Chapter 1723: Yi Emperor Evil Spirit
The cyan soul mist below the Qiankun Realm was vast and mighty, thick and boundless, showing that Qing Jin's sacred soul must be extremely powerful. If not for the Qiankun Realm, Zhang Ruochen would definitely be unable to deal with it now.
From within the soul mist, Qing Jin's voice sounded: "Let's talk."
Qing Jin's spiritual will had not dissipated, but it was quite weak.
Zhang Ruochen said: "There's nothing to talk about between us, is there?"
"Not necessarily."
Qing Jin said: "I, the Master, was once ranked first on the *Saint King Merit Ranking*. The cultivation technique I practiced ranks among the top ten in the myriad heavens, and I mastered many mid-rank sacred arts, even high-rank sacred arts. The wealth I possess is also beyond your imagination, surpassing some Great Saints. Aren't you interested in any of this?"
"Not interested," Zhang Ruochen said.
But in his heart, Zhang Ruochen was quite shocked. This person was actually the number one powerhouse on the *Saint King Merit Ranking*. Reaching that height was definitely harder than cultivating to become a Great Saint.
One must have unparalleled talent and extraordinary great fortune to possibly achieve it.
After a long silence, Qing Jin spoke again: "I once discovered a cosmic secret realm, containing a divine inheritance. This, you should be interested in, right?"
"Where is that secret realm?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was interested in the divine inheritance, Qing Jin was delighted and said: "First, move that world suppressing me away, so we can negotiate better."
Zhang Ruochen smiled faintly.
He was well aware that even if a divine inheritance truly existed, it had most likely already been taken by Qing Jin. How could it still be preserved in the cosmic secret realm?
So, Zhang Ruochen stopped listening to Qing Jin's rambling and took out the Yi Emperor Bone Staff.
Not hearing Zhang Ruochen's response, Qing Jin quickly added: "That cosmic secret realm not only has a divine inheritance, but also a Monarch Sacred Artifact and a Heaven-grade Sacred Pill."
Zhang Ruochen turned a deaf ear, mobilizing his spiritual power to enter the skull head of the Yi Emperor Bone Staff.
With his spiritual power strength soaring to the fifty-seventh rank, Zhang Ruochen prepared to formally communicate with the evil spirit inside the bone staff.
Entering the skull head, Zhang Ruochen felt as if he had entered a dark little world of piercing cold and yin. Evil forces surged continuously, trying to devour his spiritual power.
That evil force contained the sacred might of a Great Saint. Zhang Ruochen was not relaxed, bearing immense pressure.
The Yi Emperor Bone Staff was originally refined from the spine and skull of a Great Saint, with residual Great Saint power inside. Each wisp of Great Saint power was like a river of light, floating before Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
In the darkness, an extremely loud and thunderous laughter sounded: "Hehe! Kid, your spiritual power avatar dares to enter my, the Emperor's, skull. You really aren't afraid of death."
"Whoosh."
In the dark little world, a fierce yin wind howled.
Wisps of black mist gathered together, condensing into a skull head hundreds of feet tall. Opening its mouth, it actually tried to devour Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power avatar.
"Just a remnant soul, do you really think you're still the Great Saint who once shook the world?"
Zhang Ruochen extended his hand forward, and dozens of lightning bolts condensed, striking the skull head, causing it to let out miserable howls.
That skull head was the incarnation of the evil spirit.
The black skull head was struck by the lightning until it was nearly shattered, so it had to fly backward, uttering venomous words: "Damn it! If my, the Emperor's, sacred soul hadn't been scattered, even if only ten percent remained, I could make you wish you were dead."
Then, the evil spirit mobilized the Great Saint power in the dark little world. Rivers of light converged toward it, like thousands of sacred dragons flying around it.
Zhang Ruochen became cautious. That was Great Saint power, even if quite diluted, it still possessed the terrifying power to destroy heaven and earth.
Zhang Ruochen drew upon the power of the Buddha Emperor Relic. Instantly, dazzling golden Buddha light illuminated this dark little world, purifying the evil aura here.
Under the Buddha light, the evil spirit seemed to be in extreme pain. It roared angrily and unleashed all the Great Saint power.
The Buddha Emperor Relic also surged with Great Saint power, even more abundant. Under Zhang Ruochen's direction, it collided with the Great Saint power unleashed by the evil spirit.
"Boom."
The black skull head let out a scream, flew backward, and shattered into pieces.
"Don't use Buddha power to purify me, the Emperor. I can submit to you."
The shattered black skull head reformed into a black human figure, trembling as it bowed to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen's body radiated streaks of golden light, like a sacred Bodhisattva. He said solemnly: "Aren't you a Great Saint? How could you submit to me so easily?"
The black figure knew its life and death were in Zhang Ruochen's hands, so it said: "The Great Saint has long fallen, even the sacred soul has scattered. I am just an evil spirit refined from the Great Saint's remnant soul by that great power in the Soul Realm."
Those with a Great Saint's heart do not bow to others.
A being who has cultivated to become a Great Saint would not yield even before a god, let alone a Saint King.
Zhang Ruochen continued to test it, saying sternly: "Kneel before me."
The Yi Emperor Evil Spirit trembled slightly, its evil aura surging, wanting to fight to the death with Zhang Ruochen. But as Zhang Ruochen's Great Saint power accumulated thicker and thicker, the Yi Emperor Evil Spirit knew it had no chance of victory. In the end, it bent its legs and knelt before him.
Zhang Ruochen said: "Since you are an evil spirit refined from a Great Saint's remnant soul, you should still retain some spiritual will. Kneeling to me must make you quite unwilling, right?"
"No. Master is a proud son of heaven, with limitless future achievements. It is my honor to be able to follow Master in cultivation," the Yi Emperor Evil Spirit said.
"Whether you mean it or not, I'll trust you for now. In the future, I will surely make you understand that following me in cultivation is indeed your honor."
Pausing, Zhang Ruochen continued: "Yi Emperor, right? As long as you obediently listen, I will not only refrain from destroying you, but will also provide you with a large amount of sacred souls to make you stronger. In the future, even reaching the Great Saint realm again is not impossible. Now, first hand over half of your soul essence to me."
"Handing over half of my soul essence to you would mean you could annihilate me at any time, wouldn't it?" the Yi Emperor Evil Spirit said.
A large amount of Buddha light converged toward Zhang Ruochen's palm, and then he said: "I can annihilate you right now too."
The Yi Emperor Evil Spirit fell silent. After a long while, it split off half of its soul essence, condensing it into a black sphere and handed it to Zhang Ruochen.
The Yi Emperor Evil Spirit's aura weakened by half. Originally, it could rival a peak Six-Step Saint King, but now it could barely reach the level of a Six-Step Saint King.
Zhang Ruochen took the soul essence sphere, nodded in satisfaction, and left the dark little world.
"As long as I always hold half of the evil spirit's soul essence, I don't have to fear it turning against me. Now, I can finally let it refine and devour Qing Jin's sacred soul without worry."
Zhang Ruochen did not communicate with Qing Jin. He directly separated one percent of the cyan soul mist suppressed below the Qiankun Realm and sent it into the Yi Emperor Bone Staff.
Although it was only one percent, the spiritual will contained in the soul mist was still quite formidable. Zhang Ruochen and the Yi Emperor Evil Spirit joined forces to suppress it.
The cyan soul mist filled the interior of the dark little world. For the time being, the Yi Emperor Evil Spirit could not completely devour and refine it; it needed to wait.
So, during this time, Zhang Ruochen took out the long whisker left by Xumi Saint Monk.
The whisker was about three feet long, emitting a shimmering white light, with thick Buddha power surging outward.
The first time he touched the whisker, Zhang Ruochen had detected an independent space inside it. But because the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden was present, he hadn't had time to enter and investigate.
"I wonder what level of cultivation Xumi Saint Monk had back then, that even a single whisker could nurture a small world."
Zhang Ruochen's figure vanished, turning into a speck of light and entering the small world inside the whisker.
"Swoosh—"
The next moment, Zhang Ruochen arrived in a world with a narrow spatial structure. There was sky and earth here, and it could continuously absorb sacred qi from the outside world.
Zhang Ruochen spent half an hour walking from one end of the small world to the other.
"Three thousand six hundred miles long."
Zhang Ruochen looked up, opened his third eye on his brow, and gazed at the canopy above. On the canopy, countless time rules and space rules were revealed, densely packed and beyond counting.
"Indeed, this small world was constructed from time rules and space rules. Comprehending the time rules and space rules here will allow my Way of Time and Way of Space to advance by leaps and bounds," Zhang Ruochen said with a smile.
Suddenly, his heart stirred. The faint sensation that had appeared before emerged again.
Beneath the earth of this land, something seemed to be calling out to him.
The sensation grew stronger and stronger.
"Bang."
About three zhang away from Zhang Ruochen, the soil split open, and a cyan lotus seed flew out, suspended in midair. Like a cyan moon, it emitted dazzling cyan light, turning the entire small world cyan.
The lotus seed contained abundant vitality, causing lotus flowers to grow all over the barren small world, emitting a charming fragrance.
"How could there be a lotus seed?"
Zhang Ruochen extended his hand and grabbed toward the void. The cyan lotus seed immediately flew into his palm, all its light retracting.
Zhang Ruochen carefully studied the cyan lotus seed, finding that its interior contained extremely thick life energy. Apart from that, there was nothing special.
After thinking it over, Zhang Ruochen carried the lotus seed out of the small world inside the whisker. He waved his hand to open the formation of the Artifact Refining Pavilion and summoned True Marvel Little Daoist and Xiao Hei inside.
Zhang Ruochen said: "I just obtained a special treasure and want to test its power."
"A treasure? What treasure?"
Xiao Hei's eyes became exceptionally bright. He rubbed his two claws together, showing an impatient expression.
Zhang Ruochen opened his palm, and the cyan lotus seed floated above it, greener than emerald.
Zhang Ruochen said: "How about you two cut off your own heads, and I'll see if it can make your heads grow back?"
Hearing this, True Marvel Little Daoist turned and fled, feeling that Zhang Ruochen clearly wanted to eat one of its legs... no, he wanted to eat its head.