Zhang Ruochen caught up with the tall and thin man and stood beside him, side by side, and asked rather curiously, “Just now, you said that you are different from me, what exactly did you mean?”
The tall and thin man’s gaze, which had been staring ahead, had no intention of speaking to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen added, “If you tell me why, I will tell you why.”
Perhaps it was because, Zhang Ruochen was a disciple of the Eternal Life Academy. Or perhaps it was because, the tall and thin man was indeed curious about Zhang Ruochen’s perverse approach. Eventually, he spoke, “My cultivation level, which has already reached the Fish Dragon Eighth Transformation, even if I swallow the Sacred Spring, it is impossible for me to break through to the Fish Dragon Ninth Transformation.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded indistinctly, so that was the case, and said, “So, you intend to wait until you break through the Fish Dragon Ninth Transformation, then take the Sacred Spring and use the power of the Sacred Spring to refer to the Sacred Dao, so as to impact the realm of a Half Saint.”
“Not bad.”
The tall and thin man’s gaze, stared at Zhang Ruochen, “Don’t tell me that you have also reached the Fish Dragon Eighth Transformation? Although I can’t see through your cultivation, I know that your realm is still quite a distance away from the Fish Dragon Eighth Transformation.”
“Awesome, worthy of being a strong Fish Dragon Eighth Transformation.”
Zhang Ruochen laughed, “There’s no harm in telling you, the reason why I didn’t stay at the first Sacred Spring to raise my cultivation is because, I want to go to the top of the second mountain to load up on the Sacred Water in the second Sacred Spring, and if I have the chance, I would like to go to the top of the third mountain to have a look around. It’s only one day a month, why would I waste my time at the first heavy mountain?”
The corners of the tall and thin man’s mouth twitched slightly as he took a closer look at Zhang Ruochen and said, “I really didn’t expect that the Everlasting Academy would actually produce someone so arrogant. Just by virtue of your cultivation, being able to break through the first level of the second mountain would be enough to stir up the Two Element Sect.”
Obviously, the tall and thin man did not believe that Zhang Ruochen was able to reach the top of the Second Heavy Mountain, and only felt that Zhang Ruochen was an arrogant person who was not self-important.
Earlier, when he saw Zhang Ruochen save that Sacred Transmission disciple who had fallen off the cliff, he felt that Zhang Ruochen was quite humane and, since they were both disciples of the Eternal Life Academy, he wanted to make a friend with Zhang Ruochen.
But just because of the words that Zhang Ruochen had just said, the only trace of goodwill he had towards Zhang Ruochen was gone.
The tall and thin man walked straight forward, never speaking another word with Zhang Ruochen.
Saying something and being able to do it was called confidence.
Saying something and not being able to do it was called arrogance.
Zhang Ruochen had always felt that he was a confident person, and if a person didn’t even have confidence, then what else could he achieve?
Seeing the tall and thin man leave without looking back, Zhang Ruochen just shook his head and laughed without any mood swings, carrying his hands behind his back as he walked all the way to the foot of the second mountain.
Before the two of them arrived, at the foot of the mountain, there were already dozens of Sacred Transmission disciples gathered here.
Cultivators who were able to come to the second heavy mountain were naturally not simple characters, and they were all phoenix-like existences within the Sacred Transmission disciples.
In front of them was a hundred feet high green stone wall, and on the stone wall, there were all words that had been cleaved out with a sword.
Compared to the words at the foot of the first mountain, the words here contained an even more powerful power of the Dao of the Sword.
Just by standing below the stone wall, the cultivators were able to feel a stinging pain in their skin, as if an invisible sword qi had struck their bodies.
Moreover, the words on the stone wall were quite obscure and extremely difficult to read.
There were even some words that had never appeared on a scroll before, being fonts and glyphs created by the sages of the Two Element Sect.
Such words were called “Sacred Writings”.
Among the crowd, Zhang Ruochen saw Xu Changsheng and Gai Hao’s figures. At the moment, Gai Hao was fighting with a translucent silhouette, and the two of them were fighting hard, surrounded by sword Qi.
After roughly thirty moves, Gai Hao was struck in the chest by the translucent silhouette’s sword, tearing out a half-foot-long bloody gash, and was instantly defeated.
“Failed to break through.”
The translucent silhouette, transforming into a text, flew back to the stone wall.
Gai Hao ultimately failed to break through the first level of the second mountain.
However, his battle performance was affirmed by everyone present. Just with the cultivation of the third change of fish and dragon, he was able to fight against the guardian of the first level of the second heavy mountain for more than thirty moves, and only a holy body could be that powerful.
Defeated, Gai Hao immediately took a healing pill and retreated to the side.
“Worthy of being a Saint Body, such a young sword dao cultivation has already reached this step, at most three years, Gai Hao should be able to break through the first level of the second mountain.”A Sacred Transmission disciple of the Ninth Transformation of the Fish Dragon said.
This Saint Transmission disciple, who was already eighty-five years old, looked like he was only middle-aged. His cultivation, naturally, was quite profound, and a single step out gave the impression that the earth was collapsing.
He walked to the bottom of the stone wall and selected one of the texts, which then fell off and coalesced into the figure of the gatekeeper.
“Boom boom.”
After exchanging sixteen moves in a row, this Sacred Transmission Disciple of the Ninth Transformation of the Fish Dragon was sent flying by the gatekeeper.
The challenge failed.
Although this Fish Dragon Ninth Transformation Saint Transmission Disciple had a profound cultivation, his understanding of the sword Dao was not as good as the Fish Dragon Third Transformation’s Gai Hao, and thus only blocked the gatekeeper’s sixteen moves.
From this, it could also be seen how perverse the second mountain’s test was, even Saint Body and Fish Dragon Ninth Transformation Sacred Transmission Disciples would have a hard time passing the first level.
Someone noticed Zhang Ruochen and the tall and thin man and immediately said in surprise, ”Huh! Two more newcomers have rushed through the three levels of the first mountain and arrived here.”
“It’s a bit interesting, both are Sacred Transmission Disciples of the Eternal Life Academy, when did the Eternal Life Academy become so strong?”
“In the last thirty years, in every sect competition, the Everlasting Life Academy’s ranking was almost always at the bottom. How is it possible for two heavenly prides to appear at once?”
The arrival of Zhang Ruochen and the tall and thin man caused quite a bit of agitation in the Second Heavy Mountain. After all, which cultivator who could come to the Second Heavy Mountain was not a renowned figure?
The Sacred Transmission disciples present turned their heads and looked over.
Xu Changsheng let out a soft cold snort from his mouth when he saw Zhang Ruochen. Obviously, the fact that Zhang Ruochen was able to come to the Second Heavy Mountain made him feel quite disdainful.
Finally, someone recognised the tall and thin man’s identity and his face changed slightly, immediately transmitting his voice to tell all the Sacred Transmission disciples present.
“So it’s him.”
Learning the identity of the tall and thin man, the rest of the Sacred Transmission disciples, all of them also revealed looks of astonishment and uncertainty, immediately retreating left and right to make way for the tall and thin man.
There were only three people who still appeared calm and relaxed, and did not feel the slightest bit alarmed by the arrival of the tall and thin man.
The first was Xu Changsheng.
The second was Qin Yufan, who was standing below the stone wall.
The last person, stood at the edge of the cliff in the distance. Her delicate body, covered by a layer of white clouds, had a very slender figure, her legs were straight and long, and although the features of her face could not be seen, the soft curves of her figure’s contours could be seen.
Zhang Ruochen glanced towards her from afar and was roughly able to guess her identity, she should be that Heaven’s Proud Daughter who had attained the Sword Heart Passage at birth, Qi Fayu.
Xu Changsheng stared towards the tall and thin man and said, “Silkworm Winter, you finally gave up returning to the clan, I thought that you were going to fight for the rest of your life in the Market Realm Battlefield.”
The tall and thin man said, “If it wasn’t for the Sword Discussion Conference being around the corner, I wouldn’t have come back.”
“Since you’re back, let’s fight!”
Xu Changsheng’s voice contained a powerful sound wave, surging holy qi surged out from his body, and in an instant, a thirteen zhang tall gigantic martial spirit silhouette coalesced behind him.
“Shasha!”
Instantly, sand flew at the foot of the Second Heavy Mountain, and the wind howled like hundreds of wind blades travelling through the air.
Zhang Ruochen stood in the distance, quietly observing and muttering to himself, “So he is the Blood Sword Silkworm Winter, a strong opponent indeed.”
Although, Zhang Ruochen had not fought with Silkworm Dong, he was still able to sense the power of this person, who was simply somewhat unfathomable.
Subsequently, Zhang Ruochen’s gaze, then stared over towards Xu Changsheng.
Xu Changsheng was a bit younger than Silkworm Dong, and appeared to have a battle-ready look, but in reality, Zhang Ruochen realised that Xu Changsheng’s eyes were quite calm. From this, it could be seen that this person was not an impulsive person, but a person with courage and resourcefulness.
Another formidable character.
Even Zhang Ruochen had some urgency to see what the scene would be like when Xu Changsheng and Silkworm Dong fought?
Facing Xu Changsheng’s challenge, Silkworm Dong appeared exceptionally calm, saying, “I’m here to break into the second mountain, and I don’t want to waste my strength at the foot of the mountain, so as long as you’re strong enough, we’ll surely have a chance to exchange blows during the Sword Dao Competition.”
Xu Changsheng gathered back the battle spirit in his body and said, “In that case, let’s have a match to see who can walk farther up the Ancient God Mountain.”
Xu Changsheng took the first step to the bottom of the stone wall, raised his head, and swept his gaze over the stone wall as he said, “Although I have long since broken through the first level of the Second Heavy Mountain, however, this time around, I would like to challenge two words.”
The surrounding Sacred Transmission disciples, all of them shook, none of them had expected that Xu Changsheng would actually dare to challenge two words at once.
Two words was equivalent to him going up against two gatekeepers on his own, and compared to challenging one gatekeeper, the elevated difficulty was by no means more than double.
“Could Xu Changsheng be too confident in his own sword dao?”
“Challenging two words at once should be a great challenge for him as well.”
“Wow!”
On the stone wall, the two words detached down at the same time, transforming into two translucent silhouettes that simultaneously attacked Xu Changsheng.
The three silhouettes battled together in a fierce exchange, and apart from Qin Yufan, Silkworm Winter, and Qi Fayu, all the rest of them retreated far away for fear of being accidentally injured by the sword Qi.
Zhang Ruochen rested his chin on his hand, observed for a moment, and muttered to himself, “If you want to pass this level, your sword dao realm must at least be at the beginning level of Sword Mind, and you must also cultivate Sword One to the third level of the realm.”
According to Zhang Ruochen’s judgement, Xu Changsheng had almost cultivated Sword One to the fourth layer of the realm, and with his strength, he would still have a certain chance of winning when fighting the two gatekeepers at the same time.
Half an hour later, Xu Changsheng executed a Ghost Grade Middle Grade Sword Technique, defeating the two gatekeepers and breaking through the barrier.
At an unknown time, Han Chu wordlessly stood behind Zhang Ruochen, a pair of watery beautiful eyes staring at Xu Changsheng in the distance, his lips red and teeth white as he laughed, “Two words of challenge, and to actually be able to achieve victory, Xu Changsheng should have already cultivated Sword One to the fourth level of the realm, it’s really impressive.”
Zhang Ruochen was not at all surprised that Han Qiu was able to break through the three levels of the first mountain.
Zhang Ruochen said without slanting his eyes, “Senior Sister Han Chu, you’d better stay slightly away from me.”
Han Qiu stared at him with a grudging look and said, “Haven’t you always liked me, how come when I take the initiative to approach you, you start to reject me again. Could it be that you’re no longer that cat that likes to steal fish?”
“Haven’t you heard of the four words “red face”? That senior brother Xu of yours, if he saw me leaning so close to you, I’m afraid he would say that I’m molesting you again. In that case, wouldn’t I have to become his love rival for no reason?”Zhang Ruochen said.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen felt a pair of sharp eyes staring at his body, so he followed the eyes and looked over, just in time to meet Xu Changsheng’s four eyes.
Zhang Ruochen smiled bitterly and said, “See! Every time I get too close to you, I always get hostile.”
Han Qiu narrowed her eyes slightly, smiled shallowly, and whispered in Zhang Ruochen’s ear, “Originally, I had already decided to give you a chance to pursue me, but I never thought that you would be a coward. Could it be that you are scared after being stared at by Xu Changsheng?”
Xu Changsheng stood below the stone wall, and a wave of cynicism grew in his heart when he saw Zhang Ruochen and Han Qiu not only leaning close to each other in the distance, but also talking and laughing.
However, he didn’t show that emotion, instead, an elegant smile appeared on his face as he said from afar, ”Senior Brother Lin Yue, I heard that you fused three Ancestor Sword Intentions in a row during the Coronation Ceremony, creating an unprecedented feat in the history of the Two Element Sect, so I guess your talent in Sword Dao must be quite astonishing. Today, how many words are you going to challenge?”
