Chapter 1454: Walking Out of the Ancient Sacred Mountain
The Rakshasa Princess met Zhang Ruochen's gaze and actually felt a bit embarrassed. Fortunately, she was wearing a mask, otherwise she wouldn't have known how to hide it.
This time, she had indeed miscalculated. She had come close to making a fool of herself.
A look of suspicion appeared in Zhang Ruochen's eyes. "Have you already reached the Saint King realm of spiritual power?"
"So what if I have?"
The Rakshasa Princess straightened her full chest, standing tall again with her back straight. Instantly, her powerful aura re-emerged.
Zhang Ruochen said, "The Ancestral Spirit Realm is a battlefield for the Sacred Merit War. Neither a martial Saint King nor a spiritual power Saint King would be qualified to participate."
The Rakshasa Princess felt quite frustrated. The two of them had just engaged in spiritual power dual cultivation, and she hadn't even fully recovered yet, but he acted as if nothing had happened and had even started questioning her identity.
Did this guy have no feelings at all?
"My spiritual power broke through to the fifty-fifth rank after I came to the Merit Battlefield. Is that not allowed?" The Rakshasa Princess showed a lot of the whites of her eyes, speaking with a bad temper.
Not far away, the Nine-Headed Azure Bird kept rolling its eyes, feeling puzzled. It always felt that the princess was acting strangely today, with too much emotional fluctuation, lacking her usual calm and composure.
Just now, the two had engaged in spiritual power dual cultivation. Naturally, Zhang Ruochen couldn't have been completely unaffected.
However, Zhang Ruochen didn't think the Rakshasa Princess had truly taken a liking to him. He felt that her doing so must have been for some other purpose.
Whether it was the Rakshasa Princess's own powerful cultivation, her unparalleled beauty, or her unfathomable intellect, everything about her showed that she was no simple woman and couldn't easily fall in love.
"What scheme does she have?"
Zhang Ruochen quickly mobilized his spiritual power to examine himself internally. After a moment, he indeed found something off. Inside his spiritual power holy soul, there was an extra strand of strange airflow.
That strand of airflow was almost completely fused with his spiritual power holy soul. If Zhang Ruochen hadn't been cautious, he probably wouldn't have noticed it at all.
"What a peculiar strand of airflow. When did it enter my spiritual power holy soul? Could it have been during the spiritual power dual cultivation?"
That strand of airflow was quite dangerous, like a swimming snake, constantly changing its position. Moreover, the strange power contained in the airflow seemed to be assimilating his spiritual power holy soul.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen was almost certain that this strand of airflow had been left inside him by the Rakshasa Princess. Most likely, this was the real reason she had forced him into spiritual power dual cultivation.
"Truly full of tricks."
Zhang Ruochen mobilized the Purifying Divine Flame to surge into his sacred heart, refining that strand of airflow inside his spiritual power holy soul.
Fortunately, he wasn't a narcissistic person. If he had really believed the Rakshasa Princess had taken a liking to him, once that airflow had completely assimilated his spiritual power holy soul, he would probably have been at her mercy.
Zhang Ruochen didn't immediately expose this matter. Instead, he planned to play along, letting the Rakshasa Princess think everything was under her control. That might not be a bad thing.
Bu Ji had a simple mind and didn't notice the unusual atmosphere. His eyes burned as he stared at the black-and-white jade stone beneath his feet. "Did the Condensed True Sacred Dew originate from inside this jade stone? In other words, is it the spring eye of the Condensed True Sacred Dew?"
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "This jade stone can condense Condensed True Sacred Dew only because it has very profound formation inscriptions carved on it, which can transform the mysterious power of this Ancient Sacred Mountain into Condensed True Sacred Dew."
"In other words, the source of the Condensed True Sacred Dew is the Ancient Sacred Mountain, not this stone."
Bu Ji immediately showed a disappointed expression, unwilling to accept it. "What exactly is the mysterious power inside the Ancient Sacred Mountain?"
"I don't know."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head again. "Perhaps it comes from the Phoenix Nest."
During the days Zhang Ruochen and the Rakshasa Princess had been trapped, the Devouring Saint Flower had already broken through to the Ultimate Saint realm. The aura emanating from it was not inferior to that of the Nine-Headed Azure Bird.
The fruit at the top of the Devouring Saint Flower's vine was covered in dense golden patterns, getting closer and closer to maturity.
Three days ago, in the dark space, the Devouring Saint Flower had collected over sixteen thousand drops of Condensed True Sacred Dew. Now, a piece of emerald green leaf on the vine opened, and the Condensed True Sacred Dew fell like raindrops, collected by Zhang Ruochen into a precious bottle.
Thus, the amount of Condensed True Sacred Dew Zhang Ruochen possessed exceeded thirty thousand drops.
Mu Lingxi, Su Qingling, Bu Ji, and Qing Mo had each collected over ten thousand drops of Condensed True Sacred Dew as well, which was a huge fortune for them.
At Zhang Ruochen's strong insistence, Mu Lingxi and Qing Mo both entered the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal to cultivate. The time ratio there was four to one compared to the outside world, and with the large amount of Condensed True Sacred Dew they had, as long as they focused on cultivation, their cultivation levels would break through quickly.
Of course, the main reason was that continuing forward would be more dangerous, and Zhang Ruochen was worried about them, so he wanted them to improve their cultivation first.
After the dark space and white space shattered, the canyon was cleared, connecting to the other side of the Ancient Sacred Mountain.
Through the canyon, the peak of another sacred mountain was already visible.
Zhang Ruochen looked into the distance. "Passing through this canyon should lead us to the middle thirty-three sacred mountains."
"That means we're not far from the Merit Record Wall." Bu Ji showed a hint of joy.
"Exactly."
"What are we waiting for? Let's set off immediately. The other three Merit Record Walls have already been destroyed. If we get this one, we'll have control over the entire Sacred Merit War."
Zhang Ruochen, Bu Ji, and Su Qingling didn't hesitate. They immediately stepped forward and headed toward the other end of the canyon.
The Rakshasa Princess's starry eyes, however, were fixed on the black-and-white jade stone embedded in the canyon. A thoughtful expression appeared on her face as she considered taking it away to study the space inscriptions on it.
The sacred energy inside the Rakshasa Princess's body circulated rapidly, surging into her demonic pupils. Two beams of light shot out from her eyes, striking the mountain walls on both sides of the canyon, producing a deafening roar.
Hearing the loud noise behind him, Zhang Ruochen quickly stopped and turned around, a serious expression on his face. "What are you doing? The Ancient Sacred Mountain is so dangerous, and she dares to make such a big commotion? Is it worth it for a piece of jade?"
The space inscriptions on that jade stone were indeed quite profound and priceless, worth studying and comprehending. But this place was extremely dangerous. Recklessly destroying the geological structure could trigger any kind of peril.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen was completely like a well-fed man who didn't understand the hunger of a starving one. Unlike him, who possessed the "Space-Time Secret Scripture" and could enter the Space Divine Temple to cultivate, the Rakshasa Princess had to search and collect things on her own to study the Way of Space.
Encountering the black-and-white jade stone, she naturally wanted to take it.
As the stone walls on both sides of the canyon continued to collapse, the black-and-white jade stone began to loosen. Beneath it, a large amount of cold, chilling airflow surged out.
"Not good."
Zhang Ruochen's expression changed slightly. With a flicker of movement, he used Spatial Displacement and appeared to the right of the Rakshasa Princess, shouting, "Get out of here quickly."
The Rakshasa Princess didn't listen to Zhang Ruochen's advice and continued her attack. Finally, the black-and-white jade stone completely detached from the stone wall, separating from the Ancient Sacred Mountain.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she was about to retrieve the black-and-white jade stone...
"Rustle, rustle."
Suddenly, a large amount of Nether Winter Water surged out from beneath the black-and-white jade stone, like a black torrent, making a howling sound as it rushed toward her and Zhang Ruochen.
Nether Winter Water was "extreme cold water." Even ordinary Saint Kings were quite wary of it and dared not touch it directly.
Strange, piercing cries sounded from within the Nether Winter Water. A large number of Nether Ice Jade Scorpions emerged from the water, attacking Zhang Ruochen and the Rakshasa Princess first.
Just the adult Nether Ice Jade Scorpions, Zhang Ruochen saw more than twenty.
Faced with such a situation, even the Rakshasa Princess showed fear, her expression becoming unnatural.
But Zhang Ruochen was prepared. He pointed a finger forward and silently chanted, "Space Collapse."
The space in front of them cracked with dozens of spatial rifts. Where the spatial rifts intersected, space began to collapse, forming a huge black hole that continuously swallowed the black-and-white jade stone and the Nether Winter Water.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen struck out with both palms, sending out two masses of Purifying Divine Flame. Instantly, this section of the canyon became extremely hot. The rocks melted, the air boiled, and all the Nether Ice Jade Scorpions were forced back.
When space finally stabilized again, the surviving Nether Ice Jade Scorpions had all burrowed into the stone walls, disappearing into the canyon.
Zhang Ruochen let out a slight breath, turned around, and headed toward the other end of the canyon.
The Rakshasa Princess caught up, deliberately putting on an annoyed expression. "I wanted to take that black-and-white jade stone to study the space inscriptions on it. Why did you destroy it?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Can't you see that the interior of the Ancient Sacred Mountain contains a large amount of Nether Winter Water? Once you took the black-and-white jade stone, the Nether Winter Water would have surged out. And living in that Nether Winter Water were powerful Nether Ice Jade Scorpions. If a large number of them had rushed out, could you have handled it?"
The Rakshasa Princess showed no gratitude at all, as if deliberately trying to argue with Zhang Ruochen. "My cultivation is so strong, of course I could handle it. Who asked you to help?"
Zhang Ruochen didn't want to continue arguing with her. He just felt she was too stubborn and too fond of showing her strong side, never admitting weakness or defeat.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen ignored her, the Rakshasa Princess spoke up again, "You were pretty cool just now. Your moves were clean and decisive, much stronger than before. Have you reached the True Saint Middle Stage?"
Zhang Ruochen didn't answer her and quickened his pace.
When he walked out of the canyon, Zhang Ruochen finally reunited with Bu Ji and Su Qingling.
The two of them stood at the edge of a steep cliff, looking into the distance with very excited expressions. Zhang Ruochen also followed their gaze. In his field of vision, two towering flame sacred mountains appeared.
At the top of one of the flame sacred mountains stood a Merit Record Wall. Even from hundreds of miles away, the white sacred light emitted by the wall was visible.