Chapter 739: Book Mountain, Realm Son Banquet
The incomplete Five Elements Dharma Aspect seemed to split the entire heaven and earth into five parts, each displaying one of the colors: black, green, red, yellow, and white.
Among them, the white region corresponding to the Metal element power appeared quite dim.
From this, it was evident that the Five Elements Dharma Aspect was not complete.
Ao Xinyan sat cross-legged on the summit of a spirit mountain, opening her eyes to glance at the distant Five Elements Dharma Aspect. A hint of surprise appeared on her face as she murmured to herself, "Has the team leader already successfully cultivated the Four Spirit Treasure Body?"
Ao Xinyan formed a hand seal with both hands, and immediately, a purple dragon shadow flew out from between her brows, circling her graceful, slender body once, causing the air currents to churn violently.
"Rising Dragon Finger!"
As she pointed a finger outward, a dragon-qi light pillar, three feet in diameter, shot from her snow-white fingertip, traversed through the void, and struck toward the incomplete Five Elements Dharma Aspect.
The direction the dragon-qi light pillar attacked was precisely the weakest Metal element region of the Five Elements Dharma Aspect.
Having now cultivated to the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, her cultivation base had greatly increased, so naturally, she wanted to test Zhang Ruochen's strength again.
Zhang Ruochen hovered in midair, glanced at the incoming dragon-qi light pillar, smiled slightly, and spread his arms, beginning to fully operate the Five Elements Dharma Aspect.
"Boom!"
The dragon-qi light pillar collided with the Dharma Aspect and was instantly shattered by the Five Elements power, turning into a mass of purple qi cloud that dissipated in all directions.
"What a formidable Five Elements Dharma Aspect. Even incomplete, it's very difficult to break through."
Ao Xinyan very much wanted to unleash her Divine Dragon Dharma Aspect to spar with the Five Elements Dharma Aspect, but in the end, she held back and did not act. Setting aside whether the Divine Dragon Dharma Aspect could defeat the Five Elements Dharma Aspect, even if it did win, what would it prove?
She was well aware that Zhang Ruochen's greatest strengths were the powers of time and space. If Zhang Ruochen were to unleash these two forces, Ao Xinyan would have no chance of victory.
Zhang Ruochen withdrew the Five Elements Dharma Aspect, landed back on the ground, and looked at his hands, which were brimming with power. He murmured to himself, "My cultivation has reached the peak of the seventh transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm. If I can open the Chongling Sacred Meridian, I can break through to the eighth transformation."
The Chongling Sacred Meridian was the last and most important of the five sacred meridians. It ran through the cultivator's entire body, connecting all sacred meridians and energy channels.
Once the Chongling Sacred Meridian was opened, the cultivator's "qi" throughout the body would be connected as one, truly achieving the state of effortless control.
Generally speaking, once the Chongling Sacred Meridian was opened, a cultivator's power could instantly double, greatly increasing their strength.
Therefore, there was a clear gap between the seventh and eighth transformations of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
Zhang Ruochen was not in a hurry to break through to the eighth transformation, because the Chongling Sacred Meridian did not require gradual, step-by-step opening. Instead, a Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator needed to gather all their strength and, in a single burst, force this meridian open in an instant.
Sometimes, with the help of a powerful external force, it could be even easier to break through the meridian barriers of the Chongling Sacred Meridian.
For example, Ao Xinyan. She had used the immense power of the Divine Dragon Bone to open her Chongling Sacred Meridian in an instant, reaching the eighth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
Over the following period, Zhang Ruochen continuously practiced his sword techniques, executing Sword Two, to further deepen his understanding of the fourth realm, "Yin and Yang Divided."
This was a process of consolidation!
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen also practiced the thirty-seven types of sword techniques from Qi Hong's sword dao knowledge, striving to transform them into his own sword techniques and achieve the realm of complete mastery.
Qi Hong was indeed worthy of being a Sword Saint's disciple, having cultivated two Ghost-grade top-quality sword techniques, four Ghost-grade mid-quality sword techniques, and five Ghost-grade low-quality sword techniques.
The two Ghost-grade top-quality sword techniques were the "Mountain and River Sword Technique" and the "Nine Stars Ringing the Moon Sword," both extremely profound and infinitely powerful.
Even though Zhang Ruochen had absorbed Qi Hong's sword dao knowledge, it took him a month just to cultivate the Nine Stars Ringing the Moon Sword to the realm of complete mastery, allowing him to unleash its power at the great success level.
As for the Mountain and River Sword Technique, Zhang Ruochen had already reached a fairly proficient level, but he could only unleash its power at the minor success level.
Based on Zhang Ruochen's analysis, the Mountain and River Sword Technique was not just a sword technique; it also contained the power of the Sacred Dao.
In this world, every blade of grass, every tree, every mountain, every river—as long as it existed, it must have some underlying principle.
Within these principles lay the Sacred Dao.
A cultivator must contemplate the mountains and rivers, comprehend the Sacred Dao contained within them, and reach a certain realm before they could unleash the great success power of the Mountain and River Sword Technique.
The vast majority of cultivators only began to contemplate the Sacred Dao and strive for the Half-Saint realm after reaching the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
"Whoosh!"
A dragon shadow flew over from a distance, coalescing into a slender, graceful figure who stood before Zhang Ruochen.
Ao Xinyan clasped her hands in front of her chest and said, "Team leader, the Realm Son Banquet is probably about to start. We should head out now. If we arrive too late, the Demon Sect people might think we're afraid of them."
Zhang Ruochen stopped practicing his sword moves, laid the Abyssal Ancient Sword flat in his hand, looked at the sword, and laughed self-deprecatingly: "If I hadn't agreed to Ouyang Heng's challenge, I really wouldn't want to attend the Realm Son Banquet."
Zhang Ruochen had no interest in becoming a Realm Son and was also indifferent to the Realm Son Banquet. However, he had accepted Ouyang Heng's duel, so he had to go.
In the end, he could only attribute it to his own immaturity and youthful hot-headedness.
What young person doesn't have a bit of passion in their heart?
At that moment, facing Ouyang Heng, standing opposite an equally outstanding young man, the pride in Zhang Ruochen's heart simply wouldn't allow him to back down.
Since he had agreed, what was the harm in attending the Realm Son Banquet?
Zhang Ruochen and Ao Xinyan walked together, leaving the closed-door cultivation stone chamber.
As for Huang Yanchen, she had already gone ahead to the Realm Son Banquet.
"The geniuses and outstanding talents of the Kunlun Realm are as numerous as ox hairs. I really want to know how Shengshu Cainü will preside over this banquet," Ao Xinyan said, a slight upward curve on her lips. She was naturally quite looking forward to it.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen stopped walking, looked into the distance, and exclaimed with admiration, "This is truly a grand undertaking. Is this what a true sacred relic looks like?"
Ao Xinyan followed Zhang Ruochen's gaze and looked over, her pupils rapidly dilating in shock.
She saw that outside the city of Shentai, a massive Book Mountain had somehow risen.
That's right.
It was a mountain formed by piling up countless books and scrolls.
The mountain was over three thousand meters high. At the mid-slope, wisps of white cloud bridges floated in the air, making the Book Mountain appear like a celestial realm, faintly visible.
Who knew how many billions of books were needed to pile up such a colossal mountain?
Seeing such a sight, anyone would be shocked, filling their hearts with a sense of reverence.
Looking from afar, one could vaguely see many cultivators already climbing the Book Mountain, hurrying towards the summit.
At the foot of the Book Mountain, it was packed with people, a sea of humanity. Cultivators in various attires could be seen everywhere, including many strange-looking half-human clans.
The members of the Elephant Half-Human Clan were extremely tall, seven or eight meters high, with legs like pillars and ears like palm-leaf fans.
The members of the Fragrant Fox Half-Human Clan were mostly female, dressed rather scantily, with extremely seductive features. A simple blink of their eyes could make a man's entire body feel numb.
...
Zhang Ruochen and Ao Xinyan stood at the periphery, unable to get close to the Book Mountain, and could only slowly walk over step by step.
At that moment, an inner disciple of the Liangyi Sect spotted Zhang Ruochen's figure and immediately shouted, "Look, it's Senior Brother Lin Yue! Senior Brother Lin Yue has arrived!"
Countless eyes from the surrounding crowd all turned to Zhang Ruochen. Many people showed excited expressions, as if they had seen their idol.
In the past month, the name Lin Yue had spread far and wide. Everyone knew he was a formidable figure, having consecutively defeated two masters of the Demon Sect. He even dared to challenge Ouyang Heng.
Therefore, the crowd parted, clearing a path for Zhang Ruochen.
Arriving at the foot of the Book Mountain, Zhang Ruochen finally felt an immense and boundless sacred might emanating from within the mountain, making him feel incredibly insignificant.
At the summit, the figure of Shengshu Cainü could be faintly seen.
A familiar voice sounded to Zhang Ruochen's right: "The Book Mountain was built by Shengshu Cainü using three hundred and ninety-seven million, eight hundred thousand books and scrolls. Each book and scroll is inscribed with formation runes. The entire Book Mountain is like a grand formation."
Zhang Ruochen turned his head to look. Standing to his right was Huang Yanchen, dressed in a tight-fitting martial robe, her sapphire-blue hair cascading from her head down to her waist.
It was she who had spoken.
"Shengshu Cainü's methods are truly remarkable. No wonder the Empress sent her to select the nine Realm Sons," Ao Xinyan remarked with admiration.
Huang Yanchen said, "The Realm Son Banquet is not just about selecting the nine Realm Sons. It is also intended to examine the younger generation of the Kunlun Realm and see how many hidden geniuses and talents there are. Just wait and see. Tonight, many formidable figures are likely to appear. Some who were previously unknown will surely become famous throughout the world through this banquet."
"On the Book Mountain, four levels of seats have been set up."
"At the very bottom of the Book Mountain, eighteen thousand seats have been established, called the 'Outstanding Talent Seats.' Anyone who can secure a seat and not be knocked down by other challengers can be considered an outstanding talent and qualifies as a guest at the Realm Son Banquet."
Zhang Ruochen looked at the Book Mountain and indeed saw densely packed seats at its base. Some were located hundreds of meters high, while others were set at positions only tens of meters up.
Moreover, each seat had a different number.
Clearly, even among the eighteen thousand Outstanding Talent Seats, there was an order of precedence. The higher the seat, the higher the ranking.
Looking into the distance, Zhang Ruochen saw Si Xingkong and Chang Qiqi fiercely competing with a large group of cultivators for two of the Outstanding Talent Seats. Even with their talent and cultivation, they were fighting with great difficulty and couldn't hold their positions steadily.
If just the Outstanding Talent Seats were this hard to contend for, what about the seats further up?
Huang Yanchen continued, "Above the Outstanding Talent Seats, at the mid-slope of the Book Mountain, three thousand seats have been set up, called the 'Heavenly Proud Seats.' Clearly, Shengshu Cainü intends to use the Realm Son Banquet to select the top three thousand Heavenly Proud Ones of the Kunlun Realm."
"I suspect that after the Realm Son Banquet, only these three thousand people throughout the entire Kunlun Realm will dare to call themselves Heavenly Proud Ones. Any other cultivator who claims to be a Heavenly Proud One will surely be ridiculed."
"However, securing a place among those three thousand seats is obviously extremely difficult. One must rely on true strength, pass through the checkpoint of the eighteen thousand Outstanding Talents, and fight their way up step by step."
Three thousand seats seemed like a lot, but when distributed across the entire Kunlun Realm, it was very, very few.
A single Saintly Clan might not even be able to secure one seat.
Huang Yanchen continued, "Further up, there are one hundred and eight seats, close to the summit of the Book Mountain, called the 'King Seats.' Everyone who can secure a seat can be called a Young King."
(First chapter posted, second chapter will be posted in the afternoon. This chapter is 3400 words, close to the length of two chapters!)