Mythical Era: My Evolution into a Celestial Beast

Chapter 126: Bull Demon Battle Body, Devouring Energy

In the depths of the sea, the Sword Armored Fiery Beast, having completed its transformation, lifted its head slightly. Its eyes were icy cold as it gazed up toward the entrance of the rift, which had quieted down at some point.

The depths of the kilometer-deep ocean were incredibly dark, except for the faint glow emitted by the churning magma. Apart from the gurgling sound of bubbles mixed with gasses, it was completely silent.

This kind of quiet and desolate environment would drive normal people insane after a short while, and it was fraught with danger at every turn.

I wonder if that Single-horned Orca managed to leave safely, or if it was killed by the creatures lurking in the darkness.

Thinking back to the intense battle fluctuations that had come from above, the Fiery Beast shook its head and chose not to leave. Instead, it rolled through the water down to the golden magma several hundred meters away, devouring the scorching substances contained in the water.

After its transformation, the Fiery Beast had gained the ability to consume heat energy. Now that it had completed its bloodline evolution, it was going to need a large amount of such.

Chen Chu also wanted to see if the Fiery Beast could transform the scorching substances it consumed into evolution points. If those substances could substitute for biological energy, and if the growth rate was the same as hunting mutated beasts, it could simply sleep in a magma sea and grow infinitely.

Soon, the underwater rift fell into silence...

At five in the afternoon, Chen Chu walked out of Building C, ready to go home.

The school was relatively quiet at the moment, with a winter chill blowing through. Chen Chu couldn't help but take a deep breath, instantly feeling refreshed and invigorated from head to toe.

Today’s harvest had kept him in a good mood all afternoon; there was even a small smile gracing his face still.

However, at that moment, a burly figure over two meters tall appeared in front of him, standing there silently and watching him.

Seeing Li Hao clearly waiting for him, Chen Chu suddenly remembered the topic of their previous discussion. "I almost forgot about our agreement. Shall we apply for a sparring venue now?"

Unlike the casual sparring of those in the First Heavenly Realm, battles between cultivators of the Third Realm packed much more destructive power. Therefore, for their sparring session, they had to either find an empty space outside the city or apply for a specialized venue within the school. Anywhere else, and they would be liable for any potential damages.

It was actually perfect timing. Recently, his Strength attribute had broken through five hundred, and his basic arm strength had reached ten thousand kilograms, a full ten tons.

With such monstrous basic strength, coupled with the Dragon Elephant Art, Chen Chu could unleash terrifying destructive power with every move he made.

Even in the face of this genius with innate divine power and perfect compatibility with the primary strength arts, Chen Chu didn’t feel any trepidation. He genuinely wanted to see who was truly stronger.

In contrast to Chen Chu's excitement, however, Li Hao spoke solemnly. "I didn't come today to spar with you. Instead, I want to postpone our battle."

"Postpone? Why?" Chen Chu froze slightly.

Li Hao admitted, "Because I'm not confident in defeating you right now, so I'm planning to wait until we both break through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm before giving it my all in our battle."

Back in Kyria, Chen Chu had publicly slain a Blood Emissary of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, and most students believed that that Emissary had been in the middle stage of the Fourth Realm.

Out of curiosity, however, Li Hao had examined the Emissary’s body, only to realize that something was amiss.

As a genius with innate divine power, he was very sensitive to signs of physical strength, and had been able to determine that the Emissary’s physical tempering had exceeded even the limits of the Fourth Heavenly Realm.

While the reasons Chen Chu had provided later for his victory were reasonable, Li Hao had come to know him somewhat, and knew that it hadn’t been that simple.

Clearly, during the period of silence Chen Chu had exhibited after they had slayed the Golden-Backed Rampage Ape, he had become even stronger, so strong that Li Hao didn't feel confident he could currently match it. More than anything else, he wanted a battle where both sides were evenly matched and could fight without reservation, but right now, that didn’t seem likely.

Chen Chu narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to defeat Li Hao right now, but he was confident he could do it after breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm. It seems this guy is preparing some big move.

Ultimately, however, he didn’t really care. Even if Li Hao's combat power would increase explosively after breaking through to the Fourth Heavenly Realm, Chen Chu certainly wasn’t going to stay in the same place, either.

"Okay, then let's have our battle after reaching the Fourth Heavenly Realm." Chen Chu nodded.

Li Hao said, "I won't hide it from you either. After absorbing that Golden-Backed Rampage Ape’s king-level essence, I'm confident that I’ll be able to form the Bull Demon Battle Body when I reach the Fourth Heavenly Realm."

"Battle Body?" Chen Chu's expression immediately became serious.

The Battle Body, similar to the True Martial Phantom, was a symbol of high-level cultivators. Normally, one could only form a True Martial Battle Body after breaking through to the Eighth Heavenly Realm.

Of course, Li Hao's Bull Demon Battle Body wouldn’t be the True Martial Battle Body of the Eighth Heavenly Realm; that would be too crazy.

It would likely be more similar to the Tyrant Body of the Dragon Elephant Art, except the Tyrant Body required cultivation to the utmost of the sixth stage before it could be perfected. But this guy...

Chen Chu spoke slowly, "I didn't expect that a trace of king-level essence would enhance you so significantly."

Seeming as if he didn’t want Chen Chu to misunderstand and think that he had gained a huge advantage from that incident alone, Li Hao explained. "That trace of king-level essence is just one factor, not the only one.

"My physique is naturally special, and I have perfect compatibility with the Bull Demon's Mountain-Shaking True Art. After continuously absorbing the complete essence of the Mutated Black Bull and the Golden-Backed Rampage Ape, my physique has completed the first stage of its transformation.

"Next, I want to form the second stage of the Bull Demon's Battle Body. That will require exchanging for eight types of supplementary high-level resources, which is expected to cost over 600 contribution points. So, I have already applied to go to the mutated beast battlefield tomorrow."

Even if Li Hao hadn’t explained, however, Chen Chu wouldn’t have minded. The gains from that hunt had been significant for him as well; it had allowed him to condense the incomplete True Martial Rune, greatly increasing the power of his arts.

Others being able to get ten times the effect from the same resources was due to nothing more and nothing less than their own skill, so he didn't dwell on it too much. In fact, this also indirectly indicated that Li Hao was worth befriending.

Chen Chu's face lit up with anticipation. "I didn't expect you to have such a move up your sleeve, but it doesn't matter. By then, I’ll be even stronger than I am now."

Seeing that Chen Chu didn't think much about it, Li Hao just nodded and turned away. His footsteps were heavy and filled with oppression, like those of an ancient giant.

As he watched Li Hao walk away, Chen Chu softly murmured, "I didn't expect this guy's physique to undergo a second transformation. You really can’t underestimate anyone in this world."

The practice of true martial arts was a process of changing one's physique, gradually elevating weak humans to transcendence and evolving towards the direction envisioned by the creators of martial arts.

The same could also be said of mutations for animals. The official classification for mutated beasts was divided into low-level and high-level; levels 1, 2, and 3 were relegated to the former category, while levels 4, 5, and 6 belonged to the latter.

Beasts that had reached level 7 and beyond had usually also grown to sizes ranging from fifty to a hundred meters, and were classified as colossal beasts, with those of level 9 being referred to as top-level colossal beasts. The ones that had grown beyond level 9 were called king level beasts, similarly to the human powerhouses.

The Dragon Elephant Art was transforming Chen Chu's physique to more closely resemble that of a level 6 mutated beast, the Tyrant Elephant. At the ultimate peak of the advanced level, he would become as powerful as this elephant, with boundless strength and formidable defense.

Or, at least, formidable within the scope of low-level arts. Chen Chu's combat prowess far surpassed his realm mainly because his foundational attributes were incredibly formidable.

High-level arts were benchmarked against top-level colossal beasts. Once his physique’s second transformation succeeded, Li Hao's combat power could absolutely rival that of cultivators in the Fifth Heavenly Realm.

Chen Chu couldn't help but turn his head back, his eyes showing a faint curiosity.

With Li Hao ranking second and being so extraordinary, how strong must An Fuqing be to surpass even him?

After dinner, Chen Hu quickly ran up to the second floor and called from outside Chen Chu’s room, "Bro, let's go fishing tonight!"

“Fishing?”

Chen Chu opened the door and looked at him strangely. "Since when did you start liking fishing?"

"It's not that I like fishing," Chen Hu explained. "A month ago, the city officials launched a fishing contest. Whenever you catch a fish longer than one and a half meters and weighing over fifty catties, you earn a five hundred yuan reward.

"And besides that, the officials will also buy the fish at a fair price. Altogether, it's worth around one to two thousand yuan for a big fish. That's why the riverbank has been crowded with people this month."

A month ago... that was when the Sword Armored Beast had broken through its third evolution. And now there's this fishing contest. Chen Chu narrowed his eyes.

It seems the authorities have been monitoring the changes in the rivers closely. Are they preparing to eliminate those big mutated fish in advance to suppress their growth?

"Do you want to go fishing to make money?"

"Yeah, I asked Mom for money to buy a fishing rod and some fishing line. I'm going to the riverbank to fish tonight. A few days ago, I caught a big fish weighing over 60 catties. After selling it and adding up the prize money, I made over 1400 yuan," Chen Hu said with pride, unable to hide his laughter.

Chen Chu looked Chen Hu up and down and started to praise him. "Impressive, I didn't expect you to have a talent for fishing."

Albeit, what he was praising wasn't exactly Chen Hu's fishing ability. It was more his discipline, diligently attending school during the day, and then going fishing at night to earn some extra money for the family.

"But there's only one fishing rod. What am I going to do?"

Chen Hu grinned, saying, "Didn't I just say I made some money a few days ago? So today, I bought another rod for you, Bro. Let's go together."

"...Okay." Chen Chu nodded. He wasn’t quite interested in fishing; simply slaying a level 2 mutated beast during his ventures outside could easily fetch him a starting price of one hundred thousand yuan. On the other hand, though, he didn’t want to dampen Chen Hu’s excitement at showing off his recent achievements in front of his older brother.

As dusk settled and darkness enveloped the sky, Chen Chu arrived at the riverbank with Chen Hu, who was carrying fishing rods and a bucket. Considering what Chen Hu had said earlier, it was no surprise to see both sides of the river crowded with people indulging in night fishing, most of them middle-aged.

"Bro, there aren't many people over there. Let's set up our spot there first. I got some live bait specifically for this, and I'll watch this rod while you watch the other one..." After a month of fishing, Chen Hu displayed a very professional demeanor.

Unfortunately, whether it was due to the scarcity of big fish in this river or the abundance of people, they had only managed to catch a few ten-catty grass carp before they had to call it quits at midnight. This left Chen Hu, who had wanted to show off his skills, feeling quite disappointed.

*

Time passed quickly, and over the next two days, Chen Chu continued to go to school to eat while keeping an eye on the Fiery Beast's consumption of the scorching substances.

"Morning, Chen Chu."

"Brother Chu, I heard you've already broken through to the Third Heavenly Realm.”

“Mhmm, just lucky.”

"That's amazing. We're only at the Second Heavenly Realm."

"Li Zilong, you're doing well. You've already broken through to the Second Heavenly Realm. I'm still hovering at the peak of the First. I’m not sure when I'll be able to condense my true power."

On the third day, as Chen Chu walked into the school, he bumped into many familiar faces from his class, along with some ordinary classmates from neighboring classes whom he had crossed paths with a few times.

This time, however, everyone seemed a bit more friendly when they greeted him.

Chen Chu responded politely to each of these classmates, with absolutely none of the arrogance one would likely expect from someone whose strength far surpassed theirs.

Soon, Chen Chu found himself amid the crowd, arriving outside the first-floor lobby of Building C.

"Chen Chu, over here." Luo Fei waved to him from the steps in the distance.

Beside her stood Lin Xue and Lin Yu, while not far away were Xia Youhui, Bai Mu, Liu Feng, and Li Meng, who had arrived early and were whispering to each other.

Yi Rui was also nearby, chatting with Hong Tianyi, who was ranked third.

Among those gathered around Lin Xue were classmates with whom she had a good relationship, such as Lu Haitao, Qi Lei, and Li Wenwen. However, they seemed a bit restrained.

Chen Chu also saw many familiar faces, all of whom had participated in the trial. These people had formed small groups and were chatting among themselves.

It was obvious that they had left their classmates far behind. Upon returning from the trial, almost half of the participating students had broken through to the Third Heavenly Realm. The rest who hadn't done so were either in the late stage or at the peak of the Second Realm, ready to advance to the Third at any moment. Thanks to the battles and bloodshed they had experienced, they exuded a calm demeanor, with sharp gazes.

Compared to them, those who had remained at school or hadn't yet broken through to the Second Heavenly Realm seemed a bit immature, both in mentality and strength.

Although two months had passed, almost all of the one hundred genius students who had completed Foundation Building in a week had broken through to the Second Heavenly Realm, while a portion of the students who hadn’t been so quick, but had still built solid foundations, had gradually caught up.

With Chen Chu and others included, there were currently only around 160 freshmen at Nantian who had reached the Second Heavenly Realm or higher. The rest of the students were still struggling at the First Realm, and only a few dozen more had completed Foundation Building, bringing the total to approximately 900.

This result, however, had only been possible thanks to Lin Xiong's passionate speech at the beginning of the ranked competition, which had motivated some initially skeptical freshmen to persist and eventually succeed in their Foundation Building after three to four months of effort.