The Diamond Snow Sea Ape, crushed to near death by the Eight Trigrams seal, still struggled to rise, its willpower astonishingly tenacious.
“I am the King of the Snow Sea, not some junior can topple…”
“Boom.”
Zhang Ruochen descended from midair, stomping heavily on its head, pinning it back down.
Then, his right palm pressed its brow, injecting potent spiritual power into its skull.
Only by suppressing it spiritually could he prevent the ape from detonating its qi sea.
A Ninth-Step Saint King’s self-destruction could easily level Yunwu Royal City in the distance.
“Roar.”
The ape’s mental will clashed with Zhang Ruochen’s, but it faltered.
Using spiritual power, Zhang Ruochen extracted its memories, seeking desired intel, streams of memory bubbles flooding his mind.
Yet, probing certain memories, his spiritual power recoiled, those parts self-destructing.
For instance:
The ape’s cultivation techniques and saint arts remained inaccessible.
“A Greater Saint-level being locked part of its memories.”
In the end, Zhang Ruochen gleaned little.
“Swish.”
He extracted the saint source from the ape’s qi sea.
Within floated a small sword, forged from saintly rules, its rule-based saint weapon.
A saint source with a ninth-grade rule weapon equated to a Ninth-Step Saint King’s legacy, far surpassing ordinary sources, fetchable at astronomical prices.
“Let me see.”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist rushed over, its mung-bean-sized eyes fixated on the sword, “This rule weapon’s formed from over 7.4 million saintly rules.”
Examining the corpse, it judged, “This ape king, among Ninth-Step Saint Kings, was at the Minor Rule Heaven stage.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded, “Its cultivation was indeed far from Major Rule Heaven.”
Ninth-Step Saint Kings stood tantalizingly close to Greater Saint, a mere step from immortality, yet that step brimmed with hurdles, barring countless prodigies.
The realm split into Minor Rule Heaven and Major Rule Heaven.
Minor Rule Heaven, like this ape, was common among Ninth-Step Saint Kings, achieving it after over two millennia.
Major Rule Heaven beings were the realm’s elites, vastly outmatching Minor Rule Heaven, wielding over ten million saintly rules, not just filling their qi sea but flowing through flesh, blood, meridians, and saint veins.
Rumour held a “Domain of the Path” stage existed above Major Rule Heaven.
Domain of the Path was even mightier, brushing the mysteries of Greater Sainthood.
Between Ninth-Step Saint King and Greater Saint lay a chasm, crossing it granted emperor-like saintly power.
Zhang Ruochen’s face grew solemn, he said slowly, “You God Palace has a Ninth-Step Saint King nearing Major Rule Heaven in Yunwu Commandery.”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist’s expression shifted, “That level’s beyond us now, forget Yunwu’s mortals—let’s hide, once I hit Ninth-Step Saint King, we’ll return, wreaking havoc.”
Didn’t Zhang Ruochen crave to break through to Sixth or Seventh-Step Saint King?
But abandoning Yunwu’s people was unthinkable.
Moreover, from the ape’s memories, he learned You God Palace somehow knew of a Greater Saint-level dragon corpse beneath the Tongming River.
They aimed to unearth and refine it into a Dragon Emperor war corpse.
That corpse was clearly Golden Dragon’s remains.
Golden Dragon had aided Zhang Ruochen—without its dragon pearl and Buddha Emperor relic, he might not stand where he did.
Though buried deep, hard to find, You God Palace had a dragon-seeking corpse-refining master at Ninth-Step Saint King, potentially capable of excavating it.
“To dig up Senior Golden Dragon’s remains, you’ll have to get past me.”
Out of respect for Golden Dragon and self-preservation, Zhang Ruochen had to stop them.
With numerous You God Palace elites at Tongming River, including two Ninth-Step Saint Kings, he wouldn’t rush in recklessly—he’d plan carefully.
The Kunlun Realm battlefield forbade inter-world killing among Heavenly Realm cultivators, so Zhang Ruochen dragged the ape’s corpse into King Mountain.
Shrouded by a strange force, King Mountain evaded patrol envoys’ detection.
The evil spirit, now a black skeleton, had gathered the other You God Palace elites’ saint souls, swallowing them to refine slowly within its skull.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen haul the thousand-plus-zhang ape corpse in, it charged over, sucking up the ape’s remnant soul.
Reverting to the Yi Emperor Bone Staff, it planted itself atop a peak, refining the souls.
“Boom.”
The process thundered, lightning striking, rocks melting, vegetation ashing—ordinary Saint Kings couldn’t approach.
Soon, Saint Devourer Flower, Tunxiang Rabbit, and Demonic Ape rushed in, some seeking nutrients, others food.
But spotting the ape’s corpse, Demonic Ape lost interest, Tunxiang Rabbit, long its companion, also shunned ape meat, leaving it to Saint Devourer Flower.
“Fully absorbing this giant ape will push me to Seventh-Step Saint King.”
Saint Devourer Flower rooted into the corpse, beginning absorption.
Tunxiang Rabbit and Demonic Ape, spotting abundant saintly herbs and springs, drooled, diving into the woods to feast.
Zhang Ruochen’s face was grave, pondering a Sixth-Step Saint King breakthrough.
Unlike Tunxiang Rabbit and Demonic Ape, he couldn’t advance by eating alone.
He needed insight.
His path diverged from theirs—not just to dominate his realm but to aim far higher, beyond Greater Sainthood to defy heaven and become a god.
Only if he ascended could they rise with him.
To lead them, he had to outwork them, strive harder.
“Even just Yunwu Commandery’s chaos leaves no time to grasp saintly rules, ugh, time…”
His eyes lit up, recalling the Sundial. “With divine stones, I can activate it.”
He inscribed a messaging light talisman, sending it off.
It went to Luo Xu.
In today’s Kunlun Realm, beyond the imperial court, the most resourceful factions were likely Wu City Bank and the Black Market.
Their deep roots and long histories might hold divine stones.
Luo Xu, an Eastern Domain Saint Academy head and high-ranking Wu City Bank figure, could likely trace divine stone leads for him. Next, he sent a second talisman to Fairy of a Hundred Flowers, Ji Fanxin.
Ji Fanxin, Mandala Flower God’s disciple, held sway in Qianrui Realm, possibly accessing divine stones, especially since she owed Zhang Ruochen a favour and would strive to help.
He considered messaging Thousand-Star Maiden—her divine prowess meant divine stones might be trivial, her treasures priceless.
But he refrained.
They weren’t allies but mortal foes, not yet clashing, yet destined to battle over Truth Mysteries.
Soon, Luo Xu replied with a light talisman.
“Wu City Bank has divine stones, but even I need merit points to buy them, with my current points, I can get two, where are you? I’ll send them now.” Luo Xu’s handwritten words flowed on it.
He never mentioned Zhang Ruochen paying with saint stones.
Yet Zhang Ruochen knew divine stones were exorbitant—Luo Xu likely spent his fortune for two.
He sent another talisman with his location.
“Swish.”
Another talisman arrived from Ji Fanxin.
“Where are you? I’ll come.” Her elegant script was brief.
Hesitating, Zhang Ruochen mused, “My presence in Yunwu Commandery’s no secret—soon all Kunlun will know, telling her’s fine.”
Without overthinking, he sent his location to Ji Fanxin.
Finally, divine stone news—two were scant, but if Ji Fanxin brought two more, it’d be ideal.
“Where’d that old codger go?”
Recalling the ragged man from the tomb crevice, Zhang Ruochen scanned with Heavenly Eye and spiritual power, scouring half of King Mountain, finding not a trace.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist sidled up, earnest, “This King Mountain might be an awakening sacred land, maybe even divine land, I probed deeper—it’s vast, seemingly boundless, brimming with rare treasures.”
“I’d bet long ago a great sect or ancient clan ruled here, hidden in folded space after some calamity.”
From King Mountain’s crevice, sacred qi and rules still spewed, enhancing its cultivation aura.
The earlier battle scarred the mountain, yet within half an hour, damaged areas self-healed, sprouting lush vegetation.
