"My soul will is too strong now. As long as a Strongest One slightly senses it, they'll notice," Lin Yuan thought to himself, sitting cross-legged on the Milky Way main star. (Soul will = mental will)
This was one of the downsides of his soul will advancing too quickly—his cultivation realm hadn't caught up.
"But once I break through to the eleventh rank, things should improve a lot," Lin Yuan continued to think quietly.
Once he crossed into the eleventh rank, his body, soul, and inner world would undergo another significant leap.
By then, his soul will, which had reached over 33.34 million points, would be manageable. Unless he actively revealed his strength, even the Strongest Ones would have difficulty noticing the abnormality of his soul will.
In the virtual world.
Lin Yuan was meeting with his parents, casually chatting.
"Little Yuan, your sister and brother-in-law are also on their way," his mother informed him.
"Mm, let them come," Lin Yuan nodded.
Ever since his sister Lin Yi married Xia Keran, Lin Yuan had rarely seen them.
Soon, Lin Yi and Xia Keran arrived.
"Greetings, Milky Way Star Lord," Xia Keran said, showing his utmost respect toward Lin Yuan.
Since marrying Lin Yi, Xia Keran had felt his status in the Xia family rise dramatically. Before the marriage, Xia Keran was merely an ordinary direct descendant of the Xia family, one of the countless descendants among hundreds of thousands in the vast human Xia family.
He had some status, but it wasn't anything special. He could live comfortably for the rest of his life with his Xia family status, but he had no hope of reaching the higher echelons of power. There were countless people ahead of him.
But just by being associated with Lin Yi, Xia Keran had been summoned by the Xia family's eleventh-rank ancestor. After he and Lin Yi got married, Xia Keran was directly brought into the Xia family's core circle, with the potential to become the next head of the Xia family.
The head of the Xia family was a prominent figure in human civilization, someone of great influence. It was a status Xia Keran had never dreamed of.
But Xia Keran had a very clear understanding of himself. He knew that all of his current status and identity changes were due to Lin Yuan, the Milky Way Star Lord. Without Lin Yuan, Xia Keran would have remained just another unremarkable descendant of the vast Xia family.
"Mm."
Lin Yuan nodded slightly, feeling satisfied with Xia Keran. At the very least, he genuinely treated Lin Yi well. With Lin Yuan's level-nine citizen authority, Xia Keran had virtually no secrets from him.
The family chatted for a while about everyday matters.
Then Lin Yuan got up to leave.
"Everyone says that the Milky Way Star Lord is the most talented in human civilization, but no one knows that the Milky Way Star Lord has no other interests besides cultivation," Xia Keran sighed as Lin Yuan departed, finally relaxing a little.
He didn't know why, but every time he saw Lin Yuan, he felt incredibly tense and nervous, barely daring to breathe.
Time passed.
Three months flew by.
In the virtual world, that mysterious body still floated in the sky.
Lin Yuan slowly emerged from his state of contemplation.
"In these three months, I've comprehended more than two million magic evolution pathways. There are no more left to comprehend," Lin Yuan shook his head slightly.
The body he had been studying was, after all, just a projection. It couldn't contain all the information that the actual body held.
"Well, I guess it's time to visit Site 13."
On the Milky Way main star, Lin Yuan opened his eyes and split off a fragment of his soul will, forming a clone, which immediately disappeared.
With Lin Yuan's current soul will strength, even a temporary clone could easily exhibit the combat power of the eleventh rank.
This was the advantage of a powerful soul will.
The clone of a Strongest One could similarly exert power far beyond the eleventh rank.
Whoosh.
Lin Yuan's clone swiftly left the Milky Way Star Domain.
"Time and space..."
The strength of his soul will allowed this clone to utilize much of Lin Yuan's rule comprehension, including his mastery of the sixth stage of the time-space rule.
As a result, his speed was undoubtedly the fastest among non-Strongest Ones in human civilization.
Of course, this speed was based on the assumption that other human civilization evolvers were not using external tools.
In terms of pure power and rule comprehension, Lin Yuan believed that no eleventh-rank evolver could surpass the speed of his clone.
One month later.
Lin Yuan successfully arrived at Site 13.
As one of human civilization's critical locations, any citizen entering had to undergo multiple layers of verification.
With the authority granted to him by Xia Qin, the Strongest One, Lin Yuan faced no obstacles and quickly reached the depths of the restricted area.
"This restricted area itself is an incredibly powerful Strongest weapon."
Lin Yuan observed his surroundings, faintly sensing the pressure around him.
Soon, Lin Yuan arrived in front of a grand hall.
After his identity and soul were verified, Lin Yuan entered the hall.
From the outside, the hall seemed to have a limited space, only a few dozen miles in radius.
But after entering, Lin Yuan found himself in a vast world.
"Is that...?"
Lin Yuan's gaze immediately locked onto the body placed at the center of the world.
Compared to the projection in the virtual world, the body before him was much more vivid and detailed, with even the textures on its surface clearly visible.
At the same time, a tidal wave of soul will pressure, as vast as an ocean, crashed down on Lin Yuan.
"Hmm?"
Lin Yuan's expression remained unchanged. This soul will pressure far surpassed that of the projection in the virtual world and was enough to destroy the will of an eleventh-rank evolver in a short time.
Even an eleventh-rank peak evolver wouldn't be able to withstand it for long and might suffer irreversible damage.
But for Lin Yuan?
It was nothing more than a gentle breeze.
With 33.34 million soul will points, not only could Lin Yuan withstand the pressure of this body, but even if this Strongest One were to come back to life without using any other powers, Lin Yuan was confident he could hold his own.
"A Strongest One's body?"
Lin Yuan moved to within ten meters of the body, the optimal distance for observing it.
In the virtual world, the projection had been blurry in many areas, but now, Lin Yuan could clearly observe every detail of the body's flesh and blood.
The skin of the body was crystalline, with a faint black membrane on its surface.
Lin Yuan magnified the body's flesh and blood a million times and discovered that it resembled a vast universe. Every cell was like a star domain, with countless rules and essences flowing through the flesh, like black devil jade.
"Are these the traces of cultivating the Devil Jade Immortal Body?"
Lin Yuan was shocked. After becoming a core disciple of the Devil Jade Tower, he had the option to choose from several secret techniques, one of which was the Devil Jade Immortal Body.
But ultimately, Lin Yuan chose Illusion to Reality, which made his two clones far more powerful, giving them strength comparable to his true self.
Lin Yuan's choice didn't mean that the Devil Jade Immortal Body wasn't powerful; it was simply that he needed Illusion to Reality more at that time.
"Even after cultivating the Devil Jade Immortal Body, this Strongest One still fell?"
Lin Yuan thought to himself. As a twelfth-rank body cultivation technique, the Devil Jade Immortal Body was probably on the same level as the Mysterious Emperor Body, which was known for its incredible durability.
Despite this, this Strongest One had still perished.
Moreover, after his death, the Devil Jade Immortal Body was broken, or the other Strongest Ones wouldn't have been able to easily dismember his body.
If the Mysterious Emperor Body were cultivated to the twelfth-rank perfect stage, it could withstand the collapse of the universe. The Devil Jade Immortal Body was likely of a similar level.
Even if this Strongest One hadn't perfected the technique, it still shouldn't have allowed his body to be torn apart so easily by the other Strongest Ones.
"Chaos Void..."
Lin Yuan's expression grew serious. Within the universe, the Strongest Ones were invincible. Since the dawn of the universe, no Strongest One had ever been known to fall.
No matter how fierce the battle, the worst outcome was severe injury.
But outside the universe, in the Chaos Void, even the Strongest Ones could die.
Only beings as powerful as Mysterious Emperor or the Master of the Devil Jade Tower could roam freely in the Chaos Void.
"Time to study."
Lin Yuan refocused. As he stood before the body, the insights that had previously stagnated now rushed into his mind.
[With your unrivaled comprehension, you have gained new insights into the magic evolution pathways by observing the mysterious body.]
As Lin Yuan continued his study, countless new magic evolution pathways unfolded before him.
"I wonder if I can directly comprehend the Devil Jade Immortal Body?" Lin Yuan mused while studying the body.
Given that the Devil Jade Immortal Body had been one of the techniques offered to him alongside Illusion to Reality, its value was unquestionable.
Since the body before him contained traces of the Devil Jade Immortal Body, Lin Yuan believed that with his unparalleled comprehension, he could figure out parts of the technique.
Even if he couldn't fully master it, just grasping a portion would be a significant gain.
In the virtual world.
Lin Yuan was casually chatting with the Black Star Lord, the Glass Star Lord, and other evolvers.
As he approached his breakthrough to the eleventh rank, Lin Yuan focused on adjusting his state of mind, with training taking a back seat.
"Milky Way Star Lord, how's your cultivation going lately?" The Black Star Lord asked with a smile, looking at Lin Yuan.
As an A-level tenth-rank being, the Black Star Lord had sought to form a good relationship with Lin Yuan even before Lin Yuan reached the tenth rank, showing just how highly he valued the Milky Way Star Lord.
"It's going well."
Lin Yuan replied.
"The Black Star Lord has already comprehended the second stage of the fusion rule. He's probably about to attempt a breakthrough to the eleventh rank," the Glass Star Lord chimed in.
After comprehending the second stage of the fusion rule, a breakthrough to the eleventh rank could happen in as little as ten years or as long as a hundred or even several hundred years.
"Congratulations."
Lin Yuan immediately congratulated him.
For any tenth-rank evolver, breaking through to the eleventh rank was the most significant event—there was nothing bigger.
After all, reaching the twelfth rank and becoming a Strongest One was an almost unattainable goal for most eleventh-rank evolvers.
"Hahaha," the Black Star Lord laughed, smiling at Lin Yuan. "Milky Way Star Lord, with your talent, it's only a matter of time before you break through to the eleventh rank."
"I'll just go ahead and break through first and wait for you at the eleventh rank."
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
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