After five months, Zhang Ruochen increased the number of Rules of Truth in his body to more than twenty-eight thousand traces.
However, he couldn't touch the second level of Earth Small World. It was as if there was chasm between him and that level.
Suddenly, a vast sound rang in the small world. "Time's up."
"It's been fifteen months already?"
Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes, looking feeble. It took him some time to regain full consciousness.
After more than one year of refining, he became slow, as if it'd been a century.
His biggest achievement this year was in Way of Truth, yet he didn't make any breakthrough on his mind power.
His mind power was still at pinnacle level fifty-six, so he almost didn't make any improvement on it at all.
As for saintly way, he had overcome some bottlenecks, as he increased the saintly way rules in Heaven Pass River by eighty thousand, making the total number one hundred and ninety thousand.
As for the sword Way rules, there were now more than fifteen hundred.
As for time rules and space rules, there were more than two hundred now.
Zhang Ruochen spent a lot of energy refining these three, so he balanced the number of saintly way rules in his body better.
However, this wasn't good enough yet.
As a fourth-step saint king, he was supposed to have more than one thousand time rules and space rules.
"It's too slow to refine Way of Time and Way of Space by myself, even in the best place to refine, the Truth Godly Palace. I've spent more than a year but I only managed to comprehend two hundred rules. Way too inefficient.
"It might take me a hundred years to make a small breakthrough on Way of Time and Way of Space if I'm outside."
Zhang Ruochen now understood why Princess Luosha would take such risks going to Space Godly Palace to learn Way of Space. There were definitely valuables which could help monks comprehend space rules. There might even be rules saint weapons and rules emperor weapons left by seniors practicing Way of Space.
A rules saint weapon, or a rules emperor weapon, represented the inheritance from a senior.
If he didn't go refine in Space Godly Palace, it would take him a very long time to improve his level on it.
The leader of Space Godly Palace, Gong Ziyan, was very close with Heaven Field Sect. Even the princess of the Luosha race could get into Space Godly Palace to refine, which worried Zhang Ruochen a lot as he reckoned there was a lot of trouble with Space Godly Palace, so he couldn't go refine there.
Which left Zhang Ruochen only one option to improve his Way of Time and Way of Space.
Finding the place where Saint Monk Xumi had passed away.
Zhang Ruochen was still only a fourth-step saint king because of the restraint of his Way of Time and Way of Space, both of which were very difficult to comprehend.
If Zhang Ruochen comprehended them all by himself, it might take him more than one thousand years to become a supreme saint.
"Normally, monks can only become a fifth-step saint king when they have three hundred thousand saintly way rules in their bodies. I'm very far from becoming a fifth-step saint king now, but my power is improving very fast, far superior to most of the other monks."
After calming himself down, Zhang Ruochen summoned Carnivorous Holy Flower and the Abyss Ancient Sword.
The Abyss Ancient Sword had improved a lot. It had not only become a Five-Yao Ten Thousand Patterns Saint Weapon, but also comprehended eight hundred more Rules of Truth.
"I think I can start forming my sword spirit body now," said the sword spirit.
Zhang Ruochen said gleefully, "Amazing. Let's do this immediately after we get out. Tell me about the materials you need, and I'll go get them for you."
The Abyss Ancient Sword was Zhang Ruochen's best friend, now and eight hundred years ago.
After he helped the sword spirit form a body, the sword spirit would become an actual creature. It would be able to think and refine by itself, and its quality would also surge.
Zhang Ruochen looked to Demonic Sound and asked, "How about you? How many Rules of Truth have you refined?"
Demonic Sound smiled and said, "I can amaze you when I actually put in the efforts. I've refined exactly seven hundred and twenty-nine Rules of Truth."
"Really? You really did it?" Zhang Ruochen was a bit thrilled.
Demonic Sound flapped her hand without saying an extra word, and then, a lightning ball emerged on her palm.
Then, she mobilized Rules of Truth and merged them with her palm, immediately after which the power from the lightning ball surged more than twice.
The lightning ball flew toward Zhang Ruochen in a curve.
Zhang Ruochen squinted his eyes and grabbed the handle of the Abyss Ancient Sword, activating Sword Way Xuangang and forming an oval shield with a diameter of twenty feet.
Boom!
Zhang Ruochen was knocked more than ten miles away by the power of the lightning ball.
After balancing himself, Zhang Ruochen dispersed Sword Way Xuangang and smiled. "Three times stronger. It seems you've really refined seven hundred and twenty-nine Rules of Truth."
Demonic Sound looked up and said smugly, "Of course."
Zhang Ruochen took out Wang Tian's Endless Blade from his space ring, gave it to Demonic Sound, and said, "This is a Seven Yao Ten-Thousand-Patterns Saint Weapon, and the blade spirit has already formed its body. If you can tame the blade spirit body, I'll give it to you."
Demonic Sound took the Endless Blade and played with it for a moment. Then she smiled and said, "Master, you might be defeated by me after I get this sword."
Zhang Ruochen smiled and put Demonic Sound back into his body, walking out of Earth Small World.
The elder in grey gazed at Zhang Ruochen, probably having known the number of Rules of Truth inside Zhang Ruochen's body. He said appreciatively, "Young man, you can definitely reach farther on the Ocean of Truth given your achievements in the Way of Truth."
"That's exactly what I want to do."
Zhang Ruochen bowed to the grey elder and left the third level of the Truth Godly Palace.
Zhang Ruochen saw Feng Xi and Yan Shiju again when he went back to the second level of the Truth Godly Palace, which kind of confused him.
Guarding Truth Godly Palace should only be a task for godly disciples, and they shouldn't be spending more than a year guarding this place, which delayed their refining process.
Little did Zhang Ruochen know that Feng Xi and Yan Shiju were also very upset by it.
Originally, they only needed to guard the Truth Godly Palace for three months before they could leave. However, because of Zhang Ruochen, their grandmaster had ordered them to stay until Zhang Ruochen left.
Which was why Feng Xi and Yan Shiju stayed in the Truth Godly Palace for more than one year.
Feng Xi saw Zhang Ruochen walk down from the third level, and her eyes gleamed. "Finally you came out. How many Rules of Truth have you refined?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "It's very difficult to comprehend the two levels in Earth Small World. I only managed to comprehend the first level.
Hearing that, the disciples standing behind Feng Xi and Yan Shiju wanted to suffocate Zhang Ruochen.
He managed to fully comprehend the first level of Earth Small World, wasn't that enough?
Even the ten godly disciples spent more than ten years comprehending the first level of Earth Small World.
After a while, Feng Xi calmed herself down and said, "You can go try and cross the Ocean of Truth now. If you pass the fifth level, you can get an additional sixteen months to refine, and if you pass the sixth level, you'll get another thirty-two months."
Obviously, Feng Xi thought that Zhang Ruochen had a chance to cross the sixth level of the ocean domain.
After all, fourth-step saint kings who could understand the first level of Earth Small World were very rare. He might make a miracle.
"Exactly what I have in mind."
Zhang Ruochen left the Truth Godly Palace and headed straight to the Ocean of Truth.
Yan Shiju shot a look at Feng Xi and said, "Zhang Ruochen's already taken off, so we can leave Truth Godly Palace. Do you want to go check out how he performs on the Ocean of Truth?"
Feng Xi nodded as she was very curious as well.
Zhang Ruochen came to the Ocean of Truth, boarded a Boat of Truth, and crossed the first four levels of ocean domain with ease, reaching the first level.
One year ago, Zhang Ruochen had fallen into the ocean after sailing eight miles on the fifth level of the ocean as he couldn't balance the Boat of Truth.
However, Rules of Truth had shown their power. Zhang Ruochen sailed fast and stably on the fifth level of the ocean domain.
Zhang Ruochen came to the exit of the fifth level of the ocean domain without any trouble and met the guard.
"Broken Heavenly Road."
Zhang Ruochen performed one move of the Luo Water Fist Technique, and the water in the ocean surged, forming a water dragon, hitting the body of the guard, dismantling his body.
He passed by with only one strike.
Zhang Ruochen passed the light screen and got to the sixth level of the ocean domain.
…
After half an hour, Zhang Ruochen reached the exit of the sixth level of the ocean domain and started to fight the guard.
The guard of the sixth level was much stronger than that on the fifth level. Zhang Ruochen only defeated it after seventeen moves.
Some monks on the shore of the Ocean of Truth noticed him when he arrived at the seventh level of the ocean domain.
"Someone reached the seventh level of the ocean domain?"
"Who's that? Anyone who enters the seventh level of the ocean domain is a great talent who's renowned in every field."
"It must be the leader of a strong field, but why do I find that person to be a bit unfamiliar?"
"Unfamiliar? Are you kidding? He's Zhang Ruochen! The creature who slaughtered almost all the monks from Yin and Yang Field, Black Demon Field, and Thousand Devil Field. He's a terrifically forceful guy!"
"Zhang Ruochen has shown up after more than a year."
"Zhang Ruochen? Impossible! I heard that he just became a saint king. How did he manage to get to the seventh level?"
…
People were heatedly discussing this on the shore.
Many monks were shocked to their core, especially after they knew Zhang Ruochen's identity, as they couldn't believe what they saw.
Feng Xi whispered to herself, "He didn't even use all his power to defeat the guard of the sixth level. We've underestimated him. Zhang Ruochen might thrill the entire Truth Heavenly Domain trying to cross the Ocean of Truth this time."