Chapter 1929: Below Great Saint
Without any hesitation, Zhang Ruochen directly swallowed the Sun Leaf and began circulating the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture* to refine it with full force.
Actually, if he had a White Tiger Leaf, it would have been even better. Given his current physical strength, refining a White Tiger Leaf might have allowed him to achieve a Great Saint-level physical body, making the refinement of Great Saint-level dragon and elephant souls much easier.
However, given the miraculous nature of the Sun Leaf, he believed that refining it would not disappoint him either.
The Sun Leaf contained an immensely vast and scorching solar essence. The moment he swallowed it, Zhang Ruochen felt as if his body had turned into a divine furnace, glowing entirely crimson as if about to melt.
Even with his formidable physical body, it was difficult to endure. Countless cracks appeared on his skin's surface, on the verge of shattering. Drops of fresh blood seeped out from his pores, instantly evaporated by the solar essence.
For a time, Zhang Ruochen's body visibly shriveled. The Sun Leaf seemed intent on drying up all the moisture within him.
The Sun Leaf was different from other leaves. It contained a more violent divine power, making its consumption far more dangerous, akin to swallowing a blazing sun.
"As expected of a divine medicine. The medicinal power is so strong that my body is nearly collapsing. I must hold on," Zhang Ruochen gritted his teeth inwardly.
To become stronger, what was a little suffering?
Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to simply endure it head-on.
Feeling that his body's endurance had nearly reached its limit, Zhang Ruochen quickly took out some Life Spring and drank it.
Instantly, a cooling sensation spread throughout his body, greatly alleviating the pain and slowly healing the cracks on his skin.
The Life Spring was nurtured by the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree, possessing miraculous properties that could nearly bring the dead back to life and restore flesh from bones.
Once his condition stabilized somewhat, Zhang Ruochen stood up and began practicing the Luo Water Fist Art to harmonize the vast solar essence within him.
A river appeared, swirling around him, its cool aura spreading to suppress the scorching power radiating from his body.
Unfortunately, he wasn't in the Nine-Bend Heavenly Star, where comprehending the Luo Water Fist Art would have been more effective. Using the Luo Water would have better resolved the troubles he now faced.
The Luo Water Fist Art alone couldn't fully harmonize the solar essence. Every so often, Zhang Ruochen's body would verge on collapse, forcing him to drink more Life Spring.
Fortunately, the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree had already produced a large amount of Life Spring, so there was no worry about running out.
Zhang Ruochen's body alternated between scorching hot and bone-chilling cold, as if being forged like a weapon. The pain was truly beyond what an ordinary person could bear.
This cycle repeated countless times until Zhang Ruochen finally gained complete control over the Sun Leaf's power.
During this process, his physical strength had greatly increased, reaching the pinnacle of the Saint King Realm. He was only one step away from achieving a Great Saint-level physical body.
This level of physical strength had a specific realm designation: "Below Great Saint," meaning the physical limit before attaining a Great Saint body.
Despite tempering his body to this extent, he hadn't actually consumed much of the Sun Leaf's essence.
The Sun Leaf's power had settled, forming a blazing sun suspended within his Divine Light Qi Sea, illuminating it with dazzling brilliance.
If not for this, even if he had endured ten or a hundred times longer, Zhang Ruochen would never have been freed from the torment.
With his current cultivation and strength, he was still unable to fully refine the Sun Leaf.
After all, even a powerful ancient god like the Moon God, after refining the Moon Leaf, could only recover a fraction of her divine power.
The Sun Leaf and the Moon Leaf were equivalent. One could imagine how vast the power contained in the Sun Leaf was—even a Great Saint might not be able to contain it.
It was likely that Bai Li Princess and the others hadn't truly refined the Seven-Star Divine Lingzhi leaves either. Most of the essence was still stored within their bodies, gradually released as their cultivation increased. This was probably a key reason why their strength had been able to grow so rapidly.
"As expected of the Sun Leaf. By refining just a small portion, it has tempered my body to the Below Great Saint realm. Every inch of my flesh and blood is filled with abundant life essence. Even if I suffer severe injuries, I should be able to recover quickly. In my current state, refining the Great Saint-level dragon and elephant souls should be no problem."
Feeling the fundamental transformation of his body, Zhang Ruochen couldn't help but feel excited.
With his physical strength at this level, further tempering would yield little additional benefit. Although he was only one step away from a Great Saint body, crossing that threshold was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
Zhang Ruochen wasn't in a hurry. His cultivation hadn't even reached the peak of the Saint King Realm yet. It was too early to aim for a Great Saint body.
Stopping the physical tempering, Zhang Ruochen took out the Great Saint-level dragon soul and began refining it.
He intended to refine this Great Saint-level dragon soul into his left arm, merging it into his skin, flesh, bones, and meridians. His left arm would become the vessel for the dragon soul.
Although the dragon soul's consciousness had been erased, it still retained an instinct to resist, struggling fiercely.
Zhang Ruochen activated the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture*, channeling all his Saint Qi into his left arm to suppress the dragon soul tightly.
But as soon as he began, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm, as if countless steel needles were piercing it. His skin split open, and blood gushed out.
Keep in mind that his physical realm had already reached Below Great Saint, yet this still happened. If he had tried to refine the dragon soul before this, his arm would have exploded instantly.
Zhang Ruochen felt a slight sense of relief, grateful that he had been thorough in his preparations and hadn't acted recklessly.
He straightened his arm, gritted his teeth, and began executing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm to accelerate the refinement process.
During this, the blazing sun in his Divine Light Qi Sea rotated, releasing scorching yang energy that merged into his left arm, both aiding in refining the dragon soul and healing the injured arm.
After immense effort, with his left arm shattering countless times, he finally succeeded in refining the dragon soul.
Relying on the strange power released by the sun, the wounds on his left arm healed quickly. In no time, it was restored to its original state, showing no signs of injury.
With the experience of refining the dragon soul, refining the elephant soul became much easier.
It took only half the time needed for the dragon soul to refine the elephant soul into his right arm, and his right arm shattered only a few times.
The thirteen Saint King-level dragon and elephant souls originally refined into his arms had all merged into the Great Saint-level dragon and elephant souls, strengthening them considerably.
Zhang Ruochen shook his arms, and the Great Saint-level dragon and elephant souls immediately manifested, exuding a bestial emperor's aura, as if entering a primeval world.
"Elephant Stomps the Earth."
"Dragon Soars in the Sky."
"Dragon and Elephant Return to the Field."
...
"Scale Birth and Dragon Transformation."
"Dragon Roams the Nine Heavens."
"Dragon and Elephant Reach the Heavens."
"All Heavens Dragon and Elephant."
Zhang Ruochen struck out with both palms repeatedly, executing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm from the first to the twelfth stance. Each palm was more powerful than the last, with blazing yang energy surging from his body.
When he unleashed the twelfth stance, his body had turned entirely into a golden-red hue. His eyes blazed like torches, and fierce flames burned around him.
"The twelfth stance of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm is perfected. I have finally mastered a high-rank sacred art."
Zhang Ruochen laughed out loud, unable to hide his joy.
To master a high-rank sacred art at the Saint King Realm was an achievement few could claim across the entire Heavenly Court. This was a technique belonging to Great Saints, also known as a heaven-and-earth great art, capable of shifting the heavens and earth and shattering stars.
Mastering a high-rank sacred art could greatly enhance the strength of a Saint King Realm cultivator.
Some cultivators who had reached the Approach Dao Realm could even rival Undying Great Saints with a high-rank sacred art. After all, high-rank sacred arts were difficult to master; even some Undying Great Saints might not succeed in learning them.
After his excitement subsided, Zhang Ruochen sat back down and circulated his technique, calming the violent yang energy within him. The scorching yang aura receded, and his skin returned to its normal color.
With the mastery of the twelfth stance of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, the yang energy within Zhang Ruochen had reached hundreds of thousands of times that of an ordinary person. He was essentially a sacred fire furnace, capable of melting even top-tier war weapons.
Fortunately, the Sun Leaf continuously supplied him with yang energy; otherwise, he might not have successfully mastered "All Heavens Dragon and Elephant."
In the remaining time, Zhang Ruochen shifted his focus to comprehending the Way of Space and the Time Sword Art, striving to further enhance his strength.
A tough battle lay ahead. Without sufficient power, it would be difficult to seize the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree trunk.
Six days later, the six divine stones were exhausted, and Zhang Ruochen emerged from his secluded cultivation site.
As for the remaining divine stone, it couldn't independently activate the Sundial, so he had to store it for now.
Over six years, Zhang Ruochen had made tremendous gains. His physical body had reached Below Great Saint, the twelfth stance of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was perfected, the fifth level of the Time Sword Art had reached minor mastery, his Way of Space had greatly improved, two-thirds of the rules within the Blazing God Leg had been refined, and the number of sacred dao rules within his body had reached 9.12 million, bringing him close to breaking through to the Rule Grand Heaven.
Another thing that delighted Zhang Ruochen was that Lu Huaiyu had successfully upgraded the Eight Dragon Umbrella and the Nine Dragon Chariot using precious materials like Divine Blood Crystals.
After being re-refined, the grades of the Eight Dragon Umbrella and the Nine Dragon Chariot had surpassed ten-thousand-pattern sacred artifacts with over 120,000 internal inscriptions, very close to Monarch War Artifacts.
A Monarch War Artifact referred to a powerful war weapon with at least 129,600 internal inscriptions.
129,600 was both the number of an eon and an ultimate number in the heavens and earth.
However, for a sacred artifact to transform into a Monarch War Artifact was extremely difficult, requiring special conditions.
For example:
A Monarch War Artifact must undergo tribulation to be forged.
Countless top-tier ten-thousand-pattern sacred artifacts had been destroyed in heavenly tribulations. Only a rare few succeeded, becoming the monarchs of weapons.
Additionally, to become a Monarch War Artifact, the artifact spirit must condense a high-grade dao body.
Sacred artifacts whose spirits had only condensed ordinary dao bodies had no hope of becoming Monarch War Artifacts, no matter how many precious materials were refined into them.
Like Supreme Sacred Artifacts, Monarch War Artifacts typically only unleashed their full power in the hands of Great Saints.
Although Monarch War Artifacts were less powerful than Supreme Sacred Artifacts, they were much easier to activate. If the artifact spirit cooperated, their unleashed power might not be weaker than a Supreme Sacred Artifact without a spirit.
The Azure Sky Bow and Daylight Arrow that Zhang Ruochen had seized from Qi Sheng were Monarch War Artifacts with formidable power. Unfortunately, since Zhang Ruochen wasn't of the Undying Blood Clan, he had never gained the recognition of their spirits. Otherwise, the Azure Sky Bow and Daylight Arrow would have become major killing tools in his hands.
Although the Eight Dragon Umbrella and the Nine Dragon Chariot hadn't become Monarch War Artifacts, Zhang Ruochen was already satisfied. With their current grades, they could significantly enhance his strength.