Chapter 329: Nine Palaces and Seventy-Two Cave Mansions
Zhang Ruochen held his sword with both hands, firmly suppressing Murong Bairen, and glanced toward Huang Yanchen and Duanmu Xingling.
He saw ten Black Market experts at the initial stage of the Heavenly Extreme Realm transform into ten afterimages, charging into the crowd like wolves among sheep. In an instant, they struck down more than a dozen martial artists from the Duanmu family.
"Shua shua!"
Blades flashed and sword shadows flew, with killing intent soaring to the sky.
When martial artists at the Great Perfection of the Earth Extreme Realm clashed with those at the Heavenly Extreme Realm, it was like a child fighting a fully armed warrior—a complete one-sided massacre.
Huang Yanchen, Duanmu Xingling, and Chen Xi'er were all Triple Extreme geniuses, and with their martial cultivation reaching the Great Perfection of the Earth Extreme Realm, only the three of them possessed the strength to contend with martial artists at the initial stage of the Heavenly Extreme Realm.
"Zhang Ruochen, you... can't kill me..."
Murong Bairen saw the ten Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artists rushing over, and a smile appeared on his pale face. Once those ten martial artists arrived, the situation would turn around.
Of course, before that, he also had to save himself.
Murong Bairen channeled all his true qi to his arms. His arms gradually turned cyan, with blood vessels and meridians winding around them like copper pipes, increasing his strength as he tried to break free from Zhang Ruochen's suppression.
"Can't kill you? You overestimate yourself too much."
Zhang Ruochen freed one hand, formed a palm seal, and struck toward the top of Murong Bairen's head.
Not good.
Under the threat of death, Murong Bairen unleashed unprecedented potential. He exerted force with his legs and kicked backward sharply, narrowly dodging Zhang Ruochen's palm strike.
"Shua!"
At that moment, a sword light flew over, passing before Murong Bairen's eyes and leaving a bloody line across them.
Murong Bairen's golden short knife fell to the ground. He covered his bleeding eyes with both hands and screamed, "My eyes... Zhang Ruochen, you dare to blind me! Our Profound Shadow Sect won't let you off..."
Without hesitation, Zhang Ruochen swung his sword again, slashing across Murong Bairen's neck and severing his throat. Murong Bairen's voice abruptly stopped.
Deprived of the protection of his protective heavenly shield, under the immense water pressure, Murong Bairen's physical body exploded with a bang, turning into pieces of dismembered corpse.
The surrounding waters completely turned blood-red.
A proud son of heaven had fallen.
Given Murong Bairen's talent, he would have surely become a martial overlord of the Demon Ridge in the future, a regional hegemon. But just after breaking through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm, before he could display his peerless edge, he perished at the bottom of the water, without even a complete corpse to be found.
Beneath that patch of blood mist, a golden light flickered.
Within the golden radiance, a short knife was wrapped.
Zhang Ruochen extended his five fingers, and the golden short knife immediately flew up, rushing into his palm.
The golden short knife could withstand a strike from the Abyssal Ancient Sword without breaking—it was definitely no ordinary item.
Zhang Ruochen infused true qi into the short knife, examined it, and felt a surge of joy. The blade contained a total of seventy-four inscriptions, and four of them were "Fire"-type mid-grade inscriptions.
"This is... a tenth-rank True Martial Treasure..."
One must know that even the most powerful war weapon of the Yunwu Commandery royal family was only a ninth-rank True Martial Treasure.
How did Murong Bairen come to possess a tenth-rank True Martial Treasure?
Zhang Ruochen was somewhat puzzled. For a war weapon of the level of a tenth-rank True Martial Treasure, only martial artists who had reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm could unleash ten to twenty percent of its power.
Murong Bairen had just broken through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm and probably had no idea how to unleash the power of the golden short knife. Otherwise, killing him would not have been an easy task for Zhang Ruochen.
Although the Abyssal Ancient Sword was extremely sharp, it was still a damaged weapon, now only equivalent to the power of a ninth-rank True Martial Treasure.
"Roar!"
Not far away, a long howl rang out, turning into sound waves that pierced the eardrums.
It was not an enemy—Si Xingkong had broken through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm.
Si Xingkong suddenly stood up, spreading his arms. A fierce and unmatched aura erupted, sending the three initial-stage Heavenly Extreme Realm experts who were about to kill him flying backward.
With his realm breakthrough and cultivation greatly enhanced, Si Xingkong had officially entered the ranks of martial myths.
Si Xingkong moved at an astonishing speed, charging out like a streak of light and throwing three consecutive punches.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The heads of those three initial-stage Heavenly Extreme Realm experts all exploded, turning into three clouds of blood mist.
In an instant, he had killed three initial-stage Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artists.
"Si Xingkong was once the number one expert of the younger generation in the Demon Ridge. Now that he has broken through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm, who can still stop him?"
Seeing Si Xingkong's overwhelmingly dominant display, the Black Market martial artists all showed terrified expressions.
"Zhang Tiangui was able to defeat Si Xingkong before. If he breaks through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm, he can definitely defeat Si Xingkong again," one of the Black Market martial artists said.
"Zhang Tiangui has already entered the Life Gate and gone to the Dragon Palace to search for treasures."
"Zhang Ruochen and Si Xingkong are both fierce figures of the younger generation. Didn't you see that even Murong Bairen has fallen in battle? Let's flee!"
...
The remaining Black Market martial artists all retreated, rushing into the Life Gate and leaving not a single one behind.
Because Zhang Ruochen and Si Xingkong had intercepted and killed them, in truth, only twelve initial-stage Heavenly Extreme Realm Black Market experts escaped; the rest had all fallen.
In less than a quarter of an hour, fourteen Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artists had died outside the Dragon Palace—a truly shocking event.
Huang Yanchen and Chang Qiqi immediately took out the medicinal liquid refined from the petals of the Nirvana Fire Spiritual Flower, drank it, and began to break through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm.
Although Chen Xi'er did not have the petals of the Nirvana Fire Spiritual Flower, she had other spiritual medicines. After taking them, she also began to cultivate, preparing to break through her realm.
Only Duanmu Xingling took out the medicinal liquid, hesitated slightly, and then drank it.
Duanmu Xingling was only a hair's breadth away from the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Earth Extreme Realm. She also wanted to find the Dragon Relic to break through to the Supreme Extreme Realm. Therefore, she did not plan to break through her realm just yet.
Although she had taken the medicinal liquid, she suppressed the medicinal power, not refining or absorbing it.
"Senior Brother, I'll leave this place to you. I'll enter the Life Gate first and clear the way for you."
Zhang Ruochen's figure flickered as he rushed into the Life Gate.
Guoguo saw Zhang Ruochen enter the Life Gate, blinked its big eyes, and chased after him, running inside as well.
Following Zhang Ruochen meant there would be meat to eat; following Chang Qiqi meant only gnawing on carrots. If it had a choice, Guoguo would naturally choose to follow Zhang Ruochen.
"Zhang Ruochen, die!"
As soon as Zhang Ruochen rushed out of the Life Gate, a cold light flew toward him from the left.
An assassin wrapped entirely in purple robes, holding a cold, gleaming long spear, charged out from a corner and thrust the spear toward Zhang Ruochen's heart.
"So there was an ambush."
Zhang Ruochen seemed to have long sensed someone hiding behind the door. Just as the spear thrust out, he pointed a finger and shot out a sword wave.
"Supreme Vein Sword Wave."
Where the sword wave passed, it immediately froze into ice.
The assassin hiding behind the Life Gate to ambush Zhang Ruochen was instantly sealed in ice, still maintaining the posture of thrusting the spear.
But his body had already been shattered by the sword qi.
Zhang Ruochen merely flicked his finger, and the massive block of ice immediately shattered.
The assassin frozen in the ice also turned into pieces.
Entering the Dragon Palace, he truly felt its enormity—a hundred times larger than a human palace. Each hall was like a great mountain, emitting colorful and dazzling light.
Zhang Ruochen advanced rapidly. Suddenly, the path ahead disappeared, replaced by a patch of bone-chilling black mist.
This was the only way into the heart of the Dragon Palace.
Without hesitation, Zhang Ruochen charged in. As soon as he entered the black mist, a tremendous suction force came from beneath his feet, as if he had stepped into a quagmire, constantly pulling him downward.
"The Dragon Palace is indeed full of dangers. I cannot afford to be careless in the slightest."
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath, channeled true qi to the soles of his feet, slapped his palms on the surface of the quagmire, and leaped up, flying out of that mire.
After escaping the mire, Zhang Ruochen looked back.
What quagmire?
It was clearly a blood pool.
Bubbles rose from the surface of the blood pool, and white, ghastly bones floated on it, as if the flesh of humans and savage beasts were boiling within.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation was profound. If it had been any other Earth Extreme Realm martial artist, they would have surely died.
Guoguo was much luckier than Zhang Ruochen, easily avoiding the blood pool and catching up with him.
"Guoguo, why did you follow me?"
Zhang Ruochen looked at the big rabbit and smiled.
Guoguo walked up to Zhang Ruochen, blinked its big eyes, and extended its hands, looking at him with anticipation.
"You want something to eat? That's fine, but you have to help me with something."
Zhang Ruochen took out a jade box containing spiritual meat from his Space Ring and held it up, deliberately not handing it over.
Seeing the jade box, Guoguo's eyes lit up, and it nodded vigorously, as if saying, "I'll agree to anything!"
Zhang Ruochen handed the jade box to Guoguo and said, "Stay here and warn those who come later. Tell them there's a blood pool here, so they don't fall into it as well."
Guoguo nodded while opening the jade box, picking up the spiritual meat and starting to eat.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head with a smile. Chang Qiqi was indeed unreliable, bringing Guoguo into the Dragon Palace.
After experiencing the danger just now, Zhang Ruochen became even more cautious. He released his Space Domain and continued forward.
Just as he passed through that patch of black mist, a graceful purple figure, holding a fish-belly sword, emerged from a pile of colorful coral. She had been waiting there deliberately for Zhang Ruochen.
"Zhang Ruochen."
The purple figure wore a face veil, covering her head and face, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.
Even so, Zhang Ruochen recognized her in an instant. "Junior Sister Zi, you're not here to stop me, are you?"
Zi Qian pulled down her face veil, revealing a delicate and beautiful face, and said coldly, "Since you've already entered the Dragon Palace, what's the point of me stopping you? I'm only here to warn you—Di Yi has gone to the central Divine Dragon Hall. You must not go there. As long as you don't confront him, no one in the Dragon Palace can threaten you."
Before entering the underwater Dragon Palace, Zhang Ruochen had learned that the Dragon Palace consisted of nine Dragon Halls and seventy-two Cave Mansions.
Among the nine Dragon Halls, the "Divine Dragon Hall" was the most revered, having once been the bedchamber of the Four-Winged Earth Dragon.
If the Dragon Relic was truly in the Dragon Palace, it was very likely placed in the Divine Dragon Hall.
Zhang Ruochen said, "I must obtain the Dragon Relic, so I have to go to the Divine Dragon Hall. I hope you won't stop me."
"Zhang Ruochen, wait a moment."
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was about to head to the Divine Dragon Hall, Zi Qian immediately reached out a hand and grabbed his arm.
Zhang Ruochen turned around and looked at her.
Zi Qian felt a bit awkward, immediately withdrew her hand, and put it behind her back. She said, "Have you forgotten the dragon horn we obtained in the Crimson Sky Secret Mansion? It might play an important role. We don't necessarily have to go to the Divine Dragon Hall."
(Monday, Xiaoyu asks for votes. There's still one more chapter.)