Ao Xinyan shook her head and sighed with a struggling look. Obviously, she could not accept her failure.
She had always been highly praised as the best Genius. It was incredibly painful to taste failure for the first time. She even doubted her strength.
Zhang Ruochen did not say anything more.
There was something wrong with Ao Xinyan’s mindset, and she had to overcome it herself. When it was all said and done, there was nothing else Zhang Ruochen could do. It was up to her to vanquish her inner devil.
If she could walk away from the shadow of failure, her Heart State and Martial Arts would surely scale new heights
However, if she could not step out of the shadow, the speed of her next cultivation would certainly be slowed down. What’s worse, she might not be able to reach the Fish-dragon Realm.
Suddenly, a sound came out just as Zhang Ruochen was about to leave, “Hold on.”
Zhang Ruochen turned and looked where the words came from. The man who had been standing by Xu Hai before came to him.
The man looked rather mature. He was tall and thin, and seemed to be in a poor mood. He faced Zhang Ruochen and said, “Junior fellow apprentice Zhang, my name is Pei Ji. I also want to try your sword techniques.”
“Pei Ji, such a familiar name, you’re 41st on the Heaven Board, aren’t you? The Bloody Butcher?” Zhang Ruochen was slightly surprised.
“That’s me,” the man answered.
Zhang Ruochen carefully scrutinized Pei Ji. He had trouble associating the man before him with the “Bloody Butcher”. He looked more like a weak scholar.
Pei Ji, had earned an illustrious prestige in the Eastern Region, for making it as the 41st master on the Heaven Board.
Like Xu Hai, Pei Ji was also a returning student. He had been practicing in the Saint Academy for 10 years.
Even Ao Xinyan, who stood to the side in a daze, was shocked. She did not expect that Pei Ji, such a master who had been famous for years, would take the initiative to challenge a new generation Saint.
“Although Zhang Ruochen is very strong, he could never match a top master like Pei Ji.”
Ao Xinyan strongly suspected that Zhang Ruochen could be a match for Pei Ji.
There was a hint of complacency in Xi Yunxi’s eyes. “Xu Hai even sent for Pei Ji. Zhang Ruochen is going to have a rough time!”
“Within the boundaries of the Eastern Region, there are only a few people under the Fish-dragon Realm who can rival Pei Ji. Zhang Ruochen is nothing,” Zuo Qiuling concurred. He stood by, ready to watch with his arms crossed.
SWISH!
Behind Pei Ji, an illusory image of a scarlet demon began to form. It was about ten meters high and had three heads and six arms. Each of the heads began to roar, suddenly forming a fierce Fengxuan.
It was not Pei Ji’s Martial Soul, but a Ghost Level martial technique, the Blood-devil Image.
During the competition between Zhang Ruochen and Ao Xinyan, Pei Ji had seen that Zhang Ruochen’s Achilles’ heel was that he had not practiced Ghost Level martial techniques.
No matter how exquisitely the martial techniques of Superior class Spiritual Stage were performed, they were not comparable to those of Ghost Level. Once Zhang Ruochen encountered a real superior, he would suffer considerably.
And Pei Ji, obviously, was a real superior.
“Blood-devil Image, Destruction of All Living Creatures!” Pei Ji shouted.
He stood in the distance, twisting his back and raising his arms. He struck a blow in the air with all his bones humming.
The Blood-devil Image, guided by his power, threw a huge scarlet punch. It was like a blood cloud sweeping towards Zhang Ruochen.
Though the force of the punch hadn’t arrived yet, a hurricane was already sweeping through. It was so violent, it seemed like it would blow Zhang Ruochen away.
SWOOSH!
Suddenly, Nie Honglou flew in from afar and landed in front of Zhang Ruochen. He quickly stretched out his right arm and let out an energetic growl, “Break!”
The Blood-devil Image was instantly shattered by a powerful force. It turned into wisps of blood fog and returned into Pei Ji.
Pei Ji could not help but retreat 14 steps before barely steadying himself. He stared at Nie Honglou and said in a cold voice, “Who are you?”
Meanwhile, Xu Hai walked toward Nie Honglou. “Sir, your cultivation is powerful. But even so, you shouldn’t intervene in this matter. It won’t do you any good.”
Nie Honglou’s lips curved, “What a shame! Senior Saints fighting with a new one; the big, strong and numerous bullying the small, weak and solitary. I’m certainly going to help him.”
Xu Hai laughed, “Pei Ji and Zhang Ruochen are both in the Heaven Realm. Why not?”
“Pei Ji entered the Saint Academy 10 years ago. He is nearly 50. Zhang Ruochen, on the other hand, just entered today and is only 20. Such a clean match!” Nie Honglou answered in utter scorn.
“Mind your own business.”
Xu Hai’s eyes were suddenly covered with a cold fury. He took out the two swords on his back and mobilized his Genuine Qi into blades.
The two combat swords contained different power; one emitted a glow of a flame and the other sent out a freezing Icing air. These two forces combined to form a giant sword technique circle aimed at Nie Honglou.
Xu Hai had broken through the warriors’ limit and reached the First Change of the Fish-dragon Realm, Innate Embryonic Breath.
The sword technique he was performing was of the Inferior Class Ghost Level. However, the power it carried was more powerful than Ao Xinyan’s sword technique.
This did not mean the Sky sword techniques could never measure up to those Xu Hai performed, but her cultivation was not as strong as his.
Sword techniques of the same Inferior Class Ghost Level were different based on the performers’ cultivation.
Nie Honglou shook his head gently and reached out his glossy hand. He mobilized his Genuine Qi and then shot it out.
BOOM!
Xu Hai spat out a mouthful of blood and hurtled backwards.
With a bang he fell more than 33 meters away. His whole body in was in pain.
His skin even cracked, bursting out more than a dozen long cuts. If Nie Honglou had attacked just a little bit harder, he might have been crushed.
Pei Ji, Xi Yunxi, and Zuo Qiuling all changed their faces and stared at Nie Honglou with shock.
They had no idea of Nie Honglou’s strength, but they did know Xu Hai’s.
Xu Hai had entered the top 100 on the Heaven Board when he was still in the Heaven Realm. Now that he had broken into the Fish-dragon Realm, his cultivation must have been even more unfathomable.
However, Nie Honglou had just defeated him. Easily.
It was too difficult to guess the upper limit of his strength.
Nie Honglou withdrew his hand and stared at Xu Hai, who was trembling and twisting on the ground. “You are not qualified to fight with me. Unless the Saintly Being of Saint Xu Gentry releases himself from refining, you’d better restrain yourselves. Next time, I won’t let you go.”
“You… who the hell are you?” Xu Hai struggled to his feet with both hands supporting the ground.
“Nie Honglou.” He responded.
Nie Honglou and Zhang Ruochen turned and left.
“Nie Honglou… Nie Honglou… Is it him?”
Pei Ji grew pale. He turned and made eye contact with Xu Hai.
Xu Hai nodded with one hand on his chest. “In view of such a powerful strength, it must be him! He was one of the last Saints. 20 years ago, even though he was the youngest Saint in the first group of Sword Technique Department, he could already rank in the top 10 of the first group. It’s said that he left the Saint Academy over a disagreement with the Group Leader. I can’t believe he’s back!”
Xi Yunxi asked, “Elder brother Xu, what should we do now? If Nie Honglou is helping him, no one in Saint Academy can take Zhang Ruochen down.”
“There is nothing to worry about,” he replied. “The Saintly Being of our Saint Xu Gentry is going to release himself from refining. By then, even 10 Nie Honglou will fail to protect Zhang Ruchen. For now, even if we cannot kill Zhang Ruochen, we can humiliate him severely. At that time, what qualification will he have to compete for the Young Master position?”
“That’s great!” Pei Ji said. “I heard that the Saintly Being of Saint Xu Gentry is secluding himself for refining, trying to attain the Ninth Change in the Fish-dragon Realm. Once he succeeds, he will definitely be invincible among Saints.”
“Xi Yunxi, Zuo Qiuling, you two keep monitoring Zhang Ruochen’s every move.” Xu Hai added, with gloomy seriousness, “I assume that Zhang Ruochen will surely go to the Battlefield of the Primitive World and strive for the Ultimate Realm of the Heaven Realm. If we can take this opportunity to eliminate him, why even bother the Saintly Being?” #
Xi Yunxi and Zuo Qiuling nodded and left immediately.
Zhang Ruochen left Saint Mountain for the Pavilion of Book Collection in the Saint Academy.
Instead of joining him, Nie Honglou went to visit some old friends in the Saint Academy.
They parted temporarily.
The Pavilion of Book Collection was built underground as an inverted tower. It had 13 floors.
The Pavilion of Book Collection had a long history and various books. Its countless collections included books on multifarious materials, such as bones, iron rolls, Jade Books, bamboo slips, and so on.
Rare books such as ones about exercises, unique martial techniques, a Catalogue of Arrays, methods of controlling beasts, human geography, all could be found here.
Zhang Ruochen did not come here for these rare exercises books or unique martial techniques, but for books about the Primitive World.
This kind of book was filed under Human Geography on the first floor of the Pavilion.
There were many new Saints in the Pavilion of Book Collection with a strong desire for knowledge.
However, they were looking for books on unique martial techniques. Most of them went directly to the second or third floor. Only a few would stop on the first floor.
After all, books here were mostly about basic knowledge.
There was the Ten Forbidden Areas of Kunlun’s Field , the Collection of Overseas Islands, the Eight Sacred Earth Aristocratic Families in the Middle Ages in the Eastern Region , and so on.
Zhang Ruochen searched for about an hour and finally found a copy of the Brief of the Three-thousand Primitive Worlds.
The book was quite thick, and the text was very small. If you did not infuse Genuine Qi into your eyes beforehand, you could only see black dots on the pages.
Obviously, the predecessor who wrote this book was also an outstanding master.