Chapter 1077: Ten-Fold Heavenly Gate, Surpassing Gods, Life-Bound Ability (I)

As the Destructive Dragon Emperor soared ten thousand kilometers into the skies of the Chaotic Region, the evolutionary energy it had accumulated since the mythical level erupted like a torrential flood the moment Chen Chu confirmed the evolution.

Boom!

Centered on the Dragon Emperor, endless golden-red lightning spread in all directions, illuminating the dark, oppressive Chaotic Region. The surging chaotic destructive aura seemed as if the end of days had descended.

Within the Dragon Emperor, principle origin seethed like boiling water. Blinding brilliance burst forth as tangible chains of principles surfaced, seeping into the surrounding space, the void, and the entire world. As the principles began fusing with heaven and earth and merging with the mythical world, the Dragon Emperor’s physical strength erupted in full. Its blazing vitality, as searing as a sun, shook the entirety of the Chaotic Region.

Intertwined within that surge was also the fluctuation of the World Star Core it had once absorbed and refined.

Boom!

With that resonance of kindred power, the transcendent energy of the Chaotic Region rioted instantly, carrying boundless essences of heaven and earth toward the Dragon Emperor.

The gathered energies were so vast that they formed bands of seven-colored radiance stretching tens of millions of kilometers, finally converging around the Dragon Emperor, which had already risen past a hundred thousand kilometers. There, a seven-colored vortex a million kilometers wide condensed, heavy as a mountain.

Such an immense spectacle left countless colossal beasts of the Dragon Palace on the ground trembling with awe and excitement.

Roar!

Above the heavens, a majestic and resonant dragon’s cry shook the skies. Within the whirling seven-colored clouds, the phantom of a colossal beast spanning over a hundred thousand kilometers faintly sprawled across the heavens. It was the vision birthed by the Dragon Emperor’s blazing vitality. An unrivaled, supreme pressure burst forth, as if the very heavens had descended.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth cracked, dust surged. Under that heavenly-tier bloodline oppression, neither ancient titans nor ordinary transcendent beasts could remain standing.

As expected of the king, even the aura of its breakthrough alone is this powerful!

The nine heads of the Colossal Magma Dragon trembled as it lifted them slightly, reverence and longing flashing in its eyes. The other ancient titans reacted similarly, especially the Azure-White Colossal Dragon, whose faintly shaken gaze carried deep astonishment.

After all, just five day-cycles ago, this fearsome beast had only just entered the vast world. At a mere seven hundred meters in length, it was nothing but a small figure, barely one year old. Even then, the Azure-White Dragon had known this beast possessed limitless potential. Since it had looked after Saixitia, the Azure-White Dragon had bestowed upon it many divine treasures in return.

However, no matter how it racked its brain, it never would have imagined the Dragon Emperor would be this terrifying. In merely five days, it had grown to the peak of the ancient titan level, its combat strength unrivaled. It had even slain the peak true-spirit-level Primordial Ancestor.

Perhaps, its path does not end at the primordial level...

In the Azure-White Dragon’s eyes, an incredulous light surfaced.

With the Dragon Emperor’s displayed growth speed and gifted abilities, the Azure-White Dragon felt that in less than a year, it would surely ascend to the primordial level, shining across heaven and earth. Then, it would strike at that supreme eternal realm. For in truth, even should it take a year to reach the primordial level, the Dragon Emperor would still be only two years old!

While countless colossal beasts below quivered in shock and excitement, the Dragon Emperor began its metamorphosis. Innumerable innate ability runes surfaced across its body, forming billions of chain sequences that enveloped it entirely.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Above the heavens, golden-white flames spread across the sky and exuded annihilating heat that dissolved space itself, transforming into a world-destroying sea of fire hanging overhead. Next, blue-purple lightning roared forth, each bolt coiling across the skies like dragons of lightning spanning millions of kilometers, followed by annihilating black lightning...

This breakthrough was reminiscent of when its bloodline first advanced to the heavenly tier. With the push of evolutionary energy, all of the Dragon Emperor’s innate abilities manifested in their most primal, destructive form. Brilliance engulfed the surroundings, devouring all nearby energy, tearing everything apart, and forming a chaotic multicolored ring tens of thousands of kilometers wide.

Like human cultivators, for a colossal beast to reach the true spirit level, it too needed to merge its body with the principles, becoming a principle-level beast. The difference was that while cultivators had to pierce through worldly limits and gain recognition from the mythical world, native colossal beasts could directly fuse with heaven and earth.

Of course, a lower threshold didn’t mean every peak ancient titan could ascend to the true spirit level. Only a rare few succeeded; those that failed would collapse into mountains and plains, returning to the world to nourish it. A small number of stronger ones would petrify and slumber like mountains, their remaining divine soul origins storing power in hopes of one day reviving as true spirits. The key to success or failure lay in the instant an ancient titan attempted its breakthrough, when principles fused with heaven and earth, reshaping its principle-condensed true form and condensing its innate ability.

For the Dragon Emperor, this was nothing but simple. The ten perfected high-level laws fused into the Chaotic End principle were incomparably powerful. In an instant, they shrouded tens of millions of kilometers, stirring the power of the heavens and earth across the Chaotic Region.

Just as the Dragon Emperor was about to sink into slumber, to refine the boundless power of heaven and earth and reforge its principle-infused body, its consciousness suddenly roared.

Boom!

In the grip of an unseen force, its awareness was once more drawn into the resplendent depths of the world’s origin, where an ancient character, "Azure," floated in suspension. The moment its consciousness descended, a revelation surged into the Dragon Emperor’s mind.

Draw upon the creation power of the mythical world’s origin, and refine an innate ability.

Such a privilege had originally been reserved only for true spirits when breaking into the primordial level. At that stage, a beast’s true name rose with its strength into the deeper origin of the mythical world, where it could touch creation power. By absorbing that power, its principles were transformed into primordial power, its body into a primordial form. At the same time, one divine-transformation ability would be reforged, merging its essence with others to condense a far greater innate ability bearing a power that defied principles and surpassed all gods.

However, as a heavenly-tier lifeform, the Dragon Emperor’s condensed true name already resided even deeper than the true names of primordial beasts that had only just broken through. In the past, its level had been too low, and its divine soul will too weak to merge with its true name, preventing it from touching creation power.

In addition, Chen Chu had strengthened all ten of the Dragon Emperor’s abilities to the divine transformation stage. They had become powers beyond the level of gods, with no room left to ascend, but they had never shown their full potential due to the limitation of its previous level.

When it had first broken through to the mythical level, the laws derived from them had been just high level, though they were branches of supreme laws. Thus, they had seemed little different in power from top-level abilities. Only now, with the Dragon Emperor having broken through to the true spirit level, did they truly reveal their potential. Using one divine-transformation ability as its core, and creation power as its spark, it could refine a life-bound ability.

Suddenly, a stirring rose within its heart. Another message surfaced, a subconscious warning from its bloodline.

Only one can be refined, huh?

Its consciousness trembled, tinged with regret.

Since it was condensing a life-bound ability ahead of time with a true spirit body, even its colossal frame could only endure one. It would also occupy the extra "slot" of this evolution.

Originally, the Dragon Emperor had planned to carefully select a suitable ability after reaching the true spirit level, devouring another beast to absorb an eleventh ability. However, since a primordial-exclusive life-bound ability could be forged in advance, the opportunity was too valuable to miss.

Compared to other primordial beasts, which at their breakthrough had but a few top-level abilities and one or two divine-transformation abilities, the Dragon Emperor’s advantage was overwhelming. Ten divine-transformation abilities meant ten possible combinations for terrifying life-bound abilities. With a body hundreds of times more formidable than its peers, and the might of supreme principles, once it reached the primordial level, its power would be inconceivably exaggerated, sweeping aside all rivals.

Suppressing the drowsiness creeping into its flesh, the Dragon Emperor’s sea of consciousness shuddered, conjuring ten phantoms of itself that were black, golden, blue, purple, and gold. Each one represented one of its divine-transformation abilities.

Condensing a life-bound ability was far different from breaking through to the ancient titan level or fusing laws into a supreme principle. Different ability chains could clash, producing disastrous results. This life-bound ability was crucial; it would determine whether its new strength would rival the peak of the true spirit level, the semi-primordial level, or even break the boundary to confront primordial beings head-on.

After a brief contemplation, its gaze fixed on four abilities: the Chaotic Tyrant Body, the Vajra Immortality, the Dark-Red Destruction, and the Chaotic Force Field.

The Chaotic Tyrant Body embodied raw strength. The Vajra Immortality and Chaotic Force Field embodied physical and energy defenses respectively, while the Dark-Red Destruction embodied ruin and explosive might. If it succeeded in merging these with the Chaotic Tyrant Body at the core, the resulting life-bound ability would be an enhanced version of the Dark-Red Endbringer form. At that point, its power advantage would be unleashed to the fullest. It also considered keeping the Instant Divine Movement and Power of Undying as alternatives. If integration was smooth, they could be woven in; if not, it would stop and adjust.

The moment the Dragon Emperor resolved its choice, the true name "Azure" quaked within the resplendent origin, radiating immense suction. Immediately, black, red, and blue strands of origin surfaced around it, ceaselessly drawn into the true name and disappearing within.

Through its perception, the Dragon Emperor saw those various essences merge together, forming threads of translucent white radiance. The aura of creation followed the unseen channel linking its true name and true form, flowing into its body.

Boom!

An even greater aura erupted across the Dragon Emperor. Its blood boiled, and the runes fused into its trillions of cells blazed brilliantly. Then, its consciousness succumbed to slumber.

As the Dragon Emperor broke through, its true form fused the endless power of heaven and earth into a principle-world body. Its strength soared at an incomprehensible pace.

***

At the same time, in the depths of the solar system, Chen Chu remained in seclusion. From within his soul passage, streams of evolutionary energy and faint creation aura seeped forth.

Fused with supreme principles and the planar world, Chen Chu’s aura surged higher. The invisible force and heavy gravity he radiated made the sun tremble once more, its core erupting with endless nuclear energy as it spat out tongues of flame tens of thousands of kilometers long.

The sudden upheaval startled Luo Fei, who had just closed her eyes. Across the solar system, every advanced cultivator instinctively sensed that the sun had grown hotter, so much so it seemed to have swelled in size.

In the capital of West Meng, Shi Feitong appeared without anyone noticing, standing on a bustling street. She held a patterned parasol in hand, lifting her gaze toward the blazing sun with faint astonishment. "Big Brother Chen’s aura has grown even stronger."

Though separated by hundreds of millions of kilometers, just through the radiance cast by the sun, Shi Feitong could sense an invisible pressure. It was as if the one in seclusion was not a late-stage ancient-titan-level monarch, but a civilization emperor at the middle or even late stage of the true spirit level. He was unfathomably strong.

As evolutionary energy poured endlessly into his true form, constantly enhancing and reinforcing it, Chen Chu’s consciousness briefly awakened.

Sensing the faint traces of power emerging within, Chen Chu murmured to himself, "So, the power of creation has this use as well."

The creation power he obtained from the Ancient Arena was enough to fuse one supreme law. Ordinarily, that alone would allow him to break through to the peak of the ancient titan level and then stabilize before attempting to reach the true spirit level.

However, Chen Chu was different. He wielded two supreme principles, meaning there was still some gap before he could reach the true spirit level.

Boom!

Chen Chu trembled as strands of Primordial Genesis Power surfaced, separating and gathering the faint creation aura from his flesh. Though these wisps could strengthen his true form, it would be wasteful to use them so. He intended to wait and see if the creation aura transmitted from the Dragon Emperor could accumulate enough to fuse with the Primordial Genesis principle. If not, he would direct it toward enhancing the Nine-Fold Heavenly Gate, and attempt to deduce the Ten-Fold Heavenly Gate.

In truth, compared to fusing the Primordial Genesis, the gains from the Ten-Fold Heavenly Gate were far greater. A thousandfold amplification of base strength would rival even the life-bound ability the Dragon Emperor was about to awaken.

Phew!

Suppressing his excitement, Chen Chu’s consciousness once more sank into stillness.

***

As the Dragon Emperor evolved and slumbered, while Chen Chu remained in seclusion, time flowed swiftly. On the Blue Planet, Mars, and Venus, earth-shaking changes unfolded daily.

Especially the Blue Planet. With transcendent energy growing ever denser, even morning mist condensed from gathered energy. A global cultivation craze erupted at once.

Whether man or woman, old or young, who wouldn’t yearn for strength? Who wouldn’t wish to soar the skies, walk the earth unhindered, and live long with clear sight?

In the past, when heaven and earth were barren, cultivation belonged to only a chosen few. Now, it was different. A new era had descended. Even those without cultivation talent could still train in the official foundational body enhancement arts, slowly strengthening themselves by absorbing transcendent energy bit by bit.

As long as one reached the third stage, they could then join official programs to continue body enhancement, or pursue true martial arts, gene martial arts, or even mech martial arts.

It wasn’t just humanity. Countless animals, even insects, were mutating from the thickened energy. The oceans, teeming with more life, boiled with change.