Chapter 1639: Sword Eight Great Perfection
The gatekeeper had sword qi protecting its body, which actually deflected Zhang Ruochen's killing blow slightly, preventing it from striking a vital point.
"Sizzle, sizzle."
However, sparks flew from its head area as the Abyssal Ancient Sword tore a long gash across it.
"What a pity, I couldn't kill it in one strike." Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly.
The power of time faded, and the gatekeeper's eyes sharpened. It swept its massive silver sword horizontally, unleashing immense strength accompanied by dazzling sword dao profound energy.
Too fast, impossible to evade.
Zhang Ruochen's expression shifted drastically. He quickly gripped his sword with both hands and blocked horizontally.
"Bang."
A force that Zhang Ruochen could not resist at all landed on the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
The broad blade trembled violently.
In an instant, the tiger's mouths of both Zhang Ruochen's hands split open, and a large amount of sacred blood sprayed from between his fingers. Was his body, comparable to a three-step Saint King, so fragile?
The Truth Boat and Zhang Ruochen were both flung into the distance, plummeting rapidly downward.
Zhang Ruochen ignored everything else and focused entirely on controlling the Truth Boat. If it fell into the sea, that would mean failure, but Zhang Ruochen did not want to fail.
Just as the Truth Boat was about to land steadily on the sea surface, a massive shadow appeared above his head.
Zhang Ruochen looked up and saw the gatekeeper hovering above him, its expression cold and stern, like a merciless silver-clad death god.
It swung its silver giant sword and slashed downward fiercely.
The power contained in the silver giant sword was terrifying. Even when it was still a dozen zhang high, the sea surface was pressed down, causing Zhang Ruochen to feel a sense of weightlessness.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen's scalp ached as if it were about to be crushed by the invisible force.
"No, I cannot be defeated. How can I fall here on the fourth layer of the sea? I am Zhang Ruochen, the master of time and space, Zhang Ruochen. My goal is to become a god and defeat Chi Yao... What others cannot do, I must achieve." Zhang Ruochen's heart held tenacious will, firm goals, and unyielding faith.
In this life-and-death moment, his body's potential was pushed to the extreme. His mind became completely clear, and the time around him seemed to slow down. He felt as if he were standing in a dark, silent, cold universe, able to calmly observe the changes of all things.
The doubts that had always troubled him were all understood in this instant.
Watching the silver giant sword slashing down from above, Zhang Ruochen gripped the sword hilt again.
"Whoosh——"
A layer of black light emerged on the blade of the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
That was not sword light.
It was sword dao profound energy.
At the same time, the Flame God Armor on his arms erupted with flames as dazzling as the sun, merging with the sword dao profound energy and slashing upward.
"Boom."
The two sword dao profound energies clashed violently.
The silver giant sword in the gatekeeper's hand shattered, and even its body was severed in two by the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Bang."
The Truth Boat heavily landed on the sea surface, and around the small boat, waves several times higher than Zhang Ruochen's body surged up. Zhang Ruochen stood steadily on the Truth Boat.
The gatekeeper's two halves disintegrated into dense specks of light, flying back to the light curtain: "Pass."
Zhang Ruochen looked at the sword in his hand and let out a series of laughs.
In such a situation, he had suddenly comprehended the final realm of Sword Eight and condensed sword dao profound energy.
Wonderful.
Indescribably wonderful.
Suddenly, he stopped laughing, as if understanding something, and thought to himself: "It seems that crossing the Sea of Truth is not just about obtaining rewards. The greatest use should be to use the environment on the sea to temper cultivators."
"The process of crossing the sea is for cultivators to understand how to control their various powers more perfectly."
"The gatekeeper is like a teacher. Fighting with it not only increases combat experience but also allows one to learn its combat techniques. Such a sparring teacher can help cultivators progress rapidly."
If not for the gatekeeper on the fourth layer of the sea, Zhang Ruochen would have had to wait a while longer to cultivate Sword Eight to Great Perfection.
Of course, what made Zhang Ruochen even more delighted was that just now, the Flame God Armor had finally unleashed its due power. That power was far stronger than when it was in the hands of Qiu Yu.
It was because of the Flame God Armor's enhancement that Zhang Ruochen could defeat the gatekeeper in one strike.
What was the reason?
Zhang Ruochen was quite puzzled, so he quickly mobilized a strand of spiritual power to examine the two gauntlets and two arm guards of the Flame God Armor.
The gauntlets and arm guards were like four pieces of flame divine iron. On their surfaces, a large number of ancient divine patterns interwove, and even some divine beast patterns floated and sank on them.
Previously, when activating the Flame God Armor, there had never been such a huge change.
Slowly, Zhang Ruochen withdrew his sacred qi.
He found that the recovered sacred qi contained specks of light.
"That is... Truth Esoterica..."
Earlier, because the situation was critical, Zhang Ruochen had not bothered to control the Truth Esoterica and had injected it along with his sacred qi into the Flame God Armor.
Could it be that with the enhancement of Truth Esoterica, the Flame God Armor had unleashed its due power?
After fully withdrawing the Truth Esoterica and sacred qi, Zhang Ruochen injected only sacred qi into the Flame God Armor. The armor then emitted a reddish flame glow, but the aura it released was far weaker than before.
Next, Zhang Ruochen injected the Truth Esoterica into it.
"Boom."
Immediately, the two gauntlets and two arm guards emitted dazzling flames, illuminating Zhang Ruochen's arms until they turned red, like metal bodies forged from red copper, filled with violent power.
Faintly, a formidable divine might surged out.
"So it really requires Truth Esoterica to activate it to unleash its strongest power."
Zhang Ruochen became even more puzzled. Back then, Qiu Yu did not have Truth Esoterica at all. How did he manage to unleash the power of the Flame God Armor?
Perhaps Truth Esoterica was not the only way to activate the Flame God Armor; there might be other methods.
Where was the key point?
While Zhang Ruochen was deep in thought, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden, who had been sitting on the Truth Boat recovering her sacred qi, opened her hazy, smoke-like apricot eyes and stared at him.
More precisely, she stared at the flame armor on his arms.
A ripple passed through her calm eyes. Then, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden shifted her gaze, steered the Truth Boat, and entered the fifth layer of the sea.
Feng Yan expended great effort and finally defeated the gatekeeper on the fourth layer of the sea. He looked toward Zhang Ruochen, his eyes showing an expression of disbelief.
He said nothing, sat down on the Truth Boat, activated his technique, and recovered his sacred qi.
That earlier strike had also consumed most of Zhang Ruochen's sacred qi. Now, standing at the center of the small boat, he circulated his sacred qi according to the eighth-layer cultivation technique of the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture," "Eight Extremes Obscuring Heaven."
After just one cycle, his sacred qi returned to its peak state.
The more profound the technique, the faster it absorbed sacred qi, the purer the sacred qi cultivated, and naturally, the recovery speed far exceeded that of other cultivators.
"Whoosh——"
Zhang Ruochen steered the Truth Boat and charged toward the light curtain ahead.
"Crossing the fourth layer of the sea, obtaining two ten-thousandths of Truth Esoterica." As he passed through the light curtain, the familiar voice sounded again.
Immediately, a large number of specks of light surged into Zhang Ruochen's body.
"Crossing the first, second, and third layers of the sea only yielded one ten-thousandth of Truth Esoterica each. Crossing the fourth layer yielded two ten-thousandths. Could it be that the greater the difficulty, the more one obtains?"
While Zhang Ruochen was pondering, another voice sounded in his ear: "You obtained Truth Esoterica?"
Zhang Ruochen snapped back to reality and looked to his left. There, ten zhang away, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden stood on the Truth Boat, her body radiating starlight and mist, giving her a sense of detachment from the world.
Her Truth Boat was stopped below the light curtain, as if she were deliberately waiting for Zhang Ruochen.
"What are you talking about?"
Zhang Ruochen deliberately pretended to be confused.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden's gaze was indifferent, and she said: "The gauntlets and arm guards on your arms are vessels refined by a god using a special alchemy method. Only by using the power of Esoterica can one unleash their divine might."
"As expected of a Celestial Maiden, your eyesight is formidable. But what is the power of Esoterica? Besides Truth Esoterica, are there other Esotericas?" Zhang Ruochen naturally would not ask this question, as it would be an admission.
Zhang Ruochen smiled and denied it, saying: "It's just a divine relic ancient artifact containing a small amount of divine power, not some special vessel."
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden did not want to argue with him and instead said: "Don't you want to know the difference between this special vessel and divine relic ancient artifacts, divine artifacts, and sacred artifacts?"
Zhang Ruochen's heart sank slightly. It seemed she was certain he had obtained Truth Esoterica.
Of course, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden had also revealed a secret: she too had obtained Truth Esoterica.
Two cultivators who obtained Truth Esoterica, even if they had no enmity, would become mortal enemies.
Both would want to kill the other to seize the Truth Esoterica on their body.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden likely cultivated the Way of Nothingness, and behind her was a vast ancient civilization. Such an enemy was as troublesome as Shang Zihong.
Zhang Ruochen could only hope that wearing the mask would prevent her from recognizing his identity.
But the possibility was slim.
Now, in the battle with the gatekeeper, Zhang Ruochen had used the power of time and space and also employed the Abyssal Ancient Sword. Even if the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden did not know who Zhang Ruochen was before, a simple check would reveal his identity.
If he had to face both Shang Zihong and the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden as enemies, it would be like being attacked from both sides. Zhang Ruochen did not want to watch the situation develop in the worst direction.
What to do now?
After crossing the Sea of Truth, should he assassinate her?
What peerless beauty, what celestial maiden—to Zhang Ruochen, they were all fleeting clouds. Since she was not his woman, as long as she threatened his life, he would have to strike first and kill her.
In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts flashed through Zhang Ruochen's mind.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said: "You hide your killing intent well, but you cannot fool me. You want to kill me and seize the Truth Esoterica on my body, but unfortunately, you are not strong enough."
Since she had already made it clear, Zhang Ruochen no longer concealed it and grinned: "Is that so? Then let's see who laughs last."
"Sizzle, sizzle."
The light curtain trembled slightly.
Clearly, another cultivator was about to arrive at the fifth layer of the sea.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden said no more, steered the Truth Boat, and sailed forward.