# Chapter 5: Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm
Zhang Ruochen's gaze carried a sharp edge, his will firm as he said, "Mother, don't worry! I will definitely cultivate and become a strong warrior as quickly as possible, using my own strength to protect you."
Holding the blood pill, Zhang Ruochen returned to his room and continued his diligent cultivation.
"Your Highness, I've heard that warriors not only need to take blood pills but also need to cultivate techniques. They must possess cultivation techniques to open up their meridians," the maid Yun'er said.
Lin Fei watched Zhang Ruochen's departing back, bit her lips, and nodded bitterly. "I know! But even the lowest-grade technique costs over five hundred silver coins. With my current financial resources, I simply can't afford it. Moreover, the Queen and the National Master are currently governing the court. The Queen will never allow Chen'er to go to the 'Scripture Collection Hall' to obtain cultivation techniques and martial skills. It seems there's only one way left!"
The maid Yun'er said, "Your Highness wants to go ask the Lin family? But three years ago, Your Highness completely fell out with the Lin family. Would they give the Ninth Prince a cultivation technique?"
"As long as they are willing to give Chen'er a cultivation technique, even if I have to kneel on the ground and admit my mistakes, I can still kneel." Lin Fei seemed to recall some past events, and tears involuntarily flowed from her eyes.
"But back then, it clearly wasn't Your Highness's fault..." The maid Yun'er let out a soft sigh.
...
Inside the space-time crystal's inner space, the spiritual energy was extremely abundant, with a concentration roughly twice that of the outside world.
One must know that in the Yunwu Commandery, if the spiritual energy concentration of those famous mountains and great rivers reached one and a half times, it would already be considered a cultivation treasure land, and would be fiercely contested by various families.
Sitting in the center of the inner space, Zhang Ruochen took out the jade bottle containing ten blood pills, poured out one blood pill, brought it to his nose, and gently sniffed it.
Although "blood pills" were refined from the blood of barbarian beasts, they had no bloody smell; instead, they carried a faint, light fragrance.
When alchemists refined blood pills, they removed the bloody odor and added tiger radish grass and mandala flowers.
Long-term consumption of blood pills could not only provide warriors with a continuous supply of physical strength but also improve their meridians, bones, and internal organs, making their bodies stronger.
"Just a first-grade blood pill." Zhang Ruochen gently nodded and murmured to himself, "With my current cultivation level, taking a first-grade blood pill is sufficient."
Zhang Ruochen placed a blood pill into his mouth, then immediately re-covered the jade bottle and set it on the stone platform.
Under the impetus of true qi, the blood energy of the pill quickly dissolved, providing Zhang Ruochen with an endless supply of physical strength.
"Although I have reached the initial stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm and become a warrior, this physical body is far too weak and cannot compare with other warriors. I must train my body to become strong; otherwise, when I fight against warriors of the same realm, I will suffer a great disadvantage."
For warriors, it's not just about cultivating true qi; they also need to cultivate martial skills.
"Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm!"
Zhang Ruochen's mind surfaced this set of profound palm techniques. Among the martial skill secret manuals in his memory, it ranked in the top three and was just right for him to cultivate now.
He spread his legs apart, sank his waist and hips, filled his legs with true qi to stabilize his body, slowly raised his arms, and began to strike his palms according to some mysterious rhythm.
In his mind, he imagined himself as a primordial divine elephant with infinite strength, a deep abyss demon dragon that swallowed clouds and breathed mist. Every punch he threw used all his strength, as if he wanted to expel every ounce of power from his body.
With each palm strike, all the muscles in his body were pulled, and the true qi within him also merged into his muscles and sinews, causing them to transform, becoming stronger, more resilient, and even fusing with the true qi.
The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm consisted of thirteen palm seals and was classified as a king-grade lower-rank martial skill.
To be precise, if one could cultivate the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm to the thirteenth palm, it would not be much different from a god-grade martial skill.
Both techniques and martial skills were divided into five grades: Human, Spirit, Ghost, King, and God.
The first palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, "Barbarian Elephant Galloping the Earth," once successfully cultivated, had power comparable to a human-grade lower-rank martial skill.
The second palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, "Flying Dragon in the Sky," once successfully cultivated, had power comparable to a human-grade middle-rank martial skill.
The third palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, "Dragon-Elephant Returning to the Field," once successfully cultivated, had power comparable to a human-grade upper-rank martial skill.
The fourth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, "Dragon-Elephant Form and Shadow," once successfully cultivated, had power comparable to a spirit-grade lower-rank martial skill.
...
The thirteenth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was called "Dragon-Elephant World Destruction," and its power was comparable to a god-grade martial skill, unleashing unimaginable force.
The first few palms of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm could only be considered low-grade martial skills, and their power was not great. Moreover, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was extremely yang and firm, extremely difficult to cultivate. Very few people could even cultivate it to the seventh palm.
After the seventh palm, each palm required a great deal of time and energy to cultivate. If one couldn't withstand the extremely yang and firm power within the body, there was even a risk of self-immolation.
It was for these reasons that the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm could only be classified as a king-grade lower-rank martial skill.
Although the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was very difficult to cultivate, it was just right for Zhang Ruochen to cultivate now, allowing him to train his body to become strong in a short period of time.
"First palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, Barbarian Elephant Galloping the Earth."
Zhang Ruochen first assumed a horse stance, then quickly moved his steps, charged forward, and rapidly struck out with his palms.
Still as a mountain, moving like a barbarian elephant.
He practiced over and over again until the true qi in his body was completely depleted. Then he wiped off his sweat, sat cross-legged on the ground, and used the Divine Martial Mark on his forehead to absorb the spiritual energy from the space-time crystal's inner space, converting it into an endless stream of true qi.
Inside the space-time crystal's inner space, after cultivating continuously for nine days, he finally succeeded in cultivating the first palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, "Barbarian Elephant Galloping the Earth."
Nine days in the inner space meant only three days had passed in the outside world.
"I wonder, with my current cultivation level, how powerful would it be to execute the first palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm?"
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the space-time crystal's inner space, came to the backyard, stood in the center of the courtyard, and circulated the true qi in his body, filling his legs.
"Barbarian Elephant Galloping the Earth."
He stepped with rhythmic footwork and suddenly charged forward.
With each step forward, a surge of powerful energy rose from his legs, passed through his waist, abdomen, and spine, flowed to his back and shoulders, and burst forth from his arms.
Although it was just a single palm technique, it mobilized the strength of every muscle in his body, naturally resulting in astonishing explosive power.
"Boom!"
His palms struck a half-man-tall, thousand-jin boulder, and then he immediately withdrew his palms, stepping back along the same footprints to his original position with lightning speed.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the thousand-jin boulder and saw two shallow, palm-shaped indentations on its surface. The bottom of the boulder had sunk about two centimeters into the soil.
He was quite satisfied with the power of this palm strike.
Although the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was now only a human-grade lower-rank martial skill, it was more sophisticated than other human-grade lower-rank martial skills, and the power it unleashed was also greater.
"The higher the grade of a martial skill, the more difficult it is to cultivate. If I were to directly cultivate a spirit-grade martial skill now, I wouldn't be able to succeed in nine days; it would take at least half a year or more. Moreover, with the amount of true qi in my body, I wouldn't be able to execute a spirit-grade martial skill."
The time spent cultivating martial skills and cultivating techniques must be arranged reasonably.
If one focuses too much on martial skills and neglects technique cultivation, their cultivation realm will progress slowly.
If one focuses too much on technique cultivation and neglects martial skill training, they will suffer a great disadvantage when fighting others.
Regardless, having successfully cultivated the first palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, Zhang Ruochen, eight hundred years later, had finally gained a preliminary ability to protect himself.
During these nine days, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation had also progressed greatly. The true qi in his qi pool was already full, and he could begin to open his second meridian.
But to open meridians, one must take marrow cleansing liquid. The Queen had only given Zhang Ruochen one portion of marrow cleansing liquid, which had already been used when opening the first meridian.
How could he obtain a second portion of marrow cleansing liquid, or even more?
"Ninth Prince, Her Highness is looking everywhere for you. What are you doing here?" The maid Yun'er saw Zhang Ruochen standing in the center of the courtyard and curiously walked over.
Yun'er was the only maid beside Lin Fei and Zhang Ruochen. She was about seventeen or eighteen years old, quite beautiful, with bright eyes and a pointed chin.
Zhang Ruochen walked in front of Yun'er, blocking her view so she wouldn't see the two handprints on the distant thousand-jin boulder, and asked with concern, "Sister Yun'er, has the injury on your arm gotten any better?"
Yun'er gently shook her head and said, "It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone; it will probably take another two or three months to fully recover."
The injury on her arm was from a few days ago when the Eighth Prince pushed her with a palm strike, breaking her bone. For maidservants like them, even if they were beaten to death with clubs, the Eighth Prince wouldn't need to bear any responsibility.
In a world where the strong are revered, the weak have no status at all.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Why not buy some sinew and bone healing ointment?"
Enduring the pain in her arm, Yun'er smiled bitterly. "The cheapest sinew and bone healing ointment costs two hundred silver coins. People like us, the lower class, simply can't afford it. Ninth Prince, it's already very kind of you to care about us servants. Hurry up and come with me to see Her Highness. We need to leave the palace today."
Zhang Ruochen followed behind Yun'er and asked curiously, "Leave the palace? Where to?"
"To see Ning Shan! You haven't seen her for a long time. You must be very happy, right?" Yun'er's face showed a bright smile as she looked at Zhang Ruochen.
Every time "Ning Shan" was mentioned, he would definitely blush and become shy like a big girl.
"Who is Ning Shan?" Zhang Ruochen was about to ask this question but immediately swallowed it back.
Clearly, the Zhang Ruochen before his illness and death definitely knew this woman named Ning Shan, and judging by Yun'er's tone, their relationship might even be quite special.
If Zhang Ruochen asked "Who is Ning Shan," he would definitely expose himself. Since that was the case, it was better to remain silent and speak as little as possible.
Fortunately, over the years, Zhang Ruochen had always been weak and sickly. Apart from Lin Fei who always cared for him, he had little contact with others. Otherwise, he would probably have been suspected long ago.
Yun'er saw that Zhang Ruochen was actually very calm, which surprised her a little, but she didn't think too much about it and continued walking toward the courtyard where Lin Fei lived.