Chapter 1808: Flower Fragrance
“The Undying Blood Clan big shot behind you, is it Qi Xiaotian?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Qi Sheng replied, “That’s right.”
Zhang Ruochen showed a thoughtful expression and asked, “What kind of blood pill is he trying to refine?”
Qi Sheng said, “The Thousand-Year Blood Pill. It’s a pill refined by collecting the blood of thirty-three million, three hundred thirty-three thousand humans, combined with a large amount of sacred medicine.”
“Once the pill is formed, Qi Xiaotian breaking through to the Dao Domain realm will be as easy as turning his hand. By then, in the region around Yunwu Commandery and Qianshui Commandery, who would be his match? He’ll probably start refining the even more powerful Ten-Thousand-Year Blood Pill.”
“The blood needed to refine the Ten-Thousand-Year Blood Pill is ten times that of the Thousand-Year Blood Pill.”
“So, Zhang Ruochen, your enemy is him, not us. If you want to kill Qi Xiaotian and seize the half-finished Thousand-Year Blood Pill, we can guide you. We only hope you’ll spare us a path to survival.”
Yinghuo understood what Qi Sheng was trying to do—this was to lure Zhang Ruochen to his death.
Zhang Ruochen was indeed very strong now, but compared to Qi Xiaotian, the gap was enormous.
Zhang Ruochen naturally understood Qi Sheng’s intention and gave him a cold glance. “The Thousand-Year Blood Pill might be priceless to you Undying Blood Clan, but in my eyes, it’s the root of all evil. Even if I seized it, I would destroy it.”
Zhang Ruochen had refined Great Saint blood and divine blood before, but something made from the blood of millions of commoners disgusted him. He only wanted to destroy it, never considering consuming it himself.
Zhang Ruochen added, “Shi Kai is also with Qi Xiaotian, right?”
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen wasn’t in a hurry to kill them, a barely perceptible glimmer of joy flashed in Qi Sheng’s eyes. “Yes, Qi Xiaotian found an Ancient Xuan Mine Vein for Shi Kai to help him heal and break through to the Nine-Step Saint King realm.”
“Where is this Ancient Xuan Mine Vein?” Zhang Ruochen’s heart stirred.
Qi Sheng said, “It’s in the Xuanhuang Region, east of Luo River.”
Almost every cultivator in Yunwu Commandery knew about the Xuanhuang Region—a vast, desolate wilderness at the far east of the Eastern Domain, said to connect to the Eastern Sea on the other side.
If there was an ancient mine vein in the Xuanhuang Region, Zhang Ruochen would have to go there.
For now, he didn’t kill Qi Sheng and Yinghuo. Instead, he sealed their meridians and blood vessels, threw them into the Qiankun Realm to imprison them, and immediately headed toward the polar region to rendezvous with Ji Fanxin.
As he got closer to the pole, Zhang Ruochen’s view was blocked by a stone pillar thrust into the ground.
The pillar stood like a stone wall propping up the sky, incredibly majestic.
The massive beast corpse chained to the pillar emitted an extremely terrifying divine might. Zhang Ruochen felt an invisible force pressing down on him, reducing his full power to less than a tenth.
The space grew denser and denser.
Unable to perform Spatial Displacement, Zhang Ruochen could only drive the Golden Step Dragon Chariot forward.
Sitting on the chariot, Zhang Ruochen carefully studied the patterns on the stone pillar. They seemed, like the gods’ engraved diagrams in the Truth Heaven Domain, to contain some extremely profound Dao.
Of course, he was certain it wasn’t the Way of Truth.
When he was still five hundred miles from the pillar, the originally black soil suddenly sprouted clusters of colorful flowers—emerald leaves, vivid petals, like a dreamland.
Ji Fanxin, dressed in spotless white, walked out from the sea of flowers with graceful steps and directly boarded the Golden Step Dragon Chariot.
Zhang Ruochen was a bit surprised. “Fairy, why have you returned to your original appearance?”
Ji Fanxin smiled, her almond eyes carrying a misty charm, an indescribable allure that stirred ripples even in Zhang Ruochen’s heart, making him unable to look away.
In the Heavenly Court realm, countless prodigies a hundred times higher in status than Zhang Ruochen had tried to win a smile from the Hundred Flowers Fairy, only to fail. Any man seeing her smile at him would feel an inexplicable sense of achievement.
As Ji Fanxin drew closer, the tips of her long hair brushed across his face, and he caught a faint floral fragrance. He grew tense. “Fairy… what are you…”
“Shh, don’t speak.”
Ji Fanxin said softly, then leaned her soft body into Zhang Ruochen’s arms. One jade-white hand caressed his cheek, while the other gently wrapped around his waist.
Zhang Ruochen’s body grew stiffer and stiffer. “Fairy, did you… did you not fully refine the medicine that old fellow gave you?”
“That’s right, that medicine was really potent. Help me…”
Ji Fanxin’s red lips pressed close to Zhang Ruochen’s ear, her breath like orchid, a warm current touching his skin, stimulating his nerves.
Unnoticed, Ji Fanxin’s two hands turned into petals, spreading from his face and waist, wrapping around his body.
Zhang Ruochen found himself unable to move and suddenly snapped awake.
“No, she’s not Ji Fanxin. Who’s using spiritual power against me?”
“Boom.”
Scorching Purifying Divine Flame surged from Zhang Ruochen’s body, blasting all the petals covering him away, burning them to ashes.
Then, Zhang Ruochen kicked off the ground, shot into the air, and fled dozens of zhang away.
As soon as he landed, he saw Ji Fanxin standing not far from him.
But this Ji Fanxin looked different—not so stunning, just her altered appearance.
“Who are you?”
Dragon roars sounded from Zhang Ruochen’s arm as he struck out with a palm.
A flicker of confusion passed through Ji Fanxin’s eyes. She pointed two jade fingers and collided with Zhang Ruochen’s palm.
“Boom.”
A powerful energy storm erupted between them, shaking the entire region.
Ji Fanxin pulled back some distance and asked, “Why are you attacking me?”
“Could she really be Ji Fanxin?”
Zhang Ruochen frowned deeply and immediately activated his Heavenly Eye in his forehead, trying to observe the true form of the Ji Fanxin before him.
But Ji Fanxin showed an annoyed expression. She pressed her jade-white palm forward, forming a spiritual power vortex to block the Heavenly Eye’s gaze.
Using the Heavenly Eye to observe would allow him to see through her sacred robe.
Ji Fanxin was genuinely angry. She raised her voice, “Zhang Ruochen, you’ve gone too far!”
Zhang Ruochen seemed to realize that using the Heavenly Eye wasn’t appropriate, so he asked warily, “Who are you really?”
A look of realization appeared in Ji Fanxin’s eyes. She probably guessed what Zhang Ruochen had just encountered and stared at the Golden Step Dragon Chariot stopped in the distance.
On top of the chariot, a Tulip Demon Incense had grown, its pollen enveloping the vehicle.
Zhang Ruochen also looked at the chariot, but he saw Ji Fanxin in white, sitting on it, smiling seductively, full of charm.
Even knowing it was a trap, Zhang Ruochen’s heart couldn’t calm down.
There was no help for it—the Ji Fanxin on the chariot was the complete opposite of the pure, icy Ji Fanxin he knew, tempting enough to kill without compensation.
“Break.”
Ji Fanxin pressed her finger into the void, sending out a spiritual power storm.
Instantly, all the illusions before Zhang Ruochen vanished.
The Ji Fanxin on the chariot also dissipated into nothing, turning back into a Tulip Demon Incense.
Zhang Ruochen’s face showed a speechless expression as he shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Don’t be so discouraged. That Tulip Demon Incense had a spiritual power level of fifty-ninth rank. It’s very normal that you couldn’t see through it,” Ji Fanxin said.
Then she added, “Just now, I saw you were quite nervous, yet also a bit expectant. What kind of illusion did it create for you?”
Zhang Ruochen felt awkward. “I accidentally inhaled its fragrance, and my judgment and control dropped… well, anyway, let’s find a way to get rid of it first.”
This Tulip Demon Incense wasn’t the one Zhang Ruochen had encountered last time at Luo River; it hadn’t reached the level of a hundred-thousand-year ancient sacred medicine.
So Ji Fanxin, with her powerful spiritual power, easily collected it.
In terms of martial arts cultivation alone, even if Zhang Ruochen wasn’t a match for Ji Fanxin, he was confident he could retreat. But Ji Fanxin’s spiritual power was unfathomable—a fifty-ninth-rank spiritual power cultivator seemed to have no resistance against her.
No wonder she had cultivated the Way of Truth to a level deeper than Zhang Ruochen’s; she was truly extraordinary.
Ji Fanxin handed the Tulip Demon Incense to Zhang Ruochen. “I went to the polar region just now and found a blood lake beneath the stone pillar. More precisely, it should be a divine blood lake.”
“A divine blood lake?”
Ji Fanxin turned back, staring at the massive beast corpse chained to the pillar, her expression grave. “That’s right, it’s blood flowing from its body, forming a lake. It resembles a legendary sub-divine beast. But… it’s hard to understand, really hard to understand.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Fairy, did you collect that lake of divine blood?”
Ji Fanxin shook her head. “I retreated before even getting close to the blood lake.”
“Why?”
“By the blood lake, many beast-shaped sacred medicines grow. Those medicines can attack a cultivator’s sacred soul and spiritual power. Some are even hundred-thousand-year ancient sacred medicines, unleashing terrifying spiritual power attacks.”
Zhang Ruochen said, “With your sacred soul and spiritual power strength, you shouldn’t fear them.”
Ji Fanxin shook her head again. “Besides that, many corpse soldiers and bone generals patrol the lake shore, including the remains of Great Saints. Those corpse soldiers and bone generals are all controlled by the soul power and spiritual power released by the beast-shaped sacred medicines.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression turned serious. This was too bizarre.
Sacred medicines, controlling the remains of Great Saints? And why were Great Saints’ remains here? Who killed them?
“Zhang Ruochen, have you considered one thing? Why can those sacred medicines attack a cultivator’s sacred soul and spiritual power? And why have they taken beast forms?” Ji Fanxin asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Fairy suspects that the divine soul of the beast corpse chained to the pillar hasn’t been extinguished? Those sacred medicines absorbed the divine soul and became so terrifying?”
“Whatever the reason, we’d better not provoke them for now. Actually, this planet has quite a few sacred medicines growing on it. If you gather more, you should be able to break through to the Seven-Step Saint King realm soon,” Ji Fanxin said.
“Since even the fairy is so wary, I naturally won’t rush in recklessly.”
Then Zhang Ruochen added, “Fairy, would you accompany me to a place first?”
Whether it was stopping Qi Xiaotian from refining the Thousand-Year Blood Pill or going to the Ancient Xuan Mine Vein to find divine stones, both were urgent matters. If Ji Fanxin could lend him a hand, it would make things much easier.