“It is not for me but you and the Zhang Clan!” said the gray-haired old man argumentatively.
Zhang Ruochen stopped attacking. “What do you mean?”
“The Zhangs are going to be left without offspring. Don’t you know that? There are three things which are unfilial, and to have no posterity is the greatest of them. As one of the few men left in the Zhang Clan, your foremost priority should be to produce offspring and multiply. One good thing about you is, you have a strong bloodline, and your children would be no less potent than you are. I was relieved and thought you knew what you were doing when I saw there were tons of beautiful women around you. They were all of top-notch quality. I have been observing all this while. Yet you have never touched any of them. You are making me worry!”
The old man shook his head in disappointment as he reproached Zhang Ruochen.
Qianyue, the Saintess, took a sacred robe and carefully examined it. Sure enough, she found some powder-like substance on the robe. She wiped her finger against the fabric to pick up the powder. The substance instantly permeated into her skin.
She felt her finger unbearably itchy. Something strange was happening to her body.
Her face blushed. She bit her lips and gritted her teeth as she nodded at Zhang Ruochen.
“You have successfully made an evil drug that could affect the Saints, you old fart? Not bad, huh?” Zhang Ruochen pressed his fingers against the temples.
“Not only that, but it also works on the Saint Kings. I can make some more if you want to try. Keep a large pack with you so it will come in handy when the opportunity arises,” said the gray-haired old man triumphantly.
Zhang Ruochen summoned his spiritual power and injected it into the Yi Huang Bone Scepter so it turned into a black skeleton. Using this, he launched an all-out attack against the gray-haired old man.
At the same time, he took out eighteen flags of the Conflagration of Heaven and Earth Formation to block off the land and air in the entire area.
“Stop pretending already, old man. Who are you, really? Why did you intrude into the Royal Mountain?” Zhang Ruochen performed a Dimensional Shift and a joint-lock Saint technique. But each time, he was one step behind the gray-haired man, failing to catch him.
The gray-haired old man suddenly stopped running. “All right! Let me tell you, I am the guardian of the Zhang Clan. I have been living in the Royal Mountain for the past one hundred thousand years, guarding the tomb of the Zhang Clan.”
Zhang Ruochen frowned. “Bullsh*t! The Zhang Clan only founded Yunwu Commandery over four hundred years ago. Where did the one-hundred-thousand-year history come from?”
“Heck, you’re an ignorant little kid,” said the gray-haired old man. “You sounded as if the Zhang Clan was born out of thin air four hundred years ago. Or did they just come from a piece of rock? Let me tell ya, everyone who lives could trace back their family roots to thousands of years ago.”
Zhang Ruochen had to admit that this old man had a point.
“I suppose your cultivation base must be above the Lesser Precept World of a Nine-step Saint King?” said Zhang Ruochen.
“So what if I am?” The gray-haired old man stood proudly.
“The Zhangs are just a small clan. Even giving birth to a Fish-dragon-Realm cultivator wasn’t something easy. How could we have a Saint King-level guardian?” asked Zhang Ruochen.
“Aren’t you a Saint King yourself?” The Gray-haired old man looked at him with his eyes wide open.
“I—”
However, the gray-haired old man did not allow Zhang Ruochen the chance to speak. “The Zhang Clan has declined for sure. But during the medieval period, they were at their most glorious days. Many great figures and talents had risen among them. The clan was growing and their members were scattered all over the Kunlun Realm. Yes, the key was the clan was growing.”
The gray-haired old man’s eyes brightened up as he spoke.
Yet, Zhang Ruochen did not believe him. “As much as they grew, they could never surpass the Zhangs from the Central Region, could they?”
“Hey, kid! You are right. The Zhangs from the Central Region is a branch of our Zhang Clan. This is where their ancestral land is,” said the gray-haired old man unashamedly as he pointed at the land under his feet.
How he wished he could give the old man a good beating. But Zhang Ruochen held his anger back. “You look like no ordinary man. Why do you want to poke fun at a junior like me? If you leave the Royal Mountain now, I would pretend nothing has ever happened before.”
The gray-haired old man quickly put up his hand. “I can’t leave the Royal Mountain. Otherwise, I will be exposed.”
So he was determined to stay no matter what?
Zhang Ruochen quickly contacted Ji Fanxin through spiritual power. “This man’s cultivation base is unfathomably high. I fear that he has come up to no good. I hope you, Fairy, could help me apprehend him.”
As if the gray-haired old man had overheard their telepathic communication, his sneaky eyes brightened up as they landed on Ji Fanxin. “Not bad, not bad at all! A Lotus of Divine Reflection has cultivated into such a perfect body. She is definitely out of this world, straight out of the fairytale. If she could marry into our Zhang Clan, the looks of the offspring definitely won’t go wrong. Who knows, she could even give birth to some badass figures.”
While speaking, the gray-haired old man flew toward Ji Fanxin.
“Watch out!” Zhang Ruochen warned.
Ji Fanxin saw it coming. She extended her white hand and tapped her finger in the air.
A sea of petals appearing out of thin air formed a pink petal array, producing a mighty power of the Path as it spun.
Bang!
The gray-haired old man crushed the petal array and came in front of Ji Fanxin.
Just when Ji Fanxi was still in her shock, the gray-haired old man sprinkled a powdery substance at her, then turned around and disappeared into the woods like a wild rabbit.
“I can only help you so much, Zhang Ruochen!” The voice of the gray-haired old man was heard coming from the woods.
“Help my foot!”
Zhang Ruochen could not help but swear. He quickly performed a Dimensional Shift to give chase into the woods.
But the gray-haired old man had disappeared without a trace.
After failing to locate the old man, Zhang Ruochen gave up the search.
“Did the old man hurt you, Fairy?” asked Zhang Ruochen.
Ji Fanxin nodded her head, her beautiful face carrying a hint of a strange expression. “Something is not right with the white powder that the strange man threw at me. It has permeated my protective Saint Qi into my body. But I managed to dodge most of it. I should be fine. Find me a clean and quiet place. I will use a Divine Netherflame to cleanse out the substance.”
“Okay.”
Ji Fanxin was an important ally of Zhang Ruochen; he did not hope to see this incident to affect their relationship.
A 400-mile-long sacred lake had formed in the Royal Mountain.
Ji Fanxin loosened her waist belt and took off her white dress, revealing her slim, curvy body, the skin of which was soft, the bosoms of which sleekly full, and the waistline of which so small that one could curl around with one hand. Moving her slender legs deeper into the sacred lake, she then submerged herself into it.
Fully bloomed, beautiful flowers grew out of the water. Their beauty and seductive scents started to attract birds, butterflies, and bees as if they were here to protect their fairy.
Zhang Ruochen sat with his back facing the lake, guarding her by the lakeside in case that perverted old man returned all of a sudden.
Luckily, that old man never came back.
Half a day had passed, and the sky started to dim. Stars appeared in the sky like the sand on the beach.
As ripples formed in the water, Ji Fanxi reappeared from the water. She was otherworldly, beautiful like a water lily.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen sit with his back facing her, she walked on water toward him. Without feeling fear or embarrassment, she came up behind him and put on her clothes on the spot.
“You can turn around now, Zhang Ruochen!” said Ji Fanxin in her mind.
He spun around and saw Ji Fanxin standing under the starry sky, beside the sea of flowers. Her long hair was still a little damp with beads of water rolling down her skin. She was so incredibly beautiful that it stunned him beyond words.
“You surely deserve the nickname Fairy of a Hundred Flowers. Your beauty almost has me conquered,” said Zhang Ruochen with a smile.
Ji Fanxin could see that there was only admiration and compliments in his eyes.
“I have neutralized the drug in my body. I have to say that the old man is badass. We have got to take extra precaution.”
Zhang Ruochen looked up at the starry sky up above. “There are only the stars but no moon…” he mumbled to himself.
“What is in your mind?” asked Ji Fanxin.
“In fact, there is another land of enlightenment near Yunwu Commandery. The place is even weirder than the Royal Mountain, and quite dangerous, too. But the sacred medicine made from there could directly boost the number of precepts in a cultivator’s body,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“Isn’t that works similar to the sacred medicine of the Divinity Bestowment Altar, although they are different?” Ji Fanxin became interested.
“You are right.”
A few moments later, Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin rode in the Golden Dragon Carriage and headed straight to Luoshui.
Instead of waiting for the Godstones at the Royal Mountain, he was as well going looking for sacred herbs in Luoshui. Who knows, he might find favor in the lucky god’s eyes and achieve his breakthrough.
Many cultivators knew that a night with stars without the moon was the best time to get deeper into Luoshui. That was the reason a large group of cultivators had gathered here when Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin arrived.
Zhang Ruochen put on a mask while Ji Fanxin concealed her aura. She changed her appearance a little; although still beautiful, she did not look as eye-catching as before.
“Cloud ship.”
A man with long, red hair exhaled, his breath turning into a cloud in the shape of a ship. He got on board the cloud ship and hurried toward the depth of Luoshui.
A tiger Saint King with scales on his body spread his fleshy wings and flew into the white fog above the water.
“It looks like there are many cultivators here. They surely know this is the land of enlightenment and want to keep this place for themselves,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“These cultivators won’t pose a threat. They are the only ones having the capability to take the land of enlightenment in their hands,” said Ji Fanxin in her mind.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes followed her finger and saw a sacred ship made of pure white jade. A flag flying on the ship was printed with the words: Imperial Origin.
“The Dizu Divine Dynasty has even sent its cultivators to Luoshui.” Zhang Ruochen was amazed.
The Dizu Divine Dynasty was one of the three great divine dynasties of the Macroworld of the Imperial Path, which was ranked among the top-one-hundred most powerful realms in the universe, a tad higher than the Qianhui Realm where Fairy of a Hundred Flowers came from.
A teenager who appeared to be a student called out from the white-jade ship toward the shore, “The White-Jade Sacred Ship of the Dizu Divine Dynasty could resist every danger of Luoshui. By just paying one thousand saint stones, each of you will be allowed on board to follow us to the deep-water area of Luoshui.”
