The celebration for Deputy Tower Master Nalan's advancement to the eleventh rank lasted for more than half a month. The emergence of a new eleventh-rank evolver was a major event for all of human civilization, so it was naturally celebrated with great pomp and circumstance.
Since the event was held in the virtual world, there was no concern about extravagance or waste—it simply lasted a bit longer than usual.
For the evolvers of human civilization, this celebration was a rare opportunity to meet many high-ranking evolvers, making it an incredibly valuable experience.
Lin Yuan only made an appearance on the first day of the celebration and then kept a low profile for the rest of the half-month event.
With his understanding of the time rules nearing completion, Lin Yuan was focused on spending all his time in deep meditation.
"Milky Way Star Lord," Deputy Tower Master Nalan approached Lin Yuan as soon as the celebration ended.
"I was just too busy earlier," Nalan apologized sincerely.
After breaking through to the eleventh rank, most of his energy had been spent getting accustomed to his newfound power. The rest of his attention was taken up by the various responsibilities and changes that came with his new status as an eleventh-rank evolver.
Had it not been for these obligations, Deputy Tower Master Nalan would have sought out Lin Yuan immediately to personally express his gratitude.
"Congratulations again on reaching the eleventh rank, Deputy Tower Master Nalan," Lin Yuan said with a smile.
"The eleventh rank? For you, Milky Way Star Lord, it's just a matter of time," Nalan replied, unconcerned.
There were some things he couldn't say in front of others, as the Strongest One, Xia Qin, had specifically asked him to keep certain things confidential. But now, in the privacy of his personal space, Nalan could speak freely.
As a newly ascended eleventh-rank evolver, Nalan carried a certain pride when dealing with others. Even when interacting with the A-level tenth ranks with whom he had once been equals, he now spoke to them from a position of superiority.
But with the Milky Way Star Lord, Nalan couldn't muster that same pride.
Pride in what? Pride in the fact that the Milky Way Star Lord had nearly mastered the time rules while still at the ninth rank? Pride that his understanding of time rules surpassed that of many eleventh-rank evolvers?
In fact, when facing the Milky Way Star Lord, Nalan felt a certain pressure—an ever-present sense that he could be surpassed at any moment.
"But at least within the next ten thousand years, the Milky Way Star Lord probably won't reach the eleventh rank," Nalan thought to himself.
"Hopefully," Lin Yuan said with a smile.
For him, reaching the eleventh rank was indeed not difficult. It was just a matter of following the necessary steps.
The real challenge was becoming a Strongest One, reaching the twelfth rank, and ultimately attaining the final, ultimate realm.
"Seeing you, Milky Way Star Lord, I feel like I'm witnessing the future strength of human civilization," Nalan said with some emotion. "It hasn't been easy for our civilization to reach this point."
"Indeed, it hasn't," Lin Yuan agreed.
After becoming a Great Scholar and advancing to an eighth-level citizen, many of the secrets of human civilization had been revealed to him.
Even before Lin Yuan became an evolver, he knew that human civilization had taken only two million years to rise from its home planet, sweeping across the cosmos and becoming one of the universe's most powerful peak races.
At first, Lin Yuan didn't find anything strange about this. After all, to him at that time, two million years seemed like an incredibly long period.
But as his strength and understanding grew, he realized the true significance behind that timeframe.
Two million years might seem long to ordinary humans or second- and third-rank evolvers, but for high-ranking evolvers, it wasn't an insurmountable span of time.
An eighth-rank evolver could live for two or three million years, long enough to cover the entire history of humanity's rise.
Ninth-rank evolvers would live even longer.
And tenth- and eleventh-rank evolvers? Especially the latter, who, after mastering time rules, could easily live for billions, trillions, or even longer spans of years.
Some of the "ancient gods" in the depths of the cosmos had been born at the dawn of the universe and had lived through incredibly long epochs, yet they remained stuck at the eleventh rank.
Of course, some of these powerful "ancient gods" were stuck at the eleventh rank not because they couldn't attempt the final breakthrough but because they didn't dare to.
Attempting the final breakthrough and failing would result in complete annihilation, with no chance of resurrection by even the Strongest Ones.
The first step in attempting the final breakthrough is to leap out of the river of time completely. This leap includes erasing even the life imprint etched into the universe's origin.
If the attempt fails, everything will be utterly destroyed, including the life imprint.
The Strongest Ones can only resurrect past lives by using life imprints as "waypoints."
This is also why beings below the sixth rank cannot be resurrected—their life imprints are too weak to form a "waypoint."
For an eleventh-rank being to attempt the final breakthrough, the first step is to erase their own waypoint; only then can they make the ultimate leap to try and enter the realm of the Strongest Ones.
As Lin Yuan's strength grew, he encountered and understood more, which deepened his appreciation of how remarkable it was for human civilization to become a peak race and produce nine Strongest Ones in just over two million years.
Other peak races in the universe, such as the Insect Race and the Tianyu Race, had histories spanning countless millions of years.
But human civilization had achieved all this in just over two million years?
According to internal explanations within human civilization, this incredible achievement was due to an unprecedented opportunity that occurred long ago.
This opportunity had led to a great transformation among the life forms on the home planet—the early ancestors of what would become human civilization.
It wasn't until the first year of the Star Era that the first Strongest One was born, marking the beginning of humanity's outward expansion.
That's right—before the birth of the first Strongest One, human civilization didn't even dare to make contact with the outside universe.
The opportunity was so enormous that even the slightest leak would have led to their annihilation by every life form in the universe.
In the first year of the Star Era, human civilization produced its first Strongest One.
In the 1,300th year, the second Strongest One was born.
In the 5,700th year, the third Strongest One was born.
In the 11,000th year, the fourth Strongest One was born.
In the 18,000th year, the fifth Strongest One was born.
In the 20,000th year, the sixth Strongest One was born.
In the 25,000th year, the seventh Strongest One was born.
In the 38,000th year, the eighth Strongest One was born.
In the 120,000th year, the ninth Strongest One was born.
Due to that unprecedented opportunity, human civilization rapidly produced nine Strongest Ones in a short period.
Of course, this was the peak period of human civilization.
But before the first year of the Star Era, there had been a period of hibernation that lasted far longer than two million years.
The two million years of the Star Era didn't represent the entirety of human civilization's history.
In fact, the history of the home planet spanned over several billion years.
"During the hibernation period, our civilization's strong ones had to secretly leave the home planet, posing as wandering entities or even working for other alien races to earn cultivation resources. Even if they died, they couldn't reveal their origins..."
Lin Yuan said softly.
"Yes," Deputy Tower Master Nalan nodded.
In those times, the geniuses of human civilization had to remain low-key, desperately hiding their talents, or else they risked being captured and enslaved by more powerful races.
Unlike today, where countless human geniuses can emerge and thrive despite occasional assassination attempts by alien races. Most attempts fail, and as long as one reaches the sixth rank, they have a chance of being resurrected by having their life imprint recorded.
"I wonder what it was like when those countless treasures fell into the universe, bringing that extraordinary opportunity to human civilization," Deputy Tower Master Nalan mused.
"Countless treasures falling into the universe?" Lin Yuan's mind stirred as he remembered the results from the Goddess of Wisdom's investigation into the black planet.
"Are you referring to the event that wiped out ninety percent of the universe's races?" Lin Yuan asked.
"You know about that, Milky Way Star Lord?" Nalan was slightly surprised.
He had only learned of these secrets after reaching the eleventh rank when his status and strength met the necessary threshold. He didn't expect the Milky Way Star Lord to also know about it.
But considering how much the Strongest One, Xia Qin, valued Lin Yuan, Nalan understood.
"Indeed."
"I believe the unprecedented opportunity that our civilization received during the hibernation period came from that event," Nalan said.
It was just his speculation, based on the various pieces of information he had learned.
"I see," Lin Yuan thought, realizing why the Goddess of Wisdom had quickly identified the origins of the black planet and immediately offered five hundred million merit points for it.
"So my gourd..." Lin Yuan suddenly thought of the mysterious gourd he had obtained from sweeping through the Milky Way Star Domain.
Although human civilization couldn't find any information about the mysterious gourd, Lin Yuan instinctively felt that it might also be one of the countless treasures that fell into the universe.
After all, Lin Yuan had been unable to find any information about the mysterious gourd, as if it didn't belong to this universe at all.
After Deputy Tower Master Nalan left, Lin Yuan's thoughts were slightly stirred.
Nowadays, most citizens of human civilization only focus on the glorious achievements of the past two million years, where humanity swept through alien races and became a dominant force.
But in reality, the much longer and more arduous hibernation period before the Star Era was just as significant.
Even if they had been fortunate enough to receive an unprecedented opportunity, without enduring that difficult hibernation period, any precious opportunity would have been seized by stronger beings.
"I must cherish the current environment for cultivation," Lin Yuan thought as he closed his eyes and resumed his meditation.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
Lin Yuan had now developed the 2,040th new time rule model.
Only ten more models were needed for him to fully comprehend the time rules as he had anticipated.
"The 2,041st time rule model... a well? A well of time?" Lin Yuan furrowed his brow as he attempted to construct this time rule model.
But each attempt ended in failure.
"The Well of Time..." Lin Yuan pondered deeply.
"I should visit the fifth floor of the Devil Jade Tower again," Lin Yuan decided, letting his consciousness descend into the Devil Jade Space through the Devil Jade Mark.
The fifth floor of the Devil Jade Tower required one to have mastered time rules to pass through.
In other words, the time-related challenges on the fifth floor were specifically designed for various stages of mastery over the time rules.
By working backward from effect to cause and combining what he had learned from the Microcosm and the full view of the long river of time, Lin Yuan often gained significant insights.
Soon, Lin Yuan arrived at the Devil Jade Tower.
At that moment, the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, was chatting with a muscular man.
The muscular man was named Yuan Jin, the second person in this universe to enter the Devil Jade Space. He had become a regular member of the Devil Jade Tower by perfecting a certain demonic evolution pathway.
But even that couldn't compare to someone like Lin Yuan, who had mastered 3,333 demonic evolution pathways.
Even in the chaotic void, perfecting a demonic evolution pathway was a primary way to join the Devil Jade Tower.
But to master 3,333 demonic evolution pathways? Among the 100,000 members of the Devil Jade Tower, not even one might achieve this.
"You're here?"
Seeing Lin Yuan, the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, immediately stopped talking to the muscular man, Yuan Jin, and greeted Lin Yuan with a smile.
Yuan Jin didn't dare show any dissatisfaction. To him, Lin Yuan appeared to be an unfathomable eleventh-rank being—someone he could only meet in this place. Outside, not even his Yuan family would easily get the chance to meet an eleventh-rank evolver.
So far, the number of publicly known eleventh-rank evolvers in human civilization didn't exceed a thousand.
A thousand might sound like a lot, but given the vast territory of human civilization, it's difficult to say how many star alliances would have just one.
Moreover, most of human civilization's eleventh-rank evolvers were stationed on large alien battlefields, with the rest mainly in the Central Star Region.
In the four surrounding star regions, the eleventh-rank evolvers were mostly centered around the nine Evolution Towers.
"I want to challenge the fifth floor again," Lin Yuan said directly.
Now that he was familiar with the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, he could speak his mind freely.
"Alright."
"Go ahead," the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, nodded.
The entrance to the Devil Jade Tower opened.
As Yuan Jin watched cautiously, Lin Yuan walked into the Devil Jade Tower.
At that moment, the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, watched the screen showing the fifth floor of the Devil Jade Tower.
Yuan Jin stood beside him, unable to see what was happening on the fifth floor. He could only stand quietly in place, gazing up at the faint light emanating from the fifth floor.
Before long, the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, shook his head with some regret, "Just a little bit more."
"Just a little bit?" Yuan Jin's heart trembled.
Just a little bit more, and he would have cleared the fifth floor?
According to the information about the Devil Jade Tower, clearing the fifth floor required mastering time rules.
And mastering time rules made one a strong presence even among eleventh-rank evolvers.
Was that man just now only a tiny step away from mastering the time rules?
"I had just broken through to the ninth rank when I barely cleared the first floor..." Yuan Jin swallowed hard.
To be able to perfect a demonic evolution pathway, his talent was naturally not lacking, but even he had only barely cleared the first floor of the Devil Jade Tower after reaching the ninth rank.
Whoosh.
At that moment, Lin Yuan appeared outside the Devil Jade Tower.
"In a little more time, it should be done," the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, said.
If it were any other eleventh-rank being, he wouldn't be so optimistic. The final bottleneck in mastering time rules had stumped countless powerful beings.
But for Lin Yuan... The humanoid statue, Shen Ji, had no doubts.
"Indeed."
Lin Yuan nodded.
Suddenly, Lin Yuan glanced at the muscular man, Yuan Jin, standing respectfully nearby.
This man had been in the Devil Jade Space for quite some time, yet Lin Yuan hadn't spoken to him much.
Lin Yuan thought for a moment. Yuan Jin was, after all, a fellow human evolver, and as the only other person undergoing the trial in the Devil Jade Space, he decided to greet him.
Of course, Lin Yuan knew that Yuan Jin was human and from human civilization.
But Yuan Jin knew nothing about Lin Yuan, not even whether Lin Yuan was from the same universe as him.
After all, as long as one could condense a Devil Jade Mark, their consciousness could descend here, regardless of which universe they were in, as long as they were on the same plane of existence.
"Sir..."
Yuan Jin was filled with both reverence and fear. What had he done to deserve being addressed by such a high-ranking eleventh-rank being?
"You don't have to be so formal," Lin Yuan said with a slight shake of his head. "We are both at the ninth rank. We can communicate normally in the future."
"Thank you, sir," Yuan Jin was about to respond in fear when his mind suddenly went blank.
What did the man just say? You don't have to be so formal? No, that wasn't it.
He said, "We are both at the ninth rank"?
"We are both at the ninth rank"?
"We are both at the ninth rank"?
Yuan Jin was stunned.
Ninth rank?
Almost cleared the fifth floor of the Black Tower? Nearly mastered the time rules? Yuan Jin stood there, dazed, unable to process what he had just heard.
This man was only at the ninth rank?
Yuan Jin gathered the courage to voice his doubts.
But when he looked up, Lin Yuan had already left, leaving only the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, smiling at him.
"Was I just in an illusion?" Yuan Jin couldn't help but ask the humanoid statue.
As a ninth-rank evolver, even though he had just entered the ninth rank, he had a strong grasp of his soul, mind, and will.
But what he had just heard was so unbelievable that he wondered if he had fallen into an illusion without realizing it.
"No need to doubt," the humanoid statue, Shen Ji, said with a slight smile. "That man is indeed a ninth-rank being, but he is also the strongest ninth-rank being I've ever seen."
"The strongest ninth-rank being?" Yuan Jin muttered to himself.
So everything he had heard was true? Yuan Jin was overwhelmed with shock.
A ninth-rank being about to master the time rules?
What kind of monster was this? Even the Milky Way Star Lord, known as the greatest genius in the history of human civilization, couldn't achieve that, right?
Even though Yuan Jin was only a newly ascended ninth-rank, he knew that a ninth-rank being nearing mastery of the time rules was on a completely different level from an eleventh-rank being doing the same.
The former was exponentially more difficult than the latter.
Milky Way Main Star
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged in meditation.
After challenging the fifth floor of the Devil Jade Tower again, his understanding of time rules had advanced rapidly once more.
[Your Unrivaled Insight has allowed you to comprehend the 2,041st new time rule model.]
[Your Unrivaled Insight has allowed you to comprehend the 2,043rd new time rule model.]
[Your Unrivaled Insight has allowed you to comprehend the 2,045th new time rule model.]
[Your Unrivaled Insight has allowed you to comprehend the 2,048th new time rule model.]
[Your Unrivaled Insight has allowed you to comprehend the 2,050th new time rule model.]
[Your Unrivaled Insight has allowed you to fully comprehend the time rules.]
In a moment of clarity, Lin Yuan's perception of the world changed.
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
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