Chapter 1495: Sea of Fire and Sea of Cold
Led by Qiu Yu, Zhang Ruochen and his group passed through numerous killing formation inscriptions, descended Qifeng Holy Mountain, and arrived at the edge of a crimson sea of fire.
The heat radiating from the sea of fire was extremely intense. The hot waves surging from the sea crashed against their skin, causing a stinging pain.
If it were just ordinary flames, none of those present would be afraid.
However, within the sea of fire, clusters of cyan-white intertwined flames would occasionally emerge. That kind of flame was terrifyingly powerful. In an instant, it burned a thousand-mark sacred artifact that Zhang Ruochen had thrown into it into golden liquid droplets.
"What kind of flame is that? How can it be so powerful?" asked White Li Princess.
Beside her, Qiu Yu, who was barely alive after being battered by the killing formations, also showed a hint of fear in his eyes. He clearly did not dare to venture into the sea of fire. "That kind of flame could probably even melt a ten-thousand-mark sacred artifact. It's simply not something a Saint can contend with."
Zhang Ruochen remained very calm. "Purifying Divine Flame."
White Li Princess was somewhat puzzled. "How is that possible? The Sect Leader also has a Purifying Divine Flame, but compared to those cyan-white intertwined flames in the sea of fire, it seems much weaker."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Even if a cultivator subdues a Purifying Divine Flame, it is only an initial spark. It needs to be continuously nurtured and supplied with energy to grow and become more powerful."
"Generally speaking, Purifying Divine Flame is divided into three levels: Lower Purification, Middle Purification, and Upper Purification."
"Lower Purification flame is cyan in color and is called the People's Flame."
"Middle Purification flame is cyan-white in color and is called the Minister's Flame."
"Upper Purification flame is pure white in color and is called the Emperor's Flame."
"The Purifying Divine Flame within my body is currently at the Lower Purification level. The Purifying Divine Flame in the sea of fire has already reached the Middle Purification level. The difference in power between them is like the gap between a Saint and a Great Saint."
Zhang Ruochen activated his Space Domain, and a large amount of Saint Qi surged out from his body. With the phantom images of a phoenix and a crane beneath his feet, he stepped directly into the sea of fire.
"Sect Leader..."
White Li Princess was quite worried about Zhang Ruochen's safety and wanted to stop him.
"It's fine. I'll give it a try."
Having finally encountered a Middle Purification level Purifying Divine Flame, Zhang Ruochen naturally wanted to subdue a wisp of it.
As long as he subdued a wisp of Middle Purification flame, he could more quickly convert all the Lower Purification flame within his body to the Middle Purification level. By then, as an attack method, unleashing the Purifying Divine Flame—who below the Great Saint realm could withstand it?
Unfortunately, Zhang Ruochen underestimated the power of the Middle Purification flame. He had only been in the sea of fire for less than a quarter of an hour before he fled back.
The Hundred Saint Blood Armor on his body was burned to a red-hot state, as if it were about to melt.
After retracting the Hundred Saint Blood Armor, everyone saw that Zhang Ruochen's entire body was scorched. Some areas were charred black, while others were a bloody mess.
Seeing this, Qiu Yu let out a cold sneer.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes sharpened. He stretched out a hand and grabbed Qiu Yu from a distance, then threw him into the sea of fire.
Screams rose and fell from within the sea of fire.
Zhang Ruochen swallowed a healing sacred pill. In a short while, his injuries quickly healed, and he returned to his peak state.
"Middle Purification flame is terrifying. With our current cultivation levels, unless we have incredibly good luck, it's impossible to cross the sea of fire," Zhang Ruochen said.
The Rakshasa Princess said, "Then we can only try the other side, the Midwinter Cold Sea."
Just then, Zhang Ruochen looked up towards Qifeng Holy Mountain.
Two figures rapidly descended from the mountain peak, quickly arriving before Zhang Ruochen and the others.
They were Han Qiu and Mo Yin.
Both of them had suffered considerable injuries. Even after taking healing sacred pills, their wounds had not fully healed.
Mo Yin clasped her hands and said, "Master, we were surrounded by a large number of Rakshasa Clan experts, which delayed our return."
Han Qiu's gaze was extremely sharp, fixed on the Rakshasa Princess. "I suspect that one of us has defected to the Rakshasa Clan. That's how those Rakshasa Marquises knew our whereabouts. Who could it be?"
The Rakshasa Princess extended a soft, delicate jade arm and took the initiative to wrap it around Zhang Ruochen's hand. With a charming smile, she said, "Your consort is the Realm Son of the Great Demon Ten Directions Realm. Anyone might defect to the Rakshasa Clan, but I cannot."
Han Qiu watched the intimate scene between the Rakshasa Princess and Zhang Ruochen, her expression growing even colder. "Is that so? Why do I think that person is you?"
The Rakshasa Princess put on a wronged expression, lifting her charming face to look at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen gave Han Qiu a cold glance. "Do not be disrespectful to the Demon Consort. If the Demon Consort had defected to the Rakshasa Clan, with the combined strength of the Great Demon Ten Directions Realm and the Rakshasa Clan, we would have been dead long ago."
Han Qiu was very unconvinced and was about to retort.
"Step back and focus on healing," Zhang Ruochen said.
Han Qiu's chest heaved with anger, her eyes turning black. But in the end, she swallowed her anger and stepped back to the side.
The Rakshasa Princess let out a light chuckle, understanding a principle: as long as she captivated Zhang Ruochen and controlled him, she could manipulate this entire group.
From the sea of fire, another scream rang out: "Zhang Ruochen... pull me up, please. From now on, I'll do whatever you say..."
"Still alive? What tenacious vitality."
Zhang Ruochen extended both hands, using the technique of Space Distortion to lift Qiu Yu from the sea of fire from a distance, then slammed him heavily onto the ground.
Qiu Yu led the way, continuing to guide the group towards the other side, the Midwinter Cold Sea.
The cold sea was filled with bone-chilling Midwinter water. The area along the shore was completely covered in ice, but strangely, the Midwinter water itself did not freeze.
Zhang Ruochen walked towards the shore, feeling waves of icy, piercing wind. He had to fully mobilize his Saint Qi to withstand the impact of the cold on his physical body.
The Rakshasa Princess walked up beside Zhang Ruochen, took out a palm-sized red boat, and threw it into the Midwinter Cold Sea.
"Boom."
The red boat continuously grew larger, transforming into a hundred-zhang-long giant warship that floated on the water's surface.
On the surface of the giant ship, formation inscriptions emerged, turning into hundreds of light shuttles that shot into the air, forming a circular formation disk.
As the formation disk rotated, it dispersed the cold air over the sea.
"What a powerful warship. It's comparable to a ten-thousand-mark sacred artifact," Zhang Ruochen said.
The Rakshasa Princess's expression, however, changed slightly. They saw that the giant ship, which had been floating on the surface, was slowly sinking. In less than a quarter of an hour, it had completely submerged beneath the water.
During this time, the Rakshasa Princess continuously channeled Saint Qi, but she could not retrieve the giant ship.
Not far away, White Li Princess, Han Qiu, and the others were all stunned. This result was clearly hard for them to accept.
"Can ships not float on this sea at all?"
"What do we do now? Is there no way to get close to the Phoenix Nest?"
Qiu Yu was overjoyed inside. As long as Zhang Ruochen backed down in the face of difficulty, his life would be spared. Of course, no matter how happy he was, he dared not say a word, afraid of being thrown into the sea again.
Unfortunately, even if he remained silent, he could not escape his fate.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fell on Qiu Yu. "Your true form is a divine tree. You should be able to float on the surface of the Midwinter Cold Sea, right?"
Hearing this, Qiu Yu's hair stood on end. "Nothing... nothing can float on the surface of Midwinter water..."
"We have to try to find out."
Zhang Ruochen gave Mo Yin a look.
Mo Yin understood, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth. Then, she struck Qiu Yu in the back, sending him flying into the Midwinter Cold Sea.
"Plop."
Falling into the sea, Qiu Yu immediately reverted to his true form, becoming a huge parasol divine tree. Its trunk, branches, and leaves all emitted crimson flames, producing a "sizzling" sound in the sea.
As the flames and water came into contact, large amounts of water vapor rose around the parasol divine tree.
"Zhang Ruochen, you bastard, you'll die a horrible death... Ah... I will never forget this enmity..."
Curses continuously came from within the parasol divine tree.
Qiu Yu had always been an elegant person. For him to be driven to cursing was no easy feat.
After about half an hour, the parasol divine tree was still floating on the water's surface, not sinking.
Zhang Ruochen nodded in satisfaction. He was the first to fly down onto the trunk of the parasol divine tree. He took out the Abyssal Ancient Sword and thrust half of its blade into the trunk. "You'd better not try any tricks, or I'll cut you down immediately."
"With that sword of yours, you can't cut me down," Qiu Yu said.
The trunk of the parasol divine tree was extremely difficult to sever, so killing Qiu Yu was an incredibly difficult task.
Even though the Abyssal Ancient Sword now contained twenty thousand inscriptions and had been elevated to a very high rank, it was still impossible to cut through the trunk of the parasol divine tree.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the hilt, retracted the Abyssal Ancient Sword, and condensed a three-foot-long Space Rift in his palm. "Can a Space Rift cut you down?"
This time, Qiu Yu fell silent.
If the parasol divine tree truly cultivated to become a god and transformed into a heavenly spiritual root, it could, to some extent, alter space rules. At that point, even a Space Rift would not be able to sever its trunk.
But Qiu Yu was far from reaching that level, so he naturally could not withstand a Space Rift.
"You win."
Qiu Yu's voice came from within the trunk.
Next, the Rakshasa Princess, Mo Yin, Han Qiu, White Li Princess, and A Le boarded the parasol divine tree one after another.
However, Zhang Ruochen did not immediately head for the Phoenix Nest. Instead, he stopped by the shore of the Midwinter Cold Sea, waiting for Saints from other great worlds to come and exchange their merit points with him.
The shore of the Midwinter Cold Sea was an excellent location—easy to attack and easy to defend.
If a great world brought a large number of Saints to try and seize the Merit Wall, Zhang Ruochen could simply flee deep into the Midwinter Cold Sea without fear.