Chapter 1724: Subduing a Top-Tier Fighter
“Come back. What are you afraid of?” Zhang Ruochen called out.
Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren hid outside the door, revealing one eye, and said fiercely, “I am now at the Eighth-Step Saint King realm. If you really want to eat my head, once I start fighting for my life, the entire Moon God Dojo will be destroyed.”
Zhang Ruochen frowned and asked Xiao Hei, “Why is it so sensitive? Usually, have you been constantly plotting against it?”
“No, how could that be? I treat it like my own blood brother. How could I have any ill intentions toward it?” Xiao Hei immediately shook his head.
Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren, however, snorted, “Bullshit. How many times have you secretly followed me? Every time I suddenly turn around, I see you wiping your drool.”
Xiao Hei’s gaze darkened, and he said, “Nonsense. I have not...”
Zhang Ruochen quickly scolded Xiao Hei, then said, “How about I cut off your head and help you regenerate it?”
“No, absolutely not.”
Xiao Hei quickly stepped back, saying, “I have a Great Saint’s body. Once my head is cut off, I need to consume a massive amount of blood energy to reconnect it. Even after reconnecting, I would be weakened for a long time before returning to my peak.”
Zhang Ruochen stood up, holding the lotus seed in his palm, and said, “Don’t worry. This lotus seed contains extremely abundant life energy. It can help you regenerate your head without depleting your blood energy.”
Xiao Hei shook his head vigorously, “Didn’t you just say you wanted to test its power? How do you know it can definitely help me regenerate my head? What if something goes wrong?”
Even if that lotus seed could truly help a cultivator regenerate their head, Xiao Hei would never try cutting off his own head.
Cutting off the head was not only extremely painful but also damaged the meridians and saint meridians.
You see, all the meridians and saint meridians in the body pass through the neck, connecting to the Qi Sea in the head.
Even if the head could be reattached, the meridians and saint meridians would be very difficult to fully reconnect, inevitably leaving irreparable hidden injuries that would affect cultivation to some extent.
Xiao Hei’s eyes rolled, and he said, “If you really want to test its power, I have someone here you can use for testing.”
“Who?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“Follow me.”
Xiao Hei led Zhang Ruochen toward the underground palace built by the Yin Yang Hall.
Deep within the underground palace stood twelve tower-shaped structures.
In the past, the heretical cultivators of the Yin Yang Hall called them “Purgatory Towers.”
The Yin Yang Hall would capture women at the Saint King realm and imprison them in the Purgatory Towers, subjecting them to hellish torture to break their spiritual will, forcing them to obey and become slaves at their command.
“Ah... spare me... please...”
Screams and pleas for mercy came from one of the Purgatory Towers.
Zhang Ruochen looked through the window into the tower.
Inside, a short, thin man had his hands and feet bound by red-hot chains. Lightning and flames constantly erupted from the chains, striking his body.
“The leader of the Ten Thousand Evil Realm, Xie Chengzi.” Zhang Ruochen was quite surprised.
The Ten Thousand Evil Realm was the 1,450th-ranked powerful realm and one of the three evil realms that had founded the Yin Yang Hall.
Xie Chengzi was undoubtedly a heretical overlord, with strength no less than Lian Hou or Yan Wang.
Who would have thought that such a notorious heretical expert would be locked up in their own Purgatory Tower, screaming and begging for mercy?
Two female saints stood below the Purgatory Tower, guarding the place.
Seeing Xie Chengzi, who was being tortured to the point of wishing for death but unable to die, they clenched their teeth, yet their eyes showed the joy of vengeance.
This was retribution!
Xiao Hei chuckled, “Half a year ago, the Guanghan Realm established a sacred shop in the Moon God Dojo and opened the dojo’s formation to welcome cultivators from various worlds for trade. Some cultivators, led by Xie Chengzi, tried to take the opportunity to destroy the Moon God Dojo.”
“Unfortunately, with me guarding the dojo, how could they succeed? Except for Xie Chengzi, all those cultivators were killed by me. It was my tough stance that intimidated those with malicious intentions. Look now, how peaceful the Moon God Dojo is. Who dares to cause trouble?”
Zhenmiao Xiaodaoren gritted his teeth and said, “Do you have any shame? It was I who used the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Mirror to suppress them, allowing you to kill them easily. Otherwise, if they had self-destructed their saint sources, the Moon God Dojo would have been destroyed long ago, and countless cultivators would have died.”
“Do you think the formations I set up are just for show? Even if they self-destructed their saint sources, they couldn’t have caused much trouble.” Xiao Hei said proudly.
Seeing that the fungus and the bird were about to start fighting, Zhang Ruochen quickly said, “Stop arguing. First, bring Xie Chengzi out.”
“Fine. I am a Great Saint, why would I argue with a sacred medicine?”
Xiao Hei walked into the Purgatory Tower, unlocked the chains, put Xie Chengzi on the ground, dragged him by one leg, and brought him before Zhang Ruochen.
Xie Chengzi’s entire body was charred black, like a piece of charcoal. He looked up at Zhang Ruochen and immediately showed fear.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t say much to him. With a wave of his hand, a sword energy flew out.
“Puchi.”
One of Xie Chengzi’s left arms was severed, and a large amount of saint blood flowed out.
Whether because his spiritual will had been worn down, Xie Chengzi’s ability to endure pain had become extremely weak. He let out miserable screams, his whole body convulsing.
Zhang Ruochen immediately channeled a wisp of saint Qi into the green lotus seed.
“Whoosh—”
Green light radiated out. Soon, the wound on Xie Chengzi’s shoulder stopped bleeding, and flesh buds began to grow. After about ten breaths, a completely intact arm grew back.
Zhang Ruochen immediately crouched down to check Xie Chengzi’s blood energy and life energy.
The blood energy had weakened somewhat but was still quite abundant, not a weakened state.
The life energy had not been depleted.
The decrease in blood energy was normal, as his left arm had indeed been severed and separated from his body.
Zhang Ruochen showed a delighted expression and continued testing.
The second test: cutting off one of Xie Chengzi’s legs.
The third test: digging out Xie Chengzi’s heart.
The fourth test: cutting off Xie Chengzi’s waist.
The fifth test: Zhang Ruochen cut off Xie Chengzi’s head.
...
...
After dozens of tests, the ground was covered not only with the trembling, terrified Xie Chengzi but also with a pile of limbs—arms, torso, heart, and so on.
Xie Chengzi’s life energy had not been lost, but his blood energy had been greatly depleted, leaving him very weak.
Zhang Ruochen stopped testing, pinched the green lotus seed between two fingers, and praised, “Good stuff. Truly good stuff. On the battlefield, it should be able to play a huge role.”
Xie Chengzi crawled up from the ground, knelt on both knees, and said tremblingly, “Lord Ruochen... spare me... I will never dare to oppose the Guanghan Realm again, nor dare to oppose you...”
A leader of a powerful realm was kneeling and begging for mercy before a cultivator weaker than himself. Even if this were spread, no one would believe it.
Zhang Ruochen had already examined Xie Chengzi’s physique. It was a supreme perfect physique, and the cultivation technique he practiced was also extremely powerful.
Although Xie Chengzi’s state of mind had been destroyed, making it impossible for him to become a Great Saint, he still had the potential to become one of the top-tier experts below the Great Saint realm. Zhang Ruochen was somewhat reluctant to kill him.
At least for now, Xie Chengzi was still useful.
“Get up. First, absorb the blood energy from the ground back into your body and recover to your peak state as soon as possible.” Zhang Ruochen said expressionlessly.
Xie Chengzi stood up, activated his technique, and a grayish, hazy evil mist emanated from his body, enveloping the severed limbs on the ground. He continuously absorbed the blood energy and saint Qi back into his body.
Zhang Ruochen considered sending Xie Chengzi back to the Ten Thousand Evil Realm and using his status as the realm’s leader to secretly work for him.
But he quickly dismissed this idea.
Because Xie Chengzi’s identity was extraordinary; he would inevitably come into contact with the Great Saints of the Ten Thousand Evil Realm.
With a Great Saint’s insight, how could they not see through the situation?
Controlling an ordinary cultivator, or even a saint, was feasible.
But controlling the leader of a major world was absolutely impossible.
Therefore, Zhang Ruochen decided to keep Xie Chengzi by his side as a high-level fighter.
The severed limbs on the ground turned to dust.
Xie Chengzi’s power returned to its peak state, and his body emitted a chilling, piercing evil aura.
Zhang Ruochen said to Xiao Hei, “Return his storage vessels and weapons to him.”
“This...” Xiao Hei was somewhat reluctant.
Zhang Ruochen knew that Xie Chengzi probably had many treasures on him, and Xiao Hei was likely unwilling to give them up. So he said, “I’ll give you a hundred drops of divine spring to help you recover your cultivation.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier? Do you think I’m that stingy a bird?”
Xiao Hei’s spirits lifted. He stuffed a dark green storage bracelet into Xie Chengzi’s hand, then extended his two claws, looking at Zhang Ruochen with anticipation.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, took out a hundred drops of divine spring, and handed them to Xiao Hei. Then, he led Xie Chengzi, mounted a sacred carriage, and left the Moon God Dojo.
The sacred carriage headed toward the Hundred Flowers Palace, with Xie Chengzi driving.
Xie Chengzi wore a set of ten-thousand-pattern sacred artifact-level armor, covering his entire body like a black iron man. The saintly might emanating from him frightened the cultivators on the streets.
Many cultivators speculated about what great figure was sitting in the sacred carriage, able to hire such a powerful expert as a driver.
Going to the Hundred Flowers Palace, Zhang Ruochen intended not only to redeem the Golden Step Dragon Carriage but also to buy some precious materials to condense a physical body for the sword spirit of the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
Zhang Ruochen sat in the carriage, holding the Yi Emperor Bone Staff, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth: “Qing Jin was indeed the number one on the Saint King Merit Ranking. The evil spirit only devoured one percent of his saint soul and already reached the peak of the Seventh-Step Saint King. If Qing Jin’s entire saint soul were refined and absorbed, how powerful would it become?”
Zhang Ruochen was very much looking forward to it.
To be safe, Zhang Ruochen once again took part of the evil spirit’s soul, causing its power to drop to the mid-to-late Seventh-Step Saint King level.
No matter what, Zhang Ruochen had to firmly control half of the evil spirit’s soul.
...
The annual meeting is over. Some readers left messages saying that other authors have posted photos! What about Feitian Yu? Alright, I’ll post one! Everyone, search for “Feitian Yu” on WeChat, follow it, and check the history or reply with “post photo” to see it!