The Primordial Era: The Mythical Path Beginning with the Jie Sect

Chapter 68 Returning to Heaven, Assigning Tasks, and Collecting Star Essence

When Zhou Chen returned to the Heavenly Court, the Peach Banquet had already ended, leaving only the Heavenly Court's immortals and gods, as well as Duobao and others.

"Junior brother, thank you very much this time. I never expected to have such a good opportunity at the Peach Banquet. I have benefited greatly from this experience!" Daoist Duobao said with a smile.

"Senior brother, what are you saying? We're fellow disciples, there's no need for such formalities." Zhou Chen laughed, but in his mind, he was thinking, "Such a blatant laborer, if I don't make use of him, wouldn't I be doing myself a disservice?"

"Junior brother, I have also benefited greatly, thank you again." The Antarctic Immortal said with a smile. He did not return to Kunlun Mountain with Guang Chengzi and the others.

Firstly, he was the Antarctic Longevity Emperor of the Heavenly Court.

Secondly, he had a good relationship with Zhou Chen. After Zhou Chen finished dealing with his business, he would definitely return to the Heavenly Court, since he was the Great Emperor of the North Pole Purple Star. So he stayed behind to express his gratitude.

“Indeed, red flowers, white lotus roots, and green lotus leaves—the three religions were originally one family. We are fellow disciples and should naturally be close,” said Grand Master Xuandu, the only disciple of the Human Religion, with a smile.

"Senior brothers, you flatter me. This is a task assigned to me by our master. It should be you two helping me. How dare I take credit?" Zhou Chen said modestly. Looking at the group, his eyes gleamed. He had brought up our master, and he didn't believe these people could get away with it.

After speaking, Zhou Chen glanced at Haotian, Yaochi, and the others behind them. Well, these people shouldn't be idle either. Apart from the immortals and gods who maintain the stability of the prehistoric world, they should all come and work in the ancient starry sky!

Since the merits wouldn't be of much use to him anyway, he might as well distribute them to these people and let them work for him with enthusiasm.

Grand Master Xuandu and the Antarctic Immortal exchanged a glance and shook their heads with smiles.

“Junior brother, please don’t refuse. I’ll take this opportunity to do you a favor,” said the Antarctic Immortal, stroking his beard.

“That’s exactly right!” Grand Master Xuandu agreed.

Zhou Chen smiled helplessly and said to the two, "Senior brothers, since you two have said so, then I won't stand on ceremony. It just so happens that our master has given me another task."

"Let me speak with the Great Celestial Venerable, and then we, fellow disciples, can discuss this in detail!"

The Old Man of the South Pole and Grand Master Xuandu were taken aback, then nodded in tacit agreement.

Zhou Chen smiled and then walked past the crowd to Haotian and Yaochi.

"Great Celestial Venerable, Queen Mother, the matter of the Netherworld is now concluded, and I am returning to the Ziwei Palace. I wonder if the Great Celestial Venerable and Queen Mother have anything else to discuss?" Zhou Chen said politely.

"Your Majesty, won't you stay in the Heavenly Court for a while?" Yaochi spoke first.

Although Haotian didn't speak, his eyes showed that he was very interested in Zhou Chen.

"No, Master has given me a task! I won't relax or slack off until the task is completed, lest I ruin Master's grand plan!" Zhou Chen said with a wry smile, lowering his stance so that Haotian and the others would take the bait.

Haotian and Yaochi were somewhat surprised. Did the Dao Ancestor have a task for Zhou Chen?

To be honest, the two of them were a little jealous! After all, they had accompanied the Dao Ancestor for so long, and he didn't even tell them about any good missions. It was as if he didn't treat them as his own people.

But after thinking about it, if it was something like creating the Netherworld, telling them wouldn't be of any use, since they couldn't accomplish it anyway.

Thinking about this made me feel a little better!
"Your Majesty, would you mind telling me what the mission is? Is there anything Yaochi and I can do to help?" Haotian asked cautiously. He was very curious, but he was also afraid of getting too involved and that it was not their place to get involved, so he asked carefully.

Yaochi also stared intently at Zhou Chen. She wanted to know too. Women are very curious, and it was already a testament to her self-control that she managed to hold back from asking.

"Actually, there's nothing that can't be said. Although this matter didn't bring as much merit as opening up the Netherworld in the early stages, it was still a great deed with immeasurable merit."

Didn't Buzhou Mountain collapse? The place where the primordial energy was converted into spiritual energy is gone. My master asked me to rebuild a place where the chaotic energy can be converted into innate spiritual energy.

"I have the general idea, the only thing I lack is the magical treasure to set up the formation and the cultivator to control it." Zhou Chen didn't hide anything and said it directly. Actually, he couldn't hide it anyway, since Haotian and Yaochi were in the Heavenly Court, very close to the North Pole Ziwei Palace. If there was any disturbance, Haotian and Yaochi would definitely be the first to know.

Haotian and Yaochi gaped in disbelief. This was supposed to be easy?
That's primordial chaos energy!

If you're talking about dispersing a mass of chaotic energy, even a Great Luo Golden Immortal can do it, but converting spiritual energy, even a Quasi-Saint might not be able to do it.

It's not that Quasi-Saints can't be transformed, but the transformation Zhou Chen mentioned is long-term, not just a one-time transformation.

During the Lich War, why did the combined formations of the two races only last for a short while? They simply couldn't withstand the drain! The more powerful the formation, the greater the drain on the person in charge. The formation is only an auxiliary function; the key is the person using it.

"Your Majesty, we can gather the materials for the spiritual treasure, but what cultivation level do cultivators need? As you know, our Heavenly Court is newly established and has few people. Those with high cultivation levels are even rarer, so..." Haotian gritted his teeth and reluctantly offered material support, but he really had no way to help with the cultivators. After all, the Heavenly Court was already short of people. As for Zhou Chen's formation, he estimated that it would be useless if the cultivators were too low-level. The formation couldn't be activated for one breath and then rest for several days, could it? That would be of no use except for non-magical power.

"Well, thank you so much. As for cultivators, a Golden Immortal level is fine, not too high. The main thing is to make sure the formation doesn't go wrong. They don't need to be in charge." Zhou Chen thanked him and then, after thinking for a moment, explained the requirements for cultivators.

To set up such a long-term, even permanent, formation by human effort is pure fantasy.

Even if everyone were a saint with inexhaustible magical power, setting up an array for a long time would be tedious, let alone cultivators with limited magical power.

Only a grand array of heaven and earth, which can be arranged by relying on inanimate objects like heaven and earth containing infinite energy, can exist forever.

Moreover, some things in the world are the best formations in themselves. The reason why they have not played their role is that they have not been connected or activated.

Once connected or activated, they can unleash terrifying power that is inexhaustible and continuous!
Just like the Zhou Tian Star Array of the demon race, which was created by deducing the trajectory of the ancient stars through the He Tu and Luo Shu, doesn't that mean that the trajectory of the ancient stars contains the Zhou Tian Star Array?

Therefore, Zhou Chen planned to create a magic weapon that could encompass all the ancient stars in the sky, or directly extract a portion of the origin of the ancient stars and refine it into a spiritual treasure.

In this way, as long as the spiritual treasure is activated, all the ancient stars will be activated at the same time. The power of the ancient stars is inexhaustible, and the magic power to activate the spiritual treasure is a piece of cake. You can also integrate a primordial ancestral qi or add a spirit gathering array on the outside.

"Golden, Golden Immortal?" Haotian exclaimed in disbelief. Such an important formation, is it possible to just have a Golden Immortal?
Yaochi was also dumbfounded.

"That's right! This is a long-term formation, which must have been set up with the help of the great power of heaven and earth. Cultivators are definitely not up to the task!"

"That means they just need to keep an eye on the formation and report any problems immediately. They don't need to worry about anything else," Zhou Chen said matter-of-factly.

"Heavens, a grand formation of heaven and earth? Can formations be arranged like this?" Yaochi exclaimed in surprise, her mouth agape.

Zhou Chen shrugged and said calmly, "Of course, formations are derived from the natural order of heaven and earth, so it's only natural to set up formations using the natural order of heaven and earth!"

Haotian and Yaochi were speechless.

"Then I'll trouble you, Great Celestial Venerable and Queen Mother, to help gather the materials and assemble the manpower."

"I'll head back to the Ziwei Palace first to practice setting up arrays with my magical treasures," Zhou Chen said politely.

"Your Majesty, please go. I will send the materials and manpower to the Ziwei Palace once I have gathered them," Haotian said earnestly. Although Zhou Chen said that the merit of this matter was not as great as that of opening up the Netherworld, it was a long-term task. As long as one participated, one would gain merit. The merit might not be much at first, but it would be continuous!

Zhou Chen nodded, then bid farewell to Haotian Yaochi, walked up to Duobao and the others, said a few words, and the group flew towards Ziwei Palace.

Upon arriving at the Ziwei Palace, Zhou Chen explained the situation to them. After finishing, ignoring their shocked expressions, he began assigning tasks.

"Fellow senior brothers and sisters, go and collect the essence of the stars. I plan to refine the essence of the stars into a spiritual treasure."

"Of course, not all of the stellar origins, just a portion of the origins from each star will suffice," Zhou Chen said.

"All the ancient stars?" Daoist Duobao asked, his eyes wide.

Extracting the essence of stars is not easy in itself. It would take him several thousand years to extract a portion of the essence of an ordinary star, even at his level of a Great Luo Golden Immortal. If he were to extract the essence of the entire Primordial Starry Sky, it would surely cost him his life!
Zhou Chen shrugged and said, "Of course, the more stars there are, the stronger the formation will be."

This is a great formation that benefits the entire world; of course, the more the better.

However, senior brother, don't be afraid of the trouble. I have a divine power here that can make the essence of stars appear quickly, allowing for even faster refinement of the essence of stars.

Duobao, looking utterly dejected, accepted the supernatural powers and techniques handed to him by Zhou Chen, bid farewell to Xuandu, Nanji, Jinling, and the others, and then left.

The others did the same; Zhou Chen didn't stay there long either, and went directly to the Sun Star.

About a month later, Zhou Chen emerged from the ordeal.

He has already collected the essence of the Sun Star, so he will go down to the Moon Star to ask the Queen Mother of the West for the essence of the Moon. Once the essence of these two supreme stars is collected, he will be able to wait for Duobao and the others to bring the essence of other stars. Once Haotian's materials arrive, he can refine the array-setting spirit treasure.

(End of this chapter)