Chapter 10

Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment and then asked, "Was Lin Chenyu executed?"

"No! How could the Seventh Prince let him off so easily?" Yun'er said, "Lin Chenyu was castrated and became a eunuch, serving as a slave to the Seventh Prince."

Zhang Ruochen said, "The first genius of the Lin family has become a eunuch and a slave to his enemy. For the Lin family, this is a tremendous disgrace."

Yun'er frowned and said, "But I can't understand why, given the great humiliation the Lin family has suffered, the head of the Lin family would still agree to marry his daughter to the Seventh Prince?"

Zhang Ruochen said, "This is very understandable! With the Seventh Prince's talent, he will surely inherit the throne and become the ruler of Yunwu County. For the Lin family to establish a foothold in Yunwu County, they must mend relations with the Seventh Prince. A marriage alliance is the best way to do this."

"Furthermore, since the Lin family's first genius has become a slave to the Seventh Prince, the relationship between the Lin family and the Seventh Prince is probably not as adversarial as we imagine. It's possible that Lin Nishan's marriage to the Seventh Prince was orchestrated by the Lin family's first genius, Lin Chenyu."

Yun'er stared straight at Zhang Ruochen, unable to believe that the Ninth Prince could analyze the situation so clearly. He no longer seemed like the once timid young man but instead gave off a sense of seasoned wisdom.

"It seems that after activating the Divine Martial Mark, the Ninth Prince has truly undergone a complete transformation," Yun'er thought to herself. If Empress Lin knew about the Ninth Prince's transformation, she would surely be very pleased.

Returning to his room, Zhang Ruochen immediately entered the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.

"Now, I will begin to open the second meridian!"

Zhang Ruochen uncorked a small vial and swallowed a dose of the bone-washing elixir.

Under the influence of the elixir, his blood seemed to boil. Leveraging the powerful effects of the elixir, Zhang Ruochen immediately followed the instructions in the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture* to begin opening the second meridian.

The more meridians opened within the body, the faster the absorption of spiritual energy, and the faster the circulation of true qi.

The more meridians in the body, the stronger the martial body cultivated, and the greater the combat power that can be unleashed at the same realm.

Drawing on his past cultivation experience, Zhang Ruochen quickly opened the second meridian, doubling the speed of his true qi circulation.

"The qi pool hasn't expanded, and I haven't broken through to the middle stage of the Yellow Apex Realm. It seems I need to open another meridian."

Zhang Ruochen took a Blood Pill to restore his strength, rested for about an hour to reach his optimal state, and then immediately took another dose of the bone-washing elixir to begin opening the third meridian.

Other cultivators usually take one to three months to recover and strengthen the resilience and vitality of a newly opened meridian before opening the next one.

However, Zhang Ruochen couldn't wait that long. He needed to open the third meridian and break through to the middle stage of the Yellow Apex Realm.

This would increase the difficulty by more than double.

"I can do it, I must succeed. I will definitely break through to the middle stage of the Yellow Apex Realm tonight."

Zhang Ruochen held a spirit crystal in his hand, absorbing the spiritual energy within it, and mobilized all his true qi, suddenly surging towards the third meridian.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound came from Zhang Ruochen's brow.

The qi pool, which was originally the size of a basketball, immediately expanded tenfold, reaching the size of a water barrel, like a square pool three feet wide.

Now, Zhang Ruochen's qi pool could truly be called a qi pool.

This was the cultivation of the middle stage of the Yellow Apex Realm!

"Now, I have just entered the middle stage of the Yellow Apex Realm, and my true qi hasn't increased much. Of course, I now have room for improvement. If I fill the qi pool with true qi, my true qi will increase tenfold." Zhang Ruochen felt a sense of joy, as his martial cultivation had significantly improved.

Each time a realm is advanced, the capacity of the qi pool increases, naturally allowing for more true qi.

If one cannot break through to a higher realm, even after ten years of cultivation, the true qi in the body will not increase, as the qi pool can only hold so much true qi.

Breaking through to the middle stage of the Yellow Apex Realm, the impurities in the flesh were expelled through the pores, like a layer of black, sticky mud, emitting a faint, fishy odor.

Zhang Ruochen immediately brought a bucket of hot water, took a bath, changed into new clothes, and then returned to the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.

He held a brush and smoothly drew a human figure on a scroll.

Then, relying on his memory, he drew thirty-six meridians on the human figure, each with a different circulation route.

The only common point was that all thirty-six meridians converged at the qi pool in the center of the brow.

The first layer of the *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture* that Zhang Ruochen first read was such a "meridian diagram," with no textual explanation, requiring him to comprehend it on his own.

The higher the cultivation technique, the more meridians can be opened in the body, and the faster the circulation of true qi.

"A low-grade human cultivation technique can only open seven meridians."

"The *Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture* records the circulation routes of thirty-six meridians. Each additional meridian opened makes the martial body stronger. If all thirty-six meridians are opened, how powerful would the martial body become?"

The "extreme" in the Yellow Apex Realm refers to the limit of meridians.

In his previous life, Zhang Ruochen had only managed to open thirty-three meridians, and the remaining three could not be opened no matter what!

With his martial body that had opened thirty-three meridians, he had already defeated all his peers. Even the current strongest person in the world, Empress Chi Yao, was slightly inferior, having only opened thirty-one meridians.

"I have now opened three meridians, placing me in the middle stage of the Yellow Apex Realm. To break through to the later stage of the Yellow Apex Realm, I need to open at least three more meridians."

Zhang Ruochen rolled up the meridian diagram and placed it on the stone platform.

To break through to the later stage of the Yellow Apex Realm, he first needed to fill the qi pool with true qi.

If he followed the conventional cultivation method, even with the help of the spiritual energy from spirit crystals, it would take one and a half months to fill the qi pool with true qi.

Zhang Ruochen couldn't wait that long, so he decided to take a Qi-Gathering Pill.

A single Qi-Gathering Pill was worth a thousand silver coins, a rare treasure for ordinary martial artists. Even the young disciples of medium-sized families found it difficult to obtain one.

Zhang Ruochen bought ten at once, intending to use them to rapidly enhance his cultivation.

The Qi-Gathering Pill was the size of a pearl, with a faint fragrance, and visible strands of spiritual energy flowing on its surface.

Zhang Ruochen swallowed the Qi-Gathering Pill.

A moment later.

With a "Boom," the Qi-Gathering Pill exploded inside his body, transforming into a mass of violent pill energy that surged up and down within him.

The three meridians absorbed the pill energy at the fastest speed, circulating it through a full cycle in his body, converting the pill energy into true qi, which was stored in the qi pool.

Although Zhang Ruochen made his utmost effort to absorb the pill energy, he still lost seventy percent of it through his pores, absorbing only thirty percent of the pill energy from a single Qi-Gathering Pill.

It took him a full day to completely convert that thirty percent of pill energy into his own true qi.

After converting this thirty percent of pill energy, the amount of true qi in the qi pool doubled.

"I have only opened three meridians, so the conversion speed of true qi is still too slow, and seventy percent of the pill energy was wasted. If a martial artist at the minor stage of the Yellow Apex Realm took a Qi-Gathering Pill, they could convert all the pill energy into true qi without any waste."

"Never mind! As long as I can rapidly enhance my cultivation, wasting more silver coins is worth it. With the power of the Qi-Gathering Pill, I need to convert four more to fill the qi pool with true qi."

Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen had plenty of silver coins and didn't need to worry about money. Otherwise, a Qi-Gathering Pill worth a thousand silver coins would have made him wince each time he took one.

He didn't take a second Qi-Gathering Pill immediately but stopped cultivating and left the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, returning to his room.

He had cultivated for more than a day inside the Time-Space Crystal, but only half a day had passed outside.

It was now noon.

Zhang Ruochen didn't disturb Yun'er and Empress Lin, bringing a bucket of hot water into his room.

He wasn't going to take a bath but to soak in a medicinal bath.

Martial artists not only cultivate true qi but also train their bodies.

Compared to his peers, Zhang Ruochen's body seemed somewhat weak. To strengthen his body within a few months, he needed to practice boxing and soak in medicinal baths.

Zhang Ruochen bought five doses of Body-Strengthening Powder, each costing a thousand silver coins.

He took one dose and placed it in a wooden tub.

The wooden tub immediately hissed, and white smoke rose from it.

Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged in the tub, his head submerged in the medicinal water.

The medicinal water was scalding hot, almost boiling, with bubbles rising to the surface.

A sharp pain spread from his skin, then penetrated his flesh, and finally reached his bones and internal organs.

His entire body was burning with pain. If it were another martial artist, they would have jumped out of the tub, unable to endure the pain.

Zhang Ruochen, however, sat like a rock at the bottom of the tub, his expression unchanged, silently enduring the pain from his body.

Only by enduring great hardship can one become a superior person.