# Chapter 1574: Truth Esoterica
"So formidable. Without using Truth Rules, it's simply impossible to defeat him," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
The Silver Armored Saint General was iron-blooded and merciless. With a explosive roar, clusters of silver flames emerged from within his body, spinning along with his fists to form a massive vortex.
The Truth Boat beneath his feet, no longer under Zhang Ruochen's control, was drawn into the vortex.
Faced with such danger, Zhang Ruochen remained calm. As he spun within the vortex along with the Truth Boat, his eyes carefully fixed on the Silver Armored Saint General, observing his every move.
"Boom!"
Two flame fists, each as massive as a small mountain, pierced through the vortex and descended upon Zhang Ruochen's head, covering his figure like two patches of dark clouds.
"Dragon Soaring the Nine Heavens."
Scorching yang energy surged from within Zhang Ruochen's body.
Immediately, the tenth stance of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was unleashed. His body transformed into a golden, radiant divine dragon, soaring upward.
From the shore, it looked exactly like a divine dragon lurking in the sea suddenly bursting forth into the sky.
Boundless dragon qi filled the entire sea region, stirring up waves several zhang high. Layer upon layer of whitecaps spread all the way to the shore.
With this palm strike, Zhang Ruochen had channeled Truth Rules into his palm technique, doubling its power.
To be precise, what Zhang Ruochen struck with was a dragon claw.
The dragon claw swept down, tearing apart the two flaming fist imprints and striking the Silver Armored Saint General, sending him plummeting rapidly toward the sea surface.
"Roar!"
The golden dragon roared, circled once in midair, then swiftly dove toward the Truth Boat below, transforming back into Zhang Ruochen's form.
The entire process happened in the blink of an eye. Thus, even without Zhang Ruochen's power reinforcing it, the Truth Boat only tilted slightly and did not capsize.
Zhang Ruochen steered the Truth Boat, turning it into an arrow loosed from a bowstring, charging toward the Silver Armored Saint General who had just landed on the sea surface. He knocked the Silver Armored Saint General back again, driving him all the way to the bottom of the light barrier.
"Wild Elephant Trampling the Earth."
"Soaring Dragon in the Sky."
"Dragon-Elephant Returning to the Fields."
...
"Dragon Soaring the Nine Heavens."
"Dragon-Elephant Reaching the Heavens."
...
From the fourteen acupoints on Zhang Ruochen's palms, vast amounts of Purifying Divine Flame surged forth. He also channeled Truth Rules into his palm techniques, unleashing dozens of palm strikes in succession.
For hundreds of zhang around, the sea region churned with towering waves, while large amounts of Purifying Divine Flame enveloped the area. Water, fire, and palm force intermingled in chaos, with only the sound of "bang bang" collisions echoing out.
"Boom!"
With a deafening explosion, Zhang Ruochen directly blasted the Silver Armored Saint General's body apart, turning it into a cloud of silver light.
The flames dissipated.
The chaotic palm force gradually faded, and the sea surface grew calm once more.
"So difficult to deal with. Even the guardian of the first sea region is this powerful. I wonder just how strong the guardian of the second sea region is?"
Standing on the Truth Boat, Zhang Ruochen panted heavily, rapidly circulating the sacred qi within his body to regulate his inner breath. Only after the violent sacred force had calmed did he steer the Truth Boat through the light barrier and enter the second sea region.
"Boom!"
On the shore, a deafening uproar erupted. All the cultivators were discussing it, clearly stunned.
Mu Lingxi and several cultivators from Guanghan Realm made no effort to suppress their emotions, all of them extremely excited and delighted.
"Zhang Ruochen has crossed the first sea region, earning one month of cultivation time and three additional slots. This means three more cultivators from Guanghan Realm can enter Truth Heaven Domain to train."
"The Divine Envoy is truly formidable. As long as he's here, he can bring boundless glory to Guanghan Realm."
Crossing the first sea region on one's first attempt at the Truth Sea was an extremely rare feat, something even top-ranked figures on the Sacred Merit Ranking would find difficult to achieve.
Feng Yan also felt somewhat surprised, muttering to himself, "He only trained for thirteen days and has already fully comprehended the first visualization diagram. Zhang Ruochen's comprehension is truly astonishing."
Wang Xu narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself, "When he fought me some time ago, Zhang Ruochen was nowhere near this powerful. His rate of progress has exceeded my expectations."
Passing through the light barrier and entering the second sea region, Zhang Ruochen immediately felt the Truth Boat become much harder to control.
The hurricanes on the sea surface had turned into wind fiends.
Every wisp of wind force was like a blade or sword, striking the boat's hull with the sound of metal and stone colliding.
Zhang Ruochen had to mobilize his spiritual power and sacred force with full effort just to control the Truth Boat. Under such circumstances, even if he could reach the checkpoint of the second sea region, he wouldn't be able to fight the guardian.
The second sea region was also thirty li wide.
As Zhang Ruochen sailed farther, the impact of the seawater and wind fiends on the Truth Boat grew stronger. Even with his full effort, he could barely maintain control.
"With my spiritual power and sacred force intensity, can I not even reach the checkpoint of the second level? This is the Truth Sea, and I'm piloting the Truth Boat... Let me try using Truth Rules."
A flash of inspiration struck Zhang Ruochen. He then mobilized nine strands of Truth Rules, channeling them into the Truth Boat.
Suddenly, a strange sensation arose in Zhang Ruochen's heart. It felt as if nine invisible forces had appeared, one end connected to the Truth Boat and the other to the Truth Sea below.
The previously wobbling Truth Boat became much steadier. Zhang Ruochen only needed to use his spiritual power and part of his sacred force to control it.
"So it really is related to Truth Rules." Zhang Ruochen chuckled lightly.
The subsequent voyage went quite smoothly. Before long, Zhang Ruochen arrived at the checkpoint of the second sea region, appearing beneath the light barrier.
"Hiss."
On the light barrier, sacred light flickered. Another Silver Armored Saint General flew out, hovering in midair.
Still at the Half-Saint King cultivation level, with eyes as sharp as blades, and still a semi-transparent body, but this time, silver bones were visible within its body. The aura emanating from it put tremendous pressure on Zhang Ruochen.
"Defeat me, and you may enter the third sea region," the Silver Armored Saint General said coldly as ice.
This time, Zhang Ruochen took the initiative to attack. He leaped up from the Truth Boat, transforming into a golden dragon and unleashing the tenth stance of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm.
"Truth Rules."
Zhang Ruochen no longer used Truth Rules to control the Truth Boat. Instead, he channeled the nine strands of Truth Rules into his palm technique.
The palm strike, unleashed with full force, turned into a golden dragon claw, slashing down toward the Silver Armored Saint General.
"Roar!"
From the Silver Armored Saint General's mouth came a sound like a dragon's roar. It too executed a Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm stance, but it was the eleventh stance—Dragon-Elephant Reaching the Heavens.
"Boom!"
The golden dragon was suppressed by the Silver Armored Saint General's palm imprint, crashing down toward the sea surface.
Zhang Ruochen landed on the Truth Boat, reverting to human form. His bones felt as if they had fallen apart, his legs trembling, barely able to stand.
The small boat beneath his feet also shook violently.
"How is this possible? He's also proficient in the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, and he's even cultivated the eleventh stance to Great Perfection."
Before Zhang Ruochen could steady himself, the Silver Armored Saint General's second palm imprint descended like a silver five-finger mountain, slamming down fiercely.
Zhang Ruochen felt the sky above him darken, his entire body unable to move. It was as if heaven, earth, sun, moon, and all the stars of the universe were pressing down on him. Faced with such terrifying power, many cultivators would surely have been scared into lying prostrate on the ground.
Gritting his teeth, Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands together, striving to mobilize spatial power and slash upward.
"Rip!"
A spatial rift flew out, tearing apart the descending palm imprint.
But before Zhang Ruochen could even breathe a sigh of relief, another palm imprint fell, striking him directly on the head. Both he and the Truth Boat were slammed down into the seabed.
Zhang Ruochen's mind grew hazy, his body becoming heavier and heavier, as if he were about to lose consciousness.
Suddenly, his body lightened. A gentle force merged into all one hundred and forty-four acupoints throughout his body, like specks of light flowing through his meridians and sacred channels.
"On your first crossing of the Truth Sea, you reached the checkpoint of the second sea region and exchanged several moves with the guardian. Your talent is very high. You are awarded one ten-thousandth of the Truth Esoterica." An ethereal voice entered Zhang Ruochen's mind.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What is the Truth Esoterica?"
"The more Truth Esoterica you obtain, the faster you can comprehend Sacred Dao Rules, and the more you can understand the truth of heaven and earth. If you can obtain one percent of the Truth Esoterica, you can become a Truth Envoy."
Zhang Ruochen asked again, "And what is a Truth Envoy?"
As he asked this question, light appeared before his eyes. He realized he was already standing on the shore of the Truth Sea. Even more astonishing was that his entire body bore not a single injury.
"Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations, Brother Zhang. On your first crossing of the Truth Sea, reaching the checkpoint of the second sea region is an extremely rare achievement since the establishment of the Truth Temple." Feng Yan immediately came forward, vigorously patting Zhang Ruochen's shoulder.
Zhang Ruochen was somewhat unaccustomed to such enthusiasm. His mind was already pondering what the Truth Esoterica and Truth Envoy truly were. And who was the person who had spoken to him just now?
Zhang Ruochen instinctively felt that the "Truth Esoterica" was something extraordinary, not something every cultivator who crossed the first sea region could obtain.
Although he had only received one ten-thousandth of it, he could clearly sense a great difference from before. He could distinctly feel various Sacred Dao Rules flowing around him.
If he were to go into seclusion to cultivate now, his speed in comprehending Sacred Dao Rules would definitely increase significantly.
"I wonder where I can find information about the Truth Esoterica? Perhaps I could send a message to inquire with the Moon God. She would surely know."
Zhang Ruochen only knew he had received a tremendous benefit, but he didn't know just how great that benefit truly was.
Feng Yan smiled and said, "What are you thinking about? Come, I'll take you to one of the Ten Sacred Pavilions—the Coming and Going Sacred Pavilion—to claim one month of cultivation time and three additional cultivation slots."
Feng Yan pulled Zhang Ruochen along and headed toward a Sacred Pavilion not far from the Truth Sea.
"Zhang Ruochen is actually associating with Feng Yan of the Wind Clan. This is not good news. I must inform Zi immediately."
The fact that Zhang Ruochen had reached the checkpoint of the second sea region after only thirteen days of cultivation and could exchange blows with the guardian had indeed put some pressure on Wang Xu.
But when Wang Xu thought about how Zhang Ruochen would soon become a dead man, that pressure vanished without a trace.