The scarlet-golden dragon turned into a human figure and flew back down to the edge of Yang Lake.
The surface of his skin still had dragon scales while powerful energies flowed around his body, emitting a sharp slashing sound.
His body was like a furnace as it released terrifying heat.
“I have finally managed to cultivate the eleventh palm technique of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike to Dacheng Realm! This feels good, too good!”
Zhang Ruochen laughed out loud as he slowly raised his arms. The shadows of thirteen dragons and thirteen elephants appeared on either side of him, presenting an extremely imposing image.
The Yang Qi within his body was now a hundred thousand times that of an ordinary person.
If Zhang Ruochen swallowed a Saint King into his belly, he could directly refine and temper it within him.
Moreover, with the completion of the eleventh palm technique, Zhang Ruochen’s physical body had undergone an astonishing transformation. In addition, his physical limits had also increased exponentially. Every tendon in his body was akin to an azure dragon, and every bone in his body, a sacred elephant.
It was literally having dragons for muscles and elephants for bones.
Most importantly, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike had officially been raised to an Intermediate Saint rank. Among the Intermediate Saint techniques, it was the most powerful Tongxuan-level technique.
The more precepts he infused into his palm strikes, the greater their burst of power.
If he were to integrate more than several hundred thousand precepts into his palm technique, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike’s power would be sufficient to counter high-level Saint techniques.
High-level Saint techniques were colossal techniques that only a Supreme Saint could cultivate. Each technique had the potential to turn the heavens and the earth upside down, destroying stars with just the flick of a finger.
Of course, the palm technique precepts that Zhang Ruochen had cultivated so far were only in the thousands, and he needed to work hard to raise it to a higher realm.
“With my current physical strength, as well as the thirteen dragon and elephant souls respectively, I can probably slap a Seven-step Saint King to death without drawing upon my Saint Qi.” Zhang Ruochen inspected his arms and nodded in satisfaction.
Immediately after, Zhang Ruochen sat down and invoked his inner techniques to balance out the raging Yang Qi within his body. In the meantime, the dragon scale membranes and heat on his body slowly receded.
As he stood up, Zhang Ruochen looked at both the Yang and Yin Lake before him.
The Yang and Yin Qi within the two lakes were still potent and could be used for a long time.
Zhang Ruochen took out a Mercury Gourd and prepared to take both the Yin and Yang Lake away. But just as he opened the gourd’s cover, a powerful divine power rushed out.
If it had been any other Saint, their saintly body would have already been destroyed by the divine power’s fluctuations.
“It is Wang Xu’s Divine Planet.”
Zhang Ruochen immediately covered the Mercury Gourd to prevent the Divine Planet from rushing out.
It is important to note that the Divine Planet still contained a Star Soul left behind by the gods, and its will was powerful. For Wang Xu to refine the Divine Planet into his own sea of qi, he had basically received the Divine Star Soul’s recognition, and that equaled receiving a legacy from the gods.
If one were to refine the Divine Star Soul into their own sea of qi without first getting its recognition, it would mean certain death.
“It seems like I am not able to use the Mercury Gourd as well as the Secret Tome of Time and Space for now. I will just wait until I return to the Shatuo Domain and get Yueshen to intervene. Then I can wipe out the Star Soul’s will and give the Divine Planet to Ling Xi!”
There was a Qiankun Realm within Zhang Ruochen’s sea of qi, and he would naturally not waste a load of time to refine a Divine Planet. Hence, presenting it to Ling Xi as a gift seemed more suitable.
Following that, Zhang Ruochen opened up his left and right hand, and dazzling light shone out of his palms.
Whooosh!!
Eight Exquisite Dimensional Orbs flew out.
The Exquisite Dimensional Orbs were spoils of war he had gotten from Gong Ziyan. After Zhang Ruochen refined Gong Ziyan’s will and studied it, he had realized that within each orb was a small spherical world, which spanned tens of thousands of miles.
Eight different stars floated within the Exquisite Dimensional Orbs.
The more he studied them, the more he had sensed the strength and arcane nature of the orbs. Since they had been placed within the Fane of Dimensions, they were probably one of the top-tier dimensional treasures.
During the battle with Gong Ziyan, it was through sheer luck that Zhang Ruochen’s Violet Godstones turned out to be more arcane and powerful, managing to suppress the eight Exquisite Dimensional Orbs.
Zhang Ruochen took out one of the orbs, and within it was a Yin-yang star with a diameter of six thousand miles.
Half of that star was like a living furnace with volcanoes erupting everywhere; the other half was a frozen wasteland all year round and was extremely frigid.
Zhang Ruochen absorbed both the Yin and Yang Lake into the orb and placed it on the surface of the Yin-yang star.
Once he was done, Zhang Ruochen sensed something and pulled out his Staff of the Divine Envoy.
Whoosh!!
A stream of light rushed out of the staff and suspended itself in midair before it took the form of Yueshen’s avatar.
“Zhang Ruochen, return to Mount Yueshen immediately. I have ordered Supreme Saint Manjian to pick you up.”
After she spoke, her avatar dissipated and became specks of light.
Yueshen had mentioned that she would tell him what to do right before the start of the War of the Kunlun Realm. By the looks of things, either the Altar of Heaven and Earth in the Kunlun Realm had already been breached or was closed to being breached.
Zhang Ruochen had wanted to go back to the Kunlun Realm immediately, but with the flames of approaching war, all life would be affected. The great catastrophe as foretold by Sword Saint Xuanji when he was resurrected was probably near.
He had to rescue his mother, fourth elder brother, and ninth elder sister who were staying in Yunwu Commandery as soon as possible. He could no longer allow them to stay in the Kunlun Realm.
Even a god could not stop such an inexorable turn of events.
Zhang Ruochen had no idea what the future of the Kunlun Realm would be, but he had to protect his family and friends from the coming catastrophe.
He then telepathically sent a message to Blackie and Awesome, the Little Taoist, telling them to leave the Celestial Domain of Truth.
After that, Zhang Ruochen set off to see Su Jing again and made some arrangements with him.
On that same day, Supreme Saint Manjian carried Yueshen’s divine orders as he drove the Saint Vessel unimpededly into the Celestial Domain of Truth and arrived at Mount Tiandu.
Zhang Ruochen brought over a hundred beautiful Saints with him and boarded the Saint Vessel. He looked into the distance and noticed that there were as many as seventeen Saint Vessels docked near Mount Tiandu.
Many young talents from various great worlds had gathered in the Holy City of Tiandu and boarded different Saint Vessels.
It was something that had never happened before. Clearly, something was brewing.
“Greetings, Supreme Saint.”
With Zhang Ruochen at the head, nearly a hundred beautiful Saints simultaneously bowed with respect before Supreme Saint Manjian.
A Supreme Saint was an emperor among Saints, and he or she had a lofty status in any realm.
Bowing to a Supreme Saint was the most basic of etiquette.
Even the scions of the gods or even the young leaders of the world had to show respect when they met a Supreme Saint.
Supreme Saint Manjian laughed out loud as he actually stepped forward and patted Zhang Ruochen on the shoulder. “Good lad, you did not disappoint me. You actually managed to earn quite the name in the Celestial Domain of Truth. When you return to the Shatuo Domain, the cultivators from the Hellblade Realm, Greater Demonic Realm, and Zifu Realm will probably wet themselves upon hearing your name.” He grinned.
“I heard that you took the Jingxiang Gorge Dojo in the Red Dragon Domain and breached Yueshen Dojo, crossing the sixth level of the Sea of Truth and so forth. What a blood-pumping adventure! How I wish that I was two thousand years younger, then I could go and wreak havoc across the entire Celestial Domain of Truth.
“But, you are Yueshen’s envoy, and you also have a high status. Anyway, you only need to salute and bow to Yueshen. Skip the formalities with me, hahaha!”
Zhang Ruochen was no mediocre person and was not nervous at all before a Supreme Saint. He smiled and said, “This has nothing to do with status. In the path of cultivation, those who achieve advancement first are seniors. As a person who has managed to break into the realm of a Supreme Saint, you deserve my respect and reverence. Please accept my bows and salutations.”
Supreme Saint Manjian nodded gently, and an expression of approval appeared in his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen had garnered a huge reputation for his actions in the Celestial Domain of Truth, with blood and iron, as well as the slaying of many elites. He had racked up a list of brilliant achievements, and in less than two years, he had become a rookie who shook entire worlds.
Even so, he did not give off any trace of arrogance or flippancy. Instead, he was still extremely humble.
“His future achievements will definitely be greater than mine.”
Supreme Saint Manjian thought so in his heart, and he smiled. “What respect and reverence? Forget about those unnecessary matters. If you do not mind, you can call me Big Brother Manjian.”
“Big Brother?”
Zhang Ruochen was slightly taken aback, thinking that he must have misheard it.
One must know that it was extremely difficult for most Saint Kings to be a disciple of a Supreme Saint.
Could a Saint King and a Supreme Saint be called brothers?”
Noticing that Zhang Ruochen was not responding, Supreme Saint Manjian said, “Brother Ruochen, is it because I am too old?”
Zhang Ruochen immediately shook his head. “Of course not, but… Well, since you have proposed it, Big Brother Manjian, we shall be considered brothers from now on.”
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was not a hypocrite, Supreme Saint Manjian liked him much more and even had the thought of being his sworn brother.
However, he did not suggest it for the time being. Instead, he piloted the Saint Vessel and flew out the Celestial Domain of Truth. His official business consisted of taking Zhang Ruochen back to Mount Yueshen and meeting Yueshen.
The female Saints who had followed Zhang Ruochen aboard the Saint Vessel all looked at each other in amazement and felt that leaving with Zhang Ruochen had been a wise decision.
There were dark cultivators from the Yin-yang Realm, Blackdemon Realm, and Thousand Evils Realm being held captive in Yueshen Dojo. All of them were beauties with extraordinary talents and physiques; some of them were even princesses of kingdoms or holy maidens in a certain sect.
Plus, most of them had chaste bodies and were precious commodities that the Yin-yang Temple was prepared to sell at high prices.
Zhang Ruochen wanted to rebuild the reputation of the Central Shengming Empire’s emperor. What he currently lacked the most was manpower, and it was not easy to cultivate scions of heaven like them who were in the Saint realm.
Obviously, Zhang Ruochen would not keep them in Yueshen Dojo, and he planned to use them for himself.
The speed of Supreme Saint Manjian’s Saint Vessel was extremely fast, and even if Zhang Ruochen were to use the Great Dimensional Shift, he could only overtake it for a short while. Over a long distance, Zhang Ruochen could use up all of his Saint Qi and still never be able to catch up to the vessel.
There was a Saint Vessel to quicken his journey and also teleportation matrixes that connected the various domains for interdimensional travel.
As such, by sunset on the second day, Zhang Ruochen had returned to Mount Yueshen and met Yueshen’s true form in Guanghan Temple.
