Chapter 455 - 431: Harvest and Breakthrough

Chapter 455: Chapter 431: Harvest and Breakthrough

"Pathetic tricks. Break!"

But Zhang Chi just sneered. With a slight tremor, he instantly broke free of the restraint. He then raised his hand and threw a punch, unleashing a fist projection woven with lightning and fire to meet the attack.

BOOM!

An explosive thunderclap rang out as a dazzling light erupted violently.

The dragon-shaped fist projection shattered instantly, and Zhang Chi was sent flying backward at the same moment.

However, he was merely dispelling the force and hadn’t sustained any injuries.

This was because, firstly, his physical body and Cultivation were powerful enough, and secondly, he was protected by a Spirit Treasure.

Meanwhile, the Sword Array had already resumed its operation. It unleashed a massive, thousand-zhang-long beam of Sword Light that ruthlessly slashed down upon the Third Prince.

The force protecting the Third Prince was shattered in an instant. Then, as expected, his Primordial Spirit was obliterated by the Sword Light. Even the Golden Dragon Banner and the Spirit Treasure Robe were struck, their brilliance dimming.

Afterward, the Sword Light coiled around the Third Prince’s Primordial Spirit fragments and his Spirit Treasures, collecting them as spoils of war within the Supreme Profound Immortal Mansion.

With that, the Great Qian Ancestor’s rescue attempt had utterly failed.

"Damn it, junior! I’ll remember you!"

"Zhang Chi, just you wait! You may have killed me this time, but I have a way to resurrect. Just wait for my revenge!"

The Great Qian Ancestor’s voice was filled with rage, but the Third Prince’s was utterly venomous. As he spoke, his Primordial Spirit fragments completely disintegrated into energy, a clear sign he had used some kind of Substitute Death Skill or treasure.

Evidently, as a Prince of Great Qian, he wasn’t so easily killed for good.

"Heh, is that so? Then I’ll be waiting. If I can kill you once, I can kill you a second time!"

However, Zhang Chi was neither surprised nor concerned by this.

Besides, even if his opponent was still alive, he must have suffered immense losses from this failure. Treasures like the Golden Dragon Banner, and even the energy contained within his Primordial Spirit, had all become Zhang Chi’s spoils.

In the next moment, the scene finally fell silent. Even the Great Qian Ancestor said no more.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang is magnificent!" "All hail the Celestial Monarch!"

After a moment of stunned silence, countless Cultivators erupted in cheers, every one of them filled with adoration for Zhang Chi.

"Junior Brother Zhang, are you alright?"

Amid their elation, Xiahou Jiao and the other Divinity Transformation Cultivators couldn’t help but worry about Zhang Chi’s condition.

After all, burning one’s Primordial Spirit, under normal circumstances, would certainly have severe repercussions.

"It’s nothing. I’ll be fine after a little rest. It’s just a shame I couldn’t ultimately force him to submit. Otherwise, we could have made the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty share the Ascension Passage."

Zhang Chi reined in his aura. He had already stopped burning his Primordial Spirit and returned to his body.

Furthermore, he clearly wasn’t very worried about his own condition.

"*Sigh*... As long as it’s nothing major. Later, we’ll gather some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for you. It should help your injuries a bit. As for whether you could have made him submit, it really wouldn’t have made a difference, so don’t dwell on it."

Xiahou Jiao said with a sigh.

The other Divinity Transformation Cultivators also wore expressions of pity.

Clearly, they didn’t believe that Zhang Chi would actually be alright.

They even believed that after this battle, he would surely suffer severe consequences. His once-limitless future would be gone, his Primordial Spirit permanently weakened, and even his maximum Lifespan would be drastically reduced.

"That’s right. The Great Qian Immortal Dynasty would never share the Ascension Passage for a single Prince. But they suffered immense losses this time. The Great Qian Immortal Dynasty’s overall combat power must be greatly weakened, so it will be much easier for us to join forces against Great Qian now."

"Indeed. Fellow Daoist Zhang, you have performed a great merit this time. We will certainly not treat you poorly."

The three Palace Masters and the other Divinity Transformation Cultivators all spoke up. They didn’t show the slightest disrespect toward Zhang Chi because of his supposed "weakening." In fact, they were filled with gratitude and admiration for him—at least, that was the case for the moment.

"Haha, good! Then I thank you all for your concern!"

Zhang Chi knew they had misunderstood, but he couldn’t very well explain.

’After all, the Jade Pendant is my greatest secret. I can’t possibly reveal it to anyone.’

’Besides, it’s not a bad thing to take this opportunity to get some special treatment.’

’In any case, I truly did perform a great service this time. I deserve some preferential treatment.’

Afterward, seeing that Zhang Chi seemed fine on the surface, the celebration continued.

Later, Zhang Chi proceeded with the original plan and gave a lecture on the Dao, which lasted for three full months.

Countless Cultivators benefited from it and were immensely grateful to him. Combined with his previous, world-shaking battle, Zhang Chi’s prestige soared to an unprecedented height.

Initially, the Divinity Transformation Cultivators were somewhat nervous, fearing that Great Qian would soon return in force.

Thus, they all prepared for battle.

But even by the time the celebration ended, there was still no movement from the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty.

Even Great Qian’s offensive against the Xingluo Sea came to a halt.

It wasn’t until later that the Divinity Transformation Cultivators learned the truth. The Great Qian Immortal Dynasty’s losses had been too great. Although they still had more Divinity Transformation Cultivators than Zhang Chi’s faction, they no longer possessed an overwhelming advantage.

Because of this, the upper echelons of the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty had promptly halted their expansion.

At the same time, while the Great Qian Ancestor was immensely powerful, he wasn’t confident he could kill Zhang Chi, who was now under the heavy protection of the Six Great Powers of the Ancient Wilderness Snowfield. Thus, he could only set aside his grudge for the time being.

As for the Third Prince of Great Qian, he had indeed resurrected, or rather, he had activated a second Primordial Spirit.

However, even though he hadn’t died, he had personally suffered enormous losses, and his strength was severely diminished.

Furthermore, because his reckless actions had created an unfavorable situation for the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty, he was severely punished by the high-ranking members of the Royal Family.

He no longer held the same great power and influence, nor did he command as many subordinates as before.

Therefore, it was even less likely that he would come seeking revenge on Zhang Chi, at least not in the near future.

The Six Great Powers of the Ancient Wilderness Snowfield and the Xingluo Sea were pleased with this development and seized the opportunity to rest and recuperate. After the celebration ended, Zhang Chi returned to Snow Peak Temple and began his Cultivation in Seclusion.

’I thought that by becoming a Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch, I would be invincible in this realm. But it seems I’m still a bit lacking! At the very least, the Great Qian Ancestor’s combat power is definitely greater than mine!’

At this moment, inside the Supreme Profound Immortal Mansion, Zhang Chi sat silently on the White Jade Bed, reviewing the previous battle in his mind.

’I’m still not strong enough,’ Zhang Chi realized. ’I must cultivate even harder from now on.’

Before that, however, Zhang Chi first took out all his recent spoils of war to inspect and sort through them.

First were the numerous Spirit Treasures. Aside from the Middle Grade Spirit Treasure Golden Dragon Banner, the rest were all Low Grade. Although they were priceless, Zhang Chi tossed them directly into the Thunderfire Divine Furnace to be used to strengthen the Supreme Profound Immortal Mansion.

This act so frightened the Golden Dragon Banner’s Artifact Spirit that it took the initiative to appear and pledge its submission to Zhang Chi.

After absorbing the numerous Spirit Treasures, the quality of the Supreme Profound Immortal Mansion improved significantly. While it still wasn’t an Upper Grade treasure, it had taken a huge step closer.

Compared to before, all aspects of the Supreme Profound Immortal Mansion’s powers had grown stronger.

If it were to face an attack from the Golden Dragon Banner as wielded by the Third Prince now, its defenses would certainly not be breached so quickly.

Besides the Spirit Treasures, there were the Storage Rings, which nearly every Divinity Transformation Cultivator possessed.

Moreover, these Storage Rings all contained some incredibly precious Tier Five Cultivation Materials.

This was especially true for the Third Prince, whose personal wealth was astonishingly vast—several times greater than Zhang Chi’s own.

But now, all of that wealth belonged to Zhang Chi.

Combined with the considerable materials provided by Xiahou Jiao and the other Divinity Transformation Cultivators, Zhang Chi now had enough resources to cultivate extravagantly for a much longer time.

Finally, there were the Primordial Spirits of these cultivators, which were the greatest prize of all.

Zhang Chi directly performed a Soul Search on these Primordial Spirits, immediately obtaining a massive amount of information, including Cultivation Techniques, Divine Techniques, Cultivation Knowledge, and general intelligence.

Furthermore, Zhang Chi also acquired a good deal of information regarding Spatial Nodes.

The only regret was the Third Prince. By using the Substitute Death Skill, he had destroyed all the information within his Primordial Spirit. Otherwise, Zhang Chi’s gains would have been even greater; he might have even obtained the Great Qian Dragon Fist technique.

Afterward, Zhang Chi purified these Primordial Spirits and refined them all into Elixirs.

This Pill was called the Divine Essence Pill, and its effects far surpassed those of ordinary Tier Five Spirit Pills.

Zhang Chi estimated that if he cultivated continuously using this Elixir, even with no other resources, he would only need five hundred years to reach the Divinity Transformation Middle Stage.

Of course, it was fundamentally impossible for ordinary Divinity Transformation Cultivators to possess such an Elixir.

After all, obtaining one required killing other Divinity Transformation Cultivators or Tier Five Demon Beasts.

This was something ordinary Divinity Transformation Cultivators simply couldn’t do.

Even the Great Qian Royal Family was no exception.

This was because before being killed, a Divinity Transformation Cultivator would certainly try to flee. If they couldn’t escape, they would opt for mutual destruction.

Furthermore, although many Divinity Transformation Cultivators had pledged allegiance to the Great Qian Royal Family, the Royal Family could only control their lives and deaths; they could not use them as cultivation fodder. Every Divinity Transformation Cultivator who swore fealty to them would make a similar pact beforehand.

Besides, they wouldn’t dare to do such a thing anyway.

Even Zhang Chi had refined these Divine Essence Pills in secret, telling no one.

Another reason was that the Pill Formula for the Divine Essence Pill came from the powerful being from the Demon Realm who had once bewitched Master Taixuan. Therefore, the Great Qian Royal Family and the other Divinity Transformation Cultivators had no idea such a method even existed.

Of course, although Zhang Chi had refined a fair number of Divine Essence Pills, it still wasn’t enough to use them constantly.

Even so, Zhang Chi was quite pleased.

By his calculations, the Divine Essence Pills he had just refined would be enough to last him for two hundred years.

Originally, even with abundant resources, it would have taken him a thousand years to break through. Now, it would only take six hundred.

Furthermore, with the help of the Divine Essence Pills, it didn’t take long for Zhang Chi to make a full recovery. He was even stronger than before.

「Forty years flew by in the blink of an eye.」

Early one morning, a colossal beam of black light shot into the sky above Snow Peak Temple, and thick, dark clouds began to gather.

Thunder rumbled and lightning coursed through the clouds as a powerful pressure spread violently outwards, causing all living creatures in the vast surrounding area to tremble in fear.

Then, dazzling bolts of golden lightning began to strike down ferociously toward Snow Peak Temple.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!...

Immediately, the three Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarchs from the Celestial Fragrance Sect arrived as streaks of rainbow light. Soon after, the Celestial Monarchs from all Six Great Powers of the Ancient Wilderness Snowfield arrived on the scene as well.

"This... Is Junior Brother Zhang’s Spirit Pet breaking through to Tier Five?"

"Excellent! Although Junior Brother Zhang suffered an irreversible injury last time, if he has a Tier Five Spirit Beast by his side, he’ll be no weaker than any other Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarch!"

Watching Snow Peak Temple from a distance, the Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarchs couldn’t help but show their delight.