Chapter 1760: Displaying Great Divine Power
Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongle’s combat prowess could be described as outstanding and exceptional. At the same cultivation level, they could fight a group single-handedly.
If not for their extreme youth, and their understanding of sacred arts and the sacred path being far inferior to Shang Zihong’s, they would not have merely blocked Shang Zihong’s twenty-three sword strikes so simply.
The crimson sacred sword in Shang Zihong’s hand was called the “Red Child Sword,” a rather special Divine Relic Ancient Artifact.
The material used to forge the sword was excavated from an ancient mine, a type of aberrant demon iron that had already given birth to innate intelligence and delighted in devouring fresh blood.
The more blood it absorbed, the stronger this aberrant demon iron became.
In this regard, it was quite similar to the Blood-Drop Sword in Empress Chi Yao’s hand, which was refined from a Creation Divine Body.
The only difference was that what the aberrant demon iron craved most was the blood of newborn infants.
It was for this very reason that it was called the “Red Child Sword.”
The so-called “Red Child” refers to a newborn infant.
The former owner of the Red Child Sword was a fallen demon god from Paradise Realm, who used the blood of eighty-eight million, eight hundred and eighty-eight thousand newborn infants to nurture the Red Child Sword to its current grade.
It was said that to refine the Red Child Sword to the level of a Supreme Sacred Artifact would require a full eight hundred and eighty-eight million, eight hundred and eighty-eight thousand newborn infants’ blood.
Precisely because the Red Child Sword was so unique, it possessed an extremely eerie power.
Sword qi, entering the wounds of Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongle, invaded their bodies, actually beginning to destroy their physical constitutions.
Divine light emanated from Chi Kunlun’s body; five-colored radiance emanated from Chi Kongle’s body. Their True God Body and Five Elements Chaos Body seemed to be on the verge of destruction.
“If Zhang Ruochen were still alive, you two might have some use. Since Zhang Ruochen is already dead, I’ll send you on your way as well!”
Shang Zihong shook his head lightly, raising the Red Child Sword…
“Eh!”
Sensing a fluctuation of life force, Shang Zihong stared at Zhang Ruochen and the lotus atop the Buddha statue’s head, a puzzled expression appearing on his face as he muttered to himself, “Was that just an illusion?”
“Shua, shua.”
Just then, Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden shot out two red ribbons flowing with countless inscriptions, wrapping them around Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongle, rescuing them.
Immediately after, she propped up the Confucian Ancestor Sacred Book, manifesting characters the size of winnowing baskets, and stamped them towards Shang Zihong.
Shang Zihong was quite interested in Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden and had no intention of killing her. He merely held the Red Child Sword horizontally, gently flicking his finger against the blade.
“Bang.”
A resounding explosive note rang out.
On the sword body, various profound and complex patterns emerged, spewing forth a sheet of crimson heavenly fire and faint divine power. The two combined, transforming into tens of thousands of infant phantoms that fiercely clashed with the characters of the Confucian Ancestor Sacred Book.
The cries of infants and the roaring sounds of battle echoed throughout the Xumi Dojo.
“Hua——”
Shang Zihong did not remain locked in a stalemate with Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden. With a flicker of his form, he flew towards the top of the Buddha statue.
A large number of Saint Kings from Paradise Realm were suppressed within Zhang Ruochen’s silver book. No matter what, he had to rescue them.
Secondly, Shang Zihong possessed an extremely strong innate spiritual intuition, instinctively sensing that the lotus was a treasure of extraordinary significance. Perhaps it was because Zhang Ruochen was not outstanding enough to gain the lotus’s recognition, which led to his current predicament.
As the leader of the Merit Divine Temple, Shang Zihong believed that with his own fortune and talent, any rare and precious treasure would surely take the initiative to acknowledge him as its master.
Shattering those infant phantoms, Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden raised her snow-white head, looking upwards, an expression of disbelief appearing on her face. “Why didn’t the lotus repel Shang Zihong? Could it be… it was born just waiting for Shang Zihong to pluck it? How could Shang Zihong’s fortune be so powerful?”
“Chi chi.”
As Shang Zihong gradually approached the lotus, the silver root tendrils coiled around the Buddha statue became even brighter.
All the silver radiance converged towards the lotus.
Seeing this scene, the kings of Paradise Realm became excited.
“The lotus’s light is blazing brightly; it must be about to acknowledge Young Master Zihong as its master.”
“Heaven and earth spiritual treasures can only be obtained by true proud sons of heaven. How laughable that Zhang Ruochen, not knowing his place, thought he could pluck it. He only ended up throwing away his life.”
“The lotus shines for ten thousand li; it must be a rare treasure of heaven and earth.”
…
Suddenly, a change occurred.
The dazzling light within the lotus surged rapidly into Zhang Ruochen’s body.
That withered body, like a dead tree encountering spring, quickly revived, its skin swelling, and its white hair turning black again.
In the end, Zhang Ruochen’s body became radiant and flowing with color, spewing forth intense life energy. The emitted glow enveloped the entire Xumi Dojo.
Shang Zihong was clearly startled as well. He then abandoned the lotus, shifted his target, channeled sacred qi into the Red Child Sword, and dragged out a dazzling red sword light, slashing it towards Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes regained their luster. He raised his arm and struck out a palm.
During the movement of his palm, the power of the Flame God Arm Guard and the Flame God Fist Gloves erupted, clashing with the Red Child Sword.
“Bang.”
Flames burst forth.
Powerful energy dispersed outwards.
Shang Zihong flew back, crashing to the ground, sinking the earth and creating a series of broken, ragged pits.
Atop the Buddha statue, Zhang Ruochen’s body merely swayed slightly before stabilizing.
Zhang Ruochen looked at his palm, muttering to himself, “My blood also circulated within the lotus for a cycle. After flowing back into my body, it seems to have significantly enhanced my physical strength as well.”
The sacred dao rules had all flowed back into his Qi Sea, once again forming a Heavenly River. The number of rules reached four hundred and thirty thousand, more than doubling.
The increase in quantity was secondary. The most crucial point was that the number of time rules and space rules had both approached five thousand.
One must know that the Way of Time and the Way of Space were extremely difficult to comprehend. Before this, Zhang Ruochen had spent an unknown amount of time and effort, yet had only comprehended a little over two hundred of each.
It was precisely because the number of time rules and space rules was too small that Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation progress was hindered.
With the assistance of the lotus, this problem was greatly improved.
“My cultivation should have reached the Five-Step Saint King realm, and I am not far from the Six-Step Saint King realm.” A slight smile curled at the corner of Zhang Ruochen’s mouth.
The number of sacred dao rules for a Four-Step Saint King was roughly one hundred thousand.
For a Five-Step Saint King, it was roughly three hundred thousand.
For a Six-Step Saint King, it was roughly five hundred thousand.
As for the Seven-Step Saint King, the span was enormous. At least one million sacred dao rules were required to possibly reach that realm.
In the Xumi Dojo, all cultivators turned their gazes towards the figure atop the Buddha statue, all of them shocked beyond measure.
The man who had already died had come back to life?
Shang Zihong stood at the bottom of the dust-filled pit, his brows furrowed. The hand holding the sword trembled slightly, and his five fingers were in great pain.
From that previous clash, he had fallen into absolute disadvantage.
After his resurrection, Zhang Ruochen had become even stronger than before.
“Perhaps only if all three corpses act together can there be a chance to defeat him,” Shang Zihong thought to himself.
Shang Zihong cultivated the *Three Corpses Refining the Dao*. The three corpses he had cultivated were the “Origin Corpse” wielding the Five-Colored Merit Stele, the “Blaze Corpse” wielding the Red Child Sword, and the “Cold Corpse” wielding the Ten-Thousand Refining Tower.
“That lotus must be an unparalleled rare treasure.”
The Origin Corpse and the Cold Corpse rushed over, converging with the Blaze Corpse.
The three Shang Zihongs simultaneously unleashed their attack methods, striking at Zhang Ruochen atop the Buddha statue, aiming to seize the lotus.
Zhen Miao and Xiao Hei, who had been fighting the Origin Corpse earlier, and Xue Wuye and the Standing Monk, who had been fighting the Cold Corpse, were still far away, unable to come to Zhang Ruochen’s aid in time.
Below the Buddha statue, Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden propped up the Confucian Ancestor Sacred Book, from which millions of characters flew out.
But those characters were instantly shattered by the Five-Colored Merit Stele, the Ten-Thousand Refining Tower, and the Red Child Sword.
Just as these three powerful forces were about to strike Zhang Ruochen…
Zhang Ruochen calmly bent down, plucked the lotus, and channeled sacred qi and space rules into it.
Immediately, brilliant radiance surged from the twelve petals of the lotus. A stream of space rules flew out together with the radiance, scattering onto the ground.
In the Xumi Dojo, the space inscriptions left behind by Xumi Saint Monk all emerged, covering the ground and the sky, interwoven like a spider’s web.
Through the lotus, Zhang Ruochen could control these space inscriptions.
“Stop.”
Zhang Ruochen uttered a single word.
In that instant, the space within the Xumi Dojo froze. The Five-Colored Merit Stele, the Ten-Thousand Refining Tower, and the Red Child Sword, which had been flying fiercely, all halted in mid-air, a mere few zhang away from Zhang Ruochen.
“Return.”
Zhang Ruochen waved his hand. A spatial storm manifested, transforming into a circular wave of air that sent the Five-Colored Merit Stele, the Ten-Thousand Refining Tower, and the Red Child Sword all flying back.
“Boom!”
Shang Zihong’s Origin Corpse, Blaze Corpse, and Cold Corpse all erupted with flowing light, dodging at high speed.
But the kings of Paradise Realm were not so fortunate. Over a dozen of them died in this wave of attacks, and countless more were injured.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Your reaction speed is quite fast. Let’s see if you can be that fast now.”
The lotus once again emitted a dazzling light.
The space within the Xumi Dojo began to tremble slightly, and spatial vortexes appeared one after another.
Shang Zihong’s expression changed drastically. He roared, “All kings of Paradise Realm, withdraw from the Xumi Dojo immediately!”
The kings of Paradise Realm were not foolish. They all saw that Zhang Ruochen, having mastered the lotus, could mobilize the space inscriptions left by Xumi Saint Monk in the dojo, making him virtually invincible.
Just as they were frantically fleeing out of the dojo, spatial rifts flew out from within those spatial vortexes.
“Shua, shua.”
Each spatial rift was only the size of a palm, but their numbers were immense.
The sounds of tearing and screams filled the Xumi Dojo.
In just the span of a single breath, over a hundred corpses of Paradise Realm Saint Kings fell, turning this sacred Buddhist dojo into a bloody, terrifying Shura slaughterhouse.
Shang Zihong’s Blaze Corpse was struck by a spatial rift, leaving a bowl-sized bloody hole in its chest, piercing straight through its body.
Shang Zihong’s Cold Corpse was hit by three spatial rifts, half of its head severed, with brain matter spilling out.
Only Shang Zihong’s Origin Corpse remained completely unharmed.
The three-colored precious armor on the Origin Corpse’s body, along with the Five-Colored Merit Stele it wielded, could both resist spatial power. The palm-sized spatial rifts would automatically close before they even reached it.
It was precisely because of the special power of the Five-Colored Merit Stele that Shang Zihong managed to shelter a group of Paradise Realm Saint Kings and escape the Xumi Dojo.
Looking at Zhang Ruochen standing atop the Buddha statue in the distance, even the Saint Kings couldn’t help but tremble. Even if they were killed now, they would not dare to step into the Xumi Dojo again.
(Chapter End)