C33 The Younger Generation
C33 The Younger Generation
Fortunately, the heavens didn't abandon their Chu Family and sent a peerless genius to them.
As the patriarch of the Chu Family, even if Chu Tianyun was busy, he had to take some time and pay attention to Chu Zhongtian.
However, being the patriarch didn't leave him with quite a lot of free time in hand. So, he couldn't keep a day-to-day record of Chu Zhongtian's activities... personally, that was. Therefore, he did the next best thing and arranged for his trusted aides to keep an eye on Chu Zhongtian.
Among the five guards guarding the Tranquil Elegant Courtyard, one of them was Chu Tianyun's most trusted subordinate. The four servants were also his subordinates.
Chu Tianyun was well aware of what Chu Zhongtian had been doing from the very second he returned to the family. Of course, that was excluding what Chu Zhongtian did in his personal space like the cultivation room and so on.
The cultivation room was completely sealed off, so there was no way to monitor it.
Compared to Chu Zhongba's performance, Chu Zhongtian's persistence was truly magnificent.
Chu Zhongtian's cultivation talent was no doubt better than Chu Zhongba's, but that was just a surface-level distinction. What really surprised Chu Tianyunwas Chu Zhongtian's drive to cultivate. Chu Zhongtian's efforts in cultivation were ten times—no, a hundred times what Chu Zhongba ever thought of putting. Suffice to say, Chu Zhongtian's performance had already gained Chu Tianyun's recognition.
If Chu Tianyun had to choose between Chu Zhongtian and Chu Zhongba as the heir to the family, he would choose Chu Zhongtian without hesitation.
After all, as the patriarch of the family, Chu Tianyun had to prioritize his family's interests first; then came his personal interests.
Thinking of this, Chu Tianyun couldn't help but look at Chu Zhongtian, who was standing at the back of the crowd. A look of encouragement and appreciation appeared in Chu Tianyun's eyes.
After practicing the saber technique for more than ten days, Chu Zhongtian could now fight all his guards simultaneously. During that period, his strength had improved by leaps and bounds. As for the exact increase... He had to go through several life and death battles before he could understand it.
Since Chu Zhongtian was absent for a year and then spent most of his time in the courtyard, he wasn't very familiar with the faces of the three great families.
Even the few friends Chu Zhongtian had in the Chu Family a year ago were now flocking around Chu Zhongba. His “friends” didn't give a second glance to Chu Zhongtian, who was standing behind the crowd.
Chu Zhongtian didn't become the center of attention, but he was actually quite glad instead of feeling disappointed.
Since he wasn't the center of attention, no one would pay attention to him in the matches. This was sure to give him an advantage since no one would place any importance on bothering him.
Chu Zhongtian could also hear the cheers for Liu Yongjun and Wang Chao, but this was actually his first time seeing the three famous leaders of the Qi Country's younger generation.
The third leader was the fifth prince of the royal family, Qi Yiloong—also the guy responsible for Chu Zhongtian's one-month retreat in the cave.
Back then, Chu Zhongtian did not know Qi Yiloong's true strength. However, before he participated in the Hunting Contest, Chu Fann had someone bring him information about all the important contestants; one such important contestant was Qi Yiloong.
Qi Yiloong had a mid-Level-8 cultivation talent, a terrifying ability to calculate and scheme, and the courage to fight with his life on the line. All this helped him become a peak Level-7 Qi Refiner at such a young age.
The imperial family's heritage was older than any of the three great families, and they had birthed numerous might cultivators. Therefore, the royal family had a very deep foundation and many secret techniques that could increase one's strength in the shortest amount of time.
Due to these secret techniques, Chu Zhongtian wasn't sure if Qi Yiloong's strength was really that of a Level-7 Qi Refiner. He could tell Qi Yiloong's strength for sure only after seeing him in a fight with Liu Yongjun or Wang Chao.
As for Chu Zhongba, Chu Zhongtian was sure that he was nowhere near as strong as Qi Yiloong.
The Liu Family's very foundation was their special bloodline. Most of the disciples in the family had that special bloodline. The Liu Family called this bloodline the King's Bloodline, but that was actually a useless effort to hide its origin.
The bloodline of the Liu Family was actually a hybrid bloodline. Their bloodline was a motley of Level-6 beast King Storm Bear's bloodline and the Liu family's ancestor's bloodline.
Level-6 beats were in a league of their own. The evolution they went through was wholly different from what bests below them experienced.
When an ordinary strange beast reached Level-7, it could transform. They would have the appearance of a human, and they could also cultivate like a human.
Some special strange beasts, such as the King Storm Bear, had to reach Level-6 before they could transform. Another example was the King Hydra among the snakes. It couldn't transform at even Level-6; it had to increase its strength even more. In other words, the stronger a strange beast's potential, the more strength it needed to transform into a human.
As for how the Liu Family's ancestor and the King Storm Bear gave birth to a child... Well, this was the biggest secret of the Liu Family. Apart from the few top executives of the Liu Family, perhaps even the core disciples of the Liu family didn't know about it.
Liu Yongjun had a sturdy physique and an ordinary appearance. He was only eighteen years old, but his face was full of beard, making him look like a middle-aged man in his forties.
This was actually a common sight in the Liu family. When a member of the Liu Family reached adulthood, they would grow a massive beard. They could get that beard as soon as three months into adulthood or as late as six months. All in all, in half a year, their faces would definitely be full of hair. And this most likely was due to their bloodline.
Although Liu Yongjun's appearance was very ordinary, his imposing aura was truly domineering, giving people a sense of oppression.
As for Wang Chao, his facial features were rather exquisite, and he had an excellent appearance. However, his pair of snake eyes destroyed his overall charm. If not for his eyes, he would've been the country's sweetheart.
Chu Tianyun was paying attention to Chu Zhongtian, and Chu Zhongtian was looking at Liu Yongjun and Wang Chao. However, neither knew that someone else was glaring at Chu Zhongtian with a pair of resentful eyes.
This gaze belonged to Chu Zhongba.
The cheers from the crowd embarrassed Chu Zhongba to no end. He knew that his influence wasn't as great as Liu Yongjun and Wang Chao, but he had no idea that it was this pitiful.
Chu Zhongba, who was afraid that his father would get angry, quickly looked toward Chu Tianyun.
However, he found that Chu Tianyun wasn't even looking at him; instead, he was paying attention to someone else. Following Chu Tianyun's gaze, Chu Zhongba quickly discovered Chu Zhongtian. Then, his embarrassment turned into anger.
Looking at Chu Zhongtian, Chu Zhongba's heart pumped anger all throughout his body.
Although Chu Zhongtian had kept a low profile when he returned to the family—to the point that most in the family didn't even know he had returned—Chu Zhongba was still well aware of his existence.
In a bid to figure out why the family had given the Tranquil Elegant Courtyard to Chu Zhongtian, Chu Zhongba used every weapon in his arsenal. Finally, he found out the whole story from a staff of the medicine shop in the Luolin town.
Chu Zhongtian, who was sent to Luolin town due to his damaged meridians, had stood up again. He had won the attention of the higher-ups with his outstanding talent, which made Chu Zhongba very nervous.
After two years of cultivation, Chu Zhongba was very clear about the importance of talent.
Chu Shixuan was a disciple who took the talent test along with Chu Zhongba, and his talent was tested out to be low Level-8. Due to that talent, Chu Shixuan's cultivation time was twice of Chu Zhongba's, despite putting in thrice the effort.
Under such circumstances, Chu Shixuan was only a Level-6 Qi Refiner now, and he still had a long way to go before he could become a Level-7 Qi Refiner.