The Immortal Realm’s consciousness is enraged?
The moment the Source Land shook, the Immortal Dao Ancestor noticed.
Is the Martial Dao Ancestor approaching the Immortal Realm’s consciousness?
Looking toward the center of the Source Land, the Immortal Dao Ancestor was not surprised. Though he had already warned Lin Yuan that the Immortal Realm’s consciousness was terrifying, able to draw upon the power of the entire Immortal Realm at will, the temptation of that central spot—home to every law of the Immortal Realm—was simply too great. It was precisely why he himself had once tried to get close to the consciousness and ended up suffering considerable loss.
Now Lin Yuan was approaching that place as well, likely for the same reason.
'Let’s see how long the Martial Dao Ancestor can hold out against the Immortal Realm’s consciousness' the Immortal Dao Ancestor thought with mild curiosity.
Even an Ancestor Immortal cannot clash head-on with the entire Immortal Realm; it all comes down to how long one can endure. The Immortal Dao Ancestor had already made up his mind: if Lin Yuan showed signs of losing, he would intervene and help.
He had first-hand experience battling the Immortal Realm’s consciousness and was confident he could extract Lin Yuan unscathed, which would earn him the Martial Dao Ancestor’s gratitude.
At present, the Immortal Realm’s consciousness is only deploying the power of the Source Land. That’s still normal. The truly frightening scenario would be if it summoned the power of the entire Immortal Realm, the Immortal Dao Ancestor thought, carefully sensing the energies at play.
A terrifying force surged forward, intent on swallowing Lin Yuan. Lin Yuan made no effort to block it at all. In terms of sheer power, he was weaker even than the Immortal Dao Ancestor, let alone the Immortal Realm’s consciousness. His greatest confidence in approaching was his comprehension of laws—specifically, his mastery of space-time.
With a Seventh Layer space-time understanding, Lin Yuan stood above the Immortal Realm in terms of space-time. It was the same reason the Abyss of Demons Progenitor, who had shattered all the space-time in some region, could never affect Lin Yuan.
Rumble—
The violent origin power swept over Lin Yuan in a flash, then blasted off into the distance.
'It didn’t touch me?'
Lin Yuan felt reassured. As long as the Immortal Realm’s consciousness could not pinpoint him, all would be fine. If it had been able to lock onto Lin Yuan’s true location, he would have abandoned the approach.
Rumble—
Even though it failed to hit him, the Immortal Realm’s consciousness did not cease. It kept gathering the might of the Source Land in an attempt to subdue him. Lin Yuan still chose not to resist. He merely continued to move slowly toward the core where the Immortal Realm’s consciousness resided.
In a few days, perhaps having discovered it could not make contact with Lin Yuan, the Immortal Realm’s consciousness paused. Then a wave of consciousness extended forth, trying to communicate.
Since it possessed consciousness, it was certainly capable of dialogue; it had simply never needed to converse with the Immortal Dao Ancestor in the past. But now, confronted by Lin Yuan—someone it could not easily handle—it was forced to initiate communication.
Lin Yuan responded with his own intent: 'Let me come in and perceive the laws at their source.'
'Impossible' replied the Immortal Realm’s consciousness with clear fury. Its location was the core of the Source Land, the point where the consciousness had first arisen. Not only was it the source of all laws in the Immortal Realm; it was also the source of the consciousness itself.
If Lin Yuan entered, he could do more than just observe the laws; he would gain the opportunity to strike at the Immortal Realm’s consciousness directly. Outside that core, the consciousness could readily unleash the full might of the Immortal Realm, but within the core, neither the Immortal Realm’s power nor even origin power could penetrate. There, the Immortal Realm’s consciousness was like a toothless tiger.
'I promise I won’t harm you' Lin Yuan added immediately. He had once replaced the world consciousness of the Azure World, so he knew what it feared most. He offered the guarantee in a timely manner.
Yet the Immortal Realm’s consciousness gave no response. Even the roiling energies in the Source Land went quiet.
'Not going to talk, huh?' Lin Yuan thought for a moment, then continued edging closer to that core. Before long, he came to a halt.
'A space-time barrier?'
He stared at the twisted region of space before him. Even with his Seventh Layer understanding of space-time, he could not advance any further.
'So this is your trump card' Lin Yuan mused. To enter the core, besides braving the consciousness’s frenzied attacks, one must also surmount this space-time barrier.
Divine Ability: Tear the Sky.
Lifting his right hand, Lin Yuan gathered an invisible force and gave the space-time barrier in front of him a gentle tear. The Tear the Sky was a purely offensive ability—extreme in its destructive power—and one of the body-based arts Lin Yuan awakened during this transmigration.
Rip—
Under that strike, faint ripples spread across the barrier, but they vanished almost instantly.
'It actually worked?' Lin Yuan did not press further.
Moments later, two figures appeared at his side: his Yin Primordial Soul and his Yang Primordial Soul. The might of Tear the Sky depends on the user’s overall power. Though this avatar had formidable strength, it still fell far short of the two Primordial Souls. Of course, those two souls were also weaker than Lin Yuan’s true self, but their power was well beyond what an avatar could bring to bear.
When the two Primordial Souls raised their right hands and again tore at the space-time barrier in front of them—
Rip—
The space-time barrier shook more noticeably this time, yet soon returned to its original state.
'If you refuse to let me in, I’ll bring the Immortal Dao Ancestor with me' Lin Yuan threatened the Immortal Realm’s consciousness. With the Immortal Dao Ancestor’s offensive techniques, even if he can’t break down the barrier right away, what about a hundred million years from now? Could you hold out forever?
In truth, on his own, the Immortal Dao Ancestor’s attacks could not even get near the space-time barrier; he would be subdued by the world’s full force before he arrived. But with Lin Yuan’s help, that situation changed. Lin Yuan’s Seventh Layer space-time comprehension prevented the consciousness from pinpointing him. If Lin Yuan truly wanted to bring the Immortal Dao Ancestor here, he could very well succeed.
Of course, Lin Yuan was merely bluffing, since he himself had no desire to wait millions of years. But the Immortal Realm’s consciousness did not know that.
'At that point, I can’t promise I won’t strike at you' Lin Yuan continued.
Still, the Immortal Realm’s consciousness gave no response.
'Alright, I’ll go get the Immortal Dao Ancestor now. Maybe I’ll invite the Abyss of Demons Progenitor too' Lin Yuan declared, letting one of his avatars quietly dissipate.
Just then, the previously silent consciousness began stirring again and sent a message to Lin Yuan: 'How could he guarantee he would not launch an attack after entering the core?'
'You’re in no position to negotiate' Lin Yuan replied firmly.
'Either agree and let me in right now, or a hundred billion years from now, I’ll break in with the Immortal Dao Ancestor.'
With that, Lin Yuan waited in silence for the Immortal Realm’s consciousness to respond.
A long while passed before the consciousness finally delivered a message: it had agreed to Lin Yuan’s condition.
Ten billion years or a hundred billion years might be unimaginably long for Lin Yuan, but to the Immortal Realm’s consciousness, it was hardly any different from tomorrow or the day after. Therefore, from the consciousness’s perspective, the dilemma was straightforward: let Lin Yuan in today, or be attacked tomorrow or the day after. And the eventual outcomes of those two scenarios would be vastly different.
"That’s more like it" Lin Yuan said with a slight smile.
He recalled his two Primordial Souls, leaving only a single avatar before the barrier. At once, the space-time barrier in the distance began to warp, forming a temporary passage into the core.
An instant later, Lin Yuan stepped inside.
"Huh?"
The Immortal Dao Ancestor opened his eyes wide. From the moment he sensed the Source Land’s tumult, he had been using a certain method to observe the clash between Lin Yuan and the Immortal Realm’s consciousness.
He had seen how Lin Yuan’s mastery of space-time nearly brought him to the very core, only to be stopped by a space-time barrier. He had witnessed the appearance of the two Primordial Souls and the destructive Tear the Sky technique.
Though the Immortal Dao Ancestor could not hear Lin Yuan’s exchange with the consciousness, it was obvious that, in the end, the Immortal Realm’s consciousness took the initiative to open a channel and allow Lin Yuan to enter.
"The Martial Dao Ancestor actually got in?"
For countless eons, the Immortal Dao Ancestor had yearned to enter the consciousness’s core, but it remained only a dream. Without a massive qualitative leap in power, he simply could not prevail against the Immortal Realm’s consciousness. Yet Lin Yuan… after just two centuries in the Source Land, he had gone where the Immortal Dao Ancestor himself longed to go but could never reach.
Within the core of the Source Land…
Lin Yuan emerged into the space there. All around him was darkness, with countless glowing points drifting through it. Even at a glance, Lin Yuan realized these glowing points each corresponded to an actual law.
In the dark void, innumerable glowing lights floated. Some were no bigger than a fist, while others were as large as stars.
"How incredible"
Lin Yuan murmured as he studied them one by one. Even the smallest of these lights contained boundless information. Each was the law itself. Even if Lin Yuan had fully grasped a particular law, seeing it manifested like this offered fresh insights.
Once the Immortal Realm begins its final decline, these core light-points will collapse one after another. In the outside world, that would manifest as the Great Dao collapsing. The laws contained here would crumble and then gradually meld together, waiting for the long destruction to pass so that new life can emerge.
So Lin Yuan mused. From the moment he entered the core, he had been half-immersed in enlightenment. Each second, he gained fresh understanding of one law or another.
"Hm?"
'That must be the true form of the Immortal Realm’s consciousness' Lin Yuan thought, noticing a glowing sphere in the distance. Unlike the other lights, this one was clearly the Immortal Realm’s consciousness.
At the moment, it watched Lin Yuan warily. Lin Yuan knew precisely what it was worried about, but he could not be bothered to reassure it. He threw himself wholly into absorbing insights from the vast array of lights around him.
Time slid by.
Unnoticed, a thousand years had passed.
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
64