Chapter 707: The Crowd Gathers as the Dragon Emperor Sleeps (I)

Everyone watched as the young man suddenly appeared before them. Even after concealing his aura, he still carried an air of nobility, and they all instinctively rose to their feet in a stunned fashion.

Taken aback, Li Meng asked, "Chen Chu? Why are you back?"

With a warm and gentle look, Chen Chu smiled and said, "A lot of world rifts erupted yesterday, and I was sent back to contain them."

Lin Xue, the exceptionally beautiful class monitor, took a deep breath. "Returning so suddenly... Does that mean you successfully broke through?"

In the middle of constantly boasting about his own achievements, Li Hao had also mentioned Chen Chu’s situation, so Lin Xue and the others were already aware that Chen Chu had been in seclusion at the Thirtieth Legion base.

For him to suddenly return to Nantian...

Chen Chu nodded. "I managed to break through ahead of schedule thanks to the help of the Federation’s seniors. Otherwise, I’d still be in seclusion right now."

He didn’t bother hiding his connections to the Federation seniors. If those kings hadn't helped him with their world-enhancement resources, he wouldn’t have advanced so quickly.

Without their help, he would have had to depend on the Dragon Emperor’s forces to venture deeper into the Chaotic Region in search of more mythical beasts or hunt down another titan-level colossal beast to refine its essence—a process that would have taken much longer. After all, tracking down a titan-level beast was no easy task.

Even so, Bai Mu couldn’t help but yell out in shock. "Damn, I always knew you were a freak, but reaching king level in a year is still insane!”

Still feeling dazed, he reached out his hand.

"Shit! Bai Mu, why the hell are you pinching me?" Liu Feng yelped in pain as his late-stage Fourth Heavenly Realm true power erupted, blasting Bai Mu’s hand away.

"Oops, wrong person." Bai Mu chuckled as he withdrew his hand.

"Fuck off."

Chen Chu smiled and said, "No need to be so surprised, everyone. The path of cultivation is long and arduous. I've only taken a small lead for now. As long as you keep working hard, one day, you'll also break through to the king level."

Xia Youhui and the others immediately looked at him suspiciously; they remembered that Chen Chu had said this exact line multiple times before.

Lin Yu, who had a gentle personality, covered her mouth and chuckled. "Don't worry, we're just surprised. We haven't lost our conviction. We've long since gotten used to how ridiculous you are."

Once again, everyone had personally witnessed Chen Chu's cultivation speed defying expectations.

Xia Youhui grinned. "Cultivation isn't something that can be done overnight. Liu Feng, you guys better work hard and try to break through to king level within a hundred years."

Liu Feng responded, "A hundred years? What about you?"

Xia Youhui smirked proudly. "I don’t need to worry. Unlike you guys, I, Master Xia, might not be as much of a freak as Ah Chu, but I'm confident I'll reach king level in ten years at most."

"Keep dreaming, Old Xia." Li Meng and the other two flipped him off.

If breaking through to the king level were that easy, the Federation would already be overflowing with mythical-level cultivators—even if Xia Youhui had received the inheritance of one of the 108 generals from an ancient civilization, it wouldn't have made a difference.

As they joked around, Lu Haitao, Li Wenwen, and Yi Rui stepped forward enthusiastically. "Chen Chu, congratulations on breaking the cultivation world record."

"Thank you, all." Chen Chu nodded with a smile. "You guys must have made a lot of progress during this time. Your auras seem more stable."

Yi Rui shook his head with a wry smile. "Our progress is nothing compared to yours."

After exchanging greetings, everyone sat back down, and Chen Chu took a seat next to Xia Youhui.

Then, Li Meng asked, "Chen Chu, why aren’t you sitting at the main stage?"

If Li Hao, an Eighth Heavenly Realm cultivator, was treated as an equal to the school's director, then Chen Chu, a king-level cultivator, should command respect from the principal.

Chen Chu shook his head. "I won’t be staying long this time, so I didn’t contact the school. If Old Xia hadn’t told me last night, I wouldn’t even have known that the opening ceremony for the new semester was happening."

Hearing this, Lin Xue turned around. "He told you not to tell us you were back, didn’t he?"

"Yeah. I was actually planning to send a message in the group chat and find a time to treat you all to a meal." Chen Chu smiled and directly sold Xia Youhui out.

Lin Xue narrowed her eyes slightly. "No wonder Xia Youhui was grinning so mischievously yesterday."

Xia Youhui chuckled. "Mischievous? Come on, I just wanted to give everyone a surprise. Your shocked and stunned expressions were pretty entertaining."

In response, Li Meng, Liu Feng, and Bai Mu all flipped him off again.

While they were chatting, Yi Rui, who was sitting a row below Lin Xue, had a complicated expression on his face.

At the beginning of the last school year, he was the second most talented student in their class, building his foundation within a week just like Lin Xue. He was also among the top fifty in the freshman ranking tournament. Furthermore, when they received news of the trial in Kyrola, he had eagerly joined.

He gained a lot through the trial, and quickly broke through to the Third Heavenly Realm. During that same trial, Chen Chu had also started making a name for himself, but at the time, he was only one minor realm ahead—still within an acceptable range.

Now, a year later, the difference was striking. While Yi Rui had only advanced to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, Chen Chu had already reached the king level. The gap was simply too vast, and as a result, Yi Rui and the others barely exchanged a word once they were seated.

Even Jiang Jiameng, who had met Chen Chu a few times and once toured with him through the lotus fields of Bright Moon Lake, now stood off to the side, unsure of what to say.

Chen Chu noticed all of this, but he didn’t say anything about it.

As time passed, the gap between students continued to widen—not only between them and Chen Chu, but even among themselves. In the first division, An Fuqing was already on the verge of breaking through to the Ninth Heavenly Realm, while Li Hao had reached the Eighth.

In the second division, Lin Xue, Lin Yu, and Xia Youhui had obtained inheritances from the Void Continent ruins, allowing them to break through to the Sixth Realm.

In the third division, even some of the top fifty first year geniuses—such as Liu Feng, Bai Mu, and Li Meng—remained in the Fourth Realm. Among them, Hong Tianyi, who once ranked third in their entire year, had only reached the peak of the Fourth.

Then there were students like Lu Haitao and Li Wenwen, who had built their foundations within half a month. However, after a whole semester, they barely managed to break through to the Third Realm.

With this contrast, it was easy to imagine how shocking Chen Chu’s breakthrough was to them.

Even though he had concealed his aura, the sheer difference in cultivation still turned into an invisible pressure, making it hard for many to breathe. The only ones who could truly relax around him now were Xia Youhui, Lin Xue, and Lin Yu.

While Li Meng, Bai Mu, and the others were smiling and chatting, there was a subtle stiffness in their behavior. They were like ordinary people trying to act natural in front of a high-ranking official.

Meanwhile, as Chen Chu and the others sat in the last few rows talking, third year students also recognized him.

In fact, any third-year student who had returned from the southern battlefield knew exactly who Chen Chu was. His feat of sweeping his way through the battlefield in a single day had left an unforgettable impact.

The burly Zhang Baili, who had encountered Chen Chu twice before, turned his head in surprise. "It’s actually Chen Chu. He’s back from the mythical world."

Beside him, Zhang Ling's eyes flickered. "I heard from Ji Changkong that just a few months ago, while on the path to divinity, he was only one step away from completing the path of heavenly kings. His talent and combat strength have grown even more formidable."