Chapter 439: Ancient Emperor's Inheritance, Advanced Battle Will

Under the dim sky, the land cracked open, filled with the deathly silence and desolation of an apocalyptic atmosphere.

Chen Chu sat on the edge of a cliff several hundred meters high, his feet dangling in the air. He held a cup of milk tea in his left hand and a piece of honey cake in his right. Behind him, a rugged and imposing halberd was planted into the ground, embedded a meter deep in the rock like a flag.

The cake and milk tea came from Gabriella. The wealthy young woman had used an enhanced +10 Sumeru Bracelet to create a space of several dozen cubic meters filled with various foods.

They had all been prepared by top-level chefs, not only beautifully crafted but also deliciously sweet without being cloying. Even Chen Chu found himself wanting more after eating.

Gabriella had then gifted him a pile of these treats, filling up the remaining space in his bracelet.

Yet, eating cake and drinking milk tea in such an apocalyptic atmosphere seemed somewhat discordant. Especially when there was an angry contaminated colossal beast in the sky.

Roar!

Under the rolling black clouds, a level 7 colossal beast with a lion’s body and an eagle’s head, covered in twisted bone spikes and scales, let out a savage roar.

Gray miasma swirled around it, emanating a withering and poisonous aura. With a flap of its wings, it stirred up a torrent of toxic smoke and dove from the sky, reaching supersonic speeds.

In an instant, the sonic boom of the beast's roar echoed across the heavens, as it cast a large shadow over Chen Chu.

He raised an eyebrow, finishing his milk tea in one gulp. He tossed the empty cup off the cliff and swiftly drew the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd from behind him.

Boom!

A golden halberd, over thirty meters long, shot up from the cliff, blasting through the air and creating ripples of shockwaves behind it from its immense power.

Whoosh!

Facing the soaring halberd, the gryphon-like beast’s wings quivered slightly. It deftly maneuvered in a supersonic descent, narrowly avoiding the strike of the Infinite Purgatory.

Just as it passed the halberd, however, the weapon suddenly emitted a burst of golden light.

Boom!

A violent explosion formed a hundred-meter wide golden face in the air, its dazzling brilliance illuminating the entire realm and creating waves of white energy.

Amid the howling wind, the contaminated beast’s heavily damaged half corpse fell from the sky, the turbulent wind sending the still-falling milk tea cup flying.

Bang!

The ground below the cliff shattered, sending dust and debris flying.

A purple-black mist gathered below like a serpent, drawing out the Purple Spirit from Chen Chu.

Instantly, the surging black-purple mist exploded, engulfing a twenty-meter radius in a moment. The murderous aura even caused a sharp drop in the surrounding temperature by several degrees.

Surrounded by this black-purple aura, Chen Chu appeared a bit like a menacing demon from hell.

In recent days, he had slain numerous high-level and even advanced contaminated monsters. In terms of ordinary people, his blood aura had surpassed ten million, making it quite frightening.

Normally, killing high-level mutated beasts would generate blood aura, but most of it would dissipate naturally and not cling to the killer.

Only when one slaughtered thousands of mutated beasts in one go, creating a strong blood aura from the intense resentment of the creatures, would it cling to the slayer.

Otherwise, Ninth Heavenly Realm and king-level experts would have been completely saturated in blood auras, given the number of kills they had.

During the Blood Moon night, Chen Chu had slain thousands of low-level and a few mutated creatures in one go. The ultimate transcendence of his halberd art had absorbed that blood aura.

However, the continent’s special principles caused this blood aura to automatically condense after killing void monsters, explaining the terrifying aura around Chen Chu.

Moreover, while the Purple Spirit aura looked frightening, it was actually an opportunity—a boon for someone like Chen Chu, who had cultivated a battle will similar to the art of slaughter.

Seeing the summoned Purple Spirit, Chen Chu narrowed his eyes. "If this murderous aura can be absorbed into my Blood Sea Purgatory and refined, it might push my battle will to the advanced stage.

"No, simply absorbing it might not be enough. I need to comprehend the essence of slaughter.”

At the advanced stage, one's will could gather more transcendent energy. With this enhanced will, Chen Chu’s true power could be increased fivefold.

When combined with the fourteenfold amplification from the battle phantom, a single strike of his halberd could reach nineteenfold power, sweeping through more transcendent energy.

Normally, with Chen Chu’s comprehension ability, achieving advanced battle will without consuming attribute points would take a long time. Now, however, he had a chance for rapid advancement.

Such an opportunity to enhance his combat power could not be passed up.

His strength had already surpassed several minor realms, and his middle-stage Seventh Heavenly Realm cultivation was comparable to the middle-stage of the Eighth Realm, accumulated through gradual advantages.

With this in mind, Chen Chu’s red mark, resembling both an eye and a rune, appeared on his forehead, and endless blood light erupted from him.

Boom!

A powerful wind swirled, shaking the ground.

As the blood-colored hell unfolded and the Purple Spirit surrounded him, Chen Chu’s eyes gradually turned blood red, emitting a terrifying killing intent. His figure burst through the air, charging toward the depths of the ruins.

On the apocalyptic land, a golden light pierced through everything, blasting apart the contaminated creatures it touched and crushing them with overwhelming force. He quickly advanced to nearly a thousand kilometers deep.

Roar!

On a small hill several hundred meters high, a level 8 contaminated beast suddenly stood up from where it had been laying. Its dark red eyes were filled with brutal and destructive intent as it gazed toward the horizon.

A golden light was speeding toward it at supersonic speed, its sonic boom echoing from afar.

Roar!

Accompanied by a fierce roar, the beast, resembling a giant tiger with spikes all over its body, became surrounded by swirling black wind, forming a domain with a two-hundred-meter radius.

Under the domain of this black gale, the ground shattered, as the beast charged toward Chen Chu at supersonic speed.

From a distance, the golden light collided with the black storm in an instant.

Boom!

A powerful explosion erupted, shattering the earth, followed by the destructive impact of the mixed black gale and golden halberd light, sweeping across a thousand meters.

Amid the violent explosion, the sixty-meter-long level 8 beast was flung backward, still surrounded by the black gale as it crashed into a distant small hill.

Boom!

The hill collapsed, and debris rolled.

At the edge of the shattered pit, Chen Chu stood with his halberd, his battle phantom towering thirty meters behind him, with three faces, six arms, and four wheels of light slowly rotating behind its head.

With the continuous growth and feedback from the Thunder Fiery Dragon Emperor, Chen Chu’s physical strength had become increasingly formidable. Even a beginning-stage level 8 beast could be blasted away with a direct hit.

Roar!

From afar, the contaminated beast let out an angry roar. Then, nine golden halberds, each over thirty meters long, appeared before it.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Intense explosions shook the heavens and earth, with nuclear-like clouds rising slowly from the ground.

In just over half a year, Chen Chu, who once admired advanced Seventh Heavenly Realm experts, could now kill beginning-stage level 8 beasts in just two or three strikes.

Such a burst of power made Xie Chen and Ji Yongning flinch outside the ruins, even though they had witnessed similar scenes before.

Dense purple-black mist gathered from the center of the explosion, rushing toward Chen Chu and causing the Purple Spirit around him to surge.

Boom!

Chen Chu transformed into a golden light and took off. He planned to find some middle-stage level 8 void monsters to battle, while killing more level 7 monsters to hone his Hellblood Battle Will.

After acquiring the four thunderbolt law fragments and having the means to counter peak level 8 monsters, Chen Chu expanded his hunting area from the previous eight hundred kilometers to a thousand.

Beyond that, he would encounter late stage or even peak level 8 monsters, which would be difficult for him to handle. Facing such nearly transcendent creatures would be extremely dangerous if he couldn’t escape immediately.

After all, this wasn’t a game; these monsters pursued and killed living beings without stopping, unlike game mechanics where hostility could be reduced.

The monsters dwelled in the depths of the ruins because of the dense void energy, preferring that environment rather than being confined.

As Chen Chu delved a thousand kilometers into the ruins, slaying two more level 8 contaminated monsters...

Outside the Void Continent, Xie Chen looked at the rapidly rising Purple Spirit value in the rankings.

"His destructive power is noticeably stronger than before. He must have broken through to the middle stage, and it’s been less than half a month.

"With his cultivation, he can dominate areas inhabited by level 8 monsters and can easily subdue a beginning-stage level 8 in a few moves.

"This child’s cultivation talent and actual combat power are extraordinary. If he doesn’t die in the next ten years, he will definitely become a king."

Ji Yongning shook his head slightly. "I sense more than that. If his soul is strong enough, he might have a chance to obtain the emperor’s inheritance on the path to divinity. At that point..."

Both of them showed a hint of excitement, but Xie Chen soon smiled wryly. "It’s difficult. Even the First Councilor only got close to it. According to that threshold, it’s almost impossible for anyone to meet the requirements.

"Moreover, Chen Chu’s slaying void monsters too quickly. When the total Purple Spirit value meets the requirement, the path to divinity will appear ahead of schedule."

"...In that case, this time’s harvest from the ruins might be less than we anticipated."

Looking at the rankings, where Chen Chu’s numbers had doubled in growth compared to the previous two days, they were at a loss for words.

Who could have predicted that this ruin would present such an anomaly like Chen Chu, whose speed and quantity of slaying void monsters surpassed that of hundreds of top-level geniuses.

That night, by the campfire on the hillside, Gabriella was happily roasting mutated beast meat, still wearing her blue worker’s uniform.

Next to her, An Fuqing was guiding her while eating pastries.

"Gabriella, don’t brush the sauce on too quickly. The meat isn’t evenly cooked yet, and if you leave the sauce on for too long, it will become bitter.

"You should brush on some oil now. That side is burning. Flip it quickly... Wait, you added too much pepper..."

As Gabriella busily and excitedly roasted the mutated beast meat, Chen Chu slowly emerged from the darkness. His eyes still had a faint red hue, with a hint of menacing killing intent.

Even though the murderous aura he emitted was subdued, it still startled the two women.

An Fuqing asked in surprise, "Chen Chu, how many monsters did you kill today?"

Chen Chu replied slowly as he suppressed the boiling killing intent in his heart. "Not many. About a thousand or so."

Since he had mostly slain advanced contaminated creatures today, including several level 8 ones, the total number was much less than the previous days. Thus, the passive effect of the Double Void Pupils was still short of reaching seven thousand.

It seemed like a loss, but it didn’t matter much. Chen Chu’s plan for the next few days was to withdraw toward the oasis and gradually clear the map. The monsters in the three to eight hundred-kilometer range would only be delayed by a day or two.

There was no need to take risks deeper inside.

However, Chen Chu didn’t sit by the campfire this time, but instead stayed away from the two girls.

Seeing Chen Chu from a distance, Gabriella asked curiously, "Chen Chu, why are you sitting so far away? Do you want to try the stone-grilled meat I made?"

Chen Chu declined politely. "Thank you, but I want to eat something light today, just to change things up. Besides, the pastries you gave me are quite good."

"Oh, I see. Alright then," Gabriella said, somewhat disappointed.

Chen Chu’s wrist glowed, notifying everyone that the observation sub-eye channel was open for chatting or sharing information.

As usual, everyone immediately looked at the Purple Spirit rankings.

"

Pfft! Cough, cough!

198,000..."

On a hundred-meter-high stone peak, Ji Wuji nearly choked on his water as he stared at the data displayed in the ranking list, unable to believe his eyes.

First place: Chen Chu – 198,600

Second place: Ji Wuji – 19,300...

Is this for real?