Time passed quickly, and soon, ten thousand years had passed.
For many peerless experts, ten thousand years was a very short period of time. Typically, no significant change would happen in the Sinkhole during that brief a period.
But in the past ten thousand years, many things had changed.
Upon Yi Yun's return, he made the restoration of the Heavenly Dao his goal. The three ancient Godly Monarchs—Dragon King, Mirage Snow Queen, and the River of Forgetfulness King—recovered their strength, becoming peerless Sinkhole experts again.
Following that, several new Godly Monarchs were born.
To put it into perspective, the birth of a new Godly Monarch in the Sinkhole was typically something that wouldn't happen in a hundred million years.
The Sinkhole's Martial Dao was thriving.
However, a warrior's ambition and farsightedness determined their achievements to a very large extent. The Sinkhole was, after all, only one of the many universes in the Multiverse. If one was satisfied with the goal of being strongest in the Sinkhole, it was difficult for them to amount to much.
Under such a situation, Yi Yun tore open a passageway leading from the Sinkhole to the Chaos Heavens.
Sinkhole geniuses could head to the Chaos Heavens for training!
Be it the Sinkhole or the Chaos Heavens, they followed Yi Yun's lead. Whatever he arranged would naturally be implemented smoothly.
Hence, every three centuries, the Sinkhole would organize a test for the younger generation which was used to choose a new batch of geniuses for grooming.
The most outstanding ones could even have a chance of being guided by Yi Yun.
This was a huge honor and also a humongous opportunity!
Sinkhole geniuses, no matter their background, would flock towards such an event.
If commoner warriors were to achieve good results, they were bound to enjoy a momentous rise and obtain sufficient resources for their growth!
It could be said that it was the best of times for the present Sinkhole. As long as one was talented, they could achieve anything by their own hands. It wasn't anything like in the past—even with immense talent, one could fail to obtain a heritage that suited them. Also, there were the restraints brought about by the incomplete Heavenly Dao.
Today, a new round of Number One Martial Dao Trials started once again. Elites from all walks of life were long pumped for battle, awash with eagerness.
The venue of the martial tournament was located in the Mirage Sea Realm!
After Huan Chenxue regained her strength, people finally understood why she was able to live for hundreds of millions of years as a mortal despite losing all her strength in ancient times. It was simply because Mirage Snow Queen was just too powerful.
Mirage Snow Queen cultivated in Mirage and Snow laws. After recovering her strength, she created a massive illusory soul world.
This was actually considered an independent Soul Universe, and its entrance was located in the Mirage Sea Realm.
Every genius who participated in the trial would do so in this Soul Universe.
At this moment, there was a spirit cruiser floating beyond the Mirage Sea Realm. About eight youngsters were gathered together, each of them having extremely powerful auras. They had robust foundations and were all heads and shoulders above their peers!
"I've finally waited for this day. Nanxuan Yu, I fell for your trap gambling with you the last time, but this time, I'll make sure to set it right. Let's set a goal this time. Whoever fails to pass the fifth trial loses."
The person who spoke was a handsome man wearing a jade headdress. He truly could be described as a gentleman. He was one of the core disciples of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate and the granddisciple of Sacred Horizon Divine Lord—Qi Mingjian. His background could be said to be illustrious!
As for Nanxuan Luoyue, he came from the Nanxuan family clan. Originally, the Nanxuan family clan was just a tiny family clan in the White Lunar Divine Empire. It was originally involved in the herbal trade, but back when Yi Yun arrived in the White Lunar Divine Empire's Martial Numinous continent, he acquainted himself with Nanxuan Luoyue. With her help, Yi Yun entered the ancient battlefield and Yi Yun naturally didn't forget this. With his strength and status, repaying the kindness she showed him could be done with a single sentence.
As a result, the Nanxuan family clan received special privileges in the White Lunar Divine Empire. Later, due to its family head's good management, it slowly became one of the few major family clans in the White Lunar Divine Empire.
As such, Nanxuan Yu's background was only slightly inferior to Qi Mingjian's, and the gap wasn't huge.
"Pass the fifth trial? You sure are confident. Do you know who the invigilator is this time? It's Felicitous Rain Lord! The trials he gives are well known for being difficult. From my point of view, passing the fourth trial will put you in the top ten, and only two to three people have any chance of passing the fifth trial."
Nanxuan Yu's calm description left some of the promising youths present taken aback when they heard that Felicitous Rain Lord was acting as invigilator.
In the recent ten thousand years, there were three mighty figures who broke through to the Godly Monarch realm. Two of them were Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat who had been stuck at the Divine Lord realm for too long due to the lack of the Heavenly Dao.
As for the third person, he was Felicitous Rain Lord who had come from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.
Compared to the Sinkhole, the 12 Empyrean Heavens' cultivation environment was much more inferior. The Sinkhole had an incomplete Heavenly Dao to begin with, so the 12 Empyrean Heavens could only have it worse. However, Felicitous Rain Lord was an extraordinary genius. As a commoner, he used his own perceptivity and nomological insight to become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. Furthermore, he was considered one of the best among Divine Lords. He was also young.
If not for the restrictions of heritage, resources, and the incomplete Heavenly Dao, Felicitous Rain Lord could have been completely been capable of reaching the Godly Monarch realm by himself.
Only after Yi Yun returned did all these restrictions get lifted. After being repressed after all these years, Felicitous Rain Lord finally experienced his momentous rise!
People had also learned that Felicitous Rain Lord was once Yi Yun's master.
Back when Yi Yun was in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he had been greatly indebted to Felicitous Rain Lord.
Yi Yun's time laws came from him. Apart from that, and also something extremely important to Yi Yun, he had gained insight into the Primordial Chaos laws which he used to perfect his Major Destruction laws all thanks to Felicitous Rain Lord's help.
Felicitous Rain Lord had brought him to the Azure Wood Great World.
And in there, Felicitous Rain Lord had protected Yi Yun's life when the Celestials' bronze giant appeared. He even set off the series of events that allowed Yi Yun to obtain the Azure Wood Divine Tree.
With him being a master and someone who had saved his life, Yi Yun naturally had to return the favor severalfold.
After Yi Yun found Luo Huo'er, he went to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven to find Felicitous Rain Lord and gifted him a Heavenly Dao nomological fragment.
And with that, Felicitous Rain Lord, who had been meant for greatness, no longer experienced any restrictions! His nomological insights improved tremendously and he broke through the Godly Monarch bottleneck in one shot!
Although Felicitous Rain Lord broke through after Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat, it was acknowledged that Felicitous Rain Lord was the strongest Godly Monarch aside from the three ancient Godly Monarchs—Mirage Snow Queen, Dragon King, and River of Forgetfulness King!
Of course, Yi Yun was not among those ranks for people subconsciously treated him as someone at a realm above the Godly Monarch realm.
Similarly, Lin Xintong's strength was also a mystery.
There were rumors that mentioned how Lin Xintong had finished mastering a powerful cultivation level a thousand years ago, completing her ninth reincarnation. She experienced a complete transformation, and with her flawless body and birth as a sacred Dao fetus, she had far exceeded the comprehension of many.
As an invigilator, Felicitous Rain Lord's trials were truly difficult. But from another point of view, if one was truly a peerless genius who could figure out the trial Felicitous Rain Lord placed before them, they would typically be able to learn a lot from it.
Unfortunately, those with such abilities were truly rare.
"So Felicitous Rain Lord will be the invigilator… Felicitous Rain Lord was once Senior Yi's teacher. If one is to gain the acknowledgment of Felicitous Rain Lord, there's the tiny possibility of obtaining Senior Yi's guidance."
To be guided by Yi Yun was a truly rare opportunity!
Not only would it be an excellent opportunity to further their nomological insight, Yi Yun would also typically bestow them with treasures. The value of anything given by Yi Yun was obvious!
According to the rules of the Number One Martial Dao Trials, only the pinnacle geniuses among the warriors could receive Yi Yun's guidance.
And in fact, it would take more than ten Number One Martial Dao Trials before someone would be determined to be a pinnacle genius.
Over the past ten thousand years, Yi Yun had personally given guidance to five people.
The first person was the Nethersky Divine World's Young Goddess, Fairy Yourou. She came in first at the Number One Martial Dao Trials with results far surpassing second place.
Not only that, Fairy Yourou was a friend of Yi Yun to begin with.
She had acquainted herself with Yi Yun during the ancient battlefield trials and they helped each other. Later, Fairy Yourou left her name on the Ancient Ruins world's World Monolith, but Yi Yun lost the chance to do so because of his battle with Primordial Chaos Daolord and company. He went missing for sixty years as a result.
Time passed and Yi Yun met Fairy Yourou at Lin Xintong's coronation. When he was faced with enemies everywhere, only the Nethersky Divine World supported him because of Fairy Yourou.
Later, Fairy Yourou became the absolute champion of the Number One Martial Dao Trials. Yi Yun met her and personally taught her for a year, bestowing her with a portion of the Ancestor God's nomological fragment. She was left to study it herself.
Although it was a trivial fragment, it was a gift hundreds of times more valuable than a Godly Monarch Royal Seal.
In the past, Fairy Yourou's goal was merely to fuse with a Godly Monarch Royal Seal and become an expert just like her master. But now, with the fragment, coupled with Yi Yun's guidance and her talent, it was already a certainty that she would become a Godly Monarch.
Rumor had it that Fairy Yourou's breakthrough occurred in recent years.
Apart from Fairy Yourou, there was the youth from the Luo clan, Luo Yan. He too had gained Yi Yun's guidance and could even be considered an in-name disciple of Yi Yun.
The other three were the young monk, Wuji, from Mahayana Monastery, a commoner swordsman, Fan Chen, and finally, Felicitous Rain Lord's final disciple, Yu Ling'er.
Yu Ling'er was the champion of the previous Martial Dao Trials.
She was very impressive. Before she participated in the Martial Dao Trials, she was the cream of the crop. She was admired by countless young men.
Although Yu Ling'er was Felicitous Rain Lord's disciple, she did not wish to use their ties to her advantage. She participated anonymously, won first place with results far surpassing second place.
Later, she obtained Yi Yun's guidance and, with her astonishing perceptivity, she became half an in-name disciple of Yi Yun. She even came into contact with Primordial Chaos and Destruction laws.
Yu Ling'er was abnormally talented and hardworking. The diligence she displayed left many of her genius peers feeling embarrassed.
Many people guessed that Yu Ling'er would become a Godly Monarch in five thousand years!
At that moment, the numerous elites on the spirit cruiser were discussing the five geniuses whom Yi Yun had guided in the past. When they mentioned Yu Ling'er, all of them sighed.
Even proud people like Nanxuan Yu and Qi Mingjian lamented their inadequacies when stacked up to such mighty figures. Rumors said that even Yi Yun had personally praised Yu Ling'er previously.
And for them, they still needed to worry about taking Felicitous Rain Lord's fifth trials. They were on a completely different level.
"Everyone from the major factions know each other well, so it's unlikely anyone will stand out during this Martial Dao Trials and be noticed by Senior Yi. It will all depend on any dark horses from the commoner warriors."
Qi Mingjian felt emotive. And at that moment, the Mirage Sea Realm Soul Universe's entrance slowly opened.
The Divine Lord experts who were responsible for maintaining order in the trial had already appeared at the entrance, directing everyone into the soul universe.
Qi Mingjian, Nanxuan Yu, and company entered with feelings of reverence and anxiety…
No one knew that five kilometers away from the entrance, there was a formless void. Standing in it was a black-robed man who was watching all of this in silence.
The man was none other than Yi Yun.
Beside Yi Yun stood an illusory white-dressed female. She was Bai Yueyin.
"Have you made up your mind?" Bai Yueyin said softly.
"Yes… I never expected to find the method of opening the spatial wall so quickly. It's all thanks to Senior Huan Chenxue. I studied her Soul Universe and sensed that the set of laws came from one person… And this person was someone I previously met in the demonic servant cemetery. She's someone who is deeply related to Senior Lin. She told me that her name was Divine Dream… Divine Dream is probably the person with the highest attainment in soul laws I know. She's probably in no way inferior to Senior Lin.
"Over these years, I've returned to that cemetery. With my study of Huan Chenxue's Soul Universe cultivation, I've finally managed to vaguely sense Divine Dream through the soul laws. However, this detection is too weak when a Multiverse wall stands between us…
"This weak detection has has only pointed me in a direction. I plan to use Senior Divine Dream as a marker to first head to the 33 Skies. That is also the Multiverse where Senior Lin developed his strength. Although he's no longer there, I still plan on paying a visit."
After hearing Yi Yun's words, Bai Yueyin felt mixed emotions.
33 Skies… It was once her obsession. Just as Yi Yun had said, Lin Ming was no longer there, but she also wished to pay it a visit.
Bai Yueyin sighed and said, "I can't remember how many years it has been, but I'm finally leaving the Sinkhole universe. Now that this day has come, I can't describe my feelings. Besides… Yu Ling'er. Did you not notice that young lady?"
Bai Yueyin's words startled Yi Yun slightly. He glanced at her, but did not say a word.
"You taught her for about two centuries, right? In fact, I can see in her a shadow of myself from the past. The way she treats you is the same as how I treated Senior Lin.
"It was you who taught her, imparting to her a true Martial Dao.
"She has worked very hard, and suffered a lot as a result. She endured extraordinary setbacks to obtain her present-day achievements. Yes… I was the same too. On careful thought, the reason why I worked so hard back then was probably just to win his praise…"
Bai Yueyin said those words calmly as Yi Yun listened to her in silence. After a long while, he said, "Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Sinkhole's Martial Dao was desolate. Senior Lin guided eight disciples, resulting in them becoming the eight ancient Godly Monarchs. Now, I have guided five disciples… Perhaps in the far future, these five will also do something astounding. Perhaps, Yu Ling'er will feel an urge to seek me just as you did…
"Everything in this world is fated. Let them choose their own paths. The Sinkhole is host to their life trajectories and eventual outcomes, for good or for worse. I am but a passing cloud."