Unbeatable! Invincible! Unparalleled!

"What happened?!" yelled Hong Xin, horrified at the scene playing in front of him.

The leaves are withering at a visible rate. Seeing this, even Ling Yu and Wang Guozhi stepped forward in a panic.

"T-the boy is absorbing them at a rapid speed!" said Wang Guozhi as he activated his unique bloodline ability - to see the flow of spiritual Qi, albeit vividly.

Hearing this, the other two senior teacher were flabbergasted and for a moment did not dare to believe it was true. However, Wang Guozhi is someone of the Wang tribe, and their children were born under rich spiritual Qi environment due to a mysterious treasure that exist in their mountain that they guarded since a long time ago.

Thus, every single one of them could vividly trace the flow of spiritual Qi on their surrounding to an extent. Therefore, with this advantage, their tribe possesses particular talent in the field of harnessing spiritual Qi.

"M-make the boy stop!" shouted Hong Xin as he was terribly scared that the millennium Yidara tree would die on the spot.

"But we who had formed our own dantian core could not get under its shades! Otherwise we would risk our spiritual Qi to run berserk due to the conflicting spiritual Qi that entered our body from the tree!" shouted Ling Yu in a panic to stop them as she reminded with a grim countenance.

The millennium Yidara tree possesses a unique spiritual Qi to itself. These spiritual Qi are more purer than the surrounding spiritual Qi while also having its own unique attributes. Therefore, those who had cultivated their dantian core with other forms of spiritual Qi, what more of a different attributes than the wood element, should not even dream of entering the shades.

At this moment, while the trio were brainstorming with haste on how to stop Duan Li from absorbing more of the spiritual Qi from the tree, the person himself was deep in a trance as his body underwent a qualitative change. Thus, he was not aware of the situation.

"I can feel that this spiritual Qi that I have absorbed are changing my bodily system.. " said Duan Li as he observed his body interior with his see-through eyes.

His bones that seemed quite brittle before are now becoming more compact and denser, his skeletal muscles are growing leaner and radiates more force to it. In addition, his skin turned from brown to a more lighter color and even his face somehow have changed slightly that gave him that more sharper looks compared to before.

After a while, Duan Li finally opened his eyes slowly as he could no longer feel any spiritual Qi flowing towards his dantian.

'I guess this is my limit?' he said while slowly standing up.

As he lifted his head towards the group, he found that their eyes and mouth opened wide and agaped. It seems that they are entirely shocked by something to the point like they are almost salivating!

"H-huh? Why.. are you all looking at me like that..?" said Duan Li suspiciously as he covered his body with his arms in a reflex.

He had also realized his facial features had become a little bit more masculine than before and could understand if Ling Yu and Xiahou Yu to suddenly be entranced by this new looks of his, but for the old man Hong Xin who was almost 90 years old and that muscular fella Wang Guozhi to react the same?

I shall report you two to the authorities!

"B-boy.. what have you done..?" said Wang Guozhi slowly as he pointed to the tree with his index finger.

"Its.. over.. " said Hong Xin weakly as he slumped to the ground.

"Hmm? What do you guys mea-..!!"

He turned towards the tree following that weird gaze of the other party trying to understand what was going on. It was then that he was shocked by what he saw..

The ancient millennium Yidara tree that was full of vicissitudinous and majestic ancient to it before had now grown bald!

Specifically, the leaves are now nowhere to be found, leaving behind only emptied branches that seemed desolate and pitiful. If one were to come across this tree, one would not even believe it to be the legendary millennium Yidara tree even if they were to be beaten to death and their whole families whipped harshly!

It looked more like a malnutritioned tree bidding its time for death!

"T-this! Who could have done such an abomination!" said Duan Li as he clenched his fist tightly, feeling aggrieved towards the perpetrator.

But then, in a moment he said, "Or the tree had grown weary after living for a long time now and had decided to... Hais.. " Duan Li shook his head.

Pu!

When the trio heard this, they almost spat out blood!

Who could have done this, you asked?

If it is not you, then who else was there?!

Did you think that a grand tree that had survived for a millennium with extreme resilience, thus its name, to had suddenly gone senile trying to end its life with a suicide?! shouted the trio in their minds in indignance.

Just as Hong Xin was about to blow up in anger, Duan Li backed away from the shades zone while looking sad.

Suddenly, as he stepped out of the shade, the spiritual Qi inside his body started rumbling as he felt his entire body prickling out.

Then, the spiritual Qi that he had absorbed before, leaked out from his pores and floated gently above him as it spiralled together to form a sphere of spiritual Qi.

This sphere then glowed slowly from red, to orange. Then, from orange to yellow and then to green. Finally, it rumbled for a while as it turned to the color of bright blue in the end. This bright blue light was like the sun in its intensity, except that it was blue in color.

"Wha.. what is with this blue light ball?"

Duan Li was a little bit terrified with this startling phenomena as it emptied the spiritual Qi from his dantian in but an instant and caused him to feel a little bit tired.

Turning to look towards the three senior teacher of the academy to look for an answer, he had instead found the trio's face to look even more ridiculous than before. Their lips were pointing outwards with their eyes opened wide. If one were to look carefully, they would find these trio's expression to be similar to that of a puffer fish indeed.

"Ba-ba-b-blue!!!! B-bright blue!" shouted Hong Xin with both of his hands tugging at his hair as if he cannot believe what he is seeing.

"Ling Yu! Hit me!!" shouted Wang Guozhi at the back towards Ling Yu on the side.

Pa!

Wang Guozhi flew into the air with a spin as he was slapped by Ling Yu at full force and crashed on the wall.

"This is.. impossible! a sky grade dantian potential?!" murmurred Hong Xin as his beard trembled and his voice hoarse.

However, even if he said this, in the end he had to face the reality that the impossible had just happened in front of his eyes. This mind-boggling scene was even witnessed along with three more other people than him.

Thus, how could he even be dreaming?

Hearing what Hong Xin just said, Duan Li shifted his focus towards the other party as he asked curiously.

"Sky grade dantian? What do you mean senior teacher Hong Xin?" he asked respectfully.

Even if the old senior teacher in front of him looked a bit incredulous with his expression and his air of solemness had disappeared, he is still the elder of the academy.

"It is like this.." Hong Xin explained in detail after he composed and suppressing himself to not faint.

...

It turns out that a red color or grade dantian is known as the mortal grade. It is of the lowest grade of dantian that a person could have. People who are of themortal grade would also not be allowed to become a student of the academy and their enrollment revoked if they had registered.

Orange grade dantian, known as the inception grade. This is the bare minimum that a student of the academy should posses. One's future will be limited in their cultivation. But through hard work, one would eventually be able to reach yellow grade in their prime.

Meanwhile, the yellow grade dantian is a qualitative leap in spiritual Qi density. Thus, they are known as the earth grade. Similar to the density and pureness of thesurrounding environment where they could absorb it easily.

Green grade dantian, is an even denser spiritual Qi that is in complete harmony with natural balance and cycle. It is of this level that one's own spiritual Qi will start to have their own unique attributes, and they are called as the nascent grade!

Further than that, is the sky gradepossessed by people with blue colored dantian. Only a few have managed to achieve this level. Every single one of them is an accomplished figure known far and wide in the Jiu Empire.

And finally, the white grade dantian, legendary and almost deemed as impossible to attain unless one is destined, is called the immortal grade! Those who are of this level of power could even forget eating and drinking, and they will still not die. Furthermore, their battle prowess is extremely terrifying and heaven-defying! With just a flip of their palm, mountains will be squashed and seas to split!

This is the pinnacle of spiritual Qi condesation that will evolve a human body to its very limits!

As for if there is any martial artists who did possessed this level of prowess in the whole Tian continent, no one could actually know. But for sure, there was none in the Jiu Empire to date.

"For you to possess a potential of sky grade dantian.. this is entirely unheard of in the history of the Jiu Empire!" said Hong Xin with bated breaths as his hands trembled in excitement.

Just as Xiahou Yu before with the earth grade potential could reach the sky grade in the far future, Duan Li have the high possibilities to step into the realm of legends, the immortal grade!

Even Ling Yu at the back and the fella Wang Guozhi whom have just stood up after getting slapped by the former upon his own request slowly nodded their heads together, their hearts palpitated with eagerness and positivity for the future of Jiu Empire.

The floating blue sphere made from the spiritual Qi of the tree slowly returned back to be absorbed by the tree.

Seeing this scene, Hong Xin shook his head slowly as he closed his eyes in sadness and thought, "Even if the spiritual Qi were to return, the tree is already beyond saving.. " he stopped and sighed, then continued, "..this tree is worth a lot in the entire Jiu Empire, but if not for its sacrifice, we wouldn't have been able to see such an earth-shattering talent of this boy.."

"With great power, comes great sacrifice.. the true balance of the natural law that is inviolable in this world.." he said slowly as he tilted his head 45 degrees to gaze the starry sky with his hand clasped behind his back. Due to the absence of the obscuring leaves from before, the sun could shone brightly towards him on a slanted angle, causing his shadow to extend long and big. A deep sense of profoundness engulfed within this old man as he seemed to have understood more on the vicissitudes of life.

Suddenly, after the tree finished absorbing the blue sphere, it jolted and trembled slightly, attracting their attention.

"Hmm?" they all said in unison.

Crack!

The millennium Yidara tree that had seemed more than dead before, began to crack like a series of connected spiderwebs as it shedded its old bark.

Replacing it, is a golden lustrious bark that seemed to glow with vigor and youth. The bald branches began to grow back its leaves and sprouted denser than ever before. Its leaves also had a tint of golden hums that is visible to the naked eye. They seemed more like a holy lotus now more than just a bunch of leaves.

"R-r-regrowing golden bark and the b-birth of the lotuses?" exclaimed Hong Xin with extreme shockness on his face.

"T-this! It is a sign of rebirth!" he yelled out.

Thud!

He fell to the ground on his butt with a puffer fish like expression once more and his white hairs all messed up. He looked more like a peasant on the streets than an honorable elder of the academy now. His previous disposition of profoundness had disappeared without a trace.

Following this, a pair of eyes slowly opened up from the golden bark of the tree. When its eyes had fully opened, a bright gleam suddenly radiated out from it that encompassed the whole Jiu Empire and startled its citizens. Numerous powerful figures stopped what they are doing and rushed to the academy immediately as they flew to the skies.

"I... have awakened!!"

...