Chapter 768

"How can he be this strong?"

The bald Time Lord was dumbfounded.

He had thought he was being cautious enough—despite being a second-tier lord, he was only exploring the outer regions of the Wanwei Spacetime.

After all, most second-tier lords had already ventured deep into the Wanwei Spacetime.

Even the smallest gain from those inner regions could easily surpass hundreds of thousands or even millions of years of effort in the outskirts.

But Lin Yuan?

Just from the suffocating pressure emanating from him, the bald Time Lord could tell that Lin Yuan's strength far exceeded his own.

Second-tier lords needed to endure billions of tribulations, and the terrifying aura Lin Yuan displayed was terrifying.

A lord of that level choosing not to explore the depths of Wanwei Spacetime?

"Let me try this move first."

Lin Yuan pressed his right hand down rapidly. At this moment, he was going all out, unleashing 'Primordial Beginning' from The Innate Five Tais.

The Innate Five Tais was a technique Lin Yuan created by channeling all of himself and comprehending the operation of the origin Dao of his fourth Source World.

It elevated Lin Yuan’s strength to an entirely new level. Apart from the still-developing 'Grand Beginning', 'Primordial Beginning' was his most powerful move.

If even 'Primordial Beginning' couldn't deal with the bald Time Lord, it meant Lin Yuan had no effective way to handle him, and splitting the time mountain in half would be the best option.

Rumble—

Though the description sounded slow, Lin Yuan's attack arrived in an instant.

Though shocked by Lin Yuan’s strength, the bald Time Lord immediately activated all his defenses.

Even knowing he was no match, he refused to retreat. After all, that time mountain was too valuable—his entire lifetime’s accumulation couldn't compare.

Unless there was absolutely no hope, the bald Time Lord wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

As long as he could withstand Lin Yuan’s attack, it would give him leverage in negotiation.

By now, the bald Time Lord had given up hope of getting half of the time mountain—how much he got would depend entirely on his strength.

If he were stronger than Lin Yuan, getting more than half wouldn’t even be a problem.

But as it stood, with the massive power gap between them, how could he even dare think that far?

If he managed to get even one-tenth, that would already be a huge win.

Of course, that was assuming he could survive Lin Yuan's attack.

Only by surviving could he force Lin Yuan to back down.

Rumble—

The power of Primordial Beginning penetrated through layers of spacetime. Were it not for the suppression of Wanwei Spacetime, the spreading force would have already obliterated everything.

"Me?" The bald Time Lord was enveloped in layers of dim light, struggling to fend off the omnipresent force of Primordial Beginning. "Just at first contact, and ten percent of my body is already annihilated?"

Though that ten percent of his body quickly regenerated, it was instantly worn down again by the invading force.

Crash—

The power of Primordial Beginning was like a vast ocean, and the bald Time Lord was like a lone boat on its surface, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.

"Too strong..."

The bald Time Lord trembled.

He was completely outmatched by Lin Yuan—even just defending was a Herculean task.

"My luck is really terrible."

He felt helpless. After finally discovering a great treasure in the outer region, it ended up in the hands of a powerhouse like Lin Yuan.

Now, his assessment of Lin Yuan's strength had changed again—

At the very least, this was a lord who had endured seven to eight hundred millions tribulations of the second tier.

The second tier only had a total of 1 billion and 8k tribulations—surviving seven to eight hundred millions? That was already the peak of the tier.

Of course, the scariest part of the second tier was the final 8,000 tribulations.

The 1 billion and 8k tribulations—ten billion was the threshold. Those who passed that and dared to attempt the final 8,000 were already touching the legendary lord level.

In fact, many powerful Time Lords, after enduring their one-billionth tribulation, didn’t even dare attempt the first of the 8,000 tribulations.

The failure rate was extremely high—and if they failed, they would be erased by the supreme consciousness of the laws of the Dao.

Buzz—The power of Primordial Beginning dissipated.

The bald Time Lord reformed his body.

But his aura was clearly much weaker than before.

Though he hadn’t been completely wiped out by Lin Yuan’s Primordial Beginning from The Innate Five Tais, he was close.

"Hmm?" Lin Yuan observed him, trying to gauge his condition.

When he said he would "try one move," he didn’t literally mean only one.

Rather, he used that one move to judge the opponent’s overall strength.

“No need to look further. That time mountain is yours.”

The bald Time Lord shook his head.

He was heavily injured now. If Lin Yuan used a few more moves like the last one, and he didn’t escape, he wouldn’t survive.

"Thank you for yielding."

Lin Yuan said.

"I'm just not as strong, that's all."

The bald Time Lord looked at Lin Yuan. "Congratulations on your gain."

To obtain such a massive time mountain in the outer region was truly something worth congratulating.

After speaking, he vanished.

"He left?"

Sensing the bald Time Lord’s aura fading into the distance, Lin Yuan made no attempt to stop him.

First, because he might not even be able to—if a second-tier Time Lord escaped with all his might, how long would it take to catch him?

Ten million years? A hundred million?

Wanwei Spacetime only remained open for several million to tens of millions of years.

Even if he caught up, he couldn’t kill him—at most, he’d destroy a combat body.

And the bald Time Lord surely wouldn’t have brought any valuable treasures into Wanwei Spacetime.

When he resisted Lin Yuan’s Primordial Beginning just now, he used only a secret-body technique—no weapons or artifacts were seen.

The second reason?

The bald Time Lord had promised not to spread word of this.

Which meant—

No other Time Lords would find out about Lin Yuan obtaining the time mountain.

"At least he knows what's smart."

Lin Yuan nodded slightly.

Among Time Lords, unless there was deep hatred, they wouldn’t do something that harmed others without benefit to themselves.

Spreading the news that Lin Yuan got a time mountain could lure other Time Lords, but it would bring the bald one no benefit.

Even if another Time Lord did manage to steal the mountain from Lin Yuan, they wouldn’t share it with the bald one.

Worse, it would create a karmic grudge between the bald one and Lin Yuan. Given Lin Yuan’s terrifying strength, that would only increase pressure on him.

When they first met, the bald Time Lord had threatened to expose the matter. That was based on the assumption that their strength was equal or close.

In that case, even if it led to a grudge, the bald one wouldn’t fear retaliation, and Lin Yuan would likely choose to split the mountain, leading to a win-win.

But once Lin Yuan’s strength proved far superior, the threat was meaningless—threatening someone vastly more powerful than you wasn’t courage. It was stupidity.

"Who is this lord, really?"

In another area, the bald Time Lord reappeared, deep in thought.

He couldn’t claim to know all Time Lords, but he knew the reputation of most of them.

And yet, he had never heard of anyone with the strength and technique Lin Yuan had just displayed.

“There are just too many secrets in the endless dimensional planes.”

He sighed.

The endless dimensional planes were vast and boundless, home to countless dimensional spaces and worlds.

From them emerged many time-based lifeforms, and among them, a batch rose to become Time Lords. Over the ages, from the origin of time to now—who knows how many?

Many ancient Time Lords devoted themselves to pursuing paths of transcendence, never revealing themselves.

To the bald Time Lord, Lin Yuan must be one of those ancient lords.

What puzzled him was: why didn’t this ancient Time Lord venture into the depths of Wanwei Spacetime?

"Maybe he already knew a time mountain would appear there, and waited specifically for it?"

Many theories swirled in his mind. In the end, he hid in a corner to recover from his injuries.

To withstand Lin Yuan’s strike, he had taken heavy damage. Now, he needed to recover before continuing his exploration.

“My strength now should be considered powerful among second-tier lords.”

Once the bald one had completely left, Lin Yuan began reviewing the battle.

That bald Time Lord had only just entered the second tier, and under Lin Yuan’s Primordial Beginning, could barely fight back.

Three thousand years ago, when Lin Yuan first created Primordial Beginning from The Innate Five Tais, he already believed he had stepped into the second tier.

And though he hadn't yet created the next stage, ‘Grand Beginning,’ in those 3,000 years, he had still made significant progress—just without combat experience, he wasn’t sure where he stood.

Now, after fighting the bald Time Lord, he had a clear sense.

“If I can create the second move, ‘Grand Beginning,’ my strength will skyrocket.”

A smile appeared on his face. Every move in The Innate Five Tais was a comprehensive enhancement.

By Lin Yuan’s estimate, if he could complete ‘Grand Beginning,’ he might reach the threshold of a legendary lord—that is, the final 8,000 tribulations of the second tier.

Keep in mind, even the strongest of the three Celestial Emperors in the third Source World, the Three-Life Celestial Emperor, had only passed the 1-billionth tribulation.

That emperor was the most gifted being in the third Source World—the first mortal immortal, the first Celestial King, the first Celestial Emperor, and the greatest beneficiary of that illusory world.

"Step by step."

Lin Yuan withdrew his thoughts.

He could feel that the creation of the second move was already very close.

"A mountain made entirely of time sand?"

He looked into his inner universe at the mountain infused with the power of time.

Time sand could replenish the energy spent when time-based lifeforms observed future timelines—a kind of hard currency among them.

Even Time Lords constantly observed multiple timelines.

Outside of special places like Wanwei Spacetime, timelines were visible.

Time Lords had already collapsed their own timelines, but collapsing didn’t mean they didn’t need to observe them—it just meant they didn’t need to view redundant timelines. The one they did watch was the final collapsed line.

"This time mountain contains a total of 7.68 million jin of time sand."

Lin Yuan was delighted as he assessed the mountain’s value.

With 10,000 jin of time sand, one could command a newly ascended time lifeform for millions of years.

7.68 million jin?

Sure, those new Time Lords who served under the Lord Night Mist did so partly for the 10,000 jin of sand, but also for other opportunities in Wanwei Spacetime.

Still, 10,000 jin alone was already a significant fortune.

And 7.68 million?

Even Time Lords approaching the legendary level had wealth only in that ballpark.

"Can't get too excited yet."

Lin Yuan calmed himself.

Such a vast amount of time sand was a tremendous opportunity.

But the key was getting it out.

If he couldn’t take it out, he couldn’t convert it into usable resources—then it would be as good as not having it.

And Wanwei Spacetime was riddled with danger. Even though he was in the outskirts, and theoretically safe—

What if?

If he ran into a legendary-tier Time Lord, his current strength couldn’t even guarantee survival.

If one of those made a move, he’d be finished.

But that was unlikely—legendary-tier Time Lords were rare, and if they entered Wanwei Spacetime, they’d go straight to the depths, not linger in the outer zone.

Besides, they might not even care for 7 to 8 million jin of time sand.

Even the Lord Wanwei hadn’t bothered with this time mountain.

Other legendary-tier Time Lords, even if not on par with the Lord Wanwei, wouldn’t bother robbing for this.

“I’ll divide the time mountain into seven million portions, and send out avatars to transport them one by one. My true self will receive them outside.”

Lin Yuan had made up his mind.

The bald Time Lord had promised not to leak the secret, but Lin Yuan wasn’t going to fully trust him. He prepared for the worst.

By transporting the time mountain little by little, even if something went wrong, he could manage the loss.

And so—

Lin Yuan spent the next hundred years.

He finally transported the time mountain—worth over seven million jin of time sand—piece by piece, out of the spacetime.

Nothing went wrong during the process, which gave him a good impression of the bald Time Lord. The man really hadn't made any moves.

Now, the time mountain had lifted Lin Yuan out of his state of "poverty," making him one of the wealthiest among the Time Lords.

...

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