Chapter 98: Dragon Image Shadow Reflection
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged in the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal. From a jade vessel, he took out one jin of spirit meat and began to consume it.
Spirit meat condensed the essence of spiritual energy and blood qi from barbarian beasts. For martial artists, it offered countless benefits: increasing strength, strengthening bones and flesh, slowing aging, and prolonging life.
Generally speaking, a martial artist at the middle stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm who consumed ten jin of spirit meat, combined with diligent cultivation, could break through to the late stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm within half a month.
Zhang Ruochen's martial body was far stronger than that of other middle-stage Mysterious Extreme Realm martial artists. To break through to the late stage, he would need to consume at least forty jin of spirit meat.
"Forty-eight jin of spirit meat is enough for me to cultivate to the late stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm in a short time."
All forty-eight jin of spirit meat had been collected from the bodies of deceased martial artists from the various commandery kingdoms during the first round of the academy examination.
Such a large amount of spirit meat, if sold, would fetch at least two hundred thousand silver coins—an enormous fortune.
Spirit meat was precious, and ordinary martial artists could hardly bear to consume it. Zhang Ruochen, however, did not care in the slightest. He quickly finished consuming one jin.
After consuming the spirit meat, Zhang Ruochen felt his entire body brimming with power. Both the flow of his blood and the circulation of his true qi had accelerated significantly.
Zhang Ruochen stood up and began to cultivate the fourth palm strike of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm. While practicing the palm technique, he was also accelerating the absorption of the essence from the spirit meat into his body, transforming it into his own strength.
The fourth palm strike of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm was called "Dragon Image Shadow Reflection."
Zhang Ruochen took a step forward, his body slightly bent. His hands seemed to form both a palm seal and a claw seal.
"Bang! Bang!"
His palms struck out continuously, incredibly fast, with palm imprints appearing in all directions.
He had only mastered three palm strikes so far: Barbarian Beast Galloping, Flying Dragon in the Sky, and Dragon-Elephant Returning to the Field. These were equivalent in power to human-grade top-rank martial techniques. Of course, they were absolutely top-tier among human-grade top-rank techniques and could even contend with some weaker spirit-grade low-rank techniques.
However, only by successfully cultivating the fourth palm strike would the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm undergo a transformation, becoming a true spirit-grade low-rank martial technique. At that point, the power of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm would definitely rival some weaker spirit-grade mid-rank techniques.
Time passed extremely quickly. Inside the Time-Space Crystal, Zhang Ruochen cultivated continuously for half a month.
Every day, he spent the vast majority of his time cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm. After half a month of hard training, he could now execute the fourth palm strike, "Dragon Image Shadow Reflection," very smoothly.
With each palm strike, true qi surged.
From the palm imprint came the sounds of dragon roars and elephant trumpets.
However, there was still a considerable gap from achieving mastery of the fourth palm strike, "Dragon Image Shadow Reflection."
If he could reach mastery, once he unleashed the palm strike, Zhang Ruochen's body would split into two shadows. One shadow would strike with a dragon claw, and the other with an elephant palm, doubling the explosive power.
Although he had not yet mastered the fourth palm strike of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, his cultivation level had improved significantly.
Over the half month, Zhang Ruochen consumed one jin of spirit meat each day, totaling fifteen jin. His martial realm advanced rapidly.
Half a month ago, Zhang Ruochen had just entered the middle stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm, with his true qi reserves only reaching twenty percent of his qi lake's capacity. Now, the Jade Pure True Qi in his qi lake had become much denser, with reserves reaching seventy percent of the qi lake's capacity. He was not far from reaching the true qi perfection of the middle stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm.
With his current cultivation, he could easily defeat Nie Xuan.
Of course, half a month inside the Time-Space Crystal was only five days in the outside world.
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal and returned to the Yellow Character Number One room.
"Meow!"
Xiao Hei, like a black ball of fur, sat on a bronze chair. His two cat paws held a yellowed book, which he was reading with great concentration.
The cover of the book bore the words "Kunlun Realm Medieval History."
Seeing Zhang Ruochen emerge from the Time-Space Crystal, Xiao Hei closed the book. His cat eyes shone as brightly as stars, and he asked, "Young lad, have you broken through to the late stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm?"
"Not yet. It will probably take some more time," Zhang Ruochen said, staring curiously at Xiao Hei. "Where did you steal that book from?"
"Steal?"
Xiao Hei looked very displeased. "I, the Emperor, merely went to the Scripture Depository Tower of the Martial Market Academy and casually took a book from inside. When I'm done reading it, I'll return it. How can that be considered stealing?"
Zhang Ruochen couldn't be bothered to argue with him. "How is Fourth Brother's injury recovery going?"
"That fatso's cultivation is mediocre, but his recovery speed is quite fast. He can already lift his arms. At most, in another ten days, he will definitely be fully healed," Xiao Hei said.
Zhang Ruochen asked, "Where is he now?"
"Gone," Xiao Hei said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Gone? Why did he leave?"
"As soon as he heard that this place was the Dragon Martial Hall, he scrambled and fled," Xiao Hei said.
For male martial artists from the Western Courtyard, the Dragon Martial Hall was absolutely forbidden ground, filled with many terrifying legends. When Zhang Shaochu heard that he was in the Dragon Martial Hall, his face turned green with fear, and he immediately fled.
Zhang Ruochen dared to stay in the Dragon Martial Hall, but Zhang Shaochu did not.
"Let him go," Zhang Ruochen said.
Zhang Ruochen planned to continue his secluded cultivation, striving to reach the late stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm as soon as possible.
Next, Zhang Ruochen cultivated for another half month inside the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal. He still consumed one jin of spirit meat each day, spending most of his time cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, with a small amount of time devoted to cultivating the Heavenly Heart Sword Technique.
His cultivation steadily improved. Finally, the true qi in his qi lake reached the perfection stage, allowing him to begin breaking through to the late stage of the Mysterious Extreme Realm.
However, Zhang Ruochen was not in a hurry to break through the realm. He planned to continue consuming spirit meat to build up an even stronger foundation, so that when the time came, he could break through in one fell swoop.
Over the two sessions of secluded cultivation, Zhang Ruochen had trained for a total of one month inside the Time-Space Crystal, which was only ten days in the outside world.
There were still twenty days left until his duel with Feng Zhilin.
"The fourth palm strike of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm still can't break through. It seems to be lacking some finesse. Only by sparring with an expert can I discover what exactly is missing."
Zhang Ruochen stopped his secluded cultivation and planned to find Xiao Hei to spar with him, seeking the reason why he couldn't master the fourth palm strike.
Just as he stepped out of the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, he heard Huang Yanchen's icy voice from outside the door: "Fat cat, if you don't get out of the way, I'll kill you too!"
Xiao Hei stood outside the door, his tail held high, speaking in an old-fashioned tone: "Zhang Ruochen is in secluded cultivation. Even if you barge in, you won't be able to see him. Little girl, I advise you to retreat quickly. If you anger me, no one in heaven or on earth will be able to save you."
"Is that so? Then let me try splitting you open!"
Huang Yanchen's injuries had healed, and she immediately came to settle accounts with Zhang Ruochen. She was already filled with anger, but when she arrived at the door of Zhang Ruochen's room, she was blocked by a talking fat cat.
Her anger flared even more. The more she looked at that fat cat, the more she felt it was just as bad as Zhang Ruochen. So, she gripped her sword hilt, drew a treasure-blue ancient sword, and slashed at Xiao Hei.
"Shua!"
Xiao Hei was very fast, turning into a black shadow as he dodged Huang Yanchen's sword strike and pounced toward her.
A slight look of surprise appeared on Huang Yanchen's face. She hadn't expected Xiao Hei to be so fast. Being able to dodge her sword strike meant his speed was at least comparable to that of a second-rank mid-level barbarian beast.
But for her, Xiao Hei was still too slow.
She let out a cold laugh, struck out with a palm, and sent Xiao Hei flying more than ten zhang away. Xiao Hei's body slammed into the wall, leaving him dizzy and disoriented as he fell straight to the ground.
"Damn woman, you... you're too ruthless!"
Xiao Hei climbed up from the ground, baring his sharp teeth. He was furious inside, but since he couldn't beat Huang Yanchen, he had to hold back his anger.
Huang Yanchen was so angry her teeth itched. This damn fat cat had no manners. If she caught him, she would cut out his tongue first.
Zhang Ruochen pushed the door open and walked out. He glanced at Huang Yanchen and said with a smile, "Senior Sister Huang, have your injuries fully healed?"
Seeing Zhang Ruochen, Huang Yanchen's gaze turned even colder. She didn't want to say a single word to him and directly thrust her sword at him.
It must be known that Huang Yanchen was a Xuan List martial artist, capable of contending with top experts at the Earth Extreme Realm.
The sword strike she thrust out was enough to instantly kill an ordinary Great Perfection of the Mysterious Extreme Realm martial artist.
Zhang Ruochen watched the rapidly approaching sword, his expression changing slightly. He thought to himself, Duanmu Xingling was right—Huang Yanchen hates me to the bone and won't listen to any explanation.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Duanmu Xingling, who was not far away. Duanmu Xingling nodded knowingly.
"Shua!"
Duanmu Xingling turned into a delicate and beautiful afterimage, rushing in front of Zhang Ruochen and blocking Huang Yanchen.
Duanmu Xingling used two fingers as white as snow onions to clamp onto the tip of Huang Yanchen's sword. "Sister Chen, you need to calm down. Zhang Ruochen is the number one new student. If you kill him, you will certainly face severe punishment from the academy."
Huang Yanchen said, "Xingling, step aside. Today, I must kill this lecher!"
Huang Yanchen twisted her five fingers, turning the sword edge and releasing swirling sword qi, shaking off Duanmu Xingling's two fingers.
Then, Huang Yanchen slashed down with another sword, dragging out a four-meter-long white sword qi.
Duanmu Xingling and Zhang Ruochen had already reached a secret agreement, so naturally, she wouldn't let Huang Yanchen actually kill Zhang Ruochen.
Thus, Duanmu Xingling also drew a precious sword and once again blocked Huang Yanchen's attack.
"Xingling, are you determined to stop me from killing him?"
Huang Yanchen thrust out nine swords in succession, with nine sword shadows appearing simultaneously in the air, aimed at Zhang Ruochen's nine vital points.
Huang Yanchen's true qi was somewhat special, carrying the attribute of swift wind. As soon as she thrust out her sword technique, a storm vortex with a diameter of seven meters automatically formed around her, with wind blades flying out from within the vortex.
"Whoosh!"
One of the wind blades flew past Zhang Ruochen's armpit and struck a pillar, leaving a two-inch-deep sword mark on it.
"She must have awakened a Swift Wind Divine Martial Mark, which is why the true qi she cultivates carries the wind attribute."
Zhang Ruochen stood on the steps, watching Huang Yanchen and Duanmu Xingling dueling with swords below. He carefully observed the sword techniques they used, while also pondering the flaws and weaknesses in their moves.