Chapter 1788: On the Tongming River
Zhang Ruochen nodded lightly, “We need to get this piece of treasured lands into our hands. Sadly, Blackie is not here, or else it could use its inscription array to hide the Royal Mountains.”
Awesome, the Little Taoist showed a look of disdain and patted its eyes. “My skills in formation arrays are definitely not beneath that owl.”
“Oh?”
Zhang Ruochen did not believe it.
“It seems like I need to show you my skills only will you know who is the real master of formation arrays.” Awesome, the Little Taoist was full of confidence and immediately wrote a list of materials.
“As long as you can prepare all of these materials, I will be able to deploy a Ninth-rank formation array for you.”
Zhang Ruochen took the material list and said. A Nine-rank formation?”
A Ninth-Rank Formation Array can block creatures of the Supreme Saint realm, and only an Earthlord-realm Array Master would be able to create such a formation. And frankly speaking, Zhang Ruochen did not believe that Awesome, the Little Taoist had such an ability.
Awesome, the Little Taoist coughed twice and said. “Of course… It’s just a very rudimentary Ninth-Rank Array, and there is still a gap with the real one.”
Zhang Ruochen had not studied much about formations, but he was after all a spiritual power Saint King and found that the list Awesome, the Little Taoist had given him was still somewhat reliable, and was not made up.
“I have most of the materials on the list, but I will need to purchase about a third of them.”
Zhang Ruochen kept the list and came to the periphery of the Royal Mountains and started using dimensional distortion techniques to create a large Dimensional Maze.
With this Dimensional Maze guarding the place, even a Nine-step Saint King would find it difficult to break into the Royal Mountains.
Of course, a single Dimensional Maze itself was not enough, if there were cultivators of space were to come to Yunwu Commandery, it would be broken very quickly. So, Zhang Ruochen ended up spending more time to set up a Temporal Array.
Immediately after, he rushed to Tongming River with the Saint Devourer who had broken through to the realm of a Seven-step Saint King while Awesome, the Little Taoist stayed behind in Yunwu royal city.
The distance between the Yunwu royal city and Tongming River was only tens of thousands of miles away. For a cultivator of a Saint King realm, this was not considered far, and it was impossible for the elites of the Fane of Youshen to not know that Yuan Che and the rest had perished.
But, why didn’t they rush over to Yunwu royal city to deal with Zhang Ruochen?
Zhang Ruochen could only think of one possibility, and that was that they had broken through the Dragon Tomb at the bottom of the Tongming River.
They must not be allowed to dig out the remains of the Golden Dragon, and Zhang Ruochen rushing to Tongming River was not to fight against the cultivators of the Fane of Youshen head-on, but first to investigate the situation.
Secondly, if the cultivators of the Fane of Youshen had really broken through the Dragon Tomb, Zhang Ruochen could ambush them from the dark.
And at least hold them back.
As long as the evil spirit had refined the Saint Souls of Yuan Che and the others, its strength will definitely increase exponentially. By then, Zhang Ruochen will gather all of his forces, and may very well fight them on equal footing.
Time…
Every minute, every second was that urgent, and Zhang Ruochen did not have the time to prepare a perfect plan, and could only take one step at a time.
At dusk.
On the horizon, burning crimson clouds lit over the yonder, and its reflection on the waters of Tongming River made the river looked like a burning inferno.
Zhang Ruochen used his thirty-six transformation technique to become a big man with a mustache as he rode on a ship, and drove towards the direction of the underwater dragon palace with the current.
Moyin wore an antiquated pink palace dress, revealing her two delicate and jade-like arms, and a large portion of her snow-white chest as she knelt down by the side of the carriage and poured wine for Zhang Ruochen.
With the increase in her cultivation level, Moyin’s appearance and temperament became more and more charming and attractive. And its beauty alone was almost on par with that of Mu Lingxi, and if she was placed in any other macroworlds, she was a beauty that could attract a Supreme Saint.
Zhang Ruochen sat on the deck and roused his Saint Qi into his left leg.
BOOM!! BOOM!!
The blood in his left leg was boiling like magma.
A series of wondrous precepts moved around his blood, bones, and skin like a crimson dragon.
Suddenly, three crimson precepts rushed out of the left leg and like three fierce flame dragons, rushed into Zhang Ruochen’s Saint meridian and towards the sea of Qi between his brows.
Zhang Ruochen tensed his nerves as he mobilized his spiritual powers, Saint Qi and Saint Path precepts, and went all out to fight against the three crimson precepts.
After spending who knows how long only did Zhang Ruochen managed to refine the three crimson precepts, and forced them back into his left leg.
“Huh!”
Zhang Ruochen let out a long sigh of relief and found that his Saint robes were drenched in sweat.
It was rather dangerous earlier, but it came with its own great rewards.
Zhang Ruochen could tell that there were close to a hundred thousand of those crimson precepts in his left leg. These precepts were far stronger than the Saint Path precepts cultivated by a Saint King, and they were probably divine precepts cultivated by Yanshen.
Only by refining all of the hundred thousand crimson precepts that Zhang Ruochen could freely use the power of God’s Left Leg as he wills.
However, just now Zhang Ruochen had used all of his four hundred thousand Saint Path precepts from all over his body and went all out to refine three of the crimson precepts. If he wanted to refine all hundred thousand of them, it was clear that Zhang Ruochen still had a long way to go.
“Master, situation abound.”
When Moyin was pouring wine for Zhang Ruochen, her eyelashes gently raised as her soft voice was transmitted to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen immediately deployed his Dimensional Domain, covering an area over a dozen miles.
Within the domain, even the movement of winds and grass would not escape from his perception. And soon, Zhang Ruochen felt two extremely powerful Saint auras on the river bank.
Two Seven-Step Saint King of the Fane of Youshen, Liao Yijun and He Yuan, were standing in a shadow by the bank of Tongming River as they observed the ship in the distance.
Liao Yijun’s eyes shrank deeply as a throwing knife appeared in his palm with tens of thousands of black lines flowing on the blade.
“Wait.”
He Yuan pressed against Liao Yijun’s wrist and as he stared at the alluring woman on the ship, his eyes lit up.
Liao Yijun frowned and said. “Our senior had asked us to stand guard here is to prevent other people from approaching the waters ahead. We cannot afford any incidents.”
“With the cultivation level of the two of us, what sort of incident could happen? We can kill the man straight away, but the woman is a rare stunner. Aside from Senior Ruan Ling in our fane, who else has such a beautiful appearance, body, and temperament? Don’t tell me you are not tempted at all?” He Yuan smiled.
Liao Yijun had to admit that the woman in the pink palace dress on the ship was indeed a beauty comparable to Senior Ruan Ling.
Ruan Ling was a disciple of Youshen and was extremely talented with countless pursuers. Liao Yijun and He Yuan could usually only imagine her because even talking to Ruan Ling itself was difficult.
Now that there was a beauty on par with Ruan Ling, Liao Yijun was naturally feeling fanciful.
Liao Yijun was quite cautious, and he said, “That mustached man on the ship is no simple character and is a Five-step Saint King. Better be careful when you strike.”
“Don’t worry, if I cannot even take out a Five-step Saint King, won’t I, He Yuan be the joke of the entire Fane of Youshen?” He Yuan laughed contemptuously and sounded quite conceited.
Sitting on the ship, Zhang Ruochen picked up his small bronze wine cup and drank heavily.
Rustle…
A breeze blew.
He Yuan wore a white coat as he appeared silently on the ship and stood before Zhang Ruochen, staring at Moyin with a smile without even concealing his purpose.
“Master, someone had intruded into our ship.”
Moyin deliberately pretended to be shy and scared, as she leaned towards Zhang Ruochen.
Seeing that scene, He Yuan’s mood soured. How could such a beautiful woman be ruined by such a brute of a man?
Zhang Ruochen stared back and pretended to be furious as he roared. “Who are you? Who let you board this ship without my permission?”
He Yuan smiled mockingly as he walked towards Zhang Ruochen and unleashed his powerful Saint aura.
Moyin, seemingly unable to bear the Saint aura, screamed as she collapsed onto the deck.
He Yuan bore an aura of a superior person, as he said. “Tell me, what realm do you hail from?
Zhang Ruochen did not answer He Yuan. Instead, he glanced at Moyin on the ground with a smile.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to say it. You’re a dead man anyway.” He Yuan roused all of the Saint Qi in his body as tens of thousands of swordsmanship precepts intertwined in his palm as he prepared to use the power of his sword to kill Zhang Ruochen with a thunderclap.
“A dead man, are you referring to yourself?” Zhang Ruochen smiled.
Seeing that the mustached man was so calm, He Yuan felt something was wrong and immediately blasted the power gathered in his palm. However, under the table, over a dozen razor-sharp roots blasted out and pierced his Saint body, and turned him into a pincushion.
Voosh!
The Saint Qi and Saint Path precepts in He Yuan’s body were sucked away by those roots.
“Saint Devourer…”
A look of horror appeared in He Yuan’s eyes as his rather handsome face immediately became distorted.
“Hehe, that’s right, I’m the Saint Devourer. Weren’t you wanting to eat me? Sadly, your cultivation level is not powerful enough, and you ended up being eaten by me.” Moyin had long gotten up from the ground as her lips curled in a charming arc.
“Arrrghh.”
He Yuan struggled as he roared in pain, but he could not escape. His body gradually shriveled and became desiccated. The moment his corpse fell onto the deck, it was reduced to a pile of ashes.
Zhang Ruochen sighed. “Who told you to strike so soon? Should have waited a little longer.”
“But I can’t wait any longer!”
Moyin pretended to be pitiful and spoke rather innocently.
By the riverbank, Liao Yijun sensed something was wrong and immediately sent a message to He Yuan, but there was no response.
“Whoosh.”
Liao Yijun decided to make a move as he sent a throwing knife of a Ten-thousand Marks Saint Weapon level flying out.
The power of the Saint Path erupted from the throwing knife and caused the waters of the Tongming River to roil violently. As the knife slashed downwards, the ship was cut into half with a loud ‘BANG’.
Liao Yijun stared at the water closely, only to see the ship slowly sinking to the bottom of the river, yet he saw no one flying out of the ship.
“Crap.”
Just as Liao Yijun just wanted to turn around and run away, dense silver roots rushed out from the mud and constricted him.
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the void and appeared above and behind Liao Yijun, and slapped the latter’s head and sending it sinking into the ground.
As the Saint Devourer consumed Liao Yijun, Zhang Ruochen transformed into He Yuan’s appearance.
Earlier on, Zhang Ruochen did not immediately kill He Yuan because he wanted to observe the latter’s behavior so he could accurately imitate it.