Chapter 1621: Emerging from Seclusion
The higher one’s cultivation realm, the faster one could comprehend the rules of the sacred path.
With a cultivation level at Half-Saint King, being able to cultivate over two thousand sacred dao rules in just one year was something other Half-Saint Kings would never dare to imagine.
Even a Three-Step Saint King would find it difficult to achieve.
Zhang Ruochen understood clearly that this was because he possessed a Six Paths Sacred Soul and the Truth Esoterica, which allowed him to comprehend at such a rapid pace.
Since the Truth Esoterica was so miraculous, Zhang Ruochen naturally wanted to cross the Sea of Truth and seize more Truth Esoterica. Perhaps then, his speed of comprehending rules would become even faster.
“The side effects of the Joy-Anger Pill have completely faded. I can head to the Hundred Flowers Palace to buy a Six Desire Ancient Pill, quickly raise my spiritual power to the fifty-sixth level, and also redeem the Golden Step Dragon Carriage,” Zhang Ruochen mused.
The higher his spiritual power, the easier it would be to cross the Sea of Truth.
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen planned to first raise his spiritual power to the fifty-sixth level before continuing to feed sacred souls to the evil spirit.
The Yi Emperor Bone Staff was a trump card in Zhang Ruochen’s hand. With it, even if he encountered a Six-Step Saint King, he would have nothing to fear. Naturally, he hoped to make this trump card even more powerful.
Zhang Ruochen began organizing the items in his space ring, all of which came from the storage vessels of the evil path cultivators from the three great worlds.
“Only a little over one hundred twenty million sacred stones? That’s so little.” Zhang Ruochen was quite disappointed.
Over two hundred evil path cultivators, each with high status and powerful cultivation, yet they were so miserly, with only this many sacred stones in total.
Of course, the assets of those evil path cultivators were far more than this.
However, their assets were not in the Truth Heaven Domain but in their home worlds or their cultivation territories in the Heavenly Court realm. They controlled numerous cities, medicinal fields, mines, beast ranches, and so on.
Only when they urgently needed sacred stones would they sell off those assets.
Ordinarily, they wouldn’t carry large amounts of sacred stones on them.
Still, even just over one hundred twenty million sacred stones was an enormous number for most Saint Kings.
Apart from sacred stones, there were also large quantities of sacred artifacts and sacred medicines, along with some divine blood, divine bones, sacred pills, talismans, and various other treasures.
There were several hundred bottles of sacred pills, but most were healing pills, detoxification pills, and foundational pills.
Only eight bottles were for enhancing spiritual power.
Only fifteen bottles were for enhancing cultivation.
Moreover, each bottle contained only one or a few pills.
After thinking it over, Zhang Ruochen felt relieved. If he had obtained pills that enhanced spiritual power or cultivation, he would have taken them immediately to strengthen himself. Why would he keep them on hand?
Checking the eight bottles of spiritual power enhancement pills, Zhang Ruochen was once again disappointed.
Three bottles were low-grade sacred pills, four were mid-grade, and only one was high-grade.
That high-grade sacred pill was the Joy-Anger Pill, which Zhang Ruochen had taken before. There were four pills in total.
Although low-grade and mid-grade sacred pills were still valuable, their effect on Zhang Ruochen, a spiritual power Saint King, was negligible.
As for the high-grade Joy-Anger Pill, its medicinal power was considerable, but Zhang Ruochen had already taken three, building up some resistance. Even if he took four more, his spiritual power wouldn’t increase much.
Zhang Ruochen put away the eight bottles and took out the fifteen bottles of cultivation-enhancing pills, opening each to inspect them. Again, most were low-grade or mid-grade, effective for those below Saint King level but of little use to a Saint King.
“Spider Silk Pill, Enlightenment Pill.”
Zhang Ruochen found two bottles of high-grade sacred pills and showed a hint of joy.
The Spider Silk Pill was said to be refined from sacred dao rules and several ancient ten-thousand-year sacred medicines. After taking one, the pill would dissolve in the body, and the sacred dao rules would linger in the organs like spider silk, not disappearing immediately. With the aid of the sacred medicine, the cultivator could quickly comprehend those rules and convert them into their own.
This was a very precious high-grade sacred pill, usually unavailable for purchase.
The Enlightenment Pill, when taken, would put the cultivator into an optimal state of comprehension, allowing them to grasp sacred dao rules several times faster than usual, sometimes even ten times faster.
Of course, most Saint Kings only took such pills when they hit a bottleneck. Normally, they relied on their own comprehension and understanding.
Zhang Ruochen thought it over and decided not to take the Spider Silk Pill or the Enlightenment Pill just yet.
Taking them now might speed up his cultivation, but what would he do when he hit a bottleneck?
If he took the same pills at a bottleneck, the effect would certainly be less than the first time.
Among the several hundred bottles, Zhang Ruochen found two types suitable for his current use: the Stabilizing Yuan Pill and the Life Blood Pill.
The Stabilizing Yuan Pill was a high-grade sacred pill that stabilized one’s cultivation realm. For cultivators whose power had surged rapidly, its effect was enormous.
The Life Blood Pill could temper the physical body, quickly enhancing a cultivator’s physical strength.
The sacred dao rules within Zhang Ruochen’s body were comprehended by his Six Paths Sacred Soul. Although he had integrated them, actually mobilizing them was still somewhat difficult.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen took out a Stabilizing Yuan Pill and swallowed it. He spent two days fully refining and absorbing the pill.
The previously somewhat chaotic sacred dao rules in his body became completely stable. With just a thought, rules surged forth from within, moving freely as he willed.
Moreover, the sacred qi in his body became extremely pure, and even his four sacred sources seemed to have been refined.
“As expected of a high-grade sacred pill. It saved me a lot of time, so I don’t have to spend extra effort stabilizing my realm.” Zhang Ruochen smiled in satisfaction and put away the remaining six Stabilizing Yuan Pills.
He temporarily decided not to take the Life Blood Pill, planning to emerge from seclusion first.
Over two months had likely passed outside. What was the situation now? Had the three great worlds and Shang Zi taken any retaliatory actions?
Before leaving seclusion, Zhang Ruochen went to check on the state of the Sacred Devouring Flower.
Before going into seclusion, Zhang Ruochen had given the Sacred Devouring Flower over two hundred corpses of evil path cultivators and a thousand sacred sources.
All those corpses had been refined, turned into dried husks. The storage bag containing a thousand sacred sources was now empty.
At this rate of absorption, even if Zhang Ruochen had countless sacred sources, it would drain them all.
The sacred dao rules within the Sacred Devouring Flower had reached over fifty thousand, comparable to a Three-Step Saint King. This truly startled Zhang Ruochen.
“The Sacred Devouring Flower once said that the pollen of the Divine Illumination Lotus could increase its nutrient absorption rate tenfold. Perhaps that’s why it could absorb such a massive amount of nutrients in a year.”
Now, the Sacred Devouring Flower was in a dormant state, likely digesting the vast nutrients within it. When it fully digested them, what realm would its cultivation reach?
Zhang Ruochen did not wake the Sacred Devouring Flower. He reabsorbed it into his spine and stepped out of the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, appearing in a forging pavilion.
“Creak.”
Pushing open the door, bright sunlight shone onto his face, dazzlingly intense.
The two female cultivators guarding outside the pavilion were momentarily stunned, then immediately knelt on one knee, respectfully saying, “Greetings, Young Master Ruochen.”
Zhang Ruochen glanced at them. Both were Upper Realm Saints, extremely beautiful, enough to be called stunning beauties.
“Who are you?” Zhang Ruochen asked, puzzled.
The female saint kneeling on the left bit her lip, her eyes somewhat dim, and said, “We were cultivators abandoned by our home worlds. Now we willingly join the Guanghan Realm.”
The female saint on the right looked fearful, lowering her head, “We hope Young Master Ruochen will not reject us.”
Zhang Ruochen thought for a moment and guessed they were female cultivators captured by the three great worlds to the Yin Yang Hall, but their home worlds had abandoned them for various reasons.
“Stand up. From now on, stay and cultivate in the Moon God’s dojo. As long as you are loyal enough, I won’t expel you,” Zhang Ruochen said.
The two female saints, as if granted amnesty, slowly stood up but remained cautious, not daring to meet Zhang Ruochen’s eyes.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Where is Miss Mu?”
“Are you referring to the Divine Maiden, Young Master Ruochen?” the female saint on the left asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Divine Maiden… yes, that’s her.”
Mu Lingxi was a disciple of the Moon God, second only to the Great Saint in the Guanghan Realm. In their eyes, she was naturally the lofty Divine Maiden.
“The Divine Maiden is in seclusion in the Extreme Joy Underground Palace,” the female saint on the left replied.
Hearing no response from Zhang Ruochen for a long time, the two female saints cautiously looked up, but Zhang Ruochen had already vanished.
“Young Master Ruochen is truly formidable. I didn’t sense a thing, and he was already gone.”
“Young Master Ruochen is the top figure on the Sacred Merit Ranking. How could he not be formidable? In the Yin Yang Hall, countless vicious fiends died by his hand. If I could become his maidservant, how wonderful would that be?”
“Stop dreaming. What kind of person is Young Master Ruochen? In the future, he will surely become a Great Saint roaming heaven and earth. We have no right to follow by his side.”
…
Arriving at the bottom of the Extreme Joy Underground Palace, Zhang Ruochen was stopped by two female saints.
“Who are you? Don’t you know this is where the Divine Maiden is in seclusion?” one of them scolded.
The other female saint, seeing the unfamiliar man, showed a wary expression, summoning a sacred sword and pointing it at Zhang Ruochen.
Clearly, they had never seen Zhang Ruochen and didn’t know his identity.
Zhang Ruochen did not force his way in. Calmly, he said, “Please inform the Divine Maiden that Zhang Ruochen wishes to see her.”
“Zhang… Are you the Divine Envoy?”
The two female saints showed terrified expressions, cold sweat beading on their foreheads.
But without confirming Zhang Ruochen’s identity, they dared not let him pass. They immediately sent a message to Yao Jue Wang, reporting the matter.
Yao Jue Wang seemed to know Zhang Ruochen had emerged from seclusion and quickly replied via sound transmission.
Upon receiving the message, the two female saints turned pale with fear. With two thuds, they knelt on the ground.
“Greetings, Young Master Ruochen.”
“Just now… we unintentionally offended you. Please forgive our mistake, Young Master.”
These two female saints knew well that this Divine Envoy was a murderous demon. Having offended him, would he directly kill them?
“Don’t be so afraid of me. Stand up,” Zhang Ruochen said with a smile.
The two female saints exchanged glances, not daring to rise.
In the Yin Yang Hall, they had seen many evil path villains who smiled while hiding daggers. On the surface, they seemed easygoing, but the next moment, they would turn into bloodthirsty demons.
Zhang Ruochen frowned, understanding that they had suffered much torment in the Yin Yang Hall, their spiritual will had become fragile, and they had lost the dignity and pride of saints. This wouldn’t recover in a short time.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen ignored them, pushed open the stone door, and walked straight into the underground space.
Arriving by the Yin Pool, Zhang Ruochen’s gaze fell upon the pool, and he was immediately greeted by an extremely alluring scene. He couldn’t help holding his breath, his heartbeat quickening.
Mu Lingxi wore almost nothing. Her snow-white, delicate body stood in the center of the Yin Pool, half exposed above the water. Her wet, long hair draped over her jade-like shoulders, and at her chest were two full, gleaming peaks.
Just as Zhang Ruochen tried to avert his gaze, Mu Lingxi in the pool seemed to sense an intruder. She immediately opened her starry eyes and fixed them on him.