Chapter 1620: One Year in Seclusion
All major forces believed that the experts from the Yin-Yang Realm, Dark Demon Realm, and Ten Thousand Evil Realm would launch a swift counterattack against the Moon God Dao Field, or at the very least, make a move to reclaim the heads of the over a hundred evil path cultivators.
However, contrary to their expectations, Yan Wang, Lian Hou, Qiong Lin, Xie Chengzi, and others who had shaken the Truth Heaven Domain never appeared again.
Had they actually swallowed this bitter pill?
Even more puzzling was that Zhang Ruochen did not press his advantage, nor did he continue attacking the remaining nineteen Dao Fields of the Guanghan Realm.
This bloody storm seemed to have passed, and the entire Truth Heaven Domain grew calm.
Yet, when people passed by the Moon God Dao Field and saw the over a hundred heads hanging from the tall tower, they still felt a chill run down their spines.
They couldn't help but wonder—with such immense hatred, how could the two sides simply let it go?
Perhaps this calm was merely the lull before an even greater storm.
The Truth Path diagram left by the Moon God was carved onto a twenty-two-zhang-tall pure white jade stele, depicting a "Myriad Stars Surrounding the Moon" scene.
Zhang Ruochen did not immediately begin comprehending this carving, as he was more focused on elevating his cultivation realm to the Saint King level.
However, this carving was extremely precious to the cultivators of the Guanghan Realm.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen spent some time and effort setting up a time formation beneath the jade stele, with a time ratio of two to one.
Before entering seclusion, Zhang Ruochen handed the Abyssal Ancient Sword to Mu Lingxi and instructed, "The sword spirit of the Abyssal Ancient Sword can also comprehend the Truth Path. Take care of it for the time being."
At present, the sword spirit had only cultivated nine Truth Rules, but by mobilizing these rules, it could unleash double the power.
In life-or-death battles, this was a tremendous help to Zhang Ruochen.
If the sword spirit could cultivate eighty-one Truth Rules and unleash triple the power, the benefit to Zhang Ruochen would be even greater.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen took out a storage bag and handed it to Mu Lingxi.
The bag contained various sacred artifacts.
Mu Lingxi knew that these sacred artifacts were all "food" for the Abyssal Ancient Sword. Every day, the sword had to refine several, or even dozens, of sacred artifacts to upgrade its own rank.
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of the Abyssal Ancient Sword. By the time you come out of seclusion, it might even reach the level of a Three Radiance Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact," Mu Lingxi said with a radiant smile.
Zhang Ruochen gave her a deep look, then seemed to recall something, saying, "At the bottom of the Bliss Palace, there is a Yin Pool that gathers a vast amount of Yin Qi. It should help you elevate your Extreme Yin Nether Ice power to the next level."
After that, Zhang Ruochen gave some instructions to Xiao Hei before entering the inner space of the Time Crystal to go into seclusion.
Joining him in seclusion was the Devouring Saint Flower.
The Devouring Saint Flower had already reached the One-Step Saint King realm, and a small flower bud had grown at the tip of its vine, indicating it was about to bloom for the third time.
The third bloom of the Devouring Saint Flower would produce a fruit—its "Dharma Body."
A Dharma Body was comparable to a Great Saint's Immortal Sacred Body.
Once it merged with the Dharma Body, the Devouring Saint Flower's power would surge dramatically, allowing it to rival a Great Saint. Its petals could envelop and devour an entire planet. All beings below the Great Saint level would become its prey.
If a Nine-Step Saint King obtained a Dharma Body fruit from the Devouring Saint Flower and consumed it, they would have a high probability of cultivating an Immortal Sacred Body and becoming a Great Saint-level being.
In short, the Dharma Body fruit was priceless, even more precious than a Great Saint's Sacred Source.
After all, even if a cultivator obtained a Great Saint's Sacred Source, it would only make cultivating an Immortal Sacred Body slightly easier.
Of course, for the Devouring Saint Flower to bloom for the third time, it required a massive amount of nutrients. Ripening the Dharma Body fruit demanded even more.
For now, Zhang Ruochen could only provide the Devouring Saint Flower with as many nutrients as possible. Once it merged with the Dharma Body fruit, it would become a true and powerful ally for him.
Zhang Ruochen took out a corpse of an evil path cultivator from his Space Ring and gave it to the Devouring Saint Flower as fertilizer.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen had over two hundred corpses of evil path cultivators on him, all at least at the Supreme Saint level, with some even at the Saint King level.
When these evil path cultivators were alive, each was a top-tier prodigy from a major world, possessing powerful bloodlines and physiques, capable of fighting across realms.
By absorbing them as nutrients, the Devouring Saint Flower would gain some of their special abilities, making it even stronger.
Zhang Ruochen was eager to see how much the Devouring Saint Flower would grow after absorbing all these evil path cultivators.
Next, Zhang Ruochen took out the Yi Emperor Bone Staff and began studying it.
Inside the skull at the top of the staff was a wisp of a Great Saint's remnant soul, which had turned into an evil spirit.
This evil spirit was quite formidable, having once suppressed and devoured the Sacred Soul of Shang Feng, a Five-Step Saint King.
Now, the evil spirit's power had increased further. Using the Yi Emperor Bone Staff, it could unleash strength comparable to a Five-Step Saint King.
After killing those evil path cultivators, Zhang Ruochen had collected all their Sacred Souls, intending to use them to feed the evil spirit.
However, Zhang Ruochen was uncertain whether, after the evil spirit grew stronger, he could still suppress it with the Sarira and his current spiritual power.
He didn't dare feed all the Sacred Souls to the evil spirit at once, so he took them out one by one, feeding and observing simultaneously.
If anything went wrong, he would stop immediately.
Thus, time passed day by day, and soon a month had gone by.
Over the past month, Zhang Ruochen had spent very little time feeding the evil spirit. Most of his time was devoted to holding the Rule Emperor Artifact and comprehending Sacred Dao Rules.
At the same time, he practiced palm techniques and sword techniques, occasionally studying the fist manual that Luo Xu had given him.
After feeding over forty powerful Sacred Souls, one day, a sharp, piercing howl suddenly erupted from the skull, shattering Zhang Ruochen's eardrums and causing blood to flow from his ears.
His expression changed drastically. He quickly mobilized his Sacred Qi and spiritual power, activating the Sarira's spiritual energy and Buddhist Qi to purify the evil Qi emanating from the skull while suppressing the evil spirit.
The evil spirit had become several times more ferocious than before. Even with the Sarira's assistance, it took Zhang Ruochen most of the day to suppress it again.
"Its strength has probably reached the Six-Step Saint King level. Without the Sarira to suppress it, it could kill me with a single palm strike."
"No, I can't feed it anymore until I break through to the Saint King realm."
Zhang Ruochen put away the Yi Emperor Bone Staff, then took out the Rule Emperor Artifact again, lit a Rainbow Transformation Vine, and devoted all his energy to comprehending Sacred Dao Rules.
"Whoosh—"
Five beams of white light shot out from Zhang Ruochen's body, landing on the ground and transforming into five identical phantom figures.
Zhang Ruochen's Sacred Soul split into six parts, merging into the six Sacred Phantoms.
At this moment, five Sacred Souls detached from the five Sacred Phantoms, leaving only one Sacred Soul in his true body.
The Rule Emperor Artifact flew out from Zhang Ruochen's true body's hand, hovering at the center of the true body and the five Sacred Souls, slowly rotating and emitting a brilliant sacred light. Sacred Dao Rules flowed outward like threads of light.
With six Sacred Souls comprehending simultaneously, Zhang Ruochen's comprehension speed increased sixfold.
Of course, this cultivation state could only be maintained during closed-door seclusion, with no interruptions. Otherwise, even with Zhang Ruochen's strong Sacred Soul, a disturbance could cause mental chaos, with severe consequences.
As he entered this state of comprehension, the Truth Esoterica within Zhang Ruochen became active, turning into specks of light that emanated from his true body and spread throughout the inner space of the Time Crystal.
Instantly, both his true body and the five Sacred Souls became incredibly clear-minded, and their speed of comprehending Sacred Dao Rules increased severalfold.
In this cultivation state, time passed imperceptibly, and Zhang Ruochen had already been in seclusion for a year.
The thirty thousand sacred stones originally piled up in the inner space of the Time Crystal had been completely absorbed by Zhang Ruochen, turning into powder.
Without sacred stones to provide Sacred Qi, Zhang Ruochen was jolted awake. The specks of light scattered around him flew back into his body like birds returning to their nests.
Zhang Ruochen noticed that his body was covered in dust and muttered to himself, "Thirty thousand sacred stones all absorbed? How long have I been cultivating?"
He clasped his hands together, and the five Sacred Souls all returned to his true body.
Then, Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes again and spent three days fully integrating the Sacred Dao Rules comprehended by the six Sacred Souls.
When he opened his eyes again, a joyful light shone within them. "The total number of Sacred Dao Rules in the Tongtian River has reached over two thousand three hundred. That should mean I've stepped into the One-Step Saint King realm."
In the Heavenly Court Realm, only by walking the "Nine-Step Heavenly Path" could a Saint King accurately measure their cultivation realm.
However, based on the experiences of past Saint King realm predecessors, generally speaking, having around a thousand Sacred Dao Rules indicated the One-Step Saint King realm.
Around five thousand rules indicated the Two-Step Saint King realm.
Around thirty thousand rules indicated the Three-Step Saint King realm.
...
Of course, this was not absolute.
For example, if a cultivator specialized in one of the seventy-two Supreme Sacred Paths, even if they had only cultivated eight hundred Sacred Dao Rules, they might still take a complete step on the Heavenly Path and possess the cultivation realm of a One-Step Saint King.
But if a cultivator specialized in one of the three thousand Great Paths, even if they had a total of one thousand five hundred Sacred Dao Rules in their body, they might not be able to take a complete step on the Heavenly Path and would remain a Half-Step Saint King.
In fact, the "Nine-Step Realm" division of the Saint King realm was quite vague, with no clear boundaries, and perhaps no real realm at all.
Cultivators would encounter small and large bottlenecks while comprehending Sacred Dao Rules. Sometimes, they might be unable to comprehend any rules at all, causing their cultivation to stagnate, or they might experience a sudden surge in rules. After countless generations of cultivators summarized their experiences, the "Nine-Step Realm" concept emerged.
The Nine-Step Heavenly Path—each step was a new level.
Each step would eliminate a large number of mediocre talents.
Only true prodigies could charge forward bravely, ultimately completing the nine steps to the heavens, cultivating an Immortal Sacred Body, and becoming a Great Saint.
It could be said that every time a bottleneck appeared, it would terrify Saint King realm cultivators, fearing that they might be stuck in place forever, becoming one of those mediocre talents abandoned by the Heavenly Dao.
However, after a year in seclusion, Zhang Ruochen had yet to encounter any bottlenecks and felt that his cultivation was progressing smoothly.