Chapter 180: Unmatched, Displaying Strength Again (II)
Chapter 180: Unmatched, Displaying Strength Again (II)
Boom!
The intense true power exploded in Zhang Lin’s face. The earth trembled, and the sturdy and resilient golden protective true power on his body completely collapsed.
Scattered streaks of golden and black-red true power fell onto Zhang Lin's golden scale armor with a banging sound. Amid the dust and raging winds, a stunned Zhang Lin could only watch as a halberd swept through the black and red rays with unmatched force.
Bang!
Zhang Lin was once again blasted away by Chen Chu's strike, turning into a golden light and landing back in the woods.
Boom!
Before Zhang Lin could land, Chen Chu caught up to him, accompanied by a string of white air waves and piercing whistles. With an overwhelming aura, he once again engaged with the now standing Zhang Lin.
This time, however, Zhang Lin no longer directly clashed head-on with Chen Chu, instead employing his body arts to continue fighting.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire mountain forest trembled as streaks of golden blade qi and black-red halberd light surged into the sky, causing large swathes of trees to collapse and explode.
With each swing of his halberd, Chen Chu destroyed everything around him; rocks exploded, trees snapped, and even the earth had deep furrows plowed into it.
In the heat of the battle, Zhang Lin's blood boiled, and after dodging ten moves, he couldn't resist confronting Chen Chu head-on once again.
And then... Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every time Zhang Lin's saber came into contact with the halberd, the black-red light enveloping it would explode, shaking him uncomfortably with the violent shockwaves and making him feel like he was going to vomit blood. If it hadn’t been for his transcendent battle armor, which greatly weakened the impact of the energy under the influence of his true power, he would have been severely injured long ago.
Not to mention the unparalleled dominance of Chen Chu's power; if he failed to dodge even slightly, he would be swept away, utterly unable to resist, completely suppressed...
Of course, he had no idea that Chen Chu was still maintaining the explosive force of his normal state.
Watching the ancient towering trees collapsing in the distance and the trembling earth, Tang Tian's face turned pale. "This can't be real, he's just a freshman!"
Ding Chen forced a smile. "We didn't misjudge it. Zhang Lin is actually being suppressed by that freshman. He has no power to fight back."
For a moment, the four fell silent, unsure of what to say.
This was completely different from what they had expected when they had first come down. Shouldn't Zhang Lin be suppressing this new guy? He’s got higher cultivation, a deeper foundation, and stronger combat power.
We’ve all been diligently cultivating for almost two years, constantly fighting and practicing here, but a freshman can still overtake him? Are we just useless?
Just then, the battle that had leveled half of the mountain forest in the distance suddenly quieted.
"It's over."
"Let's go take a look..."
The four of them immediately erupted with their true power, employing their body arts to rush over.
In just a few breaths, the four of them crossed through the collapsed mountain forest and saw the two figures standing more than ten meters apart among the fallen trees.
Fortunately, Zhang Lin didn't seem to have suffered any serious injuries. However, he still looked a bit disheveled as he leaned on his saber, his aura weakened and his battle armor dimmed.
On the other side, Chen Chu remained standing with his halberd as usual, having already restrained his true power. Despite that, he still emitted an invisible but heavy oppressive aura, making it difficult for the others to breathe.
Tang Tian, the fastest among them, appeared next to Zhang Lin, asking with concern, "Zhang Lin, are you alright?"
Zhang Lin smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I'm fine."
Then, he looked at Chen Chu not far away. "Thanks for holding back."
Chen Chu modestly responded, "Where's the need for that? I actually also unleashed all of my power just now. It's just that I was lucky enough to win against you in one move."
"You don't need to be so modest." Zhang Lin took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to beat Chen Chu up.
Winning against me in one move by luck? Was that really just winning in one move? Clearly, he had been dominating me the whole time with absolute power.
By now, Zhang Lin was convinced. Only after fighting Chen Chu did he realize how terrifying this freshman genius was.
His unmatched strength, dominant true power, and astonishing combat awareness, coupled with the proficiency of his halberd techniques and terrifying reaction speed, made Chen Chu seem like an invincible well-rounded warrior, seemingly moderate but actually powerful enough to make people despair.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, there was also the abnormal nature of his true power, which exploded upon contact. Each explosion of true power had shaken Zhang Lin to the core, disrupting his rhythm and interrupting his moves.
Thankfully, the fight stopped before going too far. After probing Zhang Lin's defensive limits, Chen Chu had toned down his power for the rest of the battle; they had just been sparring, after all, not trying to kill each other.
That was also why Zhang Lin had thanked him just now. Otherwise, even his transcendent battle armor wouldn't have been able to withstand the sharp and domineering attacks of the heavy halberd.
After a short rest and waiting for their true power to recover a bit, Zhang Lin cupped his hands and said, "Chen Chu, we have other matters to attend to, so we'll take our leave now. See you next time."
"See you next time." Chen Chu was somewhat taken aback by Zhang Lin's chivalrous gesture but nodded politely in return.
Ding Chen, Tang Tian, and the other two also politely bid farewell to Chen Chu before the five of them disappeared into the woods, leaving the scene in a neat and tidy fashion.
As he watched them leave, Chen Chu's eyes showed a pensive look.
After this battle, he had a better understanding of his current combat power. Under normal circumstances, that was, when releasing all his physical strength and unleashing the Dragon Elephant True Power, wielding the halberd would allow him to attack at the level of the middle to late stage of the Fifth Heavenly Realm, far surpassing ordinary cultivators at that stage.
In addition, after using the two major killer moves of the Eight Desolations Purgatory Halberd, his explosive combat power could reach the late stage of the Fifth Heavenly Realm instantly. If he activated the Elephant Fury Rune, he could completely overwhelm the entirety of the Fifth Realm.
In comparison, it seemed that Chen Chu's normal combat power was only two stages higher than Zhang Lin's. However, the opponent's cultivation was at the late stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, with a true power much denser and more condensed than Chen Chu's beginning stage true power.
Moreover, in the later stages of the battle, Chen Chu had almost exhausted his true power, forced to rely solely on his absolute physical strength to dominate the opponent. He had also had to wrap his remaining true power around the halberd to guard against the opponent's transcendent saber, which could easily damage or even sever an ordinary alloy weapon.
This was why Chen Chu had almost instantly detonated his remaining Dragon Elephant True Power, not giving his opponent the opportunity to leverage those advantages.
Ultimately, when facing battles beyond his level, he had to resolve them quickly, before those high-level mutated beasts or enemies could have a chance to drain his true power.
Thinking of this, Chen Chu couldn't help but sigh softly. "Still not strong enough."
Even Zhang Lin, the genius of the Fourth Heavenly Realm at the end of the Achievement List, could reach the middle stage of the Fifth Realm in combat power under the influence of his secret arts, transcendent weapons, and transcendent armor. No doubt the combat power of those top-ranked Fifth Realm geniuses would naturally be even stronger.
Especially those peak Fifth Realm geniuses in their third year; their accumulation of experience would be even more profound, and they had likely reached the advanced level for their secret arts and combat skills.
Only with vastly superior combat power beyond their realm could these exceptional geniuses dare to venture into the Yunwu Mountain Range to fight against level 6 mutated beasts and search for precious resources.
"Come on, strive to break through to the sixth stage of the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body within a month."
After giving himself a pep talk, Chen Chu returned to the giant bear's side. The black and red halberd emitted a fierce aura as it tore a huge wound across the carcass' chest. Soon, a crystal emitting pure energy appeared in front of Chen Chu's eyes.
Sure enough, it was a Life Crystal.
This time, however, Chen Chu didn't climb into it. Instead, he used the halberd to hook the crystal and slowly pulled it out.
Chen Chu wiped the fist-sized crystal on the bear’s fur, then chose to convert it, causing a row of transparent characters to appear at the bottom of his eyes.
"You have converted one Level 4 Life Crystal, gaining 81 attribute points."
Chen Chu smiled as he watched his current attribute points soar to 148.
Now to get this massive, dozens-of-tons carcass back to the base. As Chen Chu exerted his strength and began to drag the body along with difficulty, the screens in the bases all flickered with red light.
"Chen Chu, with a cultivation level at the beginning stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, has countered Zhang Lin from Longshan Martial Arts High School, wielding a halberd and dominating with the roars of the Dragon Elephant. Currently ranked 949 on the Achievement List."
Many people in the bases immediately looked up, their expressions ranging from surprise to astonishment as they gazed at the shimmering red characters on the big screen. Among them were some students from Longshan.
"That guy Zhang Lin actually got defeated by a freshman in the first year?"
"Useless, he's been used as a stepping stone by a freshman."
"Next time we go into the mountains, everyone, when you encounter that guy named Chen Chu, make sure he knows how formidable Longshan School really is. Zhang Lin really embarrassed us."
"That's easy for you to say. Are you going to challenge him?"
"Cough! I'll pass. I'm only in the middle stage of the Third Heavenly Realm. I don't want to embarrass the school..."
At the Nantian base, a squad of five returned, their armor covered in dust. Among them were two sisters, Lin Xue and Lin Yu. When they saw the shimmering red characters, both sisters were stunned.
Lin Xue, in particular, couldn't believe it. Her lips parted slightly, and she exclaimed, "How is that possible? Chen Chu is here, and...!"