Chapter 2101: The Alchemy Cauldron Emerges
The appearance of numerous spatial fault lines divided the vast True Dragon Island into tens of thousands of large and small regions. Most of the powerful figures on the island were scattered, with no idea where they had ended up.
"It's a good thing we already suppressed that old fellow. Otherwise, heaven knows where we'd have to go to find him." Xiao Hei said, feeling quite fortunate.
At that moment, Zi Xin Saint King of the Three-Eyed Ancient Clan approached, joining the other awakened ones. Her gaze fell on Chi Jin Wang and Qian Jue Dao Wang. Having just witnessed the two of them kill two Bone Clan Venerables, she was deeply shaken and asked, "How have the two of you recovered so much strength in such a short time?"
For any powerful figure who had been in deep slumber since ancient times, it was impossible to immediately regain their former strength upon awakening. There was always a process of recovery.
When they first set foot on True Dragon Island, Chi Jin Wang and Qian Jue Dao Wang had not yet recovered to their current formidable level. That was why, when they encountered the ambush of the Nether Hall Seven Absolute Assassins, they had remained low-key and refrained from acting rashly, instead joining forces with others to activate the Divine Dragon Silver Armor on Ao Xinyan.
Chi Jin Wang laughed. "Of course, we had some good fortune."
Qian Jue Dao Wang said frankly, "After arriving on True Dragon Island, we found the legendary Sun-Moon Divine Dragon Spring. After undergoing its baptism, we eliminated the effects of our long slumber."
Hearing this, all the awakened ones, including Zi Xin Saint King, had their eyes light up. They undoubtedly needed the Sun-Moon Divine Dragon Spring for their own baptism.
Chi Jin Wang naturally knew what they were thinking and sighed. "The Sun-Moon Divine Dragon Spring is incredibly miraculous and can appear anywhere. Brother Qian Jue and I did not find the spring's source. We only happened upon a dozen or so drops of spring water, barely enough to restore our strength. There was none left over."
Upon hearing this, Zi Xin Saint King and the others could not hide their disappointment. If they could obtain a large amount of Sun-Moon Divine Dragon Spring water, they could all recover to their peak strength.
"The Sun-Moon Divine Dragon Spring is a rare sacred spring that has long since gained sentience. It can fly through the sky and burrow into the earth. Even a Great Saint would fail to pin it down. Whether you can obtain its water depends entirely on its mood. Even I tried to capture it back in the day and failed. It's even more slippery than the old fellow trapped by the formation." Xiao Hei gritted his teeth.
He too was eager to obtain some Sun-Moon Divine Dragon Spring water. While it couldn't completely eliminate the influence of the Divine Dragon Sun-Moon Chaos Tower's power, it held great promise for stabilizing his strength at the Great Saint level, rather than relying on luck to trigger it, and even then, not being able to sustain it.
"Waa, waa."
Suddenly, an extremely piercing crying sound rang out.
Anyone who heard the crying felt a chill run down their spine. Terrifying images vaguely surfaced in their minds, as if they were in a Shura Hell. If one's spiritual will was not strong enough, they would be eroded and controlled by a strange, evil will.
"That crying sound again. What on earth is it?" Ao Xinyan frowned slightly.
She had heard this crying before but had never seen the source of the sound.
Xiao Hei's eyes narrowed. "It's Mu Zu, one of the overlords of True Dragon Island. It uses spiritual power to infiltrate and mutate cultivators, turning them into these ghostly forms."
As he spoke, Xiao Hei used sacred qi to conjure the form of that strange, evil child. It was only about a meter tall, with blood-red eyes, no feet, and dozens of tentacles supporting its body.
He and Zhang Ruochen had encountered such evil children before. Their eerie spiritual attacks had nearly caused them trouble.
Seeing the child's bizarre form, Ao Xinyan and the others showed expressions of surprise. A method that could cause such a mutation in cultivators was unheard of.
Fortunately, their spiritual wills were very strong. The crying had little effect on them. As long as they didn't encounter the unpredictable Mu Zu itself, they should be fine.
While Xiao Hei and the others were unafraid of the crying, cultivators with weaker spiritual wills were in serious trouble. Strange, evil images appeared in their minds, leading to mental derangement and the onset of mutation.
Their pupils turned blood-red, their bodies gradually shrank, and they slowly transformed into children. The scene was horrifying.
In an extremely short time, a large number of cultivators from both the Heavenly Court and Hell Realms fell under Mu Zu's control, turning into evil children. It was a full-blown disaster.
Once transformed, they began attacking other cultivators around them, using spiritual erosion to turn everyone into Mu Zu's children, spreading like a plague.
Just as Zhang Ruochen and Dragon Sovereign Sha were traveling, several black shadows suddenly emerged from the ground, transforming into several evil children. They all opened their mouths, revealing sharp teeth, and burst into loud cries. Waves of spiritual attacks surged into the minds of Zhang Ruochen and Dragon Sovereign Sha.
In an instant, a ferocious ghost face appeared in Zhang Ruochen's mind, trying to devour his spiritual will.
"Hmph."
Zhang Ruochen snorted, mobilized his spiritual power, and immediately shredded the ghost face in his mind.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen released space power, instantly constructing a spatial prison to trap all the evil children.
Then, he released a strand of spiritual power, probing into the mind of one of the strange children to examine it closely.
However, the moment his spiritual power entered, it was engulfed by a sea of blood, and he vaguely felt targeted by a terrifying behemoth.
But he didn't see the behemoth's true form, only a pair of blood-red eyes filled with boundless killing intent.
"Master, these are Mu Zu's children. They all carry Mu Zu's will. Never probe them with spiritual power, or you'll easily attract Mu Zu's attention." Dragon Sovereign Sha warned.
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen didn't hesitate and immediately severed the spiritual power he had released.
Then, he clenched his hand, and the spatial prison shattered completely, along with the several strange children inside, who turned to ashes.
Dragon Sovereign Sha said, "Master, Mu Zu usually sleeps. Now that it's actively releasing its children, it must be fully awake. We need to be more cautious."
"What exactly is Mu Zu?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Dragon Sovereign Sha replied, "Mu Zu's true form is a heart, originating from a deity of the Hell Realm. On True Dragon Island, it absorbed endless resentful and baleful qi (yuan sha zhi qi), gained sentience, and was born with the terrifying ability to control the minds of living beings."
"Over the years, more than just the five of us overlords have been born on True Dragon Island. But the weaker ones were almost all controlled by Mu Zu. And Mu Zu has collected the most treasures."
Dragon Sovereign Sha was clearly quite wary of Mu Zu, especially since its own strength was diminished. Going up against Mu Zu would be very disadvantageous.
"I see. No wonder Mu Zu is so evil. But with the two of us working together, we don't need to fear it too much." Zhang Ruochen said calmly.
Both he and Dragon Sovereign Sha had extremely resilient spiritual wills and wouldn't be easily eroded. Moreover, they mastered spatial techniques, so self-preservation was not a problem.
Additionally, when Zhang Ruochen and Xiao Hei had encountered the evil children before, they had noticed that the children seemed very wary of pure, strong yang power. This might be one of Mu Zu's weaknesses.
With no more evil children blocking their path, Zhang Ruochen and Dragon Sovereign Sha continued forward. At this point, the deeper they went into the Dragon God Temple ruins, the greater the chance of obtaining treasures.
Along the way, Zhang Ruochen did not spare any Hell Realm cultivators he encountered, killing them all.
By now, he had collected the sacred souls of many Hell Realm cultivators, including a strand of the Dark Son's sacred soul, which could be exchanged for a large amount of merit points.
According to the rules set by the Merit Divine Temple, even killing the weakest Immortal Great Saint would earn thirty million merit points. Killing an outstanding one could earn over a hundred million.
When the Dark Son was killed, he had already broken through to the Immortal Great Saint realm and was far from an ordinary one. A strand of his sacred soul would certainly yield a satisfying amount of merit points.
Passing through another spatial fault line, Zhang Ruochen's eyes lit up. He saw familiar figures—not just one, but four.
Two of them were quite familiar to Zhang Ruochen: Ao Xukong and Ming Hu Zhen Jun.
The other two, though he had never dealt with them, he recognized. One was the First Young Emperor of the Thousand Star Civilization, Xing Wuji, and the other was the Giant Spirit King of the Giant Spirit Civilization, Jin Yu.
The Thousand Star Civilization had a thousand young emperors. Being ranked first, Xing Wuji was naturally extraordinary.
The Giant Spirit King was the most revered title in the Giant Spirit Civilization, only given to the strongest cultivators below the Great Saint realm. It was a supreme honor.
Throughout the history of the Giant Spirit Civilization, almost all previous Giant Spirit Kings had eventually grown into top-tier Great Saints, and even deities.
Like Da Zun, Jin Yu was a golden giant, standing ninety-nine meters tall, the limit of the Saint King realm.
Meeting Ao Xukong, Ming Hu Zhen Jun, Xing Wuji, and Jin Yu here at the same time was quite unexpected for Zhang Ruochen. He hadn't thought that even spatial fault lines couldn't separate the four of them.
The moment they arrived, Ao Xukong and the others also sensed their presence and turned to look.
"Zhang Ruochen."
Seeing Zhang Ruochen, Ming Hu Zhen Jun's gaze became somewhat unnatural.
He had clashed with Zhang Ruochen before, so he naturally worried that Zhang Ruochen might cause trouble for him.
Zhang Ruochen moved, leaping down from Dragon Sovereign Sha's head and appearing beside Ao Xukong. Among the four, he was relatively more familiar with Ao Xukong.
"Even spatial fault lines can't stop you, Brother Ruochen. Your skills are truly enviable." Ao Xukong laughed.
Clearly, Zhang Ruochen's battle with the Dark Son had demonstrated his supreme strength, causing Ao Xukong's attitude toward him to change subtly. He now regarded Zhang Ruochen as a peer-level powerhouse, and there was even a hint of respect in his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head slightly. "If I could easily pass through spatial fault lines, I wouldn't have let the Nether Hall Seven Absolute Assassins escape."
"It's just that they were lucky, encountering a change on True Dragon Island. But from now on, wherever you are, the Nether Hall Seven Absolute Assassins will probably have to steer clear." Ao Xukong said.
At this point, Xing Wuji, Ming Hu Zhen Jun, and Jin Yu also approached. None of them could afford to ignore Zhang Ruochen.
Especially with Dragon Sovereign Sha by Zhang Ruochen's side, anyone would be cautious.
Xing Wuji smiled. "From now on, Brother Zhang will dominate the merit battlefield of the Kunlun Realm. The Hell Realm should be quite troubled."
He spoke the truth. Zhang Ruochen had defeated the Dark Son head-on. How many cultivators below the Great Saint realm in the Hell Realm were stronger than the Dark Son?
It could be said that Zhang Ruochen's meteoric rise would greatly hinder the Hell Realm's invasion of the Kunlun Realm.
Moreover, with Zhang Ruochen's current strength, even if the Hell Realm wanted to eliminate him, it was no longer very possible. Mastering space and time, if Zhang Ruochen wanted to leave, who below the Great Saint realm could stop him?
"Brother Zhang..."
Jin Yu was about to speak when the ground suddenly shattered, and thousands of auspicious qi surged out from below.
"A treasure is emerging."
In an instant, Zhang Ruochen and the others reacted.
From the commotion alone, they could roughly judge that the emerging treasure was quite extraordinary.
"Shua."
Along with a refreshing, strange fragrance, divine dragons flew out from the ground, scattering in all directions.
"Heavenly-grade sacred pills."
Ming Hu Zhen Jun's eyes gleamed.
By now, Zhang Ruochen and the others had also seen that the dozen or so divine dragons of various forms in the sky were actually sacred pills that had transformed. They all possessed extremely powerful strength, comparable to Nine-Step Saint Kings.
Heavenly-grade sacred pills were extremely precious. Only alchemy grandmasters could refine them, and mass production was difficult.
A single Heavenly-grade sacred pill would cost at least tens of millions of sacred stones, or even hundreds of millions. Few Saint Kings could afford them.
Therefore, it was usually Great Saints who used Heavenly-grade sacred pills for cultivation.
Without hesitation, Zhang Ruochen and the others moved at top speed to collect the Heavenly-grade sacred pills.
Even with their current cultivation and strength, Heavenly-grade sacred pills were still useful.
Although the Heavenly-grade sacred pills were powerful, they were helpless against Zhang Ruochen and the others.
In the blink of an eye, the Heavenly-grade sacred pills were all collected. Zhang Ruochen had five, Ao Xukong and Xing Wuji each had three, Jin Yu had two, and Ming Hu Zhen Jun had one. Everyone had gained something.
Of course, this was because Zhang Ruochen hadn't let Dragon Sovereign Sha intervene. Otherwise, Ao Xukong and the others might not have gotten any.
Since Ao Xukong and the others had helped him before, these Heavenly-grade sacred pills were his way of showing gratitude.
Just then, another commotion came from underground. A bronze-colored alchemy cauldron flew out. It looked very ancient, with several green divine dragons carved into its body, so lifelike they seemed ready to soar off.
"Bang."
As if controlled by someone, the cauldron directly shattered space and vanished into the distance.
"Chase."
Zhang Ruochen reacted instantly, appearing on Dragon Sovereign Sha's head and giving the order.
"Shua."
Dragon Sovereign Sha used spatial techniques to the extreme, following the cauldron like lightning through the broken space.
Although Ao Xukong and the others reacted quickly, they didn't dare to follow recklessly like Zhang Ruochen and Dragon Sovereign Sha. After all, they weren't space cultivators. If they got trapped in a spatial fault line, it would be very troublesome.
"The Heavenly-grade sacred pills that emerged earlier must have all come from that cauldron. There might be even higher-grade sacred pills inside. What a pity." Jin Yu couldn't help but sigh.
Ao Xukong said, "Whether there are King-grade sacred pills in the cauldron is unclear. But the cauldron itself is an extremely valuable treasure. The seven divine dragons carved into its body mean it can be used to refine King-grade sacred pills."
Hearing this, Xing Wuji, Ming Hu Zhen Jun, and Jin Yu's expressions changed. Such a precious alchemy cauldron had slipped through their fingers. It was a great pity. They wondered if Zhang Ruochen could obtain it.
On dragon alchemy cauldrons, dragon patterns were carved. The number of dragon patterns determined the quality of the cauldron.
The worst cauldrons had one dragon pattern, while the best had nine.
Legend had it that a nine-dragon-pattern cauldron could refine divine pills, something every alchemist dreamed of.
Even the Divine Dragon Clan of the Kunlun Realm only possessed one nine-dragon cauldron, and it was unknown if it had been destroyed in the divine wars of the past.
Although a seven-dragon cauldron couldn't compare to a nine-dragon one, it could still refine King-grade sacred pills. Many major worlds didn't have more than a few. Its value was immeasurable.
It should be noted that the pill spirit of a single King-grade sacred pill already possessed combat power comparable to a Great Saint. One could imagine how astonishing the medicinal power of a King-grade sacred pill was.
For an ordinary Saint King to try to collect or swallow a King-grade sacred pill was no different from seeking death.
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