Chapter 172: Refusal to Break off the Engagement
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Backing away 30 meters, Zhang Ruochen stood on his tiptoes and re-balanced his body.
Huang Yanchen also retreated 30 meters backward and landed lightly just like a petal.
Staring at Zhang Ruochen again, her beautiful face looked quite surprised, and she asked, “How could your strength be so powerful? Have you reached the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm?”
After all, Huang Yanchen’s combat forces could be comparable to the top 10 superior on the Profound Board. When she was in the Completion of the Black Realm, she practiced the Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon first and then refined one drop of Sacred Liquid.
Now she had entered the Earth Realm and was about to break into Mid Stage of the Earth Realm.
Thus, she could also be regarded as one of the strongest among all of the warriors of the Earth Realm. However, even with such advantages, their fight had ended in a draw.
Given this, she suspected that Zhang Ruochen could only be this powerful if he had attained the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm.
By reaching the Ultimate Realm, it meant practicing one realm higher than the other warriors.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head and answered, “Not yet.”
“That’s impossible!”
Huang Yanchen fixed her gaze on him and said, “Then you must have entered the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm. Otherwise, it couldn’t be done.”
Zhang Ruochen neither confirmed nor denied it, but said, “Senior sister apprentice Huang, since I have held up against your sword technique, I will keep the dragon horn. Is that okay with you?”
Because Zhang Ruochen did not deny it, Huang Yanchen became more convinced of her conjecture and thought that he could have already reached the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm.
“This is not a small matter. Once it spreads, it will definitely cause a stir and lead Zhang Ruochen to his death.”
Since there was an outsider present, she stopped questioning Zhang Ruochen.
In her eyes, Zi Qian was a stranger and, thus, she could not allow her to know some secrets.
Huang Yanchen then brought the topic back to the dragon horn and stared at Zhang Ruochen with less haughtiness but more coolness. She asked, “You can keep the dragon horn, but do you know its purpose?”
Zhang Ruochen answered, “I think it must be a key to an important place. Perhaps it’s in the Chikong Secret Mansion.”
Huang Yanchen shook her head and said, “No.”
“Why not?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Zhang Ruochen felt as if Huang Yanchen knew something.
Huang Yanchen glanced at Zi Qian coldly and said, “Junior sister apprentice Zi, I’m going to have an important talk with Zhang Ruochen. Could you please give us some privacy?”
Zi Qian glanced at Zhang Ruochen and turned around immediately without saying a word. She walked away out of sight.
Seeing Zi Qian had walked far away, Huang Yanchen was quite pleased and nodded with satisfaction. She said to Zhang Ruochen, “It was 500 years ago, Qianshui Commandery also joined the war against the Four-winged Earth Dragon. On the secret scroll of the Royal Family, some unknown things were recorded about that battle, and the dragon horn is one of those things.”
“According to what the secret scroll of the Royal Family recorded, when the Terran Army killed the Four-winged Earth Dragon 500 years ago, they found a dragon horn from its body with which they opened the gate of the Fourth Level Dragon Cave in the Chikong Secret Mansion and plundered nearly 90% of the treasures.”
“That dragon horn mentioned before is still kept in the Treasure-house of the Royal Family in Qianshui Commandery.”
Zhang Ruochen squinted his eyes and said, “There should be a pair of dragon horns. I know that one could open the gate of the Fourth Level Dragon Cave, but what’s the purpose of another dragon horn?”
“The Four-winged Earth Dragon used its two dragon horns to refine keys, which showed the great importance it attached to these two places.”
“Thus, there must be another sanctum somewhere at the same level as the Fourth Level Dragon Cave.”
Thinking of this, Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen blurted out almost at the same time. “Underwater Dragon Palace!”
Within the area of Omen Ridge, there were two middle-level heritages built by the Four-winged Earth Dragon—the Chikong Secret Mansion, and the Underwater Dragon Palace.
Located at the bottom of the Tongming River, the Underwater Dragon Palace was more dangerous than the Chikong Secret Mansion, so far, no one could open the gate of the Dragon Palace.
Only warriors below the level of the Heaven Realm could survive the array attack and enter into the boundary of the Dragon Palace to seek treasures.
In the Four-winged Earth Dragon’s eyes, warriors whose cultivation was lower than the Heaven Realm were as weak as ants, and they were not taken into account when the Four-winged Earth Dragon was setting up an array to protect its Dragon Palace.
Even if warriors below the Heaven Realm were sheltered from the array and advanced to the boundary of the Underwater Dragon Palace, they were still confronted with all kinds of dangers. Supposing that 10 warriors went inside, only two or three of them could come out alive.
Hence 90% of the treasure in the Fourth Level Dragon Cave was taken away. The students of the Chikong Secret Mansion had also searched for the remainder for hundreds of years.
But 99% of the treasure in the Underwater Dragon Palace had not been plundered and was still locked inside the Dragon Palace.
After all, that was the Dragon Palace of the Four-winged Earth Dragon, a lair for a savage beast at the Saint level. It was hard to imagine how many valuable things existed there.
No wonder why Huang Yanchen sent Zi Qian away. She would be able to guess that this dragon horn was likely to be the key to open the Underwater Dragon Palace.
Huang Yanchen said with her arms folded on her chest, “Don’t let anyone know about this, including your father, the Yunwu Commandery Prince and my father, the Qianshui Commandery Prince. The Royal Family has too many sons. If all of them know the secret and go to unlock the Underwater Dragon Palace, how much could we obtain in the end?”
Zhang Ruochen nodded and said, “It’s better to keep fewer people knowing about it. If the news spreads, the consequences would be horrific. But with just only the two of us, could we steal all the treasure in the Underwater Dragon Palace?”
Zhang Ruochen cast his eyes on Zi Qian in the distance and wanted to bring her along. After all, it was Zi Qian who had found the dragon horn. She deserved a share.
Huang Yanchen looked dignified and said, “Only warriors below the Heaven Realm can withstand the array in the Underwater Dragon Palace. Of course, the stronger cultivation you possess, the higher chance of survival you will have. Don’t worry about it. We could discuss it when we enter the Internal School of the School of the Martial Market.”
Suddenly, Huang Yanchen stared at Zhang Ruochen with a wide smile and a very complicated look on her face.
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled and asked, “Why are you looking at me?”
Huang Yanchen smiled and said, “You have attained the Ultimate Realm of the Yellow Realm, haven’t you?”
“Right.” Zhang Ruochen responded frankly.
He was not a timid and deceptive man that did not dare to admit the truth.
Since it was a fact, he admitted it candidly.
Huang Yanchen gasped and her eyes lit up immediately. There was an unspeakable joy in her heart, as if she had found her loving treasure.
Arriving at the Ultimate Realm meant that he had practiced one higher realm than other warriors.
“What a high talent he has to be able to accomplish this!”
Huang Yanchen asked, “What’s your fastest burst of speed currently?”
“Currently 75 meters per second,” Zhang Ruochen answered.
Huang Yanchen nearly suffocated but still said coldly, “With your present cultivation, you could become No.1 on the Profound Board in Omen Ridge. You even have a chance to break into the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm.”
She could not imagine how terrifying it would be if Zhang Ruochen reached the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm.
Huang Yanchen was a normal woman who also adored geniuses with great talents.
In the past, she thought that Zhang Tiangui had amazing talents and regarded him as a target. But now, she found that her fiance beside her was more outstanding than Zhang Tiangui because he had more astonishing gifts.
In her eyes, Zhang Tiangui lagged far behind Zhang Ruochen.
“I’d better not break off this engagement in three years. If I do, other women would be overjoyed and benefit a lot.” Huang Yanchen touched her chin lightly with her beautiful fingers and thought this with a bright smile in her eyes.
“Now that they were engaged, there was no reason to regret it.”
Certainly, she would not tell Zhang Ruochen her thoughts for she had to maintain a noble and cool temperament in front of him.
Huang Yanchen glanced at Zhang Ruochen and said, “I can give you a helping hand if you want to challenge the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm. If you need any practice resources or even the Sacred Liquid, just tell me and I can get some for you. Of course, there’s no free lunch. You’ll have to make it up to me in the future. After all, we have only made a fake engagement and we’re not so familiar with each other.”
Zhang Ruochen looked at Huang Yanchen with a smile. For the first time, he thought that senior sister apprentice Huang was a good person that he could make friends with, despite her hot temper.
Of course, they could make friends only when they broke off their engagement in three years.
Suddenly, Huang Yanchen looked terribly grave and added, “One more thing I forget to remind you of—the Chikong Secret Mansion has become quite dangerous now. Not only are the heretics from the black market escaping, but also a bloodsucking monster has been coming out. I decide to put an early end to my Intermediate Relic Exploration Test and leave the Chikong Secret Mansion right away.”
As soon as Huang Yanchen finished speaking, Zi Qian, standing in the distance, suddenly screamed out as if she was under attack.
With a quick response, Zhang Ruochen and Huang Yanchen displayed the Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon almost simultaneously and dashed toward Zi Qian, dissolving into two black shadows.
