Chapter 2242: Taking You to the Hell Realm
There was still a little over a month until the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet.
In the past thousand years, the most outstanding prodigies of the Hell Realm had all gathered at the Cold Page City Domain of the Fate Divine Domain.
At the auction in the Star Sea World, the Great Saint rising star Blood Butcher had lavishly spent hundreds of thousands of Divine Stones to bid for the Seven Cauldron Divine Travel Pill, the Eon-level Divine Illumination Lotus, and a Divine Corpse. This news spread like wildfire, quickly circulating and drawing exclamations of astonishment from all sides.
Following that, Blood Butcher challenged the Blade Prison Emperor, disciplined Cang Ye the Great Saint, and employed other high-profile yet forceful tactics, leaving the creatures of various clans utterly dumbfounded. They had no choice but to reassess him.
"Previously, we all focused our attention on the four figures: Zhang Ruochen, Yu Huang, Gu Chenzi, and Yi Xuan the Great Saint. It seems we now have to add Blood Butcher to the list."
Among the various tribes of the Undying Blood Clan, Blood Butcher's name was added to the roster of "threatening powerhouses." Only Great Saints who had broken at least seventy shackles were eligible for this list.
Among the ten major tribes of the Undying Blood Clan, Blood Butcher was the second exception after Zhang Ruochen.
Hearing the surrounding cultivators all discussing Blood Butcher, the Demon Source God Son was quite disdainful. "Blood Butcher? He's just relying on external forces. Without that Thousand-Question Realm Great Saint from the Stone Clan and the Dark Prison Realm Talisman, even Cang Ye the Great Saint could have made him kneel, let alone the Blade Prison Emperor. At the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet, there will be no external forces to rely on."
The Demon Source God Son's elder brother, the Hundred Shackles Realm Great Perfection cultivator Yuan Fei the Great Saint, immediately reprimanded him. "Do you think Blood Butcher is as simple as he appears on the surface? Have you considered this: where did he get so many Divine Stones? How did he secure the protection of a Thousand-Question Realm Great Saint from the Stone Clan?"
"Furthermore, even if you were given a Dark Prison Realm Talisman, could you trap three Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints from the Qitian Tribe, including the Blade Prison Emperor? It's not that simple. Blood Butcher's grasp of timing and his understanding of the psychology of the Blade Prison Emperor and the others were perfectly executed."
"When he unleashed the Dark Prison Realm Talisman, he also employed spatial power. The talisman arrived instantly, giving the three Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints no chance to dodge."
"In the Saint King Realm, you might indeed be stronger than Blood Butcher. But now, if you underestimate him, you might suffer a great loss."
The Demon Source God Son was shocked to hear this. He hadn't realized that Blood Butcher's threat level had reached a point where even his elder brother had to take it seriously.
"Is Blood Butcher really that formidable?" the Demon Source God Son asked.
Yuan Fei the Great Saint's expression was solemn as he nodded. "The opportunity Blood Butcher obtained in the Kunlun Realm was definitely more than just a Blood Flame War God Imprint. Just how great a threat he poses is still uncertain. Even Wujiang and the Great Senluo Emperor can't see through him completely. In short, be cautious and on guard—never underestimate him."
The cultivators of the Blood Heaven Tribe were all in a frenzy.
Blood Butcher's actions in the Star Sea World filled them with supreme glory, making him a "tribal hero." Who would still mock the Blood Heaven Tribe for being at the bottom of the ten major tribes?
What did it matter that the Qitian Tribe ranked first?
When they encountered my tribe's Blood Butcher the Great Saint, they couldn't even bid for a single Divine Travel Cauldron.
Even Cang Ye the Great Saint, such a powerful existence, was nothing more than an ant before my tribe's Blood Butcher the Great Saint, unworthy of notice, and was even taught a lesson.
The Blade Prison Emperor's cultivation had reached the Hundred Shackles Realm Great Perfection, yet before my tribe's Blood Butcher the Great Saint, he had no authority whatsoever. He could only watch helplessly as Blood Butcher left calmly.
At this moment, within the Hanhai Manor in the Bingsi City District, Blood Butcher, who had shaken the Fate Divine Domain, was released by Zhang Ruochen from the Space Exquisite Sphere. He remained deeply worried, always feeling that this auction was a huge trap, having inexplicably offended a large number of cultivators.
For the time to come, in the Fate Divine Domain, he would surely find it difficult to take a single step.
As Blood Butcher stepped out of the Hanhai Manor, he immediately ran into Blood Chen.
Rarely, Blood Chen clasped his hands in a fist salute and spoke in a serious tone, "Blood Butcher the Great Saint, my father has sent me to invite you, hoping to meet with you."
"Brother Blood Chen, no need to be so formal. Just call me Blood Butcher. Since it's an invitation from Qingsheng the Great Saint, I must go."
Blood Butcher was inwardly surprised, feeling that Blood Chen's politeness was somewhat unnatural.
After all, back in the Saint King Realm, in terms of strength, he was slightly weaker than Blood Chen.
As for family background, how could Blood Butcher's clan compare to the Blood Absolute Family?
Although Blood Chen was still a Saint King, he could break through to become a Great Saint at any time if he wished. However, he intended to swallow the Mysterious Extreme Sacred Fruit at the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet, cultivate his primary path to perfection, and then break through.
All the Saint Kings participating in the Heaven Hunting Grand Banquet had the same plan.
Thus, Blood Butcher had no advantage over Blood Chen and naturally dared not put on the airs of a Great Saint.
"Blood Butcher the Great Saint, the Wind Empress invites you for a discussion."
"Blood Butcher the Great Saint, Yanhong the Great Saint has sent an invitation, hoping you will attend tonight's banquet."
...
Blood Butcher received a thick stack of invitations, including those from the Wind Empress and Yanhong the Great Saint, who were among the candidates for Goddess. For a moment, he felt at a loss.
He grew even more anxious, pacing back and forth, carefully pondering which invitations were genuine attempts to befriend him and which were traps.
If it were a trap...
Once he attended the banquet, he might not return intact.
"Most of them are after the Divine Travel Pill, the Divine Corpse, and the Divine Illumination Lotus, but I don't have any of those. Forget it, I can't take that risk. It's safer to stay in Zhang Ruochen's Hanhai Manor."
Blood Butcher felt he was in great danger now, surrounded by enemies everywhere, possibly even more than Zhang Ruochen. He was utterly frustrated.
He had thought that after breaking through to become a Great Saint, he would enjoy boundless glory in the Hell Realm. How had he unknowingly ended up in such a predicament?
Zhang Ruochen returned to the Hanhai Manor and activated the Sundial.
Now, he had plenty of Divine Stones, so he wasn't worried about consumption or waste.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Abyssal Ancient Sword, summoned the sword spirit from within the blade, and handed it ten Earth-grade Artifact Pills and ten Heaven-grade Artifact Pills.
"Give me five years. After refining these Artifact Pills, my cultivation should be enough to withstand the second King-level Heavenly Tribulation," the sword spirit said, swallowing one Artifact Pill before sitting down beneath the Sundial to cultivate.
The sword spirit's cultivation was still weak. It not only had to refine the pills but also comprehend the Sacred Dao and temper its Dao body, which would naturally take considerable time. However, with the Sundial's assistance, five years would be just five days.
Zhang Ruochen swallowed a Heaven-grade Sacred Pill for enhancing spiritual power, the "Heavenly Fiend Pill," and began to refine and absorb it. At the same time, he split five Sacred Avatars from his body, having them sit beneath the Sundial to comprehend the Sacred Dao.
Although he had already cultivated his Sacred Will, the number of Sacred Dao rules within his body was only 510 million.
He needed to cultivate up to 800 million to reach the later stage of the Immortal Realm.
"At my current comprehension speed, I should reach the later stage of the Immortal Realm within fifteen years. Within twenty years, I might have a chance to reach the peak of the Immortal Realm. Sacred Dao rules won't hinder my cultivation progress; the key lies in cultivating the Sacred Will."
Zhang Ruochen was dissatisfied with having condensed a fifth-rank "Ninefold Tremor Fist Path Sacred Will."
From now on, he would have to put his full effort into condensing each type of Sacred Will.
Zhang Ruochen took out a semi-transparent spherical space treasure, which contained twelve Star Cores.
One was sixth-rank, five were fifth-rank, and six were fourth-rank.
Zhang Ruochen chose to fuse the Star Cores within the Qiankun Realm.
When a fourth-rank Star Core was taken out, its volume was larger than a mountain, pitch black, pressing the ground to sink continuously. It seemed that more than half the weight of that fourth-rank planet had been refined into the Star Core.
Initially, Zhang Ruochen had worried that the Purple Gold Gourd couldn't refine the sixth-rank Star Core, but the devouring power of the Annihilation Golden Sun and the Cosmic Void Cold Stone exceeded his expectations.
In less than an hour, all twelve Star Cores were integrated into the Purple Gold Gourd.
"I wonder how much the gourd's suction power has increased. I need to find a cultivator to test it."
Zhang Ruochen remembered the four cultivators from the Heavenly Realm Faction who were suppressed in the Jungle Small World. So, he released them all.
The four were: Lianxi, the Shadowless Fairy from the *Nine Immortal Beauties Chart*, known as the "Great Xi King" from the Soul Realm; Hong, a top-tier Saint King powerhouse from the Giant Eye Calamity Clan of the Paradise Realm; Zhou Zhen, a leading figure from the Heavenly Court Array-Destroying Palace and a Formation Earth Master; and Shen Tu Yun Kong, a leader from the Space Divine Temple and the most outstanding genius of the Space Divine Temple in the past ten thousand years.
They had been imprisoned all along, unaware of the outside situation. As soon as they descended into the Qiankun Realm and landed on the ground, they immediately scattered in four directions, surrounding Zhang Ruochen.
Each released their Sacred Qi and spiritual power, seemingly intent on joining forces to suppress Zhang Ruochen.
"Zhang Ruochen, no matter how strong you are, you can't fight the entire Paradise Realm alone." Hong raised his right arm, muscles bulging, as devastating thunder and lightning surged from within his body.
Shen Tu Yun Kong spread his hands, forming a Space Domain, his body radiating ten thousand feet of sacred light. He declared loudly, "The Kunlun Realm is doomed. You can't stop this."
Zhang Ruochen watched them silently, feeling an illusion, as if he had returned to the Kunlun Realm.
Lianxi was calmer, observing Zhang Ruochen for a long time. After a while, a look of surprise appeared in her beautiful, bright eyes. "You've already broken through to the Great Saint Realm? This isn't... the Kunlun Realm."
Hong, Shen Tu Yun Kong, and Zhou Zhen were all shaken and quickly surveyed their surroundings.
"Indeed, it's not the Kunlun Realm. The Heaven and Earth rules of this great world are quite peculiar, seeming to revolve around Zhang Ruochen," Hong said.
Shen Tu Yun Kong added, "It should be a world formed by Zhang Ruochen fusing spatial rules with some kind of space treasure. However, this world... is vast. My spiritual power can't detect its boundaries."
Zhou Zhen's face turned extremely pale. When Zhang Ruochen was still a Saint King, he could easily suppress him. Now that Zhang Ruochen had become a Great Saint, how could they possibly fight him?
Shen Tu Yun Kong remained composed. "Everyone, don't panic. Let's break through to the Great Saint Realm together. With four Great Saints joining forces, can we not kill Zhang Ruochen? Once he's dead, we can naturally break out of this world."
All four had already reached the Lintao Realm but had been suppressing their cultivation to seize opportunities and treasures on the Kunlun Realm Merit Battlefield. If they wished to break through, they could soon condense an Immortal Sacred Body and become Great Saints.
Among them, Lianxi, Shen Tu Yun Kong, and Zhou Zhen were all extraordinary spiritual power experts, having already reached the peak of the fifty-ninth rank. With a single thought, they could become Spiritual Power Great Saints.
If Zhang Ruochen wanted to stop them, in the Qiankun Realm, no matter how great their abilities, they couldn't become Great Saints.
But Zhang Ruochen didn't stop them. Instead, he found a large rock, sat down, and observed them, as if waiting for them to break through.
Zhang Ruochen's actions made Lianxi, who knew him well, feel a sinking in her heart. She thought, "Zhang Ruochen's expression is calm, his eyes deep and unfathomable. He doesn't stop us from breaking through, clearly confident in himself. Indeed, even if we become Great Saints, we probably won't be his match."
"However, Shen Tu Yun Kong is a Space Controller, and Zhou Zhen is a Formation Earth Master. Once they reach the Great Saint Realm, their combat power will surely double. Zhang Ruochen's arrogance and underestimation of us might be our opportunity."
Lianxi stopped overthinking and focused all her energy on breaking through the realm.
Before long, Lianxi, Shen Tu Yun Kong, and Zhou Zhen all broke through, becoming Spiritual Power Great Saints.
Hong, in the distance, was condensing an Immortal Sacred Body, in a critical stage of breaking through to the Great Saint Realm.
Lianxi took out a crystal Sacred Staff from her space necklace, powered by her sixtieth-rank spiritual power. The staff immediately released tens of thousands of black ghost patterns, turning the sky for a thousand miles pitch black.
Her hair flew wildly, and as light flickered, her exquisitely refined features sometimes appeared and sometimes vanished.
"A fairy is indeed a fairy. After becoming a Spiritual Power Great Saint, her temperament surpasses even before," Zhang Ruochen commented seriously, still sitting on the rock.
Lianxi, who had made it onto the *Nine Immortal Beauties Chart*, was renowned alongside the Hundred Flowers Fairy and the Cihang Fairy, not just for her nearly perfect appearance and figure, but also for her temperament. Though eerie and sinister, she inspired no fear, instead pleasing the eye—the more one looked, the more one wanted to look. She was a representative figure among dark-type female cultivators across the Heavenly Court realms.
"Sizzle."
Zhou Zhen pressed his right hand to the ground, and a massive formation immediately appeared, trapping Zhang Ruochen within it.
Shen Tu Yun Kong raised his hands above his head, as if supporting something.
"Realm in the Clouds."
A crimson continent formed from spatial power appeared in the clouds, stretching hundreds of miles, and descended to suppress Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen said, "You're still too weak. You don't yet qualify for me to make a move. These attacks are merely average. Disperse them all."
He stood up and lightly stamped his foot.
"Boom."
Zhou Zhen's formation shattered, Shen Tu Yun Kong's crimson continent turned to dust, and the black ghost patterns released by Lianxi all surged back.
All three spat blood simultaneously, flying dozens of miles away. It took them a long time to struggle to their feet.
"Impossible... No matter how strong you are, you can't be this strong..."
Shen Tu Yun Kong, the foremost prodigy of the Space Divine Temple in ten thousand years, sent specifically to the Kunlun Realm to deal with Zhang Ruochen, couldn't bear this blow. His state of mind nearly collapsed.
Zhang Ruochen looked at them and shook his head gently. "Here, even if you were ten times stronger, suppressing you would still be effortless for me. Sigh, I originally planned to have you test the power of the Purple Gold Gourd, but it seems that even after breaking through to the Great Saint Realm, your strength is far from sufficient."
Then, Zhang Ruochen urged Hong, who was still condensing his Immortal Sacred Body, "Speed it up. Once you've also broken through to the Great Saint Realm, I'll take you to the Hell Realm to see the world and introduce you to a few Great Saints from the Hell Realm."
Just then, Blood Butcher had brought Qingsheng the Great Saint to the Hanhai Manor and was conversing with Zhang Ruochen's true body.
It was worth noting that the Zhang Ruochen in the Qiankun Realm was merely a clone.
Shen Tu Yun Kong, Zhou Zhen, and Lianxi were all stunned by Zhang Ruochen's words, thinking they had misheard.
What had Zhang Ruochen just said?
Take them to the Hell Realm?
And introduce them to Great Saints from the Hell Realm?