Chapter 895: Chen Chu's Return, That Man Cannot Be Trusted (I)

At an altitude of a hundred thousand meters, thirteen orbital battleships, each over ten kilometers long, floated in a horizontal formation. The three main cannons and forty-nine secondary cannons on each of them radiated scorching heat, fully charged and ready for the next battle.

On the decks and within the ships, numerous personnel and engineering mechs moved urgently, loading ammunition, replacing energy crystals, and preparing for the upcoming war.

Below, across a thousand-kilometer stretch of shattered land, mountains had crumbled. The ground was littered with the corpses of massive demonized colossal beasts and warriors of the Purgatory Demon Clan, along with dense clusters of craters left by massive explosions. Scattered among the remains of the Purgatory Demon Clan were fragments of unmanned fighter mechs, a testament to the brutal and bloody conflict.

High above, Heavenly King Zhenwu stood in the air, his feet rooted in the void and the black True Martial Stele in one hand. His expression was solemn, and an oppressive aura capable of suppressing the heavens emanated faintly from his body. Yet as he watched the soldiers below clearing the battlefield and salvaging resources, a trace of heaviness flashed in his eyes.

Two powerful auras approached rapidly. Heavenly King Xuanwu and Heavenly King Jiuyou reappeared after pursuing two heavily wounded and fleeing demon kings. Both wore grave expressions.

Xuanwu said in a deep voice, "Although the demon gods are currently entangled by the Divine King of Light, they likely still hold some means to control the overall situation. In just a short time, the scattered forces of the Purgatory Demon Clan have reorganized into full legion formations. If this continues, it will severely disadvantage us."

Zhenwu nodded firmly. "The situation here has collapsed. We must evacuate immediately."

According to the original plan, humanity and the Heavenly Feathered Race were to rely on the remaining nine planes, establishing war bases. Within those planar confines, the Purgatory Clan’s numerical advantage couldn’t be fully utilized.

Even if the Heavenly Feathered Race was ultimately doomed, they could still inflict heavy losses on the three empires, potentially eliminating tens of millions of elite troops and many demon kings.

Now, however, the planes had merged, forming a single massive world over two million kilometers in diameter. This change had ironically benefited the three empires. A divine region of such vast size, with an area exceeding even that of the sun, had swiftly tipped the scales.

After a brief period of chaos, the great demon kings began regrouping their legions. The situation immediately turned grim. The Purgatory army the human forces had encountered earlier had nearly two million soldiers, led by one great demon king and three demon kings.

The humans relied on overwhelming high-level combat power, particularly Mech No.1’s rampage. The fight was concluded in just over an hour, with all Purgatory Demon Clan forces wiped out.

However, the implication was clear. If humanity were surrounded by more such legions, and if Zhenwu were restrained by a demon-god-level opponent, they too could face annihilation.

"Notify all personnel. Once the wounded are stabilized, begin immediate evacuation using the coordinates previously provided by the Heavenly Feathered Race."

With Zhenwu's command, the tension across the battlefield rose sharply. Figures began flashing across the terrain, flying toward the warships in the sky. Just then, a flash of lightning swept through low-altitude airspace.

Li Daoyi appeared before a black-and-red mech over seven hundred meters tall and called out, "Sister Luo, we've received the evacuation order!"

Click!

No.1 slowly raised its head. Blue-white light gleamed in its eyes as it silently stared at Li Daoyi. The gaze sent chills down his spine, as though he had been marked by a natural predator. Fortunately, No.1 was still in standard combat mode, not in a berserk state. After a brief pause, it gave a slight nod.

Yet another powerful aura approached at astonishing speed. Even from over ten thousand kilometers away, the oppressive force it emitted caused even Zhenwu to feel slightly surprised. However, the aura was familiar. On the ground, No.1 instantly looked skyward.

With a divine ability allowing each step to span over a thousand kilometers, Chen Chu’s colossal figure soon appeared on the horizon. He stood a thousand meters tall, surrounded by golden flames and purple lightning.

With three faces and eight arms, he held a fearsome black-and-gold halberd. Behind him, a golden divine wheel turned slowly, making him resemble an ancient war god summoned from another era. Immediately, countless elite warriors aboard the warships erupted with excitement.

"That’s the Divine Might King!"

"No, he’s the Divine Might Heavenly King now. General Chen has broken through!"

"The Divine Might Heavenly King has returned!"

Chen Chu’s return instantly lifted the morale of everyone present. Even before his breakthrough, his strength had been enough to crush great demon kings and slaughter mythical demon kings like mere beasts. Now that he had ascended to the heavenly king level, his extraordinary combat power would surely allow him to confront demon gods directly.

Together with Zhenwu, who held the True Martial Divine Stele, the human expeditionary forces now possessed two supreme combatants. Even if they faced an army led by a demon god, they wouldn’t be afraid. Of course, that was assuming they only had one demon god to face.

"He’s a heavenly king now..." Watching Chen Chu stride through the void, Zhenwu, Jiuyou, and Xuanwu all revealed expressions of pride and satisfaction.

The three of them had first heard of this rising genius of the new generation back when Chen Chu had swept across the southern battlefield and joined the plan to besiege the avatar of a god of the cult. At the time, only Jiuyou and Xuanwu had returned to the Blue Planet due to Yan Ruoyi’s slumber, and thus had met Chen Chu in person beforehand.

What pleased the three of them most was not only that Chen Chu’s talent far surpassed that of Xiao Tianyi back in the day, but that he was also loyal and righteous. All the way, he had fought upright and dominated in every direction.

"

Ahem!

Sirs, could you not look at me like that?" Chen Chu gave an awkward cough as he walked through the air. The three heavenly kings’ gazes made his skin crawl.

Xuanwu appeared beside him and gave his shoulder a hearty slap, laughing, "Hahaha... Not bad. You managed to become a heavenly king so smoothly."

At that moment, Xuanwu was in the form of an ordinary human. His burly 1.9-meter frame looked tiny in front of the kilometer-tall Chen Chu. The sight was, in its own way, rather comical.

Zhenwu solemnly said, "Chen Chu, you’ve returned at the right time. The situation has changed. We’re preparing to move toward the evacuation site. If anything comes up, we’ll talk on the way."

"Understood." Chen Chu nodded.

Soon, the thirteen orbital battleships reformed into three rows, with Orbital Battleship 5 leading the way, heading toward the evacuation coordinates over eight hundred thousand kilometers away.

However, due to the likelihood of encountering Purgatory legions on the way, the fleet didn’t enter extreme-speed mode, but instead traveled at a controlled speed of up to fifteen times the speed of sound.

This was the drawback of moving as a large unit. While the power of numbers brought strength, it also carried restrictions in mobility. For mythical kings, heavenly kings, and supreme-level powerhouses like Zhenwu, these transcendent soldiers were of little practical use in high-end battle scenarios. Even if they were all to die, it wouldn’t impact Zhenwu’s combat effectiveness in any meaningful way.

However, since this legion had followed them into the expedition, they bore responsibility for these lives. They would do everything in their power to bring these people back alive. That was a general’s duty.

Chen Chu felt the same. That was why, after slaying nine demon kings and two great demon kings, he chose not to continue slaughtering the enemy, but instead regrouped with the main force.

Onboard the fleet, a temporary meeting was held. Led by Zhenwu and joined by Chen Chu, Chen Wang, and other kings, they made various strategic arrangements for potential developments ahead. They were also briefed on what had happened earlier in the tenth plane.

An Fuqing had laid a trap with herself as bait, successfully luring out Zuo Mo. Xiao Tianyi had appeared and fought a fierce battle with him. Both displayed power on par with ordinary demon gods.

What happened next, however, surprised Chen Chu when he heard it, especially the death of An Fuqing’s mother; it seemed there was more to it than what was currently known.