The endless Great Collapse Force wove together, yet it was completely under Lin Yuan's control.
To the many Mortal Immortals and Celestial Kings, this was a clear sign of someone who had comprehended the Chaos Origin Destruction Dao.
To even attempt to comprehend the Chaos Origin Destruction Dao, one needed to at least reach the peak of the Mortal Immortal realm. To actually achieve it? That was almost exclusively the domain of Celestial Kings.
In other words, this newly ascended Mortal Immortal had already stepped into the realm of Celestial Kings?
A newly ascended Mortal Immortal?
An Celestial King?
Two completely different titles—
Now appearing in the same person.
"He's already an Celestial King?"
The many Mortal Immortals stared at Lin Yuan in disbelief.
At the same time, they began re-examining the past timelines of the Great Desolation Source World.
Directly observing Lin Yuan's own timeline was too obscure.
Especially while within the Immortal Path, which suppressed observation of time.
However, each of these Mortal Immortals had left behind avatar imprints within the Great Desolation Source World.
These avatar imprints normally remained dormant.
Only awakening when needed.
Although they couldn't directly observe Lin Yuan's personal timeline, they could observe the past timelines of other beings in the Great Desolation Source World—
And through them, gather a wealth of information related to Lin Yuan.
"He really is newly ascended."
"The Tianyuan Great Emperor only entered the Great Emperor realm two million years ago."
"Two million years, and already he's reached the Celestial King realm?"
"That's terrifying. How did he do it?"
"Even the three Celestial Emperors didn't progress that fast, did they?"
The Mortal Immortals spoke in low voices, eyes filled with disbelief as they looked at Lin Yuan.
If it were just another Celestial King, they wouldn't be so shaken.
Many peak-level Mortal Immortals were just one step away from becoming Celestial Kings.
And with the Immortal Path's cultivation environment, it was always possible for a new Celestial King to emerge at any moment.
But Lin Yuan?
He only entered the Great Emperor realm two million years ago—
And he's already a Celestial King?
In truth, these Mortal Immortals didn't know that Lin Yuan's actual cultivation time was far less than two million years.
At most, just over one hundred thousand years.
And most of that was spent in other dimensional spaces—
Without a superior cultivation environment like the Great Desolation Source World filled with undying substance.
In the Great Desolation Source World, all beings below time beings had a limit to their lifespan.
But the cultivation environment was vastly superior to that of other dimensional spaces.
And the upper limit for twelfth-rank lifeforms was much higher as well.
Those Supreme Emperors could contend with Mortal Immortals to a certain degree—what separated them from time beings was only that they hadn't passed through the time cycle.
"What a monster…"
The white-haired Celestial King looked at Lin Yuan, secretly astonished.
As an Celestial King himself, he understood best how difficult it was to comprehend a Chaos Origin Dao.
Especially the Chaos Origin Destruction Dao, which was the most combat-oriented among the Origin Daos—its difficulty surpassed most others.
"But for an Celestial King to become an Celestial Emperor… that's far harder than a Mortal Immortal becoming an Celestial King."
The white-haired Celestial King silently thought. Mortal Immortals believed stepping into the Celestial King realm was almost impossible—but they didn't realize that going from Celestial King to Celestial Emperor was the truly insurmountable step.
"So many Mortal Immortals…" Lin Yuan looked around at the figures and thought inwardly.
Just the Mortal Immortal auras he could sense right now exceeded sixty. It must be remembered—Mortal Immortals were equivalent to thirteenth-rank time beings in the chaotic void.
Over sixty time beings? That was something only extremely unique dimensions like the Tianhe Dimension—where many thirteenth-rank forces congregated—could accommodate.
Even considering this source world's special nature in producing and fusing more time beings—
Taking the first and second source worlds as examples, each complete Great Collapse cycle produced at most twenty or thirty time beings.
"Could it be related to the end of the Immortal Path?"
Lin Yuan glanced toward the illusory world at the end of the Immortal Path.
The undying substance permeating the Great Desolation Source World originated from that very world.
Its presence caused a far faster turnover of powerful beings in this realm than in places like the chaotic void.
A single era in the chaotic space often spanned the full cycle of a twelfth-rank cultivator advancing toward the thirteenth rank.
This span of time was counted in millions of cosmic epochs.
Whereas in the Great Desolation Source World, an era was merely a million years—at most two million.
Because the lifespan limit of a Great Emperor was a million years. At best, consuming an undying elixir would grant another million.
One million years?
Millions of cosmic epochs?
The gap between the two could only be described as an abyss.
More Great Emperors meant more Mortal Immortals who passed through the time cycle.
And more Mortal Immortals meant more second-stage Celestial Kings—and eventually, third-stage Celestial Emperors.
"Hahaha! Welcome, Daoist Tianyuan, to the Immortal Path."
The white-haired Celestial King stepped forward and appeared before Lin Yuan with a smile.
"Welcome, Daoist Tianyuan."
The other two Celestial Kings also greeted him warmly.
The addition of another Mortal Immortal helped them in getting closer to the illusory world at the end of the Immortal Path.
Let alone the fact that it was a new Celestial King.
"You may call me Samsara," the white-haired Celestial King said cheerfully—his title was Samsara Celestial King.
"I'm Bai Bin."
"I'm Wushen."
The other two introduced themselves in turn.
"Samsara, Bai Bin, Wushen," Lin Yuan responded with a greeting as well.
These three were all second-stage thirteenth-rank time beings—not weaker than Hui Zu of the chaotic void.
After a brief conversation with the three Celestial Kings, the topic quickly turned to the current state of the Immortal Path.
"At the end of the Immortal Path, there are 213 Mortal Immortals and 14 Celestial Kings. Including you, Tianyuan, that makes 15 Celestial Kings," Samsara said with a smile.
"Two hundred thirteen Mortal Immortals?"
Lin Yuan nodded.
What he had sensed so far was just a portion. Many more Mortal Immortals were approaching the illusory world from other directions.
If that illusory world at the end of the Immortal Path was like a sun—
Then the Mortal Immortals and Celestial Kings were all trying to approach it from every angle.
"As for Celestial Emperors—there are three," Samsara added.
"Three Celestial Emperors."
Lin Yuan's expression grew solemn.
Even before arriving in this source world, he had observed, through the Gate of Myriad Realms, three completely sealed-off timelines.
And only Time Lords could completely seal their timelines—in this world, that meant Celestial Emperors.
"Are the three Celestial Emperors also approaching that illusory world?" Lin Yuan asked.
So far, he had only encountered one time lord—Lord of Heavenly Radiance.
And that was after the lord had fully perished.
"The three Celestial Emperors are mainly locking down the illusory world," Samsara explained.
"Locking it down?"
Lin Yuan's eyes flickered.
"If they didn't act, we wouldn't even be able to observe it, much less approach. That world wasn't born from the Great Desolation Source World—it came from the depths of dimensional gaps."
Samsara paused briefly, then continued, "In the early Primordial Era, a foreign object fell into the realm from outside. Afterward, undying substance began to spread."
"Later, the first Celestial Emperor observed past and future and finally locked onto the object's location—at the end of the Immortal Path."
"Over countless eras, the object gradually evolved into the illusory world we see now."
"In truth, the illusory world formed from that foreign object has now fully merged with the depths of the Great Desolation Source World. Without the actions of the Celestial Emperors to anchor it, we wouldn't perceive it at all."
"I see."
Lin Yuan nodded slightly, now growing curious about that foreign object that had fallen into this world.
What kind of treasure or anomaly could cause three Lords to fail to take it—only manage to lock onto it?
"The illusory world…"
Lin Yuan looked toward it from afar.
"You must be curious," Samsara said with a smile. "Come with me, Tianyuan. Only by getting close can you grasp a portion of that world's essence."
Soon—
Samsara and the other two Celestial Kings led Lin Yuan in attempting to approach the illusory world.
The closer they got, the denser the Great Collapse Force became. Other, higher-level auras also faintly swirled, even causing Lin Yuan to feel some alarm.
However—
As Lin Yuan approached, the world at the end of the Immortal Path began to change in his perception.
It was no longer just an illusory world—
But a "miniature version" of endless dimensional layers.
To gaze upon it was to gaze upon the entire dimensional multiverse.
"This…"
Lin Yuan's mind once again erupted with waves of inspiration.
"How does this feel more useful than observing the Chaos Origin Yin and Yang Daos directly?"
He couldn't believe it.
Six thousand years ago, when he felt he had reached his peak in every aspect, he had made a trade with the Supreme Law itself—for a chance to observe the Chaos Origin Yin and Yang Daos directly.
At the time, Lin Yuan had believed that opportunity would allow him to fully comprehend the Tao of Tai Chi.
But he underestimated the difficulty.
While the observation had helped immensely—
It still wasn't quite enough to fully grasp the Tao of Tai Chi.
After all, the Tao of Tai Chi, while rooted in Yin and Yang, encompassed all origin Daos.
Observing Yin and Yang alone wasn't sufficient.
But now—
Gazing at the illusory world at the end of the Immortal Path caused countless insights to explode within him.
[Your insight is Unrivaled. Observing the evolution of this mysterious power, your comprehension of the Chaos Origin Tao of Tai Chi has increased greatly.]
[Your insight is Unrivaled. Observing the evolution of this mysterious power, your comprehension of the Chaos Origin Life Dao has increased greatly.]
[Your insight is Unrivaled. Observing the evolution of this mysterious power, your comprehension of the Chaos Origin Time-Space Dao has increased greatly.]
Most of Lin Yuan's mind was now immersed in observing the mysterious world at the Immortal Path's end.
"No wonder nearly all Mortal Immortals who enter the Immortal Path never return to the Great Desolation Source World—or even care about it anymore," Lin Yuan thought quickly.
While sweeping through forbidden zones, he had discovered many contingencies left behind by Mortal Immortals.
But none of them had been activated, clearly showing their owners no longer cared about what happened in the realm.
He had found that odd before—
But now, it made perfect sense.
With such insane insight speeds from observing the illusory world, even Celestial Kings had no reason to bother with worldly affairs—let alone Mortal Immortals.
As long as the realm wasn't destroyed, they wouldn't intervene at all.
Of course, the others didn't have Lin Yuan's level of insight.
But even so, their comprehension rate far exceeded normal cultivation.
"Past? Present? Future?"
Lin Yuan's thoughts stirred, and phantom avatars of himself emerged—tracing the timeline backward, traveling deep into the past.
This technique came from Lin Yuan's ninth physical divine ability.
Eighteen thousand years ago, his physical body successfully birthed this ninth ability—
Called Past Self.
Its essence was forming a true self in the past timeline.
So even if the current timeline body was destroyed, as long as the past self remained, the present one could be quickly reconstructed.
It was a life-preserving divine ability. As long as the past endured, the present could not die.
Of course, forming the Past Self took a tremendous amount of time.
But now, with his enhanced understanding of the Chaos Origin Time-Space Dao, the speed at which he formed the Past Self was rapidly increasing.
He was growing ever closer to fully manifesting it.
"Past Self, Present Self... and a Future Self?"
Through observing the Time-Space Dao within the illusory world, Lin Yuan faintly sensed that this divine ability was incomplete—missing the crucial Future Self.
Forming a Future Self in future timelines would further enhance his survivability.
If he could achieve this, he would never have a moment of weakness in his own timeline—he wouldn't be vulnerable to time lords attacking his past.
Once the Past Self was fully formed, Lin Yuan's past and present strength would be equal—there would be no weaker version of himself in history.
"What kind of foreign object could possibly evolve into such an illusory world?"
The more he comprehended, the more astonished Lin Yuan became.
The Chaos Origin Daos within the illusory world were both impossibly complete and unfathomably deep.
"Forget it. I'll focus on comprehending for now."
Lin Yuan didn't dwell further on it. Compared to all other gains in this source world, comprehending the Chaos Origin Daos was the most fundamental.
He could even allow his various bodies and avatars to "share" the insights.
"My internal universe is evolving too." Amidst his comprehension, Lin Yuan noticed changes within his internal universe.
As various Chaos Origin Daos merged into it, his inner universe grew more complete—vaguely surpassing even the chaotic void.
And so, Lin Yuan began to fully devote himself to comprehending the illusory world at the end of the Immortal Path.
At the same time, he often split his attention to exchange Dao insights with other Mortal Immortals and Celestial Kings.
All thirteenth-rank time beings had their own understanding of the Chaos Origin Daos. Whether right or wrong, those insights held value—and for Lin Yuan, they were a form of experimentation.
With the direct guidance of the illusory world at the end of the Immortal Path, and ongoing exchanges with the Mortal Immortals and Celestial Kings...
Lin Yuan's strength once again began to soar.
...