Chapter 924: Chapter 646: Breaking the Shackles, Fixed Star Cells
After some time.
The first layer was fully explored.
The three gained quite a lot.
"Alliance Hierarch, let us place our gains here with you too. These Spiritual Weapons are useless to us—better to reward those who have merited it within the alliance."
The Spirit Phoenix Dominator handed over a storage bag.
"Indeed."
The bald giant also handed one over.
Lu Chenzhou took the storage bag and said, "Then I’ll put these in the alliance’s Treasure Vault. I want to establish a public vault and a battle merit exchange system, so the alliance’s strong can improve themselves. What do you two think?"
"I agree. In the future, all resources our leadership no longer needs can go into the vault for the middle and lower ranks to use, otherwise it’ll all be wasted."
The Spirit Phoenix Dominator nodded.
"Same here. Our Dragon Clan’s Dragons Palace already has functions like this. If you two agree, we could just set up the public vault in the Dragon Palace, then establish an exchange system."
The bald giant laughed.
The Dragons Palace holds many treasures—he once gave many to the Eternal Immortal as an ’angel investment.’
"Good."
The three talked as they walked, soon arriving at the second layer’s entrance. Before the ancient bronze door lay two skeletons emitting Second Step auras—likely a Demon Saint and cultivator who perished together.
Lu Chenzhou gathered all of these up.
The cultivator’s palm still clenched a storage bag. Inside were quite a few primordial stones, some elixirs and materials, and several ancient jade scrolls.
"These should be cultivation techniques."
Lu Chenzhou carefully sent his awareness inside.
As expected, streams of information flooded his mind.
[You have comprehended combat technique "Heaven-piercing"]
[You have comprehended combat technique "Golden Lion Battle Body"]
...
[You have comprehended secret technique "Defying Fate"]
The first few were ordinary combat skills, quality ranging from Seventh to Eighth Rank, with no lack of spear skills—many of which gave Lu Chenzhou some insight.
But the last, this "Defying Fate," was a rare destiny-divining method for seeking fortune and avoiding disaster.
In Lu Chenzhou’s mind, a phantom appeared: a middle-aged man in silver armor, holding a great spear.
[I am Zhao Feng, Sect Master of the Eight Extreme Sect. From childhood I loved the spear, devoted my life to it; cultivated at three, entered the sea at a hundred, stepped to the heavens at three hundred, and reached Second Step at thirteen hundred. I followed the Eastern Extreme Border Tower Master in guarding the Mystic Sky. When the Demigods attacked, we fought bitterly for ten years without rescue. The Tower Master sealed the Boundary Tower, perishing with the Demigods here. I was born in the Great Darkness Era and slew over ten billion of the Demon Race, once stood above my peers in my generation, and was once esteemed by the Heavenly Battle Sect Master. Though I die, I have no regrets, only remorse I will never see the end of the darkness. I leave all I have learned here: should posterity acquire it, please tell war’s end to the souls beneath the earth. "Defying Fate" is a rare destiny art I chanced upon among a Demon Saint’s remains—none but those deeply versed in causality and the Dao of Destiny should practice this. Proceed in cultivation with utmost caution.]
The phantom of the middle-aged man faded.
These were his last words.
Lu Chenzhou shook his head, sighing within.
"You do not know the outcome was a good one."
If only these warriors who gave their lives knew the ultimate fate of the Divine Court, it would be regret carried to the grave.
"Alliance Hierarch, what’s wrong?"
The Spirit Phoenix Dominator and giant looked to him.
"I gained some secret techniques."
Lu Chenzhou imparted the techniques to the pair.
"Defying Fate..."
The Spirit Phoenix Dominator murmured.
"Way too hard, I don’t understand it at all. Only Dragon Ancestor Chi Ji God could grasp these abstruse destiny arts."
The bald giant shook his head.
"Destiny, huh?"
Lu Chenzhou murmured.
Lately, he too had been pondering such methods.
This "Defying Fate" was just the reference he needed.
Pushing open the door, the three entered the second layer—another battlefield littered with powerful Demon Emperor corpses, and here and there the corpses of Seventh Realm and even First Step beings. In the very center lay a Second Step corpse; there was no sign of body seizing.
By memory, the fiercest battles had been on the first and third layers; the second layer, being the gateway’s location, saw both sides restrained in their fighting.
The Demon Race needed these portals, too.
In the boundless void, thousands of bronze ancient gates stood like a beehive, each inscribed with characters.
All were worlds the portals led to.
And all bidirectional.
Just insert enough primordial stones into the bronze gate’s grooves and a single transmission could be made. From fragments of Dao Essence lingering within, Lu Chenzhou vaguely glimpsed the prosperity of the Ancient Times.
Mighty ones traversed the Three Thousand Realms through these portals; the Great Wilderness at the center of the cosmos drew resources from all the realms, all of which flowed to the Divine Court and Four Sects.
"We’ll go to the third layer, refine the Boundary Tower control core, and seize the pulse of the East Pole Domain—invitations to heroes everywhere to join Mystic Sky and fight the Divine Alliance together!"
The Spirit Phoenix Dominator’s tone was agitated.
Next, it was time for a great undertaking.
Lu Chenzhou shook his head.
"We can’t go yet. I learned from that Demon Race Great Saint that the third layer is the Demigod battlefield. If we enter, we may awaken those Demigods. Moreover, refining the Boundary Tower requires profound Void Power; with my current attainment, hopes of refining it are slim."
"Demigod?"
The bald giant took a few steps back.
"Let’s retreat then."
...
The sealed third layer.
Collapsed mountains, broken walls, jagged pillars—two colossal, decaying skeletons, as vast as minor worlds, stretched across heaven and earth.
On the head of one skeleton,
A figure sat cross-legged in decay.
She wore a black courtly gown, as splendid as the night, her face pale, back carrying a blood-red scythe whose end was wrapped in chains, her legs swinging.
"Seems they’ve discovered me. That little fellow was able to kill the first general beneath this god? Definitely a fine vessel, isn’t it."
Rumble—
In the skies, the phantom image of a beast-pelted giant appeared, roaring as it sent a Punch Kill toward her.
The court lady was blasted apart by the punch.
She reappeared in the distance, frowning. "Even in death so long, your obsession to kill me remains? Dragon Bo Giant, worthy of Divine Court’s most loyal clan."
...
In a flash, another year passed.
Mystic Sky Alliance.
After a year of tempering, the alliance’s rules had grown ever more refined. A complete battle merit exchange system was finished—so long as merit sufficed, anyone could exchange for Heaven and Earth Treasures, Enlightenment Stele, even Eighth Rank Spiritual Weapons and other rare items.
The Mystic Sky Army had all but prepared; all that remained was a fierce war to bare their claws to the world.
But before the war, one thing remained.
The Alliance Hierarch’s Breakthrough Eighth.
...
On this day—
After giving final instructions, Lu Chenzhou entered the Mystic Sky Alliance’s secret chamber to begin a fresh round of seclusion.
Everything was ready—only the Eighth Realm remained.
He was thoroughly prepared, so the major bottlenecks of Breakthrough Eighth—Qi-blood, spirit, spiritual, will, divine skills, Enlightenment—all passed easily.
"With enough effort, everything comes naturally, like water flowing into a riverbed without the slightest hindrance."
Lu Chenzhou murmured, using Inner Vision at the micro-level: his fleshly body’s trillion cells were like as many stars and worlds. As the shackles broke, the first star exploded with blinding white light, then detonated, transforming into a light-swallowing black hole.
"Withering and Flourishing."
From the black hole, purer sublimated matter gushed forth. Under the approaching Great Power’s will, it solidified anew: a more resplendent star, born like the Great Sun.
"If before, the cells were merely planets—now, they are fixed stars." Lu Chenzhou had insight.
Energy within these newborn cells far surpassed the past. The second, the third star began to transform too, from planet to fixed star.
This was not something accomplished overnight.
This would require ages of tempering.
Lu Chenzhou sensed, vaguely—that he need only convert one percent of his body’s cells from planet to fixed star, and he would truly enter the Eighth Realm.
If he could transform all his cells, he’d reach Eighth Realm’s peak, the Third Step’s limit, infinitely close to Demigod; within, a trillion micro fixed stars’ power—one punch to shatter all realms.
Meanwhile—
As time passed,
the "Mixed Cave Furnace Technique" began operating, gathering all energy already turned into fixed stars to coalesce at the Qi Sea into colorful crystals.
Scarlet, blue, violet...each shining like a fixed star in deep space—glorious and beautiful.
Each crystal was the cumulative power of a hundred million fixed-star cells. Once ignited, it could release boundless energy, supernova-like.
With a trillion cells in Lu Chenzhou’s body, he only needed to condense ten thousand crystals to stabilize the Early Stage of Eighth Realm. Now, two hundred crystals had formed.
As Lu Chenzhou advanced to Eighth Realm, Heaven and Earth Power for tens of thousands of li around Mystic Sky Alliance surged as if summoned, blocking out the sun. Above all heads, a radiant starry river materialized.
"Alliance Hierarch is about to Breakthrough Eighth."
Someone spoke with emotion.
"Isn’t the Hierarch already Eighth Realm?"
Some people still didn’t understand the situation.
They’d always thought Lu Chenzhou was already Eighth Realm—Lu Chenzhou himself had never bothered to clarify.
Amid the crowd, a golden-haired youth gazed up at the stars above, hope in his eyes. "Is Master breaking through the Eighth in a hundred years? I reached Breakthrough Forth arguably faster than Master—doesn’t that mean if I keep working, I could also match his speed?"
Luo Shan imagined.
His cultivation advanced rapidly—after becoming Lu Chenzhou’s registered disciple, he had progressed a thousand li in a day, now at Breakthrough Fifth.
Du Meng and Di Jialou had not matched him so far; now only Dragon King and Lu Chenzhou were stronger.
But he didn’t know—his master’s slowest stage was before Grandmaster. After that, he only became faster and faster.
"Is the Eighth Realm’s phenomenon this grand?"
The Hanhai Sect Lord’s telekinesis spread; within ninety thousand li, all Heaven and Earth Power was drawn by the Alliance Hierarch.
Back then, he could only manage about ten thousand li.
This gap—was just too wide.
"If the Hierarch enters Eighth Realm, your average Eighth Realm wouldn’t last a single bout—he must succeed!"
"What pressure."
The bald giant tutted in amazement.
"If this tribulation is overcome, the order of the Three Thousand Worlds will completely change. The Divine Alliance’s fall is only a matter of time. Even if Yan Ming reaches Third Step, it will be useless. The race is on: will the Alliance Hierarch reach Eighth, or will Yan Ming step into Third Step first?" The Spirit Phoenix Dominator smiled.
"Definitely the Hierarch. Barring accident, he’ll be the first in history to break through Eighth within a century." The Yaochi Immortal’s voice was extremely resolute.
"The Hierarch’s breakthrough shakes things up so much, who knows how many in the Three Thousand Worlds are watching in the shadows—everyone, keep alert, stay ready to fight at any time."
Emperor Shitian spoke.
After re-forging his Spiritual Embodiment, he rushed to Mystic Sky Realm at once to protect Lu Chenzhou.