589 Forty-fourth Level Spiritual Power

Red Wish Emissary's bright eyes swept over the Blood Cloud Sect disciples kneeling in the main hall. "Leave us, all of you!"

The Blood Cloud Sect disciples in the main hall all looked at Red Wish Emissary gratefully. They rushed to leave as though granted amnesty.

Red Wish Emissary's sudden appearance had saved them from impending disaster.

Red Wish Emissary remained in midair. She took one step forward and flew across to the skull armchair at the head of the hall. She sat down without any prompting.

She lifted her eyes, gazing at the deformed bronze table and laughed. "What has happened, Master Xu?"

Xu Hong looked coldly serious. "Today, I dispatched Fang Jie and Cao Ying to assassinate the Cyan Cloud County Chief of the Demonic Sect. They failed in their mission and were killed by a mysterious man instead. Two useless bums!"

Red Wish Emissary nodded. The corners of her lips rose as she finally understood what had happened.

Fang Jie and Cao Ying were among the top ten killers of the Blood Cloud Sect yet they were killed in their own territory. No wonder Xu Hong was flaming mad.

It was difficult to cultivate a killer. It was even more difficult to cultivate a top killer of Fang Jie and Cao Ying's caliber.

"You better resolve your problem yourself."

Red Wish Emissary's fingers gently twirled her ebony hair. "I have come here to tell you two things. First, you must stop all your activities against the Moon Worship Demonic Sect."

Xu Hong was puzzled. "Why?"

Red Wish Emissary answered. "The battle at East Region Saint City has infuriated the Chens and Martial Market Bank. With the imperial court's blessing, the Chens have assembled 2,800,000 elite troops at Fallen-gods Mountain Range. They are poised to invade the Eastern Evil Land anytime. They will not retreat unless the Eastern Evil Land pays a hefty price.

"At the same time, the Martial Market Bank has gathered many top masters to infiltrate the Eastern Evil Land. They are planning to retaliate against the Black Market.

"Therefore, the higher authorities have decided to postpone operations against the Demonic Sect. They have decided to gather our forces to drive back the imperial court and the Martial Market Bank instead."

Xu Hong pondered for a moment and then said, "We can suspend our actions against the Demonic Sect for the time being, but the man who killed Fang Jie and Cao Ying must die."

"I don't care who you kill as long as it doesn't affect important matters."

Red Wish Emissary solemnly said, "There's the second matter. Thanks to the battle in East Region Saint City, many of our moles within the various forces of Eastern Holy Land have blown their cover. They need to return to Eastern Evil Land. Settling them down again is quite a problem.

"This is what the Master would like to do: Allow a party of them to merge into the Blood Cloud Sect. You will then rule over them."

Xu Hong's face suddenly brimmed with joy. He bowed quickly to Red Wish Emissary. "My thanks to the Phantom Saint! Please convey my gratefulness to His Excellency. I shall bring him a lavish gift the next time I visit Phantom Valley."

Red Wish Emissary smiled and stood up. She walked out in a leisurely manner, speaking lazily in a very alluring voice. "Master Xu, my Master will remember your faithfulness. Please remember who supported you once Blood Cloud Sect attains the rank of a third-rate Suzerain."

"I won't forget. Definitely not."

Red Wish Emissary spoke without turning back her head. "Within the 27 counties around God Falling Ridge, there are sure to be many fierce struggles. I will remain in Cyan Cloud County. Look me up in the county town if there are any changes."

Xu Hong's eyes followed Red Wish Emissary as she departed from the main hall. He felt very excited.

Many Black Market moles were retreating from the Eastern Holy Land and would soon join the Blood Cloud Sect. This would multiply the Sect's strength within a short period of time.

Blood Cloud Sect would develop into a third-rate Suzerain in no time.

However, the troops from the imperial court were a big headache. Should the imperial troops travel through God Falling Ridge, the first power they would attack would be the Blood Cloud Sect.

He had no idea how determined the imperial court was this time.

Xu Hong gradually calmed down. He recalled Fang Jie and Cao Ying's deaths and his eyes turned ice-cold. He called out in a deep voice. "Men! Ask Luo Shi to come into the main hall. I have a task for him."

"Yes."

Outside the hall, a black figure immediately retreated.

Luo Shi was the No. 4 Killer of the Blood Cloud Sect. He had reached the Seventh Change of the Fish-Dragon Realm and had once succeeded in assassinating a Monk of the Eighth Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm.

Xu Hong had analyzed the strength of the mysterious man who killed Fang Jie and Cao Ying. The man was a Master of Spiritual Power.

A Master of Spiritual Power was indeed very powerful, but killers who could hide their aura were the most formidable opponents of such Masters.

Luo Shi's cultivation level was not the highest among the killers of Blood Cloud Sect.

But he was the most adept at disguising his aura.

As long as he could get close to a Master of Spiritual Power, he would have no problem assassinating him.

"Luo Shi can fulfill this mission."

Xu Hong snorted. His aging face became even more grotesque as one hand tightly gripped the other.

After Zhang Ruochen left Liyuan City, he did not head for the county town. Instead, he found a hilly, secluded spot and retreated into the Scroll World.

There were three more days before his meeting with Duanmu Ya.

The three-day period would be enough for him to raise his cultivation by a level.

If he entered into the Scroll World to practice, Zhang Ruochen would have 10 times more time, which meant he would have the equivalent of a month.

"Disguising myself as a Master of Spiritual Power is a good way to hide my identity. To do that, I must improve my Spiritual Power. Can I raise it to the 44th level within one month?"

Zhang Ruochen sat with his legs tucked beneath him under the Sacred Prime Tree. Inhaling and exhaling Spiritual Qi, he was trying his best to adjust his physical condition in order to reach a realm of self-unconsciousness.

Right now, his Spiritual Power had reached the peak of the 43rd level. He was just one step away from the 44th level.

Once his Spiritual Power reached the 44th level, he could fight a Monk of the Eighth Change in the Fish-dragon Realm.

Practicing Spiritual Power was very difficult. The next level might seem a mere step away, but that one step might be as wide as a moat. One could not simply stride over it.

Of course, with each increase in Spiritual Power level, a Monk's real power would increase by leaps and bounds.

After adjusting his Heart State, Zhang Ruochen took out a Redcrown Mushroom with a nine-meter diameter and lay it by his side.

The Redcrown Mushroom was huge—four meters high. It resembled a fiery lotus in full bloom. Zhang Ruochen's body looked puny beside it.

In fact, the Redcrown Mushroom came from the crest of a redcloud python. It was a treasure for raising one's Spiritual Power.

Of course, a Redcrown Mushroom from an ordinary redcloud python could not help Zhang Ruochen raise his Spiritual Power from the 43rd to the 44th level.

This Redcrown Mushroom, however, was from the Black Skeleton Flood Dragon King. It constituted almost all of its Spiritual Power and wisdom.

If he could refine it and then ingest the Half-Saint flood dragon blood, Zhang Ruochen was 90% certain he could raise his Spiritual Power to the 44th level.

He took off and soared to the center of the Redcrown Mushroom cap. He sat down with his legs tucked beneath him and started running Genuine Qi around his body as he practiced the fifth level of the Scripture of Emperor Ming's Empyrean.

"Devil-taming Mysterious Fetus Heaven."

The Genuine Qi from the Qi Sea in his lower abdomen poured out from his 36 Meridians. It gathered around Zhang Ruochen's navel, forming a Qi vortex.

The navel has been called "the root of one's inborn Qi."

A fetus can survive and grow thanks to an umbilical cord that links it to its mother's Blood Meridians.

After leaving the mother, although the umbilical cord is cut, the navel does not completely lose its function.

Some practitioners could use some special methods and open up a second Qi Sea beneath the navel. This was known as "the mysterious embryo."

After reaching a certain realm in the fifth level of the Scripture of Emperor Ming's Empyrean, one could open up a second Qi Sea and practice "the mysterious embryo."

However, because Zhang Ruochen had just begun practicing the fifth level of Scripture of Emperor Ming's Empyrean, he could only condense a Genuine Qi vortex under his navel.

"BOOM!"

The vortex split as Genuine Qi poured out like air columns from ten thousand pores all over his body. It first turned into a green flame, and then into a fire cloud, completely enveloping the 9-meter-wide Redcrown Mushroom.

The Genuine Qi refined the Redcrown Mushroom into fine powder. Then the powder traveled into Zhang Ruochen's navel, and from there, into the 36 Meridians of his body.

After 15 days of refining, Zhang Ruochen finally absorbed all of the Redcrown Mushroom into his body. It merged into his bloodstream, Genuine Qi, bones, and sinews, becoming part of his body.

At the same time, he swallowed a large amount of Half-Saint flood dragon blood to help stabilize the vast energies from the Redcrown Mushroom acting on his body.

Zhang Ruochen had not expected that a large part of the vital essences from the Redcrown Mushroom and the Half-Saint flood dragon blood would be absorbed into his bone structure. His martial cultivation now broke through to a new level—the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm.

The Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm was called "Bone Refining to Jade."

The Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm caused Zhang Ruochen's bone structure to turn lustrous and translucent like white jade, exuding a faint white glow.

Even with a layer of skin and flesh, one could make out the shape of his skeleton.

All 206 bones in his body seemed to have gotten a life of their own and were absorbing Spiritual Qi.

His white jade-like bones were soaking up Spiritual Qi. After constant tempering, his bones had become even more resilient. Even the bones in the innermost parts of his body had turned jade-like.

Zhang Ruochen felt that his physical strength had at least doubled.

After five days of refining, Zhang Ruochen had completely absorbed the Redcrown Mushroom into his body. As expected, his Spiritual Power immediately reached the 44th level.

Zhang Ruochen stood up and stretched out his palm. BAM! A purple lightning ball the size of a pigeon egg materialized above it.

It was a Level One Magic Art—Spherical Lightning.

Prior to this, Zhang Ruochen had not practiced this sort of spell.

With his current Spiritual Power, all he needed now was to visualize a Level One Magic Art in his mind, then he could easily exude its power.