"It succeeded."
Lin Yuan felt joy in his heart.
He had arrived in this time loop world one hundred and fifty years ago.
Everything he did was for this moment.
To break the time loop.
To become a time life form.
And now it was completed.
Moreover, he had not used World-Breaking Origin Force to forcibly 'clear the level.'
Lin Yuan was naturally delighted.
The World-Breaking Origin Force was a last resort.
It was better to not use it if possible.
"The world is collapsing."
Lin Yuan overlooked the entire time loop world.
After passing the test, this world's suppression of him quickly dissipated.
Even without relying on the perspective of replacing the world's consciousness, Lin Yuan could easily look down from above.
Every detail of the entire time loop world was fully within Lin Yuan's perception.
"Without the support of the supreme rules, everything has started to become illusory."
Lin Yuan thought.
This loop world was originally formed through the operation of the supreme rule dao.
Now that Lin Yuan had successfully passed the test, the supreme rule dao had withdrawn, and the world itself naturally ceased to exist, collapsing quickly like a bubble.
"Except for me."
Lin Yuan looked down at himself.
While everything else became illusory, only Lin Yuan was real.
This physical body, though a product of this world, had been refined by Lin Yuan over the hundred and fifty years with spirit runes, achieving a hint of true essence.
"And him."
Lin Yuan's gaze shifted, looking towards the bottom of the endless deep sea.
That was where the original divine gold coffin was located.
The emperor of Da Feng who originally slumbered within had been annihilated by Lin Yuan using spiritual power.
But only reduced to the most microscopic particles, the particles themselves still existed, and some of them revealed a real state.
"As expected, this emperor of Da Feng, like me, also came from the outside world, not temporarily created by the supreme rule dao."
Lin Yuan looked thoughtful.
Having established the Greater Yan for eighty years, Lin Yuan had more or less understood the actions of this Da Feng emperor.
Especially towards the end, when finding the other inside the original divine gold coffin at the bottom of the deep sea, it was almost certain that this Da Feng emperor was not a life form within the time loop world.
Now it was possible to remove the 'almost,' determining that he also came from the outside world.
"I just don't know what reason brought him into this time loop world as the target of my test? Was it also to cross from the twelfth to the thirteenth layer?"
Lin Yuan faintly sensed that the other was not a twelfth-layer life form, but he wasn't very sure.
After all, they had never fought, and their only meeting was just now when Lin Yuan, with the overwhelming momentum of replacing this world's consciousness, annihilated him without holding back.
In truth, Lin Yuan had won with considerable difficulty.
There was even the possibility of failure when replacing the world consciousness at the end.
Even with the right timing and location.
It still couldn't guarantee success.
This was considering that Lin Yuan could continuously observe future timelines through Rune Dao.
For an ordinary perfect twelfth-layer, falling into this loop world and facing the Da Feng emperor.
The only chance to pass the test and kill the opponent.
Was within twenty years before descending.
Recklessly infiltrating the palace, before the other released a substitute puppet to escape.
A fight to the death.
But this method held little hope.
Even Lin Yuan, as strong as he was after only twenty years of cultivation.
Charging into this world's most heavily guarded Da Feng palace.
Could easily be exhausted to death.
And this was after Lin Yuan successfully passed the test, knowing all of Da Feng emperor's tactics and layouts, gaining the only slight hope of passing the test.
Other perfect twelfth-layers couldn't accurately predict the future; expecting them to gamble everything in just twenty years of the loop's start?
No perfect twelfth-layer had that kind of nerve.
The more cautious a perfect twelfth-layer, the longer they would drag it out, waiting until their strength reached its peak before taking action.
Lin Yuan was such a person.
Yet if one truly did as such, it would essentially declare the time test a failure.
"Difficult."
Lin Yuan did a brief review and understood the difficulty faced in this time loop.
The supreme rule dao suppressed all means, including the technology Lin Yuan excelled in.
Even with the ability to observe future timelines, had he not established a power and detected Da Feng emperor's 'details' in time.
Lin Yuan might not have even attempted to replace the world consciousness with his own, 'seizing' it, and instead continued purely to search for traces of the Da Feng emperor.
While Lin Yuan was contemplating.
The world's collapse sped up.
Suddenly.
Lin Yuan's expression slightly changed.
He could clearly feel that as the world collapsed.
He was faintly being stripped of an imprint, disappearing along with the world's collapse.
Or rather, vanishing.
At the same time.
The supreme rule dao's fluctuations instantly descended.
Briefly communicated with Lin Yuan.
"In this time loop, my experiences will be replicated, becoming a tribulation that other tribulation-claimers must pass through as an imprint?"
Lin Yuan's expression turned a bit strange.
To put it simply—
The supreme rule dao considered Lin Yuan's performance in this time loop to be excellent, therefore specifically condensing an imprint to serve as a tribulation for tribulation-claimers like Da Feng emperor?
Lin Yuan had considerable experience in this regard, having gone through it once before.
When transitioning from the Spirit Realm to the Immortal Realm, one had to ascend to the Nine Heavens, and the Ninth Layer of Heaven gathered the imprints of the ten strongest life forms in the Spirit Realm's history; to enter the Immortal Realm, one had to defeat these ten strongest life form imprints.
When Lin Yuan ascended to the Nine Heavens, his own imprint became the last life form.
Also the strongest life form in the Spirit Realm's history.
This led to millions and millions of years passing without a single Immortal King entering the Immortal Realm.
"It's just an imprint, after all, it's not impossible to get through it…"
Lin Yuan contemplated from the opposite perspective, considering the biggest difference between the imprint and his true self.
It was the inability to use his final card, the World-Breaking Origin Force.
In this way, this imprint of Lin Yuan still had the possibility of being defeated.
That is to preemptively kill.
Based on Lin Yuan's performance in this cyclic world.
The further it goes, the more terrifying it becomes, especially more than a month before his life limit when he manages to replace the world consciousness.
Lin Yuan in this state is invincible; any number of tribulation passers would perish.
Therefore, to win, one must preemptively kill; if Lin Yuan is not killed within the first ten years,
then it can be declared that the tribulation would not be passed.
"So, does this mean the Emperor of Da Feng is the so-called 'tribulation passer'?"
Through a brief exchange with the Supreme Rule Dao, Lin Yuan also speculated some information.
For instance, the Emperor of Da Feng was different from him; Lin Yuan was trapped in the time loop world to undergo a test.
As for the Emperor of Da Feng, he was undergoing a tribulation, and his calamity was Lin Yuan.
And the test Lin Yuan had to face was the Emperor of Da Feng.
The two could ultimately only have one 'victor.'
If Lin Yuan fails the first time loop and doesn't kill the emperor before dying of old age,
he would have his memory erased and start the loop again. Then, the Emperor of Da Feng he would face could be just an imprint?
Normally, failing the test the first time, even with memory erased, the second loop would likely yield the same result.
Even though Lin Yuan had the World-Breaking Origin Force as his final card in reserve, he did not want to push the test to the second or third loop.
Who knows what his memory-erased self would think at that time? With countless martial cultivators outside as 'anchor points,' he could ascertain which cycle he roughly experienced, but it wasn't too safe.
So if he could pass the test in the first cycle, naturally he should pass in the first cycle.
As for cooperating with the Emperor of Da Feng for a 'win-win' situation? It's estimated that the Supreme Rule Dao wouldn't allow such a thing to happen.
…
"As compensation for replicating my experiences in this cyclic world, the Supreme Rule Dao promised that after I became a time life, I could witness the operation of the Taiyin Origin Dao and Taiyang Origin Dao?"
Lin Yuan felt delighted.
The Supreme Rule Dao, not even the world consciousness, instinctively maintains the balance of endless dimensional planes, not mindlessly replicating a Lin Yuan imprint.
It would give appropriate compensation for the exchange.
And Taiyin and Taiyang Origin Dao belonged to the Dao that time lives of the Thirteenth Stage must comprehend.
The path Lin Yuan was on—the Chaotic Taiji Dao—was self-created, and no endless dimensional plane had a corresponding complete Origin Dao for him to comprehend as a reference.
But as the two foundations of the Chaotic Taiji Dao, Taiyin and Taiyang were manifested in the endless dimensional planes as Taiyin Origin Dao and Taiyang Origin Dao.
Directly observing the operation of these two Origin Daos would be of tremendous assistance for Lin Yuan to break through to the Third Level of Chaotic Taiji Dao, forming the Chaos Taiji Origin Dao.
"I never thought the time loop test could have such benefits."
A smile appeared on Lin Yuan's face.
However, he also knew, to be actively replicated and recorded by the Supreme Rule Dao as a 'template' calamity,
the requirements were extremely stringent.
First, it must be calamitous enough to impose great pressure on those 'tribulation passers.'
And in this aspect, Lin Yuan clearly met the criteria.
In the last month or so of his lifetime, when Lin Yuan replaced the world consciousness, he achieved absolute invincibility, making it impossible for any 'tribulation passer' to rival him, even if hidden at the ends of the Earth.
Secondly, there must be a slim chance of life.
It can't be too unfathomable.
If Lin Yuan immediately used World-Breaking Origin Force to kill the Emperor of Da Feng upon arriving in the time loop world,
it would be entirely unfathomable for the tribulation passers, with no chance of survival.
Such a scenario would not be actively replicated and recorded by the Supreme Rule Dao.
…
"Tribulation passer? Is this another cultivation system or something else?" Lin Yuan was quite curious about the existence of the Emperor of Da Feng but also understood that this should count as secret information at the Thirteenth Stage level.
Once he stepped into the Thirteenth Stage and became a time life, perhaps he could have some contact?
As the cycle world rapidly disintegrated, Lin Yuan also perceived the true self repressed at the deepest part of the cycle world, or rather suppressed by it.
The so-called falling into a time loop was the true self being suppressed, with a wisp of moral consciousness entering the cycle world.
This was also the reason why the stronger the power, the larger the area formed for the time loop; an insufficiently large time loop could not suppress the corresponding true self.
"The heart returns."
With a subtle thought, the moral consciousness that passed the test instantly merged into his true self.
…
An area exceedingly distant from the Chaos Void.
This is the domain of a Time Lord, a Time Lord of the Twelfth Stage, Third Realm, who consolidates his own timeline. His domain is not limited to space, but extends to the temporal level as well.
A Time Lord's domain in itself symbolizes a certain deterrence.
Rumbling—In the deepest part of the domain, a massive tentacled creature lay, estimated to be nearly a tenth of the size of the Chaos Void, precisely the Time Lord within this territory.
At this moment, the tentacled creature's moral consciousness slowly awoke, revealing emotional waves of terror: "The final calamity of ten billion eight thousand tribulations, why is it so arduous?"
He had done everything possible to survive this trial, slumbering in the Original Divine Gold coffin, sinking to the depths of the ocean.
Yet, in the end, he still died.
"A trial against the consciousness of the world?"
Images flashed in the mind of the tentacle creature, finally sensing the power of the world itself crushing him.
"How can I get through this?"
The tentacle creature felt despair in his heart.
At the same time, he could clearly feel his own vast psychic consciousness rapidly annihilating.
Ten billion and eight thousand trials, with each one passed, his strength would increase slightly.
But the same way, if one trial was not passed, waiting for him would be complete death.
The psychic consciousness would dissipate.
Leaving not a trace.
"Transcendence! Transcendence! Without passing through ten billion and eight thousand trials, how can I transcend?"
The tentacle creature's aura spread, within the territory, heaven collapsed and earth cracked, time and space ceased to exist.
A moment later.
The tentacle creature gradually calmed down.
At this moment, most of his psychic consciousness had dispersed, with the rest dissipating at an ever-increasing rate.
The tentacle creature took one last look at his territory, and then the last wisp of psychic will completely dissipated.
Before the psychic will dissipated, the tentacle creature actively annihilated his own body.
Any strong being wouldn't want their body to be left behind after their death.
The body of a Time Lord contains many wonderful uses, making it into a puppet? Or absorbing/consuming it, etc.
And these uses, to the Lord themselves, are considered 'humiliation'.
So as long as it's possible, Lords will let their body self-annihilate before they die.
The Lord of Heaven Light from the second source world left behind both the dark and light bodies only because he didn't have time to self-annihilate.
In the attempt to break through to the fourteenth-stage Perfect Time Being, his psychic consciousness burned, the final push failed, dissipating too rapidly to leave the Lord of Heaven Light time to annihilate.
The immense tentacle creature experienced a hundred and eighty thousand trials, even if failing a trial, it doesn't result in immediate death, allowing time to settle posthumous matters.
…
The immense tentacle creature completely fell, causality dissipating.
This immediately drew the attention of nearby Time Lords.
"Has Lord Qingzhang…fallen?"
"Failed in the attempt to transcend?"
"I always knew that Lord Qingzhang's path to transcendence was bleak."
The Time Lords conversed with each other.
As Time Lords, as long as they don't wish to die, they won't die.
The only thing that can cause a Time Lord to completely fall and die is transcendence.
Transcendence is also what Time Lords pursue; only through transcendence can they break fate.
Thirteenth-stage Time Beings view future timelines, able to change the future to some extent, altering their own fate.
But the change here is minor, altering only minor fate, not the real grand fate that involves the ultimate fate of endless dimensional operations, which cannot be changed.
Therefore.
Every Time Lord pursues transcendence.
Among many paths to transcendence, transforming into a fourteenth-stage Perfect Time Being is the most orthodox method.
But this method is also the most difficult, so far there's no known Time Lord who has transcended successfully using this method.
Apart from transforming into a fourteenth-stage Perfect Time Being, there are several paths of transcendence, each Time Lord will choose based on their own conditions and strengths.
…
Chaos Void.
Lord Mo Xu and six other Time Beings gather with Luo Hou, the newly ascended Time Being.
"Those Time Beings from the Taixu dimension are truly insane, willing to risk everything for that Heart of Heavenly River." The human-headed serpent-bodied figure spoke, a hint of anger and helplessness in his tone.
Lately, all seven of them, the Time Beings, have primarily been at the Milky Way dimension, battling with the Time Beings of the Taixu dimension.
But the results were not very satisfactory, as the Time Beings from the Taixu dimension showed no mercy.
"If they show no mercy, we don't need to either."
Lord Mo Xu's face carried a menacing air.
As the strongest Time Being in Chaos Void, Lord Mo Xu and the Master of Taixu from the Taixu dimension had yet to join the battle.
After all, if Time Beings of their level join in, it signifies the escalation of the slaughter.
But the actions of the Time Beings from the Taixu dimension made Lord Mo Xu very dissatisfied.
The Heart of Heavenly River was initially discovered by them, and to acquire it, the seven Time Beings from Chaos Void had already negotiated with other factions in the Milky Way dimension.
However, the interference from the Taixu dimension was not only unsolicited but also merciless.
"Do you need me to make a move?" Luo Hou asked in a low voice beside him.
Being a newly ascended thirteenth-stage, he was still stabilizing his realm in Chaos Void.
He had not yet gone to the Milky Way dimension.
"Not urgent for now."
Lord Mo Xu shook his head.
The situation in the Milky Way dimension is not too dire yet.
It's not Luo Hou's turn, a newly ascended Time Being, to take action.
Moreover, with Luo Hou's current strength, even if he takes action, it wouldn't be very useful.
Newly ascended Time Beings lack proficiency in mastering their power and future timelines.
There is still a large gap compared to the seven veteran Time Beings.
"Your primary focus now is to stabilize your realm."
Lord Mo Xu said.
"Alright."
Luo Hou nodded.
Having crossed into the thirteenth stage over a century, he was gradually adapting to the real means of thirteenth-stage Time Beings.
"Three days later…"
Lord Mo Xu was about to discuss strategies with the other six Time Beings to deal with the Time Beings from the Taixu dimension.
It was at this moment—
Lord Mo Xu's expression slightly changed.
Turning his head towards the deepest part of the Chaos Void.
The other six time lifeforms did the same.
The newly ascended Shisan Rank Luo Hou also looked towards the deepest part of the Chaos Void.
That area used to be the time cycle zone, and since the Chaos Void was opened up, all lifeforms attempting to reach the Shisan Rank have fallen into that region.
Not long ago, Lin Yuan began his breakthrough, forming the largest time cycle zone ever recorded deep in the Chaos Void, an expanse larger than all previous zones.
And now.
The eight Shisan Rank time lifeforms clearly felt the time cycle zone in the deepest part of the Chaos Void vibrating.
The vibration was so intense that even the Great Saints of the Chaos Void became aware of it and looked towards the source of the tremor.
"It's the time cycle zone of the Galaxy."
Lord Mo Xu immediately concluded; such vast and exaggerated quaking could almost only be attributed to Lin Yuan, as there were hardly any other possibilities.
It's worth noting that when Luo Hou successfully broke through the time cycle, the tremor it caused was comparable to a tiny ripple compared to the current monumental waves.
"Is it that the Galaxy Great Saint is about to cross into the Shisan Rank as well?"
Luo Hou marveled inwardly; he had long known from Lord Mo Xu and other seven time lifeforms about Lin Yuan's inevitable entry into the Shisan Rank.
He just hadn't expected it to happen this fast.
How long has it been since Lin Yuan started choosing to break through to the Shisan Rank?
Not even two hundred years.
"Let's go."
"Let's wait for the Galaxy to come out."
Lord Mo Xu glanced at the other seven time lifeforms and immediately headed towards the deepest part of the Chaos Void.
…
Returning his consciousness to his body, Lin Yuan's life essence immediately began to transform towards the Shisan Rank.
The strand of consciousness that had passed the test already evolved to the Shisan Rank at the moment the time cycle world began to collapse.
Returning to his body now, like a drop of ink into clear water, Lin Yuan's life essence rapidly transformed, rising at a terrifying pace.
The elevation of life essence made Lin Yuan's perspective suddenly become exceptionally broad.
Standing high enables one to see far.
Why can time lifeforms observe future timelines?
It's their life essence itself, observing timelines is instinctual for the Shisan Rank, like fish born to swim.
And at this moment.
Lin Yuan also possessed this instinct.
He no longer relied on the Rune Dao, nor on the lord's position.
He could effortlessly observe the future timelines.
Compared to someone like Luo Hou, a newly ascended time lifeform,
Lin Yuan was already proficient in observing timelines.
Thus, there wasn't the need for familiarity.
"Is this the timeline with a normal view?"
Lin Yuan, observing the timeline through his life essence for the first time, felt unprecedented ease.
"In combination with the Rune Dao?"
Runes subtly emerged in Lin Yuan's eyes.
In an instant, the number and depth of timelines he observed increased significantly.
In a split second, he had viewed several thousand future timelines a million years ahead.
"Endless timelines, fundamentally impossible to see them all."
Upon reaching the Shisan Rank, Lin Yuan sensed a certain sense of smallness.
Like life on a planet first touching the vast starry sky.
Countless timelines intertwined, every time node spawning countless timelines, limitless and boundless.
Even powerful time lifeforms could only change future timelines in a small area, and must contend with other time lifeforms; compared to the infinite timelines, what does the slight change made by time lifeforms represent?
"Lord's position?"
Lin Yuan stopped observing future timelines.
Instead, he began to feel something existing within him.
The lord position of the Lord of Heaven Light.
Before stepping into the Shisan Rank, Lin Yuan had little perception of the lord position.
Could only use it passively.
But now, with his life essence transformed.
Lin Yuan clearly sensed the presence of the lord position.
"The lord position is condensed from a Tao Fruit of a Time Lord, not every fallen Time Lord can form a lord position." Lin Yuan thought to himself.
The lord position of the Lord of Heaven Light, strictly speaking, was not condensed out, but rather dispersed into the bodies of all beings in the second Source World.
It was Lin Yuan who relied on the uniqueness of the Martial Arts Evolution Road, spending tens of thousands of years to re-condense it.
Other powerhouses, even the Eternal Lords, have no way to condense the shattered lord position from the depths of billions of beings' bloodlines.
If they could, the Eternal Lords in the second Source World would have laid some groundwork for it.
"Based on my comprehension of the Rune Dao, as long as I am willing, I can refine this lord position in a short time and become a Time Lord."
Lin Yuan felt the aura of the lord position within him, coming to this conclusion.
And through observing timelines of actively refining this lord position, he knew the time it would take to completely refine it.
Fifty thousand years.
It would only take fifty thousand years for him to inherit everything about this lord position.
Become the new Time Lord.
"But…"
Lin Yuan gently shook his head.
If he really did so, Lin Yuan would completely abandon the current Chaotic Taiji Dao, turning to follow the path of the Lord of Heaven Light.
The path the Lord of Heaven Light took to become a Time Lord is certainly perfect, but the Chaotic Taiji Dao is a path created by Lin Yuan himself, born of his own effort.
Naturally, it is impossible to give up.
And the Lord of Heaven Light failed to become a Perfect Time Being when impacting the Fourteenth Rank, proving that his path cannot reach the Fourteenth Rank level.
Lin Yuan certainly would not abandon the Chaotic Taiji Dao to walk a dead-end road.
"Even without refining the lord position, the ability to drive and use it to observe future timelines aids me more than most Second Realm time lifeforms."
Lin Yuan thought to himself.
When he was at the Twelfth Rank, the lord position made observing future timelines much easier, and now his life essence reaches the Shisan Rank, coaxing greater power from the lord position.
"Are Lord Mo Xu and the others waiting for me?"
Lin Yuan slightly opened up his perception and sensed the presence of the eight time lifeforms.
"Let's quickly complete the final breakthrough."
Lin Yuan looked towards the Chaos Void.
Breaking through the time cycle merely signifies his life essence reaching the Shisan Rank.
As for aspects like his physical body, spirit, and soul, they still remain at the Twelfth Rank level.
More accurately, it's between the Twelfth Rank and Shisan Rank level, though Lin Yuan's physical strength had long reached the threshold of the Shisan Rank, this large realm crossover still allows for great enhancement.
"And also…"
Lin Yuan looked towards the suppressive Chaos Void.
This dimensional space in the Chaos Void grants an Origin Source infusion to every life that comprehends the Rule of Time and undergoes a major breakthrough.
The amount of Origin Source capacity depends entirely on oneself.
Rumble—Lin Yuan felt the entire Chaos Void vibrating as it began actively absorbing the energy aura from the dimensional gaps around it.
The next moment.
Endless Chaos Void Origin Source poured down frantically towards Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan's internal universe rapidly evolved, and the endless Constant Sand Particle World quickly transformed, continuously absorbing and devouring the infused Chaos Void Origin Source.
"What is this?"
Originally waiting for Lin Yuan to emerge, Lord Mo Xu and the eight time lifeforms were somewhat dumbfounded watching the entire Chaos Void Origin Source being boundlessly consumed by Lin Yuan.