Chapter 854: Putting Aside My Hatred (I)

After entering the rift, the fleet leaped over three million kilometers and arrived above a boundless ocean. Here, the seawater was only one percent of the normal density. The laws of heaven and earth were also a little chaotic, and there wasn’t a lot of gravity.

Hoooooonk!

A deep, resonant foghorn echoed across the sky. In the pale blue ocean, an enormous gray whale over eight hundred meters long leapt high into the air, then came crashing down with a thunderous splash.

This was a mythical colossal beast, but its aura was calm and serene, lacking the violent ferocity typical of such creatures. Even when it saw the massive battleships, the whale only cast a glance at them before disappearing into the depths of the sea.

On the thousand-meter-high observation deck on the left of Battleship 3, Chen Chu and An Fuqing stood with their hands behind their backs, chatting idly in the face of the roaring wind.

Multicolored light still swirled around Chen Chu. It covered dozens of kilometers and enveloping several battleships nearby, making it look like they were sailing through a sea of rainbow clouds. This radiant aura was a phenomenon that emerged during the reforgement and innate evolution of his divine powers, and he had no way to control it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, the sea ahead erupted. Thousands of mutated beasts burst from the water, each one dozens or even hundreds of meters long. They soared nearly a kilometer into the sky, tracing graceful arcs before plunging back down and causing splashes in all directions.

Watching this scene, Chen Chu couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. "This is what the mythical world is supposed to look like. It finally matches what I imagined at the very beginning."

Back when he was still a freshman in high school, Chen Chu and the other students had envisioned the mythical world as a land teeming with giant beasts, steeped in a sense of desolation, ferocity, and mystery.

Who would have thought that, after breaking through to the Eighth Heavenly Realm and entering the mythical world, what awaited beyond was a transcendent civilization powered by advanced technology. There were cities, pioneering legions, and frontline battlefields filled with blood and fire. Instead of the carefree adventure they'd imagined, the reality was depressing and filled with stress.

An Fuqing, with four divine swords strapped to her back and her long hair tied in a ponytail, gave a faint smile. "Actually, in the beginning, the mythical world was exactly as we imagined. According to the records from fifty years ago, when the mythical world first opened up, even the First Councilor and the others thought they'd discovered the legendary immortal realm. In the years that followed, nations joined forces to sweep the areas around the three world passages, hunting colossal beasts, exploring dangerous zones and ancient ruins. It was a time full of excitement."

A trace of sadness appeared in An Fuqing’s eyes. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been born in that exciting era. Instead, they lived in an age of great upheaval, which was both a blessing and a curse for the new generation of cultivators.

If humanity could withstand the threat of annihilation from the Purgatory Clan and fend off the second mythical surge, then in the next few years, maybe a decade, the Federation would soar to unprecedented heights.

However, if they failed, only a small number of top-level powerhouses could escape with a few others into the depths of the mythical world. The remaining two billion people would be wiped out. Even the Blue Planet itself would be devoured and obliterated by the mythical world.

Suddenly, Chen Chu turned to An Fuqing and asked, "Why did you join this expedition? Shouldn’t you be in seclusion right now, or training with the Expansion Division to break through to the king level?"

Back in the Void Ruins, An Fuqing had demonstrated that she had the talent and potential to complete the Path of Heavenly Kings, and like Chen Chu, she also played an important part in carrying the success of the Federation. Though her cultivation speed wasn’t as fast as Chen Chu’s, she had also reached the Ninth Heavenly Realm in a year, guaranteeing her future as a heavenly king.

A genius of her level was supposed to be under the Federation’s protection plan, and only allowed to step onto the frontlines after becoming a mythical king. Otherwise, once exposed on the battlefield, she’d be an immediate target for assassinations by demon kings and great demon kings, just like Chen Chu had been.

An Fuqing fell silent for a moment, then softly replied, "I came to kill someone."

"To kill someone?" Chen Chu paused briefly, then looked surprised. "You’re after Xiao Tianyi? How did you find out his true form is on the Heavenly Feathered Battlefield?"

Having slain Xiao Tianyi’s avatar at the ruins in the Alliance of Gods, Chen Chu was naturally familiar with him. He was once the number one genius a decade ago, but this same genius who once dazzled an entire era was also An Fuqing’s sworn enemy.

Staring out in the distance, An Fuqing softly said, "On the Heavenly Feathered Battlefield, there’s a being known as Cortes Zuo, a great demon king who commands all of the legions of the Dark Morro Empire. That great demon king appeared on the battlefield twelve years ago, slaughtering seven gods and two chief gods of the Heavenly Feathered Race. The number of elite soldiers who died at his hands are too many to count. His power is terrifying. Just last year, he fought a divine king to a stand still while only having the cultivation of a late-stage great demon king. As for how I learned of his whereabouts... Well, someone told me."

She paused briefly after speaking. Hearing this, Chen Chu looked at her in surprise. "I’ve always thought of you as someone rational. This doesn’t seem like you. You’re being reckless. That person, whether it’s Xiao Tianyi's true form or another one of his avatars, is already a late-stage great demon king. They probably even have combat power that’s capable of challenging a demon god. Even if he just stood there and let you strike him, with your current cultivation, you still couldn’t break through his defenses, let alone take revenge."

Chen Chu’s words were blunt, but true. A being with demon god-level combat strength meant that the Zuo Mo's actual cultivation level was likely comparable to the supreme level.

It was just like Chen Chu himself. On the surface, Chen Chu's cultivation was still in the late stage of the mythical level, but in terms of his true form and divine power, he was already comparable to a late-stage heavenly king. In fact, he was possibly even unmatched by other heavenly kings when his power was fully released.

Moreover, if he used the Mark of Temporal Reincarnation, he wouldn’t even need to summon the Destructive Dragon Emperor’s true form. Just combining the nine seals alone would be enough to match a beginning-stage supreme demon god.

An Fuqing said, "Don’t worry, I’m not acting on impulse. I’m just playing a supporting role this time. My job is to draw him out, then someone else will make the move."

"Draw him out?" Chen Chu’s eyes flickered. "Another one of Xiao Tianyi’s avatars?"

"That's correct," An Fuqing nodded, her gaze a little complicated. "The one who told me all this was another Xiao Tianyi, and he’s also the one who’ll strike."

"Hold on, let me try to piece this together," Chen Chu scratched his head. Even he was feeling a little confused; the relationships between all these "Xiao Tianyi’s" and An Fuqing were getting messy.

He had already killed one Xiao Tianyi earlier. Then there was another Xiao Tianyi on the Heavenly Feathered Battlefield who had joined the Purgatory Clan, and now a new Xiao Tianyi had appeared, wanting to kill the Purgatory Xiao Tianyi.

On top of that, hadn’t An Fuqing said that Xiao Tianyi was her sworn enemy? She’d been cultivating all these years to fulfill her mother’s dying wish, which was to kill the former number one genius of the human race. But now she planned to help Xiao Tianyi... kill Xiao Tianyi? Was An Fuqing planning to set them against each other, sit back and watch them fight, then attack them both after they become wounded?

Chen Chu tried to sort it all out in his own head, but couldn’t. In the end, he just directly asked, "You know what, just tell me everything from the beginning. There’s no way you brought this up to me today for no reason."

"I only learned the full story recently myself." The girl’s expression was complicated as she gazed out into the distance. "Sixteen years ago, Xiao Tianyi broke into the mythical level and stepped onto the frontlines. In that very battle, he single-handedly killed three demon kings and seriously injured a great demon king. If that great demon king hadn’t fled so quickly, Xiao Tianyi was confident he could have slain him even at the cost of serious injury.

"That battle made Xiao Tianyi famous overnight, and also landed him at the top of the Purgatory Clan’s kill list. Not long after, during another War of Civilizations, he was ambushed by three great demon kings, and even a demon god. But because Xiao Tianyi had cultivated the Insightful Blade, condensed the Insightful Eye, and advanced it to the level where it could faintly perceive fragments of the future, he could dodge all of their attempts.

"Afterward, he left the frontlines entirely and ventured deep into the mythical world to train, intending to return only after becoming a heavenly king. But just as he ventured deeper into the mythical world, building up experience and passing through several alien ruins, he encountered an incredibly terrifying demon god.

"It didn’t attack him. Instead, it invited him to join the Purgatory Clan, and took him on a tour of their territory, showing him things that utterly shattered his hope. And in the end... he betrayed us."