The Shackle of Desire was located in the Saint Soul and was connected to consciousness.
Zhang Ruochen had the Heart of Truth and could sense the location of the shackle.
When he tried his best to break the shackle. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his heart. He looked down and saw a blood-red sword tip in his heart.
The power he had accumulated to break the shackles was gone instantly.
Zhang Ruochen looked back in disbelief and saw a young and beautiful face. She had long black hair and intelligent eyes. She was a young version of Chi Yao.
The swallow pendant tied to her waist was blown by the wind and made a pleasant sound of a bell.
CRACK!
She drew the sword away.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart and back were bleeding. He lost his strength and half-knelt on the ground.
Looking at the graceful figure who turned around and walked further away, Zhang Ruochen wanted to say something. Still, just as he opened his mouth, blood gushed out of his throat.
Finally, he fell to the ground and watched his most beloved woman walk further away. Her back became blurry.
He could not believe that Chi Yao, who had never killed anyone, and the innocent Princess Chi Yao, who loved to laugh and tease him, could kill him with one sword strike.
“This is all an illusion. Wake Up, wake up!”
The scene in front of Zhang Ruochen disappeared. He returned to the Sevenstar Imperial Palace. His body was still tense. He gradually recovered from the suffocation and panted heavily.
That scene had happened countless times in his dreams or in his memories.
Even though he had learned the truth about 800 years ago from Chi Yao and Kong Lanyou, he still didn’t seem to have completely let it go. He was lost at the critical moment of breaking the Shackle of Desire.
“Again.”
Zhang Ruochen calmed himself down, closed his eyes, and regained his power.
The saint Qi in his body circulated rapidly according to the ninth layer of the Empyrean Emperor Ming’s Scripture. The saint might that erupted from his body grew stronger and stronger, eventually transforming into a light pillar that erupted from the top of his head.
Just then, Chi Yao’s voice rang in his ears. “I killed you because the blood of the Immortal Vampires, one of the ten clans of Infernal Court, flows in your body. Your mother was the Blood Empress, one of the three empresses of Kunlun 800 years ago. Is this reason enough?”
“You promised me that you wouldn’t tell him this secret,” Kong Lanyou’s voice rang out.
…
Zhang Ruochen’s body trembled slightly. The light pillar above his head dimmed a little.
Chi Yao continued, “Emperor Ming used his powerful cultivation to seal the Immortal Vampires’ blood in your body. This is why you couldn’t break through to the Fish-dragon Realm in your previous life.
“The Blood Empress approached Emperor Ming to control him and the entire Shengming Central Empire to further control Kunlun.
“Someone has sent news that Emperor Ming has been controlled by the Blood Empress and has become her puppet.
“Do you think that I still have feelings for you? If that’s the case, I advise you to stop dreaming. In God’s eyes, you are only a useful chess piece.”
Zhang Ruochen’s reaction was fierce at first, but gradually, he calmed down. No matter what sound came from his ears, it could not affect him.
Just when he thought he was fearless and ready to break the shackles in one go.
Suddenly, he felt a chill on his forehead.
He reached out his finger and touched it lightly, and the snowflakes on his forehead melted.
Zhang Ruochen looked around and saw that the sky was full of snow.
A ball of colorful divine light was in the sky, sprinkling down strands of multicolored light. A 30,000-meter-tall deity statue rose from the ground, looking precisely like Chi Yao.
In front of him was a towering palace. The palace door was wide open.
Huang Yanchen, dressed in red, stood in the center of the palace door. She said, “Master told me that she doesn’t want to kill you today. She wants you to leave by yourself. She can spare your life if you behave yourself in the future.”
The scene flashed.
The Primeval Sword in Huang Yanchen’s hand stabbed into his chest.
The physical and mental pain dissipated the power that Zhang Ruochen had accumulated once again.
He failed to break the shackles for the second time.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged in the Sevenstar Imperial Palace. He covered his chest with his hands, and his face was full of sweat.
The scene just now was exactly what happened when he went to Ziwei Palace on the day Chi Yao became a god. At that time, he and Huang Yanchen were entirely on opposite sides. They were no longer husband and wife.
“One more time. This little obsession won’t stop me,” said Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath and sat up straight. His eyes were as sharp as a knife.
After that, whenever he tried to break the shackles, he would be affected by all kinds of old events.
Sometimes, he heard the news of the Yunwu Commandery Prince’s death.
Sometimes, he would return to the day when the heads of his second senior brother, third senior brother, fifth senior sister, and Bai Su hung outside the Yin-yang Hall.
Sometimes, he would recall the moment when he killed Supreme Saint Manjian.
…
Zhang Ruochen used his strong will to forcefully suppress these distracting thoughts. His state of mind remained firm.
The Pill of Desire and the Heart of Truth was also helping him.
The Pill of Desire weakened the obsession in his heart.
The Heart of Truth helped him see through all kinds of falsehood and return to reality.
Breaking the Shackle of Desire was dangerous and difficult. The slightest carelessness could lead to the invasion of inner demons and turn him into an evil demon who had lost his mind. If Zhang Ruochen had not been in a critical situation, he would not have broken through to the realm now.
Who knew how much time had passed.
BANG!
A string-breaking sound came from Zhang Ruochen’s body. Circles of saint Qi ripples spread out from his body in the Hall of Cultivation.
Blood flowed from the corner of Zhang Ruochen’s mouth.
However, he smiled and said, “I managed to break through the realm by force!”
The Shackle of Desire had been broken.
He still hadn’t reached the Great Perfection stage of the Hundred-Shackle Realm.
Because, in addition to the 100 main shackles, there were thousands of minor shackles in a cultivator’s body.
Of course, those minor shackles were nothing to be afraid of. It just took a long time.
Although Zhang Ruochen had successfully broken through the realm by force, the backlash was not light. Besides the cracks in his sea of Qi, his internal organs were also damaged.
Zhang Ruochen did not care about the injuries to his body. He immediately started meditating.
Because he had broken through the realm, the precepts in his sea of Qi increased rapidly. In less than 15 minutes, the precepts increased by 300 million. Then, they gradually slowed down.
Soon after, the Immortal Vampire’s blood in his body couldn’t be controlled anymore. It started to boil, and he had a strong urge to kill.
Swoosh
Ten golden wings span from his back, with the ley lines of the Progenitor flowing on them.
His spine became hotter and bulkier. Two bulges grew out of his back, and he felt a tearing pain.
Whoosh
The bulges were torn open, giving off a golden light.
This was a sign that the new golden wings were about to grow.
The Blood Qi in Zhang Ruochen’s body quickly dried up, and his body became thin. His thirst for blood became stronger, and sharp teeth grew out of his mouth.
Only drinking blood could make up for the loss of Blood Qi.
He immediately removed a jar of divine blood from his Ring of Dimensions.
Zhang Ruochen opened the wooden jar, but his hand stopped.
His eyes were blood-red. Looking at the blood in the jar, the smell of blood seemed to become highly mellow. His fingers trembled for a long time. He threw the wooden jar out and took out one sacred medicine after another from his Ring of Dimensions. No matter what year it was, he stuffed it into his mouth with all his strength.
He gobbled up the sacred medicines. As he meditated, the precepts in his sea of Qi began to increase again.
On his back, the 11th and 12th Golden Wings gradually grew out, but they were in a half-solid and half-illusory state, like a chaotic light fog.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t know how many sacred medicines he had eaten. He couldn’t hold on any longer, so he stopped.
The bloodthirsty impulse gradually faded.
…
A month later.
Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation had been completely consolidated. His physical injuries had long healed.
Zhang Ruochen thought, ‘It’s still too risky to break through the Shackle of Desire. Fortunately, I have the Pill of Desire and the Heart of Truth. Otherwise, it would have been more difficult for me to pass this stage than for Lord Xia Yu. I might have been stuck here for a thousand years or even 10,000 years.
‘Now that I’ve broken through the desire, I’m sure many cultivators who don’t think highly of me will be shocked. Will the ranking on the Tome of the Divines improve a little?’
Zhang Ruochen knew very well that although he had cultivated the Grade Two Saintwill and displayed unparalleled talent, he still had a long way to go. However, countless cultivators and even gods in the Infernal Court still didn’t think highly of him. They believed it would be difficult for him to break through the Shackle of Desire, Thousand-Koan Realm, and Banshi Isshou Realm.
And he had to prove to those people that he wasn’t that weak.
Next, Zhang Ruochen began to summarize the gains and losses of this breakthrough.
First of all, the Pill of Desire and a large number of sacred medicines contained rich energy. After he broke through the realm, they transformed into precepts.
The original 7.5 billion precepts had increased to 7.9 billion.
Secondly, in the year since he broke the Shackle of Desire, Zhang Ruochen experienced many things. Although it was only a year, he felt that he had experienced many centuries and had a new view of many things.
His state of mind was changing.
The spirit he had been looking for seemed to have appeared and was buried in his heart. However, he couldn’t accurately grasp it. He still needed an opportunity.
Zhang Ruochen could clearly feel the surging divine power in his blood. The power of the Demigod-level physique was further released. His skin, muscles, bones, and internal organs were constantly cleansed and nourished by divine power. They were strengthening all the time.
After all, his current body had been nourished by the phoenix blood and Blood Empress’s own divine blood. The divine power contained in the depths of his bloodline was incomparable to any Supreme Saint.
His body, cultivation, and state of mind had all significantly improved. However, Zhang Ruochen wasn’t blindly optimistic.
He knew very well that he could break through the realm only because he suppressed his desires. When he reached the Thousand-Koan Realm, these questions would erupt even more strongly.
Zhang Ruochen’s state of mind had undergone a great transformation. So, unlike before, he did not frown. Instead, he was pretty calm.
He will think about the Thousand-Koan Realm again when the time comes.
No matter what he was going to face, he had to face the difficulties head-on. He just had to accept them all and break through all the way.
Zhang Ruochen came to the Hall of Artifacts to check on Blackie’s progress in refining the array.
In the Hall of Artifacts and implements, more than 100 owls were refining the array. All of them were Blackie’s spiritual avatars.
Blackie’s original body saw the thin Zhang Ruochen and said, “How come you’ve lost so much weight? Could it be… That Guye demoness is here again?”
“Don’t talk nonsense! How about I find you a female owl and make you lose so much weight?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Blackie looked surprised. He raised his head and looked at Zhang Ruochen.
“What are you looking at? I’m not a female owl,” said Zhang Ruochen as he touched the tip of his nose. He felt uncomfortable under Blackie’s gaze.
Blackie’s eyes were complicated. “Why do I feel like you’ve changed a lot?”
“Have I? How have I changed?” Zhang Ruochen smiled.
Blackie was even more confident of his feelings, “I think you’ve become more optimistic and righteous,” he said. “You’re not as gloomy as before. It’s like you have a lot on your mind. It’s like… you can do anything bad… Hey, what are you doing? You asked me to say it.”
