Chapter 731: “Cheat”

"Young Lord, you're awake?"

As Lin Yuan was deep in thought, a pleasantly surprised voice reached his ears.

Lin Yuan looked up and saw the Hunchbacked Old Man staring at him with great joy.

The Hunchbacked Old Man's gray hair was exceptionally disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot—he clearly hadn't rested in a long time—yet his entire body exuded a chilling aura, like a venomous snake ready to strike.

However, the Hunchbacked Old Man's gaze toward Lin Yuan held no chill at all, filled only with joy.

"Third Uncle."

Lin Yuan nodded toward the Hunchbacked Old Man.

Nominally, the Hunchbacked Old Man was an old servant of Lin Yuan's father, the Sect Leader of the Red Lotus Sect.

In reality, the two shared a profound bond, addressing each other as brothers in private, and Lin Yuan even called the Hunchbacked Old Man "Third Uncle".

The reason Lin Yuan was able to escape the encirclement of the Great Feng Dynasty's imperial army this time, apart from his father attracting most of the attention, was also the result of the Hunchbacked Old Man desperately stepping in to save him, even ending up acting as bait to actively lure away the imperial pursuers.

Without the Hunchbacked Old Man, the original body would never have been able to wake up.

"Young Lord, the Sect Leader is dead."

The Hunchbacked Old Man said in a low voice, his gaze filled with sorrow.

"Mm."

Lin Yuan nodded.

His expression was also somewhat heavy.

Once the Sect Leader of the Red Lotus Sect died, the imperial court's subsequent target for pursuit would fall entirely on him.

Even with the Hunchbacked Old Man protecting him with his life, wanting to stay alive moving forward certainly wouldn't be easy.

"But with me here, Young Lord can rest easy."

The Hunchbacked Old Man said solemnly, "Even if I die, I will die before the Young Lord."

"Don't say such discouraging words."

Lin Yuan shook his head and asked, "What are your plans for the future?"

Compared to his original self, the Hunchbacked Old Man naturally had much more experience.

"I plan to take the Young Lord to defect to the Yongzhou Branch of the Red Lotus Sect; it should still be relatively safe there, and the imperial court won't be able to pursue us temporarily."

The Hunchbacked Old Man said in a deep voice.

"The Yongzhou Branch of the Red Lotus Sect?"

Lin Yuan nodded slightly.

In his memory, the branch master of this branch was utterly loyal to his father.

Now that the Sect Leader of the Red Lotus Sect had died in the imperial encirclement, the members of the Red Lotus Sect were panic-stricken.

Defecting to the Yongzhou Branch at this time was indeed a good choice.

"Then the Young Lord should rest for a while, and we'll set off as soon as it gets dark."

After saying that, the Hunchbacked Old Man stood up and left; he still needed to patrol the surrounding area to prevent pursuers from approaching.

Watching the Hunchbacked Old Man disappear, Lin Yuan slowly stood up.

He began to examine his own condition.

"Martial Ancestor."

"Martial Ancestor."

"Martial Ancestor."

Faint, tiny shouts faintly drifted over.

"These shouts originate from practitioners cultivating the Martial Dao Evolution pathway? They have already formed a stable 'beacon' now, allowing me to clearly recognize that I am currently trapped within a time loop?"

Lin Yuan's heart settled.

In truth, without these faint, indistinct shouts, if some peak Chaos Realm powerhouses fell into a time loop, losing all power and comprehension of the Dao of rules, they would be extremely likely to suffer the disaster of being lost.

Especially when the first round of the loop ended and the second round began, memories related to the first round would be erased. Without external "beacons" and "anchors" for confirmation, they would basically begin an endless repetition.

But now, Lin Yuan could at least confirm through these vague shouts from the outside world that what he was currently experiencing was still the first round of the loop.

Having confirmed this, Lin Yuan immediately split his mind, sinking deep into the depths of his consciousness.

Deep within his empty sea of consciousness, a towering and magnificent Gate of Myriad Realms stood tall.

"As expected, even a time loop cannot sever the connection between the Gate of Myriad Realms and me."

Lin Yuan felt a sense of relief.

A time loop isolates everything, and currently, only by spreading one's own evolutionary pathway can one barely establish contact with life within the loop—such as the vague shouts Lin Yuan heard.

Apart from that, there was no other way to contact living beings within the time loop.

But the Gate of Myriad Realms clearly did not fall under this restriction.

Lin Yuan could still see the Gate of Myriad Realms deep within his mind.

Furthermore, unlike the vague shouts, the Gate of Myriad Realms did not exhibit any illusory traits.

It was as if there was no difference at all between inside and outside the time loop.

"Let's test whether the Boundary-Breaking Source Power can be used."

Lin Yuan began to try.

In a split second, the Gate of Myriad Realms faintly began to glow.

Wisps of mysterious aura flowed, wanting to descend into this cyclical world.

"It can be used."

Lin Yuan nodded, a thought once again surfacing in his mind—kill the Great Feng Emperor.

Boundary-Breaking Source Power was the only omnipotent power Lin Yuan had ever come into contact with.

Theoretically, Lin Yuan could accomplish anything with the help of Boundary-Breaking Source Power.

Including completely killing a Time Lifeform.

Of course, the premise here was that the amount of Boundary-Breaking Source Power was sufficient.

With a sufficient amount of Boundary-Breaking Source Power, let alone completely killing a Time Lifeform, even completely killing a Time Lord could be achieved.

It's just that the Boundary-Breaking Source Power consumed to completely kill a Time Lord would probably be like a mountain or an ocean, far exceeding Lin Yuan's current accumulation.

Even to completely kill a Time Lifeform, the Boundary-Breaking Source Power Lin Yuan currently had accumulated was not enough.

But right now, what Lin Yuan wanted to kill was not a Thirteenth Order Time Lifeform.

Rather, it was a mortal in this world, or at most an Enlightened Grandmaster; it shouldn't consume too much Boundary-Breaking Source Power.

Hum hum hum~ Mysterious auras continuously flowed from the Gate of Myriad Realms, and soon a message was transmitted into Lin Yuan's mind.

"Four million units of Boundary-Breaking Source Power."

Lin Yuan's expression turned ugly. "So much?"

Killing mere mortals actually consumed this much Boundary-Breaking Source Power?

"Is it because this mortal is unusual, or is it due to the isolation of the time loop, causing the cost of the kill to increase drastically?"

Lin Yuan thought rapidly in his heart.

All the Boundary-Breaking Source Power he had accumulated up to now, combined, barely exceeded four million units.

This included the accumulation absorbed from experiencing a cosmic great destruction.

Without experiencing the cosmic great destruction, it would probably have taken millions or tens of millions of years to accumulate this much Boundary-Breaking Source Power.

"I'd better wait."

Lin Yuan thought about it and didn't immediately choose to use all his accumulated Boundary-Breaking Source Power to kill the Great Feng Emperor.

The Boundary-Breaking Source Power within the Gate of Myriad Realms was Lin Yuan's ultimate trump card and foundation; he definitely wanted to avoid using it unless necessary, as it was meant for saving his life at critical moments.

As for the time loop?

Could he, Lin Yuan, not get through it even without relying on the Gate of Myriad Realms?

Even if he really couldn't get through it, he would only use it at the very last moment.

At least for now, Lin Yuan could see the possibility of killing the Great Feng Emperor relying purely on himself.

"With my foundation, the possibility of breaking through the time loop is naturally much greater than that of other Twelfth Order Perfections."

Lin Yuan had this confidence.

The Boundary-Breaking Source Power within the Gate of Myriad Realms could only serve as a final resort.

Unless he truly couldn't break through the time loop himself, he wouldn't bring it out to use.

And right now?

Lin Yuan intended to try breaking the time loop that trapped him using his own methods.

"Runes."

With a thought from Lin Yuan, extremely tiny runes condensed and intertwined before him.

As the Legacy left behind by a Time Lord, once cultivated to the ultimate Realm, it could be used even within a time loop, breaking the rules of the time loop to a certain extent.

"It has been suppressed."

Lin Yuan looked at the runes before him, feeling the suppression inflicted upon The Dao of Runes.

However, this was within Lin Yuan's expectations; even the Lord of Heavenly Light had warned him long ago.

Cultivating the rune Legacy to the fifth level indeed allowed one to use runes within a time loop, but it would inevitably be subject to many restrictions.

Yet compared to other Twelfth Order Perfections who couldn't use any methods at all within the time loop, being able to slightly mobilize the power of runes could already be considered "cheating".

"The future."

Lin Yuan attempted to use the runes before him to view the future timeline of this time-loop world.

Hum hum hum~ Countless runes constantly intertwined and collided. Due to the extreme suppression from the cyclical world, Lin Yuan could hardly see any scenes of the future, only able to receive tiny scraps of information from the future.

Furthermore, this information was displayed before him in the form of text.

Within Lin Yuan's vision, lines of illusory characters continuously flashed past.

[At the age of eighteen, you encounter the imperial court's pursuit, hide in the deep mountains, and barely survive under Third Uncle's obstruction.]

[One day later, you and Third Uncle set off for Yongzhou, intending to defect to the Yongzhou Branch.]

[Half a month later, you and Third Uncle successfully arrive in Yongzhou.]

[The branch master of the Yongzhou Red Lotus Sect warmly receives you.]

[One month later, the Yongzhou Red Lotus Sect branch master colludes with the imperial court, launching an encirclement and suppression against you.]

[Your Third Uncle dies in battle, and you manage to escape alone.]

[One year later, you die at the hands of three Enlightened Grandmasters.]

Lines of text flashed past.

Lin Yuan roughly caught sight of a certain future timeline of his.

"The Yongzhou branch master has actually defected to the imperial court?"

Lin Yuan's brows furrowed tightly. To think Third Uncle trusted the Yongzhou branch master immensely, and his original self also held a very favorable impression of him.

"With the Sect Leader fallen and the imperial court growing powerful, it's only natural."

Lin Yuan pondered for a moment and nodded slightly.

Then he continued to view various future timelines.

Naturally, he viewed them in the form of text.

Over half a day later.

Lin Yuan stopped and rubbed his brow.

Under the extreme suppression of the time-loop world, in over half a day he had viewed thousands of timelines.

He finally found a timeline that was most favorable to him.

"The most important thing right now is to enter the Dao and become an Enlightened Adept."

Lin Yuan composed himself. In the many future timelines he had observed, the stronger his own strength was, the easier the situations he faced would be.

"Entering the Dao uses the power of the mind as a medium to guide the power of heaven and earth."

Lin Yuan recalled the Dao-entry secret art of the Red Lotus Sect in his mind.

In fact, the first step of all Dao-entry secret arts in the world was basically similar.

For an existence like Lin Yuan, entering the Dao couldn't be simpler.

Boom!

Accompanied by Lin Yuan's continuous emission of mind power, the power of heaven and earth from all directions began to gather slowly, surging into Lin Yuan's body.

In the distance.

The Hunchbacked Old Man "Third Uncle" was patrolling vigilantly, carefully checking every single trace.

Right at this moment.

The Hunchbacked Old Man's spirit shook; he turned his head to look backward, which was precisely where the Young Lord was resting.

At this moment, wisps of heaven and earth power gathered and surged rapidly toward that direction.

"This is?" The Hunchbacked Old Man's heart trembled in disbelief. "Mind guiding heaven and earth—is this entering the Dao?"

"Young Lord, the Young Lord has entered the Dao and become an Enlightened Adept?"

"Sect Leader, do you see this? The Young Lord has become an Enlightened Adept." The Hunchbacked Old Man's eyes grew moist.