For the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, be it the Immortal Realm or the Abyss of Demons, there were practically no secrets.
Locking onto a particular life-form—no matter where it might be, even in the origin of the Immortal Realm—was supposed to be impossible to evade.
But now?
When the Abyss of Demons Progenitor tried to pinpoint Lin Yuan’s exact location, he discovered that it was impossible to determine the coordinates at all.
This made the Abyss of Demons Progenitor both frustrated and perplexed— like seeing a person right in front of you, yet never being able to touch them.
The more elevated the life-form’s level and power, the more confusing it was to encounter something like this.
“What is going on?”
The Abyss of Demons Progenitor’s expression grew serious. Originally, only a portion of his awareness had awakened; now it began to stir further to life.
Initially, he had simply been curious about the deaths of his Fiend Emperors, whom he regarded as his own children.
He intended to find whoever killed them, take revenge, and then return to slumber—nothing more.
But now, the Abyss of Demons Progenitor found his interest thoroughly piqued.
“Cause and effect…”
Before the Progenitor’s eyes, countless causal lines appeared.
As a Dao Ancestor-level existence, the Abyss of Demons Progenitor’s comprehension of the rules of cause and effect ran deep.
Even though he had never met Lin Yuan directly, the latter had slain six Fiend Emperors and a horde of fiends.
Since Fiend Emperors and ordinary fiends were all part of the Progenitor—especially the Fiend Emperors, akin to his offspring or incarnations—the death of a Fiend Emperor was tantamount to forging a direct causal link with him.
By leveraging that causal link, the Abyss of Demons Progenitor could normally pinpoint Lin Yuan’s precise location.
Swish…
The Abyss of Demons Progenitor had innumerable causal lines tied to every corner of the Immortal Realm and the Abyss of Demons, some even extending beyond the Immortal Realm.
Right away, he found the line connected to Lin Yuan and tried to follow it.
“Huh?”
“It’s still not detectable?”
Surprise flashed across the Progenitor’s face.
The causal line’s presence proved the target was still alive. But though the target wasn’t dead, he couldn’t lock onto the area where they were.
Next, the Progenitor employed dozens of different methods in rapid succession, all in an effort to track Lin Yuan’s coordinates, yet each one failed.
Even with absolute certainty that Lin Yuan was alive and indeed in the Immortal Realm, in the Xuantian Immortal Domain, the Abyss of Demons Progenitor still found it akin to a flower reflected in a mirror, or the moon shimmering on water— something intangible.
“It’s time-space. A deeper layer of time-space.”
Seated on his throne, the Abyss of Demons Progenitor furrowed his brow.
From multiple attempts, he reached a conclusion: the being who had slain the Fiend Emperors was situated in an extremely deep layer of time-space, so deep that even he could not forcibly peer inside and lock on.
“To enter that sort of time-space depth, one’s comprehension of time-space must exceed my own…”
The Progenitor pondered this silently. He himself was a Dao Ancestor-level existence. Someone surpassing him in time-space insight? Could it be that the Immortal Realm had produced another Dao Ancestor?
But how could that be? The celestial phenomenon caused by a Dao Ancestor’s ascension could never be concealed, and given the current conditions of the Immortal Realm and Abyss of Demons, there was basically no chance for anyone to reach Dao Ancestor.
“It’s not a Dao Ancestor,” the Progenitor said to himself with certainty.
“What on earth has gone on during my slumber?”
Though he was sure the assailant wasn’t a Dao Ancestor, he couldn’t pinpoint their location either—so he had no way to deal with them.
“All of you, return.”
Unable to figure Lin Yuan out, and realizing that whoever this mysterious being was didn’t seem to like fiends from the Abyss of Demons, the Progenitor immediately began recalling all the fiends and Fiend Emperors who had invaded the Immortal Realm and were rampaging across it.
After all, the so-called Immortal-Demon War was merely a game to the Abyss of Demons Progenitor; even if those fiends and Fiend Emperors devoured countless immortals, it brought him no real benefit.
…
Canghai Immortal City.
Four formidable Fiend Emperors overlooked a vast city from on high. Beneath them, limitless fiends attacked the city, which now teetered on the brink of destruction.
The City Lord and the top-tier Jade Immortals fought desperately, but in vain—before absolute might, any resistance was futile.
“Hahahaha…”
“What a delicious feast!”
The four Fiend Emperors stared greedily at the city below.
Devouring immortals and devouring same-race fiends were two different experiences, and offered their bodies entirely different benefits.
But just then—
“Return.”
A low voice echoed in the minds of the four Fiend Emperors.
“It’s Father God! Father God has summoned us?”
They were all stunned; they sprang from the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, so in their consciousness, he was like their Father God.
“Then let’s go back.”
“If Father God is calling us back, it must be something important.”
Filled with regret, the four Fiend Emperors glanced down at the city below. They had been moments away from feasting on such mouthwatering morsels. But none dared to disobey the Progenitor’s order, which was ingrained in their deepest instincts.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The four Emperors retreated. The countless fiends scattered.
In a matter of seconds, the fiends outside Canghai Immortal City vanished without a trace.
“What… what just happened?”
The City Lord, certain of his impending death, was dumbfounded. Even if he had stashed away revival methods in some other location, if he died at the hands of a Fiend Emperor, the dreadful soul-level pollution might invalidate those methods anyway.
Yet now?
All the Fiend Emperors withdrew?
“We… we survived?”
Within Canghai Immortal City, numerous immortals wept with joy. They never imagined they might live to see another day; those vicious fiends had simply… left.
…
Qianxing Immortal City.
The same scene played out: wave upon wave of fiends besieged the city. Towering Fiend Emperors had their jaws open wide, waiting for the city’s final defense to crumble so they could devour everyone inside.
But in the next moment, those Fiend Emperors received an order from the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, forcing them to lead the countless fiends away and back into the Abyss.
…
Chuyu Immortal City, Shaohao Immortal City, Tianlun Immortal City… In every corner of the Thirty-Three Immortal Domains, endless fiends under the command of Fiend Emperors surrounded one Immortal City after another.
Yet simultaneously—
All of them retreated. Even if a given city was one step from annihilation, the Fiend Emperors did not go that extra step.
“What’s going on?”
“Why did the fiends leave?”
“It doesn’t matter. Now we don’t have to die.”
“Right! Being devoured alive is said to be unimaginably painful—plus your memories get polluted…”
After the initial rush of confusion, the survivors rejoiced. No one wanted to die, especially not such a gruesome death as being eaten by fiends.
“Why did the fiends leave?”
“Was it the Dao Ancestor? Did he make a move?”
“But according to our sect’s line, the Ancestor hasn’t acted.”
“If it wasn’t the Dao Ancestor, then who could it have been?”
City Lords and high-level officials across the Immortal Realm speculated. The most plausible guess was that the Dao Ancestor had intervened, but the Ancestor’s disciples knew nothing of it. Logically, if the Dao Ancestor truly took action, they should have at least heard rumors.
…
Back in Cangwu Immortal City, in front of the A-grade cave dwelling, the City Lord and numerous top officials waited respectfully.
Suddenly, word arrived that in all corners of the Thirty-Three Immortal Domains, the infinite fiends had withdrawn.
It was no small feat for news to travel so quickly across such vast territory. Even for Jade Immortals, physically crossing every domain might require tens or hundreds of thousands of years. But sending messages works differently, harnessing cause and effect, plus the power of Golden and Jade Immortals, enabling “instant communication.”
“All the fiends have retreated?”
“They left on their own, with no other experts intervening?”
“Why did every fiend simply withdraw?”
The City Lord and the others were at a loss. Typically, an Immortal-Demon War would last millennia, or tens of thousands of years. Barely a few decades had passed since its start, nowhere near the point of ending. And in earlier Immortal-Demon Wars, after thousands of years, if the fiends truly began to retreat, they would do so gradually.
In no prior era had all fiends—Fiend Emperors included—suddenly quit the Immortal Realm in unison. It was as though… as though they had all received a single command.
And who could command Fiend Emperors?
The City Lord and his fellow high-level figures shuddered. The same name crossed their minds in unison: the Abyss of Demons Progenitor. Aside from him, who else could issue such an order? And if the Progenitor himself had commanded it, why would he do so?
When their eyes flicked to Lin Yuan’s cave dwelling, they simultaneously arrived at a hunch. There was no direct proof, but it felt very likely that this was linked to Lin Yuan’s recent actions. It was too perfect a coincidence: the fiends withdrew just after Lin Yuan had acted.
“Abyss of Demons Progenitor…”
An enormous wave of shock rose in the City Lord’s heart. If their guess was correct, that meant the individual they sought to meet could, to some degree, force even the Abyss of Demons Progenitor’s hand.
Certainly, all the fiends leaving the Immortal Realm didn’t necessarily mean the Progenitor had yielded. But it at least hinted at some wariness on his part.
…
Within the dwelling, in the cultivation area, Lin Yuan continued to observe everything through the lens of the seventh level of time-space.
With seventh-level time-space comprehension, the nature of time and space across the Immortal Realm, the Abyss of Demons, and indeed this entire dimension, lay open before him. An infinite interplay of time-space gave rise to a stable realm that allowed life to flourish.
Even an ordinary stone, flower, or tree was beholden to time-space. Once time-space collapsed, those things would all cease to exist. Only the synergy of time-space, with all the myriad rules, could maintain a stable reality. Watching this, Lin Yuan felt an unexpected stirring in his heart.
It was beautiful—truly beautiful.
At that moment, he felt no remaining perplexities. Countless time-space phenomena he couldn’t fathom before were now all laid bare. It felt as if he were omniscient in the domain of time-space.
“Not quite,” Lin Yuan murmured, quickly pulling himself together. The supposed “omniscience” was merely an illusion—a massive leap in realm that caused an information overload. In truth, on reflection, he realized countless further questions remained. The secret method “Tianhe” included references to deeper aspects of the seventh level, as well as talk of the eighth level of time-space, all of which would be highly challenging.
“Step by step,” he reminded himself.
“Those dozens of probing methods just now likely came from the depths of the Abyss of Demons—must have been the Abyss Progenitor himself,” Lin Yuan mused.
At this level of time-space mastery, he could sense a rank-twelve being’s attempts at spying, potentially even reverse-locating them.
“Killing six Fiend Emperors must have caught his attention,” Lin Yuan concluded casually. He felt no concern. Back when he first descended into the Immortal Realm, both the Abyss of Demons Progenitor and the Dao Ancestor were concerns, with a real chance of them suppressing him. But now?
The Progenitor had just used dozens of methods to track him, all fruitless—evidence enough.
“He even recalled his fiends… cautious indeed.” Glancing across the entire Thirty-Three Immortal Domains, Lin Yuan shook his head lightly.
“Oh? They want to see me.” He noticed that outside his dwelling, Yun Zhenzi had brought him news that the City Lord and other Jade Immortals were requesting an audience.
Inside the hall of the dwelling—
Lin Yuan’s figure appeared out of thin air and slowly sat on his throne. Below, the City Lord of Cangwu Immortal City and the other top officials stood respectfully.
“Thank you for saving our city, my lord. Without your intervention, the billions of lives in Cangwu—” the City Lord said, voice full of reverence.
“It was just a casual move,” Lin Yuan replied evenly. In truth, wiping out those six Fiend Emperors was purely because they had interrupted his cultivation.
“What about the fiends withdrawing across the other domains?” the City Lord ventured, hoping for clarity. They could guess it was related to Lin Yuan, but that was all it was—speculation.
“That was the Abyss of Demons Progenitor’s decision,” Lin Yuan said.
It was the truth: while Lin Yuan could easily crush fiends and Fiend Emperors, he couldn’t command them. Only the Progenitor could give them a universal order.
“The Abyss of Demons Progenitor…” The City Lord swallowed hard. Though Lin Yuan had not explained in detail, his referring to the Progenitor in such an offhand, equal manner spoke volumes.
“Oh, right.”
Lin Yuan’s gaze shifted to the top-tier Jade Immortals standing there, all anxious. Suddenly he spoke again.
“Help me spread the word throughout the Immortal Realm: from this day forward, any who cultivate the Martial Path shall belong to my lineage.”
The main reason Lin Yuan had agreed to meet them was precisely this. He wanted to disseminate his Martial Evolution Path in the Immortal Realm’s Thirty-Three Domains, and for that, people needed to be aware of his power. It was easiest to have the City Lord and these top-tier Jade Immortals publicize it—at least within the Xuantian Immortal Domain, nobody would dare impede the spread of the Martial Path.
Having reached the seventh level of time-space, Lin Yuan had nothing left to fear in this world, so it was time to promote the Martial Evolution Path. The Thirty-Three Immortal Domains are vast beyond measure. Should the Martial Path spread widely among them, it would offer Lin Yuan significant support in making his final leap to the Ultimate.
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