Chapter 1807: Qi Sheng and Ying Huo
The male Golden Armor Imperial Guard had a rough appearance but remained remarkably calm. He did not make excuses. Clasping his hands, he said, "It was indeed us who shattered your spiritual power avatar. We are willing to hand over twenty sacred medicines as compensation. We hope you will spare us this once, out of respect for the Imperial Ancestor Crown Prince."
Zhang Ruochen walked over, his gaze shifting to the stone cliff behind them. "Twenty sacred medicines? Are you joking? On this stone cliff alone, there are more than twenty."
The male Golden Armor Imperial Guard replied unhurriedly, "You may not know, sir, but on this planet, sacred medicines are scattered far and wide. The stone cliff before you is actually a rare treasure ground. Collecting twenty sacred medicines is no easy task for us."
As he spoke, he produced a wooden box and presented it to Zhang Ruochen.
The box opened, releasing a hazy sacred light and a rich medicinal fragrance.
To be fair, they were quite clever. Knowing they were trapped by Zhang Ruochen and couldn't escape, they immediately offered the sacred medicines and invoked the name of the Imperial Ancestor Crown Prince to pressure him.
Zhang Ruochen took the box and directly used Purifying Divine Flame to refine the sacred medicines inside into drops of liquid. He swallowed them, beginning the process of refinement.
The male and female Golden Armor Imperial Guards stood before Zhang Ruochen, not daring to act rashly.
They knew that the cripple before them was incredibly powerful. Whether they tried to launch a sneak attack or seize the chance to flee, the chances of success were slim.
Half an hour later, Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes again, his entire body radiating sacred light.
"Seven thousand more sacred dao rules. Not bad, not bad."
Zhang Ruochen nodded in satisfaction, then said, "Go and pick all the sacred medicines on that stone cliff for me."
The female Golden Armor Imperial Guard was quite displeased. "We are Imperial Guards of the Imperial Ancestor Divine Dynasty. Why should we work for you? If you want to kill us, then kill us. But enslaving us is impossible."
"I might not even care about the Imperial Ancestor Crown Prince, let alone the likes of you. Since you seek death, I will grant your wish." Zhang Ruochen spoke without any courtesy.
The female Golden Armor Imperial Guard gritted her teeth, wanting to attack, but the male guard stopped her.
He bowed to Zhang Ruochen and said, "We will go and pick them for you, sir."
"Truly able to endure," Zhang Ruochen thought, watching their retreating figures with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He added, "Don't damage the roots. Those roots might still grow new sacred medicines in the future."
After the two Golden Armor Imperial Guards had picked all the sacred medicines from the stone cliff, Zhang Ruochen, as if no one else were there, continued to refine them. Another half hour passed, and the sacred dao rules in his Qi Sea increased by over ten thousand.
"Wonderful."
Zhang Ruochen felt an extraordinary comfort throughout his limbs and body. His sacred qi was abundant, and every drop of his blood seemed to boil.
Then, Zhang Ruochen looked at the two Golden Armor Imperial Guards again. "You must have been on Luo River for quite some time, haven't you? With sacred medicines to aid you, it's no wonder your cultivation has advanced so quickly."
The expressions of the two Golden Armor Imperial Guards shifted slightly.
"Our cultivation is nothing in your eyes, sir," said the male guard.
Zhang Ruochen let out a light laugh, then struck like lightning, pointing a finger at the man's heart.
The male Golden Armor Imperial Guard had extremely high vigilance. The moment Zhang Ruochen moved, he exploded backward.
At the same time, he summoned a small golden shield, which floated before him.
It was worth noting that when Zhang Ruochen had attacked other Golden Armor Imperial Guards of the Imperial Ancestor Divine Dynasty, they hadn't even had time to bring out their shields before being sent flying.
Compared to the guard before him, they were far inferior.
But the small golden shield couldn't block Zhang Ruochen's finger force. The force sent the shield flying backward, and with a "bang," it struck the guard's chest, knocking him away.
The heart was one of the weaknesses of the Undying Blood Clan.
Once the heart suffered a heavy blow, it could break the Undying Blood Clan's transformation technique.
The male Golden Armor Imperial Guard knelt on one knee, his form and appearance drastically changing. He was very young, quite handsome, with sharp, well-defined features. It was the Qi Tian Crown Prince, Qi Sheng.
Not far away, the Undying Divine Maiden, Ying Huo, knew she could no longer hide. She transformed back to her original appearance and unleashed a flurry of blood needles as fine as ox hair.
"Bang, bang."
Zhang Ruochen activated his character armor, deflecting all the blood needles.
With his hands behind his back, Zhang Ruochen walked over. "Qi Tian Crown Prince Qi Sheng, Undying Divine Maiden Ying Huo."
"Zhang Ruochen." Qi Sheng glared at him.
Zhang Ruochen was slightly surprised. "You could guess it was me?"
Qi Sheng looked at Zhang Ruochen's limping gait. "It wasn't hard to guess. Who doesn't know by now that a cripple who cultivates the Way of Space has appeared near Luo River?"
"Truly a clever man."
Zhang Ruochen's form flickered, and he appeared beside Qi Sheng.
Qi Sheng's expression changed sharply. He formed a blood seal and struck out quickly, but his palm hit nothing but air.
The next moment, Zhang Ruochen appeared beside Ying Huo.
Just as Ying Huo was about to strike, Zhang Ruochen had already returned to his original spot.
The entire process happened in the blink of an eye, as if Zhang Ruochen had never moved at all. In his hand, he now held a storage bracelet and a storage ring.
Qi Sheng and Ying Huo's expressions grew even uglier.
Zhang Ruochen inspected the storage bracelet and ring, pulling out wooden boxes filled with sacred medicines. The total number exceeded three hundred.
However, he had already used about half of those sacred medicines. Taking them again wouldn't increase his sacred dao rules.
Ying Huo produced the Ten Thousand Beasts Treasure Mirror and shouted, "Zhang Ruochen, return our sacred medicines!"
Zhang Ruochen glanced at her, then pulled out cauldron after cauldron of blood from the storage items.
It was all human blood.
Zhang Ruochen's expression grew colder and colder. "Were the mortals living along the Luo River all killed by you?"
Ying Huo and Qi Sheng knew Zhang Ruochen's killing intent had been aroused, so they acted decisively.
"Whoosh!"
Countless inscriptions on the Ten Thousand Beasts Treasure Mirror glowed with blood light. Innumerable blood bats flew out from within, surging toward Zhang Ruochen like a dark cloud.
"Still daring to resist."
Zhang Ruochen spat out Purifying Divine Flame from his mouth, turning it into a sea of fire. The blood bats below the Saint King realm were instantly burned to ashes. The remaining bats dared not touch the Purifying Divine Flame and scattered into the distance.
Just as Ying Huo was about to summon other sacred beasts, Zhang Ruochen appeared beside her and struck her right shoulder with his palm.
"Bang."
Ying Huo fell to the ground, half the bones in her body shattered.
"Divine Annihilation, Sea Suppression!"
Qi Sheng's cultivation had reached the Five-Step Saint King realm. He raised the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield with both hands and slammed it down toward Zhang Ruochen.
The Divine Annihilation Cross Shield grew to over a hundred zhang in height, radiating the power of a divine origin. It dyed the sky for hundreds of miles a blood-red color.
This strike might be too much even for a Seven-Step Saint King to handle.
Qi Sheng was already a peerless genius, and with the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield—a divine relic that had once killed a true god—he could fight across two realms. He was several times more formidable than many Heavenly Court prodigies.
But Zhang Ruochen caught the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield with a single bare hand, neutralizing all the power Qi Sheng had unleashed.
"How can he be this powerful?" Qi Sheng found it hard to accept.
"Bang."
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield and swung it horizontally, striking Qi Sheng and sending him crashing into the stone cliff.
Qi Sheng was severely injured and lost his combat ability.
"Sizzle, sizzle."
Zhang Ruochen used Purifying Divine Flame to refine the Ten Thousand Beasts Treasure Mirror and the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield.
After a moment, Zhang Ruochen's expression changed slightly. He quickly withdrew his Purifying Divine Flame, daring not to continue refining the two artifacts. Just now, he had sensed that the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield actually had an artifact spirit.
The aura emitted by the artifact spirit was incredibly powerful. Zhang Ruochen's own strength seemed insignificant before it.
However, the artifact spirit of the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield seemed to be asleep. Zhang Ruochen hadn't awakened it, so it hadn't attacked him.
The Ten Thousand Beasts Treasure Mirror was even more bizarre. Inside the mirror, many powerful sacred beasts were sealed. Among them, Zhang Ruochen even sensed the aura of a Great Saint-level beast emperor.
Neither of these items could be touched.
What puzzled Zhang Ruochen was why Ying Huo hadn't directly summoned a Nine-Step Saint King-level sacred beast or a Great Saint-level beast emperor. Could it be that her cultivation was insufficient to unseal those powerful sacred beasts?
"No wonder Xiao Hei once said the Ten Thousand Beasts Treasure Mirror was an extraordinary treasure and desperately wanted to seize it," Zhang Ruochen mused.
Zhang Ruochen stored the Ten Thousand Beasts Treasure Mirror and the Divine Annihilation Cross Shield into the Qiankun Realm. He gradually calmed his surging emotions and condensed two Sword Dao Profound Forces, preparing to kill Qi Sheng and Ying Huo to eliminate future trouble.
"Wait... wait..."
Qi Sheng crawled out from the rubble. "Zhang Ruochen, spare Ying Huo... let her live... Those mortals, I killed them all..."
Zhang Ruochen said, "You are in no position to bargain with me. All Undying Blood Clan members deserve death."
Qi Sheng laughed. "Don't you know that your mother, the empress, is also of the Undying Blood Clan? You yourself carry the blood of the Undying Blood Clan."
Zhang Ruochen turned into a series of afterimages, rushing to Qi Sheng's side and lifting him up. "Who told you that?"
Ying Huo got up from the ground. "The Undying Divine Temple collected all kinds of forbidden secrets from the Kunlun Realm. When the imperial court destroyed the temple, I accidentally discovered a sealed scroll. It recorded that eight hundred years ago, the Ming Emperor of the Sacred Bright Central Empire and the Blood Queen of the Undying Blood Clan at that time became lovers. They had a son, and that son was you."
Qi Sheng quickly added, "Zhang Ruochen, eight hundred years ago, the woman you loved most must have betrayed and killed you because of the Undying Blood Clan blood flowing in your veins. Eight hundred years have passed. She has become an empress and a god worshipped by billions. And you? Your family is destroyed, and you fled the Kunlun Realm like a stray dog, running all the way to the Heavenly Court."
"So, all of humanity is your enemy. You are one of us. As long as you are willing to return to the Undying Blood Clan, with your talent, you will surely receive key cultivation resources."
Zhang Ruochen's heart was firm and unaffected. "Perhaps in my past life, I truly carried the blood of the Undying Blood Clan. But in this life, I am a human, a true human. I am different from you."
Qi Sheng knew it would be difficult to sway Zhang Ruochen. Frowning deeply, he immediately said, "In truth, Ying Huo and I are merely blades in someone else's hands. Even if you kill us, the Undying Blood Clan big shot behind us will continue to slaughter the humans of the Kunlun Realm and collect their blood. Because he needs to refine a blood pill that will help him break through to the Dao Domain realm."
...
I actually missed an update yesterday. I'm so sorry. I want to make up for it, but I dare not say so, because my typing speed is really slow, and I'll be even busier in a few days. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Important things must be said three times.