Chapter 2333 10 Years
Zhang Ruochen was not a heartless person. He was the same with everyone around him.
After hearing Pan Ruo’s words, the coldness in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes melted a little, and he said calmly, “I don’t remember how I met Princess Yanchen. I only remember that when we first met, the word ‘Chen’ seemed to have violated her taboo and accidentally entered her dorm room. From then on, we had a relationship.
“Too many things happened after that. There were disputes, warmness, separation, sadness, and joy. Do you still remember how they went from not liking each other to loving each other?”
Pan Ruo was sitting on the Cosmic Glazier Stone. She lowered her gaze and listened carefully. She didn’t say anything.
Zhang Ruochen continued, “They got together because they progressed from knowing each other to appreciating each other, then from appreciating each other to loving each other, and finally from loving each other to being together. Regrettably, they did not complete that final step.
“If they hadn’t met in the West Campus. If Empress Chi Yao hadn’t sent Wan Zhaoyi to the Eastern Region Saint King Manor to capture Zhang Ruochen on the eve of their marriage. If Zhang Ruochen hadn’t helped Huang Yanchen to become a Realm Bearer. If Zhang Ruochen and Empress Chi Yao hadn’t had a grudge for 800 years. Would the result have been better?”
Zhang Ruochen spoke slowly as if he were speaking to himself, but he was also thinking about his past and present.
The longer a person lived, the more they would see things differently.
The high spirits Zhang Ruochen had when he was young made him feel at ease. He was hot-blooded and could fight against any strong enemy without thinking twice. Even if he died, he wouldn’t hesitate.
But now, Zhang Ruochen would never do that again.
Just as Zhang Ruochen dared to go to Ziwei Palace by himself and question Chi Yao. He couldn’t go to Dishastan by himself and challenge Ghost Lord now.
It was not because he was afraid of fighting, but because he did not want to court death.
No matter how difficult it was, there was a better way to solve it than to die generously.
Pan Ruo finally opened her mouth again and said, “There aren’t so many ifs. What’s in the past is already a foregone conclusion. The only thing that can be decided is the future.”
The two sat facing each other. Every word they said seemed to be filled with emotion, but it also sounded like words exchanged between strangers.
Zhang Ruochen was calm. He didn’t say anything more. He displayed his fierce look and said, “You don’t necessarily need Dark Space-time Matter to defeat Wujiang. As long as my blood and Qi can recover, he’ll definitely lose the next fight.”
“But your goal has never been to defeat Wujiang. It’s to be number one in the Battle of Celestial-Hunting,” Pan Ruo said.
Zhang Ruochen thought carefully and said, “The first thing is that we have to survive.”
As soon as Zhang Ruochen said that, the space shook slightly.
Countless Marks of Time light spots passed through the purple-gold light membrane formed by the Supreme Power and entered the gourd, enveloping Zhang Ruochen and Pan Ruo.
Time changed even more.
“Why are there so many Marks of Time all of a sudden? No, the Power of Time is rapidly depleting our lifespan,” said Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen found that the flow of time slowed down by a thousand times, almost to the point of time stopping. Even if a million years had passed here, only a year had passed outside.
However, it was different from cultivating in the area covered by the Sundial. Staying here for a year did not consume a year’s lifespan, but a thousand years.
In other words, Zhang Ruochen’s life would consume a billion years if he stayed here for a million years, while only a year had passed outside.
Staying here for a year would only take a few breaths outside, but a cultivator’s lifespan would be consumed in a thousand years.
“As expected, the Dark Star is not a precious place for cultivating. I must find the Dark Space-time Matter as soon as possible and leave.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression was solemn. He realized that the Immortal Blue Marrow was not only killed by the space compression. The extreme change of time should be one of the reasons why he was killed.
About a month later, the space compression force from all directions gradually disappeared.
Zhang Ruochen’s tensed nerves relaxed. Fortunately, when they entered the Battlefield of Celestial-Hunting, Zhang Ruochen asked the cultivators of the Bloodysky Clan to each take a Godstone. These Godstones were now in his hands.
The power in Zhang Ruochen and Pan Ruo was not exhausted because he could constantly absorb the Divine Qi contained in the Godstones. They could continue to encourage the Violet Gourd and the Supreme Power.
Swoosh
The Violet Gourd grew once more. It grew from a purple-gold light spot into a hundreds-meter-long gourd ship floating in the infinite void space.
The two flew out of the gourd and stood on the surface of the gourd, ready to move forward.
Pan Ruo looked at the sapphire floating in the void space, she said, “Although the Blue Marrow Star has become so big, it contains a huge amount of energy. If the Godstone is exhausted, it should be able to support us to continue living here.”
Then she said, “I found that your Violet Gourd has refined a lot of stellar cores. Can you take the sapphire in and refine it?”
Zhang Ruochen was not sure. He said, “Its weight is 1,000 times heavier than a normal stellar core. Refining it is equivalent to refining 1,000 stellar cores.”
Zhang Ruochen was naturally interested in the Blue Marrow Star.
Once the refinement was successful, the Violet Gourd’s absorption ability would increase greatly. At that time, it would also pose a threat to Lan Ying, Yan Huangtu, Que, and others. Under Zhang Ruochen’s control, the Violet Gourd became even bigger, like a gourd the size of a mountain. The mouth of the gourd aimed at the sapphire and placed it inside.
Then, the weight of the Violet Gourd increased greatly. Zhang Ruochen could only use all his strength to drive the gourd to fly quickly.
While flying, Zhang Ruochen used Supreme Power to refine the Blue Marrow Star. This was a long and boring journey. Searching for Dark Space-time Matter was like finding a needle in a haystack. It was hard to find.
At the same time, there was great danger.
Every month, the Precepts of Dimension would erupt like a tidal wave. Zhang Ruochen and Pan Ruo would hide inside the gourd at the time. They would only come out once the storm had passed.
Three years passed quickly in this dangerous world.
Zhang Ruochen had used the Godstones and the Heart of the Divine Tree to recover the Supreme Saint’s blood. His injuries had also healed.
The Violet Gourd had flown hundreds of millions of miles, but there wasn’t even a trace of Dark Space-time Matter.
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In the past three years, Zhang Ruochen had eaten the remaining seven Ampliofruits. His lifespan had increased by 21,000 years, and the number of Precepts in him had increased by 700 million. The total number had reached 3.5 billion.
With the special environment here, Zhang Ruochen’s enlightenment on Time and Dimension had greatly improved.
The number of Precepts of Time and Dimension had increased rapidly. There were more than 40 million of them. If he revealed The Spatial Domain and Null Time realm now, Zhang Ruochen was confident that he could fight against Wujiang’s Nether Domain.
However, Zhang Ruochen’s enlightenment on Time and Dimension had already made him feel that this trip was worth it. This experience would definitely lay a solid foundation for him to condense the Saintwill of Time and Dimension in the future.
The biggest reason why Zhang Ruochen ate all the Ampliofruits was that he was forced to.
First, he ate up far too much of his life. Zhang Ruochen had lost 2,000 years of his life in just three years. Furthermore, this situation would persist.
Zhang Ruochen lacked confidence and couldn’t afford to consume it because he didn’t have enough lifespan to support him.
Second, only by eating the Ampliofruits could Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation increase rapidly in a short time to deal with the complicated, extreme, and dangerous environment inside the Dark Star.
After eating seven Ampliofruits, Zhang Ruochen spent three years breaking 13 shackles in a row.
Now, the total number of shackles broken had reached 27. The Demigod-level physique had become more powerful, and the divine force that could burst out had become more.
Eating a large number of Ampliofruits also had an even greater benefit. It could help him cultivate high-level saint techniques.
Zhang Ruochen had studied the Time and Dimension saint techniques in the Secret Tome of Time and Space, as well as the manuals collected by Wargod Bloodximius, in the Sevenstar Imperial Palace, over the previous three years. Besides the Incarceration of Divine Demon, Zhang Ruochen also cultivated three kinds of high-level saint techniques at the Thousand-Koan level, all of which had reached the minor completion stage. He was only a step away from the grand completion stage. All he needed was time to polish and master them.
The three kinds of high-level Thousand-Koan level saint techniques were:
The leg saint technique could complement Yanshen’s leg.
The fire saint technique could perfectly use the power of the Divine Purification Flame.
The other one belonged to the category of dimension. Zhang Ruochen didn’t know if he should classify it as a high-level Thousand-Koan level saint technique, but it was more difficult to cultivate than a high-level Thousand-Koan level saint technique. The Ampliofruit had played a big role in achieving such an achievement.
Otherwise, mastering even one of the three high-level Thousand-Koan level saint techniques in just three years, let alone three, would have been extremely difficult. To be more specific, he may not even be able to master one in 30 years.
Zhang Ruochen devoted the majority of his time and effort to Swordsmanship. Both Sword Eleven and Moonlight Melody, the fifth level of the Time Sword technique, had a breakthrough.
The only regret was that he could not integrate the sixth type of Saintwill into the Yin Yang Five-Element Saintwill.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen stood alone on the top of the Violet Gourd. With his hands behind his back, he looked ahead.
After three years of fruitless searching for Dark Time-Space Matter, he was more or less suspicious and restless.
Dark Time-Space Matter was just Pan Ruo’s guess. It might not really exist. If he continued to be wasting time here, it would be a waste of his life.
“With my current strength, it shouldn’t be difficult for me to defeat Wujiang at his pinnacle. In the entire Battlefield of Celestial-Hunting, only Que and Lord Hornless can pose a threat to me. As for Lan Ying, Yanhuang Tu, and Luo Shengtian, although they are ranked higher than Wujiang, their combat strength should be limited.”
Zhang Ruochen was thinking about whether he should leave the Dark Star now.
However, he thought of another problem. Just as Pan Ruo had said, his goal was to be first in the Battle of Celestial-Hunting, not to defeat an opponent in a one-on-one battle. In the final battle, it was likely that he would face more than one strong opponent.
At that time, Dark Space-time Matter could be his biggest trump card.
Whether he could use it or not, it was better to have it in his hands than not. For the past two years, Pan Ruo had been staying inside the Violet Gourd. Her lifespan was far less than Zhang Ruochen’s. She could not afford to consume it.
Zhang Ruochen, fortunately, had set up a Time Array on the Violet Gourd two years ago. It might be able to withstand the ravages of time in her lifespan to some extent.
As long as one stayed inside the gourd, one-tenth of one’s lifespan would be consumed outside.
Because of the Time Array, even though Zhang Ruochen had spent a long time outside the gourd, controlling it and searching for Dark Space-time Matter, his lifespan was only 2,000 years, not 3,000.
“I can’t be impatient. My mind should be calm. I can take this opportunity to comprehend the Path of Darkness. Only by knowing myself and my enemy can I be undefeated.” Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged to adjust his emotions.
The interior of the Dark Star was filled with a large number of Precepts of Darkness. It was the best place to comprehend the Path of Darkness.
In the Infernal Court, many cultivators had cultivated the Path of Darkness, including the Deva Path of each clan. Many of them were derived from the Path of Darkness. The deeper one’s enlightenment on the Path of Darkness, the easier it would be to deal with the Supreme Saints of the Infernal Court in the future.
Time always passed quickly when he cultivated.
Another seven years passed.
Zhang Ruochen not only completed the three new high-level saint techniques of the Thousand-Koan level, but he also made greater breakthroughs in his Swordsmanship, the Path of Dimension, Time, and Darkness.
After ten years of cultivation and the consumption of the Supreme Artifact, Zhang Ruochen had used up all his Godstones.
He couldn’t waste any more time. It was time to decide whether to stay or go.
Swoosh
A meandering Nether River flew out from the mouth of the gourd.
Pan Ruo stepped on the Nether River and landed on the surface of the gourd. She looked at Zhang Ruochen, who was standing straight. After a moment of hesitation, she walked over, “It’s been ten years!” She said, “It seems that I was wrong. This Dark Star didn’t give birth to Dark Space-time Matter.”
Over the past ten years, Pan Ruo had been using the Precepts of Destiny to analyze the Blue Marrow Star and obtain a large number of Immortal Blue Marrow’s inheritances.
Her cultivation had improved greatly. Zhang Ruochen said, “In ten years, your Path of Darkness, Dimension, and Time have all improved greatly. You didn’t come to the Dark Star to look for Dark Space-time Matter, but to cultivate and breakthrough. Take a shortcut and catch up with the other two Scioness candidates, Lady Wind and Supreme Saint Yanhong.”
Cultivating many Paths of the Ancients at the same time was not a good thing.
If one was greedy, he would achieve nothing.
However, Zhang Ruochen did not find Pan Ruo greedy. Instead, all kinds of Paths of the Ancients could complement each other and gather at the Door of Trueself.
The gaze of her Door of Trueself was more than twice as much as before she entered the Dark Star.
Pan Ruo stared at Zhang Ruochen for a long time and said, “If you are thinking that I’m using your power to help me achieve a big breakthrough in my cultivation? Then yes, I am using you.”
Zhang Ruochen carefully observed her eyes, shook his head, and said, “You never like to explain. You insist that I find the truth and answer myself. Do you know how tired I am?” Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen sensed something. His pupils contracted rapidly as he looked at the distant void space behind Pan Ruo. “Perhaps I have found the answer. Dark Space-time Matter has appeared!”
About 700 miles away from the Violet Gourd, a black fog appeared. There was rain in the fog. Raindrops spun and flew, forming a huge vortex.
In the center of the Vortex, a yellow copper cauldron could be vaguely seen.