To think Zi Hansha would actually lose this tragically.
The genius students of the School of the Martial Market of South Cloud Commandery looked at each other in dismay. Feeling a chill creeping on them, they involuntary took a step back.
Zi Hansha looked as if he had suffered a bad fall, but in reality, he wasn’t injured.
Zhang Ruochen’s strike had been well-controlled and accurate. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.
Though Zi Hansha wasn’t injured, he had lost all his face. Staring at Zhang Ruochen with an icy gaze, he slammed his palm on the deck. He used the strength from the rebound of his Genuine Qi to make a flip, ready to battle Zhang Ruochen again.
“Hansha, you’ve already lost. Back down!”
He Yunlou, dressed in his golden robe, wore an expression of anger as he spat out a mouthful of Genuine Qi. He had his hands behind his back. No one knew when he had come to the deck.
SWOOSH!
The Genuine Qi became a gust of hurricane-like wind that stopped Zi Hansha.
Though Zi Hansha was a Genius of his generation whose cultivation had reached the Peak of Martial Arts, he was unable to break He Yunlou’s breath and was blocked behind the wind.
In front of a Monk of the Fish-dragon Realm, everyone was merely an ordinary warrior no matter how genius they were or how powerful their cultivation was.
In the end, Zi Hanshan backed down reluctantly but his gaze remained vicious.
It was clear that a feud had formed between him and Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, having expected this result when he had decided to ‘learn from each other’.
Unless he lost on purpose, it was inevitable for hatred and thirst for revenge to develop between the two of them.
He was also a proud person. If he were to attack, he would never purposely lose to the other party.
He brought his hands together and saluted He Yunlou from a distance before retreating.
After returning to his own quarters, Zhang Ruochen once again entered the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel and began to practice.
He was currently quite powerful but he found that he was still lacking in many aspects after witnessing Zi Hansha.
The first problem was his cultivation realm.
Among peers of the same realm, even the incredible Di Yi with his Saintly Being and Demon’s Heart had lost to him. But what if he was fighting an opponent in a higher realm?
Someone like Zi Hansha was already at the martial cultivation of the Dawn State of the Heaven Realm.
Once he made his way to the East Region Saint City, he would surely meet more prodigies like Zi Hansha. He might even come across those with higher cultivation.
He didn’t dare to lower his guard. If he could enter the Advanced Stage of the Heaven Realm before the Saint Academy’s examination, that would be for the best.
In the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel, he had three times the usual time to practice. Naturally, he should put this to good use.
In the following two months, Zhang Ruochen began devoting all his energy to refining the Dragon Pearl. He only left his room each night to spend some time with Concubine Lin and have dinner together. He was practicing the rest of the time.
Of course, he would sometimes meet Xue Yingrou.
She wanted to be instructed in sword technique and he didn’t reject her. Thus, he pointed out some of her insufficiencies in her sword technique.
Xue Yingrou’s cultivation wasn’t weak as she had already reached the Mid Stage of the Heaven Realm. In terms of talent, she was only slightly beneath Zi Hansha. She had once passed the fifth level of the Jiujue Tower.
She was a Five-realm Fighting Genius.
Given her talent, she would definitely make countless warriors in the Omen Ridge feel inferior. Only Luo Shuihan of the Luo family was slightly stronger than her.
She had reached the peak of Sword Following the Heart of her sword technique attainment. Though she was far behind Zhang Ruochen, she was already much more powerful than many people of her age.
Given her comprehensive strength, she was certainly able to be among the top of the genius students of the School of the Martial Market of the South Cloud Commandery.
However, her sword technique was too soft and lacked a certain sharpness. This prevented her from improving for a long time.
“You lack too much true combat experience. Otherwise, your sword technique would be on a whole different level,” Zhang Ruochen said.
Xue Yingrou sighed, her eyes sparkling as she put on a pitiful face. “I was born into a lowly family. I’m unlike like you all who have such illustrious families with elders looking after you. If I go out to gain experience, I’ll either die in some savage beasts’ mouth or get captured by those Black Market heretics. That’s why I can only stay in the School and practice hard most of the time. Naturally, there are few opportunities for me to experience any battles to the death.”
Zhang Ruochen merely wanted to talk to her about Martial Arts and sword technique but her goal wasn’t as pure.
One time when Zhang Ruochen was instructing her, she took the initiative to kiss him on the cheek. She then seemed embarrassed and immediately ran off.
She had thought, with her beauty and proactiveness, Zhang Ruochen would grasp her intentions and chase after her.
If it went as scripted, she would then have a set of methods to get him to completely fall for her.
Of course, Zhang Ruochen understood the reason why she had proactively kissed him. She must have thought he was disciple to some great power and wanted to curry favor with him and reach the top in one step.
Her method was incredibly childish.
Furthermore, he could clearly feel the slight tremble of her lips when she kissed his cheek. She seemed nervous. It was probably her first time kissing a man.
She had basically gone all out to curry favor with him!
“If she knows that I’m only a warrior of an inferior commandery in the Omen Ridge, she’d probably cry with regret.”
Zhang Ruochen stared at Xue Yingrou as she left, appearing very calm. He didn’t chase after her. Instead, he wiped the print of her lips from his face and returned to his Time and Space Spinel to continue his practice.
It wasn’t the first time he had been forcibly kissed. He had long developed an immunity to it.
His behavior greatly disappointed Xue Yingrou.
She waited a quarter of an hour in her room and still didn’t see Zhang Ruochen. Thus, she quietly walked out and found no trace of him on the deck.
“How is this possible? Doesn’t my beauty attract him at all?”
She bit her lip, somewhat irritated. She had even offered her first kiss yet he was still acting indifferent. Did she have to go another step further?
She continued to think about how she could capture Zhang Ruochen.
Unfortunately, she didn’t see him again for a while. Only when they reached the East Region Saint City did he stop practicing and walked out of his room.
Two weeks had passed in the external world, yet Zhang Ruochen had practiced for 45 days inside the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel.
The Vital Essence in his Qi Sea had reached 5,100 drops.
Though he was still far from reaching the Advanced Stage of the Heaven Realm, he had taken a great step forward. His Vital Essence had become even thicker.
It was also this day that the Silver Moon Ship finally arrived at the Tianjun Wharf, 500 kilometers outside of the East Region Saint City.
Standing at the Tiankun Wharf, a person with a strong cultivation could see the giant shadow of East Region Saint City if he raised his head.
East Region Saint City wasn’t an ordinary city. To be more precise, it was a star.
Legends had it that, in the ancient times, a star with a diameter of 5,000 kilometers fell from the sky and landed on this holy soil of the Eastern Region. It rocked the entire region, killing countless people and savage beasts. The ash in the sky only settled after 100 years.
Later, an ancient Saint personally went to investigate the star and found that it was actually a treasure star. It contained a wealth of Spiritual and Saint Crystals, and many precious resources for Refining Weapons. Even the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was 10 times thicker there. It was then named the Practice Holy Land.
Thus, human warriors all climbed onto the fallen star and established families and Suzerains there.
Over countless years and months, that star attracted thousands upon thousands of warriors. It gradually developed into a giant city and became the center of the Eastern Region.
Later, it was named the East Region Saint City.
Just standing thousands of kilometers away and gazing at that giant spherical shadow covering nearly half the sky was enough to induce a strange fear in people. It emitted a seemingly suffocating aura.
Zhang Ruochen secretly opened his Skyeye and glanced at the East Region Saint City. He could faintly see hundreds of billions of inscriptions floating on the surface of that giant star city that melded with the clouds.
Just one glance was enough to intimidate and terrify.
Through the clouds and inscriptions, large pieces of land and the blue of the water could be seen. It was like an independent land.
“Only a truly great power is capable of building a Saint City that has lasted through the ages on this fallen star.”
Tiankun Wharf was the largest of eight wharves outside of the city. The eight wharves were ordered by the Taiji Sect. They were Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui.
Though it was called a wharf, it was more like a city compared to the East Region Saint City.
Warriors from all over the world must take the White Dragon Holy Ship from the eight wharves to successfully enter the city through an opening in the inscriptions in the air.
As students of the School of the Martial Market who had come to participate in the Saint Academy’s examination, Zhang Ruochen and the others naturally already had people from the School of the Martial Market waiting at the entrance of the eight wharves.
Visitors would have to register their identities before they could take the White Dragon Holy Ship and head toward the East Region Saint City.
Only the students of the School of the Martial Market received special treatment.
For other warriors who wanted to enter the East Region Saint City, it was quite a troublesome process. Not only did they have to spend a fortune on the entrance fees and temporary residence certificate, they also had to wait in line. Sometimes it was normal to wait for a month or two.
The regulations of the East Region Saint City were firm. Even superiors of the Fish-dragon Realm would be captured by the military and thrown into prison if they defied the regulations.