Not long after Lin Yuan stepped into rank ten, he comprehended the first foundational fusion rule, becoming an A-class rank ten.
In other words, the pinnacle of rank ten.
But it was only now that he had developed a complete version of the Martial Path tenth rank.
This even involved tens of thousands of years in the two-dimensional world.
From this, one can see how difficult it was to develop the Martial Path tenth rank.
In fact, with Lin Yuan's Unrivaled Insight, he had already created hundreds, even thousands, of beginnings for the tenth rank.
However, none satisfied him, as he felt the direction was wrong.
It wasn't until he received everything about the strong ones of all races from the half-meter-tall old man within the blank page that he finally locked down the structure of the tenth rank. He then only took two and a half years to fully develop it.
"The Martial Path tenth rank, aside from corresponding rule comprehensions and various foundational fusion rules, focuses most on reshaping the body and soul, making them more perfect and closer to those special life forms nurtured by the universe."
Lin Yuan thought to himself. To achieve this, two things were necessary: Unrivaled Insight, and the anatomical diagrams of the bodies and souls of numerous special and alien life forms.
Both were indispensable.
"My current body and soul..."
Lin Yuan carefully sensed it. During the development of the Martial Path tenth rank, his body and soul had also been evolving toward perfection.
By the time he perfected the tenth rank, Lin Yuan's body and soul had reached their peak transformation.
At this moment, Lin Yuan's body and soul were as profound as those of powerful special life forms. Perhaps he still couldn't compare to truly unique special life forms, but the gap wasn't too large.
"The reason why special life forms have a low chance of reaching the ultimate level is that they are inherently powerful. They lack a period of weakness and, thus, do not develop the will to push forward relentlessly. However, their bodies and souls are definitely worth learning from."
Lin Yuan pondered quietly.
Now, the Martial Path tenth rank took the strengths of these special life forms. As for their weaknesses? Every human evolver had grown from extreme weakness to great strength.
The concept of inherent power simply didn't apply to them.
"It's about done."
Lin Yuan thought over the Martial Path tenth rank repeatedly, finally nodding in satisfaction.
This version of the tenth rank was what he had envisioned all along. Other evolutionary paths' tenth ranks primarily focused on the comprehension and understanding of rules.
But the Martial Path's tenth rank returned to the body and soul, showcasing the path of evolution from its core.
"Goddess of Wisdom."
Lin Yuan immediately connected to the Goddess of Wisdom.
"Honored Level Eight citizen, Scholar Lin Yuan, the Goddess of Wisdom is delighted to serve you."
The Goddess of Wisdom's voice was dignified and cold.
"I wish to upload the Martial Path tenth rank."
Lin Yuan immediately uploaded the Martial Path tenth rank to the Wisdom Goddess terminal.
In the virtual world.
Strongest Xia Qin and five or six other Strongest Ones gathered once again.
"The Martial Path tenth rank?"
"That kid created the Martial Path tenth rank?"
The Strongest Ones were slightly stunned but quickly accepted it.
Since Lin Yuan had already comprehended the rules of space-time fusion, creating the Martial Path tenth rank wasn't all that surprising.
"Let me take a look."
Strongest Void God immediately began to browse through it.
At this point, Lin Yuan was second only to the nine Strongest Ones in terms of importance within human civilization. Any tenth rank he developed would be directly evaluated by the Strongest Ones.
"This tenth rank?"
Strongest Gu Li was slightly shocked.
As a master of the rule of power and an expert in the physical body, Strongest Gu Li immediately noticed that the Martial Path tenth rank involved the restructuring of the body.
"Remarkable, truly remarkable."
"This kid... how many special life forms did he dissect? How could he possess such a deep understanding of the physical body?" The more Gu Li looked, the more astonished he became.
He could somewhat understand Lin Yuan's profound grasp of rules.
After all, rules were scattered throughout the universe and starry sky, and peerless geniuses could perceive them clearly.
But the profundity of the body?
Especially the mysteries of the body in the Martial Path tenth rank, which directly touched upon the path of the body and the Dao of the universe.
How could such an understanding of the body belong to someone like Lin Yuan?
"And the soul?" Strongest Yu Die's expression grew a bit more solemn.
She, too, had noticed that the core of the tenth rank lay in the body and soul.
"If Martial Path evolvers cultivate to perfection in the tenth rank, their chances of stepping into rank eleven will greatly increase, and even their odds of breaking through to the ultimate level will be marginally improved."
Strongest Xia Qin nodded.
Don't underestimate the importance of the body and soul, especially when it comes to reaching the ultimate level. A perfected body and soul might not be a huge help, but they certainly wouldn't hold you back.
"It's indeed quite good."
Strongest Void God nodded slightly. Even he could see the rare quality of the Martial Path tenth rank, with its return to the body and soul and emphasis on solidifying the foundation.
"This tenth rank is worth at least three billion merit points."
"Three billion? That seems a bit low. I think it's worth at least four or five billion merit points."
"Five billion, at least? I think the explanation of the body alone could be applied to other evolutionary paths."
The Strongest Ones discussed among themselves, and finally, they assigned the tenth rank a value of five billion merit points.
Milky Way's main star.
While waiting, Lin Yuan fell back into cultivating and comprehending the Dao.
At that moment...
"Honored Level Eight citizen, Scholar Lin Yuan, the Martial Path tenth rank you uploaded has been evaluated." The Goddess of Wisdom's dignified, cold voice sounded.
"Evaluated?" Lin Yuan opened his eyes with a bit of anticipation.
"The final evaluation is that the Martial Path tenth rank is valued at five billion merit points." The Goddess of Wisdom announced.
"Five billion merit points?"
A smile appeared on Lin Yuan's face.
He remembered that the Martial Path ninth rank was only worth two hundred million merit points.
Those two hundred million merit points even included the contribution of the bloodline cultivation system.
But now, the tenth rank was directly worth five billion merit points?
Even though Lin Yuan had used nearly a hundred rare treasures, five billion merit points was still an enormous fortune for him.
In the human civilization's treasure trove, the lowest exchange price for a twelve-star rare treasure was 100M merit points.
If Lin Yuan exchanged his five billion merit points for the lowest-valued twelve-star rare treasures, he could get fifty items.
"Right."
"What's the current ranking of the Martial Path evolutionary path?"
Lin Yuan immediately began to check.
After uploading the Martial Path ninth rank, its ranking within the Southern Star Region was forty-second.
The Southern Star Region was one of the five major regions of human civilization, and ranking forty-second there was already quite an incredible achievement for the Martial Path.
"In the Southern Star Region evolutionary path rankings... Hm? First?"
Lin Yuan saw the final ranking and was somewhat surprised.
Even though he had predicted that the ranking of the Martial Path would soar after the tenth rank was uploaded—after all, five billion merit points spoke volumes—he hadn't expected it to jump straight to first place in the Southern Star Region rankings.
This was one of the five major regions, not just any star domain or alliance!
The evolutionary paths in the Southern Star Region were primarily rank eleven paths, and for the Martial Path, at rank nine, to have ranked forty-second was already astonishing.
"The human civilization evolutionary path ranking..."
Lin Yuan shifted his gaze to the overall ranking of the Martial Path within human civilization's evolutionary paths.
The ranking of human civilization's evolutionary paths included all recorded paths, including the nine Strongest Paths.
This was the most prestigious ranking.
"Tenth place?"
Lin Yuan looked up and saw that only nine paths ranked higher than the Martial Path.
And all nine were Strongest Paths.
"The Martial Path is now the strongest path below the Strongest Paths?"
Lin Yuan thought silently.
Of course, calling it the "strongest" wasn't entirely accurate.
The ranking of human civilization's evolutionary paths was determined by several factors, with potential being a significant part of the calculation.
But regardless, the Martial Path had now become one of the most prestigious evolutionary paths in the vast array of paths recorded by human civilization.
The rise of the Martial Path's ranking quickly caused a huge stir within human civilization.
After all, the latest ranking for the Martial Path was tenth within human civilization, surpassing numerous rank eleven pinnacle evolutionary paths and topping the Southern Star Region rankings. This left countless evolvers and high-ranking citizens in shock.
"The tenth-ranked evolutionary path in human civilization? This Martial Path is terrifying."
"Just by uploading the tenth rank, it jumped from three or four hundred to the tenth spot?"
"Hahaha, I've been telling you all along that the Martial Path has limitless potential, but you wouldn't believe me."
Countless evolvers were frantically discussing it. Since the start of the new era, no evolutionary path had ever reached the top of a major region at rank ten.
While the potential of an evolutionary path was indeed a major factor in its ranking, how many rank eleven paths lacked potential?
Thunderstorm Star Domain.
A 1.5-meter tall man named Loulan He shot up from his seat with a loud whoosh.
"I told you the Martial Path was amazing!"
Loulan He was exceptionally excited. He could be considered a witness to the rise of the Martial Path.
Back when the Martial Path was only at rank two, he had recognized its potential and began cultivating it.
He had even gone against his father's wishes for it.
"Father, father!"
Loulan He immediately began contacting his father.
"Little He."
The virtual figure of Loulan Yu appeared before him.
"Father, did you see the latest ranking of the Martial Path?"
Loulan He said excitedly.
"I saw it."
Loulan Yu replied in a deep voice.
Right now, the hottest topic within human civilization was the Martial Path. Even other alien races were aware of it.
"You made a good choice."
Loulan Yu looked at his son. "Keep cultivating the Martial Path."
"Because..."
Loulan Yu paused without finishing his sentence.
"Because of what?"
Loulan He asked happily.
"Because..."
Lou Lanyu's expression turned complicated, and his voice carried a tone of emotion.
"Maybe we will witness the rise of a new Strongest One...
This could very well be humanity's tenth Strongest Path..."
...
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