Chapter 572: New Demon God Summoned, The Essence of the War of Civilizations

The Demonic Dragon was in a state of slumber to refine the chaotic dark force into laws, which would then temper its physique. Any attempt to enhance new abilities would disrupt the process.

Considering the imminent War of Civilizations, Chen Chu decided to enhance a secret art first, adding another trump card to his arsenal. This way, when he stepped onto the battlefield, he would have better safety assurance.

"Consume fifty thousand attribute points to enhance the Space-Time Summoning Secret Art."

A surge of overwhelming enhancement energy exploded within him, flooding toward the blue mark on the back of his left hand. Endless chains of runic sequences unfurled from the mark on Chen Chu’s hand, illuminating the room with a brilliant bluish light.

The power of the enhancement energy made the runic sequence chains evolve continuously, becoming increasingly complex and profound. Soon, they transformed into a fully formed altar that spanned hundreds of meters.

Hum!

Vibrations spread across the altar’s base as it condensed further. Meanwhile, extremely intricate runic chains extended deep into the void, their ends becoming illusory.

As more and more runic chains spread into the void, the surrounding space-time began to distort. Seemingly influenced by some unfathomable force, it became warped and dreamlike.

Anchored by bloodline and synchronized souls, time and space intertwined and folded. A faint, distorted phantom of an ice crystal palace manifested around Chen Chu.

It was as though the world around him had begun to overlap with an unknown realm.

At the core of the Ice Crystal Shrine lay a several-hundred-meter-long colossal beast that was shrouded in immense pressure. It was clad in menacing, heavy black-red scales.

Atop the beast’s enormous head, the Little Purple Dragon, barely two meters long, hung upside down. Its tail was wrapped around the tip of a black dragon horn, happily swinging back and forth.

The Little Purple Dragon squeaked joyfully and innocently.

Space-time power around the black-red beast soon surged, distorting the scene. A translucent projection emerged.

Within the projection sat a young man in a meditative pose. His long black hair fluttered despite the absence of wind, and countless flowing bluish lights surrounded him and formed an altar that encompassed space and time.

Eeya!?

The Little Purple Dragon paused mid-swing, tilting its head in confusion as it stared at Chen Chu’s projection.

It felt a strange sense of familiarity with the man—almost as if it could see the Demonic Dragon in him.

Big Bro’s still sleeping under me, though...

The projected youth slowly opened his eyes. His gaze penetrated the vast distances of time and space. Upon finding the Little Purple Dragon, his lips curled into a faint smile.

Chen Chu pressed a finger against his lips, gesturing to the little dragon to stay quiet.

“

Shh

!”

T

he Little Purple Dragon instinctively nodded obediently.

Gradually, the space-time ripples weakened, and Chen Chu’s phantom, along with the bluish altar, slowly faded away.

Eeya?

With curiosity and puzzlement in its eyes, the Little Purple Dragon transformed into a streak of light, rushing to the spot where Chen Chu’s projection had been.

At the same time, atop a peak surrounded by icy clouds and mist, the Azure-White Colossal Dragon was stirred awake once again. It turned its head slightly in bewilderment.

"What an immense space-time force... and the aura of a summoning contract? Has that little one forged another similar summoning pact with some other creature?"

As the Azure-White Colossal Dragon marveled at the surroundings of the Demonic Dragon, Chen Chu also felt a sense of surprise.

"Xiao Yi, that little one... sensed that my soul aura integrated into the altar, didn’t it? As expected of an innate sacred lifeform."

With a flicker of thought, Chen Chu caused the bluish altar to glow brilliantly once more. The countless runic sequence chains retreated rapidly, condensing back into a five-layer altar mark on the back of his hand.

Simultaneously, the details of the secret art on the attribute page changed.

[Secret Arts]

Space-Time Summoning Mark

- A summoning secret art enhanced to the extreme. Upon activation, it forms a fully manifested altar that channels power through the vast reaches of space-time.

- Projection Summoning: Resonates bloodlines, synchronizes souls, and consumes energy to summon a projection of a colossal beast named Thunder Fiery. The projection possesses 30% of the summoned being’s strength.

- True Body Summoning: Temporarily reverse time and space to summon the true form of the colossal beast Thunder Fiery. After the summoning, the beast will be pulled back by the forces of space-time.

- Note: The longer the summoned projection exists, the greater the energy consumption.

- Hint: True form summoning involves the principles of time, space, and causality, placing immense strain on the soul and bloodline energy. Use with caution.

With the Space-Time Summoning Secret Art enhanced to its maximum, it had transformed into a mark. Once activated, it could manifest as a true void altar to summon the avatar of a colossal beast.

Additionally, the projection summoning ability remained, capable of summoning an avatar with 30% of the colossal beast’s strength for prolonged combat.

Having completed the secret art enhancement and adding another trump card to his arsenal, Chen Chu turned his gaze to the remaining 17,024 attribute points.

"Burn 1,000 attribute points to enter the epiphany state."

Boom!

A mysterious, divine power surged around Chen Chu as he entered the epiphany state. His spiritual will shrouded the space-time mark on the back of his left hand.

In Chen Chu's consciousness, the space-time mark magnified infinitely, transforming into a colossal altar tens of thousands of meters tall and as large as the void. Countless profound runes circulated within it.

Ever since his soul ability had undergone a divine transformation, Chen Chu's connection to the world had become seamless, granting him comprehension skills rivaling those of top-tier geniuses except for An Fuqing. She was a monster with an innate talent for comprehension, capable of entering an epiphany state at will. Hence, she couldn’t be compared to ordinary cultivators.

Following his transformation into an Innate Demon God, Chen Chu's body and soul had become even more attuned to heaven and earth, further elevating his abilities to cultivate and comprehend.

With attribute points burned to support him, Chen Chu now found his space-time mark—which had been enhanced to its utmost limits—suddenly seemingly incredibly simple. In an instant, countless insights flooded his mind.

Chen Chu planned to integrate the spatial runes engraved on his right arm into the space-time mark, making modifications to perfect his previous concepts of summoning breath and orbital strike attacks.

By summoning a single breath or strike, energy consumption would be significantly reduced and also enrich his combat repertoire.

For example, after breaking through to the king level, he could infiltrate the Purgatory Clan’s rear lines and summon the Demonic Dragon's full-powered strike from hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away.

One attack from the colossal beast alone could obliterate a massive city fortified with king-level defenses; it could annihilate countless Purgatory Demons. Its destructive power would surpass humanity's current crystalline hydrogen bombs with megaton yields.

In the mythical world, the absence of satellites orbiting the atmosphere had severely hindered human technology, making long-range missiles incapable of decisive strikes from millions of kilometers away.

Chen Chu, however, was different. His mobility and stealth far exceeded that of modern weapons, and he didn’t require positioning systems. Standing a hundred kilometers above ground, he could launch an attack on any target within sight.

...

Thousands of kilometers away from the Abyssal Battlefield, legions from the Purgatory Demon Clan’s rear lines—including newly conscripted vassal armies—set up camp.

Among the alien races were ten-meter-tall beings with horse-like lower bodies and bull-headed humanoid upper bodies. They were clad in heavy armor inscribed with glowing runes.

Another race stood three meters tall. They had four arms, two heads, and menacing, bat-like wings.

In the skies above them circled tens of thousands of flying colossal beasts—each at least level 7 and had wingspans of a hundred meters. Their violent roars shook the heavens.

The most striking of all was an army of lava monsters, each towering between tens to dozens of meters tall, as if forged from molten rock.

The army scorched every piece of land they passed passed with an aura of devastation, igniting and melting the earth into rivers of lava.

Above the armies, towering fortresses floated at an altitude of 100,000 meters. Waves of dark demonic qi surged like tsunamis around them, blotting out the sky.

Resting atop the fortresses, in a pocket dimension layered with space, was an enormous floating city that was dozens of kilometers in diameter. At its center stood an imposing palace.

Towering demonic pillars hundreds of meters thick and thousands of meters tall extended skyward from either side of the grand hall. Seated upon them were over thirty figures, each radiating the fearsome aura of demon kings.

Beneath the pillars, countless Purgatory Demons stood densely packed. The weakest among them was at the Eighth Demonic Mark. Those closest to the pillars were even stronger, having reached the Ninth Demonic Mark.

At the base of the most prominent demonic pillars loomed several Purgatory nobles exuding late-stage Ninth Demonic Mark power, their auras approaching the strength of demon kings.

Their presence alone was awe-inspiring.

Among them stood one particular figure: a three-meter-tall youth, clad in dark golden armor and crowned with nine sharp demon horns.

Though the Purgatory Demon only had a middle-stage Ninth Demonic Mark aura, the nobles instinctively bowed their heads as he glanced at them, unable to meet his eyes.

Even the late-stage Ninth Demonic Mark powerhouses beneath the pillars revealed a trace of dread when looking at the youth.

Soon, all nobles, demon kings atop the pillars, and the five imposing great demon kings standing at the forefront all bowed respectfully.

In front of them all, two vague yet towering figures stood tall. The void around them crumbled, principles dissipated, and even time and space twisted into their own unique domains.

"Deorus, is the so-called human mech really as powerful enough as you say that it requires me to descend?" Kaodes asked deeply, shaking the heavens and the earth.

Demon God Deorus replied coldly, "That growing biological mech is only a potential problem for us in the future. It is not strong enough for you to take action yet. I just summoned you to deal a heavy blow to humanity."

"A heavy blow to humanity?"

"Precisely. Their race’s war potential is astonishing. Despite over two hundred day-cycles of battling my empire, their strength did not decline. On the contrary, their mid-level to high-level forces have grown several times over.

"From being suppressed across the forbidden zone, they are now simultaneously fighting both my forces and the Battle Demon Empire of Greeta. They also have someone as strong as demon gods confronting me on both frontlines along with three marshals each, all of whom can stand on equal grounds with great demon kings.

"They have slightly fewer people as powerful as legion-level demon kings leading their forces than I do. However, they are using those weapons they call ‘technology’ to hold their ground. That’s why we cannot let them continue to grow. We have to find a way to deliver a crushing blow and suppress them."

"I have been stationed in the rear, keeping my focus on the Heavenly Feathered Race's battlefield,” Kaodes replied. “I did not expect the situation here to change so significantly."

From the perspective of the Purgatory True Demons, over two hundred day-cycles—which was equivalent to over twenty human years—were just two hundred days to them.

"Their race must be curbed. After we crush them, when the war with the Heavenly Feathered Race concludes, I will persuade Tyretis."

"You already have a plan, I presume?"

"It’s simple: we mix truth and deception. I will spread news about sending a dozen vassal armies, several demon kings, and even a great demon king to the frontlines to confuse humanity.

"When the battle reaches its peak and that biological mech appears on the battlefield, You will show up to obliterate it. I will then hold off their demon-god-level combatant while you eliminate their legion-level experts to weaken humanity’s high-level forces."

Schemes and plots were no longer effective in a War of Civilizations. The balance of power would not tip merely because of the presence or absence of one king-level combatant.

Even those as powerful as heavenly kings could not single-handedly influence the outcome of a War of Civilizations.

Past attempts at assassinations, ambushes, and luring humans to betray their kind—these strategies only served to weaken the influx of fresh blood to the opposing forces.

In the end, the decisive battle would still take place on the frontlines, where both sides would pit their foundations and raw strength against one another.

For instance, a single large-scale war could wipe out tens of thousands of elite soldiers, including a dozen Eighth Heavenly Realm and Ninth Heavenly Realm high-tier experts. Still, in the next day-cycle, war would erupt again.

By continuously killing tens of thousands of elites, dozens of Eighth Heavenly Realm experts, and several Ninth Heavenly Realm experts in each battle, the advanced combatants would gradually dwindle.

The loss of mid-level and high-level combatants would ultimately lead to top-level experts being worn down, injured repeatedly, and eventually killed, becoming fewer and fewer.

Once the enemy was exhausted to its limit, they could launch an extermination war, bringing together all their forces to annihilate the entire civilization.

This had been the Purgatory Clan’s strategy in wars against other civilizations for years.

With dozens of mid-level and low-level vassal races under their control and boundless territories and resources at their disposal, their war potential was immense. They did not fear attrition.

In every major battle, it was always the vassal races that charged at the forefront, while the True Demons of the Purgatory Clan served as commanders and suffered minimal losses.

However, humanity’s war potential had proven to be far greater than expected. The longer the fight, the stronger they became, making even Deorus regard them gravely.

Deorus glanced at Great Demon King Barus, who had come as a reinforcement. “Barus, how goes your task?"

Barus smiled bitterly. "I haven’t made any progress yet. The pilot of that biological mech is under heavy guard. Even within the humans’ secure inner cities, she is constantly accompanied by a Seventh Demonic Mark human. Higher-level experts also lurk in the shadows."

"Half a day-cycle has already passed since I announced the high bounties, yet all we have to show for it are the three covert networks that we have already lost. Forget luring her out or taking control—we cannot even get close."

"So it will all come down to the battlefield, after all."

"Jimtore, go ahead and reveal your presence."

"As you wish."