# Chapter 168: Elephant Force Ninefold
The half-saint light is essentially the sacred soul of a half-saint.
When a half-saint is alive, they can control their sacred soul through their physical body. After a half-saint dies, it is naturally also possible to use the half-saint's blood to retrieve the half-saint light.
Of course, even if Zhang Ruochen obtained the blood of Golden Cloud Half-Saint, retrieving the half-saint light from Lu Han's body would not be an easy task. Some special secret techniques would have to be used.
Generally speaking, only cultivators who had reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm could forcibly retrieve the half-saint light with the help of half-saint blood. This was because the process of performing the secret technique required borrowing the power of the Martial Soul.
Only martial artists whose cultivation had reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm could cultivate a Martial Soul.
Because Zhang Ruochen had opened his soul meridian, he could also communicate with his Martial Soul and unleash its power. Therefore, he too could perform that kind of secret technique.
Zhang Ruochen placed the fire-attributed spirit crystal on the surface of the ice.
He injected true qi into the spirit crystal, and the crystal immediately ignited, turning into a huge fireball. Under the scorching flames, the ice continuously melted.
About an hour later, only a thin layer of ice crystals remained on the surface of the old man's skeletal remains.
Zhang Ruochen put away the spirit crystal and struck down with his palm. Fine cracks appeared on the surface of the ice crystals.
"Boom!"
The ice crystals shattered.
A very surging sacred power transmitted from the old man's corpse, sending Zhang Ruochen flying backward, landing more than ten zhang away.
Thick blood qi surged from the old man's corpse, forming a cloud of blood. Each strand of blood qi was like a serpentine dragon, writhing in the air, making a wuwu sound.
The bloodline of a half-saint was powerful, with sacred power fused into the blood. Even after five hundred years, it had not completely lost its activity.
"That must undoubtedly be the skeletal remains of Golden Cloud Half-Saint." Zhang Ruochen looked at the blood qi flying in the air and could finally confirm that the owner of those bones was the human half-saint who had died five hundred years ago.
Zhang Ruochen took out a jade bottle and placed it on the ground.
At the same time, he released his Space Domain, covering the space within eighty meters around him, wrapping up all the blood qi and condensing it into drops of blood.
One strand of blood qi condensed into one drop of half-saint blood.
Spending a full three days, Zhang Ruochen condensed all the blood qi into sixty-four drops of half-saint blood, storing them in the jade bottle.
The value of one drop of half-saint blood was dozens of times more expensive than one drop of half-saint true liquid.
Sixty-four drops of half-saint blood were definitely a huge fortune.
If outsiders knew that Zhang Ruochen had so much half-saint blood, it would definitely bring him deadly danger. Even Heavenly Extreme Realm experts would try to kill him without hesitation.
"Five hundred years have passed. Most of the blood inside Golden Cloud Half-Saint's body has already necrotized. Only sixty-four drops still have strong activity. If a few more decades pass, even the last sixty-four drops will probably be completely necrotized."
After collecting the half-saint blood, Zhang Ruochen bowed deeply toward the skeletal remains of Golden Cloud Half-Saint in the pit.
Then, Zhang Ruochen buried the skeletal remains of Golden Cloud Half-Saint, used a large rock to make a tombstone, and carved six characters on the stone: "Tomb of Golden Cloud Half-Saint."
Zhang Ruochen did not plan to leave immediately. He decided to stay here for the time being, raising his martial cultivation to the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection before going out.
Earlier, Zhang Ruochen had consumed eight stalks of Three-Leaf Sacred Qi Grass and ten jin of sacred meat, but had only refined one-fifth of the sacred power and spiritual power.
To break through to the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection, he would first need to completely refine the remaining sacred power and spiritual power in his body, merging them into his body to make his physical strength even stronger.
Cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm.
"When cultivating the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, the power of every muscle and bone in the entire body is mobilized. Only through continuous intense movement can the body's absorption rate of sacred power and spiritual power reach its maximum."
Zhang Ruochen had already cultivated the first four palms of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm to the Great Perfection realm. Now he could begin cultivating the fifth palm, Elephant Force Ninefold.
Elephant Force Ninefold was even more profound and had even greater power.
Now, the power of Zhang Ruochen's full-force palm strike was comparable to the full-force strike of an ordinary Earth Extreme Realm mid-stage martial artist.
If he could cultivate Elephant Force Ninefold to Great Perfection, striking nine palms in succession, he could stack the power of the nine palms together, unleashing nine times the attack power.
Once this palm technique was cultivated to Great Perfection, the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm would be promoted to a Spirit-level Middle-rank martial technique, and the power unleashed by the palm technique would be comparable to a Spirit-level Upper-rank martial technique.
Of course, the difficulty of cultivating Elephant Force Ninefold was also extremely great. It could not be successfully cultivated in a short time.
Zhang Ruochen stood in the pitch-black underground, his entire body's true qi circulating rapidly. The power of every meridian, every blood vessel, every inch of muscle, and every bone all surged toward his arm.
All the power of his body converged together, causing his arm to be completely covered by true qi, turning into a white arm.
"Elephant Force Ninefold!"
Zhang Ruochen struck nine palm prints in succession, his arm always maintaining the same horizontal line.
The nine palm prints, linked together in a chain, flew out simultaneously and struck the hard stone wall.
"Bang! Bang..."
A series of nine palm print sounds rang out, leaving a nine-inch-deep palm print pit on the stone wall.
The power of the nine palm prints was completely separate, not stacked together at all, which was why nine sounds were produced. If they had truly been superimposed, only one sound would have been heard.
"It's too difficult to simultaneously stack the power of nine palm prints together to form a single palm print. I can't cultivate this way. If I cultivate like this, I will never succeed in cultivating Elephant Force Ninefold."
"First, try to stack two palm prints into one."
Zhang Ruochen mobilized his true qi again and, at an extremely fast speed, struck two palms in succession.
"Bang! Bang!"
The sounds of two palm prints rang out, leaving a two-inch-deep palm print pit on the stone wall.
Although the two palm prints were still separate, the gap between them was extremely short. If one didn't listen carefully, it almost sounded like a single sound.
Continue.
Zhang Ruochen knew he had found the correct cultivation method. As long as he kept cultivating, he would surely succeed in cultivating Elephant Force Ninefold.
On the first day, Zhang Ruochen struck twelve thousand palm prints in succession, exhausting the true qi in his body six times.
Each time he exhausted his true qi, he immediately entered the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, recovering his true qi in the shortest possible time, then continued practicing his palm techniques.
On the second day, Zhang Ruochen struck thirteen thousand palm prints, also exhausting the true qi in his body six times.
On the third day, Zhang Ruochen struck fourteen thousand palm prints, still exhausting the true qi in his body six times.
The amount of true qi in his qi lake did not increase, but the true qi in Zhang Ruochen's body became more condensed, more refined, and more concentrated. Therefore, with the same amount of true qi, he could strike more palm prints.
After each cultivation session, Zhang Ruochen would feel pain all over his body as if it were splitting apart, his arms feeling as if they had broken off.
After using Jade Pure True Qi to cultivate for one night, that pain would completely disappear, and he would return to his most full mental state.
According to Zhang Ruochen's speculation, it should be the sacred power and spiritual power hidden in his body that repaired the damaged physical body. Combined with the nurturing of Jade Pure True Qi, his body would naturally return to its peak state the next day.
After cultivating continuously for seven days, Zhang Ruochen struck one hundred thousand palm prints and finally cultivated Elephant Force Ninefold to the beginner level.
"Elephant Force Ninefold!"
Standing ten meters away from the stone wall, Zhang Ruochen struck two palms like lightning.
The two palm prints overlapped and simultaneously struck the stone wall, producing a loud sound, creating a nine-inch-deep palm print pit on the wall.
It should be noted that when Zhang Ruochen struck a single palm, its power could only leave a one-inch-deep palm print pit on the stone wall. Striking nine palms in succession could leave a nine-inch-deep pit.
Now, Zhang Ruochen had only cultivated Elephant Force Ninefold to the beginner level. Two palms stacked together, unleashing twice the power, already created a nine-inch-deep palm print pit.
The power of this one palm strike was comparable to the power of nine palms.
"Unleashing twice the power is beginner. Unleashing three times the power is considered Minor Success."
To unleash three times the power, three palm prints had to be stacked together.
"Striking one hundred thousand palm prints only reached beginner. Striking one million palm prints would probably only reach Minor Success."
After seven days of arduous cultivation, Zhang Ruochen had fully stimulated the sacred power and spiritual power hidden in his body, absorbing about one-quarter of it, and his physical strength had increased significantly.
As long as he continued cultivating the palm technique, he would surely be able to completely absorb the remaining three-quarters of the sacred power and spiritual power.
Having cultivated Elephant Force Ninefold to beginner, Zhang Ruochen entered the Time-Space Crystal to cultivate.
In the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, Zhang Ruochen still struck at least fifteen thousand palm prints every day.
After three months of cultivation, Zhang Ruochen struck more than one million seven hundred thousand palm prints and finally cultivated Elephant Force Ninefold to Minor Success. The sacred power and spiritual power hidden in his body were almost completely absorbed into his flesh and blood, transformed into his own power.
At the same time, the Jade Pure True Qi in Zhang Ruochen's body became even more condensed, twice as pure as before.
Now, Zhang Ruochen could strike up to twenty thousand palm prints in a day.
"Elephant Force Ninefold."
Still standing ten meters away from the stone wall, Zhang Ruochen straightened his arm and struck three palm prints in succession.
The three palms overlapped, unleashing three times the power.
"Boom!"
The stone wall shook slightly, forming a palm print pit three times larger than Zhang Ruochen's palm, twenty-seven inches deep.
"Is this the power of my threefold palm strike now? I'm afraid this one palm strike of mine is enough to severely injure an Earth Extreme Realm mid-stage martial artist."
Zhang Ruochen's heart was quite delighted. The hard work of the past few months had finally paid off.
Although Zhang Ruochen had cultivated for three months in the Time-Space Crystal, only one month had actually passed outside.
The Intermediate Ruins Exploration Exam lasted three months. Only one month and ten days had passed, so Zhang Ruochen still had plenty of time to break through to the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection.
"Now I will begin to break through to the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection."
Zhang Ruochen entered the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, sat cross-legged on the ground, took out the jade bottle containing the half-saint blood, and held it in his hand.
"Refining just one drop of half-saint blood should be enough to break through to the Earth Extreme Realm Great Perfection."
Opening the lid of the jade bottle, Zhang Ruochen waved his hand, and a drop of crimson half-saint blood flew out from the bottle, emitting a bright red light, like a small red sun floating in Zhang Ruochen's palm.