"Is the fruit ripe?" Li Qingxian asked.
"It’s ripe."
"Mother said I can take it."
"I’ll help you."
Chen Sanwa turned, and with a wave of his right hand, countless tendrils, like tentacles, extended from his branch-like sleeve. They reached into the treetop and plucked the baby ginkgo nut.
Li Qingxian took it in his hand and gently stroked it. It felt just like a child’s skin. The sensation made the hair on his body stand on end, and he quickly stored it in his Qiankun Bracelet.
Where the baby ginkgo nut had been, a five-petaled lotus flower bloomed, and a green fruit slowly grew in its place.
Within the ginkgo tree’s translucent roots, a grayish-yellow current of air flowed upward into the trunk.
Suddenly, Li Qingxian’s face flushed red. A hot current swelled in his chest, and the Magical Power within him surged wildly.
"I’m about to advance to the Seventh Grade! Everyone, please act as my Protector!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Qingxian sat down cross-legged on the spot. Magical Power churned around him, kicking up a strong wind that made the blades of grass ripple like waves and sent ripples across the nearby pond.
Chen Sanwa took a step forward, blocking the path between Li Qingxian and the others.
The branch Armor on his body spread out in all directions, finally forming a thirty-foot-high wall of branches that sectioned everyone off.
"Don’t come any closer!" Chen Sanwa said, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the crowd.
Feeling the strange aura coming from Chen Sanwa, the crowd didn’t dare to make a reckless move.
Wang Buku said, "Everyone, stay put. This person won’t harm Ye Han."
The crowd waited quietly, feeling the aura around Li Qingxian grow stronger and stronger, while Chen Sanwa’s aura also climbed steadily.
Soon, they heard the sound of ocean waves crashing against a shore and exchanged glances.
"That... sounds like the flow of Qi Meridians, doesn’t it?"
"This Ye Han, he’s hidden his strength so well. This level of surging Magical Power means he must be a Great Cultivator. Of all the Low-Grade Cultivators I know, besides Eastern Peak’s Lin Zhenyuan, no one’s Qi Meridians are stronger than his. Not even Bone Filth Child’s."
"No wonder he dared to say that the weakness of Fate Masters has nothing to do with him. His Magical Power is deeper than any Daoist Cultivator’s."
"For someone like him, when his Qi Meridians and bloodline merge at the Seventh Grade, the True Altar he forges at the Sixth Grade will probably be extraordinary."
"Plus, with his profound background and vast wealth, he’ll definitely be able to get the best Spiritual Materials to forge a unique True Spirit."
"This is good. The stronger he is, the greater our chances of leaving this Deceitful Land safely."
"By the way, what do you think? When we get to the Inner City and the Imperial City, should we try to get more treasures? The things the Deceitful Mother said would fall from the sky... could they be the legendary Destiny Stars?"
"Probably Destiny Stars. During the last Myriad Phenomena Cyan Cloud Examination, I heard several batches of Destiny Stars fell. Every single person who obtained one ended up becoming a great hero."
"That’s right. A distant cousin of mine had average talent. After he got a Destiny Star, nothing happened at first. But then, three years ago, his Cultivation suddenly started advancing by leaps and bounds, and he reached the Fourth Grade."
"Say, should we ask Ye Han to use Inference to predict the landing spots of the Destiny Stars in advance?"
Guanzhou said, "Even if we know where they’ll land, how do we split a single Destiny Star?"
Another candidate said in surprise, "Didn’t we already agree to focus our efforts on helping Ye Han? Of course the Destiny Star should go to him. Only when he’s strong can he lead us out of here."
"Exactly. Giving it to Ye Han is the same as giving it to all of us. Besides, based on the friendship we’ve built as fellow candidates, giving it to Ye Han won’t be a loss for us in the future."
"You’re right," Guanzhou said quickly.
While chatting, the crowd frequently glanced toward Li Qingxian, who was behind the wall of branches.
Li Qingxian felt as though he had arrived in a strange world, one that contained only red rivers.
His consciousness drifted in the river. He thought of nothing, did nothing, just quietly floated along with the current.
His entire being felt as if it were lying comfortably on the surface of a warm river in the afternoon.
With each red river he flowed through, this world became a little clearer.
Slowly, he flowed through more and more rivers. Eventually, Li Qingxian discovered that this world of red rivers intertwined to form the vague shape of the character for "great."
This shape was formed by several Great Rivers and countless densely packed Small Rivers.
After his consciousness had flowed through every river, the entire red world erupted in golden light, and enormous white waves surged in from all directions.
Before long, the white waves had enveloped every red river.
As time passed, the lowermost red rivers were gradually permeated by the white waves.
The white waves slowly merged into the red rivers, like rain falling into a river, disappearing without a trace.
The red rivers below changed from their original crimson to a brilliant red, and every drop of river water began to glow.
At that moment, Li Qingxian suddenly understood. The white waves were his Qi Meridians, and the red rivers were his own blood vessels.
The Qi Meridians enveloped the blood vessels, and the vessels in his legs had already successfully merged with their corresponding Qi Meridians.
He had officially advanced to the Seventh Grade.
Next, he could slowly continue the fusion from the bottom up, eventually merging the Qi Meridians and blood vessels in his head to complete the entire True Blood process and reach the peak of the Seventh Grade.
Once his qi and blood reached their limit, he could forge a True Altar, advance to the Sixth Grade, and condense a True Spirit.
With the qi-blood fusion in his legs complete, Li Qingxian felt the qi and blood surging within him. The flow in his legs was particularly powerful, like mighty waves crashing against the shore.
All the blood passing through his legs would be transported to the rest of his body, gradually changing it and aiding future qi-blood fusion.
’Now that I’m at the Seventh Grade, I can use more Fate Skills, and my power is greater. If everything goes smoothly, I’ll consolidate my Cultivation. If I encounter difficulties, I’ll complete the Divine Sky Technique’s Inviting God ritual ahead of schedule. As a Seventh Grade, I can summon a Sixth Grade Celestial General. Once I summon a Celestial General, a Thunder Cultivator’s strength will increase exponentially. However, from the Sixth Grade onward, Inviting God rituals mostly fail. Many Thunder Cultivators go their entire lives without successfully summoning a Middle Grade Thunder City Celestial Official. For a Thunder Cultivator, the Thunder City Celestial Official often determines thirty to fifty percent of their total strength. If they can’t summon a Thunderbolt Celestial Official, a Thunder Cultivator can only switch to another path, which is why Thunder Cultivators are so rare.’
’But I have the Divine Sky Thunder Seed, so there shouldn’t be any problems...’
Li Qingxian pondered his future path for a moment, then opened his eyes.
CRACKLE...
Thunderbolts overflowed from his eyes. White light flashed and crackled.
A tyrannical aura emanated from him, but with a blink of Li Qingxian’s eyes, it all vanished as if it were just an illusion.
The crowd looked at Li Qingxian, secretly estimating his power. He was definitely no weaker than a Great Cultivator.
"Congratulations on reaching the Seventh Grade, Brother Ye Han!"
"Congratulations, congratulations!"
All the Seventh Grade candidates smiled and clasped their hands in congratulation.
"You’re too kind. Compared to all of you, I am merely a latecomer."
"I’ve also advanced to the Seventh Grade..." Chen Sanwa looked down and saw that the branches on his legs had grown thicker and sturdier. The once-brown wood now gave off a metallic sheen.
Li Qingxian and Chen Sanwa exchanged a look and nodded slightly.
They had both already guessed that their relationship was much closer than they had imagined.
"Can you leave this place?" Li Qingxian asked.
Chen Sanwa shook his head. "I don’t know."
"Does Fangfang know?" Li Qingxian asked.
Fangfang rushed to Li Qingxian’s side and looked up at him. "I don’t know either. This is my first time seeing a living Tree Guardian. Let’s go back and ask Mother."
Li Qingxian glanced at the sky. It was almost one in the afternoon. He said, "The old wolf announced noon earlier, and it will be 1:00 PM soon. We have to head to the Inner City, so it’s a good time to bid farewell to Mother."
The group walked back to the Deceitful Mother’s residence. At the entrance, Li Qingxian bowed and said, "Your child is about to leave for the Inner City and has come to bid Mother farewell."