Chapter 63: Supreme Extreme Realm, Resonance of All Gods
In order to hone his palm techniques, Zhang Ruochen had been cultivating in King Mountain. Ten days had passed, and he had killed two more second-rank savage beasts and seventeen first-rank upper-class savage beasts.
The second-rank and first-rank upper-class savage beasts in King Mountain had been nearly wiped out by him.
The lower-class savage beasts in King Mountain seemed to know that a killer star had arrived. Whenever they saw Zhang Ruochen, they would immediately flee, as if they had seen a demon king.
"Rustle, rustle!"
A river, seven or eight meters wide, surged down from the mountaintop, emitting a roaring sound of water. Throwing a stone into it, it would be instantly knocked away by the strong current, tumbling endlessly in the water.
Zhang Ruochen arrived at the riverbank, gazing at the surging water, his heart also churning with excitement.
After a period of cultivation, Zhang Ruochen could clearly feel that his palm technique was on the verge of a breakthrough.
"Plop!"
He leaped into the river channel, using his physical strength to resist the impact of the current.
"Boom!"
His whole body's true qi surged, and he struck out with a palm.
The river water in the channel was actually forced to a brief halt.
But soon, an even fiercer torrent of water crashed over, knocking him away. The powerful current sent Zhang Ruochen spinning dizzily, slamming him onto the bank.
Zhang Ruochen spat out a mouthful of river water, then jumped back into the channel, swimming upstream while continuously striking out with palm techniques.
This time, he managed to strike three palms in a row before being knocked away by the water again.
Knocked back, he charged forward once more.
He was repelled time and again, but Zhang Ruochen's endurance in the river grew longer and longer.
After an entire day, Zhang Ruochen was utterly exhausted, covered in injuries.
When night fell, he took out a piece of spirit meat dug from a second-rank savage beast, the Green-Eyed Snake, consumed it, and began to sit in meditation, absorbing spiritual energy to recover his strength.
The next morning, Zhang Ruochen's injuries had fully healed, his true qi was abundant, and his spirit was full. He jumped back into the river and continued his cultivation.
On the fifth day, a long roar echoed from the river: "Dragon-Elephant Returns to the Field."
Zhang Ruochen struck out with both palms simultaneously, sending a surging palm force outward, producing a sound of dragon and elephant harmonizing, actually causing the river's waves to flow backward.
The third palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, "Dragon-Elephant Returns to the Field," was successfully cultivated.
Zhang Ruochen unleashed a force of one hundred oxen, reaching the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
At that moment, all the spiritual energy in King Mountain surged, gathering toward Zhang Ruochen, forming a white pillar of light that shot up into the void a hundred zhang high.
Around the light pillar, ancient phantom images appeared—some human-shaped, some dragon-shaped, some like ancient phoenixes, some like qilins.
Each phantom was immensely sacred, emitting an incredibly powerful aura, as if gods were manifesting their holiness.
"Gods manifest their holiness; all beings kneel in worship."
In the distance, General Ge Qian and a squad of imperial guards all knelt devoutly on the ground, worshiping the phantoms of the gods.
Generally, the phenomenon of gods manifesting only occurred during large-scale sacrificial ceremonies.
Now, the phantoms of the gods appeared in King Mountain, hovering above the head of His Highness the Ninth Prince. For the Yunwu Commandery, this was undoubtedly a divine miracle.
"Reaching the Supreme Extreme Realm indeed triggers the resonance of all gods." Zhang Ruochen stared at the phantoms of the gods in the sky above, his heart filled with excitement.
He had finally taken the first step on the path to becoming a strong one.
"Whoosh!"
The phantoms of the gods transformed into specks of light, flying toward Zhang Ruochen's brow, drilling into his qi pool.
"Boom!"
The specks of light entered Zhang Ruochen's qi pool and immediately exploded, emitting a white divine aura.
The qi pool was nearly bursting from the pressure, and the blood within his body churned violently.
"Since that's the case, I might as well charge straight to the Mysterious Extreme Realm!"
Zhang Ruochen naturally wouldn't miss this perfect opportunity. Sitting cross-legged in the water, he rapidly circulated the thirty-six meridians in his body, frantically absorbing the power of the gods, beginning his assault on the Mysterious Extreme Realm.
Zhang Ruochen had already reached the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Yellow Extreme Realm. With the divine power of the gods, reaching the Mysterious Extreme Realm was almost a foregone conclusion, encountering no bottlenecks.
Half an hour later, Zhang Ruochen's qi pool violently trembled, cracking open with fissures.
"Boom!"
The qi pool shattered, breaking into pieces.
Then, these pieces quickly reassembled, forming a larger qi pool!
No, not a qi pool.
It was a qi lake.
Zhang Ruochen broke through to the Mysterious Extreme Realm, and the qi pool at his brow transformed into a qi lake, expanding a hundredfold compared to the Great Perfection of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
Imprints of the gods were stamped on the walls of the qi lake, emitting divine radiance.
However, these divine imprints were very faint; if one didn't look carefully, they couldn't be seen clearly.
It must be understood that Zhang Ruochen had only reached the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Yellow Extreme Realm, triggering the first resonance of all gods. Naturally, the divine imprints were very faint.
If Zhang Ruochen could reach the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Mysterious Extreme Realm, he would trigger a second resonance of all gods, and the divine imprints in his qi lake would surely deepen.
After the ancient era, although very few people had cultivated the Supreme Extreme Realm, it wasn't absolutely nonexistent. Among them, a very small number of exceptionally talented saints and great emperors had, in their youth, actually cultivated the Supreme Extreme Realm and triggered the resonance of all gods.
However, the youthful deeds of saints and great emperors were all very obscure, impossible to record in historical texts. Thus, no one knew about them.
Of course, being able to trigger the resonance of all gods once was already quite remarkable. Triggering it a second time was nearly impossible, something even those great emperors and saints found difficult to achieve.
The Supreme Extreme Realm of the Mysterious Extreme Realm was even harder to cultivate than that of the Yellow Extreme Realm.
Even though Zhang Ruochen had reached the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Yellow Extreme Realm, he had no confidence whatsoever in reaching the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Mysterious Extreme Realm.
"Divine light swirling, gods protecting. Is this the legendary Divine Light Qi Lake?"
In his previous life, Zhang Ruochen had heard the Ming Emperor mention the Divine Light Qi Lake.
It was said that when the Ming Emperor was young, he had also triggered the resonance of all gods once, receiving the protection of divine power, and his qi lake transformed into a Divine Light Qi Lake.
Once the Divine Light Qi Lake was cultivated, it became extremely resilient. Even a strong one at the Earth Extreme Realm couldn't pierce Zhang Ruochen's qi lake.
Moreover, as Zhang Ruochen's cultivation level increased, the advantages of the Divine Light Qi Lake would become even more pronounced.
It took an entire day and night for Zhang Ruochen to fully digest the power from the resonance of all gods.
The true qi in his qi lake was nearly full.
In other words, Zhang Ruochen's current realm had reached the peak of the early Mysterious Extreme Realm, and it wouldn't be long before he could break through to the middle Mysterious Extreme Realm.
"As expected of the Divine Light Qi Lake. Its capacity is ten times greater than that of other Mysterious Extreme Realm early-stage martial artists. Moreover, I feel that the purity of my true qi far exceeds that of early-stage Mysterious Extreme Realm martial artists, not much different from those at the Great Perfection of the Mysterious Extreme Realm."
When an ordinary martial artist breaks through from the Great Perfection of the Yellow Extreme Realm to the early Mysterious Extreme Realm, the capacity of their qi pool only expands tenfold.
But Zhang Ruochen had cultivated the Supreme Extreme Realm, cultivating an extra minor realm compared to ordinary martial artists, so his qi pool had expanded twice.
Thus, his qi lake's capacity was ten times greater than that of other early-stage Mysterious Extreme Realm martial artists.
While Zhang Ruochen was breaking through in the water, General Ge Qian immediately rushed back to the palace, intending to report the news to the Yunwu Commandery King.
"Your subordinate has an urgent matter to report to the King. I trouble Eunuch Cao to inform the Commandery King," Ge Qian said urgently.
Eunuch Cao was a man of the Queen Consort. Knowing that Ge Qian was now responsible for protecting the Ninth Prince, he naturally showed no goodwill toward Ge Qian, speaking sarcastically: "The King is resting and likely won't see you, General. Please return. Protecting His Highness the Ninth Prince is your true duty."
Ge Qian's eyes darkened, and his aura burst forth, saying: "Cao Shiren, you'd better go report to the King immediately. If you delay a major matter, ten of your heads won't be enough to pay for it."
Eunuch Cao, a strong one at the Small Extreme Position of the Mysterious Extreme Realm, though no match for Ge Qian, was not intimidated by his aura.
At that moment, the Yunwu Commandery King's voice came from within the hall: "Who is making noise outside?"
Eunuch Cao glared fiercely at Ge Qian, saying: "Disturbing the King—how will you bear that responsibility?"
Ge Qian ignored Eunuch Cao, bowing toward the direction of the hall: "King, your subordinate Ge Qian has an urgent matter to report."
The Yunwu Commandery King's voice came from the hall: "Ge Qian? Aren't you protecting the Ninth Prince? What important matter could you have? Has someone attempted to assassinate the Ninth Prince again?"
"More important than that," Ge Qian said.
The Yunwu Commandery King seemed to realize that something major might have happened, so he immediately summoned Ge Qian.
Hearing Ge Qian's words, Eunuch Cao's eyes flickered with a strange light, and he also followed into the hall.
Ge Qian glanced slightly at Eunuch Cao, saying: "King, the matter your subordinate wishes to report is extremely important and can only be told to the King. Outsiders must not hear it."
The Yunwu Commandery King sat above, holding a golden scroll in his hands. His eyes narrowed as he stared deeply at Ge Qian, saying: "Everyone, withdraw."
Though unwilling, Eunuch Cao dared not defy the Yunwu Commandery King's order and immediately exited the hall.
The Yunwu Commandery King said calmly: "Ge Qian, what important matter do you have? You can speak now."
Ge Qian knelt on one knee and immediately recounted everything that had happened in King Mountain, word for word, to the Yunwu Commandery King.
"Resonance of all gods!"
The Yunwu Commandery King could no longer maintain his composure. His body trembled, and he suddenly stood up.
Ge Qian nodded, saying: "That's right. His Highness the Ninth Prince must have reached the legendary Supreme Extreme Realm, which is why he triggered the resonance of all gods."
The Yunwu Commandery King's expression changed repeatedly, realizing the gravity of the situation. He said in a deep voice: "How many people know about this?"
Ge Qian said: "Besides your subordinate, there are the ten accompanying imperial guards."
The Yunwu Commandery King said: "The resonance of all gods is no small matter. This must be kept secret. Ge Qian, what do you think should be done with those ten?"
How to deal with those ten was essentially how to deal with Ge Qian himself.
Ge Qian understood this principle. He pondered for a moment, a look of resolve appearing in his eyes, and said: "Kill them."
The Yunwu Commandery King nodded, saying: "Ge Qian, this king knows you are loyal. But this matter is of great importance. If it leaks out, the Ninth Prince's life will surely be in danger. How about this: starting tomorrow, you and those ten imperial guards will guard the Ancestral Temple on Tianzi Mountain, never to leave the temple for the rest of your lives."
"Your subordinate accepts the order," Ge Qian said.
Then, the Yunwu Commandery King and Ge Qian immediately rushed to King Mountain to personally confirm whether the Ninth Prince had indeed triggered the resonance of all gods.