With the Abyss Ancient Sword and the Flash Shining Sword, Zhang Ruochen went into the forecourt of Qingxuan Pavilion. He paid 31,000 silver coins for these two swords and then went back to palace.
While walking in Ziyi Side Hall, Zhang Ruochen found that the courtyard was entirely covered in white snow.
A strange sense of emotion came into his mind as he was holding the four-foot-long broken sword.
“800 years have passed. The world is changing all the time for both humans and everything else. I had never thought that the once sharpest Abyss Ancient Sword would also be broken apart.”
The Abyss Ancient Sword, though broken apart, was still far too heavy for Zhang Ruochen. If he had not reached the Advanced Stage of the Yellow Realm, he might not have even been able to pick it up.
“The sword’s inscriptions were all broken without exception. It’s currently only sharper than other swords. If I want to reconnect these inscriptions and regain its full power, I will have to enlist weapon refiners of at least the fifth rank. But are there any weapon refiners of the fifth rank in the Yunwu Commandery?”
Zhang Ruochen put his swords away.
Even if the Abyss Ancient Sword became a piece of scrap iron, Zhang Ruochen would still bring it along as it could always remind him of the past and motivate him to practice harder. Only when he became strong enough would he be able to get revenge on Empress Chi Yao.
Zhang Ruochen took out the Flash Shining Sword, one of the fourth-level Genuine Martial Arms. He gripped the hilt and pulled out the sword from its sheath. A blue and crystal sword body appeared.
Zhang Ruochen began to mobilize his Genuine Qi and injected it into the sword body of Flash Shining Sword through his palm.
Activated by Genuine Qi, the first inscription quickly recovered.
It was an inscription of Power Series! Once it was stimulated by Genuine Qi, it would gain 100 pounds in weight.
It weighed 53 pounds originally. But now its weight had increased to 153 pounds after the first Inscription of Power Series was recovered.
Such a big increase in weight!
His arm trembled slightly as he tried to maintain his posture.
“Clang!”
He thrust out the sword.
However, the sword’s direction was not accurate and it was too hard to control.
With his present cultivation, Zhang Ruochen could give out a power like that of one Brute Bull by displaying the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm. He could even throw a 300-pound stone tray 10 meters away.
Nevertheless, that was one burst of his power in just one moment!
Providing it was a 300-pound sword, Zhang Ruochen could not necessarily lift it up with his present cultivation, let alone demonstrate masterful sword skill.
A sword that was 153 pounds was his maximum limit.
“Wham!”
“Chop!”
…
Zhang Ruochen spent his whole afternoon practicing the Flash Shining Sword. Eventually, he began to adjust to its weight.
Certainly, it was just a preliminary adaptation!
Those Martial Arts masters could stab mosquitoes within 10 meters with great ease. With superb sword techniques, they had already attained the realm of Sword Following the Heart.
Zhang Ruochen found himself lagging far behind those masters. Compared with them, he was too clumsy to use this heavy sword.
“There are four Inscriptions of Power Series on the Flash Shinning Sword. Its weight increased to 153 pounds after the first Inscription of Power Series was activated. I can’t imagine how heavy it would be if I stimulated the second inscription.”
Zhang Ruochen started to mobilize his Genuine Qi and kept injecting it into the second inscription of Power Series.
As his Genuine Qi became thinner and thinner, the second inscription of Power Series had not changed at all and showed no sign of any recovery.
Zhang Ruochen had to give up.
“With my current Genuine Qi level in my body, I can’t activate the second inscription. It seems that my cultivation is still not powerful enough!”
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his Genuine Qi from the sword body. Then the Flash Shining Sword immediately became 53 pounds again. Having adapted to the weight of 153 pounds, Zhang Ruochen found it really light to hold.
Whereafter, Zhang Ruochen injected Genuine Qi into the Flash Shining Sword again and succeeded in stimulating one Inscription of Ice Series.
As the Flash Shining Sword emitted a rush of icing air, his fingers became numb.
“Thump!”
When Zhang Ruochen swung his sword, some crystal snowflakes came out of the edge of the Flash Shining Sword. That was because small drops of water in the air were clotted into granular snow by Sword Breath.
“Inscription of Electricity Series!”
“Inscription of Light Series!”
Zhang Ruochen continued his attempt to stimulate another Inscription of Electricity Series and Inscription of Light Series.
After the Inscription of Electricity Series was activated, a wisp of an electric wire arose on the surface. He thrust out the sword. It looked like a flash of lightning cleaving the sky with a “Thwack!” sound.
The Flash Shining Sword was enveloped in a white haze and became extremely sharp when Zhang Ruochen succeeded in stimulating the Inscription of Light Series. With white light flashing, the stone cracked instantly.
His present Genuine Qi could only sustain one inscription. If he employed the power of the Inscription of Power Series, the power of other three inscriptions would be unusable.
“I need to practice harder to improve my cultivation if I want to activate two inscriptions simultaneously.”
“30,000 silver coins is worthwhile!”
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his Flash Shining Sword back into its sheath.
“Only when a total of 14 inscriptions are all stimulated will the power of the fourth-level Genuine Martial Arm be brought out completely. I need to intensify my practice!”
Zhang Ruochen swallowed an Energy Pill at once and started to practice after entering into the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel.
“Bang!”
The Energy Pill exploded inside his body, turning into a cloud of Pill Spirit.
Six Meridians carried Pill Spirit promptly and soon it was transformed into Genuine Qi within his Qi Pool.
It took half a day for Zhang Ruochen to absorb and refine all of the Pill Spirit.
Only half of the Pill Spirit was assimilated and converted to Genuine Qi.
The other half of the Pill Spirit was wasted as it escaped through his pores.
If this had happened to other warriors, they would have been distressed greatly. After all, half of a Pill Spirit cloud was equivalent to 500 silver coins.
Conversely, Zhang Ruochen did not think it was a waste of money because he felt that his Genuine Qi had greatly increased. If he had practiced progressively, it would have taken over 10 days to reach his present status.
However, it took only half a day for Zhang Ruochen to achieve the desired effect with the help of an Energy Pill.
“1,000 silver coins don’t matter.”
“Money can be earned if I need more silver coins.”
“But lost time is never found again.”
Over the following days, Zhang Ruochen spent most of his time practicing inside the Time and Space Spinel.
He took Energy Pills to expand his Genuine Qi and utilized Refining Powder to refine his body.
Beyond that, he also spent most of his hours practicing the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm and the Sacred Sword Skill.
After the first month of practice in the Time and Space Spinel, his Genuine Qi in his Qi Pool had quintupled.
The second month passed and Zhang Ruochen could give a quick burst of the Strength of Two Bulls.
After the third month, his Genuine Qi in his Qi Pool was tenfold as much as what he had in the Advanced Stage of the Yellow Realm. He completed the practice of his Genuine Qi and attained the limit of advanced stage of the Yellow Realm.
At this time, Zhang Ruochen could have opened up new Meridians and strive for the next realm, the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm.
Instead, Zhang Ruochen chose to restrain his cultivation and kept using Refining Powder to refine his body.
“Considering my present physical quality, I need to open up another four Meridians if I want to reach the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm. Specifically, there will be 10 Meridians inside when I arrive at the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm.”
Those warriors who practiced the exercises of the Inferior-Class of the Human Stage could only open up seven Meridians in their body. It was the same with warriors in the Yellow Realm Completion.
Anyone who had the capacity to open up 10 Meridians at only the level of the Dawn State was absolutely a genius.
Zhang Ruochen was still ungratified.
In his last lifetime, he had opened up as many as 13 meridians when he was at the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm.
“Although my present physical quality could not compare with that of my last lifetime, I still believe that I can succeed in opening up 11 channels at the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm if I exert myself to refine my body.”
The Time and Space Spinel, which could make his practicing time three times longer than others’, was his biggest advantage at present. Given this, he should naturally make full use of his time to improve himself and become more outstanding than his last lifetime.
The fourth month passed by. Tremendous changes took place in his physical quality and he could now give a quick burst of the Strength of Three Bulls by displaying the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Fist.
Six months later, his strength increased sharply to Strength of Four Bulls.
Reaching his carnal limit, Zhang Ruochen discovered that bottlenecks constrained his physical quality and it was extremely tough to improve.
He would be unable to enhance his power to Strength of Five Bulls, even if he practiced for another year.
Practicing within the Time and Space Spiritual Crystal for half a year was equivalent to two months outside.
“Those who could give a burst of one Brute Bull at advanced stage of the Yellow Realm are considered as strong as Medium- and Superior-Class warriors. Only warriors at the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm could practice Strength of Four Bulls.”
“I could give a burst of Strength of Four Bulls only with the cultivation of advanced stage of the Yellow Realm, which enables me to contend against normal warriors at the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm. If I enter into the next realm, the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm, how powerful will I become?”
“Having reached my physical limit, I could start practicing for the Dawn State of the Yellow Realm. How many Meridians could I open up? I have no idea.”
In case of any special conditions, Zhang Ruochen took out a total of six small jade bottles filled with Marrow-washing Liquid, putting them in front of himself neatly.
“I’ll try my best! The more Meridians that I open up, the more powerful I’ll become in physical quality and fighting capacity. Come on!”
Zhang Ruochen grabbed the first jade bottle, drank the Marrow-washing Liquid, and started to open up the seventh Meridian immediately.