Mythical Era: My Evolution into a Celestial Beast

"Yes, Prince Cortes, that human girl received some kind of message one star-quarter ago and has already entered the tenth plane," the voice from the hovering black mirror responded. The surface of the mirror was distorted, revealing the figure of a silver-winged individual from the Heavenly Feathered Race on one knee.

Seated high upon a throne, Zuo Mo, his face covered in fine dark-golden scales, looked down with cold indifference. He gave a slow nod. "You've done well. You may leave."

"Yes, Your Highness," the silver-winged alien replied, slightly excited.

As the distorted mirror gradually faded, Zuo Mo leaned sideways against the throne. His right elbow rested on the armrest, chin propped on his palm, as he half-narrowed his eyes.

The tenth plane was currently in a "neutral" state. Thanks to the corruption of the Abyssal Force unleashed by the Purgatory demon gods, it would soon no longer be under the control of any of the divine kings. The twelfth, thirteenth, and three other planes were in the same situation, and had become frontline battlegrounds.

The three great empires had been massing troops at the rift on the edge of the twelfth plane, ready to unleash a thunderous attack at any moment, but the girl suddenly appeared on the tenth.

"Trying to lure me in for a final battle there, are you?" Zuo Mo's eyes turned cold. He immediately suspected that this was a plan of Xiao Tianyi, whose whereabouts couldn't be detected.

At that thought, Zuo Mo slowly rose to his feet. An ominous dark aura spread out from him, and the entire ninth plane trembled faintly.

In the sky above, black demonic qi churned, blotting out the sky and sun. The wind and clouds shifted, and the formless pressure radiating from above made demon kings and great demon kings alike look up with grave expressions.

"That's Prince Cortes. His strength has surged after this round of seclusion. If he seizes this chance during the war to annihilate the Heavenly Feathered Race, he might break through directly into the demon god level."

"So powerful. It's only been two day-cycles, yet he's already reached a level nearly comparable to a demon god, and he hasn't even taken that final step yet."

"The Morro Empire is about to produce another pinnacle demon god."

Beneath the overwhelming demonic force that darkened the sky, the demon kings and great demon kings wore expressions of seriousness, excitement, wariness, and reverence.

At the same time, an even more terrifying pressure began to build. Above the towering demonic palace that rose several thousand meters high, a massive face took shape across the sky, stretching ten thousand meters from end to end. It was the descent of the great demon god Tyretis's will.

Tyretis's will shook the heavens and earth, and its thunderous voice echoed through the demonic palace. "Cortes, you suddenly contacted me. Do you have a new plan?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Zuo Mo's explosive release of pressure earlier hadn't been aimed at intimidating the Purgatory true demons; it was a means of reaching out to Tyretis. Zuo Mo respectfully said, "I'm preparing to enter the tenth plane and engage in battle with the other version of myself."

"The tenth plane... So your other form has appeared. Though that plane is currently neutral, it's still within the territory of the Heavenly Feathered Race. With the arrival of the human support legions, you're worried about an ambush."

A terrifying darkness seemed to churn faintly in Zuo Mo's demonic eyes as he calmly replied, "It's not just a worry. I know there will definitely be an ambush. I don't know what trump cards my other self holds, but I'm confident he cannot defeat me. However, at our level, defeating and killing are two different things. I don't have the certainty to kill him, and neither does he. That's why it's highly likely that powerful human cultivators will intervene, and perhaps even the divine kings of the Heavenly Feathered Race will be lying in wait.

"If the opportunity arises, those divine kings would be eager to eliminate a powerful enemy with demon god-level strength before the war erupts. Therefore, I believe we should make those divine kings our primary targets. As for my other self, there's no rush. Time is on my side."

Tyretis revealed a menacing smile. "I very much look forward to the moment you, Cortes, break through to become a demon god while annihilating the Heavenly Feathered Race. However, at the moment, all of us demon-god-level beings are locked onto each other. Moving unnoticed would require some time."

Zuo Mo nodded. "Then I'll wait two more days before entering the tenth plane. By then, the legions of the three great empires should be nearing the frontlines. We can make some early preparations."

"Very good." With that, Tyretis's will withdrew, leaving only the boundless, churning black demonic clouds in the sky.

***

The tenth plane was an enormous continent, over fifty thousand kilometers in diameter and shaped like an irregular semicircle. The world lay hidden beneath mist and clouds, with countless jagged peaks rising thousands or even tens of thousands of meters into the sky. There were no mountain ranges, and vegetation was scarce. The land radiated a desolate and forbidding atmosphere.

At that moment, the Heavenly Feathered warriors stationed on the tenth plane were retreating in an orderly manner, boarding battleships that flew toward the horizon and vanished one by one into golden ripples.

At the summit of a solitary, ten-thousand-meter-high peak, An Fuqing, clad in crystal-red battle armor, stood with four swords on her back. She looked up silently, watching as the golden war fortresses disappeared into the sky. The howling wind whipped her black hair into chaos, and from her figure emanated an intense sense of solitude.

Soon, she was the only one left on the entire plane. Thousands of mountain peaks filled the land, yet not a single sign of life could be seen. No one knew how much time had passed when, on another peak across the sea of clouds, a figure silently appeared. His gaze fell on the girl's back, complicated and unreadable.

After a long pause, Xiao Tianyi sighed. "This may be the place where the final war between our two civilizations erupts. When he shows up... you should leave this place."

An Fuqing coldly replied, "No need. I want to see him die with my own eyes. Even though he won't die by my hand, that was my mother's last wish. It's a pity I'm still too weak. Otherwise..." As she spoke, An Fuqing turned slightly, her eyes glancing past Xiao Tianyi, sharp and fierce.

In that fierce gaze, Xiao Tianyi sensed an incredibly sharp sword will, and his expression grew even more complex. At last, he nodded without saying anything more. His figure vanished once again, a scene that made even those outside the plane, such as Heavenly King Zhenwu, narrow their eyes slightly.

His appearance and disappearance had left no trace. The space around him didn't ripple, and there was no fluctuation of law energy; it was as if he didn't truly exist to begin with. This was a genius who once stunned an entire era. Even though he had split into three and remained silent for many years, he still possessed power far surpassing countless cultivators before him.

At that moment, outside of the tenth plane, space and time distorted. A golden divine tree, over a hundred thousand kilometers tall, shone even more brilliantly, radiating endless golden light. Within this golden sea were not only figures like Zhenwu, but also the vast human expeditionary force, and an even greater number of Heavenly Feathered elites.

These Heavenly Feathered warriors, bearing golden, silver, or white light wings, were organized around golden battleships and fortresses. They were spread out into legions each numbering tens of thousands. Each legion was commanded by at least one mythical-level supreme god. These divine beings radiated rings of dazzling halos that resonated with the troops and fortresses below.

Above the golden sea, there were also twenty-two magnificent temples, each spanning over a hundred kilometers. These temple structures were engraved with the markings of the Eternal Divine Tree. Thousands, even tens of thousands of figures, each with two pairs of light wings, stood guard within.

These beings resembled the Heavenly Feathered Race in form, but they had no physical bodies. Still, they emitted auras of high-level or even quasi-mythical power, with a few reaching mythical-level strength.

These temples functioned as massive war fortresses, with each spire emitting waves of divine halos. They also represented a chief god at the king-level.

Compared to the human race's ten or so king-level cultivators, the Heavenly Feathered Race had more chief gods. However, all of these chief gods were in a weakened state, exuding an air of fragility. Nine of them had only just awakened from within the trunk of the Eternal Divine Tree, prepared to burn the last of their strength.

Because of the golden light radiating from the Eternal Divine Tree, the demon gods standing beyond the Eternal Divine Region could neither sense nor see this power. Within the Eternal Realm, four Heavenly Feathered divine kings radiating supreme-level aura stood firm, still locked in a standoff with nine demon gods beyond the realm. On the surface, everything seemed normal.

Time passed quickly, and two days slipped by quietly and without disturbance.

Under the silver moonlight, the tenth plane appeared even more desolate and silent. At the mountain's peak, the black-haired girl with four swords stood motionless, like a stunning painting etched into the world itself. Suddenly, An Fuqing looked up, gazing toward the sea of clouds ahead. There, the space silently shattered and tore open, forming a rift thousands of meters long.

A figure slowly emerged from within the rift. It was a five-meter-tall Purgatory demon, clad in dark red armor, with horns atop his head, a pair of black bat-like wings on his back, and a sharp tail trailing behind him.

The moment this demon appeared, a terrifying aura spread outward. The entire plane was instantly plunged into darkness, as though a black veil had been draped over the world. The atmosphere grew heavy and oppressive. Darkness swept in, scattering the moonlight and swallowing everything.

Just then, a golden Great Sun, a hundred kilometers in diameter, emerged in the sky above. It radiated blinding light, like golden swords tearing through the darkness.

The sky quickly cleared once more. Under the Great Sun's brilliance, the world lit up as bright as day. Yet below, the demonic qi had already flooded the land. Only the mountain peaks still jutted above, while black waves of qi rolled around them like a dark sea.

"I didn't think you were brave enough to come," a calm voice rang out. Xiao Tianyi appeared in front of the Great Sun, his gaze steady as he looked down at the churning sea of darkness.

Zuo Mo looked up slightly, his eyes cold as they locked onto Xiao Tianyi. Though they were originally one person, two independent beings split from a single soul, both now radiated an icy killing intent, each intent on destroying the other.

This was the flaw of the ancient secret art Xiao Tianyi had once cultivated. Although defeating the other would cause their powers to merge back into one, forming a unified self, the dominant consciousness would belong to the victor. The other two personalities would vanish completely, leaving behind only fragments of memory and cultivation insight.

Zuo Mo slowly said, "I thought you had something to rely on since you dared lure me here... but it turns out you've only cultivated to the late stage of the heavenly king level. Seems my choice back then was right. The Purgatory bloodline is far stronger than that of a human."

As he spoke, a domineering will surged into the sky from Zuo Mo's body. He radiated a dazzling black-and-gold light, dyeing half of the sky in darkness.

Boom!

From within the black-and-gold light, an indescribably terrifying aura erupted. The pressure of his power compressed space into substance, sending layered transparent shockwaves bursting in all directions.

From within the radiance, Zuo Mo's true form took shape. He appeared as a towering demon king over a thousand meters tall, with three heads and ten arms, his entire body covered in black-and-gold scales. Wings stretched wide behind him, obscuring the sky, while black and red bands of light swirled around him, releasing a vast and crushing demonic force.

In his hands, Zuo Mo held a black-and-gold halberd over two thousand meters long. Dragon-scale patterns coiled around the shaft, and its single-edged blade seemed capable of devouring the heavens. Of his ten arms, one pair wielded the halberd, another pair together held up a massive black stone tower, and the remaining six arms each gripped a black flag, a hundred meters long.

Beneath his feet, demonic qi scattered, revealing another scene. It was a strange and unique abyss that blanketed the land. The dark-red world was filled with similarly-colored lightning, and wherever it passed, mountains and ground alike were silently crushed and destroyed.

"Today is the day I fully merge and step into the realm of a demon god!" With a long roar, Zuo Mo raised his halberd high. It shone with brilliant light, and a halberd light, ten thousand meters long and wrapped in countless strands of dark-red lightning, shot into the sky.

Beneath the black halberd light infused with the power of the abyss, space shattered instantly. Even though this space had been reinforced by the Eternal Divine Tree and was more resilient than the legendary realms beyond, it still collapsed in an instant. A world-ending aura radiated in the form of a surging black tide that spread over thousands of kilometers, devouring the heavens and swallowing the earth.

In the sky above, Xiao Tianyi's gaze was cold. Behind him, the Great Sun blazed even more brightly, radiating endless light and heat. Then, it suddenly descended.

Boom!

The descending sun spun wildly at hundreds of thousands of rotations per second. The space within a thousand kilometers was crushed to dust, while an invisible, twisting force of destruction spread across a range of ten thousand kilometers.

At that moment, whether it was the late-stage heavenly king Xiao Tianyi, or the peak great demon king Zuo Mo, the power they both displayed had already reached the demon god level. In an instant, the Great Sun that distorted the heavens plunged into the tide of darkness.

Boom!

The entire plane trembled violently. The space within several thousand kilometers exploded in a deafening roar. Endless golden light and darkness clashed, annihilating all things. Countless black rifts, each thousands to tens of thousands of kilometers long, tore outward in every direction. Space was ripped apart in the clash, forming an enormous black void that stretched over a thousand kilometers and sank deep into the layers of space.

At the center stood a solitary peak. An Fuqing stood in silence on its summit, her black hair tied in a ponytail. The mountain beneath her and the surrounding area were enveloped by the two powerful forces. Even though the residual shockwaves from the clash between Zuo Mo and Xiao Tianyi were strong enough to seriously wound a great demon king, neither of them had been shaken by it.

Boom!

At that moment, an even greater aura erupted in the sky. Behind Xiao Tianyi, the sun and moon shone side by side, and the broken sky began to change beneath their light. Slowly, it evolved into a vast and majestic new world, where ten suns hung overhead, each radiating boundless destructive power.

At the same time, behind Zuo Mo, who stood above the abyss, endless demonic qi surged. A massive figure, ten thousand meters tall, rose slowly, releasing an even more terrifying presence.

After testing each other with a single move, the two no longer held back.