"Very well. I wish you the best in reaching the next stage."
Elder Mo cupped his hands and spoke with a beaming smile.
’Just making a friendly gesture is enough.’
’No need to rush a deeper connection.’
’We can take our time. It’ll happen naturally after a few more meetings.’
"Farewell."
Chen Yu spoke, and the moment the word left his lips, his figure transformed into a streak of Divine Light and vanished.
Watching Chen Yu disappear, the others retracted their gazes.
They exchanged a look and also vanished from the Chaotic Void.
...
Deep in the Chaotic Void, Chen Yu stood on a dead star, his gaze fixed on the distance.
He scanned the surroundings with his Divine Thought. Once he confirmed everything was safe, he waved his hand, and his Divine Power formed a Barrier that enveloped the star.
In an instant, the entire star seemed to vanish into thin air.
In reality, Chen Yu was still standing in the same spot. The star hadn’t disappeared; he had simply used his Divine Power to conceal it.
After doing all this, Chen Yu checked his status panel.
A full twenty-five trillion points of Source of Life.
Although this haul wasn’t particularly massive, it was enough for him to Evolve his physical body again.
’I’m afraid the cost will double again next time...’
With an inward sigh, a thought crossed his mind, and in a flash, twenty-four trillion points of Source of Life were consumed.
BZZZZ—!!!
Streaks of Divine Light erupted from his physical body, sweeping across the entire star.
The whole star was bathed in the Divine Light from his body.
A vast Primordial Power surged through his body, making his flesh, blood, muscles, and bones feel as if they were being torn apart.
Divine Light erupted as his body levitated into the air.
Every single pore on his body spewed Divine Light.
Physical Evolution, a sublimation of life itself!
This ultimate enhancement swept through his entire being.
Every cell of his flesh and blood trembled.
A full day passed before the Divine Light spewing from his body gradually dissipated and stabilized.
"Haaa..."
He opened his eyes, and a divine glint shot from them, piercing the void.
The Divine Light lingering around him dissipated. Feeling the improvement in his physical body, a satisfied smile appeared on Chen Yu’s face.
’This is a significant upgrade. Even if my body is blown to bits, it can now reform and recover.’
Physical Evolution wasn’t just a simple enhancement of the body; it was a qualitative leap in his level of life.
Especially for physical Evolution at the Divine Level, every instance was a massive transformation.
This kind of transformation was no less significant than breaking through to a new realm.
With his physical strength alone, he could now easily crush a Tier Five True God!
Even with pure physical strength, he could go head-to-head with a Tier Six True God.
The advancement in his strength gave him even greater confidence.
[Physical Evolution successful. Acquired Talent Skill—Shadow Clone!]
[Skill: Shadow Clone (Golden Legendary Level) - Can create a shadow with 50% of the user’s power!]
"A Clone Skill?"
Staring at the information that appeared before him, Chen Yu was taken aback.
’This Skill isn’t as heaven-defying as I’d imagined.’
’Still... creating a shadow clone with 50% of my power isn’t bad at all!’
’And this is before its awakening. How powerful will it be once it awakens?!’
With his current strength, even a clone with 50% of his power could surpass a Tier Five True God. It would have no problem fighting a Tier Six True God.
’The potential of this Skill... should be pretty good.’
’After all, it’s a Golden Legendary Level Skill. It can’t be bad.’
"Upgrade!"
Without hesitation, Chen Yu chose to upgrade it immediately.
It cost one hundred billion to upgrade it all the way to the completion stage in one go.
[Current Skill is at completion. Skill Awakening can be performed for 1,000 Skill Points!]
"One thousand points!!"
"It needs that many?!"
Chen Yu’s brow furrowed.
The cost to awaken this Skill was much higher than he had estimated.
It was the same as awakening the Cosmic Aura.
Awakening it would cost one thousand Skill Points, but he only had five hundred left.
Two hundred of those were from the completion reward.
If he wanted to awaken it, he would have to shatter a Skill.
’I’m still short five hundred Skill Points...’
Chen Yu fell into deep thought.
He summoned his panel and examined it carefully.
Right now, every one of his Skills was powerful, and the Source of Life cost to upgrade them was not small.
’If I shatter one...’
Staring at his Skill panel, he thought for a long while before his gaze landed on one particular Skill.
Forest of All Things!
He rarely used this Skill anymore.
He had used it many times before becoming a True God, but after reaching that stage, he had barely used it at all.
"This one it is."
After a moment’s deliberation, Chen Yu finally decided to shatter the Forest of All Things Skill.
’Replacing Skills is inevitable!’
’The key is whether it can significantly increase my power.’
’Once the Shadow Clone Skill awakens, I feel it will be terrifyingly strong.’
’It will definitely have a huge impact on my power growth!’
’One has to be flexible with their Skill combinations and usage.’
’After all, not every Skill has to be kept.’
’The stronger I get, the more necessary it becomes to shatter some Skills.’
[Are you sure you want to shatter the Skill (Forest of All Things)?!]
The panel prompt appeared, and Chen Yu confirmed his decision without hesitation.
In the next instant, a flash of light appeared.
The panel prompt appeared again.
[Skill shattered successfully. Obtained 2,000 Skill Points!]
"A Level 4 Awakened Skill gave two thousand points? That’s a lot!"
Staring at the prompt, Chen Yu was stunned. This was an unexpected, pleasant surprise.
It was a whole thousand Skill Points more than the last time he shattered a Skill.
With these two thousand Skill Points, he now had a total of two thousand five hundred.
’Awesome!’
’At least I won’t have to worry about Skill Points for the next stage of physical Evolution.’
"Awaken!"
Taking a deep breath, Chen Yu chose to perform the Skill Awakening without any hesitation.
In the next moment, the light vibrated.
Within the Chaos in his body, the ball of light representing the Shadow Clone Skill rapidly expanded, reached a singularity, then collapsed, reforming into a brilliant new orb of light for the Skill.
[Skill Awakening successful!]
[Obtained new Skill—God Clone!!]
Chen Yu squinted at the Skill notification before him.
’Awakening from Shadow Clone to God Clone... seems pretty good.’
After a brief moment of silence, Chen Yu quickly snapped back to his senses.
He immediately opened the Skill details to check them out.
[Skill—God Clone (Epic Legendary): Create three clones that share the user’s mind and possess all of their abilities! They have the potential to match the user’s full power. Current output: 50% of the user’s power!]
HISS!!!
Looking at this Skill, Chen Yu couldn’t help but gasp.
’Three clones, and each one has all of my abilities... Even though they only have 50% of my power, this 50% is completely different from the 50% of the old Shadow Clone.’
’It’s the difference between a fully-equipped character with maxed-out abilities and a blank slate!’
’And this is just the power the Skill can exert right now.’
’Strength identical to my own? Wouldn’t that be completely broken?!’
’And from the looks of it, these clones can be continuously upgraded.’
’Even at its current stage, it’s like a watered-down version of the legendary "One-becomes-Three" technique. If I keep upgrading it, this God Clone might become even more explosive!’
Chen Yu’s heart surged with excitement.
With this Skill, his power would increase exponentially!
’If they had the same power as me, three clones ganging up on an enemy would be enough to kill them easily.’
’If I keep upgrading them, with that kind of explosive growth, I might be able to challenge a Great Emperor Level being even before becoming a Great Emperor myself.’
’Shattering Forest of All Things for such an explosive Skill wasn’t just a good trade, it was a massive profit!’
’I hit the jackpot!’
’The first level-up costs one hundred billion Source of Life. Looks like the subsequent upgrades will cost even more!’
Chen Yu’s eyelid twitched, but he didn’t hesitate at all and chose to upgrade it immediately.
One hundred billion points of Source of Life were consumed in an instant. In the next breath, the orb of light in his body vibrated.
Chen Yu felt the Skill improve and clicked to view the details.
Just as he predicted, at Awakening Level 2, it could now exert 60% of his power.
’Upgrading to Level 3 costs five hundred billion...’
’Whatever, let’s keep going.’ Calming himself, Chen Yu unhesitatingly chose to upgrade again.
After reaching Awakening Level 3, his God Clones could now exert 70% of his power.
"Level four... five trillion?!"
"This is robbery!"
Chen Yu’s eyelid twitched as he looked at the cost for the next upgrade.
From Level 3 to Level 4, the cost had increased tenfold.
This thing is even more expensive than the Cosmic Aura!
’Then how much will it be to go from Level 4 to 5?!’
He took a deep breath, barely managed to calm down, and closed the Skill details.
He didn’t have enough Source of Life left to upgrade it further, so he had to give up for now.
’Three clones with 70% of my power...’
With a thought, a burst of Divine Light erupted, and three Chen Yus appeared out of thin air.
One looked righteous and awe-inspiring, another looked a bit sinister, and the last one appeared rather naive.
Chen Yu looked at the three clones before him.
It was like looking in a mirror.
Their minds were linked. A thought surfaced in Chen Yu’s mind, and in the next instant, the three clones joined forces to attack him.
BOOM!!!
A monstrous shockwave erupted, instantly annihilating the star and shattering the Barrier that covered it.
A wave of annihilation swept through the area as four figures clashed in the Chaotic Void.
All sorts of Skills were unleashed.
This time, Chen Yu experienced the true meaning of pain.
Although the three clones only had 70% of his power, in a one-on-three fight, the advantage was with the clones.
The three clones coordinated their attacks, besieging him from all angles with a relentless barrage of Skills.
Even as the original, he had no choice but to temporarily retreat from their onslaught!
BOOM—!!!
The Chaotic Void trembled. Billions of asteroids and stars were annihilated as the rampaging power distorted the void itself.
A disheveled Chen Yu reappeared in the Chaotic Void.
The three clones also looked rather battered.
’In a three-on-one situation, when they have the same skills as the original... it’s a completely unwinnable matchup.’
’Even I have to take a beating.’
’I can withstand it, but the drain is immense!’
In just a few short moments, he was dead tired.
"As overpowered as I expected!"
"But the more overpowered, the better!"
Even though he took a beating, he was overjoyed.
’This beating feels great!’
The three clones working together were almost a perfect match for his original body.
’If they get any stronger, I’m afraid I won’t be able to beat the three of them...’
Chen Yu sighed.
’But the stronger they are, the better it is for me.’
’If I keep upgrading, I might be able to break past the three-clone limit. By then, my power will be even greater!’
’Invincible below the Great Emperor realm!’
Gazing out at the Chaotic Void, a fire ignited in his eyes!