Chapter 4

At the early stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, the "Qi Pool" had expanded several dozen times, now as large as a basketball.

The True Qi in the Qi Pool was still very scarce, only as big as an egg, less than one-tenth of the Qi Pool's capacity.

Only by filling the Qi Pool with True Qi could one advance to the next stage, the middle stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm.

Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and the Divine Martial Mark on his forehead opened, beginning to cultivate the first level of the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture," the "Great Yellow Heaven of the Yellow Extreme Realm."

True Qi flowed out from the Qi Pool, traveling along the meridian that had been opened, circulating throughout his body.

As the True Qi circulated within his body, Zhang Ruochen's body seemed to transform into a vortex, slowly absorbing the spiritual energy from the heavens and earth.

The spiritual energy of the heavens and earth flowed into the Divine Martial Mark on his forehead.

The Divine Martial Mark then converted the spiritual energy into True Qi, storing it in the Qi Pool. The True Qi flowed out from the Qi Pool, traveling along the meridian, circulating throughout his body.

One complete circulation of True Qi within the body was called one "Zhou Tian."

After a full nine Zhou Tian, when Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes again, he found that the amount of True Qi in his body had doubled, reaching one-tenth of the Qi Pool's capacity.

If other martial artists knew that he could double the amount of True Qi in such a short time, they would be ecstatic.

However, Zhang Ruochen was somewhat dissatisfied, "After nine Zhou Tian of cultivation, the True Qi only increased by so little, it's too slow! If I could get a Spirit Crystal, my cultivation speed would double!"

It should be noted that Zhang Ruochen was cultivating the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture," which absorbed True Qi faster than those cultivating lower-level techniques.

The current cultivation speed naturally left him unsatisfied.

If he could obtain a Spirit Crystal, his cultivation speed would increase significantly.

A Spirit Crystal is formed by the convergence of spiritual energy.

It can be mined from underground veins as "natural Spirit Crystals," or obtained by slaying beasts and extracting the "acquired Spirit Crystals" from their bodies.

A single Spirit Crystal is generally worth a thousand silver coins, and only the nobility or geniuses cultivated by major families have the chance to obtain one.

A thousand silver coins was an enormous sum for Zhang Ruochen and Lin Fei, and they could never afford it.

"Spirit Crystal!"

Zhang Ruochen's heart stirred, and he immediately took out the white date-shaped crystal that he had been wearing, holding it in his palm.

Could this be a Spirit Crystal?

He circulated the True Qi within his body, and the Divine Martial Mark on his forehead immediately appeared, forming a circular halo the size of a coin.

A beam of white True Qi shot out from his forehead, striking the white crystal.

"Whoosh!"

Four ancient characters appeared on the surface of the white crystal.

How strange!

Zhang Ruochen had never seen such characters before, but he recognized them at first glance: "Time-Space Crystal."

In his previous life, Zhang Ruochen had also infused True Qi into the white crystal, but he had never triggered the characters on its surface.

"In my previous life, my cultivation was hundreds of times stronger than it is now, yet I couldn't make the characters appear on the white crystal. In this life, at the early stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, I managed to make the white crystal change. This indicates that it's not the intensity of the True Qi, but the nature of the True Qi that matters."

For example, martial artists with the Flame Divine Martial Mark would achieve the best results with fire-attribute Spirit Crystals, increasing their cultivation speed by three times. Using ordinary Spirit Crystals would only double their speed.

In nature, ninety percent of Spirit Crystals have no attributes, just like ninety percent of martial artists can only activate attribute-less martial marks.

"Could it be that the Divine Martial Mark I opened has a certain attribute that matches this Time-Space Crystal? Wait, what is a Time-Space Crystal?"

Zhang Ruochen, as the son of the Bright Emperor in his previous life, had extensive knowledge and had heard of many attribute Spirit Crystals, such as the Crimson Flame Spirit Crystal, the Profound Ice Spirit Crystal, the Lightning Spirit Crystal, and the Evil Blood Spirit Crystal. However, he had never heard of a Time-Space attribute Spirit Crystal.

Because time and space are beyond human control, even gods cannot manipulate them and must follow the rules of time and space.

As Zhang Ruochen was still puzzled, a halo appeared on the surface of the Time-Space Crystal, forming a vortex.

The vortex grew larger, enveloping Zhang Ruochen's body.

Zhang Ruochen felt a dizzying sensation, and the next moment, he found himself in a sealed space, falling heavily onto the hard ground.

Fortunately, he had completed the marrow washing and meridian opening, reaching the early stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, which had strengthened his body. If he had his previous frail body, he would have died from the fall.

Zhang Ruochen got up from the ground, moved his aching muscles, and began to observe the space around him.

The space was completely sealed, with no doors or windows. The height of the space was about ten meters, and the length and width were also about ten meters.

"How did this happen? Where did I come from? Where am I? Ah! There's a stone platform over there!"

In the entire space, there was only one stone platform.

On the stone platform, there was a rolled-up painting and a silver iron book. There was nothing else!

Zhang Ruochen first tried to take the painting, but it was incredibly heavy, as if it were fused with the stone platform. No matter how much strength he used, the painting did not budge.

Since he couldn't lift the painting or unroll it, Zhang Ruochen had to give up and turned his attention to the thin silver iron book.

On the surface of the silver iron book, four characters were written: "Time-Space Secret Canon!"

This time, Zhang Ruochen was prepared. He circulated True Qi throughout his body, mobilized all his strength, and flipped to the first page of the "Time-Space Secret Canon."

"So... easy?"

Flipping through the "Time-Space Secret Canon" was very easy, requiring no effort at all.

Zhang Ruochen shook his head in disappointment, stopped circulating True Qi, picked up the "Time-Space Secret Canon," and held it in his hands, reading carefully.

The first page of the "Time-Space Secret Canon" did not contain any cultivation secrets but was a record by the previous owner of the Time-Space Crystal, the "Sumeru Holy Monk."

After reading the Sumeru Holy Monk's record, Zhang Ruochen finally understood everything.

"Turns out the Divine Martial Mark I opened is actually a Time-Space Divine Martial Mark. According to the Sumeru Holy Monk, only one in a billion people can open a Time-Space Divine Martial Mark. From ancient times to the present, only two people have done so, and with me, that makes three."

"Sumeru Holy Monk was the second person to open a Time-Space Divine Martial Mark, but according to the time recorded in the 'Time-Space Secret Canon,' he died over a hundred thousand years ago. That was the Middle Ancient Era, far too distant from the present."

The space Zhang Ruochen was in was the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.

The flow of time in the inner space was completely different from the outside world. Cultivating for three days in the inner space was equivalent to one day in the outside world.

Zhang Ruochen was overjoyed and said excitedly, "Cultivating for three days inside, while only one day passes outside, isn't that like getting three times the cultivation time for free? This is too good."

Zhang Ruochen wanted to flip to the second page of the "Time-Space Secret Canon," but no matter what method he used, he could not open it.

"Can't open it again."

Zhang Ruochen had an impulse to throw the "Time-Space Secret Canon" to the ground, but suddenly, he noticed a line of small characters at the bottom of the first page.

"Cultivate to the Lesser Extreme Stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, and infuse True Qi into the painting to open it."

Zhang Ruochen looked at the painting again, speculating that it must contain some mysterious cultivation technique, possibly related to the cultivation of time and space.

"Strive to cultivate and break through to the Lesser Extreme Stage as soon as possible. I want to see what secrets are hidden in the painting."

The "Lesser Extreme Stage" is the fourth minor stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, followed by the Middle Extreme Stage, the Greater Extreme Stage, and the Great Perfection Stage.

Zhang Ruochen felt a pang of hunger in his stomach and immediately left the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, returning to his room.

He tightly held the Time-Space Crystal, knowing that with this crystal, he had a greater chance of cultivating to the later stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm within three months.

Zhang Ruochen, Lin Fei, and the maid Yun'er sat together for breakfast.

The food was merely white rice and steamed buns, with no meat in sight.

For martial artists, the physical energy consumption is much greater than that of ordinary people, so the food they eat is very important.

Other princes and princesses who had opened their Divine Martial Marks ate "Blood Pills" made from the blood of beasts every day, no longer eating ordinary food.

Taking one Blood Pill could replenish a day's worth of physical energy, and even after a day of practicing boxing and sword techniques, they would not feel hungry.

Moreover, taking Blood Pills also enhanced blood qi, strengthened the martial body, and increased physical strength.

If Zhang Ruochen only ate white rice and steamed buns, even if he ate eight meals a day, it would still be far from enough to meet his body's needs.

"Chen'er, now that you have opened your Divine Martial Mark, you can no longer eat ordinary food. Take these ten Blood Pills first. If they are not enough, Mother will find other ways." Lin Fei took out a jade bottle and handed it to Zhang Ruochen.

Zhang Ruochen was eating a steamed bun and did not expect Lin Fei to have ten Blood Pills, so he asked in confusion, "Mother, it takes five silver coins to buy one Blood Pill, and ten Blood Pills are fifty silver coins. Where did you get so much money?"

Lin Fei smiled and said, "Mother always has a way."

The maid Yun'er, standing behind Lin Fei, said, "Her Majesty sold her favorite hairpin to exchange for ten Blood Pills at the