Dao Tian's words clearly carried a different tone.
Chu Tian asked directly, "What do you mean?"
"Do you think you're very powerful now?"
As he asked this, Chu Tian recalled his ability to slice that mutated human into five pieces and nodded, saying, "Not bad, pretty decent."
"It's fine that you think it's just decent," Dao Tian said, completely ignoring Chu Tian's smugness.
He continued, "Your dantian has just formed, and the tender sprout's roots haven't taken hold. It can't receive external power replenishment.
Didn't you notice it withering after you used that move?"
Chu Tian was stunned by this statement. He truly hadn't noticed, mainly because he had been a normal person for too long and had never developed the habit of internal observation.
However, since Dao Tian said so, he figured Dao Tian wouldn't lie to him and quickly asked, "How can I get it replenished?"
"Leaves pierce the divine platform, roots traverse the myriad realms..."
"For now, for its roots to pierce the divine platform, you'll likely need to reach level forty-five.
For its roots to fully grow and absorb nutrients on their own, you might need to reach level sixty at least."
Dao Tian first uttered eight characters that left Chu Tian utterly bewildered.
However, he understood the explanation that followed.
"What? Its growth is related to game levels?" Chu Tian was astonished.
He couldn't be blamed for thinking this, as that sapling was something he obtained after activating his qi in reality.
How could it be related to the game? Chu Tian couldn't figure this out.
"Nonsense. If not for the Heavenly Dao World, do you think your incredibly weak physique would have changed?"
Dao Tian was clearly a bit angry.
He thought to himself: You little brat, why do you have no self-awareness? If you could become formidable, would you have suffered so miserably in your past life?
Chu Tian felt a bit awkward hearing Dao Tian call him weak.
He was well aware of how weak his physique was, but he had become a bit too complacent recently.
"Then what do I need to do now?"
Chu Tian humbly sought advice.
"Level up... To deal with what's coming in five years, you need to reach at least level two hundred."
Chu Tian nodded after hearing this, and Dao Tian fell silent.
Speaking of leveling, Chu Tian was reminded of Luo Luo.
His mood suddenly turned a bit heavy, and he sighed.
He still remembered the last time he rapidly increased his level, it was when she cast a forbidden spell from a weapon, directly boosting him to level thirty-one.
Later, after clearing the expert-level group dungeon, he received a three-level reward, and his current level was still thirty-four.
The second and third players on the leaderboard had already reached level thirty-three.
Jian Zhi Cang Tian and the other two had been pushed beyond fourth place.
Looking at these two players, Chu Tian's eyes darkened.
Second place: Zong Heng Tian Xia.
Third place: Suo Xiang Wu Di.
Zong Heng Tian Xia was someone Chu Tian was all too familiar with; he was Huang Xue Yi, the person who had wronged him the most in his previous life...
He not only pretended to be brothers with him but also...
It was laughable that these two enemies were chasing his level so closely.
Scrolling further down the leaderboard, another name caught his eye.
Eighth on the level ranking: Jue Sha.
Good heavens, his enemies were almost all appearing on the leaderboard.
A sense of crisis washed over him. He closed the leaderboard and organized his inventory.
He discovered that the Five-Colored Stone had become two. It turned out that the strange stone in his inventory could... excrete items.
He took out a pile of stones and fed it until it was stuffed and refused to consume any more ore.
He casually tossed it back into his inventory and restocked his necessities at his own pharmacy.
"Lei Zi, let's form a team and run a simple dungeon to level up," he sent a message to Jian Zhi Cang Tian.
"We've already started. Find a team yourself! Or you can form one.
Oh, right, before I entered the dungeon, I saw many brothers in the guild forming teams. You can just find one to join," Jian Zhi Cang Tian replied.
Damn it... Chu Tian cursed inwardly: They didn't even call me to level up.
As for Zhao Lei's suggestion, Chu Tian pondered for a moment and decided against it.
Teaming up with guild members was worse than finding a random group.
If the guild members were too bad, he'd feel too embarrassed to leave the group, and a simple dungeon would take all night. How could he level up?
In a random group, if it became difficult, he could leave anytime. After all, no one knew each other.
Actually, he didn't know that a simple dungeon truly would take all night, given the current situation.
In fact, most groups wouldn't even finish it in one night.
Player skill levels were uneven. Those with even a little skill had already joined guild teams.
Of course, there were still skilled players with high egos who couldn't integrate into guild teams and chose to adventure alone.
Arriving at the dungeon entrance, he looked at the recruitment advertisements from various teams.
Why were the requirements so low?
The advertisements they posted almost just met the minimum requirements to clear the simple difficulty.
Chu Tian hid his name and level and joined a few teams to observe. The players' equipment levels were just as advertised.
Helplessly, he could only leave the group and search for another. Finally, he joined a team with slightly higher requirements and sent his stats to the other party.
Of course, he wore ordinary equipment and not his high-level gear.
After joining the team, he found that the team was decent and decided to try playing with them.
However, as soon as he entered, a voice spoke up.
"Dou Dou Li Tang Mei You": "Where did this bastard come from? Hiding his name and level, what kind of mysterious aura are you trying to put on, you son of a bitch?"
Chu Tian knew he was being addressed because everyone else in this team was from the same guild, making him the only outsider. And he had indeed hidden his character and level.
His team had too many melee classes, so they were recruiting a ranged player. Chu Tian had applied as a Balance Druid.
Because his stats were quite high, the team leader had accepted him directly.
Regarding the person's words, Chu Tian dismissed them as nonsense. He waved his hand and directly added him to the blacklist, blocking his messages.
He thought that was the end of it, but just a few seconds later, the team leader messaged him privately: "Bro, did you blacklist 'Dou Dou Li Tang Mei You'?
Um... can you please unhide your character name and level?"
Chu Tian heard this and knew that the person in the team was causing trouble. He casually removed him from the blacklist.
He happened to see the message: "This idiot was probably accidentally conceived when his mother and uncle were messing around.
Otherwise, why would he play a trash-tier class, and a bird druid at that? He's not a weakling, what else could he be?"
Seeing this message, a hint of killing intent flashed in Chu Tian's eyes.
If the other party was just insulting him, he could dismiss it as nonsense.
As for being asked to reveal his character name, it wasn't impossible. He had originally intended to keep a low profile.
If the other party required real names to enter the group, he would just turn off anonymity.
But this "Dou Dou Li Tang Mei You" kept spewing filth and even mentioned his relatives.
It had crossed Chu Tian's bottom line.
He had wanted to level up properly but ran into someone like this.
This matter would not end peacefully today...
[Author's Note]
Thank you all for your votes.
And to the brothers who tipped with gold coins.