Chapter 376: Pilot of No. 1, The Return to East Xia (II)

"By the way, Brother Chu, do you have any plans after this? Will you join the Main Corps, the Special Operations Division, or the Expansion Division?"

Chen Chu shook his head slightly. "I haven’t decided yet."

The Main Corps consisted of forces from various countries' mutated beast battlefields and the mythical world frontlines, holding the largest number of troops and military strength.

Meanwhile, the Special Operations Divison was akin to elite soldiers, tasked with subduing and eliminating colossal beasts that threatened humanity from the oceans.

In the mythical world, they were responsible for targeted strikes against experts from the Purgatory Demon Clan and were the primary force in battles outside of the main battlefield, with many king-level experts in their ranks.

The Expansion Division, on the other hand, was somewhat unique. It wasn’t focused on military engagements, but instead on exploring the surrounding mythical world in preparation for future military expeditions. This department was filled with people who possessed a strong spirit of adventure and exploration.

While the mythical world held endless resources, it was also a place fraught with peril. Many of its treacherous zones were dangerous enough to bring about the downfall of even a king-level expert, with risks that ranged from naturally formed hazardous environments, to terrifying mythical colossal beasts, to semi-civilized life forms.

These creatures had developed a certain level of social structure and heritage, though they lacked a highly advanced culture. However, after countless years of development, such groups often possessed at least one king-level expert or some bizarre, powerful abilities.

By the time martial arts high school students reached their third year, top-level geniuses typically had reached the Fifth Heavenly Realm, while those of a slightly lower caliber reached the Fourth, and even the weakest had attained the Third.

At this stage, most would enter one of the military’s three branches, while those with less impressive grades would join other departments within the Federation.

Joining one of the military’s three branches involved further training to deepen the cultivation of these geniuses, transforming them into the elite forces of the human race. Many of them would eventually grow to reach the Seventh, Eighth, or even Ninth Heavenly Realms.

However, becoming a king was incredibly challenging. Over the past few decades, the number of kings within the Human Federation had remained low. Some had perished, and others had betrayed the Federation, forming the Alliance of Cults.

Even for someone like Li Daoyi, an Innate Awakener theoretically capable of reaching the Ninth Heavenly Realm directly, breaking through to become a king remained a difficult and daunting task.

Since Chen Chu was about to break through to the Seventh Heavenly Realm before even graduating from his first year, the school had little more to offer him in terms of guidance or education.

With his monstrous talent, surpassing even that of an Innate Awakener, he was practically considered half a king within the Federation.

This also explained Akers’ earlier polite demeanor. Throughout history, even in the current age of civilization, the world of humanity had always revered strength above all else.

Chen Chu retrieved a secret scripture from his Sumeru space. The flight back would take over nine hours, so he couldn’t afford to waste such a long stretch of time.

Having immersed himself in contemplating the secret disc twice already, Chen Chu had grasped most of the space-time summoning secret art. The space-related aspects were particularly straightforward for him, but the temporal elements of the structure proved more challenging.

Additionally, after mastering the spatial components of this summoning secret art, Chen Chu conceived a bold idea: summoning strikes. Alongside summoning a projection of the Thunder Fiery Dragon Emperor, he contemplated opening a stable passageway, one that would transfer energy rather than matter.

In this scenario, when the Thunder Emperor unleashed its devastating breath on the other side, Chen Chu could open the passageway on his side, enabling him to execute a long-range strike akin to summoning the Celestial Satellite System.

Noticing this, Li Daoyi curiously asked, "Brother Chu, didn’t you already create your secret scripture?"

"I’m planning to use the scripture’s spatial manifestation ability to simulate and verify the Qingqiu family’s summoning secret art."

"You’re too diligent, man. It’s making me feel bad about just chatting here," Li Daoyi remarked, reluctantly putting down his phone.

Initially, he had intended to kill some time by looking through the collection of alluring photos he had saved on his phone. Seeing how hard Chen Chu was working, however, made him question whether he himself was slacking off.

The thing was, he had been training diligently lately. He’d been working even harder than he had during his time on the mutated beast battlefield, to the point where he often went without sleep at night.

The only time he relaxed was during the day, when he chatted with beautiful women while protecting Yan Ruoyi.

Never mind, I should try harder too.

With a sigh, Li Daoyi also pulled out a secret scripture, this one blank.

After all of his recent hard work, he had finally broken through to the late stage of the Sixth Heavenly Realm, and could now begin constructing the basic rune structure of his True Martial Phantom.

Seeing this, Yan Ruoyi, Xu Xiaoqi, and Bai Yunfeng couldn’t help but smile.

As Chen Chu immersed himself in contemplation, deep beneath the ocean, within the Ice Dragon Crystal Palace, the Silver Colossal Dragon slowly opened its eyes.

Several days had passed, and after absorbing the nutrients from the flesh of the colossal Black Tortoise, along with some of the fruits it carried in its storage space, the Silver Dragon had grown to a size of ninety-five meters.

It was now worthy of being called a true colossal dragon. With a wingspan of two hundred meters, it was even larger than some of the biggest passenger planes. During this time, it had also managed to inscribe fifty force field runes on its claws, stacking them to create an incredibly powerful restraining force.

It wasn’t just humans who were striving for improvement; even the colossal beasts under the Thunder Emperor’s leadership had begun to push themselves harder.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The Silver Dragon glanced down at its right claw, where a five-meter diameter azure whirlwind was condensing, filled with white frost that could freeze and crush everything and looking like a bomb.

Feeling the destructive force contained within its claw, the Silver Dragon grinned menacingly.

Roar! Now the great Saixitia finally has an explosive close-combat move.

Previously, it had relied on its formidable dragon body to dominate close combat, making it nearly invincible against those of similar strength, and had always taken pride in its power.

After encountering the Thunder Fiery Emperor Beast, however, it had realized that close combat among colossal beasts could be far more brutal and dangerous. The Thunder Emperor’s explosive power was too savage; a single claw strike could crush a skull, or even blow half of a body apart.

Such terrifying close combat capabilities had shaken even Saixitia, the descendant of a mythical dragon, making it doubt its own prowess.

After testing out its newly combined ability, equivalent to an ordinary ability specifically designed for explosive close combat, the Silver Dragon stood up with satisfaction.

It needed to stretch its legs. It had been cooped up in the palace for several days, and it was getting boring.

With this thought, the Silver Dragon’s heavy footsteps echoed as it walked out of the Icestorm Dragon King's hall.

Outside, everything was as usual—a dark red landscape glowing with volcanic lava and half-covered in ice crystals that shimmered in a kaleidoscope of colors.

In the distant sea, the Single-Horned Kun, over eighty meters long and as massive as a small black mountain, was lazily slapping the water with its tail as it diligently cultivated.

Seeing this, the Silver Dragon let out a deep roar.

Big Horn, how many slashing runes have you condensed?

As the great dragon king of the Dragon Palace, Saixitia felt it should check on the progress of its subordinates' cultivation and offer some encouragement.

Squeak, squeak, squeak! I’m almost at the fortieth one.

The Kun raised its massive wing-like fins out of the water. Their front edges had turned gold and black as they emitted a powerful and sharp aura, like two enormous slashing blades.

Roar! Not bad. Keep working hard here and try to condense the fortieth rune. I am going to check on Baxia. If its cultivation has progressed well, we’ll head out for some action.

Roar! After lying around in the palace for so long, I want to see rivers of blood, and we’ll collect some high-level crystals for Batian in the process.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Let’s go on a killing spree, plunder everything, eat everything, and help Thunder Fiery get more stuff!

The Kun, already itching to get out, grew excited. With its free-spirited nature, it would have long been wandering the seas with its horn held high if not for its wife forcing it to cultivate.

The Silver Dragon gracefully stepped toward the nearby ice crystal palace. Poking its head inside, it saw the massive Deep Sea Dragon Turtle, towering like a small mountain as it lay there asleep.

The Silver Dragon’s eyes narrowed, and it roared.

Roar! Baxia, what are you doing?

The Dragon Turtle was startled awake, its enormous body suddenly rising as it opened its eyes wide.

Roar! Roar! Cultivating, working hard to cultivate, pushing forward!

Roar! Pushing forward, my tail! I saw you slacking off and sleeping. When Batian wakes up, I’m going to tell it, and you’ll get a good beating.

Roar! Roar! No, please, great Saixitia, I was just taking a quick nap, just a little one!

The Dragon Turtle quickly tried to explain. It didn’t want to feel the wrath of the Thunder Emperor’s ferocious claws. If the beast lost control of its strength, the turtle could die.

Boom!

At that moment, a terrifying aura exploded in the distance.