Chapter 242: The End of a Great Battle and the Destiny of a Protagonist (I)

"Report! We’ve detected the auras of Blood Cultists at coordinates 2795 longitude, 1980 latitude."

"Report! True demon skull activated, no traces of demonic aura detected..."

"Report! The moment before the satellites landed, a strong demonic aura was detected deep in the Yunwu Mountains, along with an Eternal Cult aura. However, both auras disappeared after our satellites landed and can no longer be traced."

"Lock in the coordinates and notify nearby squads to investigate..."

In the monitoring center of the rear military base, a continuous stream of voices reported the current situation and conveyed orders.

Soon, the three demon cultists who had their auras revealed were surrounded by nearby squads. Meanwhile, Chen Qi and another squad quickly arrived at the coordinates where Zuo Jing had disappeared.

All the four of them saw, however, were several desolate mountain peaks and the enormous crater left behind by the collapse of the spatial passage.

"The spatial fluctuations here are intense. The Eternal Cultist must have already left through a spatial passage, and then that passage collapsed."

As she said this, Chen Qi seemed lost in thought. Earlier that morning, after Zuo Jing left, An Fuqing had reported the situation to her.

Although Zuo Jin had given her guidance over the past two days, she knew right from wrong, and she wouldn’t hide his whereabouts once she couldn’t keep an eye on him anymore. On the other hand, what she did was still quite selfish; if she had informed the higher ups from the beginning, the teachers could have surrounded and captured him before he could escape.

He was likely the one who had left through this passage, and An Fuqing had mentioned that he apparently came here in search of someone.

But who had he been looking for?

After a brief pause, Chen Qi spoke in a serious tone. "There are strong remnants of demonic aura in the air, and there's no sense of life around. There have been ferocious demons here. Everyone, split up and search carefully to avoid anyone, or anything, from slipping through."

Chen Qi and her team searched the surrounding area meticulously for dozens of kilometers, only to find nothing. They returned to the location of the spatial passage.

"Strange, there were indeed traces of demonic creatures here, but it seems they were... killed? Let’s inform the higher ups and let them know this place is safe."

"Report, the target has been eliminated."

"Report, the target here has been slain..."

As the final remaining invaders were eliminated, the extermination battle that had lasted three days came to an end, and everyone in the Yunwu Mountains received the message of the result.

"They were wiped out just like that."

Standing on a towering peak that looked like a sword rising from the earth, Chen Chu looked at the message on his smartwatch in astonishment.

"No... I haven't killed enough, I haven't earned enough points yet. How could you all be dead?"

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Well, I guess it’s normal.

If the combined power of the military and various high schools took a long time to deal with such a small number of invaders, they would be considered useless. Once the enemy was discovered, it was quite normal for the situation to be swiftly eradicated with their thunderous force.

It's such a shame. If I had encountered those invaders earlier and killed them all, I would have made a fortune this time.

With this in mind, Chen Chu couldn't help but silently estimate his harvest this time.

600 contribution points, 300 merit points, and materials taken from Maximus estimated to be worth hundreds of points, plus a copper plaque of unknown use.

Overall, the harvest this time wasn’t too bad. Especially the 300 merit points, which was equivalent to 1,000 contribution points, giving them more value per point.

Chen Chu nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad. It's like killing several level 6 mutated beasts."

Level 5 mutated creatures were valued between 130 and 150 contribution points, while level 6 creatures skyrocketed to between 300 and 400. The difference in value wasn’t just in the larger amount of flesh and blood, but also in the tougher scales, hides, bones, and even some energy-tempered organs found in level 6 beasts.

These parts, once processed, become rare superconductive materials, which could be used in many advanced weapons and mechanical devices.

For Chen Chu now, killing level 6 mutated beasts was easy, but the problem was bringing them back, since these creatures mostly inhabited the deep Yunwu Mountains.

It wasn’t just their enormous size, weighing over a hundred tons each; just the round trip of six to seven thousand kilometers would take more than a week. It was time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Suddenly, Chen Chu's smartwatch beeped. Someone was calling him.

"Hello, Chen Chu! Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you, Miss Chen."

"I have some things to take care of here, it'll probably take a couple days. When I get back, come to my office, there are some cultivation matters I need to discuss with you."

"...Sure, Miss Chen."

Things to discuss... Like top-level secret scriptures?

Chen Chu pondered.

Then he thought of something. "Miss Chen, could you hold off on tallying up the points I earned from the demon cultists for two days?"

"Why?" Chen Qi was puzzled.

With Chen Chu's record of slaughtering demon cultists this time, he would surge to the top ten of the Achievement List in one go once his points were tallied up. The only reason he wouldn’t immediately hit the first rank would be due to not having enough points, but his combat power was more than enough to take him there.

This kind of glory should be exciting for young people like Chen Chu, so why wait for two days?

Chen Chu calmly replied, "I sensed a battle will earlier, but my martial foundation failed to condense in the end. This time, I want to take a different approach when I go back."

Using external forces to condense an Invincible Battle Will required gathering a vast and overwhelming momentum. If he entered the top ten of the Achievement List too early, the impact on the morale of fellow students at the same level wouldn’t be strong enough.

After all, if you're in the top ten of the Achievement List and have killed so many Sixth Heavenly Realm fighters, it was normal for others to feel like they couldn’t compete with you.

But he needed to sweep through all of the geniuses in the entire southern region. It was more prudent to challenge them as just a first-year freak from the Fifth Heavenly Realm.

At least, it would be more prudent as far as Chen Chu understood it. It was his first encounter with this will, especially this method of condensing that relied, not on enlightenment, but on harnessing the energy of heaven and earth. So, he had to pay attention to all of the potential problems.

"...I understand, no problem."

On the other end, Chen Qi took a deep breath, a hint of admiration in her eyes.

She didn't expect Chen Chu to not only cultivate the Dragon Elephant Art at an astonishing speed, but also show no weakness in his comprehension of will, already touching upon a battle will.

"Is he trying to condense the Invincible Battle Will by challenging cultivators of the same level?" Chen Qi pondered.

After finishing the call, Chen Chu jumped up, crushing the ground underneath him as he took off and propelling hundreds of meters high into the air, then landing with a thunderous boom on another peak over three hundred meters away.

The terrain here was peculiar. The peaks here were sharp rocks rising hundreds of meters high. Their summits were covered with lush greenery and surrounded by swirling clouds, resembling a paradise from legends.

But...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Clad in battle armor, Chen Chu leaped from one peak to another amid the sea of clouds, causing violent explosions that shook the surroundings each time he landed.

Right now, he felt like he was traveling across a sea of clouds. Although he couldn't fly, he could jump.