Chapter 1936: The Divine Python’s Corpse
“What the h.e.l.l is this technique, so powerful that it causes such a horrible vision?”
“It must be an advanced saint technique. Who in the Saint Kinghood could successfully master an advanced saint technique?”
“That is Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike. If I am not mistaken, it must be Zhang Ruochen.”
“I thought Zhang Ruochen had just attained Lesser Precept World? How could he possibly master an advanced saint technique?”
…
The moment Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike’s vision appeared, it caused a stir among the cultivators, who were all astounded.
There was hardly anyone who was still in Path’s Anterior realm could master the advanced saint technique, let alone those still in the Lesser Precept World realm.
“You are not tired of dropping a bombsh.e.l.l, Brother Zhang, are you? I can’t believe that you have mastered the twelfth move of Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm Strike. It is rare to see anyone with such a level of persistence.” Zheng Yuan was impressed, nodding his head.
Apparently, Zhang Ruochen had more abilities than he could ever imagine. As he had become stronger, he had a higher hope of getting the support of their school of Taoism.
At the bottom of the Cliff of Doom, the Orbital Stealth Array almost collapsed after being beaten by Zhang Ruochen.
There was no question that once the Orbital Stealth Array collapsed, those Rakshasa dukes would suffer heavy casualties, and could be wiped out entirely.
Zhang Ruochen was not disappointed with this result, however. Had he attained the Greater Precept World in his cultivation base, the palm strike earlier would have destroyed the Orbital Stealth Array at once.
Let’s just say that those Rakshasa dukes had performed almost impeccably in forming such a perfect combat array. Destroying it was difficult.
A violent tremor suddenly spread throughout the Cliff of Doom, as if there was an earthquake. Cracks started to form and spread in the cliff, covering the entire area in just the blink of an eye.
The next moment, the cliff collapsed with dust and debris rising in the air.
At the same time, shadows were seen lunging out of the bottom, their faces in panic.
“What the h.e.l.l is happening?”
Those whose fled from the bottom of the cliff were struck dumb, not knowing what was going on.
Every one of them had just felt a burst of horrible energy just now, and their instincts told them they had better flee or die.
An earth-shattering roar was heard coming from the bottom of the cliff. Changes appeared in heaven and earth as clouds gathered and surged with thunder and lightning.
From inside the thick fog, a ma.s.sive object flew into the sky with terrifying energy.
That was a Divine Python’s corpse, 3,000-yard long. The flesh and blood were gone and left the skull exposed. It was an extremely hideous sight.
Looking carefully, one would discover that the divine python had been attacked, judging by the hole of several yards across on the skull.
A slim, elegant shadow was seen lunged out of the mouth of the divine python’s corpse. That person was none other than Luo Ji, the Rakshasa Princess.
The evil spirit had become one with the divine python’s corpse, and naturally, it would not let Luo Ji go just like that. It exhaled an air that carried divine light spots to pull her back. But that did not work.
The Rakshasa Princess was wearing a Holy Cambric Robe, radiating a thousand beams of saint light as she flew through the surging air like a mermaid but at the speed of a light stream back to the side of the Rakshasa cultivators.
“I knew there was a divine body buried at the bottom of the cliff. But who is controlling the divine body now?”
“How could any really control the divine body? Aren’t they afraid of being struck by calamity?”
“Let’s just hope that it is not the Rakshasas who control the divine body. We can’t let them take it away.”
…
Those Celestial Court cultivators stared at the corpse of the divine python and had all kinds of conjecture on their minds.
Of course, they had retreated for enough so that the corpse of the divine python could not attack them.
The last thing they wanted was to get attacked by that thing, which was the body of a divinity that they were talking about.
When Zhang Ruochen and four others appeared on the head of the corpse of the divine python, everyone cottoned on to the fact of who was controlling the corpse of the divine python.
“Zhang Ruochen s.n.a.t.c.hed the divine body from the Rakshasa. How the h.e.l.l did he do that?”
At the time, many cultivators were shocked.
This time, the Rakshasa had sent 36 princes and 500 dukes, which was not a small number. s.n.a.t.c.hing the divine body from under their noses was extremely tough.
Standing in the air opposite the corpse of the divine python was a giant formed by 36 Rakshasa princes with the Orbital Stealth Array behind them.
And on the head of this giant was a tall and graceful figure, Luo Ji.
“Luo Ji has taken the Divinity Source from the divine body, Zhang Ruochen. That Divinity Source contains a Stellar Soul of G.o.d,” The corpse of the divine python said.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression slightly changed as the penny dropped. No wonder Luo Ji was using a decoy to hold him off earlier. It was now apparent that she had been quietly hiding inside the divine body. She had planned to take the Divinity Source from the beginning.
Luo Ji had discovered long ago that the Divinity Source remained inside the divine body. That was the reason she had gone to great lengths to a.s.semble an army of Rakshasa fighters.
It seemed that Luo Ji must have used the Dark Divinity Lotus to evade the Dark Manifestation of Divine Will and infiltrated into the divine body.
While they and the Dark Manifestation of Divine Will were fighting to their death, Luo Ji harvested the Divinity Source unfettered.
In the end, they had still gotten played by Luo Ji.
At least, they got the G.o.dstones and divine body. It was not all for nothing.
In that split second, many things that seemed bizarre earlier had become clear. Zhang Ruochen had to admit that Luo Ji was incredibly crafty. He could not be too careful with her.
“You got me again this time, Luo Ji,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“Is this a compliment? I am happy I did. If not, how could I get the Divinity Source and the Stellar Soul of G.o.d?” Luo Ji put her hand to cover her mouth as she smiled. “But you have also gotten something. At least, you have the G.o.dstones and the divine body. We both got what we wanted.”
“She is b.l.o.o.d.y arrogant, Big Brother. Kill them and take back the Divinity Source and the Stellar Soul of G.o.d. How could we let them have these two valuable things?” Xiang Chunan rolled up his sleeves. How he wished he could get the things back now.
Everyone knew how valuable the Divinity Source and the Stellar Soul of G.o.d were. It was especially true for the Stellar Soul of G.o.d that could harness the power of the Divine Planet in the sky. Legend had it that if a Supreme Saint could master a complete Stellar Soul of G.o.d, he would be deemed a pseudo G.o.d, invincible in the realm of Supreme Saint.
Of course, the Stellar Soul of G.o.d that Luo Ji got was incomplete.
This divine python had been dead for G.o.d-know-how-many years. Although the Stellar Soul of G.o.d remained, it was about to wither, and what was left of it was just a tiny residue.
Even then, it still had great value, extremely beneficial to Luo Ji’s self-cultivation.
Luo Ji was the offspring of a deity, and she surely had some way to refine the Stellar Soul of G.o.d.
Once she did that, her spiritual power would get a tremendous boost, and she could harness power of the Divine Planet that the divine python had left behind. More importantly, she could gain insight into the secret of achieving divinity, which was the dream of all cultivators.
“You had better keep your mouth shut, Boorish Xiang! I am not going to go down to your level. But that doesn’t mean I will not kill you.
“Zhang Ruochen, if you will excuse me, I will go to refine the Divinity Source and the Stellar Soul of G.o.d now. You can come to the Battlefield of Merits in Eastern Region if you miss me. I am looking forward to it!”
Luo Ji beamed, her big round eyes enchanting as she winked at Zhang Ruochen.
The next second, she and all the Rakshasa fighters disappeared from sight as she performed a Great Dimensional s.h.i.+ft.
“Why didn’t you do something, Big Brother?” Xiang Chunan had a puzzled look in his eyes.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head slightly. “Mind you, Luo Ji is a dimensional manipulator. Unlike what you think, she is not that easy to deal with. We can’t stop her if she wants to leave. Besides, there is an army of Rakshasa fighters with her. We may not get any advantage over her if we were to fight.”
He had a better understanding of Luo Ji after they crossed paths with one another a few times. It might seem that he could get an upper hand during a fight with her, but in reality, not by far.
Mainly because Luo Ji would overwhelm him with numbers every time. If ten cultivators are all it takes to do a task, she would send a hundred, or even a thousand. She would not give you any chance of fighting back.
As the Qiankun Realm was opened, Zhang Ruochen kept the corpse of the divine python inside it. The evil spirit had just started to control the divine body, and it would take some time for them to coalesce into one.
While he lost the Divinity Source and the Stellar Soul of G.o.d, the divine body still possessed some serious strength. Once the evil spirit and the divine body completely coalesced into one, they would wield immense combat strength, much more powerful than the earlier body of the Supreme Saint.
They moved in a flash and reappeared on the white cloud where Zheng Yuan was.
“Thank you for your help, Brother Zheng.” Zhang Ruochen cupped her fists.
Zheng Yuan held up his hand. “Think nothing of it. Only Chixing Shenzi had come. But all it took was just a blow for it to beat a hasty retreat. So I am here just as a rubbernecker. By the way, congratulations for taking the divine body, Brother Zhang!”
“I just got lucky. But Luo Ji still had us fooled, which is embarra.s.sing,” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Luo Ji might not be the best in terms of strength, but few could match her as she is incredibly smart. Besides, I have got intel that Luo Ji has mastered the legendary Transformation Technique. She is now better than the Smiling Faces.h.i.+fter,” said Zheng Yuan.
“Transformation Technique?”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart missed a beat.
No wonder Luo Yi had changed into another person, evading the Divine Eye of Origin of Maiden of a Thousand Stars and Yuan Xianzi, even fooling Xiang Chunan’s Clairvoyance.
Apparently, the Transformation Technique was a seriously powerful secret technique, which involved not only impersonation but also decoy technique.
“Let’s go back now!” said Zhang Yuan.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Golden Dragon Carriage, and the six of them climbed onboard.
With nine dragon souls pulling the carriage, it faded into a beam of golden light and disappeared into the horizon.
Those cultivators gathering at the Cliff of Doom were frustrated. But there was nothing they could do but leave. Staying would only be a waste of time as there was no serendipity here.
Once back to the Northern Region base, Zhang Ruochen and his mates immediately went into a closed-door self-cultivation. They wanted to increase their strength more before the next battle broke out.
It was important for Zhang Ruochen. He wanted to attain the Greater Precept World, and only then he was confident enough to get the Divine Sky-Connecting Tree trunk.
Getting from Lesser Precept World to Greater Precept World requires one to form over 10-million Precepts, then let the Precepts to gush out of the Sea of Qi and through the body to form a big cycle.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, as long as there is enough acc.u.mulation, everyone could move from the Lesser Precept World to the Greater Precept World. All it takes is time.
Zhang Ruochen was sitting under the Sundial. The Precepts in the Heavenly Stream was increasing. With his current cultivation base and the help of the Canon of Truth and the Imperial Artifact of Precept, his cultivation of the Precepts was extremely quick. He could at least form 300,000-400,000 of them every year.
He could have made it even quicker, but he was diverting some energy into cultivating the Paths of Time, Dimension, Sword, Palm, and Fist. So his speed became a lot slower.
He specialized in the Path of Time, the Path of Dimension, Sword Path, Palm Path, and Fist Path. By only cultivating these Paths could he achieve his maximum potential in terms of strength.