Chapter 2099: Opportunities and Dangers
Zhang Ruochen was in no hurry to leave after pushing the Maiden of a Thousand Stars out of the pit. Instead, he stood up and looked at the bottom of the pit.
With his current physical strength, even a top Thousand-Inscription-class Divine Artifact could only do very little harm to him. However, when he had fallen into the pit, his back was in extreme pain. He did not know what he had hit.
As Zhang Ruochen looked around, he immediately found the object that hurt him and picked it up. It was a dark red diamond-shaped stone the size of a fist, which looked as if it had been soaked in blood. At first glance, he found nothing special about it.
After Zhang Ruochen was certain that he did not miss anything, he moved and appeared outside the pit.
When the Maiden of a Thousand Stars saw the diamond-shaped stone in Zhang Ruochen’s hand, a glint of light flashed in her eyes. She immediately charged at him, wanting to snatch the stone away.
Zhang Ruochen dodged from her by darting sideways 3 meters away and smiled, “My dear fiancée, you can ask for it nicely if you want it. Your fiance, I, ain’t that stingy. Why would you want to snatch it?”
“Since you’ve said so, give it to me,” She reached out a hand.
“Then you have to either tell me what’s special about this stone or wait for me to study it carefully. Also, this is not the proper manner to request something from your fiance.” Zhang Ruochen was playing with the diamond-shaped stone in his hand while speaking.
The Maiden of a Thousand Stars couldn’t help feeling annoyed upon hearing him. Ever since she met Zhang Ruochen, she had always been the one who got defeated or humiliated. She had never been able to take advantage of him. She really wanted to find a chance to beat him up.
The Maiden of a Thousand Stars ground her teeth in a fury. She then quickly calmed herself down, rolled her eyes at Zhang Ruochen, and said, “The stone in your hand is made of pure divine force of Origin. It is only useful in cultivating the Path of Origin. It’s useless for you.”
“Not only that the remnant of divine forces from the War of Gods has not dissipated even after a hundred thousand years, it has condensed into a substance. It’s amazing,” said Zhang Ruochen with a light flashing in his eyes.
After that, Zhang Ruochen seemed to have thought of something. He then landed his gaze on those pits of different sizes.
He appeared next to a small pit nearby in a flash. It was similar to the pit he had previously fallen into—about 30-meter deep.
The pit was so dark that he could rely on the Eye of the Divine Mark to have a clear look.
Soon, Zhang Ruochen locked his gaze on an object at the bottom of the pit. He reached out his hand and took it out. It was another dark red diamond-shaped stone.
“There is more?”
A look of surprise appeared in the eyes of the Maiden of a Thousand Stars.
The next moment, the Maiden of a Thousand Stars had vaguely figured out something. She darted forward and appeared next to another pit.
Like Zhang Ruochen, she also took out an object from the pit. It was a strange crystal glowing with silver light with many complicated patterns inside it.
“It’s a crystal formed from the divine force of Dimension,” said the Maiden of a Thousand Star in a soft voice.
Zhang Ruochen was tempted the moment he saw the crystal in her hand. He muttered, “The remnant of the Dimension and Origin divine forces in this zone should have been vast. It has not dissipated as time passes. The divine forces crystalize after precipitation instead. These pits could be results of the precipitation of the divine forces.”
The Maiden of a Thousand Stars nodded and said, “That should be the case. Hadn’t the large portion of the two divine forces undergone precipitation, we would have lost our lives the moment we set foot in this area.”
Previously, although the Origin divine force residue in the air that hit them was very weak, they had almost suffered great damage. Hence, if there were a large amount of divine force of Origin, there would be no way to survive even with the protection from Origin Bead.
“There are probably divine force crystals in these holes. Since we can’t get out, why don’t we collect the divine force crystals first for the time being? I’ll take the ones of Dimension while you can have the ones of Origin. What do you think?” Zhang Ruochen suggested.
As he spoke, he threw out the two divine force crystals of Origin in his hands.
The Maiden of a Thousand Stars reached out and caught them. At the same time, she threw out the divine force crystals of Dimension to him and said, “We’ll do as you say.”
Such an encounter was a rare opportunity. No one would want to miss it.
Having made their decision, Zhang Ruochen and the Maiden of a Thousand Stars immediately began their crystal hunt in one pit after another.
Of course, both of them remained cautious. After all, this zone was strange, and it made them feel very unpleasant.
Before long, the two had searched dozens of pits. They were with a diameter of one to ten meters. All were located at the edge of the zone. Not every one of these pits had divine force crystals. To be more precise, only the pits diameter three meters or above have those crystals at their bottom.
As for the pits with a diameter of fewer than three meters, potent divine forces were found condensing there. However, unlike the divine forces that filled the air, they were very gentle. They might crystalize later after some time of precipitation.
In addition, the larger the diameter of the pit, the deeper it was. It seemed that these pits sank further because they could not withstand the pressure from the divine forces.
After they had finished searching the pits at the edge, Zhang Ruochen and the Maiden of a Thousand Stars went deeper in the zone for bigger and deeper pits.
Using a dimensional technique, Zhang Ruochen took out a divine force crystal the size of a baby’s head from a pit with a diameter of 30 meters.
“Another divine force crystal of Origin. There are so many of them.”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and threw the divine force crystal in his hand to the Maiden of a Thousand Stars.
They had searched hundreds of holes and found 236 pieces of divine force crystals. 174 of them were divine force crystals of Origin, and only 62 of them were divine force crystals of Dimension, which was only slightly bigger than a quarter of the total.
After Zhang Ruochen tucked away from the huge divine force crystal of Dimension, the Maiden of a Thousand Stars put on an even brighter smile. “It seems that following you is not all bad. I can get lucky occasionally.”
Cultivating the Path of the Ancients was too difficult. With these divine force crystals, she could easily attain a higher level in the Path of Origin.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the Maiden of a Thousand Stars. When he was about to say something, his mind suddenly jolted him, and an ominous feeling rose in him.
Buzz
The earth suddenly shook; the shake was getting more and more violent.
Zhang Ruochen and the Maiden of a Thousand Stars were both on high alert. They realized that something bad might happen.
“The dimension is distorted. The source is… a pit in the central area,” Zhang Ruochen said with a focused look.
The pits in the central area were huge; they had a diameter of longer than 240 meters. It was dark inside, and one could not probe them with spiritual power. No one knew how deep they were.
Crash!
Terrifying devouring energy was released from the biggest pit; it sucked up the divine forces drifting in the air.
The energy was so strong that it was even pulling Zhang Ruochen and the Maiden of a Thousand Stars closer to the pit in the central area.
The pit was like an opened mouth of a beast awaking from a long slumber.
Zhang Ruochen and the Maiden of a Thousand Stars wanted to resist the pulling force, but they couldn’t. In an instant, they were sucked into the pit along with a large number of divine forces.
The pit was pitch black. They couldn’t see their fingers. Without any help from an external force, they fell straight down.
BANG!
Not long after, they landed on the bottom of the pit, hitting hard on solid ground.
This time, Zhang Ruochen did not take the initiative to hold the Maiden of a Thousand Stars, but she still fell into his arms. He had literally become her landing pad.
Although Zhang Ruochen’s physical body was sturdy, the impact from a straight fall like this messed him up. He felt like his body was about to collapse.
“Why aren’t you getting up? Are you trying to crush me?” Zhang Ruochen said in annoyance.
The Maiden of a Thousand Stars immediately stood up once she came back to her senses. A strange look flashed across her eyes. In a short period of time, she actually had had intimate contact with Zhang Ruochen on two occasions. Foes were indeed fated to collide.
The Golden Sun of Destruction flew out of Zhang Ruochen’s body. It emitted a bright golden light, dispelling the darkness and illuminating the bottom of the pit.
Unlike other pits, the bottom of this pit was extremely vast. It was more than three kilometers in diameter. There were many tunnels around it, leading to unknown destinations.
“What a strong dimension suppression. I can’t even jump higher, let alone flying and performing Great Dimensional Shift.” Zhang Ruochen’s eyes were solemn.
This meant it would not be easy to get out of this huge and deep pit.
Maiden of a Thousand Stars also frowned and said, “The suppression against spiritual power here is even stronger. My spiritual power can only travel three hundred meters away from me. Even the circulation of Saint Qi has slowed down a lot.”
A moment ago, she was happy to obtain a large amount of divine force crystals of Origin. She didn’t expect to run into big trouble the next moment. It was like falling from heaven to hell in an instant.
“Strange. This pit is the biggest. How come there isn’t a single divine force crystal?”Zhang Ruochen was confused.
With the help of the Golden Sun of Destruction’s light, the surroundings at the bottom of the pit became clear. It was empty. There wasn’t even an ordinary stone, let alone a divine force crystal.
Logically speaking, the precipitated divine force in this pit should be the most immense. If it crystalised, the size of the divine force crystal would be enormous.
The Maiden of a Thousand Stars looked around and whispered, “Maybe it’s in one of the tunnels.”
“Huh? A massive amount of divine forces of Dimension and Origin is coming down at high speed. Let’s leave quickly.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression suddenly changed subtlely.
As he spoke, he darted to one direction as fast as he could.
Seeing this, Maiden of a Thousand Stars didn’t hesitate and immediately followed.
She was currently in a place filled with an unknown danger, so it was better for her to stay with Zhang Ruochen. Otherwise, if she really encountered any trouble, she might not be able to deal with it alone.
Rumble
As soon as the two left, a terrifying divine force rushed down from above. It was more than a hundred times stronger than the divine force of Origin they had encountered before.
The drifting divine force was completely different from the precipitated divine force. It was extremely aggressive and could pose a threat to a Supreme Saint.
“What should we do now?”
The usually shrewd Maiden of a Thousand Stars could not think of any idea at this moment.
Zhang Ruochen thought for a moment and said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let’s avoid the trouble in front of us first. Some tunnels seem very quiet. We can go in and hide inside a tunnel for now.”
At this moment, there was still a constant pour of divine forces from outside. Staying in this open area was undoubtedly very dangerous.
Immediately, the two chose a quiet tunnel and quickly darted in.
The tunnel was spacious. The walls seemed very rough as if they had been artificially carved out.
As soon as the two entered, Maiden of a Thousand Stars’ expression turned unnatural. “Why do I have a creepy feeling?”
Zhang Ruochen did not feel very good either. Unconsciously, all his hair stood up on end.
He looked into the depths of the tunnel and vaguely felt like someone was watching him.
Crash!
Suddenly, the dimension cracked, forming a three-meter-long opening. A transparent claw stretched out from the crack, aiming at Zhang Ruochen.
“What is it?”
When the Maiden of a Thousand Stars saw the diamond-shaped stone in Zhang Ruochen’s hand, a glint of light flashed in her eyes. She immediately charged at Zhang Ruochen, wanting to snatch the stone away.
BANG!
The transparent paw couldn’t resist the Supreme Power and instantly exploded.
However, there were no clumps of blood and flesh sent flying in the air. Instead, it turned into countless transparent crystals.
Zhang Ruochen stared at the transparent crystals. His expression changed. “They’re actually crystals formed from divine force of Dimension.”
The difference was that these crystals were not that solid. They were relatively easier to be destroyed.
But that was not the end. A ferocious monster rushed out from the dimensional crack. It looked like a leopard with spikes all over its body. It was transparent and gave off a powerful aura.
One of the beast’s paws had been destroyed, but it grew back now and didn’t look damaged at all.
“How can the divine force of Dimension condense and turn into a monster? What a ruthless will it has.” Maiden of a Thousand Stars’ expression changed.
However, now was not the right time to think about these questions. The monster transformed from the divine force of Dimension had already launched a terrifying attack.
Zhang Ruochen stood at the front and shot out the Golden Sun of Destruction without hesitation.
However, the monster had turned smarter after taking damage. It released a powerful dimensional power from its body which instantly froze the dimension in front of it.
Then, the monster formed from the divine force of Dimension opened its mouth and released another violent dimensional power, forming a terrifying dimensional storm.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart sank. He did not expect this monster to be able to perform dimensional techniques at will.
“Let’s retreat quick!”
Zhang Ruochen released a dimensional storm as he shouted in a low voice.
BOOM!
Two different dimensional storms collided violently. A large area of dimension shattered, and dimensional fragments were sent flying everywhere.
The wave of dimensional power hit Zhang Ruochen, making his body tremble violently. He let out a muffled groan and slid backwards at high speed.
“What a strong power. It is comparable to the power of a Supreme Saint who cultivates the Path of Dimension at Neverwilt Realm.”
Neverwilt Realm was only the first realm at the Supreme-Saint level.
After that, there was a total of five realms, namely the Hundred-Shackle Realm, Thousand-Koan Realm, Banshi Isshou Realm, and Paramount Realm.
Of course, there was a huge gap in battle strength even among the Supreme Saints at Neverwilt Realm. The battle strength of a Supreme Saint who had just entered Neverwilt Realm was more than ten times weaker than a Supreme Saint who had cultivated for a thousand years at Neverwilt Realm.
As for Hundred-Shackle Realm, not simply any Supreme Saints could attain it. The attainment of this realm required countless lucky chances. The Supreme Saints could only transcend by breaking the shackles bound on them.
The cultivation training of a Supreme Saint was more difficult than that of a Saint King.
Zhang Ruochen retrieved the Golden Sun of Destruction and exited the passage with the Maiden of a Thousand Stars. Before the monster launched an attack again, Zhang Ruochen flipped his hand and took out Secret Tome of Time and Space.
Secret Tome of Time and Space was more useful than the Golden Sun of Destruction in the battle against a monster transformed from the divine force of Dimension.
After opening the Secret Tome of Time and Space, streaks of silver divine light appeared. They quickly formed dozens of layers of multi-dimensional space and enveloped the monster.
ROAR!
The monster let out an earth-shaking roar. Its violent dimensional power surged, causing the multi-dimensional space to shatter continuously.
Zhang Ruochen mobilized his precepts of Dimension and performed dimensional techniques inside the multi-dimensional space.
BOOM!
As a large area of dimension collapsed, the monster’s body also shattered. It was almost crushed into powder.
However, Zhang Ruochen did not let out a sigh of relief because he found that the monster’s shattered body was rapidly reassembling. It was as if it had an immortal body.
The Maiden of a Thousand Stars found some of the monster’s weaknesses using her Divine Eye of Origin and said, “The divine force of Dimension is only secondary. It is basically a furious will. It will not die as long as the will survived.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Ruochen’s mind suddenly moved. A solution instantly popped up in his mind.
He mobilized the precepts of Time to release a mysterious power of Time. It gently tapped on Secret Tome of Time and Space.
A Blade of Time emerged and cut into the body of the newly reconstituted monster.
ROAR!
The monster screamed in agony. It seemed to have suffered great damage.
The attack had taken effect, so Zhang Ruochen continued to strike. He generated a dozen Blades of Time and sent them into the monster’s body, slashing it again and again.
Finally, its furious will was destroyed. The monster’s body immediately collapsed and turned into a pure divine force of Dimension rushing out from the multi-dimensional space.
ROAR!
Just as Zhang Ruochen and the Maiden of a Thousand Stars were about to breathe a sigh of relief, they heard a series of deafening roars.
The tunnels shook violently, and all kinds of strange monsters rushed out of them. There was even more than one monster from a tunnel. Their auras were all very powerful.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of monsters appeared in this open space. They were densely packed with terrifying momentum.
“Monsters formed from the divine force of Dimension, monsters formed from the divine force of Origin… there are even monsters formed from divine forces of Time and Darkness. Just how many deities had fought here?” Maiden of a Thousand Stars’ pupils shrunk.
Killing that monster was like poking a hornet’s nest; the outcome was attracting over a hundred different types of other monsters. They had clearly fallen into a monster lair.