God Emperor

On the bank of Great Whale River, 99 saint mountains rose up one after another. Some were covered by snow year-round. Others were covered in fire. Ordinary beings couldn’t venture onto either.

Each mountain was a path toward the Phoenix Nest.

Zhang Ruochen’s group hurried toward the mountain with the Merits Records Wall. They soon arrived at the foot of the mountain.

The ground was scalding. The stone and soil were all red and sizzled when their feet stepped on it.

The Luosha Princess clearly wasn’t very interested in the Merits Records Wall. “This mountain is extremely dangerous. Even many Luosha die in there. I believe we should go get the treasures from the Phoenix Nest before coming back.”

Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “There’ll be more dangers the further we go. If we can’t even take the Merits Records Wall, how can we get to the Phoenix Nest?”

Su Qingling was undoubtedly on Zhang Ruochen’s side. “Yes. The Merits Records Wall pertains to the fate of the Guanghan Field. It must be in our hands. As for the Phoenix Nest, it’ll be great if we can take it, but we don’t have to.”

The Luosha Princess smiled and didn’t speak further.

“I’ll go test and see how dangerous the mountain is.”

Bu Ji stuck more than 60 protective rune scrolls to his body. Then, activating his Supreme Saint battle soul, he timidly started climbing.

Great fire surged in the mountain. The higher he climbed, the higher the temperature.

But with Bu Ji’s strong cultivation, he could still take it.

There weren’t dangers other than the flames. It was oddly peaceful and he soon got to the middle.

“It doesn’t seem to have any dangers,” Su Qingling said. “Could it be that the Luosha climbed the mountain in a different direction, so they ran into trouble?”

The Luosha marquises were gathered at the south of the mountain.

Zhang Ruochen’s group had chosen a different path and appeared at the mountain’s east. They were hundreds of miles apart in different directions.

At the middle of the mountain, Bu Ji lowered his guard. He turned around to Zhang Ruochen and Su Qingling and laughed. “This mountain isn’t dangerous. Hurry and follow—”

But as soon as he spoke, Bu Ji’s expression changed.

He realized that his voice had become raspy and old. It was like an unfamiliar elder was speaking. Hearing it, his scalp felt numb. A strange terror arose in his heart.

Zhang Ruochen and Su Qingling also widened their eyes, staring at Bu Ji in shock.

His features had become aged. Wrinkles had grown on his face and he looked like he was around 50 years old. He was also aging visibly. White hair had grown too.

Zhang Ruochen suddenly realized something and his expression changed. “Hurry and retreat!” he said.

Bu Ji sensed something wrong too. Shuddering, he used his fastest speed to rush down the mountain.

Even so, his vitality was still decreasing rapidly. By the time he rushed down the mountain, he was a white-haired elder. He was covered in wrinkles and his muscular body had become stooped. He was like an 80-year-old man, close to death.

Su Qingling was frightened. She hurriedly supported him, concern filling her eyes. “You… What happened to you…”

Bu Ji looked at his wrinkled hands and the white hair falling from his head. Unable to accept this, he let out a pained cry and fainted.

Zhang Ruochen grabbed Bu Ji’s wrist. After checking it, he took out a saint medicine that could add 10,000 years of life. He melted it with Divine Fire Jingmie and fed it into Bu Ji’s mouth.

Su Qingling sent Holy Qi into Bu Ji’s back to help him refine and absorb the medicine.

Gradually, color returned to Bu Ji’s face.

Su Qingling was very worried. “What exactly happened?” she asked. “How can this be? How can this be?”

Zhang Ruochen looked at Bu Ji on the ground. “Bu Ji’s physical body is very strong and already in the Saint Realm. His vitality far surpasses regular Saints. Under typical circumstances, he can easily live to 1,000 years. But now, his longevity is greatly lost. He used up practically all of his vitality. Even if he takes the saint medicine, he won’t be able to live for long.”

Su Qingling had a close relationship with Bu Ji and viewed him as a brother. Hearing this bad news, she couldn’t take it. Her eyes watered.

“No need to be sad. As long as his will is strong and won’t be taken down by the challenge, he can continue to cultivate. When he reaches the Saint King Realm, his lifespan will increase again. By then, he can recover his youth again.”

With that, Zhang Ruochen looked at the mountain before him. He walked out and started climbing.

The Luosha Princess was shocked. “What are you doing?”

Su Qingling also raised her head. She wanted to stop Zhang Ruochen. She was afraid he would run into danger too. This mountain was too strange. It was a forbidden land that could swallow a cultivator’s vitality.

“No need to worry about me. I’m just trying to verify a hypothesis.”

Zhang Ruochen’s eyes were deep. He seemed to already know why Bu Ji had aged so rapidly, so he picked up his pace. After walking around three miles, he stopped. He could feel that the flow of time had indeed quickened.

Thus, he quickly retreated until the time flow was normal.

In that instant, Zhang Ruochen realized that he’d lost half a month of his life.

“It really is related to life. No wonder 1,000 years of Bu Ji’s life was used up in an hour.”

Zhang Ruochen opened up his Heavenly Eyes and observed the land. He discovered a dense mass of time prints.

The entire fire mountain was actually a huge time formation. The higher he went, the more dramatic the flow of time. Anyone who ventured in would probably die.

Rather than getting killed, they would die of old age.

Zhang Ruochen climbed down the mountain and told this to Su Qingling and the Luosha Princess.

Su Qingling was shocked. “First, we ran into a spatial formation. Now, it’s a time formation. What kind of person constructed the Phoenix Nest?”

The Luosha Princess laughed. “I told you before that this mountain is extremely dangerous. We can’t go in. Let’s go around it and get the treasures in the Phoenix Nest.”

“That’s not necessary.”

Zhang touched his chin, growing thoughtful. “If I use the Great Spatial Move, we can move to the mountaintop and take the Merits Records Wall with the fastest speed. This may cost some vitality, but it’s worth it for the Merits Records Wall.”

If he wanted the Guanghan Field to take first place in the Saints Merit Battle, then he must get the wall.

Zhang Ruochen’s Holy Qi circulated quickly. He activated all his spatial power and rushed forward with the Great Spatial Move.

Whoosh!

The next moment, he appeared a dozen miles away. His expression changed. Instead going further, he quickly retreated down the mountain.

When he was at the bottom, he quickly checked and realized that he’d lost 20 years of his life.

Su Qingling knew that something must’ve happened. “What’s wrong?” she asked hurriedly.

“With my current cultivation and Spiritual Power,” Zhang Ruochen said. “I can cross 200 or 300 miles with one Great Spatial Move. But here, I can only cross a dozen miles. Not only are there time prints, this mountain also has spatial runes. This is troublesome!”

“This mountain is impossible to breach,” the Luosha Princess said. “Any creature who ventures into it will die. There’s no point to keep trying. The wise choice is going to get the treasures from the Phoenix Nest.”

Su Qingling was powerless against time and space forces. Her will started wavering. “Are there other solutions?” she asked.

“Yes,” Zhang Ruochen said. “We can climb to the top if we destroy the time prints and spatial runes.”

Light flashed past the Luosha Princess’s eyes. “You can destroy time prints?”

“It’ll take a lot of time, but it’s worth a try.”

Zhang Ruochen held the Abyss Ancient Sword and closed his eyes. Activating the power of time, he cast the Twelve Hours Sword Technique and struck out.

One time print in the air exploded, producing a deafening boom.

The Luosha marquises on the south side of the mountain heard the boom. They all flew into the sky and looked at the east. They discovered Zhang Ruochen’s group.

“What’s going on? Why are humans breaking into the 33 saint mountains? Is there another path?”

Saint Arrow Marquis, one of the four first marquises, flew into the sky. His entire body shone with golden light. His huge eyes were trained on Zhang Ruochen.

It was the human who’d taken five of his destructive gold arrows.

“Not easy to break into here.”

The Saint Arrow Marquis pulled back his golden dragon bone bow and fired a destructive arrow.

Whoosh!

The arrow flew forward in a golden streak of light. It passed hundreds of miles, 100 times faster than the speed of sound, to Zhang Ruochen.

Zhang Ruochen was focusing on decoding the time prints. When he discovered the arrow, it was already too late. He could only activate his defensive rune scrolls.

Poof, poof.

A dozen scrolls were shattered before dissolving the arrow’s force.

The Saint Arrow Marquis collected the arrow. Eyes darkening, he roared, “Leave a half marquis to guard this place. Everyone else, follow me to the east of the mountain and kill the creatures from the Heaven World!”

The Saints of the Shatuo Seven Fields also discovered the changes in the 99 saint mountains. Some of the Saints flew into the sky, looking toward the mountain with the Merits Records Wall.

Seeing Zhang Ruochen, Su Qingling, and the Luosha Princess, they were all stunned.

How did they pass through the Luosha blockade and reach the mountain where the Merits Records Wall was located?