Chapter 1898: Breakthrough
The image of the Chessboard of Heaven and Earth was materializing as its mighty energy spread, forming wavelike ripples that affected even the farthest part of the land.
Being the closest person to the image, Prince Wujie felt the full brunt of the mighty energy, which suffocated him and broke up the blood mist that he released.
One white and one black beam of light shot out at once from the two strategic spots on the chessboard, effortlessly ripping apart the nine-layer chain vortex around Prince Wujie before hitting Prince Wujie directly.
Even with the weakened energy and the protection of the Hundred-Saint Blood Armor, the light beams still penetrated Prince Wujie’s body.
Prince Wujie was severely wounded, bleeding profusely, his vitality weakening.
Things happened so quickly that the others could not come to his rescue in time.
The image of the chessboard disappeared at once, its mightiness no longer existing, as if it had never been there before.
Sikong the Elder and Sikong the Younger regained their visions as they came out of the mysterious state.
They looked exhausted as if that blow had taken too much energy out of them.
Like Murong Yue, they had been brought into a divine land of the Awakened. They were the Chosen Ones. Because of this, they had access to all the opportunities and their cultivation base rapidly improved.
Something mysterious had been triggered inside them. It was something that even they had no idea of.
If not for this, they could not have become the best of the best of the Saint Kings in such a short time, and attaining Saint Kinghood was the best they could have hoped for, even with the meticulous guidance of Master Indra.
“Since they are related to the Chessboard of Heaven and Earth, they must not be allowed to escape. Capture them.” Coming to his senses, Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord immediately made his move.
His strength was much higher than Prince Wujie’s. Even if the two monks were to perform the same overpowering move again, he would not be afraid. Let alone they were not at their best at this moment.
There was a world of difference between those who had just attained Precept Domain and those at the pinnacle of Heaven’s Reach, more so because he was a shenzi.
His body flowed with divine blood, and his strength rivaled that of Path’s Anterior elites. So even if there were more tricks up the two monks’ sleeves, there was no way they could slip through his fingers.
“Run, Junior Brother!”
Seeing Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord reaching out his sky-cloaking giant hand, Sikong the Elder grabbed his junior brother and ran toward the Sword Vault Palace.
He had noticed the divine sigils not far away since the start of the battle. The Sword Vault Palace must be there. The Immortal Vampires could do nothing about them once they entered the coverage area of the divine sigils.
“Don’t think about getting away!”
Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord was seemingly confident of catching the two monks.
Just when the two monks were about to fall into Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord’s hands, a leopard claw that was several-hundred-yards long reached out from the Sword Vault Palace.
It had a brilliant glow, interwoven with countless precepts and possessing an incredible level of energy, much like a meteorite storming into the atmosphere.
Boom!
The leopard claw clashed with Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord’s giant hand, stopping it in its tracks.
The next moment, the giant hand exploded, reduced to clouds of blood mist, and shattered the rocks in the surroundings.
Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord grunted, and the Whitebone Mountain under his feet shook violently.
“A Path’s Anterior elite!”
Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord focused his eyes on the tall figure coming out of the divine sigils.
Not only him but others also goggled at the figure. Most of them were in shock.
There was a strange look in Xia Wenxin’s eyes, as he was also a bit surprised. “I didn’t know there was such a Path’s Anterior elite inside the Sword Vault Palace. Interesting. Really interesting!”
He discovered that during this siege of Sword Vault Palace, many things were out of his expectation, such as Zhang Ruochen’s level of strength, the two monks’ eccentricity, and the figure in front of his eyes now. All these had aroused his interest.
The person who stopped Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord was Boa Lie. At first, he was monitoring Luo Yi inside the Sword Vault Palace. When he heard the noise outside, he hurried over and just in time to save the two monks.
At this time, the monks were out of danger and inside the coverage area of the divine sigils.
Bao Lie swept his eyes over the shadows on the Whitebone Mountain. He did not strike again. Instead, he spun around and brought the two Sikongs to retreat into the Sword Vault Palace.
“d.a.m.n it!”
Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord growled with a bitter look in his eyes.
Someone saving the two monks right under his nose was a slap in his face.
“Don’t get so worked up. Immortal Ming would crack the divine sigils soon. By the time we storm into the Sword Vault Palace, no one can get away,” said Xia Wenxin with a smile.
Nine-Eye Heavenly Lord could not help but look at Immortal Ming with an antic.i.p.ation look in his eyes.
After losing two battles consecutively, he could not wait to vent his anger by storming into the Sword Vault Palace.
Inside the Sword Vault Palace. “Bao Lie’s expression changed. “That Luo Yi has disappeared. It seems like he must have discovered that I am monitoring him,” said Bao Lie, his expression changing abruptly.
It was when he went out to rescue the two monks that Luo Ye went missing, probably into some mysterious place.
He needed to stand guard at the cold volcano where Zhang Ruochen and others were in closed-door cultivation. So it was not possible for him to leave his post and search for Luo Yi.
However, he figured that since the Sword Vault Palace was so mysterious, Luo Yi could not have caused much trouble.
Luckily, Luo Yi did not take the opportunity to intrude into the cold volcano. Otherwise, there would be serious trouble.
“It scared the h.e.l.l out of me. Thank you for saving us, Mister. Amitabha.” Sikong the Elder patted his chest, then clapped his hands together as a sign of grat.i.tude.
Bao Lie came out of his thoughts and nodded. “Ruochen has instructed me to bring you two to see him once you two arrive. Follow me!”
The two monks quickly followed him without hesitation.
Everyone was fully focused on cultivation inside the cold volcano with no disturbance.
“Master Zhang, we have brought the Toten Sword as ordered by our master.”
Sikong the Younger presented the sword to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes and looked at the Toten Sword with delight. With the Toten Sword in hands, he was more confident of guarding the Sword Vault Palace and the Nether Dungeon.
He took the sword in his hand and smiled. “Thank you for your effort. Since this is an emergency, please excuse me. I will save the pleasantries and let us continue to practice cultivation here, for there will be a battle coming soon.”
“Our master has instructed us to do as you say, Master Zhang,” said Sikong the Younger dumbly.
Sikong the Elder grinned. “It is all right, Master Zhang. We will make ourselves at home and find a place to practice cultivation.”
He quickly brought Sikong the Younger away so as not to disturb Zhang Ruochen.
He had a keen eye. Knowing that Zhang Ruochen was in the critical stage of cultivation, he thought he had better not disturb him anymore.
Putting the Toten Sword aside, Zhang Ruochen continued to perform the Empyrean Emperor Ming’s Scripture. Inside his Sea of Qi, Heavenly Stream was getting wider with numerous precepts emerging.
After trying several times, he was about to knit an ideal Lesser Precept World, making a breakthrough in his cultivation.
He knitted the Lesser Precept Word based on two ancient paths with the supreme path as the pillar. It was steady and perfect.
“Here goes nothing!”
Zhang Ruochen grunted as he gathered all the precepts he had comprehended.
The Heavenly Stream shook violently as an immeasurable number of precepts appeared to fill his Sea of Qi, and the Saint Qi inside his body started to undergo quality change.
Time was ticking.
The sound of the gus.h.i.+ng of the stream rose within him with the stream flowing out of his body.
“Finally! The Lesser Precept Word is completed! Seven-million-six-hundred-forty-thousand precepts filled the divine-light Sea of Qi. I have finally attained Nine-Step Saint Kinghood.”
Feeling the powerful energy surging inside him, Zhang Ruochen could not help but let out a smile.
Getting from the acme of Eight-Step Saint Kinghood to Nine-Step Saint Kinghood might seem insignificant. But once crossing the threshold, the difference in power would be as different as night and day, not just as simple as multiplication.
He immediately took out the Saint Stones and refined them all, turning them into internal Spiritual Qi.
Only by converting the internal Spiritual Qi completely could he be deemed a true Nine-Step Saint King, and his strength achieved its maximum potential.
All the 144 acupoints on his body opened, turning into 144 vortexes to absorb the energy of the Saint Stones.
Zhang Ruochen had not only attained a breakthrough in his cultivation during this closed-door cultivation but also achieved different levels of enhancement in Sword Path, Path of Truth, Path of Time, and Path of Dimension.
The rise was especially significant with the Path of Truth; his Precepts of Truth had increased so tremendously that he could not perform eight times of combat strength. It was no doubt a shocking achievement.
This achievement meant that Zhang Ruochen had comprehended the third realm of the Fane of Truth completely. Comprehension was the mother of all things and the truth of substances.
Next, it was time to comprehend the fourth realm of the Fane of Truth, the difficulty of which was much higher than the third realm.
In the Celestial Court, there were only a handful of Saint King cultivators who could comprehend the third realm of the Fane of Truth.
It could be said that Zhang Ruochen was at the vanguard of the Path of Truth cultivation. He was not weaker than anyone.
Without spending too much time, Zhang Ruochen had converted his internal Spiritual Qi completely and gained tremendous improvement in terms of quant.i.ty and quality.
“I’m not sure how far I can go with my current strength.
“I should have no problem challenging the Heaven’s Reach elites without using the Powers of Time and s.p.a.ce.
“It is a shame that the final realm of the Ninth Sword is close, but no cigar. What can I do to comprehend the meaning of The Seamless Return of the Soul‘s final realm?” Zhang Ruochen sighed and shook his head, feeling that his Sword Path cultivation had come to a bottleneck.
The difference between nearly an ultimate phase and an ultimate phase was huge. Few Saint Kinghood cultivators had attained the ultimate phase in their Ninth Sword cultivation.
Ling Feiyu’s attainment stemmed from not only her apt.i.tude but also her extraordinary encounters.
Nevertheless, Zhang Ruochen was not in a hurry. There was still ma.s.sive room for improvement in his Saint Kinghood. With a better acc.u.mulation of cultivation, eventually, he would attain the ultimate phase of Ninth Sword.
Zhang Ruochen redirected his attention to the Ancient Abyssal Blade. The sword spirit sat cross-legged on the blade to refine various materials for forming a body. Its body was glowing, Sword Qi lingering around, as if in a misty dream.
He could sense an endless stream of amazing energy flowing into the sword spirit, making it even more solid and its breath more powerful.
“It will take time for the Abyssal sword spirit to form a body. The energy flowing into its body is particularly potent as if containing the supreme meaning of the Sword Path. Perhaps I can use it to comprehend the meaning of The Seamless Return of the Soul.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes lit up as he found an opportunity on the Abyssal sword spirit.
He immediately summoned his six Saint souls, gathering around the Ancient Abyssal Blade to comprehend the mysterious energy converging in the sword spirit.
His cultivation base had reached the Lesser Precept World. Making another breakthrough was not that easy anymore. So, the best way to increase his strength was to cultivate the Ninth Sword into the ultimate phase.
Besides, he wanted to help the Abyssal sword spirit to form a body. whether it would succeed and what body it could form would influence his personal strength greatly.