Chapter 1035: Decisive Killing Blow, Reversing Causality (II)

"Come again!" Chen Chu let out a long roar that sounded both human and draconic. With his divine ability, the Realm-Walking Divine Step, he appeared before Cardeos at a speed that surpassed time itself. The halberd in his hand, imbued with the will of world creation, flashed brilliantly as he swung it tens of thousands of times in a single instant, shattering the void with each strike. The world formed by the Supreme Abyss’ power instantly collapsed. The attack resembled a monstrous face of malice, forged from halberd light spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, or perhaps the crumbling of an entire world.

At the very instant the ultimate move evolved from the Grand Burial fell, Cardeos brought all six of its arms together and tore forward. The formless void, along with the monstrous face filled with world-ending power, was ripped apart by the explosive force of Cardeos’s demonic claws.

Boom!

Destructive power erupted. The immense force tore through the void, sweeping across over a hundred thousand kilometers. Sequence chains of darkness surfaced wherever it passed, triggering all sorts of bizarre phenomena. Deep within the Forbidden Zone Battlefield, a million kilometers away from the main front, space suddenly collapsed, and two terrifying figures descended in a blaze of blood-red and dark-red light. The instant they landed, the earth within tens of thousands of kilometers exploded violently.

"Human, once more!" Cardeos roared, stepping directly before Chen Chu. Its hundred-thousand-meter-tall true form exuded suffocating pressure. All six arms struck down, each claw targeting Chen Chu’s shoulders and skull.

However, Chen Chu’s figure flickered slightly before vanishing into the void once more.

"Where are you going?" A savage grin twisted across Cardeos’s face as it too vanished in a flash.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In a plane even mythical-level kings couldn't perceive, Chen Chu and Cardeos pursued and clashed through the river of time itself, crisscrossing over hundreds of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye. Wherever they passed, space disintegrated and the land shattered. Their clashes plunged deep into the void, shaking heaven and earth.

Their immense power stirred the principles of the world. Occasionally, a ripple of invisible force would sweep across the already chaotic battlefield, instantly turning millions of living beings to dust. This included three demon kings and two faerie generals high in the sky, all of whom were obliterated without a trace. Even space-time fractured, forming a rift tens of thousands of kilometers long that became a dead area within the forbidden zone.

After entering his triple-peak form, Chen Chu could barely hold his ground against Cardeos. Though still at a disadvantage, he could exchange blows. The ferocity of this two-front battle made even the battlefield where over twenty demon gods, divine kings, and supreme powerhouses were fighting seem dim in comparison.

As they marveled at the overwhelming strength of the three combatants, all of the divine kings and demon gods from both side were shaken by the fact that Chen Chu could take on two great demon gods head-on. Instantly, the mythical-level powerhouses of the Human Alliance felt a surge in morale.

However, what they didn’t know was that the seemingly invincible Chen Chu wore an increasingly grave expression. Unlike Tyretis and Cardeos, who were both fighting at their natural peak states, Chen Chu was burning through everything in an explosive overdrive. Each exchange cost him dozens of times more than it cost them.

More crucially, the time clone fighting Tyretis was rapidly consuming its internal time power. Once depleted, it would disintegrate and vanish. At that point, if Tyretis’s two true forms merged and joined forces with Cardeos, Chen Chu’s exhausted main body would fall into immediate danger.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

This was precisely why the two great demon gods were in no rush. They were waiting for the moment Chen Chu reached his limit. That would be their opportunity to reveal their hidden trump cards and deliver a fatal blow.

Trying to stall? That suits me just fine.

While clashing madly with Cardeos, Chen Chu's gaze remained calm, without a trace of panic or unease. Inside the time clone, the shattered fragments of the true heavenly king form's imprint were steadily dissolving, releasing a continuous flow of time power.

Back then, to condense that heavenly-king-level time mark, the Little Purple Dragon had nearly exhausted all of its power of creation. It had taken three days and nights to complete. One could imagine just how immense the time power contained in that true heavenly king form must be.

Even so, Chen Chu’s eventual defeat was only a matter of time. The gap between their realms was simply too vast. Compared to Chen Chu, who had only just broken through to the ancient titan level, Tyretis and Cardeos had stood at the peak for thousands of years. Every aspect of their power had already reached the extreme, especially after refining the foundations of the Heavenly Feathered Race and the Faeries, which allowed them to take yet another step forward. Just as they had said, were it not for the bloodline shackles left by the Primordial Ancestor, they would’ve already broken through the boundary and reached the true spirit level with their talent and accumulation.

However, none of this was known to the others.

***

On the thunderous frontlines, a streak of black-purple lightning blazed across the land, reducing every Ninth-Demonic-Mark demon it touched to ash.

"Hahahaha... In front of me, you so-called invincible elites are utterly worthless!" As Li Daoyi rampaged across the battlefield, slaughtering the demons deep within enemy ranks, the skies above rumbled violently. A massive black hand came crashing down from the heavens.

"Human, you’re seeking death!" A demon king fighting one of the human kings caught sight of Li Daoyi and turned abruptly, leaving the battlefield to charge at him. Due to being outnumbered, Hong Zhantian, who was locked in combat with another peak-mythical-level demon king, could only watch as it broke away.

Of course, the main reason was that the demon king's target was Li Daoyi, so there wasn’t too much to worry about. Although he was only at the peak of the Ninth Heavenly Realm, just half a step away from entering the mythical level, his combat prowess far surpassed ordinary kings, comparable to a middle-stage demon king.

As an Innate Awakener of lightning, he had obtained a second origin of lightning in the Void Continent. Later, with the Thunderbolt Monarch's Body Enhancement Art passed down by Chen Chu, and bolstered by a Chaotic Crystal, he had managed to master two high-level laws upon breaking through to the peak of the Ninth Heavenly Realm. Such talent stood proudly above his peers. Among this generation, apart from the monstrous Chen Chu and the rising Chen Hu, Li Daoyi was arguably the most gifted.

This battle was far more brutal than anyone had imagined. Billions of humans, Heavenly Feathered warriors, Faeries, Purgatory True Demons, and hundreds of alien races were slaughtering each other across the land. The battlefield stretched across more than a hundred thousand kilometers, filled with ear-piercing explosions above and below. Brilliant lights of various laws flashed, and high-yield missiles, crystal energy hydrogen bombs, and tactical crystal energy nuclear bombs streaked across the sky, frequently intercepted and detonated mid-air by demon kings.

On this day, all of the Blue Planet fell into turmoil. From space, red pillars of light and pitch-black beams pierced through the atmosphere and vanished into the depths of North Lin. Each pillar of light signaled the activation of a Celestial Annihilation Satellite or a Deathline Satellite. Even at a distance of ten thousand kilometers, the destructive ripples emitted by those satellites caused countless ordinary cultivators to tremble in spirit, dazed and overwhelmed.

Atop the three-thousand-meter-tall imperial tower in West Meng, Yan Ruoyi, her silver hair fluttering, looked to the heavens with faint worry in her eyes. "Has the situation over there really reached this point? All of the Celestial Annihilation and Deathline Satellites have been activated. I wonder... how Father and he are doing now."

For certain reasons, Yan Ruoyi, who was already semi-mythical-level, hadn't gone to the frontlines. Instead, as the representative of East Xia, she remained on the Blue Planet to lead the competition team. At this point, the Blue Planet itself felt nearly empty. Only a few peak Ninth Heavenly Realm cultivators were left to hold the fort. Even Xie Chen, who had guarded the world passage for decades, had already headed to the frontlines to participate in this crucial war of extinction.

However, ordinary people on the Blue Planet, and even cultivators like Chen Hu, knew nothing of this. On the bustling streets of West Meng, Chen Hu stared excitedly at a red light pillar piercing the atmosphere, a longing expression appearing on his face. "Big Brother Xia! Big Brother Li! Look! Another orbital cannon just fired! Damn, it looks so intense over there. I really want to go and see it for myself."

Xia Youhui wore a look of regret. "If I’d known the war would break out this soon, I wouldn’t have listened to Chen Chu and returned. I should’ve stayed on the battlefield."

"Haha... Serves you right. Not only did you miss your chance to show off, now you’re stuck being Little Hu’s sidekick and making him look even better." Li Meng slapped Xia Youhui’s shoulder hard, clearly enjoying his misfortune.

At least not everyone was rubbing salt in the wound. Liu Feng grinned and comforted him. "Don’t worry. Once the global tournament ends, we’ll all head into the mythical world together. Then we’ll slaughter the Purgatory Demon Clan until they flee in terror. Let our slaughter rampage team's name shake the battlefield!"

Xia Youhui rolled his eyes. "You’re dreaming, Old Liu. With your Seventh Heavenly Realm cultivation, you’ll be cannon fodder on the frontlines. Forget shaking the battlefield, you’ll be lucky if your ashes come back in one piece."

"Is it really that bad?" Bai Mu sounded doubtful. Unlike Xia Youhui, who had experienced a War of Civilizations firsthand, the others had never entered the mythical world and naturally didn’t understand how brutal the frontlines were.

While these guys joked carelessly about future glory in the mythical world, the battle in the forbidden zone was growing ever more tragic. The Human Alliance was steadily pushed back by the overwhelming advance of the Purgatory legions. One position after another was overrun and swallowed by surging darkness. Even in the battles in the sky, among mythical kings and heavenly kings, the Human Alliance was suppressed and struggling.

Qian Tian and the others, tasked with defending the Nine-Heaven Palace, also faced mounting pressure as the demon gods unleashed their bloodline divine abilities and secret arts, draining power from the dark demonic domain. Thirteen demon gods were attacking together, led by three peak-ancient-titan-level empire rulers. Their relentless assaults were continuously shattering and shaking the Nine-Heaven Palace.

The only one holding his ground with relative ease was Divine King Tarodell. His divine avatar restrained one demon god, while his true form, having stepped out of the divine region, still retained peak-ancient-titan-level strength. Even when simultaneously facing an empire ruler and a demon god head-on, he didn't fall behind.

Time slipped away, and in the blink of an eye, a full day had passed. The human forces had retreated another hundred thousand kilometers, while the boundless demonic qi on both flanks had pushed forward, eroding more than six hundred thousand kilometers of territory.

Just as everyone thought the war would continue in stalemate, Chen Chu’s time clone, who was battling Tyretis, suddenly froze. The surrounding space distorted, and he dissolved into a sky full of silver light. The sudden change made even Tyretis pause for a moment. Then, with a surge of murderous intent in its eyes, it abruptly turned to gaze across a million kilometers of space.

"Chu Batian!" Its roar, filled with murderous fury, echoed across the heavens and earth.

Behind Tyretis, a second true form, equally one hundred thousand meters tall, emerged from the depths of the abyss and lunged at it.

Boom!

As Tyretis’s two true forms merged, heaven and earth quaked. A terrifying power burst forth, twisting time and space as a wave of endless black light erupted. The entire world was plunged into darkness. Only the demon god figure wielding the Demonic Saber of Darkness remained, exuding a might on par with the true spirit level.

Its horrifying aura shook the entire Forbidden Zone Battlefield, and Qian Tian and the others all turned pale. "This is bad! Chen Chu’s time clone has been destroyed!"

Sensing one of Chen Chu’s auras vanish, the demon gods surrounding them grinned menacingly. "Humans, your death has come."

In an instant, every demon god unleashed an even more fearsome aura. All of them began burning their origin, preparing to fight with everything they had. According to the plan, the moment Tyretis made its move, the final battle would begin.

Boom!

A streak of black saber light flashed across the sky. Wherever it passed, all things perished, principles shattered, and space-time trembled. It slashed straight toward Chen Chu, who was still fighting Cardeos.

At the same moment Tyretis erupted, Cardeos, who had battled Chen Chu for an entire day, lost all signs of madness in its eyes. Its gaze turned cold, emotionless, and calm. A simple black lantern appeared in one of its demonic claws. Its surface was engraved with densely packed black runes that resembled a massive python coiled around a world, emanating a strange aura.

The moment the lantern emerged, boundless darkness engulfed five hundred thousand kilometers. All living beings within were plunged into absolute darkness. Consciousness halted, thought ceased, and all perception vanished. This scene was somewhat similar to the Void Summon skill of Chen Chu’s Void Death Pupils, but the range was larger, the power even greater. Under that near-conceptual darkness, even demon-god–level beings lost all perception in an instant, including their instinctive response to killing intent.

No thought, no awareness, no life, no death.

In that moment of silent darkness, sharp black bone spikes erupted from Cardeos’s back, transforming it into a terrifying demon god of slaughter wrapped in pure blackness. Its twin claws, shrouded in pitch-black mist and imbued with world-rending force, reversed causality and appeared instantly before Chen Chu’s chest. Tyretis also charged into the darkness. With one on the left, the other on the right, both demon gods appeared before Chen Chu and unleashed a devastating slash.

This moment was meant to be the kill.

Just then, a crimson crystal, a hundred meters long, appeared in front of all three. Radiant light burst from its surface, releasing an energy that left all witnesses in shock.

Boom!