1811 Under Mount Wanwu

His body of rock was charred, still billowing with smoke.

If it had not been for the protection from the Saint King's inscription, Shi Kai would have died in the sea of lightning earlier.

"You truly are the most talented figure in the entire Celestial Court. You have achieved such attainment in the Path of Truth's cultivation. However, if not for the Precept of Truth, you wouldn't have defeated me with your raw combat strength."

"The Path of Truth is also part of my strength," said Zhang Ruochen.

Shi Kai felt embarrassed for losing to a Six-step Saint King. He was extremely indignant. "Tell me your name. I will surely come back for a rematch when I attain Nine-step Saint Kinghood."

"You won't have the chance."

Zhang Ruochen summoned his Ancient Abyssal Blade, on which Sword Way Xuangang condensed.

"Defeating me is one thing, but killing me is another. You still have a long way to go."

As soon as his voice trailed off, he sank into the ground and his body became one with the earth. His shadow and scent had disappeared without a trace.

All Stone Clan beings were capable of earth-tunneling, which was a sacred technique to blend one's body with the soil, wiping off any trace of existence, including scent, to escape to several hundred miles away in an instant.

It was because of this that killing the Stone-Clan beings in this land was next to impossible.

"Conflagration of Heaven and Earth Formation!"

Zhang Ruochen sent out all eighteen flags and planted them within a one-hundred-and fifty-mile radius to form an array.

Heaven and earth within this boundary would be locked down.

Following immediately, he released the Spatial Domain to locate Shi Kai.

The Earth-tunneling Sacred Technique of the Stone Clan could evade the spiritual power and Heaven's Eye. But inside this confined dimension, he would somehow or other leave some clues behind.

Boom!

The Ancient Abyssal Blade shooting out from Zhang Ruochen's hand turned into a black light column and drove into the ground.

A loud cry was immediately heard coming from underground.

Shi Kai burst out of the ground, apparently injured. But he could not have cared less in a time like this. All he wanted was to run toward the edge of the array.

Zhang Ruochen retrieved his Ancient Abyssal Blade. "He is all yours. Don't let him get away."

"Got it, my lord."

The Saint Devourer lunged out from Zhang Ruochen's back. It turned into Moyin, and before long, caught up with Shi Kai.

Dozens of lightning-discharging vines flew out of Moyin's hands and curled around Shi Kai to immobilize him. Following immediately, sharp roots grew around Shi Kai's body and used him as nutrients.

Inside the mine, the air was glowing with saint Qi.

On the ancient stone walls were different sparkling mineral rocks, most of which were spirit crystals.

The mine was large, very much like an underground meridian. Even after traveling several hundred miles, Zhang Ruochen had still not reached the end. Someone had mined this vein a long time ago. It was divided into dozens of mining sections with a complex structure. As powerful as Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power was, he nearly got lost inside.

In one section of the vein, it was all sacred jades.

It was here that Zhang Ruochen found signs of life: The Sacred-Jade Elves.

He did not disturb but went around them.

Another few hours had passed when he finally reached the center of the mine where all veins converged. Streams of air of different properties met here and intertwined to form a den of tens of miles across.

Each stream of air behaved like a river, flowing into and out of the den.

On the edge of this confluence of thousand veins, Zhang Ruochen discovered a large amount of spiritual Qi crystal, the Godstone, an item in the wish list of every cultivator of the Path.

All the sacred stones formed into a stalactite-like, tall stone column. Some of the Godstones were inlaid in the mineral rocks, forming a crystal wall flowing with light.

Zhang Ruochen was seeing so many natural Godstones for the first time in his life.

But he did not mine them in the first instant. Instead, his attention was on the confluence of the thousand veins. He lunged into confluence by performing a Dimensional Shift.

Once inside, he immediately sensed hints of spiritual Qi of heaven and earth. Delighted, he quickly moved toward the center of the confluence.

Sure enough, the spot was filled with spiritual Qi of heaven and earth. There were dozens of light spots blinking in the spiritual Qi, and each light spot contained incredibly powerful waves of energy.

Those were the Godstones.

His hands were shaking as he wanted to harvest those Godstones.

He then discovered that those Godstones had not materialized. Most of them were still in gaseous form. Inside a dozen light spots, however, liquid-form Godstones had formed.

There was only one light spot that had solidified into a Godstone.

He took the one and only solid-state Godstone in his hand, carefully studying it before tucking it in his clothes.

He was half-excited and half-disappointed when he emerged from the mine to meet up with Jin Fanxin and the Saint Devourer.

"How were things going? Did you get anything?" asked Ji Fanxin in her mind.

Zhang Ruochen nodded and looked at Moyin.

Moyin had devoured Shi Kai; her cultivation base had gotten a slight boost. "May I help you, my lord?" she asked when she saw Zhang Ruochen looking at her.

"Stay here and guard this vein. Do not allow any Saint-level beings to come close."

Following immediately, he summoned from his Qiankun Realm a batch of Tianji-Realm and Fish-dragon-Realm cultivators. They were to follow Moyin's command to mine the minerals in the vein.

The spiritual Qi of heaven and earth in the vein was dense. It would be of great help in their practice of cultivation.

This ancient vein was priceless. As long as he had it under his control, he would have endless cultivation resources and wealth.

Of course, the more important thing was that this vein could nurture Godstones.

What Zhang Ruochen needed most for the moment was the Godstone.

After leaving the ancient vein, he let Qi Sheng and Ying Huo lead the way as they headed toward the hiding place of Qi Xiaotian.　

In Zhang Ruochen's mind, Yunwu Commandery and Dark Wasteland had been demarcated as his territory. The existence of Qi Xiaotian naturally posed a serious threat to him. 

Qi Xiaotian wanted to make the Thousand Age Blood Pill, and even the Ten-Thousand Age Blood Pill. In the processing of achieving this, he was going to slaughter countless innocent human lives. No way Zhang Ruochen was going to allow him to live.

In the mountain range on the eastern shore of Luoshui.

As the morning sun first rose, the Golden Dragon Carriage arrived at the foothill of a mountain covered in a blanket of fog and stopped right there. Other than the occasional roar of the beasts on the beautiful mountain, there were no signs showing that this was the hiding place of the Immortal Vampire.

Qi Sheng and Ying Huo exchanged a look and let out a veiled smile.

Qi Xiaotian was unlike Shi Kai. He was the son of an emperor, his cultivation base reaching Nine-step Saint Kinghood cum the Greater Precept World. He was multiple times more powerful than Shi Kai.

Not only that, there were a dozen large arrays on this mountain.

With Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation base, going against Qi Xiaotian was akin to suicide. Perhaps the only variable right now was the lady beside Zhang Ruochen.

Could she challenge Qi Xiaotian?

Ji Fanxin looked up from the foothill and found something. "There should be an array master on the mountain."

Using Heaven's Eye, Zhang Ruochen found some marks of array inscription. "There are three Eight Stratum Arrays, and fourteen Seven Stratum Arrays. They are definitely the works of the array master—a very badass array master."

"Can you take them down?" asked Ji Fanxin in her mind.

"I can try."

He sent out the eighteen flags and planted them in eighteen different spots. This would seal off the area to prevent any Immortal Vampire from escaping.

Following immediately, he gathered all his power into the Fire God's Gauntlet. The weather suddenly changed as dark clouds gathered and a strong wind formed.

Meanwhile, a fire-red glow burst out of his body as if the god of fire had possessed him.

Powerful divine energy shot out of the Fire God's Gauntlet.

Boom!

With a strike of his palm, a one-thousand-foot-long flaming palm broke through the white fog and hit the mountain.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

His palm consecutively shattered three layers of light arrays.

Following immediately, twelve blood eyes flew out from the mountain. Each blood eye was as large as a pond of blood. They hovered in the air and combined into one body, on which thousands of array inscriptions intertwined to stop the flaming palm.

The bright light of the flames illuminated the entire heaven and earth.

Those Immortal Vampires hiding deep on the mountain rushed out, flapping their wings as they looked out of the mountain.

Their eyes were on Qi Sheng and Ying Huo.

"How dare you bring the cultivators of the Celestial Court here, Qi Sheng! Are you trying to betray the son of the emperor Honorable Qi Xiaotian?" An Immortal Vampire, whose attainment had reached Eight-step Saint Kinghood, chided.

"Honorable Qi Zeng, we are being threatened and having no choice," said Ying Huo.

This Immortal Vampire named Qi Zeng did not give a hoot to what Qi Sheng and Ying Huo said. "How dare two cultivators from the Celestial Court to intrude Mount Wanwu. I will kill you two, harvest your saint blood for Xiaotian to make his Thousand Age Blood Pill."

At this moment, all the arrays on the mountain came alive at once.

Ice crystal hills flew out of one of the Eight Stratum Attack Array in the direction where Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxi stood, smashing impact craters out of the earth.

The land within tens of miles from the impact craters instantly froze.

...

Two hundred and fifty miles away, a fool and a butcher stood by a small lake, looking in Mount Wanwu's direction.

"Your Highness Heavenly Lady, it looks like someone has gone to stamp out Qi Xiaotian, saving us the hassle," said Fool, giggling. 

Butcher saw the flags planted around Mount Wanwu and rubbed his chin. "That cripple is too daring to challenge Qi Xiaotian. Didn't he know that there is an absolute gap of cultivation base between them?"

"Didn't Cripple have a helper?" Fool asked.

Butcher shook his head. "Among the Nine-step Saint Kings of the Greater Precept World, Qi Xiaotian's cultivation base is of the highest. That poor cripple must have underestimated Qi Xiaotian's strength. Today is going to be a bad day for him."

A lady standing by the lakeside was shrouded by rings of spirit Qi. Her face was veiled. So it was difficult to make out her appearance. The only thing that seemed to stand out was a vertical eye in her brow.

"Who is that cripple?" asked the lady.

"Just a busy body, but Cripple has his strength. He is a rare cultivator of Dimension."

Following immediately, Butcher told the Heavenly Lady the stories of his encounters with Cripple, Black Phoenix, and White Zhuque.