"The popularity of the Martial Path evolutionary route has now surpassed that of the Nine Strongest Evolutionary Paths."
A few days later, on the Milky Way's main star.
Lin Yuan casually glanced at the updates to the Martial Path evolutionary route and marveled internally.
Since the beginning of the new era, the Strongest Evolutionary Paths had always been the most popular in human civilization. They symbolized the ultimate in an evolutionary path, admired by countless evolvers.
For the vast majority of evolvers, if they had a choice, they would undoubtedly prioritize cultivating the Strongest Evolutionary Paths.
The only drawback of the Strongest Evolutionary Paths was that they were capped at rank eleven, with no chance to break through to the ultimate.
But what did that matter? Reaching rank eleven was already a goal that most evolvers could only dream of.
Compared to other evolutionary paths, every level of the Strongest Evolutionary Paths was extremely refined, even perfect.
In battles between evolvers of the same rank, assuming that both sides were equal in other abilities and resources, the side that cultivated the Strongest Evolutionary Path would generally have the upper hand.
Thus, the popularity of the Nine Strongest Evolutionary Paths within human civilization was undeniable.
However, now, Lin Yuan clearly noticed that discussions about the Martial Path evolutionary route on the virtual network were more frequent than those about the Nine Strongest Evolutionary Paths.
This didn't mean that the Martial Path evolutionary route had surpassed the Strongest Evolutionary Paths.
Rather, in over two million years, no evolutionary path had ever reached the point where it could rival the Strongest Evolutionary Paths at just rank ten.
If the Martial Path could crush rank eleven at rank ten, what would happen when it reached rank eleven?
As a result, countless evolvers in human civilization speculated that the Martial Path evolutionary route could become the tenth Strongest Evolutionary Path.
"The tenth Strongest Evolutionary Path?"
Lin Yuan shook his head slightly. He wasn't confident in breaking through to the ultimate level.
If he failed, even with the protection of the Gate of Myriad Realms, he didn't know if he could survive.
"The number of people cultivating the Martial Path evolutionary route has skyrocketed in the past few days."
Lin Yuan pulled up the specific data on the Martial Path evolutionary route and examined it carefully.
"Rank 1: 2680 trillion." "Rank 2: 832 trillion." "Rank 3: 4 trillion." "Rank 4: 120 billion." "Rank 5: 5.3 million." "Rank 6: 860,000." "Rank 7: 17,000." "Rank 8: Zero."
"It's been over a hundred years, and no one has advanced to Rank eight yet?"
Lin Yuan pondered to himself.
Compared to over a hundred years ago, the number of people cultivating the first to fourth Ranks of the Martial Path had increased by thousands of times.
The number of cultivators in Ranks five to seven had also increased by hundreds or thousands of times.
But as of now, no one had reached Rank eight.
"The time is still too short."
Lin Yuan shook his head. The Martial Path evolutionary route had been uploaded less than five hundred years ago.
No matter how much potential it had, that potential couldn't immediately translate into a large number of high-level evolvers.
Life's evolution is a long process, even with a clear evolutionary path to follow.
"It seems I should make more video guides on progressing from the peak of Rank seven to Rank eight."
Lin Yuan thought to himself.
Although there was no clear requirement for the number of high-level evolvers on one's evolutionary path to make the ultimate leap, the more there were, the better.
After all, as the founder of the Martial Path evolutionary route, Lin Yuan had no need to worry about future Martial Path evolvers threatening him. In fact, any Martial Path evolver, regardless of their rank or bloodline, would naturally be suppressed by Lin Yuan.
"In just over a hundred years, the revenue generated from the Martial Path evolutionary route has exceeded six hundred billion universe crystals."
A smile appeared on Lin Yuan's face.
A few hundred years ago, he was still worried about tens of thousands of universe crystals.
Now, in the blink of an eye, his wealth had skyrocketed into the billions of universe crystals.
"However, while the revenue is high, the costs of cultivation are also significant."
Lin Yuan thought silently.
Up to now, his main cultivation expenses had come from one of the three major protective secret arts of the Mysterious Emperor Lineage, the Mysterious Emperor's Body.
The Mysterious Emperor's Body is a method of cultivating the physical body through an accumulation of boundless resources.
With Lin Yuan's terrifyingly strong foundation, combined with the enhancement from the mysterious gourd, the Eternal Spring, the Martial Path itself, and the infusion of primordial chaos from the void, the strength of Lin Yuan's physical body had reached the point where even a slight improvement required immense resources.
And the Mysterious Emperor's Body's effect depended on the original strength of the physical body, which made its consumption far exceed Lin Yuan's expectations.
When Lin Yuan first obtained this secret art, he hadn't anticipated that his body would receive such a significant boost after the infusion of primordial chaos from the void.
"I can vaguely sense the life auras of those cultivating the Martial Path evolutionary route."
Lin Yuan closed his eyes and concentrated.
If Lin Yuan was at the center, surrounded by darkness on all sides, then at this moment, small points of light like fireflies began to emerge. Each one was incredibly faint on its own.
But there were so many that they looked like a vast sea of stars.
"Will all of these become part of my 'support' for the ultimate leap?"
Lin Yuan mused to himself. These sparks of light weren't limited to the main universe; some came from extremely distant and indistinct places.
Even Lin Yuan, the founder of the Martial Path, couldn't pinpoint their coordinates. These must be the life auras of Martial Path cultivators from other dimensions, where the path had spread during his numerous transdimensional travels.
"Spreading one's evolutionary path so that more beings can cultivate it, ultimately feeding back to oneself to aid in the ultimate leap... This technique is truly incredible."
Lin Yuan thought to himself. This kind of feedback wasn't like the power of faith; it was feedback from the evolutionary path itself, with almost no hidden dangers.
"I wonder which powerful figure created this cultivation method? Someone approaching the perfect state of a time-based life form?"
Lin Yuan was curious.
Before the long galactic era, there was no concept of spreading one's evolutionary path. Breaking through to the ultimate level relied solely on oneself.
For example, His Majesty the Mysterious Sovereign had never widely spread his evolutionary path, as the Mysterious Emperor evolutionary path had too high a threshold to be spread without purpose.
"It's about time."
"I should upgrade to a Level Nine Citizen."
Lin Yuan glanced at his merit point balance—5.2 billion.
Of that, 5 billion came from uploading the Martial Path tenth rank as a reward.
The remaining 200 million-plus merit points were accumulated over time, including leftovers from the Martial Path ninth rank upload.
"Upgrading from a Level Eight Citizen to a Level Nine Citizen requires 1 billion merit points, equivalent to the value of ten entry-level twelve-star rare treasures."
After thinking for a moment, Lin Yuan decided to upgrade his citizenship level.
In the past, every time he upgraded his citizenship level, the rewards far exceeded the merit points consumed for the upgrade.
The higher the citizen level, aside from special privileges, the more influence one could have on certain decisions within human civilization.
For example, Lin Yuan was now the president of the North Cold Star Alliance, the highest-ranking individual across hundreds or even thousands of star domains. A single thought could influence human civilization's policies toward nearby alien races.
The ordinary races and weaker alien races within the North Cold Star Alliance, as well as neighboring alien races, all had to look up to Lin Yuan's authority.
"Goddess of Wisdom."
"I'd like to upgrade to a Level Nine Citizen."
Lin Yuan immediately connected to the Goddess of Wisdom and submitted his request to upgrade his citizen level.
In an instant, 1 billion of Lin Yuan's merit points were deducted.
At the same time, the citizenship level on Lin Yuan's personal information page silently changed from Level Eight to Level Nine.
A Level Nine Citizen.
A Level Nine Citizen of human civilization.
This was a weight that no star domain or even star alliance could bear.
Even among human civilization's many rank eleven evolvers, the majority were not Level Nine Citizens.
Even for powerful rank eleven evolvers, accumulating 1 billion merit points was a huge undertaking.
For example, the ancient rank ten evolver Xuanyuan Fan from the Xuanyuan family, who had fought on the alien battlefield for one or two million years, had only managed to accumulate 20 million merit points.
To gain access to the black planet for comprehending fusion rules, he had to borrow 80 million merit points from the family to make up the 100 million needed for his deal with Lin Yuan.
If even an ancient rank ten like Xuanyuan Fan was in this situation, rank eleven evolvers might accumulate more merit points, but not by much.
And most evolvers couldn't resist spending some merit points during the accumulation process.
For instance, Xuanyuan Fan had spent his 20 million merit points to increase his chances of breaking through to rank eleven.
After all, merit points were incredibly valuable within human civilization, exchangeable for countless unimaginable resources and inheritances.
Few, like Lin Yuan, saved up every merit point to upgrade their citizen level.
Upgrading one's citizenship with merit points was undoubtedly the most valuable use, but maximum value didn't always mean the highest short-term gain.
Whoosh.
After Lin Yuan successfully upgraded to a Level Nine Citizen, numerous "mails" from the central region of human civilization began to flood in.
Aside from congratulating Lin Yuan, these "mails" also detailed the many privileges of being a Level Nine Citizen.
"Privileges of a Level Nine Citizen."
Lin Yuan began to browse through the emails.
The first benefit was the standard one—he would receive a rank nine evolution elixir.
From Level Six Citizens onward, every time one upgraded their citizen level, they would receive a corresponding evolution elixir.
Even the lowest-level, rank six evolution elixir was a special resource, unattainable even with infinite universe crystals.
It could only be exchanged for merit points, with the rank six evolution elixir costing 10,000 merit points.
A rank seven elixir cost 100,000 merit points.
A rank eight elixir cost 1 million merit points.
A rank nine elixir cost 10 million merit points.
Additionally, to exchange for evolution elixirs, one needed the corresponding permissions. Lower-level citizens couldn't exchange for them even if they had enough merit points.
"Participation rights in the Central Council of Human Civilization."
Lin Yuan glanced at the second benefit.
The Central Council of Human Civilization was where critical decisions about the future direction of human civilization were made. The Strongest Ones would descend with their consciousness to participate, and the Three Goddesses closely monitored the proceedings.
To participate in such high-level meetings, one needed to be at least a Level Nine Citizen.
"I'm not interested."
Lin Yuan wasn't interested in participating in councils. This privilege might be invaluable to certain politically minded citizens, but to Lin Yuan, it was meaningless.
"Hm? Three free immersions in the Eternal Spring?"
Lin Yuan's attention was caught by one of the benefits.
The Eternal Spring was a twelve-star rare treasure of human civilization. Anyone who immersed themselves in it could extend their lifespan by tens of thousands of years without any side effects.
Moreover, during the immersion, the physical body would undergo slow transformation, increasing its upper limit potential.
Once, an alien Strongest One had offered a top-tier eleven-star rare treasure to human civilization in exchange for just one opportunity to let a descendant of their race immerse in the Eternal Spring.
Human civilization refused.
A top-tier eleven-star rare treasure was worth tens of millions of merit points, showing great sincerity.
Human civilization's refusal wasn't due to the treasure being insufficient, but for deeper reasons.
Within human civilization, aside from the free immersion one receives upon reaching rank nine, each additional immersion costs 5 million merit points.
Now, with his upgrade to Level Nine Citizen, Lin Yuan was granted three free immersions, worth 15 million merit points.
"I'll let my two Spirits take a dip sometime."
Lin Yuan thought to himself. Such an opportunity to enhance the potential of the physical body was rare.
"There's also a discount on exchanges in the treasure trove of human civilization."
"Civilization currency and universe crystal exchanges are at a 40% discount."
"Merit point exchanges are at a 10% discount."
Lin Yuan was pleased.
Civilization currency and universe crystal exchanges referred to the purchase of regular and strategic resources from the treasure trove of human civilization.
These could be bought with civilization currency and universe crystals.
As a Level Eight Citizen, Lin Yuan had already enjoyed an 20% discount.
Now that he was a Level Nine Citizen, he could enjoy a 40% discount, saving him a significant amount of universe crystals.
As for the merit point discount, the treasure trove of human civilization offered many restricted resources and even non-public resources in exchange for merit points.
This included twelve-star rare treasures, special inheritance locations, and places like the black planet that aided in comprehending fusion rules.
While the discount on merit point exchanges was only 10%, the reduction was in merit points, and the rare treasures exchanged for were extremely valuable throughout the universe.
"A 10% discount... If I exchange for 10 billion merit points worth of rare treasures, I'll easily make back the merit points I spent upgrading to Level Nine."
A smile appeared on Lin Yuan's face. This was the effect of upgrading his citizen level. The immediate benefit might not be the greatest, but over time, the advantages would be immense.
There were thousands of privileges and benefits for being a Level Nine Citizen.
Lin Yuan quickly skimmed through them. Most were enhanced versions of the Level Eight Citizen privileges, but the new ones would also be helpful to him.
At the very least, they would save him from many hassles in the future.
"The merit points needed to upgrade to Level Ten Citizen..."
Lin Yuan checked the requirements for upgrading to Level Ten Citizen after reviewing the privileges.
"50 billion merit points?"
Lin Yuan's mouth twitched slightly. Such an enormous amount of merit points was far beyond what he had, even if he exchanged all the rare treasures he had obtained in the two-dimensional world.
"Right now, aside from the Nine Strongest Ones, the number of Level Ten and higher citizens in human civilization must be very low."
Lin Yuan shook his head. Even for rank eleven evolvers, accumulating 50 billion merit points was almost impossible.
Unless they wiped out an entire large-scale alien battlefield, it wasn't worth thinking about.
And wiping out a large-scale alien battlefield? Even at his peak, the Divine King found it difficult to do, as the Strongest Ones could intervene at any moment.
Even if the Strongest Ones didn't step in, the rank eleven pinnacle strong ones of peak alien races, wielding Strongest Weapons, would be difficult to deal with. If one rank eleven couldn't handle it, there would be five or ten of them.
Who could bear the brunt of such a situation?
Nowadays, the Level Ten citizens of human civilization were primarily rank eleven evolver scholars or ancient human citizens who had made enormous contributions before the start of the new Era.
"I'll buy some resources and continue cultivating the Mysterious Emperor's Body."
Lin Yuan opened the treasure trove of human civilization and began to select resources.
The Mysterious Emperor's Body was one of the three major protective secret arts of the Mysterious Emperor Lineage. It had four stages: entry, minor success, major success, and perfection.
Of course, these stages applied to each rank.
At rank nine, cultivating the Mysterious Emperor's Body to perfection meant that when one advanced to rank ten, the leap in life level would cause the Mysterious Emperor's Body to degrade to major or even minor success.
In theory, a rank twelve ultimate being who could cultivate the Mysterious Emperor's Body to perfection at their rank could easily survive the destruction of a universe.
It's known that during the collapse of a universe, when everything falls apart, even the Strongest Ones have only a 50% chance of surviving, or less.
Only those Strongest Ones who had lived through the destruction of a universe could be considered truly free.
Lin Yuan had already cultivated the Mysterious Emperor's Body to major success, just one step away from perfection.
Given Lin Yuan's incredibly strong physical foundation, perfecting the Mysterious Emperor's Body at rank ten would make his body strong enough to suppress rules, allowing him to compete with rank eleven evolvers in the second tier based solely on his physical strength.
"That should be enough."
After browsing for a while, Lin Yuan spent roughly 200 billion universe crystals, but thanks to his 40% discount as a Level Nine Citizen, he only had to pay 120 billion universe crystals.
He saved 80 billion universe crystals instantly.
"The costs are huge."
Lin Yuan shook his head slightly.
It wasn't that the Mysterious Emperor's Body was too expensive.
The Mysterious Emperor's Body indeed required significant resources, but for a rank ten technique, the costs were still manageable.
The real issue was Lin Yuan's incredibly strong physical foundation. Starting at such a high level, the Mysterious Emperor's Body increased physical strength tenfold.
If a normal rank ten life form had a starting physical strength of ten, multiplying that by ten would give them a strength of one hundred.
But if the starting strength was one hundred, then a tenfold increase would result in one thousand.
The resources required for both cases were vastly different. Lin Yuan's starting physical strength wasn't just one hundred—it was likely ten thousand, or even one hundred thousand or a million!
The resources needed to perfect the Mysterious Emperor's Body were naturally tens of thousands or even millions of times greater than normal.
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
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