546: The sound of thunder

Boom!

A powerful surge of Life Strength enveloped Chen Du, and his Rank soared like a rocket.

24... 25... Finally, Chen Du's Life Strength Rank, like the three Overlords and the Thousand-Faced Tree, settled at Rank 26.

"It's a Promotion!"

"I didn't expect your Fifth Secret Treasure's ability to be a 'mainstream' ability!"

"No wonder you needed my 'Purification.'"

"But the effect of your mainstream ability is terrifying!"

"Far beyond any Promotion I've known."

"Is this the power of the Ten Secret Treasures? It allowed you to directly increase by 3 Ranks!"

The Thousand-Faced Tree said enviously. If he had this ability, he could directly burst forth with Rank 29 strength. Unless he encountered a Domain Warrior, it would be almost impossible for other alien races to kill him.

Due to the Ten Secret Treasures, the Thousand-Faced Tree wasn't too shocked; instead, he was more joyful.

The stronger Chen Du was, the greater his chances of getting out alive.

"Mainstream ability?"

"What's that?"

This was the first time Chen Du had heard this term.

"It's nothing, just an internal term we use in Myriad Flowers Civilization. The abilities of Mystic Treasures are incredibly diverse, and not all of them are related to combat, so it's hard to distinguish their exact superiority."

"Although abilities awakened later are stronger, this 'strength' isn't necessarily practical."

"In this world, Life Strength is ultimately the main theme, so we call abilities that can increase Life Strength Rank 'mainstream abilities.'"

"You can simply understand mainstream ability as a type; it's the most useful type of ability."

Indeed, Chen Du agreed with this point of view.

Although the ability of the Tenth Mystic Treasure was the most exaggerated, it wasn't used much in practice. Even if it could be exposed at will, the ability to etherealize rarely had a chance to be used.

Firstly, the consumption was too great, and secondly, in a sense, it needed to be hidden, specifically used to counter enemies who launch attacks like self-destruction.

The two completed their communication instantly through the medium of Mental Energy.

At this moment, Chen Du chose the second consumption mode of Promotion.

Although it was now the Ten Secret Treasures, the duration had not increased compared to the Nine Secret Treasures. The first consumption mode was still 200 seconds, and the second was still 15 minutes.

And there would still be the after-effect of weakness. The main change in Promotion was not the duration, but the increased Rank.

As for why the second consumption mode was used, it was because the Thousand-Faced Tree did not have abilities to restore stamina.

But he possessed the rare ability of Purification. Purification could clear almost all negative statuses.

Of course, the Black Dragon Civilization's Grievance Dragon's curse certainly couldn't be undone, but Chen Du's weakness was a very conventional negative status that could be cleared.

For Purification to be used on someone other than oneself, the user needed to be at least two true Ranks higher than the target.

The Thousand-Faced Tree's Rank was 26. Although Chen Du was currently Rank 26, his true Rank was 23, which met the conditions for being purified.

What he needed to do now was to preserve as much stamina as possible in the upcoming battle against the three Overlords.

After Chen Du reached Rank 26, the three Overlords' advancing footsteps suddenly stopped, and they vigilantly observed him.

These guys... is it because there's no Crystal here?

Chen Du wondered.

Monsters in the Crystal Space, no matter how strong you were, would come and attack you, unlike the three Overlords now, who showed a natural instinct of wariness.

This action gave Chen Du an additional thought: perhaps this wasn't a corner of the Crystal World.

Whoosh!

Chen Du took the initiative to attack, flying forward as the vanguard.

His power was temporary, so naturally, he couldn't just stand there and observe.

Rank 26 Chen Du's speed was much, much faster than before, even faster than the Azure Sky Civilization using Light Jump.

He arrived in front of the three Overlords almost in the blink of an eye.

This time's target was still the Singer Civilization!

This was Chen Du's third active attack on the opponent. The previous two, one due to the Eternal Frost Civilization's obstruction and one due to his own insufficient strength, all ended in failure.

As the saying goes, 'third time's the charm.'

Although his strength had increased greatly now, a 1v3 still needed to focus on reducing the enemy's numbers.

So the target was naturally still the weakest Singer Civilization.

Swish!

The cold light fell, and the familiar muddy area reappeared. Although Chen Du's strength had increased, the speed at which the sword descended still slowed down.

This was normal. They were all Rank 26, and Chen Du's strength was not so great that he could ignore the muddy area.

But this did not affect Chen Du's determination to kill him.

Since he chose the Singer Civilization as his target again, Chen Du naturally had confidence.

Seeing this, the other two Civilizations attacked simultaneously, all striking at Chen Du.

Hand of Atim!

Two arms immediately grew from Chen Du's back, transforming him into a four-armed figure, engaging the other two Overlords separately.

Except for the initial failed release of Nimble Cats Grace, Chen Du had not used this ability since.

It wasn't that Chen Du didn't want to use it, but the Singer Civilization in front of him, whether intentionally or unintentionally, had been continuously releasing Mental Energy attacks until now, even though he knew it was useless.

Releasing Nimble Cats Grace would interrupt the current Mental Energy ability, which meant interrupting the protection of the Spirit Bell Shield.

Chen Du himself didn't care.

But once the Spirit Bell Shield was gone, the Thousand-Faced Tree would die.

This prevented Chen Du from using Nimble Cats Grace on the other two Overlords.

But now at Rank 26, it didn't matter.

After all, the saying 'power breaks all Dao' is not a joke!

At this moment, Chen Du truly achieved a 1v3!

He withstood the firepower of the Azure Sky Civilization and the Eternal Frost Civilization, brutally killing the Singer Civilization!

Although the muddy area restrained physical attacks, the principle of 'great strength creates miracles' is everywhere!

Rank 23 Chen Du couldn't kill him, but Rank 26 Chen Du could!

However, the closer the sword body pressed to the Singer Civilization itself, the greater the resistance.

Coupled with the frantic harassment of the other two Overlords, the Singer Civilization actually showed signs of escaping again.

But just then.

[Congratulations, Host, Crescent Moon Swordplay has increased from 48% Control at Second-tier to 49% Control at Second-tier.]

The notification in his mind appeared like timely rain.

Perfect timing!

Although this 1% increase was not significant, it was precisely the last straw that broke the camel's back!

Pfft!

The disc-shaped Singer Civilization, just as it was about to escape, was cut in half by Chen Du's sword.

Through communication with the Thousand-Faced Tree, Chen Du knew that the Singer Civilization was an alien race without regenerative abilities. Being cut in half was equivalent to death, so there was no need to finish him off.

With one obstacle removed, Chen Du found it much easier to deal with the remaining two Overlords.

This time, the target was the Azure Sky Civilization. The opponent's ability was pursuit, not escape. Chen Du followed suit, using the Hand of Atim to obstruct the Eternal Frost Civilization, achieving a certain degree of 1v1.

This method of breaking up opponents and forcing a 1v1 battle was equivalent to multitasking and could only be achieved if one's strength was superior to the opponent's.

Subsequently, in the true 1v1, Chen Du killed the last Eternal Frost Civilization.

Taking a full five minutes, Chen Du successfully killed the three Overlord-level Civilizations.

Afterward, Chen Du prematurely deactivated Promotion, and weakness arrived as expected, but fortunately, he had the Thousand-Faced Tree's Purification.

Although Promotion was only active for five minutes, due to the use of various abilities, Chen Du now only had half his stamina left.

"Great! We've lived another day."

The Thousand-Faced Tree exclaimed excitedly, looking at the dead three Overlords.

Although he didn't kill them, it didn't stop him from being happy.

Overlords were indeed an unchallengeable existence, but the Ten Secret Treasures were even more legendary!

Although Chen Du had killed the three Overlords, his expression remained solemn, because the abnormal changes in the surrounding Pale Dense Fog showed no signs of stopping. It had now gradually spread to the Black Dragon King's corpse.

Just then.

Rumble!

Rumble!

Inside the Pale Dense Fog at the very top, the sound of thunder actually appeared!