Chapter 858: Divine Phoenix Seal Swiftness
Refining the ninth drop of divine blood was far more difficult than the eighth. Even with Zhang Ruochen's Five Elements Chaos Body, he found it exceptionally strenuous, his complexion alternating between flushed red and pale white.
Five-colored chaotic energy surged from within his body, spreading rapidly outward, enveloping the entire valley. Even standing hundreds of miles away, one could see the five-colored radiance bursting forth from the valley.
As he continuously absorbed the power of the divine blood into his body, both Zhang Ruochen's sacred soul and physical form underwent subtle changes, seemingly on the verge of transformation.
The sacred soul became more condensed, suspended in midair, radiating a brilliance as bright as the blazing sun. Star-like specks of light revolved around the sacred soul, as if merging with the sky.
Zhang Ruochen's physical body grew hundreds-of-meters-long sacred energy tendrils, like tree roots, burrowing into the soil and connecting with the earth.
The soul transformed into the heavens; the body transformed into the earth.
"Whoosh!"
Two divine seals, having absorbed enough divine power, detached from the walls of the Qi Sea and traveled downward through the meridians, like two balls of fire moving within the body.
Only when the two divine seals reached the soles of Zhang Ruochen's feet did they stop, overlapping with two acupoints there.
Just as Zhang Ruochen wanted to push forward with momentum to break through to a higher realm, he realized the ninth drop of divine blood had been completely refined.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen immediately took out the tenth drop of divine blood, intending to strike while the iron was hot and continue the effort.
However, this time, it ended in failure.
Zhang Ruochen's body had reached a state of saturation. The moment he began absorbing the tenth drop of divine blood, his skin and muscles emitted a hissing sound, developing severe cracks from being unable to withstand the formidable divine power.
His body seemed on the verge of exploding.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen quickly severed the connection between his body and the divine blood, stopping immediately, thus saving his life.
"That was close."
Zhang Ruochen let out a long breath, promptly took a healing pill, circulated sacred energy to refine it, and treated the injuries within his body.
Having cultivated the Five Elements Chaos Body, Zhang Ruochen's physique was extremely powerful, possessing strong self-healing abilities. Before long, the injuries caused by the divine power's strain had fully healed.
"I should be very close to the Tenth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm. It's highly likely that refining the tenth drop of divine blood will allow me to break through to that realm."
Zhang Ruochen felt quite regretful. He was clearly just one step away, yet he simply couldn't cross that final gap.
One could say that Zhang Ruochen was the human cultivator closest to the Tenth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm since the Middle Ages.
But if even the Five Elements Chaos Body couldn't refine the tenth drop of divine blood, what could be done to further enhance his physique and take that final step?
Zhang Ruochen fell into deep thought, coming up with two methods that might help with refining the tenth drop of divine blood.
First, cultivate the ninth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm.
The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was a top-tier martial technique used by Buddhist cultivators for body refinement. The deeper one cultivated it, the greater the enhancement to one's physique.
Taking miraculous medicines and elixirs could only strengthen the physique—that was "nourishing the body."
Cultivating palm techniques was the true "refining the body."
Zhang Ruochen had consumed many physique-enhancing spiritual medicines, which was why he had cultivated the Five Elements Chaos Body. However, he was still lacking in the area of "refining the body."
If he could make up for this gap, his physique would reach a more perfect state.
However, after cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm to the seventh palm, the difficulty of cultivation increased exponentially, and the yang energy within the body would increase tenfold.
Cultivating the ninth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm successfully would be no less difficult than cultivating a Sacred Art, requiring a great deal of time and effort.
Second, through sacrificial rituals, borrow divine power.
All along, Zhang Ruochen had relied on his own strength to refine divine blood, rarely using external forces.
But other Fish-Dragon Realm cultivators who refined divine blood all succeeded by borrowing the power of deities during sacrificial rituals.
Therefore, Zhang Ruochen was also eager to try it. Perhaps during a sacrificial ceremony, borrowing divine power would be of considerable help in breaking through to the Tenth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
Zhang Ruochen decided to proceed with both plans simultaneously.
First and foremost, he needed to cultivate the ninth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm: "Scale Birth Dragon Transformation."
However, cultivating this palm also required external assistance—he had to consume large amounts of dragon blood and elephant blood to have a chance of success.
For dragon blood, Zhang Ruochen could use Dragon Emperor's blood as a substitute, which was manageable.
But elephant blood was not so easy to find.
The blood of ordinary barbarian elephants would certainly not meet Zhang Ruochen's needs. He would need at least the blood of Silver Moon Dragon Elephants or Heaven-Coiling Saint Elephants.
"Those sacred stores run by medieval aristocratic clans should sell elephant blood. After I go to the Central Domain, I can take a look."
Silver Moon Dragon Elephants and Heaven-Coiling Saint Elephants were both sixth-rank barbarian beasts, comparable to Half-Saints. If Zhang Ruochen went to find them himself, it would take who knows how much time.
Moreover, sixth-rank barbarian beasts were very cunning, and their escape speed far surpassed that of human cultivators. Even if he found them, he might not be able to capture them.
Therefore, Zhang Ruochen wasn't in a hurry to search for elephant blood right now. Instead, he began to consolidate his newly elevated cultivation.
The resources in the Central Domain were richer than in the Eastern Domain. Once there, finding high-grade elephant blood should be more convenient.
Having refined two drops of divine blood in succession, although he hadn't reached the Tenth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, Zhang Ruochen had still gained tremendous benefits.
First, the rules within his sacred soul increased by eighteen in one go, comprising three major Dao rules and fifteen minor Dao rules.
Second, four more divine seals detached from the walls of the Qi Sea, converging on his ears and feet.
Zhang Ruochen hadn't yet had time to carefully investigate the wondrous uses of these four divine seals, but they were certainly extraordinary.
Another point was that the power of the divine blood pushed Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power intensity to break through to the forty-sixth rank in one fell swoop.
One must know that raising one rank in spiritual power was more difficult than raising one rank in martial arts, and the increase in strength was also greater.
Now, even using only spiritual power, Zhang Ruochen could contend with a third-rank Half-Saint. Moreover, he rarely deliberately cultivated spiritual power, only using it as a supplementary tool.
Next, Zhang Ruochen began to test the power of the four divine seals residing in his ears and feet.
The two divine seals in his ears proved rather useless, merely enhancing Zhang Ruochen's hearing somewhat. Even the auditory perception formed by spiritual power was more sensitive than his ears.
However, the two divine seals in his feet brought Zhang Ruochen great surprise.
He channeled sacred energy to the soles of his feet, and the two divine seals emerged, beginning to spin rapidly.
The forms of the two divine seals were respectively a green luan and a fire phoenix—ancient divine beasts renowned throughout the world for their speed.
With a crackling sound, Zhang Ruochen's feet surged with scorching flames, turning into two clouds of fire. As if stepping on two divine birds, he flew into the air.
"Swish."
In the next moment, Zhang Ruochen erupted with unparalleled speed, vanishing from the valley.
When he finally steadied himself, he had already arrived at the foot of the blazing mountain where Xiao Hei was refining battle corpses. The flames on his legs gradually receded back into his body.
"Activating the divine seals in my feet, combined with the enhancement of the Meteor Invisibility Cloak, my current speed should now be comparable to a ninth-rank Half-Saint."
Zhang Ruochen's mood was quite stirred.
Mastering the divine seals in his feet meant that, even without using the sacred edict, if he encountered a strongman like Wan Ji, even if he couldn't defeat him, he could still leave calmly.
Speed was the capital for survival.
"Divine Phoenix Seal Swiftness."
Zhang Ruochen gave this movement technique a name.
For now, he had only a preliminary grasp of this swiftness. He needed to continue exploring and practicing to maximize the power of this movement technique.
Over the following month, Zhang Ruochen continuously practiced the Divine Phoenix Seal Swiftness while also comprehending the sacred Dao, practicing palm techniques and sword techniques. His cultivation grew deeper, and with a single thought, he could break through to the Half-Saint realm at any time.
However, he was suppressing his realm, wanting to accumulate even more foundation, preferably reaching the Tenth Transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm first. (To be continued.)