Mythical Era: My Evolution into a Celestial Beast

When Chen Chu entered seclusion, the sky beyond countless perilous regions of the human race collapsed. A spatial storm erupted, ripping through everything in its path. Suddenly, black flames spread from the storm, and from the depths of the void, a woman with hair as dark as night stepped forward. She carried herself with a regal presence, like an empress of fire.

As Shi Feitong emerged from the deeper layers of space, heaven and earth trembled. A powerful shockwave burst outward from her and swept across hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Clouds and mist vanished in its wake, leaving only a blazing black sun suspended in the sky.

Shi Feitong turned to the gaping void behind her as it closed on itself, her gaze cold. "Consider yourself fortunate to have escaped. For an ancient void creature to block the path of this vice palace master was nothing but courting death."

Whoosh!

With a thought, the black flames withdrew from the sky and condensed into a Great Sun mark glowing between her brows. As Shi Feitong concealed her aura, the crushing pressure that had filled the world dissolved at once.

Just as she was about to follow her inheritance token's signal and continue toward her destination, she suddenly paused. On her left wrist, a dark violet bracelet shaped like a phoenix tail ignited with countless runes, from which white light spilled forth and condensed into a projected image.

A woman appeared, wearing a white ceremonial robe traced with gold. Her beauty was striking, and an air of nobility surrounded her. Her starry eyes glimmered as they settled on Shi Feitong.

"Elder sister?" Shi Feitong's expression shifted in surprise.

Shi Feirou's projection said, "Feitong, what you see now is only a recording I left behind. I have an important mission to entrust to you. One star-quarter ago, the True Void Emperor issued an oracle. The ancestral land of the human race has reappeared, and its coordinates align with the path you are traveling. Because you are nearest to that location, His Majesty has ordered you to investigate. After tens of thousands of years, we must learn how the ancestral land has changed, and how far its new civilization has advanced. Furthermore, a coalition of the six divine regions has already set out. They carry the decree of the True Void Emperor and intend to welcome the ancestral land back into the divine regions."

As her voice faded, Shi Feirou's figure dissolved. The projection shifted into a top-down view of a vast map spanning a thousand kilometers, with Shi Feitong in it.

At the center of the map, annotations marked dozens of civilizations and races, with red boundary lines that indicated their jurisdiction. The closer the projection moved toward the central regions, the fewer markings there were. Nearly a tenth of the map carried warnings of dangerous forbidden zones. However, towards the outer edges, where lands were unexplored, the details became hazy.

At that moment, Shi Feitong was positioned in the southeast, within the hazy outer regions. She was still more than a billion kilometers from the red point that marked the coordinates.

The ancestral land of the human race, lost for tens of thousands of years, has reappeared in the vast world?Shi Feitong thought, staring at the map. Suddenly, astonishment flashed across her eyes as she recalled the inheritance token she had left behind. The faint resonance it gave off pointed in that very direction.

"Could the one who activated my inheritance token have come from the ancestral land? Could it even be..." Her gaze suddenly brightened with excitement.

For ten thousand years, Shi Feitong and her sister had searched ceaselessly for traces of Chen Chu, yet they couldn't find a single trace of his existence. Even the dozen ancient human powers from the Six Regions who had returned from their expedition had never heard his name.

In time, many who had come from the Lost World began to doubt whether Chen Chu had ever existed at all. Some even claimed he could have only been the avatar projection of an unknown mighty expert.

Now, however, with the ancestral land resurfacing and linking back to the vast world, perhaps Chen Chu was there. Shi Feitong couldn't help but wonder what cultivation level he had reached after more than ten thousand years.

Back then, with only the cultivation of a mythical war general, he was already able to refine ancient manuals and forge them into entirely new abilities. By now, he could already be on the verge of stepping into the level of a primordial emperor.[1]

Boom!

The space around Shi Feitong shattered, and her figure vanished.

At the same time, in another spacetime known as the Supreme Dark-Red Plane, the heavens collapsed and the earth caved in. Violent currents of destructive qi spread outward, sweeping across a million kilometers.

Within the shattered dark-red void lay the corpse of a colossal beast over sixty thousand meters long. Beside it stood a demon god ten thousand meters tall, halberd in hand, wreathed in dark-red light. With the fall of the Purgatory Primordial Ancestor, Zuo Mo, who had been shackled within the Dark Red Plane, was finally free.

The qi radiating from his body was terrifying. His battle armor had turned completely blood red, releasing an aura of darkness and crushing destruction. Though he had only just broken through to the demon god level, his strength was no weaker than a late stage demon god.

He wasn't alone. On his massive shoulders stood An Fuqing, who carried four longswords on her back. Her once black hair had also turned blood red. Between her brows, a dark-red sword seal appeared. Thin strands of markings entangled the seal, each strand pulsing with the sharp sword will of annihilation. Most noticeably, her aura had surpassed the king level.

"A battle of ancient scale just erupted here," Zuo Mo said. "The energy released will attract even stronger beings of destruction. We must leave at once. The Dark-Red World projects itself into countless worlds and spacetimes. If we can find a rift connected to the mythical world, we can return."

"Alright." An Fuqing nodded slowly.

Boom!

With a thunderous motion, Zuo Mo concealed his aura and instantly shot into the distant horizon in a streak of dark-red light.

Moments after they left, a dreadful roar echoed from afar. A gigantic silhouette rose on the horizon, its formless might shaking the dark-red radiance for hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

***

It was January 29th. Ten days had passed since the second mythical surge, when the Human Alliance had won a great victory. After experiencing a series of upheavals, everyone on the Blue Planet had toughened and matured. Even students in elementary and middle school had changed.

For martial arts students in training and ordinary cultivators throughout society, the impact was far greater. When the two worlds overlapped and spacetime projected itself across the skies, they saw battlefields where gods and demons clashed. They witnessed true forms condensed from laws, where each movement was powerful enough to shatter heaven and earth, and demon gods whose single strike could wipe out tens of thousands of kilometers. Seeing all of this shattered their old understanding of reality.

In the past, Blue Planet cultivators saw those in the Seventh and Eighth Heavenly Realms as figures to look up to. Those in the Ninth Heavenly Realm, who were powerful enough to topple mountains with a single strike, were regarded as top-level power. Mythical kings didn't even seem like the same kind of existence. To most people, they were distant legends, existing in a world completely apart from ordinary cultivators.

However, after this upheaval, the way people viewed power changed completely. The once awe-inspiring videos of cultivators stopping rockets or punching through concrete walls now looked weak. Everyone's hunger for strength and cultivation had grown because they had realized the truth: cultivators could become terrifying beings, able to tear open spacetime, detonate stars, and even uphold the weight of an entire solar system.

***

West Meng, Independent Villa of a World Tournament Competitor.

"The Kuerwo Group of the North Lin Empire announced yesterday that the fifth-generation Giant-God Gene Serum has passed clinical trials and received Federation certification. This serum stimulates genetic sequence chains to unlock human potential, with a 0.5 percent chance of awakening an ability. Even if awakening fails, it still enhances physical functions, increasing strength by up to fifty percent and greatly accelerating the cultivation speed of Body Enhancers.

"The Baihu Nation Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced yesterday that it has signed a major cooperation agreement with the Golden-Winged Clan of the Heavenly Feathered Race. President Qingqiu Shouyi will depart on February 6 aboard the Apocalypse Star spacecraft to visit the Holy City of the Heavenly Feathered Race on Venus.

"This morning, the East Xia Empire declared that it will expand investment in the next generation of martial arts students, aiming to nurture more elite cultivators for the Federation. At the same time, the Faerie Race, the Lightwing Clan of the Heavenly Feathered Race, and the Divine Three-Eyed Clan of Io jointly announced a partnership with Nantian Martial Arts High School in Wujiang City, East Xia. The three races will send their powerhouses to serve as specially appointed professors, offering specialized courses in their cultivation methods. Nantian Martial Arts High School has issued a notice: after the Lantern Festival on February 25, online registration will open on the school's official website, and qualified freshmen from around the world will be able to apply.

"For details on registration requirements, please scan the QR code at the bottom left of the screen or call the international hotline at 0218-555999..."

Hearing this, Li Yiyi, who had been straightening Chen Hu's clothes, suddenly widened her eyes. "Ah Hu, is Nantian really going to offer cultivation courses from alien races?"

Chen Hu nodded. "Yep. Sister Ruoyi mentioned it yesterday. The three clans' chief gods were the ones who suggested it first. They want to treat it as a trial program."

Chen Hu then glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "It's about time for us to leave, Yiyi."

"Alright!" Excitement lit up Li Yiyi's eyes as she nodded.

Today was the semifinals for Group B in the Global Martial Arts Tournament. The winner would go on to face Chen Hu, champion of Group A, for the title of the world's number one.

At the villa entrance, the chauffeur waited beside a black multi-purpose vehicle. The moment he saw them, he quickly opened the door and respectfully said, "Mr. Chen, Miss Li, please get in."

"Thank you." Chen Hu responded as he bent down and stepped into the car. The instant his muscular figure sank into the seat, the entire vehicle dipped sharply, as if it were bearing the weight of a colossal beast.

The imperial capital of West Meng was especially lively today, with a big crowd flowing toward the stadium. By the time Chen Hu's car arrived at the back entrance, the arena was already packed with more than a hundred thousand spectators, each shouting fervently for their favored contender. Their cheers thundered and shook the roof of the stadium.

Beneath the main stage, hundreds of cultivators sat on both sides. Among them were those already defeated by Chen Hu, including Xia Youhui and Liu Feng. When Chen Hu appeared from the back with Li Yiyi and took his seat, every cultivator turned to watch him with heavy focus.

An advanced cultivator who had fallen to Chen Hu gulped. "That monster is here."

"Do you think Tagolt and the others have a chance?" someone asked, his face clouded with doubt.

"It's unlikely," the person beside him shook his head. "But it doesn't matter. Today isn't about deciding who goes to the finals, it's about deciding who gets second place."

"That's true. That guy is a Demon King in human form. His strength is tyrannical, and he's nearly invincible."

Whispers continued among the gathered geniuses, their gazes filled with awe as they glanced at Chen Hu. Suddenly, two seats to his right, space distorted. From the distortion, Yan Ruoyi stepped out with her silver hair flowing behind her. She was accompanied by Xie Chen, whose complexion was still pale.

Chen Hu stood up and greeted them politely. "Xie Chen, Sister Ruoyi, you've come."

Li Yiyi also stood up, bowing slightly as she greeted them. "Greetings, King Xie and General Yan."

"It's only been two days, Little Hu, but I can sense from your aura that your cultivation has advanced again," Yan Ruoyi said, her lips curving into a smile. "As expected of Chen Chu's younger brother. Your talent is no weaker than his."

Chen Hu scratched the back of his head and replied in a humble tone, "You flatter me, Sister Ruoyi. Compared to my brother, I'm still far behind. I only broke through to the late stage of the Eighth Heavenly Realm yesterday."

When Chen Chu held up the heavens and broke through to the true spirit level, the resonance of his bloodline surged through Chen Hu. In that instant, his cultivation leapt from the middle stage of the Seventh Heavenly Realm to the middle stage of the Eighth. His strength grew more overwhelming, and with that power, he swept through every contender in Group A.

Whether they were beginning-stage geniuses of the Seventh or Eighth Heavenly Realm, none could withstand a single punch from him. His sheer might traumatized them, leaving him branded in their minds as an invincible demon king.

Having just returned from the Divine Transformation World, Xie Chen, who presided over the Global Finals, was visibly moved. He exclaimed, "At your current cultivation speed, Chen Hu, I believe you may even surpass your brother's record of reaching the king level."

Chen Hu shook his head. "It's not the same. I advanced so quickly because I started from a higher point. When my brother first began cultivating, he had nothing. So even if I reach king level in less than a year, that doesn't mean my talent surpasses his."

Since Chen Chu's supposed fall while holding up the heavens, Chen Hu felt that he had to mature quickly. At just sixteen, he carried himself without a trace of youthful recklessness. Of course, when Yan Ruoyi later told him and Zhang Xiaolan the truth that Chen Chu hadn't died, the grief that had hardened him turned into overwhelming relief and joy.

After chatting with Chen Hu for a while longer, Xie Chen turned to Yan Ruoyi, his expression clouded with doubt. "Ruoyi, you touched upon laws very early, and you're almost at the mythical level, but why have you still not broken through?"

Unlike other cultivators at the peak of the Ninth Heavenly Realm, Yan Ruoyi had already merged with a complete dragon's law, placing her at the semi-mythical level. From there, she would only need to adapt to the power, temper her true form, and the breakthrough would come naturally. For that reason, from the moment of her awakening she had been considered a quasi-mythical king and had remained on the Blue Planet, waiting for the final step.

Hearing Xie Chen's question, doubt flickered in Yan Ruoyi's eyes. "I don't know, either. My condition feels strange. Even without breaking through to the king level, my strength continues to grow."

Yan Ruoyi couldn't figure it out either. It might have been her half-human, half-dragon bloodline, or perhaps the fact that she was the first person ever to return from death. Whatever the cause, she remained only half a step from the mythical realm, unable to break through that final barrier, yet her power continued to grow stronger each day at a startling pace.

By this point, calling her a peak-stage Ninth Heavenly Realm cultivator no longer seemed accurate; she was more like a dragon in human form.

Meanwhile, in the fallen land, Chen Chu had been in seclusion for a week to refine the energy of the primordial origin. He slowly opened his eyes, and a wave of crushing aura at the late stage of the ancient level burst out from him.

1. Here, Shi Feitong uses the power system labels generally used for colossal beasts to describe Chen Chu. There is no explanation for how Shi Feitong labels power systems yet. The author will explain the primordial level system in detail in a later chapter, so I won't spoil too much here, but just for everyone to understand "primordial emperor," we need to know that the primordial level isn't a single level. It is made up of a path of Nine Heavens - meaning there are nine "stages" within the primordial level itself. The primordial emperor is at the "fifth primordial heaven." ☜