Chapter 1874: Python Vine
Ji Fanxin used her spiritual power to probe and search the entire War Soul Star, but could not find Chang.
"Chang must have sensed that the Fairy and I have come to War Soul Star, and thus decisively fled," Zhang Ruochen said.
Ji Fanxin said regretfully, "What a pity. Letting him escape will surely bring endless trouble."
Heavenly Beginning Fairy and the Fool took healing sacred pills, and their injuries gradually stabilized.
Everyone came to the Divine Blood Lake and continued picking beast-shaped sacred medicines.
Every beast-shaped sacred medicine was extremely precious. Not only could they directly enhance cultivation, they could also increase sacred soul strength and spiritual power. They were treasures that any Saint King would want to seize.
Especially the four beast-shaped sacred medicines with a hundred-thousand-year age. They made Qu Shan Old Mother, Murong Yefeng, and Ji Fanxin very eager. Working together, with the help of Zhang Ruochen's Azure Heaven Floating Tower, they suppressed them all.
The four hundred-thousand-year beast-shaped sacred medicines were distributed one each to Qu Shan Old Mother, Murong Yefeng, Ji Fanxin, and Zhang Ruochen.
When the beast-shaped sacred medicines had been mostly picked, Zhang Ruochen came to the shore of Divine Blood Lake, took out the Water Star Gourd, and began collecting divine blood.
The divine blood in the lake contained an extremely yin-cold power. It could not be directly swallowed and refined, but it could be used to make ink for top-grade talismans, and could also help evil spirits condense physical bodies.
It had a wide range of uses and extraordinary value.
Ji Fanxin, Heavenly Beginning Fairy, Zhenmiao Little Daoist, and the others also took out special vessels to collect divine blood.
A lake of divine blood was like a divine-level treasure.
As everyone continued collecting, the lake surface began to sink. Beneath the divine blood, some blood-red gemstones were revealed.
"Divine Blood Crystals."
Zhenmiao Little Daoist's eyes lit up. He picked up a fist-sized Divine Blood Crystal, which weighed over three hundred thousand jin. Its density was terrifyingly high.
So-called "Divine Blood Crystals" were crystals formed from the condensation of divine blood and vast amounts of heavenly and earthly sacred qi. They were refining materials that could be used to forge weapons above the Ten Radiance Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact level.
Murong Yefeng collected dozens of Divine Blood Crystals in a row and laughed loudly: "With these Divine Blood Crystals, I can refine a set of sacred armor at the Ten Radiance Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact level."
Zhang Ruochen also collected some Divine Blood Crystals, planning to refine them into the Eight Dragon Mountain and Nine Dragon Chariot to improve their grades.
Just as the divine blood in the lake was decreasing, a purple vine grew from the head of the Starry Sky Giant Crocodile on the stone pillar.
That vine was in the form of a python, but the scales on its body were purple-red flowers.
One purple flower, one scale.
The python vine extended downward along the stone pillar, growing longer and thicker.
By the time Zhang Ruochen and the others noticed it, the python vine was less than a thousand meters from the ground.
Qu Shan Old Mother exclaimed in alarm: "Not good, there's another big one."
"This beast-shaped sacred medicine is somewhat strange. Everyone, retreat quickly."
Ji Fanxin's brows showed a solemn expression, because even with her spiritual power intensity, she felt a sense of suppression.
"Roar!"
The python vine let out a long howl and dove downward at even greater speed. The purple-red flowers on its body bloomed with dazzling light, illuminating most of War Soul Star in purple.
Zhang Ruochen immediately took the weaker Li Miaohan, Black Phoenix, White Vermilion, and others into the Qiankun Realm. Then, dragging Zhenmiao Little Daoist, who still wanted to continue collecting divine blood, he rushed out of the blood mist.
"Hiss!"
The python vine struck the ground, kicking up a thick layer of dust and mud.
The python vine was too fast. If everyone fled together, they might not all escape. So Murong Yefeng, Ji Fanxin, and Qu Shan Old Mother voluntarily stopped and each struck with their strongest attack power.
The python vine spat out a spiritual power storm from its mouth, completely shattering the twelve layers of spiritual power defenses Ji Fanxin had formed.
Zhang Ruochen glanced back, threw out the Azure Heaven Floating Tower, and said: "Leaf, catch it."
Murong Yefeng caught the Azure Heaven Floating Tower, pressed his palm against the tower body, and instantly the Azure Heaven Floating Tower grew to the size of a mountain, releasing vast and boundless supreme power that collided with the spiritual power storm.
Qu Shan Old Mother and Ji Fanxin appeared behind Murong Yefeng, each striking a palm against the Azure Heaven Floating Tower.
The supreme power surging from the tower grew even stronger.
With the strength of the three of them, plus the Azure Heaven Floating Tower, they could even withstand a Great Saint.
The power struck by the python vine clashed with the supreme power, causing War Soul Star to tremble incessantly. The water surface outside War Soul Star churned with waves over ten zhang high.
The three of them knew that even with a Supreme Sacred Artifact, they were no match for the python vine. They could only fight while retreating.
Only by retreating outside the blood mist would they have a chance to escape.
"Hua"
The Starry Sky Giant Crocodile's corpse spat out a mouthful of dark purple mist from its mouth, which merged into the python vine's body.
The python vine's sacred body rapidly grew, and it sprouted some bucket-thick small vine branches that spread in all directions. Some small vines bypassed the Azure Heaven Floating Tower and appeared behind Murong Yefeng and the other two.
"What kind of creature is it, and what is its relationship with the Starry Sky Giant Crocodile?" Qu Shan Old Mother had a bad premonition that it would be very difficult to escape War Soul Star today.
"We've reached the periphery of the blood mist. Hold on a little longer," Ji Fanxin said.
Murong Yefeng said: "Not good. The vines have already extended outside the blood mist, blocking our retreat."
Ji Fanxin and Qu Shan Old Mother looked back and saw dozens of vines interwoven in the sky and on the ground behind them, each vine a python with a vast aura.
The area they were in had become like a prison cage.
"Boom rumble."
Controlling the Azure Heaven Floating Tower, they shattered countless vines. The three of them finally killed their way out of the blood mist.
But they were horrified to find that even more python vines had surged up from underground, surrounding them completely. Escaping War Soul Star seemed almost impossible.
Behind them, a vast expanse of purple light mist surged forward, covering the sky and earth. Within the light mist, two vicious eyes the size of water pools could be seen, their gaze soul-shaking.
"Hua"
A ring of spatial ripples appeared beside the three of them, and Zhang Ruochen rushed out, unrolling a scroll.
"Go."
The scroll unfolded, forming a Space Teleportation Array.
With a flash of light, the four of them disappeared from War Soul Star and appeared hundreds of thousands of miles away.
Standing on the vast, boundless water surface, even with the mental states of Murong Yefeng, Ji Fanxin, and Qu Shan Old Mother, they were still shaken. Then they let out a long breath.
They had finally escaped alive.
Half a day later, when Zhang Ruochen and his group approached War Soul Star again, they found the planet completely covered in purple vines, emitting an eerie purple light.
Moreover, the star was trembling violently, and earth-shaking roars could be heard.
Standing ten thousand miles away, Zhang Ruochen could feel his eardrums aching. One could imagine how terrifying the sound waves from the roars were.
Ji Fanxin's expression was grave. "Could it be that the Starry Sky Giant Crocodile didn't die completely and is trying to break free?"
Everyone's hearts felt heavy.
Legend had it that a Starry Sky Giant Crocodile could swallow a planet in one bite. If it came back to life, wouldn't the entire Luo River become its domain?
"I need to rush back to Nine Bends Heavenly Star and evacuate the cultivators of Heavenly Beginning Civilization." Heavenly Beginning Fairy's starry eyes were full of worry.
Zhang Ruochen said: "Wait, there's a change."
"Hua"
On the polar region of War Soul Star, the surface of the millions-of-meters-tall stone pillar was covered with golden characters, emitting dazzling light that illuminated the water area for tens of thousands of miles.
The roars gradually faded, and War Soul Star stopped shaking.
However, the purple vines covering the planet were still there, making Zhang Ruochen and the others dare not set foot on War Soul Star again.
They observed this water area for three days, but War Soul Star showed no further changes.
"It seems that stone pillar is an extremely extraordinary treasure that can suppress the Starry Sky Giant Crocodile." Qu Shan Old Mother's tense expression completely disappeared, returning to calm.
Zhang Ruochen frowned deeply. "What state is the Starry Sky Giant Crocodile in now? Dead, or alive?"
Ji Fanxin said: "Gods are beyond the comprehension of our cultivation realms. It is said that even if a god dies, their divine soul and divine thoughts still exist, drifting between heaven and earth, able to exist eternally in another form. Their divine soul and thoughts might even merge with a primordial spirit, enter a fetus, and reincarnate to cultivate again."
"The Starry Sky Giant Crocodile is most likely not completely dead. Otherwise, why would it be chained up?"
Everyone returned to Nine Bends Heavenly Star. Some healed their injuries, while others went into seclusion to cultivate, digesting the gains from the War Soul Star campaign, hoping to advance their cultivation further.
Zhang Ruochen had obtained a large number of beast-shaped sacred medicines, and had also searched the bodies of Laiwangren, Quxingzhe, and other cultivators, finding many sacred pills, sacred medicines, and merit treasures.
Therefore, he couldn't wait to start refining them.
Entering the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, which had a time ratio of four to one, Zhang Ruochen took out a beast-shaped sacred medicine. It was shaped like a green wolf and was already seventy thousand years old.
"Chi chi."
Releasing Purifying Divine Flame from both palms, he refined the green wolf into droplets of green liquid and swallowed them all.
A layer of green light immediately appeared on Zhang Ruochen's body. A cool power surged into his sacred heart, and his spiritual power rapidly increased. His already quite powerful sacred soul became even more solid.
Zhang Ruochen did not plant the beast-shaped sacred medicines in the divine soil medicine garden of the Qiankun Realm, but refined them all.
These beast-shaped sacred medicines had domineering and fierce consciousness. Planting them in the divine soil medicine garden might cause them to devour other sacred medicines. That was one reason.
Second, Zhang Ruochen felt that the reason these sacred medicines had taken beast forms and possessed powerful sacred souls and spiritual power was likely related to the Starry Sky Giant Crocodile.
If he didn't eliminate them, it might leave hidden dangers.
After refining nearly a hundred beast-shaped sacred medicines in a row, the number of sacred dao rules in Zhang Ruochen's qi sea increased by nearly a million, reaching a total of over 3.7 million. His cultivation had advanced significantly, equivalent to the results of five or six years of hard cultivation.
The improvement in his sacred soul was even greater, with its strength almost doubling.
The increase in spiritual power was the most obvious, reaching the peak of the fifty-eighth rank, not far from the fifty-ninth rank.
Zhang Ruochen took out the last beast-shaped sacred medicine. This sacred medicine was shaped very much like a phoenix, dozens of zhang tall, emitting a magnificent and dazzling light.
The aura emitted by the phoenix-shaped sacred medicine was not weaker than that of a Dao Domain realm expert. Fortunately, Ji Fanxin had engraved binding inscriptions on it, so Zhang Ruochen felt safe releasing it.
This was a hundred-thousand-year beast-shaped sacred medicine!
Zhang Ruochen did not refine it. Instead, he put the phoenix-shaped sacred medicine away again, feeling it was more suitable for Mu Lingxi. He planned to give it to her as a gift. Because next, Zhang Ruochen planned to go to the Central Domain.
With his current cultivation, he was already capable of investigating the "Palace Coup Incident" of the Sacred Bright Central Empire eight hundred years ago.
No matter what the reason, those people from back then had to give him an explanation.