After Duanmu Xingling left, Zhang Ruochen gathered his thoughts and stopped thinking about her identity, took out the Time and Space Crystal Stone, entered the inner space, and continued to cultivate the Thirteen Soul Pursuing Swords.
The first three swords, Seven Killings of the Undead Soul, Soul Breaking Hearing Wind, and Soul Suppressing Standing Shadow, had already been cultivated to the Realm of Transformation.
The next step was to cultivate the remaining ten sword strokes.
Zhang Ruochen held the Violet Thunder Sword, and the Heart of Sword Intent in his Qi Sea spun around, transforming into a tiny silhouette.
As that one silhouette performed the sword technique, Zhang Ruochen also entered the realm of Sword Mind, and the sword in his hand, swung along.
After spending four days, Zhang Ruochen finally cultivated the entire set of sword techniques, completely to the Realm of Transformation.
The power of the sword technique seemed to be on a higher level.
“Right now, just over a day has passed outside, the second round of the examination shouldn’t be completely over yet.”
“Having broken through to the late stage of the Heavenly Extremity Realm, I wonder what kind of strength I actually have now?”
Having reached the late stage of the Heavenly Extremity Realm, Zhang Ruochen had never had the chance to explore the strength of his strength until now, when he could finally test it.
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and immersed his Martial Soul into the Sea of Qi, only to see that at the centre of the Sea of Qi, there was a pigeon egg sized orb of liquid true essence suspended.
Vaguely, it could be seen that the silhouettes of a divine Spirit in a divine form were suspended on the surface of the True Yuan Orb, flying according to a certain pattern.
Revolving the Nine Heavenly Bright Emperor Scripture, the true essence orb immediately spun rapidly, releasing strands of true qi that split into thirty-six channels and surged into the thirty-six meridians of the entire body.
“Wow!”
At the same time, a layer of greenish-coloured light surfaced on the surface of Zhang Ruochen’s body, rushing out of his body and transforming into a layer of Body Protecting Heavenly Deity with a diameter of three feet
An ordinary Heavenly Extremity Realm Grand Circle martial artiste, even with their full strength, would not be able to break through that layer of Body Protecting Heavenly Dipper, and would not be able to injure Zhang Ruochen for a single point.
Zhang Ruochen mobilised his True Qi and transported it to his Blood Spirit Vein, urging the golden dragon pearl in his heart.
“Divine Dragon Transformation.”
A deep and mellow dragon roar was emitted from the dragon pearl.
A golden dragon qi was released, surging out from the heart and flowing to Zhang Ruochen’s limbs and head.
Zhang Ruochen’s body shook, only to feel that his body swelled violently, and his head and limbs were pulled by an invisible force, as if it was a five-horse split.
“Pfft!”
Sensing the danger, Zhang Ruochen immediately dispersed his True Qi, and the pulling force finally disappeared. A sharp pain surged from his abdomen, all the way to his throat, and a mouthful of blood was spat out from his mouth.
Failure!
“Trying to perform the Divine Dragon Transformation is really not an easy task.”
At the Pilgrimage Heavenly Staircase, Zhang Ruochen had executed the Divine Dragon Transformation, transforming into a golden dragon and easily defeating the heirs of the Four Great Sage Sects with a devastating force.
From this, it was evident that the Divine Dragon Transformation was a powerful force.
Only that the Divine Dragon Transformation was a Ghost Grade Upper Grade Martial Skill, which Zhang Ruochen had never cultivated before, and could only roughly guess that it might be related to the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm.
If Zhang Ruochen was able to execute the Divine Dragon Transformation as he wished, his strength, I wonder how far it would climb?
Try again.
This time, Zhang Ruochen became a little more cautious, lest he failed to execute the Divine Dragon Transformation and shocked himself instead.
The second time he executed the Divine Dragon Transformation, he still failed.
With the experience from the previous time, Zhang Ruochen was not injured.
Then came the third time.
This time, Zhang Ruochen struck the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm while injecting his True Qi into the Dragon Pearl, using the power of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm to invoke the power of the Dragon Pearl.
Unfortunately, it still failed.
After failing seventy-eight times in a row, there was finally some progress.
Zhang Ruochen discovered that as long as he struck the first five slaps of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm consecutively as fast as he could, he would be able to stimulate some of the power of the Dragon Pearl, and on the surface of his body, he would be able to form a layer of golden dragon scales.
“Barbarian Elephant Chasing the Earth.”
“Flying dragon in the sky.”
“Dragon Elephant Returning to the Field.”
“Dragon Elephant Image Shadow.”
“Nine stacks of elephant power.”
Right after the fifth palm struck out, Zhang Ruochen only felt a powerful force erupt within his body, rushing out from the inside out.
On the surface of his skin, light emerged and a golden dragon scale the size of a fingernail cap grew, covering his entire body, even his scalp and fingernails transformed into scales.
It wasn’t the power to inspire the Divine Dragon Transformation, yet, it caused Zhang Ruochen’s strength and defence to increase greatly, reaching a form that was half dragon and half human.
“To inspire the Divine Dragon Transformation is too difficult, I reckon that even if I try a thousand times, I might not be able to succeed once.”
“Perhaps, only when I’m in danger, stimulated by the immense pressure, coupled with the power of the Dragon Elephant Palm, will I be able to perform the Divine Dragon Transformation.”
Of course, being able to stimulate a layer of Dragon Scale Armour had also already increased Zhang Ruochen’s strength by a lot.
According to Zhang Ruochen’s speculation, if he succeeded in cultivating the sixth palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, “Divine Dragon’s Tribulation”, then he would be able to stimulate an even more powerful dragon power.
Even the probability of performing the Divine Dragon Transformation would increase by a lot.
Zhang Ruochen had just broken through to the late stage of the Heavenly Extremity Realm, and if he wanted to break through to the Small Extremity Position of the Heavenly Extremity Realm, he would never be able to do so overnight.
If he wanted to raise his power before the third round of examination, he could only cultivate the sixth palm of the Dragon Elephant Palm.
By successfully cultivating the sixth palm, the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm would be upgraded to a Spirit Grade Upper Grade martial art. With the subtlety of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, even if one only cultivated it into the sixth palm, one would still be able to exert a power comparable to that of a Ghost Grade Lower Grade Martial Skill.
“Divine Dragon’s Tribulation.”
Zhang Ruochen stood in the centre of the space within the Space-Time Crystal Stone, his legs slightly bent in a dragon stance, his hands resembling palms and claws, his entire body’s bones were almost completely connected, emitting the sound of “cackling” as the bones clashed together.
As the palms struck out, the position of the palms, flew out a lightning stream of light.
“Ow!”
A ten-metre long divine dragon silhouette flew out from the heart of his palms, spinning around him in a circle, and then, disappeared.
The Divine Dragon’s Tribulation, which focused the most on the power of the palm, could convert the true qi into the power of thunder and lightning, as if the divine dragon was crossing the tribulation in the midst of the thunder and lightning.
Because, Zhang Ruochen had taken the Dragon Pearl, it would be easier to cultivate the Dragon Image Prajna Palm, and it would be more able to fully explode the momentum of the palm force.
“Also a Spirit Grade Upper Grade martial art, the sixth palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm is more subtle than the Soul Pursuing Thirteen Swords, more powerful, and most rigid and masculine. At the same time, it is also more difficult to cultivate.”
It took a day and a night for Zhang Ruochen to cultivate the Divine Dragon’s Robbery to the introductory level.
After spending another three days, Zhang Ruochen cultivated the Divine Dragon’s Tribulation to a minor accomplishment.
Next, Zhang Ruochen had to strike tens of thousands of palm seals almost every day until he exhausted the true essence in his body before stopping to rest.
When he recovered his true essence, he immediately continued to cultivate.
Without sleep or rest, after cultivating for half a month in a row, Zhang Ruochen finally cultivated the Divine Dragon’s Tribulation, to a grand completion.
If Zhang Ruochen hadn’t broken through the Heavenly Extremity Realm, if he wanted to successfully cultivate the sixth palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, it would have taken at least a year or two.
Now, it only used less than a month to successfully cultivate it.
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen had also completely refined the mass of Half-Saint Light in his Qi Sea.
Although, it was only one percent of the Half-Saint’s Light, it allowed Zhang Ruochen’s martial soul to reach a strength comparable to that of a cultivator of the Fourth Transformation of the Fish Dragon.
If he were to exert the power of his martial soul, mobilise the aura of the heavens and earth and convert it into a power attack, with Zhang Ruochen’s current strength, he would be strong enough to compete with a cultivator of the Fish Dragon Second Transformation.
Of course, it was impossible for him to defeat a Fish Dragon Second Transformation cultivator, and he could only end up resisting one or two.
Moreover, if the other party was a genius in the Sacred Courtyard, not to mention the Fish Dragon Second Transformation, even if he encountered the Fish Dragon First Transformation, it would be best for him to immediately flee for his life.
For example, Xu Hai, although he was only at the cultivation level of the First Transformation of the Fish Dragon Realm, he was an heir to the Sage Clan, and was able to defeat opponents across several realms on his own.
If Zhang Chen met with him, it would be best to run for his life, and he might not even be able to escape.
The inner space of the Space-Time Crystal Stone was very small, and Zhang Ruochen didn’t dare to test the power of the Divine Dragon’s Tribulation inside, so he could only leave the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal Stone first.
“Boom boom.”
Arriving at the martial arts training ground of the Martial Market Stage Hall, Zhang Ruochen struck the six slaps of the Dragon Elephant Palm in a row as fast as he could, instantly stimulating the power of the Dragon Pearl.
“Wow!”
Zhang Ruochen’s entire body was wrapped in golden light, and his skin gradually became hard and turned into scales.
The bones of his entire body, which underwent subtle changes as if they were cast in gold and stone, grew a dragon pattern.
The ten fingers grew two times, becoming sharp and transforming into two dragon claws.
On his back, a tearing pain came from it, and with a giggle, a pair of golden dragon wings twelve metres long grew, also covered with dragon scales, hard as iron.
Zhang Ruochen looked at the changes in his body, his heart was in great awe.
It wasn’t the Divine Dragon Transformation, it was still only a half-human, half-dragon state, yet, it was even more powerful than the previous one.
“With my current strength, even if I don’t use the power of my spiritual force and martial soul, I reckon that I can still fight a few moves against a 《Tian Ranking》 martial artist.”
《List of Heaven》 martial artists were all very powerful and were the elite of the elite.
Especially those experts at the top of the rankings, even if Zhang Ruochen used the power of his Spiritual Force and Martial Soul and played all of his undercards, he would not be a match for them.
This period of time that Zhang Ruochen spent cultivating in the Space-Time Crystal Stone, only eight days had passed in the outside world, and the second round of the Holy Academy’s examination had finally ended completely.
The rankings of each department’s examination were posted, written as a list and hung outside the Sacred Academy.
Without a doubt, Zhang Ruochen became the first place winner of the Sword Dao Department and received the seventh grade elixir, the Sword Heart Pill.
Many people were very surprised to see that Zhang Ruochen was actually the first place in the Sword Dao Department. This was because, during the second round of the examination, Zhang Ruochen had only rehearsed three sword moves.
How could he be the first place winner with three sword moves?
It was fortunate that Zhang Ruochen was not an heir of the Sage Sect, or else when they saw this result, there would definitely be people who would think that it was shady.
Only a few people knew that the three moves of sword techniques that Zhang Ruochen had rehearsed had reached the realm of realisation, and it was absolutely deserved to be the first in the Sword Dao Department.
The Spirit Pivot Half-Saint personally delivered the Sword Heart Pill, to the Martial City Stage House, and personally handed it over to Zhang Ruochen.
“Zhang Ruochen, tomorrow will be the third round of examination, the location of the examination will be in an inferior market realm that has just been discovered.”
“The market realm is full of unknown dangers, there are both indigenous cultivators with great power, as well as some jedi and dangerous places left over from the ancient times, if one is unlucky, even if a Fish Dragon Realm martial artiste goes in there, they might die inside.”
The Spirit Pivot Half-Saint’s expression was serious as he added, “You’d better make more preparations ahead of time, when you enter the Market Realm, you can only rely on yourself, no one can help you. I think highly of you, don’t let me down.”
