Chapter 166

Lin Yuan watched as Situ Ming left.

He had reshaped Situ Ming’s body with his own essence blood.

There was another effect, too.

That was to inscribe his own brand.

The hearts of men are fickle.

Even the most loyal of subordinates.

One hundred years, two hundred years, their loyalty can be ensured.

Three hundred years, five hundred years, loyalty can still be ensured.

But what about eight hundred years, a thousand years?

What about when Lin Yuan’s time is up and he has to leave this world?

Will Situ Ming still be able to maintain his absolute loyalty to him?

Situ Ming, now formed after the Five-Color Lotus Transformation, could easily live for thousands and tens of thousands of years.

Over the long years, anything can change.

But by inscribing his brand with his essence blood, Lin Yuan eliminated any other possibility.

Situ Ming’s Primordial Spirit and body, having been fashioned by Lin Yuan, no longer have the capability to harbor any other thoughts.

“Continue cultivating.”

Lin Yuan closed his eyes and resumed his Dao enlightenment.

Time slowly passed.

Twenty years later.

In these twenty years, the world had changed more than it had in the previous two hundred years, or even two thousand years.

One genius after another emerged, and heritages that had disappeared from history resurfaced.

The great powers of the Five Domains underwent several major reshuffles.

Of course, the Tianjian Sect, with Tianjian Zi from the Tenth Realm as its pillar, still overlooked the world from above, its status unshaken.

However.

More than ten years ago.

After the forces of the Five Domains, including Tianjian Zi, realized they couldn’t anticipate Xiahou Yuan’s return.

They could only go back to their respective homes and no longer wait in vain on Tianjian Mountain.

There was no other way.

If it were another time.

They might have persevered a little longer.

But now with the world growing more volatile by the day, with powerful figures continuously emerging.

They, these old-timers, would probably have their foundations uprooted if they did not make a comeback soon.

Tianjian Zi had no solution to this.

He could only speculate that something unpredictable had happened to Xiahou Yuan.

Perhaps Xiahou Yuan had realized that he had entered the Tenth Realm and defiantly refused to come over at all.

Underneath the Underground Palace.

Next to a vein of fire.

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, his body radiating intense heat.

Twenty years of cultivation had naturally brought him to an entirely new level.

Lin Yuan’s strength now could be described as approximately comparable to the Fourteenth Realm of this world.

He was indeed unprecedented and unrepeatable.

Even the concept of the Fourteenth Realm was created by Lin Yuan because, before him, no being had ever ventured into this domain.

For tens of thousands of years, the mightiest being in this realm had been of the Tenth Realm.

Maybe fifty thousand years ago or a hundred thousand years ago, there were beings beyond the Tenth Realm, but at most they reached only the Eleventh Realm.

As for the Fourteenth Realm?

What a joke.

“It’s almost time.”

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, his resounding breath causing even the nearby vein of fire to tremble.

“Huff…”

Lin Yuan exhaled, the scorching breath breaking through layers of soil, traveling dozens of miles, and striking an underground stratum.

The layer burst into dust with a bang, and the terrifying fluctuations spread in all directions, causing tremors on the surface above.

“Now I…”

Lin Yuan opened his eyes, his emanating aura swiftly retracting, and within a few breaths, he seemed no different from an ordinary person.

“Tianjian Sect…”

Lin Yuan slightly raised his head, looking in the direction of the Tianjian Sect.

“Go, go and extinguish the Tianjian Sect.”

Lin Yuan’s thoughts slightly stirred.

An indistinct figure, emanating with the Power of Taiyin, emerged from within the sea of consciousness at his brow.

The figure bowed slightly toward Lin Yuan and then stepped out, effortlessly passing through the thick soil to the surface above and immediately vanished.

This figure was none other than Lin Yuan’s Yin God, also known as the Taiyin Primordial Spirit.

Actually, had it not been for Lin Yuan’s discovery that the vast current of Heaven and Earth had surged forth twenty years ago, he probably would have already flattened the Tianjian Sect right after stepping into the Thirteenth Realm eighteen years prior.

But now was not too late.

No matter how vigorously the vast current of Heaven and Earth surged, it had its limits. The ceiling of this realm remained fixed, and no matter how much nurturing occurred, it couldn’t produce supreme powerhouses like those from the Main World.

With Lin Yuan’s current Fourteenth Realm strength, he was more than capable of sweeping through everything, even if it was only a Yin God.

More than twenty years ago, Lin Yuan’s own Taiji Primordial Spirit had divided into the Yin and Yang Spirits.

At that time, if the Yin and Yang Spirits exerted their full power, they could grow to hundreds of feet tall.

Now, after more than twenty years, the Yin and Yang Spirits had grown more than ten times stronger than before.

…

Tianjian Mountain.

On this day, the Tianjian Sect was in celebration, bustling with activity.

Guests came and went without end.

Because today was the eight hundredth birthday of Tianjian Zi.

As the strongest of his time, and the only one from the Tenth Realm,

Tianjian Zi’s birthday was naturally a grand affair. Many forces from the Five Domains and numerous powerful individuals wouldn’t dare miss it.

Even those unruly, adventure-laden younger generations mostly came in a subdued manner.

In front of this senior Tenth Realm powerhouse, no one dared to act recklessly.

At the top of Tianjian Mountain.

Tianjian Zi sat high in the principal seat.

Looking at the many guests below, he was in high spirits.

For a Tenth Realm powerhouse, eight hundred years was just a minor part of life; a Tenth Realm being had a lifespan of two thousand years.

“Congratulations to Tianjian Zi, senior, for a life as vast as the East Sea…”

A middle-aged man strode forward, bowing slightly to Tianjian Zi.

This middle-aged man was a Ninth Realm powerhouse, yet he remained slightly respectful in the presence of Tianjian Zi, who had reached the Tenth Realm.

“Hmm…”

Tianjian Zi nodded slightly, indicating he had acknowledged the gesture.

He would react only when powerhouses of the Ninth Realm rose to congratulate him.

As for those below the Ninth Realm, he would merely acknowledge them with a glance.

“These few decades have seen the number of Ninth Realm individuals skyrocket several times over…”

Tianjian Zi looked around, silently reflecting.

As the Sect Leader of the world’s most powerful sect, Tianjian Zi was naturally aware of the changes within the Five Domains.

“But to cultivate a Tenth Realm, it will still take tens or a hundred years.”