Inside the stone gate, Zhang Ruochen steadied himself and performed an exercise to control his condition of the injury.
The Genuine Qi circled inside his body and formed a large circle of vital energy. It started to heal his wounds.
After a while, he took a long breath. He opened his eyes and said, “Di Yi was so impressive. No wonder he could defeat Bu Qianfian, first on the Earth Board, in only three moves.”
PHHF!
The armor which had wrapped his right arm started to fade, revealing his bloody shoulder.
The Genuine Qi helped scabs form on his cracked skin, leaving horrible scar Lines.
Inside the stone gate, there was no water. It looked very dry.
The water in the Dragon Palace seemed to be blocked by a strange force from outside the stone gate.
Chang Qiqi stepped up in a hurry. “Junior fellow apprentice Zhang, you are already very excellent! You two fought just more than three moves. This means you are even more powerful than Bu Qianfan, the top warrior on the Earth Board!”
Hearing this, the others realized this fact. They were greatly shocked.
The battle between Zhang Ruochen and Di Yi was indeed awesome. They had fought over 10 moves. Although Zhang Ruochen was obviously dominated, he had indeed blocked Di Yi’s attacks successfully.
If this spread out, Zhang Ruochen would be famous in the Eastern Region. He would even be published in the Eastern Region Report again.
When Zhang Ruochen entered the top 100 of the Earth Board, Chen Xier realized she had been underestimating his talent. She paid special attention to him after that, even wanting to steal him from Huang Yanchen.
A genius in the top 100 of the Earth Board was seen as a first-class warrior, even in Chen Xier’s family.
But now, she realized how wrong she’d been before. The top 100 of the Earth Board was simply nothing for him.
She was even more jealous of Huang Yanchen.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Chang Qiqi. He shook his head and smiled, “You are underestimating Di Yi. In the beginning, he didn’t go all-out. It wasn’t until the very last strike that he exerted his full power. As you all know, it was that strike that wounded me so badly. Bu Qianfan blocked two of his moves and was only defeated after the third move, which was very impressive. I don’t think I would win if I fought Bu Qianfan with my current power.”
Zhang Ruochen’s body was too weak, and he hadn’t been practicing long enough. Fortunately, he had reached the Ultimate Realm in both the Yellow and Black Realm. This was why he could fight with top geniuses now.
There was still a gap between him and Di Yi’s inborn Saintly Being. It could only be made up with the space power and the Martial Soul power.
Reaching the Ultimate Realm in both the Yellow and Black Realm meant that his Martial Arts foundation was solid enough. With the deepening of his cultivation, his advantage would be gradually unveiled.
It was the same as building a tower. The stronger the foundation was, the higher the tower could be.
Di Yi’s foundation was his inborn Saintly Being. It was like the tower’s column. If the column didn’t fall, the tower would never fall, and it could be built higher and higher.
Zhang Ruochen’s foundation was his steadiness and perfection in every realm. It was like constructing a huge wide pedestal on the base floor.
Si Xingkong said, “Di Yi burst out the power of Saintly Being in the last strike. What’s more, his martial technique was the Human King Fist, a Ghost Level Inferior Class martial technique! I’m horrified just thinking about it.”
“Fortunately, he hasn’t succeeded in the Human King Fist, or chances are that I couldn’t have taken that strike.” Said Zhang Ruochen.
He laughed and continued, “Of course, if I had succeeded in Divine Dragon’s Steal, the sixth palm of the Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Practicing martial techniques was not a short-term task. Zhang Ruochen had started practicing at the age of 16— 16 years later than Di Yi. He had done pretty well considering.
“Cousin-in-law, your wound is not yet healed! I found a healing Spiritual Dose, Worm Heart Grass. It can help with your recovery.”
Chen Xier took out a white spiritual flower and handed to Zhang Ruochen. She stared at him with tenderness and love, as if she was ingratiating herself with him deliberately.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t stand on ceremony. He looked the Worm Heart Grass over and sniffed the myrrh-like fragrance.
The Worm Heart Grass was 800 to 900 years old. Its leaves, petals and rhizome were all white as snow, as if Spiritual Fluid was flowing inside it.
“It is indeed a great healing treasure.” Zhang Ruochen glanced at Chen Xier. “Thanks.”
Chen Xier put on a shallow smile. “My dear cousin-in-law, we are family. There’s no need to thank me. Besides, I wouldn’t have even gotten this Worm Heart Grass if you hadn’t taken me here in the first place.”
Zhang Ruochen released Spiritual Fire Genuine Qi and refined the Worm Heart Grass in his hand.
Suspended on his palm, the Worm Heart Grass started to melt into a ball of white liquid.
Zhang Ruochen split it into three portions and handed two to Zi Qian and Huang Yanchen. He took the last one for himself.
The Worm Heart Grass was indeed a healing treasure. An hour later all three of them had fully recovered.
The scabs on Zhang Ruochen’s arm fell off, revealing flawless skin without any scars.
What’s more, he felt that even his Martial Soul had recovered a little bit. The dull throbbing in his head stopped.
They started to march on. They went through the long passage and entered the hinterland.
The passage became wider and wider. A beam of golden light appeared before them. They came to an underground square.
The square was as big as two football fields and surrounded by stone walls with golden carvings.
A golden fire ball suspended above. A small golden dragon appeared to be flying inside.
“It was so easy to get here! I thought we would have encountered many arrays and danger. I wonder, where was the Golden Dragon buried?”
Chang Qiqi rubbed his hands together and looked around.
Zhang Ruochen also felt it was a little odd. Why was the Golden Dragon’s tomb so easy for them to break into?
Just then, Zhang Ruochen noticed something wrong. He looked at Chang Qiqi who was speaking a second ago, only to find that he wasn’t moving and his body started to glow gold. It was as if he was turning into a golden statue.
And it wasn’t just Chang Qiq. Si Xingkong, Chen Xier, Huang Yanchen, Duanmu Xingling, Zi Qian and even Guoguo the rabbit had all stopped moving.
There was no sense of life coming from them.
“What happened? Senior sister apprentice Huang!”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression changed. He walked up to Huang Yanchen and tried to touch her hand.
The moment he touched her hand, he was flicked away by an electric current.
“Young man, don’t panic. I’ve merely stopped them with my King-kong Buddhist doctrine. They aren’t dead!” Came an ancient voice.
The voice was hoarse yet divine, like the voice of a saint from above the Nine Heavens.
“SWOOSH!”
A small golden dragon flew down from the fire ball and morphed into an old man covered in golden light. He stood in front of Zhang Ruochen.
The elder looked very kind. His face was full of wrinkles, and his long hair dropped to the ground. In his hand was a Buddha rod. A circle of Buddha’s light could be seen behind his head.
Zhang Ruochen was extremely excited, even moved to tears. Immediately, he bowed and sobbed, “Predecessor Golden Dragon.”
The elder was confused. “Young man, do I know you?”
“800 years ago, I met you once at Ming Emperor Palace. You taught me some sword techniques at the time. I still remember your words, even today.” With misted eyes, Zhang Ruochen smiled.
800 years had passed. These two souls remained, but they were not the same men they once were. Almost everyone he had once known, his friends and family, all had died.
Seeing an old predecessor, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t express his excitement and sorrow.
For the Golden Dragon, it had been 800 years.
But for Zhang Ruochen, it had only been two or three years.
It was like waking up from a dream, and everything had changed but you. No one could accept that easily.
The Golden Dragon’s human image was exactly the same as he was 800 years ago. Zhang Ruochen recognized him immediately. For the past two years, Zhang Ruochen had been holding back his feelings. He finally let his emotions flow freely.
The Golden Dragon was astonished. He said, “Young man, if I am right, you are no more than 20 years old, aren’t you?”
Zhang Ruochen explained, “800 years ago, during the martial competition between the Buddhist Emperor and Emperor Ming, you went to Ming Emperor Palace with the Buddhist Emperor. I was only nine years old then. One day, while Princess Chi Yao and I were practicing Yin-Yang Two Forms Sword Array in the garden, you passed by and watched us for a while. Then, you walked up to us and told us we had good talent, but that Yin-Yang Two Forms Sword Array wasn’t suitable for us to practice.”
“Princess Chi Yao slashed at you. She was very angry and asked you if you dared to say that again.”
“You simply smiled and told us that Yin-Yang Two Forms Sword Array’s full power could only be given out by two true lovers. We knew nothing about love, Yin-Yang or harmony. So, it was only a waste of time for us to practice it. We could only master the moves but not the essence. You suggested we practice it in 10 years time.”
Hearing Zhang Ruochen repeating the exact same words he’d said 800 years ago, the Golden Dragon was incredibly shocked. “You… You are… Emperor Ming’s son…”
When a warrior reached twenty level Spiritual Power, he would be gifted with an extraordinary retentive memory.
So, even though 800 years had passed, the Golden Dragon could still recall what had happened on that day.