Chapter 1784: Royal Mountain’s Transformation
Zhang Ruochen took out an Exquisite Dimensional Orb and opened the World Gate to another planet.
The next second, nearly a hundred beautiful female Saints walked out of the World Gate.
There were eight Exquisite Dimensional Orbs, and within each orb was a huge planet.
Zhang Ruochen selected four Exquisite Dimensional Orbs with habitable planets and handed them to the Mastadon-Devouring Rabbit, Demon Ape, Saint Devourer, and Xie Chengzi. Then, he got them to lead the female Saints in an attempt to take all of the civilians and martial artists in Yunwu Commandery away.
The reason why Zhang Ruochen did not use the Qiankun Realm was first, there would definitely be Saint-level cultivators from the Celestial Court in Yunwu Commandery, and Zhang Ruochen was worried that they would blend into the crowd. That would enable them to sneak into Qiankun Realm and learn its secrets.
Second of all, Zhang Ruochen’s energy alone was limited. The Saint King elites from the Fane of Youshen could arrive at any time, and if they did not find Zhang Ruochen, there was a possibility that they would slaughter the entire city in a fit of rage.
Besides, in addition to the Fane of Youshen, Fane of b.l.o.o.d.y War, Fane of Merits, Blackdemon Realm, and even the Infernal Court, there were countless forces that wanted to get rid of Zhang Ruochen. If they knew that he had appeared in Yunwu Commandery, he would definitely attract a storm of blood there.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Staff of the Divine Envoy and dragged his heavy left leg as he walked toward an ancient mountain outside the city.
The ancient alp was called Royal Mountain, and the kings of Yunwu Commandery were buried there.
In any case, the king of Yunwu was Zhang Ruochen’s father in this life, so Zhang Ruochen planned to move his tomb to the Qiankun Realm and re-bury him.
Awesome, the Little Taoist followed Zhang Ruochen from behind and looked at his left leg. Seeing it create one deep footprint after another, he sn.i.g.g.e.red. “Is that left leg of yours really the leg of a G.o.d? Why does it feel like you are really crippled?”
“Want to give it a try?” Zhang Ruochen stared at it.
“Nope! Nope!”
Awesome, the Little Taoist shook his head quickly and dared not tempt fate. Then, he pulled away from Zhang Ruochen and rushed into the depths of Royal Mountain first.
A moment later, Awesome, the Little Taoist rushed back with a thick purple root in his possession and shouted from a distance, “Zhang Ruochen, guess what I’ve found? It is really amazing that I managed to find such a rare treasure in this forsaken place.”
Before Zhang Ruochen could take a closer look, he smelled the strong scent of a medicinal plant and felt a surge of Saint Qi was.h.i.+ng over his face.
It was a three-foot-long purple root with a finger-sized seedling growing at the top. The seedling had two small leaves, while the root looked like an amethyst gemstone. It was radiant, and dazzling liquid flowed within.
“A Qiongxin Spirit Root, and a purple one at that. Does this mean that it is already seventy thousand years old?” Zhang Ruochen was taken aback.
It was not his first time on Royal Mountain, but he never thought that such a treasure could be found on the mountain.
No…
The herbs for sacred medicine did not just grow anywhere.
The older the sacred medicine, the higher the requirements of the soil.
Even the Kunlun Realm’s top sects could not cultivate more than a handful of sacred medicines that were seventy thousand years old. How could Yunwu Commandery have any sacred medicine, much less such a valuable one?
“Perhaps the start of the Kunlun Realm’s recovery is causing such strange phenomena.”
Zhang Ruochen drew the Ancient Abyssal Blade, sliced the Qiongxin Spirit Root apart, and drank its contents with Awesome, the Little Taoist. A moment later, purple light radiated from their skin as they gained many boons.
The strength of their spiritual powers, especially, had increased by a lot.
Along the way, Awesome, the Little Taoist dug up five more sacred medicinal plants, which amazed and awed Zhang Ruochen.
For the small Royal Mountain to have so much sacred medicine, would other sacred grounds not give birth to even more of them?
However, Royal Mountain had seemingly grown a lot bigger and was not actually that small.
Awesome, the Little Taoist felt a little puzzled and asked, “Are you sure that this mountain only occupies two hundred miles of land? Why do I feel as though I have walked at least six hundred miles?”
Zhang Ruochen frowned and stopped.
Boom!!
With a stomp of his left foot, his entire body flew up, and he landed atop a hill not too far away.
Opening his Heaven’s Eye, Zhang Ruochen looked into the depths of Royal Mountain, and a moment later, his expression turned a little solemn. “Interesting, there is a folded dimension in Royal Mountain. As the Kunlun Realm recovers, the folded dimension will slowly open up. My Heaven’s Eye is being blocked by a strange layer of energies, and I cannot see the end of this mountain.”
In the past, Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation level had been too low, and even if he had encountered a folded dimension, he would not have been able to tell. So, naturally, he would not have noticed the secret of Royal Mountain.
Awesome, the Little Taoist jumped up and exclaimed, “The ancestors of the Zhang Clan sure know how to choose their spots. Of all places they could have chosen for a burial ground, they chose one with a folded dimension.”
Zhang Ruochen deployed a pair of dragon wings on his back, and just as he was about to take off, he crashed into the ground.
His left leg was just too heavy, resulting in a total inability to fly.
In the end, Zhang Ruochen decided to cast the Great Dimensional s.h.i.+ft to avoid cras.h.i.+ng directly into the ground.
“d.a.m.n it.”
Zhang Ruochen slapped his left leg and deployed the Great Dimensional s.h.i.+ft as he rushed farther into the mountainous area. After traveling for more than a thousand miles, Zhang Ruochen found Yunwu Commandery’s royal burial grounds.
When he found the tomb of Yunwu Commandery’s late king, he moved it into the Qiankun Realm.
After some thought, Zhang Ruochen looked at the rest of the Zhang Clan’s tombs and finally made up his mind to move all of them.
Suddenly, the ground trembled slightly and cracked open.
“What is going on? Oh, I understand now. You need to be careful with the relocation of ancestral tombs. You must first make sacrifices, burn joss paper, and write certain inscriptions. Since you performed such a big deed so recklessly, you must have angered your ancestors,” Awesome, the Little Taoist said seriously.
Zhang Ruochen did not buy that at all and carefully observed the crack in the ground.
He only saw a strong surge of Saint Qi escaping the gap, with a lot of heavenly and earthly precepts gus.h.i.+ng outward. An extremely ancient aura soon flew out and flooded the surrounding area.
Booom!
The ground shook violently again, and the crack was now two feet wide.
The heavenly and earthy Saint Qi, as well as precepts, kept pouring out of the fissure. Even the skies changed as a green light river appeared to stretch from east to west.
At the same time, the ancient tombs started to emit smoke.
Soon, cyan-colored Saint flowers quickly grew all over the burial grounds and transformed it into an endless sea of flowers.
Each Saint flower was at least ten thousand years old.
As the Saint Qi became increasingly potent, the precepts became denser and more arcane. Some of the Saint flowers grew even more rapidly while they bloomed even more beautifully. The brilliance that they emanated was dazzling beyond words.
Both Zhang Ruochen and Awesome, the Little Taoist were stunned. They never expected to witness such a bizarre scene unfolding before their eyes.
All of a sudden, an old man in tattered clothes crawled out of the crack.
“A ghost!!” Awesome, the Little Taoist screamed.
Zhang Ruochen glared at it and scoffed, “What monster or ghost have not met at the Divinity Bestowment Altar? What are you pretending for?”
“Oh right, my Tao abilities are advanced. What is there for me to fear?”
Awesome, the Little Taoist walked over to the old man before he raised his little fist and shouted, “Hee yah!” The moment his strike connected, the old man was sent flying over a dozen feet away.
“Oh, gosh darn it… which G.o.dless cur… actually hit an old man… my waist… is broken. Oh G.o.d, I am being killed. Will anyone come and save this old man….”
His pitiful screams echoed across the sea of flowers.
“It’s not a thousand-year-old corpse? It’s alive?” Awesome, the Little Taoist was shocked.
Zhang Ruochen rushed over and used his spiritual powers to investigate and determine that the old man was indeed a living person. He quickly took out a sacred healing pill and prepared to give it to the old man.
The moment he squatted down, Zhang Ruochen caught a whiff of a foul smell. He had no idea how long that old man had been underground.
Zhang Ruochen endured the stench and placed the sacred pill in the old man’s mouth.
As he stood up, Zhang Ruochen studied the old man cautiously. The man looked like he was in his seventies. He was thin as bones and covered in s.h.a.ggy, dirty white hair. Zhang Ruochen had no idea when the old man had last taken a shower or had a change of clothes. Even his skin had a thick layer of grime, and his clothes were so tattered that they looked like turf gra.s.s.
If he had not been a living person, Zhang Ruochen would have taken him for a ten-thousand-year-old corpse.
“Old man, feeling better now?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
“Ahhh, it still hurts. You must take responsibility after you beat someone up. You cannot abuse the elderly.”
The old man curled up on the ground, crying in pain.
A look of doubt appeared in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes.
It is important to note that the Lin Clan’s elder had also taken the same sacred pill, and his shattered legs regrew. Yet, why did this old man on the ground, who had the same Tianji Realm cultivation, not get better after he consumed the pill?
Zhang Ruochen became vigilant and asked, “Old man, why did you climb out of the ground?”
The old man’s eyeb.a.l.l.s rolled beneath his eyelids, and he said, “I am a grave robber, and when I saw that there were many large tombs here, of course, I had to go down and make a fortune.”
“A grave robber?”
Frown lines appeared on Zhang Ruochen’s forehead as he coldly said, “Do you know that my ancestors are buried in these tombs?”
The old man was slightly startled, and suddenly, his waist did not seem to hurt anymore. He gave Zhang Ruochen a closer look and asked, “Young man, what is your name?”
“Zhang Ruochen.”
Zhang Ruochen lifted his Staff of the Divine Envoy and began to roll up his sleeves, revealing half of his arm.
“Zhang, what a good surname. I am also a Zhang… What are you doing, boy… What are you trying to do?”
Zhang Ruochen raised the Staff of the Divine Envoy and smacked it down in a flurry of strikes, creating a series of loud bangs.
“A grave robber, huh? Since you have robbed my ancestor’s tombs, surrender all of the valuable items you have stolen.”
“Ahhh, he is beating an elderly. Will anyone come and save me? I will be beaten to death… Young man, I have not stolen anything, none… Save me… You are about to kill an old man….”
The old man got up from the ground and fled.
There was a sharp light glint in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes, and he felt that that old man was not a simple character.
Earlier, when he wielded the Staff of the Divine Envoy and steadily increased the strength of his. .h.i.ts, he estimated that the final blow would have killed a Demi-Saint straight off. However, aside from some screams, the old man was not injured at all. Instead, he proceeded to run faster than a rabbit.
Interesting…
Just as Zhang Ruochen was about to pursue and catch the old man, a few powerful Saint auras came rus.h.i.+ng from the forest. Five to six powerful cultivators above the rank of Seven-step Saint Kings were quickly approaching.