Chapter 2132: Great Prince Mara’s Arrival at Eastern Region
Most people of the Zhang clan immediately knelt and bowed down after entering the gravesite. This was because they felt the vast Supreme Saint aura, and also because they saw the endless Supreme Saint graves. They felt a great shock to the depths of their hearts, and their souls couldn’t help but tremble.
Even Zhang Ruochen was shocked when he first came in, let alone these Zhang clansmen whose cultivation was much lower.
Those whose cultivation had reached saint level were more composed. They managed to contain their emotions.
The old man walked over from the side. He glanced at King Mingjiang and the others and shook his head.
“There are so few people with such poor quality. Are you worthy of being members of the Zhang clan?”
King Mingjiang turned to look at the old man and frowned slightly. He was obviously unhappy. No matter how the Zhang clan had become, it was not for the outsiders to criticize them.
However, since he was unable to deduce the old man’s intentions, King Mingjiang did not dare to act rashly. He could only ask in a deep voice, “Who are you? Do you have any connections with Zhang clan?”
The old man shot a glance at King Mingjiang and replied calmly, “I am your ancestor.”
Hearing those words, King Mingjiang was immediately enraged!
As a Nine-Step Saint King, how could he be humiliated like this?
“I am the purest direct descendant of the Zhang clan and the younger brother of the previous Emperor Ming. You are too presumptuous.”
As he spoke, King Mingjiang stretched out a hand, which turned into the size of a millstone, and slapped directly at the old man.
Swoosh!
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen appeared out of thin air and blocked King Mingjiang’s attack.
“Twelfth royal uncle, what happened?” Zhang Ruochen was puzzled.
He had just sent away the unrecognized clansmen. How did King Mingjiang start fighting with the old man all of a sudden?
King Mingjiang tried his best to suppress his anger and said, “Ruochen, this old man came out of nowhere and acted like a big bully. Not only does he despise us, but he also says that he is my ancestor. How can I forgive him?”
Hearing this, Zhang Ruochen immediately understood. The old man could easily drive people crazy with his character. He had experienced it before.
Rubbing his temples, Zhang Ruochen had no choice but to use his spiritual power to communicate his message, “Twelfth royal uncle, he really is a living ancestor of the Zhang clan. He survived a disaster hundred-thousand years ago. Due to certain reasons, he woke up in the present world. This is a secret. Don’t tell anyone.”
Upon hearing this, King Mingjiang’s expression became very interesting. He stared at the old man with wide eyes, and his mind was in a mess. He couldn’t react.
He would never have thought that this scrawny old man in front of him was an ancient ancestor of the Zhang clan from a hundred-thousand years ago.
King Mingjiang couldn’t imagine how the old man survived through the years.
It didn’t look like he could!
After a long time, King Mingjiang finally came back to his senses. All his anger had dissipated. He didn’t doubt Zhang Ruochen’s words.
“Ruochen, how is… Senior’s strength?” King Mingjiang asked in secret.
“Very strong,” Zhang Ruochen replied. “He’s at least in Supreme Sainthood so he can only stay here in the holy land of enlightenment. Once he leaves, he’ll be discovered by the Emissaries Vigilant.”
Hearing this, King Mingjiang was shocked. This was followed by excitement. No matter what, it was good news that there’s a Supreme Saint in the Zhang clan.
“Your cultivation in Precept Dominion isn’t bad so your descendents shouldn’t be too bad. Hurry up and marry some beautiful wives so that Zhang clan can grow,” the old man looked at King Mingjiang carefully and said seriously.
Zhang Ruochen was very generous to his royal uncle. He provided him with many precious cultivation resources. Moreover, King Mingjiang’s talent was not bad, so he finally broke through to Precept Dominion during this seclusion.
Since King Mingjiang was able to cultivate to Precept Dominion, it meant that he had a ten-percent chance of entering Supreme Sainthood in the future.
King Mingjiang’s face was full of astonishment. He didn’t expect that the old man would say what he had just said.
King Mingjiang had lived for more than a thousand years. He had five wives and had more than ten children. Unfortunately, his wives’cultivations weren’t high, and they had passed away one after another. Now, none of them were by his side.
Most of King Mingjiang’s children had passed away, only three were left. Two were in saint level, and one was in Saint Kinghood.
King Mingjiang had been alone for the past 300 years. He had no intention of taking another wife.
Zhang Ruochen was a little speechless. He felt that the old man was obsessed — all he could think about was reproduction.
However, the old man was not talking to him this time. Zhang Ruochen felt a huge relief that the old man’s words weren’t directed at him.
Just as he was thinking, the old man continued, “For a Nine-Step Saint King in Precept Dominion, you are at the prime of your life. Your children will inherit your bloodline perfectly. Although your bloodline isn’t as good as Zhang Ruochen’s, it’s still not bad. As long as you find some women whose cultivation is above saint level, your offspring will not be too bad. Who knows, you might even give birth to a few true geniuses.
“Now that Zhang clan’s bloodline has withered, as one of the few powerhouses of Zhang clan in Saint Kinghood, you should take up the responsibility of strengthening the clan. Otherwise, no matter how much preparation the Zhang clan has made, it will still be hard for us to revive.
“I’ve established a new rule here — any male of the Zhang clan who has reached the saint level or above must have at least one-hundred offspring.”
The old man spoke in a serious manner. He did not seem to be joking at all.
Hearing this, everyone who was present put on a very strange expression. They looked at each other in dismay. Most of them still did not understand the situation.
Zhang Ruochen was extremely speechless. He really did not know what to say. He could only take his hat off to him for coming up with such a rule.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen thought of something. He took out a dimensional jade bottle and handed it to the old man.
“There’s a lot of Spring of Life in here. These can purify the evil energy of death. I think you can work hard after you get better with this.”
As the tree seedlings of the Divine Sky-connecting Tree tree seedlings grew, it produced more and more Springs of Life, forming a pond.
Upon hearing this, the old man’s eyes lit up. He quickly took the dimensional jade bottle and said, “This is good stuff, why didn’t you take it out earlier?”
After that, the old man picked up the dimensional jade bottle immediately and poured the Spring of Life into his mouth. He couldn’t wait.
In the blink of an eye, the old man finished the Spring of Life in the dimensional jade bottle. He reached out his hand and said, “This isn’t enough. Give me another eight or ten bottles.”
“Do you think I got these from the river? I’ll give you two more bottles at most,” Zhang Ruochen said unhappily.
The amount of Spring of Life in that bottle was definitely not small. It accounted for one-tenth of the total amount.
If it were not for the fact that this old man was most likely an ancestor of the Zhang clan and had strong cultivation, Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t have taken out so much Spring of Life to dissolve the evil energy of death in his body.
As for the Divine Sky-connecting Tree, Zhang Ruochen didn’t plan to disclose it for the time being.
After all, the old man’s identity wasn’t completely confirmed, and his cultivation was unfathomable. What if he tried to snatch it?
A treasure like the Divine Sky-connecting Tree was enough to cause families to turn against each other. Naturally, he had to treat it carefully.
The old man curled his lips and said, “Why are you being so stingy? Forget it, I will take those two bottles then. Hurry up and take them out.”
Zhang Ruochen didn’t even bother to bicker with him. He took out two more bottles of Spring of Life.
He couldn’t take the remaining Springs of Life out for the old man. He had to keep it just in case he needed it.
After that, Zhang Ruochen ignored the old man and walked into the depths of the gravesite.
Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation had already reached Path’s Anterior realm. He didn’t need the Supreme Saint Fruits at all. However, mastering the Supreme-Saint Precepts on the graves would undoubtedly be beneficial. Perhaps it would greatly increase his Precepts.
At his current level, what he lacked was accumulation. He had to find a way to increase his number of Precepts to the upper limit of Saint Kinghood. At the same time, he had to do his best to make his body immortal.
The Supreme Saint ancestors of the Zhang clan practiced all kinds of Precepts, including Path of Time, Dimension, and Truth.
Zhang Ruochen planned to learn more in front of some of the ancestors’ graves to strengthen his accumulation.
However, the gravesite was filled with immensely strong power. Even though Zhang Ruochen was an elite Saint King, he couldn’t go too deep inside. He could only touch not more than five-hundred ancestors’ graves.
“What is that?”
Gazing at a Supreme Saint Fruit, Zhang Ruochen suddenly made a discovery.
He reached out and grabbed the fruit, and a drop of crystal water flew out of it.
Zhang Ruochen held the water droplet in his palm and observed it carefully. Then, he changed to a strange expression and said, “It seems to be made up of a large number of Precepts.”
After thinking for a while, Zhang Ruochen swallowed the water droplet. Then he started to refine the Empyrean Emperor Ming’s Scripture.
A moment later, Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes and said in surprise, “It has increased the number of Precepts in my body by a hundred-thousand.”
This was not a Supreme Saint Fruit but just a drop of water on the surface of it. It was like a dewdrop.
This was incredible.
Zhang Ruochen moved and appeared in front of another ancestor’s grave. He gazed at the Supreme Saint Fruit on the top and found another drop of water.
Now that he knew how it could benefit him, Zhang Ruochen did not just stand by but directly grabbed at it.
Then, Zhang Ruochen quickly flashed through the gravesite and collected all dewdrops on the Supreme Saint Fruits.
Although he could only touch less than five-hundred ancestral graves, the amount of dewdrops he collected were not small. There were nearly three-hundred drops in total.
“If each drop can help me increase one hundred-thousand Precepts, then there will be close to ninety million Precepts in my body.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes were filled with anticipation.
Putting away all the Saint Fruit Dew, Zhang Ruochen came in front of an ancestor’s grave with an extremely powerful Supreme Saint aura.
Judging from the Supreme-Saint Precepts covering the grave, this ancestor’s cultivation had reached the ultimate realm of Supreme Sainthood — Paramount Realm.
Among those in the outer ring of the gravesite, this ancestor’s strength should have been the strongest when he was alive.
“I’ll cultivate in seclusion here for a while.”
Zhang Ruochen muttered and took out the Sundial with a flip of his hand.
His Precepts had grown too much all of a sudden. It was necessary to arrange them properly to avoid any mistakes.
The Sundial was opened, and the power of time enveloped dozens of graves around it.
Zhang Ruochen immediately released the five Saint Aspects to the five nearby graves respectively. Only the Saint Aspect of the Immovable Wisdom King was in charge of refining the Saint Fruit Dews collected from the Supreme Saint Fruits.
He would comprehend the true meaning of the cultivational paths more easily by learning the path of different Supreme Saint ancestors and verifying each other.
The advantage of having six Saint Aspects at the same time was fully revealed at this time.
As Zhang Ruochen entered into his cultivation state, King Mingjiang and the others also began to cultivate in front of the graves of the Supreme Saint ancestors.
The old man had been watching from the side, but he shook his head as he watched.
Nearly three-hundred members of the Zhang clan tried in front of the Supreme Saint graves, but in the end, only seven of them could barely match the Supreme-Saint Precepts in seven of the graves. Only these seven clansmens’ states of mind could withstand the impact of the Supreme Saint pressure.
That was to say, only seven of them had the foundation to refine the Supreme Saint Fruits, but they had to wait for their cultivation level to reach Saint Kinghood.
Therefore, only King Mingjiang and his son, who had reached Saint Kinghood, met the conditions to refine the Supreme Saint Fruits.
In addition, one could not break through Supreme Sainthood immediately by refining the Supreme Saint Fruits. Certain amount of time is needed for the conversion.
“If not for the Zhang clan’s bloodline, the number of people who met the conditions would probably have been halved. I didn’t expect the Zhang clan to have declined to such a state after I slept for a hundred-thousand years,” the old man could not help but shake his head and sighed.
He felt helpless now that there were so many Supreme Saint Fruits but no one could use them.
However, the old man didn’t chase those who weren’t qualified to refine the Supreme Saint Fruits out. It was still beneficial for them to cultivate in front of the graves. It should help many of them enter saint level.
Turning his gaze, the old man looked into the depths of the gravesite. A strange look flashed through his eyes.
“Zhang Ruochen didn’t choose the Supreme Saint Fruit which contains the Paths of Time and Dimension,” he said to himself. “This is weird. However, he has cultivated six Saint Aspects at the same time and has a Sundial in his hand. That’s really enviable.”
Although he was a little confused, the old man didn’t plan to ask about this. He believed that Zhang Ruochen must have had specific considerations.
In the blink of an eye, six days had passed in the outside world, and six years had passed in the area covered by the power of time.
The Godstone inlaid on the Sundial had turned into ashes, and the power of time had disappeared without a trace.
However, Zhang Ruochen was still immersed in his cultivation state and showed no signs of waking up.
After a few days, Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes leisurely. Then, he summoned back all the five Saint Aspects which he had released.
‘The effect of the water droplets on the different Supreme Saint Fruits varies. The weakest one only helped me increase ten-thousand Precepts, and the best one helped me increase two-hundred-thousand Precepts. It has helped me increase my total number of Precepts to ninety million,’ a satisfied smile appeared in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes.
However, many of the fast-growing Precepts were Minor Path ones. The total number reached thirty million, accounting for more than thirty percent.
Even so, the structure of Zhang Ruochen’s Precepts was still perfect. After all, he had a solid foundation from the beginning.
Putting away the Sundial, Zhang Ruochen stood up and looked at the Supreme Saint Fruit, which contained the inheritance of the Paramount Realm elite.
After thinking for a while, Zhang Ruochen used dimensional means to get hold of this Supreme Saint Fruit. Then, he immediately sent it to Qiankun Realm and soaked it in the Spring of Life.
As he expected, the Supreme Saint Fruit didn’t decay, melt, nor evaporate after being nourished by Spring of Life.
Then, Zhang Ruochen took a few more Supreme Saint Fruits, and also preserved those in the Spring of Life.
He didn’t need them himself, but he could give them to others.
Of course, these Supreme Saint Fruits were the Zhang clan’s heritage, so he couldn’t take too many.
After bowing respectfully to the ancestral graves three times, Zhang Ruochen turned around and walked out of the gravesite.
“Zhang Ruochen, there is a Communication talisman for you. I just took it from outside of Royal Mountain,” the old man appeared out of thin air and handed a Communication talisman to Zhang Ruochen with a smile.
Zhang Ruochen’s heart skipped a beat. He had a vague guess so he reached out to take it hurriedly and checked it carefully.
The old man asked, “Who is this Nalan Danqing? What does he look like? What’s your relationship with him?”
“I don’t think this has anything to do with you?”
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen left the gravesite.
The old man curled his lip, “How rude. I won’t lower myself to your level.”
After leaving the gravesite, Zhang Ruochen brought the Azure Dragon, who had just preliminary refined Dragonvine, together with him and left Royal Mountain as quickly as possible.
The Communication talisman was sent by Divine Scripture Maiden. It told him that Great Prince Mara of Rakshasa had entered Kunlun Realm again and had arrived in Eastern Region. His destination was Luoshui. The reason was unknown.
“He actually came to us. Are all Rakshasa cultivators so conceited?” Zhang Ruochen felt that there was something strange about this, but he paid no more attention to it.
With Zhang Ruochen’s current cultivation, even if Yan Wushen came, he might not be able to win.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. No matter how powerful Great Prince Mara was or how many cultivators he brought, he had to die this time.