Chapter 1686: Dao Garden
From each vortex of quicksand, a blood-soil giant emerged.
Their bodies exuded surging power, wielding war hammers, their eyes radiating blood light as they directly attacked Zhang Ruochen and the True Marvel Little Daoist.
Zhang Ruochen mobilized his sacred qi, instantly activating a two-orb perfected power within the heavy sword, swinging it out to clash with a war hammer swung toward him.
"Boom."
The blood-colored war hammer shattered the sword qi and collided with the heavy sword.
Zhang Ruochen gripped the sword hilt with both hands, yet was still shaken backward repeatedly.
On the other side, the True Marvel Little Daoist was besieged by dozens of blood-soil giants, forced to flee, narrowly escaping danger at every turn, shouting, "Zhang Ruochen, aren't you full of ideas? Think of something! There are too many of these mud men; we can't hold them off."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on the abandoned estate, then he moved, executing a spatial displacement to reach the edge of the estate and stepped inside.
"You just fled like that?"
The True Marvel Little Daoist gritted his teeth, then raised his hands above his head, palms surging with a large amount of purple sacred qi, condensing into two patches of purple clouds, "Sea-Suppressing Seal."
The two purple clouds churned violently, emitting a roar like a tsunami, charging toward the dozens of blood-soil giants.
This mid-rank sacred art, incorporating nearly fifteen thousand palm path rules, possessed overwhelming power.
"Boom, boom."
The bodies of the three blood-soil giants at the forefront instantly exploded, while those slightly behind were blasted backward.
Half of the dozens of powerful blood-soil giants were thrown into disarray.
This strike from the True Marvel Little Daoist made Zhang Ruochen, standing at the entrance of the abandoned estate, inwardly gasp, "Even a six-step Saint King can't cultivate a single type of sacred dao rule to over ten thousand. Could True Marvel's cultivation have already reached the seven-step Saint King realm?"
Generally, a seven-step Saint King has a total of over a million sacred dao rules within their body, with over ten thousand of a single type. Zhang Ruochen's total sacred dao rules were only a little over forty thousand, and his palm path rules numbered just over three hundred. Compared to the True Marvel Little Daoist mobilizing over ten thousand palm path rules at once, it was a vast difference.
"Did you think I was a sick cat just because I didn't show my power?"
The True Marvel Little Daoist shook his sleeves, cursing at the group of blood-soil giants while walking toward Zhang Ruochen. However, when he saw the blood-soil giants rise again from the ground, he was startled, sprinted forward, muttering, "Can't they be killed?"
"Whoosh—"
The blood-soil giants, upon nearing the five-colored soil, immediately retreated, not pursuing into the abandoned estate.
Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen fell into thought.
"True Marvel, why did they stop?" the True Marvel Little Daoist asked curiously.
"They probably can't enter this estate," Zhang Ruochen said. "Maybe I was wrong from the start. They aren't guarding this place; they're like those ancient ferocious beings, only knowing slaughter and destruction. There should be a power inside the estate that restrains them, so they dare not enter."
Thinking this, Zhang Ruochen grew even more curious about this abandoned estate.
"Never mind that, let's collect the five-element soil first."
The True Marvel Little Daoist transformed into a purple light, rushing toward the right side of the gate to dig up the five-colored soil within the garden. The five-element soil was spread throughout the estate, with various spiritual herbs and sacred medicines growing on it—some as green as jade, others blooming with vibrant flowers, and some bearing grain-sized fruits. Not just the True Marvel Little Daoist, even Zhang Ruochen was quite tempted.
But Zhang Ruochen wasn't as impatient as the True Marvel Little Daoist, knowing this wasn't a safe place, so he moved cautiously.
"Crackle!"
Ahead, blinding light appeared, and over a dozen lightning bolts as thick as bowls surged out, striking the True Marvel Little Daoist, charring him black.
With a thud, the True Marvel Little Daoist fell at Zhang Ruochen's feet, smoking all over, with thin threads of electric light flowing over his body.
Zhang Ruochen immediately executed spatial distortion, shifting the incoming lightning to the side, where it struck the estate's gate.
"How can such powerful lightning surge from the five-element soil?" Zhang Ruochen gasped.
The True Marvel Little Daoist groaned as he climbed to his feet, saying, "Some Daoist sages infused their dao methods into the five-element soil. Anyone touching it gets attacked by those dao methods. Those old fellows are dead and gone, yet they leave such traps—aren't they just harming people?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Legend has it that burying the dead in five-element soil allows them to continuously absorb the five-element qi, and one day they might even be reborn. Those old fellows might have had such thoughts."
The True Marvel Little Daoist's eyes widened like two peas, "Are there corpses of some old fellows buried beneath this abandoned estate?"
"It's not impossible," Zhang Ruochen said, his expression very serious as he observed his surroundings.
The True Marvel Little Daoist quickly clasped his hands and bowed in all directions, muttering, "Forgive me, esteemed sages and predecessors, this humble Daoist means no disturbance to your slumber. Please don't bring down punishment. Amitabha... uh... Boundless Heavenly Venerable, True Marvel, True Marvel."
Zhang Ruochen noticed something and walked toward a patch of spiritual grass.
The True Marvel Little Daoist was startled and rushed over to stop him, saying, "Zhang Ruochen, don't be foolish again! With my cultivation, I was nearly severely injured by that lightning. If you go, you'll be turned to ashes! The dao methods in the five-element soil are terrifying... Huh, what's that?"
Following Zhang Ruochen's gaze, the True Marvel Little Daoist spotted a broken white stone plaque in the grass. The plaque was covered in moss, but two ancient characters could still be discerned on it.
One was the character "Dao."
The other was incomplete and unidentifiable.
The True Marvel Little Daoist's eyes shone with dazzling brilliance, exclaiming, "Dao Garden, so this is Dao Garden."
"What Dao Garden?" Zhang Ruochen examined the incomplete ancient character, which did somewhat resemble "Garden."
The True Marvel Little Daoist said, "Dao Garden was a Daoist sacred site from the previous civilization of the Heavenly Court Realm, giving birth to many Daoist sages."
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled, "You're just a spiritual sacred ganoderma. How do you know about the previous civilization of the Heavenly Court Realm?"
"I don't know how either, but I just know it, as if these things have always been in my mind. But if I hadn't seen this white stone plaque, I would never recall the related matters. Isn't that strange?" the True Marvel Little Daoist asked Zhang Ruochen in return.
Zhang Ruochen stared at the True Marvel Little Daoist, judging whether he was lying. This spiritual sacred ganoderma, though growing in a secluded forbidden zone, could cultivate sacred arts, understand worldly affairs, and was quite shrewd—extremely peculiar.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, dismissing further thoughts, and had the two assassin puppets lead the way as he walked deeper into the abandoned estate.
The ancient buildings in the estate were either damaged, collapsed, sunken into the ground, or shrouded in ancient yin qi and dark red blood light. This place seemed to have witnessed a fierce battle.
The True Marvel Little Daoist sniffed the ground vigorously, "I smell the scent of the Kirin Supreme Perfection Fruit, but there seem to be traces of other living beings."
Zhang Ruochen became alert, "What do you mean?"
"Same as you—the scent of outsiders," the True Marvel Little Daoist said.
Had some cultivators entered Dao Garden first?
Zhang Ruochen had the True Marvel Little Daoist lead the way, following the scent of the Kirin Supreme Perfection Fruit, and quickened their pace forward. After a while, they arrived at a relatively well-preserved Daoist temple. Outside the temple, they heard the cries of kirins and phoenixes, and five-colored sacred light shot out.
The two assassin puppets charged in first, followed by Zhang Ruochen, who executed his movement technique, carrying the heavy sword as he entered the temple.
Inside the temple, dense wood-attribute sacred qi filled the air, accompanied by a strange fragrance.
A sacred tree over a hundred meters tall grew at the center of the temple, shaped like a human hand reaching out from underground, with five finger-like black branches. On the index and middle fingers of the five branches, each bore a five-colored fruit, surrounded by phantom images of kirins and phoenixes, emitting cries.
Two Supreme Perfection Fruits were restrained by eight golden pythons, unable to escape.
Clearly, the other three branches had also borne Supreme Perfection Fruits, but they had already been harvested.
Beneath the sacred tree stood two figures.
One had eyes like green flames and fangs protruding from his mouth—it was Qing Liaoya, once ranked seventy-third on the Sacred Merit Ranking.
The other wore a crane-and-blue-sky robe, a divine transmission disciple, Yu Wenjing.
Both were top-tier prodigies from the Yin-Yang Realm.
Zhang Ruochen recognized them, but they didn't recognize him, instead staring at the two assassin puppets.
Yu Wenjing's eyes showed a hint of surprise, "Assassins from the Heavenly Kill Organization?"
"Some formidable assassins from the Heavenly Kill Organization hide among the prodigies of various worlds. It's not strange that someone came here. But since he's discovered we've harvested the Supreme Perfection Fruits, we can't let him leave," Qing Liaoya said coldly.
Zhang Ruochen didn't bother to explain, saying, "An innocent man may possess a jade, but it invites disaster."
"You understand that principle well. Blame yourself for knowing what you shouldn't. We have no choice either."
Qing Liaoya spread his hands, and two clusters of green Purifying Divine Flame surged from his palms, causing the temperature in the temple to soar sharply, and the wood-attribute sacred qi in the air churned like boiling water.
Qing Liaoya's cultivation had reached the three-step Saint King realm, a fairly rapid growth rate.
Zhang Ruochen remained calm and asked, "There should have been five Supreme Perfection Fruits on the sacred tree, right? Have you already harvested the other three?"
Qing Liaoya wasn't one to underestimate an opponent. Seeing Zhang Ruochen so composed, he grew cautious and didn't answer, saying, "Since you're about to become a dead man, what's the point of telling you?"
"Whoosh."
The two clusters of Purifying Divine Flame expanded, turning into two fire snakes surging toward Zhang Ruochen.
Though Zhang Ruochen wasn't afraid of Qing Liaoya's Purifying Divine Flame, he didn't engage it directly. Instead, he executed his movement technique to dodge to the right, then struck from Qing Liaoya's right side, dragging out a crescent-shaped sword qi and slashing down with one stroke.
Qing Liaoya planted his legs in a horse stance, the fist gloves on his hands emitting green sacred power light waves. He struck out with a palm, sending divine flame rolling outward like a layer of waves, meeting the sword qi and heavy sword.