“As far as I know, the Moon Worship Sect has another time-space treasure, doesn’t it?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Ling Feiyu nodded, “Indeed, there is one called the Ten Directions Primordial Pearl, crafted by Saint Monk Xumi himself. It contains a Primordial World with a time ratio of seven to one. This isn’t a secret; many people know about it.”
“However, the Ten Directions Primordial Pearl is no longer at Wuding Mountain. It was taken by Shi Qianjue, which is why many sect members chose to follow him.”
Mentioning this, Ling Feiyu couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger. The Ten Directions Primordial Pearl was a supreme treasure of the Moon Worship Sect, meant to remain at Wuding Mountain. Yet Shi Qianjue had arrogantly taken it, severely violating sect rules.
Unfortunately, Shi Qianjue’s strength was too great. Even her father wasn’t confident in defeating him, so for now, there was no way to make Shi Qianjue return the pearl.
“That’s quite a pity. With the Kunlun Realm reviving, if the Ten Directions Primordial Pearl were still at Wuding Mountain, it would surely boost the sect’s strength significantly in a short time,” Zhang Ruochen sighed lightly.
Although the Life-Death Bronze Furnace had a higher time ratio, its use was limited to a select few, far less accessible than the Ten Directions Primordial Pearl.
A sharp glint flashed in Ling Feiyu’s eyes, “Once I break through to the Great Saint realm, I’ll definitely take the Ten Directions Primordial Pearl back from Shi Qianjue. How can a sect treasure be monopolised by one person?”
Then, her gaze softened as she looked at Zhang Ruochen, “Enter the Life-Death Bronze Furnace first. I’ll activate it for ten days, which is a hundred days inside. It should benefit you.”
“No rush. I’ll enter after negotiating with Cang Long. It won’t be too late to cultivate then,” Zhang Ruochen said with a smile, not rejecting Ling Feiyu’s kindness.
Since Ling Feiyu said the furnace paired with the Moon Soul Pearl was extraordinary, he naturally wanted to experience it himself. Such an opportunity was rare and worth seizing.
After a moment’s thought, Ling Feiyu took out a brocade box, “The sect has divine stones, but not many, and I can’t use them all. Here are four divine stones.”
Zhang Ruochen was surprised. He hadn’t expected Ling Feiyu to give him four divine stones. When he’d contacted Kong Lanyou and Luo Xu, he’d only received two from each.
Taking the box, Zhang Ruochen looked at Ling Feiyu, “How many saint stones for four divine stones?”
“Is my life worth less than four divine stones?” Ling Feiyu raised an eyebrow.
Zhang Ruochen quickly said, “No amount of divine stones could compare to you.”
Pausing, he took Ling Feiyu’s jade hand, “Feiyu, thank you.”
Ling Feiyu swiftly pulled her hand back, turned away with a slight smile, and walked outside.
Thinking she was upset, Zhang Ruochen hurriedly followed.
As soon as they left the hidden cave, Zhang Ruochen received two communication talismans, one from Cang Long, the other from Moyin.
Reading Moyin’s message first, he smiled. They’d dug divine stones from the Xuangu mineral vein, excellent news.
He sent a talisman, instructing Moyin to head to Wuding Mountain to join him. He’d collected many Hell Realm cultivators’ corpses, perfect for Moyin to absorb as nutrients.
Then, Zhang Ruochen checked Cang Long’s message. As expected, Cang Long rejected his proposed conditions.
His terms were for Cang Long to prepare five types of Five Elements divine materials, in large quantities.
“Your appetite’s quite big, wanting five types of Five Elements divine materials. Even if the Nether God Hall could gather them, they wouldn’t all be used to trade for Ruan Ling,” Ling Feiyu said, shaking her head.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “I know that. Negotiations start with high demands, or how do you bargain?”
He sent another talisman, lowering the demand to four types of Five Elements divine materials.
Soon, Cang Long responded, still refusing.
After several rounds of haggling, Zhang Ruochen sent a message insisting the Nether God Hall prepare at least two types of divine materials, no less.
On a mountain peak tens of thousands of miles from Wuding Mountain, Cang Long sat cross-legged, catching Zhang Ruochen’s latest talisman.
“Damn Zhang Ruochen,” Cang Long fumed after reading it.
At least two types of divine materials, with no room for negotiation, was outrageous.
Cang Long didn’t want to give Zhang Ruochen anything, wishing instead to tear him apart.
But he had no choice; Ruan Ling was in Zhang Ruochen’s hands, and he couldn’t abandon her.
He’d initially thought Zhang Ruochen had violated Ruan Ling, but on reflection, with Ling Feiyu present, Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t have done anything too extreme in her presence.
Besides, he trusted Ruan Ling wouldn’t easily let Zhang Ruochen overpower her.
Despite his anger, Cang Long sent a talisman back to the Nether God Hall.
He couldn’t decide this alone and had to consult Nether God.
Knowing Nether God’s temperament, even though Nether God doted on Ruan Ling, two divine materials were unlikely; one was the limit.
As expected, Nether God replied, offering only one divine material and warning that if Cang Long and Ruan Ling failed to bring Zhang Ruochen back, they needn’t return.
“Zhang Ruochen wants Five Elements divine materials to forge an Immortal Saint Body. He can’t use them yet. Fine, I’ll give him two for now, then take them back later,” Cang Long said darkly.
With a flip of his hand, he took out a blood-red divine metal, Heavenly Blood Mother Gold, a rare metallic divine material he’d found years ago in a collapsing world, intended for forging his own Immortal Saint Body.
Since Nether God offered only one divine material, to save Ruan Ling, he had to reluctantly part with this Heavenly Blood Mother Gold for now.
He said “for now” because he was determined to reclaim it from Zhang Ruochen, making him suffer.
At Wuding Mountain, Saint Gold Peak.
Receiving Cang Long’s message, Zhang Ruochen laughed, “Seems Nether God values Ruan Ling highly, actually willing to offer two Five Elements divine materials for the trade.”
He quickly sent another talisman.
Cang Long said delivering the materials to the Kunlun Realm would take time, so they agreed to meet in half a month at the nearest Merit Exchange Station to Wuding Mountain.
Before the exchange, Zhang Ruochen could cultivate in the Life-Death Bronze Furnace.
“You’re planning to forge the strongest Five Elements Chaos Immortal Saint Body, but gathering Five Elements divine materials is hard, and even with them, success is difficult, far harder than cultivating your Five Elements Chaos Body,” Ling Feiyu said.
Zhang Ruochen smiled, “I know, but to become truly powerful, you have to付出 more than others.”
Ling Feiyu studied him, then took out an ancient beast hide from her spatial treasure, “You’ve mastered Sword Nine. This should help you.”
“What is it?” Zhang Ruochen took the hide curiously.
The next moment, his gaze was glued to it, unable to look away.
After a long while, he snapped back, eyes full of astonishment, “Feiyu, how do you have insights on Sword Ten?”
Having perfected Sword Nine, he yearned for Sword Ten insights to begin comprehending it.
As far as he knew, only the Sword Pavilion and Wanxiang City had Sword Ten insights, not even the “Sword Family” Wang Clan.
Ling Feiyu said, “An ancestor of the Burial Heaven Sword lineage reached the Great Saint realm and gleaned Sword Ten’s mysteries from the Wordless Sword Manual. Few know this. Legend says Sword Ten has five levels, but this ancestor only reached the fourth, far from perfection.”
In nearly ten thousand years, only Sword Emperor Xue Hongchen seemed to have perfected Sword Ten. Others couldn’t even grasp its basics.
“How far have you progressed with Sword Ten?” Zhang Ruochen asked curiously.
Ling Feiyu shook her head, “Sword Ten is too profound. I’ve studied it for a while but only reached the second level. I believe Sword Ten’s cultivation is closely tied to the sword soul. The stronger the sword soul, the easier it is to master.”
“Sword soul, huh? Looks like I need to use up the Merit Sword-Washing Marrow soon,” Zhang Ruochen murmured.
His sword soul was already powerful, close to a qualitative transformation.
If Ling Feiyu’s theory held, once his sword soul transformed, comprehending Sword Ten would be much easier.
After nearly a day, Moyin arrived at Copper Furnace Plain in the Central Region via the Merit Exchange Station’s spatial teleportation array from the Eastern Region’s Xuanhuang Realm.
Zhang Ruochen assessed Moyin, smiling, “Not bad. You’ve reached the Small Heaven of Rules. Seems you gained a lot at the Xuangu mineral vein.”
“I did make some gains there, which allowed me to advance my cultivation. Master, look, these are four divine stones I excavated from the vein,” Moyin said, handing him a brocade box.
Zhang Ruochen took it, opened it, and dazzling divine light burst forth. Four divine stones lay neatly inside.
“Moyin, you’ve done great. I won’t shortchange you. The Qiankun Realm holds many Hell Realm cultivators’ remains for you to refine and absorb,” Zhang Ruochen said excitedly.
With four divine stones from Ling Feiyu, four from Moyin, and eight unused from Life-Death Cliff, he had sixteen in total. Activating the Sundial, he could cultivate for sixteen years, possibly enough to form his Dao Domain.
Once his Dao Domain formed, his strength would soar, and few below the Great Saint level could threaten him!
