Chapter 1507: Supreme Saint Realm
“A time treasure?”
Mo Yin’s eyes blazed with eager light, and she involuntarily stepped forward.
A legendary time treasure—how miraculous, who wouldn’t want it?
Zhang Ruochen pressed her fragrant shoulder, stopping her. “Don’t go any further. Here, the flow of time must be extremely fast, which is why it sounds like rushing water. Remember back when we were competing for the Merit Wall, how many cultivators aged to death inside the time formations without even realizing it?”
Mo Yin snapped awake, halting her steps, a flicker of fear crossing her face. “There are time formations here too?”
Zhang Ruochen activated his Heavenly Eye and gazed ahead. There, centered around the sundial, the space was densely packed with time imprints, and they were highly active.
The time power here was even more terrifying than a time formation.
With their cultivation levels, even before they could approach the sundial, they would likely exhaust their lifespans and die of old age along the way.
“Within a radius of one hundred and twenty zhang around the sundial, it’s all forbidden ground,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Mo Yin asked, “Master cultivates the Way of Time—can’t you even suppress the time power here? This sundial is clearly an extraordinary ancient artifact. To encounter it and fail to claim it would leave a regret for a lifetime.”
How could Zhang Ruochen not want to seize the sundial?
But he understood more than Mo Yin, so he knew all too well how terrifying the sundial was. In his heart, he was deeply wary.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Zhang Ruochen stepped forward with steady, measured strides, stopping at a position one hundred and twenty zhang from the sundial.
When he took another step forward, time imprint light points coalesced around the sundial and flew toward him.
Each time imprint light point could sever a dozen years of a living being’s lifespan. If struck by a dense swarm of them, one could lose a thousand years of life in an instant and die on the spot.
“Whoosh—”
Zhang Ruochen unleashed the Time Sword Art, slashing out repeatedly, shattering the time imprint light points as they came. But the light points were endless, continuously emerging, impossible to clear completely.
After resisting for the span of five breaths, Zhang Ruochen was hit by three time imprint light points, losing roughly fifty years of his lifespan.
He had no choice but to retreat, a bitter smile on his face. “Impressive, truly impressive. With just the third level of the Time Sword Art, I can’t contend with the sundial at all. I’d probably need to master the fourth level, the Zhou Tian Sword Art, to have a chance.”
The Zhou Tian Sword Art was infinitely more profound than the Twelve Hours Sword Art, and it couldn’t be mastered in a short time.
Trying to take the sundial was nothing but a pipe dream.
But…
This place was an excellent spot to comprehend the Way of Time. Perhaps he could settle for the next best thing and use this opportunity to cultivate time rules and break through to the Supreme Saint realm.
Zhang Ruochen instructed Mo Yin to stand guard and protect him, then walked to a spot one hundred and twenty zhang from the sundial, sat cross-legged, and listened to the time sounds flowing like a stream.
The sound of time flowing contained the Way of Time itself—it wasn’t something you could hear anytime.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen thought of something. He took a section of Rainbow Transformation Vine, one foot three inches long, from his space ring and stood it upright on the ground. Then, a flame flickered at his fingertip, and he lit it.
“Can the Rainbow Transformation Vine really help cultivators comprehend sacred dao rules?”
Zhang Ruochen was doubtful, so he decided to test it here.
The Rainbow Transformation Vine, like a multicolored incense stick, stood on the ground, emitting a very delicate fragrance that spread through the surrounding space.
As he inhaled the scent, Zhang Ruochen felt his five senses sharpen, his mind becoming a blank slate. The sound of the stream at his ears grew clearer, and he could quickly discern its patterns and rhythms.
“It seems to work. My perception and comprehension have both improved significantly. Truly a marvel.” Zhang Ruochen felt a surge of joy.
No matter how miraculous the Rainbow Transformation Vine was, it was only an aid. Ultimately, comprehending the Way of Time depended on himself.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, listened intently, and soon entered the mysterious state of comprehending the sacred dao.
At that moment, he felt as if he were sitting above a stream, sensing the water flowing beneath him. He reached out a hand, wanting to scoop up the water, but found that the stream passed right through his palm.
His hand seemed to have thousands of holes, unable to hold the water.
“Is this time? It’s impossible to grasp.”
Zhang Ruochen stopped trying to catch time, calmed his mind, and focused entirely on listening to the stream’s sound and feeling its rhythm. He felt as if he were merging with the stream itself.
Who knew how long passed before Zhang Ruochen snapped awake, realizing that his body had sunk into the stream, the water already up to his neck.
But he quickly calmed down, a sense of joy rising within him instead.
“I understand. To control time, I must first fully merge with it.”
Zhang Ruochen’s body continued to sink slowly, the stream soon covering his mouth and nose, then his ears, eyes, forehead… spreading all the way to the top of his head.
Around the sundial, the time imprint light points resonated with the power within Zhang Ruochen and flew toward him.
Those light points entered his brow, flowed into his Qi Sea, and merged with the time rule in the Celestial River.
That time rule grew increasingly solid, radiating dazzling light.
After fusing with sixty-three time imprint light points, the time rule finally underwent a transformation, reaching the level of “ultimate truth and ultimate perfection.”
“Boom.”
A deep sound rang out from within Zhang Ruochen’s body.
Immediately, the flow of sacred qi in his meridians and sacred veins increased severalfold, frantically absorbing the surrounding heaven and earth sacred qi. The sacred qi in the multicolored space, like countless streams, surged endlessly into Zhang Ruochen’s brow.
“Congratulations, Master, on breaking through to the Supreme Saint realm. On the Merit Battlefield, no one will be your match anymore.” Mo Yin clasped her hands and bowed.
Zhang Ruochen slowly stood up, spreading his arms. Sacred dao rules surged out from his body, condensing behind him into a golden, radiant phantom hundreds of zhang tall, exuding a vast aura.
That was the Ultimate Truth Phantom.
By activating the Ultimate Truth Phantom, one could draw upon the rules of heaven and earth, harnessing part of the world’s power in battle.
“The Ultimate Truth Phantom is truly extraordinary.”
Zhang Ruochen slowly pushed his palm forward, and a series of energy explosions rang out in the surrounding space.
After a brief demonstration, Zhang Ruochen withdrew the Ultimate Truth Phantom.
“My lifespan has increased by nearly a thousand years.”
Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power was strong, so he could roughly calculate his lifespan. Previously, due to factors like his physical body achieving sainthood and his divine fate, his lifespan had already far exceeded that of ordinary saints, allowing him to live over a thousand years.
Now, after a quick calculation, he found his lifespan had surpassed two thousand years.
In the Kunlun Realm, even the most powerful Nine-Step Saint Kings among the Saint Kings could barely live to two thousand years old.
The environment of the Heavenly Court Realm far surpassed the Kunlun Realm, but even human saints rarely broke through a thousand years. To live to two thousand, even in the Heavenly Court Realm, one would need to reach at least the Seven-Step Saint King realm.
In other words, even if Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation stagnated now, his lifespan would already be second only to that of a Great Saint.
“What’s going on?”
Zhang Ruochen thought back carefully, his heart stirring. He immediately looked toward the distant sundial.
“At the moment I broke through to Supreme Saint, did the sundial release a large number of time imprint light points that rushed into my Qi Sea and merged with the time rule? Could it be that the sundial’s power can not only sever a cultivator’s lifespan but also increase it?”
Zhang Ruochen was deeply astonished.
Such a time treasure was far too heaven-defying.
If he could understand its principles, wouldn’t he be able to increase his lifespan at will and thus… achieve immortality?
Zhang Ruochen walked toward the sundial again, but as soon as he stepped within one hundred and twenty zhang, he was hit by several time imprint light points, losing a hundred years of his lifespan.
“Still no good. This sundial is too bizarre.”
Even with over two thousand years of lifespan, if he tried to seize the sundial, he would likely end up dead.
Zhang Ruochen was unwilling to give up and tried various methods, but all failed, costing him another two hundred years of his lifespan.
“My mastery of the Way of Time is still too shallow.”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head helplessly and left with Mo Yin, not wanting to waste more time here. The priority was to find the Ice Fire Phoenix’s inheritance and the Divine Star Soul.
If there was time after securing those two things, he could come back to study the sundial.
The multicolored space within the Phoenix Nest was vast. Blindly searching would take who knows how long to find the Ice Fire Phoenix’s inheritance. Perhaps Mu Lingxi’s Ice Phoenix Ancient Saint Body would have a different kind of resonance.
Thinking this, Zhang Ruochen quickly took out the Fengbei Shield and released Mu Lingxi from the Time-Space Crystal.
Recently, Mu Lingxi had been cultivating inside the Time-Space Crystal, making rapid progress and already reaching the Supreme Saint realm.
Unlike Zhang Ruochen, who was limited by space and time rules, Mu Lingxi had the advantage of fourfold time acceleration and the aid of treasures like the Ice Phoenix Sacred Marrow, making her breakthrough to Supreme Saint much easier.
“Is this the Phoenix Nest?”
“Yes.”
After Zhang Ruochen filled her in on recent events and the special environment of the Phoenix Nest, Mu Lingxi lightly nodded her snow-white chin. “I’ll give it a try.”
Mu Lingxi closed her eyes and circulated her sacred qi. A bright phoenix imprint appeared on her fair forehead.
In an instant, the temperature plummeted, becoming bitterly cold.
“Whoosh—”
A massive Ice Phoenix phantom burst out from behind Mu Lingxi, indistinguishable from a real phoenix. Every feather was dazzlingly bright, and its spread wings resembled two colorful clouds.
That was Mu Lingxi’s Ultimate Truth Phantom, containing the sacred dao rules of the Phoenix Clan.
The next moment, the Ice Phoenix phantom flew off in a certain direction.
Mu Lingxi immediately opened her eyes, her bright smile radiant with excitement. “There’s a reaction! Let’s follow it.”