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

Chapter 397 The Origin of Rules
"what!!!"

Cat Seven let out a terrified scream. As a highly trained and battle-hardened level ten civilization envoy, she had never lost her composure and remained calm no matter how dangerous the situation. But now she was panicked like a little girl. She couldn't even maintain her transformation and fell straight down from the sky in her human form!

The surrounding water curtains disappeared simultaneously, and a large number of trapped poisonous insects rushed in!
"Cat Seven! You!"

Zhu Jiu roared angrily. When he saw the water curtain disappear, his first reaction was that Mao Qi was going to attack Chu Xiu. It wasn't that he necessarily wanted to protect Chu Xiu, but for him, no matter which path he chose, they had to unite as one.

Just as she was about to rebuke Mao Qi for her betrayal, she found that Mao Qi was covering her face, curling up and trembling as if she had seen something huge and terrifying.

The other civilization envoys also showed expressions of shock. Even if Cat Seven had directly drawn his sword and charged at Chu Xiu, it wouldn't have surprised them so much!

"What exactly is this."

But there was no time for them to think, because after the water curtain collapsed, at least 30,000 poisonous insects had quickly gathered around Chu Xiu!
"Drink!"

The six civilization envoys took action one after another, and the huge energy surged so that the entire space trembled. Although they temporarily dispersed the swarm of insects, being distracted by two things caused even more poisonous insects to rush over!

This approach is nothing more than a short-sighted solution that only shrinks the defenses, like drinking poison to quench thirst!

Once the defense line collapses, the poisonous insects on Chu Xiu's body will accumulate rapidly. At that time, not only will Chu Xiu be doomed, but once the number of poisonous insects becomes so large that they obscure his enormous life energy, the other civilization envoys will also have to face the attack of the Bone Transformation Tribulation at the same time!
Not to mention, Chu Xiu's life energy has been rapidly declining under the continuous corrosion!
"If we wait any longer, we'll die too!" The Demon King's eyes flashed as he whispered.

The others were also filled with conflicted expressions. Chu Xiu's condition was unclear, and Mao Qi had gone completely mad for some unknown reason. The previously clear situation suddenly became chaotic. Even if they were unwilling to abandon Chu Xiu, they should at least know how long they had to hold out, right? They couldn't afford to exhaust all their magical power while Chu Xiu remained motionless. How were they supposed to withstand the remaining tribulations?
Just as the assembled civilizations were beginning to consider retreating, a soft voice suddenly rang in their ears:

"I urge you all to hold out for me a little longer."

The voice was as calm as a lake; it was Chu Xiu!

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They even had time to communicate telepathically, which showed that they were handling the situation with ease.

But how did Chu Xiu manage to persevere despite being surrounded by so many poisonous insects?

Everyone glanced over curiously, initially noticing nothing amiss, but soon realized something was wrong.

But some of the poisonous insects on Chu Xiu's body had changed from oily green to pale yellow!
Although this portion of poisonous insects is extremely small, less than one percent, it is definitely real!
The strangest thing is that these poisonous insects did not continue to melt Chu Xiu's flesh and blood. Instead, they spewed out pure life energy to help Chu Xiu repair his body!
"Could it be that Brother Chen has adapted some of the rules for his own use? Just like Brother Mu did before?"

"But how is that possible?"

Everyone looked at each other in disbelief, even Xie Xuanzhao was completely dumbfounded!
Although the rules within the tribulation are ownerless, one must at least reach the rule authority of Sequence Nine to counter them or make them one's own!
The rules are extremely complex, and even the most gifted genius would need to spend several years to reach Sequence Nine!

Not to mention, Chu Xiu didn't even have a [Seed of Rules]!
Without the help of the Seed of Rules, even if one obtains the complete rules, it would take at least several decades, or even hundreds or thousands of years, to reach the authority of Sequence Nine through independent comprehension!

Furthermore, the rules differ greatly from one another. Even if one comprehends the limits of Sequence Four, one will at most know some underlying logic principles. By applying these principles to other rules, one's comprehension speed may be slightly faster, but it is absolutely impossible to directly possess the authority. Even the authority of Sequence Nine is far from being attainable!
"Could it be that Brother Chen has previously come into contact with the [Rules of Life]?"

If not, then the current situation is beyond their comprehension!

"What the hell does this happen?"

Everyone was filled with shock and confusion, and their gazes toward Chu Xiu were full of disbelief.

In fact, even Chu Xiu himself was surprised by the changes in himself.

He chose to face the ordeal alone in order to verify one of his conjectures.

In the first two experiments, he had already found a way to glimpse the origin of the calamity.

However, the rules contained within the tribulation are far too vast and difficult to comprehend. The Seed of Rules is like a reference textbook, starting with one plus one equals two and gradually teaching advanced calculus.

Even with the help of this book, top geniuses still need years to barely cross the threshold of the rules.

Chu Xiu, however, did not have the assistance of the [Seed of Rules], and directly touched the origin of the rules!

It's like having all the cutting-edge modern mathematics presented to him without any explanation. He wouldn't even know what the symbols meant, let alone understand the logic! In this situation, no matter how talented or how high his calculation ability is, he couldn't possibly make any progress in such a short time.

That's why he was in that state of complete overload, with his mind filled with a huge amount of information, yet he still gained nothing.

If things continue like this, no matter how long one tries to understand, it will be difficult to make any progress.

But it was at this moment that he suddenly realized something.

Although his reason could not comprehend or analyze the origin of the rules, his body, for some reason, could automatically adapt to and even change these rules!

Life is a miracle.

No matter how intelligent a person is, they could not have imagined how the combination of inorganic and organic matter could develop into intelligent life. The more one studies it, the more astonished one becomes by the miracle of life.

Over hundreds of millions of years of evolution, humans have developed extremely complex life systems. Every step and every jump requires the coordinated effort of countless muscle bundles throughout the body. The exertion of muscle force involves cellular energy supply and metabolism, the transmission of nerve signals, and so on.

Actions that are commonplace for humans and require almost no brainpower to perform become so complex that even supercomputers struggle to execute them when translated into specific instructions. This is why humanoid robots, despite possessing state-of-the-art processing systems, still find it difficult to maintain their balance.

This is only the external appearance of the body. Inside the body, hundreds of millions of cells are constantly carrying out life activities. When viruses and bacteria invade, the body has its own corresponding methods to deal with them without you having to consciously mobilize your brain.

The complexity of an awakened person's body far exceeds that of an ordinary person by millions or even tens of millions of times! After undergoing his tribulation, Chu Xiu's entire life level is constantly advancing towards an unknown and higher realm, making him different from any other awakened person!
Therefore, even if Chu Xiu himself did not realize it, his body had already begun to adapt to the power of the rules before his reason, logic and consciousness!
The remaining crimson mist is the best evidence!

Chu Xiu didn't know if this was related to his [Tribulations-Experienced Body] trait, but in any case, a bold idea popped into his mind: instead of trying to analyze the rules, he would let his body automatically adapt to them! He then "observed" the process of this transformation!

In this way, the passive acceptance of information without any clue is transformed into understanding and observation with a clear path.

Observe how these rules change within your own body, and why they change. Learn the rules and imitate them, explore the patterns, and gamble on occasional flashes of inspiration over time, until you can decipher the specific meaning from that massive amount of data!

Thus, apart from diverting a sliver of his divine sense to monitor the external situation, Chu Xiu devoted himself entirely to analyzing the mysteries of the tribulation.

Having learned from his previous two experiences, he quickly realized that these poisonous insects were just an "outer garment," and what lay beneath that exterior were the rules!
After peeling away this outer layer, Chu Xiu's mind was directly connected with the origin of the rules!
When Mao Qi looked into Chu Xiu's eyes, she did not see Chu Xiu himself, but rather felt his mind through his eyes, and further saw the "origin" of the rules that were connected to his mind!
Upon suddenly coming into contact with the origin of the rules, just like when Chu Xiu first analyzed the scarlet mist in his body, his entire mind was immediately occupied!

How powerful is the power of rules? Even the power of rules contained in just a single poisonous insect, with its inherent complexity, can directly turn an awakened person with weak mental attributes into an idiot! Even someone as strong as Chu Xiu would be in a daze for a long time.

Although Mao Qi's mental attributes were not bad, she was different from Chu Xiu in one aspect: he was a civilization envoy with a sufficient understanding of the rules! It was also her bad luck that Chu Xiu only sensed the massive amount of data, but Mao Qi felt the supreme rules more vividly. She felt as if she were facing a true god!
It wasn't a god sitting on a throne, suppressing his aura and speaking kindly to her like an elder; instead, it was a being with surging fighting spirit, fully displaying his power, capable of killing a being from a completely different level with just a glance!

This completely shattered her mind, leaving her unable to think of anything else but instinctively crawling!

This is not Cat Seven's fault. The origin of every rule is controlled by the gods. What others use is only a wisp of borrowed power. Even within the rules, it is just like a "data cable" connected to the origin. Directly contacting the origin is an unbelievable thing that would only be ridiculed if said out loud, and no one would believe it!

Even if they did meet, unless they were both gods, their consciousness would be directly destroyed by the immense amount of information contained in the rules.

Therefore, even if gods are willing to share their original rules with others, no demigod has ever been seen to comprehend the rules through such means, let alone heroic spirits.

But for some reason, these poisonous insects, although carrying rules that are incredibly weak compared to the true origin of rules, are exactly the same in essence!

Even more miraculously, Chu Xiu's body could automatically adapt to these rules for some reason, as if a teacher was guiding him step by step on how to turn the power of this tribulation into his own!

In this process, he was able to intuitively grasp some of the essence of the rules!
This discovery filled Chu Xiu with ecstasy. Although he didn't know why his body had such a miraculous ability, he immediately mobilized all his mind and didn't waste a single second to comprehend the rules within!
The powerful divine soul cultivated from the Yama Sutra allows Chu Xiu to process billions of thoughts in an instant, while the thousands of poisonous insects on his body are like thousands of teachers giving lessons at the same time!

In just a few minutes, he discovered some patterns and tricks. Although he was far from being able to manipulate the rules, let alone counter the Bone Transformation Tribulation, he did discover how to use the poisonous insects that had been transformed by his body.

Through a reversal mechanism, they can help repair their own bodies!

But that's far from enough. The poisonous insects that his body automatically transforms into are less than one percent of the total, which is not enough to help him overcome the tribulation.

He needs more time!
A fierce glint flashed in Chu Xiu's dark eyes, and his icy voice rang out: "Cat Seven, how much longer are you going to lie there?"

Cat Seven's body trembled, and she slowly raised her head. The other civilization envoys all showed shocked expressions. They saw that fiery red vertical lines, like a spider web, were spreading outwards around her eyes, as if she had been burned by some kind of force!
But the fear in her eyes as she looked at Chu Xiu was fading, replaced by a growing fervor!
Suddenly, Cat Seven roared to the sky, twisted his waist, and in the next instant, a huge azure dragon appeared in the arena!
Compared to the previous changes, this Azure Dragon is almost twice the size! And there are even golden patterns flowing on its surface!
Zhu Jiu stared at Mao Qi in disbelief: "She actually used the Azure Dragon's blood? What exactly happened between them?"

Xie Xuanzhao was also filled with disbelief. The application of transformation rules often requires a "possession object," but usually it is only used as a base or medium. This method of directly consuming the "possession object" can certainly greatly enhance the new body that is transformed, but it will also cause the "possession object" to disappear permanently after its power is exhausted!
Why is Cat Seven, who was trying to kill Chu Xiu before, suddenly risking his life for him?
Before everyone could recover from their shock, a dragon's roar that pierced through the clouds and shattered rocks resounded in the arena. Instantly, a huge impact spread outwards from Chu Xiu as the center. The poisonous insects around were scattered and pushed back by this force. Then, a huge water curtain rose up again, firmly protecting Chu Xiu.

The others exchanged glances. Although they didn't know what had happened, they knew that now was not the time to pry. They quickly followed suit and rebuilt their defenses to help Chu Xiu stall for time.

And so, with everyone's combined efforts, time slowly passed.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes, half an hour!

With everyone's cooperation, in a full half hour, they managed to miss less than three thousand poisonous insects!
At this moment, Chu Xiu seemed to have mastered the method to resist the Bone Transformation Tribulation. Even though the number of poisonous insects on his body had doubled, he still maintained the dynamic balance of melting and rebirth happening at the same time.

"Brother Chen, we don't have much energy left. How much longer do you need?" Xie Xuanzhao transmitted his voice.

"Just do your best; there's no need to use the divine artifact," Chu Xiu's voice rang out.

The group exchanged glances again. Although they had exhausted a lot of the tribulation's power in the past half hour, they had only been blocking it. There was still a large amount of tribulation outside. They wondered where Chu Xiu's confidence came from.

But at this point, we can only trust Chu Xiu.

And so, with their magic power almost exhausted, the group managed to hold out for Chu Xiu for another half hour before finally giving up and retreating far away.

Without any obstruction, a massive swarm of poisonous insects pounced on Chu Xiu, densely filling every inch of space and enveloping him in a giant cocoon made entirely of insects!
After being surrounded, every bit of Chu Xiu's life energy was devoured, causing a large number of poisonous insects to fly towards the directions of other civilizations.

"This is terrible. We tried to help him, but now we have no way to stop these poisonous insects," the Demon Lord said with a bitter smile.

"Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to use the divine artifact," said Zhu Jiu.

However, just as he was about to make his move, a tremendous surge of life energy erupted from Chu Xiu's body once more! A piece of emerald green armor appeared on his body!

"A divine artifact!" Muto's eyes lit up. "So Brother Chen had such a trump card hidden away. No wonder you were so fearless. Divine power can indeed help resist the consumption rules."

Xie Xuanzhao said, "But the divine power contained in this artifact is pitifully small, and there are no rules involved. It should not be the work of a true god. No, it is most likely not even a demigod. It should just be some kind of incomplete star god."

"This amount of power is not enough to contend with the calamity."

Everyone possesses at least one piece of this kind of equipment, and Xie Xuanzhao and his two companions have even more powerful trump cards.

At this moment, Cat Seven sneered, "Take a good look, aren't those poisonous insects that originally came to attack us attracted to them again?"

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this, and they realized that they were indeed drawn by the power of the armor and were gathering back towards Chu Xiu.

Cat Seven laughed smugly, "Since the senior said he was going to undergo tribulation, why would he use tricks? He is not using divine power to fight against the rules, but simply using the life energy of this artifact to replenish himself, while gathering the power of all the tribulations."

Everyone looked at her strangely, and Zhu Jiu hesitated before asking, "Senior Chen?"

"If it weren't for you, senior, how could you possibly possess such supernatural powers?" Cat Seven glanced at him, then turned her head away, raising her chin slightly: "Never mind, you wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Everyone: "."

What on earth has this guy been through?!

The group felt a surge of curiosity, but seeing the inexplicable sense of superiority emanating from Mao Qi, they decided not to ask her.

All they could do was patiently wait for Chu Xiu to undergo his tribulation, suppressing their curiosity.

With the help of the [Divinely Gifted Living Armor], Chu Xiu gradually adapted to the sudden increase in poisonous insects. After their power was completely exhausted, Chu Xiu's condition stabilized again.

Another hour passed.

At this moment, countless insect corpses, exhausted of their power, were scattered around Chu Xiu, while he himself was surrounded by a massive number of insects, forming a black sphere with a diameter of over five meters.

Suddenly, a soft sound was heard. First, a crack appeared on the sphere. Then, the crack expanded rapidly and soon covered the entire sphere. Finally, as if it had reached a certain critical value, the huge sphere collapsed with a bang!
Countless insect corpses fell with a "rustling" sound. Through the gaps between those insect corpses, a humanoid creature could be vaguely seen gradually emerging, first the skeleton, then the blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs!
"Could this be..." Zhu Jiu looked at Xie Xuanzhao.

“It should be correct,” Xie Xuanzhao nodded, her beautiful eyes filled with shock. “This is what is recorded in the ancient books—”

"Reborn!"

(End of this chapter)