"Perfect life, infinite origin, endless tribulations!"
Lin Yuan's expression turned contemplative.
The Ti Lords pursued transcendence, but as for evolving into a fourteenth-rank perfect ti lifeform?
That was rely one thod of achieving transcendence. Becoming a perfect ti lifeform was not the only path to transcendence.
Transcendence was the ultimate destination, but there were multiple roads leading there.
These multiple roads referred to: perfect life, infinite origin, and endless tribulations.
Perfect life was easy to understand—becoming a perfect ti lifeform.
Infinite origin ant reaching the source of ti, the very first temporal node in the evolution of dinsional layers.
"These three thods are the ones we Lords deduced as the most likely paths to transcendence, through our understanding of the endless dinsional layers."
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor paused briefly, then continued, "Aside from these, there have been other paths explored by Lords, but all were eventually proven incapable of leading to transcendence."
"I see."
Lin Yuan understood now.
To be "proven" ant that so Lords had fulfilled the conditions of those thods, yet still failed to break through their ultimate fate.
Perfect life, infinite origin, and endless tribulations—these were the three paths no Lord had yet succeeded in completing, and they beca the mainstream transcendence paths after generations of deduction and refinent.
Ti Lords observed the past and future. Their belief that completing one of these three would lead to transcendence must stem from so definitive form of “evidence.”
"Though the thods exist, actually achieving them is incredibly difficult."
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor spoke softly, with a complex tone.
His chosen path to transcendence was the infinite origin—anchoring his past self through his present and future selves, then sending that past self to the origin of ti.
This path wasn't as extre as the perfect life one, which was all or nothing—fail, and you die.
But delving too deeply into past ti could bring about the calamity of being “lost.” Even with the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor's Three-Lives thod providing advantages over other Ti Lords exploring this path...
He still had to tread carefully. The past ti-space was fraught with danger. Once lost, a Ti Lord could never return to the present tiline, forever trapped in the past.
At that point, it would be no different from perishing. A lost Ti Lord would be unable to distinguish the direction of ti, unable to continue toward the source node of ti.
“It really is difficult.”
Lin Yuan nodded.
Though he hadn’t yet tried any of the three transcendence paths, he had the example of the Lord of Heavenly Radiance before him.
He naturally understood how hard it must be.
And for thods that no Ti Lord had ever succeeded in completing, how could they possibly be simple?
Lin Yuan looked at the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor. “What’s the thod of endless tribulations?”
He already understood perfect life and infinite origin.
But endless tribulations?
"The transcendence path of endless tribulations originates from the trials set by the supre consciousness of the Grand Dao of the dinsional layers."
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor said, “Once a Ti Lord enters the third-tier realm, their consciousness can perceive the existence of this supre Dao consciousness, and that enables them to open the path of ‘endless tribulations.’”
“Trials from the supre Dao consciousness?”
Lin Yuan was stirred.
"Exactly."
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor nodded. “This path is considered a route to transcendence because the supre Dao consciousness wouldn’t do anything aningless. The fact that it created a specific set of trials exclusively for Ti Lords suggests a high likelihood it’s tied to transcendence.”
Lin Yuan nodded slightly at that.
There were many things that could tempt a Ti Lord—but transcendence was their common pursuit.
“The path of endless tribulations has three stages. The first is 3.602 billion tribulations, the second is 1 billion and 8k tribulations, and the third is 330 million tribulations.”
“Once you pass the first stage of 3.602 billion tribulations, you can proceed to the second stage of 1.08 billion, and then finally the third stage of 330 million.”
“Each ti you pass a tribulation, your strength increases, but so does the difficulty of the next one. If you fail, you die—your existence will be erased by the supre Dao consciousness.”
“And if you overco all the tribulations, then you are considered to have passed the test of the supre Dao consciousness and achieved transcendence.”
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor said.
Lin Yuan’s expression froze. He suddenly recalled that emperor of the Grand Feng Dynasty he encountered during the ti-loop world.
It was obvious that emperor had known of Lin Yuan’s existence and knew he would act against him. That’s why he had abandoned the Grand Feng Dynasty and plunged into the deep sea to avoid pursuit.
From the way he acted, he didn’t seem like a native of the ti-loop world. He was more like Lin Yuan—an outsider.
And the fake-death thod he devised to sink into the sea wasn’t sothing a twelfth-rank perfected lifeform could have co up with.
Even for Lin Yuan, creating a secret art that could fake death for over a century in such a rigidly rule-bound world wasn’t easy.
Looking at it now, that emperor of Grand Feng was more likely a Ti Lord undergoing “endless tribulations.”
After all, the ti-loop world was created by the supre Dao consciousness, and “endless tribulations” were its trials—it was easy for Lin Yuan to connect the two.
“What form do the tribulations take in ‘endless tribulations’?” Lin Yuan asked.
“They can take any form,” said the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor. “For example, the supre Dao consciousness might send you to a specific node in the past, requiring you to pass a test there—or it might drag your mind and will into a unique world for a trial, and so on.”
“I see.”
Lin Yuan nodded.
In his heart, he was almost certain that the emperor of Grand Feng was a Ti Lord currently experiencing the “endless tribulations.”
The only question now was—what stage of tribulations was he facing?
“I couldn’t afford to hold back then,” Lin Yuan thought to himself. Since he had passed the trial, the other party likely failed.
And as the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor had explained, any Ti Lord who failed a tribulation would be erased by the supre Dao consciousness—undeniably dead.
At that ti, Lin Yuan was undergoing his own ti-loop trial. Even if he had known the opponent’s origin, he couldn’t afford to show rcy. Who knew what unexpected consequences might result from letting that Ti Lord pass their trial?
Even though he had the boundary-breaking source energy as a last resort, if the opponent had been stronger and Lin Yuan had to use that power to kill them, it would’ve consud a large portion—an imnse loss.
And in the end, Lin Yuan hadn’t even used the boundary-breaking source energy—he had passed the ti-loop trial relying entirely on his own strength.
“For a Ti Lord, the first stage of 3.602 billion tribulations isn’t considered that difficult. As long as one is careful, they can get through it,” the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor said with a smile. “Any Ti Lord who passes that stage is considered quite powerful.”
Each tribulation overco in endless tribulations ca with a real improvent in strength.
“The truly difficult part is the second stage—1.08 billion tribulations, especially the final 8,000. Every one of those trials is terrifying.”
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor seed to recall sothing as he added, “I stopped at the one-billionth tribulation in the second stage. I didn’t dare to attempt the last 8,000.”
Among the three paths to transcendence, nearly every Ti Lord had tried “endless tribulations.” After all, each trial completed brought actual growth, and as long as you knew your limits, it wasn’t too risky.
The path of “endless tribulations” could be initiated voluntarily—it wasn’t forced.
“To date, how far has any Lord gone down the path of endless tribulations?” Lin Yuan asked curiously.
“To my knowledge, so Ti Lords have already reached the third stage. Those beings are unimaginably powerful—ordinary Lords are no match for them,” the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor said solemnly.
“Understood.”
Lin Yuan nodded.
The further one went down the path of endless tribulations, the more trials they overca, and the stronger they beca.
Ti Lords stuck in the first stage were naturally no match for those undergoing the third.
“Tianyuan, once you beco a Lord, you could try the path of ‘endless tribulations.’ Of course, from our perspective, the chaotic-origin Tao of Tai Chi you’ve comprehended is extrely suited for evolving into a perfect ti lifeform. But it’s still worth trying.”
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor advised.
If Lin Yuan could also master the Three-Lives thod, he could even try the infinite origin path.
That thod had clear advantages in exploring the past.
The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor had chosen not to continue further in endless tribulations—not because he couldn’t, but because there was no need.
He believed he might be able to get through the final dozens of tribulations in the second stage—but the risk was too high. And even if he succeeded, the even more brutal third stage awaited.
Better to focus his efforts on a path with higher chances of success.
“Mm.”
Lin Yuan nodded.
Whether it was the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor, the Daoyou Celestial Emperor, or the Wuyu Celestial Emperor, all believed the path most suited for Lin Yuan was perfect life.
After all, the evolution into a perfect ti lifeform depended on the path taken—and Lin Yuan’s chaotic-origin Tao of Tai Chi was nearly equivalent to the innate chaotic-origin Dao. His chances of success were vastly higher than others.
But—
“The path best suited for my transcendence is ‘endless tribulations,’” Lin Yuan thought silently.
Even if his chaotic-origin Tao of Tai Chi was on par with the innate chaotic-origin Dao, so what? Who could guarantee it would definitely lead to becoming a perfect ti lifeform?
Whereas “endless tribulations”—based on his experience in the ti-loop world—could be forcibly passed using boundary-breaking source energy.
In other words—
For other Ti Lords, each tribulation in endless tribulations ca with a chance of success or failure, and failure ant death.
But for Lin Yuan—even if he encountered a tribulation he couldn’t overco, he could spend boundary-breaking source energy to force his way through.
The only downside was that it would cost too much source power.
With all three stages combined, endless tribulations required overcoming billions of trials. How much source power would that consu?
But boundary-breaking source energy could be accumulated over ti. No matter how much was needed, it was just a matter of ti.
And to a ti lifeform, ti was the one thing they didn’t lack.
…
In the chaotic void.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, feeling the full transformation happening within his body.
His flesh, soul, will—all of it was surging in power after comprehending the chaotic-origin Tao of Tai Chi.
"Future self..."
His eyes deepened as he gazed at the many future tilines.
After mastering the chaotic-origin Tao of Tai Chi, his perception of the future had beco much clearer, and the difficulty of forming a future self had plumted. With the help of the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor’s Three-Lives thod, especially its guidance on forming the future self—
Lin Yuan made rapid progress in condensing his future selves.
Soon, along his many future tilines, one future self after another quickly ford.
There could only be one past self, but there could be countless future selves, since the future held infinite possibilities and branched into countless tilines—each needing a corresponding future self.
This was why future selves were far harder to condense than the past self.
"Past self, present self, future self."
Lin Yuan's eyes glead. With the formation of his future selves, he imdiately felt his control over the tilines strengthen.
Once the future selves were in place, the tilines he existed within started to behave as a unified whole. At the sa ti, his past self's ability to explore past ti-space greatly increased.
“No wonder the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor chose the infinite origin path,” Lin Yuan thought. The Three-Lives thod had a stabilizing effect on anchoring the past self.
And on the path of infinite origin, the greatest danger was “getting lost.” Many ti lifeforms had vanished without a trace—most likely victims of that fate.
“Still, even with the Three-Lives thod, all it can do is anchor the past self and try to avoid getting lost. Whether you can actually reach the source of ti—no one knows.”
Lin Yuan shook his head slightly.
Compared to the three layers of tribulations in endless tribulations—at least there was a clear goal: transcend after passing them all.
But infinite origin had no defined destination. Reach the source of ti? Who even knew where that was?
“Now that my future selves are ford, I can begin converging my tilines.”
With a thought, Lin Yuan began pulling his tilines together.
For a second-tier ti lifeform to beco a Lord, they had to converge their tilines.
For most, this was an incredibly difficult task—the future held infinite branches, and drawing them together would require unimaginable effort.
But with Lin Yuan’s future selves managing each tiline, convergence was a gradual, natural process.
Even if he didn’t take action, his future selves would instinctively align toward a single tiline.
Of course, letting that happen naturally would take ages.
But with Lin Yuan’s conscious effort, his tilines began to converge at an astonishing speed.
...
20 chapters ahead on patreon: /David_Lord
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