Creating Heavenly Laws

Chapter 762

"Perfect life, infinite origin, endless tribulations!"

Lin Yuan's expression turned contemplative.

The Time Lords pursued transcendence, but as for evolving into a fourteenth-rank perfect time lifeform?

That was merely one method of achieving transcendence. Becoming a perfect time 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 time lifeform.

Infinite origin meant reaching the source of time, the very first temporal node in the evolution of dimensional layers.

"These three methods are the ones we Lords deduced as the most likely paths to transcendence, through our understanding of the endless dimensional 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" meant that some Lords had fulfilled the conditions of those methods, 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 became the mainstream transcendence paths after generations of deduction and refinement.

Time Lords observed the past and future. Their belief that completing one of these three would lead to transcendence must stem from some definitive form of “evidence.”

"Though the methods 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 time.

This path wasn't as extreme as the perfect life one, which was all or nothing—fail, and you die.

But delving too deeply into past time could bring about the calamity of being “lost.” Even with the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor's Three-Lives Method providing advantages over other Time Lords exploring this path...

He still had to tread carefully. The past time-space was fraught with danger. Once lost, a Time Lord could never return to the present timeline, forever trapped in the past.

At that point, it would be no different from perishing. A lost Time Lord would be unable to distinguish the direction of time, unable to continue toward the source node of time.

“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 methods that no Time Lord had ever succeeded in completing, how could they possibly be simple?

Lin Yuan looked at the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor. “What’s the method 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 supreme consciousness of the Grand Dao of the dimensional layers."

The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor said, “Once a Time Lord enters the third-tier realm, their consciousness can perceive the existence of this supreme Dao consciousness, and that enables them to open the path of ‘endless tribulations.’”

“Trials from the supreme Dao consciousness?”

Lin Yuan was stirred.

"Exactly."

The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor nodded. “This path is considered a route to transcendence because the supreme Dao consciousness wouldn’t do anything meaningless. The fact that it created a specific set of trials exclusively for Time Lords suggests a high likelihood it’s tied to transcendence.”

Lin Yuan nodded slightly at that.

There were many things that could tempt a Time 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 time 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 supreme Dao consciousness.”

“And if you overcome all the tribulations, then you are considered to have passed the test of the supreme 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 time-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 time-loop world. He was more like Lin Yuan—an outsider.

And the fake-death method he devised to sink into the sea wasn’t something a twelfth-rank perfected lifeform could have come 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 Time Lord undergoing “endless tribulations.”

After all, the time-loop world was created by the supreme 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 supreme 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 Time 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 Time Lord who failed a tribulation would be erased by the supreme Dao consciousness—undeniably dead.

At that time, Lin Yuan was undergoing his own time-loop trial. Even if he had known the opponent’s origin, he couldn’t afford to show mercy. Who knew what unexpected consequences might result from letting that Time 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 consumed a large portion—an immense loss.

And in the end, Lin Yuan hadn’t even used the boundary-breaking source energy—he had passed the time-loop trial relying entirely on his own strength.

“For a Time 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 Time Lord who passes that stage is considered quite powerful.”

Each tribulation overcome in endless tribulations came with a real improvement 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 seemed to recall something 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 Time 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, some Time 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 overcame, and the stronger they became.

Time Lords stuck in the first stage were naturally no match for those undergoing the third.

“Tianyuan, once you become 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 extremely suited for evolving into a perfect time lifeform. But it’s still worth trying.”

The Three-Lives Celestial Emperor advised.

If Lin Yuan could also master the Three-Lives Method, he could even try the infinite origin path.

That method 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 time 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 time lifeform?

Whereas “endless tribulations”—based on his experience in the time-loop world—could be forcibly passed using boundary-breaking source energy.

In other words—

For other Time Lords, each tribulation in endless tribulations came with a chance of success or failure, and failure meant death.

But for Lin Yuan—even if he encountered a tribulation he couldn’t overcome, 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 consume?

But boundary-breaking source energy could be accumulated over time. No matter how much was needed, it was just a matter of time.

And to a time lifeform, time 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 timelines.

After mastering the chaotic-origin Tao of Tai Chi, his perception of the future had become much clearer, and the difficulty of forming a future self had plummeted. With the help of the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor’s Three-Lives Method, especially its guidance on forming the future self—

Lin Yuan made rapid progress in condensing his future selves.

Soon, along his many future timelines, one future self after another quickly formed.

There could only be one past self, but there could be countless future selves, since the future held infinite possibilities and branched into countless timelines—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 gleamed. With the formation of his future selves, he immediately felt his control over the timelines strengthen.

Once the future selves were in place, the timelines he existed within started to behave as a unified whole. At the same time, his past self's ability to explore past time-space greatly increased.

“No wonder the Three-Lives Celestial Emperor chose the infinite origin path,” Lin Yuan thought. The Three-Lives Method had a stabilizing effect on anchoring the past self.

And on the path of infinite origin, the greatest danger was “getting lost.” Many time lifeforms had vanished without a trace—most likely victims of that fate.

“Still, even with the Three-Lives Method, all it can do is anchor the past self and try to avoid getting lost. Whether you can actually reach the source of time—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 time? Who even knew where that was?

“Now that my future selves are formed, I can begin converging my timelines.”

With a thought, Lin Yuan began pulling his timelines together.

For a second-tier time lifeform to become a Lord, they had to converge their timelines.

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 timeline, convergence was a gradual, natural process.

Even if he didn’t take action, his future selves would instinctively align toward a single timeline.

Of course, letting that happen naturally would take ages.

But with Lin Yuan’s conscious effort, his timelines began to converge at an astonishing speed.

...

20 chapters ahead on patreon: /David_Lord