Strongest Replication

After killing Chu Shixuan and the others, Wang Chao gave a simple order with a gloomy face. Then he looked at the valley's center, toward the Cinnabar Fruit branch that Chu Zhongtian had cut off.    

Wang Chao picked up the broken branch and observed it carefully. After a while, Wang Chao's expression turned ferocious. He ordered in a fierce tone, "Search carefully! There should be a Chu Family expert close by. Find and kill him."    

As a Level-7 Qi Refiner and an Endless Forest survivor, Wang Chao was treacherous and experienced.    

Through the remaining tree roots, he could tell that this tree bore a Cinnabar Fruit. Through the slashed tree branches, he could deduce that the slash markings came from a Chu Family blade, and thus there had to be a Chu Family cultivator nearby.    

Although many cultivators used blades among the Qi Country families, the true experts always came from the Chu Family.    

Wang Chao's guess was only half right. Someone from the Chu Family did indeed take the fruit, but that someone had long since left the valley.    

With the help of the Cinnabar Fruit, Chu Zhongtian was closer than ever to Level-4 of the Qi Refining realm.    

After he ate a Cinnabar Fruit, some unique energy melded with his spiritual power and attacked his eight special meridians' acupoints.    

Under the blended spiritual power's powerful impact, the acupoints could no longer block his special meridians and gave way. Seconds later, an aura thicker than before emanated from Chu Zhongtian's body.    

After opening four of his acupoints, Chu Zhongtian temporarily stopped cultivating. Since the Cinnabar Fruit's special energy was all used up, he had to stop cultivating.    

Chu Zhongtian carefully felt the changes in his strength after breaking through. Now, he was confident that he could compete with a Level-7 Qi Refiner. As for who would win and who would lose, he wasn't completely sure about that.    

As for Level-6 Qi Refiners, he was confident that he could defeat anyone from low to peak.    

However, when it came to peak Level-7 Qi Refiners like Liu Yongjun, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be their match for the time being. Furthermore, Liu Yongjun had his bloodline acting like a permanent strength buff, so Chu Zhongtian was even more certain of his previous conjecture.    

And if his opponent was some who had recently become a Level-7 Qi Refiner like Chu Zhongba, he was sure that he could defeat them.    

Chu Zhongtian wasn't worried despite knowing that Liu Yongjun could threaten his life. After all, his limit wasn't Level-4 of Qi Refining. With some help from his remaining Cinnabar Fruits, he could break all his acupoints. Then, he could use his spirit stones and Qi Increasing Pills to become a peak Level-4 Qi Refiner in the shortest period possible. He could also use Meridian Enhancing Pills and Dantian Cultivating Pills to enhance his potential and strength.    

In three days at most, he would be able to compete with top experts like Liu Yongjun, Wang Chao, and Qi Yiloong.    

Chu Zhongtian cleared his head of any distracting thoughts, closed his eyes, and continued his cultivation.    

As time passed, the range of activity of the contestants increased. More and more jade plates were found, and the number of deaths caused by the jade plate reached an alarming number.    

As the Chu Family's younger generation’s leader, Chu Zhongba was strong and had gained quite a lot recently.    

Right now, he had a total of eleven jade plates. Six of them found; five of them taken. These eleven jade plates could guarantee him a spot in the top ten.    

Furthermore, the competition was still in its early stages, so he still had time to find and snatch more.    

However, Chu Zhongba wasn't in a good mood right now. Before participating in the contest, he had set three goals.    

The first goal was to get as many jade plates as possible. More plates meant better ranking; better ranking meant more appreciation and attention from his father and elders. This would increase his influence in the Chu Family and lay a solid foundation for his advancement.    

The second goal was to compete with Wang Chao and Qi Yiloong to see for himself who was the second-strongest among the Qi Country's younger generation. As for Liu Yongjun, who was a freak, he had no intention of competing with Liu Yongjun for the time being.    

The third goal was the most important and also the most urgent one. It was to use this Hunting Contest to get rid of Chu Zhongtian, the one person who could threaten his position in the future.    

He was sure that he was slowly inching toward his first goal.    

The second goal would've to wait for a few days since Level-7 Qi Refiners had no reason to fight this early in the contest. Instead, they all wanted to preserve their strength from the last five days.    

As for the third goal, he had no idea "where" it was.    

Before entering the hunting ground, Chu Zhongba had planned on letting Chu Zhongtian follow him. On the surface, he would act like he was helping Chu Zhongtian; in reality, he would just be finding the best moment to get rid of him. Unexpectedly, Chu Zhongtian left the group ahead of time, and he couldn't do anything about it.    

It had been eight days since Chu Zhongba entered the hunting grounds, so around half the time for the contest had passed. Up until now, he had hadn't seen a single trace of Chu Zhongtian, so he was quite anxious.    

After all, the Hunting Contest would enter its climax in four days at most; it would be a bloodfest. Then, everyone would be fighting for the jade plates like rabid dogs. To protect their jade plates or increase their ranking, the Level-7 Qi Reiners would finally go all out and fight each other.    

In summary, he wouldn't have the energy or the time to deal with Chu Zhongtian a few days later.    

"Let's move to the next area."    

Using the searching for jade plates as an excuse, Chu Zhongba would rigorously search his surroundings whenever he traveled to a new area. He would also leave a mark unique to the Chu Family, hoping to lure Chu Zhongtian into a trap.    

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.    

Chu Zhongtian, who had been staying in the tree hole, opened his eyes. He exhaled deeply, stretched his waist, and stood up.    

Chu Zhongtian pushed away the disguise in front of the tree hole and appeared outside.    

In these three days, not only did Chu Zhongtian open up all his acupoints, but he also used spirit stones and Qi increasing Pills to become a peak Level-4 Qi Refiner.    

After resting and stabilizing his cultivation for a while, he could return to cultivating and increasing his strength.    

However, Chu Zhongtian had a bold idea right now. So, he decided to push back more cultivation until after the contest's completion.    

He also spent some time enhancing his potential with the help of Meridian Enhancing Pills and Dantian Cultivating Pills.    

Now, he decided to practice the intermediate movement technique in his head. He planned to fight for the jade plates and practice his footwork for the remainder of the contest.    

Right now, he was confident that he could fight with Liu Yongjun, the current strongest. As for who would win and who would lose, only a real fight could tell that.    

Now that Chu Zhongtian was stronger than ever, he didn't have to avoid anyone anymore. Therefore, he decided to collect jade plates with the top three and even the champion spot in his mind.    

After all, his bold idea had something to do with the Hidden Dragon Pavilion.