Chapter 1173: First Round, the Light-Year-Long Corpse

A vicious roar carrying terrifying might shook the entire world.

Before the horrified gazes of the two Hell Apostles, Boroedo and its companion, the black-and-red colossal beast that stretched over sixty million kilometers in length reached out with both claws and tore the crystal wall apart.

Boom!

The thick and solid world crystal wall, condensed by countless layers of space-time power, shattered, tearing open a dark void billions of kilometers wide in the starry sky.

Amid the deafening rumble, the black-and-red colossal beast flapped its wings, summoning torrents of destructive chaotic currents that descended upon the stars. A pressure equal to that of a Primordial Sovereign instantly erupted.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under the impact of this formless pressure that had turned into pure law, the expanse of the cosmos Chen Chu once crossed trembled. Massive planets and stars quivered violently.

Yet the two halves of Cescilles that had been torn apart by Chen Chu, each a hemisphere a million kilometers wide, remained unmoved and stable. They only appeared small beneath the beast’s enormous wings that spanned more than three million kilometers and swept across the void with surging waves of chaotic destruction.

A transparent barrier shielded the surface of the fractured world, blocking the Dragon Emperor’s overwhelming might and the raging tides of chaos. Without this protection, the sheer force of the Dragon Emperor’s descent would have shattered Cescilles, destroying every trace of life upon it.

But deep beneath the rift, the two Hell Apostles within the maze were not so fortunate.

Bang! Bang!

Already weakened and grievously wounded, both Hell Apostles fell to their knees. The power within them froze to the core, immobilizing them under the Dragon Emperor’s immense might.

The Dragon Emperor’s arrival also made the Abyssal Lord in the depths narrow its eyes. If it were still at its peak, a human and a beast, even with the power of a Primordial Sovereign, would have been nothing to it. It could have crushed or sealed them at will.

But its divine soul and will had been eroded after hundreds of thousands of years of imprisonment. Now, only a faint remnant remained, barely at the strength of the Fourth Primordial Heaven. Even so, it believed it could still suppress this human and his beast.

That was the difference in comprehension and mastery of power.

A low, malicious voice filled with boundless evil intent rumbled through the darkness, shaking the world. "Human, even with this colossal beast helping you, you cannot escape death today. Now, let the great Celos show you that even among primordial-sovereign-level powers, there is a difference."

Boom!

The vague silhouette within the darkness erupted with terrifying energy from the depths of the rift, snapping the countless fine roots that bound it.

As Chen Chu tore open the land and shattered the seal, the roots of the primordial-level World Tree could no longer suppress the Abyssal Lord. Immediately, endless power darker than darkness itself descended like a tide, drowning everything around the freed Celos.

That invisible aura of terror jolted Boroedo back to awareness, its face filled with horror.

"Abyssal demonic qi! Chu Batian, be careful! That is an Abyssal Lord, one as powerful as Alvaron, the Lord of Hell. It can turn everything around it into an Abyssal Plane!"

Even as it shouted, a massive form emerged from the dark abyss, a ten-million-kilometer-tall demon god condensed from abyssal demonic qi, bearing a pair of broken wings.

Boom!

An even more dreadful wave of darkness exploded from Celos, piercing the heavens and shaking galaxies in outer space.

"Die, human!"

The roar filled with killing intent echoed through the rift. The colossal Abyssal Lord, shrouded in darkness, soared upward, shattering the massive roots that still clung to it.

Chen Chu stood beneath the imperial crown, his expression cold as he watched. Ripples of seven-colored light shimmered in his eyes as his deep voice rolled through the void.

"Primordial Sovereign... Is it really that strong?"

Circles of chaotic divine patterns in red, blue, purple, and black unfolded one after another behind him, forming ten radiant wheels that stretched across billions of kilometers of the cosmos.

The dark-red wheel flared suddenly, and a torrent of vitality erupted from Chen Chu’s body. The vast and terrifying power surpassed even primordial-sovereign-level colossal beasts.

The dragon’s cry shook the heavens. Chen Chu clasped his hands together as if holding up the skies, pulling down the dark-red chaotic light wheel behind him.

Boom!

The explosive surge of vitality that shook the Great Thousand World took shape, transforming into a vast, dark-red Dragon Emperor Seal that reached across a hundred million kilometers of void.

The space beneath the seal collapsed. Time and space folded, and countless chains of law surfaced, shattering one after another in dazzling brilliance. Such overwhelming power made even Celos, whose demonic might filled the heavens, narrow its eyes.

For the first time, it looked serious. This human was stronger than it had expected.

But could he possibly be stronger than itself, a being at the semi-Seventh-Primordial-Heaven?

In a layer where time nearly stood still, Celos raised its arms and struck. The surrounding Abyssal Plane roared in response. Infinite darkness gathered, condensing into a colossal black battle spear spanning billions of kilometers.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Celos’s aura surged once more in an instant, its edge sharp enough to pierce through the vast cosmos. Just like Chen Chu, Celos’s divine weapon had long merged with its laws, and could form and disperse at will. Thus, with its divine soul freed, it could summon its life-bound weapon directly from the darkness of law itself.

Celos roared, "Demonic Peng[1] Slaughters the Heavens, and the Annihilations of the Eight Desolations!"

The black, monstrous Kunpeng wings stretched billions of kilometers behind it, blotting out the sky. It met the falling Dragon Emperor Seal head-on with its swing of the battle spear.

Boom!

When the two forces collided, a massive shockwave erupted, shattering the surrounding laws and sweeping across hundreds of billions of kilometers at indescribable speed. Even time itself was erased within the aftermath, leaving only the blazing chaotic light wheel behind Chen Chu, who stood like a god traversing eternity, and the abyssal world-ending demon god holding a spear within the endless dark.

Their exchange had ended in a draw.

The black flames in Celos’s eyes burned hotter, overflowing with killing intent.

This human is strong. He can fight me, whose realm stands higher, as an equal. Such a monstrous human must not be allowed to live. Every last one of them has to die.

"All humans must die!"

Its roar, dripping with murderous intent, shook the heavens. From the depths of the abyss behind Celos, a demonic claw reached out, covering the heavens and the earth, spanning past, present, and future.

At the same time, Celos swung its spear once again. A torrent of Great Dark Heavens power erupted, transforming the black world and the entire starry universe into absolute darkness. Then, countless streams of light poured down from within that darkness like billions of meteors.

Each streak of light carried power capable of crushing primordial principles, shattering space-time, and piercing the void between dimensions. They flooded the heavens with their radiance, crushing planets tens of thousands of kilometers across.

As the planets perished and galaxies fell apart, endless dark energy of destruction filled the heavens. Guided by that colossal demonic claw, it gathered into the weight of a collapsing Great Thousand World and crashed down toward Chen Chu.

This strike had already touched the threshold of the Fifth Primordial Heaven. It could destroy an entire Great Thousand World in one blow.

A dark-purple halberd over a million kilometers long appeared in Chen Chu’s hands, its shaft wreathed in red shards. Each shard contained visions of doomsday—worlds perishing, universes collapsing, and starry skies torn asunder.

Boom!

The halberd’s radiance, stretching over a billion kilometers, pierced the heavens. Though it brimmed with the aura of utter destruction, it seemed to open and split creation itself, cleaving a ravine of purple-red brilliance that tore through the darkness and divided the blackened heavens in two.

"No matter how boundless your demonic might, no matter how long you have ruled the abyss, no matter how undying you have been through the ages, today you will still fall beneath my halberd."

Chen Chu stood at the heart of the split cosmos, his true form now towering a million kilometers high. Fourteen divine arms spread behind him, supported by countless blazing light wheels. He stood like the god who had once opened chaos itself.

His words and tone made Celos, sealed and suppressed for hundreds of thousands of years, erupt with fury. "Human, if not for my true form being absent, would I allow you to act so recklessly today?! But even without my true form, this will body alone is enough to kill you."

Boom!

The abyss behind Celos roared violently. One after another, massive figures condensed from black demonic qi rose, each over a million kilometers tall, forming a sea of giants throughout the endless darkness.

"Doomsday of Ten Thousand Demons. Kill!"

As Celos roared, tens of millions of abyssal giants filled with true-spirit-level aura moved in unison, crushing the ground beneath their steps as they charged toward Chen Chu.

Celos’s aura grew even heavier and mightier as it stood surrounded by the countless abyssal giants, carrying a terrifying power capable of suppressing everything. Under the synchronized resonance of the millions of giants, the principles of this world, the frozen time, and even space itself solidified.

Even a Primordial Sovereign would find movement difficult here. No manipulation of time could bypass this state; no shift into another temporal layer could allow escape or attack. In this moment, there was no choice but to face the onslaught head-on, to clash directly against millions of abyssal giants whose power approached the semi-primordial level.

Just as Celos spread its massive wings and led the abyssal tide to crush Chen Chu through sheer abyssal power, an immense bronze bell descended before it. Formed from condensed chaotic light wheels, the phantom of the ten-million-kilometer-tall chaotic bronze bell trembled faintly.

Dong!

The deep, resonant chime rang through the Great Thousand World. A heartbeat later, countless abyssal giants around Chen Chu shattered like dust, dissolving into drifting ash.

Even Celos felt its consciousness shake when it was struck by the chaotic supreme treasure that was fused with Chen Chu. Its body had only been condensed from abyssal principles. It was not the undying demonic body it once possessed and collapsed from the blow.

As demonic qi surged once more, reforming Celos’s abyssal demonic god body within the darkness, nine pairs of silver light wings unfolded layer by layer behind Chen Chu.

In that instant, a terrifying tide of "time" descended. Eight shadowy figures wearing imperial robes and holding halberds emerged behind Chen Chu, each one exuding a pressure equal to that of a Primordial Sovereign.

The nine past incarnations of Chen Chu appeared simultaneously, and the power they radiated caused even the Abyssal Plane to tremble on the verge of collapse.

"You too, shall take one of my primordial-level ultimate techniques of my divine abilities."

Chen Chu’s cold and steady voice echoed through the void. The eight figures behind him lunged forward to merge into him. A boundless and indescribable power exploded outward.

Boom!

A halberd radiance spanning over a billion kilometers erupted, blazing with brilliant light. Condensed entirely from pure purple-red divine power, it cut through the void and illuminated the darkened starry sky.

The Abyssal Plane shattered, the demonic qi dispersed, and Celos’s newly formed abyssal body was torn apart once again under the light of the halberd, leaving behind a boundless void stretching across hundreds of billions of kilometers.

Since one of Chen Chu’s time marks had merged into the solar system, becoming part of the solar system’s Heavenly Dao, his Temporal Reincarnation divine ability had become incomplete and was unable to display its full power.

Even if he possessed the complete version of Temporal Reincarnation, condensing nine temporal true forms, each comparable to a Third Primordial Heaven being, would require an astronomical amount of time power. It was considerable enough to make Chen Chu’s scalp tingle just thinking about it.

Even a Primordial Sovereign who mastered time would need several thousand years to condense a single primordial-monarch-level temporal true form.

Therefore, within the hundred years he took to break through, Chen Chu used all his lifetime’s cultivation and comprehension to modify the divine ability, turning it into a coordinate-based technique that could summon the time mark from eight seconds in the past.

When the nine became one, they fused in an instant and erupted with a strike as powerful as the Tenfold Heavenly Gates opening all at once. The blow was so mighty that it immediately blasted Celos, who possessed the power of a Primordial Sovereign, apart. The sheer destructive force caused its already weakened divine soul to collapse, unable to reform immediately.

The black-and-red colossal beast that had remained hovering silently above the stars finally stirred. On its massive head, the Silver Dragon with wings spanning two thousand kilometers roared in excitement.

Charge, Ao Tian! Let’s slaughter them until the heavens run red with blood!

The Dragon Emperor let out a low growl.

Enough.

It pulled the Silver Dragon down with an invisible force and pinned it down on its shoulder to stop it from darting around recklessly. If it grew careless, it would be easily erased by the shockwaves of the ongoing battle.

Its target was not the still-reforming Celos.

A mere divine soul that retained only primordial-sovereign-level strength was not worthy of Chen Chu or the Dragon Emperor’s true form joining forces. The Dragon Emperor’s gaze was fixed upon the true depths of this world.

There lay a colossal corpse, vast as a galaxy, stretching nearly a full light-year in length. Now, drawn by Celos’s efforts to summon the abyss and the continuous eruptions of its power, that corpse, which had lain silent for hundreds of thousands of years, began to tremble faintly.

Celos’s seemingly reckless fury and wild roars were, in truth, deliberate. Any existence that had reached the semi-undying realm possessed immense wisdom. Though sealed, Celos had already deduced the nature of its predicament.

Its only hope lay in the instant its seal was broken. By using the will of its divine soul to awaken its true form, which was not entirely dead, it could draw upon that body’s undying demonic body. The body that had matured over hundreds of thousands of years and stepped completely into the undying realm, could shatter this world’s restraints.

Naturally, Chen Chu was well aware of this.

Boom!

The entire obsidian world trembled as the Dragon Emperor continued descending deeper into the world. The cosmic starry expanse collapsed completely, revealing an even more immense corpse of a figure robed in white imperial garments.

The Dragon Emperor, having already reached the deeper layers, now stood upon the back of that corpse’s lowered hand. The Dragon Emperor’s one-million-kilometer-long form seemed as small as a speck of dust upon that corpse, whose body stretched over one light year.

Just then, the Dragon Emperor raised its head and roared. The surrounding Heavenly Dao power of the world merged with its own energy, bursting forth violently.

Boom!

The colossal arm of Emperor Heng, which was as vast as a galactic star system, trembled. Its palm fell downward, crushing through heaven and earth in a tidal wave of annihilation, striking directly at the faint traces of movement coming from the struggling undying demonic body below.

1. This "Peng" refers to "Dapeng". Dapeng is a large bird in Chinese mythology that transforms from the Kun. ☜