“Very high?”
“How high is ‘very high’ exactly?” Lin Yuan asked curiously.
“You just need to know it’s very high,” the Liyang Ancestor replied.
He himself didn’t know the precise probability of Lin Yuan stepping into the thirteenth rank—he had only seen over a hundred timelines, and in every one, Lin Yuan had made the breakthrough.
But a hundred successful timelines didn’t mean all timelines would end that way. Not even a thirteenth-rank time-being could view all possible futures. Observing every timeline—that was something only a perfect fourteenth-rank time-being could achieve.
“If you have any questions before attempting that step, come directly to me.”
The Liyang Ancestor looked at Lin Yuan. “To contact me, just call out the words ‘Liyang.’”
As a time-being, his name was fused into the spacetime of this world. Anyone uttering ‘Liyang’ would cause him to sense it.
Normally, the Liyang Ancestor ignored such signals—but if Lin Yuan called his name, he would descend immediately.
“Thank you, Ancestor.”
Lin Yuan was a little moved.
Until now, he had never heard of any Ultimate Heavenly Sovereign possessing a direct way to contact an Ancestor.
Even the Emperor needed an intermediary ‘medium’ to get in touch. But Lin Yuan? He could do it directly—a privilege unheard of.
“No need for thanks,” the Liyang Ancestor said with a smile. “I look forward to seeing the seventh Ancestor of this world… and the founding of a seventh great kingdom.”
Whoosh—
Lin Yuan felt spacetime shift and reappeared in the grand hall of the imperial palace.
“Milky Way?”
The Liyang Emperor, seated on his throne, was visibly surprised to see Lin Yuan return.
Typically, Ultimate Heavenly Sovereigns who entered the secret space to undergo possession wouldn’t return for several months—sometimes even decades or centuries.
But Lin Yuan had been gone for less than half an hour.
“I didn’t undergo possession,” Lin Yuan said plainly.
“You didn’t?” The Emperor blinked.
He had already gone to the secret space and summoned the Ancestor—how could he not go through with it?
“The Ancestor told me not to possess just yet,” Lin Yuan explained.
“He told you… not to possess?” The Emperor’s expression grew contemplative.
“He said I shouldn’t rush. I should wait until I’m ready to attempt the final step before undergoing possession,” Lin Yuan said.
The Emperor paused, then nodded. “If the Ancestor said so, he must have his reasons.”
“But about your 100 billion merit points…” the Emperor glanced at Lin Yuan. Before entering the secret space, Lin Yuan had redeemed the Ancestor Possession opportunity—he had paid.
That kind of merit exchange was difficult to reverse, as it was handled by the spirit of the capital.
“No need,” Lin Yuan replied. “The Ancestor said I can now freely claim any inheritance guide from the treasury.”
There was no point hiding this—the Emperor had access to the treasury records. He had already known when Lin Yuan redeemed the possession opportunity.
“You can claim anything?” The Emperor looked at Lin Yuan and fell silent for a moment.
That meant the entire kingdom treasury was now open to him. To the high and mighty Liyang Ancestor, who never interfered in the kingdom’s governance, this was a major exception.
The Emperor couldn’t help feeling deeply shaken.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
After a few more words with the Emperor, Lin Yuan rose and departed.
The Emperor watched him disappear, face gradually returning to calm.
“The Ancestor is giving Milky Way such special treatment… even breaking precedent.”
The Emperor thought deeply.
As ruler of the ancient kingdom, he knew the level of the Ancestor. Lin Yuan was indeed terrifyingly talented—he was the first Invincible Heavenly Sovereign in the history of the six ancient kingdoms.
But so what? Without reaching thirteenth rank, he wouldn’t truly enter an Ancestor’s sight. He wouldn’t be remembered.
Yet Lin Yuan was remembered—so much so that the Ancestor broke his own rules for him.
“Below Ancestors, all are ants. For an Ancestor to break precedent… only another Ancestor could be worth it.”
The Liyang Emperor looked toward the direction Lin Yuan had gone, his heart in turmoil. “Ancestor…”
Returning to the Milky Way Residence.
Lin Yuan immediately split a thread of his mind and entered the treasury.
“Let me look through all nine supreme inheritances,” he said to himself, beginning to study them one by one.
Previously, he had ruled out three of them due to serious risks that he couldn’t accept—so he hadn’t planned to redeem them.
But now?
Knowing he could claim anything without restriction, he naturally wouldn’t ignore those three. Even if he wouldn’t practice them, as thirteenth-rank inheritances from the Chaos Void, they were invaluable references.
He wouldn’t pass them up.
“Heart of the Sun.”
Lin Yuan finished skimming this supreme inheritance. It focused on condensing a heart that had one foot into the thirteenth rank, granting power far beyond the limits of twelfth rank. Its terrifying potential exceeded Lin Yuan’s expectations.
“If fully cultivated, transforming the heart into the Heart of the Sun, the resulting power might rival even the Mysterious Sovereign, who already has half a foot into thirteenth rank,” Lin Yuan thought.
Of course, cultivating Heart of the Sun to perfection was nearly impossible. It required an extremely concentrated Ancestral bloodline, and at a critical moment, even a drop of true Ancestral blood—blood from a time-being.
And such a thing wasn’t just about merit. Even if the murderous intent within the blood were purged, how many beings below thirteenth rank could even withstand it?
“I won’t cultivate this inheritance, but its principles—especially its techniques for using thirteenth-rank power—are worth learning from.”
Lin Yuan was visibly energized. He continued reviewing the other eight supreme inheritances and gained a great deal. His mind buzzed with inspiration.
“Even if the Ancestor says I’m highly likely to reach thirteenth rank, I can’t get complacent.”
Sitting cross-legged, Lin Yuan knew that to earn such praise from a time-being was an incredible feat—but the more remarkable the future, the more cautious he became.
A “high probability” didn’t mean guaranteed success. The greater the hope, the greater the loss if he failed—everything he had invested would be wasted.
He would never let that happen.
“Stick to the plan.”
“Don’t slack off because of the Ancestor’s judgment.”
“The martial path evolution branch still has to be spread.”
Lin Yuan thought rapidly. Even if he was highly likely to ascend, it wouldn’t hurt to make every other aspect perfect.
Secret space.
After Lin Yuan returned, the Liyang Ancestor didn’t disappear as usual.
Instead, he continued observing Lin Yuan.
“1,368 timelines… and still all end in thirteenth rank?”
The Ancestor hadn’t been idle. He had continued watching Lin Yuan’s futures.
The more he saw, the deeper his shock grew.
“Forget expanding new timelines… let me follow one and see how far he goes.”
So far, the Ancestor had viewed over a thousand timelines—but all of them stopped at Lin Yuan’s breakthrough into thirteenth rank.
Because once a timeline entered the thirteenth rank, the difficulty of observing it skyrocketed.
That’s why the Ancestor had been cautious.
But now that all timelines led to the same outcome, he wanted to see how far Lin Yuan could go.
Reaching thirteenth rank wasn’t the end—even among time-beings, strength varied greatly. The more future timelines one could observe, the stronger one was. Their influence over fate was subtle but vast.
For time-beings, their true battles weren’t fought with power, but with vision.
The more future one could see, the more control over destiny.
The Ancestor narrowed his focus and followed a single timeline in depth.
The timeline unfolded—and soon reached the moment Lin Yuan stepped into thirteenth rank.
Images began to appear before the Ancestor’s eyes.
It was a dark and deathly silent space.
A young man sat cross-legged. Above him floated a massive black-and-white Yin-Yang Tai Chi diagram that pierced through spacetime, encompassing past, present, and future. All possible futures were converging, moving toward the young man’s desired outcome.
Below the Tai Chi diagram, an existence radiating endless spiritual light howled in fury.
That luminous being seemed like the origin of all life. Its presence constantly affected the surrounding spacetime—but now, it was being completely suppressed by the young man.
“Milky Way, I yield. The dimensional creation 1.8 quadrillion years in the future… it’s yours.”
The radiant being gave in.
“That’s Grand Ling…” the Ancestor trembled slightly.
The being of spiritual light was the Grand Ling Ancestor—second only to the Void Ancestor among the six.
But in this future, even the Grand Ling Ancestor was being overpowered—forced to abandon his long-planned future layout.
The Ancestor paused briefly, then continued viewing further ahead.
A towering man, radiating the primal aura of creation, moved with terrifying force—his mere gestures shook the Source World.
Yet now, that towering man was fleeing, even blasting open a dimensional rift to escape into an unknown realm.
But immediately after, a Yin-Yang Tai Chi diagram descended, vast and overwhelming, influencing one timeline after another.
“Void…”
The young man looked down from above, gazing coldly at the towering man.
“Even the Void Ancestor is running?”
The Ancestor was stunned.
Among the six Ancestors, the Void Ancestor was the undisputed strongest. But in this future, even he fled from Lin Yuan’s pursuit—and failed to escape in the end.
“Even after reaching thirteenth rank, he can grow this quickly?”
The Ancestor could hardly believe it. Thirteenth-rank cultivation was entirely different from twelfth. Just because Lin Yuan had advanced rapidly before didn’t mean he would continue to.
Even if he did, there had to be limits. But now… the Void Ancestor was running for his life?
That wasn’t just rapid progress—it was absurd.
“Keep watching.”
The Ancestor couldn’t resist.
But as he looked deeper into the distant future—
A chilling gaze locked onto him.
Boom!!
The Liyang Ancestor felt his entire mind quake, his consciousness trembling uncontrollably.
The gaze softened upon seeing the Liyang Ancestor. A faint smile emerged—serene, boundless, as if spanning the river of time itself.
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