The next day, Zhenmiao Little Taoist arrived at the Eastern Domain Holy City, accompanied by Tunxiang Rabbit Guoguo.
The Demon Ape, however, stayed behind to guard Wang Mountain.
Upon seeing Master Shenya’s nine array flags, Zhenmiao Little Taoist’s eyes widened larger than soybeans, gleaming with excitement as it clicked its tongue, “Good stuff, good stuff! A set of array flags forged primarily with Hanwu Gold as the main material—this is quite rare. Let this poor Taoist take a closer look.”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist grabbed one of the array flags, its fingers caressing it. The infatuated look on its face was as if it were stroking the snowy white thigh of a beautiful woman.
“Impressive, truly impressive! These nine array flags are inscribed with seven different array inscriptions, five of which are eighth-rank arrays. Whose skill is this advanced?”
Zhang Ruochen smiled, “Compared to your mastery of arrays, who’s better?”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist replied, “Well… for now, they’re slightly more skilled than this poor Taoist. But in terms of theoretical knowledge, I far surpass them. As long as my cultivation and spiritual power improve, I could easily outmatch them in setting up and breaking arrays. Zhang Ruochen, you must understand that inscribing array patterns requires immense spiritual power to support it.”
Theoretical knowledge again.
Little Black had once boasted about its unrivalled theoretical prowess too.
Zhang Ruochen said, “I’ve tried using these nine array flags, but they’re hard to control smoothly. Whether I use spiritual power or saint qi to activate them, all seven array inscriptions emerge at once. The seven inscriptions clash and cancel each other out, resulting in not a single array manifesting properly.”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist chuckled, “Ordinary array flags are inscribed with just one array, making them easy to control—even cultivators with no knowledge of arrays can use them. But this set has seven different array inscriptions. Only an Array Saint Master could wield them effectively. Like this.”
With a wave of its sleeve, Zhenmiao Little Taoist sent the nine array flags flying, forming an array that enveloped Zhang Ruochen.
“Ten Directions Illusion Array,” Zhenmiao Little Taoist softly chanted.
A thick white mist appeared around Zhang Ruochen.
The world turned into a vast expanse of white. Even with his Heavenly Eye activated, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t see through the fog.
Within the mist, a white-armoured knight materialised.
The knight wielded a dragon-chasing spear, thrusting it forward. The saintly power distorted the space, sending waves of energy surging towards Zhang Ruochen’s chest.
Zhang Ruochen summoned the Eight Dragons Umbrella to block the spear, retreating a dozen steps in succession.
“Spatial Domain.”
Releasing his spatial domain, Zhang Ruochen finally saw through the illusory scene before him.
The Eight Dragons Umbrella spun rapidly, unleashing fierce winds from within that dispersed the white mist, revealing the positions of the nine array flags.
A smirk tugged at Zhang Ruochen’s lips as he charged towards one of the flags.
Destroying just one flag would cause the array to collapse on its own.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist manipulated the nine array flags, chanting, “Nine-Eyed Wind Alignment Array.”
The array shifted. Centred on the nine flags, nine massive vortexes formed, unleashing blasts of ferocious wind.
Zhang Ruochen was drawn into a vortex, the gale slicing at him like blades, producing loud “bang bang” sounds as it struck. Fortunately, his divine inscriptions protected him; otherwise, he would have been gravely injured by now.
Whoosh—
Zhang Ruochen executed a spatial shift, escaping the array.
“These array flags are formidable. Even a Nine-Step Saint King of the Precept Heaven might fall if trapped within,” Zhang Ruochen remarked.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist retrieved the nine array flags and grinned, “It depends on who’s controlling them. With me in charge, not only could I trap a Nine-Step Saint King of the Precept Heaven, but even a powerhouse of the Dao Domain realm would be stuck for a while, unable to break free easily.”
“I’ll leave this set of array flags with you for now,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist was overjoyed, exclaiming, “With these array flags, won’t I be unstoppable in Kunlun Realm? Zhang Ruochen, what are we waiting for? Let’s go conquer the awakened saint lands and divine lands of Kunlun Realm and seize supreme opportunities!”
Murong Yefeng stood nearby, arms crossed over his chest, and said, “Don’t get too full of yourself. Kunlun Realm is teeming with experts now, and cultivators from all the great worlds want a piece of it. With our current strength, we can only protect ourselves. Against true powerhouses, even self-preservation isn’t easy.”
“Zhang Ruochen, who’s this guy?”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist glared at Murong Yefeng with a provocative look.
“To you, he’s just a junior,” Zhang Ruochen said with a laugh.
“Oh, a junior, huh?”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist struck like lightning, deploying the nine array flags and planting them in nine positions around Murong Yefeng. It infused spiritual power into the flags, instantly activating the Nine-Eyed Wind Alignment Array.
Murong Yefeng stood still, merely shaking his head lightly.
Boom!
He lifted his right foot and stomped down hard.
A surge of powerful saintly energy erupted, sending the nine array flags scattering in all directions.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist was also flung backwards, crashing through a wall and tumbling in a daze.
“With your strength, you’re still far from running rampant in Kunlun Realm,” Murong Yefeng said.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist climbed up from the ground, unwilling to concede, and retorted, “What’s so impressive about that? Wait until my spiritual power reaches the fifty-ninth rank and I become an Array Geomancer. Then we’ll spar again!”
Zhang Ruochen stepped between Murong Yefeng and Zhenmiao Little Taoist, asking, “If your spiritual power reaches the fifty-ninth rank, you’d have a chance to become an Array Geomancer?”
“Of course… though it’s not that simple.”
Zhenmiao Little Taoist faltered slightly before continuing, “After all, even at the fifty-ninth rank, there’s a wide range. The early stage and the peak of the fifty-ninth rank are worlds apart.”
Zhang Ruochen felt a slight pang of disappointment, then led Zhenmiao Little Taoist into the Qiankun Realm.
Master Shenya’s seven divine-seat planets had been collected by Zhang Ruochen into the Qiankun Realm, standing like seven radiant divine mountains in a desert expanse.
Upon seeing the seven divine-seat planets, Zhenmiao Little Taoist couldn’t stay calm, trembling with excitement, “Zhang Ruochen… did you… unearth a divine treasure trove? How did you get your hands on so many treasures? Are these seven divine-seat planets inscribed with ninth-rank array inscriptions?”
“Good eye. So, can you control these seven divine-seat planets?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist replied, “It’s not easy. I’d need to reach at least the fifty-ninth rank of spiritual power to fully control them.”
Zhang Ruochen studied Zhenmiao Little Taoist closely and said, “You can independently set up a rudimentary ninth-rank array. Your spiritual power shouldn’t be far from the fifty-ninth rank, right?”
“Peak of the fifty-eighth rank—just one step away from the fifty-ninth,” Zhenmiao Little Taoist answered.
Zhang Ruochen nodded lightly, saying, “I recently acquired eight divine stones, which can activate the Sundial for eight days.”
“Really? Divine stones are so precious—how did you casually get eight of them? Wait, eight divine stones… doesn’t that mean I could cultivate for eight years within the Sundial’s time field? Breaking through to the fifty-ninth rank in eight years shouldn’t be hard. What are we waiting for? Activate the Sundial already!” Zhenmiao Little Taoist urged.
In the Eastern Domain Saint King Mansion, the Sundial was activated.
Zhenmiao Little Taoist, Murong Yue, Xie Chengzi, Guoguo, Xiang Chunan, Lu Huaiyu, and others all began closed-door cultivation near the Sundial.
As for Murong Yefeng, he didn’t cultivate. Instead, he entered the Eastern Domain Holy City to eliminate the enemies lurking within, including saint-level cultivators who had attacked the Eastern Domain Saint King Mansion and those from the Hell Realm.
His cultivation had already reached the peak of the Saint King realm, just one step shy of the Great Saint realm. Whether he cultivated in seclusion or not made little difference to him.
In truth, when Kunlun Realm was revived, Murong Yefeng could have broken through to the Great Saint realm.
However, he suppressed his cultivation, choosing to remain in Kunlun Realm to fight in the Merit War, securing the right to survival for its beings.
For this round of seclusion, Zhang Ruochen’s primary goal was to break through to the Eight-Step Saint King realm.
Eight years might seem long, but in the context of saintly cultivation, it was merely a fleeting moment.
Many Saint Kings spent thirty or fifty years in seclusion without necessarily advancing a single realm.
Even the astonishingly talented Empress Chi Yao, who reached the Great Saint realm within a century, had relied on the spacetime treasure, the “Heavenly Wheel Seal.” Her actual cultivation time far exceeded five hundred years.
Even Jiang Yunchong, though not over a hundred years old, had accumulated several centuries of real cultivation time.
Saintly cultivation was never an overnight endeavour.
Only by using the power of time to alter its flow could one take a shortcut.
The major factions of the Heavenly Court had all enlisted the aid of time experts from the Time Temple to set up time arrays. Otherwise, figures like Shang Ziyan, Da Xi Wang, Tianchu Fairy, and Qianxing Heavenly Maiden couldn’t have advanced so quickly by merely consuming saint herbs and pills.
They relied on the gods and sects backing them, paving their paths and saving them vast amounts of time, allowing them to progress faster. Zhang Ruochen, however, could only depend on himself. If he didn’t strive, he’d be left far behind.
Even with the Moon Goddess as a backer, she was currently poorer than Zhang Ruochen, owing him more than he owed her—hardly a reliable support.
Zhang Ruochen took out a transparent crystal bottle containing a multicoloured liquid.
This was “Merit Spirit Quenching Essence,” a treasure refined by the Merit Temple using the power of merit, capable of enhancing a cultivator’s spiritual power. It required a vast amount of merit points to exchange for even a single drop.
The bottle held over a thousand drops of Merit Spirit Quenching Essence.
This was one of the spoils taken from Da Xi Wang, likely acquired thanks to her connection with Shang Ziyan, allowing her to obtain such a large quantity.
“Here, it’s yours now.”
Zhang Ruochen tossed the bottle of Merit Spirit Quenching Essence to Zhenmiao Little Taoist, aiding its push towards the fifty-ninth rank.
A Zhenmiao Little Taoist capable of controlling the seven divine-seat planets would be of immense help to Zhang Ruochen. If this fellow could become an Array Geomancer, then they truly could roam Kunlun Realm unrivalled!
Of course, Zhang Ruochen also had treasures to boost his own cultivation. He now took out a 100,000-year-old ancient saint herb.
