Chapter 644: Human, God, Demon, As One (II)

Amid the raging turbulence of fractured space, Chen Chu, clad in black and red battle armor, drifted through the chaotic currents, his aura waning and his vitality nearly depleted.

This experiment—merging his soul with the divine transformation of a power projection—had taken a far greater toll than he had expected.

Divine transformation was a transcendence achieved through the resonance of soul abilities, merging two complete souls into one. However, this time, the fusion involved only the power projection of the Heavenly Azure Dragon Emperor.

Therefore, it was entirely Chen Chu's soul power that had been burning, making it an incomplete fusion.

As a result, while he had appeared invincible, it was merely due to the overlapping power of twelve high-level laws and three divine abilities, rather than a true fusion and transcendence.

If it had been a true divine fusion, where all laws, divine abilities, and physical bodies fully merged, the transformation would have been far more terrifying. This was evident from the experiment itself. After all, even just layering powers had made him nearly unstoppable, capable of destroying everything in his path.

However, because it wasn't a true divine fusion, as the summoning came to an end, the Dragon Emperor’s projection vanished instantly under the forces of time, space, and causality. At the same time, Chen Chu, whose soul had already begun burning in preparation for fusion, lost its resonance target.

As a result, his soul power was nearly depleted, and his soul's true form had sustained damage.

At that moment, deep within Chen Chu’s body, the towering 120-meter-tall figure of the Soul Emperor had become faint and translucent, covered in countless cracks—even with the Soul-Suppressing Imperial Seal in its left hand keeping it stable.

Under the further refinement of the primordial principle, the Soul-Suppressing Imperial Seal became even more enigmatic, radiating waves of principles that enveloped his soul's true form and slowly repaired the fractures.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

However, the self-repair process was slow. At this pace, full recovery would take six months unless soul-related resources were used to speed up the healing.

Another possible solution was breaking through with the Taixu Nether Light Scripture. Coincidentally, Chen Chu had previously destroyed dozens of war puppets at the Ninth Heavenly Realm and above.

If he could gather their Soul Crystals and convert them into soul points, he would have enough to enhance the Nether Light Scripture to the sixth stage, allowing him to condense a true soul form and touch upon the laws of the soul.

Unfortunately, while chasing Xiao Tianyi, he had missed the opportunity to recover the Soul Crystals from their battle.

Drifting within the violent spatial turbulence, Chen Chu let the chaotic currents sweep over him, like a lone leaf tossed upon a vast ocean, as he pondered the gains of this monumental battle.

Yet, despite the raging storms that could injure even Ninth Heavenly Realm cultivators, none could come within a few meters of Chen Chu, repelled by an invisible force surrounding him.

Although Chen Chu had exhausted his power in this battle, the defensive reinforcement from the four worlds was still active. With the four layers combined, he could ignore any attack below the mythical level.

While reflecting on the experience of this battle, Chen Chu diverted some attention to monitor the changes in the marks of time on his arm.

The backlash from summoning the colossal beast projection this time was actually not as severe as it had been during the Abyssal Battlefield incident. Back then, the sheer amount of Heavenly Reincarnation Elixir consumed was enough to make even supreme cultivators feel the sting of its loss.

However, perhaps due to the prolonged exposure to time erosion, the corrosive effect was also several times stronger than before. Chen Chu could even faintly sense the flow of time swirling around his left arm.

Despite the potent time corrosion that would typically lure time-based creatures, none had come close to him. It remained uncertain whether this was due to their absence in the area or if the level of time erosion was still insufficient to draw them in.

Yet, while no time-based creatures had appeared, Chen Chu’s presence in the raging chaotic currents had drawn the attention of a powerful alien.

In the void, a hundred kilometers away, a member of an alien race with a ferocious face, horns on its head, and a towering height of over twenty meters hid behind a meteoroid spanning more than ten kilometers.

Gazing at Chen Chu, who lay motionless amid the raging energy storm, with an aura so weak it was barely detectable, the alien's eyes flickered with a cold gleam.

Yet, despite the apparent opportunity, the alien refrained from attacking right away. The battle between Chen Chu and Xiao Tianyi had proven Chen Chu to be far too strong.

It waited for another ten minutes, watching as Chen Chu remained adrift in the chaotic currents, seemingly on the verge of death.

Seeing this, the alien’s killing intent surged as it gritted its teeth. "Damn human... How dare you kill my brother!"

Without further hesitation, the alien decided to make a move, unwilling to risk giving Chen Chu any more time to recover.

It took out a massive bow, over thirty meters tall, crafted from the polished spine of a special colossal beast, with beast tendons as its string. Then, it drew a more than forty-meter-long arrow made from black beast bone.

Hum!

As the alien pulled back the bowstring, the engraved runes across the weapon ignited, releasing concentric waves of black light that pulsed with a sharp and menacing aura.

Whoosh!

With a flick of its fingers, the arrow shot forth, transforming into a streak of darkness that tore through space. Moving at dozens of times the speed of sound, it traversed over a hundred kilometers in an instant, streaking across the void like a bolt of black lightning.

Just as the sharp arrow reached five meters from Chen Chu, it slammed into an invisible crystalline barrier. The impact created a massive explosion, sending out shockwaves of black energy.

Yet, despite the devastating impact, comparable to a nuclear explosion, the transparent crystalline barrier remained unscathed, not even trembling in the slightest.

The alien warrior's eyes widened in shock. "Impossible!"

From within the explosion, Chen Chu’s eyes slowly opened, his expression indifferent. "Why would it be impossible? I’ve just slain a being comparable to the king of gods. Did you really think you could ambush me?"

"Damn it!" Regret flashed in the alien’s eyes as it realized its miscalculation. Chen Chu had seemed gravely injured from his previous battle, but he still had power to spare.

However, there was no time for regret. Just as the alien considered escaping, Chen Chu had already appeared beside it. With a simple clench of his fist, the space around the alien tightened.

"No!"

With a simple motion, Chen Chu crushed the Ninth Heavenly Realm alien, reducing it to nothing but a mist of blood scattering across the void. Then his figure flickered and vanished.

By now, his physical strength had recovered significantly. This was the true terror of a body enhanced to its absolute peak. His power was unrivaled, and his regenerative ability was just as formidable.

With each step through the void, Chen Chu's figure blurred, crossing hundreds of kilometers in the blink of an eye as he rushed toward the black stone gate at full speed.

Although Xiao Tianyi had fallen by Chen Chu’s hand, the ruins, ravaged by their battle, were now on the brink of total collapse.

While the battle had been brief, the two had clashed across more than ten thousand kilometers. Their fight left behind countless zones of destruction where spatial turbulence raged.

On his way back, he collected a few ordinary god-level resources along the way.

In no time, Chen Chu traversed thousands of kilometers back to the central region, where a single strike from him had left the land engulfed in searing lava, scarred by vast black rifts spanning hundreds of kilometers.

Deep within the spatial rifts that had lost their ability to repair themselves, powerful devouring forces surged forth, consuming all surrounding energy and matter.

As soon as Chen Chu approached the blast zone, he spotted a black, transparent crystal about the size of a water basin, swirling amid the turbulent currents. A faint smile crossed his lips.

One piece, then another, and another... Circling the explosion zone, Chen Chu quickly gathered eleven mythical-level and twenty-three level 9 Soul Crystals.

The rest had been either completely destroyed by the force of his divine transformation or consumed by the spatial rifts. At the time, he was in a hurry to pursue Xiao Tianyi, so he unleashed a large-scale destructive attack, obliterating the entire war formation in a single strike and even tearing through the void itself.

Just as Chen Chu finished collecting the Soul Crystals and stood motionless in the void, the black stone gate, which had remained standing despite the intense battle, suddenly trembled and emitted a faint resonance toward him.