Ch. 3161What Is There to Fear?
Chapter Summary: “What Is There to Fear?”
Key Plot Points and Events
- A General-tier Beast attempts to persuade Chen Changan to leave, revealing that the beasts fear his potential and believe his presence threatens the existing balance that keeps the Human Race suppressed.
- When Chen Changan refuses, the General-tier Beast orders the beast army to attack the Wandering Dragon Alliance.
- Qi Heli activates the alliance’s defensive barrier while its members charge into battle.
- Chen Changan confronts the General-tier Beast directly. Having recently broken through to the Seventh-Rank Primordial Supreme realm, he tests the limits of his strength.
- The General-tier Beast attacks with full power, but Chen Changan kills it with a single sword strike, leaving behind only its Source Core.
- The two remaining General-tier Beasts join the battle, assuming Chen Changan must have exhausted himself or used some special method to win.
- Chen Changan acknowledges that General-tier Beasts currently represent the upper limit of his combat power, but he still unleashes everything he has and kills both of them.
- With all three General-tier Beasts dead, the beast army loses its courage. The Wandering Dragon Alliance turns the battle into a complete victory, slaughtering more than three million beasts.
- The alliance nevertheless suffers significant casualties: nearly a thousand deaths, more than three hundred serious injuries, and over five hundred minor injuries.
- While the survivors mourn, Chen Changan prepares to address their despair, criticizing grief and self-pity as useless.
Character Developments
- Chen Changan: Demonstrates overwhelming combat power by instantly killing a General-tier Beast and then defeating two more. He gains a clearer understanding of his current limits, recognizing that he can defeat General-tier opponents but is not yet strong enough to kill King-tier Beasts. His confidence and determination to eventually attack the beasts’ main stronghold grow.
- Qi Heli: Continues to act as a capable alliance leader, coordinating the defenses and battle. He also shows respect for Chen Changan’s judgment by allowing him to address the demoralized survivors.
- The General-tier Beasts: Initially arrogant and confident in their superior cultivation, they underestimate Chen Changan. Their fear and desperation become evident after one of their number is killed instantly.
- The Wandering Dragon Alliance: Its members transform years of fear, oppression, and accumulated resentment into fierce determination during the battle.
Significant Themes
- Fear of potential: The beasts’ attempt to remove Chen Changan peacefully reveals that their apparent dominance is sustained by fear of change.
- Breaking an oppressive balance: The existing “balance” protects neither side equally; it preserves Human Race weakness while preventing its extinction. Chen Changan’s rise threatens this system.
- Limits of power: Even a prodigy has boundaries. Chen Changan can defeat General-tier Beasts but understands that greater strength is needed to challenge King-tier Beasts.
- Courage and morale: The death of the enemy’s strongest commanders inspires the alliance, while the beasts collapse psychologically.
- Sacrifice and resentment: The alliance’s victory is fueled by the deaths and suffering its members have endured under beast oppression. Chen Changan’s response suggests that survival requires action rather than surrendering to grief.
Character Interactions
- The General-tier Beast tries to intimidate and persuade Chen Changan, but Chen Changan exposes its fear by refusing to retreat.
- Chen Changan and Qi Heli cooperate smoothly: Qi Heli manages the alliance’s defenses while Chen Changan directly eliminates the enemy’s leaders.
- The surviving General-tier Beasts coordinate their attack against Chen Changan, but their speculation that he is weakened proves false.
- After the battle, Qi Heli attempts to comfort the grieving survivors, but Chen Changan intervenes, intending to replace consolation with a harsher call to self-reflection and renewed resolve.