The reappearance of Heng's traces, which had been missing from the six divine regions for so many years, indeed surprised Chen Chu.

This suggested that the strongest human of the divine regions had likely not yet fallen.

But such matters were of little importance to Chen Chu. What truly mattered was that he had discovered where the origin of this world lay, and the next step was figuring out how to gather it.

With that, he would be able to break through the peak of the true spirit level in one breath, and then advance into the primordial level.

Chen Chu set down the gold-rimmed book in his hand and looked at the purple-haired girl across from him. He said slowly, "Amitya, let's head underground and hunt some demonic beings."

"To the underground maze?" The purple-haired girl froze.

"Exactly."

Chen Chu nodded. "As your contract holder, I feel obliged to help you grow quickly, to become the strongest Valkyrie."

The sudden shift in topic left Amitya, whose spiritual force had not yet fully recovered, at a loss.Back when we signed the contract, didn't he say there would be no fighting?

"...But Chu, the power of my accumulated ability power isn't enough for me to enter Valkyrie form. My strength is still only at the level of an ordinary three-star warrior."

"No matter. Once we go into the maze and slay more demonic beings, you'll gain more ability power."

The reason Chen Chu could easily enter this world without being rejected by its principles was the contract with Amitya.

He could clearly sense a layer of contract power covering his body like a barrier, its strength roughly equivalent to the Ninth Heavenly Realm.

As long as his power did not exceed the upper limit of that contract barrier, he would not be 'discovered.'

Moreover, since this contract acted as his anchor within this world, the stronger Amitya became, the higher the barrier's tolerance would rise.

This was why Chen Chu planned to take her to the underground maze to 'level up.'

At the same time, it would serve to test his recent deductions.

***

"We need a heavily-armored warrior, three-star strength is enough, so long as he can hold a heavy shield at the front."

"Swamp Crocodile Squad needs two ordinary warriors, mainly to carry supplies."

"Sax Adventure Squad is recruiting. This time our target is an elite demon that appeared on the nineteenth underground level. Minimum requirement: four stars or higher..."

At the square beneath the towering World Tree, which rose hundreds of thousands of meters, countless figures carrying weapons moved about, calling loudly.

On both sides of the square stood rows of shops selling weapons, armor, provisions, and medicine. The liveliest of all were the taverns and eateries.

Walking along the street, which was ten thousand meters wide, Chen Chu observed the lively scene with interest.

Compared to the urgent atmosphere of the Human Federation's logistics cities back then, this world, though facing invasion from evil gods, still carried a relaxed air, almost like an otherworldly adventure.

At his side, the tall purple-haired girl in high heels, standing about one meter seventy-five, asked, "Chu, are we just going in like this, without any preparations?"

Chen Chu glanced at her and said lightly, "Do you think we need to prepare for anything?"

The girl paused.

With Chen Chu's terrifying power that ignored the rules of illusory beast contracts and had not reverted to his original form after being summoned, Amitya felt even evil gods might not be his match.

The entrance to the underground maze lay at the roots of the World Tree, appearing like a thousand-meter-tall stone gate carved into its trunk. At all hours, large numbers of warriors entered and exited.

To outsiders, it might have seemed no different from a tourist cave site.

But the moment Chen Chu followed Amitya into the gray stone gate, he sharply sensed them passing through a layer of the world's barrier.

Inside the one-kilometer-wide 'narrow' passage, a group of more than twenty warriors were moving along. Among them, a golden-haired youth in splendid silver armor suddenly brightened at the sight ahead.

His gaze fell on the purple-haired girl with her serene aura and exquisite face. Without realizing it, he nearly stepped forward, but his shoulder was firmly seized.

A burly, bearded man whispered, "David, what are you doing?"

The golden-haired youth looked back and explained, "Nothing, I just thought I'd ask those two if they wanted to travel with us. The underground maze has countless branching passages and is full of demonic beings. With more people, it's safer."

The burly man's face grew solemn, his voice low. "I don't care what you're really thinking, but don't provoke those two. We can't afford to.

"Remember, in the maze, besides the demonic beings, you must be wary of lone wanderers and women too. If a team dares to enter with only one or two people, they're either foolish or supremely confident in their strength.

"Take that girl for example. Her aura suggests only three stars, but the young man beside her feels unfathomable to me. Very dangerous."

The golden-haired youth was stunned. "That strong? Brother, you're a seven-star warrior."

The burly man said evenly, "Seven stars sounds impressive, but in the eyes of true experts, it's no different than a demonic being that can be crushed with one hand. Enough talk. Let's move. If you want to become stronger, fight harder."

"Chu, what are you looking at?" Amitya asked, noticing that Chen Chu had suddenly stopped walking.

Chen Chu shook his head slightly. "Nothing, I just realized that no matter where you go, fools are always the minority."

The girl blinked, baffled.

She could not understand what that had to do with him stopping.

Following the downward path, through the dim passage, they walked nearly ten kilometers before Chen Chu's vision changed. Ahead, a fault split the earth, forming a thousand-meter-high cliff.

Beneath the cliff stretched a basin spanning dozens of kilometers, its surrounding cliffs riddled with caves.

Some caves were ten meters wide, others several dozen or even hundreds. They all led into the maze's second level, where adventuring teams would part ways, each entering a different entrance.

After years of sweeping and clearing, with so many warriors entering and exiting, the first ten levels close to the surface were almost devoid of demonic beings.

Moreover, with each level deeper into the maze, the space expanded tenfold, resembling an inverted pyramid world, while the suppression of light grew ever stronger.

Twelfth underground level.

Within the dim passage, hundreds of meters wide and tall, a hulking demonic being emerged slowly from the shadows. It was more than twenty meters long, shaped like a wolf, its body bristling with spikes. A vicious snarl rumbled from its throat.

Its blood-red eyes locked on Chen Chu and Amitya, filled with a frenzy of bloodlust.

"We've walked for so long and finally found a demonic being."

Chen Chu let out a faint sigh, then encouraged the purple-haired girl, "Go on, Amitya. From slaying this demonic being, begin your legend as the strongest Valkyrie."

"...Me?"

Amitya was dumbfounded. As a Valkyrie of the Illusory God Division, wasn't it supposed to be her partner—her illusory beast—that fought demonic beings?

More importantly, as a student of the Illusory God Division who had not awakened Valkyrie power, she possessed only a strong spiritual force but had almost no true combat ability, even weaker than an ordinary three-star warrior.

Roar!The horned, spiked wolf, enraged that the two humans before it dared not even acknowledge its presence, bellowed savagely as power surged beneath its paws.

Boom!

A sonic boom exploded through the passage as the massive wolf blurred forward like a black shadow. In an instant, it burst out with speed equivalent to a Fifth-Heavenly-Realm cultivator, appearing above Chen Chu and Amitya.

"Be careful!" Amitya cried out, arcs of violet lightning flickering in her eyes as her long hair danced wildly.

Boom!

A terrifying burst of spiritual force erupted from her body, shaking the very air. The atmosphere collapsed in on itself, blasting outward into white shockwaves.

Under the crushing impact, the passage trembled. The black wolf let out a wretched scream as though struck by a mountain-sized hammer, its flesh splitting apart as its body was hurled back hundreds of meters.

The instant the agile beast's corpse struck the ground, Chen Chu keenly sensed a faint fluctuation of principles flash past.

Then, before the corpse, a one-meter-wide black iron shield materialized out of thin air.

At the same time, above Amitya's head, a wisp of nearly undetectable white power descended silently, merged into her body, and vanished into some hidden place at her back.

A faint wisp of that same white power also appeared above Chen Chu's head.

This unseen white power was the heavenly gift that descended whenever demonic beings were slain in this world. It could be used to strengthen the body and increase one's power, and once accumulated to a certain degree, it could even elevate one's realm.

Sensing the faint white energy within his body, Chen Chu's lips curved into a smile. His guess had been correct. The heavenly gift was in fact the origin of this world.

Swish!Chen Chu blurred forward to the fallen black iron shield, picked it up, and crushed it casually under Amitya's watchful eyes.

The supposedly alloy-hard shield shattered instantly into worthless scrap, scattering to the ground.

A trace of regret flickered across Chen Chu's face.

This shield had also been condensed from world origin, yet when shattered, it revealed itself to be nothing more than ordinary steel.

Even if he refined it back into pure essence, the result was only a trivial amount of energy.

The sliver of origin that had condensed into the shield had already dissolved completely back into the operation of this world's foundational principles. This method of transformation even made Chen Chu raise his brows in surprise.

No wonder this world was said to be guarded by an existence that had already broken into the Seventh Primordial Heaven and was immortal.

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