In the capital of the Liyang Kingdom, Lin Yuan's true body had gone to the newly formed treasure land, while his Yin Primordial Spirit and Yang Primordial Spirit were stationed at two other first-class treasure lands.
Thus, the one remaining in the royal palace was merely an incarnationâbut even that incarnation, given Lin Yuan's strength, was equivalent to an Ultimate Heavenly Sovereign.
âMilky Way, you swept through Fuxu Heavenly Sovereign and the other top-tier Sovereigns in the treasure land? Is this true?â A message arrivedâit was the Emperor of the Liyang Kingdom.
Even though the emperor had already received confirmed intel and even seen visual recordings, he still found it hard to believe, so he came to ask personally.
âMy strength just happened to break through,â Lin Yuan replied frankly.
He was part of the royal core bloodline of the Liyang Kingdom, inherently aligned with the kingdom. The stronger he was, the greater the kingdomâs foundation.
As for jealousy? With Lin Yuanâs current strength, such things could be ignored entirely.
âGood, good, good.â The emperor was overjoyed. The Milky Way Heavenly Sovereignâs display of power, utterly crushing the strongest Heavenly Sovereigns, wasn't just about claiming a treasure land.
It would have long-lasting implications for the future balance of power among the six ancient kingdoms.
With someone like Lin Yuan, who stood far above the strongest Heavenly Sovereigns, who among the other five kingdomsâincluding the Grand Ancient Void Kingdomâwould dare wage high-intensity war against the Liyang Kingdom?
If they dared not go to war, they would have to yield.
âMilky Way Heavenly Sovereign, youâve given me quite the pleasant surprise.â The emperor looked at Lin Yuan with emotion.
He didnât ask how Lin Yuan had become so powerful. Every powerhouse had their own secretsâthe ancient kingdoms never pried into such things.
Lin Yuan smiled without responding.
âDo you know what the strongest Heavenly Sovereigns of the Grand Ancient Void Kingdom are calling you now?â the emperor couldnât help asking.
âWhat?â Lin Yuan was quite curious.
He hadnât held back at all in the treasure land against those Ultimate Heavenly Sovereigns from the Grand Ancient Void Kingdomâeven Fuxu, the strongest among them, had been slain by him.
âInvincible Sovereign,â the emperor said with a click of the tongue.
Even the proudest among the strongest Sovereigns of the Grand Ancient Void Kingdom had yielded and used such a titleâit meant theyâd completely given up on resisting.
Invincible Sovereignâwhat did âinvincibleâ mean?
It meant total domination, absolute overwhelming force.
âInvincible Sovereign?â
Lin Yuan understood immediately.
In the Chaos Void, there was the concept of an Invincible Supreme Saintâsomeone who could crush all others of the same tier and gain their full acknowledgment.
But in the six ancient kingdoms?
That so-called Invincible Supreme Saint was equivalent to a strongest Heavenly Sovereign here.
An Invincible Supreme Saint might be unmatched in the Chaos Void, but not within the six ancient kingdoms, where they would still have rivalsâstrongest Heavenly Sovereigns raised by Ancestors for their descendants.
But now Lin Yuanâs strength had made those top-tier Sovereigns from the six kingdoms despair. Calling him the Invincible Sovereign was truly fitting.
âMilky Way, youâve redefined the limit of the Heavenly Sovereign realm,â said the emperor. It wasnât just the Grand Ancient Void Kingdomâeven the other four kingdoms were fiercely debating the matter.
âThe limit of a Heavenly Sovereign?â Lin Yuan mused inwardly. âActually, Iâm still far from reaching it.â
In terms of cultivation, he had reached full mastery of the Chaos stage, but there was still much room for improvement in other areas.
For instance, the inheritance âInfinite VoidââLin Yuan was still at the third layer. While the seventh layer might be out of reach, he was quite confident about reaching the sixth.
That meant he still had to break through the fourth and fifth layers.
Then there was the evolution of the Chaos Tai Chi Tao. Currently, he was only at the first level. Based on the six ancient kingdomsâ understanding, the upper limit was likely the third level.
Lastly, the treasury of the Liyang Kingdom held numerous thirteenth-rank inheritancesâhe could cultivate those to further increase his strength.
These required many merit points, but after the current treasure land contest, Lin Yuan anticipated heâd earn an immense amount of national merit.
âWhether it's cultivating thirteenth-rank inheritances or deepening my Chaos path, it's all preparation to reach the thirteenth rank,â Lin Yuan knew exactly what his goal was.
Secret techniques were branches and leaves.
Cultivation realm was the root.
Cultivating thirteenth-rank inheritances was a way to experience the power of that level...
So that he could better break through the cycle of time.
âMilky Way, whatâs the current situation inside the treasure land?â the emperor asked.
âAll under control,â Lin Yuan nodded.
Most of the Ultimate Heavenly Sovereigns from the four other kingdoms had either died or fledâthey no longer dared remain in the treasure land.
What Lin Yuan needed to do now was to refine all the core heavenly pillars one by one. Once the two-thousand-year contest period ended, ownership of the treasure land would be formally established.
âRed Flame Heavenly Sovereign told me about the situation inside. If it werenât for you, Milky Way, our kingdom wouldâve had little chance of winning it. Even if we did, weâd have been ruthlessly extorted by Xuanyin and Grand Ling.â
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The emperor sighed. âYouâve made an enormous contribution, Milky Way. Without you, the outcome wouldnât be what it is now.â
âI donât think a mere merit reward is enough to express your importance.â The emperor looked at Lin Yuan and said, âSo Iâve decidedâonce the treasure landâs ownership is confirmed, you will be the one to guard it. While youâre in charge, all rare treasures produced within the land are yours. You donât have to hand any over to the kingdom.â
âAs long as youâre here, this treasure land is yours. It doesnât matter if Iâm still on the throne or notâno future emperor can change that.â
Lin Yuan was momentarily stunned.
The treasure land would be entirely his?
Not only was this a top-tier first-class treasure land, but even the most ordinary ones usually required their guardians to hand over eighty or ninety percent of their rare treasures to the kingdom.
That was a fixed rule.
No one could break it.
Yet now? The emperor was practically giving it to him for free?
âThis is too generous,â Lin Yuan shook his head. A first-class treasure land was a money tree. Was he really just giving it away?
Although Lin Yuan had nearly won the land single-handedly, he understood that all of it was only possible due to the might of the Liyang Kingdom.
Without it, the other kingdomsâ Sovereigns wouldnât have treated him as an equal. If truly pressured, theyâd simply beg their own Ancestors for help.
Because of the Liyang Kingdomâs presence, the struggle had remained below the Ancestor level. No one dared escalate it.
If the Grand Ancient Void Kingdomâs Sovereigns had really gone to beg an Ancestor, that wouldâve been an embarrassment to the Ancestorâs face.
âMilky Way, youâre underestimating your impact,â the emperor said with a smile. âWith you here, itâs more than just about one treasure land. Which of the other five kingdoms would dare challenge us now? Your presence alone will win us countless advantagesâwhatâs one treasure land compared to that?â
Lin Yuan looked at the emperor thoughtfully. A gift like this couldnât be refused. Besides, his deterrence truly was immense. So he nodded and said, âVery well, Iâll accept it.â
The rare treasures born from this land had connections to the laws of time. Studying them might prove very useful to him.
And even if they didnât, as the sole controller of the treasure land, Lin Yuan effectively monopolized those rare items. He could sell however much he wanted.
âHahahaha. As for distributing the merit rewards for claiming the treasure land, weâll handle that after the contest ends,â said the emperor, beaming.
Final merit allocation would involve not just Lin Yuan, but the other Ultimate Heavenly Sovereigns from the Liyang Kingdom who participated.
Though none contributed as much as Lin Yuan, those who took part would still get something.
âAlright.â
Lin Yuan nodded.
Now there were less than two hundred years left until the end of the two-thousand-year contest period.
âBut if, in the future, you ascend to the Ancestor realm, this treasure land can be guarded by your descendantsâbut theyâll have to follow normal rules and hand over eighty percent of its rare treasures to the kingdom,â the emperor added as a precaution.
âOf course,â Lin Yuan agreed.
Handing over treasures to the kingdom wasnât just about sharing benefitsâit was about gaining protection.
With his current invincible strength, even monopolizing all the treasure landâs produce wouldnât be a problem.
But in the future? Once he attempted the thirteenth rank, his descendants wouldnât have his power. Hoarding everything would only bring trouble.
Giving eighty percent to the kingdom would tie its interests to theirsâmaking it safer.
At the very least, with that share, the Liyang Kingdom would ensure no other kingdom dared touch the place.
Inside the treasure land.
After chatting briefly with Red Flame Heavenly Sovereign and the others, Lin Yuan resumed refining the core heavenly pillars.
From his initial sweep until now, he had refined just over a hundred. More than half still remained.
Buzzâbuzzâbuzz!
As more pillars were refined by Lin Yuan...
A deep, strange sense of control surged into his heart.
Refining the core heavenly pillars allowed him to exert a certain degree of control over the treasure land.
In theory, refining them all would mean refining the entire treasure land.
But since this newly born treasure land appeared, the core pillars had been scattered among Sovereigns of the six kingdoms. No one had ever unified them before.
Very soon.
The three colossal core pillars, along with over three hundred standard ones, were all refined by Lin Yuan.
In that instant, Lin Yuanâs consciousness rose infinitely, descending into the deepest part of the treasure landâa place never before reached by any Ultimate Heavenly Sovereign, accessible only through full refinement.
âThis is...?â
Lin Yuan looked around, his pupils narrowing slightly.
...
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