Chapter 1138: Chaotic-Level Treasure and a Second Life-Bound Ability (II)

The time passed quickly, and the Divine Firmament Palace came to a halt in a region filled with turbid currents.

Ahead, spacetime twisted and warped, countless layers of dimensions stacked on top of one another. Each layer was a separate micro-world. Some had mountains, rivers, and complete ecosystems. Others were barren, with nothing but endless darkness.

Beneath the throne, Zhulu bowed again. "City Lord, the ocean I discovered was within this cluster of worlds. Here, the chaos principles are in disorder. Spacetime overlaps, and thousands of fragments form countless micro-worlds of different sizes. An unknown force is pulling these worlds, and they drift and rotate without any order. When the phenomenon appeared, it lasted only a moment. Before I could pinpoint the ocean and mark it, that world vanished. With so many micro-worlds scattered here, searching alone would take far too long. That was why I returned to report. But unexpectedly, the Shadow War God Race and the Eternal Golden Divine Race also discovered a phenomenon in other directions."

"Don't worry. That’s not your fault," Chen Chu replied, his black-and-gold eyes fixed ahead.

In the next instant, his sight pierced through layer after layer of space, sweeping across more than a dozen worlds in one glance. He saw broken voids, dim underground caverns, blazing molten cores, and barren lands covered in drifting black ash. He withdrew his perception and looked at the cultivators gathered below. A third of them were from the Imperial City; the rest represented the six divine regions.

"There’s a force here blocking my sight," Chen Chu said slowly. "So we have to go in and search each world one by one. From now on, each of you will carry a decree issued in my name. Spread out and enter those worlds. The moment you find that ocean, crush the decree to notify me immediately. The first person to locate the ocean will have priority to choose five companion treasures."

Chen Chu planned to go all out. Not only did he intend to claim the chaos-level treasure, but also to secure every natural treasure born from its emergence.

"The City Lord's wish is our command." The cultivators below bowed, their faces bright with restrained excitement.

They were curious about the chaotic divine object, but at the same time, they also knew that getting their hands on it would kill them. Despite even the weakest among them being at the titan level, a chaos-level treasure was far beyond what most of them could handle.

Buzz!

The void shook as streaks of golden-white lightning leapt into the air above the throne. They converged and solidified into 327 golden decrees etched with lightning patterns. Each of these decrees carried Chen Chu’s supreme principle aura, strong enough to shield the cultivators as they crossed the turbulent spacetime between worlds.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

They shot out from the palace and plunged into the turbid currents. Each chose a warped gray projection and disappeared inside.

Once they had gone, Chen Chu turned his head toward the depths of the turbulence and calmly said, "Ximen Jianfeng, you’ve been following me for quite some time. Now that we’ve reached the place where the divine object's phenomenon was discovered, are you still not planning to show yourself?"

Specks of blue starlight shimmered in the distance, condensing into the figure of a handsome youth from the Divine Star-Ring Race. Ximen Jianfeng smiled at Chen Chu.

"Compared to this so-called divine object," It said, its blazing battle will spreading out. "I find you far more interesting, City Lord."

Because of the Firmament Palace’s barrier, it hadn’t overheard Chen Chu’s earlier conversation. It still believed the divine object was only a top-level treasure, not the chaos-level treasure it truly was.

"It seems like you want to challenge me..." Chen Chu’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"That's right." Ximen Jianfeng’s body radiated battle will as it stared at Chen Chu. "There's something I want to see for myself. At the same level, how wide is the gap between a powerhouse of a top civilization and one of a peak civilization?"

"I'm impressed, Ximen Jianfeng," Chen Chu remarked, his voice carrying a trace of surprise. "So you managed to see through my level even though I've concealed it."

After breaking through to the true spirit realm, his Heavenly Eye of Hidden Divinity had advanced to the top level. With it, he could not only alter and hide his true name, but also conceal his aura. Even a semi-primordial-level being like Nuliel had failed to see through his cultivation, and that was during an all-out battle.

However, this middle-stage true-spirit-level Star-Ring youth had seen through him. No wonder its battle will had been so strong. In its eyes, everyone was a true-spirit level equal. To know who was stronger, they had to fight. So it didn't matter if Chen Chu's body carried semi-primordial might, or that his strength was comparable to a primordial star. Star-Rings were born as "gods;" no one could match them.

Since entering the Ancient Battlefield, Ximen Jianfeng had crushed nearly every opponent at its level. Whether against powerhouses of top civilizations or peak races, none had withstood it. That was the root of its unshakable confidence.

The youth wreathed in starlight slowly said, "The reason I can see through your level, City Lord, is because of the power I was born with. It is known as the Rhythm of the Stars. This power is independent from principles. Under the guidance of starlight, nothing in the world can hide from me."

Ximen Jianfeng smirked, then its tone quickly turned serious. "But that's why I was shocked. I couldn't believe that a Chaotic Imperial City Lord, who was battling all these semi-primordial powerhouses, was only at the true spirit level. This is why I want to see for myself—between the Divine Star-Ring Race and a peak civilization like the human race, who stands stronger when we fight at the same level?"

Chen Chu nodded. "So that’s how it is. There are no absolutes in this world. It seems I must tread more carefully in the future."

Ximen Jianfeng then said, "Now, please enlighten me."

Boom!

Before Chen Chu could even respond, brilliant blue starlight burst from Ximen Jianfeng’s body, spreading outward into nine concentric star rings of pale blue-white radiance. The outermost ring stretched a million kilometers across, surrounding celestial bodies that blazed with dazzling light. Its aura was vast, magnificent, and crushing.

"Star God: Heavenly Wrath!" Ximen Jianfeng shouted. Spacetime trembled, and a distant thunderous roar rolled through the heavens.

From within the star ring that shrouded the world, a massive blue-white finger slowly extended. The moment it appeared, the boundless pressure from it shattered several nearby micro-worlds.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Worlds crumbled, heavens collapsed, and shockwaves of destruction swept across the cosmos, wiping out everything in their path. When the tidal wave of black destruction reached the Firmament Palace, it struck a barrier of black mist. The impact detonated with a thunderous roar that shook the void.

Unlike humans, Star-Rings fought differently. Chen Chu’s strength came from wielding principles, suppressing heaven and earth, and freezing spacetime around his enemies. For the Star-Rings, they didn't draw power from principles or laws, so they couldn’t solidify the flow of time within their attack range to create a time freeze. However, their strength was terrifying in another way. It was raw, fierce, and inexhaustible, like an endless ocean. Their energy was hundreds or even thousands of times greater than cultivators of the same level.

To Chen Chu, what was falling from the heavens was not a finger, but an entire galaxy crashing down on him. Its power rivaled that of a semi-primordial-level being. For someone still in the middle stage of the true spirit level to wield such force was extraordinary. Apart from himself, Chen Chu had never seen another with talent so monstrous.

"No wonder you dared challenge me. Your strength is enough for me to take you seriously." Chen Chu’s deep voice rumbled through heaven and earth as he rose slowly from the throne.

The palace shook. Power erupted from its foundations, and behind Chen Chu, endless purple light burst forth. Bathed in this radiance, threaded with lightning born from supreme principles and stretching across billions of kilometers, Chen Chu stood on the throne like a god of legend.

Boom!

From the sea of purple light, a fist imprint rose into the sky. Its aura froze spacetime in an instant, and everything it touched shattered into nothingness. Neither the collapsing worlds nor the galaxy crashing down could withstand it. Chen Chu blasted everything apart with a single punch.

Boom!

Chaos roared as blue-white starlight burst apart, forming a ring of shockwave that swept across hundreds of millions of kilometers. The violent surge set off waves through the spacetime turbulence, smashing world fragments into pieces.

Domineering and invincible. This was power centered on the Principle of Strength, fused with Primordial Genesis and the might Chen Chu could draw from the Dragon Emperor after its breakthrough, allowing him to command a strand of chaos and a strand of supreme destruction. His punch could suppress the stars, and his strength could break all laws.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The star rings around Ximen Jianfeng trembled, and the three outermost rings shattered from the backlash of Chen Chu’s strike. Even its aura shook against that overwhelming force.

Cough!

Shrouded in starlight, Ximen Jianfeng spat out blue-gold blood. Its long hair whipped in the storm, and its sleeves snapped in the turbulence as it stared at Chen Chu in disbelief.

I don’t believe it. How can I not withstand even a single punch when we are both at the middle stage of the true spirit level?

Ximen Jianfeng huffed.

Is the human race truly different? Is their strength so terrifying that they stand above all?

After shaking off the impact, Ximen Jianfeng let out a long roar. Battle will burned even brighter in its eyes. "Divine Might City Lord, face me once more. Take this next strike!"

Between its brows, a black star appeared, then shattered.

Boom!

The endless power of stars exploded. Ximen Jianfeng’s aura became dozens of times stronger, and it stepped smoothly into the late stage of the true spirit level.

A breakthrough in battle? No. Its cultivation had always been at the late stage.

Chen Chu’s gaze was calm as he anticipated the next attack.

The shattered star, now behind Ximen Jianfeng, expanded into a black void ten thousand kilometers wide. At its center floated an object ten thousand meters across, blazing with dazzling purple-white light.

The moment it appeared, a massive gravitational force erupted. It was strong enough to rip through principles themselves and make more than a dozen layers of worlds in the region tremble.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Spacetime twisted and all things collapsed in the pull of gravity, forming a black hole vortex that covered hundreds of millions of kilometers. At the edge of the distant cluster of worlds, five micro-worlds were caught in its pull.

They broke apart, ripping open with rifts tens to hundreds of thousands of kilometers long that split across the dome of the heavens. Inside those worlds, mountain ranges fell. Matter and energy tore loose and surged upward, shredded along with the collapsing worlds under the crushing force of gravity.

At the heart of the gravitational field, Chen Chu’s body sank and the Firmament Palace beneath him shook. The black mist around the palace was dragged outward, stretching into long, curved tendrils by the powerful pull.

"It actually refined a neutron star into a weapon!" Sensing the density, twisted energy, and the gravitational field radiating from that white object, even Chen Chu felt shocked.

This was a true neutron star. Such a celestial body held unimaginable density; a single cubic centimeter weighed a hundred million tons. The one in Ximen Jianfeng’s hand was ten thousand meters across. It was small for a neutron star, yet the mass it contained was indescribable. Its tiny size paired with crushing density created a gravitational pull unlike anything else. Despite its size, it already possessed power equal to a world-creation-level divine weapon.

With its true cultivation in the late stage of the true spirit level, and combat strength that leapt three minor realms, it was no wonder Ximen Jianfeng dared to stand against Chen Chu, even when Chen Chu exuded the aura of a semi-primordial-level being.

Damn, so this is the ability of the Star-Rings?

Even Chen Chu couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy.

Born from starlight, the Divine Star-Ring Race could command planets and celestial bodies. They bent the power of the cosmos to their will, even refining stars into weapons. However, if Ximen Jianfeng thought such strength alone was enough to defeat Chen Chu, it was making a deadly mistake.

Boom!

Purple light shook the heavens. With another one of the Firmament Palace's hidden functions, a hundredfold amplification of aura and projection, a massive demon god phantom rose into view. Draped in an imperial robe, this three-faced and ten-armed phantom soared billions of meters tall. Upon its head was the black Imperial Crown of the Twenty-Four Heavens. Behind it, two divine wheels turned slowly, one golden and one purple-black, each revolving in opposite directions.

Purple qi stretched across three hundred million kilometers as the divine wheels flared with blinding light. Standing on a transparent river of time, Chen Chu was exalted with supreme majesty and sacred might. One of the phantom’s arms moved, and a golden-white sun blazed to life in its palm. Flames erupted outward, condensing into a burning sphere three million kilometers wide.

Condensed from the pure origin of "fire," and surrounded with supreme principles, it was indistinguishable from a true star. In fact, it was just as if a true star had descended. Golden-white and violet-gray lightning of supreme principle crackled around the star, carrying destructive heat that shook space and time and rattled the heavens.

Boom!

The Great Sun blazed into being, pouring out endless light and heat like a true star. In that instant, the gravitational pull from Ximen Jianfeng's neutron star became even stronger. The surface of Chen Chu's star twisted and warped, as flames millions of meters long bent toward the neutron star and were continuously devoured.

In the blink of an eye, the neutron star transformed into a golden-white sphere of light. Its brilliance pierced the void, even as the entire Heavenly Pool Forbidden Zone sank into darkness.

The sheer force of the power rattled countless entities. Instinctively, they turned toward the source. To them, it felt as if everything had been swallowed by darkness. Only a single golden-white sphere blazed.

In the starry universe, black holes were the natural enemies of all celestial bodies. A moving black hole shredded everything in its path. Planets, stars, entire systems fell into its pull, feeding it until it grew larger, more terrifying, and unstoppable. This time was no different.

Chen Chu’s World-Ending Sun, summoned through the Demon God Seal, was dragged into the neutron star black hole. Its vast power was torn apart and devoured piece by piece, just as Ximen Jianfeng had wanted. However, before it could celebrate, Ximen Jianfeng’s expression changed. The force inside it turned more and more violent, and soon it lost control.

The neutron star started vibrating as golden pillars of energy erupted from its poles and ripped through the void, annihilating more than a dozen micro-worlds. This was an energy eruption, caused when the neutron star swallowed more energy than it could compress.

Boom!

By now, the golden-white star had been ripped apart and transformed into a sea of fire. The fiery sea flooded the neutron star black hole and everything within its gravitational pull. Flooded by that inexhaustible "stellar" energy, the neutron star burned brighter and brighter, until its body nearly turned into pure light. Then...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Unstable thunder echoed from within the neutron star. Cracks split across its surface, releasing blinding brilliance. In the next instant, all of the flames within the black hole’s reach contracted in a single sweep.

Boom!

The neutron star had reached its limit. Its explosion caused heaven and earth to roar, and chaos to shatter. From the center of the black hole, a storm of boundless energy erupted, its tremors rocking the entire forbidden zone.

World fragments collapsed in every direction. Turbulent spacetime surged like a tidal wave, tearing through the forbidden zone. It swallowed everything in its path, drowning out the despairing screams of countless aliens. As the mythical- and titan-level aliens were consumed, all they felt in their final moments was regret. If they had known that this divine object would bring such peril, they would've never come.

The truth was, even before they entered the forbidden zone, there were already more than a hundred alien casualties from the battle between Chen Chu and the Shadow War God Race. And now, just as they stepped into the forbidden zone, they encountered yet another clash of titans.

The turbulent spacetime crushed every mythical-level alien without mercy, while even the mighty titan-level aliens were left bleeding and broken. This was far too tragic!