# Chapter 209: Junior Brother Chen
Leaving Lingyue Town, Zhang Tiangui's smile disappeared. Stopping in his tracks, he turned to the two junior brothers following behind him and said, "Lin Chenyu and Lin Ningsha are in Dihuo City. Have they found out who rescued Princess Yanchen?"
The two junior brothers following Zhang Tiangui were named Shen Feng and Luo Cheng respectively. Both were young experts of Yuntai Sect Mansion, ranked among the top twenty inner mansion disciples.
At Yuntai Sect Mansion, Shen Feng and Luo Cheng had always followed Zhang Tiangui's lead. Rushing to Yunwu Commandery was precisely to lend Zhang Tiangui a hand.
Shen Feng said, "I heard Junior Sister Lin met that mysterious youth. The other party is an inner palace disciple of the Martial Market Academy. The Black Tiger Hall Master, Iron Hunchback, was easily killed by that mysterious youth."
A puzzled expression appeared on Zhang Tiangui's face. As if talking to himself, he said, "Within the inner palace academy of the Martial Market Academy, someone who can easily kill Iron Hunchback must at least be ranked in the top fifty. Apart from Luo Shuihan, none of the top fifty inner palace academy students are under twenty years old. How did the Martial Market Academy suddenly produce such a young expert? Could it be..."
The Martial Market Academy and Yuntai Sect Mansion were both in Heavenly Demon Martial City, so young cultivators had many opportunities to spar.
Zhang Tiangui naturally knew exactly which young experts the Martial Market Academy had.
"Senior Brother, do you already have a suspect in mind?" Shen Feng asked.
A hint of a smile appeared on Zhang Tiangui's face. "Half a year ago, I heard that my ninth younger brother possessed strength ranking first on the Xuan List, and even Xun Guihai was defeated by him. If his cultivation has broken through to the Earth Extreme Realm, his strength must have increased further. If combined with some other methods, it's not impossible for him to kill Iron Hunchback."
Shen Feng frowned and sneered coldly, "If it really is him, Senior Brother can actually save yourself the worry. The total time he has spent training in martial arts is only two years. He didn't even settle down in the Mysterious Extreme Realm for a few years before impatiently breaking through to the Earth Extreme Realm. With an unstable foundation, he won't amount to much."
Zhang Tiangui said, "I opened my Divine Martial Mark at the age of three and have already trained for eighteen years to reach my current martial cultivation. He should be eager to catch up to me, but instead he's gone astray, walking a path of self-destruction."
Luo Cheng said, "Senior Brother, what should we do now? Do we really have to go to Dihuo City?"
Zhang Tiangui said, "Split into three routes. I'll go to Dihuo City. You two go to the other two roads that are the only way to the Royal Capital. Whether you encounter Ninth Younger Brother or Princess Yanchen, show no mercy and kill them directly. Best to frame the Black Market so no one can trace it back to you."
"Understood."
Shen Feng and Luo Cheng bowed to Zhang Tiangui, then mounted their steeds and departed separately.
"Has that once sickly ninth younger brother really become a martial arts genius?"
A smile appeared on Zhang Tiangui's face. He plucked a branch and tossed it into the lake.
With a whoosh, he leaped up and lightly landed on the branch. Propelled by true qi, he crossed the lake toward Dihuo City.
...
Three days had passed in the outside world, but nine days had passed in the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.
In nine days, Zhang Ruochen had consecutively refined eight Fire Pulse Pills. His body seemed to have turned into a burning furnace, his skin like red crystal.
Especially at the spot between his eyebrows, a flame-shaped imprint emerged, emitting flickering light.
Having completely refined the eight Fire Pulse Pills, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation advanced further, reaching the peak of the early Earth Extreme Realm. Although he hadn't broken through to the mid Earth Extreme Realm, he wasn't far off.
For Zhang Ruochen, both his sword dao realm and spiritual power had already reached extremely high levels, giving him a much higher starting point than other martial artists. As long as he had sufficient cultivation resources, he could naturally raise his martial cultivation quickly.
Huang Yanchen's injuries had fully healed six days ago. This injury instead allowed her cultivation to advance greatly. After taking the Wind Pulse Pill Zhang Ruochen had given her, her martial cultivation broke through to the late Earth Extreme Realm in one go.
With her cultivation reaching the late Earth Extreme Realm, Huang Yanchen once again became spirited and confident. Her temperament was cold, her expression proud, as if she had regained the bearing of Her Highness the Princess.
"No wonder Junior Sister Duanmu's cultivation broke through so quickly. So she already knew that cat could refine Ice Pulse Pills, Fire Pulse Pills, and Wind Pulse Pills. Since you told her, why didn't you tell me?" Huang Yanchen was clearly a bit jealous. After all, she and Zhang Ruochen were already engaged, so their relationship should be closer than with Duanmu Xingling.
Zhang Ruochen said indifferently, "I didn't tell her. She discovered it herself. What? Are you angry at Senior Sister Duanmu?"
"How could that be? They're just a few Wind Pulse Pills, nothing too remarkable." Huang Yanchen squeezed the pill bottle in her hand and said coldly, "These eight Wind Pulse Pills, I'll definitely return them to you when we get back to the academy. And..."
She paused, her expression somewhat unnatural. "This time... thank you..."
"We're both students of the Martial Market Academy. Helping each other is only natural," Zhang Ruochen said.
Huang Yanchen nodded. "Don't worry. Since you saved me once, I'll definitely repay the favor. Of course, I think repaying the favor or not is the same. After all, I'm your fiancée now, so you should have come to save me."
Zhang Ruochen knew Huang Yanchen's temper well, so he didn't want to argue with her. "Three days have passed. The Poison Spider Chamber of Commerce's experts should have left Dihuo City by now. We can go out now."
"Three days? Hasn't it been nine days?"
Huang Yanchen's brows furrowed slightly as she stared at Zhang Ruochen, as if suspecting that he might have sustained some hidden injury when fighting Hua Qingshan, causing him to be confused.
Zhang Ruochen knew he couldn't hide it from Huang Yanchen, so he said, "The inner space of the Time-Space Crystal has a different time flow from the outside world. Three days in the inner space equals one day outside."
"What?"
Huang Yanchen was shocked. She carefully examined her surroundings. After a long while, she said, "I spent three years settling at the Mysterious Extreme Realm Great Perfection. Junior Sister Duanmu spent two years settling there. You only spent half a year. When I saw you break through to the Earth Extreme Realm, I wanted to scold you, but I didn't expect you to have such a heaven-defying treasure. If I had known earlier, I would have borrowed your treasure, and I wouldn't have had to waste so much time."
"Such a treasure, why would I lend it to you?" Zhang Ruochen said.
"If you don't lend it to me, I'll spread the news that you have this treasure. Then, even the Yunwu Commandery King won't be able to protect you." Huang Yanchen glanced sideways at Zhang Ruochen, a smug smile appearing on her beautiful face.
"And if I don't give you the chance to spread it?" Zhang Ruochen stared at Huang Yanchen, a hint of a smile on his face.
Huang Yanchen's expression changed slightly. She took a step back. "You want to kill me to silence me?"
If Zhang Ruochen wanted to kill her, even though she had already broken through to the late Earth Extreme Realm, she probably wouldn't escape death. Especially in the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, there was nowhere to run.
Zhang Ruochen just stared at her without speaking.
After a long moment, Zhang Ruochen laughed. "Just scaring you. I believe you won't tell anyone. Besides, even if you did, it wouldn't do anything to me. Since I control the power of space, keeping myself alive is still easy."
Huang Yanchen ground her teeth in frustration. Just now, she had actually been intimidated by Zhang Ruochen for a moment.
"Don't worry. I know what's important. I won't say a word about your secret. But you must be careful of Chen Xi'er. Although she's my cousin, she'll stop at nothing to achieve her goals. If she discovers your secret, she probably won't let you off so easily," Huang Yanchen said.
Apart from Huang Yanchen, Zhang Ruochen wouldn't have revealed the secrets of the Time-Space Crystal and space power to anyone else.
Because Zhang Ruochen could see through Huang Yanchen and understood her temperament. She had a fiery temper and a straightforward personality. Although she acted aloof and looked down on everyone, she would never scheme against Zhang Ruochen in secret.
As for other friends, including Duanmu Xingling and Chen Xi'er, they gave Zhang Ruochen a feeling of being hidden in fog.
If he exposed his trump cards to them, Zhang Ruochen couldn't predict how they would react.
Of course, they were still friends. At least for now, Zhang Ruochen was still very willing to associate with Duanmu Xingling and Chen Xi'er.
...
The army of Yunwu Commandery began attacking Dihuo City, plunging the entire city into the flames of war.
The Black Market forces in Dihuo City fled by boat one after another.
Chang Qiqi, an inner palace disciple of the Martial Market Academy, took Xiao Hei and seized the opportunity to leave Dihuo City, embarking on the road to the Royal Capital.
"This trip to Dihuo City didn't earn any merit points, but I picked up a cat." Chang Qiqi rode a spotted leopard, holding Xiao Hei's belly with one hand, gently squeezing it with his five fingers, a delighted smile on his face.
Xiao Hei rolled his eyes and ignored him.
For the past three days, Xiao Hei had been staying with Chang Qiqi and had gotten used to his lecherous grin.
Suddenly!
The crystal on the cat's neck emitted circles of white light. The white light grew stronger and stronger, stinging Chang Qiqi's eyes.
When Chang Qiqi opened his eyes again, he found two people standing in the distance.
Chang Qiqi didn't connect the white light just now to those two people, nor did it occur to him that a crystal could hide two people inside.
He focused his gaze and was overjoyed. "Junior Sister Huang, when did you escape from Dihuo City?"
Huang Yanchen stood gracefully, her figure slender, her curves beautiful, exuding an icy and pure temperament. She said coldly, "I left Dihuo City three days ago. Senior Brother Chang, thank you for coming to the Poison Spider Chamber of Commerce to save me three days ago."
Chang Qiqi sighed. "It's just that Hua Qingshan's cultivation was too high. I was no match for him."
Suddenly, Chang Qiqi looked at the masked youth standing beside Huang Yanchen, a puzzled expression on his face. "Could it be that this junior brother rescued Junior Sister from the Poison Spider Chamber of Commerce?"
Zhang Ruochen didn't deny it. "Greetings, Senior Brother Chang."
Chang Qiqi seemed very interested in Zhang Ruochen. "How should I address Junior Brother? Why haven't I seen you before at the Martial Market Academy?"
Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen had already discussed their response strategy, so he said calmly, "In the Martial Market Academy, there are always some students who aren't seen in public."
Chang Qiqi's expression became even more intrigued. "I've long heard that some Gold Robe Elders in the Martial Market Academy take secret disciples. Could Junior Brother be one of them?"
Huang Yanchen said coldly, "Junior Brother Chen is the secret disciple of the Silver Robe Elder Council's Chief. Senior Brother Chang, you'd better show him some respect."
"Chen Ruo" was a pseudonym Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen had agreed upon earlier to hide their identities.
Chang Qiqi immediately showed great respect. "Junior Brother Chen is indeed a worthy disciple of Chief Lei. So young and already able to fight Hua Qingshan and rescue Junior Sister Huang from the Poison Spider Chamber of Commerce. In the inner palace academy, you must be at least ranked in the top ten, right?"
Zhang Ruochen's gaze fixed on Xiao Hei. "Senior Brother Chang, thank you for taking care of Xiao Hei these past few days. After fighting with the evil martial artists of the Poison Spider Chamber of Commerce in Dihuo City, I left in a hurry and forgot him there."
"Ah! This cat is yours?"
Zhang Ruochen nodded.
Chang Qiqi was somewhat reluctant to part. He squeezed Xiao Hei's belly again but ultimately returned him to Zhang Ruochen.