Chapter 980: Primordial Demon God

The National Martial Arts Tournament was broadcast live for all to see. During the opening ceremonies, powerful cultivators would ascend into the air, triggering awe-inspiring celestial displays. Thunder roared through the skies, and blazing suns appeared overhead, illuminating the heavens.

With such a grand spectacle, it naturally attracted countless online viewers and a sea of spectators at the scene. Among the online viewers were two burly, dark-skinned men in black suits, seated aboard a transport plane bound for a border city of the East Xia Empire.

However, the two men weren’t paying attention to the opening ceremony. Their eyes were locked on the main stage, focused on a golden-haired girl with a divine halo above her head and three pairs of radiant white wings unfurled behind her.

The man with three dreadlocks narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Isn’t that a chief god from the Heavenly Feathered Race? What’s going on? Weren’t there supposed to be only two mythical-level kings stationed on the Blue Planet?"

Because the tribe they came from was so far from developed civilization, they were a step behind international news. As a result, they had missed the citywide news broadcast from Tiannan City three days earlier.

The other man said in a low voice, "Something must’ve changed. Look it up."

Soon, they pulled up a news article about Chief God Anstira’s visit to Tiannan City, and their expressions instantly turned grim. With an individual at the great demon king level overseeing the tournament, their mission to assassinate Chen Hu had just become much more difficult.

As a chief god, Anstira could, with just a thought, extend her divine soul across a thousand kilometers. Her manifestation could descend in an instant through the power of laws. This meant that if they chose to assassinate Chen Hu, they would only have one chance. Regardless of whether they succeeded or failed, there would be no way out.

As the two burly men frowned at the news, a faint black light flickered deep within their eyes. The one with three dreadlocks said, "After we get off the plane, I’ll use the excuse of visiting the alma mater of the Divine Might Heavenly King to take a high-speed train to Wujiang City. You’ll follow the original plan and take a different route to Tiannan to attend the tournament. Then, we'll contact each other and make our move at the same time."

The other dark-skinned man nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, at the largest stadium in Tiannan City, where the lively opening ceremony was in full swing, two stunningly beautiful figures seated on the main podium were quietly conversing. "Your Excellency Anstira, the boy sitting in the front row, with three girls standing behind him, is Chen Hu. He is the younger brother of Chen Chu."

The golden-haired girl, who looked just like an angel, glanced over at Chen Hu. A look of surprise immediately appeared in her eyes; based on her senses, Chen Hu’s aura was only at the fifth level.

That level of strength isn’t even equal to an ordinary Heavenly Feathered soldier,

Anstira thought. Then, she turned to Yan Ruoyi and asked, "How can the younger brother of the Divine Might Heavenly King be this weak?"

Yan Ruoyi smiled faintly. "The human race is different from yours. Most of us aren’t born as transcendent beings. In the past, we could only begin cultivation after turning sixteen. Don’t be fooled by Chen Hu only being at the Fifth Heavenly Realm. Technically speaking, he’s only been cultivating for just over three months. That’s about three day-cycles to go from an ordinary being to a fifth-level transcendent being. To be honest, his cultivation speed is even faster than Chen Chu’s was back then. If I remember correctly, it took Chen Chu a little over five months to reach the Fifth Heavenly Realm."

Anstira paused. "...I almost forgot. Your people only recently integrated into the vast world.”

Recalling how Chen Chu had become a chief-god-level existence in just over ten day-cycles, with combat power comparable to a divine king, a look of shock spread across Anstira's face. "If this is the case, doesn’t it mean the Divine Might Heavenly King's younger brother has even greater talent than he did?"

"You can’t measure it like that." Yan Ruoyi gently shook her head. "Back when Chen Chu first began cultivating, he had no resources to support him. His vitality was weak, and his family background was rather ordinary. He had a rough start, but when Chen Hu started his cultivation journey, Chen Chu had already become a mythical king. Whether in terms of status or access to resources, the difference between the two was massive."

Anstira nodded thoughtfully. With his current achievements and extraordinary talent, Chen Chu was hailed by many as a once-in-an-era prodigy. In their eyes, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the seven emperors of the Ancient Civilization, each of whom had defied their limits and rewritten history. Thus, while Chen Hu’s talent appeared extraordinary, to the kings and heavenly kings, it still seemed a tier below Chen Chu’s.

Of course, despite falling short of Chen Chu, Chen Hu’s potential was still terrifying in its own way. He had already been recognized as one of the successors of human civilization, especially with that absurd luck of his. Even Xie Chen had once remarked that he saw traces of Qian Tian in him.

In fact, Qian Tian’s luck hadn’t even been as good as Chen Hu's. Ever since Chen Hu began cultivating, divine artifacts seemed to fall from the sky, resources rose up from the sea, and even taking a stroll could lead to valuable finds. It was as if the luck of the entire human race had gathered around him.

With their casual chat coming to an end, Yan Ruoyi’s expression suddenly turned serious. She solemnly said, "They likely don’t know they’ve been exposed yet. Even with you here, they’ll probably still make a move. When the time comes, I’ll have to trouble you to step in."

Anstira nodded. "Don’t worry. The Divine Might Heavenly King once aided my people. Whether out of duty or gratitude, I'll do my best to return the favor."

The news of the demon god puppets’ impending attack had already been relayed back to the Blue Planet. However, in order to avoid alerting the enemy, the Federation remained still. Until Heavenly King Xuanwu and the others returned, they would carry on as if nothing had happened, keeping up appearances and maintaining business as usual.

After all, sealing Deorus’s soul essence would be no easy task. Both mythical kings and demon kings were known to experience sudden premonitions of danger. A being on Deorus’ level would be even more sensitive to such threats. Even if it was only a sliver of its divine soul essence within the puppet, it could still sense danger when a powerful threat approached.

This was one of the reasons why demon-god-level beings were so difficult to ambush. This was also why, whenever a civilization war broke out, beings at that level would always confront each other head-on. That included Chen Chu. If someone tried to ambush him, his Insightful Eye would instinctively detect the threat the moment it emerged.

So Heavenly King Xuanwu and the others were only there as a precaution. They had no intention of acting first; instead, they were waiting for Chen Chu. With his mastery of a time-based divine ability and the power to completely erase his presence, he was especially well-suited to dealing with Deorus.

At that moment, the opening ceremony below drew to a close. A beautiful host stepped onto the grand arena stage and announced with excitement, "The First National Martial Arts Tournament officially begins now. This tournament is divided into two rounds. The first round consists of random draws for matchups, and each participant must fight three matches. A win earns one point, a loss deducts one point. The top thirty-two contestants nationwide will be determined from this round. The second round will be a knockout stage, with one-on-one matches to decide the top sixteen, eight, four, and finally the grand champion. Now, let's begin the random draws."

As the host made the announcement, countless names flashed across the large screen. Eventually, two lines of red characters appeared.

[Li Meng from Nantian Martial Arts High School versus Zhang Tianyi from the Secret Martial Academy.]

As the national tournament began, within the crystalline world deep beneath the capital base, a phantom of a massive continental plane appeared, suspended in the air as it stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers.

Within the plane, black hurricanes howled, ripping through the sky and ground alike. Everything in their path was reduced to nothing. Thunderbolts, each several meters thick, burst through the clouds like roaring dragons, filling the skies with a fearsome display. Above this world of hurricanes and thunderbolts, a golden sun hung in the sky, radiating endless light and heat that pushed back the darkness.

At the center of the plane stood a towering black stone gate, rising ten thousand meters high. It radiated an invisible pressure that seemed to weigh down the entire world. Sitting atop this Heaven's Gate was a demon god ten thousand meters tall, now with three faces and ten arms after evolution.

The demon god held two arms in front of its body, one hand pointing to the sky and the other to the earth. As it slowly opened its eyes, its gaze was indifferent and cold, devoid of any trace of emotion.

Behind the demon god, the remaining eight arms still held the same objects as before. Three arms held a white-golden sun, a purple lightning spear, and a golden gate wrapped in nine layers of overlapping black dragon-patterned chains. Two more arms held black chains reaching into the void and a gray millstone manifesting the laws of death itself.

The sixth arm that had originally supported the black gate was now holding a large seal. It was black at its base, with golden-purple markings coiled along its edges. At the center of the seal, a hazy white sphere of light slowly rotated. An overwhelming force seemed to lie dormant within, faintly exuding the profound aura of primordial creation.

The palms of the last two arms were open and slightly raised, holding up a spinning golden-white wheel of light, which now resembled a transparent, empty world. Although it seemed hollow, it radiated an immense sense of weight and power.

After four days, Chen Chu had completed his transformation. At that moment, he felt incredibly powerful, but also slightly weak.

The strength came from the complete integration of all his powers under the fusion of that strand of primordial origin. Whether it was the True Demon God Form or the laws he commanded, such as the Supreme Strength Principle or the embryonic primordial principle within the Soul-Sealing Imperial Seal, each held immense power.

At present, Chen Chu's cultivation had reached the peak of the heavenly king level in every aspect. He could take that final step into the next level at any time. However, there was no energy in this crystalline world. As a result, even though he had broken through, he didn’t have the transcendent energy needed to stabilize his advancement. His cultivation had risen, but his body felt hollow.

In simple terms, it was like replacing a one-thousand-meter glass bottle with a ten-thousand-meter alloy bottle, while the amount of water inside stayed the same. This was despite spending several days drawing energy from the chaotic void as an Innate Demon God to recover.

To make matters worse, Chen Chu had forced himself to awaken this time. Under normal circumstances, he would have remained in slumber within the crystalline world for months, possibly even a year or two, until he had absorbed enough energy from the chaotic void to complete his breakthrough. Only then would he have awakened naturally.

"So hungry..." Chen Chu swallowed hard. Right now, he felt as if he could devour an entire colossal beast.

Pushing down the intense hunger surging inside him, Chen Chu steadied his thoughts and summoned his attribute page. He wanted to closely examine the changes brought about by his breakthrough.

Just then, however, the gray mark on his arm began to tremble slightly, and spacetime around him twisted. From deep within the infinite folds of time and space, a powerful pulling force emerged. It was a summoning from the Ancient Arena.

Back when Chen Chu broke through to the mythical king level and returned to the Blue Planet to oversee the eastern region, he had been drawn into an unknown spacetime by the Silver Time Butterfly and found himself in a mysterious arena.

It was a strange and ancient ruin, shrouded in the power of primordial laws. Whenever two duelists of the same level were chosen, that place’s principles would activate. Inside the arena, the only way to leave was by killing the opponent. The victor would then receive rewards that were nothing short of extraordinary.

Forbidden weapons infused with the power of laws, bloodline enhancements, and unmatched physical strength were among the rewards offered. Chen Chu himself had once received a boost to his physique along with a tremendous amount of world origin.

After pausing for a brief moment, Chen Chu allowed the force to envelop him. Then, he vanished without a sound. Time froze, and everything around him came to a standstill. Under the pull of that power, Chen Chu felt himself sinking. He had no idea how much time had passed before the surging multicolored lights around him faded away.

Boom!

Chen Chu, in his ordinary human form, descended from the sky. The moment he touched down, the ground within a kilometer radius cracked apart in an instant. Smoke and debris erupted in all directions, accompanied by a thunderous roar.

Standing amid the rising dust, Chen Chu calmly surveyed his surroundings. It was the same arena, built from rough stone, but it had grown much larger. Its length and width now spanned ten thousand kilometers.

Towering mountains rose around it, piercing the clouds and reaching heights of a thousand kilometers. The stone walls along the edges were marked with dark bloodstains, each one radiating a cold and ominous presence.

Surrounding the massive arena were thousands of massive stone statues standing in the spectator stands. Each had a unique form, some tens of thousands of meters tall, others even larger. All of them gave off a faint, yet terrifying aura.

As Chen Chu continued to examine the area, a cold, proud voice suddenly rang out behind him. Though it spoke in a foreign tongue, the tone carried a trace of surprise. "So my opponent this time is actually a human? To have made it here means you must be rather strong. I wonder which of the six domains of the human race you come from, and which imperial clan you belong to?"

Human race. Six domains. The spiritual fluctuations within that unfamiliar voice carried information that caused Chen Chu’s eyes to shift slightly. He turned slowly toward the source of the voice.

Far in the distance, about a thousand kilometers away, stood a figure over a hundred meters tall, as if forged entirely from gold.

This alien creature resembled a dragon-man, its entire body encased in gleaming golden armor. Its legs were thick and powerful, ending in claw-like feet, while its arms were long and slender. Its face was fierce and menacing, crowned with a pair of sharp, golden horns jutting straight from its head. Golden hair, wild like a lion’s mane, flowed without wind, flickering like living flame. Behind it, a massive golden tail, stretching dozens of meters, slowly swayed back and forth.

What stood out most was the overwhelming vitality coursing through the golden dragon-man. Its cultivation was at the peak of the heavenly king level, just like Chen Chu’s, yet the invisible pressure it radiated surpassed even that of Belitir, the middle-stage ancient demon god.

The golden power surrounding it was so immense that it had solidified, shaping into spinning principle chains that glowed with pure golden light. The radiance twisted space and crushed the air, turning everything within a hundred kilometers into a golden world.

Staring at the dragon-man that faintly triggered a sense of danger, Chen Chu calmly said, "Which clan I come from is irrelevant. The fact that you’ve made it here means you're not too weak either. You’re strong enough to face me."

Surprised that this alien could recognize humans, Chen Chu kept his answer deliberately vague. Then, he continued, "Tell me your name. I don't kill nameless nobodies."

The golden dragon-man narrowed its eyes and sneered coldly. "A mere human with just a trace of emperor bloodline dares to speak so boldly before me? Listen well. I am Nashigas, descendant of the bloodline of the Seventh Eternal Heavenly God, of the Eternal Golden Divine Race."

In response, Chen Chu gave his name as well. "Listen well. The one who will slay you today is a human named Chu Batian."

The moment those words left his mouth, both he and the golden dragon-man burst into radiant light.

Boom!