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

Chapter 396 The Eye of God
"Buzz!"

Swarms of insects flew through the tunnel, their bodies a nauseating oily green with strange black patterns. They were plump and their sharp mouthparts ripped and rubbed back and forth, making a "scratching" sound.

For some reason, even these awakened beings, who could unleash nuclear-level energy with a flick of their wrists, felt an indescribable sense of fear upon seeing these insects.

Everyone was curious about how Chu Xiu would fight against the embodiment of the rules!

Muto suddenly exclaimed, "He moved!"

But then Chu Xiu stretched out his right hand and gently clenched it, and a large amount of demonic energy surged out from behind him, transforming into sharp swords that exuded astonishing power!
Everyone's eyes narrowed. Chu Xiu had used this move before to almost instantly kill the three civilization envoys. Muto and the other two even showed expressions of lingering fear. Although the overwhelming number of falling spears was not as powerful as those top demigods in terms of energy level, the exquisiteness of the supernatural power and the high energy utilization rate were comparable to the divine arts that only divine envoys were qualified to teach.

Even for these civilized envoys, only their most secret, life-saving abilities could barely compare.

Moreover, all those supernatural abilities were "big moves" that required a long time to prepare, unlike Chu Xiu who could activate them with a simple gesture.
But even so.
"not enough."

Cat Seven shook his head.

The power of supernatural abilities is fundamentally different from that of rules.

This is why, despite coming from advanced civilizations and possessing highly sophisticated secret techniques within their clans, as well as having advanced inherited skills in their professions, these envoys have not cultivated or possessed the powerful supernatural abilities of Chu Xiu.

For the geniuses of advanced civilizations who are fortunate enough to be granted the [Seed of Rules], comprehending supernatural powers is the best way to increase their strength. Using the time spent comprehending the rules to learn other skills is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse.

Generally speaking, they will only train skills such as movement, stealth, and defense to make up for their weaknesses, depending on the rules.

"Brother Zhu's attack just now, although in terms of energy it was far inferior to Brother Chen's, still contained a trace of the rule of destruction."

“Even the fewest rules are still rules!” Tuoba Shou shook his head solemnly.

This person was taciturn, but everyone could see that his strength was probably second only to the three level ten civilization envoys, and his insight was very unique.

As he predicted, although the demonized swords instantly decimated the swarm of insects, they caused almost no casualties. The destructive energy emanating from the demonic swords could not destroy the insect bodies formed by the rules. They were like steel balls scattered by a high-pressure water gun, seemingly disheveled but actually almost unharmed.

Only a few insects that were hit head-on by the sword were severely damaged, but this was negligible compared to the massive swarm.

"Does he think he can break the rules with brute force?" This left Mao Qi completely bewildered. Although she had always advocated for a direct confrontation with Chu Xiu, she had never underestimated him and even envisioned him as a powerful figure with no weaknesses in any aspect.

But the scene before her made her suddenly realize that, yes, although this guy had somehow obtained some kind of fortuitous opportunity that made him so powerful, he was ultimately just a bumpkin from a lower civilization who knew nothing about the power of rules and even needed to ask them for the most basic common sense.

Could it be that this guy underestimated the power of rules, which is why he spoke so arrogantly?

"Probably not?"

Even Cat Seven refused to believe this possibility. How could someone who could become a Tribulation ...
However, just as she dismissed the idea, she saw the first few poisonous insects break through the demonic energy's blockade and arrive in front of Chu Xiu!
Chu Xiu stood there as if he had just finished casting a powerful spell and his magic power was exhausted. He did not resist at all, but instinctively took a step back.

However, due to the fact that the divine domain is guaranteed to hit, even though the poisonous insects are not fast, the distance between them did not shrink in the slightest!
"Clap."

A venomous insect crawled onto Chu Xiu's body. Its mouthparts extended and easily pierced through the multiple protective gear on Chu Xiu's body. When it touched Chu Xiu's skin, it paused for a moment and made a sharp noise like an electric drill drilling a hole in steel!
Amidst a piercing scraping sound, the venomous insect's mouthparts finally pierced Chu Xiu's skin and penetrated deep into his muscles.

The next moment, a scene unfolded that left all the civilization envoys wide-eyed and horrified.

But when Chu Xiu was pierced by the mouthparts of the poisonous insect, the flesh nearby melted into a thick, foul-smelling blood, just like a melted cake!
Almost in the blink of an eye, a dent appeared on Chu Xiu's shoulder!
Even more terrifying is that not only was the flesh melted, but the venom spewed by the poisonous insects also made a "sizzling" sound and produced a lot of white smoke after melting a large amount of flesh and blood and falling onto the bones. In no time, it corroded the bones into a million holes!
At this moment, more venomous insects crawled onto Chu Xiu's body and began to inject their mouthparts into his body!

“This is the Tribulation of Bone Transformation,” Xie Xuanzhao said, his face pale. “Legend has it that during this tribulation, the cultivator’s flesh and bones will melt away. If they cannot rebuild their immortal bones during this stage, they will turn into a pool of blood and die!”

"Reconstructing the immortal bones. What does that mean?" Cat Seven asked.

“I don’t know either,” Xie Xuanzhao shook his head, “It’s probably a description of transforming into a higher level of life.”

"But how is this possible?" Cat Seven looked utterly bewildered. "Isn't this the kind of thing that only happens when you pass the advancement trial?"

"So, this so-called tribulation is the way cultivators in the previous era cultivated before the Awakened Ones appeared," Xie Xuanzhao sighed.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jiu frowned deeply and couldn't help but ask, "But the last era was billions of years ago. The rules of heaven and earth have undergone such tremendous changes. Is it possible for Brother Chen to follow the old path?"

Xie Xuanzhao broke his silence and sighed after a long while: "Theoretically, it's impossible. Besides, the tribulations recorded in ancient books are clearly different from the tribulations in the current trials. I don't know what Brother Chen is thinking."

Everyone looked at Chu Xiu with concern. At this moment, his body was covered with at least hundreds of insects, and his armor had completely melted into a pool of molten iron. These insects covered Chu Xiu's naked body, further corroding his flesh.

Through the gaps between the insects, one could see that Chu Xiu's body was almost entirely devoid of healthy flesh! His bones, as translucent as jade, were visible everywhere!

Surrounded by insects, Chu Xiu was clearly in great pain. Although he did not scream, he kept emitting soft moans.

The pain of having one's flesh and bones corroded together is unimaginable to most people!
Even Cat Seven stopped making sarcastic remarks and said in a deep voice, "Although I don't know what he's planning, you can all see that his scheme is bound to fail!"

"This is only a swarm of a few hundred insects; there will be thousands, tens of thousands, millions of poisonous insects afterward!"

"We need to make a choice quickly. Either we lend a hand and risk using a few divine artifacts to save this guy's life, or we should strike while the iron is hot and seize this golden opportunity!"

"If we delay any longer, those swarms of insects will come after us!"

Chu Xiu's flesh and blood were being constantly corroded. His powerful life energy might be able to hold back tens of thousands of poisonous insects, but it was impossible for him to hold back the entire swarm. It was only a matter of time before the other civilizations were targeted!

This time, everyone hesitated again. Only Tuoba Shou glanced at everyone and said indifferently, "What, are you going to kick me when I'm down again?"

Cat Seven looked at him coldly: "Then do you have a better idea?"

Tuoba Shou said, "Taking advantage of someone's misfortune is not the act of a gentleman."

Muto nodded and said, "Brother Chen has been kind to me. Since there are other ways to pass the level, I will not be his enemy."

Cat Seven looked at the others and found that although they were not so determined, no one suggested taking action. He snorted coldly, "If you are determined to help him, then do it sooner rather than later. Otherwise, once the swarm of insects surrounds him, you won't be able to save him even if you want to."

This time, most of the people agreed, but just as they were about to take action, Xie Xuanzhao suddenly said, "Wait!"

"What is it now?" Cat Seven asked impatiently.

Xie Xuanzhao pointed and said, "Look at Brother Chen's supernatural abilities before."

Everyone was taken aback, and following Xie Xuanzhao's finger, they quickly showed expressions of surprise.

They hadn't noticed before, but now they realized that after Chu Xiu's demonic longsword was blocked by the swarm of insects, it didn't lose its power and dissipate, but instead transformed back into scattered demonic energy.

This demonic energy appears to be just a cloud of mist lying across the middle of the passage, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the originally surging swarm of insects, after passing through the demonic energy, seems to have been drugged and begins to fly around in all directions, disoriented and confused.

“This is…” Cat Seven narrowed his eyes, his pupils turning into a pale amber gold. He quickly discovered the clue: Chu Xiu’s demonic energy did not dissipate naturally, but rather it was dispersed yet substantial, containing numerous tiny obstacles!
In short, Chu Xiu wove that demonic energy into a huge three-dimensional maze to trap the insect swarm!
"So the previous attack wasn't intended to kill, but rather to trap the enemy?"

"This is truly terrifying control!" Even Cat Seven couldn't help but exclaim in amazement. Even for a level ten civilization like them, they couldn't imagine a monster like Chu Xiu. The Golden Core provides enormous energy and unparalleled energy control, while the Yama Scripture allows Chu Xiu's spirit to exceed 100,000. Combined with the unique divine sense of a cultivator, he can perform precise control over long distances.

Only by combining the two can such an incredible operation be accomplished. If an ordinary person wanted to do this, their strength would be close to that of a peak demigod.

"Brother Chen can still maintain such precise control; he must still have some energy left." Muto breathed a sigh of relief.

“Although this supernatural power is profound, I’m afraid it still won’t be able to stop this swarm of insects,” Zhu Jiu said, frowning.

While Chu Xiu's methods were certainly eye-opening for everyone, the power of the Calamity could not be stopped by mere exquisite supernatural abilities.

If the accumulation and design of energy can withstand the rules, then the rules don't deserve to be called rules.

Although this poisonous insect has a physical form and is not a pure rule, it is, after all, a manifestation of the rule.

Many poisonous insects have already broken through the blockade and are continuously heading towards Chu Xiu.

Xie Xuanzhao looked at the others and said, "Now that things have come to this, I'll be frank."

"Before Brother Chen left, he sent me a telepathic message asking me to help him block the poisonous insects as much as possible and prevent the number of poisonous insects gathering near him from becoming too large at the same time."

"As for what Brother Chen is really planning, I don't know, but I still want to trust Brother Chen this once."

After saying that, she left the crowd looking at each other in confusion, and in a flash, she appeared near Chu Xiu, casting spells to disperse the insects that were getting close to him.

Muto and Tuoba Shou followed silently, splitting up to intercept the approaching swarm of insects.

"Hey, you guys don't actually believe in this nonsense about tribulations, do you?" Cat Seven turned to look at the remaining three, especially Candle Nine among them.

"I don't understand what there is to hesitate about! He sought death himself, giving us such a great opportunity! Now you want to let this golden opportunity slip through your fingers?"

Cat Seven's amber eyes were fixed on Candle Nine: "Use your Destruction Rule to unleash its full power on him right now, and it will all be over! There is no safer method than this!"

Zhu Jiu remained silent, standing still, seemingly lost in thought, until Mao Qi's expression grew impatient. Only then did he slowly say, "Do you think Brother Chen couldn't have thought of this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a deep dragon roar rose from Zhu Jiu's body, and a terrifying aura surged from his body. With just a light touch, a wave representing destruction spread out, and the poisonous insects in the wave burst into pieces!

He moved swiftly, rushing straight towards the end of the passage, blocking the densest part of the insect swarm's breakout!
Upon seeing this, Canmo and Shagu said no more and used their supernatural powers to help Chu Xiu intercept the swarm of insects.

The three of them's behavior made Mao Qi click his tongue in extreme displeasure.

"Those who can serve as envoys of civilization are definitely not fools."

She did feel that now was the best time, but she also knew that Chu Xiu was not so easy to deal with.

Chu Xiu is so confident in defying the rules, who knows what other tricks he has up his sleeve?
She had already thought of what Zhu Jiu said, so how could she possibly take the risk herself?
So he just kept encouraging others, but didn't do anything himself.

"None of you want to be bad guys or take risks, so I won't be the one to stick my neck out either," Cat Seven muttered, then suddenly his figure blurred and transformed into a giant azure dragon!

Without her making any move, a huge water curtain suddenly rose up around Chu Xiu. The water curtain looked like ordinary water, but after the poisonous insects entered the water curtain, they were as if they were being swept up in a tsunami, moving up and down along the water curtain, unable to break out of it!
The pressure on the other six interceptors was instantly reduced!
"This must be the [Abyssal Binding Realm] divine power of the extinct Azure Dragon clan," Xie Xuanzhao said with a smile. "The ever-changing rules are indeed most suitable for trapping enemies."

"The cat girl alone is probably as powerful as the remaining six of us combined."

“Don’t call me girl,” Cat Seven rolled her eyes. “If you all hadn’t acted stupidly, I wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.”

As she spoke, her legs never stopped moving. She wandered around Chu Xiu, casting spells to fill the gaps in the water curtain that had been damaged by the poisonous insects.

She harbored no ill will towards Chu Xiu; she was simply making decisions that were most advantageous to herself.

But just then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Chu Xiu, who was surrounded by poisonous insects.

Even though everyone had intercepted most of the poisonous insects, a considerable number of them still rushed over. At this moment, the number of poisonous insects clinging to Chu Xiu's body had exceeded two thousand!

Chu Xiu seemed to be trying to withstand the damage with his own body, remaining standing still, but his body was almost completely corroded!

Needless to say, the flesh and blood had long since vanished, and the bones and internal organs had been melted away, leaving only the cerebral disc and a golden sphere in the abdomen, which remained intact.

"Is that golden sphere his energy core? In other words, this guy has been melted down to just his core?" Cat Seven narrowed his eyes slightly.

Although high-level awakened individuals can recover quickly from any injury as long as their core remains intact, their supernatural powers and secret techniques can only be used through the energy pathways within their bodies.

It's like a race car where the engine is the core. As long as the engine doesn't break, other parts can be easily replaced. At most, the performance will be reduced, but it will still be able to run.

But if there's only one engine left, then even the greatest power is useless.

"In other words, while this thing's core is still intact, it's completely defenseless."

Cat Seven had never heard of anyone being able to fight with only one core remaining.

Upon thinking of this, her previously subsided killing intent began to surge again.

"Well, although there are some risks involved, the rewards for the trial have always been determined by the amount of contribution to the mission."

"The basic reward for clearing the level is ten million causal points. If I kill the Tribulation ...

Cat Seven couldn't even imagine how generous the extra reward she would receive!

As her mind raced with these thoughts, her body involuntarily moved closer to Chu Xiu.

The Azure Dragon is a powerful race that existed in the previous era. It is said that even the weakest Azure Dragon can possess terrifying power far exceeding that of an ordinary demigod once it reaches adulthood.

By sheer chance, she spent a great deal of [Old Shadows] to retrieve a drop of Azure Dragon blood from the past, thus gaining the power of Azure Dragon transformation.

The Azure Dragon Transformation is also one of her most prized trump cards.

While the [Abyssal Binding Realm] she constructed around herself was intended to trap enemies, she could transform it into the extremely powerful [Nine Whirlpool Killing Prison] at any time if she wished!
Cat Seven's eyes flashed, and its figure drew closer and closer to Chu Xiu, with faint lightning crackling on the sharp horns on its head.

However, just as she was about to make her move, her massive dragon body suddenly stopped, and her huge dragon eyes widened as if she had seen something incredible!

Right in her line of sight, on Chu Xiu's body, which was covered with poisonous insects, one of the insects suddenly moved, revealing a narrow gap through which Chu Xiu's eyes were visible.

His head was almost completely corroded, but for some reason, the eye remained intact. Cat Seven was horrified to discover that the eye, buried beneath a swarm of poisonous insects, had actually been watching her the whole time! Following her movements!
In the instant their eyes met, her enormous dragon body trembled uncontrollably!
Those were still Chu Xiu's eyes, no different in appearance from his usual eyes. But through those eyes, she seemed to see a mystery belonging to another dimension, a mystery that was completely incomprehensible to her at her current level, a mystery that would drive her mad just by looking at it!
Cat Seven knew what that was! It was the origin of all rules, the starting point of all the mysteries of the universe! She had seen similar eyes before, the eyes she saw when she was given the Seed of Rules and knelt before the throne!

Those are the eyes of the gods!
(End of this chapter)