Chapter 11

Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged at the bottom of the water, his mind calm and his expression unchanged, as he mobilized the true qi within his body, circulating it through three meridians.

Each time the true qi circulated, the pain would lessen a bit.

With his current martial arts cultivation, he could not remain underwater for long periods of time, so he would surface to breathe every five minutes.

An hour passed, and the pain gradually disappeared. A cold current entered his body, repairing the damaged flesh. A refreshing sensation spread throughout his body, almost making him moan.

"Whoosh!"

Zhang Ruochen stood up from the water, dried the droplets on his body with a towel, and stood in front of a bronze mirror to examine his body, nodding in approval.

After practicing for over ten days, combined with the refinement from the medicinal bath, his body had clearly become stronger, no longer as thin and sickly as before.

Of course, ten days in the spatial crystal stone only equated to four days in reality.

Four days ago, he was still a weakling, expelled from the Jade Washing Palace by the Eighth Prince and mocked and oppressed by everyone. Who would have known that after four days, he had already reached the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm.

This was simply a miracle!

"Not enough! The middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm is just the beginning!" Zhang Ruochen clenched his fists tightly, his gaze sharp.

After dressing, he took a Blood Pill and entered the inner space of the spatial crystal stone to continue his cultivation.

Being able to reach the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm in just four days was not only due to his martial arts experience from his previous life but also because of the help of the spatial crystal stone.

With the spatial crystal stone, he had three times the cultivation time compared to other martial artists. This was his unique advantage!

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Barbarian Elephant Charging the Earth!"

Zhang Ruochen bent his legs, stepped forward, and continuously struck out with his arms, each palm strike mobilizing the strength of every muscle and bone in his body.

After the medicinal bath, he had to use boxing techniques to fully integrate the medicinal power into his body and convert it into his own strength.

In the following days, Zhang Ruochen almost always cultivated in the inner space of the spatial crystal stone, only leaving every three days.

Empress Lin knew that Zhang Ruochen had just activated the Divine Martial Mark and needed to seclude himself to cultivate, open his qi pool, and cleanse his marrow and meridians, so she did not ask many questions. She only instructed Yun'er to take good care of Zhang Ruochen's daily life.

She would still sell her jewelry to get silver coins to buy Blood Pills for Zhang Ruochen.

At such times, Zhang Ruochen would often have Yun'er take the silver coins to secretly buy back the jewelry at a high price.

This was an indescribable emotion, a kind of selfless care that deeply moved Zhang Ruochen.

Gradually, Zhang Ruochen accepted his current body's identity and regarded Empress Lin as his true mother.

"Your Highness, should we tell Empress Lin the truth? If she knew that you are now a true martial artist, she would be very happy," Yun'er said.

"Not yet. I want to give her a surprise during the year-end assessment. Besides, my current cultivation is not yet strong enough; I need to become stronger," Zhang Ruochen replied.

Now, Yun'er knew many of Zhang Ruochen's secrets.

Except for the secrets of his previous life and the spatial crystal stone, Zhang Ruochen had almost told her everything else.

In Yun'er's eyes, the Ninth Prince was simply an extraordinary martial arts genius, having cultivated to the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm in a short time, far surpassing the other princes.

Perhaps only the Seventh Prince, who was the most accomplished among his peers, could be compared to the Ninth Prince.

After reaching the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, Zhang Ruochen continued to cultivate in the spatial crystal stone for a month, taking a Qi Gathering Pill every six days and a medicinal bath every ten days.

The rest of the time, he was cultivating the second palm of the Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda Palm, "Flying Dragon in the Sky," and studying the "Meridian Diagram" in the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture."

The second palm of the Dragon Elephant Bodhimanda Palm had not yet been successfully cultivated, but the true qi in his qi pool had already reached perfection.

"I can start breaking through to the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm tonight!" Zhang Ruochen said.

Hearing this, Yun'er was shocked and said, "The late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm? Your Highness has only been at the middle stage for ten days, and you can already break through to the late stage? The Eighth Prince spent four years cultivating from the middle stage to the late stage."

Yun'er did not know about the spatial crystal stone and thought Zhang Ruochen had only been cultivating for ten days, when in fact, he had been cultivating for a whole month.

This was also because he had spent a lot of time refining his body; otherwise, his cultivation speed would have been even faster.

"Is that fast? I would say it's just a natural progression!"

Zhang Ruochen did not think his cultivation speed was particularly fast. If other geniuses had the same abundant cultivation resources, their cultivation speed would also be very fast.

The Eighth Prince spending four years to reach the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm only indicated that his talent was poor.

Regardless, Yun'er was very excited and said, "Ninth Prince, I believe you will definitely succeed. Once you reach the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, we won't have to fear the Eighth Prince anymore."

"Um! You can go out now! Don't let anyone disturb me tonight," Zhang Ruochen said.

Yun'er nodded vigorously, like a chick pecking at rice, and said, "I'll guard the door tonight. If anyone dares to disturb the Ninth Prince's cultivation, I'll stop them even if it costs my life."

Zhang Ruochen stared deeply at Yun'er and said softly, "Thank you!"

After Yun'er left Zhang Ruochen's room, he immediately entered the inner space of the spatial crystal stone.

"To break through to the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, I must open three new meridians in one go, connecting them to the five organs, both arms, and both legs."

Zhang Ruochen took out three small jade bottles and placed them in a row, each containing a portion of bone-cleansing liquid.

After adjusting himself to the best state, Zhang Ruochen swallowed the bone-cleansing liquid from the first small jade bottle and immediately began to open the fourth meridian in his body.

It took half an hour to successfully open the fourth meridian.

The fourth meridian flowed from the qi pool, through the neck, chest, left arm, right arm, and then along the spine to the head, returning to the qi pool in the center of the forehead, completing a large cycle.

Without any rest, Zhang Ruochen swallowed the bone-cleansing liquid from the second small jade bottle and immediately began to open the fifth meridian.

The fifth meridian extended from the qi pool, through the chest and abdomen, and then through the left and right legs, returning to the qi pool.

This meridian was longer, and it took Zhang Ruochen three hours to successfully open it.

With most of his true qi consumed and his body covered in sweat, Zhang Ruochen had to take out a spirit crystal, hold it in his hand, and quickly absorb the spiritual energy from the crystal, converting it into true qi and storing it in the qi pool.

The true qi in the qi pool was restored to its full state.

Zhang Ruochen immediately swallowed the bone-cleansing liquid from the third small jade bottle and began to open the sixth meridian.

This meridian flowed through the spleen, lungs, kidneys, liver, and heart, the five organs of the human body. True qi flowing through the five organs would strengthen them, but the organs were also the most fragile, so Zhang Ruochen had to be extremely cautious.

It took six hours, and his true qi was almost completely depleted, but the meridian was still not fully opened, just a small section away.

If the true qi were to be interrupted, all his efforts would be in vain, and his organs might even be damaged.

If he wanted to open this meridian in the future, it would be ten times more difficult.

Zhang Ruochen made a bold decision and quickly swallowed a Qi Gathering Pill.

"Boom!"

The pill's energy exploded inside his body.

Zhang Ruochen immediately focused on two tasks: using the five already opened meridians to absorb the pill's energy, continuously converting it into true qi, and transporting it to the qi pool.

At the same time, he carefully controlled the true qi to continue breaking through the sixth meridian.

This was a huge test of his mental strength, but fortunately, in his previous life, he was a great master at the peak of the Heaven Extreme Realm, with strong mental strength. Under the dual focus, he succeeded!

The sixth meridian was successfully opened!

The qi pool in the center of his forehead emitted a circle of white light, its capacity expanding tenfold.

At the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, the qi pool was only the size of a water vat.

Now, Zhang Ruochen's qi pool had grown to the size of ten water vats, very spacious and capable of storing a large amount of true qi.

"Finally, I have broken through to the late stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm!"

Zhang Ruochen held a spirit crystal in his hand, the Divine Martial Mark on his forehead appearing, and began to absorb the spiritual energy from the crystal.

With all six meridians operating, the speed at which the Divine Martial Mark absorbed spiritual energy doubled.

After stabilizing his realm, Zhang Ruochen stopped cultivating.

He opened his eyes, and his pupils became incredibly bright, like two dazzling cold stars.

With the opening of three new meridians, a large amount of impurities were expelled from his pores, emitting a foul smell.

Zhang Ruochen walked out of the inner space of the spatial crystal stone, took a bath in a wooden tub that was already prepared, dressed, and pushed the door open to go out.

It was already deep into the night.

Snowflakes, like goose feathers, were falling gently, covering the entire courtyard in a layer of silver frost.

Yun'er was sitting on the steps outside Zhang Ruochen's room, hugging herself, occasionally rubbing her hands and blowing warm air into her palms.

"Creak!"

Hearing the door open behind her, Yun'er immediately stood up and looked at Zhang Ruochen, who was coming out, and said happily, "Your Highness, did you succeed?"