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

Chapter 289 The Ancient Altar
The hierarchy of abyssal civilizations is quite simple; the first requirement is the existence of powerful beings of the corresponding level.

This is the most difficult part. For example, an eighth-level civilization requires the existence of a god, a ninth-level civilization requires a chief god, and a tenth-level civilization requires a god-king to guard it.

Once a powerful figure emerges, everything else becomes much simpler, and civilization will enter a period of rapid development.

As for how many level-ten civilizations there are in this world, even Meng Xuanshu has no idea.

The abyss is vast, containing too many secrets, and civilizations distrust each other, often erupting into war. It is like a dark forest, and no one knows how many powerful civilizations are hidden in this boundless abyss.

All he knew was that within the territory ruled by their Tianyan civilization, there were seventy-six level-nine civilizations and thousands of level-eight civilizations. As for civilizations below level eight, the number was countless—millions? Tens of millions? Even hundreds of millions? They were simply impossible to count.

Adjacent to them were two level-ten civilizations and an unexplorable area of ​​"black mist".

Within that black mist, everything is swallowed up and never emerges again, not even the most powerful beings. They speculate that the black mist might be the territory of an incredibly powerful ancient god.

"The Tuoba Ye and Sanchongfeng civilizations were our subordinate civilizations. Therefore, it is highly likely that your civilization is also within the territory of our civilization."

Chu Xiu nodded and said, "So how should we contact you?"

There seems to be very little description of extraterrestrial civilizations in the records of Earth.

“It’s a pity, but it’s probably impossible in the short term,” Meng Xuanshu said regretfully. “For the Tianyan civilization, a civilization without a god to oversee it is of no value.”

"Becoming a god is an extremely difficult path, even in our Tianyan civilization. It is a watershed moment. Only when a god is born can one protect one's own civilization, establish connections with other civilizations, and truly begin to explore the abyss."

Meng Xuanshu continued, "Generally speaking, the first [god] of a civilization will automatically become the [ruler of the civilization] of that civilization."

"As long as a god is born in a civilization, he can grant the city of Yuan a special power. After that, Yuan will act like a large broadcasting station, connecting with nearby civilizations. The greater the power of the god, the wider the range that Yuan can connect with."

"But this does not mean that we can detect nearby civilizations, because many civilizations will hide their coordinates and build defenses."

"For example, even if I give you the coordinates of our civilization now, you still won't be able to get close to our civilization. Before you even enter our territory, you will be directly blasted to death by our outer defense system!"

“Establishing a defense system is only something that level eight or nine civilizations do. Level ten top civilizations even have the ability to directly fold space near the main star, so that you can’t detect it even if you stand right in front of it.”

Meng Xuanshu's words made Chu Xiu secretly gasp, once again realizing that Blue Star was nothing more than a baby just learning to walk compared to these powerful civilizations that had existed for millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of years.

As he continued browsing, more horrifying information flooded his mind.

Behemoths, Abyssal Apostles, Civilization Wars, Evil Gods.
These terrifying words, each one could bring devastating disaster to a civilization! Even a level ten civilization is no exception!

Almost every day, thousands of civilizations are destroyed!
Of course, there is also the greatest calamity.

Devoured by the abyss itself.

Leaving aside the connection and development with other civilizations, that is the most pressing matter at present.

Chu Xiu thought of the civilians in the base city who had turned to dust in front of him before, and couldn't help but ask, "Is there any way to stop the abyss from devouring us?"

After he finished speaking, Meng Xuanshu gave him a strange look: "You don't know? The demise of civilization is inevitable."

Chu Xiu's eyes widened slightly: "Even a level ten civilization can't withstand the abyss's devouring power?"

“No, we can only delay it as much as possible.” Meng Xuanshu shook his head. “The Abyss is not a powerful enemy, but a balance. Where there is life, there is death, and new civilizations must naturally be built on the bones of old civilizations.”

After saying that, he seemed to have thought of something and continued, "My master once told me that the abyss is gradually becoming lifeless. Compared to hundreds of millions of years ago, the scale, total number, and density of civilizations are all decreasing."

"Perhaps one day, the abyss will turn into complete heat death, and no more life will be born."

Chu Xiu asked incredulously, "Aren't you worried about this?"

Meng Xuanshu said, "What is there to worry about? Everything has an end. These things are too far away from us. I'm afraid they won't come for hundreds of billions of years. What we are more worried about is the covetousness of other civilizations and those strange creatures that roam in the abyss."

Chu Xiu fell silent. At this moment, Meng Xuanshu's body began to become illusory, a sign that the trial was over and he was about to leave this world.

He watched Chu Xiu deep in thought, and as if he had thought of something, he said:

"Brother Qin, let me give you one last piece of advice."

“A genius like you will suffer the 'malice' of the abyss. The difficulty of the Heroic Spirit Trial will become incredibly terrifying, with almost no chance of passing.”

"Remember, you must embark on the path of the Heroic Spirits before challenging the Trials of the Heroic Spirits."

Chu Xiu asked, puzzled, "What does this mean?"

"Trials can help break through bottlenecks, but they are not the only way to do so."

"If you follow the rules of the abyss, you will never be able to defeat it."

"If you truly wish to fight against the Abyss, then do your utmost to break free from its shackles. Although, this is something even we, the God-King, cannot fully accomplish."

After leaving those words, Meng Xuanshu vanished completely, leaving only Chu Xiu standing there, lost in thought.

To embark on the path of heroic spirits ahead of time and break free from the rules of the abyss.
All sorts of unknown information made his mind go blank.

Chu Xiu thought of the Godhood Sequence he had previously revealed. Were those things the Path of Heroes?
But what does it mean to escape the abyss? Does it mean he has to skip the trials and cultivate on his own from now on? That would be too difficult!

Even in the era before the world of cultivation was destroyed, when there were abundant cultivation resources, breaking through bottlenecks was extremely difficult. The vast majority of cultivators, even those with extraordinary wisdom and perseverance, were trapped at their current realm and died from exhaustion of their lifespan.

Thinking of this, Chu Xiu felt even more troubled. The information Meng Xuanshu had given him had answered many of his questions, but he still felt that the road ahead was shrouded in a thick fog.

Let's go back to Earth and ask around again.

Shaking his head and suppressing his unease, Chu Xiu initiated the escape.

There's no point in worrying about things that haven't happened yet; all he can do now is continuously improve his own strength.

Having defeated a formidable enemy like Meng Xuanshu, Chu Xiu was eagerly anticipating what kind of reward he would receive!
Soon, as he returned to the Awakening Space, the settlement information appeared before Chu Xiu's eyes.

[Trial completed, rewards being evaluated.]

[Evaluation complete. Trial contribution level: 32669]

Overall rating: Perfect completion (+2000%)

【特殊成就奖励：万众敬仰（+100%）、军工狂魔（+150%）、强化专家（+250%）、血魔杀手（+450%）、巨神陨落（+1550%）、镇压天骄（+3750%）】

[Extra Contribution Bonus: +3300%] [Rescue of the Fire: 96.4% (Perfect Completion, Special Reward Quality Increased)]

[Rewards being settled]

[Rewards settled!]

[Item Obtained: 4365900 Causality Points]

[Obtain the exclusive item for Backtrack Mode: Civilization Points * 656.39]

【获得道具：升级火种*8（传说）、王阶传说级剥夺之手*3、首领级旧日骸影*6，传说装备图纸*3、神话装备图纸*1、独立锚点*1】

[Obtained Class: War Fortress (S)]

[Acquired Equipment: Titan's Machine (Mythical), Divine Strike (Mythical)]

[Special Reward Obtained: Ancient Altar (Forbidden)]

[Bonus Rewards: Titan Machine Upgrade Blueprint (Mythical), Heavenly Strike Light Upgrade Blueprint (Mythical), Aurora's Soul Fragment (Legendary)]

The generous reward before him briefly dispelled Chu Xiu's gloom about the unknown, bringing a genuine smile to his face.

Meng Xuanshu wasn't lying to him. Defeating a civilization envoy from a level ten civilization head-on, while extremely difficult, would yield extraordinary rewards!
Right off the bat, there's a causal point of over 430 million!

"With so many causal points, let alone heroic spirits and demigods, it would probably be a considerable number even for those eight Heavenly Kings."

Next up is the unique reward for the retrospective mode: Civilization Points.

With nearly 700 civilization points, given his current level of civilization, it's like receiving decades' worth of accumulated points all at once!
With so many civilization points, he can make a leap forward in the development of civilization in the Shiki world, and the progress of building the interdimensional portal will be greatly accelerated.

If a portal between the two worlds could be built, Chu Xiu would almost certainly win the battle against the Blood Demon. With the entire Blue Star as his backing and resources, the Blood Demon's ascension to godhood would be just around the corner!

However, the following items were more conventional. The more valuable ones were an independent anchor point and a mythical equipment blueprint that Chu Xiu obtained. The latter goes without saying, and the former is an indispensable item for a group of people who want to start a civilization war. Both can be sold for a very high price.

"As for the other rewards, they seem to be based on what I encountered during the trials."

The job title grants a War Fortress, which is one of the advanced branches of the Mechanic class and also Aurora's job.

Both are S-rank professions, but this one is much more valuable than the Buddhist elder given in the last trial.

The equipment and item rewards were simply and directly given to him: Titan Machine and Heavenly Strike.

After studying it for a while, Chu Xiu found that it was somewhat different from the trial. The power of the abyss had raised its basic level, directly bringing it to the mythical level.

This Titan machine is more than twice the size of the one near the base city, but it only has the basic system structure and does not have many corresponding cannons installed. Chu Xiu will have to build them himself later.

This makes the initial combat power of this mythical equipment not very good, but it has great potential for upgrading. The same is true for the Heavenly Strike Divine Light.

Even more surprisingly, Chu Xiu obtained the blueprints for the subsequent upgrades of these two pieces of equipment.

They are currently only at the King rank, but according to the upgrade blueprints, they have the potential to upgrade to Heroic Spirits in the future! The Heavenly Strike Divine Light can even be upgraded to a Demigod!

"A Titan-level behemoth, combined with the demigod-level Heavenly Strike Divine Light."

Chu Xiu couldn't even imagine how synchronized their firepower would be; he feared they could completely destroy that Blood Demon Giant God within a second.

And most importantly, both pieces of equipment are movable.

According to their descriptions, as long as the relevant space technology within a civilization is unlocked, cross-space fire support can be achieved.

"In other words, I can place these two pieces of equipment near my civilization to protect it, and then open a spatial rift to launch long-range firepower strikes when needed."

Of course, there are many limitations to doing this, but Chu Xiu is generally quite satisfied.

The firepower of the two pieces of equipment is just right to deal with the giant demon in the Hundred Demon Furnace.

There are two props left.

One of them was a fragment of Aurora's soul that surprised him.

"Could this girl really be brought back to life?"

Chu Xiu's expression was somewhat strange. He originally thought that what Meng Xuanshu said to Aurora at the end was a complete deception, but now it seems that it is not that simple.

Chu Xiu immersed his consciousness and discovered that the prop was a blurry phantom, which, judging from its shape, was Aurora.

After pondering for a while, Chu Xiu remembered another prop.

The old altar.

The special rewards for each perfect completion are invaluable items that cannot be measured in money.

During his time at the Warrior rank, he obtained the Proof of the Past; during the Trial of the Ferocious rank, he obtained the invaluable Dawn Emperor Lantern and Deep Diving Safety Rope.

This time, it's an old altar, so it must contain treasures of the same caliber.

He also remembered this name.

He had previously revealed many ancient remnants. The description of this item states that by injecting it into the ancient altar, one can find items lost in the past. However, Chu Xiu had never known what this ancient altar was. He never expected it to appear this time.

After examining it carefully, he understood that once the ancient altar in his hand was bound to a world, he could activate the ancient shadows and go to that world to search in the past.

The binding method is also very simple. First, you need to find a world lost in the abyss, whether by deep diving or by completing a trial mission.

Next, after consuming a fixed anchor point to connect it to the old altar, you can explore it.

It is now automatically bound to the Corpse World. Through this altar, one can search for all equipment and items that have ever appeared in the Corpse World. As for whether it can be used to find Aurora's other souls, and whether it can revive her after collecting the soul fragments, Chu Xiu does not know.

After thinking it over, he decided to give it a try first.

With a thought, an ancient altar appeared in the chaotic mist of the Awakening Space.

Chu Xiu took out the Old Shadow, which was a blurry black mist. The moment it was taken out, it seemed to be attracted by something and automatically drifted towards the altar. After the black mist merged into the altar, a strange creature appeared from the altar.

(End of this chapter)