Chapter 1759: A Blessing in Disguise
That lotus flower was like a vortex with astonishing suction force.
Zhang Ruochen's sacred qi within his body, beyond his control, surged out from his pores and acupoints, devoured by the lotus.
"How could this be?"
Zhang Ruochen unleashed his full power, trying to break free. However, the lotus's devouring suction grew even stronger, suppressing him firmly, making it impossible to loosen his fingers.
After a moment, the sacred qi within Zhang Ruochen's body was completely absorbed.
He thought the lotus would stop there, but to his dismay, it refused to relent, beginning to absorb his blood, spiritual power, sacred soul, and sacred dao rules.
"After surviving so many life-and-death battles, am I going to end up as... fertilizer for a lotus?"
Zhang Ruochen felt a bone-marrow-piercing pain assault him. Even with his mental fortitude, he could barely withstand it, his body trembling, almost letting out a scream.
The Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden and Luo Xu and others sensed something wrong and immediately rushed toward the top of the Buddha statue.
But when they were still dozens of zhang away from Zhang Ruochen, the lotus swayed slightly, emitting a ring of white light waves, sweeping them away like swatting away a swarm of flies.
"Could this be another trap set by the Heavenly Realm?"
"Look, Zhang Ruochen..."
The cultivators from both the Heavenly Realm and the Kunlun Realm fixed their gazes on the top of the Buddha statue. Some were overjoyed, some sorrowful, some puzzled.
At the top of the Buddha statue, beside the lotus.
Zhang Ruochen's body had become withered and shriveled, like a layer of skin stretched over bones, his hair turned white, with not a trace of life energy inside.
The heir of Xumi Saint Monk had fallen in Xumi's own dojo.
Such an absurd event was unfolding right before everyone's eyes.
The kings of the Heavenly Realm were ecstatic. Who would have thought such a turn of events would occur? It was as if heaven itself was helping them.
"Is Zhang Ruochen really dead like this?" Shang Zihong found it hard to believe.
Earlier, he had used countless methods and lost many experts, yet failed to eliminate Zhang Ruochen. In the end, Zhang Ruochen was killed by a lotus.
A Six-Step Saint King from the Heavenly Realm said, "Young Master Zihong, since Zhang Ruochen is dead, we should take this opportunity to charge into Xumi Dojo, rescue the kings suppressed in the temple, and destroy the Kunlun Realm."
Shang Zihong's gaze remained fixed on the top of the Buddha statue. He nodded slightly, "Since heaven is on our side, this battle is inevitable today."
Immediately, battle cries shook the clouds.
The saint kings of the Heavenly Realm surged into Xumi Dojo one after another.
Facing the aggressive Heavenly Realm kings, the Kunlun Realm cultivators, despite their grief, had no choice but to leave the base of the Buddha statue and join the battle.
By now, Zhang Ruochen held great influence among the Kunlun Realm cultivators.
Except for a very few, most cultivators genuinely admired Zhang Ruochen, seeing him as the foremost hero of the Kunlun Realm, who, even after leaving Kunlun, still fought for it.
As long as he was there, everyone was confident.
After his death in Xumi Dojo, the Kunlun Realm cultivators' morale plummeted, as if something was missing from their hearts. It was like losing their pillar of support.
In Xumi Dojo, the number of Kunlun Realm cultivators was less than a hundred, most of whom were saints. The Heavenly Realm, however, had three to four hundred, all at the Saint King realm. Even under the "All Beings Equal" environment, their individual combat power far exceeded that of the Kunlun Realm.
The battle had just begun, and it was already clear that this would be a one-sided massacre.
...
...
Zhang Ruochen's consciousness gradually awakened.
Before him was a vast white world, and he had no body—just a formless consciousness floating in the void.
"After death, my consciousness remains. Have I turned into a ghost? No... ghosts should have souls, right? Where is my soul?"
Ghosts are essentially the "soul" of ordinary beings after death, or the "martial soul" of martial artists, or the "sacred soul" of saint realm cultivators.
"I'm just a mass of consciousness?"
Zhang Ruochen grew puzzled. His sacred soul had been absorbed by the lotus, so how could his consciousness survive?
He knew that only gods, after their divine form was destroyed, could preserve fragments of consciousness, drifting between heaven and earth, enduring eternally. Living beings could communicate with these residual divine consciousnesses through sacrifices.
A god's residual consciousness could only affect the material world by absorbing the blood qi, incense, and faith released during sacrifices.
Zhang Ruochen's consciousness shifted positions, searching for an exit, trying to return to Xumi Dojo. But he found this white world seemed boundless; no matter which direction he flew, he could never reach the end.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen sensed a fluctuation of soul power.
That thread of soul power was very familiar to him—it was undoubtedly his own.
"Could it be that a thread of my sacred soul survived, not absorbed by the lotus?" Zhang Ruochen was overjoyed.
As long as a thread of sacred soul remained, no matter how weak, he could turn to ghost cultivation or possess another living being to return to the material world.
Zhang Ruochen's consciousness chased after that thread of sacred soul.
Gradually, he was astonished to find more and more sacred souls around him, all his own.
Thousands upon thousands of threads of sacred soul converged, forming a soul shadow.
Then, a second soul shadow formed.
A third.
A fourth.
A fifth.
A sixth.
Six sacred souls of Zhang Ruochen stood in a circle, identical in appearance.
"This..."
Zhang Ruochen found it hard to comprehend. He slowly flew over, his consciousness gradually merging with the six sacred souls. After a moment, they perfectly fused.
"Merge."
The six sacred souls combined into one.
Zhang Ruochen spread his hands, feeling the immense power of the sacred soul, more than ten times stronger than before.
Moreover, in that white world, threads of sacred soul continued to fly in, constantly merging into the soul body, further strengthening it.
"After merging the six sacred souls into one, it's probably not weaker than the sacred soul of a Nine-Step Saint King. Even split into six, each sacred soul's strength rivals that of an Eight-Step Saint King. Could this be a blessing in disguise?"
Once the sacred soul was fully condensed, strands of spiritual power flew over.
The spiritual power intensity quickly reached the fifty-seventh rank, continuing to increase until it peaked at the fifty-seventh rank, then stopped.
Before this, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power intensity was only at the early stage of the fifty-seventh rank.
A spiritual power cultivator at the early fifty-seventh rank could only fight against weaker beings among Five-Step Saint Kings.
But a spiritual power cultivator at the peak of the fifty-seventh rank could battle stronger beings among Six-Step Saint Kings.
The difference in spiritual power intensity between these two stages was not just a few times; it was like heaven and earth.
As the sacred soul and spiritual power merged, Zhang Ruochen finally understood some things.
He was now inside the lotus. His sacred soul and spiritual power had entered the lotus, merging with it, leaving behind sacred soul imprints and spiritual imprints.
The lotus contained an unknown mysterious power. After his sacred soul and spiritual power traveled through it, they had increased more than tenfold.
Zhang Ruochen's sacred soul's eyes pierced through the white mist, seeing the lotus petals at the edge of the world.
Each petal was like a brilliant starry sky.
On the petals, a vast number of sacred dao rules flowed.
"Sizzle."
Dense sacred dao rules surged out from the petals, flying toward Zhang Ruochen, circling around the sacred soul, growing in number.
Previously, Zhang Ruochen had cultivated a total of about 190,000 sacred dao rules.
But now, the number of sacred dao rules around him had reached over 250,000 and was still increasing.
"With around 300,000 sacred dao rules, it might be possible to reach the Five-Step Saint King realm. Could I break through within the lotus?" Zhang Ruochen was filled with anticipation.
Undoubtedly, this lotus was an extraordinary treasure.
If anyone observed closely, they would notice that the green lotus seed on the Buddha statue's forehead was gathering all its light toward the lotus on the statue's head, while the seed itself was gradually dimming.
The plants on this massive island were withering, all life essence converging into the lotus's roots.
The lotus leaves in the lake lost their luster, turning yellow.
However, the cultivators of the Heavenly Realm and Kunlun Realm were all locked in fierce combat, and no one noticed this.
Chi Wansui, the Devouring Demon Dragon, Gai Tianjiao, and others led the Kunlun Realm cultivators who had earlier withdrawn from the illusion array, charging into Xumi Dojo. The two groups of Kunlun Realm cultivators joined forces, barely holding off the Heavenly Realm kings.
But the Heavenly Realm still held the absolute upper hand, pushing the Kunlun Realm cultivators back step by step.
"Boom, boom."
Chi Wansui used the Realm Son Seal to clash with Yu Tian, a dragon clan expert at the Six-Step Saint King realm. With their cultivation suppressed to the same level, the battle was intense.
After dozens of exchanges, Chi Wansui's body was battered and bloodied, retreating to the base of the Buddha statue.
Opposite him, Yu Tian was even more injured, spitting blood continuously.
But Yu Tian quickly swallowed a sacred pill and retreated to heal, while two other Heavenly Realm saint kings attacked Chi Wansui.
This scenario repeated itself throughout Xumi Dojo.
When Heavenly Realm saint kings were too injured, they retreated to recover. But Kunlun Realm cultivators, even when wounded, had to keep fighting, eventually being worn down and dying on the battlefield.
A Kunlun Realm saint, his arms severed, retreated to the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden's side and pleaded, "Lady Mysterious Maiden, let's withdraw from Xumi Dojo. If we keep fighting, everyone will die here."
The Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden used her silver kitchen knife to cleave a Heavenly Realm saint king in two. Her beautiful face was splattered with blood, and she glared coldly, "How can we retreat without finding the treasure left by Xumi Saint Monk?"
"But..."
"No buts. Even if we withdraw now, we'll eventually face them in the Kunlun Realm. Where else can we retreat to? Only by finding that treasure left by Xumi Saint Monk and returning to the Kunlun Realm can we have some say. Otherwise, when the great war begins, the Kunlun Realm will be controlled by the major realms of the Hell Realm and Heavenly Court. Will we still have the right to call ourselves masters of the Kunlun Realm?"
Suddenly, the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden sensed a powerful aura approaching.
"Boom, boom."
Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongle flew back from a distance, both with neat sword wounds on their abdomens, nearly cutting them in half.
"These two kids are quite powerful. Forming a sword formation, they managed to block twenty-three of my strikes. Are you really Zhang Ruochen's children?"
Shang Zihong stepped forward slowly, holding a crimson sacred sword.
...
(Regarding updates, I'll explain here. During the New Year, there are too many things to do, so I'll stick to one chapter a day until the seventh day of the first lunar month.
Starting from the eighth day, I'll speed up the updates.
Also, just a complaint: tonight, after great effort, I collected all five blessings but only got a red envelope of one yuan and eighty cents. Quite frustrating.
Xiaoyu has decided to give everyone a big red envelope at 8 PM on the first day of the New Year. Remember to come on time.
Oh, and the red envelope password will be posted on the WeChat public account at exactly 8 PM. You can search for "Feitian Yu" or "feitianyu5" on WeChat, follow the account, and wait for the password message.
Besides the first day, there will be an even bigger red envelope on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival.)