Chapter 2430: Twenty Years

Supreme Saint Qingsheng was stunned for a moment and shook his head. “No… no… That will stir up trouble.”

“Wargod gave you the temporary head position instead of the official one was probably to test your ability. Xue Jue Family is too big. It needs a strong and decisive figure to support it. Wargod would be disappointed if uncle continued to be so indecisive. Don’t you know what kind of person Wargod likes?” Zhang Ruochen asked.

Supreme Saint Qingsheng squinted his eyes. He had long been tempted.

Zhang Ruochen gave him a final blow. “If uncle grants me the territory and property of Hoth, I’m willing to take out 100 King Grade Saintwill Pills and 1,500 top Heaven Grade Saintwill Pills.”

“Sheesh!”

Supreme Saint Qingsheng took a deep breath. This kid really had a lot of Saintwill Pills.

He hadn’t told the truth earlier.

“I’m the head of the family. I don’t accept bribes.”

“I’m selling them to the family. How is that a bribe?”

As he spoke, Zhang Ruochen had poured out 2,000 Saintwill Pills. They surrounded Supreme Saint Qingsheng like glowing pearls.

Supreme Saint Qingsheng rolled up his sleeve and put away all the Saintwill Pills. His expression was solemn, he said in a low voice, “The benefits on Hoth are shocking. Even if I give you the property of Hoth as the head of the family, it’s useless. Ni Xuanshi won’t let go.”

“If she won’t let go, then we’ll take it by force. What I want now is a legitimate reason,” Zhang Ruochen said.

“If we take it by force, we’ll definitely start a war. There’s always blood in wars.”

“Since ancient times, achievers always bleed.”

Supreme Saint Qingsheng touched his chin with his finger. He felt that Zhang Ruochen was right. If he wanted to become the head of Xue Jue Family, he really had to fight this tough battle.

Only by defeating Ni Xuanshi could all the powerful people in Xue Jue Family truly submit to him.

Only then those forces that were attached to Xue Jue Family would truly regard him as their leader and not continue listening to Ni Xuanshi.

Zhang Ruochen had just taken first place in Battlefield of Celestial-Hunting, and it was time for him to surge forward with great momentum. If he were to face Ni Xuanshi head-on, no one in the family would dare to say anything.

Moreover, Supreme Saint Qingsheng was still thinking about whether Blood Empress and Lord Ming had instigated Zhang Ruochen to have designs on Hoth and Ni Xuanshi.

Hoth, an eighth-level planet.

In Celestial Court, an eighth-level planet was the size of a small macroworld.

Furthermore, Hoth’s location was special. Taking it down was equivalent to taking down an independent passage at the edge and center of Infernal Court. It could be put to great use at a critical moment. It was definitely a place that all strategists would fight for.

Moreover, Lord Xia Yu needed a reason to go to Hoth and find someone, right?

“2,000 Saintwill Pills and 3,500 Godstones.”

Supreme Saint Qingsheng took out the Godstones from a Ring of Dimensions.

The Godstones emitted dazzling divine light and contained powerful energy fluctuations like burning meteorites. Zhang Ruochen put them all away.

“I need a token that represents Xue Jue Family,” Zhang Ruochen said.

Supreme Saint Qingsheng asked thoughtfully, “Why do you need it?”

“I plan to send an elite to Hoth first. Some preparations must be made in advance.” As he said this, Zhang Ruochen stared in the direction of Lord Xia Yu.

“Deal, it’s just a token.”

Supreme Saint Qingsheng didn’t have much hope in this fight.

Ni Xuanshi was too powerful. Even if he and Zhang Ruochen joined hands, they were still far from being enough.

But this fight had to be fought.

Wargod hated people who were afraid before a fight.

Even if he lost, at least he proved that he dares to fight. Maybe Wargod would look at him differently. It was better to be punished than to be ignored.

After Supreme Saint Qingsheng left, Zhang Ruochen opened Sundial.

Besides Zhang Ruochen and Lord Xia Yu, there were also Lian Xi, Zhou Zhen, Gaunt, and Shentu Yunkong cultivating in Sundial. There was also Lord of Sword, Lord of Stone, and Moyin who had been following Zhang Ruochen.

On Battlefield of Celestial-Hunting, the fourth fruit of Saint Devourer was ripe.

The fourth fruit was its Dharmakāya.

If Moyin swallowed and absorbed it, her cultivation would increase greatly again. That was why she was separated from Zhang Ruochen’s body and was cultivating independently.

On Battlefield of Celestial-Hunting, Wu Wuji and the others, who had been subdued and suppressed by Zhang Ruochen, were all exiled after the battle.

Only Lord Sinluo could not be chased away no matter how hard Zhang Ruochen tried. He shamelessly stayed in Vastsea Manor. Seeing Zhang Ruochen turn on Sundial, he ran out and sat beside Zhang Ruochen to cultivate.

What made Zhang Ruochen speechless was that Lord Sinluo’s father had no intention of picking him up. Perhaps it was because he was too embarrassed and had given up on him, or he had other motives.

Zhang Ruochen did not enter Sevenstar Imperial Palace to cultivate.

When he fought with Asurendra Samay, Sundial showed signs of recovery. It seemed to cover an area of only 200 meters. However, Sundial could cover Sevenstar Imperial Palace which was more than 200 meters now.

Except that, the more space Sundial covered, the more Godstones it consumed.

Zhang Ruochen had done experiments. After he entered Sevenstar Imperial Palace, Sundial consumed Godstones twice as fast than usual. After he entered Violet Gourd, Sundial consumed Godstones 15 times faster.

If he didn’t enter Sevenstar Imperial Palace and Violet Gourd — these two vessels that contained an inner dimension — Sundial’s consumption of Godstones was the same even if these two vessels were placed within the 200 meters of Sundial.

The time flow inside Sevenstar Imperial Palace and Violet Gourd was still normal.

Zhang Ruochen didn’t know much about Sundial. He didn’t understand why this would happen. He could only guess that he had some special connection with Sundial. That was why he’d entered a special dimension. Mark of Time produced by Sundial would pass through the spatial wall and enter that dimension.

…

In Sundial, it took Zhang Ruochen half a year to refine the Power of Darkness that had invaded his body. Thus, his injury healed immediately.

The power contained in the dark star was too terrifying. This was the longest time that Zhang Ruochen had healed himself.

After his injury healed, Zhang Ruochen did not rush to Fane of Destiny. Instead, he continued to cultivate and prepared to refine all Divine Marks of fire contained in Yanshen’s Leg.

Now, he had only refined more than 20 million Divine Marks of fire. Yet, the power of Yanshen’s Leg was enough to fight head-on with a Supreme Artifact.

If he could refine and master all 100 million Divine Marks of fire, how powerful would his one leg be?

Moreover, if he did not refine and master all Divine Marks of fire, it would be a hidden danger for him.

…

Time flew by and 20 years passed.

Zhang Ruochen had mastered 80 million Divine Marks of fire in Yanshen’s Leg. The strength of his left leg had once again reached an uncontrollable level. Even if he didn’t deliberately activate it, the divine fire in his leg was still burning.

With a slight step, his entire leg sank to the ground.

Once again, he became a cripple.

Zhang Ruochen wasn’t depressed because of this. Instead, he was very excited. He could feel the terrifying power contained in his left leg. With a step, he seemed to be able to step through mountains and rivers.

In the past 20 years, the number of Precepts in Zhang Ruochen’s body had increased to 13 billion, and he had broken 76 shackles.

His spiritual power remained at the 65th level. It seemed to have reached a bottleneck. Even after swallowing a lot of Sacred Pills, it still did not improve much.

“Crash.”

Zhang Ruochen activated Armor of the Fire God and covered his entire body. Using the power of the armor, he controlled the divine fire in his left leg. He closed his eyes and sorted out his numb, confused, and blurry consciousness.

If a person stayed in seclusion for too long, there would be problems with his thoughts and consciousness.

It was like a mortal locking himself in a room for dozens or hundreds of days without any contact. After a long time, he would definitely break down and even become mentally deranged.

Of course, with the current strength of Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power, he wouldn’t have any major problems after 20 years of seclusion.

Many cultivators who secluded themselves for too long couldn’t even distinguish between the real world and their inner world. Or they forget the precepts, forms, and emotions of the real world. They had to force themselves to become an ordinary person, blend into the mortal world and live for a lifetime before they could recover.

It meant “Cleanse your heart in the mortal world and find your true self.”.

Zhang Ruochen took out the bronze coffin containing a god’s corpse. He opened the lid and looked at the changes of God-eater Bugs.

The bronze coffin contained half of a god’s corpse. Zhang Ruochen had bought it from Realm of Star Ocean at a sky-high price of 180,000 Godstones.

Even half of a god’s corpse was more than 3 million meters long.

Back then, Zhang Ruochen had placed a large number of God-eater Bugs on the god’s corpse. Although most of them had been poisoned to death by the god poison contained in the corpse, there were still some who survived.

Zhang Ruochen had great expectations for these surviving God-eater Bugs. He planned to use them to deal with Supreme Saints of Banshi Isshou Realm, or even Paramount Realm

God-eater Bugs on the god’s corpse were still asleep and motionless.

But there were also some subtle changes. A layer of green poisonous cocoons appeared on the surface of these bugs.

The poisonous cocoons were not thick. They were translucent like bubbles.

Zhang Ruochen frowned and said to himself, “If it doesn’t work, I can activate the power of Sundial. Maybe I can wake them up in a short time.”

Zhang Ruochen had a lot of Godstones in his hands. He was not afraid of using them. He was eager to try.

Behind him, footsteps sounded.

It brought a faint fragrance.

“The remnant of the divine soul of this half-god corpse can be used to refine Subdivine Soul Elixir. It can also be used to cultivate the 18 Six-Tribulation Ghost Lords who will carry Sevenstar Imperial Palace for you. If three or five of them could survive the seventh Ghost Tribulation, it will be a huge profit for you,” Lord Xia Yu said.

Ghost cultivators who survived the seventh Ghost Tribulation could be titled Ghost Lords. Their cultivation was comparable to a Supreme Saint.

Zhang Ruochen asked, “Have you recovered from your injuries?”

“Yes,” Lord Xia Yu said.

“How long will it take to break through to Thousand-Koan Realm?”

“Although I’m in the Great Perfection of Hundred-Shackle Realm, my accumulation is still shallow. I’m far from Yan Huangtu and the others. I haven’t even succeeded in cultivating a Thousand-Koan level saint technique. I’m still far from Thousand-Koan Realm!” Lord Xia Yu’s arrogance had lessened, she boldly admitted the gap between her and a top elite.

Zhang Ruochen said, “With the help of Sundial, how long do you think it will take to break through to Thousand-Koan Realm?”

“It’s not that easy. To break through to Thousand-Koan Realm, you have to develop your own Path first. This step was very crucial. It was not easy to succeed just by cultivating for a long time. In Immortal Vampires, all the Supreme Saints at the Great Perfection of Hundred-Shackle Realm who had connections would go to Fane of Immortality before breaking through to Thousand-Koan Realm.

“It was said that only the Supreme Saints of Immortal Vampires who had been to Fane of Immortality could develop the most perfect Path. However, there are very few Supreme Saints who are qualified to enter Fane of Immortality,” Lord Xia Yu said.

Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, “You have made a great contribution to Immortal Vampires in Battlefield of Celestial-Hunting. How could Fane of Immortality not give you space to cultivate?”

“Of course.”

A smile appeared on Lord Xia Yu’s ice-cold face.

Zhang Ruochen waved his arm slightly, and Pleiades Lotus flew out. It floated in front of Lord Xia Yu and spun slowly.

The smile on Lord Xia Yu’s face froze. She stared at the black lotus, which was more beautiful than any flower. She felt a strong sense of closeness, but she didn’t reach out to take it.

She knew that Zhang Ruochen had given her Pleiades Lotus on Battlefield of Celestial-Hunting because he had no one else to use it with.

But now, she could see that Moyin, Lord of Sword, and Lord of Stone were all powerful Supreme Saints. Zhang Ruochen had many elites around him.

Besides, she had already lost Pleiades Lotus when she lost to Yan Haungtu. She didn’t dare to dream of continuing to control the Supreme Artifact.

“What are you waiting for? Take it!” Zhang Ruochen said.

Lord Xia Yu didn’t argue. There was no need for her to reject a Supreme Artifact. She immediately put Pleiades Lotus away.

“I’ll go to Fane of Destiny to cultivate now. I’ll leave for Hoth in 100 days.”

“I’ll go with you.”

It was a rare opportunity to cultivate in Fane of Destiny. Zhang Ruochen knew little about Path of Destiny, so he treasured these 100 days.

…

Blood Empress walked into Wargod Bloodximius’ Divine Plane. There were ripples of water under her feet. Her slender and beautiful figure was reflected in the void space.

“Have you found the god who killed Lady Wind?” Blood Empress asked.

Wargod Bloodximius shook his head and said, “Reverend speculated that the assassin must be a god in Fane of Destiny. So after killing her, he could act in an underhand way.”

“There shouldn’t be many gods left in Fane of Destiny. We can find him eventually,” said Blood Empress.

Wargod Bloodximius said, “The relationship between the three divisions and the Twelve Reverend of the Fane of Destiny is delicate. Without evidence, even Reverend wouldn’t dare to act rashly. Moreover, this matter must not be made public. Tell me, why did you come to me?”

Blood Empress was calm and said, “Yan Wushen is dead, I want to go and bring Kunlun back.”

Wargod Bloodximius asked, “Do you think there is a need for that?”

“There is no need? Do you think because he does not have the bloodline of Xue Jue Family, there is no need to have a conflict with Yan Luo clan because of him?” Blood Empress said.

Wargod Bloodximius’ voice sank, “Is this how you talk to your father?”

Blood Express leaned back and didn’t look at Wargod Bloodximius’s cold face, “Chen ‘er is willing to come to Infernal Court because of Kongyue and Kunlun. I don’t want to hurt his heart. With Yan Wushen’s death, even if Yanluo clan didn’t take the opportunity to take revenge, Chi Kunlun wouldn’t have had it easy. I’m here just to tell you that I’m going, whether you agree or not.”

“Stop.”

Wargod Bloodximius stood up, his body was mighty and proud. He said, “Do you really think your father is such a heartless person? Zhang Ruochen didn’t mention this to me when he came and see me.”

“That’s because it’s hard for him to tell you,” said Blood Express with her back hunched.

Wargod Bloodximius said, “I don’t think so. I think he wants to do it himself.”

“He wants to do it himself?”

Blood Empress raised her eyebrows and understood something.

Wargod Bloodximius said, “It’s best for gods to stay away from worldly affairs. I trust Wu Qingzong. He is not a narrow-minded person. If I were him, with a young genius like Zhang Kunlun by my side, there’s not even enough time and effort for me to nurture him. How could I bully him? Moreover, Yan Wushen might not have really died. In that battle, it’s not certain who will succeed!”

“Isn’t Yan Wushen already dead in body and soul?” Blood Empress revealed a surprised expression.

Wargod Bloodximius sat down again and said with an enigmatic smile, “My girl, you have just only become a god. You still have a lot to learn.”