Chapter 2297: Zangjin Baihu Chapter One
After undergoing sixty-two processes of goldenization, Zhang Ruochen broke free from the fourteenth shackle, his spiritual power intensity reaching the late stage of the sixty-fourth rank, with his spiritual power thoughts reaching eighty thousand.
Zhang Ruochen's physical body seemed to have absorbed too much of the mysterious metallic power, and the golden gaseous mist's ability to affect him grew weaker and weaker. Even standing in the golden gaseous mist for half an hour, his skin showed no signs of goldenization.
Later, Zhang Ruochen directly entered the golden waters and submerged himself inside, finally able to affect his physical body again. However, after more than ten rounds of goldenization, his body reached a state of complete immunity.
It was quite miraculous. A few days ago, if Zhang Ruochen had touched the golden liquid, he would have died without a doubt. Now, even swimming freely inside it had no effect.
Sitting on the gourd, Zhang Ruochen spread his hands and saw that every fingerprint shimmered with golden light, and every pore had turned into a golden speck of light.
Beneath the skin, the muscle lines became golden, and within the bones, strands of gold thread appeared. Even the edges of his pupils were outlined with a layer of gold.
His hair remained black, but when it swayed in the wind, it scattered golden radiance.
The Immortal Five Elements Chaos Saintly Body had undergone a tremendous transformation.
"The rules of the Five Elements Metal Path in my Qi Sea have greatly increased. It seems it's time to merge the Golden Body Sacred Intent into the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent. This way, the grade of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent can truly become second-rank. And it shouldn't be just an ordinary second-rank."
Relying on the Esoterica Mark obtained from Xue Jue War God, Zhang Ruochen had long cultivated the Metal Path Esoterica, Fire Path Esoterica, and Earth Path Esoterica. Adding the already integrated Fist Path Esoterica, Palm Path Esoterica, Water Path Esoterica, and Wood Path Esoterica, Zhang Ruochen had cultivated a total of seven types of Esoterica.
Entering the Purple Gold Gourd, Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged on the surface of the Annihilating Golden Sun, mobilizing the rules of the Five Elements Metal Path to activate the Golden Body Sacred Intent.
"Whoosh!"
The Golden Body Sacred Intent instantly merged with his physical form, and Zhang Ruochen's body turned a golden hue, radiating ten thousand zhang of light.
The Golden Body Sacred Intent was completely different from the Nine-Shock Sacred Intent, Heavenly River Sacred Intent, and others that Zhang Ruochen had cultivated before. It was a defensive type of Sacred Intent, while also enhancing his own power.
"Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent."
Zhang Ruochen formed hand seals with both hands and slowly lifted them upward. The Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent, containing the Fist Path, Palm Path, Water Path, and Wood Path, manifested. A heavenly river wrapped around a blood-red blazing sun, spinning continuously above his head.
"Sacred Intent unify, Five Elements merge."
Under Zhang Ruochen's guidance, the manifested phenomenon of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent slowly descended and collided with his body.
"Boom!"
Given Zhang Ruochen's current physical strength, enduring this power still felt like being struck heavily, as if all the bones in his body were about to shatter.
It wasn't just an illusion; there was a real possibility that his body would explode and he would die. If he hadn't absorbed a large amount of mysterious metallic power and broken fourteen shackles, releasing much of the power of his Half-God Body, Zhang Ruochen suspected he wouldn't have been able to withstand even the first wave of impact.
For the first time, he truly felt how perilous merging Sacred Intents could be.
"According to what Senior Sky-Connecting Divine Wood said, merging five types of Sacred Intent is already the limit for cultivators. Moreover, cultivators who successfully merge five types of Sacred Intent are extremely rare. He only knew of one person who had merged the Five Elements Sacred Intent."
"The path I'm taking now is one that surpasses my predecessors. No matter what, I have to grit my teeth and persevere. If I can't even merge a fifth type, how can I merge a sixth or seventh?"
With the great fortune he had obtained here, Zhang Ruochen felt he should be able to do it.
"Boom, rumble."
The process of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent impacting his body was like Zhang Ruochen continuously striking himself with the power of the Sacred Intent. It was far more difficult than he had imagined.
After persisting for only three breaths, Zhang Ruochen was severely injured. All the Sacred Intent dispersed, and he spat out a mouthful of Saintly Blood.
"Again."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was sharp, without a moment's hesitation, he immediately began the second attempt at merging.
"Pfft."
Moments later, he spat out another mouthful of Saintly Blood.
"Again."
...
Failure after failure, he picked himself up each time.
Zhang Ruochen seemed to be challenging the limits of his body. After trying seventeen times, the power of the Sacred Intent pierced through his powerful physical form. Cracks like broken porcelain appeared on his skin, muscles showed signs of snapping, and some bones began to fracture.
Persist, keep persisting.
The time Zhang Ruochen could endure had reached a quarter of an hour. If he could just keep going like this, the Golden Body Sacred Intent would merge into the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent Supreme, becoming a higher-grade Sacred Intent.
"Bang, bang."
In his abdominal cavity, some organs shattered. On his head, bones caved in.
Intense pain came from all over his body. Even the process of switching between goldenization and physical form was far less agonizing than this.
His life was under unprecedented threat. Continuing to persist might lead to success, but there was also a high chance he would kill himself.
"Using strength against strength—either succeed or die. The essence of the Five Elements should never be a head-on collision, but mutual restraint and mutual generation, resolving all contradictions in an endless cycle."
Zhang Ruochen seemed to have figured something out. He suddenly opened his eyes, maintaining his cross-legged posture, using his spiritual power to move his battered body and fly out of the gourd.
Forcibly merging the Golden Body Sacred Intent into the Yin-Yang Five Elements using his own power and the Annihilating Golden Sun was clearly not the best method.
Changing his approach might yield unexpected results.
"Splash."
Zhang Ruochen's body fell into the golden waters. Soon, he was covered by the golden liquid, his mouth and nose sealed, his pores closed, and he sank straight to the depths of the water.
The pain from the Sacred Intent merging gradually faded, and the injuries on his body slowly healed.
Zhang Ruochen was overjoyed, realizing this was a sign that the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent was about to merge with the Golden Body Sacred Intent. It was the Water Path Sacred Intent and Wood Path Sacred Intent within the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sacred Intent that were repairing the Golden Body.
Zhang Ruochen completely relaxed, immersing himself in the mystery of the Sacred Intent merging process.
Half a day later, the five types of Sacred Intent merged into one, and a more powerful second-rank Sacred Intent was born. The golden light on Zhang Ruochen's body became even brighter, and the golden liquid around him turned into a chaotic vortex, spinning continuously.
At that moment, Zhang Ruochen experienced an extremely mysterious sensation, as if he had become the incarnation of heaven and earth, able to create all things with a single thought or change the essence of all things with a single thought.
However, this feeling lasted only an instant before disappearing.
"Could that feeling just now be the legendary human path communicating with the Heavenly Dao, the two merging into one?"
Zhang Ruochen was astonished to find that in that brief moment of resonance with heaven and earth, the number of Sacred Dao Rules in the Heavenly River of his Qi Sea had increased by one billion.
It was important to know that cultivating Sacred Dao Rules was something that all cultivators in the Five Great Saint Realms had to do. Great Saints in the Hundred Shackles Realm not only had to break their shackles but also cultivate Sacred Dao Rules. Only with a sufficient number of Sacred Dao Rules could they gain greater help in breaking shackles.
Now, the number of Sacred Dao Rules in his body had reached 2.8 billion.
"That state just now was too miraculous. In just an instant, it was equivalent to eating ten Derivation Sacred Fruits, increasing the Sacred Dao Rules by one billion. If it could last longer, the increase in Sacred Dao Rules would be even greater."
Zhang Ruochen pondered silently. Perhaps when he successfully merged a sixth or seventh type of Sacred Intent, that feeling of merging with heaven and earth might appear again.
"I didn't expect the first cultivator to merge the Ultimate Dao Burial Gold Qi to be an Undying Blood Clan member. No, your body also has human bloodline. The offspring of a human and an Undying Blood Clan—very interesting."
A vast, illusory voice suddenly reached Zhang Ruochen's ears.
"Who? Who's speaking?"
Zhang Ruochen was greatly alarmed. There was actually a living creature at the bottom of the golden waters?
He opened his eyes and looked forward intently. Before him lay a vast, golden world, and in the distance stood a white divine mountain.
Even from far away, Zhang Ruochen felt an immense pressure from the divine mountain, his heart pounding violently.
"Splash."
The white divine mountain shook, raising a massive head.
Only then did Zhang Ruochen realize that it wasn't a divine mountain at all, but a white tiger lying on the ground. The raised white tiger head was enormous, filling Zhang Ruochen's entire field of vision.
Its golden eyes were like two stars, extremely penetrating, as if they could see through all of Zhang Ruochen's secrets.
Unlike other tiger clan creatures, its forehead didn't bear the character "King."
Instead, it had a golden, shining character "Burial."
That "Burial" character was very ancient, with a unique script. Zhang Ruochen recalled for a long time before remembering seeing a similar script in a book called "Records of the Ancient Nest" in the Seven-Star Imperial Palace.
As if answering Zhang Ruochen, it said, "The gods of your Hell Realm call me Zangjin Baihu. I have been sleeping here for thirty thousand years."
Zhang Ruochen's heart was both shocked and puzzled. The Zangjin Baihu before him was clearly not a Great Saint-level creature; it was definitely a divine beast, and not an ordinary one. Why would a divine beast be sleeping inside the home star of the Ghost Clan?
If it were a coincidence, Zhang Ruochen would never believe it.
The key question was: which of the Ten Clans of Hell did it belong to?
It didn't seem to fit with any of the ten clans.
"Apologies, Senior. This junior stumbled upon this place by accident and had no intention of disturbing your sleep. Farewell!" Zhang Ruochen was about to leave when he found his body completely immobilized. The surface of his skin had turned golden, trapping his movements.
Zangjin Baihu spoke slowly, "Not every cultivator has the ability to come here. You are the first in thirty thousand years. By merging the Ultimate Dao Burial Gold Qi, you have met the most basic condition."
"Just now, I observed you merging five types of Sacred Intent, cultivating a medium-grade second-rank Sacred Intent. You had the potential to reach the level of a top-grade second-rank Sacred Intent, but unfortunately, your Sacred Intent has a significant flaw."
Zhang Ruochen nodded and said, "To have such an opportunity, I must thank Senior for the Ultimate Dao Burial Gold Qi. Otherwise, this junior would have found it difficult to succeed."
"Do you know the significance of your arrival here?" Zangjin Baihu suddenly asked a question.