# Chapter 662: Seven-Colored Sacred Spring
When cultivators reach the summit of the first mountain, they can drink the sacred water from the first sacred spring.
It was said that the seven sacred springs within the Ancient God Mountain were the seven blood vessels of an ancient god. By drinking the spring water, cultivators could not only enhance their cultivation but also gain insights into the Sacred Dao and the Sword Dao.
Zhang Ruochen naturally wanted to taste the sacred spring and see if it was truly as miraculous as the legends claimed.
The first mountain of the Ancient God Mountain was nine thousand meters tall. To climb from the mountainside to the summit, one had to continuously struggle against that invisible "force."
Reaching the six-thousand-meter mark, Zhang Ruochen could clearly feel the power of the "force." His mind felt slightly dizzy, and his eardrums began to ache.
Zhang Ruochen simply circulated his true qi within his body, immediately neutralizing the power of the "force" and becoming relaxed and natural once more.
Reaching the seven-thousand-meter mark, Zhang Ruochen saw ahead of him a Fish-Dragon Sixth Change sacred inheritance disciple moving forward slowly.
This person had clearly reached the limit of his body. His Daoist robe was soaked through with sweat, and veins bulged on his face, yet he still persisted, forcing himself to climb upward.
"Boom!"
The immense "force" struck his body, shattering his eardrums and causing blood to gush from both ears.
That sacred inheritance disciple let out a miserable cry. His body lost control, flew backward, and plunged down the bottomless cliff.
Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen immediately activated the power of his Sword Heart Illumination. "Whoosh!" The blue sword strapped to his back flew out of its sheath, transforming into a sword rainbow that shot down toward the cliff.
Moments later, the blue sword carried that sacred inheritance disciple back up.
Zhang Ruochen tossed the sacred inheritance disciple onto the mountain path, retrieved his blue sword, and continued upward.
Not far ahead, a tall, thin man in blood-red robes turned his head to glance at Zhang Ruochen. He had also been about to act and save the person, but Zhang Ruochen had beaten him to it.
The tall, thin man looked rather weathered, appearing to be around thirty-five or thirty-six years old. He withdrew the blood-red sacred qi from his palm and said, "To be able to execute the Flying Sword Art while suppressed by the 'force' of the Ancient God Mountain, your strength is not bad."
Zhang Ruochen looked up and saw, ten zhang away, a man in blood-red Daoist robes staring at him with sharp, cold eyes.
Even from ten zhang away, Zhang Ruochen could smell the intense bloody aura emanating from the man.
What surprised Zhang Ruochen most was that, with his eyesight, he could not discern this person's cultivation level. He could only roughly guess that the other party's cultivation was at least Fish-Dragon Seventh Change, or even stronger.
Encountering an expert on the Ancient God Mountain was not strange. What truly puzzled Zhang Ruochen was that the embroidered patterns on the tall, thin man's collar and cuffs were identical to those on his own Daoist robe.
In other words, the tall, thin man was also a sacred inheritance disciple of the Longevity Institute.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Which spiritual mountain of the Longevity Institute are you from?"
The tall, thin man's face remained cold. Without answering Zhang Ruochen's question, he said nothing and continued walking toward the summit.
His steps were slow but steady. Even though the "force" was assaulting his will, he remained exceptionally calm.
He had been the one to initiate conversation with Zhang Ruochen, yet when Zhang Ruochen tried to communicate with him, he became extremely cold.
What a strange person.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and walked unhurriedly along the mountain path, continuing toward the summit.
The "force" of the first mountain was indeed strong, but it could not trouble Zhang Ruochen. In less than an hour, he reached the summit.
The tall, thin man and Zhang Ruochen arrived at the summit almost simultaneously. Without a word, he headed toward the direction of the first sacred spring.
At the foot of the Ancient God Mountain.
Mu Jiji and Xun Hualiu had been watching the summit the entire time. When they saw Zhang Ruochen successfully reach the summit of the first mountain, they jumped up excitedly.
"Brother Lin Yue is truly formidable. On his first attempt at the Ancient God Mountain, he reached the summit of the first mountain. This achievement is no less than that of Gai Hao. If only I had half his ability," Xun Hualiu said.
Mu Jiji was also extremely excited. He boasted to several sacred inheritance disciples he knew, "See that? The person on the summit of the first mountain is my big brother, Lin Yue. Impressive, right?"
Sacred inheritance disciples had extraordinary eyesight. By channeling true qi into their eyes, they could clearly see every blade of grass within a hundred li. Seeing the people on the summit was naturally easy for them.
Just as Xun Hualiu and Mu Jiji were showing off that Lin Yue was their big brother, the surrounding sacred inheritance disciples were all staring at the tall, thin man standing beside Lin Yue.
"That person... that person has finally returned to the sect?"
"How could it be him?"
...
Mu Jiji, seeing that everyone was ignoring Brother Lin Yue and instead staring at someone else, was naturally quite displeased. He pursed his lips and looked toward the summit again, wanting to see who had stolen Brother Lin Yue's thunder.
His gaze fell upon the tall, thin man.
It was a very unfamiliar figure. Mu Jiji, who claimed to be the know-it-all of the Liangyi Sect, could not recognize the man at all.
So, Mu Jiji asked an older sacred inheritance disciple beside him, "Senior Brother Ji, who is that person? Even with your cultivation, you seem somewhat afraid of him?"
The older sacred inheritance disciple said, "Given your age, of course you wouldn't have seen him in the sect. But you must have heard his name. This man is the only cultivator in the Liangyi Sect in the past ten thousand years to successfully cultivate the 'Blood Sword Scripture.' His name is Candong. Thirty years ago, he went to the Ruins Realm battlefield to train and never returned to the sect. Almost no young disciple has seen his true face."
"Blood Sword, Candong."
Mu Jiji and Xun Hualiu's expressions changed with shock.
They never expected to encounter such a legendary fierce person.
Not just Mu Jiji and Xun Hualiu, but all the sacred inheritance disciples present erupted in excitement upon learning that Candong was challenging the Ancient God Mountain.
"I thought today would be a fierce competition between Qin Yufan, Xu Changsheng, and Qi Feiyu, but I never expected Candong to join in. This is going to be interesting."
"Qin Yufan and Qi Feiyu should be able to reach the summit of the second mountain. Xu Changsheng and Candong will probably stop at the mountainside of the second mountain."
"The sect once conducted internal statistics. Among the sacred inheritance disciples in the Fish-Dragon Realm who could reach the summit of the second mountain, ninety-nine percent later became Half-Saints, and thirty percent became Saints. Anyone who can reach the summit of the second mountain is guaranteed to become a Half-Saint, with a good chance of becoming a Saint."
All the sacred inheritance disciples present were discussing Qin Yufan, Qi Feiyu, Xu Changsheng, and Candong. Incredibly, all four of them had Fish-Dragon Eighth Change cultivation.
Under their radiance, no one paid any attention to Lin Yue, who had reached the summit of the first mountain.
After all, in everyone's eyes, Lin Yue was just a newly promoted sacred inheritance disciple. His cultivation and reputation were on an entirely different level from the four mentioned.
...
...
The first sacred spring flowed down from the summit of the second mountain, passed through blue stones, and formed a small stream flowing down the mountain. However, before the sacred water could reach the mountainside, it completely seeped into the soil and disappeared.
In other words, only by reaching the summit of the first mountain could one drink the sacred water from the spring.
The sacred water in the stream appeared in seven colors and emitted a faint, unusual fragrance. Because of the sacred spring's irrigation, countless rare spiritual herbs grew beside the stream, ranging from a thousand years to three thousand years in age.
Every spiritual herb, if sold, would fetch a considerable price.
Each sacred inheritance disciple could only drink the sacred water from the spring on their first visit to the summit. If they tried to approach the sacred spring on a second visit, they would immediately be repelled by the formation beside it.
The tall, thin man entered a Daoist temple, took a green gourd from the altar, walked to the sacred spring, and filled the gourd with spring water.
Zhang Ruochen also entered the temple, took out a palm-sized gourd, and prepared to fill it with sacred spring water.
The tall, thin man glanced at Zhang Ruochen and said, "Your talent is not bad. Why don't you drink the sacred spring here to enhance your cultivation instead of taking it away?"
"Why don't you drink the sacred spring here to enhance your cultivation instead of taking it away?" Zhang Ruochen countered.
The rules of the Ancient God Mountain allowed sacred inheritance disciples to drink as much sacred spring water as their bodies could withstand.
However, if a sacred inheritance disciple did not cultivate beside the spring and wanted to take the sacred water away, they could only fill a small gourd.
Therefore, sacred inheritance disciples with strong physiques almost always chose to cultivate beside the spring, using the sacred water to break through their realms. In doing so, they could drink several times more sacred water than what a small gourd could hold.
The tall, thin man stood up again, looked at the gourd in his hand, and said expressionlessly, "I am different from you."
Zhang Ruochen crouched down, placed the green gourd into the sacred spring, smiled, and said, "I am also quite different from you."
The tall, thin man gave Zhang Ruochen a deep look, said no more, put away the green gourd, and headed straight for the second mountain.
After the tall, thin man left, Zhang Ruochen's lips curled slightly upward. While using the gourd to collect the sacred spring water, he secretly infused true qi into the space ring on his finger, using it to absorb the sacred spring water.
"Whoosh!"
The seven-colored sacred spring water immediately surged into the space ring, forming a small vortex on the water's surface.
Zhang Ruochen was worried about alarming the Saints within the Ancient God Mountain, so he did not dare to collect too much.
After filling about one cubic meter of sacred spring water, he immediately withdrew his true qi and closed the entrance to the space ring.
At the same time, he pulled back his hand, retrieved the gourd filled with sacred spring water, put the lid on, hung it at his waist, and headed toward the second mountain.
Inside the space ring, one cubic meter of sacred spring water was already a thousand times the amount in the gourd. It was an enormous fortune. (To be continued.)