Mythical Era: My Evolution into a Celestial Beast

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Within the realm woven by the branches of the Eternal Divine Tree, space trembled violently as four massive golden halos formed. Four orbital battleships passed through.

At the edge of a branch spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, nine pitch-black battleships were already docked. Heavenly King Xuanwu and his group had returned in advance.

Soon, under the guidance of Heavenly Feathered warriors, the four orbital battleships, led by Battleship 1, drew near and slowly docked to the side. A hearty laugh echoed through the void.

"Hahaha... Chen Chu, I heard you took out over ten demon kings this time, and even suppressed two great demon kings. Impressive!" With that, a burly, bearded middle-aged man appeared on the deck of Battleship 1.

Chen Chu stood at the edge of the deck, hands behind his back. At that moment, his aura was completely withdrawn, making him seem like a composed and somewhat weathered but still handsome young man. He gave a slight smile. "Senior Xuanwu, it's been a while."

"It certainly has." Xuanwu looked at the calm and steady young man before him. His eyes flashed with terrifying majesty each time he blinked, like a young emperor in his prime, and Xuanwu couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.

Half a year ago, when he last saw Chen Chu at his daughter's slumber ceremony, the young man was still a shy, rising star who had just broken through to the Seventh Heavenly Realm.

Who could have imagined that, in the half a year Xuanwu spent serving as envoy to the Heavenly Feathered Race, this same man would break into the mythical level, slay great demon kings, and even survive a direct confrontation with a demon god.

At that moment, Xuanwu's expression turned solemn. He gave a deep and respectful bow to Chen Chu. "As a father, I must thank you for helping Little Yi. If not for you, she might have—"

Before he could finish, Chen Chu quickly sidestepped to avoid the bow, not daring to accept such a gesture. He respectfully replied, "Heavenly King Xuanwu there's no need to be so formal. Ruoyi and I are good friends. If I have the ability to help, of course I wouldn't just stand by and watch. Besides, putting aside my personal friendship with her, just for the sake of your contributions to the Federation, I still would've taken action."

As someone with a "mature" mind, Chen Chu rarely admired anyone. However, in this world, he held genuine respect for many of the high-ranking figures of the Human Federation. Heavenly King Xuanwu, who had fought for humanity for decades and lost nearly all his family in the process, was one of them.

There were others as well, such as the First Councilor, Xie Chen, and figures such as Li Yi, cultivators who weren't even kings but still stood at the pinnacle of advanced cultivation. If not for these predecessors who stepped forward one after another to hold off the threats and invasions from the mythical world, the Blue Planet could never have enjoyed decades of peace. In that sense, Chen Chu himself had indirectly benefited from their sacrifices.

A warm voice chimed in with a laugh. "Old Yan, I told you Chen Chu wouldn't accept your grand gesture."

A refined, scholarly man stepped forward. Heavenly King Jiuyou added mockingly, "You're in your fifties already, still acting all shy and bashful. Have some dignity."

Xuanwu shot back, annoyed. "Who's being bashful? I was just expressing my gratitude to Chen Chu."

Chen Chu quickly turned to Jiuyou and offered a polite greeting. "Heavenly King Jiuyou, it's been a while." He had a deep impression of this heavenly king, who had mastered high-level soul laws.

Jiuyou gave him a charismatic smile. "It's only been a few months, really. But you, my young friend, have shocked us all. You actually went deep behind enemy lines into the Purgatory Empire alone!"

Chen Chu modestly responded, "That was only possible because several demon gods were held at the front lines by First Councilor Xie Chen and the others."

"Haha, no need to be modest. Even for us old veterans, your battle record makes ours embarrassing in comparison..."

As Chen Chu caught up with the two heavenly kings, the massive deck of the battleship, stretching over ten kilometers, remained completely empty. Only a towering dark-golden mech, over a thousand meters tall, stood at the center. Mech No. 1 was still in the process of digesting the power of the two demon kings. Its aura was shrouded in a thick, blood-red mist that flickered in and out of visibility.

Bordea, the Heavenly Feathered Race's chief god, appeared in a flash of golden light, smiling as he greeted them. "In the near future, there shouldn't be any large-scale racial wars. Even the Purgatory Empire needs time to recover and regroup its resources. I'll take the three of you to the Eternal Divine Tree's core world, where several of our divine kings and other chief gods are waiting. We'll discuss our plans moving forward." This chapter is from the collection at M-VL-EM-PYR.

Chen Chu hesitated briefly. "...A meeting? Lord Bordea, may I be excused from this one? These matters can be decided by figures like Zhenwu and Xuanwu. While my strength isn't weak, I'm far less qualified than the rest of you in this regard. More importantly, I've already reached the bottleneck at the peak of the mythical level, and I'd like to enter seclusion soon to see if I can break through to the heavenly king level before the next great battle."

...Hearing this youth talk about breaking through to the heavenly king level as casually as drinking water, Xuanwu and Jiuyou both blinked, momentarily at a loss for words.

Bordea also paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up with excitement. "I didn't expect that the Divine Might King would be ready to break through to the chief god level so soon. Your talent is truly astonishing. May I ask if you have any particular requirements for your seclusion? Whether it's in terms of environment or resources, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to say so. Our race will do everything in its power to support you."

"Are you sure?" Chen Chu looked tempted.

Bordea replied solemnly, "We're sure. This will also be helpful for our race."

Given Chen Chu's overwhelming combat strength, if he managed to break through to the chief god level, his power could jump straight to the divine king level. This would greatly increase the strength of the Heavenly Feathered Race, now that they were allied with the humans. Beyond that, Chen Chu's recent actions had been a tremendous support to the Feathered Race, making them more than willing to provide full support.

Chen Chu paused briefly in thought, then said, "In that case... I need a large quantity of Life Crystals, as well as various mythical-level or higher mineral resources."

"That..." Bordea was momentarily stunned.

"Is that a problem?"

"It's... a bit of a problem." Bordea wryly smiled. "Our race primarily cultivates using the Eternal Mother Tree, so we have little use for things like Life Crystals. That's why we've never stored many in the past. What we did have was usually distributed to powerful warriors from subordinate races, and after centuries of war, those resources have long been depleted. As for god-level or higher minerals, we've lost most of our external territories, and with that, the resources once used to forge legendary weapons, armor, and fortresses have also run dry."

Bordea's tone grew a little bitter. For such a powerful race and civilization to one day find themselves embarrassed over common resources was almost unthinkable just a few centuries ago.

After a moment of hesitation, he added, "However... while we don't have Life Crystals or god-level minerals, would transcendent-level mineral resources suffice?"

***

Half an hour later, on the seventeenth plane, at the edge of the Eternal Divine Tree's main root, golden light warped the air as Chen Chu and Bordea appeared, floating above a vast mountain range stretching for tens of thousands of kilometers.

Looking down at the bronze-hued mountains below, Bordea explained, "Divine Might King, this plane is barren of all life, but it's rich in various minerals. Right now, it's the primary source of materials for our warriors' weapons and armor. The most valuable resource here is this copper vein, stretching over ten thousand kilometers. It contains an enormous amount of top-grade Mingled Copper. It's incredibly durable and heavy, with strong transcendent energy conductivity and amplification. Feel free to use as much as you like."

"Then I won't hold back," Chen Chu nodded. Although this place didn't contain god-level mineral resources, a massive vein of top-grade material like this was still a great find. Once he finished absorbing and refining all of the heavy metal elements in this mountain range, his true form would likely gain a significant boost in power.

Although the Dark Star innate ability didn't independently evolve into related divine abilities when fused into the Demon God True Form, its integration with the Heavenly Gate and Azure Dragon abilities to form the Nine-Fold Heavenly Gate granted it a unique power. As a result, the original limit on absorbing and merging heavy metal elements was also enhanced. It was just that after his recent breakthrough, he'd been rushing to the frontlines due to the urgent situation and hadn't had time to properly cultivate.

"As long as you're satisfied, Divine Might King, I'll leave you to it. I've got other matters to attend to. But I'll instruct the plane's guardian to keep the surroundings secure, so no one will disturb you," Bordea said with a smile before taking his leave.

Aside from Chen Chu, the vast plane was dotted with forging factories, mining bases, and other facilities. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, evoking the illusion of an industrial age. However, Bordea had mistakenly assumed Chen Chu came here to refine weapons. He had no idea that Chen Chu's real intention was to devour the mountain range.

After Bordea left, Chen Chu's figure flickered and appeared at the waist of a mountain over ten thousand meters high in the middle of the mountain range. However, instead of directly cultivating his fire attribute, he took out nineteen rings, scales, and other storage equipment.

Chen Chu gained quite a lot from slaying those demon kings, especially from looting the storage equipment of the two great demon kings.

Just as Chen Chu was looking forward to inventorying his spoils, a sudden burst of blue light exploded from the area where the Abyssal Battlefield had been—an area split by a colossal beast so enormous its tail alone was over a hundred thousand kilometers long.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The lights resembled auroras, illuminating a range of millions of kilometers into a sea of blue, including the human territories and the opposing legions of the Purgatory Empire on the Sky Battlefield. All of the humans looked up in shock at the mirage-like radiance. On the dome above, faint and blurry images emerged, but they were so unclear that even supreme-level cultivators couldn't make them out.

In the sky above the Sky Battlefield, Qian Tian, who was recovering in seclusion, was also disturbed. Standing tens of thousands of kilometers high alongside the orbital forces and the Primordial King, his expression was serious as he gazed toward the Abyssal Battlefield.

The Primordial King was somewhat excited. "It's the world of that primordial beast. It's actually started to dissolve so quickly."

"Not yet. It's only a sign that the primordial world is beginning to open." The Celestial King, shaped like a rotating magic cube, spun wildly. His voice lost its usual calm, sounding somewhat excited. "I wonder if there might be any remnants of the primordial origin inside. If we can obtain some, we would all have hope to take the next step forward."

Qian Tian's expression grew serious as he shook his head. "But for us, that wouldn't be a good thing."

The two councilors fell silent for a moment, then the Primordial King bitterly smiled. "Indeed. Those demon gods won't let any primordial origin remain. They might even bring in other demon gods from the Purgatory Empire ahead of time. Besides, if the true form of a primordial life falls, the origin from it could even attract races far stronger than the Purgatory Clan."

The Celestial King's magic cube rotated calmly. "If that happens, with our current strength, only you, who wields that weapon, has the power to compete for it."

Qian Tian slowly said, "There should still be time. This anomaly is only a precursor to the disintegration of that primordial beast's principles. With its strength, even if its principles disperse, it should hopefully hold out until the second mythical surge ends."

"Let's hope so."

Looking at the blue aurora slowly fading from the sky, the three supreme cultivators all fell silent.

Meanwhile, across the Sky Battlefield, two demon gods showed excitement in their eyes. The demon god shrouded in darkness said in a low voice. "Belitir, what do you think?"

The demon god who had appeared above the Sky Battlefield flickered his gaze and said coldly, "This is our chance to catch up with the others. We can't let this information spread to the other empires. We must seal it off immediately. The lower level demons don't understand what the anomaly is, so handling them will be easy. But the humans obtained some inheritance from ruins. They probably know something about that star colossal beast. You and I alone won't be able to take it down. We need to team up with Deorus and the others."

"Agreed." The demon god nodded.

The vast territory ruled by the Purgatory Clan lay millions of kilometers from the rear empires, and with two great empires blocking the way, the primordial anomaly could be sealed off for a short time. They just hoped the primordial beast's principles would disintegrate faster.

At that moment, thoughts of humans or the Primordial Ancestor's will were completely forgotten by the two demon gods, their minds focused solely on the possibility of obtaining the primordial origin.