Chapter 186: Only the Crazy Survive, Li Hao, Don’t Be a Coward

Just as Chen Chu went into isolation to refine his transcendent weapon, a heavy figure emanating a crazed yet kingly aura stepped onto the base plaza.

The figure stood at two meters tall, wearing a tattered dark red battle armor that was bursting at the seams from his bulging muscles. On his shoulder, he carried a four-meter long steel pillar that was thicker than his thighs.

It was none other than Li Hao, who had spent half a month in the Yunwu Mountains. He walked with heavy steps over to the large screen, entered his student ID, then placed his hand on the sensor below, infusing it with true power.

Immediately, a row of red characters appeared on the screen above.

"Li Hao, Nantian Martial Arts High School, beginning stage Fourth Heavenly Realm, breakthrough achieved on February 16th. Ranked twenty-fifth on the first-year genius list!"

"Fuck! It's Nantian again."

"How are there so many freaks in this batch of Nantian students? Three people have broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm and gotten on the Genius List in such a short time!"

"It’s not just the Genius List. The first two have already made it into the top one thousand of the Achievement List."

Inside the Nantian base, many second- and third-year students also looked up at the red letters on the big screen.

Some felt exhausted, seeing yet another freak who had broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm in just half a year.

A student at the beginning stage of the Third Heavenly Realm grumbled, "When will this end? Every day we have to watch these freshmen show off."

The person next to him nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We’re geniuses as well, but we’ve been struggling to break out of the Second and Third Realms for one or two years. Why can they break through so quickly?"

"No need to wonder. If you’d put in some actual effort and went into the mountains to hunt mutated beasts, you might have broken through to the Fourth long ago."

"

Ahem

! Forget it. Venturing deep into the mountains is too dangerous. I think I’m fine as it is now. We can also get stronger through steady practice every day."

"That's right. Those guys constantly have their spirits under pressure with those daily life-and-death battles, so of course their focus, true power activity, and resource efficiency are gonna be several times higher than ours. But have you seen how high their casualty rates are? I heard that Chang Feng from Class Five died a few days ago."

"What? Chang Feng from class Five? Wasn't he already at the middle stage of the Fourth Realm?"

"Yes, reportedly killed by a level 5 beast. They couldn't even find his body. A teacher’s already set out to find and kill it, to see if they can still find any parts of him in its belly."

"Another one dead, huh. Well, luckily, we chose the conservative route from the very beginning." The senior students chatting on the steps sighed with relief, happy that their initial decision was correct.

After all, what was the point of progressing quickly if it ended up costing your life? Throughout the year, they'd seen too many familiar names disappear.

"I’m only ranked twenty-fifth!?" Li Hao looked up at the rankings on the big screen with some displeasure. After half a month of training, he had thought he would make a stunning breakthrough.

The row of red characters gradually faded, and the screen shifted to displaying the ranking for the three years’ Genius Lists.

As Li Hao's gaze swept up from his name on the first-year ranking list, he noticed An Fuqing ranked at sixteen, and then froze when he saw Chen Chu’s name in the sixth ranking He hadn’t expected Chen Chu to have already arrived at the mutated beast battlefield, and he definitely hadn’t expected him to break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm before him!

An expression of fervent fighting spirit gradually appeared on Li Hao's face. "This guy's arrival is perfect. Not only did he break through, but he’s arrived just in time for that duel we agreed on."

During these last two months, Li Hao had gained a lot in the mutated beast battlefield. He had hunted mutated beasts like crazy, and exchanged for nearly 700 points worth of resources.

Not only did he break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, he had also successfully condensed the Bull Demon Battle Body. His combat power had grown terrifying, far surpassing his current realm.

In his eyes now, others like An Fuqing and Chen Jianyi weren’t even worth mentioning.

Chen Chu might’ve broken through a couple weeks faster, but can that really be compared to someone like him, who had condensed the Bull Demon Battle Body while only at the Fourth Heavenly Realm?

***

After familiarizing himself with his new refined Flame Crystal battle armor, Chen Chu finally opened the door of the cultivation room and stepped out.

His weapon and battle armor had been upgraded. The next step was to continue hunting level 5 mutated beasts to accumulate more contribution points, and then exchange for high-grade dragon essence so he could break through to the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body’s fifth stage.

This set of transcendent equipment was quite valuable. Due to damage, the battle armor had had only 5 durability points remaining, and 5 attribute points had to be spent to repair it back to its max before he could refine it. Along with the 200 contribution points for the transcendent materials and the 100 attribute points to perform the actual enhancements, everything had ended up costing roughly 300 contribution points.

However, not only was his combat power now enhanced, his defense was also stronger. Even when facing level 6 mutated beasts, he could still retreat unscathed.

Just as Chen Chu pondered whether to rest today and depart tomorrow or just head into the mountains now, a powerful figure appeared not far away. Seeing Li Hao, who emanated an aura of madness, Chen Chu looked surprised. Then he smiled and said, "Long time no see, Li Hao. It seems you've broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm."

Compared to Li Hao, who was wearing tattered battle armor and carrying his heavy weapon, Chen Chu appeared much more relaxed in his casual clothes, and with his aura restrained, he seemed gentle and refined.

Li Hao solemnly said, "That’s correct, I've broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm. But I didn't expect you to break through before me."

In response to this question, Chen Chu just smiled and said, "Just lucky, I guess. I broke through while practicing. It wasn't as difficult as I had imagined."

Li Hao fell silent for a moment, then said, "Chen Chu, has anyone ever told you that attitude of yours makes people want to punch you?"

Looking at the handsome young man in front of him, who spoke of cultivation so casually, Li Hao was feeling that exact urge right now, a feeling Xia Youhui knew all too well.

"Is that right?" Chen Chu said, puzzled. He didn’t understand why, but it didn't matter.

Chen Chu's eyes lit up with anticipation. "So, Li Hao, now that we've both broken through, how about we head down the mountain and find a place to spar? We can finally do our duel."

When Li Hao had gone to assist Kyria, he had asked Chen Chu for a full-on battle after the trial ended. However, because Li Hao hadn’t been confident he could win against Chen Chu at the time, they had decided to postpone it until both of them had broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, when Li Hao could condense the Bull Demon Battle Body.

Right now, Chen Chu felt a suppressed yet still terrifying aura from him. Li Hao was wild like a demon, and had successfully condensed the Battle Body. But since his Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd had also been successfully refined, Chen Chu wanted to test its power on Li Hao.

Just when Chen Chu thought Li Hao would agree, however, he instead coughed awkwardly. "...Let's not rush our duel."

Before Chen Chu could respond, Li Hao looked around to make sure no one was in sight before changing the subject. "I came to you this time because I want us to team up for a mission."

"A mission? Have you found another king-level beast?" Chen Chu raised an eyebrow.

Li Hao nodded solemnly. "Yes, while I was training on the edge of the Yunwu Mountains, I discovered a group of beasts. Among them, a beginning stage level 5 beast exhibited characteristics of a king-level bloodline."

"A level 5 beast with traces of a king-level bloodline? That means your combat power is at the late stage of the Fifth Realm?” Chen Chu raised his eyebrows, surprised.

Mutated beasts with even a trace of a king-level bloodline had strength far surpassing their peers. They were even on par with draconic creatures, their power capable of spanning at least two minor stages.

In other words, if Li Hao was daring to challenge that king-level beast, would it mean his combat power was at the late stage of the Fifth Heavenly Realm?

Was that even possible? Chen Chu looked skeptical. In his perception, while Li Hao’s aura was strong, it was only at Zhang Lin’s level, perhaps slightly weaker.

Li Hao felt a bit embarrassed. "Although I've broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, my combat power isn't that dramatic. There's still a gap. I'm not a match for that king beast on my own. But if you come with me, it’ll be fine."

"You have that much faith in me?" Chen Chu was a bit puzzled.

Li Hao fell silent for a moment, then said, "That’s right. I trust you, or rather, I trust my instincts. So, are you interested?"

Instincts? You're not a woman, where did you get instincts from?

Chen Chu thought sarcastically.

After thinking for a bit, Chen Chu nodded. "Alright, since you have so much faith in me, let's team up again. When the time comes, leave that king beast to me."

Sure enough, this guy had become even more of a freak.

After condensing the Bull Demon Battle Body, Li Hao had acquired a beastly instinct that was currently warning him of the danger Chen Chu posed. It felt like what stood in front of him wasn’t a human, but a ferocious dragon. The invisible pressure Chen Chu emitted was no weaker than that of the level 5 king beast.

That was what had made Li Hao decide not to mention the duel. However, there was a chance that the beastly instinct could be inaccurate, so he had used the king beast to test that.

Chen Chu had always been very cautious. He didn’t make decisions on things that he wasn’t capable of doing, so the fact that he had agreed to go had proven Li Hao’s instinct correct.

“What’s the situation?” Chen Chu asked.

A level 5 mutated beast with a king-level bloodline was worth at least 300 contribution points. Add a few ordinary level 5 mutated beasts to the mix, and it would be a huge profit.

Unlike mutated creatures in the deep sea, however, which competed purely through size and abilities, mutated beasts on land generally had stronger overall combat power, and that wasn’t even getting into the ones with king-level bloodlines.

Li Hao said, “I observed the group of beasts for five days and I have a clear idea of their situation. Other than that king beast, there are five more level 4s, and around ten scaled level 3s. They’ve taken over a small mountain range, and their territory spans a few hundred kilometers.”.

“Five level 4s and ten more level 3s? So many?” Chen Chu furrowed his eyebrows. He was confident that he could take down the late stage level 5 mutated beasts, but if there were other high-level mutated beasts, it would be a bit more troublesome... albeit, just a bit.

Li Hao fell silent for a moment, and let out a bitter smile. “There’s another problem. Near the group of beasts, there is a Double Winged Dragon with a beginning stage level 5 aura. Most importantly, the dragon’s shape is similar to the scaled beasts. I suspect it’s a special characteristic of their mutation.

“Under these circumstances, if we fight, we have to be aware of that dragon.”

Another level 5 mutated beast, and this one could fly! Chen Chu shook his head. “We need reinforcements, we can’t handle this by ourselves.”

Two level 5 mutated beasts; one with a king-level bloodline and the other capable of flight. On top of that, there were five level 4 beasts and around ten level 3 beasts.

This was a strong group of mutated beasts; even normal cultivators in the Sixth Heavenly Realm wouldn’t dare to approach.

While humans who had broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm had enough combat power to battle mutated beasts of the same level, the beast still had a natural physical advantage. They could take a few strikes, but one bite from them would certainly kill the human.

There was also the problem of bringing back the mutated beasts after killing them. Even though there were anti-gravity disks to reduce the weight, there was a limit to how much weight they could hold. It would be impossible to pile all of those mutated beasts together to transport them.

Just leaving them behind wasn’t an option, either. There was no way Chen Chu was going to throw away that many contribution points.

Li Hao nodded. “True, we can’t do this with just the two of us. If you hadn’t arrived and broken through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, I was going to team up with some peak Fourth Realm second-year students. I’m sure they’d be interested.”

After so many years of hunting, level 4 mutated beasts were scarce not only in the Jiuhuan Mountains, but even the Yunwu Mountains. As they grew stronger, the high-level mutated beasts naturally migrated toward the middle and back of the mountain ranges. Those areas were a horribly dangerous environment, but the intensity of transcendent energy there would allow mutated beasts to grow stronger much more quickly.

Of course, if Li Hao teamed up with senior year geniuses, they would end up taking both the lead and most of the contribution points.

In the evening, Xia Youhui and his team returned after being out for three days. During that time, the six of them had hunted down two level 4 beginning stage mutated beasts and one level 4 middle stage mutated beast. Since the corpses were intact and properly preserved, they had received a total of 170 contribution points... which sounded like a lot at first, but once divided between six, it turned out to be just under 30 points each..

Even then, however, Xia Youhui and his team were satisfied. 30 contribution points in three days; if they kept this up, that would be over 200 a month.

“What!? 50 contribution points per person just for transporting corpses?”

Everyone was having dinner in the mess hall, and when Chen Chu brought up his offer, Liu Feng almost spat out his food.

The others were just as surprised. Interested, Li Meng said, “Chen Chu, are you serious?”

Chen Chu nodded. “Of course, do I look like someone who jokes around?”

Bai Mu agreed. “Definitely not.”

Curious, Xia Youhui asked, “Chen Chu, did you find a group of beasts that you wouldn’t be able to bring back on your own after killing them all?” ”

“Li Hao did. There are around twenty of them...” Chen Chu then went on to explain the situation.

When they heard that there was a level 5 beginning stage mutated king beast, they hesitated. After all, this was a mutated beast with combat power surpassing theirs by two major realms.

However, Chen Chu quickly reassured them that there were others who would deal with the king beast, and Li Hao would also be there to deal with the level 4 beasts.

Xia Youhui's group wasn’t strong enough to be of much help, so all they needed to do was help with moving the carcasses afterward. Chen Chu was offering the 50 contribution points per person as incentive, with additional rewards depending on their efforts.

After all, opportunities and benefits should be shared with close friends first. Among the group, Luo Fe could also potentially serve as back-up with her sniper rifle. Her magnetic energy bullets could pose a significant threat even to level 5 mutated beasts, so if the Double-Winged Dragon decided to show up, she would need to find an opportunity to injure it and restrict its movements.

While her outright killing it would be ideal, it would also be difficult. Ultimately, Chen Chu needed to figure something else out.