Chapter 2058: Reaching Heaven
The vast Blood God Sect had become empty and desolate, with everyone gathered at the summit of Qianyuan Mountain, including Du Mosheng, Pei Linhu, He Yuan, and other subjugated demonic cultivators.
Previously, when the Black Demon Realm had come with such ferocious momentum, regardless of the reason, Du Mosheng and the others had not retreated. Their performance had been quite good, earning Zhang Ruochen's considerable satisfaction.
Now that the Blood God Sect was in need of personnel, Zhang Ruochen planned to properly train the three of them. Bound by the Blood God Curse Seal, they were absolutely loyal, allowing him to invest various resources in them with confidence.
Du Mosheng cultivated the Heavenly Demon Devouring God Diagram, which happened to be one of the four Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions collected by the Blood God Sect. As for Pei Linhu, he cultivated the Heavenly Demon Tiger Roar Diagram, which was also in Zhang Ruochen's possession, having been won from the Black Demon Realm side through a gambling battle.
The Black Demon Realm had only recently obtained the authentic Heavenly Demon Tiger Roar Diagram, so Pei Linhu hadn't even had time to comprehend it. If he hadn't submitted to the Blood God Sect, he would have been destined to miss out on this Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription.
For cultivators of the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions, directly comprehending the authentic version was immensely significant. Only by comprehending the authentic version was there hope of cultivating the powerful World-Destroying Demon Qi.
He Yuan was a cultivator from the Shadow Demon Realm. Although he didn't cultivate a Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription, Zhang Ruochen possessed one that was highly compatible with his demonic arts. This was also the reason he had agreed to cooperate with Pei Linhu and the others in the first place.
Naturally, Du Mosheng, Pei Linhu, and He Yuan were extremely excited to receive Zhang Ruochen's guidance. They secretly rejoiced at having made a wise choice, not only preserving their lives but also enjoying such favorable treatment.
In the second year of secluded cultivation, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation truly reached the peak of the Dao Domain Realm. The number of Sacred Dao Rules within his body reached 19,999,999—just one short of 20 million. Once he condensed and succeeded, he could step into the Reaching Heaven Realm.
However, having reached this level, Zhang Ruochen encountered a bottleneck. He couldn't break through in one go like before.
The Reaching Heaven Realm was no small matter. It involved drawing the power of heaven and earth into the body, tempering form and spirit, and preparing for the subsequent forging of an indestructible sacred body.
Most people, after reaching the peak of the Approaching Dao Realm, needed a long period of accumulation before they could break through to the Reaching Heaven Realm through sustained effort.
Du Mosheng, Pei Linhu, and He Yuan had been at the peak of the Dao Domain Realm for quite some time, yet they remained stuck at the bottleneck, unable to determine when they would break through.
However, now that they had the opportunity to comprehend the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions, they might find the opportunity to break through their cultivation.
"It seems that the hidden danger was caused by my previous focus on increasing the number of Sacred Dao Rules without paying attention to quality. Of the nearly 20 million Sacred Dao Rules in my body, 70% were cultivated through comprehending the Ten Thousand Minor Paths. The proportion is too large."
Zhang Ruochen frowned, quickly identifying the problem.
With Zhang Ruochen's innate talent, if the Sacred Dao Rules he cultivated were strong enough, the Reaching Heaven Realm wouldn't be a bottleneck. He could break through easily.
Since returning to the Kunlun Realm, Zhang Ruochen had faced an endless stream of powerful enemies, bearing immense pressure. He had to find ways to rapidly increase his strength.
In comparison, comprehending the Ten Thousand Minor Paths to increase Sacred Dao Rules was undoubtedly the fastest method.
As a result, as his cultivation advanced, the proportion of Minor Path Rules in his body grew larger and larger, becoming difficult to reverse.
The most troublesome part was that once Sacred Dao Rules were cultivated, changing them was extremely difficult, if not impossible.
"All the Sacred Dao Rules in my body are tightly integrated. If I recklessly extract some, problems could easily arise, and the Styx River might even collapse directly."
Zhang Ruochen's head began to ache, feeling somewhat helpless.
Sacred Dao Rules could be forcibly extracted from the body, but doing so recklessly would have severe consequences. With even a slight mistake, one could ruin their own future, ending their cultivation path.
But if he didn't solve this problem, as a master of time and space, the time Zhang Ruochen would need to break through to the Reaching Heaven Realm would definitely not be short. That would also be a major problem.
Many thoughts flashed through Zhang Ruochen's mind as he considered various methods. This was just a small twist on his cultivation path. If he couldn't solve this, how could he talk about becoming a god?
"This method might work."
Zhang Ruochen murmured, reaching out to gently stroke the Flame God Armor on his body.
The next moment, he mobilized all the Truth Esoterica within him, mixing it with Saint Qi, and injected it into the Flame God Armor.
The surface of the Flame God Armor immediately revealed a large number of complex secret patterns, and terrifying flames surged forth.
With 39 ten-thousandths of the Truth Esoterica, Zhang Ruochen undoubtedly further stimulated the power of the Flame God Armor.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen extracted ten Sacred Dao Rules from the Styx River, manifesting them outside his body.
These Sacred Dao Rules were all Minor Path Rules, appearing very slender and containing weak power.
Zhang Ruochen placed these ten Sacred Dao Rules into the flames, carefully refining them with fire.
The Flame God Armor was left behind by the Flame God of the past. The divine fire contained within was extremely terrifying, enough to incinerate all things.
After a short time, one Minor Path Rule showed signs of melting.
Zhang Ruochen's expression was solemn as he carefully controlled the flames released by the Flame God Armor, allowing the ten Minor Path Rules to merge with each other.
Accomplishing this was clearly not easy. If done poorly, all ten Sacred Dao Rules could be destroyed.
"Boom."
One Sacred Dao Rule exploded, directly dissipating into nothingness.
Zhang Ruochen's expression became grave, but he didn't stop. He just became more careful.
Even so, the ten Sacred Dao Rules still exploded one after another, vanishing into smoke.
"Again."
After a brief contemplation, Zhang Ruochen once again extracted ten Minor Path Rules from the Styx River.
As before, he used the flames released by the Flame God Armor for refinement.
Unfortunately, the result was the same as before.
However, Zhang Ruochen clearly had no intention of giving up. After pausing for a while, he continued again.
In this way, he tried hundreds of times in succession, losing thousands of Sacred Dao Rules. Even the Styx River experienced slight tremors, becoming somewhat unstable.
Finally, combining the experience accumulated from each attempt, the Minor Path Rules showed signs of merging. Ten rules fused into one, forming an incomplete, thick rule.
Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen didn't hesitate. He immediately summoned dozens more Sacred Dao Rules from his body and refined them using the same method.
During this process, Zhang Ruochen pushed his spiritual power to its limit, clearly grasping every detail.
After a long time, a relatively thick Sacred Dao Rule appeared in the blazing flames, fundamentally different in nature.
Looking at this brand-new Sacred Dao Rule, Zhang Ruochen broke into a smile. "Losing thousands of Sacred Dao Rules was worth it. Using thirty-three Minor Path Rules to fuse into one Major Path Rule—this method is very difficult, but it is indeed feasible."
The Eternal Dao, Supreme Sacred Dao, Major Path, and Minor Path were all connected in extremely wonderful ways.
The Nine Eternal Dao were the most fundamental paths, giving rise to the Seventy-Two Supreme Sacred Dao, which in turn gave rise to the Three Thousand Major Paths and the Ten Thousand Minor Paths.
Conversely, dozens of Minor Paths of the same type, returning to their origin, could form one Major Path.
Continuing the deduction, dozens of Major Paths of the same type could theoretically form one Supreme Sacred Dao.
Of course, while this was the theory, actually achieving it was extremely difficult.
As Zhang Ruochen saw it, only the fusion of Minor Paths into Major Paths was feasible. The others were not worth considering.
"Next, I will do my best to fuse Minor Path Rules into Major Path Rules, fundamentally eliminating the hidden danger."
Having found a solution, Zhang Ruochen naturally wanted to complete this task quickly.
Fusing rules was not an easy task. It required extreme care. Even after finding the trick, efficiency was still hard to improve.
As the Minor Path Rules decreased, Zhang Ruochen could undoubtedly cultivate more powerful rules.
In the blink of an eye, ten years passed.
The Minor Path Rules in Zhang Ruochen's body had decreased by a full seven million, fusing into over 200,000 Major Path Rules.
At the same time, during these ten years, Zhang Ruochen had also cultivated an additional three million powerful Sacred Dao Rules. The total number of Sacred Dao Rules in his body was still over 16 million, so his cultivation hadn't regressed.
Now, the Minor Path Rules in Zhang Ruochen's body were less than seven million, accounting for 40% of the total.
At this point, Zhang Ruochen stopped and no longer continued fusing Minor Path Rules.
No cultivator could be without Minor Path Rules in their body. They were an important foundation, indispensable.
"Next, I will cultivate according to this proportion. If the number of Minor Path Rules decreases further, the Styx River will become unstable."
Zhang Ruochen murmured. He now had a clear plan for his future cultivation.
Although the total number of rules had decreased, the scale of the Styx River had clearly become larger.
The reason was simple: the Styx River now contained more thick and powerful rules, possessing far greater power than before.
With the current power of the Styx River to mobilize the rules of heaven and earth and the power of heaven and earth, both the range and quantity would increase significantly.
Correspondingly, Zhang Ruochen's actual strength had actually increased rather than decreased.
As long as he restored his cultivation to the peak of the Dao Domain Realm, his strength would inevitably see a great improvement.
However, Zhang Ruochen also discovered a problem: once the total number of any Sacred Dao Rule exceeded 500,000, continuing to increase it became very difficult.
The Sacred Dao Rule with the highest quantity in Zhang Ruochen's body was the Sword Dao Rule. Before seclusion, it had already reached 700,000, which was a remarkable achievement.
During this seclusion of about twelve years, the Sword Dao Rule had increased by approximately 70,000. Zhang Ruochen's understanding of the Sword Dao had become increasingly profound, and he was more confident in creating a sword technique unique to him.
With the adjustment of the Sacred Dao Rules in his body complete, Zhang Ruochen once again devoted himself fully to cultivation. He wanted to restore his cultivation level while also completing the four goals he had set before seclusion.
In the fifteenth year of seclusion, Du Mosheng broke through the bottleneck and successfully reached the Reaching Heaven Realm.
More importantly, Du Mosheng's Blood Sea Demon Qi underwent a transformation. At the moment of breakthrough, the first wisp of World-Destroying Demon Qi appeared in his body.
More than a year later, Pei Linhu and He Yuan successively broke through to the Reaching Heaven Realm. However, they weren't as fortunate as Du Mosheng. It was still unknown when they would have hope of cultivating the World-Destroying Demon Qi.
"Whoosh."
A condensed sword soul flew out from Zhang Ruochen's body.
A wisp of sword energy burst forth, condensing into a sacred sword, which was held in the sword soul's hand.
The sword soul held the sword and swung it in the air. The sword technique displayed wasn't particularly brilliant—all were the most basic sword forms—but it felt extremely exquisite and full of spirituality.
As time passed, the sword technique displayed by the sword soul became increasingly profound, rehearsing all the sword techniques Zhang Ruochen had learned.
When the final form of the True One Thunder Fire Sword Technique was completed, the sword intent emanating from the sword soul suddenly changed.
The sacred sword traced a strange trajectory. Space rippled slightly, and the flow of time also showed subtle changes.
A crystal-clear, strange flower appeared out of thin air, slowly blooming, magnificent and beautiful. At the moment this strange flower bloomed, the surrounding space and time showed obvious fluctuations.
A Seven Radiance Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact flew out from Zhang Ruochen's body and entered the area shrouded by sword intent.
"Buzz."
In an instant, thousands of fine cracks appeared on the surface of this Seven Radiance Ten-Thousand Pattern Sacred Artifact, which then directly shattered into powder.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face.
"I have successfully created a sword technique. Now, I have taken another big step in the Sword Dao."
With the initial creation of the sword technique, a surge of pride arose in Zhang Ruochen's heart.
Although this sword technique had just been created and was not yet perfect, its power should barely reach the level of a High-Rank Sacred Art.
With further refinement, its power could still be significantly improved.
Combining what he had learned, Zhang Ruochen had integrated the Way of Time and the Way of Space into the sword technique. Once executed, it could form a special space-time, enveloping the enemy, with both trapping and killing effects.
Although the power of this move might not yet match the Time Sword Art, it was easier to execute and could complement the Time Sword Art.
Speaking of which, it was also because during these years, Zhang Ruochen had cultivated a large number of Time Rules and Space Rules, deepening his understanding of the Way of Time and the Way of Space, that he was able to successfully create this sword technique.
"I will name this sword technique 'One Thought, One Flower Blooming.'"
After a brief thought, Zhang Ruochen settled on the name of the sword technique.
"One Thought" represents time, while the Buddha said, "One flower, one world." The flower represents space. Naming it this way was undoubtedly very fitting.
"Rumble."
At that moment, the flow speed of the Styx River suddenly accelerated, instantly rushing out of Zhang Ruochen's body.
"I didn't expect that creating this sword technique would become the opportunity for me to break through to the Reaching Heaven Realm."
Seeing this change, the smile on Zhang Ruochen's face became even brighter.
The Styx River coiled around Zhang Ruochen's body, flowing at an astonishing speed. The Sacred Dao Rules within it were like fish, full of spirituality.
Drawn by the Styx River, streams of the power of heaven and earth broke through the void and poured into Zhang Ruochen's body.
Originally, Zhang Ruochen's physical body had reached its limit, making further improvement difficult.
But now, with the power of heaven and earth entering his body, he could clearly feel the limit of his physical body being broken, becoming stronger bit by bit.
The effect of using the power of heaven and earth to temper the physical body for the first time was the best. Therefore, Zhang Ruochen immediately calmed his mind and devoted himself fully to cultivation.
Zhang Ruochen's physical body was already extremely powerful. At this moment, the benefits he gained were naturally far greater than those of ordinary people.
Only when his physical body was completely saturated, unable to accommodate even a trace of the power of heaven and earth, did Zhang Ruochen stop.
Next, he needed to settle for a while before he could continue to draw the power of heaven and earth to temper his body.
At this point, the Styx River also calmed down and re-entered Zhang Ruochen's body.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen had truly stepped into the Reaching Heaven Realm.
When facing powerful enemies at the level of Zhou Yu and Mo Sheng, the battle would no longer be as strenuous as before.
"Space Rules have reached 280,000, Time Rules have reached 210,000, and Truth Rules have reached 480,000. Compared to before seclusion, they have all multiplied, which is consistent with my current cultivation level."
Zhang Ruochen was quite satisfied with his cultivation achievements over these years.
Before seclusion, he had set four goals for himself. Now, three had been completed, leaving only the unsealing of the second layer of the Blazing God Leg.
"My cultivation has reached the Reaching Heaven Realm. I should have the confidence to unseal the second layer of the Blazing God Leg. I hope it won't disappoint me."
Zhang Ruochen murmured, full of anticipation for accomplishing this task.
The Blazing God Leg was a true divine leg, containing immense power. If the Moon God hadn't set four layers of seals within it, Zhang Ruochen would never have been able to control it.
Just unsealing the first layer gave it the power to threaten an Immortal Great Saint. He wondered how powerful it would become after unsealing the second layer.
The Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture circulated, and Zhang Ruochen gathered all the Saint Qi in his body into his left leg.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen also mobilized the essence of the Divine Sun in the Divine Light Qi Sea, merging it into his left leg.
Stimulated by the Saint Qi and the essence of the Divine Sun, Zhang Ruochen's left leg instantly turned crimson, like a red-hot mysterious iron pillar. Thick divine rules emerged one after another.
"Break for me."
When the power had accumulated to its limit, Zhang Ruochen let out a loud roar from his throat.
"Boom."
Like a falling star, powerful energy violently impacted the second layer of the seal on the Blazing God Leg.
Although the seal set by the Moon God was sturdy, under the impact of this force, it quickly shattered.
With the seal broken, a violent force surged forth wildly, and the surrounding space immediately shattered.
Zhang Ruochen reacted extremely quickly. He immediately activated the Mountain-Hiding Demon Mirror, sealing the space around him to prevent the power of the Blazing God Leg from spreading.
This force was truly too terrifying. If allowed to spread, it would be a great disaster.
"Exactly one million divine rules. No wonder it's so terrifying."
Looking at the thick rules emerging from his left leg, a hint of shock appeared in Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
He had long known that the Blazing God Leg couldn't possibly contain only 100,000 divine rules. Most of them had been sealed by the Moon God.
Only by breaking all four layers of seals would the divine rules in the Blazing God Leg be fully revealed.
By then, the power possessed by the Blazing God Leg would probably be enough to destroy heaven and earth.
"With my current Saint Qi foundation, I am still unable to fully activate these one million divine rules. It seems I need to further elevate my cultivation and strength to fully unleash the power of the Blazing God Leg with two layers unsealed."
Zhang Ruochen's heart trembled as he truly felt the power of the Blazing God Leg.
The Saint Qi converged, and the Blazing God Leg gradually calmed down. The one million divine rules receded and hid.
After a period of breath regulation, the Saint Qi in Zhang Ruochen's body fully recovered, and his spirit, energy, and vitality returned to their peak.
All four goals had been achieved, so Zhang Ruochen planned to end his seclusion.
Counting it up, he had been in secluded cultivation for twenty-four years, consuming twenty-four Divine Stones. This was longer than any previous seclusion.
"It's time to come out of seclusion. I'll keep the remaining nine Divine Stones for now. They might come in handy."
Zhang Ruochen cast his gaze toward the Sundial, lost in thought.
As the energy of the two embedded Divine Stones was exhausted, the Sundial fell silent. Zhang Ruochen grabbed it in his hand.
After staring at the Sundial for a moment, Zhang Ruochen put it away.
Then, Zhang Ruochen prepared to stand up. But as soon as he moved, his expression changed drastically. The reason was that his left leg had become extremely heavy, making it difficult for him to stand.
"I didn't expect that after unsealing the second layer, it would become like when I first obtained the Blazing God Leg. It seems I'll have to limp for a while."
After examining the condition of his left leg, Zhang Ruochen couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile.