Chapter 295 - 294: Sacred Grounds (2)

Lin Yuan’s Primordial Spirit expanded, casting a vast, imperceptible net of divine sense across the gathering.

Instantly, he could tell the brutal, and undeniable truth of the world’s hierarchy.

The Central Continent was, without a shadow of a doubt, the weakest among the five continents. The Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western continents were vastly, and overwhelmingly superior.

Because every single expert standing upon this jade plaza—every youth, every silent ascetic, every proud warrior—was at the Soul Transformation realm.

There was no Spirit Severing cultivator here. Those at that realm dares not step foot here. There were no Half-Step Transcendent prodigies boasting of their potential. This was a gathering of true, realized sovereigns. The other continents had not needed a Fortune Banner to manufacture their champions; they had bred them, trained them, and forged them in the brutal, unforgiving environments of their respective borders.

Lin Yuan eyed the various experts with cold, analytical precision. Most of the cultivators present were seated firmly at the Middle Stage of the Soul Transformation realm. A select few, radiating auras of suffocating density, sat at the Peak Stage, possibly a hair’s breadth away from the Void Refinement realm.

Any single one of these cultivators, Lin Yuan calculated, his eyes narrowing slightly, would effortlessly crush the provincial lords of the upper division provinces in the Central Continent. Lord Zhao, Patriarch Chu, even Xuan Bahe with his Gravity Dao... they would all be slaughtered in less than three exchanges by the weakest ascetic sitting on this plaza.

He had stepped out of a shallow pond and directly into an ocean of apex experts.

"Look at them, Yuan," Bai Qingyue whispered, her voice laced with profound awe as she observed the terrifying assembly. "The sheer density of their Dao laws... it is suffocating."

"Do not be intimidated, Qingyue. They are strong, but they are still bound by the dust," Lin Yuan replied calmly, though his divine sense had already locked onto several phenomena that demanded his absolute attention.

His gaze drifted to the far right of the plaza, where a towering, dark-skinned man sat cross-legged upon a floating slab of obsidian.

Lin Yuan’s eyes widened slightly.

The man did not have two arms. He had ten.

It was not a physical illusion. It was not a manifested Dharma idol forged from Qi, nor was it a temporary bodily modification derived from a bloodline art. Through his high perception, Lin Yuan could see the absolute reality of the limbs. The man was born with the phenomenon of ten arms.

Lin Yuan’s comprehension immediately deduced the nature of such a staggering biological anomaly as his divine sense scanned the heavy, overlapping auras radiating from the limbs.

Ten arms, Lin Yuan analyzed, his mind racing. But it is not merely for physical brawling. Such an aura... it is akin to holding ten independent worlds in each palm. Each arm seems to resonate with a different karmic frequency, dictating life and death in various, simultaneous battles. It is an array of absolute combat efficiency. With a physical foundation like that, and a Middle Stage Soul Transformation cultivation, he can surely take on the physical might of a Demon King without flinching.

It was a breathtaking display of physical supremacy.

Lin Yuan shifted his gaze toward the center of the plaza, where a woman in flowing, iridescent white robes was practicing a slow, mesmerizing sword dance.

She did not wield a physical blade. Instead, hovering directly above her crown, were two perfectly formed, crystalline spheres of pure, materialized Dao law.

Dao Fruits, Lin Yuan noted, his respect for the environment deepening. Two Dao Fruits formed and stabilized in the physical plane!

The path of Dao Fruit cultivation was notoriously elusive. It required a cultivator to entirely bypass standard accumulation and instead physically manifest their philosophical comprehension of the universe into a consumable, externalized core. To form one was considered a miracle of mysticism. To form two? It was a path of cultivation nearly impossible to attain under the damaged, fragmented laws of the outside Nine Provinces.

She could only have achieved this here, Lin Yuan reasoned, acknowledging the terrifying benefit of the Sacred Grounds. Thanks to the ancient Dao laws of this area, she managed to coax the elusive path into reality. Her essence is perfectly doubled, conceptually linked, and capable of operating on two entirely different spatial frequencies simultaneously. Surely, with that level of esoteric mastery, she can handle various Demon Kings.

Finally, Lin Yuan’s sweeping divine sense locked onto a figure standing completely motionless at the edge of the primordial forest, staring out into the violet-leaved trees.

It was a young man wrapped in simple, unadorned silver robes. He was not towering like the ten-armed giant, nor was he projecting a beautiful display of esoteric power like the twin-dao fruit cultivator. He stood perfectly still, his hands clasped behind his back.

But upon his forehead, a vertical slit was slowly pulsing.

Three eyes!

One standard eye on the left, one on the right, and a third, brilliantly glowing, vertical eye perfectly centered on his brow.

As Lin Yuan’s divine sense brushed against the third eye, his own Primordial Spirit violently resonated. The golden-purple light of his Dao Intent flared in response to a familiar frequency.

That eye, Lin Yuan realized, a cold thrill of absolute recognition washing over him. It connects directly to the Origin.

It was not an eye that saw physical light. It was an eye that perceived the foundation of reality.

"The Dao gives birth to One," Lin Yuan murmured softly. "One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three... and Three gives birth to all myriad things. The entire universe, every illusion, every spatial fold, is born from the intersection of three."

Lin Yuan smiled, his deep purple eyes locking onto the glowing third eye of the distant expert.

"Nothing under the vast heavens is invisible to those eyes," Lin Yuan refined the saying, acknowledging the terrifying utility of the phenomenon. "He can see the absolute truth of all myriad things before they even fully manifest. The Thousand-Fold Labyrinth of an Eagle Demon King would look like a child’s drawing to him."

Lin Yuan withdrew his divine sense, pulling his perception back into his True Elemental Body.

He stood at the edge of the jade plaza, holding his wife’s hand. He was surrounded by monsters. He was standing amidst the absolute apex of the Nine Provinces’ younger generation—cultivators born with ten arms, twin Dao fruits, and eyes that perceived the Origin.

Lin Yuan did not feel intimidated. He did not feel overshadowed.

He felt a profound, blood-pumping surge of absolute anticipation. He had arrived at the final crucible. To stand against the Demon Realm, to ensure the world remained clean and quiet for the child growing within Bai Qingyue’s womb, he would have to do more than just fight alongside them.

With his deep purple eyes flashing with the tri-colored light of the Dao of Three Rebirths, Lin Yuan stepped forward, leading his wife directly into the center of the gathering of gods.