Chapter 3624 - Zi Zhen's Ancestral Return

"This process seems to be called 'ancestral return'," Zi Zhen said in a hoarse voice.

"Ancestral return?" Tianming didn't understand what that was.

"That's right. I think my order is naturally growing," she said in a bit of a daze.

"Does it feel like you're recovering it?"

"Yes... how did you know?"

Tianming looked down at the tiny human before him.

"Nirvana Rebirth is a little similar. Someone like you will blow through levels so fast that nobody can keep up with you," he chuckled. He was far too familiar with how Ling’er had outpaced him in cultivation. Even so, he had still managed to eclipse her cultivation speed even with eight streams of order!

Tianming had thought that she was the only one who could 'recover' cultivation like that, since she was the only one with Nirvana Rebirth. However, Zi Zhen's ancestral return had a similar effect. She didn't have to do anything for her order to grow, which would naturally lead to breakthroughs. With more and more potential in her bloodline unlocked, she would be able to grow stronger just by lying down.

Moran rather envied people like Feiling and Zi Zhen. For her, leveling up was no easy feat. If it weren’t for Tianming's baleflame, it would be even more difficult. That was why he had brought quite a lot of baleflame with him on the excursion.

"Have there been any other changes?" he asked.

"There are, but... I have to try them out first," Zi Zhen said, unintentionally scowling due to the state she was in. Kids and adults alike would cry at the sight of her.

"Come, I'll keep you company." Tianming had Ying Huo and the others help out. He had a sixth-level foundationeer body that was specterlike, to some extent, which would be a great boon for the fifth-level Zi Zhen.

Before they started, she suddenly said, "You have to use a bit more force to beat the rage out of me."

"How could I do that? I can't bear to hit you."

"Then don't bother coming. It'd be pointless." She shook her head.

"So you just want to get beat up?"

"You speak like you're going to be able to."

"Haha!" Tianming didn't hold back and swung his left fist toward her. The three-eyed nine-irised specter growled and threw her own punch; it was no pushover attack!

Her physical body’s actually this powerful?

Tianming was rather shocked to see her attack. In terms of physical power, not even Yumos could throw punches like that. When their fists collided, Tianming was sent flying.

"Looks like having all those women around you drained you quite a bit," she said, cocking her head and looking down on him.

"Damn!" Being sent flying by a normal attack felt humiliating. He let the rage course through him. "Looks like you're asking for it!"

He noticed that Zi Zhen was far more confident than before and didn't hold back anymore. Even though they were just brawling without weapons, it was enough for him to take on minor-zenith foundationeers.

The two of them fought above the eye of heaven. Nobody would have expected that one of the fierce fighters there had been a dainty girl moments before.

When Tianming's Lan-Huang kick landed against Zi Zhen's arm, she took a few steps back. Even without using abilities, his attacks were powerful enough.

Her physical toughness is far more powerful than her cosmoforce and level suggests! It looks like her actual cultivation level doesn't play much of a role in combat.

She had been able to take Tianming on with her physical body alone, which was almost equivalent to him with his omnisentient threads. It made her able to fight above her level, which rendered level itself no longer that meaningful.

That was what an elite specter was like.

Tianming wanted to stop, but Zi Zhen didn't let him. Her talent in close combat was on full display, her innate capabilities making it seem like she had been born for battle. Moran was her complete antithesis, being more like a humanoid formation.

"I'll go all out, then!" Tianming saw that she seemed rather excited by their spar and stopped holding back.

They had a truly satisfying fight. Tianming used his full power, but not the Grand-Orient Sword, and that was enough for him to push her back to the point that she couldn't keep up.

Right as he was about to put a close to it, he saw that her rage had finally risen to the top. Her body transformed, causing one out of her nine irises to flash with a symbol. That particular purple eye suddenly turned black like an abyss and he heard the roars of a myriad of dragons coming from within.

That single change caused the scales around her body to slightly darken. Her body audibly snapped during the transformation as every astron expanded and turned stronger. Even the injuries she had sustained rapidly recovered.

Her eyes changing color means she got stronger?

The instant Tianming realized that, Zi Zhen suddenly charged toward him as if she had lost her reason. She unleashed a flurry of attacks in a berserk state, each of them fatal. It no longer seemed like a casual spar.

Even though her level hadn't changed, the strength of her physical body made it so that Tianming didn't dare to directly take her punches and slashes. Her legs were covered in spikes and those kicks were no joke. She even had sharp fangs in her mouth and needle-like hair, as well as a tail that could be used like a lance! Every part of her body was optimized for close combat.

"Stop! Enough!" Tianming had no choice but to bring out the Grand-Orient Sword and give her a ten-totem-infused smack to the head.

Only then did she back off in a daze and her black eye turned back to purple. She looked around in a daze and said, "Are we... stopping?"

"Yes! You transformed just now. Let's take a rest with you in your cute little form," Tianming said, palming his forehead. Even though he wasn't exactly a sucker for pretty faces, he couldn't bring himself to like the fiendish look of a transformed specter. Zi Zhen's two forms were too starkly different.

"Alright...." She nodded and her body snapped back into its compressed form. Every single astron shrank to its former size, turning the specter back into the quiet, purple-haired girl with fair skin and two normal eyes. She appeared before him, basking in purple mist.

Tianming wouldn't believe that the dainty girl before him had been a monster moments ago, had he not seen it with his own eyes. "Tsk tsk tsk... even though you look fair and soft, your body's covered in incredibly hard muscles!" Tianming said, pinching her arm.

She grabbed his hand before he could pull it back.

"What? Are you trying to throw me over your shoulder?" Tianming said with a smirk.

Zi Zhen bit her lip, revealing her cute fangs.

"What was the deal with your eyes just now?" Tianming asked.