Chapter 1050: Semi-Primordial, Chen Chu Holding Up the Heavens (II)

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Standing guard at the entrance, Chen Chu fought like a lone man holding a pass against ten thousand foes, his sweeping halberd light covering most of the area outside the gateway. His unmatched strength tore through all before him.

At the same time, the faerie kings and other powerhouses followed up, radiating the oppressive might of their principles. They erased swaths of the dark legions and held their own respective forbidden zone entrances. The cries of battle once again shook the heavens. This time, only those above the mythical level took part.

In the central area, tens of millions of transcendent warriors from the four civilizations stood somewhat dazed, sensing the surges of power rippling from the distant horizon and unsure of what to do.

Then, an aged voice rang in everyone’s ears. "You can no longer take part in the battles to come. Those who are uninjured, spread out and tend to the wounded. Those with lighter injuries, move to the nearest battle fortress and collect recovery resources. Rearguard logistics soldiers, enter the field immediately..."

Under the Celestial King’s orders, the battlefield quickly moved into action, methodically beginning to clear the field. However,the battle was far from over.

Three hours had gone by in a flash. Chen Chu remained brimming with energy as he guarded the widest entrance against the endless charges of the dark demon phantoms. Yet the moment they were shattered, new ones condensed out of the rolling tide of demonic qi behind, unleashing sea-shaking roars as they surged forward again.

It was the same at other entrances. Everyone roared in fury as they fought the re-formed demon kings and great demon kings, erasing vast numbers of demon phantoms. However, a dozen or so alien gods from the Alliance of Gods, whose wills were weaker, began to show panic on their faces. Those who hadn’t fought head-on couldn’t imagine how suffocating it was to face an endless tide that could never be killed off.

"About two more hours until the beast body begins to collapse." Suppressing the surroundings, Chen Chu sensed the other battlefield’s state, his eyes thoughtful.

The Destructive Dragon Emperor’s life-based innate ability had advanced after breaking into the ancient titan level, evolving into the Power of Undying. It could condense two drops of Rebirth Blood, each one restoring it to life at the moment its body was destroyed.

In other words, the Dragon Emperor had three lives. For it, shattering its ability runes and burning everything was simply a normal combat method, while also testing how many trump cards the Primordial Ancestor possessed. A being that had lived for over one hundred thousand years, equivalent to two or three hundred thousand on the Blue Planet, had pushed both its power and bloodline ability to the utmost limits.

For example, tearing off its own head to unleash a curse was a formidable technique, one that had nearly pierced the Dragon Emperor’s defense. This had forced the Dragon Emperor, which should have lasted half a day in its burning form, to begin collapsing two hours early.

It was only because its defenses were so monstrous that most of the Ancestor’s attacks were ineffective, forcing it into direct contests of absolute power. Otherwise, with abilities involving time and curses, most opponents of the same level would have been left battered and miserable.

Other than that, the Dragon Emperor’s eruption also served to buy time, for Chen Chu was not yet ready to undergo divine transformation and slay this true demon. He needed to wait until Luo Fei was done. Otherwise, even if they annihilated the Purgatory Demon Clan in this battle, humanity would still lose.

Once captured worlds fell into the mythical world, the overwhelming, violent energies there would cause most ordinary lives to burst apart. Some would suffer genetic collapse, becoming twisted monstrosities with broken minds, like the giants Chen Chu had seen when he first entered the mythical world.

Only a tiny portion could endure, becoming new adaptors. Yet these adaptors’ talents, cultivation speed, and potential could never compare to those prodigies who awakened innately or mutated under the clash of two worlds and the influence of their principles.

Thus, if the mythical surge failed, humanity would lose half of its future. The other half lay with Chen Chu himself. So long as he lived, humanity would always have hope.

Lost in thought, Chen Chu casually swept his halberd, blasting apart two demon god phantoms and tens of millions of soldiers. The devastating force formed a space-time rift that perfectly matched and sealed off heaven and earth.

"Almost at the second phase." Chen Chu lifted his gaze toward the ever-clearer projection of the solar system above the sky, and at the colossal phantom standing at the center of the galaxy holding a horizontal silhouette in its hands. His eyes narrowed slightly.

When the Federation first entered the mythical world, they had found a stone slip in the relics of a statue. On it was recorded only a brief account of how that ancient civilization had once succeeded in holding up the heavens.

The entire process was divided into two phases. The first phase was to enter the Heart of the World, bear the weight of the world, and slow its approach. The second phase was to withstand the endless baptism of the world’s principle origins, absorbing that power to grow.

At the same time, this was a process of assimilation and transformation. The one who held up the heavens would stand equal with the heavens themselves in their life level. Its true form would bear the world, while its will would merge with it, becoming an existence akin to the Heavenly Dao.

If successful, the solar system, torn from the mythical world, would become an independent, complete world, with its own fully functioning set of principles. It would also be acknowledged by the chaotic void and anchored to the barrier between the mythical world and the void beyond.

As he looked at the increasingly clear projection of Mech No. 1 beside the sun, golden-black vertical pupils slowly emerged in Chen Chu’s eyes, and in that instant his view shifted. The twisted space-time surrounding the approaching solar system, billions of kilometers above, vanished from his sight, replaced by endless layers of rainbow-colored space barriers.

The solar system resembled a vast sinking bubble, shattering layer after layer of foundational space as it drew near the surface of the mythical world. No.1’s projection, over ten million kilometers tall, wasn’t actually holding up the sun itself. It was positioned beneath the solar system’s barrier, arms braced against the heavens to keep the entire world from falling.

This was holding up the heavens. Between the solar system and the mythical world, behind No.1, countless golden roots intertwined to form the phantom of a boundless golden divine tree, propping itself between the two realms.

However, No. 1’s condition was far from ideal. Its vast projection roared again and again, yet couldn’t halt the solar system’s descent. Its massive frame slowly bent under an unimaginably heavy force.

"This is bad." Chen Chu’s expression turned grave.

Luo Fei—or rather, the ancient life that was No.1’s true form—had not been recognized by the newborn solar system. At present, it was relying solely on brute strength to resist. That world spanned hundreds of billions of kilometers in surface space. In terms of sheer mass, the sun alone weighed enough to crush a true spirit to dust, not to mention the planets in orbit, countless meteoroids and asteroids, and the very essence of the entire world.

To truly hold up the heavens required activating the world’s principle origins to complete the great cycle, using the solar system’s own principles to resist the mythical world’s invisible devouring power.

At this rate, No.1 would soon reach its limit, ground into dust by the impact of two worlds and utterly annihilated. No wonder Chen Chu had felt that something was amiss.

"Divine King Tarodell, I’ll need you to hold this position!" Chen Chu let out a long roar, his colossal true form moving in a thunderous stride. Before the stunned gazes of all present, he tore open space and, with a few flashes, crossed hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

The moment he departed, Tarodell, who was suppressing another entrance, wasted no time. Radiating the might of a semi-true spirit, he descended. Seeing this, Golden-Winged Divine King Tolstoy, who was holding a passage alongside Faerie King Yintian, prepared to move and fill the gap left by Chen Chu.

Boom!

A terrifying aura erupted behind them. "Your Excellency Tolstoy, leave this to me."

Heavenly King Zhenwu appeared, wreathed in black divine light. Around him, tangible chains of principles coiled, his presence vast and boundless.

"

Hahaha

... Zhenwu, you finally broke through to the supreme level!" Heavenly King Xuanwu laughed heartily. The other mythical and heavenly kings smiled as well. Humanity had gained another supreme powerhouse.

"Yes, I finally broke through." Expression solemn, clad in black robes, and embodying the image of the Zhenwu Dadi from the legends, Zhenwu gave a small smile and tossed the black stone stele in his hands into the air.

Boom!

The stele, inscribed with the characters "True Martial," expanded into a black mountain ten thousand kilometers tall and fell upon the entrance. Its formless, crushing aura condensed atop it, sealing space-time. Millions of dark demon phantoms within tens of thousands of kilometers turned to ash, and demon god phantoms ten thousand meters tall exploded into nothingness.

After breaking into the ancient titan level, Zhenwu’s already formidable combat strength, further amplified by the likewise advanced True Martial Stele, was now comparable to the late stage, and even at that stage, he ranked among the stronger.

Meanwhile, over a million kilometers away, above the logistics city of Passage One bathed in golden light, space shattered. A three-faced, ten-armed god-demon arrived. Before the eyes of over a million cultivators, Chen Chu reached into the void with his rear arms and tore apart the golden roots forming the passage, forcing his way inside.

Boom!

The phantom of the Eternal Divine Tree, towering over a hundred thousand kilometers, shook violently. Passage One’s maximum capacity was the peak of the heavenly king level. Normally, Chen Chu, whose essence was comparable to the pinnacle of a demon god, could not enter.

However, with the Eternal Divine Tree’s countless golden roots reinforcing it, the passage’s capacity had increased drastically, becoming immensely durable and saturated with the storms of the two worlds, which were powerful enough to tear apart a heavenly king and even wound an ordinary ancient-titan-level powerhouse.

***

As everyone on the Blue Planet raised their heads in awe at the projection in the sky, along with the scenes of past phenomena manifesting around it, everything suddenly began to tremble. An indescribable, terrifying aura instantly filled the world.

Under that vast, awe-inspiring might, carrying the oppressive authority of a world’s laws, over two billion people across the Blue Planet felt their bodies sink. Their legs weakened, and they involuntarily knelt.

Boom!

The void quaked. Countless shocked gazes looked on as an incomparably massive figure slowly stood up in the direction of East Xia, its upper body even extending beyond the atmosphere. The moment Chen Chu descended onto the Blue Planet, he expanded wildly like an inflated balloon without the mythical world’s sturdy spatial constraints, transforming into a towering figure over ten thousand kilometers tall.

Around him, the layers of atmosphere formed vast rings, dotted with countless satellites like specks of dust. Such an immense true form radiated an invisible gravitational pull that stripped the entire eastern hemisphere of its gravity. Countless people and buildings began to float, as the earth shuddered and cracked. Even the whole Blue Planet swayed as the crust rippled like an ocean on the verge of tearing apart.

Boom!

At that moment, golden divine wheels flared behind Chen Chu, releasing a formless yet crushing pressure that blanketed the Blue Planet and forcibly suppressed the destructive power deep within the earth that was on the verge of erupting.

In space, another true form, which was also freed from spatial restrictions and resembled a Rampage Ape hundreds of thousands of meters tall, turned in astonishment. "Chen Chu, why have you come back?"

Chen Chu’s voice was calm. "Mech No.1 doesn’t have an adequate life rank. At only the semi-primordial level, it can’t be acknowledged by the solar system."

Boom!

As Chen Chu took a step, the entire Blue Planet sank tens of thousands of kilometers. Striding once into space, he twisted through the void toward the sun, like an ancient giant striding out of primordial times.

In this world where the suppression of the principles was weak, Chen Chu’s power expanded to an exaggerated degree. Boundlessly strong, he could tear space apart with a casual gesture. Each step spanned tens of millions of kilometers, his speed dozens of times faster than light. In only a few strides, he reached the sun’s edge. Ignoring the surrounding coronal gravity ring, he instantly plunged into the star before countless watching eyes.

Boom!

The entry of a true-spirit-level existence sent the entire star into wild upheaval. Tongues of flame hundreds of thousands of kilometers high erupted from its surface, its volume swelling by a third and radiating an even more dazzling brilliance and heat. Golden-black vertical pupils fixed forward, Chen Chu charged straight toward the hollow at the sun’s core, his colossal true form forcing its way inside.

"Chen Chu!" At the Heart of the World, struggling to hold up a glowing white sphere, No.1, now grown to over a hundred thousand meters tall, turned its head.

"I’m here to help you, Luo Fei." Chen Chu’s deep voice rumbled as his towering figure of ten thousand kilometers crossed the infinite distance to stand before No.1.

Boom!

Beneath the vast, bubble-like solar system, an even mightier figure appeared. With ten arms raised high, it caught the slowly descending world. In that instant, a formless shockwave swept across both worlds in a magnificent and breathtaking scene.