Chapter 532: Forty-Third Rank
The Nascent Soul Half-Saint, clad in a long black robe that covered his head, hands, and feet, stood like a ghost beneath the Heavenly Ranking stone tablet. A dense aura of death emanated from his entire being.
He slowly raised his head, revealing a pale, withered face. Beneath deep, sunken eye sockets were extremely narrow eyes. Glancing up at the Heavenly Ranking stone tablet, he said in a hoarse voice, "Such a fast pace. At this rate, within six months at most, Zhang Ruochen will reach the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Heavenly Extreme Realm."
The Red Desire Star Envoy stood behind the Nascent Soul Half-Saint. Her body was shrouded in a layer of pink illusory mist, forming a graceful, curvaceous silhouette, yet no one could make out her features clearly.
She laughed softly, "Why six months? I'd say within three months at most, Zhang Ruochen will step into the Supreme Extreme Realm, becoming the second outstanding talent in a hundred years to achieve the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Heavenly Extreme Realm."
A crescent-like curve formed in the Red Desire Star Envoy's beautiful eyes, as lovely as two crescent moons. She thought to herself, *Since an exceptional talent like Zhang Ruochen has emerged, Di Yi probably won't live much longer.*
Di Yi and Zhang Ruochen shared both enmity and hatred.
But she had no hatred or conflict with Zhang Ruochen. Moreover, she was a woman—an extremely beautiful and seductive woman—fully capable of cooperating with him.
Huang Shenyi was already dead. Once Di Yi was killed by Zhang Ruochen, which of the remaining Star Envoys could match her in talent?
She had full confidence in securing the position of the new Young Master of the Black Market First Class Hall.
The Nascent Soul Half-Saint frowned slightly. "Has the Martial Market Bank already sealed the space passage to the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm?"
The Red Desire Star Envoy nodded. "Reporting to the Half-Saint, that is indeed the case. The Martial Market Bank has always had close dealings with the Ministry of War, along with numerous mutual interests. As long as the higher-ups of the Martial Market Bank step forward, the Ministry of War will certainly grant them this favor."
The Nascent Soul Half-Saint nodded. "With a Sacred Academy prodigy striving for the Supreme Extreme Realm, the higher-ups of the Martial Market Bank would naturally step forward to protect him no matter what."
The Red Desire Star Envoy continued, "Moreover, three of Xuanji Sword Saint's five disciples have already arrived at the Chaotic Myriad Realms Mountain. They are stationed at the Ruins Realm Ferry, making it nearly impossible for any Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator above the Seventh Transformation from the Black Market or the Demon Sect to enter the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm."
"Zhang Ruochen is Xuanji Sword Saint's sixth disciple. How could his senior brothers and sisters not come to support him?" A chill surged from the Nascent Soul Half-Saint's body.
The Red Desire Star Envoy asked, "Half-Saint, what should we do now? Are we just supposed to watch Zhang Ruochen reach the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Heavenly Extreme Realm?"
The Nascent Soul Half-Saint snorted coldly. "Even if the Martial Market Bank seals the Ruins Realm Ferry, that doesn't mean no one can kill Zhang Ruochen. Our Black Market has planted some experts within the Ministry of War's camp in the Azure Dragon Ruins Realm. Now is the time to deploy them."
The Nascent Soul Half-Saint's gaze swept across the Heavenly Ranking stone tablet, finally settling on the third name—"Di Yi."
Five million points of military merit.
In two months, Zhang Ruochen's military merit had surged past twenty million points.
In two months, Di Yi's military merit had quietly broken through five million points.
Keep in mind that before this, Di Yi's military merit had been zero.
The Red Desire Star Envoy naturally also saw the name "Di Yi" on the Heavenly Ranking. Her soul-stirring eyes narrowed slightly as she thought, *In the Death Ruins Realm, Di Yi is accumulating military merit at such a rapid pace. This means he has likely already refined Bu Qianfan into a Heavenly Demon Shadow, greatly increasing his strength as he begins his full assault on the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Heavenly Extreme Realm.*
Bu Qianfan was originally a once-in-a-ten-thousand-years proud son of heaven. Unfortunately, he had a psychological flaw—whenever he faced Di Yi, he was destined to lose. After all, he was a man of deep emotions.
Who knew whether, after refining Bu Qianfan into a shadow, Di Yi might be influenced by Bu Qianfan's will, developing emotions and thus creating a weakness?
...
Inside the Scroll World, Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged beneath the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree, taking out the thirty-second Red-Crowned Flesh Ganoderma.
"My spiritual power has reached a critical point. Once I refine this, I should be able to break through to the forty-third rank."
Zhang Ruochen's hands naturally spread open, and azure flames surged from his palms, enveloping the four-foot-diameter Red-Crowned Flesh Ganoderma.
"Whoosh—"
The Red-Crowned Flesh Ganoderma transformed into sparkling particles, like a rain of light, flying toward the Divine Martial Mark on Zhang Ruochen's brow and entering his Qi Sea.
About three hours later, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power rapidly expanded. With a thunderous roar, it burst out of his body, spreading in all directions.
At that moment, Zhang Ruochen felt as if he had transformed into countless specks of light, flying to every corner within a thousand miles.
Some specks landed on the ground, clearly revealing every grain of soil, every blade of grass, and even the veins and dew on the leaves.
Other specks flew to the sides of Huang Yanchen, Ao Xinyan, and the Orange Moon Star Envoy, clearly showing every strand of their hair, every eyelash, and even the holes in their ears for earrings...
However, when the specks tried to collide with their bodies, they encountered resistance three feet away.
"Who's there?"
Ao Xinyan, sensing someone spying on her, suddenly opened her eyes and thrust her arms outward in both directions, sending a wave of true qi surging outward.
With a bang, the specks within a hundred feet of her were shattered by the powerful true qi.
Then, the Orange Moon Star Envoy and Huang Yanchen also detected the mysterious force observing them. They struck out, shattering that force as well.
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his spiritual power, pulling the countless specks back into his body.
A strange smile appeared on his face. "Good thing they didn't investigate further. If they found out it was me spying on them, it would be hard to explain."
Using spiritual power to spy on others was as despicable as peeping on a woman bathing.
Zhang Ruochen hadn't intentionally spied on them. His spiritual power had just broken through to the forty-third rank, and he couldn't help but test its strength, using them as subjects.
Still, there were only a few people in the Scroll World. They could probably guess it was him.
Zhang Ruochen didn't care much about that. As long as he harbored no ill intentions, being misunderstood wasn't a big deal.
"That state just now was somewhat similar to the Buddhist concept of 'manifesting countless incarnations, being everywhere.' However, my spiritual power is still too weak. A single blast of true qi from them shattered all my spiritual incarnations. I wonder how strong my spiritual power needs to be to truly achieve 'manifesting countless incarnations, being everywhere.'"
With his spiritual power at the forty-third rank, Zhang Ruochen could now contend with cultivators at the Sixth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm using only his spiritual strength.
This was a genuine realm, reaching the level of the Sixth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
With his current strength, he could already compete with experts in the Fish-Dragon Realm.
His spiritual power cultivation far surpassed his martial arts cultivation.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and fully mobilized his spiritual power.
"Sizzle—"
Above his head, a leaden black cloud formed, with countless bolts of lightning weaving through it, producing a series of terrifying, rumbling sounds.
The lightning in the cloud condensed into a sphere, forming a ball of lightning that crashed toward the ground.
The spherical lightning struck, leaving a massive crater in the ground. The shockwave spread, turning all surrounding vegetation to ash.
Snake-like streaks of electricity slithered across the black soil, crackling and lingering for a long time before fading.
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his spiritual power, observing the destructive force of his attack with satisfaction. "It's enough to rival a full-power strike from a Sixth Transformation Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator. With my current spiritual power, even if I faced that half-human, half-dragon creature at its peak, I could fight it."
"I still lack a spiritual power artifact. If I had one, my strength would increase significantly. With a powerful spiritual power artifact, I could even contend with the strongest among Sixth Transformation Fish-Dragon Realm cultivators."
Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power was indeed strong now, but it could only match ordinary Sixth Transformation Fish-Dragon Realm cultivators.
This was because he had no spiritual power artifact and had never systematically studied a spiritual power codex. He could only use his spiritual power for simple attacks.
It was like a martial artist who only practiced techniques—even if their cultivation reached the Sixth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, they could only use pure true qi and strength, without a weapon or powerful martial skills.
If a master who specialized in spiritual power cultivation had reached the forty-third rank, their strength would be dozens of times greater than Zhang Ruochen's current level.
Only by using spiritual power artifacts and the spells from spiritual power codices could one fully unleash the power of spiritual power.
Zhang Ruochen had read some spiritual power codices before and knew the cultivation methods for certain lightning-type spells, but he had never had time to practice them.
Now that his spiritual power had reached the forty-third rank, Zhang Ruochen decided to cultivate a spell first.
Closing his eyes, Zhang Ruochen began to recall, quickly remembering the cultivation method for a lightning-type spell.
It was a first-level spell: Nine-Strike Lightning Blade.
With his current spiritual power, even cultivating a third-level spell would be possible.
However, cultivating a third-level spell would take a long time. Zhang Ruochen didn't have that much time to study it, so he chose a simpler first-level spell with decent power.
The Nine-Strike Lightning Blade condensed lightning into a blade that fell from the sky, like a heavenly blade connecting heaven and earth.
Nine strikes in a row, one after another, like nine layers of thunder tribulation, continuously striking down, giving the enemy no chance to catch their breath.
Once he mastered this spell, Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power attacks would become more concentrated, sharper, and no longer scattered, allowing him to focus his power on a single point.
Although the Nine-Strike Lightning Blade's power wasn't exceptionally strong, it was still several times more powerful than before.
After three days, Zhang Ruochen had achieved minor success with the Nine-Strike Lightning Blade, able to unleash three blade-shaped lightning strikes in a row.
After another five days, Zhang Ruochen fully mastered the Nine-Strike Lightning Blade, capable of launching nine consecutive lightning blade attacks.
"With my current strength, I should be able to contend with the three top experts of the Black Market."
Zhang Ruochen's eyes grew sharp. The image of the nine Ruins Realm warriors dying on the ship flashed through his mind, and a flame of vengeance surged within him.
His strength had greatly increased. It was time to settle that blood debt.