Chapter 871: Neutron Star Evolution? Preparing for the Final Battle

"Dark Soul Stone. This one stays... This seems to be a fragment of a principle-level forbidden weapon. Its energy is concealed... I’ll refine it and consume it together with the others later."

On a bronze boulder a hundred meters tall and a kilometer in diameter, Chen Chu sat cross-legged, sorting through the spoils taken from the storage equipment of several demon kings.

Any mineral-based item, whether the dark red stones burning with fire or the Nether Iron radiating ominous demonic qi, was placed to one side, while the remains of unidentified colossal beasts—horns, scales, and hides—were set aside in a separate pile.

He also temporarily stored several items laced with deadly toxins, imbued with dark powers, or forbidden weapons that could only be wielded by abyssal power. These included ancient relics looted from alien civilizations.

Once he returned, he planned to hand them all over to the Federation’s Logistics Department. There, professionals would reforge the forbidden weapons, repurposing them into weapons suitable for human cultivators.

As for cultivation resources, it was rare to find any in the storage of mythical-level and above powerhouses. Those that could be used had long been absorbed and refined; the rest would have been traded for what was needed.

By the time he had emptied more than a dozen storage devices, a small mountain of minerals had already piled up beside Chen Chu, glowing in vibrant colors and exuding fluctuations of law.

Anything that had caught the eye of a demon king or great demon king was at least of god-level quality, suitable for repairing damaged weapons after a battle or tempering battle armor.

Although most cultivation-use items had already been used up, the remainder, along with various plundered relics from other civilizations, still held value.

Rip!

Chen Chu suddenly thrust both hands into the void and tore it apart. The space shattered, splitting open a black rift a hundred meters long that pierced through to the planar world.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One after another, the bones, horns, scales, and other materials of mythical-level and higher colossal beasts dropped into the planes, where they were immediately struck by thundering blue-violet lightning from above and shattered. Their remains were refined into pure essence and devoured by the world.

With the recent reinforcement by the remains of ancient titans and several titan-level beasts, the planar world had expanded to over 4,500 kilometers, now resembling an enormous continent. However, despite its vastness, the world was utterly unsuitable for life.

The immense gravitational pressure of the land, nearly a hundred times greater than that of Blue Planet, would cause the blood vessels of any ordinary person to burst under the strain.

Meanwhile, raging gales howled across the world with the speed of category 5 hurricanes. Solidified black astral winds sliced through the surface like blades, peeling off entire layers of earth. Thunderbolts fell incessantly, and the scorching temperatures, often over a hundred degrees Celsius, cracked the land like an infernal furnace.

After tossing the "junk" into the planar world, Chen Chu summoned his attribute interface with a thought, eyes falling on the remaining attribute points.

After reforging the Innate Demon God Body and the avatar learning its tenth innate ability, the attribute points he had converted from Luo Fei’s Life Crystals were now down to 90,000.

After a brief pause, Chen Chu mentally commanded,

Burn 80,000 attribute points to enter the epiphany state.

His lightning and flame laws were already near perfection, while his Laws of Void, Death, and Soul had reached the advanced stage. Normally, it would take months of cultivation to break through without burning attribute points, even with his exceptional talent.

Once all five high-level laws were perfected and his cultivation path fully forged, Chen Chu, who already possessed his own internal planar world, could step directly into the heavenly king level.

At that point, the five high-level laws would begin fusing with the supreme law. Coupled with his formidable true form and several divine abilities, he would have the strength to slay a demon god even as a newly ascended heavenly king.

Boom!

A powerful surge of energy formed within his body and enveloped him in a profound epiphany aura, aligning his mind perfectly with heaven and earth. In this state, his comprehension of laws and cultivation speed increased dozens of times over. The cost, however, was ten times higher than usual.

Hum!

Ripples of dark-golden light radiated from Chen Chu, forming a glowing hemispherical sphere a kilometer wide that enveloped the surrounding minerals. Empowered by Dark Star power, black, red, blue-violet and other specks of light began to drift out from the ores, streaming endlessly toward him and merging silently into his skin upon contact.

The power of the Dark Star ability was peculiar. It wasn’t a natural force in the usual sense; it could convert heavy metals into a state between matter and energy and fuse them with flesh and blood.

As he devoured large quantities of god-level minerals and heavy elements, an incredibly dense aura began to emanate from his body, making the surrounding space groan under the overwhelming pressure.

On the microscopic level, every cell in Chen Chu’s body began to collapse and divide at a frenzied pace as they absorbed large quantities of metallic elements. He radiated metallic luster in hues of red, dark gold, and more.

As more and more of his muscles, fibers, bones, and fascia transformed into what resembled metallic planets, the electromagnetic waves emanating from his body grew increasingly intense. These were neither a life field nor a law domain. Instead, they resembled the process of atomic nuclei compressing and merging with protons to form neutrons.

Even Chen Chu, who was observing everything through micro-level perception, paused slightly at this scene. He quickly realized a stark contrast between his own transformation and the Dragon Emperor’s: Though both refined and fused with heavy elements and reinforced their true forms, his process was entirely different.

His cells collapsed and split on their own, releasing electromagnetic waves like miniature black holes, whereas the Dragon Emperor’s integration of heavy material merely made its flesh heavier and more durable.

What is going on here? Has the ultimate power derived from cultivating the Dark Star art returned to fundamental physical principles? Or is it because the Dragon Emperor and I follow completely different paths?

These thoughts swirled in Chen Chu’s mind.

At the same time, as his body continuously devoured the surrounding mineral-rich substances, it grew increasingly powerful. The dark-golden aura enveloping him expanded outward, greedily consuming the metallic elements contained within the Mingled Copper mountains below.

No one, however, was the center of the world. While Chen Chu advanced toward the heavenly king level, others were also busy, either preparing or cultivating.

On the barren and shattered ground of the twelfth plane, golden war fortresses soared into the clouds. Two thousand kilometers behind, twelve orbital battleships were arrayed, working in tandem with the fortresses to form a ten-thousand-kilometer-long defensive line.

Those who had performed outstandingly in the previous battle had been rewarded by the Heavenly Feathered Race. An Fuqing, for instance, received a fractured stone sword. Li Daoyi obtained a drop of root sap from the Eternal Divine Tree. Others, such as Xia Zuo aboard another warship, had also received rewards.

Luo Fei’s transformation was the most dramatic. Inside Mech No.1’s cockpit, her aura had already broken through to the middle stage of the Ninth Heavenly Realm and was advancing rapidly toward the late stage. When No. 1 stepped into the heavenly king level, it triggered a powerful surge in Luo Fei’s cultivation as well.

Outside the Eternal Realm, in the dark void, nine towering figures stood silently, exuding the pressure of the demon god level. The oppressive force made the world itself tremble.

A cold, gloomy voice echoed through the void. "To think that the human race dared to intervene, that they would send a legion to reinforce them and disrupt our assault."

Another demon god slowly said, "They are just humans. If they had already gone all out dealing with Deorus and the others, they wouldn’t have much left to send here. Not worth worrying over. I propose we gather all great demon kings and demon kings. Let us join forces and determine victory in one battle. We destroy the twelfth plane and draw down the Supreme Abyss to contaminate the Eternal Tree’s trunk."

When Zuo Mo had previously reported the appearance of other racial legions, with unclear intelligence, the attack had been temporarily halted to avoid an ambush. Yet the demon gods clearly knew far more and paid no attention to the meager reinforcements from the humans.

None of them considered the possibility of an ambush a real threat. With the combined might of the three great empires, they believed they could crush everything in their path. Even if the human race mobilized its entire population, they would still be obliterated. The peak great demon god wielded world-level weapons. Two late-stage demon gods with similar weapons stood at their side. This force was already unstoppable.

"I second the motion."

"I agree."

The remaining demon gods nodded in approval.

The Heavenly Feathered Race was already at the end of its strength. All of their gods, chief gods, and divine kings were injured, and their origin power had been severely depleted.

In contrast, the demon gods held the advantage in numbers. Through rotation warfare and ample resources, the demon kings and great demon kings of the three empires remained at peak condition.

Although many mythical-level warriors had perished over the years, many demons at the peak of the Ninth Demonic Mark had also stepped into the ranks of demon kings.

Once the six demon gods had given their approval, all eyes turned toward the shadowy figure seated atop an ancient throne in the darkness.

Shrouded in gloom, the great demon god Tyretis said in a deep, commanding voice, "This war against the Heavenly Feathered Race has indeed reached its conclusion. As for the timing, let it be at the moment the next day-cycle dawns. Aside from essential defensive personnel, gather all frontline legions, vassal race legions, and recovering demon kings of the three empires. Open all logistical reserves. Distribute all secret medicines at triple the normal rate to enhance power and heal injuries."

Soon, news of the demon god meeting spread. Zuo Mo received the command immediately. Standing atop a mountain tens of thousands of meters tall, he narrowed his eyes as he gazed toward the edge of the plane. "There are about thirteen days left until the next dawn. The timeline is tight."

Within half a month, they needed to find a way to approach that human genius, deliver the will of the great demon god Tyretis, and at the same time lure out his other true form and kill it.

As the demon gods’ orders were issued and transmitted back through a demonic spatial array, the vast territories of the three Purgatory Empires stirred restlessly. One by one, the demon kings began summoning their legions, vassal races, and mobilized hundreds of thousands of elite troops. Riding their demon king castles, they began flying toward the Heavenly Feathered Battlefield.

***

In the depths of the Chaotic Region, a great chasm severed time and space. It stretched across the void, filled with grey turbulence so dangerous that even ancient titans would instinctively avoid it.

A thousand kilometers from the chasm’s edge, the Silver Colossal Dragon and Golden-Blue Colossal Dragon, now both nearly a thousand meters long, stood on the ground, doing their best to remain upright.

Nearby, the Single-Horned Kunpeng trembled in the air. Its tail shivered as it hovered low and nervously squeaked,

Thunder Fiery, there's no path ahead. It’s terrifying up there. Let’s go around.

Even the Silver Dragon, usually bold, wore an unusually grim expression. It lowly growled,

Ao Tian, those are chaos-infused destruction currents. They can dissolve everything. We can’t go in there.

Standing beside the three colossal beasts was the black-and-red colossal beast, now grown to 3,600 meters long and over a thousand meters tall at the shoulder. It let out a faint growl, sounding rather taken aback.

Do I look that stupid?

The three beasts immediately nodded in unison.

After gaining the tenth ability to fuse heavy materials, the Destructive Dragon Emperor had refined several mineral mountain ranges. Its physical body had become more powerful and immensely heavy.

Because of that, whether it encountered scorching lands that could melt everything or forbidden zones filled with spatial rifts, it charged straight through by brute force, relying solely on its tough body. It no longer displayed the cautiousness it once had. Its advance was wild and tyrannical.

Let’s go. We’ll circle around and keep moving forward.

The Dragon Emperor turned slightly. As its massive body shifted, it stirred shockwaves like mountains collapsing and seas roaring. Every step it took shattered the ground for dozens of kilometers.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The invisible shockwave extended even farther, causing quakes across a thousand kilometers. Mountains collapsed, the land undulated like waves, and the sheer power shook the heavens. This was with the Dragon Emperor’s law domain suppressing some of its own weight. If it hadn’t done so, a single step would have plunged it deep into the earth.

The Silver Dragon flew overhead, wings spread wide. Looking down at the undulating black-and-red terrain below, it roared,

Ao Tian, we’ve been here for so long already. When are we heading back?

Though sweeping across the Chaotic Region with the Dragon Emperor had been exhilarating, it was just the four of them the whole time. The Silver Dragon was starting to feel bored. Without the reverent cheers from the orcas and Blue Giant Crab, it felt like something was missing.

The Dragon Emperor slowly growled,

No rush. We’ll return once I break through to the ancient titan level, and you three reach the titan level. We must gain something from this trip.

Though it said that, in truth they had always been following a consistent direction. The Dragon Emperor was using its connection with Chen Chu to determine the path and continually push deeper, hoping to understand just how vast the Chaotic Region truly was and what its diameter might be.

If the region’s diameter was only ten to twenty million kilometers, then once a safe route was found, they could return and consolidate their strength. It could invite the Azure-White Colossal Dragon, which should have broken through to the ancient titan level by now, and the Golden-Blue Colossal Dragon’s mother to join the Dragon Palace, along with the Time Dragon.

Add to that the two ancient titans they had already subdued, one peak titan-level Beast King, and the mythical army they had assembled, such a force would be enough to sweep through the entire Chaotic Region.

If they gathered over a dozen ancient titans, twenty or thirty titan-level beasts, and hundreds of mythical colossal beasts to march out of the Chaotic Region, they could potentially destroy the Purgatory Empires outright.

If the Purgatory Primordial Ancestor awakened, they would deal with that depending on the situation. With the Little Purple Dragon present, they could initiate divine transformation in advance, fusing beast and human forms. With absolute strength, even annihilating that ancient true spirit might not be impossible.

As the Dragon Emperor contemplated all of this, their group skirted the edges of the time-space rift. They had barely traveled a few thousand kilometers when a massive group of colossal beings suddenly appeared ahead.