1788 On the Tongming River

Awesome, the Little Taoist showed a look of disdain and patted his chest. "My skills in formation arrays are definitely not beneath that owl."

"Oh?"

Zhang Ruochen did not believe it.

"It looks like I will have to show you my skills for you to realize who the real master of formation arrays is." Awesome, the Little Taoist was full of confidence, and he immediately wrote down a list of materials.

"As long as you can prepare all of these materials, I will be able to deploy a Rank 9 formation array for you."

Zhang Ruochen took the material list and asked, "A Rank 9 formation?"

A Rank 9 Formation Array could block Supreme Saint beings, and only an Earthlord-realm array master would be able to create such a formation. Frankly speaking, Zhang Ruochen did not believe that Awesome, the Little Taoist had such an ability.

Awesome, the Little Taoist coughed twice and said, "Of course... it is just a very rudimentary Rank 9 Array, and there is still a gap with the real one."

Zhang Ruochen had not studied much about formations, nonetheless, he was still a spiritual-power Saint King. He found the list that Awesome, the Little Taoist gave him somewhat reliable and not made up.

"I have most of the materials on the list, but I will need to purchase about a third of them."

Zhang Ruochen kept the list and made his way to the periphery of Royal Mountain. He then started to use dimensional distortion techniques to create a large Dimensional Maze.

With the Dimensional Maze guarding the place, even a Nine-step Saint King would find it difficult to trespass Royal Mountain.

Of course, a single Dimensional Maze was not enough. If cultivators of space were to come to Yunwu Commandery, it would be broken very quickly. So, Zhang Ruochen ended up spending more time to set up a Temporal Array.

Immediately after, he rushed to the Tongming River with the Saint Devourer, who had attained the Seven-step Saint King rank. Meanwhile, Awesome, the Little Taoist stayed behind in Yunwu Royal City.

The distance between Yunwu Royal City and the Tongming River was only tens of thousands of miles. For a Saint King cultivator, that was not considered far, and it was impossible for the Fane of Youshen's elites to not know that Yuan Che and the rest had perished.

Yet, why had they not rushed over to Yunwu Royal City to deal with Zhang Ruochen?

Zhang Ruochen could only think of one possibility: they had broken into the dragon's tomb at the bottom of the Tongming River.

Second, if the cultivators of the Fane of Youshen had really broken into the dragon's tomb, Zhang Ruochen could ambush them from the dark and at least hold them back.

As long as the evil spirit had refined the Saint Souls of Yuan Che and the others, its strength would definitely increase exponentially. By then, Zhang Ruochen would gather all of his forces and might very well fight them on equal footing.

Time...

Every minute and every second was that urgent. Zhang Ruochen did not have the time to prepare a perfect plan and could only take it step by step.

At dusk.

On the horizon, burning crimson clouds floated over yonder, and its reflection in the waters of the Tongming River made the river look like a flaming inferno.

Zhang Ruochen used his thirty-six transformation technique to become a big man with a mustache as he rode on a vessel. Following the current, he commandeered it toward the underwater dragon palace.

Moyin was wearing an antiquated pink palace dress, which revealed her two delicate, jade-like arms and a large portion of her snow-white chest as she knelt down by Zhang Ruochen's side and poured him some wine.

With the increase in her cultivation level, Moyin's appearance and temperament had grown increasingly charming and attractive. Her beauty alone was almost on par with that of Mu Lingxi. If she was placed in any other macroworld, she would be a beauty who could attract a Supreme Saint.

Zhang Ruochen sat on the deck and roused his Saint Qi into his left leg.

Boom!!

The blood in his left leg was boiling like magma.

A series of wondrous precepts moved around his blood, bones, and skin, reminiscent of a crimson dragon.

Suddenly, three crimson precepts surged out of his left leg, and like three fierce flame dragons, they rushed into Zhang Ruochen's Saint Meridian, making their way toward the Sea of Qi between his brows.

Zhang Ruochen tensed his nerves as he mobilized his spiritual powers, Saint Qi, and Saint Path Precepts before he went all out to fight the three crimson precepts.

After he spent who-knows-how-long, Zhang Ruochen finally managed to refine the three crimson precepts and forced them back into his left leg.

"Fuh!"

Zhang Ruochen let out a long sigh of relief and found that his Saint Robe was drenched in sweat.

It was a rather dangerous process, but it came with its own great rewards.

Zhang Ruochen could tell that there were close to a hundred thousand of those crimson precepts in his left leg. Those precepts were far stronger than the Saint Path Precepts cultivated by a Saint King, and they were probably divine precepts cultivated by Yanshen.

Only by refining all hundred thousand crimson precepts could Zhang Ruochen freely use the power of the god's left leg as he wanted.

However, Zhang Ruochen had used every one of his four hundred thousand Saint Path Precepts from all over his body and went all out to refine three of the crimson precepts. If he wanted to refine all hundred thousand of them, it was clear that Zhang Ruochen still had a long way to go.

"Master, there is a situation up ahead."

While Moyin was pouring wine for Zhang Ruochen, her eyelashes gently moved up as her soft voice was transmitted to Zhang Ruochen.

Zhang Ruochen immediately deployed his Spatial Domain, covering an area over a dozen miles.

Within the domain, even the movement of wind and grass would not escape his perception. Soon, Zhang Ruochen felt two extremely powerful Saint Auras coming from the river bank.

Two Seven-Step Saint Kings from the Fane of Youshen, Liao Yijun and He Yuan, were standing in the shadows by the bank of the Tongming River, observing the vessel in the distance.

Liao Yijun's eyes shrank as a throwing knife with thousands of black lines flowing on its blade appeared in his hand.

"Wait."

He Yuan held down Liao Yijun's wrist, and as he stared at the alluring woman on the vessel, his eyes lit up.

Liao Yijun frowned and said, "Our senior has asked us to stand guard here to prevent other people from approaching the waters ahead. We cannot afford any incidents."

"With our cultivation level, what kind of incident could happen? We can kill the man straight away. The woman, on the other hand, is a rare stunner. Aside from Senior Ruan Ling in our fane, who else has such a beautiful appearance, body, and temperament? Do not tell me that you are not tempted at all?" He Yuan smiled.

Liao Yijun had to admit that the woman in the pink palace dress on the ship was indeed a beauty comparable to Senior Ruan Ling.

Ruan Ling was a disciple of Youshen and extremely talented with countless pursuers. Liao Yijun and He Yuan could usually just imagine her because even talking to Ruan Ling itself was difficult.

Now that there was a beauty on par with Ruan Ling, Liao Yijun was naturally feeling fanciful.

Liao Yijun was quite cautious, and he said, "That mustached man on the ship is no simple character. He is a Five-step Saint King, so better be careful when you strike."

"Do not worry. If I cannot even take out a Five-step Saint King, won't I, He Yuan be the joke of the entire Fane of Youshen?" He Yuan laughed contemptuously and sounded quite conceited.

Sitting on the ship, Zhang Ruochen picked up his small bronze wine cup and drank heavily.

Rustle...

There was a breeze.

Clad in a white coat, He Yuan appeared silently on the vessel and stood before Zhang Ruochen. He stared at Moyin with a smile without even concealing his purpose.

"Master, someone has intruded our ship."

Moyin deliberately pretended to be shy and scared, leaning closer to Zhang Ruochen.

Witnessing the scene, He Yuan's mood soured. How could such a beautiful woman be ruined by such a brute of a man?

Zhang Ruochen stared back and pretended to be furious as he roared, "Who are you? Who allowed you to board this vessel without my permission?"

He Yuan smiled mockingly as he walked toward Zhang Ruochen and unleashed his powerful Saint Aura.

Moyin, seemingly unable to bear the Saint Aura, screamed as she collapsed onto the deck.

He Yuan bore the aura of a superior person as he said, "Tell me, what realm do you hail from?

Zhang Ruochen did not answer him. Instead, he glanced at Moyin on the floor with a smile.

"It does not matter if you do not want to answer. You are a dead man anyway." He Yuan roused all of the Saint Qi in his body as tens of thousands of swordsmanship precepts became intertwined in his palm. He prepared to use the power of his sword to kill Zhang Ruochen with a thunderclap.

"A dead man? Are you referring to yourself?" Zhang Ruochen smiled.

Seeing that the mustached man was so calm, He Yuan sensed something was off and immediately blasted the power gathered in his palm. However, under the table, over a dozen razor-sharp roots shot out and pierced his body, turning him into a pincushion.

Fhwoop!

The Saint Qi and Saint Path Precepts in He Yuan's body were sucked away by those roots.

"Saint Devourer..."

A look of horror appeared in He Yuan's eyes as his rather handsome face immediately became distorted.

"Hehe, that is right. I am the Saint Devourer. Did you not want to eat me? Sadly, your cultivation level is not powerful enough, and you ended up being eaten by me." Moyin had long gotten up from the floor, and her lips curled up in a charming arc.

"Arrrghh."

He Yuan struggled as he screamed in pain, but he could not escape. His body gradually shriveled and became desiccated. The moment his corpse fell onto the deck, it was reduced to a pile of ashes.

Zhang Ruochen sighed. "Who told you to strike so soon? You should have waited a little longer."

"But I couldn't wait any longer!"

Moyin pretended to be pitiful and spoke rather innocently.

By the riverbank, Liao Yijun could feel that something was wrong, and he immediately sent a message to He Yuan. But there was no response.

Whoosh.

Liao Yijun decided to make a move as he sent a Saint Throwing Knife of Ten Thousand Marks flying.

Saint-Path Power erupted from the throwing knife and caused the waters of the Tongming River to roil violently. As the knife slashed downward, the vessel was cut in half with a loud bang.

Liao Yijun stared at the water closely, only to see the vessel slowly sink to the bottom of the river. Yet, he saw no one flying out of the ship.

"Crap."

Just as Liao Yijun wanted to turn around and run away, dense silver roots rushed out from the mud and constricted him.

Zhang Ruochen walked out of a void from above and appeared behind Liao Yijun. Slapping his head, he sent Liao Yijun sinking into the ground.

While the Saint Devourer consumed Liao Yijun, Zhang Ruochen took on He Yuan's appearance.

Earlier on, Zhang Ruochen did not immediately kill He Yuan because he wanted to observe the latter's behavior so he could accurately imitate him.