Chapter 101: Flying Leaves and Flowers
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The fourth palm of the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm had been successfully cultivated. The entire palm technique set had reached the low-class of Spiritual Stage martial techniques, which was as powerful as a mid-class Spiritual Stage martial technique.
The palm technique had progressed fairly well. Now it was time for Zhang Ruochen to focus on the sword technique.
The Sacred Sword Skill was a low-class Spiritual Stage sword technique with 12 moves in total. Zhang Ruochen had only cultivated three moves, but he needed to cultivate the entire sword technique in order to fully demonstrate the technique’s full power.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, thinking about the 12 graphs. There was a shadow of a human figure on each graph. Each of them looked lively, wielding swords with various striking movements.
When Zhang Ruochen was practicing the sword technique, he could not help grabbing the Flash Shining Sword. As he began waving it, rays of sword light flowed around his arm and displayed a sharp Sword Breath.
After 10 days of practice, Zhang Ruochen had cultivated “Sacred Plenilune Sword”, the fourth move of the Sacred Sword Skill.
After 15 days of practice, he had cultivated the “Sacred Wave Sword”, the fifth move of the Sacred Sword Skill.
After another 15 days of practice, he had cultivated the “Sacred Wind and Rain Sword”, the sixth move of the Sacred Sword Skill.
Zhang Ruochen had stayed in the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel for 43 days in seclusion, which was equal to around half a month in the external world.
During those 43 days, not only did Zhang Ruochen practice the Sacred Sword Skill, but also he took the Triple-purity Genuine Qi Pill every day to greatly elevate his cultivation.
The Genuine Qi had filled up half of his Qi Lake.
With his current cultivation, he would be able to defeat warriors in the Final State of the Black Realm even without using the Time and Space Domain and the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm.
“Tomorrow is the day to fight against Feng Zhilin on the life and death platform. It’s time to go out for a walk.”
“Swish, Swish!” As he stood up, Zhang Ruochen heard some sounds of Sword Breath in the space several meters around him, as if there were swords flying through the air.
“This is…”
Zhang Ruochen was so excited. He had reached the Peak of the Sword Following the Mind and greatly elevated the Sword Comprehension Realm.
The Sword Following the Mind could be divided into four Realms—the Initial Stage, the Intermediate Stage, the Advanced Stage, and the Peak.
Not many Black Realm warriors could cultivate to the Intermediate Stage of the Sword Following the Mind. Once they had reached the Intermediate Stage, they would be seen as strong warriors of the Black Realm. Both Huang Yanchen and Duanmu Xingling were warriors at the Intermediate Stage Realm.
Zhang Ruochen possessed the Martial Arts memories from his previous life as well as a powerful Martial Soul. It was marvelous that he had reached the Peak of the Sword Following the Mind at the Advanced Stage of the Black Realm. He was only one step away from entering the Realm of Heart Integrated into Sword.
Having reached the Peak of the Sword Following the Mind, even a blade of grass or a branch on the ground could be used as a sword.
Thus, one could easily kill people with tree branches and blades of grass…
There was a significant change in Zhang Ruochen’s temperament, as if he had transformed into a young sword master.
Suddenly, he heard a strange sound while arriving at Yellow No.1. He frowned and said in a cold voice, “Who is this?”
He thrust one leg against the ground, which shot a leaf into the air. When the leaf fell in between his fingers, he merged Genuine Qi and Sword Comprehension into it. His snapped his fingers and unleashed the leaf as if it was a sharp sword.
“Boom!”
The distant wall had been penetrated by the leaf, leaving a crack.
A black cat flew out from behind the wall and said with surprise, “Flying Leaves and Flowers! It’s really something, young man! You’ve reached the Peak of Following the Mind at such a young age. Soon after, you will break through to the Realm of Heart Integrated into Sword.”
Looking at Blackie, Zhang Ruochen withdrew his Genuine Qi and asked, “Did you steal books again?”
Blackie stood up on his hind feet like a human being. Carrying a thick book in both of his front claws, he said, “I’ve been confined in the Yin Yang Wooden Graph for 100,000 years. Needless to say, I was completely isolated from the outside world. No doubt I’ll have to read more to understand the changes in Kunlun’s Field over these 100,000 years.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded and agreed with what Blackie had just said. He should also spare some time to read more and keep up with what had happened over these 800 years.
It was always a good thing to read and know more about your surroundings.
“Hey Blackie, come with me. I want to see if my fourth brother has fully recovered,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Blackie thrust his legs and jumped onto Zhang Ruochen’s shoulder.
He sat on Zhang Ruochen’s shoulder and continued to read. He did not pay too much attention to where Zhang Ruochen was heading.
Zhang Ruochen had only seen Zhang Shaochu once and there was not any family bond between them. Yet, Zhang Shaochu spoke out for Zhang Ruochen and was badly injured. Zhang Ruochen was touched by what he did and had a good impression of his fourth brother. Therefore, he wanted to go visit him after his seclusion.
While Liu Chengfeng and three freshmen of Yunwu Commandery were on their way to the Dragon Martial Temple, they bumped into Zhang Ruochen. They were so excited and hurried up to greet him.
Liu Chengfeng said, “Your Highness, you’re finally done with your seclusion! Something bad is going to happen!”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “What happened?”
Before Liu Chengfeng could explain what happened, the freshman next to him said with madness, “Your Highness, Square Commandery has been suppressing the students of Yunwu Commandery while you were in seclusion this month. Quite a number of our students are seriously injured. Others have also been bullied more or less! Our lives are miserable…
“Moreover, rumor has it that two students of Yunwu Commandery disappeared when they were conducting a task outside the school. The students of Square Commandery probably used unknown methods to get them both killed.”
The other freshman added, “The students of Square Commandery didn’t dare to break into Dragon Martial Temple and attack you. Therefore, they bully us. Even I have been beaten three times. I have to hide whenever I see them because I’m too scared!”
Zhang Ruochen never expected things would turn out like this. He asked, “Why didn’t the presbyter of the school get involved?”
Liu Chengfeng explained. “In order to harden and enhance the competitiveness among the students, the presbyter wouldn’t intervene in fights between students. Moreover, they have Elder Situ to back them up. Thus, they can do almost whatever they want on Western Campus.”
Liu Chengfeng lowered his voice and said, “The status of Elder Situ on Western Campus is just beneath the Chief and two other Vice Chiefs. Now, it is Elder Situ who manages almost all relevant issues on Western Campus.”
Zhang Ruochen finally understood how it worked—As long as students of Square Commandery did not publicly kill other students, then they did not violate the regulations of the school and would not be punished.
As for the two missing students, no one could prove that they were dead and there was no proof showing that the students of Square Commandery were the killers.
Zhang Ruochen said, “They are taking revenge.”
Zhang Ruochen and Zi Qian had killed around 100 young warriors of Square Commandery during the first-round examination. Therefore, students of Square Commandery had been bullying and killing the students of Yunwu Commandery in order to seek revenge. They even wanted to kick all the students of Yunwu Commandery out of Western Campus.
One of the students looked woebegone and said, “I’ve had enough this month! Your Highness, failure is not an option! You have to defeat Feng Zhilin tomorrow! Otherwise, we, students of Yunwu Commandery will be completely conquered. The students of Square Commandery will no doubt suppress us even more!”
Another freshman nodded and gasped. “If our Ninth Prince is defeated, I have no choice but to return to Yunwu Commandery. I do not dare to stay on Western Campus anymore…”
Two other freshmen also nodded.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Don’t worry, guys. Since students of Square Commandery have started a provocation, I’ll fight with them! By the way, Liu Chengfeng, what did you come for?”
Liu Chengfeng tapped on his forehead and said, “Oh yes! Almost forget about it. I’ve heard that Nie Xuan, Wang Lang, and Xie Zhaowu of Square Commandery had led a bunch of students to make trouble for Zhang Shaochu, the Fourth Prince.”
Zhang Ruochen looked cold-blooded and said, “Nie Xuan again? Did he not suffer enough last time?”
Liu Chengfeng responded. “The reason why they attack the Fourth Prince tonight is to affect your Heart State. Once your Heart State has been disturbed, you will lose the fight tomorrow on the life and death platform!”
If Zhang Ruochen did lose the fight on the life and death platform, death would be the only way out for him.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Lead me to my fourth brother! I’m eager to see who dares to attack him today!”
Liu Chengfeng had confidence in Zhang Ruochen. He brought Zhang Ruochen as well as the other three freshmen and they rushed toward Zhang Shaochu’s dormitory as fast as they could.
Being the number one freshman, Zhang Ruochen enjoyed a prestigious status and lived in Dragon Martial Temple.
The top 10 freshmen and the top 100 students of Western Campus also had individual dormitories. Although it was not as luxurious as Dragon Martial Temple, it was comfortable and suitable for practicing.
As for other students, they could only live in a normal dormitory with four people in one house.
Zhang Shaochu was a normal student and, therefore, he shared a dormitory with three other students. His roommates had been beaten badly by Nie Xuan. He threw them all out of the dormitory and they were bleeding heavily on the ground.
Nie Xuan grabbed Zhang Shaochu’s clothes with one hand and lifted him up from the ground. He sneered. “Piglet Zhang, have your arms healed? Unfortunately, my arm has been destroyed and can never be healed. What do you think I should do?”
Since Zhang Ruochen had cut off Nie Xuan’s hand, he installed a short sword, one of the Genuine Martial Arms, on his wrist. He then embedded the sword into his wrist and linked the sword to the Meridians in his arm.
“I’m not piglet Zhang, I’m Zhang Shaochu!” Zhang Shaochu clinched his teeth and mumbled.
He was scared of Nie Xuan. Therefore, he did not dare to speak too loud.
Nie Xuan lifted his arm and put a sharp sword next to Zhang Shaochu’s right ear. He could cut off his ear down with one downward slice.
Nie Xuan sneered. “Haha! If you say Zhang Ruochen is a coward, I’ll let you go. How does that sound?”
Wang Lang, Xie Zhaowu, and the other warriors of Square Commandery that stood at the side laughed wickedly.
Although Zhang Shaochu was irritated as well as scared, he responded with courage. “Stop day-dreaming. My ninth brother will cut off your other hand!”
Nie Xuan’s countenance fell and he said, “Such an ungrateful piglet! I’m offering you something good and you dare to disgrace me!”
Nie Xuan waved his arm downward and was about to cut off Zhang Shaochu’s right ear. Zhang Shaochu was so frightened that his entire body was full of cold sweat. He shut his eyes and screamed out loud.
Yet, no matter how hard Nie Xuan pushed down, the sword embedded in his arm was stuck and would not fall.
The edge of the sword had been caught firmly by two fingers and stopped in the air.
Naturally, the master of the two fingers was Zhang Ruochen.
“Slap!”
Zhang Ruochen’s finger had turned jade-white. Two strands of Genuine Qi had dashed to his fingertips and generated a powerful force. The force had shaken Nie Xuan’s sword and broken it into two pieces.
Such a powerful force was transferred from the sword to Nie Xuan’s arm and had shaken him, bringing him great pain. Nie Xuan fell back and almost bumped into the wall.
He lifted up his arm and looked at the broken sword. He was shocked and said, “How can you destroy a third-level Genuine Martial Arm with just two fingers?”
“Clash!”
Zhang Ruochen threw the half of the blade tip on the ground, coldly stared at Nie Xuan, and said, “Nie Xuan, you are a coward bullying my fourth brother! If you don’t mind, I will be practicing with you now!”