Chapter 169: Leaving the Mountain
True qi flowed rapidly, surging from his palm and pouring into that drop of half-saint blood.
“Whoosh——”
The half-saint blood immediately dispersed, transforming into a blood qi serpent over a meter long, circling around Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath, and that blood qi serpent was directly inhaled into his body.
“Boom!”
Once inside, the powerful saintly force of the blood qi serpent erupted, scorching hot like fire, causing Ning Xiaochuan’s internal organs to ache as if splitting apart. The blood in his heart and veins seemed to boil.
Zhang Ruochen was prepared. He took out an Ice Pulse Pill and quickly swallowed it.
The Ice Pulse Pill transformed into a stream of icy cold energy, merging into Zhang Ruochen’s body, protecting his five viscera, six bowels, meridians, and blood vessels.
“Tai Ming Yu Jing Tian!”
Following the cultivation method of the second layer of the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture*, Zhang Ruochen mobilized the thirty-six meridians in his body, rapidly absorbing the blood qi and saintly force contained in the half-saint blood.
Strands of blood qi emanated from Zhang Ruochen’s body, forming a massive blood cocoon three meters in diameter, wrapping him at its center.
About three days later, the cold dan qi of the Ice Pulse Pill was fully absorbed by Zhang Ruochen. The fiery power within the half-saint blood erupted once more, as if trying to burn him to ashes.
Zhang Ruochen took a second Ice Pulse Pill, and another surge of cold energy flowed into his body, once again helping him withstand the heat of the half-saint blood.
Another three days passed, and Zhang Ruochen took a third Ice Pulse Pill.
The blood qi and saintly force of the half-saint blood were continuously absorbed by Zhang Ruochen. Every cell in his body swelled, as if about to burst him apart.
Zhang Ruochen’s martial arts cultivation reached a critical point.
“Boom!”
The qi lake at his brow emitted a violent roar, shaking Zhang Ruochen’s entire body.
The capacity of the qi lake expanded continuously, like opening a broader world.
The true qi that had been on the verge of bursting his body seemed to find an outlet, surging madly toward the qi lake. The uncomfortable feeling of swelling disappeared, replaced by an indescribable sense of relief.
The capacity of the qi lake expanded by a full twenty-one times.
For other martial artists, breaking through from the Great Extreme Realm of the Mysterious Extreme Realm to the Great Perfection of the Mysterious Extreme Realm would only expand the qi lake by ten times.
“It must be the saintly force in the half-saint blood that caused the qi lake to undergo a transformation, allowing it to expand to twenty-one times.”
Of course, the larger the qi lake expanded, the harder it would be to cultivate the true qi within it to perfection.
When breaking through the realm, the amount of true qi in Zhang Ruochen’s body doubled, but that was only one-tenth of the qi lake’s capacity. He would need to cultivate nine times that amount to achieve true qi perfection.
After the realm breakthrough, Zhang Ruochen remained seated cross-legged, continuing to refine the remaining saintly force and blood qi within his body.
Another five days passed before Zhang Ruochen fully converted all the saintly force in his body into true qi.
Zhang Ruochen raised his hands, drawing a circle, and absorbed the blood cocoon enveloping his body back into himself. A flash of blood light flickered across his skin before disappearing completely.
“Right now, I’ve only just entered the Great Perfection of the Mysterious Extreme Realm. My realm is still unstable.”
With the realm breakthrough, Zhang Ruochen could clearly feel a significant increase in his power, making it somewhat difficult to control.
After all, the saintly force and blood qi were not something Zhang Ruochen had cultivated himself. Even after converting them into true qi, they were still hard to manage. He needed to spend time tempering them, ensuring the newly added true qi fully merged with his body.
Zhang Ruochen continued cultivating in the Time-Space Crystal for another three months. Most of his time each day was spent practicing palm techniques. Through this practice, he fully unleashed the power of the half-saint blood hidden within his body.
At the same time, by practicing palm techniques, he tempered his true qi and stabilized his realm.
While practicing, Zhang Ruochen also consumed the remaining dozen or so drops of half-saint true liquid and four Ice Pulse Pills, fully refining them.
Every day, Zhang Ruochen struck thirty thousand palm prints.
After three months, Zhang Ruochen’s Elephant Force Ninefold had reached a new level.
Still standing ten meters away, Zhang Ruochen channeled his qi with one hand. With the naked eye, one could see the true qi around his body surging, all converging toward his palm.
“Elephant Force Ninefold.”
Zhang Ruochen struck four palm prints in succession, merging them into one. It formed a palm shadow condensed from true qi, carrying a whistling wind sound as it struck the stone wall.
“Boom!”
The stone wall and ground shook violently, and fragments of rock fell from above.
On the stone wall, a massive palm print half a meter long appeared, deeply sunken. The stone around the palm print had cracked, revealing countless fine fissures.
Keep in mind, this was a palm strike delivered from ten meters away. If he had struck the stone wall directly, how much destructive power would it have unleashed?
“So this is a fourfold power palm strike? I wonder, if I master Elephant Force Ninefold and unleash a ninefold power palm strike, what level of power would that reach?”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart was filled with excitement. Even if he encountered another black underground beast with eight tentacles, he would have the strength to fight it.
After the last three months of cultivation, the true qi reserves in Zhang Ruochen’s body had reached thirty percent of his qi lake’s capacity. The amount of true qi was six times what it was before the realm breakthrough.
“It’s been over two months since I entered the Red Sky Secret Mansion. It’s time to go out and collect the half-saint light.”
Although only two months had passed, Zhang Ruochen had actually been cultivating for half a year.
Zhang Ruochen headed toward the cave where he had first fallen, climbing up from underground and breaking through the sealed openings one by one.
After two days of effort, Zhang Ruochen finally crawled out of the underground and returned to the mountainside of Ghost Mist Mountain.
Beside him lay the corpse of a giant green scorpion. Its blood had been completely drained, leaving only pieces of green shell.
Zhang Ruochen gasped. “After Lu Han melted the half-saint light, she became this terrifying, even draining the blood of beasts.”
As long as Lu Han could absorb enough blood, her cultivation would keep growing stronger.
If her power had already reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm level, even with the half-saint blood of Jin Yun, it would be difficult for Zhang Ruochen to take the half-saint light from her.
If that were the case, the human cultivators and beasts in the Red Sky Secret Mansion would likely all become her blood food.
Zhang Ruochen rushed down the mountain at top speed. Along the way, he saw dried-up beast corpses, all drained of blood.
“I have to find her quickly and not let her grow.”
Zhang Ruochen used his fastest speed, charging out of Ghost Mist Mountain.
Following the bloodstains left when Lu Han had left, Zhang Ruochen moved forward, tracking her trail.
Having reached the Great Perfection of the Mysterious Extreme Realm, Zhang Ruochen’s top speed reached seventy-five meters per second, surpassing the current number one on the *Xuan List*. At the same time, his top speed also exceeded Zhang Tianqui’s speed at the Great Perfection of the Mysterious Extreme Realm.
Most importantly, he still had plenty of room for improvement and could even aim for the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Mysterious Extreme Realm.
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen’s ears twitched slightly. He heard the sound of fighting, coming from a stone cave.
“Could it be Lu Han?”
Zhang Ruochen immediately became cautious. He took out a drop of half-saint blood qi, wrapped it in true qi, and held it in his palm as he approached the stone cave.
Inside the cave.
Zi Qian wore a white martial robe. Her skin was as white as jade, her black hair like a waterfall, and her slender figure like a willow branch. Her long, shapely legs moved swiftly as she executed her footwork.
“Pfft!”
The fish-gut sword hidden in her sleeve pierced the heart of a withered old man. She quickly retreated, hiding in a corner of the cave.
Zi Qian’s beautiful eyes were fixed on the three old men still blocking the cave entrance, not blinking.
Four corpses lay in the cave, all killed by her—some pierced through the heart, some through the brow, some with their throats cut.
Zi Qian was also heavily injured, with blood at the corners of her mouth. The robe on her back had been shattered by a palm strike, revealing large patches of snow-white, delicate skin.
However, a bloody palm print marred her fair skin, with beads of blood seeping from the print, staining her entire back red.
If those seven villains hadn’t wanted to capture her alive, she would have been more than just injured.
Of the seven villains, four were dead. The remaining three were all Earth Extreme Realm martial arts masters.
“Damn woman, you killed four of us. If I catch you, I’ll ravage you to death,” said a middle-aged man with a scar at the corner of his eye, his voice cold.
His arms were twice as thick as an ordinary person’s, bronze-colored, and brimming with explosive power. He walked toward Zi Qian. “Hand over that eighth-rank True Martial Treasure, and I’ll spare your life.”
Zi Qian held her sword horizontally in front of her, enduring the pain in her back. The three Earth Extreme Realm martial arts masters before her were like three mountains blocking her path, filling her with despair.
Escape from the encirclement of three Earth Extreme Realm masters?
Impossible.
If there was truly no hope of escape, she would choose to bite the poison pill in her mouth at the first opportunity. She absolutely could not be captured alive; otherwise, her fate would be worse than death.
Zi Qian’s eyes were cold. “Tu Yun, I am a member of the Underworld Gate. Do you dare to rob me of the treasure I found? Aren’t you afraid of the Underworld Gate’s retaliation?”
The middle-aged man with the scar at the corner of his eye was named Tu Yun, a ruthless figure in the Black Market.
Ten years ago, Tu Yun massacred over a hundred people in the Fire Dragon Commandery, destroyed seven properties of the Martial Market Bank, and was later captured by an inner palace disciple of the Martial Market Academy. He was imprisoned in the Flame River Hell of the Red Sky Secret Mansion.
Not long ago, a Black Market member lurking among the Martial Market Academy students broke the seal of the Flame River Hell, releasing all the villains and thugs from the Black Market.
The other two with Tu Yun were named Huo Gang and Chen Lidao.
Tu Yun’s cultivation was at the mid-stage of the Earth Extreme Realm, while Huo Gang and Chen Lidao were at the early stage of the Earth Extreme Realm.
Chen Lidao sneered, “You say you’re an assassin of the Underworld Gate, and we should believe you? All we know is that you’re wearing the robe of the Martial Market Academy, so you’re a student of the Martial Market Academy.”
Huo Gang curled his lips, leering, “Seeing her in that robe pisses me off. I wonder what it would look like if we stripped it off? Heh heh!”
Tu Yun nodded, laughing, “I’ve been locked up in the Flame River Hell for ten years, ten years without touching a woman. I didn’t expect to run into such a beautiful woman right after escaping. Even if she were the daughter of the Underworld Gate’s master, I’d still play with her today. At worst, I’ll kill her afterward. Who would know it was us?”
“Since Big Brother has spoken, let me capture this beauty myself. I want to see just how much she’s hiding under that robe! Haha!” Huo Gang stared at Zi Qian’s slightly raised chest, his eyes narrowing into slits.
…
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