Chapter 784

“White jade staircase?”

Lin Yuan carefully studied the seemingly endless steps of the white jade staircase.

Compared to the previous two instances—one in a dream, and one in a future fragment—this time, with the staircase appearing before him for real, everything was much clearer. Mysterious patterns were etched across its surface, as if revealing the ultimate essence of the infinite dimensional realms.

“Not many Legendary Lords have begun climbing this particular white jade staircase yet.”

Lin Yuan glanced around. Although the transcendental power that formed the white jade staircases had swept across the entire dimensional realm, many Legendary Lords still hadn’t arrived in time.

Like Lin Yuan himself, who was a bit late.

And there were others even later than him.

Moreover—

There were a total of 33,333 white jade staircases.

That greatly dispersed the Legendary Lords across different staircases.

“In the future, millions of years from now, is it this transcendence path that I’m climbing?”

Lin Yuan was mildly curious. In the vision where he summoned his future self within the Wanwei time-space, he had seen a figure steadily ascending step by step.

“Let’s begin.”

After a moment of thought, Lin Yuan stepped onto the white jade staircase.

The moment his right foot landed, he immediately felt his own comprehended Chaotic Origin Tai Chi Dao start to tremble.

“This—?”

The will of his Chaotic Origin Tai Chi Dao began to rise, vaguely transforming toward a supreme, exalted state.

“A Supreme Law Dao—it’s the Supreme Law Dao. My Chaotic Origin Tai Chi Dao is evolving toward the Supreme Law Dao.”

Even though he’d already learned about the benefits of climbing the staircase from the Lord of Purple Light, Lin Yuan couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

Whether time lifeforms, Time Lords, or even Legendary Lords—all they could comprehend were Chaotic Origin-level Daos.

As for Supreme Law Daos? They were the very foundation that upheld the infinite dimensional realms. If the Supreme Law Dao had a concrete will, it would be akin to a Rank Fourteen Perfect Time Lifeform, overlooking the entire dimensional realm.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Law Dao possessed no true will. What people called the “will of the Supreme Law Dao” was more like an instinct—devoid of any thought.

Similar to a kind of “intelligence” in a technology-based dimensional space.

“Just seeing the direction... it’s still far from a complete transformation into the Supreme Law Dao.”

Lin Yuan pulled back his thoughts.

Still, even just seeing the direction was incredibly important.

Below the Time Lord realm, the path of cultivation—though difficult—still had guidance and direction.

But after comprehending a Chaotic Origin Dao, that guidance disappeared. That’s why Third Stage Lords explored all kinds of transcendence paths at that stage—

Because the path ahead had been sealed off. Only transcendence could break through it.

In essence, cultivation at the Third Stage Lord stage was like fumbling through endless darkness.

One misstep meant death.

Before the appearance of the white jade staircases, countless Lords had fallen on various transcendence paths.

Especially on the three mainstream paths—through the ages, many Lords had perished on them, including dazzling geniuses who had nearly reached the end of a path to transcendence.

“Compression and distortion force?”

Not long after stepping onto the first step, Lin Yuan not only felt the resonance of his Chaotic Origin Dao, but also sensed a subtle compressive and twisting force enveloping him.

This force targeted not just the physical body and soul, but also one’s mental will.

However, with Lin Yuan’s current strength, resisting it was simple.

“Can’t let my guard down.”

His expression grew slightly serious.

While the pressure wasn’t strong now, it would intensify the further he climbed.

This was also information passed down by the Lord of Purple Light, from the first batch of Legendary Lords who began their ascent.

“Keep going.”

After pausing briefly on the first step, Lin Yuan stepped onto the second.

To ascend to the next step, one had to not only resist the compressive force, but also fully comprehend their Chaotic Origin Dao to the current stage’s peak.

The white jade staircase served as a bridge between the Chaotic Origin Dao and the Supreme Law Dao—but walking that bridge was entirely up to the individual.

Time passed. As he climbed, Lin Yuan occasionally encountered other Legendary Lords.

However, compared to Lin Yuan, most of them spent several days or even dozens of days on a single step before moving on.

So even though they had started earlier, Lin Yuan quickly surpassed many of them in just a few days.

On the endless white jade staircase—

Lin Yuan climbed at a steady pace, but his mind was constantly turning.

“Climbing this white jade staircase is indeed slowly transforming my Chaotic Origin Tai Chi Dao.”

In the depths of his gaze, a black-and-white interwoven Dao faintly appeared. “All Chaotic Origin Daos extend from the Supreme Law Dao. The Dao gives birth to One, One to Two, Two to Three, and Three to all things. The Supreme Law Dao is the Dao—it might even be the ‘zero’ or ‘source’ above the Dao.”

The climb wasn’t just transforming Lin Yuan’s Dao—it was deepening his understanding of the Dao’s essence.

“Why did this white jade staircase appear? Transcendence power? But even transcendence has a source—what being of transcendence created it? And why?”

A multitude of questions rose in Lin Yuan’s heart.

He was certain the staircase wasn’t born from the will of the Supreme Law Dao.

Because while standing on it, even sensing the Supreme Law Dao's will became much more difficult.

The will of the Supreme Law Dao couldn’t interfere with anything on the staircase—that was an easy conclusion.

If it wasn’t born from the Supreme Law Dao’s will, then it must be some means created by a transcendent being. But why release such a direct path to transcendence?

To nurture another transcendent?

In dimensional space, time lifeforms nurtured new ones to prepare for the aftermath of a great collapse.

Even vast as the dimensional gaps were, time lifeforms needed to unite and work together—hence the need to raise new time lifeforms.

But transcendents?

Why would they want to nurture more transcendents?

Could it be that transcendents had enemies too?

Lin Yuan shook his head slightly. Transcendence meant supreme power—the peak of all things, the source of all.

How could they possibly have enemies?

“No matter why a transcendent did this, the transformation of the Chaotic Origin Tai Chi Dao is real. As long as I comprehend it, I gain.”

Lin Yuan steadied himself and stopped thinking, focusing all his mind on climbing.

To do this, he temporarily set aside his exploration of the Endless Tribulations path and the Source Worlds.

The Endless Tribulations path had existed for countless ages—as long as the will of the Supreme Law Dao remained, it would likely continue to exist. No rush.

As for the Source Worlds—they weren’t going anywhere. Delaying exploration wouldn’t matter.

But this white jade staircase? Who knew when it would disappear?

Compared to the three other transcendence paths, the white jade staircase had ridiculously low risk.

At least for now, there seemed to be almost none—aside from slow climbing progress.

That was precisely why its appearance had drawn the attention of nearly every Legendary Lord.

It offered the benefits of the Endless Tribulations—without its dangers.

How could the Lords not go crazy for it?

“Huff—”

A mountain-sized figure finally stepped onto the next stair after staying on one for a long while.

“My Chaotic Origin Mountain Dao...” This massive figure was called “Lord Shanjun,” a Legendary Lord who had survived over a hundred million tribulations. His gaze shone with excitement.

Any Legendary Lord, upon seeing the direction of transcendence, would feel the same—it was their ultimate goal.

“I can feel it. If my Chaotic Origin Mountain Dao continues evolving, one day it’ll become a new Supreme Law Dao. By then, I—Shanjun—”

But his thoughts were interrupted.

“Hmm?”

Shanjun twisted slightly and looked behind him.

He saw a faint figure approaching step by step—steadily and surely.

“So fast?”

Shanjun’s expression shifted. In just a few dozen breaths of time, the figure had climbed nearly ten steps—averaging a step every few breaths.

This was a stark contrast to Shanjun’s current pace of hundreds or thousands of breaths—or even half a day—per step.

“Milky Way?”

He instantly recognized Lin Yuan.

Over the past hundred thousand years, though Lin Yuan hadn’t made many moves, his reputation had spread—especially the terrifying display of his future self, which had made many powerful Legendary Lords wary.

“Shanjun?”

Lin Yuan had already noticed him. But with only one direction on the staircase, they were bound to meet.

“I’ve long heard of Lord Milky Way’s name. Now that I’ve seen you—it’s well-deserved.” Shanjun paused, then said, “Please go ahead.”

“…Thank you.”

Lin Yuan was slightly surprised.

Though there were no official rules, the white jade staircase was clearly a competitive path—only a limited number of Lords could truly transcend through it.

Which meant that all Lords on it were, in essence, competitors.

Shanjun’s willingness to yield was unexpected.

The massive Lord watched Lin Yuan continue climbing and thought silently: “There are plenty of Lords ahead of me. One more, ‘Milky Way,’ doesn’t change much.”

As a Lord who had passed a hundred million tribulations, Shanjun didn’t expect to transcend through this staircase. Many stronger Lords than him were already ahead.

What he hoped for instead was to refine his own Chaotic Origin Dao as much as possible.

Just like some Lords who focused on the Infinite Origin path also explored the Endless Tribulations to boost their power.

Time passed quickly as Lin Yuan climbed, surpassing Legendary Lord after Legendary Lord.

Those at the back, like Shanjun, didn’t mind being overtaken.

After all, even without Lin Yuan, many other Lords were ahead of them. The real chance at transcendence wasn’t theirs anyway.

But the ones closer to the front felt differently.

They had a real shot at transcendence. If Lin Yuan overtook them, their odds would shrink.

Still, wary of Lin Yuan’s past record—and the brief but terrifying appearance of his future self in the Wanwei time-space—most chose not to act rashly.

Soon—

As Lin Yuan climbed, he began approaching a Legendary Lord with a swaying tail.

“Lord Zhuohe?”

From afar, Lin Yuan recognized the figure.

Lord Zhuohe had survived 250 million tribulations—an extremely powerful Legendary Lord. Even the Wanwei Lord who created the Wanwei time-space couldn’t defeat him.

“There’s only one Legendary Lord ahead of me on this staircase—Lord Anxing. If I surpass him, my chances of transcendence are still very high.”

Zhuohe’s thoughts turned. Lord Anxing’s strength was similar to his own—he was only ahead because he started climbing earlier.

“Transcendence…”

Zhuohe’s heart surged.

Over countless ages, countless Lords stronger than him had perished on the path to transcendence.

But now, his chances were greater than any of them.

“The white jade staircases can only be climbed by Legendary Lords of the current timeline. Those from the past and future can't even perceive them—not even information about them can be retained.”

“This is a supreme opportunity for this timeline.”

Zhuohe took a deep breath and prepared to continue climbing.

Just then—

He glanced down.

“Milky Way?”

Zhuohe frowned. In just a short moment, he realized that Lin Yuan’s climbing speed would surpass him sooner or later.

He had heard of Lin Yuan’s exploits and was cautious—but only cautious.

“This is my path to transcendence!”

Looking down at Lin Yuan, Zhuohe felt that while he still had hope of catching up to Lord Anxing, Lin Yuan… at his current pace, once he passed Zhuohe, the gap would only widen.

“No one can interfere.”

Zhuohe’s eyes turned dangerously cold.

He feared Milky Way—but he didn’t dread him. No matter how strong he might be in the future, how could he stand by and let someone steal his shot at transcendence?

...

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