"This gift…"
Lin Yuan scanned the vast space inside the boulder, his expression becoming more serious.
The gift prepared by the creator of the Void Secret Realm was meant to congratulate the next tenth-stage existence of the Boundless Void.
The creator clearly took this matter very seriously, and naturally, the gift was quite valuable—even Lin Yuan was somewhat surprised.
But in a sense, Lin Yuan had already stepped into the tenth stage.
So accepting this gift was only appropriate.
Lin Yuan carefully observed every detail of the space within the boulder, finally nodding slightly and saying, "Six hundred and seventy-eight in total."
Indeed.
The gift prepared by the creator of the Void Secret Realm was a collection of void creatures.
And they were no ordinary void creatures—they were kings among the ninth-stage perfected void creatures, a total of six hundred and seventy-eight.
Right now, they lay quietly sleeping in the vast space within the boulder.
Void creatures did not originate from the Boundless Void; they came from the gaps between dimensions beyond the Boundless Void.
For this reason, void creatures were also called "gap beings."
Killing void creatures could enhance one's mind-will.
The stronger the void creature killed, the greater the increase in mind-will points.
Among them, the kings of void creatures provided the greatest boost to mind-will.
Lin Yuan still remembered clearly when he killed his first ninth-stage perfected void creature king.
It directly boosted his mind-will points from 12 million to nearly 20 million.
One void creature king increased his mind-will by almost 8 million points—an increase of 8 million points from a base of 12 million mind-will points!
Such an increase, even in the main universe, was unheard of.
Lin Yuan even speculated that if his mind-will points had been only 1 or 2 million at the time, killing that ninth-stage perfected void creature king might have directly raised his mind-will to 10 or 20 million points.
The higher the mind-will points, the harder it became to increase them.
This demonstrated the immense value of a ninth-stage void creature king.
Unfortunately, ninth-stage void creature kings were extremely rare.
Lin Yuan's Yang Primordial Spirit had roamed the Void Secret Realm for hundreds of years and had only ever encountered one such creature.
Now that Lin Yuan had achieved the sixth realm of the Space-Time Fusion Rule, he could see through the entire Void Secret Realm. So far, he had only found four void creature kings.
Two of them were at the eighth stage, and the remaining two were at the ninth stage.
These four void creature kings were hidden in extremely obscure locations within the Void Secret Realm—locations the Peak Evil God True Lords would likely never discover, even after millions or billions of years.
But now—
Six hundred and seventy-eight void creature kings were lying quietly asleep in the space inside the boulder.
Moreover, these six hundred and seventy-eight void creature kings were all ninth-stage perfected beings, far superior in mind-will enhancement potential compared to the one Lin Yuan had killed before.
"What a bold gesture..."
Lin Yuan couldn't help but exclaim.
This many void creature kings... Likely, even counting all the void creature kings that had ever existed in the Void Secret Realm since its creation, there hadn't been this many.
Even the Void Child, the master of the Void Secret Realm, had never seen so many void creature kings.
Otherwise, these creatures wouldn't have been left as a gift for the next tenth-stage existence by the creator of the realm.
At least in the eyes of the creator, this many void creature kings were meant to be of significant help to a tenth-stage existence.
"That makes sense."
Lin Yuan thought for a moment, his expression becoming thoughtful.
When the creator had initially opened the Void Secret Realm and "gathered" the gap beings from beyond the Boundless Void, he had surely kept the highest-quality ones for themselves.
And that explained the origin of the hundreds of perfected ninth-stage void creatures now found within the boulder.
"With my current strength, I can also temporarily escape the Boundless Void, access the gaps between dimensions, and capture those gap beings," Lin Yuan mused as he stroked his chin.
After reaching the sixth realm of the Space-Time Fusion Rule, he felt that he could break free from the constraints of the Boundless Void and, through the Void Secret Realm, reach the interdimensional gap regions.
"But never mind," he thought.
"That would be too much of a waste of time."
Lin Yuan quickly dismissed the idea.
When the creator had captured all these void creatures, it had taken hundreds of billions or even trillions of years—on average, it took tens of millions of years to capture just one void creature king.
While Lin Yuan was stronger than the creator, the difference wasn't enormous. Spending tens of millions of years to capture a single void creature king?
In tens of millions of years, Lin Yuan would have grown to unimaginable heights.
The creator of the Void Secret Realm had done this because he had no further room to advance.
But Lin Yuan had no such need.
At this point, even if Lin Yuan let his mind-will points grow slowly on their own, it would still be faster than hunting void creature kings.
"With so many perfected ninth-stage void creature kings, I wonder how much my mind-will points will increase..." Lin Yuan gazed at the void creature kings in the boulder's space, his face filled with anticipation.
Originally, Lin Yuan had planned for his mind-will limit in the Boundless Void to be around 25 million points.
Because there simply weren't enough void creatures for him to kill.
Especially after reaching 20 million points, only killing void creature kings would have any real effect.
But now, looking at the hundreds of void creature kings in the boulder's space, Lin Yuan wasn't sure where his mind-will limit would ultimately end up.
"Let's begin."
Without further hesitation, Lin Yuan started to kill the void creatures in the boulder's space.
He felt no pity toward these void creatures—they weren't even the same species as him. Killing them was no different than an ordinary person slaughtering chickens or pigs.
In the Boundless Void...
Nearly a hundred Peak Evil God True Lords had gathered, all discussing the birth of the second tenth-stage existence in the Boundless Void.
"That tenth-stage existence is called the Martial Ancestor?"
"The Martial Ancestor wants us to give up half of our territory to those weak ants?"
"The Martial Ancestor is so powerful. Why would he be so merciful to those ants?"
"Do you have a problem with it? Why don't you go talk to the Martial Ancestor?"
"Forget it, I wouldn't dare."
The Peak Evil God True Lords conversed among themselves. Some of them were dissatisfied with giving up half of their territory, but dissatisfaction was all it was. None of them had the courage to argue with the Martial Ancestor.
After all, they had all reached the ninth stage and weren't like the younger, more reckless Evil Gods of the sixth or seventh stages, who occasionally acted out of madness.
The ninth-stage perfected Evil Gods were exceedingly rational. They knew that the Martial Ancestor's will could not be defied. Since yielding half of their territory didn't push them to their limit, their reactions weren't too extreme.
As the Peak Evil Gods debated, the Void Child sat high on his throne, watching their exchanges with mild disinterest.
"Hmm?"
"The Martial Ancestor has disappeared from the Void Secret Realm?"
When Lin Yuan entered the hidden core of the Void Secret Realm, his presence vanished, and the Void Child immediately noticed.
"There's no trace of the Martial Ancestor anywhere in the Void Secret Realm?"
The Void Child carefully sensed his surroundings, speculating to himself, "Could there be secrets within the Void Secret Realm that even I don't know about?"
The Void Child had controlled the Void Secret Realm for countless years and considered himself extremely knowledgeable about it.
But now, the sudden disappearance of the Martial Ancestor's presence made the Void Child wonder if there were more secrets to the realm than he had realized.
Still, the Void Child didn't dwell on the thought for long. After all, he hadn't discovered any such secrets in all his years of control, and giving him a hundred times that time wouldn't make a difference.
"It's about time."
The Void Child glanced down at the crowd. The Peak Evil Gods had almost finished their debates.
In truth, giving up half of the territory had no real impact on the Void Child himself. It was up to the Peak Evil Gods to decide how much territory they were willing to concede.
"Does the Martial Ancestor protect those ants because they can practice martial arts?"
The Void Child pondered. "When I have time, I'll have to try practicing martial arts myself."
The Martial Ancestor's emphasis on martial arts had piqued the Void Child's curiosity. He was determined to give it a try.
Time passed.
Ten years later...
In the hidden space of the Void Secret Realm.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged atop the boulder.
An invisible force of mind-will surged outward, twisting time and space, forming a mind-will storm that swept across the hidden space.
"My mind-will... has finally reached its peak."
Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes, and the immense power of his mind-will quickly receded.
After ten years of absorbing and killing void creatures, Lin Yuan's mind-will had finally reached its peak.
By "reaching the peak," it meant that continuing to kill void creature kings would result in almost no further improvement in his mind-will.
"My mind-will points should be between 33.3 million and 33.4 million now." (Remember something? :D)
Lin Yuan assessed himself and made an estimate.
"A mind-will in that range? Is it exactly 33,333,333 points?"
Lin Yuan couldn't be certain of his exact mind-will points. Even in human civilization in the main universe, where mind-will could be measured, the result was only an approximation.
Especially now that Lin Yuan's mind-will points were so high, it was even harder to measure them precisely. He could only rely on his own experience and perception to make a judgment.
And the range of 33.3 million to 33.4 million made Lin Yuan think of the number 33,333,333.
In the main universe, Lin Yuan had encountered this number multiple times: in the number of insights needed to advance in the Demon Evolution Path of the Devil Jade Tower, in the number of silver words in the "Void Interpretation," and even in the time required for the Gate of Myriad Realms to accumulate a single wisp of boundary-breaking source power.
Now, his mind-will had once again reached this number.
"This number must hold a great secret," Lin Yuan thought to himself, before pushing the mystery aside.
Whatever secret it held, it was still far beyond his current understanding. He would only be able to explore it further after reaching the ultimate level.
"With over 33 million mind-will points, even among the Strongest Ones, I'm not considered weak, right?"
Lin Yuan thought quickly.
18 million mind-will points was the threshold to become one of the Strongest Ones.
Only beings who had completed the ultimate leap and stood on the "shore" could quickly surpass that line in terms of mind-will.
But with over 33 million points, Lin Yuan was a step beyond that threshold—probably even newly ascended twelfth-rank ultimate beings wouldn't immediately reach this level.
Doubling one's mind-will strength was far harder than doubling physical strength.
"There are still two hundred and three void creature kings left." Lin Yuan glanced at the remaining void creature kings in the boulder's space.
Lin Yuan's mind-will had already reached its limit. Continuing to kill these void creature kings wouldn't bring any further improvement.
It was similar to when Lin Yuan's mind-will exceeded a million points—killing ordinary void creatures no longer had any effect.
"Too bad these void creatures can't enter other dimensions. They'll dissipate if they do."
Lin Yuan recalled that ever since his Yang Primordial Spirit first entered the Void Secret Realm and killed his first void creature, he had discovered this rule.
Void creatures could not enter the Boundless Void.
The Void Secret Realm was technically a "net" formed from the Boundless Void extending into the dimensional gaps, meaning it was still within the dimensional gaps.
Therefore, void creatures could survive within the secret realm but couldn't leave.
And that was all. Any void creature that officially entered the Boundless Void would perish without reversal, no matter what methods were used to isolate it.
This was why Lin Yuan had never seen void creatures outside the Void Secret Realm.
If they couldn't even enter the Boundless Void, there was no way they could reach the chaotic void of the main universe, which left Lin Yuan feeling a bit regretful.
After all, killing these void creatures provided a direct and substantial boost to mind-will strength—something that would be considered fantastical in the main universe.
At least with Lin Yuan's current status in human civilization, he had never heard of such a resource. There were items that could enhance mind-will strength, but to do so to such a degree?
And with such a simple, substantial increase, there was no theoretical basis for it.
In other words, if Lin Yuan could somehow bring these void creatures into the main universe, even if he didn't want to arm his enemies, simply trading them within human civilization would earn him unimaginable merit points and twelve-star treasures.
There was no doubt that the tenth and eleventh-rank evolvers of human civilization would spare no expense to boost their mind-will, even if only by one or ten points.
As for the boundary-breaking source power required to transport these void creatures from the Boundless Void to the main universe? If the benefits were great enough, Lin Yuan wouldn't mind spending it.
After all, boundary-breaking source power was just another resource, and it was renewable.
But unfortunately, void creatures couldn't survive in any dimension, meaning Lin Yuan's plans to trade between the two realms were dead in the water.
Actually, even if Lin Yuan couldn't bring void creatures to the main universe, he had another way to allow the human evolvers of the main universe to benefit from the boost in mind-will strength that came from killing void creatures.
That was to bring them directly into the Boundless Void, allowing them to enter the Void Secret Realm and hunt the void creatures themselves.
The Gate of Myriad Realms allowed for physical transmigration and could transport objects from the main universe into the Boundless Void, meaning it could also bring other beings into the realms he traversed.
It was only a matter of how much boundary-breaking source power it would cost.
Since void creatures couldn't leave, Lin Yuan could bring the evolvers of the main universe to them.
But this method was risky and could expose the secret of the Gate of Myriad Realms.
The ability to travel between dimensions was something even the most perfect time-space beings couldn't achieve directly, yet Lin Yuan could do it so easily? And even bring others along?
The Gate of Myriad Realms was Lin Yuan's greatest trump card, far surpassing the Mysterious Emperor Secret Realm or the Devil Jade Space, and he couldn't afford to let it be known.
Because of this, even though the idea had great potential and the rewards would be astronomical, Lin Yuan refused to take the risk.
Not even in the future, when he became an ultimate being, would he consider it.
If he reached the ultimate level, Lin Yuan could choose to reveal some secrets of the Mysterious Emperor Secret Realm, but the Gate of Myriad Realms? Absolutely not.
"These remaining void creature kings will just have to stay here."
Lin Yuan gave the boulder's space one last glance before stepping forward and disappearing.
Next.
Lin Yuan began to traverse the Void Secret Realm, carefully sensing every detail of the realm.
Even though he could see through everything in the Void Secret Realm with his mastery of the sixth realm of the Space-Time Fusion Rule, just seeing wasn't the same as learning.
By using the Void Secret Realm, Lin Yuan could observe the path taken by the realm's creator.
Although the creator of the secret realm had failed to become an ultimate being, the fact that they had reached the tenth stage meant they had no issues with potential. Failing to achieve the ultimate didn't negate that.
After all, many factors contributed to failure in the ultimate challenge—bad luck being one of them.
For five years, Lin Yuan explored every corner of the Void Secret Realm.
Then he began to explore the entire Boundless Void.
Compared to the Void Secret Realm, the Boundless Void was simpler but required more of Lin Yuan's energy.
After all, the Void Secret Realm was an artificially created space. Though it contained the path of a tenth-stage being, it couldn't compare to the Boundless Void itself.
Another five years passed.
Lin Yuan finished exploring the Boundless Void.
Then, he casually chose a spot, sat cross-legged, and began to reflect. Now that his observations were complete, it was time to digest everything he had seen and felt, turning it into personal insight.
At this moment, in a remote corner of the vast Boundless Void, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, organizing his realizations.
He had already experienced many flashes of insight, and after ten years of observation, everything had come together in his mind. Now, with his Unrivaled Insight, he quickly processed it all.
[Your Unrivaled Insight is activated. By observing the Void, your understanding of the rules of life and death cycles has greatly increased.]
[Your Unrivaled Insight is activated. By observing the Void, your understanding of the rules of great destruction has greatly increased.]
[Your Unrivaled Insight is activated. By observing the Void, your understanding of the rules of causality fluctuations has greatly increased.]
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: patreon.com/David_Lord
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