Zhang Ruochen's gaze was sharp, and he said firmly, "Mother, don't worry! I will definitely cultivate into a strong person as soon as possible and use my own strength to protect you."
Taking the blood pill, Zhang Ruochen returned to his room and continued to practice hard.
"Your Highness, it is said that martial artists not only need to take blood pills, but also cultivate cultivation methods. Only by having a cultivation method can they open up meridians," said the maid Yun'er.
Princess Lin looked at Zhang Ruochen's leaving back, pursed her lips, and nodded bitterly. She said, "I know! But even the lowest-grade cultivation method costs more than 500 silver coins, and with my current financial resources, I can't afford it at all. Moreover, now the queen and the national master are in charge of the court, and the queen will never let Chen'er go to the 'Library Hall' to receive cultivation methods and martial skills. It seems there is only one way!"
The maid Yun'er said, "Your Highness is going to beg the Lin family? But three years ago, Your Highness had a complete falling out with the Lin family. Will they give His Highness the Ninth Prince a cultivation method?"
"As long as they are willing to give Chen'er a cultivation method, I can kneel down and admit my mistake," Princess Lin said, as if thinking of something from the past, with tears in her eyes.
"But it wasn't Your Highness's fault in the first place..." Yun'er sighed softly.
The inner space of the Time-Space Crystal was filled with abundant spiritual energy, about twice as dense as the outside world.
You know, in the Yunwu Principality, if the spiritual energy concentration of those famous mountains and rivers reaches 1.5 times, it is already considered a cultivation treasure land and will be contested by various families.
Sitting in the center of the inner space, Zhang Ruochen took out the jade bottle containing ten blood pills, poured out one pill, and sniffed it gently at the tip of his nose.
Although the "blood pill" was refined from the blood of savage beasts, it didn't have a bloody smell. Instead, it carried a faint fragrance.
When the alchemist refines the blood pill, he removes the bloody smell and adds tiger radish and mandala flowers.
Taking blood pills for a long time can not only provide martial artists with endless physical strength but also improve their meridians, bones, and internal organs, making their bodies stronger.
"It's just a first-grade blood pill," Zhang Ruochen nodded slightly and muttered to himself, "With my current cultivation level, taking a first-grade blood pill is enough."
Zhang Ruochen put a blood pill into his mouth and immediately put the jade bottle back on the stone platform.
Under the urging of his true qi, the blood energy of the blood pill quickly melted and provided Zhang Ruochen with endless physical strength.
"Although I have reached the initial stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm and become a martial artist, this physical body is really too weak and can't be compared with other martial artists at all. I must strengthen my body. Otherwise, when fighting with martial artists of the same realm, I will suffer a great loss."
For martial artists, not only do they need to cultivate true qi, but they also need to cultivate martial skills.
" Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm!"
This mysterious palm technique emerged in Zhang Ruochen's mind. It ranked among the top three in the martial skills secret book in his memory and was just suitable for him to cultivate now.
He separated his legs, lowered his waist, filled his legs with true qi to stabilize his body, slowly raised his arms, and began to pat his palms according to a certain mysterious pattern.
In his mind, he imagined himself as an ancient and powerful divine elephant and a deep-sea magic dragon swallowing clouds and spitting fog, hitting every punch with all his strength, as if he wanted to release every bit of his strength.
With each palm strike, the muscles all over his body were pulled, and the true qi in his body also merged into the muscles and bones, causing the muscles and bones to transform, become stronger, more tenacious, and even integrate with the true qi.
The Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm had a total of thirteen palm prints and belonged to a king-level low-grade martial skill.
To be exact, if one could cultivate the thirteenth palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, it would be almost as powerful as a god-level martial skill.
Cultivation methods and martial skills were divided into five levels: human, spirit, ghost, king, and god.
The first palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, "Mighty Elephant Galloping on the Ground", when cultivated successfully, was comparable in power to a human-level low-grade martial skill.
The second palm, "Flying Dragon Soaring in the Sky", when cultivated successfully, was comparable in power to a human-level medium-grade martial skill.
The third palm, "Dragon Elephant Returning to the Field", when cultivated successfully, was comparable in power to a human-level high-grade martial skill.
The fourth palm, "Dragon Elephant Shadow", when cultivated successfully, was comparable in power to a spirit-level low-grade martial skill.
...
The thirteenth palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm was called "Dragon Elephant Destroying the World" and was comparable in power to a god-level martial skill, with unimaginable power.
The first few palms of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm could only be considered low-level martial skills, and their power was not strong. Moreover, the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm was extremely rigid and yang, extremely difficult to cultivate, and very few people could cultivate to the seventh palm.
After the seventh palm, each palm required a lot of time and energy to cultivate. If one couldn't resist the extremely rigid and yang power in the body, there was even a possibility of spontaneous combustion.
It was precisely because of these reasons that the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm could only be regarded as a king-level low-grade martial skill.
Although the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm was very difficult to cultivate, it was just suitable for Zhang Ruochen to cultivate now and could strengthen his body in a short time.
"The first palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, Mighty Elephant Galloping on the Ground."
Zhang Ruochen first stood in a horse stance, then quickly stepped on the ground, rushed out, and quickly struck out his palm prints.
As still as a mountain, as powerful as a mighty elephant.
He practiced again and again until his true qi was exhausted. Then he wiped off his sweat, sat cross-legged on the ground, and used the Martial God Mark between his eyebrows to absorb the spiritual energy in the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal and transform it into endless true qi.
In the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, after nine days of continuous cultivation, he finally cultivated the first palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, "Mighty Elephant Galloping on the Ground".
Nine days in the inner space was only three days in the outside world.
"I don't know how powerful the first palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm is with my current cultivation level?"
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal and came to the backyard. Standing in the center of the courtyard, he circulated the true qi in his body and filled his legs with it.
"Mighty Elephant Galloping on the Ground."
He stepped on the ground with a regular pace and rushed out suddenly.
With the progress of his steps, a powerful force rushed up from his legs, passed through his waist and abdomen, his spine, and surged to his back and shoulders, and then spurted out from his arms.
Although it was only one palm technique, it mobilized the strength of every muscle in his body, and the explosive power was naturally quite astonishing.
"Boom!"
Both palms hit a half-human-high thousand-jin boulder. Then, he immediately withdrew his palms, stepped back quickly along the footprints he had just made, and returned to his original position.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the thousand-jin boulder and saw two shallow palm-shaped dents on the surface of the boulder. The bottom of the boulder sank about two centimeters into the soil.
Zhang Ruochen was quite satisfied with the power of this palm.
Although the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm was only a human-level low-grade martial skill now, it was more advanced than other human-level low-grade martial skills and had more powerful explosive power.
"The higher the grade of the martial skill, the more difficult it is to cultivate. If I directly cultivate a spirit-level martial skill now, it is impossible to cultivate it successfully within nine days. At least it will take more than half a year. Moreover, with the amount of true qi in my body, I can't display a spirit-level martial skill either."
The time for cultivating martial skills and cultivation methods must be reasonably arranged.
If one focuses too much on cultivating martial skills and neglects the cultivation of cultivation methods, it will lead to a slow progress in cultivation realm.
If one focuses too much on cultivating cultivation methods and neglects the cultivation of martial skills, one will suffer a great loss when fighting with others.
Anyway, after cultivating the first palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, Zhang Ruochen finally had the ability to protect himself after eight hundred years.
In these nine days, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation level also improved greatly. The true qi in the qi pool had been fully cultivated, and he could start to open up the second meridian.
However, to open up a meridian, one must take marrow-washing liquid. The queen only gave Zhang Ruochen one portion of marrow-washing liquid, and he had already used it when opening up the first meridian.
How could he get a second portion of marrow-washing liquid, or even more?
"Your Highness, the princess is looking for you everywhere. What are you doing here?" The maid Yun'er saw Zhang Ruochen standing in the center of the courtyard and walked over curiously.
Yun'er was the only maid beside Princess Lin and Zhang Ruochen. She was about seventeen or eighteen years old and quite beautiful, with bright eyes and a pointed chin.
Zhang Ruochen walked to the opposite of Yun'er, blocking Yun'er's sight so that she couldn't see the two palm prints on the thousand-jin boulder in the distance. He asked with concern, "Sister Yun'er, is your arm injury better?"
Yun'er shook her head gently and said, "It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. I'm afraid it will take another two or three months to fully recover."
Her arm was broken by the Eighth Prince's palm a few days ago. For maids like them, let alone a broken bone, even if they were beaten to death with a stick, the Eighth Prince didn't need to take any responsibility.
In a world where the strong were respected, the weak had no status at all.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Why don't you buy a portion of Bone-Connecting Ointment?"
Yun'er endured the pain in her arm and smiled bitterly, "The worst Bone-Connecting Ointment costs two hundred silver coins, and people like us can't afford it at all. Your Highness, it's very kind of you to care about us maids. Hurry up and follow me to see the princess. Today, we are going out of the palace."
Zhang Ruochen followed Yun'er and asked curiously, "Out of the palace? Where are we going?"
"To see Ningshan! It's been a long time since we saw her. You must be very happy, right?" Yun'er said with a bright smile on her face, staring at Zhang Ruochen.
Every time he heard the name "Ningshan", he would blush and look as shy as a young girl.
"Who is Ningshan?" Zhang Ruochen almost asked this question, but he immediately swallowed it back.
Obviously, the Zhang Ruochen before he died of illness must have known the girl named Ningshan, and from Yun'er's tone, their relationship might be very unusual.
If Zhang Ruochen asked "Who is Ningshan?", he would definitely give himself away. Since that was the case, he decided to keep silent and say as little as possible.
Fortunately, in recent years, Zhang Ruochen had been weak and sickly. Except for Princess Lin who had always cared about him, he seldom interacted with others. Otherwise, he might have been suspected long ago.
Yun'er was a little surprised to see that Zhang Ruochen was so calm, but she didn't think much about it and continued walking towards the courtyard where Princess Lin lived.