96: Flourishing Ancient Times

"It seems there are more secrets hidden deep within this Heavenly Abyss."

Lin Dao put away the cluster of Saint Origin and gazed further down into the deep pit, where even deeper spatial fluctuations seemed to exist.

Without hesitation, he leaped into the deep pit, continuing his descent.

Meanwhile, the battle on the outskirts of the Heavenly Abyss was nearing its end.

After paying a heavy price, the various factions finally killed or repelled the several Xiaoyao RealmAlien (Alien).

But everyone was still wary, not daring to venture deeper, only searching the periphery for any overlooked treasures or information.

They had no idea that the true source of this anomaly had already been easily resolved by Lin Dao.

Passing through the deep pit filled with chaotic Saint Origin energy, Lin Dao continued downward.

The surrounding pressure dramatically increased; space was no longer shattered but presented a strange, solidified state, as if time itself had become viscous here.

The Wind of Annihilation disappeared, replaced by an absolute deathly silence.

Even the Chaos Qi naturally flowing around him was noticeably suppressed, its circulation becoming somewhat sluggish.

After descending about ten thousand zhang, his feet finally touched solid ground.

This was a relatively flat and vast platform, neither stone nor jade, exhibiting a dark, metallic luster, covered with crisscrossing giant carvings, like the base of some colossal Formation remnant.

In the center of the platform stood a dilapidated Stone Gate, a hundred zhang tall.

The Stone Gate was cast from a dark-gold material Lin Dao had never seen before, carved with patterns of sun, moon, stars, flowers, birds, fish, and divine demons battling, though most were already blurred.

The Stone Gate was tightly sealed, with viscous, mercury-like colorful streams of light flowing from its cracks. These streams formed countless incredibly dense Seal runes, locking the Stone Gate firmly shut.

However, even through this powerful Seal, Lin Dao could clearly perceive that behind the door lay a vast, boundless world with a Law integrity far surpassing that of Jiuzhou!

Waves of mighty will and terrifying aura, like lurking behemoths, flickered in and out of existence in the world beyond the door.

Several of them emitted energy levels that had clearly reached the Saint Realm, and one or two even made Lin Dao, who was at the Ninth Layer of the Entering Saint Realm, feel a hint of threat!

This door connected to the true core of the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Realms!

Lin Dao carefully observed the Seal runes on the door, deducing their structure and energy flow.

With his Formation Dao cultivation base and insight into Chaos Law, he quickly concluded: this Seal was extremely ancient and powerful, but its energy was slowly dissipating.

At the current rate, in about a year, the Seal would weaken to a critical point, and this door would open!

By then, the Jiuzhou World would be completely exposed to the eyes of factions with Saint Realm, or even stronger, existences.

With Jiuzhou's apparent highest strength being only the Xiaoyao Realm, it would undoubtedly be like wolves entering a flock of sheep.

"One year..." Lin Dao's gaze was solemn.

Time was very pressing.

His gaze shifted from the Stone Gate to a corner of the platform.

There, a complete skeleton sat cross-legged.

The skeleton was pale gold throughout, crystal clear like jade, and even after endless years, it still exuded a faint pressure.

The skeleton maintained a cross-legged, meditating posture, with no obvious injuries on its bones, but its head was slightly bowed, as if it had exhausted all its vitality in silence.

Most strikingly, within the bones of this skeleton, Dao runes faintly appeared and disappeared naturally, and its bone density and energy level far surpassed anything Lin Dao had seen before.

"Saint Realm... and definitely not newly entered into this Realm." Lin Dao walked up to the skeleton.

Just by approaching, he could feel the immense energy contained within the skeleton, and a tenacious Dao Rhyme that had endured through countless ages without fading.

He extended a finger and gently touched the center of the skeleton's brow.

Buzz!

A fragmented, chaotic, yet immensely informative memory shard surged into his Sea of Consciousness through his fingertip.

It was the final obsession of the skeleton's owner in life.

The images were broken and blurry: he saw an ancient Jiuzhou far more prosperous than the present by billions of times!

Countless colossal divine mountains and heavenly palaces floated in the starry sky; mighty experts plucked stars with a wave of their hand, and gigantic beasts roared, shattering star rivers.

True Emperor-level Factions were entrenched everywhere, with supreme existences of the Great Emperor level presiding over them, their might suppressing the Myriad Heavens, their words becoming Law!

At that time, Jiuzhou was one of the undisputed centers of the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Realms!

He also witnessed a battle so tragic it was beyond description.

The heavens collapsed, the earth shattered, stars fell like rain, Great Emperors bled, and Saints perished like weeds.

The enemies came from beyond the Realm, powerful and bizarre.

This great war shattered Jiuzhou's Foundation, countless Legacies were severed, powerful experts fell, and Spiritual Qi declined.

The owner of this skeleton, in the Late Stage of that great war, was ordered to guard this "Ancient Road Gate" connecting the Myriad Realms, to prevent powerful enemies from invading Jiuzhou's core through it.

He burned all his life and Saint Dao Fruit, cooperating with other Great Experts to lay down the final Seal, completely locking the door, and then, his oil ran out, and he passed away here.

As for the so-called Emperor-level Factions in present-day Jiuzhou, they were merely residual, peripheral branches of those glorious ancient Dao Lineages that fled to remote Star Domains to continue their existence, having long lost their true core Legacy and strength.

The memory fragment ended abruptly here.

Lin Dao withdrew his finger, understanding in his heart.

No wonder Jiuzhou's Heavenly Dao only allowed Xiaoyao Realm existences at most; it turned out that the world's Origin was severely damaged and could not support the manifestation of higher-level power.

And the System being able to let him Breakthrough was because the System's power transcended this world's Heavenly Dao.

He looked at the Saint skeleton before him; although the energy it contained had diminished over the years, it was still vast and pure, far exceeding that cluster of Saint Origin.

More importantly, the skeleton retained its owner's insights into the Saint Realm and some unique understandings of Chaos Law.

"Just what I need to Breakthrough."

Lin Dao no longer hesitated, directly sitting cross-legged opposite the skeleton.

He circulated the Chaos Emperor Scripture, and his nearly Major Achievement Primordial Divine Demon Body roared with hunger. The Chaos Qi around him formed a vortex, beginning to frantically absorb the residual Saint Origin and Dao Rhyme from the skeleton!

Pale golden energy, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, surged into Lin Dao's body.

This energy was extremely high-level, carrying the immortal characteristics unique to Saints. As soon as it entered his body, it triggered a violent resonance of Chaos Law!

The barrier of the Ninth Layer of the Entering Saint Realm began to vibrate violently!

The Saint skeleton visibly dimmed and lost its luster, its vast contained energy and Dao Rhyme rapidly refined and absorbed by Lin Dao.

His Physical Body, under the cleansing of the Saint Origin, advanced towards a true Major Achievement Primordial Divine Demon Body, and more complex dark-gold divine demon runes began to appear on his bones.

His Divine Soul, nourished by the Saint Dao Rhyme, became more solid and powerful, and his control over Chaos Law soared!

Who knew how much time had passed.

When the last wisp of pale golden energy was completely absorbed by Lin Dao, the Saint skeleton thoroughly turned into ashes and dissipated into the air.

Boom!!!

Something within Lin Dao's body seemed to have shattered!

A brand new, even more vast power, closer to the Universe Origin, like a bursting flood, instantly filled his limbs and bones!

The barrier shattered, the Realm advanced!

Saint Realm First Layer!

Moreover, relying on the Primordial Divine Demon Body's Heaven-Defying Aptitude, the profundity of the Chaos Emperor Scripture, and the entire Foundation of that Saint skeleton, his cultivation base did not stop after the Breakthrough but continued to steadily rise!

Saint Realm Second Layer!

Third Layer!

...Finally, it stabilized at the Saint Realm Fifth Layer!

Lin Dao opened his eyes, and scenes of Chaos being created and Universes being born and destroyed seemed to flash within them.

He gently clenched his fist, feeling the surging Saint power within him, and a closer connection to Chaos Law.

At this moment, his strength was more than ten times greater than when he was at the Ninth Layer of the Entering Saint Realm!

He was confident that if he were to encounter those threatening auras from beyond the door again, even if he couldn't defeat them, he would be able to contend with them, or even emerge victorious!

He stood up and looked again at the Ancient Road Gate.

One year.

Within this year, he needed to ensure that the Lin Clan possessed the basic self-preservation capability to face powerful enemies from the Myriad Heavens once the door opened.

"It's time to go back."

Lin Dao's figure flickered, disappearing directly from the platform. The next moment, he had already appeared outside the Heavenly Abyss and took a step towards the Lin Clan Small World.