361: Stairway to Heaven

Inside the tower, it was not the palace or labyrinth one might have expected.

The moment Lin Yuan stepped through the portal, space shifted, and he found himself in a boundless Chaos Void.

Beneath his feet was the only "Staircase" extending upward—a "Great Dao Staircase" forcibly pieced together and solidified from billions of colorful, diverse Great Dao fragments, resembling shattered glaze!

On both sides and below the staircase surged roaring Great Dao turbulent storms, powerful enough to tear a Hunyuan Realm expert to shreds in an instant!

Within the storms, one could vaguely see the phantoms of countless broken weapons, Magic Treasures, and even massive skeletons floating—these were the marks left behind by those who failed and were assimilated by the Great Dao.

【Myriad Dao Origin Returning Pagoda First Trial: Great Dao Staircase!】

【Walk the Great Dao Staircase, endure the scouring of the myriad Daos, and reach the 'Platform of Initial Origin' at the end. Trigger the power of the Origin Platform to open the passage to the next level. Time limit: three days. Those who fail shall have their bodies and Souls turned into the Dao, forever imprisoned here!】

As the prompt from the divine seal flashed through his mind, Lin Yuan moved.

He did not fly; instead, he took a step onto that seemingly fragile Great Dao Staircase.

Hum—!

The instant his foot landed, the entire staircase seemed to be fully activated! The solidified Great Dao fragments beneath his feet instantly "came alive," transforming into billions of sharp, peerless Great Dao blades, Great Dao spears, and Great Dao nets, carrying the sharpness to pierce all things, the scorching heat to incinerate Souls, the bitter cold to freeze time and space, and the deathly silence to sink consciousness...

From all directions, they swarmed toward Lin Yuan, leaving no blind spots! Every attack contained the true meaning of a pure Great Dao Origin! The superposition of their power was enough to make a Hunyuan Realm expert pale!

Hum!

The phantom of the primordial azure lotus dao embryo manifested behind him, and the clear radiance of the Myriad Dao Returning to Origin Seal flowed over his entire body like liquid mercury. The torrent of Great Dao storms, capable of tearing apart stars, was like a wild horse being reined in the moment it touched that radiance!

The crimson Great Dao of Fire was stripped away, reduced to pure particle streams of Fire Origin, and integrated into the "Fire Phase" region of Lin Yuan's chaos dao chart.

The silver-white Great Dao of Metal was decomposed, turning into sharp fragments of Metal Origin that lit up the "Metal Phase" runes.

The deep blue Great Dao of Ice was pacified, settling into Ice Origin to nourish the "Ice Phase" Foundation...

【Absorbed "Burning Heaven True Fire" Great Dao fragment! "Fire Phase" branch comprehension + 0.05%!】

【Absorbed "Geng Metal Splitting Void" Great Dao fragment! "Metal Phase" branch comprehension + 0.03%!】

【Absorbed "Xuanming Freezing Soul" Great Dao fragment! "Ice Phase" branch comprehension + 0.04%!】

...

Information streams brushed through his Sea of Consciousness like fine rain. The attacks were decomposed, assimilated, and absorbed!

Lin Yuan's pace did not falter in the slightest; he walked as leisurely as if strolling in a garden, moving deeper along the Great Dao Staircase.

Wherever he passed, the violent Great Dao storms obediently turned into nectar nourishing his Dao Fruit, and the aura around him became even more profound and refined under the scouring of the myriad Daos.

"Impossible! He... is he devouring the Great Dao storms?!" A Supreme Dao Lord, who was struggling to resist the impact of the storm while driving a star-manifestation, watched Lin Yuan walking forward as if on flat ground. He was so shocked that he nearly lost his composure, his protective starlight flickering violently, and he was almost pierced by a spear of deathly silence Great Dao!

"Monster! Is he an Incarnation of the Great Dao?!" Another Dao Lord, who was holding up a heavy Wutu divine mountain, watched as a thick layer of his mountain was scraped away by the Great Dao storm while Lin Yuan remained completely unscathed. His eyes were filled with despair and jealousy.

Under the gaze of countless shocked, fearful, and hateful eyes, Lin Yuan's figure quickly became a black dot at the end of the staircase, disappearing completely into the depths of the surging Great Dao mist.

Platform of Initial Origin.

This was a massive platform suspended in the Chaos Void, condensed from pure, milky-white Initial Origin energy. In the center of the platform, nine stone pillars inscribed with profound Initial Origin runes surrounded a slowly rotating, fist-sized "Fire of Initial Origin."

The moment Lin Yuan stepped onto the platform, that Fire of Initial Origin jumped suddenly, splitting off a thin yet incomparably pure strand of Origin aura that actively coiled around Lin Yuan's body and instantly merged into the primordial azure lotus dao embryo within his Sea of Consciousness!

Hum!

The dao embryo emitted a joyful, clear sound, its lotus leaves unfurling, and the star phantom it held seemed to brighten a fraction. A warm yet majestic power of Initial Origin spread throughout his body, continuously tempering his dao body and dao bones.

【Occupied the core Returning to Origin position! Received the baptism of the Fire of Initial Origin!】

【Chaos Fearless Dao Heart tempered! Yuan Power bonus + 50!】

【Foundation of the primordial azure lotus dao embryo slightly solidified!】

【All Great Dao affinity permanently increased by 10%!】

"Not a bad appetizer." Lin Yuan felt the subtle yet essential improvement within his body and cast his gaze toward the center of the platform. The runes on the nine stone pillars were flickering with the beating of the Fire of Initial Origin; clearly, he needed to trigger them to open the portal to the next level.

He was not in a hurry to act. Instead, he sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and gathered his focus to accelerate the refining of the myriad fragments he had just absorbed, consolidating his Dao Fruit.

Time passed.

One day later.

Other Dao Lords appeared on the Platform of Initial Origin one after another. Each one had a withered aura and was covered in wounds, clearly having paid a heavy price in the Great Dao corridor.

When they saw Lin Yuan sitting cross-legged in the center of the platform with chaotic clear radiance and wisps of Initial Origin Qi swirling around him, their expressions all changed drastically. They avoided him from afar with great wariness, seizing the time to heal and recover at the edge of the platform; no one dared to approach the central area by even a fraction.

When the three-day time limit was about to expire, fewer than one hundred thousand Dao Lords had gathered on the Platform of Initial Origin. The remaining nine hundred thousand had forever become a part of the Great Dao corridor. The platform was filled with the relief of surviving a disaster and fear of the next trial.

Lin Yuan also opened his eyes at this moment. Chaos flickered in his pupils, his aura was round and flawless, and the gains from the first trial had been completely digested. He rose slowly and walked toward the center of the platform.

Without needing any action, when he approached the nine stone pillars, the Initial Origin runes on them seemed to sense the presence of the "Returning to Origin position" and instantly shone brightly!

Nine milky-white beams of light shot into the sky, converging at the dome of the platform to condense into a light gate flowing with rich Initial Origin aura!

【Platform of Initial Origin acknowledged! Second layer passage opened!】

Lin Yuan stepped into the light gate without hesitation. A Dao Lord's eyes flashed, and he followed closely behind. The surviving Dao Lords awoke from their daze and swarmed into the light gate, fearing that if they were a step too slow, they would miss the Opportunity.

The scene on the second level made everyone who entered gasp in horror.

It was no longer a Chaos Void, but a strange world constructed entirely of pure Great Dao.

Countless "great dao long rivers" condensed from single Great Daos were galloping and flowing here!

Crimson rivers of fire, silver-white rivers of metal, azure rivers of ice, emerald rivers of wood, dark yellow rivers of earth, twisted rivers of space, unpredictable rivers of time, filthy rivers of deathly silence, wailing rivers of Souls...

Billions of colorful, diverse rivers, like tangled giant pythons, were madly colliding, merging, and separating in this boundless space!

The deafening roar of the Great Dao was the sound of destruction produced by the collision of these Daos! The violent Great Dao turbulence formed countless deadly whirlpools and faults, tearing space apart.