Lin Xun fell into deep contemplation. Before him lay two paths. The first was to remain here, where he could continue gathering ‘prey’ from what seemed to be an inexhaustible source. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

However, this option had a clear drawback. Constantly activating the two forbidden innate powers, the Gate of Exile and the Seal of Temporal Restriction, would drain his strength at an alarming rate. In the end, recovery would become the critical limiting factor.

Although his wealth was immense and he carried large quantities of divine elixirs capable of restoring his strength, at his current rate of expenditure, he would be able to hold out for no more than three months.

The second option was to press on and charge straight into that mysterious gateway. This course of action was undeniably perilous. After all, no one knew what kind of terrifying dangers lurked beyond it.

However, by entering it, he might be able to truly uncover the real cause of the upheaval in the Return Dominion.

“What should I do...?” He hesitated.

His five dao bodies and the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron had both been left in the Origin Sect. At present, he could only rely on his true body. If anything went wrong, it could even jeopardize his plan to lead everyone from the Fangchun Secret Realm to the Eternal True Realm.

“Fine, I’ll stay here and observe for now.” Drawing in a deep breath, he made his decision. He was never one to waver. The moment his decision was made, he swept straight into the Gate of Exile, determined to spend the coming days refining the Eternal laws left behind by the ‘prey.’

Buzz—Two colossal Corpse Severing Millstones, one black and one white, rotated slowly in the void, each exuding the terrifying fluctuations of the Principle of Annihilation.

Nearby, dozens of spheres of lights of varying sizes hovered silently in the air, red, azure, white, black, purple. It was a dazzling and resplendent display. Each one emanated a distinct and profound aura of Eternal law.

“Thirty-nine...and several of them clearly share the same aura.” Lin Xun quickly realized that these Eternal laws had come from nine different Eternal beings. One thing was certain now: those nine beings had perished long ago beyond the towering, mysterious gateway in the depths of the Return Dominion.

Without wasting another moment, Lin Xun flicked his sleeve. Carrying the Eternal laws, he stepped out of the Realm of Exile.

Shua!

As he withdrew the Gate of Exile, he once again activated the power of the Seal of Temporal Restriction. A forbidden formation took shape around him as he sat down cross-legged within it to meditate.

“I wonder how far my Immortal law will evolve after refining all these Eternal laws...”

Next, he cast aside all distracting thoughts and quietly focussed on recovering his strength.

Rumble—In the far distance, the enormous, mysterious gateway trembled as vast torrents of vitality burst forth like a celestial ocean, rolling outward with thunderous force. That surge of power could effortlessly annihilate even those at the Immortal Stage.

Even Lin Xun had to rely on his innate divine abilities to resist and neutralize it. Otherwise, despite his perfect Transcendence cultivation, he would have been left grievously wounded. Under such pressure, even the Seal of Temporal Restriction was shaking violently. At most, it could endure for a day.

Fortunately, one day was more than enough. Six hours later, Lin Xun’s nearly exhausted strength had been fully restored.

Then, over the next twelve hours, he began refining all thirty-nine strands of Eternal law. Having been refined by the Principle of Annihilation within the Corpse Severing Millstones, these Eternal laws were pure beyond compare, utterly free of impurities and therefore remarkably easy to refine.

In the past, he had gathered fragments of Divine Rank law in the Ten Directions Demon Realm. Compared to what he held now, they were nothing more than dewdrops before a roaring river. The difference was like heaven and earth.

After refining the thirty-nine strands of Eternal laws, Lin Xun could clearly feel the might of his Immortal law surging to new heights! This change left him momentarily unsettled.

When he returned to the Ancient Nebula Road, the power of his Immortal law was already comparable to that of a Divine Rank law. The only reason he could not refine the final tenth of the Nirvana law’s core power lay in the limits of his own cultivation.

Now, his Immortal law that was already on par with Divine Rank law, was undergoing another transformation. It completely exceeded his expectations. If this continued, could it actually surpass a Divine Rank law?

For the first time, Lin Xun felt that there was something abnormal about his own Immortal Law. After pondering for a long time, he finally dared to conclude that it had to be connected to the ninety percent of the Nirvana law he had refined!

Suppressing those distracting thoughts, he raised his gaze toward the colossal, mysterious gateway in the far distance. He withdrew the Seal of Temporal Restriction and unleashed the Gate of Exile, like a seasoned fisherman casting out a great net.

Boundless tides of vitality poured out without end, bringing with them countless fragments steeped in an aura of eternity. From time to time, severed limbs and broken remnants of Eternal beings surfaced within the torrent. These were the ‘prey’ Lin Xun sought.

Over the next three days he stayed in this area. On average, he collected roughly thirty strands of Eternal laws each day. After refining these Eternal laws, his Immortal law continued to undergo subtle yet profound changes.

By now, he could even feel that the might of his Immortal law had ascended to what could only be called Super Divine Rank! However, as the days passed and he continued refining these Eternal laws, he began to notice the pace of this transformation beginning to slow.

It was as though the Eternal law contained in those fragments of ‘prey’ was no longer sufficient to bring about any dramatic improvement to his Immortal law. On the fourth day, his gaze lingered on the immense, mysterious gateway in the distance. At last, he made the decision to step into it.

“If there’s fatal danger, I’ll retreat immediately...”

Drawing in a deep breath, he once again unleashed the Gate of Exile and pressed forward. The closer he drew to the enormous gateway, the more terrifying the pressure became. It was enough to crush even Immortals into dust. Even with the Gate of Exile beside him, he advanced with extreme difficulty.

After a long half a quarter of an hour, his figure finally plunged into the enormous gateway, swallowed by the surging white tides of vitality.

Boom!

The moment he entered the mysterious gateway, the crushing pressure disappeared, as though ten thousand mountains had been lifted from his shoulders. In that same moment, he finally saw the world within the mysterious gateway.

Heaven and earth were shrouded in gloom, and the sky hung like a vast iron curtain, dark and lightless. Peaks rolled across the land in every direction, vast and desolate. Wisps of primal chaos mist drifted through the void, draping the world in a veil of mystery.

Behind Lin Xun stood a space-time gateway barely ten feet wide. It was clearly the passage he had come through, but compared to that incomparably vast ‘entrance’ outside, this ‘exit’ looked absurdly small.

Rumble—On the ground, a river like primal chaos surged and roared through the mountains, its current a boundless torrent of vitality. It thundered forward, racing unceasingly toward the ‘exit.’

“I understand now...”

Realization struck Lin Xun like a thunderbolt. The violent fluctuations that had thrown the Return Dominion into turmoil came from this very river of primal chaos! This also meant that, so long as he traveled upstream, he would inevitably reach its source.

Without hesitation, he shot forward. An oppressive, suffocating presence had filled this world. Lin Xun keenly sensed that if an Eternal Realm expert were to battle here, their power would struggle to shake the fundamental principles governing this place.

In other words, this place was capable of withstanding the full might of the Eternal Stage itself! In addition, as Lin Xun followed the river’s course, waves of surging primal vitality washed over. They were terrifyingly pure and faintly tinged with the aura of eternity.

“Cultivating here would be of immeasurable benefit for attaining eternity!” Lin Xun breathed in awe.

Along the way, fragments of shattered corpses, broken treasures and ruined artifacts occasionally surfaced within the churning current of the primal chaos river. Unfortunately, the river’s power was far too violent. When Lin Xun once attempted to draw near, the result left him stunned. Even the power of the Gate of Exile was obliterated in an instant!

Alarm surged through him, and from that moment on, he advanced with greater caution. After pressing forward for a full six hours, and covering what he felt to be no less than a hundred thousand miles, five majestic mountains finally appeared in the mist-shrouded, gray world ahead.

Each mountain was utterly distinct. One blazed like a living inferno, its entire body bathed in a dim crimson glow. Another was dark as divine iron, stripped of all vegetation, its jagged rocks bristling with a chilling, murderous aura. And another...

Each of the five mountains was unimaginably vast. Before them, even the sun, moon, and stars seemed as insignificant as grains of sand. They did not feel like mountains at all, but instead were like five vast world-planes, incomparably magnificent and majestic!

From those five divine mountains poured the primal chaos river, winding around their bases before surging outward in the direction Lin Xun had come from. It eventually rushed toward the exit of this world...

“So the source of the upheaval lies within these five mountains!” Lin Xun gasped in shock.

Even from such an immense distance, their forms were still perfectly clear, simply because they were far too vast. They were like five colossal pillars propping up this world, with boundless vitality cascading from them like celestial waterfalls, eventually forming the primal chaos river that coiled through hundreds of thousands of miles before bursting out into the outside world.

In doing so, it had brought about earth-shaking changes across the Ancient Nebula Road for ten years! In an instant, countless questions flooded Lin Xun’s mind.

Is this place still part of the Return Dominion? What is the origin of those five sacred mountains? Why would there be so many corpses and broken treasures belonging to Eternal beings? Had an unimaginable war between Eternal existences once taken place here, turning these mountains into a burial ground of the Eternal Realm?

Lin Xun’s expression constantly shifted.