Chu Tian naturally did not know that the clone he had painstakingly created had already been used by that old scoundrel Dao Tian as a stepping stone.
When he first chose a character for his clone, he thought he could choose freely.
In reality, Dao Tian, the old fellow, had drunk too much and fallen asleep.
Chu Tian would likely curse loudly if he knew the reason.
Not only did he dupe him for his main profession, but he also wanted to dupe his clone.
After meditating, Chu Tian carefully savored the details of the previous battle.
This was the first time he had achieved enlightenment in combat. In the past, he would simply crush his opponents violently and beat them to a pulp from the start.
Therefore, he had no experience to draw upon. Fighting against Lin Chi after his transformation had helped him grow immensely.
The main reason was that Lin Chi was strong enough after his transformation; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to withstand Chu Tian's attacks, which were at eighty to ninety percent of his full strength.
While he was in his meditative state, the Lin siblings did not rush him.
Lin Chi, the elder sibling, entered a state of exhaustion after dispelling his berserk state.
They rested where they were, while Lin Yu busied herself with helping him recover his strength.
The reason Lin Chi dared to transform and chase after Lin Ran was all thanks to Xiao Yu's presence.
Xiao Yu could keep him sober; otherwise, he wouldn't have risked his second brother's life.
If he had accidentally beaten him to death, there would be nowhere to turn for regret.
After an unknown amount of time, dawn broke, and the sun rose above the sea of clouds.
A ray of sunlight shone on Chu Tian's face.
He slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of light appeared.
At that moment, the Lin siblings felt the sunlight suddenly dim.
Lin Yu looked at Chu Tian curiously. Her keen intuition told her that Chu Tian was different.
Upon closer inspection, she couldn't pinpoint what was different.
Chu Tian's lips curved slightly. Only he knew where his change lay.
In the Heavenly Dao world, reaching level forty-five meant reaching the Qi Nurturing Realm, as Lin Yu had previously explained to him.
Dao Tian, this time around, had also played the role of a good teacher to some extent.
Under Chu Tian's interrogation and scorn, he had explained the cultivation and profundity of the Qi Nurturing Realm to Chu Tian.
"Nurturing Qi" meant nurturing the primal ancestral qi.
It was also known as "vast righteous qi."
In the Qi Nurturing Realm, the most important aspect was the marvelousness of "guarding."
Observe the meaning of the character "guard" (守). It has a shelter on top and a "square inch" (方寸) below. The "square inch" refers to a precious spot.
This precious spot was neither the upper dan tian (within the spirit altar) nor the lower dan tian, but the central dan tian's Huang Ting, the central palace.
Throughout the night, Chu Tian accelerated the circulation of the spirit soul power within his spirit altar, rapidly pouring it into the spirit altar and the branches and leaves of the island in the lake.
This operation accelerated the downward flow of his spirit soul.
Simultaneously, he compressed the qi within his body, circulated it to his non-existent dan tian, and infused it from the roots of the tree trunk.
The qi flowed upwards along the tree trunk.
The spirit soul and the qi met at the central palace. The two energies of different attributes intertwined, circulating endlessly.
Gradually, a chemical reaction occurred, the nature of which Chu Tian did not understand.
There, five tender buds condensed on the tree trunk.
It was precisely these rootless tender buds that caused the change in Chu Tian.
After they grew, they extended in the direction of Chu Tian's five internal organs.
Although they couldn't reach them, Chu Tian knew that their target was his five internal organs.
Perhaps, they would embed themselves within the five internal organs, just as the tree crown penetrated the spirit altar.
In the chaotic world, Dao Tian saw Chu Tian's actions and initially muttered.
"Just mess around blindly! You're courting death endlessly."
However, he did not stop him, letting him do as he pleased. He had already obtained the opportunity.
If there were too many of his own influences in his growth process, it could only frame his developmental direction.
This was also why he never intervened when Chu Tian was not in a life-or-death situation.
Even his life and death, he himself could not interfere too much.
However, when the five tender buds finally appeared, Dao Tian, who had been watching the show, had his eyeballs pop out in shock.
This...
He didn't know what mutation had occurred to the Tree of Life.
Because it had never grown within anyone's body before.
This was the first time in billions of years that it had appeared within someone's body.
And Chu Tian, this "waste physique of the myriad worlds," seemed to have only existed in legends.
"Chu Tian, you're awake. Let's set off!" Lin Yu, seeing him open his eyes, stepped forward and stared intently into his eyes, saying.
"En!" Chu Tian replied with a smile.
The four of them walked on the mountain ridge without incident. After about four to five hours.
Lin Chi stopped and looked back, saying, "We're almost there!"
Chu Tian's heart trembled. Finally, they were almost there?
Luo Luo... I'm coming!
After walking for another half an hour, during which they encountered more than a dozen strange people.
Chu Tian knew they were all heading to the Luo family.
They were strangers to each other, so no one spoke. Everyone walked their own path, maintaining a relatively safe distance from each other.
Soon, everyone arrived at the edge of a cliff.
An iron chain stretched outward, leading directly into the depths of the sea of clouds.
Only about ten meters of the iron chain were faintly visible; beyond that, nothing could be seen.
As they approached this area, the previously quiet mountaintop became noisy.
It turned out that a few people were blocking everyone's path next to the iron chain.
"If you don't pay, get lost!" These people were arrogant and looked down on everyone, speaking with their noses in the air.
"On what grounds? We're going to the Luo family, so why are you people from the Zhang family blocking the way and charging fees?"
"That's right, call the Luo family out!"
"Yeah, call the Luo family out to see! Zhang family members are blocking their doorway and robbing people!"
In the crowd, there were all sorts of comments, and naturally, no one was willing to hand over anything good easily.
"Heh heh, aren't you all here to attend the wedding banquet? Coming without a gift is showing disrespect to our Zhang family and the Luo family!"
One of the Zhang family disciples said haughtily.
"We are here to attend the wedding banquet of the Luo family's eldest young lady. What does that have to do with your Zhang family?"
Someone in the crowd shouted.
"Hmph... you ungrateful wretches. Our second young master, Zhang Cheng, just broke through to the Qi Refining stage yesterday. What do you think?"
"The Luo family's eldest young lady's wedding is our young master Zhang Cheng's wedding. If you dare to spout more nonsense, we'll cut out your tongue!"
His threatening words angered everyone, but upon hearing the words "Qi Refining stage," no one dared to speak anymore.
Qi Refining was another term for the Qi Condensing stage, which Lin Yu had told Chu Tian about.
These people were intimidated by the Qi Refining stage and no longer dared to make a sound. Some were even preparing to open their packages and take out their gifts.
In the current martial arts world, Qi Refining was considered a top-tier expert.
Many family patriarchs, even at seventy or eighty years old, were still in the Qi Nurturing stage.
Anyone who could break through to Qi Refining was definitely a peerless genius.
Furthermore, the ultimate protagonist of this wedding banquet was determined by strength.
The ultimate champion of the Eight Great Families Competition could marry the Luo family's eldest young lady.
Everyone knew this.
"Zhang family...!" Chu Tian muttered softly.
They dare to have designs on my woman...