Chapter 932: Second Enhancement, the Ancient Blade (I)

After gifting three fragments of Chaotic Crystal Core to Heavenly King Xuanwu and the others, Chen Chu reappeared aboard Orbital Battleship 13.

In the medical and living quarters at the heart of the battleship, the patrolling special forces warriors stiffened into a salute the moment the black-haired youth appeared out of thin air. "Greetings, Lord Divine Might."

"No need to be so formal." Chen Chu nodded, then turned his gaze toward one of the nearby wards. Through the glass, he saw Li Daoyi lying on a hospital bed. Far from resting, he was busy on his phone, fingers dancing across the screen in a flurry of motion as he chatted away.

Chen Chu could see that this guy wasn’t chatting with just one beauty, but over thirty at the same time. His phone kept switching between chat windows with incredible speed, pausing only when one of them sent him a glamour shot.

Still the same hobby

, Chen Chu thought, shaking his head. Then he knocked on the door.

"Chu—Lord Divine Might? What brings you here?" Li Daoyi was visibly surprised. He instinctively closed his chat apps and stowed the phone in his storage space before sitting upright.

Chen Chu smiled slightly. "Just came to drop something off. Thought I’d check how you’re doing."

"I’m lucky to still be alive," Li Daoyi said, a little embarrassed.

Compared to Chen Chu, who had crushed the opposition during the recent expedition, he—once a genius of the same generation—had barely survived. Even his soul essence had been damaged. Otherwise, how could a top-level Ninth Heavenly Realm powerhouse like him be lying in a hospital bed?

As he spoke, Chen Chu flipped his hand, revealing a fist-sized gray crystal. Li Daoyi’s strength was simply too weak; giving him too much would kill him. "This may be a bit painful to refine, but the material it contains can further enhance your thunderbolt affinity. Consider it a get-well gift," Chen Chu explained. "Otherwise, even if you reach the mythical level later, you’d only be a little stronger than the average. Wouldn’t be able to show off much."

"Hehe... We’re brothers. I won’t stand on ceremony," Li Daoyi grinned as he accepted the gray crystal without hesitation. With Chen Chu’s current level of cultivation, anything he offered was bound to be valuable. Li Daoyi wasn’t stupid; he wasn’t about to put on a false show of humility.

Chen Chu chuckled at his reaction, then patted him on the shoulder. "If you’re still sick, maybe lay off the porn. It’s not good for your recovery."

"I don’t watch porn, I just chat with them—" Li Daoyi began to protest, but before he could finish, Chen Chu had already vanished.

Moments later, a scream echoed from the medical ward.

"You said it’d only be a bit painful..."

***

On the forward deck of Battleship 1, a towering black-and-red mech over eight hundred meters tall stood silent and imposing. A faint blood-colored mist and terrifying aura coiled around it.

As it grew, the mech’s mechanical aura had become fainter, while its lifelike traits grew more pronounced. Now, when most people looked at Mech No.1, their first impression was no longer of a cold, lifeless machine, but a colossal living creature clad in armor.

The moment Chen Chu appeared out of nowhere, the previously still No.1 suddenly trembled. A dangerous power within stirred in response to the threat it sensed. Almost immediately, however, its glowing eyes dimmed again; it recognized him as the one who had fed it countless demon kings and great demon kings.

Chen Chu gave it a calm glance, then gently said, "Luo Fei, can you come out?"

"Yes. Just a moment." As she spoke, the crystal embedded in No.1’s chest glowed, releasing a beam of bluish-white light. Luo Fei slowly emerged from within. The black-haired girl was clad in golden-white battle armor. However, whether it was the energy-based divine battle armor or the dark-golden patterns that now lined her cheeks and the back of her hands, she appeared drastically different.

More than that, Luo Fei’s aura had already reached the peak of the Ninth Heavenly Realm, with faint signs of an imminent breakthrough into the king level. Ancient energy swirled ever more intensely around her. Her gaze was cold and detached, as if she stood in another world, filled with an almost divine remoteness as she quietly observed this one. Yet when her eyes fell upon Chen Chu, they shimmered briefly, regaining a trace of humanity.

Looking at the delicate girl before him, Chen Chu narrowed his eyes slightly. "Is your current state alright?"

The girl softly replied, "Still within my control. I’m in a synchronized fusion state with No.1, so my aura is gradually shifting toward its form."

In addition, Luo Fei had just integrated another strand of an ancient creature’s soul, peeling away the embedded information and storing it within the Primordial Azure Sky. As she absorbed more and more ancient souls, Luo Fei’s lifeform and level of existence were undergoing some form of metamorphosis.

Though she remained full of confidence, Chen Chu couldn’t help but feel her condition was becoming increasingly precarious. After all, those eternal ancient beings couldn’t possibly be so easy to assimilate. If Luo Fei could so easily steal their powers, it would diminish their legacy. Even with the Primordial Azure Sky aiding her, it seemed overly smooth.

Still, this was her chosen path. She had been prepared ever since she decided to study in Wujiang City, so while Chen Chu held his doubts, he said nothing. Instead, he produced a pile of fine gray sand. "These contain special materials. Once refined, they should help stabilize your realm and further enhance your true form."

Chen Chu had treated Luo Fei’s Chaotic Crystal Core differently from Li Daoyi’s. He crushed it in his hand and used the power of principles to strip away the violent energy within. As a result, even though the amount Luo Fei needed to refine was several times more than Li Daoyi's, it would n’t harm her. The pain of reforging her body would also be much less intense.

Just as Chen Chu brought out the Chaotic Crystal Core, No.1 trembled slightly, as if sensing the chaotic matter within. A bluish-white light glowed in its eyes, yet it made no move to seize the crystal, either because of its fear of Chen Chu or due to Luo Fei’s control.

As the dense energy of the gray crystal sand spread out before her, Luo Fei’s lips curved into a smile. "Chen Chu, would this count as your first gift to me?"

Chen Chu paused for a moment, then smiled back. "I suppose it does. You’ve given me a portrait before, and the Eight Desolations Halberd. It’s only fair that I return the gesture."

"That’s true." Luo Fei gently scooped up the gray crystal sand and stored it in her storage space.

The two chatted for a little while longer, then Luo Fei turned and flew back into No.1 along the beam of light. Seeing this, Chen Chu also prepared to begin cultivating.

Boom!

The space above Chen Chu, not far from No.1, rippled and then shattered, forming a rift thousands of meters long.

A surge of overwhelming power rippled through the void, triggering a series of explosive shockwaves. From the depths of the rift, a war hammer in its default form—over a thousand meters long and entirely black—slowly descended.

Battleship 1 and the eight surrounding battleships all trembled violently. Alarms blared as red lights flashed throughout the fleets. Even the pressure alone nearly caused the warships to disintegrate.

This was the might of a pseudo-world-level weapon wielded by a demon-god-level powerhouse. Compared to the pinnacle great demon king who had died at Chen Chu’s hands, the hammer’s level was clearly higher, even if both were pseudo-world-level.

The sudden anomaly drew countless eyes. Many high-level experts soared into the sky to observe. When they saw the black-haired youth standing with hands clasped behind his back beneath the hammer, they immediately relaxed. "It’s Lord Divine Might. Gave me a scare."

"Looks like he’s refining that powerful weapon."

"Seems so."