Chapter 394: A Transformation in Strength

Chapter 394: A Transformation in Strength (End of Chapter)

In a distant black planet, within the Space of Life and Death Guidance, an incarnation of Lin Yuan sat, observing the endless cycle of life and death before him.

"Life is death, and death is life. The cycle of birth, life, and death is merely different facets of the rules of reincarnation. So, that's how it is," Lin Yuan murmured, his eyes sparkling with insight. He had just broken through some shackles and reached a new level of understanding of the rules of life and death.

The Fourth Level.

The Fourth Level of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule.

A millennium in the two-dimensional world, and a hundred years had passed in the main universe.

A hundred and fifty years ago, Lin Yuan had comprehended the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule. A hundred years later, he had reached the Second Level of the rule.

And now, after another century, Lin Yuan's understanding of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule had surpassed the Third Level and reached the Fourth.

"Although the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule only encompasses the two pillar rules of life and death," Lin Yuan mused, "its essence is the Reincarnation Rule itself. If I hadn't been in this Guidance Space, I estimate that it would have taken me at least ten times longer to reach this stage."

Lin Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. Even with his heaven-defying comprehension talent, breaking through major bottlenecks and shackles wouldn't always be so swift.

For other Evolvers, it wouldn't just be a matter of time; they might never surpass such obstacles, even at the end of their lifespan.

Just within the human civilization, there were countless Eleventh-Stage Evolvers who were stuck at the Third or Fourth Levels of fusion with the pillar rules—and that was without considering other races.

To reach the Eleventh Stratum was, without exception, a sign of being the strongest genius of an era.

"This Guidance Space has served its purpose for me," Lin Yuan said, looking around at the intertwining threads of life and death. He felt no more stirrings within his heart, for he had now reached the same height as this space in his understanding of fusion rules.

In simpler terms, Lin Yuan had thoroughly grasped the secrets of this Guidance Space.

"Having reached the Fourth Level of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule, several other pillar-level fusion rules, such as the Great Destruction Rule, are also at the peak of the Third Level and could break through to the Fourth at any moment," Lin Yuan thought to himself. Simultaneously comprehending multiple fusion rules could be distracting, but the interplay between them often led to unexpected breakthroughs.

After all, whether it was the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule or the Great Destruction Rule, they were both part of the Chaos Rule, stemming from the same source.

"I should inform the Summer Supreme Being to arrange for a Tenth-Stage Evolver from the human civilization to take my place here," Lin Yuan decided silently.

Since this Guidance Space no longer held any benefits for him, he might as well rent it out. After all, according to the agreement he had made with the Summer Supreme Being, each Guidance Space was valued at 100 million merit points.

"Let's go."

With that, Lin Yuan turned and left the Guidance Space.

Outside the Guidance Space, Lin Yuan's figure reappeared.

The next moment, a stern-faced man in a black robe materialized not far away.

"Why have you come out?" The man in black furrowed his brow, looking at Lin Yuan with a hint of surprise.

In the twelve Guidance Spaces of the black planet, each life form was only allowed to enter a particular space once. In other words, they couldn't re-enter the same space.

And yet, Lin Yuan had only spent a little over a hundred years in the Life and Death Reincarnation Guidance Space before leaving of his own accord. According to the rules of the black planet, he wouldn't be able to re-enter that specific space.

This left the man in black feeling a twinge of regret. Lin Yuan had only taken fifty years to advance from the initial First Level to the Second Level of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule.

There was no need to even mention his talent and aptitude; he was undoubtedly the most monstrous and abnormal Tenth-Stage life form in the man in black's memory.

However, no matter how monstrous or abnormal he was, leaving the Guidance Space without reaching the Fourth Level of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule was an extremely foolish decision.

"Because this Guidance Space no longer holds any value for me," Lin Yuan said, glancing at the man in black.

"No value?" The man in black was taken aback, and then he stared at Lin Yuan in disbelief. "You've reached the Fourth Level?"

Only upon attaining the Fourth Level could one claim that the Guidance Space held no more use for them.

A hundred years ago, when Lin Yuan had reached the Second Level of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule, he had unintentionally leaked his aura, disrupting the balance of life and death within the Guidance Space. That was how the man in black had deduced that Lin Yuan had reached the Second Level.

However, when Lin Yuan had reached the Third Level and now the Fourth, he had not leaked his aura or disturbed the balance within the space, so the man in black had no way of knowing his exact level.

"Yes," Lin Yuan nodded, raising his right hand. The power of life and death swirled around his fingertips, and a vast reincarnation grinding wheel faintly appeared.

"Truly the Fourth Level?" The man in black's heart was now devoid of any doubt. Even so, he couldn't help but feel astonished.

Was this the Fourth Level?

On the surface, it seemed that Lin Yuan had spent fifty years advancing from the First to the Second Level, another hundred years to go from the Second to the Third, and then fifty years to reach the Fourth.

Fifty years for each level—it seemed reasonable.

But that wasn't how breakthroughs worked, especially at higher levels.

The higher one went, the more time it took to advance even a single minor level.

There were countless human civilization Evolvers who had taken mere hundreds or thousands of years to progress from the First to the Seventh Stage, but then they would stagnate for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years when trying to reach the Eighth.

These were all living examples.

And it was even more so for the comprehension of fusion rules.

Based on the man in black's estimates, after taking fifty years to reach the Second Level, Lin Yuan would need anywhere from five hundred to a thousand years to attain the Third Level. As for the Fourth, it would likely take him around ten thousand years.

And that was assuming Lin Yuan continued to display the same astonishing talent he had shown in the first fifty years.

The paths behind the twelve grand gates on the black planet were one-way. One could enter, but exiting required the help of the black-robed man.

"Exit?"

"Very well."

The black-robed man quickly regained his composure. He gave Lin Yuan a piercing look and, with a wave of his right hand, transported him to the surface of the black planet.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Yuan reappeared outside the Guidance Space, leaving behind only the lone figure of the black-robed man.

"How could such a monstrous talent be born in this universe?" the black-robed man muttered to himself. Though most of his memories were fragmented, he realized that Lin Yuan's rate of progress was highly abnormal.

Outside the black planet, Lin Yuan's figure reappeared.

"Let's return."

With a single step, Lin Yuan left the black planet behind.

At the moment, he was merely an incarnation, and compared to his projection clones, incarnations were much weaker. That was why most Evolvers treated incarnations as disposable, dissipating them after they served their purpose.

However, Lin Yuan believed that every little bit counted. Even though his incarnation was far weaker than his true self, with his understanding of spatial rules, he could still traverse hundreds of light-years in a single step and quickly return to the Main Galaxy.

Then, he could merge with his true self, avoiding the minute loss that would come with the incarnation's dissipation.

Alien Battlefield A101.

Beneath a permanent spatial rift.

Lin Yuan's Taiyin Source Soul opened its eyes.

The Alien Battlefield A098, where his Yang Source Soul had been, no longer existed. It had been forcibly reduced in dimension by the 'white paper' that had intruded into the universe, along with the Yang Source Soul that had fallen into it.

Regardless, the pace of collecting Boundary Source Power couldn't slow down.

Upon confirming that the Yang Source Soul wouldn't be able to get out in a short period, Lin Yuan had his Taiyin Source Soul choose another large-scale alien battlefield to expedite the collection of Boundary Source Power.

Compared to the absolute safety within the Guidance Space, large-scale alien battlefields were fraught with dangers, which was why he had to send a projection clone instead. As for incarnations, they were too fragile and could easily perish at the hands of other aliens.

"The intensity of the war has lessened quite a bit over the past hundred years," Lin Yuan remarked as he glanced at the battlefield's center.

Not only had the intensity of this large-scale alien battlefield decreased, but the same was true for other large, medium, and small alien battlefields as well.

The reason behind this lay with the 'white paper' that stretched across the depths of the universe.

With over a hundred million powerful beings from various races falling into it, the peak races' grand alliances had suffered significant losses.

At the very least, they were starting to face a shortage of backup forces for their wars.

Even though a large number of powerful beings from the myriad races had exited the two-dimensional world within the 'white paper', facing foundational losses would still require a substantial amount of time for them to recover.

Moreover, with the utmost powerful beings of the races researching that 'white paper', the impact trickled down, causing the intensity of the various battlefields to lessen.

Lin Yuan was naturally pleased with this development. The safer the environment, the more beneficial it was for accumulating Boundary Source Power.

"The amount of Boundary Source Power I have now has reached nine hundred strands," Lin Yuan thought, a smile appearing on his face as he considered the Boundary Source Power stored within the Myriad Worlds Gate.

In the past hundred years, according to the rate of accumulation of ninety days per strand of Boundary Source Power while being in a large-scale alien battlefield beneath a permanent spatial rift, Lin Yuan had accumulated four hundred and five strands of Boundary Source Power.

Adding this to the nearly five hundred strands he had possessed a hundred years ago, Lin Yuan now had close to a thousand strands of Boundary Source Power.

"So much Boundary Source Power," Lin Yuan thought, a sense of relief washing over him.

With such a vast amount of Boundary Source Power as a foundation, even if his Yang Source Soul truly perished in that two-dimensional world, Lin Yuan still had ample confidence.

Even if his Yang Source Soul were eradicated at the root, with his heaven-defying comprehension, he could still perform a 'customized' traversal and have the Myriad Worlds Gate bring him to a world where he could restore his Yang Source Soul.

In the infinite dimensions of the myriad worlds, there was bound to be an environment that could help him recover his Yang Source Soul; it was only a matter of how much Boundary Source Power it would cost.

"My current strength should be comparable to an Eleventh-Stage life form of the third tier," Lin Yuan mused.

After a hundred years of cultivation, Lin Yuan had reached the Fourth Level in pillar-level fusion rules. However, it was important to note that due to his strong foundation, even when he was at the First Level, he could unleash the power akin to the Second or even Third Level of the life and death reincarnation rule. Now that he had reached the Fourth Level, he estimated that he could rival a pillar-level fusion rule at the peak of the Fifth Level.

The standard threshold for the third tier of Eleventh-Stage life forms was to raise a certain pillar-level fusion rule to the Fifth Level.

"In just a hundred years, I've advanced by a whole tier. Not bad," Lin Yuan nodded in satisfaction. For any Eleventh-Stage powerful being, advancing through the six tiers of their stage was measured in millions or even tens of millions of years.

And that was assuming they didn't encounter any bottlenecks or obstacles along the way, which would further prolong the process.

Yet, Lin Yuan had reached a level comparable to the third tier of Eleventh-Stage in just a hundred years of cultivation, a speed that was truly terrifying.

The most crucial point was that Lin Yuan hadn't been cultivating as an Eleventh-Stage life form; he had bridged that gap while still at the Tenth Stage.

"My comprehension of various fusion rules has been going smoothly, but the time-space rule has been rather challenging," Lin Yuan sighed inwardly as his thoughts turned to this particular rule.

The time-space rule, also known as the time-space fusion rule, was the most intricate and challenging fusion rule among all of them. There was no fusion rule more difficult than this.

And unraveling the time-space fusion rule was one of the prerequisites for Eleventh-Stage powerful beings to challenge the path toward becoming an ultimate existence.

This highlighted the importance of the time-space fusion rule.

Lin Yuan thought to himself that even for an Eleventh-Stage life form, once they comprehended the time-space fusion rule, it would be a leap to the fourth tier, and raising the time-space fusion rule to the fifth level would qualify them to challenge for ultimate power.

Lin Yuan wanted to achieve what an Eleventh-Stage life form of the third tier could do while still at the Tenth Stage. This wasn't merely about battle prowess or foundation, but purely about his comprehension of the rules.

Tenth-Stage life forms were still lacking in comparison to Eleventh-Stage ones, who could easily sense the fluctuations of time and space rules.

"Never mind, even if I don't master the time-space fusion rule, with my understanding, as long as I step into the Eleventh Stage, I should be able to grasp it quickly."

Lin Yuan decided not to dwell on it any longer.

Main Galaxy Planet.

Lin Yuan's true body sat cross-legged.

"Martial Arts Tenth Stage Chapter?"

Decades ago, Lin Yuan had already been considering the creation of a Tenth Stage Chapter.

Ever since he comprehended the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule, Lin Yuan had been considered a peak Tenth Stage, an elite Tenth Stage, and had the qualifications to create a Martial Arts Tenth Stage Chapter. Now that Lin Yuan's Life and Death Reincarnation Rule had reached the Fourth Level, it was even more so the case.

"My Martial Arts Tenth Stage Chapter must be unique."

Over the past decades, Lin Yuan had attempted to create hundreds of openings to his Martial Arts Tenth Stage Chapter but wasn't satisfied with any of them.

For the human civilization's evolutionary path, from the First Stage to the Eleventh Stage, the Tenth Stage wasn't the most important or the strongest, but it played a crucial role in connecting the previous and subsequent stages.

Especially for the Martial Arts evolutionary path, the Tenth Stage Chapter was of paramount importance.

"The Tenth Stage path I took cannot be replicated, so the Martial Arts Tenth Stage Chapter should be facing all Martial Arts Tenth Stage evolvers."

Lin Yuan's mind raced as he continuously contemplated the intricacies of the Tenth Stage Chapter.

Outside the Main Galaxy Planet.

A young-looking man with eyes that betrayed a hint of world-weariness suddenly appeared.

"I spent all the merit points I had saved, and under the family's name, I borrowed 80 million merit points from the Human Civilization to make up 100 million merit points, exchanging it for an opportunity to take one step further."

This man, with eyes that spoke of a life filled with vicissitudes, was Xuan Yuan Fan, an ancient Tenth Stage evolver from the Xuan Yuan family.

In terms of strength, Xuan Yuan Fan ranked among the top ten of all Tenth Stage evolvers in the Human Civilization, far surpassing Nalan, the former deputy tower master, before her breakthrough.

This was because Xuan Yuan Fan had comprehended two pillar-level fusion rules, with the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule reaching the peak of the First Level.

However, without reaching the Second Level, Xuan Yuan Fan couldn't break through to the Eleventh Stage, and advancing the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule to the Second Level required more than just hard work; it needed the stimulation of external forces.

"According to the ancestor's instructions, the Galaxy Master possesses a heritage site that can help me further my comprehension of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule, but it requires a payment of 100 million merit points."

Xuan Yuan Fan felt a pang of reluctance as he spoke.

Even for an evolver of the Xuan Yuan family, constantly fighting for the Human Civilization on the battlefield, it had taken him until now to accumulate 20 million merit points.

If it weren't for the family's reputation, he wouldn't have been able to gather 100 million merit points at all.

Even if he managed to do so, he would still owe the Human Civilization 80 million merit points, and assuming Xuan Yuan Fan successfully broke through to the Eleventh Stage, it would still take him millions, if not billions, of years to repay the debt.

"I wonder which heritage site is worth 100 million merit points? But the ancestor wouldn't deceive me." Xuan Yuan Fan thought to himself.

It was because of the suggestion of the ancestor of the Xuan Yuan family, one of the nine strongest beings in the Human Civilization, that he had made this decision.

"Galaxy Master, the strongest genius of our Human Civilization, who entered the Tenth Stage two hundred years ago." Xuan Yuan Fan's mind flashed with information about Lin Yuan.

"What a lucky guy." Xuan Yuan Fan felt an intense surge of envy. Just entering a heritage site worth 100 million merit points once was a truly invaluable opportunity.

Hum.

Soon after Xuan Yuan Fan arrived at the Main Galaxy Planet, he contacted Lin Yuan through the virtual network.

A moment later.

A young man appeared in the distance.

"Galaxy Master." Xuan Yuan Fan looked at the young man who had appeared without a sound, and his expression changed slightly.

His own comprehension of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule had also reached the peak of the First Level, so he could vaguely sense the vast reincarnation grinding wheel within Lin Yuan's body.

In the face of such a mighty reincarnation grinding wheel, Xuan Yuan Fan felt like an ant that could be crushed at any moment.

"Isn't the Galaxy Master a newcomer to the Tenth Stage? Why does his aura feel so terrifying, and his comprehension of the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule so profound?"

Xuan Yuan Fan was stunned. Although he didn't know how far Lin Yuan had progressed with the Life and Death Reincarnation Rule, there was no doubt that he had surpassed him.

"How terrifying! Is this the genius of our Human Civilization?" Xuan Yuan Fan, who had initially not paid much attention to Lin Yuan, now felt his heart trembling involuntarily.

"Galaxy Master, here is 100 million merit points." Xuan Yuan Fan said respectfully as he transferred the merit points to Lin Yuan.

"Mhm."

Lin Yuan nodded and sent the coordinates of the location of the black planet.

Now, the star domain where the black planet was located belonged to Lin Yuan, and without his permission, any citizen who trespassed into the black planet would be violating the laws of the Human Civilization, and even Eleventh-Stage evolvers were no exception.

"One hundred million merit points received."

Lin Yuan watched as Xuan Yuan Fan left respectfully, feeling rather pleased.

At the same time, he looked towards a certain direction in the cosmic starry sky, where the two-dimensional world was located.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end