Chapter 54: The Hongjin Pearl Fruit

Who was this?

The only son of the Zhennan King, the most powerful minister in the Tianxuan Kingdom!

And he was wailing and calling Zhang Xuan 'grandfather'? Did I hear that right...

Cheng Bo felt as if thunderbolts were crashing before his eyes, on the verge of fainting.

I just went to get a measuring stone pillar... What happened? Can someone tell me...

"Ahem, well, Young Brother Zhang, there will be plenty of opportunities to spar in the future. Bai Xun is injured and needs to recover! The measuring stone pillar is here; I think you should test your strength now!"

Seeing the awkward scene, Master Lu Chen quickly interrupted.

"Alright!" Seeing that Bai Xun no longer wished to spar, Zhang Xuan shook his head regretfully, looked at the measuring stone pillar that had just been inserted into the groove, walked over in a few steps, and smiled slightly: "Actually, I tested it just yesterday, and it was only about four ding of strength. Testing today or not doesn't matter much; the difference shouldn't be great..."

He had beaten Yao Han into a pulp early this morning, and before that, he had tested his strength—eight ding!

He had been busy all day, and without a cultivation technique and with no acupoints opened, his strength shouldn't have increased. As for the Heavenly Dao Golden Body he had cultivated, in Zhang Xuan's view, even if his physical body had improved, it couldn't be stronger than his true qi!

As for why he said four ding instead of the truth, it was simple: that was the peak strength of the Dingli realm. He didn't want to reveal too much; at most, he would hold back half his strength when testing.

"Since it's already brought over, test it!" Master Lu Chen said.

"Alright!" No longer refusing, Zhang Xuan smiled lightly, determined to use only half his strength, and punched the stone pillar before him.

The fist wind howled, and his power was like thunder.

Bang!

A flash of light, and characters slowly emerged.

"See, it's four ding..." Seeing the characters appear, Zhang Xuan waved his hand with a smile and turned his head to speak, but before he could finish, he saw Bai Xun, Master Lu Chen, Huang Yu, and the others staring at him as if he were a monster.

Their eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

He looked down at himself—nothing unusual, right?

"Look again... at the measuring stone pillar!" Huang Yu couldn't help saying.

"What about the measuring stone pillar? Isn't it just four ding? Why so surprised..."

He turned to look, and as he did, Zhang Xuan's body swayed, nearly falling to the ground. Behind the 'four' he had just seen, two more characters had appeared: 'nineteen'.

Together, it read... forty-nine!

"I just punched out... forty-nine ding?"

Zhang Xuan himself was startled.

He had tested eight ding of strength early this morning, and he had deliberately held back half his strength just now—how could he have achieved forty-nine ding?

If he hadn't held back half his strength, wouldn't that mean his punch was close to a hundred ding of force?

The peak of the fifth martial realm, Dingli, was four ding of strength, and the peak of the Acupoint Opening realm did not exceed eighty ding. A punch of a hundred ding would mean he could rival, or even surpass, the strength of a sixth-level martial artist in the Acupoint Opening realm!

This...

"Could it be... that this measuring stone pillar is broken?"

A thought popped into his mind, and Zhang Xuan couldn't help saying.

"The pillar isn't broken. Didn't you just break through in the study? With a breakthrough in cultivation, your strength greatly increased. The key point is, you haven't adapted to this strength and don't know it, which is why you beat Bai Xun so badly!"

Master Lu Chen, seeing his own idea confirmed, explained.

He had originally wanted to say that he himself had also been beaten badly, but stopped at the critical moment. After all, he was a master and had to mind his reputation...

"A breakthrough in cultivation? From four ding to forty-nine ding? Did he open forty-five acupoints all at once?"

Not hearing the explanation was one thing, but after hearing it, Bai Xun and Huang Yu nearly fainted on the spot.

Was this a joke?

In the sixth martial realm, Acupoint Opening, one opens the body's acupoints to increase cultivation. Each acupoint opened adds one ding of strength.

Legend has it that the human body has 108 acupoints, but only 72 can be opened, and there is a specific order to opening them. Each person's constitution is different, requiring a different order to achieve the best results. Without finding the method, one can only open thirty or forty acupoints in a lifetime and then be unable to progress further.

Normally, acupoints are opened one by one, and strength increases gradually by one ding at a time. A sudden increase of forty-five ding...

Brother, are you trying to defy the heavens!

We've seen breakthroughs, but never... a breakthrough like this!

In fact, not only were the others stunned and dizzy with shock, unable to believe it, but even Zhang Xuan didn't know what was going on.

He had only cultivated the Heavenly Dao Golden Body, and it had brought such progress? Increasing his strength by ninety ding?

Under normal circumstances, casually throwing Master Lu Chen away and defeating Bai Xun should have made him realize he had made great progress and his strength had increased, rather than being completely unaware.

But as a transmigrator, he had only been cultivating for a day or two. Being able to control his cultivation and exert a certain amount of strength was already good enough. Expecting him to have precise control and perfect mastery over his strength was too much to ask!

It was like an ordinary person suddenly gaining superhuman strength. At first, they would certainly be unaccustomed and might not even understand it.

Zhang Xuan was in that situation now. Originally having only eight ding of strength, he had suddenly increased by ninety ding, more than ten times. Moreover, it was his physical strength, which was hard to detect... It would be strange if he had realized it in advance!

It was already good that he hadn't beaten Bai Xun into a meat patty on the spot.

"Young Brother Zhang, did you really... open forty-five acupoints just now?"

Seeing him dazed, Master Lu Chen couldn't help asking.

Opening forty-five acupoints at once—this had never been heard of... But if not, how could his strength have increased so dramatically?

"I... am still at the peak of the Dingli realm; my cultivation hasn't advanced. It's just that... my physical strength has increased a bit!" Zhang Xuan said.

"Physical strength?" Master Lu Chen was astonished, full of disbelief: "I've heard that there are some heavenly treasures in the world that, when consumed, can make the body comparable to steel and grant strength equivalent to the peak of the Acupoint Opening realm. Can... cultivation also achieve this?"

"Uh... I seem to have eaten an unknown fruit today. At first, I felt hot all over but didn't pay attention. It might have been then that my physical strength suddenly increased!" Zhang Xuan said.

As a modern person, he naturally knew the principle that an innocent man may possess a jewel and thus incur guilt. If he really said that he had reached this level just by cultivating for a short while, countless people would covet his technique and demand it!

Some might even capture him for research.

Since Master Lu Chen mentioned that heavenly treasures could greatly enhance physical strength, he might as well take the opportunity.

"A stroke of luck! This is truly a great stroke of luck!" Master Lu Chen did not suspect anything.

In fact, it wasn't that he didn't suspect, but even if he did, he would have to believe it!

Cultivating for an hour and having physical strength increase by dozens of ding?

Wasn't that just daydreaming?

As ridiculous as a man giving birth!

Better to believe that than to believe this.

"May I ask what that fruit you ate looked like?" Master Lu Chen continued.

"What did it look like?" Zhang Xuan scratched his head. He had made it up on the spot; how would he know what it looked like? But since he was pressed, if he didn't say, he would certainly be suspected. So he said: "It was a red fruit..."

Earlier, when reading in the academy's library, he seemed to have seen a similar record, but it was a travelogue legend about eating a red fruit. Now he had to take a shot in the dark and try his luck.

"Red? Could it be vermilion? That's it!"

Master Lu Chen seemed to think of something and breathed rapidly.

"Master knows it?"

"It's the [Hongjin Pearl Fruit]! Legend has it that eating it can directly greatly increase one's physical strength, making even the peak of the Acupoint Opening realm unable to contend!" Master Lu Chen said excitedly.

"Hongjin Pearl Fruit?"

Zhang Xuan looked puzzled.

Could it be... that such a thing really existed?