Seeing that Luo Xu had finished his investigation, Great Prince Bloodwing urged Zhang Ruochen in a low voice, “Zhang Ruochen, stop stalling. Release Her Highness immediately!”
“As you wish,” Zhang Ruochen said flatly and walked forward with Luo Sha.
Seeing this, Luo Xu did not hesitate and immediately followed him. The Light Myriad Scroll was hovering above his head. He was ready to launch an attack at any time.
Great Prince Bloodwing’s eyes were fixed on Luo Sha. He wanted nothing more than to take Luo Sha back by any means.
Zhang Ruochen stopped when he was 30 meters away from Great Prince Bloodwing. Saint Ancient Tea Tree was within reach.
However, Zhang Ruochen could sense that the bright yellow Holy Box in Great Prince Bloodwing’s hand had a binding force on Saint Ancient Tea Tree. It was not that it could take away Saint Ancient Tea Tree so easily.
Their eyes met and understood each other’s thoughts.
Zhang Ruochen lifted the binding on Luo Sha and gently pushed her out, while Great Prince Bloodwing slowly closed the Holy Box.
For a moment, the atmosphere at the scene turned very serious.
Finally, Luo Sha was near Great Prince Bloodwing. The binding of the Holy Box on Saint Ancient Tea Tree completely disappeared.
Swoosh
Zhang Ruochen and Great Prince Bloodwing made their moves simultaneously. One enveloped Saint Ancient Tea Tree with power, while the other wrapped Luo Sha with power.
A giant Dimensional Vortex appeared. It released a powerful suction force and sucked Saint Ancient Tea Tree in.
After that, Saint Ancient Tea Tree appeared in the Microworld of the jungle. It quickly moved all its roots and penetrated them into the fertile land.
“Zhang Ruochen, no one dares to threaten the Rakshasa. You must die today.”
At this moment, Great Prince Bloodwing shouted coldly and ordered the Rakshasa cultivators hiding nearby, “Attack!”
Whoosh
All the clouds enveloping Mount Purple Cloud dissipated instantly. Countless air currents in dark red appeared and gathered. They covered more than half the sky and turned into a ferocious claw charging at Zhang Ruochen.
The ferocious claw gave off an extremely menacing aura. Its attack power was on par with that of a terrifying Supreme-Saint level beast, which was not something a Saint King could hold candle to.
Nevertheless, Zhang Ruochen remained calm. He was not panic the slightest. Behind him, a shocking wave of power emerged.
A Ninth Stratum Array appeared. It gathered endless power and released a streak of bright Saint Light. It was like a divine sun in the sky, so dazzling that no one could open their eyes.
Boom
The Saint Light collided with the ferocious claw, triggering a burst of incredible impact.
The destructive power spread crazily in all directions. Everything was destroyed wherever it passed.
Even a peak ninth-step Nine-Step Saint King could not withstand the impact.
Due to the impact, the vast and continuous mountain chain—Mount Purple Cloud—collapsed, one mountain after another. Enormous dust rose, covering the sky and sun like thick smoke. Eventually, the entire area was covered in darkness.
Light Myriad Scroll floated above Zhang Ruochen and Luo Xu. It turned into a large and majestic map, protecting them from any impact.
On the other side, other than Great Prince Bloodwing and Luo Sha, many Rakshasa elites appeared.
There were a total of 81 Rakshasa elites. Their strength was all above that of Nine-Step Saint Kings. It was them who had formed a formation and launched that powerful attack.
Zhang Ruochen was not surprised at all. With his current reputation, he had never believed that the Rakshasas would let Great Prince Bloodwing come to trade alone.
81 Nine-Step Saint King, and among them, there were quite a few top elites. For them to deploy such a powerful troop, obviously, they wanted Zhang Ruochen dead.
Blackie revealed itself and chuckled. “Zhang Ruochen, how about I set up an Extermination Array? It will be a piece of cake to wipe out these Rakshasas.”
Upon hearing Blackie’s smug words, Great Prince Bloodwing’s face darkened.
Great Prince Bloodwing thought that he had made enough preparation this time. He assumed that even if Zhang Ruochen had taken precautions, he would still get the upper hand. However, never had he expected this outcome.
From the collision just now, Great Prince Bloodwing knew there was no way they could gain the upper hand with the presence of Blackie—a High-Saint Array Master.
Fortunately, he had successfully rescued Luo Sha and completed the mission the deity of their clan had assigned.
“Zhang Ruochen, I’ll leave Saint Ancient Tea Tree with you for the time being. It won’t be long before it falls into the hands of Rakshasa,” Great Prince Bloodwing said coldly.
As soon as Great Prince Bloodwing finished his words, he prepared to retreat along with his men. He did not want to drag on when facing Zhang Ruochen.
After all, this place was close to Eastern Region Holy City. If some powerful elites from the enemy were drawn here, the situation would be unfavorable for the Rakshasas.
“You can’t get away that easy.”
Zhang Ruochen’s glabella lit up. Ancient Abyssal Blade flew out from it to his hand.
Zhang Ruochen instantly activated a million Precepts of Swordsmanship. Ancient Abyssal Blade drew strange trajectories and activated the Precepts and Saint Qi of heaven and earth within a radius of 10,000 miles. As a result, an unparalleled mysterious Swordwill was released.
The next second, the Swordwill cut off a large dimension where Great Prince Bloodwing was. As a result, the dimension was isolated from the outside world. It was as though it belonged to another Time and Space.
It was the sixth realm of Sword Ten developed by merging Path of Dimension with swordsmanship. It was an extended version of Realm of Swords.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen attack, the 81 Rakshasa elites immediately activated the battle formation. They condensed enormous evil Qi into a dark red demonic mountain in the sky. The mountain then moved down.
“You scoundrels of Rakshasa, I am your opponent. Let me show you what a real Ninth Stratum Array is!” Blackie roared.
Blackie activated the Ninth Stratum Array. It condensed dozens of dragon-shaped squalls, each of which was more than 100 miles in diameter and came with a terrifying force that could crush everything.
The Ninth Stratum Array Blackie had originally cultivated only thirty-six formation flags, but now it had doubled to seventy-two. The formation’s power naturally became even stronger, and it also had many changes.
Boom
The dozens of dragon-shaped squalls were unstoppable. It was as if an actual dragon was going to descend. All of them crashed into the dark red demonic mountain.
A grave expression appeared in Great Prince Bloodwing’s eyes. While he was protecting Luo Sha, he took out a dark red battle spear and fused it with his potent evil energy.
Hundreds of thousands of Supreme Inscriptions emerged from the dark red spear and released powerful Supreme Power.
Zappp–
Great Prince Bloodwing shook the dark red spear and charged quickly as lightning.
An unimaginable blood-red sharp light burst out. It was invincible, wanting to pierce through the sword world created by Zhang Ruochen.
“Six Directions: Slay.”
Zhang Ruochen’s indifferent voice came.
In an instant, six silver sword lights appeared in six directions: zenith, nadir, east, south, west, and north. They were charging at Great Prince Bloodwing at the same time, sealing off all his escape routes.
Great Prince Bloodwing’s eyes narrowed. At this moment, he truly felt a great threat. He quickly switched from offense to defense mode, trying his best to block the six swordlights.
Boom
The space within a hundred miles was completely shattered. Countless sharp sword Qi flooded over Great Prince Bloodwing.
Roar
Great Prince Bloodwing let out an earth-shattering roar. He unleashed his power without holding back.
After spending a lot of energy, Great Prince Bloodwing finally broke free from the shattered space. He was covered in blood and looked extremely pathetic.
“How can Zhang Ruochen be so powerful?”
Great Prince Bloodwing’s heart sank.
Of course, he knew that Zhang Ruochen had defeated Yan Wushen in Luoshui not long ago, but he did not expect that Zhang Ruochen would be this powerful.
After all, he was one of the top elites below Rakshasa Supreme Sainthood . He was not much weaker than Nether Demon and Nether Buddha. He could not even withstand a single attack from Zhang Ruochen. This undoubtedly made him feel a strong sense of defeat.
Under the protection of Great Prince Bloodwing, Luo Sha did not suffer any harm. At this moment, her eyes were also filled with shock.
She had seen the battle between Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen with her own eyes. She could confirm that at that time, Zhang Ruochen was definitely not as powerful as he was now. His strength had definitely increased greatly.
‘The Great Perfection of Swordsmanship is indeed powerful,’ Luo Sha thought to herself.
Since ancient times, achieving Great Perfection in one of the 72 Paths of Supreme Saint at Saint Kinghood was something that very few cultivators had been able to do.
Great Prince Bloodwing did not hesitate at all. He immediately brought Luo Sha into the battle formation formed by the 81 Rakshasa.
Swoosh–
The battle formation turned into a streak of dark red light and sped away.
Zhang Ruochen did not chase after them. The Rakshasa clan was well-prepared. Therefore, it was unlikely to be able to keep them here. There was no need to waste efforts.
‘I’ve just comprehended the sixth realm of Sword Ten. It’s not considered perfect yet. Otherwise, it would be even more difficult for Great Prince Bloodwing to break free,’ Zhang Ruochen thought.
It was not easy to create the unprecedented sixth realm of Sword Ten on his own. It was impossible to achieve it in one go. He still needed to develop more insights to combine the Path of Dimension and Path of Swordsmanship perfectly.
Overall, Zhang Ruochen was quite satisfied with the effect of the new sword strike he had tested on Great Prince Bloodwing.
After all, it could severely injure a top elite like Great Prince Bloodwing with just one strike. It was an outcome that one could not simply achieve.
“Let’s go.”
Zhang Ruochen did not stay in the same place for long. He used the Dimensional Shift and rushed to the Eastern Region Holy City with Luo Xu and Blackie.
Not long after they left, a few figures appeared at the edge of Mount Purple Cloud.
Looking at the shattered mountains, these mysterious elites were in shock. Their eyes widened.
“Zhang Ruochen is too strong. He could seriously injure Great Prince Bloodwing with one sword strike. Who can be his opponent?”
“It seems that Zhang Ruochen is truly invincible below the Supreme Sainthood and has completely replaced Yan Wusheng. As long as he’s in Eastern Region Holy City, we’d better keep a low profile and not provoke him.”
“His invincible strength and unscrupulous methods of doing things are really terrifying.”
..
News about what had happened at Mount Purple Cloud traveled at high speed. Everyone was shocked and became more fearful of Zhang Ruochen.
For a time, all the foreign cultivators entrenched in Eastern Region Holy City stayed low. The spies of Infernal Court also disappeared, afraid of being targeted by Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, appeared calm as if nothing had happened, returning to Saint School.
With a flip of his hand, Zhang Ruochen took out an Exquisite Dimensional Orb and handed it to Luo Xu. “I’ve planted Saint Ancient Tea Tree inside it. Please deliver it to Divine Scripture Maiden.”
Luo Xu quickly reached out and took the Exquisite Dimensional Orb. His eyes were filled with mixed emotions. He was both happy and sad.
Saint Ancient Tea Tree had been recovered, but they had lost Chu Siyuan forever.
“Okay, I’ll leave immediately.”
Luo Xu quickly collected his thoughts and said.
Taking back Saint Ancient Tea Tree was a huge matter for the entire Confucianism sect. They still needed to discuss how to settle it.
After seeing Luo Xu off, Zhang Ruochen returned to the hall building at the end of Stairway to Heaven because Lei Jing was still waiting for him there.
The hall was an excellent place for practicing self-cultivation. The Precepts of Heaven and Earth were very active, and the Saint Qi was very rich.
For Lei Jing, who had just reached Sainthood, practicing self-cultivation at the hall for some time would be very beneficial.
“Have you settled things with Principal Luo?” Lei Jing asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Yes, there’s nothing else now. We can have a few drinks.”
As he spoke, Zhang Ruochen took out many jars of wine from the Microworld of the jungle.
Xuankong was a good wine collector. He had collected plenty of jars of wine in the Microworld of the jungle. Now, he could treat Lei Jing with them.
While drinking, Zhang Ruochen and Lei Jing talked about their recent encounter.
Since his return to Kunlun, although it hadn’t been long, a lot of events had happened, putting him in the middle of the storm.
Although Lei Jing had heard of those incidents before, he was still shocked to hear it from Zhang Ruochen in person. He could not help but feel sorry for Zhang Ruochen.
Lei Jing felt that it was unfortunate that he was too weak. Sainthood could be the furthest cultivation realm he could reach in this lifetime, so there was nothing he could do to support Zhang Ruochen.
After drinking a few jars of wine, Lei Jing felt a little drunk. He sighed and said, “Time flies. In four days, it’s the death anniversary of Qianshui Commandery royal family again. You and Yanchen… sigh.”
Lei Jing did not want to comment much about things between Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen. He just felt very regretful.
Lei Jing’s words struck Zhang Ruochen. Because of him, the immortal vampires had attacked Huang Yanchen’s relatives. Other than Huang Yanchen’s parents, almost everyone else had died. This made him feel very guilty.
After that, Huang Yanchen’s parents had died at the hands of a powerful elite of Ghost clan. All Zhang Ruochen could do was ask Le to kill that Ghost Lord.
Zhang Ruochen had thought that Huang Yanchen was dead, so he put the past behind him.
Nevertheless, never had he expected to see her again at Xianji Mountain in North region. At that time, Huang Yanchen had appeared in new identity—candidate of Scioness to the Fane of Destiny.
Zhang Ruochen had tons of questions in his mind, but he did not know who to ask.
“Master, I vaguely remember that you mentioned her last time. Could you tell me more about it?” Zhang Ruochen asked in a serious expression.
Last time, when Lei Jing mentioned Huang Yanchen, the master and disciple duo was too wasted after drinking. Zhang Ruochen could only recall some fragmented memories after he had sobered up.
Lei Jing said, “It’s nothing. Before Huang Yanchen disappeared, she had returned to Qianshui Commandery, visited Yunwu Commandery, and even gone to West Campus. At that time, it seemed that she was having moments in reminiscing and longing for the past.
“I met her once and saw her crying in silence. She muttered that she was going to enter Death’s Door to change destiny.
“She also said… Once she did so, it meant she would live a second lifetime. She had to leave her past behind, cut ties with people and things, and forget the joys as well as sorrows she had experienced in the mortal world.
“I heard she say, ‘Who would enter hell if I don’t do so?’ But her words don’t make sense to me. Since then, I never saw her again.”
‘Who would enter hell if I don’t do so?’
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen frowned deeply. Within his heart, a relentless turbulent stirred. He muttered to himself, “Death’s Door. Is it the one above Ever-white Planet?”