“I understand that, but other than waiting, there’s nothing we can do given the current situation!” Sovereign Chen Yong replied helplessly as he pushed an incoming Ancient Sage away with a powerful thrust of his two palms.
He wanted to kill that fellow as well, but once the ritual had started, there was no stopping it. Otherwise, that would be viewed as an act of undermining the god, and it could incur the rage of the divinity.
With their strength combined, they might still stand a chance against the recovered Sovereign Chen Ling. However, against a god, the only possible fate that lay before them was death.
“All we can do for now is kill all of these Ancient Sages or render them powerless. That way, even if Sovereign Chen Ling does make a full recovery, he will be completely alone. We will stand a greater chance at victory then,” Sovereign Chen Yong said.
“I understand.” Zhang Xuan nodded.
Indeed. This was the best that they could do at the moment.
As long as Sovereign Chen Ling did not achieve a breakthrough from the Blood Reincarnation realm after the ritual, with the combined prowess of he, Ancient Sage Allfire, Ancient Sage Mo Ling, and the Dragonbone Divine Spear, they might still stand a good chance at victory.
Hula!
While the two of them were chatting, an Otherworldly Demon Ancient Sage charged toward Zhang Xuan.
The weapon that this Ancient Sage wielded was a Judge’s Pen1. It was an Ancient Sage artifact, too. Piercing through the air, the devastating might that it wielded created the illusion that the heavens and the earth had been flipped over, and an excruciating pain clawed at Zhang Xuan’s soul.
It seemed like the Ancient Sage could also tell that Zhang Xuan’s cultivation was severely lacking, and the only reason that he was able to participate in this battle was due to the formidable prowess of the spear in his grasp. Thus, the Ancient Sage decided to use soul arts to bypass the might of the Dragonbone Divine Spear and kill him.
Ultimately, the Dragonbone Divine Spear was a weapon that specialized in physical assault. It could defend against physical attacks, but there was very little it could do when it came to soul attacks.
Just as the Ancient Sage hoped, Zhang Xuan suddenly found himself plagued with vertigo.
His soul energy was unmatched by those of his cultivation realm, but it was still beyond his means to deal with a soul attack coming from an Ancient Sage and augmented using an Ancient Sage artifact.
“Hehehe!”
Seeing that his strategy worked, the Otherworldly Demon Ancient Sage raised the Judge’s Pen in his hand and flicked it once more.
“Guild leader!”
Seeing that Zhang Xuan was in a terrible position, Ancient Sage Mo Ling attempted to rush over to offer his support. However, the next instant, attacks suddenly rained down on him one after another, pinning him firmly in place. It seemed like the Ancient Sage that he was facing had sensed his intentions to back up his comrade, so the other party had decisively launched a series of powerful attacks to hold him down.
The same was happening to Sovereign Chen Yong and the others.
They had all seen how Zhang Xuan had managed to kill their comrade with the spear in his hand, and they knew how frightening an opponent he was. Thus, they had decided to coordinate with one another to end his life.
“Die!”
Knowing his allies would not be able to hold Sovereign Chen Yong and the others down for too long, the Ancient Sage sneered coldly as he raised his palm to crush Zhang Xuan’s skull.
This was a strike that harnessed the strength to utterly crush one’s body and soul. Even if Zhang Xuan had assimilated the blood of a Blood Reincarnation realm Ancient Sage, there was little hope that he would survive the blow.
“Young Master!”
“Guild leader!”
“Master!”
The three Ancient Sages narrowed their eyes in horror. They wanted to charge forward to save him, but they found themselves utterly helpless in the situation.
Just as they thought that Zhang Xuan would really meet his end, a smile suddenly crept onto the lips of the young man. Following which, the spear in his grasp suddenly surged forward.
Puhe!
Before anyone could process what was going on, the Ancient Sage’s heart had already been impaled by the Dragonbone Divine Spear. The devastating might that he had gathered in his palm dissipated without causing the slightest damage.
Hula!
Fresh blood spluttered here and there.
Whipping out the jade bottles in his storage ring, Zhang Xuan hurriedly collected whatever blood was scattered around.
“…”
Everyone was stunned. Even the Otherworldly Demon tasked with stopping Zhang Xuan was dumbstruck.
It was through the Dragonbone Divine Spear that the Great Sage young man wielded the strength to stand against Blood Reincarnation realm experts like them. Under normal circumstances, he should have been a goner for allowing a Blood Reincarnation realm expert to get into such close proximity to him. Yet, how did the spear end up piercing through the other party’s body?
Was the earlier vertigo feigned?
“That was a close one…”
Meanwhile, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief as he quickly harvested the fresh blood of the slain Ancient Sage.
He had truly been caught off guard by the other party’s soul attack, but due to the Stone of Divine Crusade that he had obtained from the Temple of Confucius, he had managed to recover swiftly.
He had bestowed the Seal of Souls to Lu Chong, but he had chosen to keep the Stone of Divine Crusade with him.
The Stone of Divine Crusade had the ability to devour souls and transform them into pure soul energy to nourish one’s soul. Typically speaking, given the prowess of the Ancient Sage’s soul attack, he would indeed have been unable to recover in time. However, through absorbing the soul energy using the Stone of Divine Crusade, he had been able to swiftly calm his jolted soul.
After killing the Ancient Sage and harvesting his blood, Zhang Xuan took the Judge’s Pen and threw it into his storage ring before whipping out the Stone of Divine Crusade with a flick of his wrist.
Even without the Stone of Divine Crusade, he would have been fine as he still had Vicious serving as his final trump card. Nevertheless, it was still best for him to retain Vicious till he was truly needed.
Lowering his head to look at the Stone of Divine Crusade, he noticed that there was a slight difference with the artifact. It was emanating a faint blue light.
Activating the Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan swiftly saw innumerable powerful auras drifting within the Stone of Divine Crusades. When he placed his palm on it, he immediately felt a surge of warmth flowing into his soul, as if he had stepped into a hot spring.
“This is concentrated soul energy?” Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.
As a soul oracle, he could tell that what was harnessed within the Stone of Divine Crusade was pure soul energy. Through absorbing this soul energy, one would be able to nourish and enhance one’s soul.
He clearly remembered that there had been hardly anything left in the Stone of Divine Crusade the last time he had left it there. Why would there suddenly be such a huge amount of soul energy within it?
“Could it be…”
A thought suddenly surfaced in Zhang Xuan’s mind. He quickly took a closer look around the Stone of Divine Crusade, and he noticed many thin lines slowly gathering around it.
“The souls of the 100,000 Saint cultivators that Sovereign Chen Ling sacrificed have all been devoured by the Stone of Divine Crusade…”
How could Zhang Xuan still remain oblivious to what was going on after seeing that?
Just like the Seal of Souls, the Stone of Divine Crusade had the ability to devour souls and refine them into concentrated soul energy. Such an ability was deemed abominable by orthodox cultivators, so it had been banned on the Master Teacher Continent. It was also partly due to this that soul oracles were deeply hated and feared by the populace.
As a master teacher, Zhang Xuan would not resort to such a technique to raise his cultivation, but who could have known that after Sovereign Chen Ling killed so many of their tribesmen, their souls would inexplicably be consumed by the Stone of Divine Crusade?
With so much soul energy, I should be able to push for a breakthrough to Ancient Sage… Zhang Xuan thought in agitation.
The idea of using the Stone of Divine Crusade to devour the souls of others was abominable to him, but what was done was done. It happened that he was in dire need of strength, and the concentrated soul energy within the Stone of Divine Crusade was what he needed.
His soul cultivation had long reached Sempiternal realm consummation, and with so much soul energy as sustenance, he could try pushing for a breakthrough to the level that countless dreamed of reaching!
“Let me give it a try!”
Taking in a deep breath, Zhang Xuan instructed the Dragonbone Divine Spear and Vicious to protect his body while he drew his soul out of his glabella.
Tzzzzz!
As soon as his soul came into contact with the Stone of Divine Crusade, the nourishing soul energy within the latter immediately poured into his soul. In an instant, his stagnated soul cultivation began surging forth.
“Something’s wrong… I haven’t obtained the soul cultivation technique required for me to achieve a breakthrough to Ancient Sage yet!”
Sensing his soul growing larger and larger, to the point that it seemed as if it would pop at any moment, Zhang Xuan’s lips twitched in horror.
Too excited over the notion of a breakthrough, he had forgotten that the only Ancient Sage breakthrough methods that he knew of were for zhenqi cultivation. As for those relating to soul cultivation, he had not even read a single book at all!
He had no idea what steps one had to take in order to achieve a breakthrough and what one would experience in the process!
Zhang Xuan immediately turned to Ancient Sage Mo Ling and asked, “Ancient Sage Mo Ling, do you have any manuals or insights relating to soul oracles achieving a breakthrough to Ancient Sage? Pass me everything you’ve got!”
