Chapter 791: All Things Are Swords
Zhang Ruochen landed again beside the remains of Xuanji Sword Saint, took out the Ruyi Treasure Bottle, and collected the sacred soul and blood qi of Xin Feng Half-Saint into the bottle.
The sacred soul and blood qi of a Half-Saint could condense into a "Half-Saint Light," which could be considered a Half-Saint's legacy, a truly remarkable treasure. Since he could collect it, there was no reason to waste it.
As for Xin Lei Half-Saint, he had already been devoured by a spatial rift, dragged into the Void World, his divine form annihilated, leaving no sacred soul behind.
Zhang Ruochen retrieved the Ruyi Treasure Bottle, held it in his palm, and fixed his gaze on Feng Han.
The Abyssal Ancient Sword, brimming with spiritual nature, sensed the killing intent emanating from Zhang Ruochen and trembled slightly, emitting a sharp, clanging sound.
Tai Xi Half-Saint and Xin Yu Half-Saint immediately converged behind Feng Han. The three Half-Saints stood within three zhang of each other, forming a mutually supportive triangular formation.
The sacred qi released by the three Half-Saints merged together, creating a flawless defense. If Zhang Ruochen attacked any one of them, the other two could retaliate instantly.
Tai Xi Half-Saint wore a worried expression and said solemnly, "Sixth Prince, the commotion from the previous battle was significant. It has likely already alerted the strong experts of Liangyi Sect. I believe our primary task is to bring the Skyward Sword back to avoid any mishaps."
Feng Han carefully calculated. With his cultivation, defeating Zhang Ruochen was not difficult. However, killing or capturing him alive was as hard as reaching the heavens.
If he got entangled by Zhang Ruochen and couldn't break free, and Liangyi Sect's experts arrived, it would be extremely disadvantageous for him.
Hearing Tai Xi Half-Saint's words, Feng Han pondered briefly and then nodded. "Give me the Skyward Sword. I will take it back and personally hand it to His Majesty."
Tai Xi Half-Saint handed the Skyward Sword to Feng Han, glanced at Xin Yu Half-Saint, and said, "Xin Yu Half-Saint, escort the Sixth Prince away. I will hold this brat back."
"Be careful. The spatial power this kid wields is quite peculiar," Xin Yu Half-Saint said.
Tai Xi Half-Saint laughed. "I have already reached the early stage of the Second-Step Half-Saint. Even if I cannot defeat him, I can retreat with ease."
The gap between a First-Step Half-Saint and a Second-Step Half-Saint was as vast as that between the Ninth Change of Fish-Dragon and a First-Step Half-Saint. It was enormous. The four Half-Saints—Xin Feng, Xin Lei, Xin Yun, and Xin Yu—had to join forces and use a combined attack formation just to contend with Tai Xi Half-Saint.
Of course, although the strength gap between Half-Saints was significant, their means of survival were plentiful, and the difference in speed was not too great. Therefore, even if one Half-Saint was weaker than another, as long as they weren't trapped in the opponent's Sacred Soul Domain, they could usually escape.
Killing a Half-Saint was no easy task.
Yet Zhang Ruochen was a Half-Saint killer. By harnessing the power of time and space, within a certain distance, even if a Half-Saint tried to flee, they couldn't escape.
"Feng Han, you're a Half-Saint, yet you won't even fight a single battle before running away?"
Seeing Feng Han and Xin Yu Half-Saint retreating with the Skyward Sword, Zhang Ruochen immediately moved to intercept them.
"Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation."
Tai Xi Half-Saint, standing behind Feng Han, took out a crimson ancient jade disc about a foot in diameter. With a slap of his palm, he sent the jade disc flying, hovering above Zhang Ruochen's head.
From the jade disc, dense formation inscriptions burst forth, rapidly spreading outward in all directions.
"Whoosh—"
Eighteen fire pillars, as thick as a bowl, flew out from inside the jade disc, taking the shape of chains and connecting to the ground. They positioned themselves around Zhang Ruochen in eighteen directions, trapping him within the formation.
Zhang Ruochen mobilized spatial power, executing a Spatial Displacement, hoping to use the power of space to break out of the formation.
But when he reappeared, he hadn't escaped. Instead, he found himself at the edge of the formation, about to collide with a fire chain. The situation was extremely dangerous.
"Sizzle."
A scorching wave of heat rushed toward him.
Despite the unexpected turn, Zhang Ruochen's reaction speed was incredibly fast. He immediately swung his sword horizontally to block, causing the blade to clash with the fire chain.
"Boom."
Zhang Ruochen was sent flying back, landing again at the center of the formation.
The power of the formation was terrifying. The high temperature emitted by the fire chains heated the Abyssal Ancient Sword red, sending sparks flying.
It was easy to imagine that colliding with those fire chains would severely injure even a Half-Saint's physical body.
Tai Xi Half-Saint stood outside the formation, laughing loudly. "Zhang Ruochen, so what if you can harness spatial power? The power of the formation can distort space to a certain extent."
"The Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation is a Sixth-Rank formation, extremely intricate and complex. Even a Third-Step Half-Saint would need a full day and night to break it. Your control over spatial power is still at a very shallow level. How could you possibly break the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation?"
Setting up a Sixth-Rank formation was no less difficult than building a city—it was a massive undertaking.
Even a Sixth-Rank formation master, leading dozens of lower-ranked formation masters, would need a month to set up a Sixth-Rank formation.
Refining a Sixth-Rank formation into a formation sacred artifact was even harder.
Not only did one need to find precious materials to create the sacred artifact that could bear the formation, but it also took much more time to inscribe the formation inscriptions.
A Sixth-Rank formation master might need three to five years to successfully refine a formation sacred artifact.
Even so, the power of a formation deployed using a formation sacred artifact was greatly diminished, incomparable to a Sixth-Rank city-protecting formation or a Sixth-Rank sect-protecting formation.
Its only advantage was portability—it could be deployed at any time.
The value of a Sixth-Rank formation sacred artifact was several times greater than an ordinary Hundred-Pattern Sacred Artifact.
Zhang Ruochen remained calm. "The Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation is indeed immensely powerful, but trapping me won't be as easy as you think."
"Is that so? Let's see how you break the formation," Tai Xi Half-Saint said with a sinister smile, looking very composed and confident.
If a Fish-Dragon realm cultivator could break the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation, could it still be called a Sixth-Rank formation?
"Breaking the formation from the inside is indeed extremely difficult. But what about breaking it from the outside?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Tai Xi Half-Saint said, "Good idea, but can you get out of the formation?"
"Once I'm out, do I still need to break the formation?"
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, formed a hand seal with his fingers, and a powerful sword intent erupted from his body, turning into an invisible force that surged out of the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation, extending a hundred li away.
The Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation could trap cultivators inside, but it couldn't trap intangible sword intent.
After all, Zhang Ruochen had reached the "Unity of Man and Sword" realm. His sword intent was incredibly powerful.
With the blessing of his sword intent, all the leaves and grass blades in the forest were covered in a layer of white light, trembling. The tips of the leaves pointed like swords toward the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation.
Tai Xi Half-Saint scanned the surroundings, his expression changing drastically. "Sword intent unleashed, all things become swords. The realm of Unity of Man and Sword—how is this possible? That's the realm of a Sword Saint."
If Tai Xi Half-Saint couldn't clearly sense that the sword intent was emanating from Zhang Ruochen, he would have suspected a Sword Saint was hiding nearby.
During the Sword Discussion Assembly, Zhang Ruochen had used a single strand of hair to kill Xuan Long Half-Saint. This showed how profound his mastery of the Sword Dao was.
Tai Xi Half-Saint's cultivation was even slightly weaker than Xuan Long Half-Saint's.
Even with the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation assisting him, Tai Xi Half-Saint was not afraid of Zhang Ruochen.
Sensing something was wrong, Tai Xi Half-Saint no longer waited. He began controlling the formation, launching an attack, intending to kill Zhang Ruochen as quickly as possible.
Both his hands pushed forward simultaneously.
From his palms, two pillars of sacred qi surged out, continuously channeling thick sacred qi into the jade disc.
The jade disc spun rapidly. With a whoosh, a pillar of fire shot out from the center of the disc, striking downward with immense force.
"Boom!"
With just one strike, a bottomless pit was blasted into the center of the formation. Around the pit, the soil and rocks had completely melted, turning into droplets of red-hot magma.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen dodged in time. Otherwise, with his cultivation, he wouldn't have been able to withstand that blow.
The jade disc began spinning again, preparing for a second strike.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes darkened. He spat out a sound wave and said, "Sword Control."
"Swish, swish."
All the leaves and grass blades in that forest flew up, rushing into the sky, turning into countless black dots. All the black dots converged into a massive black cloud, blocking out the moon in the sky.
The next moment, the air was filled with the dense sound of breaking wind.
Leaves and grass blades shot down rapidly, continuously striking Tai Xi Half-Saint and the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation. Because of their incredible speed and the blessing of sword intent, ordinary leaves and grass blades had become deadly weapons.
A single leaf striking the ground could penetrate a zhang deep into the earth.
"Bang, bang."
Tai Xi Half-Saint's cultivation was formidable, and the defense of the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation was extraordinary. Before the leaves could get close, they were shattered into wood powder by a powerful surge of sacred qi.
"Your sword intent is strong, but leaves alone cannot kill a Half-Saint," Tai Xi Half-Saint roared.
Zhang Ruochen continued to release his sword intent without pause. "Dripping water wears away stone; a rope saws through wood. You may not be as strong as you think, and a single leaf may not be as weak as you imagine."
As time passed, the pressure on Tai Xi Half-Saint grew heavier and heavier. The dense barrage of leaves finally pierced through his defenses, landing on his body, cutting through his skin, and slicing open his blood vessels.
After a while, the Heaven-Sealing Earth-Locking Formation let out an explosive sound. It was breached from the outside by the leaves that had turned into swords.
With a bang, the light of the jade disc retracted, and it fell to the ground.