Chapter 15: Strength of Four Oxen
Zhang Ruochen brought the "Abyssal Ancient Sword" and "Flash Soul Sword" to the front courtyard of Qingxuan Pavilion, paid thirty-one thousand silver coins, and then returned to the royal palace with the two war swords.
In Ziyi Side Hall, within the snow-covered courtyard.
Zhang Ruochen held the four-foot-long broken sword in his hands, a strange emotion stirring in his heart.
Eight hundred years had passed. The seas had turned to mulberry fields, mountains and rivers had changed, and people were no longer the same. He never imagined that even the once razor-sharp Abyssal Ancient Sword would be broken!
Even broken, the Abyssal Ancient Sword was extremely heavy. If Zhang Ruochen had not reached the late stage of Yellow Extreme Realm, he might not have been able to lift it.
"All the inscriptions within the Abyssal Ancient Sword are indeed broken. Now, it is only sharper than other war swords. To reforge the inscriptions within the sword body and restore the Abyssal Ancient Sword's power, at least a fifth-rank weapon refiner would be needed. Does Yunwu Commandery have a fifth-rank weapon refiner?"
Zhang Ruochen put the Abyssal Ancient Sword away.
Even if this sword turned into a piece of scrap metal, he had to keep it by his side. Because it could constantly remind him to train hard. Only by cultivating to become strong enough could he seek revenge against Empress Chi Yao.
Zhang Ruochen then took out the fourth-rank True Martial Treasure, "Flash Soul Sword," gripped the hilt, and drew it from the scabbard, revealing the sapphire-blue, crystalline sword body.
Zhang Ruochen mobilized the true qi within his body, channeling it through his palm into the Flash Soul Sword's body.
Within the Flash Soul Sword, the first inscription was activated by the true qi, reviving.
It was a power-type inscription! Once activated by true qi, it could increase the Flash Soul Sword's weight by one hundred jin.
The Flash Soul Sword originally weighed only fifty-three jin. With the first power-type inscription revived, the sword body's weight directly reached one hundred fifty-three jin.
The weight surged sharply.
Zhang Ruochen's arm trembled slightly, and he had to steady his grip again.
Clang!
He thrust the sword out.
However, the sword's trajectory was not precise and was quite difficult to control.
With Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, executing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm could indeed unleash the strength of one wild ox. He could even lift a three-hundred-jin stone plate and throw it ten meters away.
But that was all a burst of instantaneous strength!
If he were wielding a three-hundred-jin war sword, with his current cultivation, even holding it level would be no easy task, let alone executing a refined sword technique.
With his current cultivation, wielding a one-hundred-fifty-three-jin sword was already the limit he could bear.
"Thrust!"
"Slash!"
...
After an entire afternoon of training, Zhang Ruochen only began to adapt to the weight of the Flash Soul Sword.
And even then, it was merely a preliminary adaptation!
Those sword dao masters could easily use a sword to kill a mosquito within three zhang, controlling the sword with exquisite precision, reaching the realm of "the sword follows the heart."
Zhang Ruochen was still far from that level. Compared to those sword dao masters, he was still too clumsy. The sword was too heavy!
"The Flash Soul Sword contains a total of four power-type inscriptions. Just activating the first one makes it weigh one hundred fifty-three jin. If I activate the second inscription, how heavy will the Flash Soul Sword become?"
Zhang Ruochen mobilized his true qi again, channeling it toward the second power-type inscription.
But the true qi in his body grew thinner, and the second power-type inscription showed no change at all, with no sign of reviving.
Zhang Ruochen had to give up.
"With the amount of true qi I have now, I simply cannot activate the second inscription. My cultivation is still not strong enough!"
Zhang Ruochen withdrew the true qi he had injected into the sword body, and the Flash Soul Sword immediately returned to weighing only fifty-three jin. Having adapted to one hundred fifty-three jin, the fifty-three-jin Flash Soul Sword felt light and airy in his hands.
Then, Zhang Ruochen injected true qi into the Flash Soul Sword again, activating an ice-type inscription.
The Flash Soul Sword immediately emitted a bone-chilling cold aura, numbing Zhang Ruochen's five fingers.
"Hua!"
Zhang Ruochen swung the sword, and crystalline snowflakes appeared on the blade's edge. These were tiny water droplets in the air, frozen into frost particles by the sword qi.
"Lightning-type inscription!"
"Light-type inscription!"
Zhang Ruochen also tried activating a lightning-type inscription and a light-type inscription.
After the lightning-type inscription was activated, fine threads of electricity appeared on the sword body's surface. When the war sword thrust out, it was like a bolt of lightning breaking through the air, emitting crackling explosions.
After the light-type inscription was activated, the Flash Soul Sword was enveloped in a layer of white light mist, becoming incredibly sharp. As the white light flashed, stones split open.
With Zhang Ruochen's current true qi reserves, he could only sustain one inscription. Using the power-type inscription meant he couldn't use the other three types.
To activate two inscriptions simultaneously, he would have to train hard and improve his cultivation.
"These thirty thousand silver coins were well spent!"
Zhang Ruochen sheathed the Flash Soul Sword.
"The Flash Soul Sword contains a total of fourteen inscriptions. If all fourteen are activated, the full power of a fourth-rank True Martial Treasure will be unleashed. I must step up my training!"
Entering the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, Zhang Ruochen immediately took a Qi-Gathering Pill and began to cultivate.
"Boom!"
The Qi-Gathering Pill exploded inside his body, turning into a massive ball of medicinal qi.
His six meridians immediately began to transport the medicinal qi, converting it into true qi and storing it in the qi pool.
After spending most of the day, Zhang Ruochen fully absorbed and refined the medicinal qi within his body.
Of that, only fifty percent of the medicinal qi was absorbed and converted into true qi.
The other fifty percent of the medicinal qi dissipated through his pores, all wasted!
If it were another martial artist, they would certainly be distressed. After all, wasting fifty percent of the medicinal qi was like wasting five hundred silver coins.
Zhang Ruochen, however, did not feel it was a waste. He only felt that the true qi in his body had increased significantly. If he had trained step by step, it would have taken at least ten days to achieve the same effect.
Taking the Qi-Gathering Pill only took half a day.
What was a mere one thousand silver coins?
Silver coins could be earned again.
Time, once wasted, could never be regained.
In the following days, Zhang Ruochen spent most of his time cultivating within the Time-Space Crystal.
He used "Qi-Gathering Pills" to increase the amount of true qi in his body. He used "Body-Tempering Powder" to refine his physique.
Besides that, he also spent a great deal of time practicing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm and the Heavenly Heart Sword Technique.
In the first month of cultivation within the Time-Space Crystal, the amount of true qi in Zhang Ruochen's qi pool increased fivefold.
In the second month of cultivation within the Time-Space Crystal, Zhang Ruochen could unleash the "Strength of Two Oxen."
In the third month of cultivation within the Time-Space Crystal, the true qi in Zhang Ruochen's qi pool reached ten times what it was when he first broke through to the late stage of Yellow Extreme Realm. The true qi in the qi pool was fully cultivated, reaching the limit of the late Yellow Extreme Realm.
At this point, Zhang Ruochen could have begun opening new meridians to break through to the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
But Zhang Ruochen did not do so. Instead, he suppressed his cultivation and continued using "Body-Tempering Powder" to refine his physique.
"With my current physique, to break through to the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm, I need to open four more meridians. That means, at the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm, I will have a total of ten meridians in my body."
It was worth noting that martial artists who cultivated human-grade lower-class techniques could only open seven meridians in their bodies. Even if they cultivated to the Great Perfection of the Yellow Extreme Realm, they would still only have seven meridians.
Being able to open ten meridians at the Minor Extreme Position was definitely the mark of a top-tier genius.
But Zhang Ruochen felt it was still far from enough.
After all, in his previous life, at the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm, he had opened a total of thirteen meridians.
"Although my current physique cannot compare to my previous life, I firmly believe that as long as I work hard to temper my body, opening eleven meridians at the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm is not a difficult task."
Zhang Ruochen's greatest advantage in this life was possessing the Time-Space Crystal, giving him three times the cultivation time of others. Since he had twice the time, he naturally had to use it wisely, striving to improve himself, and even surpass his achievements in his previous life.
In the fourth month of cultivation within the Time-Space Crystal, Zhang Ruochen's physique underwent earth-shaking changes. Executing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Fist, he could unleash the "Strength of Three Oxen."
In the sixth month of cultivation within the Time-Space Crystal, Zhang Ruochen's strength climbed again, allowing him to unleash the "Strength of Four Oxen."
Reaching this step, Zhang Ruochen finally felt a bottleneck in his physique. He had reached the limit of his physical body. Any further increase in strength, even by a little, was extremely difficult.
Even if he trained for another year, he would not be able to reach the "Strength of Five Oxen."
Cultivating within the Time-Space Crystal for half a year meant only two months had passed in the outside world.
"Being able to cultivate the strength of one wild ox at the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm is considered upper-middle among martial artists. Only martial artists at the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm can cultivate the strength of four oxen."
"I am still at the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, yet I have already cultivated the strength of four oxen, enough to contend with ordinary martial artists at the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm. If I break through to the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm, how much power could I unleash?"
"Now, my physical strength has reached the current limit. I can begin to break through to the Minor Extreme Position of the Yellow Extreme Realm! I wonder how many meridians I can open?"
To be safe, Zhang Ruochen took out six small jade bottles containing Marrow-Washing Liquid and placed them neatly in front of him.
"Time to work hard! The more meridians I open at the same realm, the stronger my physique and combat power. Let's go all out!"
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the first small jade bottle, swallowed the Marrow-Washing Liquid, and immediately began to open his seventh meridian.