609 The Ninth Day of September

"She is just being deliberately mystifying. Young master, I offer to break her miasma to expose her."

A bulky yeti warrior with a fierce look held a ten-meter spear. He was eager to jump down from the dragon bone warship to fight the woman in white on the boat.

Di Yi immediately glowered at the snowman warrior to overawe him into retreat.

Then Di Yi bowed to the woman in white in the distance, cupping his own hands. Di Yi genteelly asked, "Fairy, I'd like to invite you to board the dragon bone warship. We won't talk too late."

Her melodious voice replied, "You don't need to be so polite. Now, just answer my question."

Apparently, she did not intend to board the dragon bone warship.

As for the question that she had asked before, Di Yi appeared to be very prudent. After deliberating for a while, he replied, "If I could be the Master of Black Market, I would first unify the Black Market and establish a system."

Most of the Evil Warriors present were puzzled. The Black Market had always been unified, so how could it become unified again?

Only a few men understood Di Yi's meaning.

The woman in white nodded thoughtfully, and then added, "Since the ancient times, the Black Market has had a sophisticated system of profits. The Black Market of the Eastern Region has its own rules of profits, so does that of the Central Region. 800 years ago, even the Evil Emperor couldn't unify the Black Market and establish a system. How could you find a way to do it?"

Unhurriedly, Di Yi gave the answer that he had deliberated about for some time.

Along the Lishui River, the woman in white and Di Yi asked and answered interchangeably. They did not finish their conversation until sunset.

The woman in white seemed very satisfied with Di Yi's answers, and she even felt amazed sometimes. Evidently, the young man in his early twenties brought her a lot of surprises.

As the night fell, utter darkness covered the whole area, except for the pure holy light radiating from the woman in white. It shone upon the river, making it look like the Milky Way.

"As big as the world is, it belongs to the King. The unification of Kunlun's Field is inevitable. It will take the army of the imperial court a hundred years at least or a thousand years at most to enter and garrison Eastern Evil Land. By then, will the Black Market thoroughly disappear or not?" The woman in white asked.

This was a very sharp question. All the evil cultivators on the dragon bone warship became furious. Without Di Yi's suppression, they would have rushed forward to tear her into pieces.

"It won't," Di Yi answered simply.

And then, he added, "Nowadays, the imperial court is very influential, like the sun in the vault of heaven. However, there are still shadows even in the brightest part of the sun, where the sun is absent. As long as people have emotions, selfishness, and greed, the Black Market will exist. If it will perish one day, I guess, all of mankind will perish, too."

The woman in white nodded and asked no more questions. She took out a bright yellow scroll from her sleeves and suspended it in thin air.

"Swoosh--"

As she stretched out one of her slim fingers, white Holy Qi flew out of her fingertip and landed on the scroll, forming graceful, sacred inscriptions.

After a while, the scroll absorbed enough Holy Qi and turned into an imperial edict.

Suddenly, it changed into a streak of white light. It flew out, up the river, and it finally stopped over Di Yi's head.

Boom!

The strong power from the imperial edict forced the evil cultivators on the warship to kneel on the ground.

At this moment, they realized the true power of the woman in white. Those who intended to fight against the woman were terribly frightened, with their thighs trembling. Cold sweat ran from their foreheads and trickled onto the deck.

Even Di Yi knelt on one knee, stretched out his hands to hold up the imperial edict, and slowly opened it.

Although he had guessed her identity, he still felt a little surprised after reading the imperial edict. It said, "Heir Candidate of Kunlun Field."

"From now on, Di Yi, you are one of the Heir candidates of Kunlun Field, but you are not yet a real one. If you want to to be an heir, you should bring the imperial edict to the Sword Pavilion to visit me on the ninth day of September."

The ethereal voice still resounded across the water, but the woman in white had disappeared without a trace, and nobody had seen how she left.

All that was left was an ever-widening circle of ripples.

Di Yi slowly stood up and exhaled heavily, unconsciously squeezing the imperial edict.

"Young master, who is she? It's unbelievable that she could pick the Heir of Kunlun Field," An evil cultivator carefully asked.

All the people present looked at Di Yi and also felt curious.

Di Yi did not answer them. He just stared at the water arrogantly, and muttered, "She is indeed a world-renowned talent. We have no way to get close to her, but we must only see her from a distance. I'll see you in the Sword Pavilion on the ninth day of September."

A thousand miles away, a cyan boat flew over the clouds, heading south.

The woman in white sat with her legs crossed at the bow of the boat, took out a book, and unfolded it in front of her. Then she underlined Di Yi's name with a bronze pen, indicating that more attention shold be paid to this man.

Then, she added a comment after his name. She wrote, "He's more talented than the Evil Emperor in Martial Arts. He's intelligent, modest, and decisive, but less tolerant. His moral conduct ranks the third class."

In the book, there were another 21 names and relevant evaluations. Even so, Di Yi's evaluation could still be placed in the top five.

Even outstanding people have short-comings.

Actually, she thought highly of Di Yi.

"Next stop is Cyan Cloud County. The Demon Sorceress, Mu Lingxi, the Red Wish Emissary, Ye Honglei, and the Cyan-Robed Emissary, Qiao Yan, can all be evaluated together. The Black Market gives birth to talented people from generation to generation, but it also generates unremitting internal strife. Regrettably, nobody knows how many outstanding people died for this."

Even the Half-Saints of the Black Market would not interfere in the struggle for succession to young master of the Black Market Excellence Hall. So she, naturally, had no reason to interfere.

She sighed gently and closed the book.

She took out her Chinese ancient zither and elegantly put it in front herself to play.

As the zither sounded, the cyan boat turned into bright rays like meteors. Then, it disappeared in the southern sky at 10 times the prior speed.

When reaching the First Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm, Zhang Ruochen swallowed a drop of Xuanwu Sacred Blood. At that time, he almost died of self-immolation because he was unable to withstand the power of the Holy Blood.

Now, his cultivation had reached the Mid Stage of the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm. He had achieved a stage of "Skin Refining to Gold and Bone Refining to Jade." The physical quality of his flesh had improved enough that he could endure the power of Xuanwu Sacred Blood.

For the past four months, Zhang Ruochen's cultivation had been advancing rapidly. Finally, he had successfully reached the peak of the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm in one fell swoop.

Zhang Ruochen's whole body radiated harsh golden rays, and raging power was colliding in his meridians. He was like a volcano ready to erupt.

The power in his body swelled to the utmost extent.

He stood up suddenly with his legs bent. His muscles and bones seemed to be integrated as a whole, and he began to enact Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm technique.

Through practicing the power of palm strikes, he began to absorb the expanding power in his body and to integrate the power of Xuanwu with his own power. In this way, he was achieving mastery.

"Elephant Galloping."

"Dragon in the Sky!"

...

"Dragon Shape and Elephant Shadow."

"Dragon and Elephant Return to Earth!"

...

"Nine Elephants Power!"

"Divine Dragon's Steal."

" Dragon and Elephant Furnace."

There were seven palm techniques. Zhang Ruochen practiced them again and again, acting as dynamic as a tiger and filling the whole area with illusory images of Divine Dragon and Divine Elephant.

Since he successfully practiced the seventh technique "Dragon and Elephant Furnace", his Dragon and Elephant Prajna Palm was improved to the inferior Class of Ghost. When it came to the power, his palm technique could be compared with that of the mid-class of Ghost Level.

After practicing the palm technique for three days, Zhang Ruochen was completely exhausted. He tried to absorb the remaining power of Xuanwu Sacred Blood.

By virtue of his present cultivation, he could manage to unblock the first holy meridian, the Yin Qiao Holy Meridian.

Once he made it, he would be one step away from the Fourth Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm. Then, he could turn Genuine Qi into rare Holy Qi through his holy meridian. If practiced properly, the power of martial techniques from Spiritual Qi would be multiplied, and his Holy Weapon would also have more power.

So, the first three changes of the Fish-Dragon Realm were devoted to improving a monks' physical quality. Monks needed to be physically vigorous enough to withstand the shock brought on by Holy Qi.

At the same time, monks could step on the Holy Road only by unblocking the Holy Meridian and practicing into the first wisp of Holy Qi.

Unblocking the holy meridian was very dangerous. Therefore, it could only be conducted with good preparation.

In this process, the first holy meridian was the most crucial and the most dangerous.

Normally, monks of the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm could only unblock the first holy meridian with the help of at least one Half-Saint.

This was called "Guidance."

A Half-Saint 's guidance was necessary for monks of the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm to enter the Holy Road.

Without a Half-Saint's guidance, monks of the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm could not open the first holy meridian on their own. The death rate of those who attempted to do so reached 99%. It was nearly impossible.

Of course, there were exceptions.

Some unique treasures, such as Holy Source and Half-Saint's Light, could also help the monks to unblock their holy meridians.

Zhang Ruochen owned the Dragon Pearl, so actually, he had the ability to unlock the first holy meridian on his own. But, unblocking the holy meridian by himself was very dangerous. He could reduce the risk by taking a lot of time to prepare.

"If I open up the first holy meridian now, the probability of success is no more than 20%."

Zhang Ruochen shook his head. The probability of death was too great a risk.

Therefore, he decided to train for a certain time. He thought he would try to open up the first holy meridian when he had at least a 70% chance of success.

Next, Zhang Ruochen took out the lizard skin that the Red Wish Emissary gave him, spread it flat on the floor, and started to read it.

The hide recorded a third-level thunderbolt spell.

Lightning Fire Vortex.

A third-level spell was ten times harder than a second-level one. It was complicated and tedious, and it also required extremely high spiritual power. Masters of Spiritual Power under the 43rd level could barely perform a third-level spell.