Chapter 81: Poisoning
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
Zhang Ruochen's Qi Lake had expanded 10 times its previous size when he reached the Mid Stage of the Black Realm. That allowed him to store a lot more Genuine Qi.
A large amount of Genuine Qi he had already consumed recovered rapidly and became even more energetic. It flowed throughout his 36 Meridians and it soon created a large circle of vital energy.
"Swish."
He had released his Martial Soul and demonstrated the Space Domain.
When he was at the Initial Stage of the Black Realm, the Space Domain could only cover a space with a surrounding area of 10 meters. Now at the Mid Stage, the size of the Space Domain had enlarged to 30 meters.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen's mastery of the Space Domain had matured.
A Poisonous Bee suddenly flew into the Space Domain and attacked Zhang Ruochen. He thought for a second and activated the power of the space warps, attemping to change the flight path of the Poisonous Bee.
Zhang Ruochen's mastery of the Space Domain was so sophisticated that 10 Poisonous Bees would not be able to harm him even if he stood still.
"Swish!"
Zhang Ruochen swung his sword. The Poisonous Bee was cut in half and fell to the ground.
Qing You was standing nearby. He chuckled. "Even though you've broken through the realms, it won't change your final destination—dying by my hand!"
"Is it now?" Zhang Ruochen said.
"Power of Rainbow-like Animal Spirits."
Zhang Ruochen's body was surrounded by a light Blood Aura. With the stimulation of the Blood Aura, he dashed out and attacked Qing You with an explosive speed of 38 meters per second.
The speed he obtained surpassed most of the Dawn State warriors of the Black Realm.
"Elephant Galloping!"
The Genuine Qi inside Zhang Ruochen's body surged towards his arms. His palms were filled by the Genuine Qi; even the air moved with his hands.
"Green Devil Hand!"
Even though Zhang Ruochen had reached the Mid Stage of the Black Realm, Qing You wasn't afraid of him. There was only one thing Zhang Ruochen could do—die.
"Boom!"
Two powerful forces clashed together and created a deafening sound.
A strong wind circled around them, stripping the nearby trees of their leaves.
"Puff!"
Qing You spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt a powerful force roll through his arms that shook his internal organs.
Zhang Ruochen pressed his palm on top of Qing You's. The power of his palm was getting stronger and stronger and kept forcing Qing You back.
"Boom!"
Qing You slid back 10 meters and bumped into the trunk of a huge tree. Again he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Your power... How is your power stronger than mine? You are definitely going to die today!" Qing You's face was distorted and he yelled. "Animal Spirits Fixing Beasts!"
The blood inside Qing You's body seemed to burn. A large blood fog appeared behind his back. It combined together and turned into a two-meter tall image of a wolf.
"Animal Spirits Fixing Beasts" was the signature move of reaching the Dawn State of the Black Realm.
Boiling Animal Spirits, Power of Rainbow-like Animal Spirits, Soaring Animal Spirits, Animal Spirits Fixing Beasts...
For each Black Realm a warrior passed through, the Spiritual Blood in their bodies would be greatly increased and all sorts of phenomenal changes would occur.
If warriors at the Initial Stage of the Black Realm exploded out the power of Spiritual Blood and reached the "Boiling Animal Spirits", their fighting force would be increased by 10 percent.
Warriors at the Mid Stage of the Black Realm, who used the power of Spiritual Blood and reached the "Power of Rainbow-like Animal Spirits", would see a 30 percent increase.
Warriors at the Advanced Stage of the Black Realm could raise their fighting force by 50 percent if they used the Spiritual Blood power of the "Soaring Animal Spirits".
When warriors reached the Dawn State of the Black Realm, the Spiritual Blood inside their bodies would condense into the shadow of a beast, and their power would be incredible. Once the warriors unleashed the power of their Spiritual Blood, their fighting force would double quickly.
Even if warriors of the Advanced Stage of the Black Realm were extremely talented, they would have difficulty defeating warriors of the Dawn State of the Black Realm.
It was said that by reaching the "Divinity of the Spiritual Blood" at the Completion of the Black Realm, the power of the Spiritual Blood of the warriors would be able to double in a short amount of time.
The power of Qing You had now doubled and all the Meridians in his body had thickened. He unleashed a palm towards Zhang Ruochen and sent him flying seven meters.
"Whoosh!"
Qing You didn't allow him to catch his breath. He had a sharp sickle in his hand and ran towards him. In a flash, he stood before him.
The inscriptions on the sickle had been activated and displayed a dazzling blood light. Together with the powerful knife energy, he swung towards Zhang Ruochen, aiming for his neck.
"Space warps!"
Space distorted again. Qing You swung the sickle over the top of his head.
Qing You had finally realized that something was wrong. His facial expression changed and said, "How is it possible? What technique did you use? No! You didn't escape from the attack of the Death Sickle. There was a distortion in space."
"I can't believe you finally understand. Anyway, you're finished!"
Zhang Ruochen Whamed his sword back-handed. It passed through Qing You's throat and pierced through his body.
Qing You's eyes widened and he couldn't reconcile he had lost. His entire body shook severely and blood poured out from his mouth.
"Bang!" His body fell heavily to the ground.
The most outstanding genius of the Qing family in a century fell to the sword of Zhang Ruochen.
If he hadn't encountered Zhang Ruochen and with his talent, he would have definitely reached the Heaven Realm in 20 years, and become a martial arts legend.
Fortunately, Zhang Ruochen had broken through the Mid Stage of the Black Realm before the fight. Otherwise, it would have been hard to tell who would have lived and who would have died.
After killing Qing You, Zhang Ruochen felt relieved. He soon felt a feeling of weakness emerging. His sight darkened and he almost passed out.
"He is seriously injured and lost a lot of blood!"
Zhang Ruochen couldn't stop himself from falling to his knees. He supported himself with his palms on the ground and tried to keep himself awake.
He took the Saint Stone Pill for healing and sat cross-legged on the ground. Then he activated the Genuine Qi in his body in order to refine the Pill Spirit of the Saint Stone Pill.
Within a minute, Zhang Ruochen's injury was 20 percent recovered, but he was still very weak.
He would be in grave danger if he encountered any other warriors or savage beasts.
Suddenly, there were rustling sounds above his head.
A massive black shadow plunged from the sky and landed in front of Zhang Ruochen.
He looked at the shadow closely and saw that it was a giant black cat, as big as a lion. It had a pair of black wings.
"Meow!"
Blackie made a cat sound. His body contracted gradually and returned to its normal size. He moaned. "I'm so exhausted! That guy's cultivation was beyond my expectations. I can't believe he's a Tamer and called for a number of carrion crows. Otherwise, I'd definitely have killed him!"
When he recognized that it was Blackie who was standing in front of him, he felt relieved and asked, "Prince Huo Xing escaped?"
"Yes!"
"I almost consumed all the Genuine Qi within my body just to fight him. Young man, give me a Spiritual Crystal. I need to recover my Genuine Qi," Blackie said.
Zhang Ruochen took out a Spiritual Crystal and threw it to Blackie. He asked with curiosity, "How has your cultivation improved so greatly?"
While Zhang Ruochen had cultivated the Medium State of the Yellow Realm, Blackie's fighting force had just reached the Medium State of the Yellow Realm. He was also weaker compared to Zhang Ruochen.
Yet the fighting force that Blackie had just demonstrated was powerful enough to confront warriors of the Dawn State of the Black Realm. Surprisingly, he fought well against Prince Huo Xing and was able to escape.
"I've told you before, my power has been sealed in the Yin Yang Wooden Glyph. You are the only person who can open that seal. The stronger your cultivation, the more seals you will be able to open, and my power will also grow stronger," Blackie added.
"What happens when your seals are fully opened?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Blackie looked up and said with pride, "That will be the time when I return to earth. Everyone will have to heed my command. All you have to do is follow and serve me. I will make sure that all the people of the Kunlun's Field will fear and obey you."
Blackie sighed. "Unfortunately, the cunning monk has a backup plan in case someone like you opens up the seal. With your cultivation, you'll never be able to open up all the seals. Now I will go to the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel to recover my Genuine Qi. Young man, give me a Spiritual Crystal."
Zhang Ruochen didn't respond to what Blackie had said and instead asked, "There are lots of Spiritual Crystals in the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel. Take them if you want. By the way, how much time will you need to recover your Genuine Qi?"
"With the help of the Spiritual Crystal, I will need half a day," Blackie replied.
After Blackie went into the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel, Zhang Ruochen stood up and started searching the battlefield. It seemed that even Blackie himself knew that he would never be able to escape from the seal of the Yin Yang Wooden Glyph.
Moreover, he dared not harm Zhang Ruochen. If he were to die, it would again be forever sealed in the Yin Yang Wooden Graph.
Qing You was dead as well as the other seven warriors from Square Commandery. Only Prince Huo Xing escaped.
Zhang Ruochen searched Qing You's body and found 18 Beast's Eyeballs which equated to nine inferior-class level-two savage beasts that he had hunted down.
There was also a Two-Star VIP Card, 38 Spiritual Crystal, and 300 silver coins.
Zhang Ruochen didn't place too much hope in the Two-Star VIP Card. If he couldn't find Qing You's blood relatives, he wouldn't be able to withdraw them, so it wouldn't matter how many silver coins were on the card.
He picked up the Death Sickle Qing You had used and transferred Genuine Qi into it. He discovered that there were altogether 23 inscriptions carved on the Death Sickle which classified it as a fifth level Genuine Martial Arm. Its value was at least 10,000 silver coins.
The Death Sickle was indeed an expensive and precious weapon. He would make a lot of money once he sold it.
He kept searching the other seven warriors and found Beast's Eyeballs, weapons, Spiritual Crystals, and silver coins. He stored it all in the internal space of the Time and Space Spinel.
He knew that it wasn't the right time to count the treasures. Prince Huo Xing could come back anytime. With his current condition, he was surely not strong enough to defeat him.
He had to leave right away to find a safe place to rest and count all the items he had collected.
Suddenly he thought of Zi Qian, so he entered the forest where he fought with Qing You to see if he could find any trace of her.
"Ahh... Help..."
He heard a woman sobbing and moaning.
He separated the dense, thick grass and saw Zi Qian laying on the ground. She put her hand to her chest and shivered when she saw Zhang Ruochen. Her face turned red and said with a weak voice, "I... I'm poisoned... Help... me..."
She didn't seem to be asking for help with her usual soft and tempting voice, but more moaning the request.
She didn't look like she was in good condition. Her eyes were fuzzy, her eyelashes trembled, and her red lips were slightly open. A layer of pink covered her snow-white skin which smelled of sweat.
"Poisoned? What type of poison?"
Zhang Ruochen saw there was a mark of a black palm on Zi Qian's right shoulder that was caused by Qing You's Green Devil Hand.
It was the toxin of Green Devil Hand!
"Wait... It seems like there's more than one type of toxin!"
Zhang Ruochen kept checking her body. He found a bloody wound on her stomach, caused by Poisonous Bees.
There were three wounds on her body in total. On her neck, stomach, and left leg.
Her long legs shivered slightly and twisted together so hard that her culottes looked like they were going to be torn apart. He wasn't sure if it was because of the pain or something else.