Swallowing the Stars, Hu Yanbo's Pre-Godhood

After leaving the Chaos Monument, Hu Yanbo quickly returned to his rooftop in Chaos City, closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and began to absorb cosmic energy with all his might, transforming it into his own divine power.

This process is not simply a matter of energy accumulation.

As a massive amount of energy was refined, the total amount of divine power within his body began to steadily increase.

However, one key characteristic remains unchanged—no matter how much divine power increases, the integrity of the soul remains constant.

This means that when his divine power increased from the equivalent of three thousand times the power of a realm lord to seven thousand times or even higher, the base of divine power carrying his complete soul imprint became incredibly vast.

A direct comparison can be made: a high-level immortal with the power of a realm lord three thousand times that of a realm lord, and a peak immortal with the power of a realm lord seven thousand times that of a realm lord, both possess a complete soul that is integrated with their divine body.

However, when their divine bodies, which possessed a thousand times the power of a World Lord, were annihilated in the battle, the former lost as much as one-third of their souls, while the latter lost less than one-seventh!

The pain of soul tearing and the degree of decline in strength that they endured were undoubtedly much milder, and they recovered much faster.

This is one of the most fundamental meanings of the enhancement of divine body strength - it not only represents greater power, but also greater resilience and combat endurance!

What Hu Yanbo is doing at this moment is frantically absorbing energy under the guidance of the laws and realms pre-funded by the system, constantly consolidating and expanding his own divine power foundation.

The energy fluctuations he had just triggered were immediately noticed by several figures standing in mid-air high above Chaos City, near the massive spatial rifts that were constantly breaking and weaving together the fundamental laws of the universe.

"Hmm?" One of the beings shrouded in hazy starlight let out a soft exclamation, his gaze sweeping across the area below. "In recent years, the quality of the immortal little guys coming to Chaos City has been surprisingly high."

"Following that little guy named Hu Yanbo, someone else has broken through so quickly? Judging from the momentum of absorbing energy and the degree of compatibility with the laws, it seems to be even stronger than the commotion Hu Yanbo caused just now." Another being surrounded by invisible sword intent couldn't help but nod.

"Hehe, let me see, is he a lone wolf, or some little guy from one of our families?" The being in the starlight chuckled, and with a slight thought, its gaze seemed to penetrate the buildings and distances, landing on the rooftop that was frantically absorbing energy.

However, the starlight flowing around him suddenly stopped abruptly, and he let out a completely uncharacteristic exclamation: "Holy crap!"

This exclamation immediately caught the attention of the swordsman beside him, who had remained calm throughout.

It's no ordinary thing that could make Star King lose his composure like this!

He immediately focused his gaze, then his body trembled slightly, and he blurted out, "...No way!"

These two consecutive exclamations instantly drew the attention of all the powerful beings in the sky.

One after another, powerful and overwhelming thoughts were directed toward that area.

When they saw who was unleashing such immense energy, all beings fell into a brief silence, as if digesting this unbelievable scene before them.

A few seconds later, the being surrounded by an invisible sword intent slowly turned its head to look at its companion beside it, whose starlight had not yet fully subsided, its tone carrying a strange disbelief:

"Starlight, if I remember correctly, this little guy named Huyanbo has already been snatched away by Qiancangwang of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance?"

Upon hearing this, King Xinghui glared at the sword intent being with annoyance, his tone tinged with frustration: "How can you blame me?! Back then, our assessment of him was at most that he had the potential to become a low-level King!"

"Didn't you think the price for a top-tier seed worth six or seven hundred million Hunyuan was reasonable and without any problems at the time?"

With a shrug, the sword intent manifested, and his calm yet piercing words resonated deeply: "You are the head of the Virtual Universe Company, responsible for recruiting external powerhouses. The decisions are naturally yours."

"I just happened to be there at the time and made a casual comment."

"You! You you you..." Star King was choked by this attempt to distance himself from the other party, pointing at him, speechless for a moment.

His gaze returned to the rooftop where Huyanbo was, sensing the ever-rising, increasingly concentrated aura emanating from it. His tone was filled with complex emotions and a hint of barely concealed regret.

"Having cultivated diligently in Chaos City for six hundred years and broken through two realms in succession... With such a speed of progress, his future will probably truly be on par with ours."

"King Qiancang really hit the jackpot with that top-tier seed contract," another person nearby couldn't help but exclaim.

Among the hundreds of thousands of kings in the human race, only a select few can reach the pinnacle of kingship.

Each and every one of them is a high-ranking official in their respective region or a powerful figure in their respective faction.

Upon hearing this, King Xinghui sighed heavily and waved his hand with great frustration.

"Hey, don't even mention it. This time I misjudged the situation, and it cost me billions of yuan..."

After saying that, he simply closed his eyes in frustration, too lazy to even glance at that "other people's genius immortality" again.

He knew in his heart that this time was completely different from the last.

Last time, Hu Yanbo was at most an outer member of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, with a free identity, so the five major forces could naturally compete fairly using their own methods.

Now, the other party has officially signed the highest-level 'Special King Seed' contract with the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, and is now its undisputed core member.

Trying to poach talent again would not only be impossible according to the rules, but would also completely offend the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, which is also a human giant.

A mere peak-level king wouldn't warrant such actions from the Virtual Universe Company.

The universe operates in a way that energy always follows a certain law of conservation.

As we all know, emotions are also a form of energy.

Just as Star King closed his eyes in frustration, outside Chaos City, in a vast, advanced cosmic kingdom...

While Qian Cangwang of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance was handling alliance affairs, a message arrived directly in his email via the virtual universe system.

The message was extremely brief, yet it instantly caused an unbelievable surge of ecstasy to erupt on the previously calm face of this peak-level King!

Before he could even think it through, he made a slight mental movement and directly connected with his close friend, King Xuzhen.

"Illusion!" King Qiancang's voice carried a rare hint of excitement and urgency. "Your judgment is truly sharp! That Huyan Bo has broken through again in Chaos City!"

On the other end of the communication, King Xuzhen was clearly taken aback by this sudden news, his tone filled with obvious astonishment: "Another...another breakthrough?! The primordial universe has only been around for less than a thousand years, and the initial universe for only three hundred years...how is this possible?!"

"Haha, I'm not entirely sure of the specific reason either." King Qiancang laughed heartily.

"Perhaps it's because he possesses extraordinary talent, and his compatibility with the 'Nine Universes Chaos Stele' has reached an unbelievable level!"

"In short, this is fantastic news!"

"The 'Top-Tier King Seed' contract that we overruled everyone's objections to sign for him can finally be considered a done deal! Let's see who dares to question my judgment now!"