Chapter 135: After Ten Years, Brother, I'm Here Again (II)

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and on the third day of the new year, Chen Chu went to school to see off Xia Youhui and the others.

The mutated beast battlefield was a few primitive mountain ranges sealed off by the military. Before the New Era, they had been famous old growth forests, but when the New Era began, things changed for the worse.

Mutated beasts emerged from within the mountains endlessly, and their evolution speed and strength far exceeded those of outside creatures, making it extremely dangerous.

In order to protect the ordinary people outside, some strong individuals had intervened and laid down a huge sealed barrier. The mountains became completely separated from the outside world; mutated beasts couldn't come out, and ordinary people couldn't get in other than through the designated entrance.

Lin Xue and the others weren’t the only ones going. Some new Third Heavenly Realm students and more than twenty seniors who had come home for the New Year—nearly forty people in total—were gathering in front of the buses.

When Chen Chu came to see them off, Lin Xue and the others hadn't arrived yet, but Xia Youhui, Liu Feng, Bai Mu, and a few others were already there. They were all carrying weapons, and there were suitcases containing armor beside them.

After Chen Chu walked over, Xia Youhui smiled and said, "Ah Chu, we'll go and check out the situation first. When you've cultivated the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body, hurry over."

Chen Chu nodded lightly. "Yeah, I'll come over when I'm ready."

Liu Feng felt a little regretful. "It's a shame you're not coming with us this time. It feels like something's missing."

"Missing a boss," Bai Mu added.

Liu Feng clapped his hands. “Exactly.”

Indeed, in Kyrola, they had formed a team of six. Every time they had encountered enemies or battles, Chen Chu had charged in the most fiercely and reacted the quickest, instantly boosting morale. If the others were even a little slower, they wouldn’t be able to get even a single kill.

"...Get out. You aren’t a bunch of good for nothings. Why would you need a boss?" Chen Chu said with a smile.

While the group was chatting, Yuan Chenghuang and others arrived, carrying heavy hammers and giant blades. The six of them laughed and boasted to each other, without a hint of nervousness.

After about ten minutes, the Lin sisters and Luo Fei finally arrived together.

As they stood together, the two sisters were very eye-catching with their identical looks, height, and figure, especially when paired with Luo Fei’s exquisite beauty. As soon as they appeared, they attracted everyone’s attention.

Xia Youhui exclaimed, "Ah Chu, have you noticed that Lin Xue and the others are getting more and more beautiful?"

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Indeed." Chen Chu nodded in agreement.

He wasn’t sure if it was because their bodies had grown a bit, or if their experiences had made them more mature, but Chen Chu also noticed that Lin Xue, Lin Yu, and Luo Fei looked even more beautiful.

Xia Youhui sighed. "They’re so beautiful. I wonder who will be lucky enough to marry them in the future." He looked at Chen Chu with a meaningful gaze.

"What... why are you looking at me?" Chen Chu was a bit puzzled.

Seeing him pretending to be oblivious, Xia Youhui couldn't help but ask, "Ah Chu, can you bear to let others take them away?"

Chen Chu was taken aback. "Stop the nonsense. They're here now, so be careful or they'll kill you."

As the two whispered to each other, Lin Xue and the others walked over with their weapons and luggage.

Seeing this, Chen Chu took the initiative to greet them. "Class monitor, and Lin Yu, be safe over there. Look after yourselves, and if anything happens, let Old Xia take over."

Lin Xue nodded. "Don't worry, that was my plan from the beginning. I wouldn’t have asked to team up with him otherwise."

Before the group could finish chattering, the driver of the transport bus parked by the roadside stuck his head out and shouted, "Everyone on the bus, it’s almost time to depart."

Instantly, everyone started to pack their luggage and weapons.

"Goodbye, Chen Chu!"

Xia Youhui shouted from the window, "Ah Chu, remember to check the group chat. I'll record some videos of the battlefield for you."

"Okay, I'll check my phone when I have time." Chen Chu nodded.

Li Meng also sat by the window, excitedly shouting, "Chen Chu, remember to come early, don't wait until I break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm."

"Li Meng, what nonsense are you talking about? Do you think you can break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm within a month?"

"You never know. What if I'm lucky enough to pick up a high-quality resource that allows me to break through two realms consecutively?"

"You really think that's possible?"

The two transport buses slowly started, and with the roar of the engine, they drove out away from the school.

Watching the bus carrying his familiar classmates disappear at the intersection, Chen Chu felt a bit emotional as he stood at the entrance of the school. He wondered how much would change the next time they met.

Maybe they would be surprised. These guys all thought that by going to the mutated beast battlefield in advance, they could catch up with or even surpass him. Unfortunately, these guys had no idea that he was just one step away from breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm himself.

Now, it was waiting for the start of the purge mission the day after tomorrow, harvesting contribution points, and making his cultivation skyrocket, especially with the synchronous strengthening of the Sword Armor Fiery Beast’s upcoming fourth evolution.

By then, his combat power should surprise everyone.

Thinking of this, Chen Chu's lips couldn't help but curl up slightly. He looked at the graceful girl beside him and said, "Time for us to go, too."

***

More than a hundred meters below the sea, colorful corals attracted many marine creatures to inhabit the area.

A giant fifteen-meter-long beast lay prone within the reef, a fierce dark red glow shimmering between the gaps of its black scales. At the moment, the beast's aura was restrained as it lay motionless like a black stone, with many beautiful fish swimming around it.

The Sword Armor Fiery Beast’s efforts in cultivating the Hidden Divinity art were starting to yield results. In a state of stillness, it could perfectly conceal its own aura.

However, it could currently only do that while lurking. Once it moved, the terrifying aura emitting from its body would break through the art’s concealment.

Lying on the coral reef and watching the small fish swimming back and forth in front of it, the beast's eyes revealed a pensive look.

Over the past few days, it was finding that, while it was continuing to accumulate evolution points at a steady rate, its physical growth was starting to slow down.

Is it reaching the evolutionary limit?

Chen Chu had known from the beginning that there was a limit to how much any given organism could grow. The six-horned salamander had only been able to grow to thirty centimeters at first, and after its first evolution, its new limit had been seventy centimeters.

Being able to grow from a feeble six-horned salamander that could be crushed by a child to fifteen meters was its gradual effort to break through its evolutionary limit.

It was clearly reaching the ceiling of the third evolution. This time, its size would likely grow to eighteen or twenty meters before stopping.

However, it had been more than fifty days since the third evolution, and its evolution points had accumulated to 2,000. With a little more effort, it would be able to evolve in about a month.

At least, assuming it had good enough luck. If it could hunt multiple level 6 mutated beasts every day, the rate would be even faster.

Unfortunately, this was wishful thinking. While level 6 mutated beasts in the ocean were as common as cabbages, there was still the issue of actually finding them. The ocean was too vast, and there was too much danger and uncertainty everywhere, especially within the very depths of the sea. The level 6 beasts that survived were the ones who knew better than to mill about without a care in the world.

Even the Fiery Beast had been cautious during this time, advancing step by step, slowly expanding its hunting range along the areas it had explored and come to know. While this mode of hunting was safe, however, it was also time-consuming. If it got unlucky, it would encounter only ordinary level 3 or 4 mutated beasts after an entire day's effort.

As the Fiery Beast mulled all of this over, it suddenly heard a faint whistling sound coming from above, and couldn't help but look up.

On the turbulent sea surface, a massive beast twenty-nine meters long was rolling. It was the Single-horned Orca that had once teamed up with the beast.

Not far behind it were the female orca and their three offspring. Two of the young orcas had grown significantly larger, reaching twelve meters in length, and red dark patterns had appeared between the scales on their bodies, indicating that they had consumed the two Blood Crystals.

Boom!

The water deep below exploded, and a black, ferocious mutated beast leaped out of the sea. Immediately, the Single-horned Orca let out a cheer.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Brother, I finally found you.