After winning ten matches in a row at the Yellow Grade Martial Arts Palace, Zhang Ruochen finally raised one million silver coins and sent them to the Qingxuan Pavilion.
Afterwards, the Qingxuan Pavilion then immediately sent someone to escort the seventh rank True Martial Treasure Weapon grade Refining Furnace to the Royal Palace.
Zhang Ruochen and the Nine County Lords had just arrived outside the palace gates of the royal palace when an old eunuch greeted them and fell down in front of Zhang Ruochen and the Nine County Lords, his voice was shrill as he said, “Slave, I pay my respects to the Nine Princes and the Nine County Lords, the Great King and Concubine Lin are waiting for you in the Hall of Xia Qi, so you should hurry and go over there!”
There was no need to guess what was going on, it must be that the news of him becoming a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist had travelled back to the royal palace, and it would be strange for County King Yunwu not to summon him.
Zhang Ruochen ordered the palace’s forbidden guards to return the Refining Furnace to his residence, after which, he and the Nine County Lord immediately rushed to the Xia Qi Hall.
They had just walked into the Xia Qi Hall when they heard County King Yunwu’s laughter, “Ninth son, it’s only been over a month since the end of the year assessment, and you’ve broken through two realms one after the other, reaching the Yellow Extreme Realm’s Great Extreme Position, and you’ve even become a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist, my father’s heart is very happy about this.”
The Ninth County Lord said, “Father, Ninth Brother’s strength is definitely truly immeasurable, and his true cultivation cannot be determined by martial realm.”
“Oh! Is that so? Father King really wants to measure just how far his cultivation has reached today? Haishu, go and compete with His Highness the Ninth Prince and see if you can test His Highness the Ninth Prince’s true strength.” County King Yunwu said.
“My lord will lead the way!”
On the left side of the hall, a man wearing the Iron Lin armour knelt down on one knee and bowed to County King Yunwu before walking towards Zhang Ruochen, “Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, please enlighten me!”
Zhang Ruochen knew that County King Yunwu wanted to see his true strength.
After all, it had only been over a month since the End of Year Assessment. To reach the level of a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist in such a short period of time, even the Yunwu County King was a bit unconvinced.
Concubine Lin sat beside County King Yunwu and said, ”Duan’er, Lord Hai Shu is also a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist, ranked as the twenty-third on the Yellow Ranked List. You guys sparring with each other will also let your father know your true strength.”
Concubine Lin’s heart was quite pleased, when the news of Zhang Ruochen becoming a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist travelled back to the Royal Palace, she simply couldn’t believe her ears.
Of course, she also hoped that Zhang Ruochen would become more and more outstanding and be able to gain the recognition of the Yunwu County King. This was a mentality of hoping for a son to become a dragon!
“In that case, Lord Haishu, let’s spar a few moves!”
Zhang Ruochen did not underestimate Haishu, no one who could become a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist was weak.
“Wow!”
The Flashing Soul Sword left its sheath, and under the urging of the true qi in Zhang Ruochen’s body, one force-based inscription, two ice-based inscriptions, and one light-based inscription were activated at the same time.
As Zhang Ruochen mobilised the true qi within his body, a soft eep escaped from the mouth of the Yunwu County King.
Because, he saw that more than twenty meridians appeared within Zhang Ruochen’s body. Some of these meridians belonged to odd meridians, which were very odd, and even with his cultivation, he was somewhat unable to see through them.
There were at least twenty-three of them, and it was estimated that there would be more.
“What level of technique has Jiu’er cultivated, how did he open up so many meridians?” County King Yunwu’s heart was somewhat surprised.
“Wow!”
Zhang Ruochen and Hai Shu finally started exchanging blows.
Zhang Ruochen used his sword and Hai Shu used his blade.
Hai Shu was also a Yellow Extreme Realm Grand Circle powerhouse, his battle power was not as good as Liu Xifeng, and was even a step weaker than Han Axe.
At the fifteenth move, Zhang Ruochen executed a Heavenly Heart Breaking Plum move, sending the battle sword in Hai Shu’s hand flying out, achieving victory in this match.
Hai Shu’s tiger’s mouth cracked and dripped out drops of scarlet blood, his entire arm becoming numb as he said, “Your Highness the Ninth Prince is worthy of being an expert of the eleventh in the Yellow Ranking, Hai Shu is willing to pay tribute.”
After saying this, Hai Shu retrieved the battle sword on the ground and immediately retreated back.
“Your Highness the Ninth Prince, it only took fifteen moves to defeat a Yellow Ranked martial artist. Old slave, today was truly an eye-opener! Congratulations to the Great King, and congratulations to Concubine Lin!” The old eunuch beside the Yunwu County King said in a pandering manner.
Yunwu County King laughed aloud and said, “Hai Shu, you didn’t lose unjustly. You merely cultivated the Dao of Blade realm to the beginning stage of Suishin, while Jiu’er still cultivated the Dao of Sword realm to the high stage of Suishin, with such a big gap, how could you not lose?”
The intent realm, also known as the state of mind, referred to a martial artist’s level of understanding of the martial dao.
The Realm of Intent, is divided into three realms: Follow Heart, Tong Ming, and Unity.
For example, a martial artist who cultivates the Way of the Sword and reaches the realm of following one’s heart is known as “the sword follows one’s heart”.
If he reaches the realm of understanding, he is called “Sword Mind Understanding”.
When they reach the realm of unity, they are called “human sword unity”.
The same applies to the cultivation of sword, spear, palm, fist, and stick techniques, and the state of mind is also divided into these three realms.
Generally speaking, in the Yellow Extreme Realm, to be able to cultivate to the initial stage of Sui-Xin was already considered a genius.
If one wanted to cultivate to the Follow Your Heart stage, generally only martial artists in the Xuan Polarity Realm could do so.
If one wanted to cultivate to the high Sui Xin stage, generally only a martial artist of the Earth Extreme Realm could do so.
Zhang Ruochen was only sixteen years old, and with a cultivation of the Yellow Extremity Realm, he had reached the Follow Your Heart Higher Stage, which was naturally very heaven-defying, and with a casual sword, he was able to defeat a martial artist of the same realm.
“At the same age, I’ve only reached the Beginning Followed Heart Stage, and he’s already reached the High Followed Heart Stage, that’s really perverted enough.” The Ninth County Lord muttered in a low voice.
County King Yunwu said, “Everyone step back, there are some words that this king would like to talk to the Ninth Prince alone.”
A moment later, including the Ninth County Lord and Concubine Lin, everyone retreated.
In the Xia Qi Hall, only Zhang Ruochen and County King Yunwu remained.
County King Yunwu stood up from on top of his throne and walked into the hall, standing opposite Zhang Ruochen as he solemnly said, “Tell this king, how many meridians have you opened up in total?”
Zhang Ruochen did not hide anything and said, “Twenty-seven meridians!”
In reality, there was nothing to hide. Once he mobilised his true qi, the meridians in his body would surface, and it was simply impossible to hide them from the eyes of the Yunwu County King.
“There are actually so many!”
County King Yunwu sucked in a breath of cool air, more than he expected.
His eyes became more serious as he said, “During the last year-end examination, this king knew that you had a strange encounter and must have cultivated some sort of powerful technique. If you are not willing to talk about this matter, this king will not ask about it. However, you must learn to hide it.”
“The Ice Fire Qilin Armour that was rewarded to you during the end of the year examination, why didn’t you wear it on your body? Don’t you know that the Ice Fire Qilin Armour can conceal some of the meridians on your body, making it impossible for people to see through the number of meridians in your body?”
“Hmm?”
Zhang Ruochen was slightly stunned, not even thinking that Yunwu County King rewarding him with the Ice Fire Qilin Armour even had this layer of meaning.
“In the future, when I fight with people, I will wear the Ice Fire Qilin Armour.” Zhang Ruochen said.
County King Yunwu nodded and said, “In the Yellow Grade Martial Combat Palace, the only person who can see through the number of meridians in your body should be Liu Chuan Shen. This King will personally go and give him a greeting to keep it a secret.”
Zhang Ruochen had opened up far too many meridians, and having opened up so many meridians, he must have cultivated some sort of heaven-defying technique.
Any martial artist would want to obtain a heaven-defying cultivation technique!
Once he was targeted by a strong person, it would be quite unfavourable to Zhang Ruochen.
From his sleeve, County King Yunwu took out a purple-golden box and handed it to Zhang Ruochen, saying, “This is a fourth-grade body refining elixir called Kirin Elixir, refined using the blood and inner elixir of a Kirin, it should be of great help to you.”
A fourth grade elixir was worth hundreds of thousands of silver coins each, and even a Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist would find it hard to obtain one.
Obviously, the Yunwu County King also knew that Zhang Ruochen’s potential was boundless, which was why he had rewarded him with this Fourth Grade Pill to help him build a stronger foundation in martial arts.
County King Yunwu said, “With your current cultivation level, if you were to take the Kirin Pill directly, you would definitely not be able to refine it, and you would instead explode and die. Therefore, wait until you enter the Barbarian God Pool to cultivate, and then take the Qilin Dan, with the help of the power of the blood essence in the Barbarian God Pool in order to refine the Qilin Dan.”
“Your cultivation has only just reached the Great Extremity Level, right?”
Zhang Ruochen nodded.
County King Yunwu said, “You should first cultivate the True Qi in the Qi Pool to perfection and reach the peak of the Great Extreme Position before going to the Barbarian God Pool to cultivate! That will be more beneficial to you.”
“Hmm!” Zhang Ruochen nodded.
“You step back!” County King Yunwu stared Avray at Zhang Ruochen, then, gently waved his hand.
Zhang Ruochen bowed to County King Yunwu and walked towards the outside of the hall.
Suddenly, the voice of County King Yunwu came back towards his back, saying, ”Ninth son, being born in an imperial family is like being born in a jungle, even if my father is the king of the jungle, it is impossible for him to shelter you all the time. If you are not good enough, you will only be eliminated. If you are good enough, only then can you stand out in the cruel competition, the best will win and the worst will be eliminated, each has their own destiny.”
Zhang Ruochen stopped slightly and did not turn around, saying, “I understand!”
After saying this, he walked out of the grand hall.
How could Zhang Ruochen not understand?
Emperors had far too many children, and it was simply impossible to take care of each and every one of them.
Only those who were excellent would be able to gain the emperor’s attention. Those who were not excellent would only disappear in the emperor’s eyes.
If, however, Zhang Ruochen remained the same and did not show excellent cultivation talent, he would only gradually disappear in the eyes of the Yunwu County King. Now, it was a different situation. As long as he was good enough, he would only receive more and more cultivation resources in the future, and his status would also grow higher and higher.
……
Another part of the royal palace, Gongwan.
“Snap!
The Queen dropped a teacup heavily on the ground, splitting it into pieces, and said coldly, “What a good Ninth Prince, actually becoming a Yellow Ranked Martial Artist so quickly! If we let him grow up, what’s the point?”
“What does the Queen Mother mean?” A beautiful maid with a red mole dotting her brow stood behind the Queen, her eyes somewhat sharp as she asked.
The Queen Mother exhaled a long breath and said, “Qing Luo’s cultivation has already broken through the Xuanji realm, right?”
“Two days ago, Senior Sister Qing Luo just broke through the Xuan Extreme Realm.” That one maid said.
The Queen said, “Have her strike as soon as possible, at all costs, the Ninth Prince must be eliminated. Within a month, this Queen must see the Ninth Prince’s head.”
“What if the Ninth Prince doesn’t leave the palace within a month?” That one maid said.
The Queen’s eyes became ruthless for a few moments as she said, “This Queen has said that she will do whatever it takes.”
“Subordinate understands!”
That one maid immediately retreated, to pass on the Queen’s order, to Cold Qing Luo.
……
