Chapter 196: Lingyue Town

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

Contrary to Zhang Ruochen’s expectations, his four months of accumulation netted him a single drop of Holy Water and 40 drops of Half Saint’s Essence.

If he’d gotten these items on the Black Market, a drop of Holy Water and 40 drops of Half-Saint’s Essence would definitely cost more than 20,000,000 silver coins.

Such rich resources would shock even the legendary warriors of the Heaven Realm.

Of course, the Martial Market bank had its own sources; for them, the actual cost of a drop of Holy water and 40 drops of Half-Saint’s Essence would probably be just a tenth of the market price, if not lower.

“Ordinary external students only receive a drop of Half-Saint’s Essence once a year from the school while the Internal students receive one per month. I, on the other hand, received 10 drops per month and a Holy Water drop per quarter. Earth Board students truly are treated luxuriously!” Zhang Ruochen was definitely in a good mood.

After getting his cultivation resources, he gave Kong Xuan 10 drops of Half-Saint’s Essence to raise her physical quality.

Kong Xuan still couldn’t directly refine the Half-Saint’s Essence with her current cultivation. Therefore, Zhang taught her a method where she slowly absorbed Half-Saint’s Essence that had been poured into a pool of Holy Water.

Although this method diluted the efficacy of the Half-Saint’s Essence, this was the best way for Kong Xuan to refine it.

Afterwards, Zhang Ruochen gave Zhang Shaochu the remaining 10 drops of Half-Saint’s Essence to help him became a Warrior of Division Profound.

His physical quality wasn’t quite on the level of a Warrior of Division Profound, Still, with the power of the Jingang Fist and copious amounts of Half-Saint’s Essence, Zhang Shaochu still had a chance to reach the level of a Warrior of Division Profound.

After all, Zhang Shaochu was talented enough to become an external student of the Western Campus.

10 drops of Half-Saint’s Essence cost several million silver coins, enough to buy a whole city. Only someone like Zhang Ruochen would be generous enough to provide such gifts to others.

After settling their affairs, Zhang Ruochen and Blackie departed Devil Martial City and headed back to Yunwu Commandery.

To avoid detection, Zhang Ruochen hid inside the Time and Space Spinel before leaving Devil Martial City. He refused to emerge until they left the city far behind.

“Do you really need to be so careful? Devil Martial City isn’t that dangerous,” Blackie said, glancing at Zhang Ruochen.

“The Black Market and Moon Worship Demonic Sect has undercover spies all over Devil Martial City,” Zhang Ruochen said. “They even sent them to infiltrate the Internal Academy of the Martial Market School. I need to be careful, or I’ll never see the blow that kills me.” Zhang Ruochen fell silent and put on a metal mask that covered half his face.

It was important to keep in mind that the price on Zhang Ruochen’s head was very high. In fact, he currently ranked 37th on the Board of Bounty Hunters.

Because of this, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t casually reveal his identity. If he drew the attention of Heaven Realm heretics, he couldn’t escape them with his current cultivation.

“I’ve almost finished refining that Electric Meridian Pill you wanted. I’d best continue refining it in the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel.” Blackie hopped into the air, transformed into a black thread and slithered into the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel.

Blackie had spent most of his stay at Duanmu Xingling’s secret practice mansion researching how to refine the Electric Meridian Pill. After countless experiments, the final, refined pill was almost in his grasp.

Zhang Ruochen’s Martial Soul possessed both space nature and thunder nature in tandem.

“If he can actually refine that Electric meridian Pill, it should elevate my Genuine Qi quality and Martial Soul degree even further.” Zhang Ruochen was really looking forward to this.

The royal family would definitively be affected by the Martial Market Bank’s declaration of war against the Black Market and the Moon Worship Demonic Sect located in Yunwu Commandery. For this reason, Zhang Ruochen decided to return to Yunwu City.

Without a doubt, Yunwu City would lie at the center of this brewing storm.

Perched on the back of his third-level lower-class Snowflake Eagle, Zhang Ruochen took out the tome entitled “Mystery of Time and Space”. He studied the book in his hands while continuing to meditate on the secrets of the Space Domain.

After breaking through into the Earth Realm, Zhang Ruochen’s Space Domain had already expanded to a maximum range of more than 300 meters: his domain could cover a fairly wide region of space now.

However, his mastery of the Space Domain was elementary at best. Currently, he could only use simple techniques like “Spatial Warps” and “Spatial Freezing”.

According to the “Mystery of Time and Space” volume, by drawing on massive power of the Space Domain, one could swiftly cast “Spatial Movement”, “Spatial Rift”, “Spatial Collapse”, “Spatial Dreamscape” and many other terrifying techniques.

“Spatial Rift” and “Spatial Collapse” could kill people without leaving any traces. An opponent would be swallowed by space before they could even react.

“Let’s study this ‘Spatial Rift’ technique first.”

Zhang Ruochen held up the “Mystery of Time and Space” volume, activated his Martial Soul and gradually released his Space Domain, extending it around him to cover an area of around 300 meters.

“Spatial Rift!”

Zhang Ruochen flicked his fingers. 10 meters away, space distorted around a patch of air, ripples spreading outward like waves on water.

Otherwise, his attempt was unsuccessful.

“This ‘Spatial Rift’ really is more difficult to practice than the ‘Spatial Warp’. If I manage to successfully practice this ‘Spatial Rift’ technique, it will definitively strengthen my destructive power.’

Zhang Ruochen kept practicing and practicing.

The longer he studied, the more he came to understand the nature of the ‘Spatial Rift’. At times throughout his practice, he was able to create small fractures in space, tiny ‘Spatial Rifts’ that formed in the air.

Time flew by, as did the Snowflake Eagle. After two days of travel, the Snowflake Eagle crossed the border into Yunwu Commandery.

“Spatial Rift!”

Zhang Ruochen stood upright on the Snowflake Eagle’s back, transferred his Genuine Qi to his fingertip and gestured with his arm. The space around him shivered slightly.

“CRASH!”

A half-meter long Spatial Rift resembling a gaping maw appeared in the air. This fissure sucked in all the air around it, forming a powerful vortex with the Spatial Rift at its center.

Zhang Ruochen caught a glimpse of the primordial nothingness within the Spatial Rift, a chaos that could swallow the world.

The Spatial Rift stayed open for just a brief window of time, then immediately closed.

“Magnificent! So this is the power of space! A Heaven Realm Warrior hit by this Spatial Rift would surely die, or at least suffer serious injuries.” Zhang Ruochen allowed himself a small smile as he watched the Spatial Rift slowly close up.

Zhang Ruochen was obviously aware of the keen danger sense warriors of the Heaven Realm possessed. If the ripples of a nascent Spatial Rift appeared, they would immediately retreat from that area.

At his current level, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t use his Spatial Rift technique to harm warriors from the Heaven Realm.

That is, unless he successfully mastered “Spatial Collapse”. Once he unlocked that technique, warriors of the Heaven Realm wouldn’t be able to escape even if they wanted to.

That being said, the “Spatial Collapse” was more difficult to practice than the “Spatial Rift”.

Zhang Ruochen was barely able to cast “Spatial Rift” as is: he needed more time to become adept at the “Spatial Collapse” technique.

He leaned down and gently stroked the Snowflake Eagle’s feathers. “Hey, Snowflake Eagle,” he said. “You’re probably tired too after flying for two days non-stop. Let’s land on the ground and rest for a bit.”

The Snowflake Eagle let out a sharp grunt and quickly dove towards the ground.

Zhang Ruochen led the Snowflake Eagle along an official road with green flagstones, eventually reaching a fairly old town.

There were many old towns like this in Yunwu Commandery. Though they weren’t as prosperous as large-scale cities, they contained all the necessities of life.

This village was called “Lingyue Town”.

Recently, Lingyue Town has been thrown into turmoil by multiple incidents where warriors gone shopping had gotten into huge altercations with each other.

This turmoil didn’t keep warriors away from Lingyue; instead, it attracted even more of them to the town.

Lin Ningshan and Lin Chenyu, two external students from the Yuntai Suzerain, were currently in Lingyue Town.

“Brother, why is the Yuntai Suzerain intervening in the war between the School of the Martial Market, the Black Market and the Moon Worship Demonic Sect?” Lin Ningshan asked while guiding his massive, five-meter tall savage beast forward.

Lin Chenyu, leading a savage beast of his own, had a pale look about him and gave off a sense of coldness. “Do you really think the Martial Market School can defeat the Black Market and Moon Worship Demonic Sect on its own?” he said with a sneer. “Our senior officials ought to reach some kind of accord with the Martial Market School so the Yuntai Suzerain can send us to intervene in this war.”

They passed by two other warriors who were drinking on the street while discussing recent major events.

Lin Chenyu and Lin Ningshan stopped to listen, each interested in what these warriors had to say.

The warrior sitting on the left had only one eye. He possessed a burly physique, both tough and stocky, and spoke in a rough voice. “Rumor has it that Earth Blaze City, controlled by the Black Market, is located near Lingyue Town,” he said. “The students of the Martial Market School have fought seven bloody battles there in an effort to destroy Earth Blaze City. Hundreds of warriors have already died.”

The warrior sitting on the right only wore a pair of hide trousers. He was bare-chested and held a saber the size of a door that must have weighed at least 500 kilograms.

“Hasn’t the Black Market suffered great losses?” the bare-chested warrior replied.

The warrior on the left shook his head. “Some Black Market warriors lost their lives,” he said, “but the Martial Market School suffered bigger losses. They say seven School students have disappeared here in Lingyue Town. Some of them were caught, while others were killed by the Black Market.”

“How many resources does the School spend fostering a single student? Even losing just one external student would give the Martial Market School cause for distress. I even heard that the School has sent some masters to Lingyue Town in preparation to raze both the Black Market and Earth Blaze City to the ground….”

Lin Chenyu and Lin Ningshan glanced at each other and prepared to leave. Suddenly, the two warriors stood up and blocked their way.

“Hey! You two! You’re not some of those masters sent by the Martial Market School, are you?” The big guy in savage beast hide trousers asked, brandishing his saber and sneering at them with cold eyes.

These two warriors were masters from the Black Market. Their conversation had been deliberately choreographed to draw out students from the School of the Martial Market.

Since Lin Chenyu and Lin Ningshan both looked fairly young and had stopped to listen to their conversation, the Black Market warriors had concluded they were probably students from the School.

Even if they were just students from the School, discovering them was a huge achievement. These two wicked masters would never let a chance like this slip through their fingers.