PS: This was a Prehistoric World expansion-and-construction story, not a struggle-for-supremacy story. A feel-good family tale.
[Bzz... Warning!] [Detected an abnormal drop in stellar temperature. Core activity weakening. Entering late-stage cooling.] [Preparing to evolve into another stellar configuration!]
A string of extremely "scientific" synthesized voices rang beside Lu Jun's ears.
The tone sounded exactly like the AI at the science museum that explained the Big Bang.
"Huh? Did the museum system glitch out? Did the broadcasting room switch to a sci-fi channel?"
He instinctively tried to turn his head toward the sound, only to freeze abruptly.
Something was wrong!
Why couldn't he stand up?
Looking down, he saw—good grief!
Two... no, three sturdy bird legs... covered in brilliant golden feathers?
He raised his "arms" in panic, only to find a pair of enormous wings blazing with raging flames before his eyes!
The flames were unbelievably hot. His body was fine, but they still scared the hell out of him.
"Fuck! Why did I turn into a bird? And a goddamn self-roasting chicken at that!"
Lu Jun's mind buzzed, and his CPU practically burned out.
He instinctively tried to flap his wings, but a heart-rending pain tore through his chest.
Looking down, he saw a giant arrow radiating bone-chilling cold had pierced straight through his chest!
"Drip... drip..."
"Sizzle... sizzle..."
Golden blood, like burning liquid fire, gushed down the arrow shaft.
The instant it hit the ground, it exploded into blossoms of destructive golden sparks.
They madly ignited everything around them, and even the rocks wailed as they melted into lava!
Amid the agony of imminent death and the chaos of Who am I? Where am I? Am I about to be roasted alive?
A torrent of memories as vast as a sea of stars smashed violently into his consciousness.
Pangu created Heaven and Earth!
Hongjun preached!
Nuwa created humans!
Ten Suns crossed the sky!
Da Yi shot the suns!
"I... I transmigrated? And I became the Sixth Prince of the Golden Crow Clan in the Prehistoric World, that unlucky bastard also named Lu Jun?"
Lu Jun stood dumbfounded, even forgetting the searing pain in his chest.
One second ago, he had been at a science museum explaining to children that the sun was a star.
The next second, he had become that very "star"—the sun itself?
And the version that got blown apart by an arrow!
"Just because we had the same name? Was transmigration decided by drawing lots? That was way too careless!"
"And this original body too! To save Tenth Prince, the future Daoist Lu Ya, he actually used his chest to take Da Yi's fatal arrow meant for Tenth Prince!"
"Tenth Prince survived and became Lu Ya, wandering all over Sealed as Deity. What about me? I fucking died on the spot!"
"As expected, protagonists blessed by fate can't be messed with! Wang Mang couldn't beat Liu Xiu, the son of destiny, and I, the sixth brother, couldn't beat Lu Ya, the fated tenth brother either!"
"If I'd arrived five minutes earlier, I would've run like hell! Whoever wanted to be a human shield could do it themselves!"
Lu Jun was filled with grief and indignation. He was supposed to be the sneaky sixth brother—so why had he done something so utterly unsneaky?
He could clearly feel the biting chill brought by the Xuanming Ice Arrow extinguishing the True Sun Fire on his body at a visible rate.
This was a battle between the Great Dao of Ice and the Great Dao of the Sun.
Obviously, the power of Xuanming, the Ancestral Witch, completely suppressed him, a mere Grand Unity Immortal.
Specks of ominous black began appearing on his dazzling golden feathers, spreading like lethal sunspots across a star's surface.
The coldness of death rapidly devoured his last remaining heat.
Then, all of his consciousness focused within his mind.
Words were flickering there.
[Preparing to evolve into another stellar configuration!]
Lu Jun instantly seized this lifeline!
"Golden Crows are regarded as suns... so this 'Star Evolution System' was bound to me?"
"But Golden Crows are divine birds! How could they be the same as actual stars?"
"Who cares! Can cheat powers be explained by science? If it exists, it makes sense! Evolve! Hurry up and evolve!"
[Evolution process initiated. Please do not urge this unit. Execution in progress...] [???] [Warning! Severe warning!] [Detected an abnormality in the current world's rules! A highly active life-soul signal exists within the target star! Nonstandard stellar model!]
The system's alarm suddenly became sharp and piercing, even carrying a panicked, what the hell is this undertone.
Lu Jun: "???"
Good grief!
This system didn't even know its host's soul existed?
Could it be some defective secondhand product?!
[Emergency protocol activated! Emergency protocol activated!] [Forcibly scanning the underlying rules of the local universe... remodeling and calculating an adaptation plan...] [Calculation complete! Initiating dual-phase evolution protocol!] [Phase One: Stellar body collapse (egg form)] [Phase Two: Innate Divine Being form reconstruction (soul origin detected as Human Race template; humanoid form locked)] [Phase One evolution: forced execution!]
The moment the system's voice fell silent, Lu Jun felt as though a cosmic Singularity had been stuffed into the Golden Crow body that was "cooling down and shutting off."
"BOOM—!!!"
An irresistible, terrifying Gravitational Field capable of warping space and time formed within his collapsing core!
His enormous body, as radiant as the blazing sun, instantly collapsed inward at a mad pace, forcibly shedding and discarding massive amounts of energy!
The deadly Xuanming Arrow lodged in his chest was violently blasted away like a toothpick before this savage force originating from the deepest level of matter!
The source of the fatal power of the Great Dao of Ice had been cut off!
That massive "sun" that had once illuminated the Prehistoric World instantly collapsed by a factor of a million!
Within less than a billionth of a second, it was compressed into a blazing white, egg-shaped celestial body of horrifying density, spinning at high speed and surrounded by visible Gravity Waves!
A Neutron Star Egg!
The ultimate form of matter's collapse!
An immortal prototype under the rules of the Prehistoric World!
"Big Brother! Look! Why has Sixth Brother turned into an egg again?"
A voice filled with shock and weakness rang out nearby.
"Th-this... what kind of divine ability is this?! Nirvana? Atavism?"
Another voice, equally weak but unable to conceal its horror, sounded out.
"Big Brother? Second Brother? You're still alive?!"
Lu Jun's consciousness transmitted outward, filled with disbelief.
According to his memories, the speakers were the Golden Crow Clan's Crown Prince Bo Huang and Second Crown Prince Zhong Lang.
I survived because I had a system.
How were you two still alive?
Could you both be transmigrators too?
He struggled to "look" around. Eight enormous fireballs, equally massive but with flames now incredibly dim and life a flickering candle in the wind, lay scattered across the scorched earth.
"It's us, Sixth Brother!" Bo Huang's voice was filled with deep exhaustion.
"Second Brother and I have reached the realm of Grand Unity Golden Immortals. We can barely resist a trace of the Ancestral Witch's Law of Ice erosion, but we won't last much longer."
His voice grew weaker and weaker, as if it would extinguish the next second.
"So Grand Unity Golden Immortals had sturdier foundations."
Lu Jun suddenly understood. Fortunately, it wasn't a group transmigration.
"Sixth Brother! Forget why we're alive for now!"
"Tell us quickly! How did you do it? You were struck by a certain-death arrow imbued with an Ancestral Witch's power, yet you returned to your origins and transformed back into an egg!"
Second Crown Prince Zhong Lang's voice suddenly rose, carrying the excitement and ecstasy of a drowning man grasping driftwood.
"Yes, Sixth Brother!"
The Crown Prince Bo Huang's dying will seemed to ignite at this sliver of Life Opportunity.
Even the remaining flames on his body flared brightly for an instant, forcibly driving back part of the Law of Ice.
"Could it be that our Golden Crow Clan also possesses a supreme divine ability like the Phoenix's 'Nirvana Rebirth'? As long as we transform into eggs, we can have a chance to be reborn?! Tell us how!"
Lu Jun the egg: "..."
He felt like his "eggshell" was going numb.
How was he supposed to explain this?
Tell them their beloved Sixth Brother was already dead, and that there was now a soul from Earth inside?
With a system that was a little dumb but ridiculously powerful?
This had absolutely nothing to do with Phoenix Nirvana!
Just as he was agonizing over how to explain himself, the system's cold notification, carrying a faint sense of finally got that done, rang out again:
[Ding! Phase One evolution preliminarily complete!] [Stellar body (egg form) has successfully evolved into "Neutron Star State" (reconstructed based on this world's rules; the limit of material collapse, possessing the ultimate physical strength of living beings)!] [Detected eight dying stars (Golden Crow remnants) within this star's (host's) Gravitational Field range. Host, please immediately select a course of action:] [Option One: Accretion!] [Activate the host core's Gravitational Field to forcibly absorb the scattered energy and remaining material origins of the eight dying stars, strengthening the host.] [There is a high probability of pushing the stellar body to continue collapsing from Neutron Star State and evolve into the ultimate celestial body—"Black Hole State" (reconstructed version under this world's rules).] [Reward: If Phase Two, "Innate Divine Being form," is initiated in "Black Hole State," it will directly trigger the "Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal Tribulation"!] [If the tribulation is overcome, the starting realm of the Innate Divine Being form will be—the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm!] [Option Two: Empowerment!] [Use this system's special protocol, consuming part of the host's energy to stabilize the eight dying stars.] [Guide them to simultaneously initiate Star Evolution (Phase One: egg state). This operation will help the host gain a deeper understanding of the system's operating principles and its own condition.] [Reward: When the host initiates Phase Two evolution while maintaining the current "Neutron Star Egg" state, the Innate Divine Being form will directly possess physical strength comparable to an Ancestral Witch-level Body!] [Option Three: Indifference!] [Ignore the eight dying stars nearby and allow them to completely collapse and perish. The host will immediately begin its own Phase Two evolution.] [Reward: None.]
Lu Jun the egg: "!!!"
Fuck!
This system was insanely awesome!
Before you continue