Hong and Thunder God still failed. Even though the Golden-Horned Giant Beast had suffered more severe injuries than in the original story, it was still beyond their power to defeat.
The Golden-Horned Giant Beast had even endured the laser cannon's attack and forcibly demolished the B6-class Laser Cannon.
The Golden-Horned Giant Beast truly lived up to its peak bloodline. As long as its Origin Core remained unharmed, no matter how badly its body was injured, its foundations would remain intact.
Hong and Thunder God's "deaths," and the destruction of the only B6-class Laser Cannon capable of hurting the Golden-Horned Giant Beast, plunged the world's leaders into despair. The great nations also began their "Inheritance Plans."
Unlike everyone else, Zhou Ze was remarkably calm. Now he was certain.
"Minor trends can be changed, but the greater trend cannot be reversed..."
The Swallowed Star World had a mysterious, special force at work, too. No matter how much he interfered with Luo Feng's growth, what was meant to remain unchanged ultimately would.
"This is a good thing! I was worried that my presence might cause unpredictable changes to Luo Feng and Earth's future. Now I can finally set my mind at ease and begin my own plans."
As Zhou Ze contemplated the future, Babata suddenly appeared before him, looking frantic.
"Zhou Ze! You have to talk your disciple out of it! He actually wants to use the Six-Pointed Star Secret Art and the Void Tower's desperate technique to kill the Golden-Horned Giant Beast!"
Zhou Ze gave a faint smile. "Having a method is better than having none..."
Babata was truly furious this time. When he got angry before, he would simply prank Zhou Ze.
"Do you even know what you're saying?"
"He's your only disciple! Are you really going to stand by and watch him throw his life away? If his soul is badly damaged and he falls into a deep slumber, even an Immortal Expert would need a million years to recover!"
"Even if Luo Feng survives like Hong and Thunder God, he'll fall into a genuine soul slumber. He might never wake up, and could die in his sleep!"
Babata had finally gotten four disciples for Fallen Ink Star, and now three of them were about to be lost. One of them had even used their only Inheritance Soul Seal. Babata was completely beside himself.
Zhou Ze understood how Babata felt, but he had no way to explain. He couldn't exactly say that Luo Feng would take over the Golden-Horned Giant Beast's body, and that Hong and Thunder God would wake up before long.
So he fell silent and said nothing.
"You're going to drive me crazy!" Babata said.
Meanwhile, Babata was also trying to talk Luo Feng out of it, but in the end, he could only reluctantly agree.
Next, just as in the original story, Luo Feng sent a message to all the Planetary-level warriors around the world, asking them to sacrifice themselves. He eventually chose Mo Handerson, Yisite, Tripathi Singh, Jia Yi, and Sokolov.
Even though he had known the story all along, Zhou Ze was deeply moved. It was like knowing the plot from having read the novel, yet still being unable to hold back his emotions while watching the anime.
Especially since he had transmigrated into the Swallowed Star World and witnessed it all with his own eyes.
"It'll be a very, very long time before they can be brought back to life..."
"Perhaps, for them, it'll be no more than a dreamless, deep sleep..."
Zhou Ze sighed. Time was a curious thing. Sometimes, an instant could be eternity.
He felt as though he had grasped something, but he was still missing a piece.
Human history turned a new page.
At Era Square in Yangzhou City, Jiangnan Base City, wreaths and flowers filled the plaza.
The catastrophe brought by the Golden-Horned Giant Beast had dealt humanity an even greater blow than the Great Nirvana Period. But in the end, humanity had survived, thanks to the sacrifices of Earth's eight greatest heroes.
People across the world's Base Cities held all kinds of events of their own accord to express their gratitude and respect for the eight heroes.
At that moment, Zhou Ze paid no heed to anything beyond his own affairs. After a long period of painstaking effort, he had reached a critical point.
His physical fitness had reached the peak of the Apprentice-level a year ago. His willpower and awareness had long surpassed what was required to break through to the Planetary level. Only his Psychic Power had held him back.
For the past year, he had enjoyed an unlimited supply of Muya Crystals and trained using Fallen Ink Star's secret method for cultivating Psychic Power. Even with his mediocre talent, he had cultivated faster than other Spiritual Psychics on Earth with average talent.
Cultivating Psychic Power was indeed much harder than improving one's physical fitness. Even under these conditions, it had taken him a full year to reach Intermediate War God Level.
With Luo Feng's insights from his breakthrough, along with the combined comprehension of Luo Feng, Hong, and Thunder God, Zhou Ze smoothly performed the nine movements required to break through to the Planetary level.
As he moved through each posture, every cell in his body seemed to boil. Genetic Energy that had lain dormant and unabsorbed within his cells began to gather like drops of water. The droplets joined into streams, then brooks, then rivers...
Waves of heat flowed through his body, constantly swirling and condensing before finally converging in the dantian in his abdomen!
Boom!
Inside his dantian, it was as if Pangu had split the heavens and the earth. A dantian that had never existed before suddenly opened with a thunderous crash!
The Genetic Energy swirled faster and faster, endlessly expanding and contracting. With every cycle, its volume grew smaller!
There was no doubt about it: his Genetic Energy was being elevated!
"I finally broke through to the Planetary level!"
Zhou Ze was in high spirits as he examined the miniature planet in his dantian. Unlike Luo Feng's golden planet, his was a water-blue crystal.
"That's just what I expected!"
As Zhou Ze thought this, the water-blue miniature planet spinning in his dantian began to emit waves of strange energy.
"Genetic Energy!"
With a thought, strands of water-blue Genetic Energy surged out of his dantian and coursed through his body.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
In an instant, Zhou Ze felt his bones, skin, meridians, internal organs, and even every cell rapidly transform!
Even his soul and consciousness were being elevated!
Once the transformation was complete, Zhou Ze examined his special ability.
"Boundless Ocean!"
In Chinese, Zhou Ze used a four-character idiom to describe the effect of his special ability.
"I never expected this. I awakened a top-tier water-attribute special ability. Impressive..."
Over the past year, Zhou Ze had spent plenty of time examining Fallen Ink Star's collection, broadening his horizons and satisfying his curiosity.
He was quite interested in the types and uses of special abilities that came with breaking through to the Planetary level.
"It's better than nothing. This ability's mostly useful in the early stages..."
If he hadn't been familiar with Swallowed Star, Zhou Ze would have been incredibly excited. He would have thought awakening a top-tier special ability made him extraordinary.
But he knew that what mattered most to a Swallowed Star warrior was the Laws, Gene Level, amplification, Secret Arts, equipment, and so on. So he wasn't particularly impressed.
European Union, Paris Base City.
Dawn was just breaking.
Yan Hai, his hair already graying, wore a suit as he arrived at the Central Plaza. He laid a flower before each of the eight heroes who had saved humanity.
His expression was mournful, and he stood slightly hunched, inviting sympathy.
After finishing, he returned to the rooftop terrace on the third floor of his villa, in an exceptionally good mood.
He held a glass of expensive red wine, breathed in its aroma, and closed his eyes in pleasure before tipping his head back and drinking it down.
"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!" Yan Hai kept his eyes closed, lost in the pleasure of the moment.
After all those years away from home, hiding on this distant European continent and not daring to set foot in China for decades, from today onward Yan Hai could go wherever he pleased!
Jia Yi was dead! The four Speakers were dead! Luo Feng, that freak, was dead too!
Only the Fifth Speaker, Atkin, remained. He was Yan Hai's friend and on his side. That meant Yan Hai could do whatever he wanted anywhere on Earth!
"Hmph, Zhou Ze. I'll let you live a little longer. Once things have died down, I'll deal with you..."
Yan Hai remembered the little Vulture, whom he had loved like his own child, being killed by Luo Feng right before his eyes. He also remembered Zhou Ze blocking his cane. As he thought about it, he grew impatient.
He had planned to wait until the fuss had died down, but he was afraid Zhou Ze might break through to the Planetary level. After all, Zhou Ze was just as much of a freak as Yan Hai's own disciple!
Zhou Ze had been only a Senior War God, yet he had knocked Yan Hai's cane flying with a single strike. Yan Hai's attack had been meant to deflect Luo Feng's Escape Shuttle.
With his Planetary-level, second-rank strength, even without using his full power, no War God should have been able to stop him. Yet Zhou Ze had done it with apparent ease.
"No, I have to deal with him quickly, before it's too late!"
Before you continue