CHAPTER 86: CHAPTER 83: COSMOS TREASURES

"Today, the Celestial Destiny Palace has a new Venerable. I suppose everyone has already met him." With a gesture, Silver Light directed all eyes toward Wang Xu.

Wang Xu nodded politely in response.

"His name is ’Wang Xu’. From now on, he will be part of our Celestial Destiny Palace. Everyone, please welcome him!" As Silver Light’s voice fell, the Venerables applauded to welcome him.

"Wang Xu, you are the three hundred and ninety-sixth Venerable of the Celestial Destiny Palace. Your code name will be 396. This is your medal, take good care of it." Silver Light waved his hand to throw out a medal. Wang Xu extended his hand, easily catching it, thanked him, and carefully examined it.

Inscribed on the medal was a small silver palace, with "Destiny" prominently carved on the plaque above the palace.

Afterward, Silver Light exchanged a few pleasantries, then his body transformed into a streak of black light, shooting off into the distance as he bid farewell.

"Brother Hong." Wang Xu greeted Hong Yushu, who was approaching him.

"Brother Wang, from now on you are a member of our Celestial Destiny Palace. Come, I’ll introduce my old friends to you," Hong Yushu laughed.

"Why bother introducing, we can do it ourselves." A red-faced, burly man pushed Hong Yushu aside, extending a fan-like large hand, laughing, "My code name is 268; you can call me ’Red Mountain’, not Hong from old Hong, but Red as in the color red, haha."

"You’re old Hong’s younger brother, which makes you my brother too. I am called ’Lei Kui’, and you shall call me Brother Lei." A bearded strongman pushed Red Mountain and laughed.

"Don’t fight me for this, I am the oldest here." A slender white-haired old man squeezed in. Compared to Red Mountain and Lei Kui, he was so short he seemed like a child, "My name is ’Fu Hou’, and you shall call me Brother Fu. The others you must call Second Brother."

"Brother Fu, indeed, is more like Brother Monkey, haha!" Hong Yushu laughed.

The few were cheerful and straightforward, spontaneously amiable. Wang Xu smiled happily and acknowledged each "Brother" in turn.

......

The Celestial Destiny Palace is not a profit-driven influence; it functions like a community network, allowing all Ultimate Venerable Level individuals to connect with each other and occasionally gather. The Celestial Destiny Palace provides a venue of appropriate caliber, which is why the Venerables willingly become members of the Celestial Destiny Palace.

And the only thing Venerables need to do is to remember their "Destiny"!

The term "Destiny" is not casually chosen. It represents power and responsibility. Any member of the Celestial Destiny Palace must step forward and fulfill their destiny in times of great human crisis!

Wang Xu is the three hundred and ninety-sixth joiner of the Celestial Destiny Palace, indicating there were three hundred and ninety-five Venerables before him. However, the actual number is much lower.

They all died on the battlefield!

Whenever the Safe Zone suffers an assault by the Insect Beast armies, the Venerables of the Celestial Destiny Palace must step forward and fulfill their destiny.

War entails death, and even Venerables are not exempt. If a Venerable level Insect Beast appears, even a dozen Venerables could fall at once.

"Hero, this is what a hero truly is. Compared to them, I am merely a nameless nobody." From the mouths of a few old Venerables, Wang Xu learned the past and was deeply moved.

Currently, the Celestial Destiny Palace has only fifty-five Venerables, with Wang Xu making fifty-six.

Venerables are so scarce that humanity has established the Genius Battle Group and founded the Genetics Academy to select outstanding talents.

Yet it still cannot change the fact that Venerables are rare. Furthermore, Wang Xu knows that shortly, mankind will face a great catastrophe. When this doom arrives, neither Earth nor humanity will be spared.

With this in mind, Wang Xu no longer felt like chatting with the old Venerables. He bid farewell to everyone and left the Celestial Destiny Palace.

Although the Celestial Destiny Palace is suspended in the air, it is completely invisible. The outside world cannot detect it. Wang Xu stepped forward into the air, looked back, and saw nothing.

Wang Xu could only sense the existence of the Celestial Destiny Palace through his spiritual consciousness scanning.

Wang Xu descended below the cloud layer: "Celestial Spirit, transport me back."

Immediately, Wang Xu’s body suddenly disappeared.

......

"Master, the treasures have been screened; here is a temporarily established list system for your review." With a wave, Celestial Spirit displayed a holographic projection, clearly marked with items like "War Soldiers", "Imperial Armor", "Accessories", "Star Ancient Ore", "Ancient Medicine Grass", etc. Wang Xu then clicked into the "War Soldier" option, and a large array of various weapons appeared.

The "Cyan Dragon Sculpted Moon" in Wang Xu’s hand was merely an Initial Grade Star Spiritual Treasure. His strength having greatly increased, he naturally needed to exchange it for a stronger weapon.

"What is this Void Ancient Soldier?" Wang Xu asked, puzzled.

"Void Ancient Soldier is born from the death of stars, evolving through the cosmos. It contains the Heaven and Earth Will, and its power is many times stronger than a Star Spiritual Treasure," Celestial Spirit explained.

"And this ’Immortal Divine Soldier’?" Wang Xu pointed at a sword-shaped weapon and asked.

"The Immortal Divine Soldier is formed by the collision of two or more stars. Each one is extremely rare and requires ages under the influence of the Cosmic Law to achieve Perfection. When it emerges, its released might is enough to destroy ordinary small stars," said the Celestial Spirit. "The previous owner had dozens of Immortal Divine Soldiers, but most of them shattered and were scrapped during a battle escape, leaving only these three."

Among the three Immortal Divine Soldiers, one is a Golden Small Tower, one is a blue fan, and the other is a several-meter-long soft whip, none of which suits Wang Xu.

"You have just been promoted to Star Level. It is not advisable to use treasures that consume vast amounts of resources. I suggest you use a Star Spiritual Treasure," said the Celestial Spirit.

"Can’t I use the Void Ancient Soldier?" Wang Xu’s eyes were full of excitement. When he learned that Xian Qu had left him so many treasures, he felt a surge of joy; however, none of the three Immortal Divine Soldiers were suitable for him. On the other hand, among the Void Ancient Soldiers, there were several blade-shaped weapons that suited him best.

The Celestial Spirit shook his head: "Void Ancient Soldiers are divided into Ordinary, Advanced, Extreme, and Peak Ancient Soldiers, but even the lowest class, the Ordinary Ancient Soldier, is beyond your reach."

"Why?" Wang Xu asked anxiously.

"You are merely a regular Star Level, still too weak within the Cosmos. Void Ancient Soldiers are too distant for you," the Celestial Spirit explained. Seeing Wang Xu’s disbelief, with a wave of his hand, a long blade-shaped Void Ancient Soldier appeared. Wang Xu extended his hand to catch this long blade, but his arm weakened, nearly causing him to stumble.

"So heavy!" Wang Xu summoned all his strength to barely hold the Void Ancient Soldier in his hand but struggled immensely.

Wang Xu finally understood why the Celestial Spirit would not let him use the Void Ancient Soldier. It was derived from a dead star, inherently having a terrifying mass; with Wang Xu’s current power, he couldn’t even swing it!

The Celestial Spirit waved his hand to retract the Void Ancient Soldier, and Wang Xu felt a weight lifted off him, letting out a long breath of relief.

He had underestimated the Cosmos; even a simple weapon had challenged him. If he really ventured into the Cosmos, wouldn’t anyone be able to crush him at will?

Wang Xu thought of the aliens outside Earth. If any of them were truly Void Level or, worse, Black Hole Level, what would happen to Earth?

Luo could not become Black Hole Level. Xian Qu had said, without a core, one could never reach Black Hole Level in a lifetime, which is why he chose Wang Xu, the only one on Earth with a core.

Moreover, Luo and the others were not truly Void Level. Faced with a real Cosmic Martial Artist, they might not even have the strength to resist before being crushed directly to death!

"Celestial Spirit, if a pseudo-Void Level begins cultivating an Energy Core now, will there be time?" Wang Xu asked.

The Celestial Spirit shook his head: "Impossible. Their bodies are solidified, and their energy stabilized. Unless they destroy their condensed Energy Pill and regress to Basic Level, there is no chance."

Wang Xu’s face turned pale. The risk of regressing from Void Level to Basic Level was too great, and even if one successfully condensed a core, they would only become Star Level, and it would take a long time to return to Void Level.

"Master, do you have concerns?" The Celestial Spirit blinked his beautiful big eyes and asked.

Wang Xu gave a wry smile and recounted what he had seen and heard outside Earth to the Celestial Spirit.

The Celestial Spirit was troubled as well: "This is a group of Cosmic Thieves, each one extremely vile and extraordinarily powerful. The smallest group of Cosmic Thieves has at least one Void Level; the largest even includes Celestial God Realm individuals. They specialize in hijacking Cosmic Battleships, occupying planets, and even capturing Cosmic Martial Artists as slaves for sale. They are extremely detestable, but there are far too many Cosmic Thieves for the ’Cosmic Alliance’ to handle."

"According to you, this is a small group of Cosmic Thieves, but even as a small group, they possess several Void Level Martial Artists."

Wang Xu suddenly felt overwhelmed; several Void Levels, and indeed true Cosmic Void Levels, posed an almost lethal threat to Earth!

"Then is there any way to deal with these Cosmic Thieves?" Wang Xu asked again.

"Yes, one way is for you to become Black Hole Level. Once you have the right to become a Star Lord, you can apply to the Cosmic Country to become Earth’s lord," the Celestial Spirit replied.

Wang Xu was in a dilemma; he wasn’t sure about reaching Void Level, let alone Black Hole Level. Moreover, if the Cosmic Thieves were merely Void Level, if he became Black Hole Level, why bother reporting to the Cosmic Country? Wouldn’t it be easier to eradicate them with a wave of his hand?

"What about the second way?"

"The second is to hire Cosmic Mercenaries. In the Cosmos, there is a great influence known as the ’Mercenary Martial Arts Hall,’ where there are people of Void Level, Black Hole Level, White Hole Level, Mixed Universe Realm, and even the Celestial God Realm. The previous owner left you a large sum of Cosmic Crystals, which you can use to hire strong mercenaries from the Mercenary Martial Arts Hall to solve the current crisis," the Celestial Spirit suggested.

Wang Xu’s eyes lit up; this was indeed a viable method. However, he was only Star Level now and could not cross the vacuum to reach the distant Cosmic Country unless he reached Void Level.

"The third method is to join a Cosmic Influence, gaining the protection of a Cosmic Influence. Though these Cosmic Thieves are rampant, they dare not provoke a major influence at will," the Celestial Spirit said.

There were countless beings in the Cosmos, naturally leading to many influences. But Wang Xu couldn’t even leave Earth now, let alone join a major influence in the Cosmos.

None of the three methods could practically solve the immediate crisis, leaving Wang Xu with a dim gaze.

After a moment of silence, Wang Xu took a deep breath: "Forget it. I’ll focus on improving my strength first. Even if I can’t save Earth, I’ll shed my last drop of blood for it!"

There was a resolute determination in Wang Xu’s eyes as if ready to face death.

If aliens truly invaded and he couldn’t stop them, he would rather die fighting for Earth than run away!

"Celestial Spirit, transport me back to the Battle Group base. I need to go home for a bit," Wang Xu said. "I have an important matter to resolve first."