Having reached the early stage of the Yellow Extreme realm, Zhang Ruocheng's "Qi Pool" had expanded dozens of times, now as large as a basketball.
The true qi in the Qi Pool was still sparse, only a ball about the size of an egg, less than one-tenth of the Qi Pool's capacity.
Only by filling the Qi Pool with true qi could he break through to the next stage, the mid-Yellow Extreme realm.
Zhang Ruocheng sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and the divine martial imprint on his forehead opened. He began cultivating the first layer of the Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture, the "Great Emperor Yellow Realm Heaven."
True qi flowed out of the Qi Pool, along the newly opened meridian, circulating through his body.
As his true qi circulated, Zhang Ruocheng's body seemed to become a vortex, slowly absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowed into the divine martial imprint on his forehead.
The divine martial imprint then converted the spiritual energy into true qi, which was stored in the Qi Pool. True qi flowed out of the Qi Pool, traveling through the meridians and circulating throughout his body.
After one full circulation, or a "Zhou Tian," Zhang Ruocheng had completed nine cycles. When he opened his eyes again, he found that the amount of true qi in his Qi Pool had doubled, reaching one-tenth of its full capacity.
If other martial artists knew that he had managed to double his true qi in such a short time, they would be ecstatic. However, Zhang Ruocheng wasn't satisfied. "After cultivating for nine cycles, I've only increased my true qi by such a small amount. Too slow! If I could get a spirit crystal, my cultivation speed would double!"
It was important to note that Zhang Ruocheng cultivated the Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture, which allowed for faster absorption of true qi compared to those who practiced lower-level techniques.
The current cultivation speed, however, still left him dissatisfied.
A spirit crystal would be the solution to dramatically increasing his cultivation speed.
Spirit crystals were gemstones formed from condensed spiritual energy.
They could be found either as "natural spirit crystals" mined from underground veins or taken from the bodies of savage beasts, where they were known as "acquired spirit crystals."
A single spirit crystal was worth about a thousand silver coins, and only royal heirs or talented individuals nurtured by large families had the chance to obtain such crystals.
A thousand silver coins was an astronomical sum for Zhang Ruocheng and Lin Fei, making it impossible for them to afford one.
"Spirit crystal!"
A thought flashed through Zhang Ruocheng's mind. He immediately took out the white, jujube-shaped crystal he had been wearing and held it in the palm of his hand. Could this be a spirit crystal?
As he circulated his true qi, the divine martial imprint on his forehead immediately appeared, forming a circular halo the size of a coin.
A white stream of true qi shot out from his forehead and struck the white crystal.
"Whoosh!"
Four ancient characters appeared on the surface of the white crystal.
How strange!
Zhang Ruocheng had never seen such characters before, but he immediately recognized them as "Time-Space Crystal."
In his past life, Zhang Ruocheng had injected true qi into the white crystal, but the characters on its surface had never been triggered before.
"Last life, my cultivation was hundreds of times stronger than now, and I never caused the characters to appear. This life, my cultivation is only at the early Yellow Extreme realm, yet it triggered a change in the crystal. This shows that it isn't the strength of my true qi but the attribute of my true qi that is important."
For example, a martial artist with the Flame Martial Imprint would benefit the most from using a fire attribute spirit crystal, increasing their cultivation speed by three times. Using a regular spirit crystal would only give a two-fold increase.
In nature, ninety percent of spirit crystals had no attributes, just as ninety percent of martial artists could only activate imprints without any special attributes.
"Could it be that the divine martial imprint I opened has a certain attribute that perfectly matches this Time-Space Crystal? Wait, what exactly is a Time-Space Crystal?"
Zhang Ruocheng, who had once been the son of the Bright Emperor in his past life, had seen many types of attribute spirit crystals, such as Red Flame Spirit Crystals, Black Ice Spirit Crystals, Lightning Spirit Crystals, Evil Blood Spirit Crystals... but he had never heard of a Time-Space attribute crystal.
After all, time and space were not something that humans could control; not even gods could manipulate time and space—they had to abide by the rules of time and space.
Just as Zhang Ruocheng was still puzzled, a halo appeared on the surface of the Time-Space Crystal, transforming into a vortex.
The vortex grew larger and enveloped Zhang Ruocheng's body.
Zhang Ruocheng felt a whirlwind, and the next moment, he found himself in a closed-off space, crashing heavily onto a hard floor.
Fortunately, having completed the marrow washing and meridian opening, reaching the early Yellow Extreme realm, his body had become much stronger. Had he still had his frail body from before, he would have likely died from the fall.
Zhang Ruocheng climbed to his feet, stretched out his sore limbs, and began surveying the space around him.
This space was completely enclosed, with no windows or doors. The height of the space was about ten meters, and both its length and width were roughly ten meters as well.
"How did I get here? Where is this place? Huh! There's a stone platform over there!"
The entire space contained only a single stone platform.
On the stone platform lay a rolled-up painting and a silver iron book. Aside from these, there was nothing else!
Zhang Ruocheng first attempted to take the painting, but it was exceedingly heavy, as though it were fused with the stone platform. No matter how much force he used, the painting didn't budge.
Since he couldn't lift the painting or open it, Zhang Ruocheng temporarily gave up and focused his attention on the thin silver iron book.
The cover of the silver iron book had four characters written on it: "Time-Space Secret Tome."
This time, Zhang Ruocheng was prepared. He circulated his true qi through his body, drawing on all his strength, and easily flipped open the first page of the Time-Space Secret Tome.
"So… easy?"
The Time-Space Secret Tome turned effortlessly, not requiring any exertion.
Zhang Ruocheng shook his head in disappointment. He stopped circulating his true qi and held the Time-Space Secret Tome in his hands, carefully reading it.
The first page of the Time-Space Secret Tome didn't contain any cultivation methods but rather notes from the previous owner of the Time-Space Crystal, the "Xumi Saint Monk."
After reading the Xumi Saint Monk's notes, Zhang Ruocheng finally understood everything.
"It turns out that the divine martial imprint I awakened is actually the Time-Space Divine Martial Imprint. According to what Xumi Saint Monk said, not even one in a million people can awaken the Time-Space Divine Martial Imprint. Throughout history, only two others, including me, have done so."
"Xumi Saint Monk was the second person to awaken the Time-Space Divine Martial Imprint, but according to the records in the Time-Space Secret Tome, he passed away more than a hundred thousand years ago. That was during the Middle Ages, a time long past."
The space Zhang Ruocheng was currently in was the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.
The flow of time inside this space was completely different from the outside world. Three days inside the space equaled one day outside.
Zhang Ruocheng was elated, excitedly saying, "If I cultivate here for three days, only one day will pass outside. That means I get three times the cultivation time compared to others! This is amazing!"
Zhang Ruocheng tried to open the second page of the Time-Space Secret Tome, but no matter what method he used, it wouldn't open.
"It still won't open."
Zhang Ruocheng was on the verge of throwing the Time-Space Secret Tome on the ground when he suddenly noticed a line of small text at the very end of the first page.
"When reaching the small extreme stage of the Yellow Extreme realm, inject true qi into the painting to open it."
Zhang Ruocheng once again focused his attention on the painting, guessing that the painting probably contained some kind of mysterious martial art technique, perhaps related to the manipulation of time and space.
"I'll work hard to cultivate and break through to the Small Extreme stage as soon as possible. I'm eager to find out what secret is hidden in that painting!"
The "Small Extreme Stage" was the fourth stage in the Yellow Extreme realm. After that came the Middle Extreme, Large Extreme, and Great Perfection.
Zhang Ruocheng suddenly felt a pang of hunger in his stomach, so he temporarily exited the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal and returned to his room.
He tightly gripped the Time-Space Crystal in his hand. With this crystal, he was more confident that he could reach the mid-Yellow Extreme realm within three months.
Zhang Ruocheng, Lin Fei, and the maid Yun'er sat together for breakfast.
The food was simple—just rice and steamed buns, with no meat in sight.
For martial artists, the energy expenditure was far greater than that of ordinary people, making food an essential part of their daily lives.
Other martial artists with awakened divine martial imprints, such as princes and princesses, ate "Blood Pills" made from the blood of savage beasts and no longer consumed ordinary food.
A single Blood Pill could replenish a full day's worth of energy, and even after a full day of cultivating martial techniques, they wouldn't feel hungry.
Moreover, taking Blood Pills enhanced their blood vitality, strengthened their martial body, and increased their physical power.
If Zhang Ruocheng continued eating only rice and buns, even if he ate eight meals a day, it would not be enough to meet his body's energy demands.
"Ruocheng, now that you have awakened the divine martial imprint, you can no longer eat ordinary food. Take these ten Blood Pills for now. If they're not enough, I'll find another way." Lin Fei handed Zhang Ruocheng a jade bottle containing ten Blood Pills.
Zhang Ruocheng, still chewing a steamed bun, was surprised to see Lin Fei produce ten Blood Pills. "Mother, how did you get so much money? Five silver coins buy one Blood Pill, so ten Blood Pills are worth fifty silver coins. Where did you get all that money?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I always find a way."
Yun'er, the maid standing behind Lin Fei, added, "The princess sold her most treasured hairpin to buy these ten Blood Pills from the pill market!"
Lin Fei lightly scolded Yun'er with a glance, seemingly reproaching her for speaking too much. Then she added, "Ruocheng, don't worry about it. As long as you can become a true martial artist, I'll support you, even if I have to sell all my precious ornaments."
Zhang Ruocheng's heart was filled with gratitude. He tightly held the jade bottle, biting his lip, desperately wanting to tell Lin Fei that he was already a true martial artist.
But he couldn't.
Opening his Qi Pool and completing the marrow washing and meridian opening in just one night was too fast. If word got out, it could reach other princes and queens. That would only bring trouble to himself and Lin Fei.
He was still too weak and needed more strength.