Chapter 711

Hidden World.

Several sect leaders and high-ranking elders were chatting idly.

Ever since Lin Yuan had directly repelled the Demon God, their pressure had lessened immensely.

At the very least, they no longer had to worry about those Source Demons or even the Demon God from the outside world.

Nor did they need to fear that their home base would collapse at any moment.

If not for the lingering demonic energy outside—

Some sect leaders would’ve believed the Demon Calamity had already come to an end.

“Lord Milky Way isn’t even an Eternal Lord yet.”

“Terrifying. That final strike from the Demon God—I felt like it could shake this entire world apart, yet Lord Milky Way blocked it with ease.”

“Indeed. If not for Lord Milky Way, that Demon God unleashing his full power on this world—even with multiple Eternal Treasures—wouldn’t have lasted long.”

The sect leaders and senior elders were still immersed in that battle between Lin Yuan and the Demon God.

Facing off against a Demon God who rivaled Eternal Lords, all while not being one himself—since the creation of this world, it was the first time, and probably the only time it would ever happen.

“Fortunately, I took the initiative and offered up the Eternal Source for Lord Milky Way to choose from. Otherwise, we’d probably still be under attack from the Demon God right now.”

The Sect Master of the Eternal Immeasurable Sect spoke with a trace of pride.

“Yes, yes.”

The other sect leaders quickly nodded.

Back then, some of them had actually objected. After all, giving the Eternal Source to Lin Yuan—what if he failed to stop the Demon God?

This Hidden World might have fallen in an instant.

But looking back now, the Sect Master’s decision had saved the Hidden World and even reversed the entire situation between demons and cultivators.

“I wonder if the great Eternal Lords are aware of Lord Milky Way’s existence—and if so, how they’ll respond.”

A sect leader asked curiously.

By right, Eternal Lords stood high above. Beings below Rank Thirteen—no matter how strong—were beneath their notice.

Even the Eternal Sects they founded mattered only as a whole, not as individuals. As long as the sect endured, Eternal Lords didn’t care who lived or died.

But Lin Yuan?

With the power he’d shown, even Eternal Lords couldn’t ignore him.

“That’s a matter for the great Eternal Lords.”

Another sect leader shook his head, about to continue—

When suddenly—

Wummmm~

Within the Hidden World, several Eternal Treasures began to tremble as if sensing something. Eternal auras rapidly spread.

“This…?”

The sect leaders were stunned.

Eternal Treasures were left behind by the Eternal Lords—they were the true owners. The sects merely used their methods to activate them.

Now, with several Eternal Treasures reviving on their own, it could only mean they had sensed a trace of their true owners’ auras.

In other words—

The Eternal Lords, who had vanished since the great upheaval, had returned to this world.

“The Eternal Lords… The great Eternal Lords have returned?!”

A high-ranking elder broke into tears, and several sect leaders were visibly emotional.

Many elders and disciples had been born after the upheaval and had never truly seen their own Eternal Lord.

Moments later—

The Hidden World remained unchanged.

The Eternal Treasures gradually calmed.

This left the sect leaders and elders confused.

Where were the great Eternal Lords?

If they had returned, why hadn’t they entered the Hidden World?

This Hidden World had been jointly created by the Eternal Lords. If they’d come back, this would be their first stop—without a doubt.

“Maybe… the great Eternal Lords have more important things to do…”

The Sect Master of the Eternal Immeasurable Sect spoke, though he already had a guess in his heart: the reappearance of the Eternal Lords had happened after Lin Yuan's battle with the Demon God.

So it was very likely connected to Lord Milky Way. Perhaps… they returned specifically to meet him?

Lin Yuan looked at the thirteen towering figures in the distance—their auras weren’t particularly powerful, likely just avatars of consciousness.

But Lin Yuan immediately recognized who they were—especially the leading figure.

The thirteen Eternal Lords of this Source World…

Lin Yuan’s expression turned slightly solemn. These were thirteen Time Beings.

His current combat strength might rival that of a Time Being, but what made Time Beings terrifying was not raw power—it was their ability to choose the future.

When it came to viewing future timelines, Lin Yuan was still far inferior to a true Time Being.

“Wu Shan greets the young friend.”

“Black Void greets the young friend.”

As the Lord of Eternal Immeasurable spoke, the other twelve Eternal Lords followed with warm greetings.

“Greetings, Eternal Lords.”

Lin Yuan responded immediately.

After comprehending the inheritance left behind by the Lord of Heavenly Radiance, he had already deduced that the disappearance of these thirteen Eternal Lords was likely to restrain the most powerful Bright Aspect of the Lord of Heavenly Radiance.

Without them, the Source World would’ve likely been fully corrupted long ago—and Lin Yuan would’ve been tainted the moment he transmigrated into it.

“If not for you, young friend, the Hidden World we left behind likely wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” the Lord of Eternal Immeasurable smiled.

“I was also the reason the Demon God was enraged,” Lin Yuan shook his head.

It was the truth. To the Demon God, if not for discovering so many Source Demons were killed by Lin Yuan, he probably wouldn’t have targeted the Hidden World, but would’ve continued suppressing the Source World’s consciousness.

“It’s all the same,” the Lord of Black Void shook his head.

“Even if you hadn’t hunted the Source Demons, that Demon God would’ve attacked the Hidden World eventually. It was only a matter of time.”

Lin Yuan chuckled.

Eternal Lords could observe countless future timelines—there was no hiding anything from them.

“At first, we were nearly in despair. We observed billions of timelines—every single one ended with the Demon God destroying everything,” Lord Wu Shan looked at Lin Yuan with a complex expression.

Only in a tiny handful of timelines did a new Eternal Lord emerge in this Source World. But compared to the vast number of timelines, the probability was far too small.

Even as Time Beings, they had fallen into despair.

“But your appearance, young friend, has completely ended the ‘Demon’ Calamity and saved all living beings of this world,” said the Lord of Eternal Immeasurable.

“I haven’t ended it yet. The Demon God still exists, and the demonic energy still hasn’t stopped spreading,” Lin Yuan replied promptly.

He had only repelled the Demon God. It wasn’t even a full retreat—the Demon God had simply realized fighting Lin Yuan was meaningless and had shifted focus to suppressing the Source World’s consciousness.

“It’s only a matter of time,” said the Lord of Eternal Immeasurable.

The other twelve Eternal Lords didn’t refute him.

They had observed enough timelines to see that Lin Yuan was virtually guaranteed to become an Eternal Lord—so ending the Demon Calamity was only a matter of time.

“A matter of time?”

Lin Yuan understood. The thirteen Time Beings must have seen his future timelines.

And it was true—once Lin Yuan broke into Rank Thirteen, the first thing he would do was wipe out the demonic energy and purge the Demon God.

To Lin Yuan, this Source World was effectively his base of operations. Naturally, he didn’t want any instability—and the Demon God and the demonic energy were exactly that.

Ending the Demon Calamity was, primarily, for his own sake.

As for saving the masses? That was just a side effect.

“But young friend, there’s something you should be cautious about.”

The Lord of Eternal Immeasurable looked at Lin Yuan.

“There’s no need to provoke the Demon God for now. Just wait until you’ve broken through to Rank Thirteen before taking action.”

In many of the future timelines he observed, Lin Yuan became an Eternal Lord in as little as ten thousand years, or as long as a hundred thousand.

Why would Lin Yuan in some timelines only break through after a hundred thousand years?

Because in those, he tried to end the Demon Calamity early and confront the Demon God before breaking through.

The result: the Demon God resisted with full force, and though Lin Yuan survived, his will was slightly corrupted. It took tens of thousands of years to fully cleanse it.

The Lord of Eternal Immeasurable had seen this and now offered timely advice to help Lin Yuan avoid such detours.

“He’s right, young friend.”

“No need to rush. That Demon God still has a long way to go before fully suppressing the Source World’s consciousness. There’s time.”

“Yes. Become an Eternal Lord first—then make your move.”

The Lords of Wu Shan and Black Void added.

The true strength of Rank Thirteen Time Beings lay in choosing the most favorable future.

“Oh?”

Lin Yuan’s heart stirred slightly.

While he could observe future timelines, he still couldn’t match true Time Beings—and hadn’t seen the timeline where he acted early against the Demon God.

“Understood.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

He had indeed considered sparring with the Demon God again—but it had been just a thought, not a concrete plan.

With the Eternal Lords’ reminder, he realized that such a move could come at a cost.

“Your strength is indeed formidable—almost on par with us—but you are still not a Time Being. Raw power alone makes it easy for other Time Beings to scheme against you.”

The Lord of Eternal Immeasurable said, “Only by becoming an Eternal Lord and seeing more of the future can you avoid being peered into by other Time Beings.”

“Peering into the future of a non-Time Being versus a Time Being—those are worlds apart.”

Unless the difference in power was enormous, Time Beings of the same level found it extremely difficult to observe each other’s timelines clearly. They usually inferred outcomes indirectly.

At the level of Time Lords, they began collapsing and sealing off their own timelines, creating exclusive domains completely immune to others’ gaze.

And by Rank Fourteen, they transcended the timeline altogether—past, present, and future left no trace.

“Mm.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

In theory, other Time Beings wouldn’t dare to scheme against his future.

But if an accident occurred? With their means, Time Beings wouldn’t plot unless they were very confident in success.

“To explore dimensional spaces and challenge other Time Beings from different dimensions—one must first be an Eternal Lord,” said the Lord of Black Void.

Next—

The thirteen Eternal Lords chatted with Lin Yuan for a while longer.

The goodwill in their words nearly overflowed.

Lin Yuan understood this and was happy to go along with it.

One more friend was always better than one more enemy.

Even after he reached Rank Thirteen and became a Time Being, he’d still welcome bonds with others like him.

“You’ve fought the Demon God before—what did you think?” asked the Lord of Black Void.

“Very powerful,” Lin Yuan replied.

The Demon God was indeed strong.

Even without using any secret arts or divine powers, just relying on raw physical instinct, he could go toe-to-toe with Lin Yuan.

What was more telling—Lin Yuan had a suspicion that the Demon God hadn’t been at full strength during their battle.

Part of his power had transformed into the endless demonic energy blanketing the Source World.

The Demon God’s true peak state would be after reclaiming all that demonic energy.

But if he did that, he’d no longer be able to corrode the Source World.

“Young friend, are you curious about the Demon God’s origins?” the Lord of Black Void asked, looking at Lin Yuan.

“The Demon God is the Dark Aspect of the Lord of Heavenly Radiance?” Lin Yuan said directly.

At those words, the other Eternal Lords were slightly shocked.

The true identity of the Demon God was only known to them.

Beings below the Eternal Lord level had no idea—they only knew the Demon God was one of the sources of the Demon Calamity.

“You’ve fully grasped the inheritance left by the Lord of Heavenly Radiance?” The Lord of Wu Shan's thoughts stirred—he sensed that Lin Yuan had gleaned the key from the trial realm he created.

The Lord of Heavenly Radiance had two true bodies: a Bright Aspect and a Dark Aspect.

For ages, the one shown publicly had always been the Bright Aspect.

As for the Dark Aspect? Before the upheaval, even some Eternal Lords had been unaware of its existence.

It was one of the Lord of Heavenly Radiance’s hidden cards, only briefly mentioned in a few legacy texts.

“You’ve already comprehended that inheritance?”

The Lords of Immeasurability and the others looked surprised. Some of them hadn’t fully grasped it themselves.

But considering Lin Yuan’s nearly guaranteed future and current strength comparable to an Eternal Lord, they quickly understood.

With Lin Yuan, nothing was too unbelievable.

“Yes. That Demon God is the Dark Aspect of the Lord of Heavenly Radiance,” said the Lord of Black Void with a sigh.

The other Eternal Lords also fell into silence.

Many of them had, in some way, received favors from the Lord of Heavenly Radiance.

“Why did the Lord of Heavenly Radiance become like this?” Lin Yuan looked at the thirteen Eternal Lords and voiced the question in his heart.

The Demon God, as the Dark Aspect, clearly lacked conscious will—and the Bright Aspect likely had none either. Otherwise, even thirteen Eternal Lords wouldn’t be enough to restrain his full strength.

If the Lord of Heavenly Radiance had remained whole and sane, he could’ve destroyed the Source World the moment it was born—after all, he was the only Eternal Lord at the time.

“The Lord of Heavenly Radiance…”

The Lord of Eternal Immeasurable gazed at Lin Yuan, his eyes distant. “That’s a story that begins long, long ago…”

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