Mythical Era: My Evolution into a Celestial Beast

Nashigas took a deep breath. Its gaze sharpened, and its low, rumbling voice echoed across the arena. "Human, your strength is formidable. Even I have underestimated you. But now, I will show you the true power of the Eternal Golden Divine Race."

"Is that so?" Chen Chu responded calmly, neither agreeing nor denying.

After that brief exchange, having roughly gauged the strength of this alien, Chen Chu was now fully confident that he could suppress and kill this member of the Eternal Golden Divine Race. Its so-called true power didn't matter; after all, he hadn't yet unleashed his full strength, either.

An indescribable force erupted from within Nashigas, as if a supreme god had awakened. Its entire body turned into pure gold. "I, descendant of the Seventh Eternal Heavenly God, declare, here and now, that I am willing to become the eternal extension of golden power and receive the protection of eternity. I am willing to carry the will of eternal gold and become the walking embodiment of the supreme heavenly god in this world. I am willing..."

As Nashigas recited the sacred words of the Eternal Golden Divine Race's ritual, chanting the ancient bloodline oath, the power within its blood boiled. Above the Nine Heavens,[1] a supreme force was stirred.

In the mythical world, far above the sky, a distant star suddenly flickered. Its light pierced through past and future across boundless time, forming a golden beam that descended upon the arena.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Layer after layer of space shattered like glass under the descending golden beam. It pierced through the heavens and earth, and phantoms of mountains and rivers appeared around it, as if a supreme world had arrived.

Crack! Crack!

As endless golden light surged into it, Nashigas expanded dramatically. Its scaled armor swelled, golden bone spikes jutted out across its armor, its four arms turned into sharp dragon claws, and its legs grew thick and powerful.

In the blink of an eye, a fearsome golden dragon-man appeared, over 14,000 meters tall and more than 20,000 meters from head to tail. It was completely shrouded in a mist of golden blood.

Roar!

The ferocious and savage golden dragon-man let out a thunderous roar toward the sky. A violent aura, brimming with primal bloodlust and the instinct to hunt all of creation, erupted from it and pierced through the clouds.

In that moment, Nashigas' power surged nearly a hundredfold. With sheer strength alone, it shattered its limits and stepped into the late stage of the ancient level. All of heaven and earth trembled under the weight of its power.

As Nashigas burned its bloodline and entered its Heavenly God Form, nine golden gates also emerged behind Chen Chu. With his body already strained and hollow, Chen Chu was reluctant to enter the Dark Star World-Ending Form, as it would place an even heavier burden on his already weakened true form. However, against a monstrous opponent like Nashigas, he couldn't afford to hold back.

Boom!

The nine layers of golden gates, bound by dragon-patterned chains, shattered one after another. Endless dark golden blood and energy surged forth, pouring into Chen Chu.

At the same time, a dragon's roar filled with terrifying majesty echoed through the world. In the very next moment, a surge of overwhelming power erupted, shaking the entire Ancient Arena to its core.

The surrounding space, which had just begun to heal, completely shattered once more. It collapsed and vanished under the endlessly surging aura, like an ever-expanding black hole devouring everything within thousands of kilometers.

At the heart of the black hole stood a towering figure, twenty thousand meters tall, with three faces and ten arms. His entire body was encased in glowing dark-golden armor, and his long hair streamed behind him like flames of molten gold.

As that radiant figure descended, almost like a beam of light, a vast and boundless aura filled heaven and earth. It was as if a primordial god who held up the heavens and stood upon the earth had arrived.

Even Nashigas, whose power had surged a hundredfold in its Heavenly God Form, was momentarily stunned by the sheer intensity of the presence before it. A moment later, rage flooded its eyes. "How is this possible? You're just a human with a true emperor bloodline! How can you possibly be this strong? This is impossible!"

Compared to Nashigas, who had drawn on its bloodline to channel the power of a primordial heavenly god and transform into a god itself, Chen Chu's entry into the Dark Star World-Ending form through his own strength gave off an even more powerful aura.

Nashigas sensed a crushing danger coming from Chen Chu. The force he radiated was even greater than the power of the heavenly god bloodline, posing a true threat to the status of the Eternal Golden Divine Race.

This only enraged the dragon-man further. Such power could not be allowed to exist.

Boom!

A surge of killing intent burst from Nashigas as it lunged forward like a golden dragon. The spear in its hand blazed with fierce, radiant light. At the same time, the golden divine seal behind it lit up with dazzling brilliance. One after another, tangible golden chains of principle sequences shot into the sky.

Above the golden world phantom, a towering mountain emerged, grand and majestic, like Mount Sumeru.[2]

In that instant, a force that surpassed the limits of the world descended. It crushed the void, brought down the heavens, and plunged the sky into darkness as it engulfed Chen Chu.

"Begone!" In his World-Ending Form, Chen Chu roared. His arms held up the sky, and the golden-white divine wheel floating above his palms erupted in brilliance, transforming into a radiant ring spanning ten thousand kilometers.

Boom!

Empowered by supreme principles, the golden-white ring of light, infused with the forces of earth, fire, wind, and lightning, slammed into the collapsing golden mountain with immense force. As the two supreme powers clashed, cracks split across the mountain's surface, each one massive and deep.

Chen Chu took a single step forward. His true form, radiating a force that darkened the sky and signaled annihilation, appeared before Nashigas.

Boom!

With a swing of the Eight Desolations Halberd, spacetime collapsed, and heaven and earth fell into darkness. In that moment, the entire world was filled with nothing but the golden-purple halberd light capable of destroying all of creation. The space within the arena exploded, releasing chaotic energy that swept across all directions.

"In this world, only my race stands eternal and undefeated!" Nashigas let out an enraged roar. Its eyes burned dark red as it soared into the sky like a golden dragon, spear in hand, charging to meet Chen Chu's world-ending blow.

Yet beneath the might of the golden-purple halberd that tore through spacetime, all things perished. Nashigas could only watch in horror as even its spear, an ancient divine weapon known for its unparalleled sharpness and indestructibility, began to crumble piece by piece.

Boom!

After the spear shattered, so did Nashigas's arms. Overwhelmed by that unstoppable, brutal force, its limbs exploded into blood and flesh as bones splintered and scattered through the air.

In that moment, Nashigas felt as if it was no longer facing a god, but a dark celestial being capable of crushing everything. Struck by that horrifying force, Nashigas coughed up blood as the void beneath it collapsed. It was hurled deep into the layers of space, leaving a massive crater in its wake.

Like a god and a demon fused into one, Chen Chu let out an inhuman roar. With a thunderous crash, he broke through layer after layer of deep space and charged straight at Nashigas, who was now drenched in golden blood.

In the next moment, an even more brutal battle erupted in the depths of the void. Or perhaps it could no longer be called a battle, but pure domination. By burning the origin of his principles, Chen Chu had nearly restored himself to peak condition. In terms of cultivation, he now stood at the threshold of the supreme level.

Under these conditions, combined with the shattering of the Nine-Fold Heavenly Gate, the power of Chen Chu's Dark Star World-Ending Form surged by several hundred times. The resulting boost in combat strength became utterly terrifying.

Even though Nashigas had ignited its bloodline and entered a Heavenly God Form, reaching power equal to a late-stage ancient demon god, it was still completely overpowered by Chen Chu. Pinned to the ground without the strength to fight back, the once-equal opponent now found itself questioning everything.

In the depths of the void, the fierce and violent battle came to a sudden stop after only a few minutes. The only sound that remained was the echo of furious roars reverberating through the heavens. Around ten minutes later, Chen Chu slowly stepped out from the pitch-black, turbulent void.

His three-faced, ten-armed form stood twenty thousand meters tall, halberd in hand. One of his hands gripped the broken corpse of Nashigas. Its chest was nearly torn open, only one of its four arms remained, its head had been crushed, and the flesh of its tail was gone, leaving behind a single golden tailbone.

At that moment, Chen Chu's aura was savage and overwhelming. He radiated the dominance of someone who had just slain a peerless monster from a powerful race. Raising his head, he looked toward the sky.

The once-glimmering stars above had faded, and the force that had torn through space and time had disappeared, as if it had never existed. Gazing into the sky, Chen Chu's eyes turned cold. His deep voice slowly echoed across the world. "Is this the power of the so-called Eternal Heavenly God? It's rather unimpressive."

Beyond the Nine Heavens, a faint, majestic roar rang out, but it seemed some sort of restriction was in place. Even though the roar carried a trace of malice, it couldn't reach across such distant spacetime to punish Chen Chu. That realization made him pause in thought.

These primordial beings hanging beyond the heavens don't seem as powerful as imagined. Or perhaps, once one steps into the primordial realm, they're no longer part of the same world at all.

1. The concept of Nine Heavens is a term often used in Chinese fantasy and cultivation novels to describe the highest realms of the universe–places where gods, immortals, or supreme powers dwell. Think of it like the celestial layers above the mortal world, each more divine or powerful than the last. ☜

2. Also called Meru, Sineru, or Mahāmeru, Mount Sumeru is a sacred five-peaked mountain said to be the center of all physical, metaphysical, and spiritual universes. It most prominently features in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cosmologies, though it's also present in Taoist literature. ☜