1441 She Disappeared

An hour later, Carnivorous Holy Flower killed all the Saints of Hell Blade Field and Purple Mansion Field. It returned to Zhang Ruochen's side and tossed a dozen storage bags on the ground.

Zhang Ruochen poured out everything from those bags. It all piled into a small mountain on the ground.

Merely looking at the bottles containing blood and soul remnants, there were already around 700 or 800.

Looking at those bottles from the side, Qing Mo was shocked. Her sparkling eyes rolled. "They really killed so many Saints? Shouldn't we be trying to defeat the Luosha together?"

"Who told you we're at the merits battleground to defeat the Luosha?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

"Are we not?"

Qing Mo widened her eyes. She was very confused. Did she mishear the order before entering Zuling Field?

Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "We came to the merits battleground to fight for more merits."

Qing Mo was even more confused. "Don't we gain more merits by killing the Luosha cultivators?"

"How can gaining merits by killing Luosha be as fast as killing other participants?"

Zhang Ruochen didn't know how to describe his current emotions. Qing Mo had practiced with him for a while, but she was still so naïve. With her lack of calculatedness, it was a feat that she'd survived on the battleground for close to a month.

Qing Mo fell silent. She rested her chin in her hands as if pondering.

Zhang Ruochen didn't feel like explaining to her anymore. He began counting his loot.

There were 1,070,000 drops of blood, including 840 drops from Luosha marquises.

There were 2,400,000 soul remnants, including 1,350 from Luosha marquises.

Combined with the bottles that Zhang Ruochen had received before, he now had blood from 3,000 marquises and souls from 2,500 marquises. The blood and souls from Luosha below the marquis level were even more countless.

In addition, he collected more than 2,000 more drops of Ning True Saint Dew and large amounts of healing pills, saint weapons, and rune scrolls.

Zhang Ruochen gave all the saint weapons to the Abyss Ancient Sword, including the two Ten-thousand-pattern Saint Weapons from Absolute Saints Yanju and Yumu. The sword could refine them and improve itself.

On the other hand, the roots of the Holy Carnivorous Flower had fully extended. It rooted inside the corpses of the Hell Blade Field and Purple Mansion Field Saints, absorbing their power and blood. It tried to reach the Absolute Saint Realm.

Its vines, leaves, and fruits all shone with green saintly light. It seemed to have turned into a jade tendril.

If the flower reached the Absolute Saint Realm, it would immediately become a top figure of the Saint King Realm. It could also help Zhang Ruochen greatly.

Thus, Zhang Ruochen decided to give it one day and night to have a breakthrough.

Zhang Ruochen sat below the Holy Carnivorous Flower. He took out a bottle of Ning True Saint Dew and drank it. He used a technique to absorb it and continued to refine the Rules of Saintly Way, stabilizing his new level.

The Rules of Saintly Way consolidating was only the first step.

He had to continue condensing them until it became real. That would be truly reaching the peak of the Saint Realm.

That level was the Absolute Saint Realm.

Of course, Zhang Ruochen was still very far away from the Absolute Saint Realm.

According to his estimates, he would need to refine at least 5,000 drops of Ning True Saint Dew to even reach the middle of the True Saint Realm. If he wanted to reach the later stage, he would need double the amount.

Qing Mo had squatted there without moving. Seeming to understand what Zhang Ruochen had said earlier, she shot up and yelled, "I got it!"

Zhang Ruochen's Holy Qi was disturbed by her. Immediately stopping condensing the Rules of Saintly Way, he said, "What are you freaking out about?"

Qing Mo was very happy. "I get it! It's like how you immediately received large amounts of blood and souls by killing the dozen Hell Blade Field and Purple Mansion Field Saints. It means you received a large number of merits too. Right, collecting merits like this is indeed many times faster than me killing those Luosha cultivators alone."

Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes. Suppressing the power darting around his body and calming himself down, he finally said, "It took you that long to figure out something so simple?"

"That's the fastest way to take merits, right?" Qing Mo asked.

Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "No."

Qing Mo was taken aback. "There's an even faster way?"

"Stealing from other participants is indeed a fast way to collect blood and souls from Luosha," Zhang Ruochen said. "But each person has limited abilities. The four worlds of Zuling Field are so vast and all the Saints are spread apart. How many people can you really steal from?"

Qing Mo tugged at her hair lightly as she thought carefully. "What do you mean?"

Zhang Ruochen had a headache. If she was the Saint Lady, she would probably already understand his underlying meaning. But it just had to be Qing Mo before him now.

They were both Heavenly Maidens. How could they be so different?

"Who killed the most participants in Zuling Field?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

"You," Qing Mo replied without even thinking.

Zhang Ruochen glared at her. "I mean, which force?"

"The Hell Blade Field and Purple Mansion Field?" Qing Mo asked.

Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "No, it's the Luosha."

Qing Mo nodded. "That's right. A large number of Saints from the Shatuo Seven Fields indeed were killed by the Luosha."

"The Luosha cultivators killed them," Zhang Ruochen said. "They would definitely receive the Saints' bottles as well. Those bottles are extremely precious to us. Each drop of blood or soul represents a large amount of merits. But to the Luosha, it's not valuable at all."

Qing Mo felt that everything Zhang Ruochen was saying made sense, but she didn't quite understand.

The Saints of the Shatuo Seven Fields killed the Luosha cultivators to receive blood and souls. Then the Luosha cultivators killed the Shatuo Saints and took the blood and souls back.

Qing Mo's mind was muddled. "What does this mean?"

"Whoever gets the blood and souls from the Luosha will be number one of the Saints Merits Battle," Zhang Ruochen said thoughtfully.

"I don't care who's number one. Return the blood and souls I collected. That pertains to the survival of Kunlun's Field."

Qing Mo gathered her courage and walked over, shaking Zhang Ruochen's arm.

Zhang Ruochen also thought that it was close to impossible to steal the blood and souls from the Luosha. Thus, he shook his head lightly.

There must be another solution.

Seeing that Zhang Ruochen had no reaction, Qing Mo begged him, "Please return it to me!"

Zhang Ruochen put his thoughts away. He took out Qing Mo's spatial ring and held it between two fingers. "You only collected this much blood and souls and you still worry about the survival of Kunlun's Field?" he asked without holding back.

Qing Mo's eyes darted around. "You got so much blood and so many souls. Can you share some with me?"

"In your dreams."

Zhang Ruochen glanced at her. Then he took out a frozen piece of dragon meat, a fire Luan wing, and a shark fin from the spatial ring. Placing it on the ground, he said, "Aren't you good at cooking? Bring out the best techniques as the heir of the God of Food and cook a delicious feast for me. If I'm happy, I might give you some blood and souls."

"Really?"

"Of course."

Qing Mo's eyes brightened. Then she rolled up her sleeves, revealing her snow-white arms and preparing to do something great.

Compared to killing Luosha cultivators, Qing Mo clearly liked cooking more. Her spatial ring was filled with top ingredients, spices, and utensils. It was completely different from the things that other cultivators brought to the Saints Merits Battle.

Zhang Ruochen took a bronze table out of the ring. Placing it on the bank of the Great Whale River covered with floating bodies and bones, he took out a flagon of Dragon Fire Wine. He poured it into a night cup.

Zhang Ruochen raised the cup and drank, feeling the bloody wind from the river.

The Dragon Fire Wine was hard liquor. It was like drinking lava and his organs were about to melt.

Nearby, Qing Mo started cooking. A heavy aroma wafted out quickly. The fragrance kept spreading into the distance and actually suppressed the smell of blood.

This was clearly a dangerous battlefield and there were hellish scenes everywhere. But Zhang Ruochen was drinking wine in relaxation and waiting for a feast.

Even he felt that it was quite incredible. Was this reality or was he in a dream?

After drinking three cups, Zhang Ruochen's eyes grew a bit dazed. He finally asked the question he'd been meaning to ask. "Why didn't Huang Yanchen come to the merits battlefield?"

Before entering the Saint Road, Zhang Ruochen had observed the army of Kunlun's Field and didn't see Huang Yanchen.

Qing Mo hesitated. Then she said, "She went missing!"

"Missing? How?"

Zhang Ruochen's eyes gleamed. He didn't trust Qing Mo.

"She really went missing," Qing Mo said seriously. "No one knows where she went. It's like she just vanished."

"As one of the Heirs, how could she just go missing?" Zhang Ruochen asked. "Plus, even if she did disappear, with your identity, you would know where she went."

Qing Mo saw that there was something wrong with Zhang Ruochen's eyes. Afraid that she would get hit, she shook her head quickly. "I seriously don't know. I asked Sister Danqing and she doesn't know either. Princess Yanchen just vanished. What can I do?"

Zhang Ruochen collected his iciness. He was sure that Qing Mo wasn't lying. Huang Yanchen seemed to have really disappeared.

But how could that be?

Half a beat later, Qing Mo carried a foot-long crystal platter with both hands. She walked timidly over to Zhang Ruochen. Fingers trembling, she placed the platter on the table.

There was golden dragon meat on the plate. White steam and an incredible scent came out of it. Just taking a whiff made one impatient to gobble it up.

Qing Mo brought over plate after plate. They were all delicacies.

Zhang Ruochen fell into deep thought. As if his soul had flown out, his eyes were a bit empty. He didn't seem interested in the delicious food before him at all.

Just then, a lovely woman's voice sounded under the night sky. "Such a delicious smell. Let me take a whiff. There's dragon meat, shark fin, fire Luan meat… This is great. It's everything I love to eat."

Tap, tap.

Footsteps approached.

Then a tall beauty in a light green robe walked out of the night with her hands behind her back.

Firelight shone from a bonfire in the near distance. It reflected on her, showing that she was wearing a silver-white crystal crown on her head. She had an extremely noble aura.

There was a nine-headed bird behind her. Its nine pairs of eyes were staring at the food on the table. All nine beaks were drooling at the same time.