Mysterious Emperor Universe.
Lin Yuan, the second to enter, felt as if he were traversing a long corridor through space and time.
Eventually, he descended beneath a desolate, silent starry sky.
"This is the interior of the universe?"
Lin Yuan looked around as his immense perception spread outward. “The suppression of laws here is intense. With my eighth-layer comprehension of space-time, it’s difficult to teleport far within.”
In the outer chaotic void, a Chaos Great Saint could teleport across one-tenth—or even one-hundredth—of a Void Domain with ease.
But here in the Mysterious Emperor Universe? At most, he could cross ten million light-years. The difference was immense.
“As expected of a universe created by a Supreme Saint.”
The more Lin Yuan observed, the more he recognized the terrifying nature of this universe. Even with its laws running on their own, they could still suppress Chaos Great Saints.
“In terms of sheer size, this postnatal universe must be many times larger than those naturally born of the chaotic void.”
Lin Yuan shook his head slightly.
At his current strength, he could easily devastate a naturally formed universe, forcing it into premature collapse. But he couldn’t even shake this Mysterious Emperor Universe.
And this was despite the fact that its time and space had already begun collapsing from age.
One could imagine—in its prime, even a Supreme Saint wouldn’t dare enter lightly.
After all, this was a universe painstakingly created by the Mysterious Sovereign, a Supreme Saint who had poured immense effort into it.
Whereas natural-born universes were simply birthed by chaos. There was no comparison.
“I’m here…”
While scanning his surroundings, Lin Yuan simultaneously cross-referenced the beast-skin map, quickly pinpointing his location.
“Following this path yields the greatest reward.”
He chose one of the pre-planned routes. The final destination was the Mysterious Sovereign’s tomb, but along the way, he would pass through many zones containing rare treasures.
Other powerhouses entering the Mysterious Emperor Universe—Chaos Great Saints included—could only instinctively head toward the center. Their rewards along the way? Left to luck.
But Lin Yuan had planned ahead. Without wasting time, he could ensure the greatest returns.
Even if he found nothing in the tomb, this trip would still be worth it.
“Let’s go.”
His figure vanished, reappearing tens of millions of light-years away.
Before he could teleport again—
ROAR!!!
A terrifying roar rang out. From the depths of space-time, a colossal octopus-shaped creature appeared, its hundreds of tentacles lashing toward Lin Yuan.
Wherever the tentacles passed, time and space were annihilated.
“This is… a Mysterious Emperor Beast?”
Lin Yuan’s heart stirred with surprise—he instantly recognized it.
Back when he had explored the Mysterious Emperor Secret Realm, these beasts had been everywhere.
In truth, Mysterious Emperor Beasts weren’t exactly living beings. They were incredibly powerful, capable of drawing upon the surrounding world’s power, but their intelligence was extremely low.
To the Mysterious Emperor Lineage, Mysterious Emperor Beasts were merely vessels for cultivating Mysterious Emperor Crystals.
In their training, these crystals were essential—for instance, Lin Yuan’s cultivation of the [Mysterious Emperor Body] required a vast amount.
“This one’s powerful—almost at the Chaos threshold.”
Lin Yuan judged its strength as he observed.
In the Mysterious Emperor Realm, their power capped out at Rank 9 Ten-Thousandfold Stage. But here? They were vastly stronger, reaching the threshold of the Chaos Realm.
“Not surprising. Mysterious Emperor Beasts draw strength from their surroundings. This universe’s origin is overwhelming. Even as it collapses, it grants them terrifying boosts.”
Lin Yuan nodded slightly.
Even a dying behemoth was larger than a horse. And compared to the Secret Realm, this universe was no mere behemoth.
Crash—
As the beast launched its frenzied attack, Lin Yuan calmly activated his divine power—“World.”
Under an invisible wave of cosmic force, the Chaos-threshold Mysterious Emperor Beast disintegrated into dust.
Its intelligence was too low. Though it possessed Chaos-level combat power, it wasn’t truly a Chaos Realm.
A real Chaos Realm would’ve fled the moment they saw Lin Yuan. Even if they couldn’t escape, they wouldn’t charge in recklessly like this beast.
That was the first difference. The second? Their attacks were overly simple. Once patterns were understood, they were easy to counter.
Of course, “easy” only applied when one had Lin Yuan’s overwhelming strength.
For an average Chaos Realm—even at peak level—facing a beast like this for the first time would be a nightmare.
As the octopus-shaped beast’s body crumbled, a Mysterious Emperor Crystal, several thousand meters in size, appeared.
“This crystal…”
Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up. It was the largest he’d ever seen. Even the total output of the Secret Realm paled in comparison.
“With this, I can finally push the [Mysterious Emperor Body] to the Chaos Realm.”
He was satisfied. This body-tempering art, created by the Mysterious Sovereign, had massive resource demands.
While it could absorb any resource, Mysterious Emperor Crystals were essential.
The Secret Realm was semi-fused with the universe, constantly absorbing chaotic energy and producing new crystals.
Had his home universe not collapsed early, a full cosmic era would’ve been enough to push Lin Yuan’s [Mysterious Emperor Body] to the Chaos level.
If not to perfection, then at least near it—with more eras for further accumulation.
For Chaos Realms, waiting a dozen or a hundred eras wasn’t unusual.
But due to that early collapse, Lin Yuan had lost his steady source of crystals.
After perfecting the Dominance stage, his training had stalled—not because of lack of generic resources, but because of the missing crystals.
“If I can find a few tens of thousands of these beasts at this level, I should reach the Chaos stage.”
Storing the massive crystal, Lin Yuan estimated silently.
His physical foundation was already monstrous. Even at just Dominance Perfection, his body nearly rivaled a Chaos Great Saint’s.
Once he broke through, his physique would reach the peak among Chaos Great Saints.
If he perfected it? He could crush Supreme Saints with just his body.
“Tens of thousands?”
He looked around at the starry sky—unconcerned. The Mysterious Emperor Universe was vast, and it definitely held more than that many beasts.
“There are many Evolvers here. I can trade for more of their crystals later.”
He reasoned calmly.
If he could encounter a beast, so could others.
Mysterious Emperor Beasts couldn’t leave their territories. Upon death, both body and soul perished, leaving only the crystal.
But only Mysterious Emperor Lineage members had use for these crystals.
To others? They were no more than chaotic stones of equivalent size. If Lin Yuan offered a premium, those Evolvers would line up to sell.
From then on—
Every time Lin Yuan teleported, he scanned the area. If a beast appeared, he’d swiftly kill and collect its crystal. If not, he simply continued along the planned route.
Not because the crystals weren’t valuable—they were vital to his body cultivation.
But for now, he was the only one who truly needed them. There was no rush.
Besides, killing a Chaos-threshold Mysterious Emperor Beast wasn’t easy for most Evolvers.
The return—just tens of thousands of chaotic stones—was hardly worth the effort.
“I’ve arrived.”
He now stood before a pale green planet, carefully observing it.
It emitted no aura—no different from any dead planet.
But on the map, it was clearly marked: Life Source Star.
It was said to produce Life Godstones, one of the Chaos Void’s rarest treasures. A palm-sized piece could restore a mortally wounded Great Saint.
Even irreversible injuries couldn’t kill you, as long as the stone still held power.
Because of that, Life Godstones were priceless lifesaving artifacts—coveted by all Chaos Great Saints.
“Godstones fall from the Sea of Life, a mysterious realm like the Thunder Pool—places we can’t access.”
“Only that sea births them. And even then, extremely rarely.”
“But this star…”
Lin Yuan gazed down.
This was the benefit of a postnatal universe: the ability to set one’s own laws.
This Life Source Star had been carefully crafted by the Mysterious Sovereign to mimic the Sea of Life. It could indeed birth Godstones.
Of course, it was vastly inferior in efficiency. But after tens of millions of cosmic eras—without anyone taking them—surely it had accumulated quite a few.
“Let’s take a look.”
He sent an avatar inside, despite the map’s note that it held no danger.
Who knew what might’ve changed after so long?
The avatar descended swiftly into the star’s core.
“Hmm?”
The area was saturated with misty vitality. Lin Yuan felt he could recover from any injury just by standing here.
“What’s that?”
In the deepest part, a green crystal nearly three meters wide floated quietly. All the surrounding mist flowed from it.
“A Life Godstone?”
“Three meters wide?”
Lin Yuan was stunned.
A palm-sized piece could save a dying Great Saint. This one was thousands of times larger.
Enough to save thousands of Saints?
“With this… even if I were besieged by Supreme Saints, I wouldn’t die quickly.”
He was thrilled.
As long as the stone still had energy, Lin Yuan was essentially immortal—far beyond the simple regeneration of blood-based techniques.
Unless a Rank Thirteen being erased him from the timeline, he could not be killed.
“How many chaos stones would this be worth?”
He calmed his thoughts. In truth, no amount could buy such a stone.
Even for Great Saints, this was a top-tier survival tool.
“Collect it.”
Without hesitation, he began retrieving the stone.
Boom—
The entire star quaked. Lin Yuan’s main body also acted to support the avatar.
Eventually, the three-meter Life Godstone settled into his palm.
“A massive windfall.”
His heart was jubilant. Even if he gained nothing else in this journey, this alone made it worth it.
“More than just a lifesaver, it contains profound laws of life itself. It’ll greatly help my understanding of life-based principles.”
Storing it carefully in his inner universe, Lin Yuan allocated a portion of his mind to study it—and immediately sensed insights.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Time to collect the next treasure.”
After verifying nothing else remained, he left. The green mist rapidly faded.
Whoosh—
He vanished again, leaping tens of millions of light-years.
From here, he followed the preplanned route, visiting each zone that stored rare items—taking them all.
Great Saint–level weapons?
Treasures unseen in ten thousand cosmic eras?
Items only birthed in mysterious regions of the Chaos Void?
Everything that the Mysterious Emperor Universe had accumulated over millions of eras—
Now fell into Lin Yuan’s hands.
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
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