At that moment, the Thousand Fang King was utterly terrified.
Just a moment ago, he had been cultivating and indulging himself in Thousand Fang City. As the ruler of the domain and a titled Heavenly Sovereign of the Grand Ling Ancient Kingdom, the Thousand Fang King held supreme power and status in this vast region.
Even orders from the Emperor of Grand Ling could be selectively ignored by him.
But in the next instant, he had been forcibly transported to this place?
From beginning to end, the Thousand Fang King hadn't resisted.
Or more accurately, he hadn't even had time to react before suddenly appearing here.
His mind went blank. He was a Heavenly Sovereign! Even if not an Ultimate Heavenly Sovereign or a peak one.
But to be moved like this, entirely ignoring his resistance—who could do such a thing? Not even the strongest of Heavenly Sovereigns should have that power.
The gap between Heavenly Sovereigns and the strongest among them was indeed vast, but they were still in the same realm—this kind of absolute suppression shouldn't exist.
"That's…" After the initial shock and horror, the Thousand Fang King finally noticed Lin Yuan.
And with that one glance, his scalp went numb.
Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign.
The most untouchable among the six ancient Kingdoms—no exceptions—the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign!
With the Grand Ling Ancestor having personally issued orders, the Thousand Fang King had naturally seen images of the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign before. There was no way he'd mistake him.
And the ability to silently relocate him—only the legendary Invincible Heavenly Sovereign, Milky Way, could have done that.
"Thousand Fang King?"
Compared to the Thousand Fang King's shock, the young Meng Shi felt utterly hopeless.
He had once glimpsed the Thousand Fang King from afar and immediately recognized this overlord of the domain.
That his escape had drawn the attention of such a lofty figure—Meng Shi felt completely despairing.
But soon, Meng Shi realized something was off. The Thousand Fang King seemed just as frightened—and didn't appear to know why he was here?
"It was the senior?"
Meng Shi wasn't stupid. He immediately realized the Thousand Fang King's sudden appearance had something to do with the senior who had stopped him.
Especially when Lin Yuan had ended with the phrase "What do you think?"—as if he'd already known the Thousand Fang King would appear.
"Whatever you say, Heavenly Sovereign!" The Thousand Fang King didn't even hear what Lin Yuan had said before that—he'd been transported mid-sentence, and the first words he caught were "What do you think?"
But it didn't matter. Whatever the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign said, he would comply.
As for arguing?
The Thousand Fang King knew full well that the unspoken rule forbidding interference among Heavenly Sovereigns of the six Kingdoms did not apply to the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign.
The Grand Ling Ancestor had personally ordered them not to provoke Milky Way under any circumstances. The Thousand Fang King knew exactly what he had to do.
No matter what—don't offend him.
He was even ready to relinquish control of the Thousand Fang Domain. With the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign showing up in person, it surely meant something big—perhaps he had his eye on the domain itself.
There was, after all, a second-class treasure land within the Thousand Fang Domain—very valuable.
"You heard that?"
Lin Yuan smiled as he looked at Meng Shi.
He was quite satisfied with Meng Shi's behavior.
Though Lin Yuan didn't place much emphasis on a Martial Dao practitioner's morals—even the most vicious demon would be his "anchor" and "beacon" if they followed the Martial Dao—
Still, a disciple with good character was pleasant to have.
"Huh?"
Meng Shi finally came to his senses.
He looked at the deferential Thousand Fang King, then back at the smiling Lin Yuan.
For a moment, he was completely at a loss.
The Thousand Fang King, whom he had always seen as untouchable, was now acting so lowly toward the "senior" who had stopped him—he nearly bowed all the way to the ground.
"I'll be taking this one with me then."
Lin Yuan looked at the Thousand Fang King, his tone flat.
"Yes, yes, Heavenly Sovereign. Please, take him. Even if you wanted to take every being in the Thousand Fang Domain, I would have no objection."
The Thousand Fang King blinked, glanced at Meng Shi, and quickly responded.
He had been ready to give up the entire domain, only to find that the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign merely wanted to take Meng Shi?
"Let's go."
Lin Yuan waved his hand and left with the still-stunned Meng Shi.
"Has the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign left?"
The Thousand Fang King remained bowed for a while before cautiously raising his head to check—only to find Lin Yuan gone. He let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"So that was the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign? The one recognized as the Invincible Heavenly Sovereign among the six ancient Kingdoms?"
His thoughts drifted.
With his strength, even without the Grand Ling Ancestor's order, he wouldn't dare provoke the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign.
In that newly formed treasure land, the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign had slaughtered all challengers—even the strongest Heavenly Sovereign of the Grand Ancient Void Kingdom had been crushed by him. He was hailed as the number one Heavenly Sovereign since the founding of the six ancient Kingdoms.
Someone of such power—even the strongest among Heavenly Sovereigns were cautious before him. Let alone someone like the Thousand Fang King, just an ordinary Heavenly Sovereign.
"He wants to take that person? I wonder why?"
He couldn't understand it, but didn't dare overthink it. He immediately reported the matter to the Emperor of the Grand Ling Kingdom.
Soon, the emperor responded, saying he had done well—and that no matter what the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign asked for, he was to agree.
"Any request?"
The Thousand Fang King once again realized how terrifying Milky Way was. For the emperor to say such a thing, it had to be backed by the Ancestor's approval.
And for the Ancestor to value the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign so much—to the point of agreeing to anything?
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
At that moment, dozens of figures arrived—those who had been hunting Meng Shi earlier.
Upon seeing the Thousand Fang King, they immediately stopped and bowed respectfully.
"That one you were chasing… his name was Meng Shi?" the Thousand Fang King asked.
He didn't know Meng Shi. The domain had far too many ants like him.
"Yes."
The pursuers replied cautiously.
"No need to hunt him anymore."
The Thousand Fang King paused briefly, then said, "If you encounter Meng Shi again, do not lay a hand on him. Notify me immediately."
He didn't know why the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign had taken him—but now that he was connected, even if only as an ant, the Thousand Fang King wouldn't dare act carelessly.
Liyang Kingdom capital.
Lin Yuan brought Meng Shi into the Milky Way King's Manor.
"Milky Way…"
Looking at the grand palace, Meng Shi began to guess Lin Yuan's true identity.
In fact, now that his mind was clear, he finally understood why the mighty Thousand Fang King had behaved that way before Lin Yuan.
Because the one who had stopped him… was the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign.
The Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign who shook the six ancient Kingdoms.
The very founder of the Martial Dao lineage Meng Shi had recently begun cultivating.
Soon—
Nervous and uncertain, Meng Shi entered the depths of the palace.
"You've probably figured out who I am by now."
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, smiling at him.
"Greetings, Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign!"
Meng Shi dropped to his knees with a thud.
For gratitude—if not for him, he'd have been dragged back by the Thousand Fang King's men.
For power—this was the one hailed as the strongest under the six Ancestors.
Meng Shi knew very clearly who he was facing now.
"Rise."
With a wave of Lin Yuan's hand, an invisible force lifted him up.
"I intend to take you as my disciple. Are you willing?"
Lin Yuan smiled.
Meng Shi's Martial Dao time affinity was exceedingly rare. Without guidance, he could easily go astray and waste that precious talent.
"I'm willing. I, Meng Shi, am willing!"
He kowtowed fiercely. "Master!"
"Good."
Lin Yuan nodded.
Then, he gave Meng Shi some brief guidance on Martial Dao cultivation.
"Your talent is excellent. Focus on the aspect of time. Aim to condense a time soul."
Lin Yuan instructed him.
In the Golden Mist Treasure Land—
Lin Yuan continued dispatching projections throughout the six ancient Kingdoms to gather Martial Dao seedlings with good potential for personal training.
These would be the backbone of the Martial Dao's branching paths in the future—and the foundation of Lin Yuan's Seventh Ancient Kingdom.
"Yuanlong's Heart…"
He continued observing the throbbing heart before him, while sending a projection to attempt building universes at the particle level.
Creating the first particle-world was easy. With his strength, forming a world was effortless—even within his own particles.
But by the thousandth particle-world, he began to feel some pressure. Each required a sliver of his mental focus. Individually negligible, but in the thousands, it added up.
Especially since 99.9% of his attention was on comprehending the Source World's source operation.
"The 120,000th particle-world…"
Soon, Lin Yuan had created his 120,000th. Now his expression grew serious—it was consuming all his remaining attention outside of his main comprehension.
"Not good."
His face changed. A subtle imbalance had formed among the worlds. In an instant, the projection he was using to test collapsed entirely.
"Failed?"
Lin Yuan frowned.
He could tell the problem wasn't due to a lack of mental energy.
Even if he stopped studying the Source World and focused entirely on building particle-worlds, how many could he truly make?
1.2 billion?
12 billion?
Yet particles were the most microscopic structures of life.
Compared to his true body, even 120 billion particle-worlds would be insignificant.
"Maintaining the particle-worlds shouldn't consume mental energy. Their existence should be instinctive—like drinking water or breathing."
Lin Yuan turned his attention back to the Yuanlong's Heart. This first lifeform of the Source World had a world within every particle. These couldn't possibly drain its focus—otherwise, it would've collapsed long ago.
"Step by step."
He stared at the heart, not discouraged. One failure wasn't a big deal. From this, he'd realized that the failure wasn't due to focus. That was already progress—a step closer to success.
In the depths of spacetime, within a palace—
The six Ancestors were seated. This palace, accessible only to them, was where they occasionally gathered to discuss the Dao.
But with Lin Yuan's emergence, they now had one projection each stationed here permanently to share observations.
In each of their views, countless time lines extended outward.
And if examined closely, all those time lines were Lin Yuan's futures.
Upon discovering how nearly all of Lin Yuan's futures had a certain inevitability, the six Ancestors turned all their attention to observing his timelines.
Such a future, bordering on certainty, aroused their curiosity. They wanted to see whether this persisted deeper into time.
Currently, Lin Yuan was still at the Heavenly Sovereign level—so, as time-beings, the Ancestors could observe his lines easily due to their higher lifeform tier.
But once Lin Yuan stepped into Rank Thirteen, it would become immensely difficult—possibly even impossible—to observe him directly.
So they intended to watch as much as they could, while they still could.
After repeated attempts, they discovered that once they observed past three hundred million years into Lin Yuan's future, they would suffer backlash.
And it wasn't just temporal backlash—it came from the future itself.
Lin Yuan would have reached a certain level by then, or perhaps become deeply entangled with some being of that level, triggering a karmic recoil.
"Hmm?"
Just then, the Grand Ling Ancestor's expression changed. In one of the timelines, Lin Yuan—still not Rank Thirteen—transformed into a colossal black dragon, casually tearing open the membrane of the Source World and entering the dimensional gap.
"What is this?"
The Grand Ling Ancestor examined that timeline closely, his expression turning incredulous.
In that timeline, the dragon Lin Yuan had become resembled the Yuanlong of the world's origin—but their power levels were worlds apart. The former's aura was almost brushing Rank Thirteen.
"Void Ancestor, take a look at this timeline."
He turned to the others and shared the scene.
"The black dragon transformation from the Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign—it should be based on the Yuanlong, but this power…"
The others were stunned. They were certain Lin Yuan hadn't yet reached Rank Thirteen in that timeline, but his strength was utterly astonishing.
"Void Ancestor, you gave him the Yuanlong's Heart—could there have been some secret within it?" asked the Xuanyin Ancestor.
They all remembered Void Ancestor giving the heart to Lin Yuan during their audience.
"What secret?" Void Ancestor fell silent.
He had fully deciphered the heart long ago. Even creating worlds in his own particles didn't result in such a power leap.
Otherwise, the Yuanlong wouldn't have been slain by him.
In fact, had the Yuanlong possessed the strength Lin Yuan did in that timeline, Void Ancestor wouldn't have had a chance to enter Rank Thirteen—he would've died instead.
And yet, the black dragon form Lin Yuan used clearly stemmed from the Yuanlong.
Which meant Lin Yuan had comprehended something from the Yuanlong's Heart that even Void Ancestor hadn't.
"This Milky Way Heavenly Sovereign…"
Void Ancestor's expression was complicated.
He couldn't help but feel that Lin Yuan resembled a Rank Thirteen time-being… even more than he did.
...
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