Chapter 361: Slaying the Demon Puppet, The Seventh Battle Body (I)

As he looked at the news on the big screen, Li Daoyi raised an eyebrow. "He's actually planning to retreat and break through to the Seventh Heavenly Realm? He's reached that point already?"

No matter which path of cultivation one took, reaching the peak of the Sixth Heavenly Realm didn’t guarantee a breakthrough to the Seventh, as there was a bottleneck that stopped many cultivators.

Combining essence, qi, and spirit sounded simple on paper, but many high-level cultivators were stuck at this stage for years without making any progress, unable to fuse their true power's radiance with the runic phantoms.

"His path is somewhat similar to mine,” Chen Chu responded calmly. “He’s conquered two countries and swept through all civilian cultivators below the middle stage of the Seventh Heavenly Realm.

"In such a state, his spiritual will undergoes a certain sublimation. He’s gathering an aura that might have already touched the realm of merging essence, qi, and spirit."

The path of invincibility was essentially a tempering of one's spiritual will. When a cultivator continuously battled and defeated others at the same level, their will became more resolute as they developed a belief in their invincibility, and their thoughts became clear and active.

In this state, many previous confusions in cultivation could be understood with a single thought, and many small bottlenecks could be broken through with ease.

However, the normal path of invincibility typically took a long time and involved carefully selecting opponents.

For example, one would not choose opponents beyond their strength, as being defeated would break their path, causing their morale to plummet and preventing them from entering the invincible state again.

Chen Chu's feat of traversing two thousand kilometers, decimating a battlefield, and defeating five to six hundred cultivators at the same level in one day was almost impossible to replicate, especially since he defeated all of his opponents with a single move in a terrifying display of endurance.

Li Daoyi's expression became slightly serious. "This person's strength is already formidable. If he breaks through to the Seventh Heavenly Realm, it could be troublesome.

"When the time comes, if you are stuck fighting Kleide, and Akunus engages me, there will be a defensive vacuum around Ruoyi."

"Isn't that just perfect?" Yan Ruoyi said softly. "With Akunus's insight, he should have figured out by now that Brother Chu's way of sensing danger comes from his gaze and intuition. That's why Kleide appeared, to use public opinion to drive Brother Chu away from me, even if only for a short time.

"So, when Brother Chu and Kleide are in battle, then Akunus, who’s been hiding all along, is very likely to make a move, including preparing means to restrain you, Brother Li."

Li Daoyi straightened up, frowning slightly. "In that case, should we make some preparations in advance? Like having an Eighth Heavenly Realm expert ambush ahead of time?"

Yan Ruoyi shook her head. "No, kings' divine souls have a premonition of impending danger. If a strong threat appears nearby, they will sense it. This is why they’re so difficult to kill, unless ambushed with lightning speed.

"Don't worry. When the time comes, you just focus on fighting and don't worry about me. Aunt Bai still has a trump card to protect me, something my father prepared specifically for Akunus."

Hearing this, Chen Chu's eyes flickered, and he exchanged a glance with Li Daoyi.

They had already guessed this; considering she was the only daughter of Heavenly King Xuanwu, it was impossible for her not to have a powerful one-time secret treasure. However, it likely had usage requirements, which would explain why Bai Yunfeng was holding it.

After breakfast, the group headed downstairs. With five days left until the concert, Yan Ruoyi's schedule had become increasingly packed.

Bai Yunfeng was even busier, personally overseeing the stage setup, sound equipment, lighting, and costumes to ensure every detail was perfect.

This was to be Yan Ruoyi's final farewell concert, and she wanted the whole world to remember her. While she still felt that the life essence Chen Chu had given her had increased her success rate to thirty percent, how much did that really differ from twenty?

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

As the group stepped out of the hotel lobby, a swarm of excited reporters surrounded them. Being blocked at a distance by bodyguards like Li Long didn’t stop them from shouting questions.

"Mr. Chu Batian, will you accept Kleide's challenge?"

"Mr. Chu, if Kleide breaks through to the Seventh Heavenly Realm, can you still defeat him?"

"Ms. Ruoyi, having previously been attacked by the demon cult, and with your concert approaching, do you think Kleide's challenge now might be part of a sinister plot?"

The reporters aimed their questions not only at Chen Chu, but also hoped to get some news from Yan Ruoyi.

The two exchanged a glance before Chen Chu calmly said, "Since everyone is so concerned, I'll give a brief response.

"As a professional bodyguard, my primary duty is to ensure Ms. Yan's safety. If Kleide's challenge threatens that, I will decisively refuse. It's not up to him to decide the timing.

"So, let me make this clear: challenges are fine, but choose the right time, like the day before or after Ms. Yan's concert. Otherwise, he can roll back to where he came from."

The reporters were stunned and excitedly recorded Chen Chu's words.

So arrogant! No wonder he is called the God-Slayer.

Yan Ruoyi smiled and added, "Alright, questions have been answered. Now, everyone disperse, please. We need to head to the concert venue for rehearsals."

***

[That Bodyguard is as Arrogant as Ever]

[The God-Slayer is Indeed Confident and Domineering!]

[Chu Batian: Who Does Kleide Think He Is?]

As Chen Chu followed Yan Ruoyi to the stadium, several headlines quickly climbed the trending charts, sparking widespread discussion even in other countries, including comments from various “experts.” None of this, however, affected Chen Chu.

At the stadium, which could accommodate tens of thousands of people, Yan Ruoyi and her dozen or so beautiful and handsome backup dancers were practicing on stage, while many staff members busied themselves around the venue.

Standing below the stage, Chen Chu sharply scanned his surroundings from behind his sunglasses, his expression stern.

After this concert, Yan Ruoyi would return to East Xia to "sleep,” making these last few days Akunus's final chance to act. An attack could happen at any moment.

They speculated that the highest probability of Akunus attacking would be when Kleide's challenge distracted Chen Chu. However, they couldn't let their guard down at other times. What if the enemy used Kleide's challenge to create the false expectation that no immediate attack would occur?

According to Yan Ruoyi, Akunus had two ways to reclaim the dragon: taking control of her to pull it out of her or killing her. Either way, he would then be able to use soul power of the same origin to attract and retrieve the dragon in the moment it lost its host and started to dissipate.

Both methods had distance constraints, so Chen Chu only needed to ensure no one suspicious was around Yan Ruoyi; more precisely, that there were no outsiders around her during an attack.

Other than the absolutely trustworthy Li Daoyi and Bai Yunfeng, anyone who stepped within a ten-meter radius would be killed, regardless of gender. Better to kill by mistake than to let one slip through.

Without the dragon, Akunus was just an ordinary king, but if he obtained the dragon and completed himself, his strength would be comparable to a heavenly king, extremely difficult to handle.

Additionally, being of the same human origin, Akunus understood the Federation's intricacies far better, posing a greater threat than the Demon Clan's great demon king.

Two people and a fox walked into the stadium entrance. Seeing Yan Ruoyi from a distance, they excitedly shouted, "Sister Ruoyi!"

"Mingyue?"

Seeing the incredibly fierce young girl happily running toward her, Yan Ruoyi looked surprised, and then she was tightly hugged, causing her to be squeezed and almost deformed.

"Hehe! Sister Ruoyi, I missed you so much." The fox-eared girl, Qingqiu Mingyue, rubbed herself against Yan Ruoyi, clearly delighted.

Feeling puzzled, Yan Ruoyi asked, "Mingyue, why are you here in Gunado? Didn't you go back with your brother?"

Qingqiu Mingyue giggled and said, "I did go back with my brother, but my uncle said your situation here wasn't stable enough, so he asked me to bring Xuexue to help."

Turning to Chen Chu, Qingqiu Mingyue excitedly said, "Chu Batian, you're amazing! You actually took down a demon king's avatar."

Chen Chu replied calmly, "The main reason was that the opponent's realm was too low. It was only at the middle stage of the Sixth Heavenly Realm, so it couldn't exert its true power."

Although he had defeated Kaotoros's avatar head-on, Chen Chu didn’t underestimate the opponent, knowing that a king's strength was not to be taken lightly.

As the Thunder Fiery Dragon Emperor leveled up, Chen Chu became more aware of the vast gaps between major realms, particularly in the later stages. This was evident from the difference between level 8 and level 9 colossal beasts, to say nothing of mythical ones.

Kings and demon kings, comparable to mythical colossal beasts, naturally possessed formidable true power. However, the soul avatar that had crossed over lacked the essence of laws and was only at the Sixth Heavenly Realm, so it didn’t appear very strong.

Despite this, the avatar's middle stage of the Sixth Heavenly Realm had exploded with peak Seventh Heavenly Realm power, far stronger than what Ling Yi had initially reported.

Of course, Ling Yi hadn’t expected Chen Chu to confront Kaotoros head-on. Their plan had been for Li Daoyi to hold off the enemy while Chen Chu took Yan Ruoyi to safety, with other waiting experts taking over thereafter.

For the Federation, the trouble arose when these enemies hid away instead of showing themselves. Once they revealed themselves and unleashed their divine soul power, however, various means could be employed to track and lock onto them.