Chapter 10: The Thirty-Six Meridian Diagram
Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment, then asked again, "Lin Chenyu was executed?"
"No! How could the Seventh Prince let him off that easily?" Yun'er said. "Lin Chenyu was sentenced to castration, turned into a eunuch, and taken as a slave by the Seventh Prince."
Zhang Ruochen said, "The number one genius of the Lin family, turned into a eunuch and becoming an enemy's slave. To the Lin family, this is nothing short of a tremendous disgrace."
Yun'er frowned, saying, "But I really can't understand it. Since the Lin family has suffered such humiliation, why would the family head still marry his daughter to the Seventh Prince?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "That's easy to understand! With the Seventh Prince's talent, he will surely inherit the throne in the future and become the ruler of Yunwu Commandery. If the Lin family wants to establish a foothold in Yunwu Commandery, they have to repair their relationship with the Seventh Prince. A marriage alliance is the best way."
"Secondly, since the Lin family's number one genius has become the Seventh Prince's slave, the relationship between the Lin family and the Seventh Prince is probably not as hostile as we imagine. Perhaps Lin Ningshan's marriage to the Seventh Prince was orchestrated by none other than Lin Chenyu himself."
Yun'er stared straight at Zhang Ruochen, utterly unable to believe that the Ninth Prince could analyze things so logically. He no longer resembled the timid youth of the past but instead gave off a sense of maturity and wisdom.
"It seems that awakening the Divine Martial Mark has truly transformed the Ninth Prince completely," Yun'er thought to herself. If Consort Lin knew that the Ninth Prince had changed so much, she would surely be very relieved.
Returning to his own room, Zhang Ruochen immediately entered the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.
"Now I'll start opening the second meridian!"
Zhang Ruochen uncorked the small jade bottle and took a dose of Marrow Cleansing Liquid.
Under the medicinal effect of the Marrow Cleansing Liquid, the blood throughout his body seemed to boil. Leveraging the powerful medicinal force, Zhang Ruochen immediately began opening the second meridian according to the records in the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture*.
The more meridians opened within the body, the faster the absorption of spiritual energy and the faster the circulation of true qi.
The more meridians in the body, the stronger the martial body cultivated, allowing one to unleash greater combat power at the same cultivation level.
Drawing on his past cultivation experience, Zhang Ruochen quickly opened the second meridian, doubling the circulation speed of true qi within his body.
"The qi pool hasn't expanded, and I haven't broken through to the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm. It seems I need to open another meridian."
Zhang Ruochen took a Blood Pill to restore his stamina. After resting for about an hour to reach his optimal state, he immediately took another dose of Marrow Cleansing Liquid and began opening the third meridian.
Other cultivators, after opening a new meridian, typically recuperate for one to three months to increase the meridian's toughness and vitality before continuing to open the next one.
But Zhang Ruochen couldn't wait a month. He needed to open the third meridian now and break through to the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
This made the difficulty more than double.
"I can do it. I can definitely do it. Tonight, I must break through to the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm."
Zhang Ruochen held a Spirit Crystal in his hand, absorbing its spiritual energy while mobilizing all the true qi in his body to surge toward the third meridian.
"Boom!"
A muffled sound came from Zhang Ruochen's brow.
The qi pool, originally only the size of a basketball, immediately expanded tenfold, becoming as large as a water vat, about three feet square.
Now, Zhang Ruochen's qi pool could truly be called a qi pool.
This was the cultivation level of the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm!
"For now, I've only just entered the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, and the true qi in my body hasn't increased much. Of course, I now have room for improvement. If I cultivate the true qi in my qi pool to fullness, the true qi in my body will increase tenfold." A sense of joy arose in Zhang Ruochen's heart. His martial arts cultivation had finally grown significantly stronger.
Every time one breaks through a realm, the capacity of the qi pool increases, naturally allowing it to hold more true qi.
If one cannot break through a realm, even cultivating for ten years won't increase the true qi in the body, because the qi pool is only that large and can only hold that much true qi.
After breaking through to the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, impurities in the physical body were expelled through the pores, forming a layer of black sticky mud with a faint, rancid odor.
Zhang Ruochen immediately fetched a bucket of hot water, took a bath, changed into new clothes, and promptly returned to the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.
He held a brush in his hand, moving smoothly as he drew a human-shaped figure on a scroll.
Then, relying on the memories in his mind, he drew thirty-six meridians on the human figure, each with a different path of circulation.
They all shared one common point: all thirty-six meridians converged at the qi pool in the brow.
The first time Zhang Ruochen opened the first layer of the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture*, what he saw was exactly such a "Meridian Diagram," with no textual explanation, relying entirely on personal comprehension.
The higher the level of the cultivation technique, the more meridians one opens in the body, and the faster the circulation of true qi.
"A human-grade, lower-rank technique can only open seven meridians."
"The *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture* records the paths of thirty-six meridians. For each additional cultivation meridian added, the martial body becomes stronger. If all thirty-six meridians are opened, how powerful will the martial body become?"
The "Extreme" in Yellow Extreme Realm represents the limit of the meridians.
In his previous life, Zhang Ruochen had only cultivated thirty-three meridians, with three meridians he could never open.
With his martial body of thirty-three meridians from his past life, he had already defeated all peers without equal. Even the current number one under heaven, Empress Chi Yao, was slightly inferior, having only opened thirty-one meridians.
"I've now opened three meridians, placing me at the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm. To break through to the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, I need to open at least three more meridians."
Zhang Ruochen rolled up the Meridian Diagram and placed it on the stone platform.
To break through to the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, he first needed to cultivate the true qi in his qi pool to fullness.
If he followed the conventional path of cultivation, even with the help of a Spirit Crystal's spiritual energy, it would take a month and a half to fill his body with true qi and overflow the qi pool.
Zhang Ruochen couldn't wait that long, so he decided to take a "Qi Gathering Pill."
A single Qi Gathering Pill cost one thousand silver coins, a rare treasure for ordinary martial artists. Even the young disciples of middle-ranking families found it hard to obtain one.
Zhang Ruochen had bought ten pills at once, intending to use them to rapidly improve his cultivation.
The Qi Gathering Pill was only the size of a pearl, with a faint fragrance. With the naked eye, one could see wisps of spiritual energy flowing on the pill's surface.
Zhang Ruochen swallowed the Qi Gathering Pill.
A moment later.
"Boom!" The Qi Gathering Pill exploded inside his body, turning into a violent mass of pill qi that surged and jumped throughout his body.
The three meridians absorbed the pill qi at the fastest speed. After circulating through a major cycle in the body, the pill qi transformed into true qi and was stored in the qi pool.
Although Zhang Ruochen did his best to absorb the pill qi, seventy percent of it still leaked out through his pores. He only absorbed thirty percent of the pill qi from one Qi Gathering Pill.
It took him an entire day to fully convert that thirty percent of pill qi into his own true qi.
After refining this thirty percent of pill qi, the amount of true qi in his qi pool increased by two times.
"I've only opened three meridians, so the conversion speed of true qi is still too slow. Seventy percent of the pill qi was wasted. If a martial artist at the Small Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm took a Qi Gathering Pill, they could fully convert all the pill qi into their own true qi without wasting a single bit."
"Never mind! As long as I can quickly improve my cultivation, wasting any amount of silver coins is worth it. With the medicinal power of the Qi Gathering Pill, after refining four more pills, I'll be able to fill the true qi in my qi pool."
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen now had plenty of silver coins and didn't need to worry about money. Otherwise, each Qi Gathering Pill costing one thousand silver coins would have pained him every time he took one.
He didn't continue taking a second Qi Gathering Pill. He stopped cultivating, left the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, and returned to his room.
He had cultivated for over a day inside the Time-Space Crystal, but only half a day had passed outside.
It was now noon.
Without disturbing Yun'er and Consort Lin, Zhang Ruochen fetched a bucket of hot water and placed it in the room.
He wasn't going to take a bath; he was going to soak in a medicinal bath.
Martial artists not only need to cultivate true qi but also temper their bodies.
Compared to his peers, Zhang Ruochen's body was somewhat frail. To strengthen his body within a few months, he not only needed to practice boxing but also soak in medicinal baths.
Zhang Ruochen had bought five doses of Body Tempering Powder, each costing one thousand silver coins.
He took out one dose of Body Tempering Powder and put it into the wooden bucket.
A "hissing" sound immediately came from the bucket, and white steam rose from it.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged in the bucket, his head submerged by the medicinal liquid.
The medicinal liquid was scalding hot, like boiling water, bubbling up.
An intense pain came from the surface of his skin, then the pain burrowed into his flesh. Finally, the pain reached his marrow and internal organs.
His entire body was burning with fiery pain. If it were another martial artist, they would surely be unable to bear the pain and jump out of the bucket.
But Zhang Ruochen sat like a rock at the bottom of the bucket, his expression unchanged, silently enduring the pain from his physical body.
Only by enduring the bitterest hardships can one become the best among men.