Chapter 836: Time Flies, Nobody Acknowledges Your Effort

While the Silver Colossal Dragon was simple-minded, it wasn't stupid. The moment it sensed the Purple Sphere’s judgmental gaze, it immediately flew into a rage.

You vile thing! What kind of look was that? Are you saying the great Saixitia is an idiot?

The Golden-Blue Colossal Dragon beside it turned its head and gave the Silver Dragon a strange look, as if to say, "Do you even need to ask?"

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

That only made the Silver Dragon angrier. It let out a blast of icy white mist from its nostrils and roared,

Damn you! The great Saixitia will have Ao Tian eat you!

Even though the injured beast king still possessed the power to crush a mythical colossal beast, the Silver Dragon showed no fear, due to the Destructive Dragon Emperor being right nearby.

Startled by the Silver Dragon’s threat, the Purple Sphere's voice trembled.

No, don’t eat me! I didn’t mean to mock you. I just didn’t know how to answer you at first!

Is that true?

The Silver Dragon eyed it suspiciously.

It's true! It's true!

The purple sphere quickly waved its regrowing tentacles. Its eye was full of sincerity, without a trace of the majesty or savagery one would expect from a beast king that ruled over millions of Colossal Beasts.

Whether it’s true or not, if you dare to attack us, you’re doomed. Ao Tian will tear you in half and eat you!

The Silver Dragon declared arrogantly, raising its head high.

The Golden-Blue Dragon chimed in with a low growl.

That’s right. Thunder Fiery loves to peel the scales off its prey piece by piece while they’re still alive and then eat them. The fresh blood that bursts out from its first bite and the desperate scream of the prey excites it even more.

The colossal dragons’ words made the Purple Sphere tremble once again. Glancing at the nearby black-and-red colossal beast, which was devouring the ancient titan’s corpse in massive gulps, it grew even more terrified.

The difference between an unevolved colossal beast and an intelligent one was the coexistence of intelligence and beastly instinct. Normally, even a mythical colossal beast was driven most of the time by primal instinct and subconscious urges. As a result, their behavior and mindset tend to be more savage and bloodthirsty.

However, intelligent beings were different. They understood how to build civilizations, maintain order, and engage in constant infighting, including betrayal. The more intelligent a creature was, the more cautious it became, because thinking more naturally lead to a greater fear of death, just like with the Purple Sphere now.

The Silver Dragon and the Golden-Blue Dragon also realized that the Dragon Emperor had no intention of eating the Beast King. Otherwise, with the Dragon Emperor’s nature, it would have already torn the Beast King apart instead of merely injuring it. It was clear that the Dragon Emperor intended to subdue this beast king, just like it subdued the Longjia King and the Ancient Python.

As the two colossal dragons took turns intimidating the Beast King, the Dragon Emperor devoured the colossal beasts’ flesh in huge gulps, its body visibly expanding with astonishing speed.

Meanwhile, aboard an orbital battleship, beyond the Expansion Division’s territory, threads of evolutionary energy began to appear within Chen Chu’s body, steadily strengthening his already formidable physique.

Just as he was about to head off to find Luo Fei, Chen Chu paused and tapped the watch on his left wrist. A translucent screen popped up, and he calmly said, "Connect to the expeditionary force's Fushen Think Tank."

[Requesting connection to the central intelligence database... Identity: Chen Chu, rank: General... Verification complete. Welcome to the Fushen Think Tank. How may I assist you?]

Chen Chu said, "Fushen, pull up all information on contract-type runes and secret arts, especially anything related to controlling colossal beasts."

[One moment...]

Soon, the smartwatch’s holographic projection shifted, displaying over twenty types of contract runes and secret arts.

In recent years, with the Federation’s extensive research efforts, many powerful cultivators have developed the habit of raising and training mutated beasts and colossal beasts. The most well-known among them was the Baihu Nation.

Some of these mutated beasts were raised from a young age, some were captured for their research value, and others were kept in the wild. As a result, humans had invented many methods of controlling them. Some of them included contract arts developed using basic runes, while others were blood or soul contracts found in ruins.

Chen Chu scanned over the secret arts and finally settled on one called the Spectral Beast Control Seal. This was a contract modified from a secret art found in the ruins of an unknown alien race.

It centered around the spectral seal, drawing power from the soul essence of the colossal beast to be tamed as fuel, and condensing a soul-suppressing seal that subdued the soul and seized the spirit.

Contract secret arts had extremely high requirements: The user’s soul needed to be stronger than the colossal beast they wanted to control. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to suppress the target to condense the soul seal.

"This is the one," Chen Chu said with a smirk. That Beast King of Destruction was too powerful. Its will alone could even kill beginning stage ancient colossal beasts. If there was no absolute certainty of control, the Dragon Emperor would rather eat it than accept it as a subordinate, because a mistake involving this could bring down the entire Dragon Palace.

Losing control would mean forfeiting future prospects like the Azure-White Colossal Dragon and the Time Dragon. Even the colossal beasts already bound to the Dragon Palace, such as the Silver Dragon, could fall into enemy hands.

"Fushen, transmit all information on the Spectral Beast Control Seal," said Chen Chu. As he spoke, his figure flickered and instantly reappeared dozens of kilometers away on Battleship 4, then again on Battleship 3. With the secret art selected, the next step was to cultivate it once before he could cast it.

On the deck of Battleship 1, a few soldiers who were inspecting fighter jets looked up in shock as Chen Chu suddenly appeared in midair, a few hundred meters above the deck. They quickly saluted with utmost respect.

"General Chen!"

Chen Chu gave them a slight nod. “At ease.” With that, his figure blurred and vanished once again. Several kilometers away on the front deck of a battleship, a black-haired girl sat on a piece of raised armor on Mech No.1’s shoulder, quietly reading the Scripture of Purity and Stillness.[1]

While the battleship was protected by an energy barrier during high-speed travel, the rune formation left openings in the barrier to maintain airflow. Luo Fei’s long hair whipped wildly behind her; strands of her hair and the white ribbon tied into a bow intertwined in the wind, giving her the aura of a quiet, artistic young woman. However, the moment Chen Chu appeared out of thin air, she knotted her brows slightly.

In his perception, Luo Fei’s life aura was strikingly similar to No.1. Even her soul fluctuations remained in sync with the machine, despite being outside the cockpit. Sensing Chen Chu’s arrival, the black-haired girl looked up. Her face, now more refined and beautiful than before, broke into a gentle smile. She said softly, "Meeting’s over?"

"Yeah, the discussion is done," Chen Chu nodded, walking over to sit beside Luo Fei.

Even though it had been a while since they last saw each other, there was no sense of awkwardness between them. Chen Chu asked, "Luo Fei, is your body being eroded by No.1?"

"Do I look like I’m being eroded?" she replied with a soft smile. “I know what you’re worried about. Don’t worry, my current state isn’t one of erosion or assimilation by No.1. It’s a transformation. My current stage is similar to when a cultivator reaches the Fourth Heavenly Realm in true martial arts and uses the vital blood essence of a colossal beast to awaken transcendent traits. What I’m undergoing now is necessary to achieve full synchronization with No.1. Of course, if one day my spiritual will becomes assimilated, and my soul merges into No.1 instead of the other way around, that would mean I failed to fully refine it."

"And if you fail, you’ll vanish, right?"

"Yes." The girl nodded. "That’s the price of seeking higher-level power. If I fail, I’ll fade away. But if I succeed, I’ll rise to a whole new level. At the very least, I’ll be on par with the heavenly kings."

As she spoke, Luo Fei brushed aside a strand of hair and smiled without the slightest trace of fear. In truth, while the path Luo Fei had chosen seemed dangerous, compared to the many cultivators who could never break through to the king level their whole lives, it was something countless people envied. After all, nothing in this world came without a price.

Chen Chu nodded as well. "I understand. You just do your best, but if there ever comes a day when you feel like you’re losing control, let me know, and I’ll help."

With that, Chen Chu looked up intently at No.1’s massive head.

This mysterious bio-mech was incredibly powerful. It became even more terrifying after its Soul Synchronization with Luo Fei reached 100%, allowing it to enter a berzerk state.

However, it didn’t matter. Even without summoning his colossal beast avatar, Chen Chu’s current power was already near the peak of the heavenly king level—more than enough to suppress No.1. Of course, neither of them had reached their full potential yet.

Buzz!

As if sensing an intense killing intent in Chen Chu’s gaze, a massive surge of energy rippled within No.1, and a blueish-white glow lit up in its eyes. Luo Fei quickly stepped in to calm things down. "It’s okay. Chen Chu is just joking. It’s fine."

Luo Fei’s spiritual will radiated around her, and with its soothing influence, the instinctual reaction within Mech No.1 paused, then gradually faded back into silence. While this bio-mech didn’t possess consciousness in the traditional sense, that didn’t mean it lacked biological instincts. When it sensed intense hostility and killing intent, it could still react on its own.

That was also why Heavenly King Zhenwu didn’t take action himself when he noticed No.1 losing control and going berserk back on the Abyssal Battlefield. Instead, he chose to heavily wound it through the hand of Demon God Kaodes. Even a heavenly king like him had no desire to be marked by the grudge of such a terrifying bio-mech.

After calming down No.1, Luo Fei’s eyes landed on Chen Chu’s forehead. "Chen Chu, what’s with the white hair? Did you get injured when being hunted by demon gods?"

Given Chen Chu’s vibrant life force, enough to break through to the mythical level at just seventeen, it was completely abnormal for him to have white hair.

Chen Chu shook his head. "This is just a manifestation of a divine ability I’ve been cultivating. Even though I was quite badly injured earlier while being hunted, I’m fine now."

"That’s good to hear," Luo Fei replied. “But you really gave everyone a scare this time. Charging into the rear lines of the Purgatory Clan all on your own...”

Luo Fei’s tone turned excited as she continued asking Chen Chu about his adventures in the Purgatory Empire. She let out a gasp when he told her about how he was ambushed by seven demon kings and a great demon king.

When Chen Chu described storming into the demonic region to battle Taroya, who possessed the full power of a peak-awakened great demon king, Luo Fei was visibly shaken. However, she wasn’t particularly surprised by Chen Chu’s overwhelming strength. After all, she’d been watching this guy defy expectations ever since he started cultivating.

Sitting on the shoulder of the two-hundred-meter-tall mech, Luo Fei looked out at the drifting white clouds receding in the distance, then back at the increasingly handsome black-haired youth beside her. She sighed softly.

"Chen Chu, sometimes I feel like everything that’s happened recently has been one long dream."

"Why’s that?" Chen Chu asked.

"Because everything is changing so fast." A trace of nostalgia appeared on her face. "Just a year ago, we were still in class with the others, cultivating our Foundation Building Art, struggling just to move our qi through nine cycles[2] in half an hour. You remember back then? When you built your foundation in just half a month and reached the First Heavenly Realm? Your arm strength was only, what, a little over a hundred kilograms?"

Chen Chu corrected her. "My arm strength was 102, and my punch strength was 210 kilograms."

Luo Fei nodded. "Right. At the time, your full-power punch was barely over two hundred kilograms; not even enough to kill a water buffalo. Among our classmates, you were considered just average."

She then smiled. "Well, me too. Because I was cultivating a more primitive technique, I was even weaker than you. But who would’ve thought that the one who seemed so average during Foundation Building would turn out to be the strongest of all. I still remember when you entered the ranking competition and swept through every opponent, finishing at 49th place. Xia Youhui, the class monitor, and the others were all shocked."

Luo Fei tilted her head with curiosity. "Speaking of that, I’ve always wondered. How strong were you really back then, Chen Chu?"

As the person who’d spent the most time around him, Luo Fei had long suspected that Chen Chu had been hiding his true strength, but she never asked how strong he truly was.

Chen Chu thought for a moment. "Honestly, I wasn’t that strong back then. My power had just started to grow. At most, I was probably among the top ten in our grade."

At that time, the six-horned salamander had only undergone one evolution, and the evolutionary energy it returned wasn’t much. It had only been enough to boost Chen Chu’s physique to that of a Second Heavenly Realm body enhancer. Combined with his Second Heavenly Realm true power, he still wasn’t a match for people like Li Hao or An Fuqing, who were born with divine power.

Thinking about it, Chen Chu felt a bit dazed. A year ago, he was no different from an ant. Now, he could tear open space, cleave mountains in half, and cut down gods and demons as easily as breathing. He never imagined he'd be so powerful now.

Back when he went to the Kyrola battlefield and witnessed the so-called “mighty" strength of cultivators like Pang Long and others at the Sixth Heavenly Realm, he thought that bringing down a single skyscraper was an incredible display of power.

Chen Chu sank into a state of reflection as he thought back on his journey, such as his battle with Carlos, the late-stage Fourth Heavenly Realm Blood Emissary; his duel against the true demon Maximus; sweeping across the southern battlefield; and facing the avatar of Blood God Akunus.

Although Chen Chu’s cultivation grew stronger along the way, the faster he advanced, the more he slowly lost. Now, as he mentally retraced those past moments, the killing intent, madness, and all of the other destructive urges within him gradually faded. His eyes grew clearer, and his heart became as still and bright as a mirror.

Sensing the shift in him, Luo Fei’s gaze softened, filled with both affection and pain. Unlike her, who could take shortcuts, Chen Chu’s cultivation and achievements were earned through sheer effort and hardship. Behind his legendary battle records were dangers no one else could see.

No one knew how many life-or-death trials and bloody battles he had survived. His recent foray into the Purgatory Empire looked impressive on paper and shocked the entire Federation, but in truth, he was just at the middle stage of the mythical realm, being hunted by a demon god two full major realms above him. For Chen Chu, it was a painful experience.

No one saw the pain he went through. They only saw the unparalleled glory of his achievements.

1. The Scripture of Purity and Stillness is a classic Taoist text traditionally attributed to Laozi, the legendary founder of Taoism. It’s a short but influential scripture often used in Taoist meditation and cultivation practices. ☜

2. Nine cycles represent a complete cycle of energy flow ☜