Chapter 287: Transforming the Beast's Body, The Nine-Headed Serpent, It Actually Dared to Strike Back

As Chen Chu thought about the innate spatial rune on the plane, the Thunder Fiery Colossal Beast lay on the steps of the ice crystal palace deep beneath the sea, contemplating the Silver Colossal Dragon across from him, particularly the scale in the center of its forehead.

Feeling the intense stare, the Silver Dragon shrank its neck and growled.

Roar! Ao Batian, why are you staring at me like that?

The Thunder Beast snapped out of its thoughts and slightly opened its mouth to growl back.

Roar! Nothing, I was just thinking.

Roar! Really?

The Silver Dragon was skeptical. It always felt like the Thunder Beast was up to something.

As the two colossal beasts roared, even their low growls shook the palace, causing the surrounding water to churn.

Suddenly, the Thunder Beast growled.

Roar! Saixitia, can you lend me the spatial rune merged into the scale on your head for my study?

Roar! Ao Batian, what are you planning?

The Silver Dragon sprang up, covering its head with its left claw as it warily eyed the Thunder Beast.

In certain special environments, the power of heaven and earth naturally condensed to form innate runes that contained certain laws. In such a scenario, any human or other creature who discovered the rune and resonated with it could integrate it into their bodies.

The innate completeness of these runes would allow them to cultivate or grow to the peak of the Ninth Heavenly Realm, similar to Innate Awakeners. With a lack of accidents and a bit of fortune, they could even ascend the throne and become mythical beings.

Once that rune merged with a being, the core essence of the laws that rune represented fused with the being’s soul. Any other person or creature who desired that rune would only be able to obtain it by killing the wielder; even then, they would only get an incomplete, partial imprint from the wielder’s body.

This was why Saixitia’s mother had kept it confined to their territory and forbade it from venturing out. As long as it was well-fed, kept safe, and properly guided by a mythical-level colossal beast, becoming a myth was only a matter of time for it.

This was also the reason for the Silver Dragon's sudden vigilance. If they hadn't spent more than half a month together and become somewhat familiar with each other, the Thunder Beast's words just now would have been enough to spark an explosive battle between the colossal beasts.

Roar! Relax, Saixitia, we are “good friends” who met through battle. I won't steal your stuff,

the

Thunder Beast growled.

Roar! I've recently had some insights after my breakthrough, and I just want to use your rune as a reference.

Roar! Is that so?

The Silver Dragon eyed him suspiciously, but gradually lowered its guard.

Roar! Of course, I wouldn't lie to you. Look...

As it growled, the Thunder Beast extended its right claw. Instantly, dozens of tiny scales on its palm lit up, emitting an invisible force field. The runes on these scales had weak individual energy, but when combined in a matrix, they created a force field a hundred times stronger.

Whoosh!

As golden flames ignited on its right claw, they quickly formed a five-meter-diameter fireball.

With a continuous influx of energy from the Golden Flames and the force field's compression, the fireball began to emit a scorching heat that startled even the Silver Dragon.

Roar! This is my recent gain.

Using my scales as a carrier, I inscribed a type of rune that possesses magnetic force field constraints. Individually, these runes are weak, but when dozens are combined, the force field becomes extremely powerful.

Roar! With this current strength, I can compress one-tenth of my flame energy tenfold, which makes each attack during battle far more destructive. I have thousands of scales on my right claw. If I can inscribe these runes on all of them, the force field will be even stronger, potentially compressing my Golden Flames a hundredfold.

The Thunder Beast was thrilled as it spoke. It hadn't expected that its hypothesis about using physical magnetic fields to constrain plasma could be applied to cultivation. Even though the effect of the runes wasn’t an ordinary magnetic field, nor the Golden Flames ordinary plasma, the principle was similar.

Moreover, because the runes were inscribed on the scales, they remained dormant most of the time. The Thunder Beast’s internal qi and vitality would only activate them when needed, forming a powerful force field to compress and gather flames or thunderbolt energy.

This was something humans couldn't achieve. Each rune was a point of energy convergence, condensed by the power of spiritual will and vitality, akin to a mini-engine with special powers. If there were too many runes, they would hinder the circulation of true power, which was why secret arts couldn't be cultivated excessively.

For colossal beasts, however, it didn't matter, because they had no true power and didn't need to cultivate in the same way.

Therefore, if the Thunder Beast truly could inscribe runes on all the tiny scales of its right claw, even if it didn't achieve a hundredfold compression of the Golden Flames, several dozen times would still be impressive, with the bonus of being stable, unlike the uncontrollable state it was in a few days ago.

When the time came, grasping a fireball with a temperature of hundreds of thousands of degrees Celsius and infused with a hundred times the strength, the Thunder Beast would be able to obliterate anything with a single swipe.

This was the path the Thunder Beast intended to take next. In the past few days, Chen Chu had been multitasking, simultaneously working on the secret scripture of the human body and contemplating the future path of his beast form.

Compared to humans, who followed the path of the laws, mutated creatures evolved their physical bodies, ultimately awakening abilities and even developing divine abilities. These were simply another manifestation of laws, but for colossal beasts, the power of these laws integrated with their physical form.

Thus, mutated creatures and colossal beasts didn't need to cultivate any techniques. They just grew and evolved, naturally acquiring great power.

Of course, the primary reason colossal beasts couldn't cultivate was that they lacked heritage, the ability to think, and self-analysis for improvement. This was the fundamental difference between humans and mutated creatures.

However, even though the Thunder Fiery Colossal Beast didn't need to cultivate, that didn't mean the knowledge Chen Chu had gained was useless to it. Using the beast body to practice martial arts could unleash even greater combat power, and inscribing basic functional runes on the body or scales to enhance or modify specific parts would make it stronger.

Just by modifying its right claw a bit, the Thunder Beast had significantly increased his close combat strength. Next, it planned to inscribe magnetic field constraint runes on both claws, strength-enhancing runes on both arms, and explosive runes on both legs.

In addition, it intended to inscribe basic functional runes on its tail, tail tip, dorsal fins, and even all over its body.

Although each rune had a simple function, their sheer number would compensate for any individual lack of power. Additionally, since they were basic runes, they wouldn’t conflict with each other.

The Thunder Beast's scales were the strongest transcendent materials—powerful, durable, and excellent in energy conductivity, making them the best carriers for runes. Once it completed this step, its power would become unimaginably terrifying.

Of course, the Silver Dragon was unaware of these plans, but even so, it was shocked, staring at the golden flames in the Thunder Beast's claw and letting out a low growl of astonishment.

Roar! Ao Batian, how did you do it?

Roar! It's simple. Just condense the rune's power and inscribe it on the scales,

the Thunder Beast replied nonchalantly.

However, what seemed effortless to it was incredibly shocking to the Silver Dragon.

Roar! No wonder Big Horn and Baxia said you are smart. Ao Batian, you are amazing!

After a mutated creature broke through to become a mythical-level being, reproducing became extremely difficult. While their offspring would be very powerful, akin to demigods in myth, this was because they consumed a significant amount of their parents’ life essence to inherit their strength.

To educate their offspring, mythical creatures would imprint their spiritual marks and embed all of their experiences deep into the offspring’s bloodline, including their understanding of the world and their grasp of power. As the offspring grew and their bloodline awakened, they would gradually unlock that knowledge.

As a result of this, these beings had no concept of learning, let alone thinking about why a certain power worked in a specific way, or why they could release fire or ice.

The Thunder Beast growled.

Roar! So, Saixitia, do you want to learn? If you do, I can teach you.

Roar! Yes, the great Saixitia also wants to become stronger.

The Silver Dragon nodded excitedly.

At that, the Thunder Beast's mouth curled into a sinister grin.

Roar! Learning is no problem, but humans have a saying, 'reciprocity is the way.’ I will teach you the rune for force field constraint, but Saixitia, can you let me study your spatial rune?

Immediately, the Silver Dragon's eyes filled with caution again. The possessor of a rune could fully display that rune to others, no killing required, but activating it in that way consumed their soul power.

This was different from using energy to activate the rune in battle. Such a display was more complete, possessing the full essence of the innate rune, but the cost was a significant drain on spiritual force and soul power, and it exposed one's foundation.

The wind and ice powers the Silver Dragon usually displayed were inherited from its mother, but its core power was spatial energy, thanks to the rune. Said energy, however, was rarely used, partly due to its high consumption, and partly to avoid exposing the rune before the dragon could reach level 9 or the mythical level.

The dragon’s life could be threatened even more if someone strong and ruthless enough learned of the rune... such as the Thunder Beast.

The Silver Dragon hesitated for a moment before growling.

Roar! I can let you study it, but you must promise to help me take down that multi-headed creature.

The Nine-headed Serpent!

The Thunder Beast paused slightly.

The territory of the colossal beast in question was more than a thousand kilometers southeast of the Dragon Palace, deep into the outer sea.

Recently, the Silver Dragon had been leading the Single-horned Kun and the Dragon Turtle to sweep through the surrounding areas and expand the Dragon Palace’s domain. Then, yesterday afternoon, they encountered the Nine-headed Serpent.

According to the Silver Dragon's description, the serpent had been lying asleep. Although it exuded the aura of a level 8 colossal beast, the dragon had thought it was just an ordinary transcendent creature. In that situation, the natural course of action was to attack first, subduing the opponent before attempting to tame it.

However, the result was a humiliating defeat. As a late stage level 8 colossal beast with the augmentation of king-level bloodline abilities, the serpent's strength was overwhelming, even touching upon the power of a level 9 colossal beast.

With just the explosive roars of its nine heads, the Silver Dragon, the Kun, and the Dragon Turtle had all been suppressed. If it hadn't been for the Silver Dragon facing the serpent head-on, the Kun and Dragon Turtle would have been severely injured or even killed.

The Silver Dragon didn’t disgrace itself as the ruler of the Dragon Palace; instead, it had shown great responsibility by covering the Kun and Dragon Turtle’s retreat once it realized that they were no match. However, it had been brooding over the incident since last night.

After all, it was supposed to be the king of the oceanic colossal beasts, sweeping across the world's seas. It hadn't expected to be defeated so soon by an even stronger beast. However, even though a late stage level 8 king colossal beast was very powerful, if the Thunder Beast and the Silver Dragon joined forces, they could still stand a chance.

With this thought, the Thunder Beast, which had been studying power since its breakthrough, let out a low roar.

Roar! That creature dared to ignore your recruitment and even struck back at you. This is unforgivable. Let's go, let's take it down.

The Thunder Beast suddenly rose, its sixty-seven-meter-long body covered in fearsome scales and towering dorsal fins as it exuded an invisible pressure.

Although it hadn't gone out to hunt exotic beasts in the past few days, the Thunder Beast had grown another two meters by continuously absorbing the residual energy of the golden fruits and Growth Crystals.

Saixitia had also grown to seventy-five meters in the past half month with the help of the Growth Crystals, its aura becoming even more powerful and formidable. Though it had sneaked out, it had still brought some good things along, like the Golden Light Fruits it had taken out the first night.

However, these resources weren’t plentiful, not even enough for itself, so the Thunder Beast didn’t covet them. After all, its consciousness was that of an adult, and it wouldn't stoop to taking things from a "little girl.”

Although the Silver Dragon was slightly larger than the Thunder Beast, it didn't seem to possess the same menacing and ferocious aura, appearing somewhat less imposing.

Seeing that the Thunder Beast was willing to help, the Silver Dragon, who had come specifically to seek its assistance, immediately became spirited and excitedly roared as it rose.

Roar!! Let's take down that creature and let it know the consequences of angering the great Saixitia. Charge!

With their roars, the two colossal beasts churned up massive waves as they swam out of the palace, quickly disappearing into the pitch-black depths of the ocean.

As for the other members of the Dragon Palace, the Kun had been sent out by the Thunder Beast in the morning to find some good stuff. Since the Silver Dragon took over the Dragon Palace and the Thunder Beast fell into a deep sleep, the Kun had been neglecting its duties, following the Silver Dragon around to fight all day.

Although they had thoroughly cleared a territory of a thousand kilometers, it was to no avail. They had either driven away or killed the level 7 colossal beasts in the area, leaving behind an empty sea with no significant gains. Only the mutated creatures above level 4 could serve as food.

With the Kun searching for resources, the Dragon Turtle was left to patrol their occupied resource points and collect Growth Crystals from the island every evening. In this situation, it had more or less become the de facto chancellor, responsible for internal affairs.

At over five thousand meters deep in the freezing, high-pressure, and deathly silent ocean, enormous dark shadows occasionally flitted through the darkness.

On the desolate seabed plain, a small mountain rose several hundred meters high. At its base lay a colossal beast over 130 meters long, pitch black with 9 ferocious serpent heads that coiled together in a deep sleep.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

In this region, the transcendent energy was ten times denser than in other areas, swirling into nine vortices with the serpent's every breath.

From the distant darkness, two fearsome colossal beasts emerged.