Zhang Ruochen had isolated himself and practiced in Mount King for the past 10 days, in order to work on his palm technique. He had killed another two second-level savage beast and 17 superior-class level-one savage beasts.
The second-level and first-level superior class savage beasts in King Mount had probably all been killed by Zhang Ruochen.
It seemed that the low-level savage beasts in King Mount knew a killing star had arrived. Once they saw Zhang Ruochen, they all ran away instantly as if they saw a monster demon.
“Clank!”
There was a seven or eight meters wide river rushing down from the top of the peak and delivered a sound of water rumbling. By throwing a stone into the river, it hit the forceful water current and started rolling in the water.
Zhang Ruochen arrived at the riverside. He looked at the rushing of water as if his heart was surging as well.
After all the cultivation recently, Zhang Ruochen could feel clearly that he had reached the edge of breaking through the palm technique.
“Phhhf!”
He dashed from the ground and jumped into the river. He made use of his powerful body so as to resist the force of the river.
“Boom!”
His Genuine Qi had been activated. He unleashed a powerful palm out.
The water in the river had stopped slightly because of his palm.
Shortly after, the current turned fiercely toward Zhang Ruochen and threw him out. The forceful water flow had knocked out his bearings and threw him on the edge of the riverside.
After spitting out a mouth of water, Zhang Ruochen jumped back to the river. He went against the current with different palm techniques in order to a make a way for himself.
This time, he unleashed three palms consecutively. Again, he was thrown out by the water waves.
Zhang Ruochen kept going upstream every time he was knocked down.
Zhang Ruochen hadn’t given up after being knocked down over and over again. The longer he practiced, the longer he could stay in the river.
It had been a whole day since Zhang Ruochen had confronted the water. He was exhausted and his entire body was covered in wounds.
After nightfall, he uncovered a piece of Spiritual Brawn from a cyan-eyed snake, a second-level savage beast. He ate the Spiritual Brawn, sat down and started meditating so as to absorb the Spiritual Qi which helped to recover his physical strength and energy.
The next morning, the wounds on Zhang Ruochen’s body were all healed. His body was full of Genuine Qi and vitality. He then jumped back into the river and continued practicing.
On the fifth day, there was a long cry from the river. “Dragon and Elephant Returning to Earth”.
Zhang Ruochen unleashed both of his palms at the same time. A rushing palm force struck out hard and gave out a sound as if dragons and elephants were roaring together. Surprisingly, the water he smacked began to flow backward.
“Dragon and Elephant Returning to Earth”, the third palm technique of the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm, cultivated successfully.
Zhang Ruochen had exploded out with the strength of 100 bulls and reached the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm.
At this moment, the Spiritual Qi in the entire Mount King had activated and gathered toward Zhang Ruochen. It turned into a white light beam and streaked toward the hundred miles tall void space.
There were ancient illusory images displayed around the light beam. Some of them were in human and dragon figures, some were like wind and Kylin.
Each of the illusory images was sacred. They demonstrated a sense of power as if they were the manifestation of gods.
“We are the manifestation of Gods. Kneel.”
General Ge Qian and a troop of royal guards all kneeled down and worshipped the illusory images of the gods devotedly from far away.
Such a manifest of gods normally happened only when it came to a large-scale sacrifice.
The illusory images of gods had appeared in Mount King and floated above the Ninth Prince’s head. It was definitely a miracle for the entire Yunwu Commandery.
“It’s true that it’ll arouse the chords of the gods when I reach the Ultimate Realm.” Zhang Ruochen looked at the illusory image of gods in the sky with excitement.
Finally, he made his first step on the path of being a powerful warrior.
“Boom!”
The illusory images of gods had turned into light beams. They floated to Zhang Ruochen’s glabella and chiseled into his Qi Pool.
“Boom!”
The light beams exploded and displayed a white spiritual odor after plunging into Zhang Ruochen’s Qi Pool.
The Qi Pool had nearly burst because of the too much light beam. The blood in his body kept rolling and rolling.
“In this case, let’s break through to the Black Realm!”
Zhang Ruochen surely would not let such a good opportunity go. He sat in the water, and quickly activated the 36 meridians in his body. He then absorbed the strength of gods and started breaking through the Black Realm.
Zhang Ruochen had already reached the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm. On top of the help of the gods’ spiritual power, it was no doubt that he would be able to break through to the Black Realm with no setbacks.
After an hour, Zhang Ruochen’s Qi Pool shook heavily and cracked into breaches.
“Boom!”
His Qi Pool smashed and had broken into pieces.
Soon after, the broken pieces restructured at high speed and resolved to a much bigger Qi Pool.
No… not Qi Pool.
It should be called Qi Lake.
Zhang Ruochen had successfully broken through the Black Realm. Therefore, the Qi Pool in his glabella turned into a Qi Lake. It had enlarged 100 times more than when he was at the Completion of the Yellow Realm.
The marks of gods were stamped on the wall of his Qi Lake and displayed a gleam of spiritual splendor.
Yet, the marks of gods looked so faint and vague that one would probably miss it without taking a closer look.
Be mindful, Zhang Ruochen had just reached the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm and had drawn the Chord of Gods for the very first time. Therefore, having a vague mark of gods was seen as normal.
It was said that if Zhang Ruochen could reach the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm, he would be able to resonate the second time of the Chord of Gods. Hence, it would definitely deepen the marks of gods in his Qi Lake.
The number of warriors who had cultivated to the Ultimate Realm was scattered after the ancient times. Only a small number of Saints and the great emperor with astonished talent had finished cultivating the Ultimate Realm and resonated the Chord of Gods when they were young.
Yet, the Saint and the great emperor didn’t expose many details about what had happened in their young age. It was impossible to record it in history books and thus no one knew any other details.
It was no doubt magnificent for Zhang Ruochen to resonate the Chord of Gods after all these years. However, it was beyond the bounds of possibility to make it happen again. Not even the great emperor and Saint.
The Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm was far more difficult to cultivate compared to the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm.
Even though Zhang Ruochen had already reached the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm, he wasn’t confident enough to break through the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm.
“Wreathed in the light of gods, shielded by the gods… Is this the Holy Light Spirit Lake in the ancient myth?”
In Zhang Ruochen’s last lifetime, Emperor Ming had once mentioned the Holy Light Spirit Lake.
It was said that when Emperor Ming was young, he had resonated the Chord of Gods and received the safeguard of gods. His Qi Lake then turned into the Holy Light Spirit Lake.
Once the Holy Light Spirit Lake had been cultivated, the Qi Lake would become tenacious. Even warriors of the Earth Realm would not be able to pierce up Zhang Ruochen’s Qi Lake.
Moreover, When Zhang Ruochen obtained the higher cultivation, the advantage of having the Holy Light Spirit Lake would be more obvious.
Zhang Ruochen had spent the entire day and night to digest the power of the Chord of Gods.
The Genuine Qi in the Qi Lake seemed to be filled up.
In other words, Zhang Ruochen had reached the Peak of the Initial Stage of the Black Realm. Soon after he would be able to break through the Mid-Stage of the Black Realm.
“This is certainly a Holy Light Spirit Lake. Compared to the warriors at the Initial Stage of the Black Realm, the capacity of my Qi Lake is 10 times more and the purity of my Genuine Qi is far better. I guess it’s more or less the same as warriors at the Completion of the Black Realm.”
The capacity of the Qi Pool of an ordinary warrior would enlarge 10 times by breaking through from the Completion of the Yellow Realm to the Initial Stage of the Black Realm.
Since Zhang Ruochen had cultivated the Ultimate Realm which was one realm higher than ordinary warriors, the capacity of his Qi Pool had enlarged twice.
Therefore, compared to the warriors at the Initial Stage of the Black Realm, the capacity of his Qi Lake was 10 times more.
While Zhang Ruochen was breaking through the realm in the water, General Ge Qian rushed back to the Royal Palace and wanted to report to the Commandery Prince Yunwu the good news.
“I have something important to report to His Majesty. Eunuch Cao, please help to inform the Commandery Prince.” Ge Qian looked urgent and said.
Eunuch Cao was allied with the Queen. Knowing Ge Qian was responsible for protecting the Ninth Prince, he would no doubt ignore Ge Qian. “His Majesty is resting at the moment. I’m afraid he will not be able to see you, my general. Please head back to your station and protect the Ninth Prince.”
Ge Qian stared at Eunuch Cao angrily and said, “Cao Shiren, you’d better go inform His Majesty now! If anything happens because of your delay, you’ll surely be dead!”
Eunuch Cao was known as a warrior at the Dawn State of the Black Realm. Although he wasn’t strong enough to fight against Ge Qian, he wasn’t afraid of confronting Ge Qian.
At the same time, the voice of the Commandery Prince Yunwu broke out. He said, “Who’s making so much noise?”
Eunuch Cao stared at Ge Qian severely and whispered, “Let’s see how you settle for disturbing His Majesty!”
Ge Qian didn’t even look at Eunuch Cao but greeted towards the palace. He said, “Your majesty, your servant Ge Qian has something vital to report.”
The voice of the Commandery Prince Yunwu broke out to the palace and he said, “Ge Qian, aren’t you protecting the Ninth Prince? What’s more important than protecting my son? Or have you encountered another assassin who attempts to kill the Ninth Prince?”
“More important than all of these!” Ge Qian exclaimed and said.
It seemed that the Commandery Prince Yunwu had noticed something had happened. He called in Ge Qian right away.
Hearing what Ge Qian had said, Eunuch Cao changed his face. He followed Ge Qian and entered the palace.
Ge Qian glanced slightly at Eunuch Cao and said, “Your Majesty, what I’m about to report is exceptionally important. I can only tell you, Your Majesty, not anyone else.”
The Commandery Prince Yunwu sat on the top part of the palace holding a golden booklet. He frowned his eyebrows and took a quick glance at Ge Qian, “Dismiss everyone. I need some privacy with the General!”
Eunuch Cao was not willing to leave the palace. Yet, he dared not to disobey the order of the Commandery Prince Yunwu and left the palace instantly.
The Commandery Prince Yunwu asked, “Ge Qian, you can tell me now. What’s wrong?”
Ge Qian kneeled down single legged and reported to the Commandery Prince Yunwu what he saw in Mount King without missing any details.
“The Chord of Gods!”
Hearing this, the Commandery Prince Yunwu couldn’t stay calm anymore. His whole body shivered and stood up all of a sudden.
Ge Qian nodded and said, “Yes. I’m sure the Ninth Prince has reached the Ultimate Realm like what the myth describes and thus resonate the Chord of Gods.”
The Commandery Prince Yunwu’s countenance kept changing. Having noticed how vital the news was, he asked, “Does anyone else know about it?”
Ge Qian answered, “Other than myself, the 10 royal guards who were stationed there with me also notice it.”
The Commandery Prince Yunwu said, “The Chord of Gods is a tremendous thing. This news has to be completely secret. Ge Qian, what should we do about the 10 people who know about the Ninth Prince?”
In other words, what the Commandery Prince Yunwu meant was how to handle Ge Qian.
Ge Qian clearly understood how things worked and thought for a moment. There was a sense of determination in his eyes. He said, “Killed!”
The Commandery Prince Yunwu nodded and said, “Ge Qian, I know you’ve always been a loyal general. Yet, if the news about my son leaks out, all assassins will no doubt get him killed! Why don’t you and the other 10 royal guards watch over the ancestor temple at Mount Emperor and never come back? In this case, my son, you, and the 10 guards will all be safe.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Ge Qian answered.
Then, the Commandery Prince Yunwu and Ge Qian rushed to Mount King. They wanted to make sure if the Ninth Prince had truly resonated the Chord of Gods.