# Chapter 1646: Divine Enthronement Platform, Outer Southern Courtyard
"Nether Ice Silk Rain."
Mu Lingxi unleashed the extreme yin nether ice power, transforming it into countless fine threads, like raindrop lines falling from the sky, wrapping around the Saint Void Body, causing its form to stiffen and its movements to slow.
"Whoosh——"
A jade-like hand, holding a Phoenix Feather, traced out a cold light over a hundred zhang long, slashing horizontally, cutting the Saint Void Body in two at the waist.
After receiving the invitation token from the old Confucian, Mu Lingxi immediately spread her wings, flew off the battle platform, and regrouped with Zhang Ruochen.
"See that? A mere Saint Void Body is no match for me." Mu Lingxi raised her snow-white chin, a hint of pride in her tone.
Zhang Ruochen nodded and smiled. "Not bad indeed."
"And that dark, dull-witted one?" Mu Lingxi asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "That dull-witted one shattered the Saint Void Body with just one punch and has already headed to the Divine Enthronement Platform."
"One punch?"
Mu Lingxi showed a surprised expression.
Just now, she had fought the Saint Void Body and knew full well how powerful it was. The thought of winning with a single punch was simply unimaginable.
"How can the Heavenly Court Realm have so many monstrous talents?" Mu Lingxi felt somewhat disheartened.
Zhang Ruochen chuckled. "If the Heavenly Court Realm hadn't produced so many monstrous talents, it would probably have been defeated by the Hell Realm long ago. Actually, you're already quite good; there's no need to compare yourself to those prodigies. Even if you have to compete with them, just let me handle it."
Mu Lingxi raised an eyebrow. "Right, you're a monstrous talent too. How many moves will you use to defeat the Saint Void Body?"
"Mm... three moves?"
"Alright, three moves it is."
Zhang Ruochen's figure flickered, vanishing from his spot and appearing on the battle platform where Mu Lingxi had just fought the Saint Void Body.
With his hands behind his back and a smile on his face, he looked around. The cultivators who were about to step onto the platform all showed stunned expressions.
"What's going on? How did this human scholar get onto the platform?"
"Could it be an invisibility secret art?"
"No, it's most likely spatial power. Among us cultivators, there should be a hermit skilled in the Way of Space who can instantly teleport a living being onto the platform."
Zhang Ruochen looked upward, fixing his gaze on the old Confucian who stood on the void. "Junior wishes to challenge the Saint Void Body."
"You are at the peak of the One-Step Saint King realm, and the Saint Void Body you will face is of the same level."
The old Confucian opened the Saint Spirit Register again, flicked his finger across the page, and a speck of light flew out from the book, landing on the battle platform.
"Rustle."
The speck of light transformed into a Saint Void Body at the peak of the One-Step Saint King realm, holding a long spear, looking majestic and imposing.
"Peak of the One-Step Saint King?" Zhang Ruochen was somewhat disappointed.
He had originally thought he had already broken through to the Two-Step Saint King realm.
The old Confucian's cultivation was profound and should not be mistaken.
"I still need to keep working hard." Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly.
The Saint Void Body was formed from Saint Qi and Sacred Dao Rules. The spear in its hand was like a sharp, coiled dragon, turning into a beam of light as it thrust straight toward Zhang Ruochen's brow.
"Although it's a Saint Void Body, its combat power is formidable, comparable to a Two-Step Saint King." Zhang Ruochen was somewhat surprised.
What surprised him was that the old Confucian could casually flip through the Saint Spirit Register and condense such a powerful Saint Void Body. Such a method was even more impressive than scattering beans to form soldiers.
To possess a Saint Spirit Register was like commanding countless Saint Kings, capable of easily annihilating an ancient sect.
It was best not to dwell on it; thinking too deeply sent chills down one's spine.
Zhang Ruochen moved with his footwork, letting the Saint Void Body strike twice.
Just as the Saint Void Body launched its third attack, Zhang Ruochen struck first, condensing Sword Dao Profound Gang. He pointed out a finger sword, piercing through the Saint Void Body's head, winning with ease.
After receiving the invitation token, Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands and bowed respectfully to the old Confucian before flying down from the battle platform and landing beside Mu Lingxi.
Mu Lingxi bit her lip lightly. "You could have defeated the Saint Void Body in one move, so why did you insist on using three?"
"Because you told me to use three moves." Zhang Ruochen said with a warm smile.
Although she knew Zhang Ruochen was saying it deliberately, Mu Lingxi still felt a warmth in her heart. A hint of shyness appeared on her face, but fortunately, her veil covered the blush on her cheeks. "This guy is getting better and better at winning a girl's heart."
"Come on, let's hurry to the Divine Enthronement Platform. I hear there are many treasures there. The earlier we arrive, the greater the harvest."
Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi rushed into the divine gate, as if passing through a layer of water curtain. Instantly, a vast, ancient aura rushed toward them, as if crossing the River of Time, returning from the present to the ancient era.
Before their eyes floated an immensely majestic divine mountain, shaped like a pyramid. Compared to this mountain, the Wang Shen Mountain appeared especially small, like a mere hill.
Within the divine mountain, some areas blazed with blood-red light, some were pitch black, some basked in sunlight, lush and vibrant, while others were deathly still, like a netherworld hell.
That divine mountain was the Divine Enthronement Platform.
Before them lay four paths, leading to the four cardinal directions of the Divine Enthronement Platform.
Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi chose a path at random and walked forward quickly. They moved through the mist, surrounded by a vast expanse of white. Apart from the stone bridge beneath their feet, they could see nothing.
Gradually, the mist around them dispersed, revealing several ancient trees ahead. Their trunks were black, their leaves green, and the trunks were so thick that it would probably take ten people to encircle them. The leaves emitted a layer of oily green sacred light.
Mu Lingxi's eyes sparkled. "These ancient trees must have grown for tens of thousands of years. They are precious materials for artifact forging, and their leaves might be usable for alchemy."
"For beings below the Saint realm, they are indeed supreme sacred trees. But for us, they hold little value. Look, they're everywhere on the mountain, and no one cares about them." Zhang Ruochen said.
Mu Lingxi took a few more steps forward, and her vision became clearer. She indeed saw that the entire mountain was covered with ancient trees emitting Saint Qi. The few trees she had seen earlier seemed utterly ordinary.
Ahead, the sounds of other beings reached them.
Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi quickened their pace. Gradually, a grand yet dilapidated ancient structure came into view.
A cyan stone gate, a hundred zhang tall, stood beneath the ancient trees. On the gate hung a golden plaque inscribed with three sacred characters: "Outer Southern Courtyard."
Behind the stone gate stretched an endless expanse of ruins.
Broken walls, shattered tiles everywhere, a rusted ancient cauldron, collapsed halls... Even as ruins, they all emitted a sacred glow.
The broken walls were forged from jade spirit stone.
The shattered tiles were fired from sacred soil.
The rusted ancient cauldron was a broken ancient sacred artifact. However, its artifact spirit had perished, its sacred nature had faded, and it had become a piece of scrap copper.
...
Everything here seemed extraordinary.
One could imagine that in its most prosperous and flourishing days, this must have been a supreme cultivation paradise, inhabited by many powerful cultivators.
Mu Lingxi crouched down, her jade finger lightly tracing the soil. Specks of purple light emerged from the earth. Her starry eyes widened in surprise. "The soil contains faint divine nature. This place must have been inhabited by gods."
Zhang Ruochen said meaningfully, "It might be more than that."
They continued forward and finally saw other beings.
Those beings gathered around a sacred pool, more than twenty of them, all holders of invitation tokens, each a top expert from a major world.
The sacred pool was about one hundred and seventy meters in diameter.
At the center of the pool grew a white sacred tree. Its trunk, branches, and leaves were all pure white, as if carved from jade.
On the tree hung more than forty sacred fruits, each like a bright moon, emitting a soft moonlight glow. The fragrance of the fruits spread for several hundred zhang around, and even a single breath left one feeling refreshed.
Zhang Ruochen's face lit up with surprise. "Heart Moon Sacred Fruit."
"Impossible? The fruits on that sacred tree are the legendary Heart Moon Sacred Fruits?" Mu Lingxi's eyes widened, her eyelashes standing on end.
The cultivators gathered around the sacred pool all turned around at Zhang Ruochen's exclamation and looked at him.
Among them, a short, thin man with eight spider-like arms walked toward Zhang Ruochen, smiling. "Brother has sharp eyesight, recognizing the Heart Moon Sacred Fruit at a glance."
The short, thin man glanced at Mu Lingxi, a flash of admiration in his eyes.
But he quickly withdrew his gaze, his expression becoming restrained. Clearly, he was a person with a steady mind, not easily swayed by beauty.
Mu Lingxi said, "It is said that the Heart Moon Sacred Tree is extremely rare. It can only grow and bear fruit when planted in a Great Saint's cultivation ground, absorbing the Saint Qi exhaled by the Great Saint."
"Swallowing a Heart Moon Sacred Fruit can directly elevate a Saint by one realm, and it can even raise the cultivation level of a Saint King."
"Such a precious fruit, and one tree can produce over forty of them?"
The Eight-Armed Spider King chuckled. "More than forty? Earlier, the sacred tree bore one hundred and thirty-eight fruits. But most were plucked by those monstrous talents with formidable strength."
"It can bear one hundred and thirty-eight fruits?" Zhang Ruochen was also shocked.
He knew that ancient texts recorded that a single Heart Moon Sacred Tree could only produce one fruit.
The Eight-Armed Spider King said, "The Divine Enthronement Platform is no ordinary place. Not to mention the Heart Moon Sacred Fruit, even the more precious Ghost King Fruit can produce dozens on a single tree."
"Does the Divine Enthronement Platform have Ghost King Fruit Trees?" Zhang Ruochen's heart shook violently.
The Eight-Armed Spider King had been even more shocked than Zhang Ruochen when he first arrived at the Divine Enthronement Platform. But after seeing over a dozen legendary sacred fruit trees in succession, his mindset had gradually calmed.
Not far away, a fair-skinned young woman glanced at Zhang Ruochen and sneered. "Even if there are Heart Moon Sacred Fruits and Ghost King Fruits, only those with great ability can pluck them. Those lacking strength can only watch helplessly."
"Is plucking them very difficult?"
Zhang Ruochen walked toward the sacred pool, his gaze fixed on the pure white sacred tree at the center. He inhaled the fragrance of the fruits and immediately felt a pleasant sensation throughout his limbs and bones.
The young woman, seeing that Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi had just entered the Divine Enthronement Platform, guessed they had not received an invitation from the Truth Divine Temple and had entered through qualification testing.
Thus, she looked down on Zhang Ruochen. "All of us here have failed to pluck them. What do you think? I advise you not to try, lest you fall into the sacred pool and freeze into an ice sculpture from the extreme yin nether ice water."