## Chapter 5:Cleansing and Constraint
Dawn arrived without ceremony.
Li Tianchen did not notice it at first.
He remained seated cross-legged on the floor of his room, spine straight as a blade driven into stone. The faint golden light of early morning crept through the tall windows, dust motes drifting lazily in its path, yet inside the room time felt suspended—stretched thin beneath the weight of cultivation.
The Chaos Divine Root pulsed steadily within him.
No longer violent.
No longer unruly.
It beat like a second heart, slow and profound, releasing controlled waves of chaotic essence that seeped into every corner of his body. Each pulse refined, compressed, and reconstructed him at the most fundamental level.
Li Tianchen's breathing was deep and rhythmic.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Each breath drew in the faint, threadlike qi scattered within Earth's atmosphere. It was pitifully thin, barely worthy of being called spiritual energy, yet under his guidance it obeyed. The Chaos Divine Art forced the qi through his meridians, grinding it down, purifying it again and again until even this diluted essence became usable.
The process was slow.
Painstaking.
But it worked.
Ten thousand years of cultivation experience bridged the gap between divine technique and mortal environment.
When Li Tianchen finally opened his eyes, the world seemed sharper.
Clearer.
He lowered his gaze to his hands.
They were steady.
Firm.
Not large, not exaggerated, but refined—each tendon and muscle arranged with ruthless efficiency. He clenched his fist slowly, feeling strength gather with alarming ease, not explosive but condensed, coiled like a spring.
This was not brute force.
This was tempered power.
He examined himself carefully.
His physique had changed completely.
The weakness of his former body was gone. Muscles lay smoothly beneath his skin, dense and resilient. His bones felt heavier, sturdier, as though forged with an unseen alloy. Even his posture had shifted—naturally upright, balanced, carrying an unconscious sense of authority.
His meridians told an even more astonishing story.
Once narrow and fragile, they had expanded dramatically, reinforced by chaotic essence until they resembled wide, resilient channels capable of enduring far greater strain. Qi flowed through them without resistance, smooth and obedient, as if the pathways themselves had been redesigned from the ground up.
Li Tianchen closed his eyes briefly.
"Body Tempering… fifth layer," he murmured.
A flicker of genuine satisfaction surfaced.
In the Immortal World, reaching such a stage in a single night—without heavenly treasures, spirit pools, or divine assistance—would have been unthinkable. Even genius cultivators would have required months of careful refinement.
Here, on Earth, with its crippled spiritual environment, he had still achieved it.
The Chaos Divine Root was living up to its legend.
He stood and walked toward the mirror.
The reflection staring back at him was unmistakably Li Tianchen—but elevated.
His facial features were sharper, cleaner, refined by internal transformation rather than cosmetics or training. His skin carried a faint luster, not obvious, but unmistakably healthy, as though light lingered on it a moment longer than it should.
Handsome.
But more importantly—dangerous.
The arrogance of his former mortal self was gone, replaced by quiet restraint. This was the appearance of someone who understood strength and no longer felt the need to flaunt it.
"A complete transformation," he thought calmly.
Yet even as satisfaction settled in, another realization surfaced.
Li Tianchen closed his eyes and expanded his perception outward.
The world responded reluctantly.
Qi existed—but barely.
It drifted through the atmosphere in thin, broken strands, scattered and diluted, incapable of sustaining high-level cultivation on its own. Compared to the True Martial Continent, it was laughable. Compared to the Immortal World, it was practically nonexistent.
This was not a cultivation world.
It was a sealed one.
A faint crease formed between his brows.
"So this is Earth's limit," he murmured.
The Chaos Divine Root did not lower its standards.
It demanded abundance.
Cultivating the Chaotic Divine Art here would be akin to feeding a primordial beast with scraps. Progress would be slow, painful, and dependent on ingenuity rather than raw accumulation.
For the first time since his regression, Li Tianchen felt pressure.
Not fear.
Constraint.
Yet before he could plan further—
His nose twitched.
A foul odor assaulted his senses.
Li Tianchen frowned.
It was sharp, rancid, unmistakably unpleasant.
He looked down.
Only then did he notice it.
A thick, black, viscous substance coated his body from head to toe. It clung to his skin like oil, seeping from his pores, staining his clothes, releasing waves of stench with every movement.
Impurities.
The conclusion was instant.
This was the waste expelled during body tempering—physical toxins, latent diseases, karmic residue, and imperfections accumulated over this body's lifetime. The Chaos Divine Art had purged everything without mercy.
Li Tianchen stared at himself for a moment.
Then he exhaled slowly.
"So ruthless," he said flatly.
He walked toward the bathroom.
As hot water poured over him, the black substance dissolved, spiraling down the drain in oily streams. He scrubbed methodically, layer after layer washing away, until his skin emerged clean beneath the steam—smooth, pale, and faintly radiant.
With each impurity removed, his body felt lighter.
Freer.
As though invisible chains had been cut.
When he finally stepped out, steam curling through the room, Li Tianchen met his reflection once more.
There was no trace of filth.
Only refinement.
He dressed slowly, thoughts already racing ahead.
Earth's qi was thin—but not absent.
That meant opportunities existed.
Hidden spiritual veins buried beneath modern cities.
Ancient relics dismissed as myth.
Formation arrays lost to time.
And above all—patience.
In his previous life, he had relied on momentum and overwhelming strength.
This time, he would cultivate with precision.
The world might be barren.
But the Chaos Divine Root did not bow to environments.
It reshaped them.
This was only the beginning.