Chapter 1630: Fifty-Sixth Order
Xiao Hei’s two copper bell-sized eyes stared at the Open Yuan Deer Cauldron before him, asking, “What are you doing? Are you planning to gift the Open Yuan Deer Cauldron to me, the Emperor?”
Zhang Ruochen shot him a cold glance, then said, “There’s something I want to study together with you.”
“What thing?”
Xiao Hei was very curious. Flapping his wings, he flew onto the cauldron, stretched out his massive head, and peered down into the opening.
The next moment, Xiao Hei let out a strange shriek, quickly retracted his head, and his fat body shook violently. Losing his balance, he fell heavily from the cauldron.
“Zhang Ruochen, where did you find so many Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetles? Why didn’t you warn me in advance? Are you trying to kill me, the Emperor?” Xiao Hei said, still shaken.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “So you recognize the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle?”
“Of course I do.”
Xiao Hei climbed up from the ground, seeming to feel embarrassed. He stomped his feet hard on the spot where he had fallen before continuing, “The Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle is a strange insect from ancient times. Legend says it was born in the Huang Water Evil Soil of the Hell Realm. This strange insect is famous across the world for being able to gnaw on the undying sacred bodies of Great Saints. But I, the Emperor, know that when the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle evolves to its ultimate stage, it can even gnaw on the remains of gods.”
Zhang Ruochen walked to the side of the Open Yuan Deer Cauldron and slapped his palm on the cauldron’s body. With a bang, a Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle was shaken out and fell to the ground.
It was a black insect the size of a grain of rice, with three sharp, long legs and two razor-sharp teeth.
“Zhang Ruochen, have you lost your mind? Why did you let it out?”
Xiao Hei shrank his body to the size of a fist and flew to a distant corner.
“Chi chi.”
The Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle seemed furious. Its eyes turned blood-red, and it transformed into a streak of black light, shooting rapidly toward Zhang Ruochen.
A flash of sword light. The Abyssal Ancient Sword swung out.
“Slap.”
The sword blade struck the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle’s body, sending it flying backward to crash into the stone wall.
Black mucus secreted from the insect’s body corroded the stone wall, producing a “chi chi” sound and forming a basin-sized pit.
The Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle fell to the ground, emitting a low hiss.
Zhang Ruochen carefully observed the beetle and drew in a sharp breath. The Abyssal Ancient Sword, which could easily sever a Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact, had only left a shallow mark on the beetle’s abdomen.
Moreover, that shallow mark was healing rapidly.
“Its defense is terrifying.”
Zhang Ruochen used the tip of his sword to flick the beetle back into the Open Yuan Deer Cauldron.
Xiao Hei flew back, grinning slyly. “The Abyssal Ancient Sword is sharp, but cutting through a Great Saint’s undying sacred body isn’t easy, is it? Yet the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle can gnaw on undying sacred bodies. That tells you how tough their bodies are.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Do you know how to control the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle?”
Xiao Hei immediately put on a haughty expression. “How could I, the Emperor, not know? The Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle is indeed formidable, but its intelligence is very low. I possess a book called the ‘Thousand Insect Compendium,’ which explains how to tame all kinds of insects, subdue them, and turn them to one’s use.”
From Xiao Hei’s pupils, two beams of light shot out and surged into Zhang Ruochen’s eyes.
Moments later, the contents of the “Thousand Insect Compendium” appeared in Zhang Ruochen’s mind.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and reviewed the “Thousand Insect Compendium” in his mind, marveling inwardly. The universe contained so many bizarre insect species. It was more than a thousand insects—no fewer than a hundred thousand types.
The “Thousand Insect Compendium” included an explanation of the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle, along with methods for raising and controlling them.
“So, I first need to carve a spiritual imprint of my own into the beetle’s body and use spiritual power to drive them.”
The first step was to refine away the spiritual imprint left on the beetles by that Killer Heavenly King.
Zhang Ruochen summoned the Purifying Divine Flame, condensed it into a fireball three feet in diameter, and placed it beneath the Open Yuan Deer Cauldron to begin refining.
He refined for two full days and three nights.
After checking each one, all the spiritual imprints in the bodies of the more than two hundred and seventy beetles in the cauldron had been completely refined away.
Xiao Hei’s eyes gleamed with greed. He sidled up to Zhang Ruochen and chuckled, “Carving spiritual imprints on the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle is quite troublesome and time-consuming. How about leaving this troublesome task to me, the Emperor?”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “You want to raise these Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetles?”
Xiao Hei said, “Your time is precious, while I, the Emperor, am bored with nothing to do…”
“Alright, I’ll leave the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetles to you.”
Zhang Ruochen had to cultivate his spiritual power, practice the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, the Luo Water Fist Art, Sword Eight, the Time Sword Art, the Way of Space, and the Way of Truth, while also comprehending the Sacred Dao Rules. He truly had no time to focus on raising the beetles.
In fact, he had already decided to hand the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetles over to Xiao Hei to let him tinker with them.
Xiao Hei was overjoyed, but then a hesitant look crossed his face. “Raising the Three-Legged Corpse-Eating Beetle is easy enough, but they eat everything. What should I feed them? Heh heh, Zhang Ruochen, how about you give me, the Emperor, another piece of divine bone? I’ll use the divine bone to forge an insect nest.”
Zhang Ruochen did have some divine bones on him. He picked out a larger one and tossed it to Xiao Hei.
Zhang Ruochen stopped concerning himself with this matter and entered the inner space of the Time Crystal. He took out a Six Desires Ancient Pill and placed it before him.
The Six Desires Ancient Pill was stored inside a golden lotus, resembling a lotus seed, and emitted a fragrant, refreshing scent.
“Chi.”
Ripples appeared on the pill’s surface, and six tiny golden human figures emerged, sitting in a circle like six Golden Body Arhats.
Those were the pill souls of the Six Desires Ancient Pill.
The greatest difference between an Earth-grade Sacred Soul and a High-grade Sacred Pill was that the former possessed a pill soul, had intelligence, and could even launch powerful attacks on its own.
As soon as the six Golden Body Arhats appeared, they simultaneously let out a fierce roar. Six spiritual power attacks merged into one, resonating, and surged toward Zhang Ruochen.
If his spiritual power had not reached the fifty-fifth order, Zhang Ruochen might have been somewhat afraid. But now, he did not take their attack seriously.
“Get back.”
Zhang Ruochen waved his sleeve, and a powerful wave of spiritual power flew out.
“Boom.”
The spiritual power attack launched by the six Golden Body Arhats was suppressed by Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power and forced back.
Even the six Golden Body Arhats let out screams and hurriedly hid back inside the pill.
Zhang Ruochen picked up the Six Desires Ancient Pill, swallowed it, and began refining it with the Purifying Divine Flame.
The Six Desires Ancient Pill was a pill refined by collecting the seven emotions and six desires of humans.
As he continuously refined and absorbed the pill’s medicinal power, the vast force of human six desires transformed into spiritual thoughts, tempering Zhang Ruochen’s own spirit and enriching his mind.
Half a month later.
Zhang Ruochen had refined about forty to fifty percent of the first Six Desires Ancient Pill’s medicinal power. His spiritual power strength surged significantly, reaching the peak of the fifty-fifth order and touching the bottleneck of spiritual power.
This showed just how fierce the medicinal power of the Six Desires Ancient Pill was.
At this point, Zhang Ruochen took out the second Six Desires Ancient Pill and swallowed it.
When the medicinal power of the second pill fully erupted, Zhang Ruochen began to make a full-force assault on the bottleneck.
This breakthrough was exceptionally difficult. The vast medicinal power rampaged through his body, and various spiritual thoughts all surged toward his sacred heart, causing his heart to beat at an ever-increasing speed.
Three times, four times, five times…
Soon, his heartbeat reached ten times its normal rate.
At the same time, an intense pain spread through Zhang Ruochen’s head, as if his skull were about to be shattered by an invisible force. His consciousness began to blur.
At that moment, the medicinal power of the two Six Desires Ancient Pills erupted violently within him, unstoppable.
“I must stay awake. Otherwise, the six desires force will lose control, shatter my spirit, and cause me to develop a split personality.”
Zhang Ruochen bit the tip of his tongue and pressed his ten fingers into the flesh of his palms, using the pain to stimulate himself, striving to remain conscious.
Only by enduring the pain of the spiritual tempering process could his spiritual power undergo a transformation.
Keep trying, keep trying. He had to persevere.
The tempering process was extremely painful. Zhang Ruochen’s muscles and meridians were stretched to their limits, and his heartbeat reached thirty times its normal rate. His sacred heart seemed about to shatter his sacred body and fly out at any moment.
This lasted for an entire day and night. Then, Zhang Ruochen’s sacred heart let out an explosive sound.
“Bang.”
Breaking through the final bottleneck, his spiritual power surged to the fifty-sixth order.
A small vortex formed in his sacred heart, continuously absorbing the medicinal power of the Six Desires Ancient Pills. In just a single breath, half of the vast medicinal power in Zhang Ruochen’s body was drawn in.
The vortex’s rotation speed gradually slowed.
The painful sensation, as the medicinal power of the Six Desires Ancient Pills was absorbed, gradually disappeared, replaced by an unprecedented feeling of comfort and spiritual joy.
His spiritual power had broken through, but Zhang Ruochen still kept his eyes closed, sitting cross-legged, continuing to refine the remaining six desires force within his body.
It took several more days before he fully absorbed the medicinal power of both Six Desires Ancient Pills.
At this point, his sacred heart became completely calm, his heartbeat returned to normal, and his spiritual power strength reached the middle stage of the fifty-sixth order.
“Spiritual power doppelgangers, one splits into two.”
“Whoosh.”
Two beams of light flew out from Zhang Ruochen’s body, landed on the ground, and condensed into two spiritual power doppelgangers that looked exactly like him.
One spiritual power doppelganger possessed spiritual power strength at the fifty-fifth order.
“Two splits into four.”
From within the two spiritual power doppelgangers, another doppelganger each split off, resulting in four spiritual power doppelgangers. Each doppelganger possessed spiritual power strength at the fifty-fourth order.
“Four splits into eight.”
“Eight splits into sixteen.”
“Sixteen splits into thirty-two.”
“Thirty-two splits into sixty-four.”
Sixty-four spiritual power doppelgangers appeared, filling the inner space of the Time Crystal. Each possessed spiritual power strength at the fiftieth order, equivalent to sixty-four spiritual power saints.
This was the limit Zhang Ruochen could currently achieve. If he tried to split further, the doppelgangers would not hold together; they would shatter into countless spiritual power thoughts.
Still, Zhang Ruochen wanted to give it a try.
“Sixty-four splits into one hundred and twenty-eight,” Zhang Ruochen uttered.
“Bang bang.”
All sixty-four spiritual power doppelgangers exploded, turning into a dense sea of light dots.
Each light dot was a spiritual power thought.
“As expected, I need to raise my spiritual power to the fifty-third order to have one hundred and twenty-eight spiritual power doppelgangers.”
Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly and withdrew all the spiritual power thoughts back into his sacred heart.
Then, Zhang Ruochen once again split into sixty-four spiritual power doppelgangers and released them outside the Time Crystal, where they appeared in the Moon God Dojo.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen’s true body seemed to gain sixty-four pairs of eyes and sixty-four pairs of ears.
Sixty-four streams of different information converged toward him.
Sixty-four identical-looking Zhang Ruochens suddenly appeared in the Moon God Dojo, startling many low-realm maidservants.
Because cultivators whose spiritual power had not reached the fiftieth order could not see through the reality of the spiritual power doppelgangers and could only mistake them for Zhang Ruochen’s true body.
…