Chapter 476: Arriving at Wood Essence Ruins Realm
"Since you say we're even, then we're even."
Zhang Ruochen was not polite and put away the two ship tickets.
On Ao Xinyan's fair face, a hint of unnaturalness appeared. Clearly, she also felt a bit embarrassed.
After all, Zhang Ruochen had saved her life.
How could a life-saving debt be repaid with just two ship tickets?
Following that, Red Desire Star Envoy, Orange Moon Star Envoy, and the eighteen colored glaze knights also purchased their tickets.
"We want to buy tickets too."
Another group of people walked in from outside.
Zhang Ruochen looked over and immediately saw three familiar figures: Pei Ji, ranked forty-first on the Heavenly Ranking, Xi Yunxi, the heir of the Xi Holy Clan, and Zuo Qiuling, the heir of the Zuo Holy Clan.
Behind them followed eighteen Heaven Extreme Realm Great Perfection experts. Just by looking at their eyes, one could tell that none of them were simple characters.
Led by Pei Ji, they also went to Manager Qi to purchase tickets.
Afterward, Pei Ji, Xi Yunxi, and Zuo Qiuling went up to the second floor and sat at a table to Zhang Ruochen's right.
Within the next hour, four more groups arrived at the Star Cloud Hall one after another and purchased tickets from Manager Qi.
The key point was that all four groups were at the Heaven Extreme Realm Great Perfection level. The leader of each group was a renowned expert ranked high on the Heavenly Ranking.
Red Desire Star Envoy crossed her snow-white jade legs, elegantly picked up a cup carved from jade, and gazed at Zhang Ruochen not far away, smiling, "Things are getting more and more interesting."
Manager Qi also sensed something was wrong.
Wood Essence Ruins Realm was only a lower-level ruins realm. Even if it had some rare spiritual herbs, in terms of risk and value, it was far inferior to other treasure realms.
Why would it attract so many experts?
Could it be that Wood Essence Ruins Realm had given birth to some extraordinary treasure?
Manager Qi shook his head, feeling that this possibility was too small. If Wood Essence Ruins Realm had produced a peerless treasure, he would definitely be the first to know.
"I hope there won't be too much trouble."
Since he had already taken their money, even if he felt something was amiss, Manager Qi had to transport them to Wood Essence Ruins Realm.
Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, appeared unusually calm. He did not retreat because of the appearance of these experts.
Since he had already decided to go collect the origin energy of Wood Essence Ruins Realm, no matter how great the danger, he had to push through. Because even if he chose another ruins realm, these people would surely follow him there.
Inside the Myriad Realms Tavern, all parties behaved quite properly and did not immediately make a move against Zhang Ruochen.
The night passed very peacefully.
The next day.
Manager Qi indeed arrived on time with a ship, carrying everyone through the wormhole gate, flying toward Wood Essence Ruins Realm.
Upon reaching Wood Essence Ruins Realm, the ship stopped deep within an endless primeval forest, hovering thirty meters above the ground.
Manager Qi stood at the edge of the ship and said, "Wood Essence Ruins Realm has arrived! You can disembark now. One month from now, I will return here. If you want to go back to Chaos Myriad Realms Mountain..."
Suddenly, Manager Qi's voice stopped, and his gaze fixed on the horizon. Black dots appeared in the sky.
Manager Qi's expression changed, "Not good, it's the patrol army responsible for guarding Wood Essence Ruins Realm. Disembark immediately! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"
Without hesitation, Zhang Ruochen leaped off the ship, his figure flickering as he charged into the lush, verdant ancient forest.
Xiao Hei naturally followed closely, jumping off the ship.
"Zhang Ruochen, where are you going?"
Ao Xinyan had been staying close to Zhang Ruochen, so she immediately chased after him, landing behind him.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen leap off the ship, the other martial artists also gave chase.
"Boom!"
A moment later, accompanied by a loud sound of spatial fluctuation, the ship hovering thirty meters in the air shot upward and disappeared from Wood Essence Ruins Realm.
Zhang Ruochen pushed his speed to the limit, reaching twice the speed of sound. In ten breaths, he had already covered a hundred miles.
He paused briefly, looking toward the sky, and saw ten black dots flying toward where the ship had just stopped.
"Heavenly Eye."
A light spot appeared on Zhang Ruochen's brow, forming a vertical heavenly eye.
Using the power of the heavenly eye, he finally saw clearly that the ten black dots were actually ten massive savage beasts—Purple Scale Bi King Beasts.
They were fourth-rank upper-level savage beasts, with combat power comparable to Heaven Extreme Realm Great Perfection martial artists.
On top of each of the ten Purple Scale Bi King Beasts stood an armored soldier.
Among those ten soldiers, nine had martial arts cultivation at the Heaven Extreme Realm Great Perfection level. The leader had surpassed the Heaven Extreme Realm, reaching the Fish-Dragon Realm.
Clearly, they were the patrol army that Manager Qi mentioned, stationed in Wood Essence Ruins Realm by the Ministry of War.
This should be just one small squad.
Just as Zhang Ruochen was observing them with his heavenly eye, the leader among the ten patrol soldiers sensed something, turned his head, and glanced in the direction where Zhang Ruochen was, a hundred miles away.
Zhang Ruochen immediately withdrew his heavenly eye, suppressed his aura, and once again activated his movement technique, dashing far away.
"Captain, what's wrong?" a patrol soldier asked.
The patrol captain withdrew his gaze, his expression cold and heavy, "The people who sneaked in this time are not simple. Just now, I clearly felt a gaze observing us. But when I looked toward it, that gaze disappeared instantly."
"Could it be a Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator?"
The patrol captain shook his head, "Probably not. Although the Myriad Realms Tavern has some connection with a big shot in the Ministry of War and dares to help some people sneak into Wood Essence Ruins Realm, they wouldn't go too far. They shouldn't have smuggled in Fish-Dragon Realm cultivators. They should be Heavenly Ranking martial artists."
"What do we do now?"
"Never mind that. Anyone we catch sneaking in, we arrest them. If they resist, kill them directly."
The ten Purple Scale Bi King Beasts swooped down to the ground and began hunting down the stowaways.
Half an hour later, Zhang Ruochen had already left the forest area behind and arrived by a great river.
The river water was very clear, revealing colorful stones lying at the bottom.
It had to be said that although Wood Essence Ruins Realm was a lower-level ruins realm, it was rich in spiritual energy, the air was fresh, and ancient giant trees could be seen everywhere.
The ground was covered with all kinds of exotic flowers and plants—green, blue, purple, red—strange and varied, colorful, emitting faint floral and medicinal fragrances.
Zhang Ruochen had no time to pick herbs. He looked behind him, saw Xiao Hei catching up, and asked, "How do we find the origin energy of Wood Essence Ruins Realm?"
Xiao Hei stood upright, stretched out a claw, and said, "Give me the Cosmic Divine Wood Map. Only by using the Cosmic Divine Wood Map can we find the origin energy."
"Whoosh!"
A flash of light appeared on Zhang Ruochen's brow, and the Cosmic Divine Wood Map flew out, landing in front of Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei's two claws slowly unrolled the map.
Two streams of true qi surged from his claws, injecting into the scroll.
Some of the lines on the scroll emitted a faint black light, slowly flowing, then flew out of the scroll and plunged into the ground.
The black light, like countless black threads, radiated outward in all directions from the scroll as the center.
A moment later, Xiao Hei put away the Cosmic Divine Wood Map and said, "The Cosmic Divine Wood Map has located the general position of Wood Essence Ruins Realm's origin energy. We can head there now. Of course, the origin energy has spiritual intelligence. It has probably already sensed the danger and will use some means to deal with us."
Origin energy is the controller of a world. It can be called the "World Spirit," "Heavenly Dao," "Fortune," or "Karma" of that world.
It can determine everything in that world, influencing the trajectory of all things in a mysterious way.
When it senses that someone intends to harm it, it will first use the world's rules to eliminate those who wish it ill.
Some powerful origin energies can even unleash heavenly tribulations—thunder tribulations, fire tribulations, water tribulations, and so on—using the power of heaven and earth to kill threatening beings first.
"Zhang Ruochen, you can't shake me off!" A pleasant female voice came from afar.
In the forest, a figure flashed.
Ao Xinyan flew down from the top of a tree trunk, her long hair spreading out like a waterfall in midair, her green dress lifting up, revealing two straight and slender jade legs.
Landing on the ground, Ao Xinyan puffed out her full chest, raised her snow-white chin, and looked at Zhang Ruochen with pride.
Zhang Ruochen and Xiao Hei exchanged glances.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Ao Xinyan, I came to Wood Essence Ruins Realm for serious business. I advise you not to follow me, or you might meet with misfortune."
Zhang Ruochen was not exaggerating; he was genuinely warning her.
He had come to Wood Essence Ruins Realm to deal with the world's origin energy. In other words, he was going to be an enemy of the entire Wood Essence Ruins Realm.
The origin energy of Wood Essence Ruins Realm would use whatever means it could to deal with Zhang Ruochen, and there was no way to predict what. But one thing was certain: Zhang Ruochen was in danger at any moment, facing natural disasters and human calamities. Traveling with him was extremely dangerous.
Ao Xinyan snorted coldly, "Don't threaten me. Anyway, before I defeat you, you can't escape my sight."
Zhang Ruochen advised again, "If you keep following me, when will you have time to cultivate? Without time to cultivate, how can you defeat me? Wood Essence Ruins Realm is not a place for you. I suggest you find a place to hide and wait until a month later to take the Myriad Realms Tavern's ship and leave."
"You look down on me?"
Ao Xinyan's eyes turned icy cold, "With my strength, do I need to hide in a lower-level ruins realm?"
Zhang Ruochen glanced behind Ao Xinyan, his pupils contracting, and warned, "Watch out!"