Chapter 2245: Desolate Heaven
The environment of the Hanhai Manor had fully recovered, becoming even more beautiful than before. Pavilions and towers were scattered in an orderly fashion, surrounded by green lakes, with white mist forming bridges, and interwoven formation arrays crisscrossing the area, making it resemble a sacred paradise.
For formation masters, altering the terrain, environment, rivers, and lakes of an entire planet was a trivial matter, let alone a manor.
Yet Zhou Zhen felt no sense of accomplishment, only frustration.
How had he, the brilliant leader of the Array-Destroying Palace of this generation and a talented formation master, been reduced to Zhang Ruochen’s gardener?
At that moment, within the range covered by the sundial, Zhang Ruochen stood at the edge of the open bronze coffin, using his spiritual power to carefully observe the half-section of divine corpse inside.
The interior of the coffin was vast.
The half-section of divine corpse stretched over two thousand miles, resembling a scorpion’s tail, covered in massive green spikes. Although the divine soul had been removed, residual soul energy had condensed into soul mist, floating around the corpse.
Zhou Zhen, Lianxi, Mo Yin, Xue Chen, and Xue Ningxiao stood nearby, their gazes fixed on the corpse.
Xue Chen said, “The undispersed soul mist is the main ingredient for refining Secondary Soul Pills, and it’s incredibly precious.”
A Secondary Soul Pill was a king-grade pill capable of enhancing spiritual power.
This highlighted the value of the soul mist.
Above that were Soul Pills, but those were emperor-grade and required the original divine soul to refine.
Mo Yin’s graceful and delicate figure moved closer to Zhang Ruochen and said, “Master, if you entrust this half of the divine corpse to me, I am confident that within a hundred years, I can reach the Ten Thousand Deaths, One Life realm, and perhaps even the Supreme Realm.”
She extended a jade finger, and from its tip, a root as fine as a hair shot out, extending into the coffin.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. This half of the divine corpse contains a deadly poison. You might not be able to withstand it.”
Mo Yin’s expression shifted slightly, and she quickly withdrew her silver root.
The Devouring Demon Flower was immune to all toxins, but the poison bred within a divine body was something no living being dared to test lightly. Even a god would have to handle it with care.
Hearing Zhang Ruochen’s words, Zhou Zhen, Lianxi, Xue Chen, and Xue Ningxiao couldn’t help but step back several paces.
Zhang Ruochen summoned a God-Eating Insect the size of a fingernail and tossed it into the coffin.
The God-Eating Insect was a creature born from the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree, capable of devouring everything in existence. Its resistance to toxins surpassed even that of the Devouring Demon Flower.
But the insect only took a dozen bites before it stopped moving. The blue flames on its body extinguished, and its life force faded away.
“Such terrifying poison.”
The cultivators present grew even more solemn.
Zhang Ruochen’s brow furrowed deeply. Lost in thought, he walked toward the direction of the Wind Pavilion, leaving the divine corpse behind without further attention.
Xue Ningxiao said, “Cousin, don’t be too disappointed. Although the poison reduces the corpse’s value significantly, the toxins bred by a god are immensely lethal. With careful refinement, they could be used to kill a Great Saint. Such poison would surely be sought after by many cultivators.”
“It’s not that simple.”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “Being able to kill a Great Saint doesn’t mean it can actually kill one.”
“Huh?”
Xue Ningxiao was puzzled, unable to grasp Zhang Ruochen’s meaning.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Poisoning is the simplest way to kill, but using it to kill a Great Saint is as difficult as reaching the heavens.”
“A Great Saint won’t stand still and let you poison them. With a single thought, they can teleport dozens of miles away. Unless you refine a poison that can instantly cover hundreds of miles.”
“But Great Saints always have defensive measures. They can endure the poison for a short time, long enough to escape its range.”
“To poison a Great Saint, you’d need to make them ingest the poison or have it directly invade their body. If you can achieve that, why bother with poison? Wouldn’t a single sword strike be simpler?”
Of course, these poisons still had high value and wide applications, but their worth fell far short of the eighteen thousand divine stones Zhang Ruochen had paid.
Zhang Ruochen was deeply unwilling to accept this. He returned to the bronze coffin and summoned over a hundred God-Eating Insects at once, releasing them all inside.
“Sizzle.”
The insects swarmed onto the divine corpse, devouring it frantically.
After one breath, half the insects had died.
After ten breaths, only twenty-five remained.
After half an hour, nine were left.
The surviving nine suddenly went still, their bodies stiff. But the blue flames on them didn’t go out, and though their life force was faint, it hadn’t vanished.
It seemed… they had fallen asleep.
A smile spread across Zhang Ruochen’s face as he muttered to himself, “Excellent! The God-Eating Insects’ devouring ability is truly remarkable. These nine survivors should be consuming the poison and divine flesh within them. When they wake up, will there be a surprise?”
Zhang Ruochen’s greatest hope was to turn the God-Eating Insects into poison-devouring bugs, making them far more lethal.
Although the insects’ flames were powerful, their threat to Great Saints with undying sacred bodies was greatly reduced. But divine-level poison could trouble even Thousand Questions, Ten Thousand Deaths, One Life, or Supreme Realm Great Saints.
Only by delivering poison through the God-Eating Insects could they pose a real threat to Great Saints.
If the insects woke up and proved effective, he could expand the breeding scale.
Xue Chen and Xue Ningxiao entered the sundial’s range to cultivate, while Zhang Ruochen took out a palm-sized, exquisite palace and tossed it into the air.
The palace grew larger and larger, stopping only when it reached over seventy zhang in height.
This was the Seven-Star Imperial Palace.
During the Blood Absolute War God’s Great Saint era, he had refined this palace using a vast amount of treasures, coming just one step short of transforming it into a divine temple. Every door, wall, pillar, and beam was meticulously carved, with lines full of aesthetic charm.
Every brick and tile possessed divinity.
It featured breathtakingly detailed patterns and a majestic, towering presence. Even the Blood Absolute War God’s spiritual will seemed embedded within, pressing down on Zhou Zhen, Lianxi, and Mo Yin, making it hard to breathe.
“Every inch of the floor is engraved with Great Saint inscriptions, every pillar is forged from divine-smelted materials, and every image seems to contain some profound Dao. Is this… a god’s palace?” Zhou Zhen stammered.
He wasn’t inexperienced, but such a palace rivaled the dwellings of some gods. How could it be in Zhang Ruochen’s hands?
“Follow me.”
Zhang Ruochen stepped onto the stairs first, heading toward the palace gate.
Zhou Zhen didn’t know what Zhang Ruochen intended, but he dared not defy his will. He braced himself and followed.
Earlier, Qingsheng Great Saint had told him that the Seven-Star Imperial Palace contained cultivation insights left by the Blood Absolute War God, which might help him comprehend a higher-grade sacred will.
At the palace entrance, they saw a creature lying on the ground, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog. Its body was over six meters long, covered in blood-red fur.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen, it opened its sleepy eyes and transmitted a spiritual thought: “I know you—Zhang Ruochen, the Blood Absolute War God’s grandson. I am the guardian spirit of the Seven-Star Imperial Palace, named Desolate Heaven. When you can defeat me, you can become my master.”
“Why does every random cat or dog call itself ‘I, the Emperor’? It could pair well with Xiao Hei. Wait—what did it say its name was? Desolate Heaven?”
Zhang Ruochen froze for a moment, studying the large dog lying on the ground. He thought to himself that only the Blood Absolute War God would dare name his pet Desolate Heaven.
“May I ask, Guardian Spirit, what cultivation level have you reached?” Zhang Ruochen inquired.
Desolate Heaven said, “My cultivation is equivalent to a Thousand Questions Realm Great Saint. You’re just an Immortal Realm Great Saint—still far off.”
As the guardian spirit, it was the artifact spirit of the Seven-Star Imperial Palace.
For context, even the Blood-Drop Sword, which had evolved into a supreme sacred artifact, had an artifact spirit that hadn’t reached the Great Saint level. Yet this palace’s artifact spirit had reached the Thousand Questions Realm. This showed that if fully activated, the Seven-Star Imperial Palace’s defensive power might indeed, as Qingsheng Great Saint said, withstand attacks from a Ten Thousand Deaths, One Life Realm Great Saint.
Of course, the dog Desolate Heaven had taken over a hundred thousand years to reach the Thousand Questions Realm, so it wasn’t particularly impressive.
Zhou Zhen, following behind Zhang Ruochen, felt a chill run down his spine.
So Zhang Ruochen was the Blood Absolute War God’s grandson. No wonder he thrived in the Hell Realm, commanding respect.
The Blood Absolute War God’s name carried great weight even in the Heavenly Court’s various realms.
Zhou Zhen looked at the guardian spirit lying on the ground, his heart filled with fear. He quickly clasped his hands and bowed deeply, thinking, “Zhang Ruochen is surrounded by powerful experts and holds a high status in the Hell Realm. Escaping is completely hopeless.”
Zhang Ruochen didn’t immediately challenge the guardian spirit. Instead, he stepped into the Seven-Star Imperial Palace.
The palace’s interior was vast, divided into seven separate courtyards. There was a hall for storing various texts and scriptures, one for artifact refining, and another for cultivating sacred arts…
What surprised Zhang Ruochen was the existence of a rear palace, which seemed to have been a residence and cultivation area for women. Its decoration and environment were distinct from the rest, filled with colorful exotic flowers and plants, with a sacred spring forming a lake.
Zhou Zhen thought to himself, “This rear palace is quite extensive! So even the Blood Absolute War God, who shakes the universe, couldn’t resist the allure of beauty.”
Zhang Ruochen, however, found it unremarkable. Given the Blood Absolute War God’s special status, even if he didn’t want to marry, countless forces would have tried to marry their proud daughters to him.
He might not have wanted offspring, but the Blood Absolute Family needed them.
Even with his cultivation and status, the Blood Absolute War God had times when he was not his own master.
Of course, having fewer than twenty children in over a hundred thousand years of cultivation made him a god of abstinence.
Arriving at the “Star Character Hall,” which stored various texts and scriptures, Zhang Ruochen used his spiritual power to scan the area. He then walked to the section containing the Blood Absolute War God’s cultivation insights and took down a book titled “Insights on the Palm Dao Sacred Will.”
Just as he was about to open it, he noticed Zhou Zhen standing nearby. A stern look appeared in his eyes. “The bloodbath at Lianzhu Manor—was that done by you and Shen Tu Yun Kong? How many great scholars from Kunlun Realm did you kill?”
Zhou Zhen had guessed that Zhang Ruochen would ask about this, but his face still twisted in fear. He shook his head vigorously, his lips trembling. “I… I was only responsible for setting up the formation… I didn’t, absolutely didn’t participate in the massacre…”
Zhang Ruochen said, “You and Shen Tu Yun Kong passed the spatial coordinates of Qinghong Pavilion to the Hell Realm, didn’t you? Who ordered you to do that?”
Without an inside agent, the Hell Realm couldn’t have accurately deployed the Void Chaos Bridge to connect directly to Qinghong Pavilion.
Zhang Ruochen had subdued Zhou Zhen and Shen Tu Yun Kong outside Qinghong Pavilion, finding the severely injured Sui Han and Wang Shiqi in their Space Crystal Balls.
Thus, Zhou Zhen couldn’t deny it.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Don’t answer hastily. Think carefully. I’ll give you enough time. After I finish reading this book, I hope to get a satisfactory answer.”
…
By now, many gods of the Eternal Emperor have been written about. But readers might not fully understand the combat power of these gods. For example, what level is the Moon God’s combat power? What rank is Xiu Chen Heavenly God? What levels are Blood Absolute and Desolate Heaven?
In truth, every god’s combat power varies under different conditions.
For instance, the Moon God might not necessarily be a match for Jia Tianxia—it depends on the state. Bian Zhuang could easily injure Jia Tianxia, but that was achieved by borrowing the power of the Heavenly River. The Blood Absolute War God could beat down Xiu Chen because Xiu Chen’s state at the time might have only allowed him to use a third or a quarter of his soul body’s power.
So, regarding the combat power of the gods and their different states, in every divine battle and the strength of the gods, interested readers can pay attention to it.