Chapter 1179: Tempering an Era, the Galactic Colossal Beast

In a universe ablaze with red fire, a towering figure sat cross-legged at its center, a golden Imperial Crown of the Twenty-Four Heavens on her head and a splendid imperial robe on her shoulders. Behind her, dazzling radiance flowed together and formed a resplendent star that reflected across time and space. Within those endless flames, time twisted at a certain node and rewound, casting the incomplete phantom of a black-haired youth.

This cosmos had been the manifestation of the True Radiant Sky Emperor’s power. Nothing within it could shift without her knowing. Her eyes opened at once, shock flickering there. "How is that possible? You are already breaking through to the primordial sovereign level? No, judging by the path of your rise, you have almost finished the road of the past and already touched upon the Fifth Primordial Heaven of the future!"

Even the Radiant Emperor showed rare astonishment on her face. Three years ago, when Chen Chu had come to see her, his true realm had still been at the late stage of the true spirit level. Though the pressure he exuded already rivaled a primordial star, that had been battle power, not realm.

Who would have thought that after three years of seclusion in the Chaotic Imperial City, Chen Chu’s realm had quietly reached the primordial sovereign level?

If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, and if she hadn’t experienced his occupation of the past, the Radiant Emperor would never have imagined that Chen Chu’s strength had reached such a height.

To her disbelief, that fleeting, incomplete phantom turned back and smiled just as it faded, his lips parting slightly. At once, within the burning universe, Chen Chu’s gentle voice seemed to sound. "I had a slight stroke of fortune and broke through by luck. You don't need to be too surprised, Sire."

Didn’t need to be too surprised. Gazing at the firelit starry void as time returned to calm, the Radiant Emperor didn’t know what to say for a moment. She stood in silence within the void.

How could she not be surprised? Back then, when she crossed from primordial monarch into primordial sovereign, she had spent a thousand years before finally occupying every trace of her past. Even that pace was considered swift among the primordial sovereigns of peak civilizations nearby.

How long had Chen Chu taken? Moreover, he had leaped in one breath from the late stage of the true spirit level, past the primordial level, past the primordial sovereign level. How could such a heaven-defying span be explained by a mere slight stroke of fortune?

After a brief silence, the Radiant Emperor slowly raised her right hand and tore forward. A rift stretching hundreds of thousands of kilometers opened. A polygonal altar a million kilometers across floated within. It was cast from golden crystals, shedding brilliant light and surging energy waves. From afar, it looked like a star.

Six planets ten thousand kilometers in diameter orbited the altar as a ring, each radiating one of six colors: red, gold, black, and so on. At the altar’s center lay a shattered white planet, as if to portend something.

The golden planet flared, as a beam of light erupted and struck the altar’s heart.

Boom!

The altar shuddered. Eight divine beast statues standing at the eight directions lit one by one. Like living beings, they raised their heads and roared at the sky, yet no sound came forth.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

The other five planets trembled in turn. Mighty wills awoke within them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, three auras of the Fifth Primordial Heaven and two of the Sixth burst forth, so overwhelming that the entire flaming universe quivered, as if unable to bear them. Under those dreadful wills, five planets evolved and transformed, becoming towering figures that descended.

The one in blood-red armor, burly of build, with thirty-six barbed blood chains coiling about him, spoke first, his low voice steeped in a baleful tone. "Huang, you burned spacetime origin to summon us. Did something important happen?"

At that, the other figures turned their gazes toward the majestic form standing at the universe’s heart, inquiry plain within eyes that released a powerful pressure. Although the six human true emperors could communicate with one another, such contact across distant spacetime dimensions consumed a tremendous cost and was usually only used for matters relating to the entire human race.

The Radiant Emperor inclined her head, her voice ringing through the cosmos with sovereign weight. "I called you because of Chen Chu. Something has changed on his side. Just now, I discovered his realm has reached the primordial sovereign level, and he has already reached the end of the Fourth Heaven. Therefore, I believe we must make some adjustments to the plan we laid in advance regarding the six peak civilizations’ powerhouses joining hands to ambush him."

Her tone remained light, but her words stilled the universe at once. Among the five descended true emperors, a white-robed youth wreathed in sky-piercing sword images softly said, "I did not mishear, did I? Chen Chu’s realm has reached the primordial sovereign level?"

Another figure, like a piece of void-black shadow, opened its mouth. Its voice seemed to come from the depths of endless void, cold and hollow. "Unless we’re hallucinating, Jian, you did not mishear."

The True Silent Sword Emperor, surrounded by sword images, fell speechless at that response. "Xu, are you certain you are not speaking nonsense?"

"Interesting." Of the five, a handsome youth who radiated silvery brilliance stood within a visible long river of time that flowed around him like water. He laughed lightly. "Huang, this news of yours is indeed unexpected. Three years of seclusion in the Chaotic Imperial City. While everyone believed he was breaking through to the primordial level, who would have thought he had quietly reached the primordial level, without the slightest sign of breakthrough phenomena.

“Or rather, he had long since left the Chaotic Imperial City and broke through somewhere hidden in the chaos, and the flow of time there differs from ours. Otherwise, three years would not suffice to accumulate the necessary energy and temper the true form."

As beings who stood at the human peak since ancient times, these true emperors were no fools. They immediately inferred that Chen Chu had left the Chaotic City already. None of them doubted whether the report was true.

The burly man among them, nine colossal divine weapons borne upon his back, exclaimed, "Four major primordial realms crossed in three years. Even if time flowed a hundredfold or thousandfold faster there, it is still unbelievable. And before this, he rose to the true spirit level in only two years."

At that, the True Ancient Emperor turned to the others, a note of excitement threading his voice. “Such an astonishing pace of ascent, does this not feel familiar to you?"

The Sword Emperor hesitated. "Gu, are you saying he might actually be..."

Before the Sword Emperor could finish, the Radiant Emperor cut him off. "I know what you wish to say, but Chen Chu is not him. I can confirm that."

The white-robed youth wreathed in time lightly shook his head. "I can confirm it as well. He is indeed not Heng."

As he spoke, the True Reincarnation Emperor looked toward the broken white star on the altar. "Heng’s fate star shattered ten thousand years ago. You all understood what that signified."

The Ancient Emperor shook his head. "Lun, say no more. Although Heng’s fate star shattered and he has been gone for ten millennia, I believe he definitely did not fall."

"I obviously know that he did not fall." The Reincarnation Emperor’s tone remained mild. "I meant that if Chen Chu were Heng returned through reincarnation, then when he came to see Huang, the fate star would already have responded. Moreover, among us, Huang had known Heng the longest and knew him the best. Since she is certain he is not Heng, then he absolutely is not Heng."

Whoosh!

The True Slaughter Emperor exhaled, murderous aura coiling about him. The flames leaping across the universe dimmed under that invisible killing intent. "...I did not expect that there would be another talent as terrifying as Heng’s among the infinite worlds and the myriad races of the heavens, and one who also belongs to our human race."

At that, faint emotion touched the others’ faces as well. Among the seven ancient emperors, whether in the past or in the present, the one universally acknowledged as strongest had been Heng. One could even say the six true emperors had all been disciples of Heng, witnesses to, and participants in Heng leading the ancient human race from nothing to splendor.

That had been an incomparably brilliant era. Their rise to become ancient emperors, and their rapid progress after stepping into the vast world, had been closely tied to a supreme secret art Heng taught back then. In those days, each of them had condensed an era of the human race’s fate. The six civilization emperors represented six civilization eras. The cultivation direction and power systems of every era had all come from Heng and had been advanced by him.

Yet aside from the six lofty civilization emperors, no one knew any of this now. The consequence of them condensing a single era's fate was that, other than themselves, no human could break the shackles of their existence. While they remained ancient emperors, no one else could reach that level.

After they entered the vast world and fought on the Ancient Battlefield for thirty thousand years, nine other geniuses in the six divine regions managed to break through to the primordial level besides them. The most gifted among those nine had been trapped at the primordial monarch level for ten thousand years

Each of those who reached the primordial level had been peerless monsters born of the six divine regions’ accumulation over thousands of years, with unsurpassed talents. Under normal circumstances, a stalemate lasting ten millennia shouldn’t have happened. The reason was that the six’s existence had severed the human path. No one could reach the end and stand shoulder to shoulder with them.

The Slaughter Emperor slowly said, "Now that Chen Chu not only broke through to primordial level, but also reached the primordial sovereign level, it seems like our plan needs readjustment. What do you say to beheading several sovereigns this time?"

An even more dreadful murderous aura spread from the Slaughter Emperor. Where it passed, flames froze, congealing into ghost-blue ice flames within the void.

The Sword Emperor and the Ancient Emperor were both stirred, but the Reincarnation Emperor paused in thought and then shook his head. "There is no need. Even if we slay two or three sovereigns, it does not help the current situation much. Not only is there no benefit, we expose our true strength. At that point, if they sense the threat we pose, those peak civilizations might truly decide to form a comprehensive alliance. That would be troublesome. After all, we still do not possess the absolute power to suppress the Ancient Battlefield and sweep the nine peak civilizations. It is unwise to start a total war."

"Alright, you are right, Lun." The Slaughter Emperor nodded.

Ten thousand years had passed since the grand battle Heng once triggered on the Ancient Battlefield. In those millennia, the realms of the six true emperors had all advanced, and their power had grown ever more formidable. Among them, the Reincarnation Emperor, who wielded the principles of Chaotic Time and Chaotic Space, was the strongest.

Next came the most mysterious True Void Emperor. Even the Radiant Emperor and the others didn’t precisely know his current strength. They only knew he possessed an avatar of the Soul-Devouring Mayfly Race at primordial sovereign level. He had completely occupied and refined a Mayfly who had been at the primordial sovereign level and hadn’t been discovered by the race’s other powerhouses. From that alone, one could imagine how fearsome he was.

Thanks to that avatar, Huang Tian and the others had learned at the first moment about the plan by the Eternal Golden Divine Race, the Shadow War God Race, and several other civilizations to ambush Chen Chu.

Yet in order not to alarm those peak civilizations and make them unite from a common sense of threat, the preparations they had made were limited to repelling the assault and protecting Chen Chu. They didn’t intend to reveal that the Reincarnation and Void Emperors had already reached the Sixth Primordial Heaven.

While the true emperors were shaken by Chen Chu’s rise and adjusting their plans...

***

Far away in the Sea of Chaos, within a white sphere of light that had shrunk to a tenth of its former size, Chen Chu, whose body had swollen to a million kilometers, lay across the void. Around him flowed materialized chaotic spacetime origins. Fundamental laws circled him, like a god of creation. At his brow, a silver eye as vast as a planet burned with white fire, flashing with countless fragmentary scenes. Each one represented one of Chen Chu’s futures.

After seizing the past, the next step was to gather the future by using the chaotic spacetime origin that only a primordial sovereign could condense as fuel to fish up a thread of future aura and temper a body of the future.

The future body of the Fifth Primordial Heaven differed from the one that the Purgatory demon god Deorus had temporarily summoned through bloodline power. It was not only stronger, but once condensed, it would remain forever anchored in the present.

Moreover, the strength of this future body would influence a powerhouse’s strength upon breaking through to the Sixth Primordial Heaven. Thus primordial emperors would continually cast farther into the future, hoping to haul up the strongest possible future body.

However, the deeper one reached into the future, the more chaotic spacetime origin it consumed. On top of that, if an emperor was fated to perish in the future and tried to search beyond that point, they would reel in only a broken aura. At that point, the emperor would be grievously wounded in an instant.

Therefore, the Fifth Primordial Heaven was an extremely perilous realm, a state in which one remained long weakened by excessive consumption of spacetime origin.

None of that posed a problem for Chen Chu. With Seventh-Primordial-Heaven-level undying origin as fuel, Chen Chu could keep delving into the future without worrying about a shortage of space-time origin, nor about drawing in an aura of his own fall. He felt certain that his future self would step into eternity and remain unmatched beneath the heavens. Thus, his only concern was that the future aura he hooked might not be strong enough.

If he drew an aura from after he had reached the Ninth Primordial Heaven or even the eternal level, then when he merged with the future body and broke through to the Sixth Primordial Heaven, his strength would be powerful beyond measure.

While Chen Chu quietly angled for the future, below him, the Heavenly Azure Dragon Emperor had also become immeasurably vast after a hundred years. Unlike Chen Chu’s path, the Dragon Emperor walked the invincible road of ten thousand powers returning to one, smelting heaven and earth to forge the body of an eternal-level colossal beast.

By now, the dark sphere of light within the Sea of Chaos had vanished, replaced by a black-and-red colossal beast as immense as a galaxy, its body stretching over one hundred million kilometers. Chaos shattered around it, forming a destructive black hole that covered a trillion-kilometer range and ravenously devoured the endless currents.

As the Dragon Emperor swallowed the chaos and digested the undying body, its aura surged by the instant, growing ever more dreadful. Once it was done, it would surely destroy heaven and earth.