262: Chapter 262 Tenth-Order Demigod

One month later.

It was thought that with the gods fallen and the Divine Cavalry Order destroyed, there would be nothing left on Blue Star capable of halting the advance of the Great Xia.

But! India and White Bear Country, these last two puzzle pieces, had become impenetrable fortresses, simply because "Gods" were protecting them.

When Lilia's destructive giant claws, capable of crushing mountains, swiped toward the border of India, a dazzling barrier of blood-colored Divine Power suddenly rose, blocking her attack.

Shen Xiyun's spatial cutting could easily tear through the defenses of a Demigod, yet it returned in failure before that seemingly thin, dark green light curtain above White Bear Country.

Deep within the light curtain, a phantom of a god could be vaguely seen, possessing three eyes.

Two False Gods!

And they were False Gods with high divine standing!

Alien King Dong Ligee tapped his bare feet lightly against the Void Realm, his stunningly beautiful face bearing a rare expression of seriousness: "To think two more False Gods of unknown Origin have emerged. It seems some gods do not want to see the Great Xia dominate alone."

Lu Chen hovered in the sky, the god-slaying spear trembling slightly in his hand, as if it sensed the presence of the gods and was eager for a fight.

His gaze was like a torch.

The gods guarding the last two countries did not attack proactively; they only held their ground.

It was obvious—they were stalling for time.

Or rather, waiting for something.

"The Three-Eyed Mother Goddess? Then who is the other god?"

Lu Chen whispered to himself, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

But he did not act rashly.

The opponents were False Gods, and there were two of them.

Although his side also had two gods, Shen Xiyun and Lilia were both newly ascended and not yet stable. Starting a war now would bring no benefits and could even engulf the entire Blue Star.

More importantly—he felt that behind those two phantoms, there seemed to be an even deeper gaze watching them.

"Stabilize the areas we have already controlled first."

Lu Chen finally made his decision, his voice spreading in all directions: "Strengthen border defenses, establish a Divine-Grade monitoring network, and for India and White Bear Country... besiege them for now without attacking."

He was currently a Ninth Rank Legend, and the numbers on his attribute panel had already broken the limits of conventional understanding; his combat power was enough to crush any Demigod.

But against true False Gods—it was not enough.

"I must step into the Tenth Rank as soon as possible."

A trace of determination flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.

The Tenth Rank, the realm of the Demigod.

That was the final threshold between Mortal and God.

Once crossed, he would be able to grasp the "power of a Demigod," a special power between Mortal strength and Divine Power, sufficient to give him the capital to face False Gods head-on.

But the advancement mission for the Tenth Rank varied from person to person.

Alien King Dong Ligee told him: "The Tenth Rank is about questioning one's heart! Whatever you desire most, whatever you fear most, whatever you cannot let go of... the mission will take you there. Remember, pursue your true heart to break through the void."

Lu Chen took a deep breath and hesitated no longer.

One year later.

Lu Chen reached the max level of the Ninth Rank in the Alien Monster World. With the help of the two gods, Lilia and Shen Xiyun, in collecting advancement Materials, the Tenth Rank advancement Materials were also successfully gathered.

Lu Chen began to accept the Tenth Rank advancement mission.

Hum—an unprecedented spatial-temporal fluctuation enveloped Lu Chen.

This time, there were no prompts.

There was only a gentle yet irresistible darkness, like returning to the womb, which completely swallowed his consciousness.

When he opened his eyes again.

Lu Chen was stunned.

Before him was a familiar yet strange single-room rental.

Outside the window came the noisy sounds of traffic, the hawking of vendors, and the arguing of the neighbor couple...

Everything was terrifyingly real.

Lu Chen sat up abruptly and looked around.

The less than ten-square-meter rental room, a corner piled with clutter, game posters he used to be obsessed with on the walls, and an old, buzzing computer on the table.

By the bed, the phone screen lit up—December 12, 2025, 7:30 AM.

"I... have returned?"

Lu Chen looked down at his hands.

There was no lingering blood-red baleful aura, no surging legendary pressure.

Only a pair of hands, slightly rough from long-term labor, with distinct knuckles.

He rushed to the mirror.

The young man in the mirror had messy black hair, a handsome face but weary from staying up late, and in his eyes, there was no sharp, blade-like divine light, only the numbness and confusion of a laborer.

"Lu Chen! Still not up? You have the early shift today! If you're late, I'm docking you two hundred!"

The landlady's rough voice roared from outside the door.

Lu Chen woke up as if from a dream.

He... had really returned.

Returned to that Earth where 996 was considered a blessing, where mortgage loans crushed one's spine, and where dreams were ground down by reality.

Returned to that ordinary life he had once tried with all his might to escape.

"Is it a dream..."

Lu Chen murmured.

He tried to call the System, but there was no response.

He tried to circulate the power within his body, but it was empty.

Even the god-slaying spear, the beast pets... everything seemed to have never existed.

Only those earth-shattering battles in his memory, those partners who fought side-by-side, those cold, god-like eyes... were bone-chillingly clear, yet as distant as a bizarre, kaleidoscopic dream.

"Perhaps... it really was just a dream!"

Lu Chen gave a bitter smile, put on his faded work uniform, grabbed the bread on the table, and rushed out the door.

Days passed one by one.

Lu Chen turned back into that ordinary person struggling for a living.

Delivering packages, running food deliveries, working part-time as a designated driver...

Every day was hurried, like a spinning top whipped by an invisible lash, spinning in the steel forest of the city.

His past days of dominating the world and slaughtering gods and demons seemed to truly be just a fantasy from his adolescent years.

Until one day—a torrential rain poured down.

Lu Chen rode his electric scooter, soaked to the bone, protecting the "urgent package" in his arms that was already half an hour late, rushing desperately toward a high-end residential complex in the city center.

The elevator stopped at the 28th floor.

The person who opened the door was a young woman wearing a silk bathrobe with exquisite makeup.

She glanced at the dripping wet Lu Chen with disgust, looked at her watch, and her brows furrowed instantly.

"Do you know how urgent this order is? Do you know how long I've been waiting? Do you delivery people have any sense of time? Can't you leave earlier when it's raining this hard? Let me tell you, I'm going to report this order! A bad review! I'll have all your money docked!"

The woman's voice was sharp and mean, piercing Lu Chen's ears like steel needles.

Rainwater dripped into his eyes from his hair, stinging painfully. Lu Chen lowered his head, handed over the package with both hands, his voice hoarse: "I'm sorry, the rain was too heavy, on the way..."

"Don't make excuses!"

The woman snatched the package, checked the outer packaging, and finding some damp marks on the corners, she instantly exploded:

"You even got my stuff wet? Do you know what's inside? A limited-edition bag! I couldn't afford to pay for it even if I sold you! Trash! The lowest scum of society! You deserve to deliver packages for the rest of your life!"

Every word was like a knife, slicing into Lu Chen's already numb heart.

He clenched his fists.

His knuckles turned white from the force.

Rainwater mixed with sweat dripped from his chin.

In his mind, however, some images flashed inexplicably—he had once pierced a god with a single shot, his Dragon roar shattering the firmament.

He had once stepped on mountains of corpses and seas of blood, his eyes as cold as a ten-thousand-year abyss.

He had once shouldered the hope of the entire Great Xia, confronting his future self across space and time.

Those images were so real, so real that his current humbleness seemed so ridiculous.

"Is this... the life I wanted?"

Lu Chen suddenly raised his head, looking at the woman before him who was still chattering incessantly, her face twisted with anger.

Rainwater blurred his vision.

But his heart had never been clearer.

"No..."

He whispered to himself.

"This is not what I want. My life should be at the pinnacle, looking down upon the gods!"

A roar, like a volcano suppressed for a millennium, erupted!

It was not shouted from his throat.

It roared out from the deepest part of his Soul, from the most original source of his Bloodline, from the remaining will of that "Lu Chen" who once slaughtered gods and demons!

The woman was startled, stepped back half a step, and then became even more furious: "What are you yelling for? You dare to be fierce with me? Do you believe I..."

Her words came to an abrupt end.

Because she saw that the delivery man before her, soaked to the bone and as humble as dust, suddenly emitted a light from his eyes.

What kind of light was it? She couldn't say.

It was like a burning star, like lightning tearing through the darkness, like a Vicious Beast crawling out from an endless abyss, finally opening its eyes.

Cold.

Violent.

Carrying the indifference of looking down on all living beings, and the Heaven-Defying determination to rise up.

"I, Lu Chen—"

He said, word by word. His voice was not loud, yet it caused the lights on the entire floor to flicker.

"Have slain gods! Have slaughtered demons! Have challenged the gods with a Mortal body!"

"You—"

He took a step forward, and the aura of humbleness belonging to an "ordinary person" around him vanished instantly.

Replacing it was a surging, primordial, and violent pressure that was awakening!

"Who do you think you are?!"

He raised his right hand, fingers spread.

He did not use any power.

He slammed his hand onto the woman's exquisite yet mean face.

"Give me—"

Lu Chen's eyes were as cold as ten-thousand-year black ice, his arm muscles bulging.

"Kneel!"

Boom!

The woman's head was pressed fiercely toward the ground by him!

The hard marble floor shattered like tofu, stone fragments flying!

The woman's scream was forced back into her throat, and her whole body was embedded into the floor like a broken rag doll, blood gushing out from the crevices of her shattered skull, staining the area red.

She opened her eyes wide, her pupils reflecting Lu Chen's cold and overbearing face, with extreme terror and disbelief remaining.

It seemed that even in death, she did not understand—why a bottom-tier loser who delivered packages would have such terrifying eyes and such frightening power.

Lu Chen slowly straightened up.

He shook off the blood and rainwater from his hands.

He looked around.

The familiar corridor, the expensive decorations, the torrential rain still pouring outside the window.

But everything began to distort.

Like a faded oil painting, like a melting wax figure.

The walls peeled away, revealing the endless Void Realm behind them.

The floor dissolved, turning into swirling Chaos air currents.

The woman's corpse, the splattered blood, the shattered tiles... everything was dissipating.

"This is..."

Lu Chen only then remembered that he seemed to be doing the Tenth Rank advancement mission. He looked down at his hands.

Power was returning.

His blood was boiling.

Deep in his Soul, that mark belonging to a "Ninth Rank Legend" was trembling violently, transforming toward a higher level.

A test of shedding mortality..."

He looked up, gazing at that "reality" that was collapsing, no more confusion in his eyes, only determination burning like a raging flame.

Boom!

The entire "Earth" scene shattered completely!

Endless light surged from all directions, wrapping him in it.

A vast, ocean-like energy poured frantically into his body, scouring every inch of flesh, every Meridian, every cell.

His Mortal body was transforming.

His Soul was sublimating.

A majestic power, surpassing the Legend rank and touching the threshold of the gods, was frantically growing, roaring, and condensing within his body!

[Ding! Tenth Rank advancement mission complete!]

[Congratulations, you have stepped into the Tenth Rank · Demigod realm!]

[Obtained: Perfect Demigod Power!]

Hum—Lu Chen hovered in an ocean of pure energy, slowly opening his eyes.

In his pupils, divine light was contained within.

Around him, pressure formed naturally.

With every gesture, space trembled, and time seemed to slow by a beat.

Tenth Rank Demigod—achieved!