Chapter 76: As the Dao Rises One Foot, the Demon Rises Ten
"Boom!"
Two powerful forces collided, creating a violent shockwave.
All the leaves instantly turned to powder.
That martial artist from the Four Directions Commandery staggered back more than ten steps before barely managing to steady himself. It felt as if a heavy hammer had struck his chest, causing his blood and Qi to churn violently, leaving him with a serious internal injury.
In contrast, Zhang Ruochen remained standing in place, calm and composed, not even a corner of his robe damaged.
"How is this possible? How can a martial artist at the Mysterious Extreme Realm initial stage be this powerful?" The martial artist from the Four Directions Commandery clutched his chest, staring incredulously at Zhang Ruochen standing across from him.
Zi Qian stepped out from behind that martial artist and said, "Don't you know he was once the number one on the Yellow Ranking of Yunwu Commandery? Ignorance is also a sin."
"There are more strong ones?"
The Four Directions Commandery martial artist's face changed, and a single word surfaced in his mind.
Flee!
He immediately executed a movement martial technique, stomping his foot on the ground and launching his body forward, reaching a speed of thirty-two meters per second.
But Zhang Ruochen was even faster, quickly catching up to him. He pointed a finger, striking the third segment of the spine on the martial artist's back.
"Bang!"
The martial artist screamed, his entire body going limp as he collapsed to the ground.
"You... you crippled my Central Heavenly Meridian..." The martial artist lay on the ground, trembling all over, glaring venomously at Zhang Ruochen.
If a martial artist's Central Heavenly Meridian in the spine was crippled, their cultivation could never advance again. They would be half a useless person.
"Pfft!"
Zi Qian swung her sword, severing the martial artist's head. Bright red blood gushed from the neck.
"You..."
Zhang Ruochen stared at Zi Qian and said, "His Central Heavenly Meridian was already crippled. He no longer qualifies to become a student of the Martial Market Academy and can't threaten us anymore. Why did you have to kill him?"
Zi Qian coldly withdrew her sword and said, "He's young and already cultivated to the Mysterious Extreme Realm later stage. There must be a considerable force behind him. If he doesn't die, he will surely seek revenge on us."
Zhang Ruochen found himself unable to argue.
To be honest, what Zi Qian did wasn't necessarily wrong. However, Zhang Ruochen felt the man didn't deserve death. Crippling his Central Heavenly Meridian was already a severe punishment for a martial artist.
Everyone had different methods of handling things. Zi Qian's approach was more ruthless and extreme.
Zi Qian searched the martial artist's body and found twenty-one spirit crystals, five hundred silver coins, and a box containing beast eyes.
She opened the box, and a delighted expression appeared on her pretty face. "Six beast eyes, equivalent to three second-tier lower-grade savage beasts."
Zi Qian immediately put the box away. Then she glanced at Zhang Ruochen and said, "You're a prince. You shouldn't be short on money, right?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "I'm not."
"In that case, I'll take the spirit crystals and silver coins from his body." Zi Qian was unceremonious, pocketing all twenty-one spirit crystals and five hundred silver coins.
Zhang Ruochen was a bit curious. "Are you very short on money?"
Zi Qian said solemnly, "Without cultivation resources, no matter how talented a martial artist is, they can't become a strong one. To get cultivation resources, you naturally need to spend a lot of money to buy them. Of course, for lofty princes like you, who never lack cultivation resources from birth, you can't understand the importance of money for cultivation."
"His war blade is yours."
Zi Qian kicked the third-grade True Martial Treasure-level war blade from the corpse's hand, sending it flying toward Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen caught the war blade without any hesitation and stored it in his space ring.
Zi Qian's eyes flickered with surprise as she stared at the ring on Zhang Ruochen's finger. "A space treasure?"
"That's right."
Zhang Ruochen didn't hide anything. "If you want it, I can give it to you?"
Zhang Ruochen took off the white ring carved with phoenix patterns and handed it to Zi Qian, smiling. "To be honest, this space ring has too many patterns. It suits a woman better!"
Zhang Ruochen didn't mind. It was just a space ring, and a semi-finished one at that. Even if he gave it away, he wouldn't feel bad. He could just refine another one in a few days.
But to Zi Qian, it was completely different. A space treasure was priceless and extremely rare.
"He's just giving it to me for free? Could this Ninth Prince really be a bit foolish?"
Zi Qian stared deeply at Zhang Ruochen, only to find a faint smile on his face, as if he truly intended to give her the space ring.
Zi Qian shot Zhang Ruochen a cold glare but didn't take the space ring from his hand. "Don't you know that a man shouldn't casually give a woman a ring?"
After saying this, Zi Qian walked over to the Silver Dragon Lion and dug out a three-tael piece of spirit meat from its body.
Zhang Ruochen's hand hung in midair. He was momentarily stunned, then laughed. "I was just thinking you were carrying too much stuff and wanted to give you a space ring to store items. Where did your mind go? Besides, I'm only sixteen. How could I have any ulterior motives toward you?"
Zi Qian's gaze turned even colder. She tossed the spirit meat from the Silver Dragon Lion to Zhang Ruochen and extended a hand. "Let me see that space treasure."
Zhang Ruochen caught the spirit meat and handed the space ring to Zi Qian.
"How do I use it?" Zi Qian asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Just inject true Qi into the ring."
Zi Qian injected true Qi into the space ring, and a faint white light immediately appeared on its surface.
She reached her hand into the space ring and found that the internal space wasn't very large—only about the size of a small room. It wasn't like the legendary space treasures that could hold mountains or swallow the world.
However, it was more than enough for storing personal items.
Zi Qian naturally liked this space ring very much and was reluctant to return it to Zhang Ruochen. Her beautiful eyes glanced at Zhang Ruochen. "If I take the space ring, what will you do?"
"I naturally have other space treasures."
Zhang Ruochen had a faint smile on his face as he took out all the items from the space ring and placed them into the internal space of the space crystal.
Zi Qian took the space ring again and put her belongings into it one by one. Soon, her hands were empty, with only the jade ring carved with phoenix patterns left on her finger.
"No wonder it's a space treasure. It's truly marvelous!" Zi Qian clutched the space ring, liking it more and more.
Then she took out thirty spirit crystals from the space ring and handed them to Zhang Ruochen. "I won't take your space ring for free. Thirty spirit crystals, for you."
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "If I were selling it, that space ring would be worth at least two hundred spirit crystals."
Zi Qian's gaze turned cold. She looked at the space ring in her hand and said, "If you want to sell it for two hundred spirit crystals, then I don't want this space ring anymore!"
Zhang Ruochen laughed. "If I were selling it to you, naturally it would be two hundred spirit crystals. But I'm giving it to you for free, so naturally it costs not a single silver coin."
"You..."
Zi Qian gritted her gleaming white teeth. "Fine! I'll take it! Why are you giving me something so valuable?"
Zhang Ruochen continued walking forward, saying lightly, "We hit it off."
Zi Qian said, "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you and take all your other treasures?"
Zhang Ruochen glanced at her. "Those who repay kindness with enmity are, after all, a minority. In this world, there are still more good people. I don't believe I'm that unlucky to run into one... You... what are you doing?"
Zi Qian's sword, at some unknown time, had already been drawn and pointed at Zhang Ruochen's neck. With just a slight forward slash, Zhang Ruochen's head would fly off.
Zhang Ruochen stared at Zi Qian, not panicking at all, completely calm.
He secretly injected true Qi into his soul meridian, releasing his martial soul to form a space domain within a ten-meter radius.
If Zi Qian dared to move, Zhang Ruochen could strike faster and kill her.
Zi Qian didn't notice the space domain. A conflicted look appeared in her eyes as she stared deeply at Zhang Ruochen. She withdrew her sword and said, "I just wanted to tell you, Ninth Prince, you're too naive! Human hearts are treacherous. You can never be too careful. Have you been cultivating in the royal palace all along, never going out to gain experience?"
Zi Qian withdrew her sword, and Zhang Ruochen also dispersed the space domain, saying lightly, "That's right."
Zi Qian was utterly speechless and couldn't be bothered to deal with Zhang Ruochen anymore. "Let's continue hunting the martial artists from the Four Directions Commandery!"
Zhang Ruochen stared at Zi Qian's back, rubbed his chin with his finger, and revealed a hint of a smile. "Her sword technique is exactly the same as Chen Libing, the assassin from the Underworld Gate. Moreover, only a professional assassin could train their hearing and smell to her level. It seems my guess was correct. She is indeed an assassin from the Underworld Gate."
Zhang Ruochen had already died once. How could he still be as naive as before?
From the moment Zi Qian deliberately approached him, he had been on guard. He just couldn't confirm that Zi Qian was an assassin from the Underworld Gate.
After continuous probing, Zhang Ruochen could finally confirm Zi Qian's identity.
Even if she was an assassin from the Underworld Gate, Zhang Ruochen wasn't afraid at all. He considered it a form of training for himself.
"Miss Zi, wait for me. Why are you walking so fast?"
Zhang Ruochen immediately caught up.
The first round of the exam lasted three days.
Before the first day ended, Zhang Ruochen and Zi Qian encountered two more martial artists from the Four Directions Commandery. The result was obvious—both martial artists died under Zi Qian's sword.
The beast eyes, spirit crystals, and silver coins were taken by Zi Qian.
The weapons and pills from the two martial artists all went to Zhang Ruochen.
"Night has fallen. Finally, we can rest properly." Zhang Ruochen said.
Zi Qian shot Zhang Ruochen a glare. "After nightfall, most martial artists think the same as you—find a safe place to rest. So, this is the best time for us to hunt them. Tonight, we need to kill at least twenty martial artists from the Four Directions Commandery to complete the task."
"What task?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Zi Qian said, "A task we set for ourselves. The Four Directions Commandery not only plundered the mines of Yunwu Commandery but also seized seven cities from Yunwu Commandery. Countless soldiers and civilians died tragically. Don't you want to avenge them? Prince Huo Xing has declared he wants to kill you. Don't you want to kill him? Don't you want to teach the Four Directions Commandery a painful lesson?"
Zhang Ruochen found himself unable to argue.
After a long moment, Zhang Ruochen said, "Tonight, I'll fight alongside you. Let's turn the world upside down."