Mythical Era: My Evolution into a Celestial Beast

Chapter 95: King-level Bloodline

In the face of Li Hao's invitation, Xia Youhui curiously asked, "What plan?"

"Hunt mutated beasts."

"Mutated beasts?" Several people were shocked.

Li Hao said, "You've all felt it too, haven't you? As the Blood Cultists and rebels continue to be eliminated, our contribution point income has been decreasing."

Liu Feng shrugged. "It's not decreasing; it's gone."

Over time, an increasing number of civilians had stepped forward to report rebel and cultist activity. Consequently, the Blood Cultists and rebel forces lurking in Leisteru City and its surrounding areas were now nearly eradicated.

With the addition of dozens of new trial initiates and the scarcity of resources, they hadn't received any missions for several days. Cultivating was the only other thing they could do here.

Li Hao said in a solemn tone, "No missions mean no contribution points. Without them, we can't exchange for the resources we need, and our cultivation can’t continue to advance as rapidly, especially considering that the next stage of high-level arts costs 50 contribution points. So, I've set my sights on a location 300 kilometers outside Leisteru."

"The Kata range is the largest mountain range in Kyrola, and stretches for thousands of miles. It has a large population of wild animals and a constant influx of mutated beasts thanks to its high mountains and deep waters.

"However, the environment here is barren, so while there are biological mutations, they aren't very powerful. Overhunting by the Kyrola royal experts in previous years have also kept their numbers low.

"But thanks to the turmoil earlier this year, the royal family hasn't had a chance to go back in a while, which has given us an opportunity. I've spent over four hundred thousand yuan hiring people to search the mountains and they’ve found a suitable target: a pack of mutated beasts called Iron Arm Black Apes."

Upon hearing this, Li Meng frowned. "Li Hao, mutated beast packs are not easy to deal with."

At everyone’s current strength, an individual level 3 mutated beast could be easily surrounded and killed as long as they worked together. When it was a pack, however, it was a completely different story.

Li Hao nodded. "I'm well aware of that. However, this group of apes won’t be too troublesome. The majority of them are level 1, and there are only six level 2 ones.

"However, my target is their leader. It’s a peak level 3 Golden-Backed Rampage Ape, suspected to have awakened a trace of a king-level bloodline."

Xia Youhui exclaimed, "What! A king-level bloodline!"

The others also had a sudden change in expression, including Chen Chu.

Just as there were geniuses among humans, there were also exceptionally powerful creatures with far more formidable combat abilities than normal mutated beasts.

Among them, the most powerful class was what were called mutated king beasts, which exhibited mythological features reminiscent of their ancient evolutionary ancestors. The more pronounced these features, the more terrifying their combat prowess.

In the past, there had been a golden eagle king beast that had resembled a golden-winged roc. It had brought down over a dozen state-of-the-art fighter jets, completely ignoring all missile bombardments. It took an expert in the Ninth Heavenly Realm to finally slay the beast.

But mutated king beasts were also as valuable as they were formidable. Even if this Golden-Backed Rampage Ape only possessed a trace of a king-level bloodline, that alone raised its value above ordinary level 4 mutated beasts, and was worth at least 80 to 100 contribution points, depending on the corpse’s condition.

At this thought, Chen Chu couldn't help but feel a bit tempted; he needed the contribution points as well, or rather, the attribute points he could get with them.

Li Hao looked at Liu Feng and the other two and said, "The Rampage Ape will be very powerful. This encounter would be lethal for Second Heavenly Realm practitioners, so I only wish to bring classmates who have reached the Third. I'm planning to depart in a week. If you can break through by then, you can join me."

With that, he looked at Chen Chu and Xia Youhui again. "So, what do you think? Are you interested in that Rampage Ape?"

Xia Youhui’s defense would be a valuable boon. He hadn’t been able to gauge Chen Chu’s strength, even though he had broken through more than ten days ago, but if he was willing to join, Li Hao felt that this trip to the Kata Mountains would be quite secure.

"I'm somewhat interested." Chen Chu nodded. "However, if we manage to kill all those Rampage Apes, how will the spoils be divided? Will it be based on headcount or contribution?"

Li Hao said, "The overall harvest will be converted into value, and then divided based on the amount of effort contributed. Those who contribute more will receive a larger share, while those who contribute less will receive less. This is the fairest way."

Chen Chu nodded. "That's fine with me. However, if there are any Life Crystals, I'd like to have priority in choosing them."

Given that the Golden-Backed Rampage Ape was at the pinnacle of level 3, regardless of whether or not it possessed a king-level bloodline, there was a high probability that Life Crystals would be contained within its body. The ordinary mutated beasts would also likely yield a crystal or two; coupled with a Level 3 Life Crystal, the converted attribute points would be enough for him to perform the extreme enhancement on the Dragon Elephant Art.

"Sounds good." Li Hao agreed without objection.

Xia Youhui also nodded and said, "Since Ah Chu is participating, I definitely can't be left behind. Remember to let me know when we depart."

The group then discussed what they needed to prepare for the upcoming journey before dispersing to make their own arrangements.

***

On the way back, Xia Youhui spoke up, saying, "It seems like Li Hao's strength has skyrocketed after reaching the Third Heavenly Realm, otherwise he wouldn't even consider challenging that Golden-Backed Rampage Ape."

Chen Chu nodded. "With his innate divine power and perfect affinity, I bet that his combat prowess will be at least at the pinnacle of the Third Heavenly Realm after his breakthrough."

For cultivators, realms and combat prowess were two separate things.

Both the Dragon Elephant Art and the Insightful Blade were at the early stage of the Third Heavenly Realm. However, Chen Chu’s combat prowess was comparable to the pinnacle of the Third Heavenly Realm due to the foundation of his physique.

Li Hao had previously absorbed seven portions of mutated bull’s essence, which served as the main force of his art. After breaking through to the Third Heavenly Realm, the amplification of his high-level arts would likely exceed fivefold.

In such a situation, even someone like Chen Chu wouldn't match him in terms of explosive power, to say nothing of Li Hao's possession of high-level true martial arts. Chen Chu would only be able to make the claim of doing so if his foundational physique underwent another explosive surge.

Even then, however, Li Hao didn’t have full confidence in his ability to defeat the Golden-Backed Rampage Ape on his own. That was why he was inviting Chen Chu and Xia Youhui to join him, and for good reason; as a mutated beast at the pinnacle of level 3, and possessing a trace of a king-level bloodline, its combat prowess would be at least at the early stage of the Fourth Heavenly Realm.

Over the next two days, Liu Feng and the others who wanted to participate in the operation almost completely sequestered themselves away in intense cultivation, hoping to break through to the Third Heavenly Realm in time to join.

Similarly, Xia Youhui spent almost every day in rigorous training, holding onto his Blue and Profound Yellow Crystals during cultivation to strengthen his defense as much as possible before the departure.

Chen Chu, meanwhile, put all of his focus on the armored beast, rampaging in the sea not far from the estuary and hunting down any mutated fish over five meters that it could find, one after another.

Two evenings later, in waters over twenty meters deep, the now three-meter-long beast savagely tore apart the flesh of a six-meter-long swordfish. As it greedily devoured and digested its meal, waves of high thermal energy were absorbed into its body. Gradually, the accumulated evolution points on the attribute page reached 300.

"At last, it's enough." On the balcony, Chen Chu slowly opened his eyes, picked up his phone from the coffee table, and dialed a phone number.

"Hey, Bro," came Chen Hu's voice from the other end.

"Ah Hu, what time is it over there?" Chen Chu asked.

"It's three in the afternoon."

"Three in the afternoon, huh..." Chen Chu calculated the current speed of the armored beast's movements and the approximate distance to his home from the estuary.

"At eight o'clock tonight, take the box containing the tiger beetles to the riverside, attach it to a small rock with some rope, and throw it under the bridge pier."

"Huh?" Chen Hu, who was in class on the other end, was puzzled, not understanding why he needed to do that.

"What do you mean 'huh?’ Just do as I say."

Chen Hu was confused. "But, Bro, why do we need to throw it in there?"

"It's a promise I made to a friend. Just do as I say." Chen Chu casually fabricated a reason. He didn’t know if Chen Hu believed him or not, but his little brother seemed to trust him.

"Fine." Chen Hu, unable to grasp the situation, ultimately agreed obediently. It was his older brother who was asking him to do it, after all.

After Chen Chu hung up the phone, the ferocious and menacing beast's tail swung forcefully, propelling its massive body toward the mouth of the river...