Chapter 597: Broken Universe

There are eighty-one Chaotic Mystery Diagrams in total.

These eighty-one mystery diagrams were bestowed by the Fiery Sun First Ancestor, completely exhausting the subtle mysteries of the essential pulse and veins of the Chaos Rules.

The twenty-seventh Chaotic Mystery Diagram was the last of the eighteen mystery diagrams for the Second Level of the Chaotic Realm. Comprehending this mystery diagram completely meant that one's comprehension of the Chaos Rules had reached the Peak of the Second Stage.

"So that's how it is."

Lin Yuan felt joyful in his heart. Originally, when viewing this Chaotic Mystery Diagram, there were still many parts he couldn't understand.

But now, he no longer had any doubts. Every strand of entwined Chaos Qi appeared so wonderful and simple in Lin Yuan's eyes.

"The Fiery Sun First Ancestor."

Lin Yuan sighed in emotional admiration. Stripping away the essential pulse and veins of the Chaos Rules and displaying them in the form of mystery diagrams—such a method was simply unbelievable.

"However, even with such favorable cultivation conditions, the Blazing Sun Ancient Kingdom still hasn't produced a single Thirteenth Order expert in endless ages…"

Lin Yuan couldn't help but feel pressure.

In fact, from the birth of this Origin World until now, there were only six known Thirteen Step Time Lifeforms born, who respectively opened up the Six Ancient Kingdoms.

Aside from the very first Thirteen Step Time Lifeform, of the remaining five Thirteen Step Time Lifeforms, three originated from the Ancient Kingdom created by that initial Thirteenth Order, and two were from another Ancient Kingdom.

And the Blazing Sun Ancient Kingdom?

It had not produced any Thirteenth Order other than its First Ancestor.

"As long as the Celestial Reverends of the Blazing Sun Ancient Kingdom have lived long enough, they can basically accumulate a hundred billion merits to possess the First Ancestor once, or even twice or thrice. Furthermore, they would basically comprehend all eighty-one Chaotic Mystery Diagrams."

Lin Yuan thought silently to himself.

A hundred billion merits seemed far out of reach in the short term, but calculating at one hundred merits for every ten thousand years spent guarding a first-rate treasure land…

It would only require guarding it for ten trillion years. For the Celestial Reverends, ten trillion years was not considered long.

What's more, during every all-out war between the Ancient Kingdoms, as long as the Celestial Reverends took action, they would receive merit rewards.

"Forget it."

"It's too early to think about these things now."

Lin Yuan composed himself. Currently, he was only in the Sovereign Realm. Attempting to charge for the Thirteenth Order was something he would only consider upon reaching Perfection in the Chaos Realm at the very least.

"Let's look at the twenty-eighth Chaotic Mystery Diagram."

With a slight thought, a new 'diagram' appeared before Lin Yuan.

Starting from the twenty-eighth, the eighty-one Chaotic Mystery Diagrams expounded upon the subtle mysteries of the Third Realm of the Chaos Rules.

Encompassing the Third Realm of Chaos with fifty-four mystery diagrams showed just how obscure and difficult the Chaos Rules at this level were.

[Your Comprehension Ability is Heaven-Defying. By viewing the Chaotic Mystery Diagram, your comprehension of the Chaos Rules has increased.]

After comprehending for only a short moment, Lin Yuan felt that the essence of the Chaos Rules contained in this Chaotic Mystery Diagram exceeded the sum of the previous twenty-seven diagrams.

"How wonderful, how beautiful."

Lin Yuan observed and comprehended carefully, while estimating that the time needed to fully comprehend this mystery diagram would be roughly a thousand years.

In other words, barring any accidents, Lin Yuan's attainments and comprehension in Chaos Rules would reach the Third Realm of Chaos in a thousand years.

Chaos Void.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

"The Peak of the Second Level of the Chaotic Realm."

A smile appeared on Lin Yuan's face. "I can try to evolve the Chaotic Yin-Yang Taiji Power now."

Evolving a path of power exclusive to oneself through Chaos Rules was something that could only be accomplished at the Great Saint level in the Chaos Void.

That Lin Yuan could attempt it now was entirely because his Foundation of rule comprehension was too profound.

One must know that even in that Origin World where rule comprehension far surpassed the Chaos Void, one would have to reach the Great Venerable level to have any hope of evolving an exclusive path of Chaos power.

But Lin Yuan?

He was already starting to attempt it while still in the Sovereign Realm.

In fact, if not for the extreme difficulty of evolving Chaotic Yin-Yang Taiji Power and its high requirements for Chaos Rule comprehension, Lin Yuan could have attempted it back in the Dao Realm.

Compared to pure Chaos Fire, Chaos Shadows, or Chaos Lifeforms…

Chaotic Yin-Yang Taiji was a brand-new power born from the Fusion of two completely different paths.

Internal Universe.

Lin Yuan's figure condensed into existence.

Rumble.

A vast amount of Chaos Qi gathered before him like a Chaos ocean, with scalding hot and frigid cold aura endlessly churning deep within the ocean.

"Hmm…"

"With the comprehension at the Peak of the Second Level of the Chaotic Realm, I can indeed evolve the Chaotic Yin-Yang Taiji Power, but in terms of speed…"

Lin Yuan sensed it briefly and discovered that it would take at least ten million years to successfully evolve it.

Ten million years?

Although ten million years was nothing to Lin Yuan—after stepping into the Twelfth Order, there was no longer any so-called Lifespan restriction—ten million years was still far too long.

How long had it been since he became an Evolver?

"Using comprehension of the Peak of the Second Level of the Chaotic Realm to evolve Chaotic Yin-Yang Taiji is still a bit forced, which is why it takes ten million years. If my comprehension of Chaos Rules reaches the Third Realm, the evolution time would likely be greatly reduced…"

Lin Yuan looked thoughtful.

For Chaotic Yin-Yang Taiji Power, Chaos was the Foundation, the container. The higher one's comprehension of the Chaos Rules, the shorter the time needed to evolve the Yin-Yang Taiji Power.

The Peak of the Second Level of the Chaotic Realm required ten million years to evolve Chaotic Yin-Yang Taiji Power.

If he had comprehension at the Third Realm of Chaos, it would probably only take ten thousand years.

Going a step further to reach the Peak comprehension level of the Third Realm of Chaos? It would probably only take a thousand to a few thousand years.

"Take it slow."

"I'm in no rush. Even if it really takes ten million years, I can afford to wait."

Lin Yuan nodded slightly, thinking to himself.

"However, that black jade's help toward mental will is indeed significant. Only half a year has passed, and my mental will index has increased by at least five million points, reaching seventy-five million."

Lin Yuan thought to himself.

No wonder the Black Jade Nest was a first-rate treasure land. The First Ancestor of the Blazing Sun Ancient Kingdom was a Thirteen Step Time Lifeform. What kind of treasures had those Great Venerables and Celestial Reverends not seen?

Even so, they still scrambled to temporarily guard the Black Jade Nest, which showed the effectiveness of the black jade.

"However, gaining five million points in mental will index in half a year is probably because I just began making contact with the black jade. Later on, wanting to increase by this much will take far longer than half a year."

Lin Yuan had never used black jade before, which was why he was able to obtain such a massive boost.

The reason Chiyang Heavenly Venerate readily gave up the Black Jade Nest was, firstly, that he didn't want to offend Lin Yuan, and secondly, that the hidden flaws in his mental will had basically been made whole, so black jade no longer had much effect on him.

"Once I accumulate surplus black jade, I can bring it to the Chaos Void and sell it to those Venerables and Great Saints."

Lin Yuan thought silently. At least so far, he had never heard of any treasure or rare artifact in the Chaos Void that raised mental will in such a manner.

Previously, when Lin Yuan traversed and descended to the Boundless Void using the Gate of Myriad Realms, killing Void Creatures inside the Void Secret Realm could also increase mental will strength.

But that kind of boost had an upper limit, capping out at forty to fifty million points at most.

How could it compare to black jade, which had significant effects even on the mental will of the Celestial Reverend level?

Between the Yi Yun Void Domain and the Anbo Void Domain…

…lay a vast expanse of Barren Void.

The so-called Barren Void was a general term referring to the region between two Void Domains.

A Void Domain was a region dense with Chaos Qi, suitable for living beings to Cultivate and survive, where Experts were more easily birthed under the nourishment of Chaos Qi.

Meanwhile, in the Barren Void between Void Domains, Chaos Qi was thin, and Experts were rarely stationed there permanently.

If the Chaos Void were compared to an ocean, then the Void Domains were islands within the ocean, while the Barren Void was the seawater occupying ninety-nine percent of the ocean's area.

Simply put, in the boundless Chaos Void, the Barren Void occupied the vast majority of the expanse.

Right at this moment.

Terrifying aura fluctuations suddenly erupted from the originally dead silent Barren Void.

A fiery red aura and an aura of endless dark shadows collided continuously, sending out shockwaves that spread in all directions.

Born Universes nurtured by the Chaos Void were thereby driven into premature Great Annihilation.

"Nine Phoenix, just what will it take for you to stop?"

The source representing the aura of endless dark shadows—namely the Shadow Demon Great Saint—spoke once more.

When other Chaos Realm Experts broke through to the Great Saint level, who amongst them was not congratulated by other Great Saints? Yet for him, Shadow Demon Great Saint, shortly after becoming a Great Saint, he was pursued and hunted by Nine Phoenix Great Saint.

This had continued all the way until now.

This left the Shadow Demon Great Saint bitterly aggrieved. If this continued, how was he supposed to Cultivate?

"Stop?"

Nine Phoenix Great Saint sneered. "As long as you can resurrect all my kinsmen, I will stop. How about it? Can you do it?"

"That is impossible."

Shadow Demon Great Saint shook his head.

As a Born Wonder Lifeform, Nine Phoenix Great Saint's kinsmen had basically all stepped into the Twelfth Order, escaping the shackles of the River of Time. How could they be resurrected?

Escaping the shackles of the River of Time indeed broke the constraints of Lifespan, but it also meant losing the chance to be resurrected.

"Hmph."

Nine Phoenix Great Saint gave no reply, turning instead to blast at Shadow Demon Great Saint with Chaos Fire filled with infinite vitality.

Shadow Demon Great Saint's figure blurred, and that strand of Chaos Fire blasted into the distant Barren Void.

However…

Bang!

A faint tearing sound echoed.

The location hit by the Chaos Fire abruptly revealed a fragment of ruined space-time, presenting itself as if it were a corner of a colossal world.

Wisps of Xuanhuang Qi expanded and curled in the air.

"That is…?"

Nine Phoenix Great Saint and Shadow Demon Great Saint immediately noticed this scene and, with rare tacit understanding, stopped their hands to observe the revealed corner of space-time.

"This fragment of space-time should be one of the entrances to some Universe. It was originally hidden deep within space-time, but revealed itself under my strike?"

Nine Phoenix Great Saint was alarmed and uncertain.

"It's not a born Universe, but an Acquired Universe created later. Only at least a Peerless Great Saint—or even an expert among Peerless Great Saints—could open up such a vast Universe."

Shadow Demon Great Saint likewise discerned a great deal.

In the Chaos Void, Universes were divided into two types.

First were born Universes, which were Universes nurtured by the Chaos Void.

Second were Acquired Universes, which were Universes opened up by beings at the Peerless Great Saint level.

Acquired Universes could not possess the indelible trait of born Universes, but in terms of intrinsic depth and Foundation, they surpassed the latter by countless folds.

After all, it was created by a Peerless Great Saint.

When a Peerless Great Saint opened up an Acquired Universe, they could establish their own rules within it, usually using it as their lair.

"An Opportunity—this is a massive Opportunity!"

Shadow Demon Great Saint was wildly delighted in his heart. A Universe opened up by a Peerless Great Saint? Especially judging by the current situation, this Peerless Great Saint was likely no longer around; otherwise, it would have been absolutely impossible for a corner of it to be blasted open by them.

Venerable Gu Ming Chaos Continent, Star Tear Fragment World.

Lin Yuan was sitting cross-legged, comprehending the twenty-eighth Chaotic Mystery Diagram.

Suddenly…

Right at that moment…

Lin Yuan's expression changed slightly.

With a flip of his right hand, an animal hide appeared.

The animal hide floated up and drifted, actively emanating an inexplicable aura, while the mysterious map on its surface faintly flickered with light.