Under One Person: I Opened the Age of Mythology

Chapter 566

The Heavenly decree resounded throughout the Three Realms like the sound of golden drums, and the fragments of the Chaos Pearl instantly became the focus of attention in the Three Realms.

However, these wrecks, bearing the power of destruction, were not a savior, but rather a fuse that ignited an even fiercer flame.

The lingering stench of burning at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains was replaced by a new wave of bloodshed.

It wasn't that the Heavenly Court was ineffective in purifying things, but rather that the scattered fragments of the Chaos Pearl were like poisoned bait thrown into stagnant water, silently permeating everything.

A fragment the size of a fingernail, flowing with a murky purple light, fell into a sacred spring deep in the Qinling Mountains.

Within days, the deer drinking water had bloodshot eyes, twisted and overgrown antlers, and their fur peeled off to reveal rotting flesh, transforming them into "bone-eating deer" that frantically tore apart any living creature.

Even more terrifying, a giant bear that managed to devour one of the remaining fragments swelled up rapidly, its fur transforming into purplish-black scales, and it spewed out chaotic breath that burned the soul. Wherever it passed, vegetation withered and the earth became poisoned.

Similar tragedies have been unfolding on every continent.

In Beiju Luzhou, a mortal town was struck by a fragment that fell into the ley lines of a temple. Overnight, most of the residents became stiff as wood, their eyes hollow and purple, turning into "walking corpses" that obeyed the fragment's instincts. They pounced on the remaining living people, their wails and gnawing sounds echoing through the dawn.

Near the coast of Dongsheng Shenzhou, fragments fell into a fishing village. The fish and shrimp caught by the fishermen grew fangs and spurs, easily tearing through the fishing nets, and even leaping ashore to attack the villagers, attracting the covetous eyes of the water monsters lurking nearby.

The Water Demon King commanded his demon soldiers to massacre the village and seize its treasures, but this triggered the chaotic energy emanating from the fragments. The lesser demons were instantly burst apart, while the greater demons descended into a deeper level of madness, unleashing a bloodbath.

The hidden remnants of the Dark Star were like jackals smelling carrion.

They knew the value of the fragments—they were power, the spark to turn the tide, and a twisted expression of their faith in the fallen "Dark Star Lord."

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the debris, they lay in wait and made their move.

Several figures clad in tattered black armor, their auras resembling those of corrupted beasts, launched a surprise attack on a temporary purification array eye set up by heavenly soldiers while Yang Jian's main force was purifying the earth veins of Kunlun Jade Void Peak. Their target was a chaotic prism half-buried in the soil beside the array eye, still trembling on its own.

The attack was swift and ruthless, using self-destruction to clear a path with fragments of a body corrupted by chaos, severely injuring several heavenly soldiers. Although they were later reduced to ashes by the divine lightning of the Thunder Department, the fragments had already been stolen by another accomplice who was disguised as a wounded soldier and had disappeared into the depths of the vast black mist swamp.

When the news reached the Heavenly Court, Li Jing was furious and ordered a thorough investigation.

Yang Jian personally visited the heart of Kunlun Ruins, the area most deeply polluted by chaos and also the place where fragmented energy was most concentrated.

The turbid air surged like ink, distorting and warping the space around it.

He opened his third eye between his eyebrows, and the golden light from the vertical eye on his forehead pierced through the filth, precisely locking onto a dark blue fragment that was adhering to the cracked mountain rock and slowly writhing, turning the rock wall into viscous "flesh and blood".

"cut!"

Yang Jian shouted, and his three-pointed double-edged sword transformed into a silver streak, not attacking the fragment itself, but slashing at the chaotic veins connecting the fragment to the mountain.

At the same time, he activated his profound skills, attempting to contact and guide the raging chaotic energy.

The purplish-black chaotic energy was drawn by his magic power, like a tamed venomous snake, flowing along the blade and his arm, eventually converging into his meridians.

An overwhelming surge of cold and heat erupted instantly, its violent power, far exceeding that of ordinary immortal energy, washing over his limbs, bones, and soul.

His injuries healed rapidly, his depleted mana was instantly replenished, and he even felt that his own bottleneck had loosened slightly.

"efficient!"

A thought struck him; the surge of power was intoxicating. But this feeling was extremely dangerous. Accompanying the influx of power were countless twisted, destructive, and insane murmurs echoing in his mind:

"Returning to chaos...eternity...nothingness is the only destination..."

"Kill! Devour! Evolve!!"

"The Way of Heaven... a false order... break it..."

Cold sweat beaded on Yang Jian's forehead. He bit his tongue hard, the sharp pain bringing a sliver of clarity that forcibly suppressed his greedy desire. His vertical eyes flashed with golden light, and he let out a low shout:
"town!"

He forcibly severed the absorption of that chaotic energy and carefully sealed the fragment, whose "root" had been severed, into a jade box using a secret technique.

The runes on the jade box flickered wildly, almost cracked by the internal impact.

On the way back to camp, Yang Jian looked solemn.

He could feel the transformed chaotic power within his body, like a living thing, entrenched in a corner of his dantian. It was icy cold yet strangely active, incompatible with his own pure magical power, and was subtly eroding his Dao heart.

Each time this power is used, the babbling becomes clearer.

"It works quickly, but it's highly toxic... We must be extremely cautious."

He sent a message to Sun Wukong, describing in detail the effects of the transformation and the dangers of the backlash, and requested Laozi to refine a protective elixir that could suppress the disturbances in the mind.

……

……

Inside the Tushita Palace, the aroma of medicine mingled with the scent of burnt metal and chaos. Nezha sat cross-legged before the enormous Eight Trigrams Furnace, its purple flames blazing and illuminating his pale but gradually recovering face.

The spiderweb-like black markings on his chest had faded to almost nothing, but the occasional throbbing pain reminded him of the marks left by that catastrophe.

What he held in his hands was no longer the infinitely mysterious sand table, but several dull, cracked jade fragments.

This is the remains of a sand table.

However, when Nezha's consciousness sank into these fragments, it was not a completely lifeless place.

He could "hear" the faint "echoes" left behind after countless laws collided and annihilated within the fragments.

"Your understanding of the laws is already etched into your immortal bones; the sand table is merely a vessel, so its destruction is no problem."

With guidance from the side, Laozi lightly swept his whisk, and wisps of purple energy from the Tushita Heaven flowed into Nezha's body, helping him to stabilize his mind.

"The energy of the chaotic fragments is violent and disorderly, yet the great Dao of Heaven and Earth gives rise to Yin from Yang, and order exists within chaos. Seek the 'One' within it and control its source."

Their research objectives were clear:
Find a way to controllably utilize the chaotic energy within this fragment for the benefit of the Heavenly Court.

There are two possible directions:

The first is to create protective armor or magical artifacts that can resist the erosion of chaotic energy; the second is to create magical artifacts that can purify the source of chaotic pollution.

Nezha used his divine sense to sketch in the air before him. An extremely rudimentary "sand table" phantom, composed of light threads, appeared in the void, and each landing point affected a portion of his divine sense.

He attempted to simulate the energy fluctuations of a small fragment, and then incorporated the structural fragments of the chaotic channel law analyzed in the sand table that day.

This is an extremely delicate and dangerous project, like walking a tightrope over a bottomless abyss.

An experiment went wrong, causing the energy model in the phantom to become unbalanced.

A small wisp of chaotic energy simulation suddenly went out of control. Instead of exploding, it twisted into a miniature vortex. Then, another tiny fragment, which had been sealed in the corner of the laboratory, suddenly trembled and resonated violently, emitting a piercing buzzing sound!

An invisible gravitational field instantly spread out, almost sucking the rare materials on the nearby shelves into the vortex!

Laozi swiftly waved his whisk, and the purple flames of the Tushita Heaven transformed into a cage, instantly extinguishing the out-of-control simulation.

The two exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with horror. "Fragment resonance! The spiritual energy intensity far exceeds the sum of the individual fragments!"

Nezha was still shaken.

"If a large number of fragments are simultaneously activated or guided under specific conditions..."

"They will spontaneously aggregate!"

Laozi's expression was solemn.

"The path it leads to... is very likely not to a chaotic beast, but to a new, even more terrifying 'source'!"

The crisis that this accidental exposure revealed is more chilling than the out-of-control debris itself.

……

……

at the same time.

The bloodstains from the Execution Platform did not completely cleanse the Heavenly Court of its filth.

The swift and decisive actions of the Investigation Bureau, overseen by Venus, uncovered a deputy of the Medicine Hall, two treasure vault guards, and several seemingly high-ranking but low-ranking celestial officials. They were found guilty of leaking intelligence, smuggling spiritual materials, or deliberately delaying support at crucial moments, with each link in the chain of evidence closely connected.

The purge was carried out openly and brutally, deterring those who dared to do evil.

However, Venus, the White Star, stroked a strange pattern—a secret mark resembling a twisted peach—that was interspersed among the espionage correspondence in the secret report, and his brow furrowed.
"Behind these henchmen... there seems to be an even greater shadow lurking. This pattern looks like a mark left by some reclusive or 'fallen' force. Is it an ancient vengeful spirit? Or... a remnant that wasn't completely eradicated back then?"

Li Jing, who was in charge of coordinating the collection and management of the fragments, found himself in an awkward situation.

He was caught in the eye of the storm.

A group of conservative celestial officials jointly wrote a letter, denouncing Nezha and Laozi's research as "playing with fire" and "blaspheming the heavenly way," demanding an immediate end to all contact with the power of chaos and the complete sealing of all fragments in the deepest part of the Nine Netherworld.

They accused Li Jing of concentrating too much power, and that if he successfully transformed the power of chaos, he would be the biggest variable in Heaven.

On the other hand, led by some of the Heavenly Generals of the Doubu faction, they firmly supported the exploration of power, believing that chaos was the greatest enemy at hand, power was the fundamental element, and Li Jing's rule was a necessity in wartime.

Li Jing, holding the exquisite pagoda, stood atop the South Heavenly Gate, gazing down at the mortal realm with a stern expression. He was well aware of the factional infighting behind these accusations, and even more so of the severity of the "fragment resonance" crisis that Nezha had just discovered.

The anxiety stems not only from the obstruction of political enemies, but also from how to coordinate all parties and find that delicate balance between security and efficiency, power and control. One misstep could lead to total defeat.

Some of the celestial soldiers responsible for collecting the fragments began to "slack off" and encounter numerous difficulties during the mission. The reasons they reported were plausible but unsubstantiated, which seriously hindered the progress.

……

……

the other side.

Sun Wukong descended to the mortal realm, intending to reshape faith with his supreme divine power.

He chose the most severely affected area in Beiju Luzhou. The Golden Cudgel transformed into a thousand-foot-tall pillar supporting the sky, crashing into the depths of the ravaged earth. Vast divine power surged like a furnace, forcibly smoothing out the disordered earth veins. The turbid energy was illuminated by the golden light emanating from the cudgel, melting away like snow being poured with boiling water.

Spring returns to the earth, and withered trees sprout new buds.

The surviving mortals knelt on the ground, tears streaming down their faces, and cried out, "Great Sage, have mercy!" and "Heavenly grace!"

However, the atmosphere was quite different in a refugee camp behind a mountain valley.

This area has become a gathering place for many more refugees whose homes have been destroyed and whose families have been separated.

Their eyes were no longer simply numb, but mixed with fear, confusion, and even a repressed resentment.

"Compassion? Kindness?"

A middle-aged man in tattered clothes held his dead infant son, gazing at the golden light soaring into the sky in the distance, his eyes bloodshot.

"Why didn't we come sooner? Why did those fragments fall from the sky? It's a battle of gods, why are we the ones who die?! Where is the City God? Where is the Earth God? Are they all dead?"

Beside him was a shirtless boy with an inconspicuous, dark "stone" with charred edges hanging on his chest—a tiny, almost imperceptible fragment of a Chaos Pearl.

The boy did not kneel down, but stared intently at the giant rod that stabilized the earth's veins, his eyes flashing with an unusual purple light.

He seemed to feel the "stone" in his hand heating up, and a strange, instinctive whisper resonated in his heart:
"They're afraid...afraid that we'll get our hands on this..."

"They are high and mighty gods!" someone hissed in agreement. "What they give us is 'benevolence' after destruction! These fragments... are the source of calamity, but also power! They are what allow us to protect ourselves!"

Several bloodshot eyes looked at the boy holding the "stone".

Several rogue cultivators, dressed in dark, worn-out Taoist robes and bearing injuries, were clearly survivors and were mixed in with the crowd.

They approached the boy quietly and whispered a promise: "Child, come with your senior brother. We can teach you to control that power... a power more reliable than that of gods."

Deep within their eyes, however, gleamed a greedy desire for that faint glimmer of light.

Sun Wukong stood on the clouds, his fiery eyes peering into the mortal world.

He saw a fleeting purple light in the boy's hand and heard a low growl from the edge of the camp about "mastering power".

His face was calm, but his heart was churning like a raging storm.

The path to rebuilding faith is far more difficult than vanquishing demons. And where will this spark, quietly ignited in the human world using fragments of chaos, spread its prairie fire?

Will the boy holding the shards become the spark of salvation, or the fuse that ignites an even greater disaster?

At this moment, the rogue cultivator quietly circulated his magic power, gathering a subtle attraction in his palm, attempting to subtly draw the irregular dark purple fragment from the boy's hand.

The greed in his eyes was almost impossible to conceal. He was calculating that by obtaining this small fragment, he could find more power and even get on the path of the Dark Star Remnants.

Just as the wisp of magic power at his fingertips was about to touch the fragment!

"Om-!"

A deep hum did not come from any magical artifact, but rather from the terrifying pressure emanating from where Sun Wukong stood, which suddenly solidified the space within a radius of ten feet.

The rogue cultivator felt as if he had fallen into an abyss of ice that had been frozen for ten thousand years. His condensed magical power instantly collapsed, and his bones made a creaking sound as if they could not bear the weight. Even his thoughts seemed to be frozen!

He looked up in utter horror, only to meet a pair of golden eyes burning with icy rage.

Without a word or a warning, Sun Wukong's figure left a faint afterimage in place, and the next moment he appeared beside the rogue cultivator like a ghost.

Without using the world-destroying Golden Cudgel, he simply extended a claw at extreme speed!
The power contained between his five fingers seemed capable of crushing stars, and he precisely gripped the rogue cultivator's neck.

The sensation was not like grasping flesh and blood, but more like grasping a stubborn rock that had been forcibly frozen in place.

The rogue cultivator couldn't even utter a scream as the immense power directly slammed into his body, brutally crushing all his thoughts of resistance and his circulating immortal energy. His soul was struck as if by a heavy blow, his vision went black, his consciousness instantly blurred, and his body collapsed like mud, imprisoned on the ground by an invisible force, unable to move.

(End of this chapter)