't they all kept with you?"
Knowing he couldn't hide it from Zhang Ruochen, the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint stopped his pretense. His gaze turned fierce. "I have to admit, your strength is indeed formidable, comparable to a peak Ultimate Saint. However, if I burn my saint blood and unleash a forbidden secret art, I doubt you could withstand it. Why don't you take the four bottles on the ground, and we'll consider this a debt of gratitude from us both? Let's shake hands and make peace, how about it?"
The Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint added, "You must also be trying to pass through the wormhole to reach the Giant Whale River Basin. Alone, you cannot possibly resist the Rakshasa army stationed near the wormhole. Why not join forces with us? Perhaps together, we can break through."
Zhang Ruochen said, "You want to use me to help you fight the Rakshasa army? Don't dream on. If you want to fight, then fight. Whether you burn your saint blood or self-destruct your saint source, I'll be ready."
The negotiation had failed.
"Since you seek death, I will grant your wish."
Murderous intent blazed in the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint's eyes. He chanted a string of strange words, and instantly, all the blood in his body ignited. The aura emanating from him grew increasingly powerful.
If not pushed to the brink with no way out, no saint would choose to fight by burning their saint blood on the Merit Battlefield. The side effects were too severe, leaving one extremely weak after the battle. A weakened saint on the Merit Battlefield wouldn't survive long.
But now, the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint had no choice but to fight.
Zhang Ruochen's eyelids drooped. He formed a sword seal with two fingers and murmured softly, "Noon Sword."
In an instant, time in the surrounding space came to a standstill.
"Whoosh—"
When the flow of time returned to normal, Zhang Ruochen's finger had already pierced through the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint's brow, killing him.
"That was… the power of time…"
The Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint's face changed drastically. He immediately transformed into a massive flaming tiger, bursting with incredible speed as he fled into the distance. He was terrified; he never expected to encounter a time cultivator.
Flee! Flee! Flee!
"Midnight Sword."
Time stood still for another instant.
In that single instant, Zhang Ruochen struck again with a finger sword, killing the Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint.
"I didn't want to use the power of space and time. Why did you force me?" Zhang Ruochen shook his head lightly. He searched the Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint's body and found a storage pouch. Opening it, he discovered it contained over a thousand bottles.
Then, he searched the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint's body and found another storage pouch, also containing over a thousand bottles.
"How did they have so many bottles? These probably aren't just from the Blade Prison Realm saints. They must have hunted saints from other major realms and taken their bottles as well."
Zhang Ruochen used his spiritual power to inspect and calculate.
The blood and remnant souls contained in the two thousand-plus bottles totaled over sixty million.
He knew that relying on his own strength, even if he spent a whole year, he might not be able to hunt down sixty million Rakshasa cultivators.
A smile spread across Zhang Ruochen's face. "No wonder the Blade Prison Realm and the Purple Mansion Realm hunt down participating saints from other realms. This way of earning merit points is far faster than directly hunting Rakshasa cultivators."
Of course, the blood and remnant souls in the two thousand-plus bottles mostly came from Rakshasa cultivators below the rank of Marquis. Only a very small portion were saint blood and saint souls from Marquis-level beings.
The higher the cultivation, the more merit points one could exchange.
Sometimes, even the blood of a hundred thousand Rakshasa cultivators couldn't compare to the saint blood of a single Marquis.
"Marquis-level blood: a total of over 1,800 drops. Marquis-level saint souls: a total of over 900 strands."
"My saint soul avatar should also be collecting quite a bit of saint blood and saint souls. That means I've effectively killed over three thousand Rakshasa Marquises."
This was a great victory, a massive haul.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen sensed something off. He picked up a bottle with a slightly unusual shape and opened its lid.
Inside the bottle wasn't blood or remnant souls, but a rich fragrance wafted out.
"Condensed True Saint Dew."
A look of joy appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face.
That bottle had been picked from the Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint's storage pouch and contained over six hundred drops of Condensed True Saint Dew. It was an unexpected gain.
Condensed True Saint Dew not only helped Heaven-reaching realm cultivators condense sacred dao rules but also served as a cultivation treasure for True Saints and Ultimate Saints, accelerating their cultivation speed.
Zhang Ruochen continued searching and found another bottle of Condensed True Saint Dew in the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint's storage pouch, containing over eight hundred drops.
"Excellent! With this thousand-plus drops of Condensed True Saint Dew, my cultivation will surely advance further."
Zhang Ruochen sent a mental command to his saint soul avatar, instructing it not only to collect the saint blood and saint souls of the Rakshasa Marquises but also to gather the treasures from the bodies of the Blade Prison Realm saints. Perhaps he could find even more Condensed True Saint Dew.
Across the Seven Realms of the Sand Region, as well as the Yu Mountain Realm, the Yuan Ze Insect Realm, the Ten Thousand Cities Realm, and other major realms paying attention to the merit war, chaos erupted.
There was no helping it—Zhang Ruochen's performance in that battle was too ferocious. Single-handedly, he had nearly annihilated close to two hundred Rakshasa Marquises.
And most importantly, he was still very young.
In the Guanghan Realm, streets and alleys were buzzing with excitement. Every cultivator was overjoyed. "I saw him in the saint army of our Guanghan Realm! He is the unparalleled genius of our Guanghan Realm!"
"I just received a message from a Half-Saint senior in the Heavenly Court Realm. He is our Guanghan Realm's Divine Envoy!"
"The Divine Envoy is invincible! Long live the Divine Envoy!"
"With two incredible figures like the Divine Envoy and the Realm Son, our Guanghan Realm is sure to achieve a great ranking in this Saint Merit War. I hope we can take fourth place."
"The Great Demon Ten Directions Realm, the Purple Mansion Realm, and the Eight Divisions Realm of the Seven Realms of the Sand Region are all too strong. We can't beat them. But fourth place is still within reach."
Zhang Ruochen's dominant performance stirred the cultivators and citizens of the Guanghan Realm into a frenzy of excitement. Countless youths regarded him as their idol, and countless maidens looked at him with adoration.
Meanwhile, the cultivators of the Kunlun Realm had mixed feelings. Some sighed, some cursed Zhang Ruochen, while others remained extremely excited, cheering and shouting for him, even though he couldn't hear them.
The cultivators of the Blade Prison Realm, however, were furious to the point of spitting blood.
"He actually killed the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint and the Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint and stole the merit points that belonged to our Blade Prison Realm! Damn him!"
"Kill him! He must be killed!"
…
…
The big shots in the Heavenly Court Realm who were watching the Saint Merit War found Zhang Ruochen's performance not only stunning but also puzzling.
"How did this person escape the Ninety-Nine Return to One Formation in an instant?"
"The Six-Armed Ultimate Saint had already burned his saint blood and greatly increased his strength. Why did he stand still and let himself be killed?"
These big shots could see the battlefield projections, but since they weren't standing on the battlefield itself, they couldn't sense the fluctuations of space and time.
That was why they were so perplexed.
In a sacred domain of the Yu Mountain Realm within the Heavenly Court Realm, the projection of a Great Saint appeared, towering over two thousand zhang tall. He issued an order to the four Saint Kings in the hall: "Immediately send people to the Seven Realms of the Sand Region and the Guanghan Realm to thoroughly investigate this person's identity and background."
In a sacred domain under the jurisdiction of the Yuan Ze Insect Realm, a Great Saint of the insect race, covered in golden lines, emerged from underground and transformed into an old woman wearing a golden-threaded sacred robe.
This insect race Great Saint had also noticed that Zhang Ruochen was a peerless prodigy and felt the urge to recruit him. She issued an order identical to that of the Yu Mountain Realm Great Saint.
Zhang Ruochen naturally knew that the battle just now would appear on the battlefield projections, and many cultivators would likely take notice of him.
But he didn't care. After all, the outside world couldn't interfere with the Saint Merit War.
Before long, the saint soul avatar returned to Zhang Ruochen's side, handing him a storage pouch before merging back into his body.
Zhang Ruochen opened the space storage pouch and inspected its contents.
"Marquis blood: 245 drops. Marquis remnant souls: 79 strands. As expected, the Rakshasa clan paid a heavy price to surround and kill the saints of the Blade Prison Realm."
He continued counting.
The storage pouch contained a large number of pills and talismans, along with some strange odds and ends, all taken from the bodies of the Blade Prison Realm saints. Healing pills made up more than half, and all of them were at the saint pill level.
Beyond that, he also found some Condensed True Saint Dew, totaling over two thousand drops.
"A bountiful harvest, truly a bountiful harvest! Adding the Condensed True Saint Dew from the Six-Armed Ultimate Saint and the Crimson Tiger Ultimate Saint, I now have nearly four thousand drops. That's enough to break through to the True Saint realm. Worth it! Just these four thousand drops of Condensed True Saint Dew alone make this battle incredibly worthwhile!"
Zhang Ruochen put away all the treasures, gradually suppressing the smile on his face. His gaze fixed on the direction of the wormhole as he muttered to himself, "The Rakshasa clan didn't send an army to hunt me down? Are they waiting for me to come to them?"
Zhang Ruochen didn't rush to attack the Rakshasa army stationed near the wormhole. Instead, he began refining the Condensed True Saint Dew while waiting for the Abyssal Ancient Sword to finish absorbing the sacred artifacts on the battlefield.
At the same time, he was waiting for the Devouring Saint Flower.
Over a thousand saint-level beings had fallen on this battlefield. He wasn't worried about a lack of nutrients—only that the Devouring Saint Flower might not be able to absorb it all.