Chapter 808: Thirty-Six Semi-Sacred Meridians
The value of a flood dragon pearl was comparable to the half-saint light of a half-saint, and moreover, it was even easier to absorb than half-saint light.
As long as he completely refined the flood dragon pearl, it would surely elevate his cultivation by a significant margin.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes, and in his mind, the cultivation technique for the fifth layer of the Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture surfaced. Then, he slowly raised both hands.
As the technique circulated, two small vortices appeared in his palms, continuously absorbing the power emitted by the flood dragon pearl into the Yang Dimensional Sacred Meridian and the Yin Dimensional Sacred Meridian.
The power of the flood dragon pearl entered the sacred meridians and immediately converged toward his Qi Sea.
Then, that power surged out from the Qi Sea, entered the thirty-six meridians, and flowed to the various tissues throughout his body. After circulating through his body once, it gathered at the position below his navel, merging with the nascent Mysterious Fetus to form a single entity.
It was through this cycle that Zhang Ruochen was astonished to discover that his thirty-six meridians were continuously widening and becoming tougher.
Clearly, this was the power of the nascent Mysterious Fetus.
The so-called nascent Mysterious Fetus was essentially a vortex condensed below the navel after cultivating the fifth layer of the Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture, "Mysterious Fetus Subdues Demon Heaven," to a certain level.
Once the Mysterious Fetus took shape, that vortex would evolve into something akin to a second Qi Sea, helping the cultivator store sacred qi.
It was well known that the more abundant a cultivator's sacred qi, the more powerful martial techniques they could unleash without feeling exhausted.
For example, a cultivator at the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, when executing a ghost-level upper-rank martial technique, would consume at least twenty percent of their sacred qi. If they used a special technique, most of the sacred qi in their body would be expended.
The reason Zhang Ruochen rarely felt exhausted was that he had reached the fourth supreme extreme realm, and the breadth of his Qi Sea far exceeded that of other cultivators. Even if he fought continuously for ten days and ten nights, he wouldn't feel drained.
However, like other cultivators, Zhang Ruochen, in the Fish-Dragon Realm—and even in the first six stages of the Half-Saint Realm—simply couldn't use king-level martial techniques, i.e., sacred arts.
This was because his meridians were too fragile to withstand the power of sacred arts.
But now, it was different. His meridians were rapidly expanding, growing wider and wider.
What was the difference between meridians and sacred meridians?
If meridians were compared to capillaries, then sacred meridians were the major arteries.
Meridians were the channels opened by martial artists in the Mysterious Extreme Realm, used to transport true qi.
As true qi flowed through the meridians, it not only helped the martial artist execute martial techniques but also nourished their flesh, bones, and internal organs, making their physical body stronger.
However, meridians were very fragile and could only withstand true qi and extremely thin sacred qi. If a cultivator forcibly channeled a large amount of sacred qi through the meridians, they would rupture them.
For this reason, very few martial artists in the Heavenly Extreme Realm could execute a fully realized ghost-level martial technique. This wasn't just because the true qi of a Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist couldn't support such techniques.
A major reason was also that the meridian strength of most Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artists simply couldn't withstand such intense true qi transport speed.
Therefore, when a cultivator's cultivation reached the fourth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, they had to open sacred meridians.
Only sacred meridians could withstand large-scale sacred qi flow, allowing them to freely execute ghost-level martial techniques.
One month later.
Zhang Ruochen completely refined the flood dragon pearl, and his cultivation realm broke through to the peak of the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm.
What delighted him even more was that the Mysterious Fetus below his navel had fully formed, condensing into a second Qi Sea. The sacred qi stored in the Mysterious Fetus was almost equal to that stored in his Qi Sea.
Moreover, the width of his thirty-six meridians had doubled, becoming extremely resilient.
Now, whenever Zhang Ruochen mobilized his sacred qi, it was as if dozens of rivers were flowing through his body, emitting a rumbling "whoosh" sound.
Fortunately, his Qi Sea and Mysterious Fetus stored a vast amount of sacred qi, so he didn't have to worry about exhausting it.
With the same martial technique, the power Zhang Ruochen could now unleash far surpassed before.
To give a simple example: it was like pushing a cart. Previously, limited by your own conditions, you could only use a hundred jin of force to push it.
Now, you could mobilize two hundred jin of force to push it.
With different amounts of force, the cart's speed would naturally be incomparable.
"I've finally cultivated the fifth layer to great perfection and condensed the Mysterious Fetus. All thirty-six meridians have doubled in width, equivalent to one-fifth the width of a sacred meridian. They can truly be called 'thirty-six semi-sacred meridians.'"
Now, even if Zhang Ruochen fully circulated his sacred qi through the thirty-six meridians, he wouldn't feel any swelling or pain.
"With my current cultivation, how powerful would my strongest strike be?"
Thinking this, Zhang Ruochen couldn't wait any longer. He took out the Sky-Soaring Sword, released his sacred qi, and held it in his palm.
The Sky-Soaring Sword ranked twenty-seventh on the Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact Ranking. Inside the sword body, there were a total of eight thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine inscriptions.
It not only had basic inscriptions and intermediate inscriptions but also twelve advanced inscriptions.
It was worth noting that when the Abyssal Ancient Sword absorbed a sacred artifact, it only gained one or two intermediate inscriptions and over a dozen basic inscriptions.
As for advanced inscriptions—though called inscriptions—they were actually within the scope of sacred dao rules. Only extremely powerful spiritual power saints could inscribe them.
Therefore, although the Sky-Soaring Sword was only a thousand-mark sacred artifact, it could unleash power comparable to a ten-thousand-mark sacred artifact.
Zhang Ruochen began to circulate his technique. Immediately, the sacred qi in his Qi Sea and Mysterious Fetus churned, entering the five sacred meridians and thirty-six meridians, flowing from his palms and pouring into the Sky-Soaring Sword.
"Chi—"
On the surface of the Sky-Soaring Sword's blade, one inscription after another emerged, making the sword body increasingly bright.
In the end, the radiance emitted by the sword body was so dazzling that even Zhang Ruochen's eyes couldn't bear to look at it.
After a moment, the sword spirit of the Sky-Soaring Sword merged with the inscriptions and flew upward into the sky. A powerful sacred might erupted without restraint, sweeping across the space for hundreds of miles.
At that moment, everyone in the Scroll World was alarmed.
Mu Lingxi, who had been refining a sacred source and comprehending sacred dao rules, immediately snapped awake upon sensing the powerful destructive force from afar.
She looked at the white sphere of light flying in the sky, a look of shock on her face. She wondered, "What's going on? Has Zhang Ruochen broken through to the Half-Saint Realm? No, even the power of a third-step half-saint couldn't have such a strong aura."
At the same time, the Void Sword on Hanxue's back trembled rapidly.
If she hadn't immediately controlled the Void Sword, it might have flown out.
The power on the Sky-Soaring Sword was too great, and with Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation, he simply couldn't control it. The unleashed sword qi even struck him, piercing his left shoulder and leaving a wine-cup-sized bloody hole.
Zhang Ruochen immediately withdrew his sacred qi, not daring to continue activating the Sky-Soaring Sword.
Without the support of sacred qi, the light of the Sky-Soaring Sword slowly faded and fell from midair.
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the hilt of the Sky-Soaring Sword, glanced at the wound on his left shoulder, and immediately mobilized sacred qi to seal the blood vessels at the wound site.
"Just activating the sword spirit and inscriptions unleashes such terrifying power. No wonder it's the twenty-seventh-ranked battle weapon on the Thousand-Mark Sacred Artifact Ranking. Unfortunately, with my current cultivation, I'm far from being able to control that power. If I forcibly activate it, I might end up severely injuring myself."
Zhang Ruochen roughly calculated that with his current cultivation, even in a direct confrontation, he could match Jialuoyuan at his strongest.
Earlier, he had been able to kill Jialuoyuan only because he used the Time Sword Art, catching him off guard. If Jialuoyuan had known Zhang Ruochen was the Heir of Time and Space and had been prepared, Zhang Ruochen might not have succeeded so easily.
After a month of cultivation, he had not only refined a drop of divine blood but also elevated his cultivation to the later stage of the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm. Moreover, he had cultivated the fifth layer of the Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture to great perfection. His personal strength had naturally reached a new height.
Now, Zhang Ruochen could even contend with an ordinary third-step half-saint.
Being able to fight a third-step half-saint at just the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm—even if this were spread, no one would likely believe it.
Because even a sacred body at the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm couldn't contend with a first-step half-saint, let alone a third-step half-saint.
Even the nine realm sons, at the Fish-Dragon Realm, were far from being this powerful.
"If I could fully unleash the power of the Sky-Soaring Sword, I might even be able to repel an existence beyond the third-step half-saint," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
The power of the Sky-Soaring Sword could only be used as a trump card. It was best not to use it unless absolutely necessary, to avoid losing control and severely injuring himself and those around him.
Zhang Ruochen felt that he still had some potential to cultivate to an even stronger state, so he wasn't in a hurry to break through to the Half-Saint Realm.
"Perhaps I can try to charge for the legendary tenth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, the Divine Fate."
Zhang Ruochen's gaze gradually became resolute, and a fervent light shone in his eyes. No matter what, he had to give it his all.
He had already refined five drops of divine blood. With his condition, refining a sixth drop shouldn't be difficult. As for the seventh drop, it probably wouldn't be so simple.
Of course, his biggest problem now was how to obtain the sixth and seventh drops of divine blood.
Just then, Zhang Ruochen thought of the evil monks of the Death Meditation Sect.
Could other evil monks also carry divine blood on them?
In the Scroll World, a month had passed, which meant three days had passed in the outside world.
Over those three days, the conflict between the Underworld's Wuchang and the Death Meditation Sect should have ended. With this in mind, Zhang Ruochen left the Scroll World alone, intending to investigate the situation outside.