In the dimensional rift, Wan Chengkong and Mother of the Screw Realm sat across from each other, sipping fine wine as they chatted.
As Second Realm time lifeforms in this area of the dimensional rift,
Wan Chengkong and Mother of the Screw Realm stood at the pinnacle, renowned among the surrounding time lifeforms.
Second Realm time lifeforms, though unlike Time Lords, lacked the means to utterly annihilate time lifeforms.
Yet, few First Realm time lifeforms dared to provoke, making enemies with Second Realm time lifeforms, risking death or relentless pursuit.
"Who would have thought that 'Galaxy' is a time lifeform within the dimensional space? Without even experiencing a great apocalypse, already a Second Realm?"
Wan Chengkong's expression was wistful.
Recently, the Milky Way dimension produced a Third Realm lord material, attracting two Second Realm time lifeforms to compete over it.
One Second Realm time lifeform, named 'Gray Ancestor,' came from a distant rift region, familiar to Mother of the Screw Realm and Wan Chengkong.
But another Second Realm time lifeform, 'Galaxy'? Mother of the Screw Realm and Wan Chengkong had no impression of it.
Originally, they thought 'Galaxy' came from an even more distant dimensional rift region, thus unknown to them.
As for why the time lifeform in the Chaos Void could invite such a Second Realm time lifeform…
Perhaps it was a fortuitous encounter, or for other reasons, speculated Mother of the Screw Realm and Wan Chengkong.
They weren't very surprised.
But as the Milky Way dimension was taken over by the Chaos Void dimension, news of 'Galaxy' spread.
This Second Realm 'Galaxy' was also from the Chaos Void.
This left Mother of the Screw Realm and Wan Chengkong a bit dumbfounded, not knowing how many eras and hardships they endured after their home dimensional space's great apocalypse, constantly strategizing against other time lifeforms, analyzing various timelines.
Only then did they finally manage to comprehend their own Chaotic Origin Dao and step into the Second Realm.
And yet 'Galaxy' was already Second Realm within their home dimensional space?
Wan Chengkong felt somewhat uneasy, having recently sought out Lin Yuan, hoping to collaborate on exploring a special dimensional space.
However, Lin Yuan had yet to respond, leaving Wan Chengkong somewhat disappointed.
"Encountering a time lifeform that entered the Second Realm within a great apocalypse cycle is truly unbelievable," said Mother of the Screw Realm.
In this vast dimensional rift region, Second Realm time lifeforms are numerous, but those entering the Second Realm within a great apocalypse cycle are incredibly rare.
At least, Mother of the Screw Realm and Wan Chengkong had only heard of such types of Second Realm time lifeforms, rarer even than Time Lords.
First Realm to Second Realm requires comprehending one's own Chaotic Origin Dao, which as a fundamental level Dao, must be applicable to most parts of the dimensional rift region.
This requires time lifeforms to experience various dimensional spaces, traversing the vast dimensional rift region, making it difficult to comprehend an 'applicable' Origin Dao confined to a single dimensional space.
This is why almost all Second Realm time lifeforms only achieve such understanding after leaving their home dimensional space and comprehending other dimensional spaces.
This is the norm for Second Realm time lifeforms.
"For 'Galaxy' to repel Gray Ancestor, its strength must be formidable among Second Realm time lifeforms," Wan Chengkong remarked.
At least, he lacked confidence in making Gray Ancestor retreat; perhaps other factors, like not wanting to fully engage to prevent Mother of the Screw Realm and himself from capitalizing, contributed to Gray Ancestor's retreat.
"Very formidable," Mother of the Screw Realm nodded.
They once spent ten pounds of Time Sand to purchase detailed information on conflicts involving Lin Yuan from Gray Ancestor.
Understanding the terrors of this Second Realm time lifeform, Gray Ancestor retreated not from hesitation but from simply feeling overpowered, avoiding further loss in battle.
"Huh? It's unexpected for a madman like you to rate it so highly?" Wan Chengkong eyed Mother of the Screw Realm.
Mother of the Screw Realm's madness was notorious among Second Realm time lifeforms.
"But no matter how strong, becoming a lord still requires time," Wan Chengkong stated.
Comprehending the Chaotic Origin Dao might involve insight or other factors, but entering the Third Realm and consolidating all personal timelines allows no shortcuts.
The future timelines are riddled with countless variables, and attempting to consolidate them traps many Second Realm peak time lifeforms.
"Indeed."
Mother of the Screw Realm nodded in agreement.
Among the vast dimensional rift, those entering Second Realm within a great apocalypse cycle often endured as much time becoming Time Lords as other Second Realm lifeforms.
"Hahaha, thinking about it this way makes me feel much better."
Wan Chengkong's face broke into a smile.
Imagining an abnormality like 'Galaxy' also needing to patiently streamline its timelines, possibly entangled in a single timeline for tens, hundreds, or thousands of great apocalypse cycles.
Wan Chengkong found a semblance of balance.
…
Chaos Void.
After discerning the essence of the Origin Dao of the Milky Way dimension, Lin Yuan returned to the Chaos Void in person.
"Future self."
Lin Yuan carefully observed his future timelines, with his future self guiding each timeline to quickly converge and consolidate.
"At the current rate of convergence, it will take approximately fifty to one hundred thousand years to fully consolidate, marking my true ascension to lordship."
Lin Yuan pondered in his mind.
Of course, now he is essentially no different from a lord, perhaps even surpassing ordinary lords.
But ultimately, he is not yet a lord, having not experienced the realm transcendence or the essence of life transcendence post-becoming a lord.
"Once the 'Three World Method' is mastered, it can almost be said to guarantee becoming a lord."
Lin Yuan thought to himself.
Once the past self, present self, and future self are gathered, even without doing anything, under the instinctive operation of the three selves, multiple timelines will naturally align and converge.
"However, mastering the 'Three World Method' is far more difficult than becoming a lord."
Lin Yuan shook his head slightly.
Not to mention the most challenging future self, even just the past self, was more difficult to gather than becoming a lord. Lin Yuan awakened the ninth type of Physical Body Divine Ability by utilizing the fundamental power deep in his bloodline and observing the operation of the illusory world before gathering it.
Thereafter, by using the past and present selves to anchor the future self and the Three-Life Immortal Emperor's teachings of the Three World Method, he finally managed to gather the future self.
Even for Lin Yuan, mastering the 'Three World Method' was so challenging. Other Second Realm time beings can't even think about it, and even among Third Realm time lords, those who have mastered it are very rare.
Otherwise, given the 'Three World Method's advantage in exploring the 'infinite origin,' the other two Immortal Emperors of the Great Wilderness Origin World should have mastered it early on.
In reality, neither Dao You Immortal Emperor nor Emperor Wu Yu have mastered the 'Three World Method.'
"Three-Life Immortal Emperor actually passed on such a precious secret technique to me without reservation."
Lin Yuan felt somewhat emotional; even if other lords could not master it, this secret technique inheritance could enhance one's ability to explore the 'infinite origin,' leaving no doubt about its preciousness.
"Since it is possible to step into the Third Realm after fifty thousand or hundred thousand years, now is the time to consider matters post-becoming a lord."
Lin Yuan's expression became slightly solemn.
Gray Ancestor is only a Second Realm time being, yet he is attempting to plan for Third Realm lord-tier materials, the Heart of Heavenly River, to prepare for his future.
Let alone Lin Yuan?
Compared to the First Realm, Second Realm, time lords in the Third Realm have so much to accomplish, and besides becoming a Perfect Time Being, the other two paths are extremely time-consuming.
Endless tribulations require crossing tens of billions of tribulations, and the infinite origin is even without an end.
Lin Yuan does not plan to attempt becoming a Perfect Time Being; it's too risky, failure means death.
Thus, he is destined to remain at the time lord stage for an extended period.
"Since I plan to attempt the endless tribulations, I must improve my power as much as possible."
Lin Yuan thought inwardly.
The path of endless tribulations requires passing various tests set by Supreme Rule Dao awareness.
According to the Three-Life Immortal Emperor, each lord faces different tribulation tests, and even the same tribulation stage presents different tests.
As for the test content, it's even stranger, some tests require traveling to special places to kill a life form, and some require going to the past time-space to prevent certain events from happening.
Therefore, to pass the tests, strength must be sustained.
Because most tests are related to strength.
The stronger the strength, the higher the possibility of overcoming tribulations.
And enhancing strength… the simplest means is through weapons.
Before the Second Realm, Lin Yuan had hardly used weapons, relying instead on sheer power.
But upon reaching the Third Realm, facing time lords with unpredictable abilities, strong weapons are needed.
"Origin Clock."
Lin Yuan flipped his right hand, and a palm-sized ancient clock floated above his palm.
This is the natal weapon Lin Yuan refined during his weaker days, and since becoming a time being, he has re-refined the Origin Clock several times, allowing it to also evolve to the thirteenth tier level.
However, to reach a level useful to Lin Yuan, it must at least be a lord-tier weapon.
"Lord-tier…"
Lin Yuan looked at the Origin Clock in his palm, "I need a large amount of Third Realm lord-grade materials."
The previously acquired lord-grade material, the Heart of Heavenly River, is far from sufficient to fulfill the Origin Clock's evolution to Third Realm needs, so Lin Yuan still needs to collect a large amount of lord-tier materials.
The Origin Clock, being Lin Yuan's natal weapon, can provide him far more help than other lord-tier weapons if it evolves to lord-grade.
Even if the Origin Clock only evolves to the Second Realm, it wouldn't be weaker than ordinary lord-grade weapons.
"Besides normally collecting, I can also trade with other lords."
Lin Yuan thought to himself; even time lords have needs and will engage in numerous transactions.
Of course, to secure lord-grade materials through trade, corresponding tier treasures must be exchanged.
…
Chaos Qi drifted around.
Lord Mo Xu looked at the newly ascended time being, Luo Hou: "How stable is the realm?"
"Almost there." Luo Hou nodded.
As a newly ascended time being, the first thing to do is to stabilize the realm and adapt to the new power.
The leap from the Twelfth Layer to the Thirteenth Layer is the transition from a non-time being to a time being; the perspective of the latter is completely different from the former.
"That works."
Lord Mo Xu smiled and said, "I'll take you to see the Galaxy and see if we can let you enter the Milky Way dimension for comprehension."
Although the Milky Way dimension is controlled by the Chaos Void, the actual ownership remains with Lin Yuan and other time beings. If one wants to take a new time being in, it is necessary to obtain Lin Yuan's consent.
"The Milky Way dimension?"
Luo Hou felt slightly excited.
The battle in the Milky Way dimension not long ago, where the Chaos Void's "Galaxy" repelled the mysterious Second Realm time being "Gray Ancestor," was naturally known to Luo Hou.
"Though the Galaxy became a time being after you, you must not have any conflict with it."
Lord Mo Xu reminded.
"Understood."
Luo Hou, of course, was aware.
Quickly.
Lord Mo Xu took Luo Hou to see Lin Yuan.
"Galaxy." Lord Mo Xu greeted, looking at the young man sitting cross-legged in the void. To Lord Mo Xu, every time line of this young man was vague and led to an endless future.
One by one, these indistinct time lines vaguely led to the same future, leaving Lord Mo Xu in awe.
"Is this the 'Galaxy'? Who just repelled a Second Realm time being not long ago?"
Luo Hou marveled secretly and also wondered why there was such a vast difference between the First Realm and the Second Realm, as even now he felt that a mere glance from Lin Yuan could gravely injure him.
"What's the matter?"
Lin Yuan opened his eyes and looked at Lord Mo Xu and Luo Hou.
In fact, the moment he saw these two time beings, Lin Yuan knew their purpose.
The future time lines of the two First Realm time beings were clearly visible to Lin Yuan.
"Luo Hou has stabilized his realm; I plan to take him to the Milky Way dimension."
Lord Mo Xu immediately said.
"Oh?"
Lin Yuan nodded, "Comprehending the operation of the Milky Way dimension's Dao Origin in advance is beneficial for understanding one's own Origin Dao."
"Thank you, 'Galaxy'."
Luo Hou felt elated; now that he was heading to the Milky Way dimension, it was different from before.
Previously going to the Milky Way dimension meant competing with other time being factions, but now? The entire Milky Way dimension belongs to the Chaos Void, belongs to the Galaxy. Going to the Milky Way dimension now allows one to enjoy the greatest benefits directly.
This was also the reason why Lord Mo Xu came to seek Lin Yuan's permission.
"No problem."
"You and I both come from the same dimensional space."
Lin Yuan smiled.
He considered himself unable to offer help to time beings from the same dimensional space like the Three-Life Immortal Emperor did.
But as long as it did not affect him, lending a helping hand was possible. The Milky Way dimension now was of no use to Lin Yuan, so allowing Luo Hou to go there to comprehend was merely a simple favor.
Watching Lord Mo Xu and Luo Hou depart.
Lin Yuan once again closed himself off to cultivate.
"Past self?"
Lin Yuan looked towards the past, beginning to have his past self explore against the flow of the time line.
The perfect time beings and countless tribulations in the three transcendent paths all require Lord-level capabilities to attempt.
But the Infinite Origin? With Lin Yuan's Three-Life techniques, he could explore it in advance.
Exploring the past was not just for the 'Infinite Origin' transcendent path.
Other time lords' messages could also be found there.
Now, the future can easily change, bringing variables.
The past, however, is constant, making it the meeting place for time lords' communications.
Lin Yuan wants to evolve the Origin Clock to a lord-level weapon, undoubtedly needing to trade with other lords.
And the easiest way to meet other lords is to go to a specific time and space in the past.