Chapter 1623: The Current Situation
Zhang Ruochen opened the letter left by Ling Feiyu and read it through, a look of melancholy spreading across his face.
According to the letter, Ling Feiyu planned to leave the Truth Heaven Domain, and even leave the Heavenly Court Realm entirely, to travel across the various worlds of the universe. At the same time, she also had the idea of heading to the Merit Battlefield, wanting to temper her Sword Dao and will on the battlefield.
"Sigh!"
Zhang Ruochen also wished he could just leave everything behind, travel alone with his sword across the horizon. How free and unfettered that would be.
But after thinking it over carefully, Zhang Ruochen could only shake his head.
He carried too many burdens on his shoulders. How could he just leave as he pleased?
Moreover, even if he were to leave, he had to go to the Truth Sea first and seize as much Truth Esoterica as possible. This enormous opportunity existed only in the Truth Heaven Domain; he absolutely could not miss it.
"Farewell if fate allows. Take care on your journey."
Zhang Ruochen put away the letter, calmed the disappointment in his heart, and restored his full fighting spirit.
Zhang Ruochen found another hidden location in the Truth Heaven Domain, set up a Space Teleportation Array, and returned to the Moon God Dao Field.
"Hua—"
Light flickered within the array.
Mu Lingxi stood at the edge of the teleportation array, looking at Zhang Ruochen within it. "Between you and the Palace Master, it shouldn't just be a relationship of teacher and friend, should it?"
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the teleportation array and said calmly, "Yes."
Mu Lingxi was very intelligent and had guessed some things. "So, is she avoiding us? Did she leave the Truth Heaven Domain?"
"Don't overthink it. Palace Master Ling is a remarkable woman who appears only once in a century in the Kunlun Realm. What she pursues in her heart is the ultimate Sword Dao. Emotions are a shackle to her. If she continued to stay in the Truth Heaven Domain, she would never be able to break free from the cage within her heart. Only by leaving can she find true vastness. Her Sword Dao might even advance by leaps and bounds. When we meet again, she might have already cultivated Sword Ten." Zhang Ruochen tried his best to appear indifferent, not wanting to put pressure on Mu Lingxi.
Mu Lingxi knew that Ling Feiyu's departure must have been very painful for Zhang Ruochen, so she stopped bringing it up.
She took out the Abyssal Ancient Sword, held it in both hands, and handed it to Zhang Ruochen, smiling. "Abyssal has already reached the level of a Three-Radiance Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact. It's only a little short of reaching Four-Radiance."
"Oh, is that so? It seems you've taken good care of it."
Zhang Ruochen reached out with his hand and grabbed the air.
As he grasped the sword hilt, Zhang Ruochen immediately felt a connection as if it were part of his own flesh and blood. The sword body had become twice as heavy, and the blade was even sharper.
"Hua—"
Sacred Qi surged from his palm and poured into the sword body.
In an instant, a layer of black Sacred Power light waves appeared on the surface of the Abyssal Ancient Sword, erupting with the full power of One Radiance.
"Zheng!"
A sharp sword cry rang out across the Moon God Dao Field.
A look of joy appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face. "Before my seclusion, I needed half a breath's time to activate the full power of One Radiance. Now, I can do it instantly. It seems I have truly reached the Saint King Realm."
Zhang Ruochen continued to channel Sacred Qi into the sword body.
After three breaths, a second layer of Sacred Power light waves appeared on the Abyssal Ancient Sword, erupting with the full power of Two Radiances.
One by one, powerful sword energies burst forth from the sword body, making a "shua shua" sound, coalescing into a black rain of swords that flew above Zhang Ruochen's head.
The cultivators in the Moon God Dao Field all sensed the terrifying aura erupting from the Abyssal Ancient Sword. They felt the Heaven and Earth Sacred Qi in the field boiling over.
They released their Spiritual Power to probe that terrifying aura, and only relaxed slightly when they found it came from the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"So it's the aura from the Divine Envoy's war sword."
"Even when erupting with the full power of Two Radiances, the aura of the Abyssal Ancient Sword is much stronger than before. Could it be that the Divine Envoy's cultivation has already broken through to the Saint King Realm?"
...
As the cultivators in the Moon God Dao Field buzzed with discussion, Zhang Ruochen continued to inject Sacred Qi. After a total of thirty breaths, a third layer of Sacred Power light waves appeared on the sword body, erupting with the full power of Three Radiances.
"Boom."
A powerful Sword Dao momentum swept out, forcing Mu Lingxi to retreat rapidly, all the way to several dozen zhang away.
Zhang Ruochen's face flushed red, and his hands trembled slightly. With his strength alone, it was very difficult to control the full power of Three Radiances. The Abyssal Ancient Sword in his hand felt heavier than a mountain.
"Use a Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact to attack me," Zhang Ruochen said.
Mu Lingxi took a black horn from her storage bag, channeled Sacred Qi into it.
In an instant, the black horn grew larger and larger, reaching twelve or thirteen zhang in length, carrying a gust of wind as it swung towards Zhang Ruochen.
"Bang."
Zhang Ruochen swung his sword and slashed, cutting the Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact horn in two as easily as cutting tofu.
Mu Lingxi's red lips parted slightly, a look of surprise on her face. "This Realm-Transmitting Horn's power is not much weaker than a Two-Radiance Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact, yet Abyssal destroyed it with a single strike."
"Chi chi."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword flew out of Zhang Ruochen's hand.
The sword tip stabbed into the ground, automatically releasing a black sword light that enveloped the two halves of the Realm-Transmitting Horn, beginning to refine them.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword was indeed no longer what it used to be. Even without Zhang Ruochen personally controlling it, with the sword spirit autonomously wielding the sword against enemies, it could easily kill beings at the Half-Step Saint King Realm.
Zhang Ruochen smiled with satisfaction. "During this time, the Abyssal Ancient Sword must have refined quite a few Sacred Artifacts, right? How many Sacred Artifacts do you have left?"
A strange expression appeared on Mu Lingxi's pretty face. She then took out a storage bag and handed it to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen opened the storage bag and looked inside, immediately laughing and crying at the same time. "There are only a few dozen Sacred Artifacts left?"
Before his seclusion, the storage bag he had given Mu Lingxi contained over ten thousand Sacred Artifacts, all obtained from the Merit Battlefield of the Ancestral Spirit Realm.
Only a few months had passed, yet Abyssal had refined them all.
However, the vast majority of Sacred Artifacts refined by the Abyssal Ancient Sword were Hundred-Pattern Sacred Artifacts and Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifacts. The few dozen Sacred Artifacts left were all Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifacts.
With these few dozen Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifacts, it was enough to raise the grade of the Abyssal Ancient Sword to the level of a Four-Radiance Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact.
Moreover, after arriving in the Truth Heaven Domain, Zhang Ruochen had also seized a large number of Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifacts of higher grades, stored in his Space Ring. Once the Abyssal Ancient Sword refined these Sacred Artifacts as well, it should be able to upgrade to a Five-Radiance Ten-Thousand-Pattern Sacred Artifact.
"Pa pa."
Su Jing stood ten zhang away, clapping his hands and laughing. "Congratulations to the Divine Envoy for breaking through to the Saint King Realm. Now, the Abyssal Ancient Sword has also become more powerful. Truly a double blessing."
Now that Zhang Ruochen had reached the Saint King Realm, his status and position were naturally somewhat different from before.
The way Su Jing looked at Zhang Ruochen was like looking at a fellow cultivator of the same generation, not like a senior looking at a junior.
Zhang Ruochen walked over to Su Jing. "I've only just reached the Saint King Realm. Compared to Uncle Jing, I'm still a million miles away."
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was neither arrogant nor impatient, Su Jing nodded with satisfaction. His smile faded, and he said solemnly, "Since the Divine Envoy has come out of seclusion, there are some matters the three of us should discuss."
"Good. I also have some things I want to ask Uncle Jing."
Zhang Ruochen reached into the void with his palm and retrieved the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
The three of them went together to a refining pavilion shaped like a palace and sat down on opposite sides of the hall.
Su Jing took out a storage bag and placed it on the table. "While the Divine Envoy was in seclusion, various worlds sent cultivators to the Moon God Dao Field to ransom their female cultivators one after another."
"Except for the one hundred and thirty-seven major worlds that participated in attacking the Yin-Yang Hall, the other major worlds spent a large amount of Sacred Stones to ransom their people. The Sacred Stones are all in this storage bag, totaling two hundred and fifty-five million. Divine Envoy, please count them."
Since the Moon God Dao Field was captured by Zhang Ruochen alone, Su Jing naturally felt embarrassed to embezzle this sum of Sacred Stones.
Besides, as the Clan Leader of the Nine Spirit Divine Bird Clan, he was not short of Sacred Stones.
"So much?" Zhang Ruochen was somewhat surprised.
"It's not much."
Su Jing waved his hand and laughed. "There were over a thousand proud daughters of heaven. Either they were exceptionally beautiful or they had noble statuses. There were countless cultivators in their mother realms willing to spend a large amount of Sacred Stones to ransom them. If I hadn't deliberately kept the price low to build connections with those cultivators, the Sacred Stones in this storage bag would have been far more than this number."
The idea of building connections with those cultivators was originally proposed by Zhang Ruochen.
Besides, two hundred and fifty-five million Sacred Stones was already a massive fortune, exceeding Zhang Ruochen's expectations. It was enough for him to purchase the cultivation resources he needed at this stage.
These Sacred Stones were earned with his life.
Zhang Ruochen did not refuse and put away the storage bag containing the Sacred Stones.
Su Jing continued, "There are also some female cultivators who were abandoned by their mother realms and have now joined the Guanghan Realm. However, some of them are quite special, and I don't know how to handle them."
"Uncle Jing is referring to the female cultivators captured from the Hell Realm?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Earlier, in the Extreme Pleasure Underground Palace, Zhang Ruochen had indeed seen some female cultivators still locked in cages. There were Rakshasa women from the Rakshasa Clan, female Blood Saints from the Undying Blood Clan, female Shura from the Shura Clan, and even some gloomy female cultivators who looked like Ghost Kings or Corpse Kings.
It had to be said that the heretical cultivators of the three major worlds were indeed resourceful, able to capture all kinds of female cultivators from various clans and races for the Yin-Yang Hall.
Zhang Ruochen said, "If they are willing to submit to the Guanghan Realm, keep them. If they are unwilling, sell them as slaves and exchange them for Sacred Stones."
"Mm." Su Jing nodded.
Since humans and barbaric beasts could defect to the Hell Realm and become servants and mounts of top-tier Hell Realm experts, the strong of the Heavenly Court Realm could naturally subdue some Hell Realm cultivators as servants and retainers.
It was said that in those glorious and prosperous major worlds, many cultivators took pride in owning Hell Realm servants. The more Hell Realm servants they had, the stronger their sense of superiority.
Then, Su Jing continued, "I also have several dozen invitations here, all inviting the Divine Envoy to visit."
"Oh? Is that so?" Zhang Ruochen looked surprised.
Su Jing took out a thick stack of invitations. "The cultivators who sent these invitations all participated in attacking the Yin-Yang Hall. Some of them are quite powerful and hold very high statuses in their mother realms. But now, they are in big trouble."
"What kind of big trouble?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Su Jing said, "After they ransomed the female cultivators from the Moon God Dao Field, not long after, those female cultivators either disappeared or were killed. It should be retaliation from the Yin-Yang Realm, the Black Demon Realm, and the Ten Thousand Evil Realm. Recently, even they themselves have been targeted for assassination."
Zhang Ruochen's expression changed slightly. "The heretical cultivators of the three major realms dare to kill people wantonly in the Truth Heaven Domain? Aren't they afraid of being apprehended by the God-Transmitted Disciples?"
Su Jing shook his head. "It is said that it wasn't those heretical cultivators themselves who acted, but assassins from the Heaven-Slaughter Organization who are killing them."
"The Heaven-Slaughter Organization has infiltrated the Truth Heaven Domain?"
Zhang Ruochen harbored a deep hatred for this assassin organization.
Su Jing sighed. "The Heaven-Slaughter Organization is a very ancient assassin organization. It originated from the Paradise Realm, one of the four ruling worlds. It existed even before the Heavenly Court Realm was established. After these hundred thousand years of development, the Heaven-Slaughter Organization has infiltrated every corner of the Heavenly Court Realm. As long as you can pay the price, they even dare to kill gods."
Zhang Ruochen fell into thought, then smiled. "What use is it for them to send me invitations? My strength might not be greater than theirs. I suspect that in the Heaven-Slaughter Organization's eyes, the price on my head is even higher than theirs."
"But the Divine Envoy can set up Time Arrays and Space Arrays. Combining these two types of arrays makes them unbreakable even for the Heaven-Slaughter Organization, enough to ensure the safety of a Dao field. This is very likely the help they want to ask of you." Su Jing said.