Chapter 1541: Two Major Weaknesses
Drinking the Six Saints Ascension Wine can elevate the physique of low-level cultivators to the level of a Saintly Body. For any force or any major world, it is a priceless treasure with far-reaching significance, capable of continuously cultivating a large number of elite cultivators.
If Empress Chi Yao had known back then that the Wine Madman could refine the Six Saints Ascension Wine, she would certainly not have handed him over to the Moon God.
Zhang Ruochen said, "What if I provide you with the raw materials?"
"That won't work either. Unless you go discuss it with the Moon God, only with her permission can I help you brew the Six Saints Ascension Wine."
The Wine Madman held the Rainbow Transformation Vine very tightly, clutching it in his arms as if afraid Zhang Ruochen might take it back.
"Alright, it seems I'll have to wait a bit longer," Zhang Ruochen said.
In the Heavenly Court Realm, the Qiankun Realm was sealed off, and Zhang Ruochen had no way to send the Six Saints Ascension Wine inside. Therefore, at this stage, his need for the Six Saints Ascension Wine was not particularly urgent.
Zhang Ruochen added, "Then first help me brew a hundred jars of Dragon Spirit Mad Bull Wine."
"Sure thing."
The Wine Madman immediately agreed, then tentatively asked, "So, this Rainbow Transformation Vine?"
"It's yours," Zhang Ruochen said.
The Wine Madman was so overjoyed he could barely contain himself, nearly dancing with excitement, and quickly stored the Rainbow Transformation Vine into his Space Ring.
Rubbing the ring on his finger, the Wine Madman still had a smile on his lips, seemingly worried about provoking Zhang Ruochen's displeasure, so he said, "Zhang Ruochen, this Rainbow Transformation Vine of yours could probably sell for around two to three hundred thousand Sacred Stones on the market. But my hundred jars of Dragon Spirit Mad Bull Wine are definitely not cheap either. When you really calculate it, you're still the one who came out ahead."
Zhang Ruochen didn't care who gained more or less; in his view, anything that could be solved with Sacred Stones was a trivial matter. Those who only focus on immediate gains would never accomplish great things.
However, Xiao Hei snorted coldly, feeling that Zhang Ruochen shouldn't have let the Wine Madman off so easily. At the very least, he should have made the old fellow brew a thousand or ten thousand jars of Dragon Spirit Mad Bull Wine.
The Wine Madman glanced at Xiao Hei, patted his chest, and said, "I'm not bragging, but in the Kunlun Realm, I'm the only one who can brew Dragon Spirit Mad Bull Wine. So I have the right to set its price. Even if I sold it for ten thousand Sacred Stones a jar, I reckon someone would still buy it."
Zhang Ruochen said, "What's the point of saying all that? Can our friendship really be measured by Sacred Stones? You helping me brew the Dragon Spirit Mad Bull Wine is you helping me. Me giving you the Rainbow Transformation Vine is also me helping you."
The Wine Madman certainly knew what kind of person Zhang Ruochen was—absolutely impeccable when it came to friends. Feeling a bit ashamed, he said, "Alright, this time I really did take advantage. Zhang Ruochen, if you ever need my help in the future, just say the word. I won't refuse."
"Now that sounds like something a human would say," Xiao Hei laughed.
Zhang Ruochen had considerable trust in the Wine Madman's character. Although he could be quite greedy at times, when it came to matters of principle, he would definitely hold the line.
Therefore, Zhang Ruochen directly took out the Buddha Emperor Relic and handed it to the Wine Madman with confidence, saying, "Within a month, can you brew that high-grade Dragon Spirit Mad Bull Wine?"
Holding the Buddha Emperor Relic, the Wine Madman's face lit up with a ruddy glow, and a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes. He really wanted to swallow it whole, but he restrained his greed and nodded, "Yes."
Seeing the Wine Madman get a Rainbow Transformation Vine, Gu Songzi grew quite anxious and quickly said, "Zhang Ruochen, weren't you asking about the Heavenly Gang Purple Fire Talisman? I can refine it. How many do you want?"
"Within a month, how many can you refine?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Gu Songzi said, "As long as you can gather the materials quickly, refining three should be no problem."
Gu Songzi's combat strength was very weak, but his attainments in Spiritual Power, alchemy, poison arts, and talisman arts were quite remarkable. Zhang Ruochen had seen Gu Songzi use the Heavenly Gang Purple Fire Talisman before; the attack power unleashed by the talisman could pose a considerable threat even to Saint Kings.
Zhang Ruochen had also snatched quite a few attack talismans in the Ancestral Spirit Realm.
But those talismans could at most deal with ordinary Saints, posing no threat to Saint Kings.
Any attack talisman capable of dealing with a Saint King, if sold, would fetch a terrifying price. That price would far exceed a hundred jars of Dragon Spirit Mad Bull Wine, and ordinary Saints simply couldn't afford it.
"What materials are needed?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Gu Songzi hesitated slightly before saying, "To refine the Heavenly Gang Purple Fire Talisman, four main materials are needed, each one priceless. Back in the Kunlun Realm, I spent my entire life's savings and only managed to refine five of them."
Then Gu Songzi wrote down the names of the four main materials on paper: "Heavenly Gang Stone, Millennium Purple Flame Flower, Fire Dragon Blood Ink Fragrance, and Earth-grade Talisman Paper."
Zhang Ruochen took the paper, pondered for a moment, picked up a pen, and made additions and modifications.
In the end, the four materials on the paper became: Supreme Heavenly Gang Stone, Ten-Thousand-Year Purple Flame Flower, Saint King Fire Dragon Blood Ink Incense, and Heaven-grade Talisman Paper.
Gu Songzi glanced at the paper and immediately sucked in a breath of cold air.
The four materials he had just written down would require a mountain of gold and silver to buy back. And the four materials Zhang Ruochen had written were of a higher grade, likely costing dozens of times more.
That price was something even an ordinary Saint King couldn't afford even if they went bankrupt.
Of course, the higher the grade of the materials, the more powerful the refined Heavenly Gang Purple Fire Talisman would be.
Zhang Ruochen handed the paper to Xiao Hei and said, "Use all the wealth of the Yuanxu Peak Holy Land to buy them all back. If the Sacred Stones aren't enough, come to me. I still have a good amount stored."
Back in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm, Zhang Ruochen had obtained the entire treasury of the Azure Dragon Dynasty, which contained a large number of Sacred Stones. In the Ancestral Spirit Realm, he had also plundered many Sacred Stones.
So at this stage, Zhang Ruochen wasn't worried about Sacred Stones at all.
Power!
As long as he could exchange Sacred Stones for powerful strength, it was worth spending however many.
The Heavenly Court Realm was also a place where financial resources mattered.
"Really short on people!"
Having to send the unreliable Xiao Hei to handle such an important task, Zhang Ruochen deeply felt the lack of capable people around him.
In the end, Zhang Ruochen summoned Mo Yin and had her go with Xiao Hei to handle the matter. At the same time, Zhang Ruochen considered whether to call Han Qiu, A Le, or Princess Bai Li to Yuanxu Peak Holy Land, or to select a few highly skilled talents from the remnants of the Holy Bright Central Empire.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and didn't do that.
Currently, Yuanxu Peak Holy Land was being watched by a group of unknown powerful enemies. If he called them over and one got killed, it would be a huge loss for Zhang Ruochen.
"Wait a bit longer. Once I figure out who they are and how strong they are, I can decide then," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
Zhang Ruochen took out a Rainbow Transformation Vine and handed it to Gu Songzi in advance. Then he entered the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal to continue comprehending the Sword Dao.
Inside the Time-Space Crystal, he stayed for a month.
With the help of the Rainbow Transformation Vine and the Rule Imperial Artifact, the number of Sword Dao Rules within Zhang Ruochen's body finally reached four, marking his initial entry into the Half-Saint King realm, with a significant increase in strength.
"Having cultivated four Sword Dao Rules only means I've just crossed the threshold of the Half-Saint King realm. There's still a long way to go to truly reach the Saint King realm."
The number of Sacred Dao Rules each Sacred Dao cultivator integrates into their Sacred Soul varies, as do the grades of the Sacred Dao Rules and the Rule Seeds themselves.
Some cultivators' Rule Seeds contain only twenty types of Sacred Dao Rules.
For Realm Son-level prodigies, the Sacred Dao Rules within their Rule Seeds generally exceed a hundred types.
Thus, every living being that reaches the Half-Saint King realm is a unique individual in the world. The Sacred Dao they cultivate from here on will differ, giving rise to countless paths. Future cultivation will require more personal insight, forging a unique Dao.
Of course, cultivators with identical types and grades of Sacred Dao Rules within their Rule Seeds do exist, but encountering one is no easy task. And even if the Rule Seeds are the same, factors like race, physique, gender, and personality can influence each cultivator's Sacred Dao path to some extent.
Since everyone's Sacred Dao differs, how does one define entering the Saint King realm? And how does one classify Saint Kings?
No cultivator can give an exact answer; they can only make rough judgments.
In the Kunlun Realm, only one of the Ten Great Artifacts, the "Emperor Divine Ruler," can accurately measure a Saint King's realm.
In the Heavenly Court Realm, Saint Kings can only accurately gauge their realm level by walking the "Nine-Step Heavenly Path."
Otherwise, even Saint Kings themselves can only roughly estimate their cultivation realm, leading some to overestimate themselves and others to underestimate. In life-and-death battles, those who overestimate themselves often end up dead.
Zhang Ruochen's body contains a total of 372 types of Sacred Dao Rules, including two Eternal Dao and several Supreme Sacred Dao. Such a Rule Seed is incredibly powerful, but naturally, cultivation will be extremely difficult.
As for how much cultivation is needed to reach the One-Step Saint King realm, Zhang Ruochen is also in the dark.
He only knows that the gap between Half-Saint King and One-Step Saint King is enormous.
"First, cultivate the Palm Dao Rules to ten. Then I can practice the eleventh stance of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, unleashing the power of a Mid-rank Sacred Art."
So far, Zhang Ruochen can only use Low-rank Sacred Arts, which is a huge disadvantage. Against ordinary prodigies, it's manageable.
But if he encounters those ranked in the top thousand of the Sacred Merit Ranking—those with Supreme Perfection Physiques, Divine Sons, Divine Daughters, Heavenly Sons, or Heavenly Daughters—this disadvantage becomes very apparent.
After all, the Heavenly Court Realm has over eight thousand subordinate mortal realms. Even if each major world selects only one strongest, that's over eight thousand people. Moreover, the stronger the world, the more geniuses and experts it produces.
People like Wu Hao and Fang Yi rank tens of thousands of places behind among the top Saint-level experts. To be precise, by combat power, they can't even enter the Sacred Merit Ranking.
Therefore, those ranked in the top thousand of the Sacred Merit Ranking are extremely powerful beings, with incredible talent, physique, opportunities, and background, capable of ruling among the top-tier powerful worlds.
"Not having comprehended Truth Rules and not having cultivated a Mid-rank Sacred Art—these are my two biggest weaknesses compared to other Supreme Perfection Physique holders. Fortunately, I can still use the power of time and space to temporarily compensate for these weaknesses. But what if I encounter another Eternal Dao controller? For example, someone like the Rakshasa Princess. In my fights with her, I never truly seemed to win."
Zhang Ruochen knew that going to the Truth Temple would inevitably bring him face to face with the true peerless prodigies of the Heavenly Court Realm. Even if he didn't want to cause trouble, with his identity as the number one on the Sacred Merit Ranking, countless cultivators would want to challenge him.
If he didn't want to lose, he had to make up for his weaknesses as quickly as possible.