It was indeed good news. The Thousand Pistil Field specially sent a fifth step Saint King with a dragon and elephant soul to Hundred Flower Palace.
Apparently, that dragon soul had been killed by a ninth step Saint King of the Thousand Pistil Field in a world with no god yet.
This was also why it was a bit late.
There were more than 8,000 worlds with gods in the universe. There were even more worlds that didn't have gods, so they couldn't be ruled by Heaven Field.
A world like that would be powerless against Hell World and would definitely be destroyed.
If the subordinates of Heaven Field discovered them, they would also be robbed and enslaved. They may also become battlefields. Only worlds with great potential, that had countless treasures, or who submitted to a stronger world could be saved.
The ninth step Saint King went to a world called Void Dragon Field.
More than half of this great world were dragons. There were thousands of dragon races.
Void Dragon Field didn't have a dragon god, so they were far weaker than the powerful Heaven Dragon Field of Heaven Field.
However, Void Dragon Field had many Supreme Saint dragon kings and were subordinate to Heaven Dragon Field. Thus, going there to kill a dragon Saint King was still very risky.
After taking the dragon and elephant soul, Zhang Ruochen gave the remaining 13 million saint stones to the Fairy Extreme King.
Zhang Ruochen had other plans, so he didn't leave the Heavenly Capital Saint Market. Instead, he returned to the Swallow Palace residence.
"A first step Saint King dragon soul and elephant soul are both very low grade. The Fairy Extreme King indeed isn't willing to give anything extra."
Zhang Ruochen smiled. He didn't really care.
When Zhang Ruochen first started refining the Saint dragon and elephant souls, they didn't have high grades either, but they had reached the Absolute Saint Realm now.
The Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm was very strange. The souls that he refined into his arms could actually absorb his Holy Qi and keep strengthening until they reached the peak of the Saint Realm.
However, they could only grow to the Absolute Saint Realm. No matter what Zhang Ruochen tried, he couldn't make them reach the Saint King Realm. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent so much money on buying Saint King souls.
Even though the souls were only first step Saint Kings now, Zhang Ruochen believed that they would reach the ninth step in the future.
Without thinking further, he took out the purple gourd that held the two souls. He prepared to refine both together.
Roar!
Argh!
The elephant soul was a Motian Elephant King. The dragon soul was a Winged Silver Dragon King.
"A mere half-step Saint King wants to refine me?"
"Die!"
The elephant and dragon soul rushed down, attacking Zhang Ruochen.
"Your spirits haven't been destroyed yet and still carry strong saintly power? Good, very good. Refining you two into my arms will be very beneficial for me."
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged on the ground and circulated his Holy Qi.
A lot of Divine Fire Jingmie also flowed through his meridians, turning them into rivers of fire.
Just as the dragon and elephant souls were about to hit Zhang Ruochen's head, he pressed forward, sending out two flaming handprints. He repressed the two souls and started refining them with Divine Fire Jingmie.
Gradually, the souls' spirits were restricted and they let out low wails.
After refining them into his arms, the two souls grew abnormally violent. They directly swallowed the Absolute Saint dragon and elephant souls. Then their own powers increased greatly and crashed around Zhang Ruochen's arms, wanting to break free.
Zhang Ruochen's physical body was now in the Saint King Realm. The bone, skin, muscle, and tendons of his arms were as sturdy as cages. Naturally, they couldn't break free.
As time passed, the dragon and elephant souls were forced to calm down. They gradually melded with his meridians, Saintly Meridians, blood, and bones until they were indistinguishable.
"Mission accomplished."
Zhang Ruochen raised his two arms and looked at the saintly light flowing through his skin. He could vaguely see dragon scales and elephant patterns emerging. It was very strange.
He squeezed his left fingers softly. A dragon head poked out of his skin instantly. It reached out dragon claws, releasing shocking might.
Then he opened his right hand. The projection of an elephant king appeared. It was as overwhelming and terrifying as an ancient black saint mountain.
Boom, boom.
Inside Swallow Palace, Zhang Ruochen struck with the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm over and over again. He went from the first to tenth palm and repeated again. Holy Qi flowed continuously through him and his palm force was natural too. It held boundless power and could split the world.
He reached minor completion for the 11th palm, Dragon and Elephant Heaven Pass, and its power multiplied.
Even though he still couldn't add Rules of Palm Way into his palm techniques, the first step Saint King souls made the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm as powerful as a regular mid-level saint spell.
Mid-level saint spells could also be divided into three classes: regular, expert and master.
Mid-level saint spells could only become stronger the more Rules of Saintly Way that you added to it.
Regular mid-level saint spells would reach a bottleneck after adding in 1,000 rules. After surpassing 1,000 rules, you could add more and the spells would still strengthen, but it wouldn't be as dramatic.
Expert mid-level saint spells would reach a bottleneck at 10,000 rules.
However, the limit for master mid-level saint spells was more than one million rules. If one cultivated a master mid-level saint spell to the highest level, then it could counter upper saint spells.
Of course, the differences between these three levels wasn't only in the limit. The power varied greatly too. You could add in the same number of rules, but an expert mid-level saint spell would crush a regular spell.
Most half-step Saint Kings cultivated regular mid-level saint spells.
Expert mid-level saint spells were already rare. Only those Saint Kings with powerful backgrounds could learn them.
As for master mid-level saint spells, there were barely any and they were like supreme techniques. Typically, only the 81 scriptures on the Taiyi Divine Techniques Rank had records of them.
Not only did those scriptures record the ways to cultivate the techniques, they also added top martial techniques and spells that could complement them. Some scriptures even recorded taboo spells. Each scripture's appearance would cause bloody fights.
The Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm was very miraculous. The technique would upgrade with each palm that he cultivated. It wasn't a regular martial technique. If he fully completed the eleventh palm, it might become at least an expert mid-level spell. It could even become a master spell.
"After refining the Saint King elephant and dragon souls into my body, first-step Saint King power was added to both of my arms."
With Zhang Ruochen's current physical power, he could fight with some weaker second step Saint Kings. Thus, getting a first step Saint King's power wasn't too big of a deal.
He took out two boxing gloves and wrist guards from his spatial ring.
The gloves were fiery red and made out of some unknown material. They were very hot and heavy. The two wrist guards were made out of the same material. Flames were carved on them and they had sharp spikes shaped like two balls of fire.
This was part of the Fire God Armor that Qiu Yu had left behind.
The Fire God had many ancient legends in Kunlun's Field. He was a powerful god.
Apparently, any material that approached the Fire God would get burned to ashes by his body's hot temperature. Only the fire armor wouldn't melt.
The legends said that the Fire God cultivated 3,000 types of flames. He also combined them all together into something more terrifying than the Divine Fire Jingmie—God-Refining Fire.
However, the God-Refining Fire was too destructive, so much so that even the Fire God couldn't control it. In the end, he burned himself to ashes.
The God-Refining Fire killed the Fire God but didn't destroy the armor.
This undoubtedly gave the armor a mysterious veil.
Zhang Ruochen had studied the Fire God Armor before too. It counted as a godly relic. After adding in Holy Qi, it could activate a shred of the Fire God's origin power.
However, the power of the Fire God Armor wasn't as strong as he'd imagined. It wasn't even on the Hundred Saint Blood Armor's level.
In addition, its defensive abilities weren't as strong either. After all, it wasn't a full set. It was incomplete and could only protect his arms.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen kept it in his spatial ring and didn't use it.
Now, his Spiritual Power, Way of Truth, and palm techniques had all improved. Naturally, he wanted to take down the Moon Goddess's dojo—the Yin and Yang Palace.
Evil figures from three strong worlds ruled over the Yin and Yang Palace. It was a pit of snakes and filled with danger.
Before this, any improvement could increase his chances. Thus, Zhang Ruochen started studying the Fire God Armor again.
"When Qiu Yu wore the armor, the power it unleashed was much stronger than the Hundred Saint Blood Armor. Why can't I release its power?"
He studied it for a long while and did all sorts of tests to no avail. In the end, he had to put it away again. He thought that maybe Blackie could help provide answers after it returned.
However, what frustrated him even more was that it was almost one month and Blackie still hadn't come to the Heavenly Capital Saint Market.
Zhang Ruochen decided to wait three more days. If Blackie still didn't hurry over, then he would go take back Moon Goddess's dojo by himself. He could also use these three days to personally investigate the Yin and Yang Palace so he could be completely familiar with it.
Exiting Swallow Palace, Zhang Ruochen planned on going to the Yin and Yang Palace, but he felt something wrong with the atmosphere of Hundred Flower Palace.
Night had just fallen. This should be when the palace was the busiest, but it was cold and quiet now. There wasn't a single customer in sight.
Zhang Ruochen was curious, so he asked Swallow.
"Lord," Swallow replied, "I don't know what's going on either. This afternoon, the Fairy Extreme King suddenly ordered the closure of Hundred Flower Palace and that they stop accepting customers for now. Even the dojo's defensive formation was activated. It seems like something big has happened. Oh, he also ordered that you should stay in the residence and not come out."