The fourth palm of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm had been successfully cultivated, and the entire palm technique had reached the level of a Spirit Grade Lower Grade Martial Skill. The power of the palm technique was even comparable to a Spirit Grade Middle Grade martial skill.
The palm technique could be left untrained for now, and now, one could focus on cultivating the sword technique.
The Heavenly Heart Sword Technique, a Spirit Grade Lower Grade Sword Technique, had a total of twelve moves, and Zhang Ruochen had only managed to cultivate three of them now. Only by fully cultivating the entire set of sword techniques could the full power of the sword techniques be exploded.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged on the ground as twelve scrolls appeared in his mind. On top of each scroll was a sword-wielding silhouette, and it was as if the silhouette had come to life, on the scrolls, constantly wielding sword strokes.
While cultivating the sword technique, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t help but grab the Flashing Soul Sword on the ground and began to swing the sword move, a sword light following his arm as it travelled, emitting a sharp sword aura.
After spending ten days, Zhang Ruochen successfully cultivated the fourth move of the Heavenly Heart Sword Technique, “Heavenly Heart Full Moon”.
After spending fifteen days, Zhang Ruochen successfully cultivated the fifth move of the Heavenly Heart Sword Technique, “Heavenly Heart Tidal Wave”.
After spending another fifteen days, Zhang Ruochen successfully cultivated the sixth move of the Heavenly Heart Sword Technique, “Heavenly Heart Wind and Rain”.
This time, Zhang Ruochen stayed in the inner space of the Space-Time Crystal Stone for forty-three days, while almost half a month passed in the outside world.
During these forty-three days, Zhang Ruochen did not only cultivate the Heavenly Heart Sword Technique, but also took the San Qing True Qi Pill every day, and his cultivation level was greatly improved again.
The True Qi storage in the Qi Lake had reached fifty percent of the Qi Lake’s capacity.
With his current cultivation, even if he didn’t use the Space-Time Domain and the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm, he could still defeat a martial artist of the Xuanji Realm’s Great Extreme Position.
“Tomorrow is the time for the duel with Feng Zhilin in the Life and Death Stage, it’s time to go out for a walk.”
Zhang Ruochen stood up, and the space within a few metres radius emitted a “swish-swish” sound of sword qi, as if there was an invisible sword flying through the air.
“This is ……”
Zhang Ruochen’s heart was overjoyed as his Sword Intent Realm went to the next level, reaching the peak realm of Sword Follows Heart.
The Sword Follows the Heart was divided into four realms: the Beginning, Middle, High, and Peak.
There were very few among Xuanji realm martial artists who could cultivate to the middle stage of Sword Follows Heart, and once one cultivated to the middle stage, they were considered strong among Xuanji realm martial artists. Huang Yichen and Duanmu Xingling were both at the middle stage.
Zhang Ruochen possessed the memories of his previous life’s martial arts, as well as a powerful martial soul, and surprisingly, he had cultivated to the peak of the Sword Follows the Heart Realm at the late Xuanji Realm, and was only one step away from crossing over into the Sword Mind Realm.
Reaching the peak realm of Sword Follows Heart, even if one picked a branch or a blade of grass by the side of the road, one could use it as a sword.
Using a branch or blade of grass, one could kill someone.
Zhang Ruochen’s aura changed significantly, like a young sword god.
Arriving at the compound of the Yellow Character No. 1, suddenly, a strange sound was heard coming from behind him, Zhang Ruochen’s brows frowned and he said in a deep voice, “What kind of person?”
Zhang Ruochen stamped his foot on the ground and shook a leaf up, falling between his fingers, integrating his True Qi and Sword Intent into the leaf, and with a shake of his fingers, the leaf flew out like a sharp blade.
“Boom!”
The wall in the distance, was pierced by the tree leaf, leaving a crack.
A black cat, kicked out from behind the wall, and said in a shocked voice, “Leaf Picking Flying Flower! Junior Lang, amazing, at a young age, he actually reached the peak of the Sui Xin realm, in a short while, won’t he be reaching the Sword Mind Realm?”
Zhang Ruochen looked at Xiao Hei and withdrew the true qi in his body, saying, “You went to steal books again?”
Little Black walked on both feet and stood up as a human, holding a thick book in both paws, saying, “I was sealed in the Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram for 100,000 years, completely disconnected from the outside world, so naturally, I need to read more to understand the changes in the Kunlun Realm over these 100,000 years.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded, feeling that Xiao Hei had a point, and he also felt that he should take the time to read more books to understand the big events that had happened in the last eight hundred years.
There was never any harm in knowing more.
“Come out with me to see if Fourth Brother’s injuries have healed.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Little Black’s feet stomped, and with a leap, he jumped onto Zhang Ruochen’s shoulder.
As it lay on Zhang Ruochen’s shoulder, it only focused on reading the book, paying no attention to where exactly Zhang Ruochen was going.
Zhang Ruochen and Zhang Shaochu had only met once and could not talk about kinship, however, he was still very fond of this fourth brother, and when the retreat was over, he planned to visit him.
Liu Chengfeng and three freshmen from Yunwu County Kingdom were heading in the direction of the Dragon Martial Hall, and when they saw Zhang Ruochen halfway, they were overjoyed and immediately greeted him.
Liu Xifeng said, “Your Highness the Ninth Prince, you’ve finally come out of the gate! Big deal!”
Zhang Ruochen said, “What happened?”
Before Liu Zhanfeng could say anything, a new student next to him gritted his teeth and said, “Ninth Prince, during the month that you were in seclusion, the Four Direction County Kingdom has been suppressing our Yunwu County Kingdom’s cadets, several cadets have been seriously injured, and others have been bullied by them to a greater or lesser extent, so it’s really a miserable situation.”
“Furthermore, I’ve also heard that two Yunwu County Kingdom’s cadets went out to do a mission and disappeared for no reason, and it’s likely that it was the cadets from the Four Directions County Kingdom who had a black hand behind their backs and killed them outside.”
Another freshman said, “Those cadets from the Four Direction County Country didn’t dare to break into the Dragon Martial Hall, so they went after us, even I was beaten up three times. Now when I see them, I can only hide.”
Zhang Ruochen did not expect the situation to develop like this and said, “Don’t the elders of the Academy Palace care?”
Liu Xifeng said, “In order to sharpen the trainees and increase their competitiveness, the elders of the academy palace usually don’t intervene in the fights between the trainees. Moreover, they have Elder Situ to back them up, so they are even more rampant in the Western Academy.”
Liu Xifeng said in a low voice, “Elder Situ’s position in the Western Academy is second only to the Academy Master and the two Vice Academy Masters. Right now, almost all of the Western Courtyard’s small and large affairs are managed by Elder Situ.”
Zhang Ruochen sort of understood that as long as the trainees of the Four Direction County Kingdom did not kill other trainees in the open, they were not considered to have violated the rules of the Academy and would not be chastised.
As for the two missing cadets, who could prove that they were dead? Who could prove that it was the cadets from the Four Directions County Kingdom who had laid a hidden hand on them?
Zhang Ruochen said, “They are taking revenge.”
Zhang Ruochen and Zixie had killed nearly a hundred young martial artists from the Four Directions County Kingdom during the first round of the Academy Palace Examination, and the Four Directions County Kingdom was now launching a retaliation against the cadets of the Yunwu County Kingdom, and even, wanted to oust all of the cadets of the Yunwu County Kingdom from the Western Academy.
A new student said with a somewhat sad face, ”I’ve had enough for this month! Your Highness the Ninth Prince, you must not lose tomorrow, if you lose to Feng Zhilin, then our Yunwu County Kingdom’s cadets will be completely defeated, and will definitely be suppressed even more by the cadets of the Four Directions County Kingdom.”
Another new student nodded and sighed, “If even His Royal Highness the Ninth Prince loses, I won’t dare to continue staying in the Western Academy, and I can only go back to the Yunwu County Kingdom.”
The other two freshmen also nodded.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Don’t worry, everyone, since the cadets from the Four Direction County Kingdom want to start a fight, I’ll accompany them in their fight. By the way! Liu Xifeng, what exactly is the reason you guys came to find me?”
Liu Xifeng slapped his forehead and said, “I almost forgot about the main matter! I received news that Nie Xuan, Wang Lang, and Xie Zhaowu from the Four Direction County Kingdom are leading a group of cadets to go find trouble with the Fourth Prince Zhang Shaochu.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes sank as he said, “It’s Nie Xuan again, hasn’t the lesson from last time been enough?”
Liu Xifeng said, “The main reason why they chose to go after the Fourth Prince tonight is to affect your state of mind. As long as your mind is in turmoil, you’re bound to lose tomorrow’s battle on the life and death stage.”
In the battle on the life and death stage, once you lose, there is only a path to death.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Immediately take me to Fourth Brother’s residence, I want to see who dares to make a move today.”
Liu Xifeng had confidence in Zhang Ruochen and led Zhang Ruochen and the other three freshmen to quickly rush in the direction of Zhang Shaochu’s dormitory.
Zhang Ruochen was the number one freshman, so he could reside in the Dragon Martial Hall and enjoy the best treatment.
The top ten freshmen and the top one hundred ranked students in the Western Academy could also have separate dormitories, although not as luxurious as the Dragon Martial Hall, they were at least very comfortable and suitable for cultivation.
As for the other trainees, they could only live in ordinary dormitories, four people living in one house.
Zhang Shaochu was just an ordinary cadet and lived in such a dormitory. His three roommates were beaten up by Nie Xuan and thrown away, spitting blood non-stop on the ground.
Nie Xuan grabbed Zhang Shaochu’s lapel with one hand and lifted Zhang Shaochu off the ground with a grim smile on his face, ”Zhang Shaochu, your two arms have healed? But my arms, however, are wasted forever. What do you say?”
Nie Xuan’s palms were cut off by Zhang Ruochen, so he installed a True Martial Treasure Artifact grade short sword at the location of his wrists, setting the body of the sword inside his wrists and connecting it to the meridians in his arms.
“It’s not Zhang Shao Pig, it’s Zhang Shaochu.” Zhang Shaochu clenched his teeth and whispered.
He was still a little afraid of Nie Xuan and spoke with very little courage.
Nie Xuan’s arm lifted and a sharp sword was placed on top of Zhang Shaochu’s right ear, only needing a gentle downward stroke to chop off his right ear.
Nie Xuan laughed fiercely, ”Hehehe! As long as you say that Zhang Ruochen is a coward and a turtle with a shrunken head, I’ll let you off this time. How’s that?”
Wang Lang, Xie Zhaowu, and all those other martial artists from the Four Direction County States standing on the side all revealed teasing smiles.
Zhang Shaochu was very angry, and although he was scared, he still plucked up his courage and said, “You’re dreaming, do you believe that Ninth Brother will chop off your other hand as well?”
Nie Xuan’s face sank as he said, “Don’t know what’s good for you!”
Nie Xuan’s arm swung violently downwards, about to chop off Zhang Shaochu’s right dao. Even Zhang Shaochu was so frightened that his entire body was sweating, closing his eyes and letting out a miserable scream from his mouth.
However, no matter how hard Nie Xuan tried, the sword embedded in his arm just couldn’t fall down.
The blade of the sword was caught in a deadly grip by two fingers and stopped in midair.
The owner of those two fingers was naturally Zhang Ruochen.
“Snap!”
Zhang Ruochen’s fingers turned jade-white as two strands of true qi surged to his fingertips, creating a twisting force that shattered that sword.
A powerful force travelled from the body of the sword to Nie Xuan’s arm, shocking him to the point that he fell backwards, almost hitting the wall.
Nie Xuan lifted his arm up and looked at the broken sword, a shocked expression appearing on his face as he said, “Surprisingly, I used two fingers to pinch off a Third Stage True Martial Treasure Artifact grade sword!”
“Clang!”
Zhang Ruochen threw the half-broken tip of the sword onto the ground and coldly stared at Nie Xuan, saying, “Nie Xuan, bullying my fourth brother is not much of a skill, how about I come to practise a couple of moves with you?”
……
