Time flew by in the blink of an eye. In a flash, two years had passed.
In the fifth year of Kaiyuan, February 2nd.
The morning light of Imperial Star had yet to pierce the clouds, but the crown of the God Tree was already bathed in dawn's glow. Layer upon layer of enormous leaves had been dyed warm gold, like an amber palace suspended ten thousand meters in the sky.
Ren stood with his hands behind his back, his robes snapping in the fierce winds at that altitude. His black hair billowed in the wind, and he stood as straight as a pine.
Looking down at the God Tree that pierced heaven and earth, one could see its roots buried deep within the planet's core, its trunk rising like a mountain range, and its canopy spreading like clouds hanging from the sky, shrouding the surrounding mountains.
Deep within its sky-shrouding branches and leaves, a fruit was ripening.
The fruit was only the size of a fist, its entire surface flowing with a faint golden radiance. Fine patterns wound across its skin like a galaxy.
With every slight pulse, boundless energy throbbed within it, as though it contained the vitality of an entire world.
After absorbing more than two years' worth of Chakra supplied by hundreds of thousands of ninjas, along with the essence of heaven, earth, sun, and moon, the God Tree Fruit had changed from green to gold, from astringent to lustrous, from murky to clear.
Today was the moment it fully ripened. In the next instant, golden light shot into the heavens!
An incomparably rich fragrance suddenly erupted, spreading through the air like divine nectar.
It first lingered around the God Tree before spreading in all directions with the wind.
The fragrance was crisp yet mellow, as