The eight Heavenly Fire Demonic Butterflies brought Zhang Ruochen to the white cliff. Flapping their wings, they flew back into the flower sea. They seemed not to want to study the Way of Truth image at all.
"These butterflies are so interesting," Zhang Ruochen said, chuckling. "They're so powerful, but they act like little girls."
But the next moment, two bursts of murderous Qi traveled over. Zhang Ruochen wiped his smile away and looked over.
Two figures in saintly roc armor appeared before him, one tall and one short.
The tall one was 2.3 meters tall. The short one was only 1.5 meters and looked like a dwarf.
They were in human form, but Zhang Ruochen sensed strong beastly auras from them—cruel, aggressive, and bloody. Even though they'd become Saints, the aura didn't disappear. Instead, it grew heavier.
The taller creature was called Li Hai. Without saying anything, he clenched his hands into claws and his nails turned into golden scythes. He clawed at Zhang Ruochen's neck.
It was a simple claw, but it carried a strong vortex-like force that pressed outward.
Zhang Ruochen felt air currents from all over, pressing down on him. The density of the air grew and almost turned solid.
So strong. Any other half-step Saint King would be pressed to the ground from this force. Even some stronger half-step Saint Kings would probably be immobilized and even if they didn't die from this creature's claw, they would be disabled.
A strong feeling of fury burst out, burning in Zhang Ruochen like fire.
This guy was lashing out for no reason as soon as he got here. What was this?
All 144 apertures on Zhang Ruochen's body opened up and Holy Qi poured out, breaking apart the air current restriction. He slapped toward Li Hai. Palm force flooded out, along with hot Yang Qi.
"He actually broke free from the air current shackles?"
Li Hai's eyes flashed. He increased the power of his claw and attacked with all his might.
Thud!
The claw and palm crashed and chaotic power flooded out.
There were crackling sounds. The bones of Li Hai's fingers shattered and he flew out as if he was made out of grass.
Affected by the Emotion Pill, Zhang Ruochen's fury exploded intensely. He chased forward, grabbed one of Li Hai's legs, and dragged him back. He slammed Li Hai onto the ground.
With a thud, the defensive formation on the ground trembled.
"Why did you attack me?
"Why?
"Who told you to do it?
"What do you want? What do you want?"
…
With each question, Zhang Ruochen would stomp down, cracking all of Li Hai's bones. He couldn't stay unharmed even with the protection of the roc armor.
Because every time he wanted to activate the armor's defensive power, Zhang Ruochen's foot would land again. All his saintly power would scatter, unable to gather.
"Stop!" Li Shan roared.
He activated the roc armor and metallic wings unfurled on his back. With extreme speed, he flew to Zhang Ruochen in the blink of an eye.
Li Shan was much more careful. He immediately activated the armor's defensive force. A golden roc's projection flew out of the armor, protecting him in the shadow.
At the same time, he used a Ten-thousand Saint Weapon and struck Zhang Ruochen's waist like he was sweeping across an army.
This sword's force was much stronger than Li Hai's earlier claw.
Actually, Li Shan and Li Hai were at the same level. Li Hai didn't use the Rules of Truth either. This sword was so strong because he was supported by the roc armor.
"And why are you attacking me?"
Zhang Ruochen extended his right arm and grabbed Li Shan's Ten-thousand Saint Weapon. He pulled forward and easily resolved the sword's power.
"How is this possible?"
Li Shan had a face of disbelief. Before he could retreat, his vision turned black. He was slapped to the ground and his sword was taken away too.
The roc projection that protected him was already shattered.
Holding the saint sword, Zhang Ruochen started hacking down.
"Why did you attack me?
"What do you have against me?"
…
There were continuous thuds. The saint roc armor sparked and sword Qi seeped inside, leaving gashes of varying depths on Li Shan.
Zhang Ruochen stepped on Li Hai's chest, so he couldn't climb up and fight back. Because of the roc armor, he didn't die, but the frustration in him made him wish he were dead.
More than half of the cultivators on the square were alarmed and looked over in shock.
"Where did this menacing figure come from? He actually flattened Li Hai and Li Shan."
"So aggressive. Is he psychotic?"
"Li Hai and Li Shan took care of many cultivators who wanted to pursue the Baihua Fairy. They're very violent, but I didn't think that they would meet an even more violent fellow. It really is karma."
The Deities were all stunned. Clearly, even they could misjudge. The human was nobody simple.
The Gold Roc Prince was clear about how strong Li Hai and Li Shan were. They had Sub-Complete Body Constitution and could suppress average first step Saint Kings. Otherwise, they wouldn't qualify to stay beside him.
Li Hai getting caught by Zhang Ruochen could be because he was too careful.
But Li Shan had been very careful. Not only did he use a Ten-thousand-pattern Saint Weapon, he also used the roc armor's power, but he was still taken down easily by the human.
This kind of figure was either in the top ranks of the Saints Merits Rank or a Saint King.
The Gold Roc Prince would rather believe that the man was the latter—he was a Saint King who had some Spiritual Power treasure and hid his true cultivation to trick others.
"This human is so arrogant. Doesn't he know whose underlings he's beating up?"
Seeing Zhang Ruochen torture Li Hai and Li Shan, the Gold Roc Prince's expression was very cold. But with his status, he wouldn't go punish a nameless figure in his true form. He didn't want to get laughed at by the others.
He yanked out a piece of hair and blew on it. Many Rules of Saintly Way and saintly power melted into the hair along with his breath.
The hair flew up and shone brilliantly, turning into a division that looked identical to him.
Seeing this, one of the Thousand Pistil Field cultivators exclaimed, "Mid-class saint spell, Thirty-Six Division!"
Whoosh!
The Gold Roc Prince's division shook and blurred. The next time it appeared, it was close to Zhang Ruochen.
The light from the division seemed able to illuminate the world. Zhang Ruochen could barely keep his eyes open. It was only a figure, but to Zhang Ruochen, it was like a golden roc that was hundreds of miles long was curled up there.
The aura that emanated from it was countless times stronger than Li Hai and Li Shan. It wasn't on the same level.
Zhang Ruochen wasn't able to control his emotions, but his mind was still clear.
If you succeeded in cultivating the mid-class spell "Thirty-Six Divisions," you could form a division with just a strand of hair. The division's power was around 10% of the original power.
You could send out the 36 divisions at once to accomplish many things.
Apparently, there was also the Seventy-Two Divisions, which was even more powerful. It was an upper spell. Each division would have 30% of the original power. If the 72 divisions appeared at the same time, they could help the true form kill a stronger cultivator.
The Gold Roc Prince had only tugged out one strand of hair and his division was already so strong. One could imagine that his true form was ten times more terrifying.
But Zhang Ruochen wasn't afraid. Instead, he released the Unmovable Emperor Ming Saintly Look. He glared back, standing at a stalemate with the Gold Roc Prince.
"Did you tell them to attack me?'
Zhang Ruochen lifted Li Hai and Li Shan, one in each hand, and tossed them toward the Gold Roc Prince. "Control your dogs. If they keep biting people, I'll help you disable them."
When the other cultivators heard the human speak to the Gold Roc Prince like this, they were all terrified.
No cultivator ever dared to disrespect the Gold Roc Prince.
"Quite brave, but I wonder if his abilities match his courage." Deity Changsheng looked interested.
Seeing the other Deities look at him like he was a joke, the Gold Roc Prince's division had an icy expression. Murderous Qi surged out. "Kneel down immediately and kowtow to me three times. Then you might be able to get rid of my anger. Otherwise, if my anger erupts, I'll make you regret coming to this world."
"This is Thousand Pistil Field's dojo," Zhang Ruochen said. "Can you threaten me?"
"Sometimes, dying is easier. Living is more painful."
When he said this, the full power of the Gold Roc Prince's division poured out. The overwhelming saintly power wrapped around Zhang Ruochen.
Everything before Zhang Ruochen disappeared. Only rolling gold waves remained, along with the huge gold roc that spiraled above him. Following a deafening cry, the gold roc extended a claw and angry saintly power pressed down.
Instantly, it was like the sky had collapsed.
Thousands of mountains seemed to press down on Zhang Ruochen, almost forcing him into the abyss of death.