Chapter 1180: A Rifted Future, the Siege of Humanity

When Chen Chu had first entered the martial arts high school, he had spent half a month completing Foundation Building so he could study true martial arts. He had chosen the middle-level Dragon Elephant Art and the Insightful Blade.

Of the two, the Insightful Blade had been quite special. Its strength had only been average among middle-level arts. Yet once he had cultivated the Insightful Eye, its power had surpassed even high-level saber arts. Chen Chu, whose cultivation had then been only at the Second Heavenly Realm, had used the Insightful Eye to freely roam the battlefields beneath Kyrola’s high-level cultivators.

He had sensed ambushes, assassination attempts, hidden snipers and sudden dangers ahead of time. He had been unerring when hunting demon cultists, harvesting the first wave of resources. Later, after attribute points strengthened it to the extreme, the Insightful Eye separated from the saber art and transformed into the rune of the Blade of Void.

As Chen Chu kept breaking through and shedding his old self, it became a special divine ability: perceiving all gazes, foreseeing danger in the dark, and in the end, peeking into the past.

Now that Chen Chu had reached the primordial level and into the Fifth Primordial Heaven, commanding and condensing the source of time and space, the eye of his mind had grown even stronger under the blessing of time and space.

Using himself as the anchor, the silver-white eye that opened on his brow shone brilliantly, and countless images concerning him sped past within that gaze. The future is always in the future. With a single stray thought, every person’s next second birthed multiple changes, and then the following second kept branching onward, without end.

This matched the Blue Planet’s Daoist notion that one birthed two, two birthed three, and three birthed the myriad things.

Therefore, even existences at the eternal level that had stepped beyond chaotic space-time could not grasp their own futures, because their futures shifted even more violently at every moment. Moreover, due to detachment, space-time left no trace, so they could not see themselves.

Back then, Heng had only caught a fleeting glimpse of Chen Chu in one future fragment, seeing him appear on the battlefield where he and two other eternal beings fought. That had been because of ties: the Ancient Civilization and the Human Federation, the inheritance Chen Chu had gained on the continent of the void ruins.

So, in order not to interfere with the future and produce unforeseeable variables, Heng had not contacted Chen Chu ahead of time. The contingency left to help Chen Chu grow had been placed hundreds of thousands of years earlier, so far away from the mythical world that it would be extremely unlikely to affect Chen Chu’s early development.

Yet after sitting cross-legged above the Sea of Chaos for ten years, a solemn look gradually surfaced on Chen Chu’s austere face. In ten years, he had seen countless future fragments about himself, but all of those futures halted one hundred and fifty years in the future. Converted to the mythical world’s flow of time, that was roughly three years.

This left Chen Chu slightly grave and reverent. His future stopped one hundred and fifty years in the future, across more than one hundred and eighty million possible outcomes at that mark. No matter which branch it was, everything broke off at one hundred and fifty years.

This meant either he had perished utterly, leaving not the slightest trace, in which case there would naturally be no future; or he would already have become eternal by then, detached from the infinite space-time and leaving no trace behind, so Chen Chu naturally could not see it.

"Looks like the future self can only be limited to within one hundred and fifty years." Chen Chu’s eyes narrowed. The silver eye at his brow burst forth in dazzling light.

Boom!

A streak like a silver eye flashed and shot toward the future within the corridor of streaming radiance woven from innumerable future shards. The image inside one shard along that corridor showed a black-and-red colossal beast standing in the cosmic void. It suddenly raised its head and roared at the heavens.

That terrifying roar pierced space-time, carrying indescribable destructive power, and shattered the gaze that Chen Chu had sent into the future. The silver eye at his brow snapped shut as his aura rippled violently. That annihilating roar from his future self had crushed the light of the Insightful Eye and cost him dearly.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

This was one of the problems when fishing for the future. His future self would be stronger; so upon sensing a furtive peep in the dark, it would respond by instinct.

"Again."

Chen Chu’s gaze remained calm. The silver eye at his brow opened once again, and it radiated an even more brilliant silver glow under the burning of the space-time origin. As Chen Chu tested the future again and again, time rushed past at a staggering pace. Decades flickered by almost in a blur.

The Dragon Emperor changed even more in this time. Its body length still measured one hundred million kilometers, but the range of the black hole surrounding it had swelled to a trillion kilometers.

Its form was no longer circular; it had become a massive dark Dragon Emperor in shape. It had become a black, destructive colossal beast a trillion kilometers long.

***

Chaotic Imperial City.

In the sixth year of Chen Chu’s seclusion, the vast mythical city remained as prosperous as ever. Six years had flashed by for cultivators. But the golden-bearded burly man who had been running a street stall in the imperial city for six years had grown increasingly irritable.

As it looked up at the golden palace complex set in the heavens, it looked grave. For reasons it could not name, it had felt restless and vaguely ill at ease lately. As an existence at the primordial monarch level, such sudden forebodings were never baseless.

Clearly, changes had occurred somewhere beyond its knowledge, and they concerned its current mission. Otherwise, its heart-blood power would not have sounded the alarm.

"No. I must draw that human out. Delay would breed trouble." Bakibelens slowly rose and lifted its eyes to gaze into outer space.

There, a red point of light faintly appeared and blazed brighter at incredible speed.

Boom!

A blood-hued star ten million kilometers across suddenly descended above the Chaotic Imperial City as it was summoned into being. Space-time trembled, the void shattered, and annihilating fluctuations rolled outward.

The sudden upheaval startled everyone in the city.

Everyone felt feverish under the suppression of power from a Third Primordial Heaven cultivator. The strength within their bodies solidified and could not be moved. They could only watch in despair as the world-ending glowing sphere fell from the sky.

At that instant, a long cry resounded from deep within the Chaotic Imperial City.

"An attack from a primordial being. Everyone, join with me at once and rouse the city to block it," the palace master said.

The Chaotic Imperial City seated upon the Chaotic Continent shook. One after another, mighty true-spirit-level auras soared to the heavens. Of course, these true-spirit-level experts did not target the world-ending sun falling from above. That was not something they could resist. Their target was the control nodes of the Chaotic Imperial City.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thousands of thick golden beams shot up from all quarters of the city, weaving a boundless light-screen that covered the city and fused with the earth. At the same time, the million-kilometer walls of the Chaotic Imperial City lit one by one, and the buildings within also flared with radiance.

All of it happened in an instant. In the instant the city activated, the red sun fell from the sky and drowned the vast, ancient city.

Boom!

A terror that made the very principles of heaven and earth shudder exploded. The entire world was submerged by the destructive power released by the red sun. The universe quaked, the heavens collapsed, and the earth split from the impact.

Amid the world-ending detonation, whose might pierced layer upon layer of time and space to destroy all, the towering silhouette of a five-hundred-thousand-kilometer colossus flickered into view, like a Thousand-Armed Guanyin[1].

Half an hour later, the glow of the blast slowly ebbed, revealing a swath of the Chaotic Continent hundreds of millions of kilometers wide shattered, and the Chaotic Imperial City whose brilliance had dimmed greatly.

High above the city, Shi Feirou gripped a top-level divine sword in her left hand, while her right hand upheld a golden token. The center of the token had the character "Huang" engraved on it. It emanated a terrifying energy that made hearts pound and resonated with the Chaotic Imperial City below.

When it saw that only a portion of ordinary buildings and mountain ridges had collapsed, Bakibelens, standing in the void, knit its brow. By any normal measure, that strike should have been enough to injure an ordinary Primordial Monarch. Its might had reached the peak of the Third Primordial Heaven.

Yet even such a powerful blow had failed to destroy the imperial city reputed to possess only the strength of the Second Primordial Heaven. The reason lay in the token held by the woman whose aura stood at the peak of the true spirit level.

Shi Feirou stood on the void, seated in command over the city with a true emperor’s decree in hand. She fixed her solemn gaze on the imposing figure beyond the sky. "You are not a powerhouse from the surrounding civilizations. Who are you?"

Bakibelens’s deep, chill voice rolled across all directions. "It is not important who I am. What matters is that you call out your Divine Might City Lord."

Revealing its true body, Bakibelens looked down upon the shattered chaotic land with icy eyes. "I heard that your race’s Divine Might City Lord obtained a chaotic supreme treasure some time ago. There is a saying: natural treasures belong to the virtuous. As luck would have it, this chaotic supreme treasure is fated with me.

"I will give you three breaths' time. Have that human named Divine Might hand over the chaotic supreme treasure at once, or do not blame me for razing this city to the ground."

An even more dreadful aura erupted from Bakibelens, shaking time and space. Blood-red light flared across its body, and its presence towered over heaven and earth.

Shi Feirou’s eyes turned flinty. "You attacked our human imperial city and covet our race’s supreme treasure. Stranger, do you understand the consequences of your actions?"

Bakibelens sneered, its gaze frigid. "Do you think I still care about the consequences the moment I choose to strike? Enough talk. Since Divine Might will not come out and refuses to surrender the treasure, this king will slaughter you first and level this city."

Boom!

As it spoke, crimson radiance gathered about Bakibelens and became two blood-red dragons ten million kilometers long. They roared across the sky and plunged toward the imperial city below.

Two world-ending blood dragons descended from the sky. Even Shi Feirou’s pupils constricted at the terrifying fluctuations of power they gave off.

Shi Feirou roared, "Heart of the Imperial City, unleash the city’s power in full and coordinate with me."

The token carved with the character Huang in her hand flared, and an even greater force was summoned.

Hum!

Facing annihilation, the city walls that had birthed artifact spirits lit up as an ability comparable to the Second Primordial Heaven erupted from deep within.

Boom!

A white pillar of light ten thousand kilometers in diameter shot into the sky, exuding an overwhelming energy that instantly swallowed Shi Feirou. The energy beam pierced the heavens and was sucked into the token she held. As the origin energy surged, Shi Feirou’s long hair whipped about while she held the token aloft.

"True Emperor’s decree, for ten thousand ages none shall stand, Seven Slaughters of the Radiant Sky and Seven Stars!"

Boom!

The inflow of origin energy was comparable to the Second Primordial Heaven; the golden token swelled and transformed into a stele that spanned earth and sky.

Boom! Boom!

The two blood dragons, each strike capable of destroying a star system, smashed into the stele. The nonhuman might of their blows struck the token, causing the Huang character on it to flare brightly. A terrifying recoil burst forth and dispersed the true forms of both blood dragons.

Bang! Bang!

The blood dragons collapsed, becoming a torrent of blood rain that cascaded down and scoured everything. In the blink of an eye, the Chaotic Imperial City and a million-kilometer area around it were submerged in an endless sea of blood. The sight was horrific, like a hell of blood seas.

Bakibelens roared, "Divine Might of the human race, are you still not coming out?"

Its thousand arms unified; a powerful aura reached the limit of the Third Primordial Heaven and pressed down on the world.

Boom!

Blood lights shot forth from those unified palms, washing the heavens and earth crimson. The laws of the world unraveled under that terrifying blood light. Space-time collapsed and things perished. An unsurpassable aura of destruction caused time to tremble and produced phantasms of worlds being born and shattered. The power was indescribably strong.

Bakibelens was fearsome, but the decree in Shi Feirou’s hand likewise contained dreadful strength. The five-year-old token that had been delivered to Shi Feirou shone with even more brilliant light, like a golden sun spanning the land that sheltered the entire Chaotic Imperial City.

Although the light screen of the golden sun shuddered under the impact of the world-ending blood light, it showed no sign of breaking.

Bakibelens felt its unease deepen, but it was reluctant to withdraw. Killing one human cultivator who was in the process of breaking through to the primordial level would yield two chaotic supreme treasures. Such a high reward was rare even across infinite worlds.

Moreover, this bounty had a clause: if they could not slay that Divine Might human, leading him out into the chaotic cosmos counted as half completion and would win one complete chaotic supreme treasure.

On top of that, a mere peak true-spirit-level cultivator like Shi Feirou was holding it off with a single true emperor’s decree. The unexpected situation made Bakibelens surge with killing intent. It felt as though its Primordial Monarch dignity had been challenged.

"Human, take three of my strikes."

Bakibelens’ thousand arms were wreathed around it as a terrible blood-light halo appeared, exuding a terrifying aura that made everyone in the Chaotic Imperial City’s legs go weak. Just as Bakibelens launched its reckless assault, attempting to drag the secluded Chen Chu out, a few unseen masters in the depths of the chaos furrowed their brows.

Sigmund, the Golden Heavenly God, glanced coldly and said with displeasure, "What’s going on? Chu Batian still hasn’t left seclusion. Why did it act so suddenly?"

"If this draws Chu Batian’s notice and he stays in seclusion, we will not be able to forcibly descend into that layer of the chaotic cosmos to seal him," Alquest said gravely. He added, "These Chaotic Assassins act with care. They should not make such a low-level mistake. Something must have changed inside."

"Regardless, now that the move has been made, it cannot be stopped. This is our only chance. Once the human side responds, killing Chu Batian will not be so easy. Everyone, stop holding back. Send orders to your people. Let those stationed in the inner city strike with everything they have. The human city must be blasted apart and Chu Batian forced out."

In an instant, three nearby peak-civilization capital cities in the chaotic cosmos trembled as three guardians radiating primordial-level pressure revealed their true forms. Bearing their world-creation-level supreme treasures on their backs, they flew toward the human city to join the siege.

1. Guanyin is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with compassion known as Avalokiteśvara. ☜