Chapter 1013: The Passage of Time and a Malicious Gaze (III)

As Chen Chu's figure approached, calmly walking through the white ripples without hindrance, Gai's eyes twisted with madness and bitter resentment. "You... You actually control time. You’ve even mastered the principle of time! Why? Why has fate favored you so much? I refuse to accept this... I refuse!"

As one of the first-generation Innate Awakeners, Gai had been hailed a genius. He had survived the first mythical surge, endured the long Era of Darkness, and eventually stepped into the mythical world to carve out a divine region of his own. However, in front of this monster named Chen Chu, he was nothing. All of his so-called talent meant absolutely nothing.

At that moment, Gai, who had once looked down on all beings after breaking through to the heavenly king level, suddenly felt abandoned by the very era he once dominated. Staring at the blurred figure that was getting closer, madness flashed in Gai’s eyes. "Chu Batian, killing me won't be that easy!"

Boom!

A surge of power burst from Gai’s body, releasing a blinding flash of black light. His three-hundred-meter-tall frame began to grow at an alarming rate. In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a colossal giant over five thousand meters tall, wrapped in thick black armor. Bands of black light spiraled around him, radiating an oppressive aura that seemed to weigh down the void.

At the same time, a massive stone sculpture appeared in his hand. Thousands of meters tall, the sculpture resembled a fusion of a lion and tiger, and had two pairs of curved dragon horns on its head. It radiated a terrifying presence, as if it could suppress both space and time.

Boom!

After revealing his true form, Gai charged into the spacetime ripples and plunged straight toward the white vortex.

Poof!

The moment Gai stepped into the ripples, his body began to disintegrate at a terrifying rate. In an instant, half of his massive form had turned to black ash. This wasn't merely physical; it felt as though that part of his soul and the very origin of his laws had been utterly erased.

"Come die with me, Chu Batian!" he roared. The remaining half of his face twisted with madness and despair as a surge of power erupted from the arm holding the sculpture.

Boom!

The massive stone sculpture shot into the sky, radiating a suppressive force that seemed to seal space and time as it hurtled toward the white vortex. However, the moment the sculpture touched the white ripples, its sealing pressure amplified their turbulence, rather than calming the surrounding spacetime power. Seeing this, a wild grin spread across Gai’s face. Even if he died, he would drag this human down with him.

Suddenly, a cold voice echoed in his ear. "You know nothing of my power."

A hand appeared out of thin air above Gai’s head. A single spark of golden-white lightning flickered softly and instantly reduced the rest of Gai’s body to nothing, erasing him completely.

At the same time, the massive sculpture that had almost reached the vortex suddenly froze in midair. Countless bolts of golden-white lightning surged forth, warping space and time as they struck the sculpture and broke it apart until it was beyond repair. In the next moment, the vast grand hall fell silent, and only Chen Chu remained.

The cult god who once sowed chaos across the Blue Planet, conspired with the Purgatory demon kings, and became a constant threat to the Federation had now been crushed like an insect.

Standing within the distorted ripples of time, Chen Chu's lips curled into a bright smile. To him, this place was a paradise. The invisible power of time that flowed through the air gave him the same sensation he once experienced within the time rift.

Enveloped by the Temporal Reincarnation divine ability, he moved like a higher-dimensional lifeform. It was as if he existed beyond the confines of time and was immune to the corrosive aspect of the time power.

Chen Chu didn’t need to resist the power of time at all. In fact, he was absorbing the very time power that filled this realm. Behind him, a transparent river thousands of meters long appeared. On its surface was a broken yet majestic phantom, treading upon the flowing current of time.

Previously, after returning from the expedition to the Heavenly Feathered Race, Chen Chu had summoned the Destructive Dragon Emperor. During the process, he harnessed the time erosion generated by sustaining the summon and used it to condense a temporal true form.

This form had later shielded Chen Chu from a fatal combined strike from seven demon gods. The destructive power unleashed in that instant was so explosive that it nearly shattered the time mark, leaving the true form severely damaged and unusable ever since.

Now, however, nourished by the abundant time power in this place, that broken true form rapidly regenerated. Its figure became more solid by the second.

Boom!

As the transparent river trembled, the temporal true form, identical in appearance to Chen Chu, fully reformed. At that moment, a brilliant silver light surged from his body, and a pair of massive silver wings took shape behind him. They released a powerful gravitational force that drew in even more time power from the surrounding space.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The suction force shook the white vortex outside the stone hall. The ripples it emitted began to warp, and the surrounding time power surged wildly toward Chen Chu. Behind him, the transparent river of time expanded rapidly, stretching further into the depths of spacetime. Upon the river’s surface, a second blurred phantom began to slowly emerge.

Now that Chen Chu had entered the supreme level, the amount of time power needed to condense another time mark had increased significantly. Given that his peak combat strength was on a semi-true-spirit level, condensing a new time mark was essentially the same as reshaping a semi-true-spirit-level powerhouse.

However, once he succeeded, Chen Chu's strength would soar. He alone would be equivalent to two semi-true spirit level powerhouses. This was the true terror of a supreme-level divine ability, one that stood above even top-level divine abilities like Vacuum Annihilation and Absolute Force Field. As Chen Chu’s cultivation advanced, this divine ability, obtained from a past timeline, gradually revealed its frightening power.

Just as Chen Chu immersed himself in the devouring of time power, focused on condensing his time mark, the white vortex began to change. The more he devoured, the more the white vortex, which had been expanding steadily, began to shrink. The power of time in the area also started to wane.

It became clear that this was not just a simple passage. Standing within the white ripples manifested from the power of time, Chen Chu narrowed his eyes, feeling that something was wrong. Not only was the power of time fading, he could also sense several hostile gazes locked onto him. Something was observing him from within the chaos of the distorted spacetime.

Time-based creatures? No... it doesn't feel like it.

Chen Chu shook his head. These presences were nothing like the Time Dragon or the Silver Time Butterfly. They weren’t real lifeforms. Instead, they felt like illusory entities born of concepts rather than actual living creatures.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

At this point, the malicious gazes were too faint for Chen Chu to tear through spacetime and strike back. He could only divert a portion of his focus to stay alert while continuing to absorb the power of time and concentrate on condensing the time mark.

If he could condense a temporal true form here, he would be much more confident in the upcoming battle. At that point, he alone would have the power equivalent to one middle-stage ancient-titan demon god, and two semi-true-spirit level demon gods.

He had no intention of summoning the Dragon Emperor’s true form unless the situation became truly dire. Only if the colossal beast army arrived ahead of the great battle, or if the Purgatory Primordial Ancestor awakened, would he consider calling it forth.

After all, the Purgatory Demon Clan believed that he was no longer able to summon the Dragon Emperor. Without its draconic power, which rivaled a true-spirit-level being, the Human Alliance wasn’t as threatening and was something they could still contend with. There was no need to sacrifice demon gods to forcibly awaken the Purgatory Primordial Ancestor just yet. It was better to give the Dragon Emperor more time to grow.

Whoosh!

As the second temporal true form behind Chen Chu took clearer shape, a semi-true-spirit-level aura surged forth. It flooded the entire hall and spread into the surrounding void, causing the very heavens and earth to tremble. The pressure it released was overwhelming.

Just then, Chen Chu suddenly lifted his head and looked forward. Within his eyes, vertical pupils of black and gold flashed to life. He vaguely caught sight of a strange black shadow flitting past the edge of the white vortex.

The figure looked as if its head was growing out of its rear. It had long disheveled hair, and its stomach, which was covered in gray scales, had split open to reveal rows upon rows of clawed hands. Crouched at the edge of a distorted time rift, it stared at Chen Chu with the two pale eyes embedded in its shoulders.

In that moment, the malice in its gaze released a pressure that even he could feel. This bizarre figure was incredibly powerful. It wasn't from this spacetime, or even the mythical world.

Realizing this, Chen Chu's black-and-gold vertical pupils flared brightly as he stared at the white vortex. His gaze pierced the void, but it couldn’t penetrate the layers of distorted spacetime or the vortex itself, which was imbued with the power of a terrifying world.

Huff!

A great battle was looming. He couldn’t afford any missteps now. Chen Chu slowly exhaled, suppressing the urge to explore what lay beyond. It could be another world, perhaps even another universe.

Time passed quickly, and soon an entire day had gone by. As Chen Chu absorbed the time power with unwavering focus, the white ripples that had once stretched over a hundred kilometers gradually began to shrink and fade away.

When the white vortex that pierced through the mythical world shrank to just a hundred meters wide, the white ripples completely vanished, and only Chen Chu remained. He stood at the edge of the fractured rift beside the stone hall, with the transparent river behind him stretching over three thousand meters.

Two figures stood upon the river, both wearing black imperial robes and crowned with the Imperial Crown of the Twenty-Four Heavens. Powerful auras coiled around them, embodying divine law itself. They looked like supreme deities from a bygone era had returned to the world.

Staring at the white vortex, which was spinning slower and showing signs of collapse, Chen Chu couldn’t help but feel a hint of sadness. With a faint smile, he muttered, "Hey, whoever’s on the other side... Got any more? How about sending a bit more over?"

Boom!

As if provoked by Chen Chu’s "taunt," the white vortex trembled violently. A surge of spacetime power burst forth from the passage, spreading outward in concentric white ripples and distorting the very principles of the world.

In response, an immense gravitational force exploded from Chen Chu. He devoured the pure surge of time power in an instant. Behind him, the transparent river of time shook violently, and several blurred humanoid outlines began to form within it.

A malicious gaze flickered from the other side of the vortex as it witnessed everything unfold, but it vanished the moment the vortex gave a thunderous boom and collapsed entirely.

This sealed spacetime passage was clearly the core of the ruins. As the passage collapsed, the ruins hidden deep within this spacetime began to shake violently. The entire void world embedded within the dimensional rift started to crumble.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Outside, the ground quaked violently. The mountain range that stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers collapsed, crumbling into a massive sinkhole. Thick clouds of dust surged upward, engulfing the sky.

From within the haze, a black-haired figure slowly walked out from the ruins. The aura of time spread from his body, resonating with the world around him. With each step he took, a white lotus blossomed beneath his feet, lingering for a moment before fading away. It was a scene both divine and breathtaking.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Chen Chu vanished into the distant sky.

***

At the same time, within the Purgatory Empire, Brooks stood respectfully inside a towering demonic palace. Around him stood over a hundred terrifying figures radiating the aura of demon kings. In front of them, several great demon kings sat on thrones, all looking with reverence toward the nine demon gods seated at the head of the hall.

"Tyretis has sent word. Cardeos and the others have already set out with their legions. They are expected to arrive within six star-hours. We must prepare for a battle to the death. As planned, at the rise of the next sun, we shall gather the full might of the eight great empires and wipe out the Human Alliance in a single strike."