While Grey was actively ascending to the second stage of the 5th rank, in a realm incredibly far away from the Human Alliance, Tian Yuan sat upon the throne of his Daoye Palace with an ice cold look on his face.

"I cannot let him continue developing. I need to kill him," Tian Yuan mused aloud.

He was talking about Grey Lockhart, one of his mortal enemies. He had always neglected Grey, treating him as nothing but a small fry he could take care of at any given time. But that was no longer the case. Grey Lockhart had grown to reach the terrifying powers of the 6th rank in less than eleven months since his transmigration.

"But I also cannot kill him yet. He is the ultimate key to the core from the Ascendancy Domain."

"If I can obtain it, then as promised, I will claim the Ascendancy Valor of a Paramount." Tian Yuan was in a massive dilemma.

While he desperately wanted to eliminate Grey, the man was also a crucial chess piece needed to defeat the Abyssal God. Tian Yuan needed Grey to ripen so he could personally extract his Fateless One physique and fully merge with it right before his own ascension into the Ascendancy Domain.

"Neither of them knows the true significance of the Fateless One physique. Only I, who have peered directly into the fragmented core of the Ascendancy Domain, know its absolute truth."

"I will be the one to obtain the First Valor Crown." Tian Yuan’s gaze turned frighteningly cold. "I possess far more knowledge about the domain than those two fools."

Just then, a being made of pure energy rushed into the grand hall of the palace. It had no face, no distinct features, nothing but a raw silhouette.

"Lord Tian Yuan, I have obtained new information on the Paragons."

The instant Tian Yuan heard this, his gaze became deadly serious.

"What is it?" he asked, his heart skipping a vital beat.

"An avatar of one of the Paragons has officially descended into this very universe. He has been actively hunting down every single transmigrator and reincarnator he can find."

"I knew it. My calculations were perfectly correct," Tian Yuan said, a highly calculative look appearing on his face. "I cannot let him find Grey Lockhart."

Right now, Tian Yuan only knew Grey Lockhart was originally from Earth because he had forcefully divined his existence prior to Grey fully awakening the Fateless One physique. Now, however, Tian Yuan could not divine a single thing about him or the people close to him. Anyone in Grey’s immediate circle was shielded by the absolute fateless power of his physique.

And as far as he was concerned, Grey was the only being from Earth that had successfully transmigrated here. He could not think of anyone else.

"But the Arclight Immortal... I have a strong feeling that he is also connected to the exact center of the endless reality."

"I once tried to divine his origins, and the threads traced all the way back to the center. But the connection was incredibly subtle. The vast majority of the transmigrated souls seem to possess that same connection."

He did not know the exact reason why, but every single transmigrator seemed to have an innate tether directly to the absolute center of the endless reality.

He was still trying to uncover the core reason behind it. However, the absolute best way to identify a transmigrator from that specific world was by their unique aura. They all possessed the exact same aura of convergence.

The power of convergence was entirely exclusive to the central part of the endless reality. This dense convergence was also the exact reason why there were absolutely no natural evolvers or cosmic energy present in that mundane world.

"Heavenly One," Tian Yuan called out softly into the void.

The immediate world violently converged, and the physical manifestation of the Heavenly Dao descended gracefully upon the Daoye Palace.

"What do you want, Pure One?" the Heavenly Dao’s majestic, layered voice echoed throughout the grand hall.

"Can you trace the exact location of the Paragon’s avatar?"

"No," the Heavenly Dao spoke with absolute indifference. "I cannot trace him."

"If you, my creator, cannot trace him, how will I, your creation, be able to do so?" the Heavenly Dao asked rhetorically.

"I am not your true creator. If I was, you would obediently listen to all of my commands."

"I am their eyes in this endless reality, wouldn’t it be equivalent to betraying them If I listen to all your commands?"

"You merely helped me achieve the Valor of the Heavenly Way to successfully reach Heavenly Daohood after the old Dao shattered. Technically speaking, you are my creator, yet I am bound by universal laws and the Paragon and am not obliged to blindly listen to your personal commands."

"I am the ultimate protector of the endless reality, and my singular purpose is to flawlessly balance it. I am already showing you a massive amount of leniency by actively allowing you to use the Dao of Time. This is despite the gods currently achieving Nirvana through their Divine Path Valor and the Paragons using this very opportunity to wreak havoc upon the Aeonic barrier of time."

"Whatever," Tian Yuan clicked his tongue in annoyance and quickly changed the subject. "How is my Engram coming along?"

"It is coming along very well. Right now, it is only missing the convergence power."

"Once the Engram fully absorbs the convergence power, you can finally use the stored valor to swallow the higher worlds and officially achieve transcendence."

Tian Yuan’s face turned frighteningly cold when he heard this.

"The higher worlds. They will all suffer a fate far worse than death," Tian Yuan grinned evilly, his eyes flashing with a twisted madness. "They mercilessly used my power and treated me as nothing more than an object. If not for me obtaining that crucial fragment of the Fateless One, I would have never escaped from their suffocating clutches. The so called Immortals that blindly follow the Heavenly Path... I will completely drown them and their entire worlds as I violently ascend using their own stolen power. They once used me. Now, I will use them."

"I will crush them all..."

Tian Yuan looked exactly like a crazed madman aggressively rambling about his grand revenge. However, after a few tense moments, he reeled in his chaotic aura, and his expression turned perfectly calm once again.

"But before any of that can happen, I absolutely need to find the Paragon. I cannot let them reach the center of the multiverse under any circumstances. It will spill disastrous trouble for my plans."

---

Somewhere far away, in a magical land that seemed as though it was plucked straight from a dream, there was a human. This specific area of the universe was completely inaccessible to anyone, even the Origin Will, as it fell directly under the jurisdiction of the World Tree.

A voice echoed out in this magical land, speaking to the human.

"We need to run... Lin Fang. They are coming for you. If they find you, it will be the end of the endless reality. The only reason our world still exists is because of the existence of transmigrators."

"We need to escape out of this world and find your friend, Grey Lockhart."