Chapter 561: Artifact Warrior
"Second Senior Brother has already condensed a Saint Source, so even if I give you the Beast Origin Golden Pill, it's not a big deal. Besides, your second senior brother has six Beast Origin Golden Pills in total. Even if I give you one, it's just a loss of some cultivation, which I can quickly recover."
Zhu Hongtao appeared quite carefree, as if he would get anxious if Zhang Ruochen didn't accept the Beast Origin Golden Pill.
Zhu Hongtao was a Primordial Ancient Beast, and moreover, he cultivated two techniques simultaneously, having both condensed a Beast Origin Golden Pill and cultivated a Saint Source.
Zhang Ruochen insisted on not accepting the Beast Origin Golden Pill, saying, "Although I want to reach the Half-Saint realm as soon as possible, I won't take such a shortcut. Swallowing Second Senior Brother's Beast Origin Golden Pill—how is that different from drinking Second Senior Brother's blood?"
Zhu Hongtao's expression froze slightly, then he nodded and said solemnly, "Little Junior Brother's character truly impresses Second Senior Brother. But we're brothers, no need to be so formal, right?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly and shook his head, instead taking a step back.
Xuanji Saint Master saw Zhang Ruochen's behavior and nodded in satisfaction, saying, "Hongtao, your approach is indeed unwise."
"Your little junior brother has just broken through to the Fish-Dragon Realm. If you let him swallow the Beast Origin Golden Pill, his cultivation might surge in the short term. But in the long run, your method is like pulling up seedlings to help them grow—harmful in every way."
Zhu Hongtao's expression changed, and he quickly put away the Beast Origin Golden Pill, bowing, "Master, don't scare me. Is it really that serious?"
Xuanji Saint Master nodded, "Your little junior brother is a natural prodigy. His future achievements will far surpass yours. Naturally, you can't train him the same way you train ordinary martial artists. If you truly want to give him a gift, protect him in the future, so no one can harm him in secret."
Zhu Hongtao patted his chest, his voice like thunder, "Since Master says so, I am willing to be Little Junior Brother's cultivation guardian, protecting him for thirty years. If anyone dares to harm Little Junior Brother, I, Old Zhu, will teach them how to behave."
Lingshu Half-Saint raised an eyebrow and laughed, "Second Senior Brother, guarding him for thirty years—are you sure you can casually say such a big talk?"
"Who said I'm casually talking? I'm very serious," Zhu Hongtao said.
When heirs of Saintly clans trained outside, they almost always had guardians watching over them in secret.
Generally, guardians stayed hidden and wouldn't act easily. Only when the heir faced real life-threatening danger would the guardian appear to save them.
Of course, to temper the heir and help them develop the ability to solve problems independently, guardians wouldn't be by their side at all times.
Thus, even with guardians protecting them in secret, many heirs of Saintly clans still met untimely deaths.
Zhu Hongtao had already condensed a Saint Source, meaning his cultivation had reached the Saint realm.
Moreover, as a Primordial Ancient Beast, his personal strength was even greater.
With such a powerful figure willing to guard Zhang Ruochen for thirty years, even if the Black Market and the Moon Worship Demon Sect wanted to eliminate Zhang Ruochen in the cradle, they would need to send several Saints acting together to have a chance of success.
Zhang Ruochen quickly said, "Thank you, Second Senior Brother."
"No need to be so polite. Guarding you is a proper task. From now on, Master won't always say I'm loafing around," Zhu Hongtao said with a strange smile, then transmitted his voice to Zhang Ruochen, "When we return to the Eastern Domain, Second Senior Brother will take you to a few good places to broaden your horizons."
Zhang Ruochen smiled, knowing that the "good places" Second Senior Brother mentioned might not be truly good.
But it didn't matter; seeing the world was a good thing.
Since Second Senior Brother had agreed to be Zhang Ruochen's guardian and given him such a great gift, Third Senior Brother Wan Ke, even if reluctant, took out the Meteor Invisibility Cloak.
Wan Ke stood up, holding the Meteor Invisibility Cloak with both hands, pursed his lips, and his smile was a bit stiff.
In the end, he explained the usage of the Meteor Invisibility Cloak to Zhang Ruochen, then handed it over.
"Thank you, Third Senior Brother."
"No... need to be polite, we're brothers..." Wan Ke sighed inwardly, already worrying about what even more precious gift he should give when Little Junior Brother got married.
Zhang Ruochen knew this treasure was extremely valuable but didn't refuse. Continuing to refuse would seem pretentious.
As for meeting gifts, some things could be accepted, and some couldn't.
"Clatter, clatter!"
Outside the Qinghe Hall, heavy footsteps sounded, like iron blocks striking the ground.
Soon, a tall, burly man with dark skin, clad in pitch-black battle armor, walked in through the door. His eyes burned with intense battle intent, and his body emitted a chilling killing aura.
Zhang Ruochen looked over and saw that although the man entered alone, it felt like thousands of troops were charging in.
An ordinary martial artist, seeing this man, would probably be frightened by his invisible momentum—stepping back, trembling, losing control, or even fainting.
"Disciple Qingxiao pays respects to Master."
The man clasped his iron fists together, lowered his head, and respectfully bowed to Xuanji Saint Master.
"So this is Senior Brother, Qingxiao Saint," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
Xuanji Saint Master nodded, raised one hand slightly, and said, "Qingxiao, no need for formalities."
Qingxiao Saint raised his head, still looking stern, and said in a deep voice, "Disciple has something extremely important to discuss with Master alone."
He emphasized the word "alone."
Second Senior Brother Zhu Hongtao glanced at Qingxiao Saint, somewhat dissatisfied, and shouted, "Senior Brother, you're not treating us as brothers. What's the matter that you can't say openly, and you have to guard against us?"
Qingxiao Saint glared back coldly, "This matter is of great importance. I'm afraid your big mouth will go out and spout nonsense."
"Hey... blaming me..."
Zhu Hongtao muttered under his breath.
He seemed somewhat afraid of Qingxiao Saint and didn't dare to say more, immediately lowering his head.
Then, Qingxiao Saint's gaze softened a bit, fixed on Zhang Ruochen, and said, "So this is Little Junior Brother? Senior Brother doesn't have anything good on him, so I'll give you an Artifact Warrior as a meeting gift."
Qingxiao Saint reached into the armor scales under his armpit, took out a black iron ball the size of a fist, and handed it to Zhang Ruochen.
The black iron ball, made of unknown material, weighed several thousand jin. Zhang Ruochen wasn't prepared, so when he caught it, his wrist sank sharply, almost spraining his hand bones.
However, Zhang Ruochen reacted quickly, instantly mobilizing the strength of his muscles and tendons to steady the iron ball.
Qingxiao Saint and Xuanji Saint Master left first, walking out of Qinghe Hall, seemingly having important matters to discuss.
Only Zhang Ruochen, Zhu Hongtao, Lingshu Half-Saint, and Wan Ke remained in Qinghe Hall.
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became somewhat oppressive.
Wan Ke laughed, "Senior Brother is just like that—always cold. But he's very good to us junior brothers and sisters."
"This Artifact Warrior he gave you is a very practical item. Do you want Third Senior Brother to teach you how to use it?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled, "No need. Although this is my first time getting an Artifact Warrior, I know a bit about how to use it."
Zhang Ruochen squeezed the diamond iron ball in his palm, mobilized his true qi, and injected it into the ball, activating the inscriptions inside.
"Whoosh!"
The upper and lower halves of the diamond iron ball rotated relative to each other, revealing a narrow gap in the center. Iron supports extended out, continuously expanding, and soon transformed into a three-meter-tall steel giant.
The steel giant stood in the hall, looking majestic and full of power.
This was an Artifact Warrior, a war device refined by the Divine Engineering Department of the First Central Empire.
Generally, only the Ministry of War could deploy Artifact Warriors.
Of course, someone like Zhang Ruochen, who had connections in the Ministry of War, could also obtain an Artifact Warrior. As long as the number leaked out wasn't too large, the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of War wouldn't bother too much about such a small matter.
There was a groove on the Artifact Warrior's chest, used to store spirit crystals and provide it with energy.
Of course, even top-grade spirit crystals had limited spiritual energy, insufficient to support an Artifact Warrior through a battle.
Therefore, in the Ministry of War, sacred stones were generally used to provide energy for Artifact Warriors.
Although sacred stones were precious, they could still be bought at a high price from the Martial Market Bank.
So, Zhang Ruochen planned to return to the Holy Academy and buy a few sacred stones to test the Artifact Warrior's power. The gift from Senior Brother shouldn't be too bad.
...
...
Qingxiao Saint and Xuanji Saint Master walked out of Qinghe Hall, immediately soared into the air, crossed a vast void, and landed on a meteorite over thirty miles long.
Qingxiao Saint waved his sleeve, sending out a mass of saint qi that formed a huge spherical light shield, enveloping the meteorite.
Seeing Qingxiao Saint so cautious, Xuanji Saint Master said, "It seems the evil artifact that emerged from the Xuanwu Ruins Realm is quite extraordinary, likely to trigger a series of major events."
The Ministry of War had dispatched three War Saints to the Xuanwu Ruins Realm to retrieve the Pillar of the Sinful Sea.
Qingxiao Saint was one of them.
Qingxiao Saint nodded solemnly, "No one expected the Xuanwu Ruins Realm to contain such a thing. Based on my judgment, it had been soaking at the bottom of the sea for a hundred thousand years."
"A hundred thousand years ago, they came to the Kunlun Realm, and we were completely unaware. It's terrifying."
Xuanji Saint Master clasped his hands behind his back and shook his head, "Perhaps someone knew, but it wasn't recorded in history. A hundred thousand years ago, many major events occurred, all possibly related to this. Have you forgotten how the Middle Ages ended?"
Qingxiao Saint was silent for a long time, frowning deeply, "But I feel the crisis is approaching step by step. No one knows when that day will come."
Xuanji Saint Master smiled, "Don't worry too much. The current Kunlun Realm, under the rule of the Empress, has reached an unprecedented peak. Geniuses emerge in large numbers, Saints rise together, martial arts flourish, and the Saintly Path prospers."
"Moreover, I heard the Empress has issued a secret decree to select ten Realm Sons, likely intending to cultivate ten new Emperors in the near future, recreating the glorious era of nine Emperors coexisting eight hundred years ago."