Chapter 1456: Time Formation
By the Giant Whale River, ninety-nine sacred mountains stretched in layered succession. Some were perpetually covered in snow and ice, while others were blanketed in flames. None were places ordinary beings could easily enter.
Each sacred mountain was a path leading to the Phoenix Nest.
Zhang Ruochen and the others advanced swiftly, heading toward the sacred mountain where the Merit Record Wall was located. Soon, they arrived at the mountain’s base.
The ground was scorching hot, with rocks and soil glowing a deep red. Their feet sizzled as they stepped on it.
The Rakshasa Princess clearly had no interest in the Merit Record Wall. “This sacred mountain is extremely dangerous. Many Rakshasa Clan experts who charged in never returned. This princess believes we should first seize the treasures in the Phoenix Nest before contending for the Merit Record Wall.”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “The deeper we go, the more perilous it will be. If we can’t even take the Merit Record Wall, what’s the point of talking about the Phoenix Nest?”
Su Qingling stood firmly by Zhang Ruochen’s side. “Exactly. The Merit Record Wall concerns the survival of the Guanghan Realm. It must be in our hands. As for the Phoenix Nest, it would be best to claim it, but if we can’t, it’s no great loss.”
The Rakshasa Princess chuckled and said no more.
“I’ll test it first. Let’s see just how dangerous this sacred mountain really is.”
Bu Ji plastered over sixty protective talismans on his body, then activated his Great Saint battle soul and cautiously began to ascend the mountain.
Within the sacred mountain, surging flames grew hotter the higher he climbed. However, with Bu Ji’s formidable cultivation, he could still withstand them.
Aside from the flames, he encountered no other dangers. It was eerily calm, and before long, he reached the mountainside.
“It seems there’s no real danger. Could it be that the Rakshasa Clan ascended from a different direction and thus met with calamity?” Su Qingling said.
The Rakshasa Clan marquises had gathered on the southern side of the sacred mountain. Zhang Ruochen and the others had taken a different route, arriving on the eastern side. They were not in the same direction, separated by hundreds of miles.
At the mountainside, Bu Ji let his guard down, turned around, and laughed loudly at Zhang Ruochen and Su Qingling. “This sacred mountain is safe. Hurry up and follow me…”
But as soon as he said this, his expression changed.
He realized his voice had become hoarse and aged, like a strange old man speaking. Hearing it sent a chill down his spine and filled him with inexplicable fear.
Zhang Ruochen and Su Qingling’s eyes widened in shock as they stared at Bu Ji.
Bu Ji’s face had grown older, wrinkles appearing on his skin, making him look about fifty years old. Moreover, he continued to age visibly, with white hairs sprouting on his head.
Suddenly realizing something, Zhang Ruochen’s expression shifted. “Get back here immediately!”
Bu Ji also sensed something was wrong. Trembling with fear, he burst into motion, charging down the mountain at top speed.
Even so, his lifespan continued to drain rapidly. By the time he reached the base, he was white-haired and covered in wrinkles, his once robust and upright frame now hunched like a man of eighty or ninety in his twilight years.
Su Qingling was terrified. She quickly supported him, her large eyes filled with concern. “What… what happened to you?”
Bu Ji looked at his shriveled hands, then at the white hair falling before his eyes. Unable to accept this reality, he let out a mournful cry and fainted.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed Bu Ji’s wrist and examined him. Then, he took out a ten-thousand-year sacred medicine that could extend life, refined it into droplets using Purifying Divine Flame, and fed it into Bu Ji’s mouth.
Su Qingling continuously infused sacred qi into Bu Ji’s back, helping him refine and absorb the medicine.
Gradually, some color returned to Bu Ji’s face.
Su Qingling was deeply worried. “What happened… How could this be? How could this be?”
Zhang Ruochen stared at the fallen Bu Ji. “Bu Ji’s physical body is quite strong. He has become a saint, with a lifespan far exceeding ordinary saints. Under normal circumstances, living to a thousand years old would be perfectly normal. But now, his lifespan has been massively drained, and the life force in his body is nearly exhausted. Even after taking the life-extending sacred medicine, he probably won’t live much longer.”
Su Qingling had a very close relationship with Bu Ji, always treating him like an older brother. Hearing this grim news, she found it hard to accept, and a layer of mist formed in her eyes.
“Don’t be too sad. As long as his heart remains resilient and he doesn’t let setbacks crush him, continuing to cultivate steadfastly, once he breaks through to the Saint King Realm, his lifespan will greatly increase. He should be able to regain his youth then.”
Having said this, Zhang Ruochen turned his gaze to the sacred mountain before him and began to ascend.
The Rakshasa Princess was slightly surprised. “What are you doing?”
Su Qingling also looked up and quickly moved to stop Zhang Ruochen, afraid he might meet the same fate. This sacred mountain was too eerie, capable of devouring a cultivator’s lifespan—a forbidden place.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m just going to verify a conjecture.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes were deep, as if he already knew why Bu Ji had aged so rapidly. He quickened his pace. After walking about three miles, he stopped and carefully sensed his surroundings. Sure enough, he found that the flow of time had accelerated.
He immediately stepped back, retreating to an area where time flowed normally.
In that brief moment, Zhang Ruochen realized he had lost at least half a month of his lifespan.
“So it’s related to time. No wonder Bu Ji’s thousand-year lifespan was exhausted in less than half an hour.”
Zhang Ruochen opened his heavenly eye on his forehead, observing this expanse of heaven and earth. He discovered a dense network of time inscriptions.
The entire Flame Sacred Mountain was actually a massive time formation. The higher one climbed, the more extreme the time acceleration. Any living being that entered would likely meet their death—not by being killed, but by dying of old age.
Zhang Ruochen retreated to the base and told Su Qingling and the Rakshasa Princess about this.
Su Qingling was stunned. “First we encounter a space formation, and now a time formation. What kind of being created the Phoenix Nest?”
The Rakshasa Princess chuckled lightly. “I told you long ago, this sacred mountain is extremely dangerous and not to be challenged. Let’s go around it and seize the treasures in the Phoenix Nest first.”
“Not necessarily.”
Zhang Ruochen gently stroked his chin, a thoughtful look on his face. “What if I use Great Space Teleportation to directly move to the mountaintop and take the Merit Record Wall at the fastest speed? It might cost some lifespan, but for the Merit Record Wall, it’s worth the gamble.”
For the Guanghan Realm to become first in the Saint Merit War, they had to seize the Merit Record Wall.
Zhang Ruochen rapidly circulated the sacred qi in his body, fully mobilizing his space power. Then, he surged forward and executed Great Space Teleportation.
“Whoosh—”
The next moment, Zhang Ruochen appeared over ten miles away. His expression changed slightly, and he didn’t continue forward. Instead, he quickly retreated back down the mountain.
Once at the base, Zhang Ruochen examined himself internally and found that he had lost over twenty years of his lifespan.
Su Qingling knew something must have gone wrong and quickly asked, “What happened?”
Zhang Ruochen said, “With my current cultivation and spiritual power, one Great Space Teleportation can cover two to three hundred miles. But here, I only moved a little over ten miles. This sacred mountain has not only time inscriptions but also space inscriptions. This is getting tricky.”
The Rakshasa Princess said, “This sacred mountain is simply unassailable. Any living being that enters is doomed. There’s no point in stubbornly persisting here. Going for the Phoenix Nest’s treasures is the wiser choice.”
Faced with the power of time and space, Su Qingling felt completely helpless, and her resolve began to waver. “Is there any other way?”
“Yes.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “If we can destroy the time and space inscriptions in the sacred mountain, we can still reach the summit.”
The Rakshasa Princess’s eyes flashed with a sharp light. “Can you destroy time inscriptions?”
“It will take a lot of time, but it’s worth a try.”
Zhang Ruochen held the Abyssal Ancient Sword, closed his eyes, and mobilized his time power. He executed the third level of the Time Sword Art, the “Twelve Hours Sword Art,” and slashed out with his sword.
In midair, one of the time inscriptions snapped, producing a thunderous explosion.
On the southern side of the sacred mountain, a large group of Rakshasa Clan marquises heard the explosion and flew into the air, looking toward the eastern side. They spotted Zhang Ruochen and the others.
“What’s going on? How did humans get into the area of the middle thirty-three sacred mountains? Is there another way in?”
One of the four first-class marquises, the Sacred Arrow Marquis, hovered in the air, radiating a golden brilliance. His enormous eyes locked onto Zhang Ruochen.
It was that human man who had taken his five Annihilation Golden Arrows.
“Impressive. To think he could make it this far.”
The Sacred Arrow Marquis drew his Golden Back Dragon Bone Bow and fired an Annihilation Golden Arrow.
“Shwoosh—”
The Annihilation Golden Arrow turned into a pillar of golden light, crossing hundreds of miles at a hundred times the speed of sound, hurtling toward Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen was fully focused on breaking the time inscriptions. When he sensed the Annihilation Golden Arrow flying toward him, he had no time to defend himself and could only activate the protective talismans on his body.
“Bang, bang.”
Over a dozen protective talismans shattered in succession before the attack of the Annihilation Golden Arrow was neutralized.
After retrieving his Annihilation Golden Arrow, the Sacred Arrow Marquis’s eyes darkened. He roared, “Half of the marquises stay here to guard. The rest, follow me to the eastern side of the sacred mountain to hunt down the Heavenly Court Realm beings.”
The saints of the Shatuo Seven Realms also noticed the upheaval among the ninety-nine sacred mountains. Some of the major figures among the saints flew high into the air, looking toward the sacred mountain where the Merit Record Wall was located.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen, Su Qingling, and the Rakshasa Princess, all the saints were slightly startled.
How had they broken through the Rakshasa Clan’s blockade and reached the base of the sacred mountain where the Merit Record Wall stood?