The guardian had the Sword Dipper protecting his body, and it actually shook Zhang Ruochen’s sure-fire sword away a bit, failing to hit the vitals.
“Giggle.”
Only, fire splashed from its head position, and a long gaping hole was torn open by the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword.
“It’s a pity that it didn’t get a single hit.”Zhang Ruochen sighed darkly.
As the time force disappeared, the guardian’s eyes flashed as the huge silver sword in his hand swept out with infinite force, carrying an eye-catching Sword Dao Xuan Gang.
It was too fast to avoid.
Zhang Ruochen’s face changed drastically, and he hurriedly gripped his sword with both hands and blocked it horizontally.
“Boom.”
A force that Zhang Ruochen was completely unable to counteract landed on top of the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword.
The wide and thick sword body shook violently.
Instantly, the tiger’s mouths of Zhang Ruochen’s hands were cracked by the shock, and a large amount of Saint Blood flew out from between his fingers. A physical body that was comparable to that of a three-step Saint King was so unbeatable?
The Ark of Truth and Zhang Ruochen were simultaneously thrown into the distance and, fell sharply downwards.
Zhang Ruochen could not think of anything else but to go all out to control the Ark of Truth. If it crashed into the sea, it would mean failure, however, Zhang Ruochen did not want to fail.
Seeing that the Ark of Truth was about to fall smoothly into the sea, suddenly, above his head, a huge shadow appeared.
Zhang Ruochen looked up and saw that the Gatekeeper was hovering just above his head, its eyes cold and solemn, like a silver-suited god of death with iron blood and ruthlessness.
It swung its silver coloured giant sword and fiercely chopped downwards.
The power contained on the silver-coloured giant sword was quite terrifying, and while it was still suspended at a height of more than ten feet, the sea surface was pressed down, causing Zhang Ruochen to feel a sense of weightlessness.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen’s scalp ached as if it was about to break open from that invisible force.
“No, I can’t lose, how can I fall at the fourth level of the sea? I am Zhang Ruochen, Time and Space Controller Zhang Ruochen, my goal is to become a god and defeat Chi Yao …… What others can’t do, I must do.”Zhang Ruochen’s heart had a tenacious will, a firm goal, and an unyielding faith.
In this moment of life and death, his body’s potential was fuelled to the extreme, his brain was empty, and it was like the time around him was becoming slower and slower, and it was as if the whole person was standing inside a dark, silent, and cold universe, able to quietly watch the changes in everything.
The doubts that had been troubling him normally, in this instant, all of them were realised.
Looking at the huge silver-coloured sword that swung down from above, Zhang Ruochen once again grasped the hilt.
“Wow…”
A layer of black light surfaced on the body of the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword.
It wasn’t a sword aura.
Instead, it was the Sword Dao Xuan Gang.
At the same time, the Fire God Armour on top of his arms surfaced with scorching flames like the blazing sun, combining with the Sword Dao Xuan Gang, and swung out into the air.
“Rumble.”
The two Sword Dao Xuan Gangs clashed fiercely.
The huge silver-coloured sword in the guardian’s hand broke into pieces, and even its body was chopped in two by the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword.
“Boom.”
The Ark of Truth landed heavily on the surface of the sea, and around the canoe, waves of water that were several times higher than Zhang Ruochen’s body were lifted up.
The two bodies of the gatekeeper disintegrated, turning into densely packed points of light that flew back to the light screen, “Pass.”
Zhang Ruochen looked at the sword in his hand and let out a series of laughs.
Surprisingly, in this situation, he had penetrated the final layer of the Sword Eight realm in one fell swoop and condensed the Sword Dao Xuan Gang.
Wonderful.
Wonderful.
Suddenly, putting away his smile, Zhang Ruochen looked like he understood something and said in his heart, “It seems that crossing the Sea of Truth is not just about being able to obtain rewards. The greatest function should be, to sharpen the cultivator with the help of the sea’s environment.”
“The process of crossing the sea is for cultivators to comprehend how they can control their various powers more perfectly.”
“The gatekeeper is equivalent to a teacher. By fighting it, not only can you increase your combat experience, but you can also learn its combat techniques. Such a companion teacher is able to make the cultivator progress quickly.”?
If there was no fourth level sea guardian, Zhang Ruochen was afraid that he would have to wait for some more time if he wanted to cultivate the Sword 8 to great perfection.
Of course, what made Zhang Ruochen even more delighted was that just a moment ago, the Fire God Armour had finally exploded with the power it deserved. That power was much more powerful than when it was grasped in Qiu Yu’s hands.
It was because of the Fire God Armour that Zhang Ruochen was able to defeat the Gatekeeper with a single sword strike.
What exactly was the reason for that?
Zhang Ruochen was quite puzzled, so he hastily mobilised a spiritual force to probe the two gloves and two arm guards of the Fire God Armour.
The gloves and arm guards looked like four pieces of Flame Divine Iron, and on their surfaces, a large number of ancient divine patterns were intertwined, and even, there were some patterns of divine beasts floating on them.
When the Flame God Armour was activated before, it definitely did not have such a huge change.
Slowly, Zhang Ruochen withdrew his Saint Qi.
He realised that the withdrawn Saint Qi contained a grain of light.
“That’s the …… Truth Upanishad ……”
Earlier, because of the critical situation, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t be bothered to control the Truth Upanishad, which was why he had injected the Truth Upanishad into the Fire God Armour along with the Holy Qi.
Could it be that it was because, with the Truth Upanishad, the Fire God Armour exploded with the power it should have?
After completely withdrawing the Truth Upanishad and Holy Qi, Zhang Ruochen injected the Holy Qi into the Fire God Armour alone. Immediately, the Fire God Armour emerged with a crimson flame glow, however, the aura that emanated from it was far inferior to what it was just now.
Immediately after, Zhang Ruochen injected Truth Upanishad into it again.
“Boom.”
Immediately, the two gloves and two arm guards scattered eye-catching flames, reflecting Zhang Ruochen’s arms to turn crimson, like a metal body cast from red copper, full of berserk power.
Hiddenly, there was an intimidating divine might that surged out.
“Surprisingly, it really needs the Truth Upanishad to invoke it in order to explode with the strongest power.”
Zhang Ruochen was even more puzzled, back then, Qiu Yu didn’t have any Truth Upanishad at all, so how exactly did she wield the power of the Fire God Armour?
Perhaps, Truth Upanishad was not the only way to activate the Fire God Armour, there were other ways.
The key point, where exactly was it?
While Zhang Ruochen was pondering, the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden, who was originally sitting on top of the Ark of Truth to recover her holy qi, opened a pair of vast, smoke-like almond eyes and stared at him.
To be exact, it should be staring at the flame armour on his arm.
A ripple flashed through the calm eyes. Afterwards, the Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden moved her gaze away and rode the Ark of Truth, entering the fifth layer of the sea.
Feng Yan spent a great deal of effort and finally defeated the guardian of the fourth layer of the sea domain. With his gaze, he looked over towards Zhang Ruochen, an unbelievable look in his eyes.
He didn’t say anything as he sat on top of the Ark of Truth, running his gong methods to recover his Saint Qi.
That previous strike had also caused the Saint Qi in Zhang Ruochen’s body to consume a large portion of it. At this moment, he stood at the centre of the boat, running the holy qi in his body according to the eighth layer of the Nine Heavens Ming Emperor Scripture’s cultivation technique, “Eight Extremes of the Monumental Shadow Sky”.
After just one cycle of operation, the holy qi in his body returned to its peak state.
The more profound the technique, the faster the degree of absorption of holy qi, the purer the holy qi cultivated, and naturally, the degree of qi recovery was far greater than that of other cultivators.
“Wow…”
Zhang Ruochen harnessed the Ark of Truth and rushed towards the curtain of light in front of him.
“Cross the fourth layer of the sea and gain two ten thousandths of the Truth Upanishad.”The moment he passed through the curtain of light, the familiar voice, once again, rang out.
Immediately after, a large number of light points, surged into Zhang Ruochen’s body.
“Crossing the first, second, and third layers of the sea, one only receives one ten-thousandth of the Truth Upanishad. Crossing the fourth layer, however, one gets two ten thousandths. Could it be because, it’s more difficult, so one gets more?”
While Zhang Ruochen was pondering, another voice, rang in his ears, “Got the Truth Upanishad?”
Zhang Ruochen awoke with a start and looked to his left, only to see, ten feet away, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden stood on top of the Ark of Truth, her body radiating a mist of starry radiance and light, giving off a sense of being left behind.
The Ark of Truth under her feet was parked below the curtain of light without moving, somewhat as if she was deliberately waiting for Zhang Ruochen.
“What are you talking about?”
Zhang Ruochen deliberately pretended to be puzzled.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden’s eyes were indifferent as she said, “The gloves and arm guards that you wear on your arms are vessels made by a God using a special refining technique, and only by using the power of the Upanishads can they stir up divine might.”
“Worthy of being a celestial maiden, her eyesight is awesome. However, what is the power of the Upanishads? Could it be that there are other Upanishads besides the Truth Upanishad?”Zhang Ruochen naturally wouldn’t ask this question, otherwise, it would be a no-brainer.
Zhang Ruochen laughed and denied, “It’s just a Divine Remnant Ancient Artifact that contains a small amount of divine power, it’s not a special vessel.”
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden did not want to argue with Zhang Ruochen, but said, “Don’t you want to know the difference between this kind of special vessel, and a Divine Remnant Ancient Artifact, Divine Artifact, or Sacred Artifact?”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart sank slightly, it seemed that the other party was already certain that he had obtained the Truth Upanishad.
Of course, the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden also exposed a secret that she had also obtained the Truth Upanishad.
Two cultivators who had obtained the Truth Upanishad would become life and death enemies even if there was no enmity.
Both would want to kill the other and seize the Truth Upanishad from the other.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden most likely cultivated the Way of Void and had a huge ancient civilisation behind her, such an enemy was just as headache-inducing as Shang Zi Zi.
Zhang Ruochen could only hope that with his mask on, the other party would not be able to recognise him.
Only, the possibility was, well, slim to none.
Now, in the battle with the Gatekeeper, Zhang Ruochen had used his time and space power, as well as the Sinking Abyss Ancient Sword, even if the Thousand Star Celestial Maiden didn’t know of Zhang Ruochen’s character before, she would be able to trace him with just a little bit of searching.
If he were to face the two major enemies, Shang Ziqi and Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden, at the same time, it would also be like being attacked from the back, and Zhang Ruochen didn’t want to watch the situation, which was unfolding towards the worst side.
What should we do now?
After crossing the Sea of Truth, go and assassinate her?
What kind of supreme beauty, the heavenly maiden of the world, in Zhang Ruochen’s view, they were all passing clouds, anyway, they were not his women, as long as they were a threat to his life, he could only strike first and kill her.
Between the flashes of lightning and fire, thousands of thoughts surfaced in Zhang Ruochen’s mind.
The Thousand Star Heavenly Maiden said, “You hide your killing aura well, but you can’t hide it from me. You want to kill me and seize the Truth Upanishad from me, but unfortunately, you are not strong enough.”
Since the other party had already made it clear, Zhang Ruochen no longer hid it and grinned, “Is that so? Then let’s see, who can laugh until the end.”
“Puffing.”?
The light curtain gently trembled.
Obviously, another cultivator was about to arrive at the fifth layer of the sea.
The Thousand Star Celestial Maiden stopped talking and sailed out forwards in the Ark of Truth.
