193 The Internal Studen

Chapter 193: The Internal Student

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

It seemed as though Zhang Ruochen's speed had improved slightly, but actually it was at the extreme limit of a warrior in the Black Realm.

When he was about to attain his extreme speed, a barrier between heaven and earth seemed to be punctured and erupted with powerful Spiritual Qi waves.

All of the Spiritual Qi in the Secret Practice Room turned into droplets and rolled towards him, gathering into a beam of light on his head.

"Waaa!"

Inside the Secret Practice Room many sacred and ancient illusory images appeared, just like the marks of gods. They were suspended in the void of space and began to chant.

The second Chord of Gods!

The light of god interweaved with the Spiritual Qi and poured into Zhang Ruochen's body. With a boom, the Qi Lake in his glabella exploded into pieces.

Soon after, the broken pieces quickly restructured and condensed into a new Qi Pool which was a hundred times bigger than before.

Actually, it could no longer be called a Qi Lake. It was a Qi Sea.

Not only had Zhang Ruochen reached the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm, but he also successfully opened a Qi Sea and entered into the Martial Arts Realm of the Initial Stage of the Earth Realm.

Many god marks appeared on the wall of the Qi sea, shining brightly.

Each mark emitted a faint light of god, illuminating Zhang Ruochen's Qi sea like stars.

Affected by the god marks, the Genuine Qi in his Qi Sea contained a hint of divinity.

Though Zhang Ruochen had just arrived in the Initial Stage of the Earth Realm, his Genuine Qi was purer than many warriors in the Completion of the Earth Realm.

This was the benefit of the second Chord of Gods!

He had not just challenged one realm. He had, in fact, challenged two realms, achieving great progress in his martial cultivation.

After an hour in the Hurricane Secret Practicing Room, the Spiritual Crystals on the stone walls became dim and dissolved into dust. All of the Spiritual Qi in the Spiritual Crystals was absorbed by Zhang Ruochen.

The array stopped working in the Hurricane Secret Practicing Room.

The whole Secret Room became silent and dark.

"Why did the array suddenly stop?"

Elder Yao, who was guarding the Hurricane Secret Practicing Room, noticed something unusual in the room. He opened the gate right away and went in.

When Elder Yao walked into the Secret Practice Room, the illusory images of gods were already gone, leaving Zhang Ruochen sitting quietly in the center of the room.

"Presbyter, why did you come in?" Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes and was a little surprised.

"What's going on with you?"

Looking around, Elder Yao was astonished to find that the stone walls, which were supposed to be embedded with Spiritual Crystals, was full of holes. And all 786 Spiritual Crystals had turned into dust.

"786 Spiritual Crystal contain an enormous amount of Spiritual Qi. Where did it go?" Elder Yao said to himself.

He stared at Zhang Ruochen with sparkling eyes and felt that something had changed. He asked with surprise, "Have you reached the Earth Realm?"

"In fact, I have broken through the realm!" Zhang Ruochen stood up and was also shocked by the holes in the stone wall.

Zhang Ruochen never expected that Chord of Gods could cost as much Spiritual Qi as that contained by hundreds of Spiritual Crystals. Had he not been practicing in the Secret Room, he would have had a great effect outside.

Elder Yao looked at Zhang Ruochen and thought for a moment. "I will report this to the senior officials of the School. This must be kept absolutely secret." It looked as if Elder Yao had figured something out.

"I understand." Zhang Ruochen replied.

Elder Yao continued, "Since you have attained the Earth Realm, you are now also an internal student. You are now able to register and receive your token. After you become an internal student, you'll receive more benefits. The school will spend a considerable amount of resources fostering a genius like you."

After watching Zhang Ruochen leave the Hurricane Secret Practicing Room, Elder Yao felt very perplexed and said to himself, "Has he really reached the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm?"

Elder Yao left Mount Saint Crossing for Presbyter Hall.

The Presbyter Hall was comprised of the Silver Gowned Elder Hall and the Golden Robe Presbyter Hall.

There were 158 members in the Silver Gowned Elder Hall, 54 of whom were in the Internal Academy. Other silver gowned Elders were sent either to take office in one of the four campuses, or take charge of the business of the Martial Market Bank in one of the 36 commanderies.

The Hall Master of the Silver Gowned Elder Hall was Lei Jing, who was 94 years old. But he appeared to be in his 50s. With big eyes and a powerful back and shoulders, he bore his age well.

After hearing the report of Elder Yao, Lei Jing had a serious look on his face and pondered for a while. Then Lei Jing said, "It's impossible for him to have broken through to the Ultimate Realm. But I guess he could be close to it. According to the latest information, four months ago he had a secret battle with Yan Lixuan, the No.1 of the Profound Board, in Liu Chuanshen's mansion. At the time, the fastest speed he could achieve was 76 meters per second."

"Based on what you said, over the last four months, he has been practicing a single, advanced martial technique in the Hurricane Secret Room. If we assume that he has practiced his martial technique to succeed level, his speed will definitely have improved. I estimate that his speed will be at least 77 meters per second before he breaks through to the Earth Realm."

A chill came over Elder Yao. "Hall Master, supposing Zhang Ruochen obtains his fastest speed of 77 meters per second in the Black Realm, could he be listed in the top ten among this generation within Kunlun's Field?" Elder Yao asked.

Lei Jing nodded his head and answered, "Yes. After all, he has just attained the Earth Realm. It is too early for us to draw any conclusions now. If he can break through into the Heaven Realm within 5 years, I will definitely meet him in person."

Elder Yao frowned and said, "There are very few warriors who could reach the Heaven Realm before their thirties. Even after 5 years, Zhang Ruochen will still only be 22 years old. Could a 22-year-old warrior really break through into the Heaven Realm?"

Lei Jing gave a slight nod, and also thought that Zhang Ruochen would be unable to do it. But he mused for a while and said, "I think we could give priority to him on practice resources, and offer better treatment referring to warriors of Earth Board."

"There are only three warriors of the Earth Board in the whole Internal Academy. All of them are incredibly talented and deserve special treatment from the silver gowned Elders. But Zhang Ruochen is only in the Initial Stage of the Earth Realm. If we treat him the same as warriors of Earth Board, I think other students would be discontented." Elder Yao was a little worried.

Lei Jing smiled and answered, "You could assign a mission to him. If he can't become one of the top 10 in the Internal Academy within a year, you could then withdraw his privileges."

"Well, there's one more thing. Before I came, I found that when Zhang Ruochen was in the Black Realm, he ranked 37th on the Board of Bounty Hunter in Black Market. The reward for him was 14,700,000 silver coins. But now after attaining the Earth Realm, his reward will be much higher, which may attract many villains from the Black Market to hunt him down. I fear he won't be able to deal with them with his present cultivation." Elder Yao said.

Lei Jing answered, "Any strong man must go through a tough growth process. If we help him clear away all threats, it may not be in his favor. He has to face the crisis alone and overcome it himself. I believe this will be best for him."

Elder Yao nodded his head slightly and walked away.

...

After leaving Mount Saint Crossing, Zhang Ruochen went to get his token of internal student and officially become one of the internal students in the School of the Martial Market.

Being an internal students would definitely bring him a lot of benefits.

For instance, he could exchange his credit merits for a Practice Mansion and get his family to live in Devil Martial City where the School of the Martial Market would insure the safety of all the students' families.

In addition, all internal students would receive one drop of Half-Saint's Essence every month. They could also exchange their merit points for Half-Saint's Essence. One drop of Half-Saint's Essence would cost 200 merit points.

Of course, apart from the benefits, internal students should also help to handle affairs for the School.

They should complete at least one mission per quarter.

Fulfilling a task would help them get merit points.

Though Zhang Ruochen became an internal student, he was not in a hurry to exchange his merits for a Practice Mansion. Instead, he went to Duanmu Xingling's Practice Mansion.

"Have you broken through to the Earth Realm?" Duanmu Xingling was quite joyful and looked Zhang Ruochen up and down. Then she said with a charming smile, "I'm really curious about how strong you are now. How about having a battle with me right now?"

Zhang Ruochen smiled and answered, "Okay! I also want to know how powerful I have become."

It had been 8 months since Duanmu Xingling entered the Internal Academy. With the help of abundant practice resources from the Chikong Secret Mansion, her cultivation had reached the Advanced Stage of the Earth Realm. Such an awesome practice speed!

And most importantly, Blackie refined plenty of Icing Meridian Pills in Duanmu Xingling's Practice Mansion, all of which were consumed by Duanmu Xingling.

That's why she practiced so rapidly, or else she would have been stuck in the Mid Stage of the Earth Realm.

Just when Zhang Ruochen and Duanmu Xingling were about to start their duel, an unexpected visitor came to the Practice Mansion and stopped the battle.

That unexpected visitor was Huang Yanchen.

"Sister Chen, since our last mission of seeking colorful buckhorn in Black Wind Canyon, we haven't seen each other for a long time, right?" Sitting on the side of stone table, Duanmu Xingling ordered her maid to serve some tea with a smile.

Huang Yanchen and Zhang Ruochen also sat at the same table.

It seemed Huang Yanchen had not heard what Duanmu Xingling said. She stared at Zhang Ruochen and looked poker-faced. "You have become an internal student, haven't you?"

Zhang Ruochen remained calm and said with a faint smile, "I just made it today."

Huang Yanchen nodded and hesitated for a moment. Then she said, "I exchanged merits for a Practice Mansion for you. It's close to my mansion. Here is the key!"

Huang Yanchen took out a key and put it on the table.

Zhang Ruochen was startled by what Huang Yanchen had just said and his eyes twitched. He never thought Huang Yanchen would do this for him. He pondered for a moment and said, "Thank you! Senior sister apprentice Huang!"

"You don't need to thank me. I just don't like to see you living in junior sister apprentice Duanmu's mansion. Don't you know you will disturb her practice?" Huang Yanchen said.

Duanmu Xingling sighed slightly in her heart.

Zhang Ruochen also perceived the change in Huang Yanchen's tone. Previously, Huang Yanchen called Duanmu Xingling "Xingling". But now she called her "junior sister apprentice Duanmu".

"It was my living in senior sister apprentice Duanmu's Practice Mansion that drove them apart." Zhang Ruochen sighed.

Zhang Ruochen did not like this feeling.

All three of them fell into silence, making the atmosphere very awkward.

Duanmu Xingling broke the silence and said with a smile, "Umm… I'm going to take on a mission and need two helpers. Since junior fellow apprentice Zhang has attained the Earth Realm, we can work together to accomplish it. The reward for this mission is high, 600 merit points. If we complete it we will each get 200 merit points. What do you think?"

Zhang Ruochen knew that Duanmu Xingling had intentionally changed the subject. So he immediately asked, "What is the mission?"