“Dark Heaven Hall?”
Lin Yuan focused on the source of the space-time fluctuations and, after comparing it to his beast-hide map, quickly arrived at a conclusion.
Dark Heaven Hall was a core region of the Mysterious Emperor Universe, housing the Heart of Dark Heaven—a supreme-grade treasure at the Supreme Saint level.
Since entering the Mysterious Emperor Universe, Lin Yuan had obtained many valuable treasures, but apart from the nearly three-meter-tall Life Godstones, all of them were at or below the Chaos Great Saint level.
As for Supreme Saint-level treasures?
Even when the Mysterious Sovereign lineage still existed, such treasures were extremely rare and typically only found deep within the inner regions of the universe.
“With my current strength...”
Lin Yuan’s thoughts stirred.
Before entering the Mysterious Emperor Universe, he had plotted several routes based on the beast-hide map, but Dark Heaven Hall hadn’t been included as a stop.
That was because the area around Dark Heaven Hall was saturated with Dark Heaven Force—a power even stronger than the force of the Pagoda. With his strength at the time, it would have taken him a great deal of time and effort to enter.
So he had simply written it off.
Compared to Dark Heaven Hall, Lin Yuan had placed greater priority on reaching the tomb at the deepest part of the universe.
But times had changed.
What was once difficult for Lin Yuan was no longer a problem.
After reaching the second layer of Infinite Void, Lin Yuan’s overall strength had skyrocketed. What could once delay him now posed little threat.
And based on the space-time ripple currently emanating from Dark Heaven Hall, it was clearly surfacing. If Lin Yuan didn’t move now, it would surely draw the attention of the other Great Saints.
Great Saints like Heiyao and Dual-Source had the power to enter Dark Heaven Hall as well—it would just take them longer.
“I’ll make a trip.”
With a thought, Lin Yuan’s Yang soul stepped out to follow the original route deeper into the Mysterious Emperor Universe.
Meanwhile, Lin Yuan’s true body immediately began transmigrating toward Dark Heaven Hall at high speed.
The second layer of Infinite Void had elevated Lin Yuan’s power on all fronts—not just his true body, but both his souls had also been strengthened.
At present, his Yang soul alone was stronger than his entire true body had been before entering the Mysterious Emperor Universe.
“That damn Dual-Source really screwed me over.”
Heiyao’s expression was dark as he flew through the inner regions of the universe.
As the tenth to enter, he’d had little choice in where to go and had rushed inward. He hadn’t had time to carefully inspect anything along the way, and so far, he had nothing to show for it.
A Chaos Great Saint—one of the strongest—and yet not a single worthwhile treasure after entering a postnatal universe? Heiyao found this intolerable.
“Dual-Source is certainly hateful, but it’s him...”
His thoughts turned to Lin Yuan. If it hadn’t been for Lin Yuan, he would have at least been the third to enter.
“Damn it. Where the hell did he come from?”
Heiyao seethed. Though Lin Yuan had slapped him flying, he hadn’t been injured at all.
From that blow, Heiyao judged that Lin Yuan’s strength was roughly on par with his own.
“Hm?”
Just then, Heiyao’s expression shifted as he sensed a strong wave of space-time fluctuations.
“There—”
He looked over, excitement rising.
This was the signature ripple caused by the emergence of a supreme treasure—a phenomenon that stirred heaven and earth.
“For a postnatal universe with such heavy space-time suppression to still produce such intense fluctuations...”
“This has to be a Supreme Saint-level treasure!”
Heiyao didn’t hesitate and shot toward the source of the ripple.
Even Supreme Saints would fight over such a treasure. If he, a Chaos Great Saint, could seize it—even if he couldn’t use it—he could trade it with a Supreme Saint.
“This space-time fluctuation...”
Elsewhere, Dual-Source, cloaked in blue-gray light, abruptly stopped. “A Supreme Saint-level treasure.”
“Even if this postnatal universe was created by someone nearly at the level of an Invincible Supreme Saint, there shouldn’t be many such treasures.”
After a brief pause, he turned toward the ripple’s origin.
Not knowing whether more such treasures lay deeper in the universe, he couldn’t afford to miss the one before him.
“There it is...”
Other Chaos Great Saints—Tianlu, Nine Phoenix, and Shadowfiend—also sensed the powerful ripple and determined its source to be a Supreme Saint-level treasure.
“A treasure of this magnitude...”
They didn’t hesitate either and rushed toward the ripple.
Outside the universe entrance, none of them had fought to be the first to enter—not only due to strength differences—
But also because there hadn’t been any guaranteed benefits in doing so.
Who said being first would mean getting anything?
And who even knew whether there would be treasures worth fighting over?
Chaos Great Saints weren’t reckless. Without clear rewards, none of them would risk a fierce fight.
But now—
The level of fluctuation left no doubt. A treasure of unimaginable power was about to surface.
A Supreme Saint-level treasure was more than enough reason to go all out.
Even newly ascended Great Saints like Nine Phoenix and Shadowfiend were now willing to clash with Dual-Source and Heiyao for it.
Further away, many Chaos-level Evolvers also felt the fluctuation.
“A supreme treasure. It has to be.”
“Too bad it has nothing to do with us.”
They looked on longingly, but quickly cooled down like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on them.
New Great Saints might dare challenge Dual-Source and Heiyao because they were all Chaos full-stage beings.
Even if weaker, they wouldn’t be killed easily—they could still escape.
But Chaos Venerable?
Forget Dual-Source—even a new Great Saint could slaughter them with ease.
If they tried to join the fray, they'd be signing their own death warrants.
“Still, we could get closer and take a look.”
“Yeah. I want to see what this kind of treasure even looks like.”
Some of them, curious, began to approach from afar—so long as they didn’t show any signs of wanting to interfere, the Great Saints would likely ignore them.
“There it is.”
Lin Yuan appeared, looking toward a dark palace not far ahead.
The palace was slowly surfacing from deep space-time, shrouded in thick Dark Heaven Force from all directions.
“Normally, Dark Heaven Hall lies hidden in deep space-time—without guidance, it would be impossible to find. Now that it’s surfacing, maybe it’s due to the outer layers of the Mysterious Emperor Universe collapsing and affecting this area too?”
Lin Yuan mused.
Its premature emergence was one reason he’d rushed over.
If it were still hidden, he’d have waited until after visiting the tomb.
“Once it fully emerges from the deep space-time, I can retrieve the Heart of Dark Heaven.”
He stood calmly, waiting.
Just then—
A faint ripple of space-time appeared.
Dual-Source was the second to arrive.
“That palace?”
Though he didn’t have a map, he instantly zeroed in on the dark palace.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Soon after, Heiyao and Savage arrived.
Then came Tianlu, Nine Phoenix, and Shadowfiend.
“The treasure is inside the palace.”
All eyes burned as they stared at the dark palace rising from the depths of space-time.
“Your spatial manipulation is quite impressive,” Dual-Source said, eyes locked on Lin Yuan, “but trying to contest this treasure with me? You're not quite there.”
“My power path happens to directly counter yours. If we fought seriously, you wouldn’t be able to win.”
If a few words could make Lin Yuan back down, Dual-Source was happy to say them.
“Oh?”
Lin Yuan stood with hands behind his back and glanced at Dual-Source.
What he said wasn’t entirely wrong. Though they hadn’t fought all-out before, Dual-Source’s blue-gray power was indeed capable of severely damaging space-time.
But that was only when strength was equal.
Water could extinguish fire—but a single droplet couldn’t quench a sky full of flame.
“Savage, what say you and I work together?” Heiyao whispered via mental transmission.
“Team up?” Savage was intrigued. He’d been leaning toward targeting Lin Yuan first as well—Heiyao’s domain was great at suppression, after all.
“Who are we dealing with?”
“Let’s go for him.”
Heiyao glanced at Lin Yuan, having weighed the risks carefully.
Lin Yuan’s power was similar to Heiyao’s domain, and even suppressed it—something that made him uneasy.
He knew Dual-Source’s tricks well from past dealings.
Given the choice, he saw Lin Yuan as the bigger threat.
“Him?”
“No problem.”
Savage grinned, also preferring to deal with Lin Yuan early.
Among all the Great Saints present, Lin Yuan was the only unknown factor. Leaving such a wild card alone made even Savage uneasy.
Rumble—
At that moment—
The dark palace completely emerged from deep space-time.
A dense space-time ripple swept in all directions.
“Now.”
Heiyao instantly activated his domain, unleashing waves of darkness. Savage stepped forward, punching across space-time toward Lin Yuan.
“Hm?”
Dual-Source had been about to approach the palace, but seeing this, he realized they were launching a joint attack on Lin Yuan.
“Strike while he’s vulnerable.”
He also transformed into a beam of blue-gray light and lunged at Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan stood motionless, glancing calmly at the incoming forces.
Whoosh—
With a thought, he activated the divine power: Za Warudo! (World).
The space-time around him twisted violently. Having undergone its recent transformation, his inner universe now gave rise to an even more powerful outer universe.
Buzz—
Dual-Source, still in light form, was instantly frozen mid-air under the crushing pressure of space-time. Forced back into physical form, he stared in shock.
“This kind of suppression?”
“What?”
Heiyao’s pupils contracted. The moment Lin Yuan’s outer universe formed, his domain collapsed, and he himself was frozen stiff.
“I can’t feel external space-time?”
Savage, too, was stunned. His punch halted mid-swing, and he stumbled, dazed by the distortion in space-time.
At the center of it all stood Lin Yuan.
But in the eyes of the other Great Saints, he had become a blazing eternal sun.
Its light and heat radiated outward, eroding and collapsing the chaos power paths of all the others.
Even Tianlu, Shadowfiend, and the others who had planned to wait for their moment to strike were shaken to their cores by the sheer terror of the scene.
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
50