Chapter 1850: Reactivating the Sundial
Awesome, the Little Taoist arrived at East Region Holy City the next day. Coming with him was Guoguo, Mastadon-Devouring Rabbit.
The Demon Ape, however, stayed put on the Royal Mountain.
Awesome, the Little Taoist’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the Nine-Flag Array of Mr. G.o.dcliff. “Excellent stuff! Excellent stuff! A set of flag arrays made from cold tungsten is super rare. Let me take a closer look!”
He put his hand on one of the flagpoles and touched the surface with his fingers. He was totally infatuated as if he was stroking the white, beautiful leg of a woman.
“Awesome. It is really awesome! There are seven different array inscriptions in the Nine-Flag Array. Five of them are Eight Stratum Array. Whose work is this? This is awesome!”
“Who is better when compared to your array skill?” said Zhang Ruochen.
“He is a little better than me. But in theoretical terms, I am still far ahead of him. As soon as my cultivation and spiritual power are elevated, my array setup and technique would easily defeat him. You have got to understand, Zhang Ruochen, that it needs a tremendous amount of spiritual power to author array inscriptions.”
It was a theoretical talk again.
Blackie also used to boast his theory was invincible.
“I tested the Nine-Flag Array and didn’t get good control of it. It didn’t matter if I used spiritual power or Saint Qi for activation, the seven array inscriptions would appear, clas.h.i.+ng with and neutralizing each other. The result was none of the arrays worked,” said Zhang Ruochen.
Awesome, the Little Taoist chortled. “There is only one array in a normal flag array and control is pretty straightforward. Even cultivators without particular knowledge of it could use it. But this set of flag arrays has seven array inscriptions. It needs at least an array master to control it, like this.”
With the wave of his hand, he struck the nine flag poles up in the air to form an array, engulfing Zhang Ruochen in it.
“All-round Illusion Array!” Awesome, the Little Taoist chanted softly.
A vast amount of white fog appeared around Zhang Ruochen.
It looked as if the entire world had turned white. Zhang Ruochen could not see through the white fog, even though he had opened his Heaven’s Eye.
Just then, a white armored knight formed inside the white fog.
The white-armored knight carried a dragon lance. As he struck it out, the Path’s energy caused the dimension to distort. Ripples formed and struck at Zhang Ruochen’s chest.
Zhang Ruochen immediately summoned the Eight-Dragon Umbrella to parry the dragon lance as he was forced to retreat a dozen steps.
“Spatial Domain!”
After releasing Spatial Domain, Zhang Ruochen could finally see through the illusion.
The Eight-Dragon Umbrella rapidly spun. Its powerful air current blew the white fog away to reveal the position of the Nine-Flag Array.
Elated, Zhang Ruochen lunged toward one of the flagpoles.
the entire array would lose its effectiveness as soon as one flag pole was destroyed.
“Nine-Eye Wind Array!” Awesome, the Little Taoist chanted as he controlled the Nine-Flag Array.
Something changed. With the Nine-Flag Array in the center, nine ma.s.sive vortex formed and released astral winds around the array.
Zhang Ruochen plunged into the vortex and the astral wind hit him as if knives slashed his body. Lucky for him he had the Divine Mark protecting him. Otherwise, he would have been badly injured.
He performed a Dimensional s.h.i.+ft and got out of the array.
“Awesome flag array! Even a Nine-Step Saint King with Greater Precept World-level of cultivation could die inside,” said Zhang Ruochen.
Awesome, the Little Taoist, retrieved the array. “It depends on who is controlling the flag array. If it is me, not even the Precept Domain elites would get stuck inside, let alone a Nine-step Saint King with Greater Precept World.”
“Then I will count on you to take care of the flag array for now,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“With this set of flag arrays in hand, I will be invincible in the Kunlun Realm. What are we waiting for, Zhang Ruochen? Let us attack the awakening Saint Lands and Divine Lands.”
Murong Yefeng stood not far away with his arms folded in front of his chest. “Don’t get too c.o.c.ky. There are tons of other powerful figures in the Kunlun Realm, and the cultivators from the major macroworlds are eyeing a piece of the action, too. Our current level of strength is only sufficient for self-defense. But if we b.u.mp into the real elites, we will struggle to defend ourselves.”
“Who is that guy, Zhang Ruochen?”
“For you, he is only a junior.”
“Ahh, a junior.”
With the flick of his hand, Awesome, the Little Taoist, struck out the Nine-Flag Array in nine different positions around Murong Yefeng. Nine-Eye Wind Array was activated as soon as he directed his spiritual power into the flag array.
Murong Yefeng stood motionless on the spot. He was shaking his head lightly.
Boom!
He stomped his right foot down and a powerful Saint Path power burst out, sweeping the Nine-Flag Array away, sending Awesome, the Little Taoist, flying backward, cras.h.i.+ng through a wall before hitting the ground.
“You still have a long way to go before you could seek hegemony in the Kunlun Realm,” said Murong Yefeng.
Awesome, the Little Taoist, clambered up to his feet. He did not want to admit his defeat. “What is the big deal? Wait until I attain 50th order in my spiritual power to become an array master and we will have a rematch. How about that?”
Zhang Ruochen came and stood in between Murong Yefeng and Awesome, the Little Taoist. “Once you achieve 50th order in your spiritual power, can you become an array master?”
“Of course… not that easy.”
Awesome became diffident. “Well, there are differences in the 59th order itself. The beginning stage and the peak of 50th order are a world apart.”
Feeling a little disappointed, Zhang Ruochen brought Awesome into the Qiankun Realm.
He had kept Mr. G.o.dcliff’s seven Divine Planets in the Qiankun Realm. They looked like seven divine mountains with a brilliant glow in the desert.
Awesome could not control his excitement when he saw the seven Divine Planets. “You—you raided some divine treasure vault, Zhang Ruochen? How did you get these things? Are these seven Divine Planets possessing the inscription of the Nine Stratum Array?”
“You have good taste. Can you control these seven Divine Planets?”
“It’s not that easy. You have got to wait until I get to the fifty-ninth order of spiritual power, only then I can completely control them,” said Awesome, the Little Taoist.
Zhang Ruochen looked Awesome, the Little Taoist, in the eyes. “You can single-handedly set up a Nine stratum Array prototype. I guess your spiritual power isn’t that far from fifth-ninth order?”
“It’s the peak of fifty-eighth, just a step away from fifty-ninth.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded. “I have collected eight G.o.dstones recently, enough for us to activate the Sundial for eight days.”
“Really? G.o.dstones are so rare. Where did you get them from? Hold on a second. Eight G.o.dstones… that means I can cultivate for eight years in the Sundial’s power of time? Attaining fifty-ninth order in eight years shouldn’t be difficult. What are we waiting for? Let’s activate that thing!”
The Sundial was activated inside the Eastern Region palace.
Awesome, Murong Yue, Xie Chengzi, Guoguo, Xiang Chunan, and Lu Huaiyu started to cultivate around the Sundial.
Meanwhile, Murong Yefeng entered Eastern Region Holy City to find and kill the enemies, including those Saints and Infernal Court cultivators hidden in the city.
His cultivation base was at the peak of Saint Kinghood, just one step away from Supreme Sainthood. Closed-door cultivation meant very little to him.
In fact, when the Kunlun Realm was revived, he would achieve Supreme Sainthood in no time.
Just that he purposely suppressed his cultivation base, choosing to stay to fight for the right of survival for the living beings of the Kunlun Realm.
Zhang Ruochen’s mission this time was to attain Eight-Step Saint Kinghood during the closed-door cultivation.
Eight years might seem a long time, but in the world of cultivation of the Path, it was just a short while.
Many Saint Kings spent 30 or even 50 years in closed-door cultivation and that did not even guarantee they would achieve any breakthrough.
Even with a talent like Empress Chi Yao, she had to leverage on the Seal of the Celestial Wheel to attain Supreme Sainthood in one hundred years. In fact, the actual cultivation took over 500 years.
Jiang Yunchong was no older than one hundred years old. But his actual cultivation time was several hundred years.
You can’t rush the cultivation of the Path.
The only shortcut was using the power of time to change the flow rate of the time.
The major forces of the Celestial Court had sought help from the Fane of Time to set up their respective time arrays. Otherwise, people like Shang Ziyan, King Daxi, the Fairy of Tianchu, and Maiden of a Thousand Stars would not have achieved so speedy cultivation. Sacred herbs and pills would not help much.
They relied on the G.o.ds and sects to lay the path for them, saving time and allowing them to get to their destination quicker. In contrast, Zhang Ruochen depended on himself solely. He had to work hard so as not to be left behind.
He might have the backing of Yueshen. But she owed Zhang Ruochen more than Zhang Ruochen owed her. That did not help either.
He took out a translucent crystal bottle that was filled with some colorful liquid.
It was the Spiritual extract of Merits, a precious liquid refined using the Power of Merits of the Fane of Merits to enhance the spiritual power of cultivators. A droplet of this extract worth a vast amount of merits.
And this bottle contained over a thousand droplets of Spiritual extract of Merits.
It was a booty Zhang Ruochen got from King Daxi, who probably got it from Shang Ziyan because of their relations.h.i.+p.
“Here you go. Take it!”
Zhang Ruochen threw the bottle of Spiritual extract of Merits to Awesome, the Little Taoist, to help him in his 59th order ascension.
Awesome, the Little Taoist would be of great value to Zhang Ruochen only if Awesome could control the seven Divine Planets. If Awesome could become an array master, they would become unbeatable in the Kunlun Realm.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen had some other things to help himself elevate his cultivation base. Right now, he took out a one-hundred-thousand-year-old ancient sacred herb.