Lin Yuan had gained substantial benefits from the various weapons, treasures, and wonders left behind by the peak Dominance expert, Cang Weiyang.
“In fact, this estate itself is also a precious item. For a Dominance-level being, it might not be much. But within the universe, it would be an unstoppable war machine that even a dozen or more Rank Twelve Strongest Ones couldn’t budge,” Lin Yuan thought to himself.
At least with an owner actively controlling it, even if dozens of Rank Twelve Strongest Ones joined forces, they wouldn’t be able to shake it. Of course, powering such a colossal object would devour an unthinkable amount of energy—no ordinary Path-Clearing being could withstand that.
“I’ll send this dwelling and all its spoils back to the universe right away.” Lin Yuan walked out of the dwelling and appeared in the chaotic void, then, with a thought, split off another avatar.
Immediately, under Lin Yuan’s control, the island shrank to the size of a palm and fell into the hands of that newly formed avatar.
The chaotic void was rife with dangers, and Lin Yuan’s avatar was always prepared to disperse itself at a moment’s notice. Therefore, whenever he got his hands on valuable items, he needed to send them back quickly. If something happened and the avatar perished, all of these treasures would be lost.
The collection left behind by Cang Weiyang—a peak Dominance expert—was enough to make even an ordinary Dominance-level being green with envy, and to Lin Yuan, just starting his explorations, it was his first true “fortune.”
Whoosh.
Under Lin Yuan’s watchful gaze, that avatar swiftly disappeared, retracing its path toward the home universe.
“Time to keep exploring.”
Lin Yuan felt a surge of motivation. At this early stage of exploration, any discovery in the chaotic void felt immensely gratifying.
“Senior Cang Weiyang did leave me a map of the chaotic void, but without a reference point, the map doesn’t help much,” Lin Yuan mused.
“I should find the nearest ‘chaotic continent’ first. Once I know which continent is closest, the map he left behind will come in handy.”
Maps of the chaotic void came in two varieties: public maps and private ones. The latter were compiled by each Rank Twelve being through personal exploration and not released publicly, marking numerous secret opportunity sites. Cang Weiyang’s map was precisely this private type.
Chaotic continents, on the other hand, were locations throughout the void where countless lifeforms gathered. Most of them were artificially created by Chaos-level powerhouses and served as their personal domains. Order ran deep in these continents—without order, they would just be like any other area of the chaotic void and wouldn’t attract a steady stream of strong cultivators.
“As soon as I figure out which chaotic continent is nearest, Senior Cang Weiyang’s map will become useful.”
Lin Yuan picked a random direction and began moving swiftly. In fact, both the Devil Jade Tower and the Mysterious Emperor Lineage had given him maps of the chaotic void as well, but those were from times too ancient.
Even if they were far more detailed than Cang Weiyang’s, they had lost most of their reference value. One cosmic epoch after another had passed, and even continents under the rule of Chaos-level powerhouses could collapse. Some places marked on the maps might no longer exist.
Besides, the chaotic void was so vast that even a Chaos Grand Saint couldn’t fully explore it. Even if the maps left by His Majesty or the Devil Jade Tower Master were still accurate in certain regions, there was no telling if they covered anything near Lin Yuan’s current location.
Lin Yuan recalled seeing records of His Majesty opening thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three Mysterious Emperor Secret Realms, apparently at random. The emperor himself might not have known the precise locations of all those secret realms. The Devil Jade Tower Master was probably similar.
As a member of the Devil Jade Tower sequence, Lin Yuan could vaguely sense the location of the “Devil Jade Space” somewhere in the chaotic void, but only as a general direction. He had no idea about the distance or anything else.
Compared to those two Chaos Grand Saints, Cang Weiyang’s map was actually the most practical. He was the weakest among them, so even after his death, his estate wouldn’t have drifted too far. Judging from the passage of years etched into the island, Lin Yuan estimated it had been left unattended for only two or three cosmic epochs, which wasn’t a terribly long time to other Rank Twelve powerhouses in the void.
In the starry sky of the universe, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, recalling the ninety-eight Dominance-level secret arts inherited from Cang Weiyang. He had already reached the absolute pinnacle of Rank Eleven, meaning he had practically maxed out everything an Eleven-level lifeform could. If not for his inner world still transforming, he would already be preparing to break into the Strongest One.
Because of that, Lin Yuan found himself with free time lately. Certainly, the boundless rules of the main universe and the chaotic void still offered him opportunities, but his life level limited any real progress. Even with unparalleled insight, a Rank Eleven being could not push spacetime comprehension to the Eighth Stage, nor the chaos rule to the Second Stage.
However, the newly acquired ninety-eight secret arts pleased Lin Yuan quite a bit. A secret art, unlike an evolutionary path, didn’t have overly strict requirements to begin training.
“Out of these ninety-eight Dominance-level secret arts, six are suitable for me right now,” Lin Yuan thought. Most required Path-Clearing cultivation, so only six could be practiced at Rank Eleven. Among them, three were offensive secret arts, one for defense, and two for support, each extremely useful for Lin Yuan’s current level.
“They’re far simpler to master than the three protective secret arts left by the Mysterious Emperor Lineage,” Lin Yuan noted, diving in at once.
[Your unrivaled insight allows you to comprehend the Withering-Bloom Seal, achieving Rank Eleven perfection.] [Your unrivaled insight allows you to comprehend the Blade of the Falcon Spirit, achieving Rank Eleven perfection.] [Your unrivaled insight allows you to comprehend the Ninefold Plume Slayer, achieving Rank Eleven perfection.]
In under a month, Lin Yuan had perfected all the secret arts he could currently learn.
“Right now, my strongest technique is still the physical divine ability ‘Tear the Sky’” Lin Yuan examined himself.
Tear the Sky was a Strongest One offensive art with no other effect—just sheer destructive might tearing apart whatever stood before him. It did impose some usage constraints, so he needed auxiliary secret arts to fill in the gaps. Plus, being Lin Yuan’s trump card, it was better to keep it in reserve for critical moments.
With his current foundation, a Tear the Sky strike could easily unleash an attack worth a million points, or even a few million, in raw power. And that was pure Tear the Sky with no additional power from a strongest weapon.
“If a Rank Twelve being’s avatar were in front of me, I could rip it apart with ease. Even a Rank Twelve actual body that tried to take it head-on might end up wounded.”
Lin Yuan had a decent sense of his abilities now. Of course, this referred to what his real self could do; if his twin Primordial Souls performed Tear the Sky, the effect would be a bit weaker.
On a large-scale battlefield, a permanent spatial fissure opened. Silently, a figure entered. Every large-scale battlefield was under the watchful eye of Rank Twelve Strongest Ones, but this figure’s aura was merged into deep spacetime, evading their detection.
“I’m back at last.”
It was Lin Yuan’s Yin Primordial Soul. With a wave, it gathered up the avatar carrying all the new loot. Within the chaotic void, Lin Yuan had felt constant tension, but inside the universe, he was calm.
Here, he was absolutely safe. Even a Dominance-level or Chaos-level powerhouse couldn’t break into a universe. The chaotic void gave birth to universes one after another, and trying to invade one meant going against the will of the chaotic void itself.
“Let’s go,” the Yin Primordial Soul murmured, heading straight for the Mysterious Emperor Secret Realm.
In the depths of the secret realm, Lin Yuan’s true body sat with crossed legs. His Yin Primordial Soul appeared and presented the palm-sized island—Cang Weiyang’s Dominance-level dwelling.
“First, I’ll refine the Path-Clearing weapons,” Lin Yuan said, taking out the limited number of Path-Clearing weapons found in the dwelling and rapidly refining them.
As for the Dominance-level and Chaos-level artifacts, Lin Yuan lacked the power to refine them for now. Such items had already developed their own “spirit” and could spontaneously awaken.
The sheet of “white paper” from the Tai Yuan Ruins, which concealed a two-dimensional realm inside, could easily flatten everything around into that plane—but not a Dominance-level artifact with a spirit, which could resist and escape. A Dominance-level artifact was practically half a living being.
Thus, that “white paper” mainly stored Path-Clearing-level wonders. It held no Dominance-level or Chaos-level treasures.
Next, Lin Yuan visited those eighteen wonder trees on the island. Each tree was loaded with spirit fruits bursting with energy. He gathered them all and carefully put them away.
“These fruits can serve as vital resources for my cultivation of the Mysterious Emperor Body at Rank Twelve, after I achieve the Strongest One,” he thought.
By this point, Lin Yuan fully appreciated how difficult it would be to cultivate the Mysterious Emperor Body to Rank Twelve Perfection. The spirit of the Mysterious Emperor Secret Realm had told him that a body at Rank Twelve Perfection could withstand the Great Collapse of the universe.
That was basically a given. A Rank Twelve Perfection physical body of that caliber—comparable to the mightiest bodies among Chaos Grand Saints—wouldn’t be fazed by a single universe’s Great Collapse, or even a hundred or a thousand simultaneous collapses.
“Take it slow.”
Lin Yuan withdrew his thoughts. Reaching Rank Twelve Perfection in the Mysterious Emperor Body would require an enormous amount of resources, and because his base-level flesh was already stronger than usual, he would need far more resources than an ordinary Mysterious Emperor Body did.
But the chaotic void was limitless, and so were its treasures. As Lin Yuan’s power grew, someday he would gather everything he needed.
“These wonder trees can actually absorb chaotic energy directly?” Lin Yuan observed that the trees’ roots extended into the depths of spacetime, continuously drawing in the chaotic energy out there, which was wild and disordered, containing a mix of powers.
That was why stable, refined energy in Chaos Stones served as currency in the void—nobody, not even a Chaos-level powerhouse, dared to absorb that free-floating chaos energy without caution.
Yet these eighteen peak Dominance-level wonder trees could draw on it so effortlessly?
[Your unrivaled insight allows you to observe the intake of chaotic energy, deepening your comprehension of its essence.]
Lin Yuan studied each strand of chaotic energy unraveling before his eyes.
“It must be due to some special biological structure,” he thought. He had a hunch that if he kept analyzing it, he might figure out how to emulate these trees and freely absorb chaotic energy himself.
Meanwhile, in a dim hall, more than ten alien Rank Twelve beings had gathered once again.
“How did your investigations go?” asked the Prison Race Strongest One, scanning everyone.
Ever since they last parted ways, these Rank Twelve beings had returned to their own races and begun intense investigations into the Martial Arts Evolutionary Path. If the intelligence about Rank Eleven Martial Arts was true, it would have an irreversible impact on them. Humanity’s high-level evolvers would multiply at a shocking rate.
“According to my race’s sources, there’s a ninety-five percent chance that the Milky Way Star Lord is indeed the founder of the Martial Arts Evolutionary Path,” said the Tianyu Race Strongest One.
Though the Milky Way Star Lord was known as a peerless genius pursuing a stable, well-developed evolutionary path, the fact that both he and Martial Arts came from Canglan Star was too striking to ignore. Moreover, each time the Milky Way Star Lord was about to advance—or right after he did—a new chapter of Martial Arts was uploaded. That made it clearer than ever that he was the path’s founder.
“We predicted that outcome centuries ago,” remarked the Strongest One from the Zhou Race. Several others also looked unsurprised. None of them found this revelation particularly shocking.
Not only did the apex races know, but even within Humanity, as the Milky Way Star Lord rose swiftly through Ranks Eight, Nine, and Ten, more and more people started linking him with the Martial Arts founder. So it was no secret to the apex races, either.
However, before the Martial Arts Path had reached Rank Eleven, those alien Rank Twelve Strongest Ones hadn’t truly cared. Even if the Milky Way Star Lord was indeed its founder, it was anyone’s guess whether he could break through to Rank Twelve with it in the end.
Of course, another reason was that Humanity had protected the Milky Way Star Lord extremely well. Even if certain Rank Twelve aliens were willing to throw away their pride and attempt a sneak attack, they couldn’t find an opening.
Thus, Martial Arts was able to reach Rank Eleven and become Humanity’s fifth-ranked path. Only now did these Rank Twelve beings realize its terrifying potential.
“So the question isn’t who he is, but how we should deal with it,” said the Insect Race Queen, frowning. For the Insect Race, this situation was especially troublesome.
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