Chapter 4

Reaching the initial stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, the "Qi Pool" had expanded dozens of 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 he 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 brow opened, beginning to cultivate the first level of the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture," the "Great Sovereign Yellow Heaven."

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

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 brow.

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

One complete circulation of true qi within the body was called one cycle.

After completing nine cycles, 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 his body in such a short time, they would be overjoyed.

However, Zhang Ruochen was somewhat dissatisfied, "After cultivating for nine cycles, the true qi only increased by this much, it's too slow! If I could get a Spirit Crystal, my cultivation speed would double!"

It's important to know that Zhang Ruochen was cultivating the "Nine Heavens Bright Emperor Scripture," which naturally 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 as "natural Spirit Crystals" from underground veins, or obtained by slaying beasts and extracting the "acquired Spirit Crystals" from their bodies.

A Spirit Crystal is generally worth about a thousand silver coins, and only the nobility, princes, or geniuses cultivated by major families have the opportunity 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 he had been wearing, holding it in his palm.

Could this be a Spirit Crystal?

True qi circulated within his body, and the Divine Martial Mark on his brow immediately appeared, forming a coin-sized circular halo.

A beam of white true qi shot out from his brow, 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 immediately recognized them as "Time-Space Crystal."

In his previous life, Zhang Ruochen had also infused true qi into the white crystal, but he had never managed to activate 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 initial stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, I managed to make the white crystal change. This shows that it's not the strength of the true qi, but the nature of the true qi that matters."

For example, a martial artist with a Flame Divine Martial Mark would achieve the best results using a fire-attribute Spirit Crystal, reaching three times the cultivation speed. Using a regular Spirit Crystal would only double the speed.

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

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

In his previous life, Zhang Ruochen, as the son of the Bright Emperor, 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, but 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 bone marrow washing and meridian opening, reaching the initial stage of the Yellow Extreme Realm, which had greatly strengthened his body. If he had his previous frail body, he would have likely 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 was about ten meters, and the length and width were roughly ten meters as well.

"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 platform lay a rolled-up painting and a thin 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 platform. No matter how much strength he used, the painting did not budge.

Since he couldn't lift or open the painting, Zhang Ruochen had to temporarily 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 managed to open 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 it 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 Sumeru Holy Monk's record, Zhang Ruochen finally understood everything.

"Turns out the Divine Martial Mark I activated is actually a Time-Space Divine Martial Mark. According to Sumeru Holy Monk, only one in a billion can activate a Time-Space Divine Martial Mark. From ancient times to the present, only two people have done so, including me, making it three."

"Sumeru Holy Monk was the second person to activate 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 already the Middle Ancient Era, far too long ago."

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 excitedly said, "Cultivating for three days in here, while only one day passes outside, isn't that like having three times the cultivation time compared to others? This is fantastic."

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

"Can't open it again."

Zhang Ruochen felt an urge to throw the "Time-Space Secret Canon" to the ground. Suddenly, he noticed a line of small text at the bottom of the first page.

"Once you reach the Lesser Apex of the Yellow Extreme Realm, infusing true qi into the painting will allow you to open it."

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

"Strive to cultivate and reach the Lesser Apex as soon as possible. I want to see what secrets are hidden in the painting."

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

Zhang Ruochen felt a pang of hunger in his stomach and immediately exited 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 reaching 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 only white rice and steamed buns, with no meat in sight.

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

Other princes and princesses who had activated 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 wouldn't feel hungry.

Moreover, taking Blood Pills could enhance blood qi, strengthen the martial body, and increase 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 activated the Divine Martial Mark, you can no longer eat ordinary food. Take these ten Blood Pills first. If they're 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 hadn't expected Lin Fei to have ten Blood Pills, so he asked in confusion, "Mother, it takes five silver coins to buy one Blood Pill, so ten Blood Pills would cost 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 Pill Market!"

Lin Fei gently glared at Yun'er, as if scolding her for speaking out of turn, and then said, "Chen'er, don't overthink it. As long as you can cultivate into a true martial artist, Mother will support you even if she has to sell all her jewelry."

Zhang Ruochen was deeply moved, tightly gripping the jade bottle in his hand, biting his lip, and wanting to tell Lin Fei that he had already cultivated into a true martial artist.

No, he couldn't do that.

Opening the Qi Pool and completing the bone marrow washing and meridian opening in just one night was too fast. If the news leaked, it would surely reach the ears of other princes and princesses. That would harm both him and Lin Fei.

He was still too weak and needed to become even stronger.

(WeChat: feitianyu5, Sina Weibo: @Feitianyu5)

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