Chapter 819: Divine Mark Eyes
Zhang Ruochen spent a full half day completely refining the sixth drop of divine blood.
The Divine Patterns on the wall of his Qi Sea indeed underwent a tremendous transformation, becoming deeper and more sacred. Each pattern emitted a brilliant radiance, carrying an ancient aura of time.
However, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation realm did not improve significantly, and he still did not perceive the so-called Fish-Dragon Tenth Transformation.
"Continue."
Zhang Ruochen unsealed the restraints and began refining the seventh drop of divine blood.
Even refining the sixth drop had been quite strenuous, and he felt his body nearing saturation. Now, starting on the seventh drop was naturally even more difficult.
The energy contained within divine blood was terrifying, enough to penetrate a Hundred-Pattern Sacred Artifact. A Fish-Dragon realm cultivator's body could not contain too much.
Other outstanding talents needed the power of gods to refine just one or two drops of divine blood. Yet he, relying solely on his own strength, had already refined six drops—an act that defied the heavens.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen's blood seemed to turn into magma, becoming scorching hot.
As he continuously absorbed the divine blood into his body, an intense burning pain spread through his blood vessels, as if they were about to melt.
It was worth noting that when refining the first six drops of divine blood, Zhang Ruochen had never encountered such a situation. It had been quite easy, with no difficulty at all.
"Persevere. I must persevere. If I get through this, I might reach the Fish-Dragon Tenth Transformation."
Relying on his own willpower, Zhang Ruochen clenched his teeth and continued refining the divine blood.
At first, only beads of sweat emerged from his pores. But after the sweat was exhausted, droplets of blood began to seep out.
With a massive loss of water and blood, Zhang Ruochen's body quickly withered, and the flesh on his face sank inward.
If a senior had been protecting him, they would have immediately stopped him from continuing to refine the divine blood. This was an extremely dangerous state, and he could easily die from the depletion of all his life force.
Just then, the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood's trunk gently swayed, producing a rustling sound. Above, billions of emerald leaves surged with strands of azure energy, cascading down like a waterfall and pouring into Zhang Ruochen's body.
Immediately, Zhang Ruochen's body became full again, regaining its vitality.
After a day and a night, Zhang Ruochen finally completely refined the seventh drop of divine blood.
Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes again and blinked. He felt that the scene before him was somewhat different from before.
In the air and in the earth, countless rules were weaving through, each one intersecting and tightly arranged, forming a strange world.
"What is this?"
Zhang Ruochen was quite surprised.
He closed his eyes, rubbed his temples, and opened them again. The countless rules had disappeared.
Then, Zhang Ruochen circulated his Saint Qi and infused it into his eyes.
In his eyes, two Divine Marks emerged, suspended within the eyeballs. The rules of heaven and earth became extremely clear again, fully presented before him.
"Two Divine Marks have actually imprinted into my eyeballs. Could it be that my eyes have transformed into Divine Mark Eyes?"
The Divine Patterns were originally on the wall of his Qi Sea. Now, two separate Divine Marks appeared in his eyes, clearly having fallen off the Qi Sea wall and merged with his eyeballs.
Even with Zhang Ruochen's current state of mind, his heart churned like a stormy sea. He was extremely excited and could not calm down.
It took a long time for him to regain his composure. He thought to himself, "When the Divine Patterns in the Qi Sea become strong enough, they should fall off and turn into real Divine Marks, merging into my body."
The only thing that puzzled Zhang Ruochen was that for other Fish-Dragon realm cultivators, the Divine Marks formed from refining divine blood would eventually merge with their Saint Souls.
But the two Divine Marks that fell off the Qi Sea wall merged with Zhang Ruochen's eyeballs.
It was worth noting that only legendary figures who achieved "Physical Body Sainthood" would merge the Divine Marks they cultivated into their physical bodies. This would sanctify all the organs of the body, making them far superior to ordinary saints and granting them extremely long lifespans.
Ordinary cultivators, upon first entering the Saint realm, would immediately gain a lifespan of three hundred and sixty years. As their cultivation improved, their lifespan would increase somewhat.
A figure who achieved Physical Body Sainthood, upon entering the Saint realm, could gain a lifespan of one thousand years, and their combat power was terrifying.
Of course, after the Middle Ages, no one had been able to achieve Physical Body Sainthood.
To achieve Physical Body Sainthood, one needed not only a large amount of divine blood but also a powerful will. Both were indispensable.
For this reason, Zhang Ruochen did not have a great desire for Physical Body Sainthood. He began studying the Divine Mark Eyes he had just cultivated.
Compared to Divine Eyes, the Divine Mark Eyes were clearly still far inferior. However, they were still quite remarkable—something even saints dreamed of.
They could help Zhang Ruochen observe the rules of the Sacred Dao more clearly and distinctly. This way, his comprehension of the Sacred Dao would surely advance by leaps and bounds.
Even after reaching this point, Zhang Ruochen had not touched the edge of the Fish-Dragon Tenth Transformation. He had to wonder if that legendary realm truly existed.
"Having already refined seven drops of divine blood, and even my physical body has reached its limit, yet I still haven't achieved the Fish-Dragon Tenth Transformation."
"Perhaps that realm doesn't exist at all. After all, even in the Middle Ages, those figures with divine destinies were just legends."
Zhang Ruochen did not take the Fish-Dragon Tenth Transformation too seriously. Even without reaching that realm, refining seven drops of divine blood had still significantly increased his strength.
Now, if he were to fight a Third-Step Half-Saint again, it should be much easier.
Zhang Ruochen stood up, leaped to the ground, and looked at the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood. Then, he clasped his hands and bowed deeply to it.
Although Zhang Ruochen had been in a cultivation state earlier, he could clearly sense that at the most critical moment, the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood had infused a powerful life force into his body, helping him through the crisis.
Otherwise, Zhang Ruochen would never have been able to refine the seventh drop of divine blood, nor would he have cultivated the Divine Mark Eyes.
"This new sapling of the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood must have already developed intelligence."
As Zhang Ruochen bowed, the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood gently swayed, as if responding to him.
The Sky-Connecting Divine Wood was known as the last god of the Kunlun Realm. Having experienced countless millennia of storms and vicissitudes, it naturally possessed immense wisdom.
Moreover, the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood was also called the "Root of Life of the Kunlun Realm." Before it was cut down, there was a Spring of Life within its roots.
Legend has it that all living beings in the Kunlun Realm were born from the Spring of Life.
After the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood was cut down, the Spring of Life also disappeared.
"Now that the new sapling has developed intelligence, will it one day give birth to a new Spring of Life?" Zhang Ruochen looked at the enormous trunk before him, filled with anticipation.
Legend has it that an ordinary person could live to two hundred years old by drinking just one mouthful of the Spring of Life.
There were also stories of fallen saints who, after drinking the Spring of Life, were revived.
It was said that because the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood and the Spring of Life existed, the Kunlun Realm flourished for a long time. This drew the jealousy of an evil god, who cut down the Sky-Connecting Divine Wood and destroyed the Spring of Life.
If the Spring of Life had not dried up, perhaps Xuanji Sword Saint could have been saved. For this reason, Zhang Ruochen deeply hoped that a new Spring of Life would be born.
If an accident occurred in the future, he could use it to save his loved ones and friends.
Although he had cultivated the Divine Mark Eyes, allowing him to comprehend the rules of the Sacred Dao at an extremely fast pace, he did not continue cultivating. Instead, he prepared to head to the Ghost Valley immediately.
In the northern region of the Scroll World sat a fiery red flame mountain, covering an area of three hundred miles. Before Zhang Ruochen even entered the mountain, he could feel waves of heat surging and spreading powerfully.
This flame mountain had not always existed. It had formed after Zhang Ruochen placed the corpse of the Azure Flame Xuanwu here.
The energy of the Azure Flame Xuanwu was too terrifying. Even as a dead body, it turned hundreds of miles into an eternal flame forbidden zone.
At the heart of the flame mountain stood a red bronze cauldron, three zhang tall, with four thick legs like writhing dragons. It was a Twelfth-Grade True Martial Treasure-level refining cauldron.
Zhang Ruochen had originally bought it to refine the Ruyi Treasure Bottle.
Now, it was being used by Xiao Hei to refine battle corpses.
After Jialuo Kong and Jialuo Lan died, Xiao Hei obtained one hundred and ten Half-Saint corpses. True to his nature, he was eager to refine all one hundred and ten Half-Saint corpses into battle corpses.
The process of refining battle corpses was clearly not simple.
Xiao Hei was seen holding the Death Zen Buddhist Scripture, studying, flipping through, and analyzing it. Then, he spent a great deal of effort carving extremely complex inscriptions onto each battle corpse.
To make a Half-Saint battle corpse unleash power comparable to a First-Step Half-Saint, a large number of inscriptions had to be carved into the corpse's skin, bones, meridians, and Qi Sea.
Each battle corpse was like a battle formation.
A group of battle corpses could then connect to form an even larger battle formation, ultimately unleashing unparalleled power.
The inscriptions on the battle corpses were extremely intricate. Zhang Ruochen admitted that he could not carve them. This showed that Xiao Hei's skill in inscriptions was quite remarkable, far surpassing that of a Spiritual Power Half-Saint.
Zhang Ruochen stood to the side, watching Xiao Hei busily working, and did not disturb him.
Then, his gaze turned to the red refining cauldron. Inside, it was filled with Xuanwu Saint Blood, along with a large number of medicinal herbs and ores.
The Swallowing Elephant Rabbit and the Demon Ape had gathered medicinal herbs from various places in the Scroll World, stacking bundles by the cauldron. The Divine Demon Mouse had found a mineral vein and excavated a large amount of ore, also brought here.
Fortunately, the Scroll World was rich in resources, so nothing was lacking. It was enough for refining battle corpses.
Even those Saint clans did not have such favorable conditions.