The Nine County Mistress nodded and stood upright, listening very solemnly to every word Zhang Ruochen said.
Zhang Ruochen took out a string of storage pendants, made of crystal blue ancient jade, delicately carved, and when cupped in his hand, a faint chill could be felt.
Zhang Ruochen took a step forward and personally hung the storage pendant around the Ninth County Mistress’s neck, saying, ”The storage pendant does not only just allow for storage, in the event that you are in danger, you only need to infuse your true qi into it to activate the defensive inscription and save your life. However, it can only be used three times, Ninth Sister, you can must use it carefully.”
This was a protective treasure and even a spatial treasure, and the Ninth County Mistress was very clear about its value.
The Ninth County Lord gently touched the crystal beautiful pendant, unable to say how much she liked it.
Zhang Ruochen continued, “Inside the storage pendant, I put a few things for you. Among them, there are roughly half a million spirit crystals in total ……”
Without waiting for Zhang Ruochen to continue, the Ninth County Lord immediately exclaimed in shock, “Half a million spirit crystals! Ninth Brother, I can’t spend that many resources, just give me 10,000 Spirit Crystals!”
Five hundred thousand spirit crystals were equivalent to five hundred million silver coins, richer than even the treasury of the Yunwu County Kingdom.
Not to mention that the Nine County Mistresses, was only a Xuan Extreme Realm Great Circle martial artist, even for a Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Circle martial artist, that would be a rather huge fortune.
Zhang Ruochen said, “If you were to follow the rules and cultivate, you wouldn’t be able to spend that many Spirit Crystals even if you cultivated to the Heavenly Extremity Realm Great Circle.”
“However, I’m giving you these Spirit Crystals because I want you to go and purchase the best Body Refining Pills to enhance your cultivation and polish your physique.”
“At the same time, it’s also to save you the time to go out and practice to earn Merit Value, in this way, you’ll have more time to concentrate on cultivating the martial dao, only then will you be able to walk ahead of your peers.”
“On the path of martial arts, don’t be afraid to spend. Any more spirit crystals, is it as precious as time? While you’re young, you have to raise your cultivation at the fastest speed possible, only then can you cultivate faster and faster, leaving other people your age, far behind.”
“Is half a million spirit crystals a lot?”
“It’s actually not much. The top geniuses of those Half-Saint Families and Saint Families almost always spend more than a million Spirit Crystals at the Fourth Realm of the Martial Dao. Even a heavenly pride with a status like Di Yi’s, I’m afraid that they have to spend more than ten million spirit crystals at the Fourth Realm of the Martial Dao. Therefore, the martial artists of the Heavenly Demon Ridge will never be able to compare to them.”
“The gap, it will only get bigger and bigger.”
The Nine County Lord felt that Zhang Ruochen seemed to have a point, but still felt that half a million Spirit Crystals was too much, and she simply didn’t know how to spend it all?
Zhang Ruochen, however, didn’t care about that and continued, “Apart from the Spirit Crystals, there’s also an even more precious item that I’ve also placed inside your storage pendant. That is a true picture of the Half-Saint Sacred Intent left behind by the Bright Light Half-Saint, and to me, it no longer serves a purpose. To you, however, it can help you cultivate your spiritual power, and at the same time, you may also be able to comprehend the Half-Saint Martial Dao in the picture.”
The Ninth County Mistress grew her mouth, too shocked to speak.
In the Western Academy, she had also seen the Half-Saint Sacred Intent, but that was only a topographical scroll, not the real thing. Even so, she could only comprehend it for one day a month.
Now, an authentic piece of the Half-Saint Sacred Intent, Zhang Ruochen just gave it to her like this. This fortune was definitely more precious than the half a million spirit crystals.
“Ninth Brother ……”
The Ninth County Lord’s beautiful eyes blinked as her entire body froze.
Previously, she only thought that her ninth brother was a genius, and a remarkable one at that, but she had never imagined that her ninth brother actually possessed so many cultivation resources that he was richer than even the sect leader of a large sect.
It could be said that just with these resources given to her by Zhang Ruochen, it would be enough for the royal clan to regain its vigour within a few decades.
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, ”No need to say more, I understand. You are my Ninth Sister, if I don’t give you a treasure such as the Semi-Saint Holy Intent, who else can I give it to? Ninth sister, it’s only a matter of time before your cultivation surpasses fourth brother. In the future, the Yunwu County Kingdom will be in your hands!”
In fact, Zhang Ruochen also wanted to write down some of the secret martial skills and give them to the Ninth County Lord.
It was just that with Zhang Ruochen’s current cultivation level, he could at most only write down Spirit Grade Middle Grade Martial Skills. As for Spirit Grade Upper Grade Martial Skills, it was difficult. Unless Zhang Ruochen stayed behind and taught them hand in hand, only then could they learn the essence of it.
Obviously, Zhang Ruochen didn’t have that much time.
But on the contrary, in the book library of the Martial City Palace, there were more complete martial arts to supply them with to choose from.
Therefore, instead of Zhang Ruochen himself passing on to them some martial skills that lacked the essence, it would be better to give a word to Lei Jing and ask him to take care of the Nine Counties Lord and Zhang Shaochu more in the future.
As long as Lei Jing gave a word, in the future, wouldn’t the martial arts techniques of the Martial City Academy Palace be at their disposal?
Zhang Ruochen believed that he had this weight in Lei Jing’s heart, and Lei Jing would definitely be happy to do him a favour.
“Thank you, Ninth Brother.”
The Ninth County Mistress stretched out a pair of lotus root-like jade arms and tightly hugged Zhang Ruochen’s tiger’s waist, lying on Zhang Ruochen’s chest, tears rustling down her face.
She knew that Ninth Brother, should be leaving!
Even, it might not come back in the future, and she only wanted to hug him for a little while longer.
Perhaps, this would be goodbye forever.
The eagle left the nest, the roc travelled ten thousand miles, the submerged dragon flew to the sky, the vast heaven and earth was their home, and they might not return to the Heavenly Demon Ridge as a nest in the future.
……
Early in the morning, the sun was rising, when the first ray of sunlight sprinkled down into the Heavenly Demon Martial City, the glazed golden tiles in the entire city were covered with a layer of bright aura.
A dragon eagle with a body that was more than forty metres long spread its wings and soared up, exuding a majestic reckless aura.
With a flap of its wings, it induced a huge sound of wind and thunder. Afterwards, it shot up into the sky, straight into the clouds.
At this moment, Lei Jing, Zhang Ruochen, Si Xingkong, Chang Qiqi, Duanmu Xingling, Concubine Lin, and Pot Pot were all sitting on the Dragon Eagle’s back, rushing towards the Eastern Divine Lands to participate in the ten-yearly Sacred Courtyard Examination.
The Dragon Eagle, was Lei Jing’s mount, a fifth-ranked inferior savage beast, with gilt-like feathers, a divine dragon-like head, majestic and mighty, it was considered a king of savage beasts.
At first, Lei Jing had also spent three years and fought dozens of battles with it before subduing it.
The flight speed of the Dragon Eagle was incredibly fast, and it only took a day to fly out of the territory of the Heavenly Demon Ridge. On the ground, there were still lofty mountains and misty clouds, like a huge map scroll.
The first time they travelled to the distant Eastern Divine Lands, everyone was very elated and excited, filled with anticipation.
Even Lei Jing, sighed with emotion because, he too had not been to the Divine Lands for a long time, having stayed in a small place like the Heavenly Demon Ridge all this time, and the ambitions of his youth had long since been wiped clean.
It wasn’t until he started cultivating the Blood Nerve that he regained the confidence he once had.
This time, when he travelled to the Eastern Divine Soil, he was not just going to bring Zhang Ruochen and the others to participate in the Sacred Academy Examination, but he was also going to look for the opportunity to impact the Demi-Saint realm.
On the ground.
The Blood Spirit King stood at the top of a mountain peak, gazing out at the gigantic dragon eagle with a slight frown, “Could it be that they are heading to the Eastern Domain Divine Soil?”
Entering the Heavenly Demon Martial City, the Blood Spirit King had never had the chance to make a move.
It wasn’t until today, when she saw Lei Jing leading Zhang Ruochen and the others out of Sky Demon Martial City, that she followed and chased after them.
That one Dragon Eagle, which had already flown out of the boundaries of the Heavenly Demon Ridge, had no intention of stopping, and that was why the Blood Spirit King was puzzled.
“Since that’s the case, then I’ll go to the Eastern Divine Lands as well, and perhaps, it’ll also allow me to fuse the Half-Saint’s Light faster.”
The Blood Spirit King glanced back towards the Heavenly Demon Ridge, and a hint of disdainful smile appeared on that cold, pale face, after which, her body transformed into a blood cloud as she continued to chase after the Dragon Eagle’s direction.
On the Dragon Eagle’s back, Chang Qi Qi was flipping through the Eastern Region Geography, getting more and more excited the more she read.
Similarly flipping through the Eastern Region Geography, Si Xingkong, however, frowned deeper and deeper the more he read.
Chang Qi Qi laughed out loud and said, ”I don’t know until I read it, but I was shocked when I read it, before I was really a frog at the bottom of the well, thinking that the thirty-six counties of the Heavenly Demon Ridge were already quite vast, and that to be able to be famous in the Heavenly Demon Ridge, one would already be a big shot. Now, I realise that the Heavenly Demon Ridge is but a mere bullet point in the Eastern Region.”
Si Xingkong said, “According to the latest edition of the Eastern Region Geography, in the Eastern Region, there are a total of one hundred and six superior county states, and as for the inferior and intermediate county states, there are about twelve thousand of them combined. Almost every year, there were counties that were established and counties that were destroyed. Only the one hundred and six superior county states were relatively stable because of their strong power and long history. What a vast world is this? Not to mention you, even I used to be a frog at the bottom of a well.”
Lei Jing stood on top of the Dragon Eagle’s head, his body was like an iron tower, majestic and intimidating as he said, “Those inferior county states and medium county states were once all wilderness, with savage beasts running rampant and poor mountains, and it wasn’t until Empress Chi Yao ascended to the throne that a civilised state was established. From this, it can be seen that Empress Chi Yao’s civilisation and martial arts skills are truly unrivalled in the world, and even if emperors have come and gone since ancient times, I’m afraid that there are few people who can be compared to her.”
“Lower and medium county states have short histories and little depth, so naturally they have frequent turnover. It’s only those upper-class county states that have a longer history and a more subtle and amazing martial dao inheritance, so their rivers and mountains are more solid.”
“Of course, that’s the history of the superior county states, and in the face of the Eastern Domain Divine Soil, it would be worthless.”
“Since ancient times, when the people speak of the Eastern Region, they are only referring to the Eastern Region Divine Soil, and they have nothing to do with those counties that were carved out of the Great Wasteland.”
“In their eyes, we are nothing more than a group of barbarians and savages who have yet to be enlightened.”
When Lei Jing was young, he was highly ostracised and despised in the Sacred Courtyard, so he was well aware of the pride of the martial artists of the Eastern Region Divine Soil, and in their eyes, they simply couldn’t look down on the martial artists of the major county states.
Not to mention the martial artists of the Eastern Domain Divine Soil, even the court centre of the First Central Empire actually didn’t look at them at all, treating them as a bunch of barbarians.
That was why they had acquiesced to the establishment of county states, otherwise, they would have already changed their states to counties and established a more perfect system.
Zhang Ruochen gently nodded and said, “The so-called superior county states, medium county states, and inferior county states, the boundaries of all 10,000-odd county states combined, are also far inferior to the Eastern Domain Divine Earth.”
“On top of that land, the Martial Dao, which has already developed to the extreme, has even derived the Holy Dao. Moreover, even the Holy Dao has developed to the level of Mahayana, where someone can advance to become a ‘Holy King’, the king of the saints.”
