CHAPTER 870: CHAPTER 593: RED STAR LEVEL WONDER

Lu Chenzhou looked toward the Martial Arts Tree.

"The Sixth Rank of the Dao is [Stopping Dao]. To advance to the Eight Realms, the minimum requirement is Sixth Rank. With my current comprehension, if I proceed step by step in cultivation, reaching Sixth Rank will take at least ten years. I still need to appropriately borrow Tree Brother’s power. For this coming journey to the Mystic Sky Realm, let those stubborn Divine Race fools become the nourishment for my advancement."

Unknowingly, Lu Chenzhou’s temperament had grown ever more iron-blooded and cold, and soul devouring now left him absolutely unmoved.

By some people’s standards, Tree Brother’s method of devouring souls to grow was utterly the Demon Dao.

But so what?

Special times call for special measures. Through this expedition to Mountain and Sea Tower, he realized it was not that the Three Thousand Worlds lacked armed forces, but that they were too dispersed and lacked a truly powerful sun.

This era calls for an absolute power who can suppress all dissenting voices.

Perhaps he could give it a try.

In addition to the Chaos Dao, the Void, Causality, Great Dream, Withering and Flourishing, Power Extreme, and Lightning had all reached Fifth Rank.

Vibration, Penetration, Yuji, Rotation, Blood Moon, Five Elements, and Wind and Thunder were at Fourth Rank. Lu Chenzhou still had four Void Steles, enough to quickly push several of them to Fifth Rank in a short time. He wasn’t in a hurry to refine them for now and would adapt according to the situation.

The Candle Dragon Order rang, and Prince Northern Guardian appeared.

"Military Leader, where are you?"

"I’m still cultivating among the stars."

"Did you enter Mountain and Sea Tower?"

"I did, but I concealed my identity. After buying what I needed, I left."

"Achilles has also entered Mountain and Sea Tower, and is openly posting bounties for you. Moreover, he has made it widely known that you possess the [Aurora Palace] and the Chasing Sun Dragon Emperor’s inheritance. He intends to murder with a borrowed knife. If you leave the Xia Realm, you must be very careful. Although it is now the Great Destruction Era, there remain quite a few Eight Realm experts hidden in the Three Thousand Worlds, including some Late Stage quasi-Great Powers or Half-step Great Powers. ’A man’s wealth is his own ruin by attracting the envy of others.’ You cannot guarantee no one will use their full power to bully the weak."

Lu Chenzhou’s heart was cold as ice.

"Truly despicable."

Such a man, devoid of a true powerhouse’s demeanor, could still reach the Eight Realms. It could only be said that Wangliang’s shadow still lingered too heavily.

"Sigh, in any case, be careful."

Prince Northern Guardian sighed and departed.

"Achilles surely doesn’t know I’ve already learned, through his soul splitting, that he’s hiding in the Mystic Sky Realm. Once my strength advances further, I’ll use the Causality Dao to find him and eliminate him at the root."

Lu Chenzhou’s heart was chilling as he sorted through all known information on Achilles via soul splitting memories.

"The Shadow Kill Clan, as former demigod lineage, possesses deep foundations. The Wangliang Ancestor once had a supreme treasure called the [Shadow God Blade]. This treasure was ranked twenty-fourth, renowned as the number one assassination sharp weapon in the Great Wilderness. At his peak, the Wangliang Ancestor could, across world dimensions, remain within the Shadow Kill World, and use the Shadow God Blade to assassinate targets across realms. It was said, ’[Shadow God’s Smile, None Escapes in All Realms],’ but the Shadow God Blade was destroyed by Bi Fang, and now is only an incomplete treasure, with a quality roughly equivalent to Eighth Rank High Grade. Even so, when paired with the Shadow Kill Clan’s divine skills, it is said that within a world, once a target is marked, none can escape the erasure of the Shadow Blade."

The Shadow God Blade was Achilles’s greatest source of arrogance. Of course, though the Shadow God Blade was formidable, its restrictions were great; this kind of space-ignoring kill consumed a truly terrifying amount of power. Otherwise, Achilles would have long since been invincible throughout the Three Thousand Worlds relying on this treasure.

After, Lu Chenzhou took out the rare treasure [Five Soul Wood], circulated the Heart Sutra, and drew out stream after stream of pitch-black soul power. Countless soul screams and howls echoed in his mind as he tightly shut his eyes, sweat beading from his brow. His spiritual power surged like a tide; the white-robed Lu Chenzhou, who represented his soul’s origin, grew ever more solidified and his bearing ever more High Miao.

A month later, this supreme treasure was entirely refined. Lu Chenzhou’s spiritual power increased from 2,200,000 prajna to 2,490,000 prajna, drawing near the Late Stage.

Spiritual World.

In the Land of Confusion, the remnant will of the Wangliang Ancestor was much fainter than in past years.

It continued to wander aimlessly.

"The Five Soul Wood is truly effective. The rise in spiritual power is secondary; the primary gain is the strengthening of soul origin, which in turn elevates my comprehension. Moreover, my Immaculate State of Mind now has faint High Miao qualities."

Mortal, Uncut Jade, Immaculate, High Miao.

To ascend to a Great Power, one must ’my heart is the Heavenly Heart’—the heart realm elevated without limit. The five turbidities of the mortal world, seven sinful thoughts and other spiritual impurities cannot touch it.

Within a High Miao heart, unless the "three demons" of greed, anger, and ignorance come personally, there is no fear of any Heavenly Demon, nor the danger of so-called going demonized. Even Divine Will itself cannot corrode my heart.

Back when he became a Great Grandmaster, Lu Chenzhou attained Immaculate. After decades of cultivation, through the trials of blood and fire and countless mind games with Evil Gods, his heart realm had, without realizing, already surpassed 99% of Seventh Realm cultivators. Now, with the Five Soul Wood, he climbed yet higher—not inferior to the Eight Realms. For a soul of High Miao aspect is the mark of an Eight Realm cultivator.

With his elevated soul, Lu Chenzhou further contemplated his many cultivation methods under study, and felt a new clarity and insight; the results were not inferior to a Divine Seed promotion.

"It is effective indeed. Looks like I’ll have to pay more attention to treasures that can strengthen my soul’s origin from now on."

Lu Chenzhou revealed a hint of joy.

He rose, continuing to wander into the depths of the starry sky—while searching for Star Oddities, he also observed the evolution of cosmic bodies, the birth and death of stars, comprehending the World’s Energy, and seeking inspiration to create new Inner Strength methods.

In a flash, another three years passed.

One day, the Star Plate came to a halt in an empty region of cosmic starspace. Lu Chenzhou gazed, shocked, at the cosmic spectacle before his eyes. There he saw a fixed star at least a million kilometers in diameter blazing with light and heat. All around it, twelve chains of golden flames stretched outward like the ribs of an umbrella, spanning hundreds of millions of miles. At the end of each chain, an immense golden-wire cage was formed by endless gravity, imprisoning nine asteroids of between thirty thousand to two hundred thousand kilometers in diameter.

"This... this is actually a Red Star Level Oddity? And I found it just like that?" For a moment, Lu Chenzhou couldn’t believe it, as if in a dream.

Star Oddities were too rare.

He had searched starspace bitterly for over ten years to only find a [Yuan Magnetic Star Ring], which was just Gold Star Level.

As for Red Star Wonders, they were even rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns—perhaps only one among hundreds of millions of fixed stars would ever give birth to one. Though there are endless stars in the universe, for non-Great Powers who cannot travel faster than light, finding one within a mortal lifespan is nigh impossible!

"The [Nine Chains Locking Star] is a marvel, a manifestation of the Eight Great Red Star Wonders’ [Star Trapping Divine Chain]. There must be an oddity within the core of this star."

Lu Chenzhou’s eyes burned with fervor.

Yet he did not rush forward. Though star oddities are not alive, they possess spirit, and by instinct will attack any intruders.

Among the direct disciples of the Yuan Mountain Master, one had been blinded by greed and attempted to harvest the Red Star Wonder [Three Stars in the Sky], only to be burned to ashes by the oddity instead. Three Stars in the Sky is born from a triple fixed star system and surpasses even this one in quality.

"I’ll first send a projected incarnation to test it." Since he had found it, Lu Chenzhou was unwilling to give up easily.

He concealed his body tens of thousands of miles away, and formed a True Gang Incarnation with about one-third of his own strength, unclad, flying toward the star.

In empty starspace, nobody cared about going nude. If the incarnation died, it was no concern—just don’t lose the equipment.

After some time, the incarnation reached the star’s surface. Thousands of degrees of heat assaulted him, but to a Seventh Realm Middle Stage cultivator with Fourth Rank Five Elements Dao, this was nothing. Gradually, he penetrated deeper as temperatures soared rapidly.

The high temperature was only the first challenge. The convective gases constantly erupted and exploded, and turbulent magnetic fields made his Protective Barrier quiver continually.

"If not for the Red Lotus Demon Venerable courting death, killing him inside a sun would indeed be difficult. Only when truly experiencing a fixed star does one know how terrifying Nature’s power is. Even Great Powers are barely its equal.

The Evil God of Stars—many of them, too, were birthed from their universe’s supergiant fixed stars. Take the Fire Saint King, for example: once born, it devours the star that incubated it like a hatchling bird, absorbing it into its body as Divine Power, then hunts other stars in space to rapidly grow."

Humans, compared to the Divine, are still too weak.

No wonder so many people give up resistance.

Altogether, the convection layer’s temperature and destructive force weren’t all that strong. Relying on the Immortal Armor and the resistance granted by the Five Elements Fire Law, Lu Chenzhou succeeded in passing through—but upon entering the tachocline layer, the raging electromagnetic fields became billions of sharp blades, ripping through everything.

The temperature suddenly escalated to several hundred thousand degrees.

The Immortal Armor began slowly melting; Lu Chenzhou was forced to spread Revolving Dao Essence, forming an absolute void layer around himself.

Passing through the tachocline, Lu Chenzhou’s incarnation was already perilously thin, True Gang Energy on the brink of depletion.

"The radiation zone—this is where the Red Lotus Demon Venerable hid, but the core is still far away."

Lu Chenzhou sighed faintly. He decided to push in as far as he could, at least to gauge the internal situation and return to explore when stronger.

Time passed.

Going further in, when the temperature exceeded seven million degrees, even the Revolving Dao Essence was at its wits’ end, unable to shield him. Here, even the Red Lotus Demon Venerable’s supposed ’Sun Divine Son’ would not dare stay long.

Deeper still,

The Immortal Armor shattered.

Lu Chenzhou’s incarnation was laid utterly bare in the radiation zone, disintegrating swiftly like paper.

He turned himself into a particle state, but to no avail; even photons would be absorbed, unable to escape.

At last, pushing himself to the brink, Lu Chenzhou glimpsed the core region. There stood a blazing golden Divine Pillar, ten thousand miles long, entwined with nine chains.

Ceaseless nuclear fusion poured light and heat into the Divine Pillar, as if a Heavenly God used the star for a forge to craft a Divine Weapon.

"It truly is the Star Prison Divine Chain! If I can refine this, my Mountain Moving Scripture cultivation up to the fifth level will be unhindered, and Power Extreme Dao’s advance to Sixth, even Seventh Rank, will be easy."

Unlike Gold Star Oddities, refining Red and Black Star Oddities can also evolve Divine Skills.

No cultivation is needed—refining alone suffices.

Pop!

Lu Chenzhou’s figure vanished like a bubble.

Far away, his true body opened its eyes.

"Getting close will require at least Peak Seventh Realm strength. Refining and mastery must wait till Eight Realms."

After marking the location, he turned and departed.

...

At the same time—

Within the star, beneath the awe-inspiring Divine Pillar, there was unexpectedly a three-legged red copper divine cauldron engraved with primeval patterns and the Nine Yang suspended above Heaven. Its whole shape resembled a golden divine bird about to spread its wings and fly. An irritable voice muttered within the cauldron: "Where did that lecher come from, not wearing a thing? But a Seventh Realm body able to penetrate a Red Star is some capability indeed."