In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 448 The Golden Branch of Nathan Island, Natural Energy and Primordial Qi

"Boom."

After hanging up the phone, Shimizu put her phone back on the desktop and began browsing the pages on her computer again.

His battle with the Fubuki Group was so loud that nearby residents mistook it for the work of a powerful monster.

Upon inspection, the association found that the cell phone signals of Shimizu, Fubuki, Yamajuu, and Mamoru were all located there, and immediately understood what had happened.

The association knows that Fubuki possesses strength among the top A-rank heroes, and also knows that Shimizu's strength is definitely no less than Fubuki's. The difference in strength between the two is probably not as great as that between Fubuki and other B-rank heroes. Once a conflict occurs, the possibility of an accident is relatively high.

Just then, Tatsumaki finished her mission in E City, which is next to D City, and suppressed a monster with a disaster level of Dragon. So Tatsumaki was notified and asked to come and keep an eye on things.

Fortunately, nothing seems to have happened, and it appears that the Black Whirlwind Warriors are still in the lead.

This prompted the association to reassess Shimizu's capabilities.

……

……

A world of one's own.

Beijing, a biological research institute of Peking University.

In a laboratory with extremely high security measures.

Shimizu removed his eyes from the microscope's eyepiece, jotted down some new findings in his notebook, and then picked up a golden branch.

In front of him was a similarly textured golden branch, planted in a pot, and covered with a transparent bag with a hole in it.

These are the spoils that Zhang Chulan, Feng Baobao, and their group brought back from Nathan Island.

To be precise, it was stolen.

Nathan Island is now history. The sacred tree was burned, the Nathan Guard was almost completely wiped out, and King Nathan has disappeared.

Zhang Chulan went to Nasen Island ostensibly as a member of the observation group for the bloody battle for the throne, but his real mission was to investigate intelligence related to Nasen Island. On a deeper level, he naturally wanted to explore the relationship between some of the old people on the island and the Jia Shen Rebellion, the Thirty-Six Thieves, and especially Wu Gensheng, in order to further uncover the truth about Feng Baobao's background.

Of course, in addition to this, there is also the task that Shimizu sent over—to obtain a living sample of the sacred tree on Nathan Island.

Zhang Chulan is a clever, resourceful, and adaptable young man. He successfully brought several branches of the Nasen Sacred Tree. Two of them are with Qingshui, and the others are being studied elsewhere.

"The tree's highly diffusive volatile substance must have played a crucial role in enabling everyone born on Nathan Island to become naturally gifted individuals."

In two control experiments, four white mice were kept in glass cabinets.

Two small ones and two large ones are grouped together, with one large and one small one forming a pair. The two large ones are both female and were previously pregnant, while the two small ones are just born.

The two female mice were pregnant at similar times. During her pregnancy, one of them would regularly release the volatile substance into the glass enclosure where the other mouse was located.

The offspring born to this female mouse appeared to be no different from others, except that they were healthier in various aspects.

However, if a person who has achieved a certain level of spiritual cultivation carefully examines the two newborn mice, they will find that the healthier mouse has a more abundant amount of innate Qi.

However, the gestation period of mice is only about twenty days, and the effect of volatile substances in such a short period of time is relatively limited.

Of course, the length of pregnancy has a significant impact, but the innate energy contained in the species at birth also plays a role.

Humans, as the most intelligent of all beings, have a gestation period of only about ten months, which can only be considered average to above average.

However, humans are born with the most innate Qi, and their primordial spirit is the strongest among all species on Earth. This not only makes humans the race with the highest innate intelligence, but also, from the embryonic stage, the primordial spirit will subtly strengthen the innate Qi through the activity of energy in the body during the development of life.

If an animal has the opportunity to receive offerings from humans, collect the thoughts and beliefs emanating from humans, or is lucky enough to swallow some rare and precious materials, it can strengthen its primordial spirit and innate Qi, and naturally master the operation and use of Qi. Then it can become a shaman or a demon in Northeast China. The so-called legend of demons eating people is because humans contain more innate Qi, which is a different kind of rare and precious material for these demons.

The healthier mouse, with a higher content of innate Qi, has a much lower threshold for becoming a shaman or demon than its counterparts.

"No wonder, so this is the so-called blessing of the Nathan Tree. Humans themselves contain a lot of innate Qi. If a pregnant woman lives near the Nathan Tree during the ten months of pregnancy, she can inhale the volatile substances emitted by the tree into the air. Adults' physical development has stopped, and they can no longer increase their innate Qi. It will only decrease little by little as life goes by."

When a person lives in such an environment from the embryonic stage, they possess more innate vital energy from birth. If the concentration of volatile substances in the air reaches a suitable level, the probability of becoming a naturally gifted individual is almost 100%.

Shimizu turned her gaze to the golden branch that was wrapped in the ripped transparent bag.

With a clear understanding of the world, the base of this golden branch has already taken root in the soil inside the pot.

Getting the branches to take root is not difficult. Zhang Chulan had done his homework before setting off and chose relatively fresh, semi-lignified branches, which are the most suitable for rooting.

After that, simply remove the leaves except for the top leaves, cut off a small section at the bottom to make a 45-degree angled cut to increase the water absorption area and improve the survival rate. Finally, after disinfection, soak the plant in rooting hormone, insert it into moist, nutrient-free soil, and take good care of it to make it root and grow.

The outer transparent bag with a tear is made of a special material that can collect the volatile substances emitted by the golden branches. The tear and transparency are to avoid hindering the plant's respiration and photosynthesis.

Even with this transparent bag, this golden branch is still just a new seedling. Despite its many wonders, its volatile production efficiency is not high.

This time, the collection only managed to fill a small bottle with a capacity of just a few milliliters.

"What exactly is the principle behind this thing's ability to strengthen the primordial Qi? All energy has its source, especially a high-level energy like the primordial Qi, which is related to the very origin of life. The energy source of this energy shouldn't be so simple. Could it be..."

Shimizu suddenly thought of the Divine Tree in the Naruto world.

Where does chakra come from?

There was no chakra in the ninja world at first. It was only after the Otsutsuki descended and planted the God Tree that chakra began to appear in this world.

Unsurprisingly, chakra originated from natural energy.

But where does natural energy come from? Why don't the Otsutsuki go to other planets to collect natural energy? Is it because other planets don't have it, or the amount is too small? Then why is there more natural energy in the ninja world? Where is this reflected?
Shimizu continued his calculations and soon arrived at the answer.

life.

A planet with life is naturally very different from other planets.

Perhaps it is because of the existence of life that natural energy exists, or perhaps it is because there is a sufficient amount of natural energy that life exists.

Shimizu tends to believe that the two are complementary and mutually reinforcing. When the Divine Tree plunders a large amount of natural energy, it will cause great damage to the ecological environment of the ninja world, even to the point of extinction, and life will gradually disappear. However, the positive changes that life activities bring to the environment will also allow the originally desolate places to develop a certain ecological environment.

What about the Nathan Tree and the Primordial Qi?

The Divine Tree can absorb natural energy to generate Chakra Fruits, and the volatiles of the Nathan Tree can give life forms more innate Qi during the gestation stage, which is very likely also derived from the transformation of natural energy.

This is a high-level energy that is almost ubiquitous on life-bearing planets and is closely connected with life.

Perhaps this volatile substance is something similar to the toad oil from Mount Myoboku, which can help life perceive natural energy and enhance its affinity for natural energy.

Life forms in the gestation period have the ability to unconsciously absorb natural energy, but as the brain develops, wisdom increases, and self-awareness gradually awakens, they consciously begin to control their own bodies and breathing, thus losing the ability to absorb natural energy.

Of course, whether the Nathan Tree truly transforms newborns into extraordinary individuals by absorbing natural energy still needs to be verified.

Shimizu had an idea to verify this: if the experiment succeeded, it would not only prove that this conjecture was correct, but also prove that another previous conjecture was correct.

The transparent, colorless bottle, carrying a slight herbal scent, exuded a cool sensation similar to diluted medicated oil. Qing Shui closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The volatile substances emitted from the bottle were inhaled into his lungs along with a large amount of air, and then quickly exhaled, leaving wisps of white mist around Qingshui's mouth.

During this process, Shimizu was able to clearly feel the slight differences from what he had experienced when using breathing techniques in the past, thanks to his strong mental power.

An indescribable substance entered my bloodstream through my breath, was transported to every part of my body, and revitalized and strengthened every cell.

However, this power did not last long and was quickly exhausted.

White mist rose again around his mouth, and Qingshui continued to use the breathing technique, experiencing the many details and insights within it.

The previous conjecture can now be basically confirmed to be correct, which also verifies that the powerful source of the breathing technique does indeed come from natural energy.

However, after figuring out these two truths, another question arose.

How should he utilize these two points of knowledge?

Or, to put it another way, how can the main body utilize these two points of knowledge to open the door to learning immortal techniques?
Many things have lost their meaning for his incarnation. In this world, he has a powerful nation that has become even stronger after the technological revolution he brought about, providing him with everything he needs.

Security, resources, and air transport are no longer issues.

What needs strengthening is the main body.

Sage Mode could be of great help to Hashirama Senju at his peak, Naruto Uzumaki in Six Paths Mode, and even the Sage of Six Paths.

Shimizu firmly believed that this thing could help improve his own strength.

But before that, he seemed to have something to resolve.

Faintly, Shimizu could sense that a strange power was invading her mind by attaching itself to a certain pheromone in the volatile substances she had absorbed.

This power will involuntarily evoke feelings of awe and worship in people towards the golden branch that emits this volatile substance.

Until one's mind is completely invaded, allowing this golden sapling to become the dominant force in one's mind, like a fanatic offering everything to the god one believes in.

At that time, I will become a puppet of this golden branch.

However, this effect seems to be very mild now. If it is a mentally normal adult, it is easy to resist this effect. But if it is a fetus whose mind has not yet been formed and developed, it may be affected by the divine tree from birth.

The clear water easily eliminated the effects of these pheromones, and she thought of those who were imprisoned under the Nathan Tree.

This is probably how the sacred tree survives: it raises humans like sheep, using them as food and as companions to protect itself.

He used his own volatile substances to help newborn humans become extraordinary beings, and then selected the leader of the flock, namely King Nathan and the nine Nathan Guards, to further deepen his influence on these most devout believers in order to better control the people.

The bloody battle for the throne of Nathan is the means by which the Nathan Sacred Tree feeds.

By creating chaos, the powerful are killed off in large numbers, thus providing nourishment for the powerful.

Unfortunately, because this thing was too sinister, the kingdom of supernatural beings it created made every ruler in ancient times wary.

As early as the Roman Empire, this kingdom was conquered by several powerful nations and exiled to an island in the ocean, where it was confined by its small land and limited resources and forgotten by the mainstream world.

The sacred tree of Nathan was thus restricted, and it wasn't until many years later, in modern society, that an incident of its golden branches being broken occurred, attracting outside attention.

"We still need to find a way to artificially synthesize this volatile substance, but first we need to figure out which components of the volatile substance allow people to connect with natural energy, and which components are pheromones that interfere with people's consciousness."

Shimizu tapped the table, recorded his findings on the computer, and shared them with several other research institutes that were studying the Golden Bough. He then began to design a synthesis route based on the detected target molecule structure.

It wasn't until 4:30 p.m., after he had been working since lunchtime, that Chen Dong, one of his bodyguards, came over to remind him.

"Professor Zhuo, it's time."

Shimizu glanced at the time on the clock and nodded slightly.

"Let's go find Ma Xianhong."

(End of this chapter)