Chapter 29: One Mind, Two Uses
On the training ground, Zhang Ruochen and Situ Linjiang fought even more fiercely, sword shadows and spear shadows clashing against each other, producing ear-splitting booming sounds.
"Boom!"
Situ Linjiang held the long spear with both hands and struck the ground with it, shattering the stone slabs into rubble. With a swing of the spear shaft, all the rubble flew toward Zhang Ruochen.
"Bang! Bang!"
Zhang Ruochen swung his sword to slash out.
All the rubble was turned into stone powder.
Just then, Situ Linjiang thrust his spear forward, piercing through the stone powder, aiming at Zhang Ruochen's chest.
Just as Situ Linjiang thought victory was within his grasp, suddenly, his vision blurred. A sword shadow flashed past his eyes at extreme speed, and he could only see a cyan sword light.
Immediately after, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist, and the pitch-black long spear flew out of his hand.
The sword strike Zhang Ruochen had just delivered left a shallow bloody mark on his wrist, only a hair's breadth away from severing his right hand.
"I haven't lost yet!"
As the long spear flew away, Situ Linjiang was only dazed for a moment before he immediately charged fiercely at Zhang Ruochen, throwing a punch at his face.
He wanted to turn defeat into victory!
"Still want to fight?"
Zhang Ruochen, with a sword in one hand and forming a palm with the other, bent his body into a bow shape and charged forward violently, executing the first palm strike of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, "Wild Elephant Stomps the Earth." As he struck out with his palm, it unleashed the power of sixteen oxen.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen shook his arm, and the Bishui Sword let out a sharp sword cry, thrusting out like a white rainbow piercing the sun, forming seven sword shadows.
Heavenly Heart Sword Art, Heavenly Heart Pierces the Plum Blossom!
The palm technique and sword technique were combined and executed simultaneously.
Zhang Ruochen seemed to split into two, his left and right hands unaffected by each other, launching attacks at the same time.
His combat power immediately doubled.
"Boom!"
Situ Linjiang's fist collided with Zhang Ruochen's palm imprint. He was somewhat surprised to find that Zhang Ruochen's palm strength was extremely formidable, able to contend with him on equal footing.
After all, he had unleashed the power of sixteen oxen. Could Zhang Ruochen also unleash such terrifying power?
Before Situ Linjiang could think further, Zhang Ruochen's sword thrust at him again.
"Whoosh!"
The sharp sword qi grazed past Situ Linjiang's neck, leaving a crimson sword mark.
Zhang Ruochen alternated between striking with his palm and using his sword, forcing Situ Linjiang to retreat continuously.
Situ Linjiang had never seen anyone able to completely separate their left and right hands, completely unaffected. It felt like he was fighting two Zhang Ruochens at the same time, becoming increasingly passive in the battle.
Before long, two more sword wounds appeared on his body.
"I admit defeat!"
Situ Linjiang voluntarily conceded, deciding not to continue the fight.
Zhang Ruochen immediately stopped, retracting the sword he was about to thrust, and prepared to leave the training ground.
Situ Linjiang said, "I want to know, how did you achieve one mind, two uses? One hand using a palm, the other using a sword."
Zhang Ruochen turned around, glanced at Situ Linjiang, and said, "When your spiritual power is strong enough to a certain level, let alone one mind, two uses, you can even achieve one mind, three uses, or one mind, four uses."
"Martial artists also need to cultivate spiritual power?" Situ Linjiang asked, puzzled.
"If you are willing to cultivate, you can naturally choose to do so. If you are unwilling, you can also choose not to. How to choose is entirely in your own hands," Zhang Ruochen said indifferently.
In the Kunlun Realm, only artifact refiners, alchemists, beast tamers, and the like would cultivate spiritual power.
This was because only with strong spiritual power could one inscribe runes, refine True Martial Treasures and miraculous elixirs. At the same time, only by inscribing runes inside barbarian beasts could one tame them, turning them into mounts and war beasts.
Because it wasted too much time on martial arts training, generally speaking, martial artists would not deliberately cultivate spiritual power.
In fact, as one's martial arts cultivation improved, the strength of their spiritual power would also increase somewhat, but the rate of increase was quite slow.
If one did not deliberately cultivate spiritual power, a martial artist would only reach the Heavenly Extreme Realm before achieving the level of one mind, two uses.
In Zhang Ruochen's previous life, while cultivating martial arts, he also cultivated spiritual power. Moreover, the strength of his spiritual power had reached a very high level.
Reborn into this body, although his cultivation was completely lost, his spiritual power was retained.
With Zhang Ruochen's current spiritual power strength, let alone one mind, two uses, he could even achieve one mind, three uses.
When Situ Linjiang voluntarily conceded, the sounds of conch horns and war drums immediately rang out from outside the training ground, announcing the official end of this year's year-end assessment.
The top five of this year's year-end assessment, from first to fifth, were: Zhang Ruochen, Situ Linjiang, Xue Kai, Fifth Prince, and Lin Ningshan.
The young geniuses who ranked in the top five, besides being able to cultivate once in the Barbarian God Pool, would also receive additional rewards.
The reward Zhang Ruochen received was a set of sixth-grade True Martial Treasure-level battle armor, called the "Ice Fire Kirin Armor." It was said to be forged from the scales of the legendary barbarian beast king, the Kirin, and was extremely precious with astonishing defensive power.
At the same grade, armor was far more valuable than weapons.
It could be said that a set of sixth-grade True Martial Treasure-level armor was worth at least a seventh-grade True Martial Treasure-level weapon.
"This Ice Fire Kirin Armor must be worth at least a million silver coins, comparable to a volume of spirit-level lower-grade martial technique. Even for the royal clan of the Yunwu Commandery, such treasures are probably not abundant! The reward for first place in the year-end assessment is actually this generous?" Zhang Ruochen was very surprised, glancing up at the Yunwu Commandery King standing above.
Then, he immediately understood.
After all, he was a descendant of the Yunwu Commandery King. Even if the Ice Fire Kirin Armor was awarded to him, it would still remain a treasure of the royal clan.
If it had been Situ Linjiang who took first place, the reward he received would certainly not be a treasure of this level.
Moreover, the Yunwu Commandery King awarding the Ice Fire Kirin Armor to Zhang Ruochen was likely also meant to compensate for the years of neglect he had suffered.
The Ice Fire Kirin Armor was essentially a piece of armor that, when worn, only covered the upper body. When Zhang Ruochen infused true qi into the armor, the Ice Fire Kirin Armor immediately emitted two colors, deep blue and crimson red, radiating the power of ice and flame.
"Hmph!"
Seeing Zhang Ruochen wearing the Ice Fire Kirin Armor, the Queen sitting above wore a cold, stern expression, a trace of killing intent flashing in her eyes.
She stood up, flicked her sleeve, turned around, and left, leaving only a cold and proud back.
At this moment, the Fifth Prince and the Sixth Prince were both staring at Zhang Ruochen with envy and jealousy.
The Fifth Prince harbored dark hatred in his heart and sneered, "So what if he shows his cultivation talent? The higher the talent, the faster he dies. Just wait and see! The Queen will not let him grow up!"
"Even if his talent is high, compared to the Seventh Brother, he is still far off. Heh! Even the woman he likes is going to marry the Seventh Brother as a secondary consort. What is there to be proud of?" The Sixth Prince sneered coldly.
In truth, they were merely jealous of Zhang Ruochen. Because of jealousy, they developed hatred.
...
The Barbarian God Pool was one of the most precious treasures of the royal clan.
Over hundreds of years, the successive strong members of the royal clan had captured tens of thousands of barbarian beasts, gathering their blood into a massive blood pool. This blood pool was the Barbarian God Pool.
Only the most outstanding geniuses could enter the Barbarian God Pool to cultivate.
The Barbarian God Pool was located beneath the Ancestral Temples.
Every year, during the sacrificial ceremony at the Ancestral Temples, when barbarian beasts were slaughtered, their blood would flow directly into the Barbarian God Pool, replenishing it with fresh blood.
It was precisely because the Barbarian God Pool was infused with sacrificial blood that it also gave birth to a mysterious power. Young martial artists who entered the Barbarian God Pool to cultivate could absorb the blood essence within, strengthening their martial bodies and helping them open more meridians.
The stronger one's innate talent, the more benefits they would gain.
Zhang Ruochen, Situ Linjiang, Xue Kai, the Fifth Prince, and Lin Ningshan, led by the National Preceptor, arrived at the Ancestral Temples.
"Entering the Ancestral Temples requires bowing to the successive great emperors and sovereigns of the Kunlun Realm, to show respect for the sages. Especially the Great Virtuous and Great Virtuous Female Saint Emperor! Empress Chi Yao! Ruling the world, might reaching all directions! Eternal youth, undying and immortal!"
The National Preceptor chanted loudly as he knelt and bowed, extremely devout.
"Empress Chi Yao! Ruling the world, might reaching all directions! Eternal youth, undying and immortal!"
Then, Situ Linjiang, Xue Kai, the Fifth Prince, and Lin Ningshan also chanted loudly, kneeling and bowing, kowtowing to the stone statue of Empress Chi Yao.
Only Zhang Ruochen remained standing there, motionless, with no trace of respect in his eyes, only a blazing fire of hatred.
Chi Yao, just wait. When my cultivation is complete, that will be the time I come to see you.
Eight hundred years! You probably still don't know that the person you killed eight hundred years ago has come back to life!
...
I'm very sorry, there was a power outage today, so only one chapter. This chapter was even written in an internet cafe! Sweat!