It seemed like the speed had only increased by a sliver, but it had crossed over to the limit of Xuan Extreme Realm martial artists.
Just as Zhang Ruochen reached his extreme speed, a certain layer of barrier between heaven and earth seemed to have been pierced through, erupting with powerful aura fluctuations.
The aura in the entire cultivation chamber turned into a thin stream that surged towards Zhang Ruochen, converging into a pillar of light that coalesced above Zhang Ruochen’s head.
“Wow!”
In the cultivation chamber, an ancient and sacred silhouette appeared, as if it was the imprint of a deity. They hovered in the void, emitting a chanting strange sound.
The gods resonated for the second time.
The divine light and aura intertwined with each other and surged into Zhang Ruochen’s body with a loud bang, bursting the Qi Lake in Zhang Ruochen’s brow and transforming into pieces.
Those fragments quickly reorganised and coalesced into a Qi Lake that was a hundred times more massive than the original.
In fact, it could no longer be called a Qi Lake, it should be called a Sea of Qi.
At this very moment, Zhang Ruochen had not only reached the supreme extreme realm of the Xuan Extreme Realm, he had also opened up a Qi Sea in one fell swoop, reaching the early stage of the Earth Extreme Realm martial realm.
On the walls of the Qi Sea, a single divine imprint was presented, even clearer than the original.
Each mark emitted a faint divine light, like a star, illuminating Zhang Ruochen’s Qi Sea.
The true qi in the Qi Lake was affected by the divine Spirit Imprints, and it actually contained a faint trace of divinity.
Zhang Ruochen had just reached the early stage of the Earth Extreme Realm, yet his true qi was even more pure than a martial artist who had reached the great circle of the Earth Extreme Realm.
This was the benefit that the second resonance of the gods brought to Zhang Ruochen!
He didn’t just simply break through one realm, but broke through two realms, his martial cultivation spanning a huge step.
About half an hour later, the spirit crystals on the stone walls of the Hurricane Cultivation Chamber all became dim and turned into powder. The Spirit Qi in the Spirit Crystals was completely absorbed by Zhang Ruochen.
The formations in the Hurricane Cultivation Chamber also stopped functioning.
The entire chamber, became silent and dark.
“How did the formation in the Hurricane Cultivation Chamber suddenly stop?”
Elder Yao, who was guarding the Hurricane Cultivation Chamber, sensed the change in the Cultivation Chamber and immediately opened the door to the chamber and walked in.
When Elder Yao walked into the cultivation chamber, the gods’ shadows had already disappeared, leaving only Zhang Ruochen still sitting quietly in the centre of the cultivation chamber.
“Elder, why did you come in?” Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes and asked with some surprise.
“I also wanted to ask you what exactly happened?”
Elder Yao looked at the stone walls around him, only to see that the stone walls that were originally inlaid with Spirit Crystals appeared as pits. Seven hundred and eighty-six Spirit Crystals, all of them turned into powder.
The spiritual qi contained in the seven hundred and eighty-six spirit crystals was so huge, where did all this spiritual qi go?
Elder Yao’s gaze was like a torch as he stared closely at Zhang Ruochen, noticing the huge change in Zhang Ruochen’s body, he said with some surprise, “You’ve broken through to the Earth Extreme Realm?”
“It should be a breakthrough in the realm!” Zhang Ruochen stood up and looked at the pit on the stone wall, and was also startled.
The Resonance of the Gods had actually consumed hundreds of Spirit Crystals of Spirit Qi in one go, it was fortunate that it was in the Cultivation Chamber, if it was a breakthrough outside, it would have definitely caused a greater commotion.
Elder Yao stared Avray at Zhang Ruochen, as if he had guessed something, and said, “I will report this matter to the higher-ups of the Academic Palace, and you will try to keep it a secret and not spread it out.”
“Student understands.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Elder Yao said, “Since you have broken through to the Earth Extremity Realm, you are also considered an Inner Palace disciple, so you can go to the Academic Palace right now to register and receive the Inner Palace disciple’s token.
After becoming an Inner Palace Disciple, you will have better treatment, and for geniuses like you, the Academy Palace will also spend a lot of resources to cultivate them.”
After Zhang Ruochen left the Hurricane Cultivation Chamber, Elder Yao’s eyes still carried a complicated look in his eyes as he mumbled to himself, “Could it be that he has really reached the Xuan Extreme Realm’s Supreme Extreme Realm?”
Elder Yao left the Tong Sheng Mountain and rushed in the direction of the Elder Pavilion.
The Elder Pavilion, was divided into the Silver-robed Elder Pavilion and the Gold-robed Elder Pavilion.
The Silver-robed Elder Pavilion had a total of one hundred and fifty-eight members, of which fifty-four elders stayed in the Inner Palace Academy. The other silver-robed elders were either dispatched to the four houses of the Outer Palace or sent to the 36 counties to take charge of the business of the martial arts market and money mills.
The silver-robed Elder Pavilion’s Pavilion Master, named Lei Jing, was already ninety-four years old, however, it looked as if he was only in his fifties, with a sturdy-looking body, huge eyes, tiger’s back and bear’s waist, and not a trace of old age.
After listening to Elder Yao’s report, Lei Jing also revealed a grave expression, and after contemplating for a moment, he said, ”It is unlikely that the Supreme Extreme Realm is possible, however, that little guy should be quite close to the Supreme Extreme Realm. According to the latest intelligence gathered, four months ago, that little fellow and Yan Lixuan, the number one on the Xuan Ranking, secretly battled once at the mansion of Liu Chuan Shen. At that time, the fastest speed he broke out reached seventy-six metres per second.”
“According to your description, in the last four months, he has been cultivating a certain type of profound body martial art in the Hurricane Secret Chamber. Let’s assume that he has already cultivated that one type of body martial skill to its grand completion, then his speed will definitely rise another notch. I estimate that he will reach a speed of at least seventy-seven metres per second before he breaks through the Earth Extreme Realm.”
Elder Yao’s heart trembled as he said, “Pavilion Master, if Zhang Ruochen’s fastest speed at the Xuan Extreme Realm reaches seventy-seven metres per second, he should be able to be ranked in the top ten in the entire Kunlun Realm’s current generation!”
Lei Jing nodded and said, “After all, he has only just broken through to the Earth Extreme Realm, so it’s still too early to draw any conclusions. If he is able to break through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm within five years, I will definitely meet him in person.”
Elder Yao frowned slightly and said, “Before the age of thirty, martial artists who can break through to the Heavenly Extreme Realm are very rare. Five years later, Zhang Ruochen will only be twenty-two years old. A twenty-two year old Heavenly Extremity Realm martial artist, is there such a possibility?”
Lei Jing gently nodded, also feeling that it was unlikely, and after thinking about it, he added, “On top of the cultivation resources, we can appropriately tilt it in his favour, and give him the treatment of a 《Earth Ranking》 martial artist.”
“In the entire Inner Palace Academy, there are only three people who are 《Earth Ranking》 martial artists, and each one of them is a heaven-defying human master, and can enjoy the treatment of a Silver-robed Elder. Zhang Ruochen is only at the early stage of the Earth Extremity Realm, so I’m afraid that giving him the treatment of an 《Earth Ranking》 martial artist will cause dissatisfaction among the other students.” Elder Yao was a little worried.
Lei Jing laughed, “We can give Zhang Ruochen a task, if he can’t become one of the top ten ranked cadets in the Inner Palace Academy within a year, the treatment given to him will be cancelled.”
Elder Yao thought of another matter and said, “There’s another thing, before I came here, I found out that when Zhang Ruochen was at the Xuan Extreme Realm, he was already ranked thirty-seventh in the Black Market’s Bounty List, with a bounty of fourteen million seven hundred thousand silver coins. Now that he had broken through to the Earth Extreme Realm, I was afraid that the bounty would become even higher. Such a high bounty will definitely move many ruthless people in the black market, and with Zhang Ruochen’s current cultivation, I’m afraid he won’t be able to deal with those ruthless people.”
Lei Jing said, “The path of growth for any strong person is arduous, if we help him clear all threats, it may not be a good thing for him. The crises that he should be allowed to face on his own alone, he has to face them on his own, and it will be a kind of sharpening for him.”
Elder Yao nodded gently and retreated.
……
After Zhang Ruochen left Tong Sheng Mountain, he went to collect the Inner Palace Disciple’s token and officially became an Inner Palace Disciple of the Martial City Academy Palace.
Becoming an Inner Palace Disciple naturally came with a lot of preferential treatment.
For example, one could use points to exchange for secret cultivation mansions. One could also receive their family members to live in Sky Demon Martial City, where the Martial City Academy Palace would protect the safety of the student’s family members.
Moreover, when one became a disciple of the Inner Palace, one could receive a drop of Half-Saint True Liquid every month. At the same time, one could also use the merit value to exchange for the Half-Saint True Liquid. For two hundred points of merit value, one could exchange for a drop of Half-Saint True Liquid.
Of course, to become a disciple of the inner palace, one must also help the academy.
Every quarter, one had to help the academy palace with at least one mission.
As long as they completed the task, they would be rewarded by the Martial City Academic Palace with Merit Value.
Becoming an Inner Palace Disciple, Zhang Ruochen did not rush to redeem his own Cultivation Mystery Mansion, but instead came to Duanmu Xingling’s Cultivation Mystery Mansion.
“You broke through to the Earth Extreme Realm?” Duanmu Xingling revealed a joyful expression as she carefully sized up Zhang Ruochen and laughed somewhat flirtatiously, “I’m really curious as to how strong you are now? Shall we have a couple of moves?”
Zhang Ruochen laughed, “Good! I’m also curious to know just how strong I can exert right now?”
It had already been eight months since Duanmu Xingling had entered the Inner Palace Academy, and with the large amount of cultivation resources she had obtained in the Red Sky Secret Mansion, her cultivation had already reached the late stage of the Earth Extremity Realm, and her speed of cultivation could be described as astonishingly fast.
Most importantly, Xiao Hei lived in Duanmu Xingling’s cultivation secret mansion and refined a large number of Ice Vein Pills, all of which were taken by Duanmu Xingling.
It was because of this reason that Duanmu Xingling’s cultivation speed was so fast, otherwise, she would definitely still be stuck in the middle stage of the Earth Extremity Realm right now.
Just as Zhang Ruochen and Duanmu Xingling were about to exchange blows, an uninvited guest arrived at the Cultivation Mystery Mansion, and the two, who were originally preparing to compete in martial arts, had to stop.
This uninvited guest was none other than Huang Yichen.
“Sister Dust, it’s been a while since we saw each other since our last mission to find the seven-coloured antlers in Black Wind Valley, right?” Duanmu Xingling said with a smile as she sat on one side of the stone table and ordered her maid to serve tea.
Huang Yichen and Zhang Ruochen sat in the other two directions.
Huang Yichen looked as if he hadn’t heard Duanmu Xingling’s words, his gaze fixed on Zhang Ruochen as he said expressionlessly, “You’ve already become a disciple of the Inner Palace?”
Zhang Ruochen maintained his composure and smiled faintly, saying, “I just made a breakthrough today.”
Huang Yichen nodded and hesitated for a moment before saying, “I’ve exchanged a cultivation secret mansion for you, which is adjacent to my cultivation secret mansion. This is the key to the secret mansion!”
After saying that, Huang Yicun took out a key and placed it on the table.
Zhang Ruochen’s eyelids jumped slightly, simply not expecting Huang Yichen to actually do this, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, “Many thanks to Senior Sister Huang.”
“What’s the point of thanking me? I just don’t like the fact that you’ve been staying at Senior Sister Duanmu’s place, don’t you know that it will disturb Senior Sister Duanmu’s cultivation?” Huang Yichen said.
Duanmu Xingling, who was sitting at the other end, sighed lightly in her heart.
Zhang Ruochen also heard the change in Huang Yichen’s tone; previously, Huang Yichen called Duanmu Starling as “Starling”, but now he directly called her “Duanmu Senior Sister”.
“My staying at Senior Sister Duanmu’s Secret Mansion of Cultivation has created a gap in their relationship as well.” Zhang Ruochen’s heart murmured.
He disliked this feeling.
All three of them fell silent, and the atmosphere seemed very depressing.
A moment later, Duanmu Xingling took the initiative to break the deadlock and smiled, “I plan to take on a mission and need two helpers. Since Senior Brother Zhang has broken through to the Earth Extreme Realm, it’s just as well for the three of us to go and complete that mission. The merit value reward for that one mission is as high as six hundred points, and if we complete the mission, all three of us can share two hundred points of merit value.”
Zhang Ruochen knew that Duanmu Xingling was trying to change the topic, so he immediately asked, “What mission?”
