As Chen Chu stepped forward, many people's gazes froze, especially those of the Nantian students.
With the previous trial participants' return from Kyrola, the tales of Chen Chu and his companions had spread like wildfire.
Such as how, immediately after breaking through to the Third Heavenly Realm, he, Li Hao, and Xia Youhui had hunted down a king-level bloodline mutated beast at peak of the Third.
Or how, toward the end of the trial, Chen Chu had gone to Kyria and defied the odds by slaying a middle stage Fourth Heavenly Realm Blood Emissary.
If those stories were true—which the terrifying strength he had displayed while sweeping through so many of the mutated beasts in this purge seemed to indicate—then perhaps he truly had a chance to kill that Dragon Armored Beast.
At this moment, Zhang Zilong, at the middle stage of the Third Heavenly Realm, spoke up. "Chen Chu, your strength is indeed formidable, but this level 4 mission requires a team to go, how about..."
Chen Chu shook his head. "I have a team."
As he spoke, Luo Fei boldly stepped up beside him in her battle armor, a faint smile gracing her delicate face as she carried her massive sniper rifle on her back.
"But the mission requires a team of five elite cultivators at the Third Heavenly Realm..." Zhang Zilong still hesitated a bit.
Normally, an ordinary level 4 mutated beast would be worth about 50 to 60 contribution points, but the value of a dragon bloodline would double that. This particular mission was worth at least 100 points.
Chen Chu casually replied, "That's not a problem. My rights allow me to ignore the requirement."
While the upgrade of Level II+ was seemingly of little use, there were still many hidden benefits. Not only could he access many secret pieces of information and exchange at lower costs, he also now had the authority to disregard the requirements for special missions.
In the afternoon, sunlight pierced through the branches, casting shadows on the mountains. Chen Chu and Luo Fei dashed swiftly, covering nearly a dozen meters with every blink of an eye.
Even though they had set out in the morning, it had taken almost half a day of running to get a hundred kilometers in. Luo Fei simply wasn't as fast as Chen Chu; had he been doing this alone, he would have gotten to the spot in about one and a half hours, even with the rugged mountain trails.
Suddenly, they halted their steps, standing at the edge of a cliff.
Below them stretched a vast canyon, several kilometers long, with towering rocks in the middle and lush trees on both sides, the air damp and quiet.
Chen Chu raised his wrist to glance at the three dimensional holographic map, and then nodded. "This is it. According to satellite imaging and lightwave detection, that mutated creature's hunting range is this entire area, and it spends most of its time in this canyon.
"Luo Fei, find a sniping point above, and when the time comes, cover me with your firepower. I'll go down and lure it out."
She nodded. "Be careful. We don't know what abilities this beast has, and with its dragon bloodline, they could be extremely powerful."
"Yeah, I'll be careful."
Although his combat power was now comparable to the late stage or even the peak of the Fourth Heavenly Realm, Chen Chu remained vigilant and knew better than to underestimate Luo Fei's lethality. That was the entire reason he had brought her along, after all.
Chen Chu leaped directly off the cliff. With both the battle armor and his substantial black true power forming a protective cover on his right hand, his fingers pierced into the rocks like tofu, slowing his descent amid the bursting sound of rocks. Once he was about ten meters above the ground of the canyon, he let go.
His legs sank half a meter into the ground, and he nonchalantly pulled them out of the mud as he looked around, then suddenly let out a long roar, similar to a dragon or an elephant.
In an instant, the entire forest trembled, countless birds flying up in fright.
The ground cracked open as Chen Chu shot forward, leaving behind a long white airwave as he rushed towards the middle of the canyon.
These powerful mutated beasts were fiercely territorial, so they didn't need to be sought out. All Chen Chu had to do was provoke them, and they would come to him on their own.
Just as Chen Chu crossed a kilometer and dashed into the middle of the canyon, a thunderous roar suddenly rang out from in front of him, followed by a howling gale.
Trees in the forest exploded as a seventeen-meter-long, five-meter-tall mutated beast charged out, covered in heavy yellow scales all over its body. It exuded a terrifying aura entwined with an invisible frightening power, mighty like a legendary dragon.
In just one breath, the massive Dragon Armored Beast leaped across several hundreds of meters with enough speed to create a fearsome wind. Its enormous claws cast vast shadows as it swatted at Chen Chu like he was a fly.
Chen Chu suddenly disappeared, and a ten-meter-high boulder weighing dozens of tons exploded under the beast's claw, sending debris flying and smoke billowing.
With another fierce roar, the beast's thick dragon tail swept out from the smoke, dispersing it with a gust of wind and swinging toward Chen Chu.
This time, he didn't evade. Instead, his black true power burst forth from his body as his muscles swelled, creating a tyrannical and violent aura.
He let out a roar akin to that of a dragon, and his saber gleamed like lightning tearing through the sky.
Blade and tail clashed, instantly erupting into a burst of black and yellow shockwaves. Immediately, the ground shattered beneath Chen Chu, and he was blasted back ten meters from the force, leaving two deep furrows in the ground.
"That power... something's not right." Chen Chu's expression slightly changed.
With his current strength enhanced sixfold by the Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body's true power, his blade strike could reach near supersonic speeds and easily collapse half of a building.
Just now, however, when his blade had torn through the beast's protective energy, it had been blocked by strands of faint red light.
Those blood-red energies, resembling a web of blood, covered the beast's entire body, possessing what seemed to be a weakening effect against sharp attacks. It was as if it had evolved this ability specifically to counter blades or fangs.
Clearly, these blood-colored energies were the ability granted by its dragon bloodline. Combined with its thick and hard dragon-like scales, it resulted in an abnormally robust defense. Even with a +10 enhancement and anti-demonic properties, Chen Chu's saber attack had only managed to leave a half-meter-long, ten-centimeter-deep wound on the scales after cutting through them.
For a mutated beast of this size, that was barely a scratch.
The beast let out a ferocious roar and turned to counterattack, stirring up another gust of wind as it charged forward and tore through Chen Chu's afterimage.
At that moment, Chen Chu jumped from the spot he had dodged to, and his blade gleamed as he swung toward the beast's neck.
However, this beast had incredible reaction speed, sensing the incoming blade behind it and quickly dodging forward.