Chapter 243: The End of a Great Battle and the Destiny of a Protagonist (II)

Soon, Chen Chu left that ethereal realm of clouds behind him. He dashed straight into the forest and headed out of the mountains, going so fast that he looked like a streak of golden-red light.

Everything in his path was shattered; whether it was vegetation or mutated creatures leaping out, all were crushed under his dominating presence.

Suddenly, Chen Chu's golden-red figure flickered slightly, changing directions and carving out a semicircular arc as he continued to move forward. The moment he vanished, a silent black rift appeared. Everything around it was cut in half as the rift passed through, then it slowly dissipated.

Thanks to his enhanced vision, these randomly appearing rifts posed no threat to Chen Chu.

With a bountiful harvest this time, he prepared to rush back and enhance the sixth stage of the Dragon Elephant Art to the maximum. He wanted to see if he could condense a complete rune.

If incomplete runes like the Elephant Fury are already so powerful, what about the maximized rune of the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body?

Thinking about this filled Chen Chu with anticipation.

Once the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body reached its maximum state, his strength would make him number one among the younger generation in the south. Even the so-called Awakeners would be destroyed by him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With his explosive speed of over two hundred meters per second, Chen Chu quickly crossed the middle section of the Yunwu Mountains, returning to the cliff before nightfall.

There, as usual, sat a girl in ordinary battle armor, emitting a mysterious aura. She seemed to be at the late stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, something that caused Chen Chu's eyes widened in surprise.

In just two days, An Fuqing had actually broken into the late stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm. In addition, two formidable sword wills swirled around her—one alternating between reality and illusion, faintly visible, and the other exceptionally sharp, capable of cutting through anything.

Dense transcendent energy gathered around her, continuously being absorbed and transformed by her true power, and her aura rapidly grew stronger. In this state of sudden enlightenment, An Fuqing's cultivation speed was astonishingly fast.

Phew!

Chen Chu let out a long breath, his eyes showing admiration as he spoke. "An Fuqing, is this what you mean by the loosening of boundaries?"

At the edge of the cliff, An Fuqing withdrew her focus, the terrifying sword wills slowly fading away as she turned back calmly. "After observing the world in Zuo Jing’s hand, I've had a deeper understanding of things these past two days. It feels like I've entered a completely new world.”

She then shook her head. "Unfortunately, it's hard to describe that feeling. Otherwise, it might have helped you in condensing your will."

...Actually, even if you described it, I probably wouldn't understand.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Chen Chu only thought this to himself, rather than say it out loud. After all, the fact that she was already thinking about helping him condense his will touched him somewhat.

He couldn't help but feel that his classmates were adorable, whether it was Old Xia, Li Meng, Luo Fei, or others. In contrast, his own thoughts were usually more complex.

At that moment, he looked around. "Where's Zuo Jing?"

"He's gone." An Fuqing paused slightly, then continued without hiding anything. "Zuo Jing was also affiliated with the demon cults."

"... So, you'd noticed too."

An Fuqing nodded slightly. "He was very mysterious, but he didn't seem to harbor much malice toward people from the Federation. I already informed Miss Chen about him this morning."

"What did she say?"

"She said the information’s been uploaded, and they're currently tracking his whereabouts. At the same time, she asked me to write a detailed report about my contact with him over the past two days."

Chen Chu nodded; since it had been reported to the higher-ups, he didn't need to worry about it anymore. He also wasn’t too worried about whether An Fuqing’s contact with Zuo Jing would get her in trouble; the authorities weren’t that narrow-minded. The interaction between them had been limited to discussing the ways of life, so there was nothing suspicious.

As they spoke, the sky darkened. Once Chen Chu noticed, he fetched some dry firewood to light a fire. Fortunately, the stove from the night before was still intact, and he didn't even need to search for food; there was still plenty of meat left from the mutated cow.

In the Yunwu Mountains in March, the weather was chilly, with temperatures only around ten degrees. Additionally, due to the energy contained in the flesh of mutated creatures, the meat had remained fresh even after two days.

At night, the flames danced as Chen Chu and An Fuqing sat before the stone slab, eating the roasted meat.

Compared to Chen Chu, who was eating slowly, the girl sitting across from him was devouring the food hungrily, her mouth smeared with grease from the meat.

She held chopsticks in one hand, flipping the meat on the stone slab, while continuously sprinkling various seasonings with the other. As soon as a piece of meat was cooked, she didn't hesitate to stuff it into her mouth despite its scorching temperature.

This scene was vastly different from the image of the talented girl sitting at the edge of the cliff and exuding a lofty martial aura. Chen Chu was left in disbelief.

Hey hey! The way you acted the other night wasn't like this. Where's the demeanor of being the top student of Nantian? Don’t you care about your image?

"An Fuqing, do you rarely eat barbecued meat?" Chen Chu couldn't help but ask in the end.

An Fuqing nodded. "Yeah. My mom preferred light flavors and never let me eat this stuff when I was young."

At this point, An Fuqing also noticed that her image wasn't the best, but she simply smiled apologetically and continued her eating.

Chen Chu curiously asked, "To produce a talent like you, your parents must also be cultivators, and quite accomplished, right?"

The girl nodded again. "My mom used to be a cultivator, but her foundation was damaged later on. Instead of progressing, her cultivation regressed over the years. As for my father, my mom said he passed away many years ago."

"...Passed away, huh? I'm sorry." Chen Chu paused slightly.

An Fuqing shrugged it off. "It's okay, there are many incomplete families in our generation, not just mine."

Chen Chu nodded in agreement.

From the chaotic era to the present, the human world had actually gone through many disasters, which had resulted in the slow recovery of the human population in the past decades. His own father had died of illness in his early years, and almost everyone from the previous generation in his family had also perished.

Just as Chen Chu was reflecting on this, An Fuqing paused for a moment, then slowly said, "But my mother's injuries were too severe, and she passed away last year, too."

Chen Chu instinctively asked, "Do you have any other family members?"

"No, I don't." Watching the flames flicker before her, An Fuqing seemed distracted, and she lost her appetite.

Suddenly, the atmosphere became somewhat heavy. Chen Chu hadn't expected the conversation to take such a turn from casual chatting, and he sighed softly as he looked at the girl across from him.

Compared to An Fuqing, he was much better off. At least in this world, he still had his mother and younger brother as family, so his heart wasn't as lonely.

Chen Chu sighed again. "I'm sorry."

An Fuqing came to her senses and looked at him curiously. "Didn't I just say that there's no need to apologize? The dead can’t come back to life, and the living must go on living. I promised my mother that I would live well."

She had a good mindset. Chen Chu changed the subject, feeling that the previous topic was too heavy. "You’ve been excelling since the beginning of the school year. What motivates you to work so hard?"

He felt the need to steer the conversation toward a more positive topic to spark hope and anticipation for the girl.

"To kill someone."

"...To kill someone?" Chen Chu paused again, wondering if he had misheard. Why was the girl in front of him always so unpredictable?

An Fuqing nodded. "Yes, to kill someone. It's my mother's dying wish."

Okay, so it’s a vendetta from the previous generation.

Perhaps because she was reminded of her goal in life, the girl in front of Chen Chu regained her appetite again, devouring the barbecue voraciously as if it would make her grow faster.

"

Ahem!

You've been on the battlefield for quite a while, but why haven't you refined your armor yet?" Chen Chu changed the subject once more.

An Fuqing had entered the mutated beast battlefield a month and a half before him. With her strength, she should have quickly accumulated contribution points. However, it seemed she only had a Sumeru Bracelet and a transcendent battle sword.

Even the bracelet was a reward from the Kyrola trials, and the battle sword had been refined on the same day as Chen Chu's halberd, just over ten days ago.

Her answer was straightforward. "Because I'm broke. I don't have any contribution points." Saying this, she stuffed another large piece of meat into her mouth, her cheeks bulging as she chewed vigorously.

For some reason, this scene seemed oddly adorable.

"Um... How could you be broke? With your strength, earning one or two hundred contribution points shouldn't be difficult." Chen Chu was puzzled.

An Fuqing shook her head. "I don’t kill mutated creatures. It's too heavy and troublesome. The contribution points for refining my sword came from a few Golden Sunflowers I found on the way."

"So, you've been in the mutated beast battlefield for quite some time, but you're just casually finding a cliff to meditate and cultivate?"

"Yes."

"Wow... impressive." Chen Chu was at a loss for words for a moment.

Then, Chen Chu's expression gradually became strange, as he realized that An Fuqing was like the template for a destined protagonist. Both her parents were dead, her enemy was the motivation for her cultivation, she had incredible talent, and she could skyrocket her growth by just cultivating quietly.

With just half a year of cultivation, she was almost at the Fifth Heavenly Realm, and now that she had broken into the Fourth, she could improve even faster. Could she break into the Ninth Realm in just one year?

At that moment, An Fuqing also curiously asked, "Chen Chu, what's your cultivation goal?"

After thinking for a moment, Chen Chu responded. "My goal... is to enjoy the process of getting stronger.”

Because the stronger he became, the safer he felt.