Chapter 221: Rewards from the Gods

Chapter 221: Rewards from the Gods

In the morning, on the outskirts of the Yunwu Mountains, several level 4 mutated beasts laid about, covered in shattered scales and wounds. Blood seeped out continuously, staining the ground red. Trees were toppled over, and the ground was destroyed, bearing the scars of a fierce battle.

In the middle of the battlefield, Lin Xue and Lin Yu sat cross-legged, each holding a Blue Crystal containing high-purity energy in their hands.

As their true power absorbed the crystals’ energy, the aura emanating from the two sisters grew stronger and stronger. Suddenly, a burst of breakthrough aura erupted.

Whoosh!

A powerful wind enveloped the sisters, and their long hair flowed as they broke through to the late stage of the Third Heavenly Realm.

Under the shade of some nearby trees, Lin Mei crossed her arms. She smiled and said, "They’ve finally broken through. Now, they just need to continue working hard to get to the Fourth Heavenly Realm."

A sturdy-looking third-year girl nearby expressed her admiration. "They're only in the second semester of their first year and they’ve already reached the late stage of the Third Heavenly Realm. They'll definitely break through to the Fourth within a year. Their talent’s more than enough to rank in the top three of our year."

Lin Mei shook her head. "It's not just talent. They’ve been working very hard this whole time, fighting against level 4 mutated creatures every day and pushing their limits. They’ve worked hard to squeeze out every single drop of their potential. And after each battle, they make sure to absorb resources and cultivate, so that's why their progress has been so rapid."

She continued with an expression of gratitude. "Wang Juan, thank you for going through all this trouble to accompany me around the outskirts."

The sturdy-looking Wang Juan shook her head. "There’s no need for this type of talk, Lin Mei. We've been through life and death together for several years. Your matters are our matters."

Luo Ling also nodded. "We’ll just take it as a chance to relax. But Wang Juan is right. Lin Xue and Lin Yu have excellent talent. No matter how hard they push to the limit, it would be useless if they couldn’t cultivate the absorbed resources. It’s too bad there are so many freaks in their year. As talented as they are, they still aren’t in the spotlight."

"That’s true. Just in Nantian alone, there are several geniuses who have already reached the Fourth Heavenly Realm. Compared to us, who have been training for three years and are only at the late stage of the Fifth, it's quite a difference. I have a feeling that before we graduate, these youngsters will surpass us."

"That’s not possible. After the Fourth Heavenly Realm, the will needs to be sharpened, and that requires comprehension. At this stage, you can’t advance quickly with just resources anymore.

"So, Wang Juan, rest assured, as freakish as they are, they still need to take it one step at a time. Even that second-year student, Ji Changkong, the one with talent comparable to Xia Bawang from a few years ago, took a very long time to break through to the Fifth Heavenly Realm. He had to really train in the Fourth for quite a while."

Just as Lin Xue and her sister broke through, Chen Chu returned to the edge of the Jiuhuan Mountains.

In the distance, as the sun rose, a golden beam of light pierced through the clouds and shone upon Chen Chu, who stood at the edge of the mountain cliff. His black and red crystal armor emitted a dazzling light, making Chen Chu seem like a deity.

At that moment, a squad emerged from the forest below. There were three men and two women, and two of the men were carrying a mutated beast corpse, about twenty-nine meters long. Based on its aura, it was estimated to be at the beginning stage of level 6.

Seeing the figure standing on the cliff, shrouded in golden light, the squad was momentarily stunned. One of them blurted out, "What the hell?"

Chen Chu also noticed the squad below and couldn't help but murmur to himself, "What's this? Are the gods trying to make me look cool?"

He had just arrived at this spot when a golden beam of light broke through the clouds in the distance; it had hit him too suddenly for him to react.

Amid his musings, Chen Chu suddenly felt a warm current coursing through his body, and wherever it passed, his muscles and bones strengthened. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

This significant enhancement had occurred three times since last night. As the Thunder Fiery Colossal Beast continued to grow by digesting the ancient crocodile and absorbing growth crystals, Chen Chu was also reaping the benefits in his main body.

With this upgrade, his four major attributes had increased by about 40 points. Currently, his highest attribute, Strength, had reached 1,200 points, and his Physique exceeded 1,100. This meant that the limit of Chen Chu’s arm strength had increased to 30 tons.

With his current strength, he didn't even need to exert any true power; he could easily lift a bus as if it were a toy.

That wasn’t even getting into the true abilities of dragon-like creatures. It could be said that the true characteristics obtained when breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm were the ones best suited for Chen Chu, as they allowed him to maximize the terrifying advantage of his physical body.

As Chen Chu pondered, the sunlight dispersed, and the squad followed the ridge up the mountain.

When they had gotten close enough, Chen Chu couldn't help but greet them. "What a coincidence, we meet again."

Huh!

Surprised, the five members turned to look at Chen Chu. The leader of the group exclaimed, "It's you!"

After crossing mountains, traversing valleys, and killing hundreds of venomous insects and mutated creatures along the way, Chen Chu arrived near the coordinates. Standing at the edge of a cliff hundreds of meters high, Chen Chu looked around for reference points, his gaze falling on a location about a dozen kilometers to the left.

"It should be there, between those two peaks, with red clouds swirling around them." With that, Chen Chu jumped straight down from the cliff.

With the obvious landmark, Chen Chu arrived at the entrance of the distorted hidden realm in just a few minutes.

Here, the earth was split open, forming a slot canyon that was dozens of meters wide and stretched forward for an unknown length. The inside was filled with heavy moisture, creating dense red clouds that were so thick that even his vision could only see a dozen meters ahead. There were obvious traces of spatial distortion around, and transcendent energy was raging.

As soon as he approached the entrance, he felt uncomfortable. From the depths of the canyon, invisible infrasonic waves spread out. This kind of low frequency vibration made creatures instinctively feel uncomfortable, which explained why there were hardly any signs of life nearby.

No wonder Li Fei didn't dare to enter, even after realizing that it was a hidden realm that was very likely to possess natural treasure.

"I wonder what kind of art this guy is practicing. How can he go so deep into the mountains and sense the danger inside without going in?" As he pondered to himself, Chen Chu's figure disappeared into the red mist.

Once inside the canyon, he found that the terrain was going in a downward slope, and as he continued deeper, a heat wave rolled in while the red mist continued to surge. All the while, the infrasonic vibrations grew stronger.

Then, beside him, a red light flashed in the mist. A red figure shot out at an astonishing speed, only to be caught by Chen Chu with a snap of his hand.

It was a mutated red python six meters long. It was covered in red scales, possessing both a twisted head and a body that was as hard as steel rods. It frantically struggled in Chen Chu’s grasp with a powerful force.

"There are mutated creatures here." Surprised, Chen Chu pinched it, and the python's body exploded with a bang, scattering flesh and blood all over the ground... among which was a thumb-sized white crystal.

This was certainly an unexpected gain, and he bent down to pick it up. Although it was only a Level 1 Life Crystal, it was still a good find for him.

Smack!

After descending only about a dozen more meters along the terrain, his right hand instantly reached out and grabbed another incoming red python, crushing it with a slight amount of force.

Bang!

Another white crystal fell to the ground among the explosion of flesh and blood.

"These pythons are all at the peak of level 1?" Chen Chu was somewhat surprised as he picked up that crystal as well, then continued down with some anticipation.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As he journeyed down, he encountered many attacks from the red pythons, all of which he then crushed. The most important thing, however, was that all of these red pythons were at the peak of level 1, and almost each one contributed a Life Crystal to him. Soon, he had accumulated more than twenty crystals.

This drop rate made Chen Chu somewhat excited. It was the first time he had encountered such a lucky thing. As he continued to delve deeper underground, however, the force of that invisible vibration became stronger and stronger, making him feel more and more uncomfortable.

Strangely, the pythons seemed unaffected, perhaps an adaptation from living here long term.

As Chen Chu went deeper underground, the surrounding terrain became narrower. Red hot streams of poisonous gas flowed out from the surrounding cracks, with the air temperature reaching over a hundred degrees Celsius.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

After descending a kilometer underground, the air temperature soared to over two hundred degrees Celsius, and the surrounding rocks emitted a faint red glow.

By this time, the level 1 red pythons had disappeared, almost all of them killed by Chen Chu. Along the way, he had harvested thirty-eight level 1 Life Crystals, almost equivalent to 200 contribution points. He couldn't help but feel excited.

Was it because he had been enlightened this time? Chen Chu thought back to the scene at the edge of the Jiuhuan Mountains. Had he been blessed with a hundred percent drop rate because the gods shone upon him with that golden beam?

As Chen Chu was lost in thought, the terrain ahead suddenly widened, and not far away, a huge cliff appeared. Rolling hot air and a red glow came up from below.

When he arrived at the edge of the cliff, he saw a lava river flowing hundreds of meters below, winding its way into the darkness in the distance.

A giant serpent, engulfed in flames, lay coiled on the rolling lava river, emitting a terrifying aura. The infrasonic vibrations emanated from the river beneath the dragon, shaking the entire underground space. In here, even the air emitted a low hum.