Chapter 865: The Stream of Time and the All-Powerful Chen Chu (I)

In the mythical world, the red sun had set in the west, giving way to a blue sun that now dominated the sky. It cast an eerie, chilling light that sent shivers through every living creature.

On the other side of the sky, millions of kilometers away, dark clouds churned, blotting out the sky so completely that not even a single ray of light could pierce through. Beneath this shadowed realm, the ground was scarred with deep rifts, where molten lava surged and hissed, releasing thick plumes of toxic black smoke.

In this hellish realm, there was no sign of life. Plants and trees had withered, and once-mighty trees that stood hundreds or even thousands of meters tall were now nothing but bare black trunks.

Compared to the Dark Demonic Morkaya Empire, which was at war with the human race, the three great empires invading the Heavenly Feathered Race were even more terrifying. They contaminated everything and drove all life to extinction.

On the barren land's surface, a mountain towering tens of thousands of meters shot up abruptly from the ground. At its summit stood the massive castle of a demon king, enveloped in dense demonic qi.

The castle's main hall was formed from the skull of a draconic colossal beast, towering a thousand meters high. Three pairs of sharp dragon horns, each several hundred meters long, jutted straight into the dark clouds above, creating a scene of overwhelming dread and majesty.

Between the dragon horns stood a five-meter-tall true demon, hands clasped behind his back. He bore a striking resemblance to Zuo Jing; his face was covered with dark-golden scales, horns protruded from his head, and a pair of bat-like wings and a sharp tail extended from his back.

Staring at the massive black vortex that was piercing through the sky, Zuo Mo said in a low voice, "Still haven’t broken through to the demon god level, yet already so eager to make a move?"

Boom!

Suddenly, an ominous will descended from the dark clouds. As the clouds twisted, they formed a face of a demon god tens of thousands of meters wide, its majestic will shaking the void as a voice rang out. "Cortes, has your other true form arrived?"

"Yes." Zuo Mo gave a slight nod. "Originally, I had planned to wipe out the Heavenly Feathered Race first, then go to the humans to force him into a fight. I didn’t expect him to come to me instead."

The demon god's will resonated with an imposing hum. "Good. You’ve already reached the peak of the great demon king level and entered the state of awakening. Once you absorb your final true form, you should be able to step into the demon god level."

"As long as I absorb the last true form, I’m fully confident I’ll break through," Zuo Mo replied, a sharp gleam flashing in his demonic eyes. "Though I can vaguely sense his arrival, his presence is masked by some kind of force field. I can’t pinpoint his exact location."

The demon god’s will coldly responded, "Don't worry too much about that. You are each other’s target. The moment you leave the demonic region, he will come for you. Powerful human cultivators have appeared on the battlefield in the Eternal Divine Region, and our advance has been halted. Now that you've come out of seclusion, go and deal with them."

"The human race has shown up here?" Zuo Mo’s demonic eyes narrowed slightly.

"The Heavenly Feathered Race likely formed an alliance with that human and sent part of their forces to support them,” the will replied. “Your other true form may be hiding among them."

"In that case, I’ll go take a look at the frontlines." With that quiet remark, Zuo Mo vanished without a sound. As he departed, the massive demon god’s face in the azure sky dissipated as well.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Deep within a raging dimensional rift, a golden sphere with a diameter of a million kilometers radiated dazzling light. Inside it, a golden divine tree towering hundreds of thousands of kilometers high shimmered with brilliance.

An endless sea of demonic qi surrounded the sphere, taking the shape of phantom nine-headed demonic dragons, each stretching tens of thousands of kilometers. These beasts lashed out in fury, biting and clawing at the golden sphere.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Orbiting the golden sphere were rings of golden gears spinning like celestial bands. They crushed everything in their path, grinding the black demonic dragons to pieces. Every impact sent out a shockwave that ripped through space and time.

At the edge of the sphere stood four figures, each towering tens of thousands of meters tall. Their bodies shimmered with the radiance of principles, resonating with the Eternal Divine Tree and releasing a heavy, suppressive pressure that weighed down upon all of heaven and earth.

Facing off these four Heavenly Feathered divine kings were eight demon gods who had revealed their true forms. They surrounded the four kings from all directions, each manifesting a ten-thousand-meter-tall body that stood within the demonic qi. Behind each of them loomed a vast abyssal world, from which an invisible aura of darkness, malevolence, and absolute despair slowly spread through the air.

Among the eight demon gods, the one with the most powerful aura was a blurry figure seated on the skull of a colossal beast, which was as large as ten thousand meters and looked like a gray rock.

Like Deorus, this demon god had defeated an ancient creature and used its skull as a throne. However, it was clear that the creature it had slain was far more powerful than the one defeated by Deorus, whose throne, after refinement, measured only a few hundred meters across.

Sitting high upon the ancient throne, the demon god’s voice rumbled through the void. "Metast, do you really think bringing in a few human cultivators will save your race from annihilation?"

From within the golden sphere, endless white light radiated like a blazing sun. At its center stood a figure with twelve white wings of light, resembling an angel. A deep and authoritative voice slowly responded, "I don’t know if our fate can be reversed. But I do know one thing, and that is you still don’t have the guts to step into the Eternal Realm."

"Metast, don’t waste your breath. Provocation has no effect on us. We may fear that eternal tree, and our true forms cannot enter that realm. But do you really think you can hold out much longer?"

The angelic figure replied coldly. "We'll see. Who will win and who will lose remains uncertain."

Beneath the two divine kings, nearly half of the golden sphere had already been corrupted, and the ninth layer of the plane was polluted into an abyss.

At that moment, five other neighboring planes were also being ravaged by darkness. Countless projections of true demons and demonized aliens engaged in a violent battle with forces of the Heavenly Feathered Race.

These projections were simply extensions of the demon gods' wills and principles. If they managed to destroy those five planes and reach the trunk of the Eternal Divine Tree, they could harness the power of the Supreme Abyss and unleash it to engulf the entire realm.

This was why the sudden appearance of powerful human cultivators and battle-patterned mechs quickly drew their attention. The demon gods of the eight great empires were not unfamiliar with humans, just as Deorus and the others were well aware of the Heavenly Feathered Race and the other battlefield.

However, to the other six demon god empires, human civilization was trivial and unworthy of attention. After all, those demon gods didn’t even view Deorus and his fellow demon gods as worth taking seriously, much less a so-called minor race they had been skirmishing with for more than two hundred day-cycles.

Unfortunately, the Heavenly Feathered Race had withdrawn into the Eternal Realm. The Eternal Divine Tree within had a life stage that had already half-stepped into the true ancient spirit level. Its true form was vast and boundless, and the origin of its principles was as immense as the sea.

As long as the Heavenly Feather divine kings continued to protect it, all the demon gods could do was slowly and steadily contaminate and erode it bit by bit, even though they held a massive advantage.

***

"Fool. You actually tried to invade five planes at once? Haven't you heard that it's better to break one finger than to injure all ten[1]?"

On the already corrupted ninth layer of the plane, Zuo Mo stood atop the head of a massive titan demonic dragon more than two thousand meters long. Standing five meters tall with his hands clasped behind his back, he looked out with a gaze as cold as ice.

In front of him was a great demon king over two thousand meters tall, with three heads and eight arms, emanating the aura of a peak great demon king. This great demon king stood on the cracked earth, surrounded by roiling demonic qi.

Faced with Zuo Mo’s scorn, this enormous being just bitterly smiled. "Cortes, I also wanted to gather all our forces and focus them on a single plane. But the problem is, I can only command the Morro legion. The legions from the other two empires chose to attack those other planes. I had no say in it."

"Hmph. And they made you interim Grand Marshal?" Zuo Mo snorted coldly.

Still, he knew this couldn’t be blamed on this particular great demon king. Without Zuo Mo's direct oversight, the purpose behind the legions splitting up to attack five planes at once was obvious. The planes of the Eternal Realm existed in overlapping layers of space and time; they weren’t arranged in a straight line, nor were they positioned one above the other. This meant that all of those planes were equally close to the Divine Tree’s main trunk.

Zuo Mo said in a cold and deep voice, "Tyrodel, notify all legions from the three great empires. Pull back all forces from the frontlines and launch a concentrated assault on the twelfth plane. I want this plane conquered within one star-hour. Tell them this: Anyone who disobeys is to be executed. It doesn't matter if they're a demon king or a great demon king, if they defy my order, I will personally strike them down."

Zuo Mo’s words caused the great demon king to stiffen, but he knew full well that Zuo Mo was serious. Since he first appeared on the Heavenly Feathered Battlefield a few years ago, he had risen to command the three great empires with the strength of a late-stage great demon king.

By that time, he had already executed three demon kings and one great demon king for defying his orders. He had even drawn out and wiped out five alien races that followed the rebel demon kings, slaughtering tens of millions with ruthless brutality.

1. This is a Chinese saying that means it’s better to focus your efforts on thoroughly defeating one target than to spread yourself thin trying to damage many at once. ☜