Chapter 67

Lin Nishan stood up and did not look at the Ninth Princess again. Instead, she fixed her gaze on Zhang Ruochen and said, "Cousin, within a month, remember to deliver one million silver coins to the Lin family residence."

After saying this, Lin Nishan and Lin Chenyu, along with three Lin family guards, left the royal training ground in a huff.

As they walked out of the palace, tears of humiliation streamed down Lin Nishan's eyes, and she said coldly, "The Ninth Princess has humiliated me so much. She must die, and so must Zhang Ruochen. In this life, I never want to see these two people again."

A cold light flashed in Lin Chenyu's eyes, and he said, "Don't worry! I've already been to the black market and offered a substantial reward for Zhang Ruochen's head. As long as Zhang Ruochen dares to step out of the palace, it will be his end."

"As for the Ninth Princess, killing her will be a piece of cake."

"Nishan, the most important thing for you now is to focus on your cultivation and strive to reach the Xuanji Realm as soon as possible. When you do, you won't need anyone's help; you can kill the Ninth Princess with your own strength."

A cold light flashed in Lin Nishan's eyes, and she said, "Yes! I will personally cut the Ninth Princess into a thousand pieces to avenge my humiliation."

Lin Chenyu took out a red-copper box from his sleeve and handed it to Lin Nishan, saying, "This is a third-grade Xuanxue Pill. When you attempt to break through to the Xuanji Realm, take it to increase your success rate by thirty percent. Once you break through to the Xuanji Realm, I can take you to the YunTai Sect. With your talent, passing their examination won't be difficult."

Lin Nishan took the Xuanxue Pill, her eyes showing a hint of joy, and said, "Breaking through to the Xuanji Realm means I can go to the YunTai Sect? That's great. I'll definitely get to see His Highness the Seventh Prince then."

"Of course."

A smile appeared on Lin Chenyu's lips, and he said, "His Highness the Seventh Prince is now an inner disciple, with a lofty status. If you can win his favor, you will have a bright future."

Hearing Lin Chenyu's words, Lin Nishan immediately forgot her humiliation and felt a sense of anticipation. His Highness the Seventh Prince was a genius; compared to him, Zhang Ruochen was just a minor character.

At the royal training ground.

Zhang Ruochen said, "Ninth Sister, by humiliating Lin Nishan and making her kneel in front of everyone today, she will likely use extreme methods to take revenge on you in the future."

The Ninth Princess sheathed her Bishui Sword and said, "I didn't intend to humiliate her; I just wanted to help you get back the one million silver coins. Besides, why would I be afraid of her? Even if she had the courage, she wouldn't dare to harm anyone in our royal family."

"I hope so," Zhang Ruochen said. He took out a bronze box and handed it to the Ninth Princess, saying, "Ninth Sister, this is a Xuanxue Pill. When you attempt to break through to the Xuanji Realm, take it to increase your success rate by thirty percent."

Zhang Ruochen had originally planned to take the Xuanxue Pill himself to break through to the Xuanji Realm. However, after cultivating to the Supreme Realm in Wang Mountain and invoking the resonance of the gods, he directly broke through to the Xuanji Realm with the power of the gods, so he didn't need the Xuanxue Pill.

Now, he gave the Xuanxue Pill to the Ninth Princess.

The Ninth Princess didn't hesitate and happily accepted the Xuanxue Pill.

The other princes and princesses were envious, knowing that a Xuanxue Pill was a third-grade pill worth 120,000 silver coins and could save a year of cultivation time.

Most princes and princesses couldn't afford it.

After leaving the royal training ground, A Le bid farewell to Zhang Ruochen, heading to the black market.

"A Le!"

Zhang Ruochen called out to A Le, who was about to leave, and said meaningfully, "In a month, I will leave the capital and head to the Wu Market Academy. But there is one thing I am worried about."

A Le stared at Zhang Ruochen and said, "The Ninth Princess?"

Zhang Ruochen nodded and said, "Lin Nishan has been humiliated so much that she will definitely seek revenge on Ninth Sister, and might even try to kill her."

A Le said, "As long as I am in the capital, I will secretly protect the Ninth Princess and ensure that the Lin family does not harm her."

"Your promise puts my mind at ease!" Zhang Ruochen smiled.

A Le didn't say another word and walked out of the palace, leaving behind a solitary and proud figure.

Zhang Ruochen always felt that spending one million silver coins to buy A Le from Lin Nishan was the best deal he had ever made.

However, one million silver coins was not a small amount.

He currently had only 890,000 silver coins, still short of 110,000 silver coins. How could he make up this amount?

"It seems I can only rely on the spatial ring. If I can forge a spatial ring, I can easily earn 110,000 silver coins."

"Now that I have reached the Xuanji Realm, my true qi is more robust, and I have a faint power of the gods within me. I should be able to engrave the Zhang-type and Shrink-type spatial patterns."

Of the eight basic spatial patterns, Zhang Ruochen had long been able to engrave the first six. Only the Zhang-type and Shrink-type patterns were difficult to engrave and had never been successful.

It's worth noting that Zhang Ruochen's mental power was very strong, reaching the 32nd level.

So, the reason he couldn't engrave the Zhang-type and Shrink-type spatial patterns before wasn't due to insufficient mental power, but rather insufficient true qi.

Now that his cultivation had reached the Xuanji Realm, his true qi had greatly increased, giving him a higher chance of successfully engraving the Zhang-type and Shrink-type spatial patterns.

With this thought, Zhang Ruochen couldn't wait and immediately returned to the Yushu Palace.

Just as he reached the gate of the Yushu Palace, General Gan Li approached with an axe, bowed to Zhang Ruochen, and said, "Greetings, Your Highness the Ninth Prince."

"General Gan Li, what is it?" Zhang Ruochen asked.

Gan Li chuckled and handed a bundle to Zhang Ruochen, saying, "This is the silver coins and spirit crystals sent by the Treasury. They are the rewards for the beasts you hunted in Wang Mountain."

"Oh!"

Zhang Ruochen's heart leaped with joy, and he immediately took the bundle, feeling its considerable weight.

Opening the bundle, he saw the silver coins and spirit crystals inside and burst into laughter.

The bundle contained 143 spirit crystals and 670 silver coins, totaling 143,670 silver coins.

It's worth noting that in Wang Mountain, Zhang Ruochen had killed three second-tier beasts, thirty first-tier high-grade beasts, more than thirty first-tier mid-grade beasts, and some first-tier low-grade beasts.

The price of a second-tier beast was generally over 20,000 silver coins. For example, a second-tier Silver Dragon Lion, whose entire body was valuable, could fetch 30,000 to 40,000 silver coins if sold in the Wu Market.

A first-tier high-grade beast's price ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 silver coins.

A first-tier mid-grade beast's price was generally around 1,000 silver coins.

"I spent half a month in Wang Mountain and earned 143,670 silver coins. This is because the prices at the Treasury are lower. If I had sold them in the Wu Market, the price would have been over 200,000 silver coins."

Hunting beasts seemed very profitable, but it wasn't that easy.

Zhang Ruochen was able to hunt so many beasts because Wang Mountain was the royal hunting ground, and the beasts there were not very powerful. There were no second-tier high-grade or third-tier beasts, making it relatively safe.

If it were the Tianmo Ridge or the Tongming River, even a Xuanji Realm early-stage martial artist would face a life-and-death situation. Even a Xuanji Realm peak martial artist would find it extremely dangerous to hunt beasts there for profit.

Earthly Extreme and Heavenly Extreme martial artists would likely perish if they ventured deep into the Tianmo Ridge or the death sections of the Tongming River.

Therefore, earning 143,670 silver coins was quite satisfying for Zhang Ruochen, as it was enough to pay Lin Nishan the one million silver coins.

Returning to his residence, Zhang Ruochen immediately entered the inner space of the spatial crystal.

He took out a marking pen and placed a spirit paper on the ground.

"I must succeed!"

Zhang Ruochen infused his true qi into the marking pen and quickly engraved the Zhang-type spatial pattern on the spirit paper.

Reaching the Xuanji Realm, Zhang Ruochen felt his movements were smoother, and he completed the Zhang-type spatial pattern in just ten breaths.

"Ha! Success, finally success!"

Zhang Ruochen then began engraving the Shrink-type spatial pattern.

This time, he was even faster, completing it in just eight breaths.

Zhang Ruochen continued practicing on the spirit paper. By the tenth attempt, he could engrave the Zhang-type and Shrink-type patterns in just three breaths.

"All eight basic spatial patterns engraved successfully, that's great! The first resonance of the gods seems to have significantly enhanced my mental power. I wonder what level my mental power has reached?"

Zhang Ruochen was in high spirits and prepared to forge a spatial ring.

The last time, he had forged a spatial ring, but he hadn't learned the Zhang-type pattern, so he couldn't expand the inner space.

Thus, that spatial ring was just a basic one with a very small inner space of one cubic meter, capable of storing only a few items.

Now that he had learned the Zhang-type and Shrink-type patterns, he was eager to see how large the inner space of the spatial ring he would forge would be.

Zhang Ruochen took out a white ring with a phoenix pattern and held it in his hand.

The first step was to engrave the spatial patterns on the white ring.

Zhang Ruochen completed six spatial patterns in less than a quarter of an hour, all successfully.

A one-cubic-meter inner space was formed inside the white ring.

Next, the most critical step was to engrave the Zhang-type pattern to expand the inner space.

Zhang Ruochen held the marking pen and carefully engraved on the white phoenix ring, his strokes smooth and fluid.

"Boom!"

As soon as the Zhang-type pattern was completed, the inner space of the spatial ring began to expand.

One cubic meter, two cubic meters, three cubic meters...

Soon, the inner space of the spatial ring reached eight cubic meters and continued to grow.

Zhang Ruochen infused his true qi into the spatial ring, using all his cultivation to expand the inner space to its maximum.