Chapter 3496: Hong Ding
"Enough! Those cultivation resources, I grant them to you! Consider them your payment for refining divine pills for me."
Feng Tian said irritably, then added, "The one who sent the message to Xi Zhan was most likely Kui Liang Huang. Those cultivation resources might contain information about Kui Liang Huang, which is why he was so desperate and caused such a commotion. You should know what's important and investigate thoroughly yourself!"
Zhang Ruochen knew who Feng Tian was hinting at and said, "If I find any clues, I will certainly inform Feng Tian. Actually... I have one more question!"
Feng Tian showed an impatient expression and said, "Speak!"
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Does Feng Tian know if Ba Er, ranked second among the Supreme Four Pillars, has awakened at the North Marsh Great Wall?"
"I don't know."
Feng Tian flicked her white sleeve and long gauze.
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen was sent flying backward out of the divine temple by the impact of this divine power, looking quite disheveled.
The temple doors then closed.
Qing Feiwei, who had been waiting outside, walked over and discreetly glanced at the temple doors, lowering her voice to remind him, "Ruochen Shenzun, your boldness is too great. You've repeatedly offended Feng Tian. Fortunately, Feng Tian obtained Ji Xiang Ru Yi and is in a good mood, otherwise the consequences would have been very severe."
After more than a month together, her relationship with Zhang Ruochen had grown much closer. She was no longer as distant and reverent as at the beginning.
This was an advantage that other Shenzun did not possess. No matter how low your cultivation level, as long as you weren't an enemy, people would quickly forget that Zhang Ruochen was a Shenzun, and their reverence would quietly disappear.
Once reverence disappeared, distance shortened!
This was the case with Xue Tu and Hai Shang You Ruo.
If it were in front of the Judgment Venerable, Qing Feiwei wouldn't dare say just anything.
Zhang Ruochen had already steadied himself and gave a warm smile. "Is that so? I think Feng Tian isn't that terrifying. She treats people quite well. People are too biased. They hear the title 'Death' and only fear remains in their hearts! They don't realize that no one has only one side. Not just a side that inspires fear, nor just a gentle and weak side. The seven emotions and six desires are all within."
Qing Feiwei really didn't know how to evaluate these words, especially since Feng Tian was right there in the temple.
Hadn't Feng Tian just captured Chan Zun and publicly performed a soul search, which wasn't enough to intimidate Zhang Ruochen? Hadn't it served as a warning to others?
At least she had seen Tianming Zunzun turn pale with fright.
Inside the divine temple, Feng Tian held Ji Xiang Ru Yi, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth. The ruyi spun in circles, tapping the air, before her icy voice rang out: "You, Zhang Ruochen, are at least a Shenzun. Such empty flattery does not befit the praise of a young Primordial Ancestor. As the Death Shenzun, I only need the world to fear me!"
Qing Feiwei's expression changed, and she quickly bowed.
"No need to bow. Feng Tian has already left! Come, follow me to the Five Realms Heaven. I'll give you an opportunity."
Zhang Ruochen knew that Qing Feiwei had a close relationship with his maternal grandfather and was an important member of the Undying Blood Clan within the Destiny Temple, so he was not stingy with cultivation resources.
"How is it raining blood on the Divine Mountain?"
Qing Feiwei extended a hand and looked up at the sky.
Above the Fate Divine Mountain, the sky had turned a bloody red. Clouds were piling up, and streaks of lightning tens of thousands of miles long flashed across the sky from time to time.
Zhang Ruochen's face lit up with joy. "Where the Infinite passes, heaven and earth leave traces. Grandfather has broken through to the Infinite Realm!"
Zhang Ruochen's pupils burst forth with Truth Radiance. Following the direction from which the fluctuations of heaven and earth rules came, he pierced through time and space, looking straight into Lihentian.
The current Lihentian was extremely dangerous. Cultivators were being possessed one after another, so Zhang Ruochen was naturally worried.
But, as he had expected, near the place where Xue Jue War God had broken through, there was the aura of an old and powerful expert of the Undying Blood Clan. So, he withdrew his gaze with relief.
...
Zhang Ruochen returned to the Five Realms Heaven and waited for several more days.
In the Earth Cauldron, a thick fragrance of pills gradually surged forth.
Above the cauldron, a seven-colored pill cloud condensed, its coverage growing wider and wider.
This was a sign that the Tongtian Divine Pill was about to complete its pill gestation!
In these past few days, Zhang Ruochen had not touched the bronze cauldron hidden inside the Qilin Fist Gloves, worried that Feng Tian might spy on him with her peerless divine abilities. After all, it was too difficult to deceive someone like Feng Tian!
He sat cross-legged, digesting the cultivation insights he had obtained from Xi Zhan.
To completely digest Xi Zhan's remnant soul was obviously impossible in a short time. It needed to be done step by step.
Qing Feiwei stood beneath the Earth Cauldron, her hands forming a strange finger seal. A Gate of Destiny appeared behind her back, absorbing strands of pill vapor escaping from the cauldron into her body.
Even just the pill vapor brought her immense benefits.
Her physical constitution was improving rapidly every day.
"Only the last step remains. It's time to undergo the pill tribulation!"
Zhang Ruochen used his divine qi to roll up the Earth Cauldron, rushed out of the Five Realms Heaven, and then flew out of the Fate Divine Domain.
This batch of Tongtian Divine Pills had consumed a large amount of precious resources and a hundred years of painstaking effort. The pill tribulation was bound to be fierce, so it couldn't be undergone within the Fate Divine Domain.
Feng Tian's prohibition was not so absolute.
The pill tribulation erupted in the Wugui Forest, its momentum vast and mighty, countless times more powerful than the divine tribulation of an ordinary god.
This time, Zhang Ruochen had refined over 1,800 Tongtian Divine Pills. Those that survived the pill tribulation numbered seventy-five.
This far exceeded his expectations!
It should be noted that the first time he refined Tongtian Divine Pills, he had produced over 800 pills, but only four survived the pill tribulation. The second time, only thirty-seven survived.
As he stepped into the Infinite Realm and his divine soul greatly strengthened, his success rate in refining divine pills had nearly doubled.
Most of the pills produced this time were perfect five-colored Taiji-level Tongtian Divine Pills.
There were thirteen six-colored Tongtian Divine Pills.
There was only one seven-colored Tongtian Divine Pill. Moreover, its light was not very stable and was not perfect.
This left Zhang Ruochen, who had held great expectations, somewhat disappointed.
The commotion from the pill tribulation was too great, alarming many gods who rushed to the starry sky to watch.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen refine so many divine pills at once, they were truly astonished.
"Even a Divine Pill Master finds it very difficult to refine a single batch of divine pills, often taking hundreds or thousands of years, or even longer. And usually, only one or two survive the pill tribulation."
"Ruochen Shenzun's attainments in the Dao of Pills are truly admirable. He can rank among the top even among all the Divine Pill Masters in the world!"
"What he refined should be the legendary Tongtian Divine Pill, the number one treasure for strengthening the physical body, which also has some effect on improving cultivation. If I could obtain one, even a five-colored divine pill with the weakest medicinal power, it would certainly greatly increase my combat power."
...
Zhang Ruochen knew his own abilities very well.
To rank among the top Divine Pill Masters, one would need to be someone with a Spiritual Power of at least eighty-fifth rank.
He was merely borrowing the mystery of the Earth Cauldron!
If the Earth Cauldron's enhancement effect on pill refining was so formidable, what marvelous uses did the other cauldrons among the Nine Cauldrons have?
In his mind, the image of the five-legged, five-eared bronze cauldron appeared. Zhang Ruochen handed a five-colored Taiji-level Tongtian Divine Pill to Qing Feiwei, instructing her not to take it rashly but to absorb it slowly. Then, he immediately rushed back to the Five Realms Heaven.
Entering the Past Divine Temple, he activated all the formations and then released the Taiji Four Symbols Diagram.
"Even if the methods of an Indestructible Infinite are unfathomable, this should be foolproof, right?"
Zhang Ruochen's heart settled, and then he raised his arm, gathering his five fingers.
The inner space of the Qilin Fist Gloves opened.
A bronze cauldron a hundred meters tall appeared, with five legs and five ears, covered in verdigris.
However, compared to the Earth Cauldron, it was much more plain, with only a large eye pattern on the front of the cauldron's body.
The eyelids were spiral-shaped.
The pupil was like a copper bead several meters in diameter.
This form was exactly the Hong Ding among the Nine Cauldrons, also known as the Truth Cauldron.
This was the reason Zhang Ruochen had to steal it no matter what!
Otherwise, if Feng Tian saw it, there would be nothing left for him!
The Hong Ding was too important to him!
Having already obtained the Heart of Truth, if he could also obtain the Truth Cauldron, Zhang Ruochen would be able to go further on the Path of Truth. Then, relying on the Path of Truth, he could deduce the subsequent changes in the Wuji Divine Dao.
Moreover, with the Truth Cauldron, Zhang Ruochen's perceptive abilities would reach a new level.
Zhang Ruochen deeply inhaled the pill vapor emanating from the cauldron, circulating it within his body, and quickly analyzed it, wanting to see what exactly Xionghai Shenzun was refining.
Over the years, Zhang Ruochen had studied the Dao of Pills quite deeply and could deduce many things from the pill vapor.
"Xionghai Shenzun is too wealthy! What exactly is he refining?"
Zhang Ruochen deduced dozens of medicinal ingredients contained in the pill vapor, each one extremely rare, no less than the main ingredients of the Tongtian Divine Pill: Eternal Life Blood Tree, Sun-Moon Flower, Snow Elephant Shell Stone... and there were even more types.
The most terrifying thing was that there were as many as three divine medicines!
Three divine medicines refined into one batch?
"Could he be refining a divine pill to help himself break through to the Indestructible Infinite?"
This thought surfaced in Zhang Ruochen's mind.
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Otherwise, why would Xionghai Shenzun, while injured, risk sneaking back to the Fate Divine Mountain?
For Xionghai Shenzun, breaking through to the Indestructible Infinite was probably more important than the illicit Ji Xiang Ru Yi and the unusable Hong Ding.
This time, he had hit the jackpot!
But Zhang Ruochen quickly calmed down, realizing he was being too optimistic.
If breaking through to the Indestructible Infinite were so easy, those stuck at the peak of the Great Unbound Infinite would all have taken the path of refining divine pills!
Regardless, the divine pill being nurtured inside the cauldron was definitely extraordinary, worth risking one's life for, even for someone close to the level of All Heavens.
"Xionghai Shenzun's Spiritual Power isn't that strong. Does he have the ability to refine such a divine pill?"
Suddenly thinking of something, Zhang Ruochen extended his palm. The phantom of his five fingers stretched out, slowly approaching the mouth of the Hong Ding.
"Boom!"
Extremely powerful formation inscriptions surged out from the cauldron, turning into a pillar of light that struck Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen had already raised the Shaoyang Divine Mountain in defense, but he still couldn't block it. His body flew backward, crashing heavily into the divine formation's light barrier inside the Past Divine Palace.
With a bang, he fell to the ground.
Zhang Ruochen looked at his scorched black chest, then at the Hong Ding. "Such formidable formation mastery, such powerful Spiritual Power. This batch of pills really doesn't seem to be Xionghai Shenzun's handiwork."
"Feng Tian's speculation should be correct. The risky actions of San Sha Dijun and Xi Zhan might have been aimed at this."
The formation sealing the Hong Ding and the Dao of Pills inscriptions on the pills inside the cauldron were likely major clues to finding Kui Liang Huang.
...
Something came up today. There probably won't be an update!
(Chapter End)