Chapter 938: The Fifth Pillar of the Human Race, Secrets of the Ancient Past (II)

Across the table, the Primordial King raised both hands. Black light shimmered from his palms, gathering between them to form a black rune in the shape of an ouroboros. As the rune emerged, Chen Chu immediately sensed a vast and powerful void energy radiating from it.

Boom!

The ouroboros rune scattered into numerous rune sequence chains that rotated and circled above the round desk, gradually forming a pitch-black interface.

On the other side of the interface lay a world of complete darkness. In the void, a majestic palace of white jade silently floated, encircled by an enormous black ouroboros spanning a million meters.

Above the palace gates hung four ancient characters from the Lost Civilization: "Void Sea Temple."

At that moment, the Primordial King’s aged voice echoed again. He began to slowly chant in the Ancient Civilization’s language. "As the Guardian of Civilization, bearing the title of the Third Guardian, and witnessed by the Fourth Guardian, I hereby grant inheritance access to this human powerhouse."

His voice pierced through the black interface and resonated within the void world. At the same time, a black rune appeared in Heavenly King Zhenwu’s hands as well. His rune was not an ouroboros, but resembled the mythical creature Hou[1] from ancient legend.

The moment the black rune condensed, a fierce and domineering roar rang out across the void, and the entire temple trembled slightly. The ouroboros surrounding it suddenly raised its head and also let out a roar. Its massive crimson eyes turned toward Chen Chu.

As the gaze of that colossal beast fell upon him, a force capable of distorting space-time descended, trying to pull him into the void. Just as Chen Chu instinctively prepared to release his power, Zhenwu calmly said, "Chen Chu, don’t resist."

Very well.

Sensing no danger through his Insightful Eye, Chen Chu nodded. The power pulled him in, and he vanished and reappeared inside the towering temple.

From the outside, it had appeared ten thousand meters tall and covered dozens of kilometers. Inside, it was vast and boundless. Enormous jade pillars rose like mountains into the sky, disappearing into the depths of the void.

On both sides of the temple floated more than a hundred jade thrones, arranged according to the numbers 108 and 36. At the central seat stood seven imperial thrones, veiled in shadow, half-visible and half-concealed.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Crack!

Before Chen Chu could take in his surroundings, a massive black eye appeared in the void above. Within it, phantom-like gears spun slowly. As it gazed down at Chen Chu’s tiny figure, a cold mechanical voice echoed from within the eye.

[Commencing civilization access verification. Please do not resist.]

Hum!

A faint black beam of light shot out from the massive eye, forming an illusory gear that circled around Chen Chu. A formless ripple swept across his entire body.

[Current cultivation level of the verifier: eleventh tier, middle stage. An embryonic principle has emerged within the body. Principle intensity... at supreme level.]

[

Beep beep!

High-level divine ability fluctuations detected within the verifier. True form contains twelfth-tier vitality. Presence of a monarch-level weapon confirmed.]

[Comprehensive combat strength: twelfth tier. Meets foundational requirements. Proceeding to soul inspection.]

Hum!

The gear surrounding Chen Chu shifted in color, turning from black to gold. A hazy golden glow swept over him once more, penetrating into his body. However, as the golden wave touched Chen Chu’s soul and attempted a deeper probe, it was shattered by a powerful backlash.

The eye trembled at once, emitting a rapid alarm. [Soul strength is extremely high. Precise scan is impossible. Soul intensity exceeds the standard threshold. Precise detection is not possible...]

It seemed that Chen Chu’s soul was too powerful and surpassed the eye’s detection capacity. After a few minutes of chaos, the eye gradually stabilized. However, when it once again turned to look at Chen Chu, a subtle shift could be sensed in its gaze. Yet the voice remained cold and mechanical.

[Next, age will be inspected. Please do not resist. I am merely a principle-driven system following programmed procedures. I possess no malice, nor independent thought.]

As it spoke, the gear within the eye turned white. A phantom of a white gear enveloped Chen Chu, spinning and releasing an arcane ripple. As the white light passed over him, a dormant power deep in Chen Chu’s genetic structure stirred.

[Verification complete. Life wheel index: seventeen. Age: seventeen... seventeen years old!] In that instant, the eye burst with radiant light, flashing with disbelief and shock.

Boom!

The Void Eye exploded violently, turning into wisps of black energy that twisted in the air, converging and gradually forming a black rune infused with the power of principles. At the same time, a voice filled with majesty echoed from the void. "The inheritor meets all criteria. You are now granted access to enter and exit the Secret Sea. May you ignite the beacon for the human race. May civilization endure forever."

As that voice sounded, the black rune finished condensing. It took the shape of a creature with twin wings on its back, resembling the mythical Yinglong[2] from ancient legend.

Chen Chu remained calm, quietly watching as the black rune gently fell into his hand.

There was no sudden burst of power, no principle enhancement. The rune silently merged into his palm. In that instant, Chen Chu sensed an unseen connection form between himself and a certain part of the void. At the same time, a stream of information regarding the role of inheritor flooded into his mind.

The Secret Sea of the Void originated from one of the seven ancient emperors of the Lost Civilization, the one named "Void." This emperor had mastered the principle of void and possessed immense strength. He could freely traverse between the void and the material world, essentially having become a different form of void creature.

Sensing the omnipresence of the void, and seeing that the Blue Planet was facing a crisis of spiritual energy depletion, Emperor Void proposed a bold solution: to carve out a new realm and elevate the entire human race.

This so-called mass ascension wasn’t to become immortals, but to transform all humans into void creatures—beings capable of walking both in reality and the void. At the time, some emperors and kings opposed the idea, while others supported it, and it became one of the key "salvation plans."

Later, when Emperor Void had just begun creating a new void realm, one of the other emperors, while exploring the fabric of space-time, accidentally linked to a chaotic realm. It was riddled with spatial disorder and connected, through a powerful and mysterious world fragment, to countless other worlds.

Not long after that discovery, humanity launched the expedition plan to plunder the origin of other worlds and use it to restore the Blue Planet. At the same time, they also prepared for failure. Thus, when summoning their high-level forces and legions, they left behind contingencies—the Void Continent and the path built upon it.

Across the Void Continent, scattered legacies of numerous king-level war generals had been left behind. Along the path were even more formidable war-general-level, monarch-level, and a single emperor-level inheritances.

Among these legacies was the Secret Sea of the Void, which ranked just beneath the emperor’s inheritance. It contained weapons once wielded by Emperor Void’s generals and monarchs. The person who first inherited the Secret Sea of the Void was none other than the First Councilor, Qian Tian.

After that, there was silence. The true treasures of the Secret Sea had long been divided among the strongest of the human race. Many of the weapons left behind by former monarchs and war generals had already been claimed.

Qian Tian, the Celestial King, and the Primordial King each took one such weapon, which was how they were able to suppress the Era of Darkness so swiftly after leaving the Void Continent.

It also became the source of their strength to confront the demon gods head-on in the years that followed. Otherwise, with only two decades of accumulation, how could the human race have possibly withstood the invasions of the two Purgatory Empires, much less survived for this long?

The so-called identity of "human inheritor” referred to a permission granted for one day in the future—should the bearer fall in battle—to undergo void transformation through the power of the Secret Sea, becoming a void lifeform of the same supreme principle level. This would serve as a final line of defense for the human race.

Moreover, the Secret Sea also functioned as a coordinate. Three years ago, when Qian Tian completed its full refinement and unfurled it deep within the mythical world’s void, it began emitting faint ripples in all directions within the void.

So long as Emperor Void, the original creator of the Secret Sea, still existed and had not perished, he would be able to sense the Secret Sea he had created and return once more. Yet three years had passed without a single response from that emperor, leaving the First Councilor and others to suspect that the emperor might have already fallen.

Phew!

Chen Chu slowly let out a breath after finishing the influx of information. His gaze swept over the row of empty thrones, and he shook his head slightly. With a thought, he vanished from the temple and reappeared in the conference room.

Seeing this, the Primordial King and Zhenwu both smiled, as Zhenwu chuckled. "So, Chen Chu, how does it feel to have gained an extra life?"

"Not bad," Chen Chu replied with a slight smile.

In truth, the ability to transform into a void lifeform didn’t mean much to him. Over on the Destructive Dragon Emperor’s side, the Power of Undying had already allowed it to condense two drops of Rebirth Blood, essentially granting two extra lives. While Chen Chu’s main body didn’t possess resurrection abilities, he did have his ultimate move.

Faced with an invincible foe, Chen Chu could summon the Dragon Emperor’s true form. Upon divine transformation and fusion, he would at minimum reach the true spirit level. If that still wasn’t enough to win, he doubted even the Secret Sea would be of any help. After all, Emperor Void had only reached the true spirit level.

Furthermore, this ability to transform into a void lifeform came with significant limitations. For instance, one would be suppressed by the material world's laws. The stronger one's power, the greater the suppression, just like the void monsters.

The difference, however, was that void lifeforms could freely traverse between the void and the material world, whereas void monsters had great difficulty descending into the material world.

Having finished the inheritance process, Chen Chu paused in thought and looked toward the Primordial King. "Sir, you’re aware of my talent in weapon refinement, aren’t you?"

"...We are. Why do you ask?" the Primordial King replied after a brief pause.

Chen Chu slowly said "My refinement talent allows me to draw on a power similar to bloodline strength, and greatly shorten the time needed to temper weapons. To a certain degree, I can even bypass foundational principles and forcibly enhance the power of weapons, whether mine or someone else’s. Now that war is imminent, I want to see whether I can help upgrade the level of your weapons."

Gasp!

Both the Primordial King and Zhenwu drew a sharp breath, staring at Chen Chu in astonishment. It had been no secret among the upper echelons of humanity that Chen Chu possessed extraordinary talent in weapon refinement. After he had smelted a pseudo-world-level demonic weapon in front of Zhenwu, the latter had already suspected that Chen Chu’s talent was far from ordinary. However, they hadn’t expected that he could also enhance the weapons of others.

"Chen Chu, take a look at mine first." The Primordial King reacted at once. With a flick of his hand, he produced a mace over ten meters long, its pitch-black surface covered in sharp protrusions and ancient markings. A formless pressure emanated from it, distorting the space around them. The entire battleship sank slightly from its presence.

With just a glance, Chen Chu could tell the weapon was immensely powerful. Its refinement path differed from the world-level route, but it was tyrannical and utterly destructive.

As he grasped the mace and saw a row of translucent characters appear before him, Chen Chu couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

1. Also called the Denglong, the Hou was one of the sons of the Dragon King and was a guardian entity. When depicted on Huabiaos, ceremonial columns in traditional architecture, it symbolized sending the will of heaven to humans and delivering the conditions of the people to the heavens. ☜

2. The Yinglong was a winged dragon and rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology. ☜