“If you answer my questions honestly, I can let you live on account of the fact that we are all humans.”
The reason why Zhang Ruochen said this was not to swindle the two Market Realm natives, but he really intended to spare them.
Why was it that only natives with Earth Extremity Realm Grand Circle Cultivation or above could be counted for the Advancement Merit Value?
It was precisely because, Empress Chi Yao’s will was to rule over the major market realms, not to kill on a large scale.
Zhang Ruochen was actually averse to extermination and slaughter, and being able to reduce the killing was certainly the best situation.
As long as the topmost batch of experts in a Ruins Realm were killed, the First Central Empire would naturally be able to easily take over the Ruins Realm, rule the natives in the Ruins Realm, and establish a new civilisation.
Therefore, if the natives of the Ruins Realm were willing to submit on their own initiative, it would actually be possible to avoid some unnecessary killings.
Of course, that was impossible, no one would be willing to be ruled by people from foreign worlds, and would definitely rise up and fight back, starting a blood-soaked war, and the competition would be who had the bigger fist.
In fact, the natives of the major market realms called the martial artists of the Kunlun Realm “Extraterrestrial Evil Devils”, and it was impossible for them to submit to the Kunlun Realm.
The Five Elements Market Realm was a market realm that had only just been discovered, and the natives here didn’t know that there were other worlds, much less that Zhang Ruochen came from another world.
“Haha!”
Upon hearing Zhang Ruochen’s words, both of those two natives let out a loud laugh, as if they had heard the funniest joke.
The two of them were the disciples of Grand Master Long Ze, and in the Five Elements Continent, only other people were afraid of them, and it was the first time that they had actually encountered someone who actually said that they would let them live.
If they hadn’t seen that Zhang Ruochen was able to break into the hinterland of the Demon Ape Ridge all by himself, and seemed to really have some skills, they would definitely have thought that Zhang Ruochen wasn’t very sick.
That one man wearing a green robe laughed, ”Kid, could it be that you really don’t know the identities of the two of us? Do you even know where you are now and who you are talking to?”
Zhang Ruochen said in a serious manner, “I don’t know. So, was about to question you guys.”
“Then I’ll tell you now, this place is called the Devil Ape Ridge, located at the border of the Gilded Federation. The owner of the Devil Ape Ridge is Archmage Longze. The two of us, we are the disciples of Archmage Long Ze, even if it’s a noble of the Gilt Federation, when they see us, they wouldn’t dare to be as unbridled as you.”The man with the green robes proudly said.
Being able to become a disciple of Archmage Longze was indeed something to be proud of.
Zhang Ruochen nodded, a picture of thoughtfulness, and asked again, “In the Five Elements Market Realm, how many Commonwealths are there in total? For each federation, roughly how many people are there, and how big is the frontier territory?”
The man in the yellow robes, sort of heard out that the other party was actually asking them in a condescending tone, really crazy enough.
The man in yellow robes smiled coldly and said, “Kid, you really think of yourself as a big shot, I’d like to see how much skill you really have?”
“Earth Stone Beast.”
The man with the yellow robes, sent a force from his body, into the Crystal God Staff, his arm lifted, and then fell violently, striking the Crystal God Staff on the ground.
With a loud boom, the ground, cracked open with a thin gap.
Pieces of stone, flew out from the gaps in the ground and collided together, coalescing into a six-metre tall beast.
Zhang Ruochen watched very carefully, the yellow-robed man was injecting a power similar to true qi from his body into the Crystal God Staff, transforming it into another kind of origin power that could mobilise the power of the ‘earth’ attribute of the Five Elements Ruins Realm.
The cultivation method of the Five Elements Market Realm was still somewhat backward, and could not be compared to the Kunlun Realm at all.
However, the strength of the yellow-robed man was quite powerful, comparable to a martial artist at the early stage of the Heavenly Extremity Realm, and was definitely considered a top expert in the Five Elements Ruins Realm.
“Rumble!”
The Earth Stone Beast’s hooves stomped, and the ground shook as it charged towards Zhang Ruochen.
The yellow-robed man revealed a smug expression, already imagining the image of Zhang Ruochen being stepped into bloody mud by the Earth Stone Beast, it was really something to look forward to.
Zhang Ruochen did not dodge and stood still.
Just as the stone beast rushed to a position only three metres away from him, his right palm, lightning-like, slapped out. With a bang, the huge stone beast, cracked by the palm force, turned into a fist-sized piece of stone.
Without waiting for the yellow-robed man to continue striking, Zhang Ruochen’s feet moved and disappeared from the spot.
“How did this happen? Where did the person go?”
The yellow-robed man was shocked, not expecting that one young man to be so powerful that he could shatter the stone beast with just a single palm.
“Swish!”
Zhang Ruochen reappeared and appeared on the yellow-robed man’s left side.
The yellow-robed man hurriedly swung his Crystal God Staff, preparing to strike a second time.
Zhang Ruochen simply reached out with his arm and snatched the Crystal God Staff away, mobilising his spiritual power and starting to investigate the Crystal God Staff.
The yellow-robed man froze for a moment as his hands were empty, and before he could react, Zhang Ruochen struck out with a palm strike, hitting him in the chest and sending him flying.
“Pfft!”
The yellow-robed man’s ribs, three of which were broken, spat out blood as he flew backwards, slamming into the top of the cliff wall at the mouth of the valley, dropping a piece of broken stone.
“How dare you hurt my senior brother, die for me.”
That one green-robed man gripped the Crystal Divine Staff with both hands and struck the staff on the ground, with the staff as the centre, a greenish light rushed out in all directions.
“Hundred Years Thorn Long Vine.”
With a wow sound, a black vine, one metre thick in diameter, grew out of the ground on the left and right sides of the green-robed man, and shot up into the sky.
The two vines, transforming into two long thorn dragons full of spikes, twined towards Zhang Ruochen.
“Wood attribute power.”
Zhang Ruochen mobilised his true qi, converging it towards the meridians of his two hands, and his arms stretched out, and the pinkies of his left and right hands, struck out at the same time.
“Wow!”
The two sword waves, carrying the powerful force of sword qi, churned the two black vines into pieces of wood shavings.
Afterwards, Zhang Ruochen cupped the Crystal Divine Staff in one hand and struck out a palm through the air with his other hand, his true qi condensing into a huge palm print that struck the green-robed man’s chest, sending that one of the green-robed men flying out as well, suffering a heavy blow.
The yellow-robed man and the green-robed man slumped to the ground, struggling to stand up, their hearts fearful to the extreme, apart from their master, Grand Master Long Ze, it was the first time they had encountered such a powerful enemy.
Moreover, he was still so young, and without using the Crystal God Staff, he was already so powerful.
If he were to use the Crystal God Staff, what more could he do?
“It turns out that the Crystal God Staff is only used to transform power and communicate the Five Elements Mana of the Five Elements Market Realm.”
Zhang Ruochen put away his spiritual power and gently shook his head, losing interest and throwing that one Crystal God Staff on the ground.
The Crystal God Staff, which was worth a fortune in the Five Elements Continent, was not as good as a seventh rank True Martial Treasure in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes.
“What a formidable strength, to easily defeat two of my favoured disciples, may I ask who your Excellency is?”
An old voice rang out from the deep valley filled with miasma.
Zhang Ruochen carried his hands behind his back as he looked in the direction of the deep valley and said, “You’re Grand Master Longze? Why do you need to play God, why don’t you come out and show yourself?”
“Jie Jie! Young man, your strength is indeed very strong, it’s just a pity that you are too arrogant, I will let you know what it means that there is a sky beyond the sky and a man beyond the man.”
“Swish!”
A black shadow, shot up from the ground like a stream of light, landing on the top of the cliff on the left side of the valley.
It was an old man wearing a long black robe, with only a pair of dry arms exposed, which took on a yellowish-brown colour and were full of wrinkles.
In his right hand, he cupped a crystal divine staff, and at the top of the staff was set a skull.
Zhang Ruochen was able to clearly sense that inside the skull, it seemed to be nurturing a huge Yin cold power, causing his skin to shrink slightly and feel a coolness.
Just as Archmage Longze raised the Crystal Divine Staff, the aura between the entire heaven and earth trembled violently. That force of yin and cold became even more intense.
In the mountains and forests, a fierce wind was blowing.
Above the dome of the sky, flakes of snow drifted down.
Archmage Longze’s voice was hoarse, as if a harsh ghost was whistling longingly as he spat out four words, “Xuanji Ice Dragon.”
The Crystal God Staff, pointed forwards.
“Wow!”
A cold aura, coalescing with each other, emitted a dragon’s roar, transforming into a gigantic ice crystal dragon, with a dragon’s head, body, scales, and claws, gradually revealing itself.
Seeing such a shocking sight, the green-robed man and the yellow-robed man who had been severely injured by Zhang Ruochen earlier both rose from the ground and knelt on the ground, bowing down to Archmage Longze unceasingly as if they were worshipping a divine being.
Such a powerful force, what was it if it wasn’t divine?
“Venerable Master Longze, divine power. In the Five Elements Continent, who can compete with you?”
The two men revered Archmage Longze to the extreme, in their eyes, Archmage Longze was synonymous with invincibility.
Archmage Longze’s strength was, indeed, very powerful, more powerful than many Heavenly Extremity Realm Grand Circle martial artists.
However, he hadn’t reached the level of the Fish Dragon Realm, and his overall strength, was a shade worse than the weakest Heavenly Ranking martial artists.
“It’s just right to borrow him for some practice.”
Zhang Ruochen decided not to use the power of his spiritual force and martial soul for now, and used the battle to test his strength, and wondered if he could compete with a strong person like Archmage Longze?
“A Thousand Fathoms of Prairie Fire.”
Zhang Ruochen released the Green Void True Qi within his body, and it immediately triggered a heaven and earth vision.
The aura of heaven and earth, transformed into flames, forming a green-coloured flame that was suspended in the void.
A radius of a thousand feet was like turning into a furnace of flames, instantly burning grass and trees into flying ash. The cold and icy Qi condensed by Archmage Long Ze was constantly dissipating under the impact of the “Thousand Feet Prairie Fire”.
The yellow-robed man and the green-robed man had already fled a thousand feet away, their whole bodies were trembling, their hearts were very fearful, they didn’t think that that one young man would have such terrifying strength.
Archmage Long Ze also revealed a shocked expression as he said, “Could you be that one thousand year old wizard cultivated by the Sacred Flame Hall?”
It was rumoured that the Sacred Fire Hall had given birth to a once-in-a-thousand-years exceptional talent who had already cultivated the Sacred Fire Scripture to the seventh layer at a young age.
Originally, Grand Venerable Long Ze did not believe it, but when he saw Zhang Ruochen, he believed it for a few moments, thinking that Zhang Ruochen was that one wunderkind from the Sacred Fire Hall.
