Chapter 970: I Am Calamity, the Primordial Beast (III)

While the Dragon Emperor devoured the World Star Core of a Chaotic Region’s major world and rapidly grew in strength, streams of pure and potent evolutionary energy poured through the soul passage, appearing within Chen Chu.

Atop a remote mountain range, Chen Chu, who had been in seclusion for two days after absorbing all of the available cultivation resources, suddenly erupted with a majestic and domineering aura that pierced straight into the clouds.

Boom!

The heavens and earth darkened at once. Within a radius of ten thousand kilometers, transcendent energy surged violently, rushing madly toward Chen Chu.

The energy gathering was so overwhelming that it formed a funnel-shaped vortex a hundred kilometers wide in the skies above, pouring endlessly into him.

Chen Chu resembled a black hole devouring all things. His aura, having just broken through the middle stage of the heavenly king level, began to rise rapidly and steadily approach the late stage.

Behind him, a colossal phantom of a demon god appeared, ten thousand meters tall, with three faces and eight arms. Golden flames burned around it, and violet thunderbolts coiled in the air.

The demon god held a halberd in one hand, while the other six arms grasped a sun, a Heavenly Gate, and a thunderbolt battle spear. Beneath its feet stretched a vast plane filled with black astral winds and blue lightning.

Such an overwhelming presence instantly alarmed the human base over three thousand kilometers away. Even at such a distance, when cultivators like Li Daoyi and Gabriel looked up, they could faintly make out that towering figure standing upon a vast plane, its three faces and eight arms clearly visible. The formless pressure it radiated rivaled that of a true demon god. The surging aura filled the heavens, vast and boundless.

"Lord Divine Might has broken through again!"

"What? That figure is Lord Divine Might?"

"Of course. That three-faced, eight-armed demon god form is unique to him. I was lucky enough to catch a distant glimpse of it during the last war."

"Incredible. He truly deserves to be called the greatest genius in human history."

"Hahaha... Last time, he was already able to slay three demon gods. Now that his cultivation has advanced again, wouldn't killing demon gods be no harder for him than slaughtering chickens?"

As they gazed at the towering silhouette standing at the edge of the sky, millions of frontline human cultivators erupted in celebration. Even the newly arrived reinforcements from the logistics cities were visibly stirred when they heard that Chen Chu had once again made a breakthrough.

As the pillar of the human race, the stronger Chen Chu became, the stronger humanity stood. Under his protection, their safety was also more assured.

Amid the endless cheering, Ji Wuji stood atop a celestial tower in his white robes, his gaze conflicted. Shock mingled with envy and frustration in his eyes. "Does his cultivation path not have any bottlenecks at all?"

As an advanced cultivator, Ji Wuji understood better than anyone how difficult progress became in the later stages of cultivation. He himself had been stuck at the middle stage of the Ninth Heavenly Realm for a long time.

However, that freak Chen Chu hadn’t slowed at all after entering the heavenly king level. On the contrary, his pace had only seemed to accelerate. It wasn’t only past geniuses like Ji Wuji who felt this way. Even the kings and heavenly kings standing high above the sky had complex expressions.

Shock, envy, regret—none were spared.

Compared to Chen Chu, whose cultivation advanced as easily as drinking water, these veterans who had stagnated at the king level for ten or even thirty years felt as if their cultivation had all gone to waste.

An ill-timed voice rang out as Qingqiu Tianyao burst into laughter. "Good thing I used that last battle to break through to the heavenly king level. Otherwise, I’d be coughing blood from sheer frustration right now."

Not far away, Blade King Mu Jun snapped, "Shut it. If Chen Chu hadn’t held the line for you, would you have dared to go all out and unleash your full strength?"

Qingqiu Tianyao remained unfazed and smugly replied, "Who knows? The fact is, I did break through. And it wasn't just me. Eight Tails—no, Nine Tails now—broke through to the titan level along with me, hahahaha..."

Seeing Qingqiu Tianyao laugh so smugly, veteran kings around him like Hong Zhantian had to take deep breaths to suppress their urge to beat him up.

This guy is too infuriating. So what if he broke through to the heavenly king level?

Yet gradually, the expressions on many faces turned solemn once more. Their gazes fixed on the phantom of the demon god in the sky; it was now much clearer, but its previously surging aura was beginning to slow.

Gabriel gravely said, "It’s not enough. Those resources only pushed him to the late stage. He’s taken a couple of steps deeper, but he’s still a distance away from the peak."

Heavenly King Zixiao shook his head and sighed. "This outcome was expected. There’s no helping it, Chen Chu’s foundation is simply too deep. Even just breaking through to the late stage caused an uproar comparable to the First Councilor’s breakthrough to the supreme level back then. That shows just how profound his foundation is. Under these circumstances, the energy required to push his cultivation further is naturally dozens, if not hundreds of times greater than what we would need."

That said, these heavenly-king-level powerhouses still felt somewhat disappointed. After all, nearly all available resources had been gathered to support Chen Chu’s breakthrough. If he had managed to ride the momentum and reach the peak of the heavenly king level, his combat strength would have rivaled that of Qian Tian. By then, he would be able to maintain longer periods of sustained control when summoning the Thunder Fiery Colossal Beast.

What they didn’t know was that, if not for the feedback from the Dragon Emperor, those resources alone would have only barely been enough to push Chen Chu to the late stage of the heavenly king level.

Beneath the demon god phantom wreathed in golden flames and thunderbolts, Chen Chu slowly opened his eyes. Within his gaze, one could vaguely see a world crumbling, collapsing, and then being reborn. He softly sighed. “The closer one gets to the limit, the harder it becomes to temper the true form.”

The requirement to reach the peak of the heavenly king level from the late stage was for the internal law-bound world to give rise to embryonic principles. Those would then guide and refine the true form and divine soul continuously. This was because the true form and divine soul of an ordinary heavenly king were too weak to bear the power of principles.

In this process of tempering, the cultivator’s true form would begin to take form. It would no longer be just a law-condensed projection, but evolving toward a principle-infused physical body. The blood, genetic structure, and soul will would all be marked by the imprint of principle power.

As such, Chen Chu’s true form, far beyond that of his peers, naturally demanded vastly more principle power for tempering. This was on top of the embryonic principle nurtured within the planar world, and the embryonic principle born within the Soul Emperor's seal world, which contained a trace of primordial creation.

Judging by his current progress, Chen Chu estimated that under normal circumstances, it would still take more than half a month to reach the peak of the heavenly king level.

Moreover, the planar world had expanded significantly during this breakthrough, with its diameter reaching over eight thousand kilometers. Some of the world energy still remained unabsorbed. Once fully assimilated, it was expected to reach over nine thousand kilometers, just shy of the ten-thousand-kilometer threshold required to support a complete principle.

“Half a month... it should still be in time,” Chen Chu murmured.

Given the current situation, a large-scale battle between the human race and the Purgatory Demon Clan was unlikely to erupt again within a single day-cycle. After all, the Purgatory Demon Clan had just lost four demon gods in the last conflict. With the strength the human race had now displayed, demon gods like Deorus would not dare to provoke a new war so lightly without full confidence.

At the same time, this also implied that the next war would be even more brutal. It was possible that the Primordial Ancestor would awaken as well.

As Chen Chu stood beneath the demon god phantom, silently contemplating the situation, the space in front of him suddenly distorted. Without a sound, Qian Tian appeared.

“Qian Tian.” Chen Chu looked up in surprise at the middle-aged man with half-black, half-white hair.

Qian Tian’s voice was gentle as he asked, “Chen Chu, how do you feel about your breakthrough this time?”

Chen Chu thought for a moment. “It feels good, but to be honest, the improvement in overall strength wasn’t that great.”

His cultivation had long been comparable to the peak of the heavenly king level. He had already nurtured embryonic principles, so the process from early to late stage was merely one of tempering and refining his true form and divine soul. Now that he had reached the late stage, his overall strength had increased somewhat, but the improvement wasn’t especially dramatic.

“I thought so as well.” Qian Tian nodded slowly. “In your current state, only when you reach the peak of the heavenly king level and break through to the supreme level will your strength experience a true leap. But your foundation is simply too profound. In essence, you're already comparable to a middle-stage demon god. If you wish to advance rapidly in cultivation...”

Here, Qian Tian paused. He gazed at the black-haired young man bathed in radiant light, who stood like an ancient god. In his eyes, a trace of relief gradually surfaced, as if he had let go of something deeply important. "I have a way to help you reach the peak of the heavenly king level in a short time, and perhaps even go beyond."

Hearing Qian Tian suddenly speak up, Chen Chu paused, visibly surprised. "Sir, do you possess a primordial-level resource?"

Given his current cultivation, the only thing capable of pushing him directly to the peak of the heavenly king level would be a principle-level or higher creation-type divine object, specifically one aligned with cultivation, not simply a raw material.

Qian Tian raised his hand and gave a slight wave. Instantly, a ring of grey-green light containing the power of the principles of life and death spread outward, covering an area of several dozen kilometers.

Only after the surroundings were completely shielded and he confirmed that no one could eavesdrop did Qian Tian slowly nod. "That’s right. I possess a primordial-level resource. One strand of primordial origin."

"A primordial origin?" Even Chen Chu couldn’t hide his astonishment. He couldn’t understand how Qian Tian could have obtained such a thing, and more importantly, why he hadn’t used it yet.

If Qian Tian had chosen to refine that primordial origin, with his talent, he likely would have already broken through to the late stage of the ancient titan level, perhaps even reached its peak. His combat power could even rival great demon gods like Tyretis.

Seeing Chen Chu’s surprised expression, Qian Tian’s response was a faint, bitter smile. "It’s a strand, not a full fragment. If it were a complete fragment, I would have refined it long ago and used it to break through. There’d be no need for me to hold onto it, and struggle against Deorus and the other demon gods. I originally intended to save this strand until I reached the peak of the ancient titan level myself, and then use it to make a breakthrough into the emperor level, but given the current situation, there’s no point in holding onto it anymore. Compared to me, your talent is far greater. If you can use that strand of primordial origin to break through to the peak of the heavenly king level, or even reach the supreme level, it would be a far greater benefit to the Federation."

Perhaps noticing the confusion and curiosity in Chen Chu’s eyes, Qian Tian didn’t hold anything back. He lightly smiled. "As for the source of that origin, it’s simple. It comes from the forbidden zone where our human race resides. This place was once the death site of a primordial colossal beast. I was the first person to explore the mythical world. Not far from Passage One's base, I discovered it deep within the mountain ruin scattered with ancient stone statues. For safety, I stored it on the Blue Planet."