Chapter 499: Stone Gate
Beneath the altar, countless tree-men had gathered, their roots planted in the soil, scattered in all directions, forming a lush, verdant primeval forest.
Zhang Ruochen used Wood Spirit True Qi to condense a tree-man form. As he passed by those thousand-year-old tree-men, he did not cause much of a stir.
Zhang Ruochen breathed a silent sigh of relief, thinking to himself, *Having cultivated the Wood Spirit Treasure Body, I can indeed deceive heaven and cross the sea.*
He extended his spiritual power, carefully spreading it outward to begin his investigation.
When he withdrew his spiritual power, he was somewhat shocked. The strength of the Tree-Man Clan far exceeded his estimates. There were as many as thirty-five Tree-Man Kings that had grown for over three thousand years.
Among them, a few tree-men emitted an even more terrifying aura, sending chills down one's spine. According to Zhang Ruochen's guess, these were tree-men that had grown for four thousand years, their strength comparable to cultivators at the fourth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
It was easy to imagine that if he carelessly exposed his tracks and fell into an encirclement by the Tree-Man Clan, even if Zhang Ruochen had three heads and six arms, he would probably be torn to shreds.
He had to act cautiously.
“Whoosh!”
Xiao Hei’s body shrank to the size of a mosquito. Flapping a pair of wings, he flew out from a hole in a tree trunk, landed at the base of the altar, and began studying the patterns on it.
*He does have some real skill, being able to shrink his body to such an extent,* Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
It was worth noting that even a cultivator at the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm who had cultivated a Glazed Treasure Body could only shrink or expand their body tenfold at most before reaching their limit.
Xiao Hei’s body had shrunk by far more than ten times.
Zhang Ruochen controlled the tree-man body and continued forward. When he reached the base of the altar, he stopped and muttered to himself, “Right now, the base of the altar is full of tree-men. If I blatantly climb onto the altar like this, the stronger tree-men will surely become suspicious. I need to create a distraction first to lure them away.”
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and secretly mobilized the power of his spiritual will, communicating with the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.
“Sizzle, sizzle!”
Under the influence of his spiritual power, a thick layer of dark clouds gradually appeared above the altar.
The clouds grew thicker and wider, completely blocking the blazing sun in the sky. Not a single ray of light could penetrate through. The entire world turned pitch black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
Within the clouds, a crackling sound rang out. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth converged into strands of lightning, forming electric serpents that darted rapidly across the sky.
“What’s going on? How did day suddenly turn into night?”
“I sense a powerful energy gathering in the clouds. If that energy erupts, it will surely cause a massive disaster.”
“That’s… that’s the method of the Outer Realm Death God! The Outer Realm Death God has come! The Outer Realm Death God has come!”
All the tree-men who had witnessed Zhang Ruochen’s lightning abilities became terrified and began to panic.
Only the thousand-year-old tree-men and the Tree-Man Kings remained calm, though they were still on high alert, as if facing a great enemy, searching everywhere for traces of the Outer Realm Death God.
No one noticed that, at the base of the altar, the trunk of one tree-man slowly split open with a crack.
Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Ruochen immediately stepped out from the tree-man’s trunk, executed a Space Displacement, and vanished from the spot. Then, passing through space, he appeared at the top of the altar.
The moment he set foot on the altar’s summit, Zhang Ruochen felt a powerful gravitational force pressing down on him.
The sudden heavy pressure caused his legs to bend slightly, and his entire skeleton creaked. However, he quickly adapted and straightened back up.
“The altar… it seems my guess was correct. This altar is indeed extraordinary.”
Soon, Zhang Ruochen discovered a stone gate at the top of the altar that led underground.
The surface of the stone gate was carved with mysterious patterns, along with strange little dots.
At first glance, those patterns and dots seemed to form a starry sky.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t study the designs on the stone gate in detail. Instead, he channeled his true qi and struck out with a palm, hitting the stone gate.
With a “bang,” the stone gate trembled but was not shattered.
Instead, the patterns on the stone gate gradually lit up.
Zhang Ruochen let out a soft exclamation and looked at his palm, somewhat surprised.
With his current strength, even if it were an iron gate, he could shatter it with a single palm strike.
But after his palm strike, not even a dent was left on the stone gate.
“Use Space Displacement.”
The power of space was the most mysterious. Not just a stone gate, but even the hardest substance could be penetrated, since all matter is part of space.
“Bang!”
A loud crash rang out.
Zhang Ruochen executed Space Displacement, but he slammed violently into the stone gate.
He didn’t pass through the stone gate; instead, he hurt all over from the collision, his vision swimming.
*My cultivation is still too weak. I can’t unleash the true power of space. The inscriptions on the stone gate blocked me,* Zhang Ruochen thought, rubbing his sore shoulder as he examined the patterns on the gate again.
The power of space could indeed pass through all matter in the world, but some powerful inscriptions could affect space. Unless Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation reached a higher realm and his understanding of space deepened, he couldn’t penetrate the inscriptions.
“Could it be… could it be that a sacrifice is needed to open the stone gate?”
This guess arose in Zhang Ruochen’s mind.
So, he took out the Wish-Fulfilling Treasure Vase from his Space Ring and poured the blood of a thousand-year-old tree-man onto the stone gate.
The blood landed on the stone gate, making a sizzling sound, and actually seeped into it.
The stone gate was indeed absorbing the blood of the thousand-year-old tree-man.
Zhang Ruochen showed a delighted expression and poured more blood.
The patterns on the stone gate absorbed the blood, gradually turning into blood-red marks that spread across the entire altar.
“Rumble!”
The cylindrical altar slowly moved, rotating with a thunderous noise.
The Tree-Man King closest to the altar was the first to notice the altar’s movement. Looking over, it saw Zhang Ruochen standing at the top. It let out a loud cry, “Not good! The Outer Realm Death God is on the altar! We must stop him! Don’t let him enter the altar!”
That Tree-Man King immediately charged forward, being the first to climb the altar. It swung a branch a meter thick toward Zhang Ruochen.
“Whoosh!”
Just the movement of the branch stirred up a fierce gust of wind.
The surface of the branch flowed with a metallic sheen, each leaf as sharp as a blade. The Tree-Man King’s strength was immense; one sweep of its branch was like striking out with a thousand blades at once.
The stone gate had already opened a crack. Zhang Ruochen couldn’t flee at this moment; he had to fight the Tree-Man King head-on. He could only hope to hold out until the stone gate was fully open.
Standing beside the stone gate, Zhang Ruochen held the Wish-Fulfilling Treasure Vase in one hand, continuing to pour blood. With the other hand, he drew the Abyssal Ancient Sword and swung it, clashing with the Tree-Man King.
“Bang, bang!”
Zhang Ruochen’s swordsmanship was extremely refined. Sword qi flew out, forming an impenetrable defense.
The entire altar was filled with sword shadows.
The sword qi sliced off leaves and cut through branches, sending them flying. Some fell onto the altar, while others were shattered into powder by the sword qi.
When that Tree-Man King stopped its attack, it was completely bare—not a single leaf or branch left, only a trunk.
“Outer Realm Death God… you’ve gone too far…” the Tree-Man King roared.
Zhang Ruochen stood with his sword, saying calmly, “If you don’t retreat, you’ll likely die.”
“Such arrogance! Outer Realm Death God, we’ll take you on!” the voice of another Tree-Man King rang out.
A total of nine Tree-Man Kings charged onto the altar simultaneously, surrounding Zhang Ruochen and attacking him.
Even though Zhang Ruochen had cultivated the Dual Treasure Body, he wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could fight nine Tree-Man Kings at once. Moreover, besides those nine, more Tree-Man Kings below the altar were rushing up.
It could be said that Zhang Ruochen had fallen into a dangerous situation, besieged by the Tree-Man Clan.
“Set up the Heavenly Wood Absolute God Formation! Don’t let the Outer Realm Death God escape!”
Below the altar, a Tree-Man King was directing the situation, coordinating with the other tree-men to set up the formation.
Zhang Ruochen activated his Protective Heavenly Gang and continuously executed sword techniques, fighting the nine Tree-Man Kings simultaneously. But he only held out for a single breath before his sword circle and Protective Heavenly Gang were broken.
A branch struck him heavily on the left shoulder, sending Zhang Ruochen flying.
“Die!”
The attacks of three Tree-Man Kings struck toward Zhang Ruochen simultaneously.
Just then, the stone gate at the top of the altar fully opened.
“Whoosh!”
A blood-red intense light surged out from the stone gate, forming a pillar of light that pierced through the dark clouds in the sky and soared into the vast cosmos.
Zhang Ruochen immediately executed Space Displacement, his body vanishing midair. The next moment, he appeared beside the stone gate, and with a flicker, he entered it.
The attacks of the three Tree-Man Kings all missed, failing to hit Zhang Ruochen.
“How did the Outer Realm Death God suddenly disappear?” one Tree-Man King asked, stunned.
“He… he’s already entered the stone gate…” another Tree-Man King said.
“What?”
“What do we do now?”
The stone gate had already closed again.
All the Tree-Man Kings looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed.
A Tree-Man King that had grown for four thousand years spoke in an aged voice, “Everyone, don’t worry. The Tree Ancestor is cultivating deep within the altar. The Outer Realm Death God walking in is just asking for death.”
“Right, the Tree Ancestor’s power is immense. The Outer Realm Death God is doomed if he faces it.”
The four-thousand-year-old Tree-Man King added, “But we still need to set up the formation, just in case.”
All the Tree-Man Kings withdrew from the altar and began arranging the Heavenly Wood Absolute God Formation.
With the formation in place, even if the Outer Realm Death God managed to escape from the altar, they could calmly deal with him and kill him.