An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 234 Trial Completed
"!!!"

Chu Xiu's eyes lit up as he looked at the panel that appeared before him.

Although he had long considered that gods like celestial beings, dragons, and asuras, who were clearly superior to the other members, would surely drop excellent loot, the actual gains far exceeded his expectations!

A total of over 20,000 mission contribution points, and two [Mythical] items!!!
"I never expected to get a [Mythical] item. The rewards from the Final Trial are really too generous," Chu Xiu couldn't help but exclaim.

However, the strength of the Celestials and the Celestial Dragons clearly far exceeds that of a normal King-level being, and their rank is at least equivalent to that of a [Demigod]. It is not surprising that they can unleash a [Myth].

Chu Xiu looked down and examined it.

[Celestial Divine Thought: A King-rank mythical item, an extremely vast and solid aggregate of will, usable to drive large war machines, and as a primary material for forging high-level soul chains and soul-type equipment. Currently at the Fierce rank, direct use activates Celestial Divine Power, unleashing a massive range of mental control skills, and increasing the holder's mental attack resistance by 1400.]

[Heavenly Dragon Golden Elixir: A King-rank mythical item, the energy source of the Heavenly Dragon, containing immense energy. It can be used as an energy source for large war machines, a primary ingredient for refining high-level equipment and elixirs. Currently at the Fierce rank, direct use activates the Heavenly Dragon Divine Power, greatly enhancing the attributes of friendly forces within range and increasing the holder's energy recovery speed by 200/s.]

[Note: The soul and energy stored in the Celestial Divine Thought and the Heavenly Dragon Golden Elixir are finite and will be consumed each time they are used. Once depleted, they will no longer have any special effects and can only be used as materials for crafting equipment.]

The effects of these two items brought a look of joy to Chu Xiu's face.

As expected of a [Mythical] item, it truly boasts an incredibly high bonus!
Whether it's the spiritual resistance of the Celestial Being's Divine Thought or the energy recovery bonus of the Heavenly Dragon Golden Elixir, it far surpasses other [Legendary] equipment of the same type!
His current mental defense equipment, such as the [Undying Corpse King Amulet], provides 560 points of mental resistance, the [Great Sun Guardian Shield] provides 420 points, and the [Head of Mahoraga] provides 520 points, all of which are only about one-third of the [Celestial Being's Divine Sense]!

With this equipment, Chu Xiu has made up for his last weakness. Now he can effectively resist mental attacks below the level of [Heroic Spirit].

The effects of the [Heavenly Dragon Golden Pill] are equally powerful. Although it cannot help restore the Golden Embryo's original essence, it allows Chu Xiu to more freely unleash various [General's Commands] to cope with the ever-growing ghost army.

At the same time, the skills attached to both can greatly enhance Chu Xiu's strength, especially the effect of the [Heavenly Dragon Golden Pill], which is a perfect match for Chu Xiu's ghost army and can take his combat power to another level.

However, Chu Xiu also felt some regret.

"Unfortunately, it's only a [Mythical] level item, not equipment. Once its energy is depleted, it can no longer be used."

This is the drawback of items; they usually have a limited number of uses or other restrictions, which is why items are generally much less valuable than equipment.

However, Chu Xiu quickly chuckled to himself and stopped thinking about it. Being able to obtain the [Myth] was already an unexpected surprise, so why ask for anything more?
Moreover, with the legacy of the Demon Lord of Many Treasures, Chu Xiu could most likely refine these two items into suitable magic weapons even after their stored power was exhausted.

Thinking of this, Chu Xiu stopped worrying about it and focused his attention on the last point.

An extra gift from forbidden item 917?
He was quite familiar with this thing; he had received the boundless blood pool as an extra reward when he completed the beginner quest in the Shiki world.

This shows that these powerful creatures are actually intricately connected to the rules of the abyss itself.

I just don't know what the rules are.

This seems like an unexpected surprise.

only.
"I really don't want to get involved with anything taboo," Chu Xiu sighed softly.

Of all the forbidden objects recorded on Earth, very few of their owners met a good end. These things are indeed powerful, but unlike powerful beings like gods, they have a very strange behavioral logic, which, simply put, makes them extremely uncontrollable.

One second they might be offering help, and the next second they might kill you just because you accidentally triggered some hidden rules!

On the official website of Awakeners, there is a warning example that the forbidden object not only killed its owner, but also annihilated the life of an entire world.

Its apparent effect is that it slows down the flow of time for enemies within the area after absorbing a certain amount of life force as energy.

This effect is extremely abnormal; the highest level achieved by the holder was slowing down the opponent's time flow by a full tenfold! With this forbidden item, fighting beyond one's level becomes effortless, let alone one level, even two or three levels!
When that Awakener was still at the King rank, he had already killed no fewer than ten enemies at the [Heroic Spirit] rank! After becoming a [Heroic Spirit], he was completely invincible, and even the eight Heavenly Kings dared not easily provoke him.

But one day, that powerful awakener suddenly disappeared, destroying the world he lived in along with him.

According to the official investigation that followed, the forbidden object's actual ability was to "accelerate its own time flow within a certain range after absorbing a certain amount of life force as energy".

The two seem to be no different at first glance; accelerating oneself is the same as slowing down the enemy, right? But in reality, this forbidden item has a hidden rule: [the higher the acceleration, the harder it is to stop the acceleration process]!
It's like a coal-fired train. When the flames are small, the energy provided is also small, and you can stop it with a simple tap on the brakes. But as it continues to burn and accelerate, braking becomes increasingly difficult. When the fire grows too big to be extinguished, even if you slam on the brakes, you can no longer stop the train. Instead, the brake pads will melt!
That's how it happened to the Awakened One. Perhaps it was the unparalleled power of the forbidden artifact that made him increasingly arrogant. During a challenge against a powerful enemy, he exceeded this limit, causing the acceleration process to become unstoppable! The forbidden artifact began to endlessly absorb the user's life force to accelerate time!
Unable to stop, the awakened ones can only desperately search for living beings on this planet, absorbing their life force to feed this forbidden object. The more life force they provide, the faster time accelerates, making it even harder to stop! They are trapped in an endless vicious cycle!
Afterwards, using special tools to review the events, it was discovered that the time from the acceleration out of control to the complete destruction of the world was only 0.7 seconds! And the Awakener's maximum time flow was accelerated to at least 300 million times!
In other words, within those 0.7 seconds, the awakened one ran through every corner of that world, absorbing the life force of any creature he encountered. But even after draining the entire world, it only extended his life for 0.7 seconds. In the end, in despair with no way to replenish his life, he was drained into a dried-up corpse by the forbidden substance.

The most chilling part of this whole affair is that, thankfully, the awakened being was merely a "Heroic Spirit" and didn't yet possess the ability to travel to other worlds; otherwise, the destruction might have extended far beyond just one world.
This is why Chu Xiu is extremely wary of forbidden objects. Almost none of the awakened ones who abuse the power of forbidden objects end up well! Even those who seem to be safe for the time being are very likely just waiting to reach the critical point where disaster is triggered.

Therefore, Chu Xiu did not want to be associated with any "forbidden things," as he hated uncertainty the most.

With top-tier talent, they'd rather develop slowly than compromise on their own.

"No matter what that forbidden thing gives me, I'll stuff it into the corner of my storage space and then find a chance to sell it to someone else later."

Chu Xiu made up his mind.

He shook his head, no longer thinking about it, turned around and with a wave of his hand, he collected the body and soul of the Heavenly Dragon Celestial.

As the enormous body of the Heavenly Dragon disappeared, 20,000 people appeared in the center of the arena.

They gazed at the figure standing amidst the smoke and dust in the distance. Suddenly, one person knelt down with a thud, and then, as if triggering a chain reaction, a whole throng of people knelt down. Looking across the entire 20,000-strong group, not a single person remained standing. They prostrated themselves before Chu Xiu, their eyes filled with gratitude and devotion.

Even Liang Zhan and the others knelt down to thank Chu Xiu for saving their lives.

This scene made Chu Xiu shake his head.

Although the celestial beings are dead, their religious beliefs are ingrained in their very being. Their original gods are gone, so they need a new god to rely on for their spiritual sustenance.

Looking at the dense crowd kneeling before him, he simply waved his hand dismissively and said, "General Liang, quickly organize the people to enter the underground dragon."

He doesn't need the gratitude of these common people, much less their worship.

After entering the world of Shiki, they were taught that there is no omniscient and omnipotent god in this world, nor is there a superior being who will give you benefits simply by worshipping you.

Gods are not philanthropists; people need to build their ideal life with their own hands.

Of course, many people's ideas are already deeply ingrained, and it's hard to say how many of these 20,000 people can be changed, but that's not something Chu Xiu needs to worry about. The government will send someone to guide them.

Soon, all the residents entered the earth dragon. As Chu Xiu activated the [Heavenly Dragon Golden Pill], his mana quickly recovered. He cast spells, and the earth dragon emitted a dazzling spiritual light, soaring into the sky with a heavy roar.

Driven by the power of the three legendary king-level artifacts, the earth dragon's speed increased, and finally it broke free from the gravitational pull of the paradise and rushed into space. Chu Xiu looked back and saw a huge building floating in space.

It was a colossal building imbued with Buddhist atmosphere. At its core was a floating continent covered with countless pagodas. Near each pagoda were nine inverted hemispherical buildings, and the place where Chu Xiu and his group left was one of those hemispheres.

The vast utopia is merely an insignificant part of this enormous structure.

A look of shock flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes. Such a massive building, which even had its own gravity, must have been the work of a powerful being of a higher level. At least, the other party's power level far exceeded his current level.

Chu Xiu took one last deep look, then stopped looking and focused on controlling the earth dragon as it charged towards the Corpse Demon World.

Not long after leaving the massive building, the earth dragon was captured by the gravity of the Corpse Demon World and began to accelerate downwards. Chu Xiu quickly reversed the direction of his magic power to reduce the speed of the fall as much as possible.

Unfortunately, the energy of the earth dragon and the three resurrected corpses of the Yaksha had been completely exhausted in the process of getting rid of the paradise. Now, only Chu Xiu's magic power was left to support them. Although the Heavenly Dragon Golden Pill restored 200 points of energy per second, this amount of energy was negligible under the earth dragon's terrifying mass of over 100 million tons.

The earth dragon's falling speed increased, and the friction with the atmosphere caused it to burst into dazzling flames, making it look like a giant falling meteor.

As the speed increased to a certain extent, the air around the earth dragon emitted sharp crackling sounds, and the land where the Corpse Demon World was located was getting closer and closer!
Fortunately, Chu Xiu had already made preparations. He cast spells again, and the earth dragon began to turn in mid-air before crashing heavily onto the ground with its tail falling down!
"boom!"

The enormous impact instantly triggered a massive explosion, sending debris and dust hundreds of meters into the air, and the earth trembled violently!

When the smoke and dust cleared, the earth dragon's body was like a sharp sword piercing straight into the earth, with only its head sticking out.

Seeing this, Chu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief; he knew he had succeeded.

With Chu Xiu's meticulous mind, he naturally wouldn't overlook the issue of the earth dragon's descent. He quickly realized that with the earth dragon's terrifying mass, slowing it down was almost impossible.

Therefore, he chose the simplest and most direct method, which was to install a large number of crumple zones at the tail of the earth dragon, similar to the front of a car, to reduce the impact force.

In the final moments of the fall, Chu Xiu's pre-modified spine became completely fixed, transforming into a straight, sharp spike, while the scales and flesh of his tail expanded outwards, reducing its own strength while maximizing the contact area.

Thus, the scene we see today unfolds: as the swollen flesh collapses upon contact with the earth, it acts like a hydraulic system, providing immense friction to slow the earth dragon's body down, while the fixed spine ensures that people near the earth dragon's throat suffer minimal impact.

As the earth dragon came to a complete stop, a staircase split open at its throat, and the fleshy "seatbelt" automatically untied, causing people to fall to the ground and vomit profusely.

Once everyone had recovered, some boldly stepped out of the stairs and curiously looked around at this new and wonderful world.

Above us was a clear blue sky, and the air blowing in our faces was completely different from that in Paradise Lost, carrying the fresh scent of trees.

The people who came out all did the same thing without prior arrangement.

They closed their eyes, tilted their heads back, and quietly felt the gentle, warm sunlight, a blissful smile involuntarily appearing on their faces.

At the same time, a notification sound rang in Chu Xiu's ear.

[Trial completed, rank increased!]

Current Rank: General Level 1

[Currently undergoing trial evaluation]

A look of anticipation flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes.

He couldn't wait to know what kind of inheritance he would unlock after advancing to the general rank, and what kind of reward he would receive after paying such a high price to perfectly complete the level!
(End of this chapter)