A strange energy converged on the skull, drawing the attention of Chu Tian. A sense of crisis washed over him.
"Leopard..."
In a flash, Chu Tian covered the distance of over ten meters. However, the peculiar energy was even faster. Just as Chu Tian reached the skull, a beam of azure light shot out from it.
"Chu Tian, be careful! That's Zuli, don't confront it directly..." Old Yang's shout echoed from behind. Chu Tian felt the power of the energy without needing his warning. He sharply angled his rapidly moving body, turning ninety degrees to evade. To his surprise, the energy followed his turn, aiming directly for the back of his head.
Chu Tian looked back, seeing the trailing green light. "Damn it..." he thought, recognizing it as a homing missile. At such close range, Chu Tian finally understood the nature of the strange ability. That familiar fluctuation... it was Soul Power!
In a moment of dire urgency, Chu Tian resorted to a desperate measure. "Divine Gate... open!" he commanded, activating a secret soul technique and opening a divine gate before him. A small, inch-long gate materialized out of thin air, unnoticed in the darkness. The last time he had opened his divine gate was in the Cold Pond Cave, while absorbing the Luo Water.
*Swish...*
The green light flashed past Chu Tian and the divine gate closed simultaneously. Chu Tian's body shuddered, and he stood frozen, tilting his head back. Everyone watched him in stunned silence.
A second later, Chu Tian grinned. Within his Divine Platform, the green light had entered and was attempting to escape. Chu Tian quickly sealed the Divine Gate, trapping it. However, it slammed into the boundaries of his Divine Platform, the intense pain causing his body to tremble.
But in the next instant, from the crown of the tree at the center of his Divine Platform Island, a leaf detached itself and soared upwards. It moved with incredible speed, instantly catching up to the green light. The leaf grew rapidly in the wind, eclipsing the sun, and enveloped the light completely. In less than a tenth of a second, the leaf exploded, transforming into pure Soul Power that settled down and flowed into the Divine Lake. The green light it had enclosed vanished without a trace.
Chu Tian's joy stemmed from this very event. The mysterious Soul Power that had entered his Divine Platform had been decomposed by a single leaf. The water level of his Divine Soul Lake had even risen by about a millimeter. Seeing this, how could Chu Tian not be happy?
He beckoned to Tu Gang. "Again!"
Patriarch Tu Gang, who had been composed moments before, began to panic. "How is this possible?"
"Where did you put the Zuli..." As he spoke, a look of disbelief crossed his face. Then, he began to chant words Chu Tian couldn't understand. This time, Chu Tian didn't try to interrupt him. The strange aura grew stronger, and the condensed energy became more terrifying.
"Chu Tian..." Old Yang began to warn him, but seeing Chu Tian's casual expression and confident smile, he swallowed the rest of his words. He merely shielded Dian Dian and her mother, slowly retreating.
Chu Tian looked at Tu Gang and thought, "Come on... I'm counting on you! Give me more!" He had finally found a way to restore his Soul Power and intended to exploit it fully.
*Hum...*
The power seemed to reach its limit. The monster skull in Tu Gang's hand trembled and slowly floated upwards. Vast amounts of Soul Power dispersed from within, mixing with the strange aura to coalesce into a colossal entity, about six meters tall and over ten meters long.
*Hmph... sneeze... sneeze...*
After this being emerged, Chu Tian retreated several steps before he could see its full form. It was a... giant wild boar.
"The Ancestral Spirit... it is our Tu clan's Ancestral Spirit..."
"A hundred years ago, our Tu clan fought a great battle with the Jin clan... the Ancestral Spirit was damaged..."
"I never expected... after a hundred years, the Ancestral Spirit has recovered..."
"The Ancestral Spirit is alive, truly blessed by heaven..."
Countless elderly members of the clan looked at the giant creature with excitement. Everyone around them knelt down, bowing to the wild boar! Even Old Yang, from a distance, stared with his mouth agape, looking bewildered. It was clear he hadn't known about this either.
Only Tu Gang, though excited, showed little surprise. He obviously knew of the Ancestral Spirit's existence.
"Patriarch... what are you doing by summoning the Ancestral Spirit?" Seven or eight elders, older than Tu Gang, approached.
"That's right... the ancestors decreed that the Ancestral Spirit should not be disturbed unless the Tu clan faces life or death. What are you doing?" These elders, also filled with emotion, questioned Tu Gang.
"Hmph..." Tu Gang clearly wasn't pleased with their questions. He simply snorted, then called out to the giant wild boar, "Respected Ancestral Spirit, I am the current Patriarch."
"This person possesses spatial items. If the Tu clan obtains it, they will become powerful in the future and have more offerings for you."
"Now, I request you to act and suppress him!"
As he finished, the giant wild boar shifted its hindquarters, facing Chu Tian. The elders, hearing his words, froze. They looked at Chu Tian with astonishment. Chu Tian was also very surprised by their appearance. He hadn't seen them at all during their journey. Where had they come from?
"Tu Gang... you..." one elder glared at him, pointing.
"What 'you'? Tu Kun, you were the previous Patriarch. If you hadn't lost our clan's spatial bag, would our clan be in this state?" Tu Gang roared angrily at the elder, "And in the end, I still have to clean up your mess."
"All you old folks hide in jars, not needing to eat or drink!"
"But us? Our Tu clan was originally a great clan with its own territory!"
"But when it fell into my hands? There were less than three hundred people left. What about before?"
"We had three thousand warriors, countless blood-fed beasts, and a clear spring."
"How dare you question me?" Tu Gang had clearly decided to go all out today, unleashing years of pent-up resentment upon the elders.
Chu Tian, however, was curious about what "hiding in jars" meant. The elder he was confronting, the former Patriarch Tu Kun, was so enraged that his beard seemed to fly, yet he couldn't retort. When he was Patriarch, he had fought a great battle with the Jin clan. Their spatial bag was stolen, and their territory was lost. Losing their territory meant losing their water source. In the end, he led over two hundred people out of the encirclement, but he was severely wounded and soon died an unnatural death, leaving behind a wisp of soul that entered the Ancestral Altar. According to clan rules, the one with the highest merit was Tu Gang. Thus, he naturally inherited the position of Patriarch.
The Ancestral Altar was the resting place for generations of Tu clan Patriarchs after their death, and one of the clan's two ancestral artifacts, the most powerful one. Tu Gang surely knew that he couldn't control the spirits within the Ancestral Altar, which was why he had brought the Ancestral Spirit's skull. However, the appearance of the Ancestral Spirit had still alerted these old spirits, and they had manifested themselves.
"You beast... throughout history, the Tu clan has always adhered to the ancestral teaching of prioritizing peace and not offending others unless provoked!"
"This young brother has a spatial item, so it belongs to him. How can our Tu clan forcibly seize it?"
"Tu Gang, I order you to immediately recall the Ancestral Spirit!" As the elder spoke, all the other elders took a step back, standing behind him.
"Hmph... impossible! Attack!" Tu Gang formed a hand seal and shouted.
Chu Tian had been waiting for this. He had been worried that Tu Gang might suddenly back down, giving him no excuse to eliminate him and devour the so-called Ancestral Spirit. To his surprise, this fellow was truly unyielding and directly ordered the Ancestral Spirit to attack him.
The giant wild boar clearly ignored the old men and obeyed only the current Patriarch's command.
*Hmph hmph... sneeze sneeze...*
The giant wild boar snorted, pawing the ground with its hooves. It then charged fiercely at Chu Tian.
"Tu Gang... how dare you..." the elder roared, enraged.
"And what if I dare? What can you do to me?"
"Without me controlling the Ancestral Altar, you are nothing more than decorations within it." Tu Gang grinned at the elder.
"You... you..." The elder was clearly furious. He spun around, looking at the members of the Tu clan. Some stared blankly, while others knelt and kowtowed to the Ancestral Spirit. None of the former Patriarchs, or their predecessors, paid them any attention. Instead, they looked at them with bewilderment.
"Alas..." He flicked his sleeve. "The Tu clan has changed!" He seemed to have seen through everything, shaking his head.
Just then, two loud shouts came from a distance.
"Chu Tian, dodge quickly! Don't confront it directly..."
"Divine Gate... open... ooopen..."
Everyone turned their gaze towards the source of the shouts. The next moment, everyone's mouths fell open. Then, disbelief flickered in their eyes.