Chapter 764

After forming his past self, Lin Yuan had briefly attempted to explore the past.

But it was only a tentative probe—he hadn’t gone too deep. With only his present self as an anchor, it was easy to fall into temporal disorientation.

Many Time Lords disappeared without a trace, most of them lost in past time-space.

Otherwise, in the other two transcendence paths, even if one failed a tribulation in “Endless Tribulations,” there would still be time to arrange a few final matters before being erased by the supreme Dao consciousness.

As for Perfect Life? The process of ascending to the fourteenth rank triggered an enormous upheaval. Even if it ultimately failed, the phenomenon would leave behind lasting effects—possibly even relics.

Only Infinite Origin appeared much safer than the other two transcendence paths, but in truth, it wasn’t any less dangerous.

But now? With his future self formed, his past, present, and future selves were as one.

Even if not yet a Lord, Lin Yuan was already better equipped than most Lords to resist the dangers of disorientation.

And the calamity of being lost only occurred when reaching extremely ancient temporal nodes.

Lin Yuan was only doing a light exploration—there wouldn’t be any problems.

He moved carefully, flowing upstream along the timeline.

“All things are illusions, except me?”

Lin Yuan glanced around. At the moment, he was in a segment of the past two Great Annihilation cycles before the present.

“I mustn’t leave any trace behind.”

He reminded himself silently. Leaving marks or causing changes in the past could have minor or major consequences.

Minor ones might not affect the future and would amount to nothing.

But major ones—like interfering with significant events—could trigger time’s backlash, something even a Lord would find unbearable.

“Qingya Mountain.”

Soon, Lin Yuan arrived at a segment of time twelve Great Annihilation cycles in the past. He gazed at a green mountain that stood out starkly from the illusory surroundings.

To non-native lifeforms of this timeline, this green mountain was extremely conspicuous—virtually every Lord who explored this time segment would notice it.

At the third stage, it wasn’t difficult for a Lord to influence the past and establish a “communication” site that only Lords could discover and enter.

“Enter.”

With a thought, Lin Yuan stepped in.

Setting up communication sites in the past wasn’t just for secrecy—it was for safety.

After all, those entering such places were all Lords from different time segments, and none of them dared to act recklessly.

Unless someone went mad, no Lord would fight in the past. The shockwaves from such a battle could cause immense damage and ripple back with devastating backlash.

Within Qingya Mountain was a vast world, where terrifying auras gathered in small groups—each one a Time Lord.

Almost every Time Lord left a mind-avatar in Qingya Mountain to facilitate communication with other Lords.

When Lin Yuan entered, he didn’t attract any attention.

Outside, Time Lords were incredibly rare—even in the vast dimensional rift regions, one was hard to find.

But here… everyone who could enter was a Time Lord. No lifeform below that level could even perceive the place.

Of course, Lin Yuan was a special case. Though not technically a Time Lord, he was no different in strength.

“Time-Space Shop?”

Lin Yuan came upon a building, its facade inscribed with the characters "Time-Space Shop."

Since Qingya Mountain was a place for Lords to communicate, naturally there were places for trade.

As Lin Yuan entered, a strange beast with twelve eyes warmly greeted him.

“What may I help you find, honored guest?” the twelve-eyed beast said gently.

“What a strong pressure.” Lin Yuan was startled. This was only a mind-avatar, yet it gave off a pressure even greater than the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor.

“I’m looking for some third-stage materials.” Lin Yuan hadn’t forgotten his goal.

To evolve the Origin Bell into a Lord-grade weapon, he needed a large amount of third-stage materials. (I forgot, but previously Origin Bell was called Primordial Bell, but I find it too long, so I changed it to Origin :P, but I may use it again)

“Please take a look.”

The twelve-eyed beast said no more. With a flip of its hand, layers of light screens appeared.

Each screen listed a different Lord-grade material.

Prices ranged from as low as 100,000 Time Sand to several billion. Some couldn’t even be bought with Time Sand—they required bartering.

“So expensive…” Lin Yuan suddenly realized how poor he was.

He had the strength of a Lord, but lacked the years of accumulation. His entire wealth was less than that of a typical second-stage time lifeform.

Most Lords had cultivated for countless ages, building up resources over eons. Naturally, they weren’t as poor as Lin Yuan.

“I’ll think about it,” Lin Yuan said.

“No problem.”

The twelve-eyed beast wasn’t bothered.

Lord-grade materials were all extremely valuable—naturally, buyers would shop around.

“I assume this is your first time in Qingya Mountain? You must have just reached the third stage,” the twelve-eyed beast said with a smile.

“Yes.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

Veteran Lords usually kept a permanent mind-avatar here.

Since Lin Yuan hadn’t been seen before, it was obvious he was new. That was something that usually only happened to newly ascended Lords.

“We time lifeforms go through countless trials and finally reach the third stage—only to find the path to transcendence even harder.” The twelve-eyed beast couldn’t help but sigh.

To first and second-stage time lifeforms, Time Lords seemed lofty and omnipotent, able to roam the past and wield unfathomable powers.

But in truth, the path Lords faced was far more despairing than theirs.

All three transcendence paths could lead to complete annihilation if one was even slightly careless.

“True.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

Technically, Time Lords could live comfortably if they just coasted.

But with the three transcendence paths laid out, who among them could resist trying, except perhaps for the Perfect Life path?

But the moment they tried, things could go wrong.

With Infinite Origin, you might reach a certain ancient time—feel you’re just a step away from transcendence. Who could resist pushing further?

And one more step could mean getting lost forever.

With Endless Tribulations, maybe you think the next trial won’t be too hard. But if the difficulty suddenly spikes, failure means being erased by the supreme Dao consciousness.

And every Lord was someone with deep desire for transcendence. The higher their realm, the clearer their vision—and the more they wanted to escape their ultimate fate. In the end, they would inevitably try—and die on the road.

In a sense, if one never transcended, the fate of all Time Lords was eventual oblivion—only a matter of time.

Beings below the thirteenth rank could live in confusion.

But Time Lords couldn’t. They had already seen part of the true nature of the infinite dimensional layers.

“Just reached the third stage—you probably don’t have much Time Sand. Interested in earning some?” The twelve-eyed beast changed its tone suddenly after the sigh.

“Earn some Time Sand?”

Lin Yuan was intrigued. “How?”

“Soon, the Wanwei Time-Space will open. Many Lords are preparing to enter together. I happen to know a few of them—they’re looking for another third-stage companion. Interested?”

The twelve-eyed beast asked.

“Wanwei Time-Space?”

Lin Yuan’s heart stirred.

“The Wanwei Time-Space is a special space formed when the Wanwei Lord failed to ascend to Perfect Time Life and fell, condensing everything he had.”

The twelve-eyed beast paused, then explained further: “The Wanwei Lord is said to have reached the third stage of ‘Endless Tribulations’—crossing two hundred million tribulations in that phase. But for some unknown reason, he gave up and instead attempted to become a Perfect Time Life.”

Its expression was complicated.

Endless Tribulations had three phases.

The third was the final one, consisting of 330 million trials. The Wanwei Lord had completed 200 million of them—meaning he was in the late phase of this transcendence path.

And yet he gave it up to attempt Perfect Time Life? A path that relied on luck, not effort?

In truth, no Time Lord would attempt Perfect Time Life unless they were extremely confident. It wasn’t something one could achieve through hard work—making most Lords uneasy about it.

“Wanwei Lord…”

Lin Yuan was shocked.

Every tribulation passed increased one’s strength. To have crossed into the third phase and passed 200 million tribulations—

How powerful was he?

Due to the nature of the Endless Tribulations path, Time Lords often measured each other’s strength by how far they’d gone along it.

The more tribulations one passed, the stronger they became.

Those who passed the first phase were already considered veteran Lords.

Those who reached the final 8,000 of the second phase were terrifying. Just the power gained from surviving billions of tribulations put them far above average Lords.

As for those who entered the third phase? They were legends. Lords in this phase had glimpsed true transcendence. Their strength had fundamentally changed from those in earlier stages.

“Before his fall, Wanwei Lord condensed everything into the Wanwei Time-Space. It holds many of his secrets—including why he ultimately chose to try Perfect Time Life.”

The twelve-eyed beast said, “And it also contains all of his treasures. Wanwei Lord was unimaginably ancient. Any one of his treasures could drive an ordinary Lord mad.”

“That’s why every time the Wanwei Time-Space opens, many Lords rush to explore it.”

The twelve-eyed beast looked at Lin Yuan.

“I see.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

“What are the requirements?” he asked.

“One moment, I’ll let them tell you directly.”

The twelve-eyed beast began contacting them.

Not long after—

A figure made entirely of white mist entered.

“Night Mist, I found you a Lord,” the twelve-eyed beast said.

“Mm.”

The misty figure looked at Lin Yuan. “You can call me ‘Night Mist.’ I assume the shopkeeper has already explained the basics.”

“He has.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

“If you join us, you won’t have to do much. Just act when we need you. If your main body is destroyed in battle, we’ll compensate you,” Night Mist said.

In other words, they needed a hired hand. Lin Yuan immediately understood his role.

“During that time, you must follow our commands. If anything happens, we’ll cover the losses,” Night Mist emphasized again.

“Understood.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

The requirements didn’t seem too demanding.

“When it’s done, I’ll give you 10,000 jin of Time Sand as payment,” Night Mist said.

“10,000 jin?” Lin Yuan was quite satisfied.

His total wealth was only two or three thousand jin of Time Sand. Ten thousand was the kind of amount most second-stage lifeforms could only accumulate after endless years.

And this was just the reward for a single mission.

“How long will the exploration take?” Lin Yuan asked after thinking for a moment.

“A million to ten million years,” Night Mist said.

“A million to ten million years?” Lin Yuan frowned slightly. “I have to follow your commands the whole time?”

“Yes.”

Night Mist nodded.

“That’s too long.”

Lin Yuan said directly.

At his current cultivation pace, he’d become a Lord in less than 100,000 years.

And given his foundations, once he became a Lord, he’d be among the strongest.

Hiring a new Lord for a million years? 10,000 Time Sand was fine.

But hiring a top-tier Lord for that long? That price wouldn’t even come close.

“How long do you want?” Night Mist asked.

“No more than 50,000 years,” Lin Yuan said. “If it goes longer, you’ll need to pay more Time Sand.”

“Then forget it.”

Night Mist shook his head immediately.

A million to ten million years was a blink to a Lord.

“Shopkeeper, I’m leaving.”

Night Mist turned and left the Time-Space Shop.

Since neither side could accept the other’s terms, there was no point in discussing further.

Outside the Time-Space Shop...

A figure of the twelve-eyed beast formed in front of Night Mist.

It was the shopkeeper.

“Night Mist, you should’ve offered more,” the twelve-eyed beast said. “The demands you made might fool some rookie Lords, but compensation for real losses in the Wanwei Time-Space? What would you even use to compensate?”

“When the Wanwei Time-Space opens, terrifying Lords show up. You want one to follow your orders for millions of years—and offer only 10,000 Time Sand?”

The twelve-eyed beast shook his head.

“How could you earn 10,000 Time Sand over millions of years without taking any risks?” Night Mist replied indifferently. “If I’m going to pay more, I might as well hire a veteran Lord.”

“Shopkeeper, you’re too soft. He asked for more, and you just went along with it?”

Night Mist chuckled. “To me, that rookie Lord is worth exactly what I offered.”

...

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