Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged at the bottom of the water, calm and composed, with an unchanging expression on his face. He mobilized the genuine qi within his body and made it circulate through three meridians. Each time the genuine qi completed a circulation, the pain would ease a little. With his current martial arts cultivation level, he couldn't hold his breath and practice in the water all the time. Every five minutes, he would have to surface to take a breath.
After an hour, the pain gradually disappeared, and a cool stream of air entered his body, repairing his damaged physical body. A comfortable feeling spread throughout his whole body, making him almost moan with pleasure.
"Splash!" Zhang Ruochen stood up from the water, dried the water droplets on his body with a bath towel, and stood in front of a bronze mirror to examine his body. He nodded with satisfaction. After more than ten days of cultivation and the tempering of the medicinal bath, his body had clearly become stronger. Unlike before, when he was so thin that he looked a bit sickly. Of course, more than ten days had passed in the Space-Time Crystal, but only four days had gone by in the real world.
Four days ago, he was still a weakling, driven out of the Yushu Palace by the Eighth Prince and ruthlessly ridiculed and bullied by everyone. Who would have thought that four days later, he already had the martial arts cultivation level of the middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm? It was nothing short of a miracle!
"Not enough! The middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm is just the beginning!" Zhang Ruochen clenched his fists tightly, his gaze sharp. After getting dressed, he swallowed a Blood Pill and entered the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal to continue his cultivation.
Being able to reach the middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm within four days was not only due to his previous martial arts experience in his past life but also because of the help of the Space-Time Crystal. With the Space-Time Crystal, he had three times more cultivation time than other martial artists. This was his unique advantage.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Mighty Elephant Galloping on the Ground!" Zhang Ruochen bent his legs, took steps, and continuously slapped his arms out. Every palm strike would mobilize the strength of every inch of his muscles and every bone in his body. Having just finished the medicinal bath, he had to use boxing techniques to fully integrate the medicinal power into his body and transform it into his own strength.
In the following days, Zhang Ruochen almost always practiced in the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal. He only came out of the inner space once every three days. Concubine Lin knew that Zhang Ruochen had just opened his Martial God Mark and would surely have to retreat for cultivation, open up his qi pool, wash his marrow, and clear his meridians, so she didn't ask too many questions. She just told Yun'er to take good care of Zhang Ruochen's daily life. She still sold her accessories and used the silver coins obtained to buy Blood Pills for Zhang Ruochen.
Often at this time, Zhang Ruochen would ask Yun'er to take the silver coins and quietly buy back those accessories at a high price. It was an indescribable emotion. That selfless love deeply touched Zhang Ruochen's heart. Gradually, Zhang Ruochen accepted the identity of his current body and regarded Concubine Lin as his real mother.
"Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, should we tell Concubine Lin the truth? If she knew that you are already a real martial artist now, she would surely be very happy." Yun'er said.
"Not for now. I want to give her a surprise during the year-end assessment. Besides, my current cultivation level isn't powerful enough. I need to become stronger." Zhang Ruochen said.
Now, Yun'er knew many of Zhang Ruochen's secrets. Except for the secrets of his past life and the Space-Time Crystal, Zhang Ruochen had told her almost everything else. In Yun'er's eyes, His Highness the Ninth Prince was simply an amazing martial arts prodigy. In such a short time, he had already cultivated to the middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm. Compared with the Ninth Prince, those other princes were far inferior. Perhaps only His Highness the Seventh Prince, whose cultivation level was peerless among his contemporaries, could be compared with the Ninth Prince.
After reaching the middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm, Zhang Ruochen practiced in the Space-Time Crystal for another month. He took a Qi Gathering Pill every six days and had a medicinal bath every ten days. During the rest of the time, he was completely focused on cultivating the second palm strike, "Flying Dragon Soaring Through the Sky," of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm and comprehending the "Meridian Map" of the "Nine Heavens Ming Emperor Scripture".
The second palm strike of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm hadn't been successfully cultivated yet, but the genuine qi in the qi pool had already reached a state of perfection.
"Tonight, I can start to break through to the later stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm!" Zhang Ruochen said.
Hearing this, Yun'er was shocked and said, "The later stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm? Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, it's only been ten days since you reached the middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm. Can you really break through to the later stage already? The Eighth Prince spent four years to break through from the middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm to the later stage."
Yun'er didn't know the existence of the Space-Time Crystal and thought that Zhang Ruochen had only been cultivating for ten days. In fact, Zhang Ruochen had already cultivated for a whole month. And this was also because he had spent a lot of time tempering his body. Otherwise, his cultivation speed would have been even faster.
"Is it fast? It's just a natural progression." Zhang Ruochen didn't think his cultivation speed was particularly fast. If other geniuses had such abundant cultivation resources as he did, their cultivation speed would surely be fast too. The fact that the Eighth Prince spent four years to reach the later stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm only showed that his aptitude was too poor.
Anyway, at this moment, Yun'er was extremely excited and said, "Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, I believe you will surely succeed. Once you reach the later stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm, we won't have to be afraid of the Eighth Prince anymore."
"Okay. You can go out now. Tonight, don't let anyone disturb me." Zhang Ruochen said.
Yun'er nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at rice, and said, "Tonight, I'll guard outside the door. If anyone dares to disturb Your Highness the Ninth Prince's cultivation, I'll risk my life to stop them."
Zhang Ruochen stared deeply at Yun'er and said softly, "Thank you."
After Yun'er walked out of Zhang Ruochen's room, Zhang Ruochen immediately entered the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal.
"If I want to break through to the later stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm, I must open up three meridians in one go and make the meridians run through the five internal organs, both arms, and both feet." Zhang Ruochen took out three small jade bottles one after another and placed them in a row. Each small jade bottle contained a portion of marrow-washing liquid.
After adjusting himself to the best state, Zhang Ruochen swallowed the marrow-washing liquid in the first small jade bottle and immediately began to open up the fourth meridian in his body. It took him half an hour to successfully open up the fourth meridian.
The fourth meridian flowed out from the qi pool, passed through the neck, chest cavity, left arm, and right arm, and then rushed up to the head along the spine on the back before returning to the qi pool in the middle of the eyebrows, completing a large cycle.
Without taking a break, Zhang Ruochen swallowed the marrow-washing liquid in the second small jade bottle and immediately began to open up the fifth meridian. The fifth meridian extended from the qi pool, passed through the chest cavity and abdominal cavity, went through the left leg and right leg, and then returned to the qi pool again. This meridian had a longer route, and it took Zhang Ruochen a full three hours to open it up successfully.
Most of the genuine qi in his body had been consumed, and his whole body was covered in beads of sweat. Zhang Ruochen had to take out a spirit crystal and hold it in his hand, quickly absorbing the spiritual energy in the spirit crystal and transforming it into genuine qi, which was then stored in the qi pool. The genuine qi in the qi pool was restored to a state of perfection again.
Zhang Ruochen immediately swallowed the marrow-washing liquid in the third small jade bottle and began to open up the sixth meridian. This meridian flowed through the spleen, lungs, kidneys, liver, and heart, which belonged to the five internal organs of the human body. When the genuine qi flowed through the five internal organs, it could strengthen them. At the same time, the five internal organs were the most fragile, so Zhang Ruochen had to be extremely careful in controlling it.
It took a full six hours. Almost all the genuine qi in his body was exhausted, but the meridian still hadn't been completely opened up, with just a small section left. If the genuine qi was interrupted at this time, all previous efforts would be wasted, and even the five internal organs would be damaged. In the future, if he wanted to open up this meridian again, it would be ten times more difficult than now.
Zhang Ruochen made a bold decision. He quickly swallowed a Qi Gathering Pill.
"Boom!" The pill qi of the Qi Gathering Pill exploded violently in his body. Zhang Ruochen immediately split his attention. On one hand, he used the five meridians that had already been opened up to absorb the pill qi, continuously transforming it into genuine qi and transporting it to the qi pool. On the other hand, he carefully controlled the genuine qi to continue to冲击 the sixth meridian.
This was a huge test for a person's spiritual power. Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen was a powerhouse at the Great Perfection stage of the Heaven Extremity Realm in his past life, and his spiritual power was powerful. Even when splitting his attention like this, he succeeded!
The sixth meridian was successfully opened up!
The qi pool in the middle of the eyebrows emitted a circle of white light, and its capacity expanded ten times again. In the middle stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm, the qi pool was only as big as a water tank. Now, Zhang Ruochen's qi pool had become as big as ten water tanks, very spacious and able to hold a large amount of genuine qi.
"Finally broken through to the later stage of the Yellow Extremity Realm!" Zhang Ruochen held a spirit crystal in his hand, and the Martial God Mark on his forehead emerged, beginning to continuously absorb the spiritual energy in the spirit crystal. All six meridians were operating, and the speed at which the Martial God Mark absorbed spiritual energy doubled.
After stabilizing his realm, Zhang Ruochen stopped cultivating. He opened his eyes, and his pupils became extremely bright, just like two dazzling cold stars.
After opening up three new meridians, a large amount of impurities in his body were discharged from his pores, giving off a stinking smell. Zhang Ruochen walked out of the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal, took a bath in the wooden barrel that had been prepared long ago, put on his clothes, and pushed the door open to walk out.
At this moment, it was already late at night. In the air, snowflakes as big as goose feathers were falling one after another, and the entire courtyard was covered with a layer of silver frost.
Yun'er was sitting on the steps outside Zhang Ruochen's room, huddled up, rubbing her hands from time to time and blowing hot air into her palms.
"Creak!" Hearing the sound of the door opening behind her, Yun'er immediately stood up and looked at Zhang Ruochen who walked out from inside, asking joyfully, "Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, did you succeed?"