Chapter 173: Steady Development, Magma Fire Tree (I)

Late at night, inside the dormitory, Chen Chu lay on his bed after taking a shower, quietly reflecting on the events and observations of the day.

It was evident that the situation in the mutated beast battlefield differed greatly from that of the school; or rather, this was the true way of life that cultivators should embrace.

Warriors, after all, were meant for battle!

Back in school, weapons couldn't leave the premises, sparring was limited to the school grounds, and one couldn't display their powers openly or use them on ordinary people. Under such circumstances, everyone, including Chen Chu, had felt a sense of repression and constraint.

However, upon arriving at the mutated beast battlefield, one could hunt and battle countless mutated beasts, or venture deep into the mountains in search of natural treasures. They could even compete with geniuses from other schools here, instead of being confined to a small institution.

With so many geniuses gathered here, including students from over a dozen first-rate high schools and more than forty second-rate high schools, even freaks like An Fuqing didn't seem as dazzling anymore.

Even Chen Chu was astonished to find five others breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm faster than him, despite him being able to use attribute points to break through realms.

Of course, this only referred to the speed of breakthroughs in cultivation, not combat prowess. In terms of pure combat strength at the same realm, Chen Chu was confident that he was unrivaled among his peers.

He was also somewhat interested in the achievement list; he wondered what rank he could achieve with his current strength?

Of course, these were all secondary concerns. His current main goal was to refine the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd and his battle armor into transcendent equipment to further enhance his combat prowess.

The next step would be to hunt down higher level mutated beasts, exchange for high-grade dragon essence to quickly strengthen his Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body to the sixth level, and even condense its rune.

By then, perhaps he could manifest the True Martial Phantom without needing to break through to the Seventh Heavenly Realm, and could challenge opponents at the Eighth Realm head-on.

Lost in thought, Chen Chu's attention shifted partially to the Thunder Fiery Colossal Beast...

Beneath the surface of the sea, a hundred meters deep, a colossal beast, now thirty meters long and growing more imposing by the moment, tightly clutched a mutated shark-whale over twenty meters in length in its claws.

Its menacing jaws tore off large chunks of flesh with each ferocious bite, spewing forth torrents of blood that stained the surrounding waters a deep crimson.

The intense scent of blood attracted countless marine creatures, but whenever any of them approached within a hundred meters, they trembled uncontrollably, hastily fleeing under the invisible draconic power's menacing aura.

With its strength greatly enhanced, the Thunder Beast had been fiercely battling, hunting, and feasting these past few days, rapidly increasing both its size and evolution points by several hundred. As its size grew, so did its strength, and the Thunder Beast now roamed the ocean with even greater impunity.

Soon, the Thunder Beast devoured the hundred-ton shark-whale, leaving behind only a few indigestible scraps; even most of its bones had been crushed and consumed.

Satiated and feeling the warmth spreading from its stomach, the Thunder Beast displayed a contented expression on its face.

Today's food had been particularly delicious, its body pulsating with potent energy. The savory aroma of its flesh filled the Thunder Beast’s taste buds, leaving it eager for more. Perhaps it would focus on hunting mutated shark-whales in the future.

Lost in thought, the Thunder Beast reached up to pick at its teeth with a claw in a remarkably human-like manner, dislodging a bone fragment the size of half a meter stuck between its fangs.

After resting for a while amid the coral reef, the Thunder Beast gave its tail a slight flick, and in the blink of an eye, its massive form disappeared into the darkness, seeking its next meal.

The ocean, much like the land, had its peaks and valleys, and soon the Thunder Beast ventured into deeper waters. Due to its roaming for prey, this location was approximately seven hundred kilometers from the coast, already in the open sea, where powerful mutated beasts of the deep sea abounded.

***

Bang!

The surface of the sea erupted as two colossal mutated creatures engaged in a fierce battle.

One was an orca, fifteen meters in length, with dark red patterns adorning its body. The air around it was filled with scorching heat, as it exuded a thick and astonishing vitality.

The other was a giant squid, over ten meters long, with tentacles spanning more than twenty meters. Each massive tentacle moved through the water like a coiling python, creating an imposing spectacle.

Although the mutated squid was longer, the two sides were evenly matched in combat.

The mutated orca's body was massive and robust, covered in heavy black and white scales. With each swift charge, it slammed into the squid, tearing and biting at it with its mouth. Once it caught hold of a tentacle, the orca would unleash explosive force to tear it off.

Even when the squid was able to get its tentacles around the orca, however, they only managed to crush some of its scales, unable to harm its flesh.

As the intense battle raged on, suddenly, a dark figure shot up from the depths below.

Boom!

The sea surface exploded like a missile strike, and amid the splashing water, a ferocious colossal beast leaped into the air, its massive claws grabbing hold of the king squid's body and tearing it apart.

Spurt!

Blue blood sprayed everywhere, dyeing the raging sea a deep blue, accompanied by the sight of the ferocious black-red colossal beast holding the torn body of the king squid.

Roar! You're the second child of Big Horn?

Roaring fiercely, the Thunder Beast took a bite of the king squid, starting to devour one of its tentacles.

Seeing the mighty Thunder Beast, the orca's eyes lit up with excitement, eagerly swimming over and circling around as it emitted excited cries.

Squeak! Uncle, Dad, looking for you.

Compared to the youngest sibling, this elder orca was much stronger, just barely able to communicate with the Thunder Beast.

But who on earth is “Uncle?”

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Roar! Why? Did Big Horn find something good again?

The Thunder Beast's eyes lit up.

Squeak! Should, be.

The little orca's response was somewhat vague, as they rarely accompanied the Single-horned Orca on treasure hunts. They usually waited for it to return with treasures, so they weren't sure if anything valuable had been found.

Roar! Lead the way, then, let's go take a look

The Thunder Beast knew the Single-horned Orca's character well; either it had found something good and needed help getting it, or it had gotten into trouble with mutated creatures and was calling for assistance. This time, it was more likely the latter, otherwise it wouldn't have sent these little orcas to search for it.

The ocean was vast, and unlike humans, there was no means of long-distance communication. Finding a specific creature in the ocean was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Luckily, the Thunder Beast usually had a fixed range of activities, so there was still hope for these little orcas to find it by chance.