The vast Blood God Sect had become empty and desolate, with everyone gathered at the peak of Qianyuan Mountain, including surrendered demonic cultivators like Du Mosheng, Pei Linhu, and He Yuan.
Previously, when the Black Demon Realm came with overwhelming force, Du Mosheng and the others did not retreat, regardless of their reasons, and performed fairly well, which satisfied Zhang Ruochen.
Now, with the Blood God Sect in need of talent, Zhang Ruochen planned to nurture these three carefully. Bound by the Blood God Curse Seal, their absolute loyalty allowed him to invest resources in them confidently.
Du Mosheng cultivated the Heavenly Demon Devouring God Diagram, one of the four Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions held by the Blood God Sect. Pei Linhu, on the other hand, cultivated the Heavenly Demon Tiger Roar Diagram, also in Zhang Ruochen’s possession, won through a wager from the Black Demon Realm.
The Black Demon Realm had only recently obtained the true copy of the Heavenly Demon Tiger Roar Diagram, so Pei Linhu hadn’t had the chance to study it. Had he not submitted to the Blood God Sect, he would have been destined to miss out on this stone inscription.
For cultivators of the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions, directly studying the original was immensely significant, as only through it could they hope to cultivate the powerful World-Destroying Demonic Qi.
He Yuan, a cultivator from the Shadow Demon Realm, did not practice a Heavenly Demon Stone Inscription, but Zhang Ruochen possessed one that closely matched his demonic technique, which was why he had agreed to collaborate with Pei Linhu and the others.
Being nurtured by Zhang Ruochen naturally thrilled Du Mosheng, Pei Linhu, and He Yuan, who secretly rejoiced at their wise choice, not only preserving their lives but also gaining such favorable treatment.
In the second year of secluded cultivation, Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation reached the peak of the Dao Domain Realm, with 19,999,999 Saintly Way Rules in his body, just one short of 20 million. Successfully condensing them would allow him to step into the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
However, at this stage, Zhang Ruochen hit a bottleneck, unable to break through as effortlessly as before.
The Heaven-Connecting Realm was no small matter, involving drawing the power of heaven and earth into the body to temper the form and spirit, preparing for the forging of an immortal saintly body.
Most cultivators, after reaching the peak of the Near-Dao Realm, required a long period of accumulation, relying on deep foundations to break through to the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
Du Mosheng, Pei Linhu, and He Yuan, who had been at the peak of the Dao Domain Realm for some time, remained stuck at this bottleneck, unable to predict when they might break through.
However, now that they had the chance to study the Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions, they might find the opportunity to advance.
“It seems that in the past, I focused only on increasing the number of Saintly Way Rules without emphasizing their quality, which created hidden issues. Nearly 70% of my nearly 20 million Saintly Way Rules come from comprehending the 100,000 Minor Ways, which is too large a proportion.”
Zhang Ruochen frowned, quickly identifying the problem.
With his innate talent, if the Saintly Way Rules he cultivated were strong enough, the Heaven-Connecting Realm wouldn’t be a bottleneck, and he could break through easily.
Since returning to the Kunlun Realm, Zhang Ruochen had faced endless powerful enemies and immense pressure, forcing him to find ways to rapidly increase his strength.
Compared to other methods, comprehending the 100,000 Minor Ways to increase Saintly Way Rules was undoubtedly the fastest.
As a result, as his cultivation grew, the proportion of Minor Way Rules in his body became increasingly dominant, now nearly impossible to reverse.
The most troublesome part was that once Saintly Way Rules were cultivated, altering them was, if not impossible, extremely difficult.
“All the Saintly Way Rules in my body are tightly integrated. If I recklessly extract some, it could easily cause problems, potentially leading to the collapse of the Tongtian River.”
Zhang Ruochen felt a headache coming on, momentarily at a loss.
Saintly Way Rules could be forcibly extracted, but doing so rashly would have severe consequences, potentially ruining his cultivation path if not handled carefully.
However, if this issue wasn’t resolved, as the master of time and space, the time Zhang Ruochen would need to break through to the Heaven-Connecting Realm would be substantial, posing another significant problem.
Various thoughts flashed through Zhang Ruochen’s mind as he considered different solutions. This was just a minor setback on his cultivation path, if he couldn’t overcome it, how could he talk about becoming a god?
“This method might work.”
Zhang Ruochen murmured, gently touching the Fire God Armor on his body.
The next moment, he mobilized all the Truth Mysteries in his body, mixed them with saintly qi, and infused them into the Fire God Armor.
The surface of the Fire God Armor immediately glowed with intricate secret patterns, erupting with terrifying flames.
Using 39% of the Truth Mysteries, Zhang Ruochen further unleashed the power of the Fire God Armor.
At the same time, he extracted ten Saintly Way Rules from the Tongtian River, manifesting them outside his body.
These rules were all Minor Way Rules, appearing very delicate and containing weak power.
Zhang Ruochen placed these ten rules into the flames, carefully refining them.
The Fire God Armor, left behind by the ancient Fire God, contained divine fire so terrifying it could incinerate all things.
It didn’t take long for one Minor Way Rule to show signs of melting.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression grew solemn as he meticulously controlled the flames released by the Fire God Armor, allowing the ten rules to fuse.
Achieving this was clearly not easy, as a single mistake could destroy all ten rules.
“Bang.”
One Saintly Way Rule shattered, dissipating into nothingness.
Zhang Ruochen’s expression grew grave, but he didn’t stop, only becoming more cautious.
Even so, the ten rules continued to shatter one after another, vanishing completely.
“Again.”
After a moment of reflection, Zhang Ruochen extracted another ten Saintly Way Rules from the Tongtian River.
As before, he used the flames from the Fire God Armor to refine them.
Unfortunately, the result was the same as before.
However, Zhang Ruochen had no intention of giving up. After a brief pause, he continued.
Over hundreds of attempts, he lost thousands of Saintly Way Rules, causing faint tremors in the Tongtian River, which showed signs of instability.
Finally, drawing on repeated experience, the Minor Way Rules began to show signs of fusion. Ten rules merged into one, forming an incomplete, thicker rule.
Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen didn’t hesitate and extracted dozens more Saintly Way Rules, refining them in the same way.
During this process, he pushed his mental strength to the limit, meticulously controlling every detail.
After a long time, a relatively thick Saintly Way Rule appeared amidst the roaring flames, its essence now fundamentally different.
Seeing this new rule, Zhang Ruochen smiled, “Losing thousands of Saintly Way Rules was worth it. Fusing 33 Minor Way Rules into one Major Way Rule is difficult, but it’s indeed feasible.”
The Eternal Ways, Supreme Saintly Ways, Major Ways, and Minor Ways were intricately connected.
The nine Eternal Ways were the most fundamental, giving rise to the 72 Supreme Saintly Ways, which in turn derived the 3,000 Major Ways and 100,000 Minor Ways.
Conversely, dozens of Minor Ways of the same type could, in theory, be combined to form a Major Way.
Pushing further, dozens of Major Ways of the same type could theoretically form a Supreme Saintly Way.
Of course, while theoretically possible, achieving this was incredibly difficult.
In Zhang Ruochen’s view, only fusing Minor Ways into Major Ways was feasible, anything beyond that was unthinkable.
“Next, I’ll do my utmost to fuse Minor Way Rules into Major Way Rules, addressing this issue at its root.”
Having found a solution, Zhang Ruochen naturally wanted to complete it quickly.
Fusing rules was not easy, requiring immense care. Even with the method mastered, efficiency remained low.
As the number of Minor Way Rules decreased, Zhang Ruochen could cultivate more powerful rules.
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Ruochen reduced his Minor Way Rules by 7 million, fusing them into over 200,000 Major Way Rules.
At the same time, he cultivated an additional 3 million powerful Saintly Way Rules, bringing his total to over 16 million, preventing a regression in his cultivation.
Now, his Minor Way Rules numbered less than 7 million, accounting for 40% of the total.
At this point, Zhang Ruochen stopped fusing Minor Way Rules.
No cultivator could entirely lack Minor Way Rules, as they formed an essential foundation.
“Going forward, I’ll cultivate according to this ratio. If the number of Minor Way Rules decreases further, the Tongtian River will become unstable.”
Zhang Ruochen murmured, now clear on his future cultivation path.
Though his total rules had decreased, the Tongtian River’s scale had grown significantly.
This was because it now contained more robust, powerful rules, harboring far greater power than before.
With the current Tongtian River’s strength, mobilizing heaven and earth rules and forces would vastly increase in both scope and quantity.
Consequently, Zhang Ruochen’s overall strength had risen rather than fallen.
As long as he returned to the peak of the Dao Domain Realm, his strength would improve dramatically.
However, he noticed a problem: any Saintly Way Rule exceeding 500,000 in number became difficult to increase further.
The most abundant rule in his body was the Sword Way Rule, which had reached 700,000 before his seclusion, a remarkable achievement.
During the nearly 12 years of seclusion, he added about 70,000 more, deepening his understanding of the Sword Way and boosting his confidence in creating his own sword technique.
With his Saintly Way Rules adjusted, Zhang Ruochen immersed himself fully in cultivation, aiming to restore his cultivation level and achieve the four goals set before his seclusion.
In the 15th year, Du Mosheng broke through his bottleneck, successfully reaching the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
More importantly, the Blood Sea Demonic Qi in his body transformed, producing the first strand of World-Destroying Demonic Qi at the moment of breakthrough.
Over a year later, Pei Linhu and He Yuan also broke through to the Heaven-Connecting Realm, though they weren’t as fortunate as Du Mosheng, uncertain when they might cultivate World-Destroying Demonic Qi.
“Swish.”
A solid sword soul flew out from Zhang Ruochen’s body.
A wisp of sword qi surged, condensing into a saintly sword, grasped by the sword soul.
The sword soul, wielding the sword, began to dance in the air. The sword techniques it performed weren’t particularly advanced, all basic forms, yet they felt profoundly refined and full of vitality.
As time passed, the sword soul’s techniques grew more sophisticated, performing all the sword techniques Zhang Ruochen had learned.
When the final move of the True Thunder-Fire Sword Technique was completed, the sword intent emanating from the sword soul abruptly changed.
The saintly sword traced a strange arc, causing faint ripples in space and subtle shifts in the flow of time.
A crystalline, translucent flower appeared out of nowhere, slowly blooming, breathtakingly beautiful. As it bloomed, the surrounding space and time visibly fluctuated.
A Seven-Shine Ten-Thousand-Pattern Saint Artifact flew out from Zhang Ruochen’s body, entering the area enveloped by the sword intent.
“Buzz.”
In an instant, thousands of tiny cracks appeared on the artifact’s surface, before it shattered completely into dust.
Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen’s face lit up with a smile.
“I’ve successfully created a sword technique. Now, I’ve taken another major step in the Sword Way.”
With the sword technique newly formed, a surge of pride welled up in Zhang Ruochen.
Though still imperfect, its power roughly reached the level of a high-tier saintly technique.
With further refinement, its power could increase significantly.
Drawing on his knowledge, Zhang Ruochen infused the Ways of Time and Space into the sword technique. When executed, it could create a unique spacetime field, trapping and killing enemies.
While its power might not yet match his Time Sword Technique, it was easier to perform and could complement it.
This success was largely due to cultivating numerous Time and Space Rules over the years, deepening his insights into these ways.
“This sword technique shall be called One Thought, Flower Blooms!”
After a moment’s thought, Zhang Ruochen named the technique.
“One Thought” represented time, while the Buddhist saying “one flower, one world” symbolized space, making the name fitting.
“Rumble.”
At that moment, the flow of the Tongtian River suddenly accelerated, surging out of Zhang Ruochen’s body.
“I didn’t expect creating this sword technique to become the catalyst for breaking through to the Heaven-Connecting Realm.”
Seeing this change, Zhang Ruochen’s smile grew even brighter.
The Tongtian River coiled around him, flowing at an astonishing speed, with Saintly Way Rules swimming within it like fish, brimming with vitality.
Drawn by the river, streams of heaven and earth power surged through the air, pouring into Zhang Ruochen’s body.
His physical body had already reached its limit, unable to improve further.
But now, with heaven and earth power entering, he clearly felt that limit break, his body gradually becoming stronger.
The first tempering with heaven and earth power yielded the best results, so Zhang Ruochen focused fully, immersing himself in cultivation.
His already powerful body gained far greater benefits than most.
Only when his body was fully saturated, unable to absorb more, did he stop.
Next, he needed to consolidate before continuing to draw in heaven and earth power for further tempering.
By then, the Tongtian River had calmed, returning to his body.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen officially stepped into the Heaven-Connecting Realm.
Facing powerhouses like Zhou Yu or Mo Sheng, he would no longer struggle as before.
“Space Rules have reached 280,000, Time Rules 210,000, and Truth Rules 480,000, all doubled compared to before my seclusion, matching my current cultivation.”
Zhang Ruochen was quite satisfied with his progress.
Before seclusion, he set four goals, three of which he had now achieved, leaving only the unlocking of the second seal on the Flame God Leg.
“With my cultivation at the Heaven-Connecting Realm, I should be able to unlock the second seal. I hope it doesn’t disappoint.”
Zhang Ruochen murmured, filled with anticipation.
The Flame God Leg, a true divine leg, contained immense power. Without the Moon God’s four seals, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t have wielded it.
Unlocking just the first seal granted power threatening to Immortal Great Saints, who knew how formidable the second seal’s release would be.
Running the Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture, Zhang Ruochen channeled all his saintly qi into his left leg.
Simultaneously, he drew the essence of the divine sun from his Divine Light Qi Sea, merging it into the leg.
Stimulated by the saintly qi and divine sun essence, his left leg turned crimson, like a red-hot iron pillar, with thick divine rules emerging.
“Break!”
When the power peaked, Zhang Ruochen let out a thunderous shout.
“Boom.”
Like a star crashing down, immense force slammed into the second seal of the Flame God Leg.
Though the Moon God’s seal was incredibly sturdy, it quickly shattered under the impact.
As the seal broke, a wildly ferocious power surged forth, instantly shattering the surrounding space.
Reacting swiftly, Zhang Ruochen summoned the Hidden Mountain Demonic Mirror, sealing the space around him to contain the leg’s power.
The force was so terrifying that, if left unchecked, it would cause a catastrophe.
“A full million divine rules, no wonder it’s so fearsome.”
Seeing the thick rules emerging from his leg, Zhang Ruochen’s eyes flashed with astonishment.
He had long known the Flame God Leg couldn’t contain just 100,000 divine rules, most were sealed by a Moon God.
Only by breaking all four seals would the leg’s full divine rules be revealed.
By then, its power could likely destroy heaven and earth.
“With my current saintly qi reserves, I can’t fully wield these million divine rules. I’ll need to further improve my cultivation to unleash the full power of the leg with two seals unlocked.”
Zhang Ruochen felt a jolt, deeply aware of the leg’s might.
As his saintly qi subsided, the Flame God Leg calmed, the million divine rules fading back into hiding.
After some meditation, his saintly qi fully recovered, and his spirit returned to its peak.
Having achieved all four goals, Zhang Ruochen decided to end his seclusion.
This 24-year seclusion, consuming 24 divine stones, was longer than any before.
“It’s time to leave. I’ll keep the remaining nine divine stones, they might prove useful.”
Zhang Ruochen gazed at the Sundial, lost in thought.
As the energy of the two embedded divine stones depleted, the Sundial fell silent, and he grasped it.
After studying it briefly, he stored it away.
As he prepared to stand, his expression changed drastically. His left leg had become extremely heavy, making it difficult to rise.
“I didn’t expect unlocking the second seal to make it as cumbersome as when I first got the Flame God Leg. Looks like I’ll be limping for a while.”
Examining his leg, Zhang Ruochen shook his head with a wry smile.
