1290 Before Leaving

The unique feature of Zhang Ruochen's Spiritual Power was the control of thunder and lightning. Amongst Spiritual Power cultivators, this represented attack and combat.

However, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation for thunder was the lowest before. He only had some low-level Spiritual Power weapons too. Even though he was at level 52, he was still the weakest of the Spiritual Power cultivators in his level.

Crackle.

He opened his right hand. Shreds of lightning appeared in his palm. They were woven into balls and shone with purple light.

This was the Lightning Ball, a Level-1 spell.

He didn't strike with this spell. Using Spiritual Power, he scattered the lightning until it disappeared.

Then he activated more Spiritual Power to observe the Holy Carnivorous Flower's condition.

When King Zhongying had shattered Zhang Ruochen's meridians, he'd also hurt the Holy Carnivorous Flower. The flower had fallen into a deep slumber and still hadn't woken up.

Thankfully, the flower was hurt. Otherwise, Zhang Ruochen wouldn't have been able to control it with his current state.

Huang Yanchen had already returned to the ravine. She stood in the distance. Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was quite spirited, a faint smile appeared on her pretty face. "You seem to have gotten a bit better."

"It's alright. Only my Spiritual Power has some improvements." Zhang Ruochen didn't want her to be worried, so he remained positive. "According to the Crazy Alcoholic, that Pill Saint lives in Black Wind County of Red River Mansion. How far is that from us?"

Zhang Ruochen urgently wished to reconnect his meridians.

"The north is divided into 36 mansions," Huang Yanchen said. "Red River Mansion is in the center. It's where the Immortal Vampires and the imperial court are fighting the most intensely. Right now, we are in Serene Wind Mansion. It's in the north and completely invaded by the Immortal Vampires."

"The entire mansion is invaded?"

Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen's spirits fell.

After the First Central Empire was established, they divided the world into mansions and counties. The entire north only had 36 mansions; each mansion was further divided into 36 counties. Each county was very vast, more than 100,000 miles wide.

The humans were able to live peacefully during the centuries of prosperity, so the population multiplied quickly. There were at least a few billion people in each county.

One mansion was millions of miles of territory. The population was in the hundreds of billions.

If the entire mansion was conquered by the Immortal Vampires, one could imagine how shocking the news was. How many humans had died, turning into white skeletons? How many humans had become beasts raised by the Immortal Vampires to provide them with an endless source of blood?

Huang Yanchen's expression was solemn. "In reality, the northern region already has ten mansions that are conquered. Each of the ten Immortal Vampire tribes has one mansion. They're also mustering soldiers and horses to continue to attack more mansions. Right now, the most intense battles are in Red River Mansion. Apparently, the ten strategic passes of Red River Mansion are all dyed red with blood. They fight day and night. Both sides have suffered great losses."

"How long has it been...and already ten mansions have fallen?" Zhang Ruochen said coldly. "What is the army of the imperial court doing?"

Huang Yanchen sighed. "The First Central Empire has been at peace for centuries. The disciples of clans and sects have all become arrogant and superfluous. Very few have experienced horrible battles. How could they be compared to the bloodthirsty Immortal Vampires? Plus, the Immortal Vampires have much stronger vitality. They already have a great advantage. They can keep drinking blood on the battlefield to recover and maintain their combat abilities."

After a pause, Huang Yanchen continued, "However, after these two years of life-or-death battles, the human cultivators have visibly improved. They can counter the Immortal Vampires now, instead of being defeated miserably."

Zhang Ruochen was a wanted criminal and nemesis of the Empress. However, he wasn't heartless. He couldn't remain unmoved at seeing the humans get massacred and turned into food.

"Judging by the time, the internal cleansing of the Confucius Way and the imperial court should be over. The Saint Lady should publish the Vampire Secrets in a few days."

Zhang Ruochen thought that the battle situation would change after the Vampire Secrets was revealed. At the same time, he was also thinking about how to brew the Six Saints to the Sky Wine as soon as possible. This could strengthen the human race's overall physique and develop more strong cultivators.

Only Half-Saints and Saints could support a race. They were the main force.

Zhang Ruochen soon smiled bitterly. He was a half-disabled man now. It was a big question as to whether he could even recover, yet he was thinking about working for the entire human race. Wasn't he getting too ahead of himself?

Let's not think about this yet. There are many people in the human race who are stronger than me. They can solve these problems. Right now, reconnecting my meridians and recovering my cultivation is the most important thing.

Zhang Ruochen laughed at himself.

Then he asked, "Is there a result from the Yin Yang Sea battle?"

Huang Yanchen nodded. "The Dragon Sun Moon Mix appeared and the top figures of Kunlun's Field all came to fight for it. The Savage Barren Territory fell into more chaos."

Zhang Ruochen had already guessed this, but he was still shaken to hear that the Dragon Sun Moon Mix had appeared. "Who won the Dragon Sun Moon Mix in the end?" he asked impatiently.

"Do you remember the mysterious creature sealed on the ice bridge?" Huang Yanchen asked. "He came back to life. Controlling the Dragon Sun Moon Mix, he defeated the emperor-like figures of the various forces, becoming the sovereign of the Yin Yang Sea."

"It's him." Zhang Ruochen found this to be incredible. Then he asked, "Is there news of Blackie?"

Huang Yanchen shook her head. "Blackie hasn't contacted us. There's no information about it in the outside world either."

"What about the Immortal Bird?" Zhang Ruochen didn't believe Blackie had died. He suspected that it was the Immortal Bird.

"A witness claims that the Immortal Bird injured the strong cultivator from Yin Yang Sea and escaped into the Savage Barren Territory. There was no more sign of it afterward."

Zhang Ruochen fell silent. A moment later, he finally chuckled and asked, "Is there news about me in the outside world? News of me being disabled by King Zhongying must have spread throughout."

"Don't worry about all that. Rest and recover in peace. You can only do what you want after you heal."

Huang Yanchen didn't tell Zhang Ruochen about the outside world. She worried that he would be affected and lose reason. This was disadvantageous for his injuries.

Zhang Ruochen could tell that Huang Yanchen was hiding something, but he didn't continue asking, because she was right. With his current health, he should focus all his energy on recovering.

If his injuries couldn't heal, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Come! Let's go to Red River Mansion."

Zhang Ruochen stood up. Together with Huang Yanchen and Qing Mo, he walked out of the cave built from a pile of mummies. He stood in the ravine filled with bloody Qi and stared at the blood pool at the bottom.

Around 60 Immortal Vampire Half-Saints were sitting there cross-legged, cultivating. They inhaled the blood Qi and their auras kept strengthening.

Huang Yanchen could sense the murderous Qi radiating from Zhang Ruochen. Knowing what he was thinking, she said, "This ravine is close to Langxing County City. There are close to one million Immortal Vampire soldiers in the city. Three Blood Saints are in the army. With our cultivations, we can easily escape as long as we're not surrounded."

"Then let's give them another lesson before leaving. I can use this to test my current Spiritual Power attacks and abilities."

Zhang Ruochen walked toward the bottom of the ravine with light steps. The Immortal Vampire Half-Saints who were cultivating sensed a human's aura. They all stopped and looked at Zhang Ruochen's trio with shock.

"Where did this human come from? You actually dare to enter Wanxin Ravine? Don't you know this is a forbidden zone?"

An Immortal Vampire Half-Saint stood up. Grabbing a blood-red crystal spear, he stabbed at Zhang Ruochen's heart with lightning speed.

Whoosh!

Zhang Ruochen waved his finger. Activating Spiritual Power, he struck with an electric sword and cut the Immortal Vampire in half. The two halves turned scorched black and all the vitality leaked out. Even though he was an Immortal Vampire, he was completely dead now.

"How dare you!"

All the Immortal Vampire Half-Saints were furious. They all gathered their Holy Qi. Some cast saintly spells while others activated their saintly weapons.

Zhang Ruochen extended a finger and pointed at the sky. All the Spiritual Qi gathered above his head, forming bolts of lightning.

Before the Immortal Vampire Half-Saints could attack with their spells and weapons, the lightning bolts already fell upon them.

Boom!

The entire ravine was covered by lightning. All the mummified corpses were turned to dust. Even the rocks and dirt melted into liquid.

A large mass of Immortal Vampire Saints beside the blood pool fell down. Twenty to thirty of them were turned to ash. The others were heavily injured, lying on the ground on their last breath.

Spiritual Power Saints didn't have an obvious advantage when fighting with Martial Saints of the same level. However, their strong point was that they could fight many enemies by themselves. On a battlefield, their destructiveness was incomparable to Martial Saints. If they utilized their strengths well, they could even turn the tides.

A Martial Saint wouldn't be able to take care of dozens of Half-Saints as easily as Zhang Ruochen did.

He looked at the lightning in his palm and then at the Immortal Vampire Half-Saints on the ground. He sighed. "It seems that I must learn some more advanced spells. I couldn't kill them all with this Level-1 spell."

"Which Spiritual Power Saint has come to Langxing County? Let me come meet you!"

A roar came from outside Wanxin Ravine. Then a large mass of bloody fog surged over from the distance. It hovered in the sky above the ravine. Powerful Holy Qi came out of the fog. Then a Blood Saint with four wings walked out.