Chapter 681

Qingyun Sacred Mountain stood tall, the stronghold of Qingyun Sacred Sect, once a top hegemonic force before the Great Change of Heaven and Earth.

Within Qingyun Sacred Mountain, many small worlds had been carved out.

They were used to cultivate fresh blood for the sect.

This was how the sect had managed to survive even as most of the outside world had been overrun by “demons.”

In Qingyun Archives, Lin Yuan looked much the same as he had a thousand years ago—only his aura was more deeply restrained.

“Deacon Chen, everyone says that demons are immortal. Is there truly no way to completely destroy them?”

A young disciple had just finished exchanging for the jade slips he needed and couldn’t help but ask Lin Yuan.

Over the past thousand years, Lin Yuan had kept a low profile within Qingyun Archives, occasionally answering questions for new disciples. Over time, his reputation grew, and many disciples came to seek his guidance.

“Demons originate from the demonic energy of the world. As long as demonic energy isn’t destroyed, the demons won’t be either,” Lin Yuan said calmly. “To truly wipe out all demons, you’d need to erase the very source of demonic energy.”

The so-called source of demonic energy was the legendary Demon God.

Having descended into this Source World for a thousand years, Lin Yuan had come to know many secrets.

Take demonic energy, for example—if it was like sunlight, then the Demon God was the sun.

As long as the sun remained, demonic energy would continue to flow endlessly. Even if a terrifying demon was completely annihilated, it would eventually be reborn in the endless tide of demonic energy.

“How can the source of demonic energy be destroyed?”

The young disciple pressed further.

“I don’t know.”

Lin Yuan shook his head. Although he had sensed that all demonic energy originated from the Demon God...

He didn’t know where the Demon God was.

And even if he did, he wouldn’t try to erase it. After all, any being capable of spawning a demon calamity that engulfed an entire Source World had to be at least on the level of a thirteenth-rank existence.

“All right. No need to overthink it,” Lin Yuan said casually, glancing at the worried young disciple.

“Mm.”

The young man nodded and left Qingyun Archives.

As he stepped out, several other young disciples came over.

“Ouyang, what did you talk to Deacon Chen about?” They were curious.

“I asked how to completely destroy the demons outside,” the disciple named Ouyang replied truthfully.

“What did Deacon Chen say?”

“He said that to destroy the demons, you have to erase the source of demonic energy.”

“Eliminate the source of demonic energy?”

The other disciples pondered this deeply.

None of them doubted Lin Yuan’s answer. In the thousand years he had been at Qingyun Archives, Deacon Chen had never shown any remarkable abilities—but he was widely knowledgeable. Even sect elders occasionally sought him out for guidance.

“Sigh, with how much Deacon Chen understands about the demons, why is he still here in Qingyun Archives? Wouldn’t it be better for him to go out and cleanse the places where demonic energy gathers?”

“I heard that a thousand years ago, during one such operation, Deacon Chen was corrupted by demonic energy and left with lasting damage.”

“So that’s what happened. He’s done so much for the sect!”

The young disciples all grew solemn with respect.

Being corrupted by demonic energy was extremely serious—few ever survived.

Deep within Qingyun Archives, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged.

“This Source World runs deep. The Eternal Sects at the world’s center must all be guarded by time-based lifeforms, yet they let the demonic energy spread unchecked. What’s really going on?”

His expression turned serious. That was also the reason he had stayed hidden in Qingyun Sacred Mountain for the past eight hundred years, even after regaining his peak strength.

He couldn’t get a clear read on the outside world.

Besides, staying here didn’t hinder his cultivation or comprehension.

The rune inheritances collected by Qingyun Sacred Sect alone were enough to keep Lin Yuan busy for centuries.

He also needed plenty of time to gradually create his own particle worlds. And with the outside world saturated in demonic energy, demons were everywhere. Whenever he ran short on resources, he could simply go out and return fully stocked.

To the cultivators of this world, every demon was unimaginably terrifying. But in Lin Yuan’s eyes, they were like chickens—he could casually suppress and refine even a Great Demon.

If not for concerns about the Demon God, Lin Yuan would’ve already gone to the world’s center to hunt Source Demons.

“After a thousand years of cultivation, the Chaotic Yin-Yang Tai Chi Path has reached the peak of its first level. In a few hundred or a few thousand years, I’ll break into the second.”

Lin Yuan smiled. This path was his foundation. Even his method for refining terrifying demons relied on the power of this Tai Chi Path.

The stronger it became, the more fundamentally it benefited him—nurturing every aspect of his being, from body to soul to will.

“And then there’s the thirteenth-rank inheritance Infinite Void…”

After a millennium of cultivation, he had reached halfway through the fourth level.

Across all aspects, Lin Yuan had made huge progress over the last thousand years—especially in understanding the rune inheritance of this Second Source World, which greatly aided his grasp of various laws and principles.

But above all, his greatest gain was in the creation of particle worlds.

With rune cultivation stabilizing each one, and this world’s seemingly endless supply of demons...

Lin Yuan had now created ten billion particle worlds.

Ten billion.

Though still short of his ultimate goal—the infinite sand-like particle worlds—this number alone gave Lin Yuan an unfathomable boost.

Now, Lin Yuan had three true bodies: one in the chaotic void, one in the First Source World, and one in the Second Source World.

But in terms of strength, the strongest by far was the one in the Second Source World—without question.

Even taking into account the inner universe advantage of the chaotic void body, or the Blazing Sun Divine Body in the First Source World, neither could compare to the current body in this world.

“I’m not like the Yuanlong.”

“Its particle worlds were ordinary.”

“Mine, however, have all been reconstructed through the Infinite Void inheritance.”

Lin Yuan radiated vitality. Infinite Void, a thirteenth-rank inheritance, was tailored to worlds. Since particle worlds were still worlds, they fell under its domain.

Because of this, his ten billion particle worlds gave him power almost equal to the Yuanlong’s entire infinite particle world body.

“So far, everything is proceeding smoothly. But I’ll wait until the process is fully complete before moving on.”

Lin Yuan thought to himself. His body in this Second Source World acted as a pioneer—testing whether the creation of particle worlds carried any hidden dangers.

If everything went well, once this body finished creating infinite particle worlds, the other two would begin.

The reason this body was currently the strongest was simply that the others hadn’t started yet.

“Though the demons outside are said to be endless, in the past thousand years, they’ve clearly become scarcer due to my hunts.”

Lin Yuan mused.

A single Demon Spirit could provide enough energy to create hundreds or even thousands of particle worlds.

A Great Demon could provide enough to create hundreds of thousands—or even millions.

And now that he had ten billion of them, it was clear just how many Demon Spirits and Great Demons Lin Yuan had hunted down.

Even if demons couldn’t truly die, destroying their physical forms delayed their regeneration significantly.

“Looks like I’ll need to expand my hunting range if I want to find more Great Demons.”

The more particle worlds he created, the more he understood how vast his resource demands truly were.

In the chaotic void…

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged in a desolate stretch of space. Streams of energy danced before him, weaving together into rune after rune—each one a visible manifestation of the universal laws.

“The Path of Runes is incredible.”

“It can replicate the laws with ease and greatly lowers the barrier to cultivation.”

He reflected. Feeling the intangible laws of the Dao was far harder than feeling their tangible expressions.

“Before the Great Change, the number of powerful cultivators in the Second Source World must have been astonishing.”

Though Lin Yuan hadn’t witnessed that era, the utility of the rune path alone proved it had to have been a brilliant age of cultivation.

It was likely that even third-realm Freedom—equivalent to Invincible Supreme Saints in the chaotic void—had appeared regularly.

Even in the First Source World, blessed by six Ancestors and home to six ancient kingdoms, few current Ultimate Heavenly Sovereigns could match the strength of an Invincible Supreme Saint.

“Unfortunately, I’ve basically exhausted all the rune inheritances held by Qingyun Sacred Sect. To study deeper knowledge, I’ll need to seek out even greater sects.”

Lin Yuan felt a bit of regret.

Greater sects? In a world overrun by demons, any sect that still survived was bound to be deeply hidden. Finding one would be nearly impossible.

He knew the locations of the Eternal Sects at the world’s center—but the risks of going there were still too high. If possible, he’d wait until he finished building his infinite particle worlds.

“I’ll take my time. Worst case, I’ll just develop the next part of the rune path myself.”

Given his Unrivaled Insight and the foundations he had, Lin Yuan could attempt to create the path’s continuation.

But it would take too long—and whether it would match the original was uncertain. One thing he was sure of, though, was that the completed rune path had clearly been forged by multiple thirteenth-rank time-based lifeforms.

Only beings at that level could simplify the laws of the Dao in such a way.

Thirteenth-rank time-based lifeforms? Lin Yuan didn’t think their insight surpassed his—but their vantage point certainly did. The rune path they created was still something he deeply respected.

“Let’s continue.”

Lin Yuan glanced around the barren void. Several centuries ago, he had left the Guming Chaos Continent and begun roaming the chaotic void to better understand its mechanics.

Of course, he had left behind an avatar on the Guming Chaos Continent that he could descend into at any time.

And with his current reputation in the chaotic void—as the fastest in history to prove his title of Invincible Supreme Saint—just that alone was enough to keep the continent safe.

No other Saint would dare stir up trouble there.

Back at Qingyun Sacred Mountain...

In the great hall at the summit, the sect master and elders had gathered.

“Over the past thousand years, the number of demons in the surrounding area has clearly decreased,” one elder said with a puzzled look.

Younger disciples might not have noticed, but the elders had fought in many Great Demon assaults and had cleared countless demonic zones. They occasionally encountered Demon Spirits.

Demon Spirits were far less threatening than Great Demons. If they encountered one, the elders weren’t worried—Demon Spirits likely couldn’t even perceive Qingyun Sacred Mountain.

But still, they were demons, and they shouldn’t be disappearing so inexplicably.

Especially now—the number vanishing was so high that many elders found it hard to believe.

“Isn’t the decrease in demons a good thing?”

Some elders were confused. Fewer demons meant greater safety for the Sacred Mountain, didn’t it?

“You can’t think of it that way.”

The sect master of Qingyun Sacred Sect spoke solemnly. “Most demons stay in a specific region. When demons vanish from an area, there are two possibilities.”

“One, a more powerful demon has appeared in the area—causing the others to retreat instinctively.”

“Which would explain the sudden drop in their numbers.”

The sect master paused for a moment before continuing, “The second possibility is that the demons in this area have been devoured—thus their numbers decreased.”

That statement made every elder’s face change slightly.

Demons, devoured?

Whoever could devour demons was likely a demonized cultivator.

And the more a demonized being grew in strength, the closer they became to a true demon.

A powerful enough demonized cultivator would be nearly indistinguishable from a real demon—perhaps retaining fragments of memory, but with their emotions erased. As they continued to grow stronger, even those memories would rapidly fade.

“A demonized cultivator? Has our sect given rise to another one?”

One elder looked shocked. If even they had noticed the local demon population thinning, how many demons had this demonized one consumed?

Consuming so many demons, even if they hadn’t reached the third Freedom realm, they couldn’t be far from it.

Compared to demons, demonized beings were far more terrifying. They could hide among the sect, launching a deadly strike at any moment.

“Not necessarily. It could be the first possibility—or something we haven’t considered yet.”

The sect master said.

But in truth, neither possibility was a good sign.

With the demons in the area decreasing, the demonic energy would begin to concentrate again—drawing the attention of more distant and more powerful demons.

...

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