God Emperor

Even after Zhang Ruochen transformed into He Yuan, his left leg remained quite heavy, and he still limped uncontrollably as he walked.

That was a big giveaway!

Therefore, Zhang Ruochen dared not stand out too much and hid his aura as much as he could while he snuck to the bottom of the Tongming River.

When he arrived at the underwater dragon palace, Zhang Ruochen found that all of the palace’s formation inscriptions had been breached. Within the dragon palace, over a dozen figures stood before the towering dragon’s tomb. Clad in black robes, they exuded a strange and eerie aura.

Supreme-Saint Inscriptions had been laid all around the tomb by the Golden Dragon, and even a Nine-step Saint King would find it difficult to breach its defenses. Yet, they had all been eaten away by the Fane of Youshen’s cultivators who had used Blood of the Devil.

With the dragon’s tomb breached, a large area in the southeastern corner collapsed as a result.

Two of the black-robed cultivators had pretty strong auras, and Zhang Ruochen could feel quite a bit of pressure from them. They were, without a doubt, Nine-step Saint King elites.

One of them was standing below the dragon’s tomb in white bone armor that covered the wearer’s entire body, making the person’s age and gender indiscernible.

The white bone armor was made out of a Supreme Saint’s immortal bones, and the precepts of the Supreme Saint had been retained in the bones. There were defensive inscriptions engraved on it as well.

Behind him were two carrion.

Even though they were carrion, their flesh and skin had a metallic luster. They looked like a pair of grim reapers as their bodies radiated a heavy deathly aura, which turned the surrounding river water black. The blackness spread dozens of meters through the water.

Another Nine-step Saint King elite was standing on top of the dragon’s tomb with his hands behind him. He looked to be about fifty or sixty years old with his white hair undulating in the water. Plus, he radiated a stronger aura than the white-bone-armored cultivator and two carrion combined.

Aside from him, there were seven to eight black-robed cultivators present. Each was a first-rate elite.

Zhang Ruochen dared not act rashly and became even more cautious as he said to himself, “That cultivator in white bone armor is probably He Yuan’s master, Venerable Hiddenheart. He cultivates both Spiritual, as well as Martial Paths, and he is proficient in seeking out dragons and refining their corpses. Not only that, he has about a dozen Abominations at his disposal, and his strength is far beyond Yuan Che’s.

 “The one standing on top of the dragon’s tomb is probably Venerable Hiddenheart’s junior, Feng Chengdao. He is someone who is close to the Greater Precept World.”

Venerable Hiddenheart was holding a simple geomantic compass in his hand and constantly infusing it with Saint Qi.

Whooosh!!

With the geomantic compass as the center, the water began to flow rapidly and form a vortex.

To be precise, it was the heavenly and earthly qi in the water that were flowing rapidly. They carried the river water with them, causing the strange phenomenon.

About an hour later, a flash of excitement appeared in Venerable Hiddenheart’s eyes, and his hands trembled a little as he said, “The Heavenly Poles Geomantic Compass has found the dragon corpse’s aura. It is deep underground. Give me a bit more time, and I will be able to lock onto its position. No matter how deep it is hidden, I will be able to dig it out.”

Most of the cultivators of the Fane of Youshen knelt on one knee. “Congratulations, Venerable.”

Feng Chengdao laughed. “Great! Once we dig out that dragon corpse and refine it into a Wyrmlord Abomination, we will definitely be able to dominate the Eastern Region. By then, those sacred medicines will be ours to take, yeah? Supreme Sainthood is close at hand. HAHA!”

“I cannot wait any longer.”

Zhang Ruochen’s heart tensed up as he thought hard about countermeasures.

Suddenly, he pulled out a short blade, a Ten-Thousand Marks Saint Artifact to be exact, and swiped it over his left leg.

Shrring!

The blade could not cut through the skin of his left leg and only left a white mark, which soon disappeared.

Zhang Ruochen smiled helplessly and used the short blade to make five bloody wounds on his body. Then, he smeared a large amount of blood on his left leg before he put away the short blade and rushed toward the dragon’s tomb in a panic.

“Not good! Not good, Master! Zhang Ruochen has made his way to the Tongming River!”

Zhang Ruochen rushed up to Venerable Hiddenheart and fell forward heavily.

The Fane of Youshen’s cultivators all reacted as if they were facing a major foe, and they turned to look behind Zhang Ruochen.

“I want to dig up the dragon’s corpse, and I do not have time for him, but very well… He actually showed up to meet his doom.” Venerable Hiddenheart let out an evil laugh as he immediately dispatched his two carrion underlings to intercept Zhang Ruochen.

Right at that moment, “He Yuan”, who was still lying down, suddenly raised his hand and released a blast of dark light from his hand.

It was a Dimensional Rift.

“You…”

Since “He Yuan” and Venerable Hiddenheart were too close to one another, the latter sensed the dimensional fluctuations but could not avoid the attack. Therefore, he quickly turned his body, so that it would avoid his vitals.

“Pfffft.”

The Dimensional Rift cut Venerable Hiddenheart’s arm off, and blood gushed out, dyeing a large area red.

There were feelings of confusion and fury in Venerable Hiddenheart’s eyes.

Zhang Ruochen dared not engage in battle. He instantly grabbed the broken arm and deployed his Great Dimensional Shift.

Noticing the fluctuations in the dimension around him, Venerable Hiddenheart finally came to a realization and shouted, “So it’s you, Zhang Ruochen!”

“Frigid Palm Strike.”

Tens of thousands of Saint Path Precepts rushed out of Venerable Hiddenheart’s remaining arm and struck Zhang Ruochen with fury, breaking the latter’s body into pieces.

“Damn it, that was just a phantom. After him!”

Venerable Hiddenheart roared furiously, and the sound wave he generated shook the river waters within hundreds of miles, kicking up waves that were dozens of feet high.

Whoosh…

Zhang Ruochen walked out of a void and appeared by the river bank. His left shoulder bones were all shattered and mangled while a searing pain ran across his body to the point that most parts of his body were starting to feel numb.

Earlier on, he had failed to avoid that palm strike from Venerable Hiddenheart and consequently suffered serious injuries.

“A Nine-step Saint King is just too scary. Even after I used the Great Dimensional Shift, I was still half a step too slow. If I had been any slower, I would probably be dead at the bottom of the river now.”

“Master, over here.”

Moyin was waiting by the shore and had already pushed the Golden Dragon Carriage to its limits at that point.

Zhang Ruochen jumped into the carriage, and the nine golden dragons pulled it up into the skies. Their explosive speed was much faster than that of any Nine-step Saint King.

Sitting in the Golden Dragon Carriage, Zhang Ruochen quickly ate a healing sacred pill before he looked at Venerable Hiddenheart’s broken arm.

There was an ancient, black geomantic compass in the broken arm’s hand.

“This is Venerable Hiddenheart’s Heavenly Polars Geomantic Compass. By taking it, it will be difficult for Venerable Hiddenheart to find the exact location of the Golden Dragon’s remains.”

Zhang Ruochen was about to grab the Heavenly Polars Geomantic Compass when out of the blue, dazzling light erupted from the broken arm as it dropped the compass, hitting Zhang Ruochen in the chest.

Zhang Ruochen’s expression instantly changed, and he quickly deployed the power of dimensional distortion to neutralize the blow.

“Although a Nine-step Saint King is strong, an arm alone cannot do anything to me.”

Zhang Ruochen immediately roused the formation inscriptions within the Golden Dragon Carriage to suppress the arm. He then fired out a Chenyan-Class Divine Purification Flame and burned the arm to ashes.

On the Tongming River, Venerable Hiddenheart sensed that the link between him and his arm had disappeared. His eyes instantly turned blood-red; he hated Zhang Ruochen with all his being.

With his current cultivation as a Nine-step Saint King, having his arm cut off and then destroyed made it very difficult to regrow a perfect arm again. Even if he consumed sacred pills or sacred medicines and forcefully regrow an arm, it would definitely possess defects. That would inevitably affect the formation of an immortal body greatly and his attempt to attain the Supreme Saint rank.

It might very well be the reason that he would never reach the rankings of a Supreme Saint.

Boom!! Boom!!

Feng Chengdao rushed out of the water and shouted, “They must never escape!”

“Heavens and the earth, heed me and strike!”

Tens of millions of Saint Path Precepts from inside Feng Chengdao’s body rushed to gather under his feet, forming a circular seal. Both the spiritual energy and Saint Qi around him converged upon his being.

The next second, Feng Chengdao pointed at the sky.

Whoosh!!

He fired out a blinding light beam that actually caught up to the Golden Dragon Carriage even though it had already traveled thousands of miles away by then.

The creatures on the ground could see the light beam crossing the sky while thundering sounds echoed in their ears. The wave of powerful Saint Path Energy caused, who knows how many, civilians on the ground to faint and bleed from their nose as well as ears.

On the Golden Dragon Carriage, Zhang Ruochen and Moyin poured all of their powers into the Eight-Dragon Umbrella.

“Rawwwwrrrr!”

The Eight-Dragon Umbrella became as big as a cloud while eight golden dragons flew out of it, coiling together and forming a majestic portrait.

Boom!

The light beam crashed into the Eight-Dragon Umbrella and shook the Golden Dragon Carriage violently. It almost fell from the sky as a result.

However, the light beam had already flown thousands of miles and lost much of its power. Hence, Zhang Ruochen and Moyin successfully blocked it.

Feng Chengdao could clearly see the collision thousands of miles away. He frowned as he said, “I always thought that Zhang Ruochen must have borrowed Yueshen’s power to defeat Blackheart Demonlord’s divine avatar. It appears that I have underestimated him in the past. This kid, despite his low cultivation level, he is no doubt a headache and needs to be rid of at the soonest possible time.”

“Since Zhang Ruochen is rushing back to Yunwu Commandery, it means that he cares about the humans there. Let us go to the royal city. He will definitely appear,” Venerable Hiddenheart spat bitterly.

While Feng Chengdao and Venerable Hiddenheart led a group of cultivators from the Fane of Youshen to Yunwu Royal City, Zhang Ruochen sent a Communication Talisman to Awesome, the Little Taoist.

A moment later, Zhang Ruochen received the reply talisman from Awesome, the Little Taoist.

“All of Yunwu Commandery’s humans have entered the inner worlds within the Exquisite Dimensional Orbs.”

Zhang Ruochen heaved a sigh of relief and promptly sent another message to Awesome, the Little Taoist, asking him to fall back to Royal Mountain along with Xie Chengzi, the Mastadon-Devouring Rabbit, and the Demon Ape.

There were both Dimensional and Temporal Arrays on Royal Mountain. No matter how strong the Fane of Youshen’s cultivators were, they would not be able to break in so soon. Besides, Awesome, the Little Taoist had a Supreme Saint Artifact in his hands. With the evil spirit also on the mountain, they were not totally helpless.

On the way back to Royal Mountain, Zhang Ruochen received another Communication Talisman.

It turned out that Luo Xu had sent someone to bring the two Godstones to the Martial Market Bank in Qianshui Commandery’s royal city for Zhang Ruochen to fetch them.

“As expected of the Martial Market Bank, they surely are efficient.”

Zhang Ruochen was overjoyed, so he drove the Golden Dragon Carriage in the direction of Qianshui Royal City, hoping to obtain the Godstones as soon as possible.