Eternal Source Mid-Tier-Back Down in the Face of Difficulty?

After experiencing it for a while, Lin Yi turned his attention to the other side of the training room.

There, the clone sat cross-legged, with the fragment of the Law Inscriptions floating in front of it.

At the bottom right corner of the fragment, the originally uneven ends of the law veins have now been rewoven with new inscription threads by condensed Chaos Power, covering nearly 20% of the area.

The newly woven silk threads precisely connect with the original inscription at the break points. The curvature of each arc, the angle of each intersection, and even the variation in thickness of each vein are all highly consistent with the style of the original inscription.

Over six thousand Epoch, this ancient inscription has been 17% repaired by the clone.

This number may not seem high at first glance, but in reality, the time actually spent on repairing the Law Inscriptions was only about 3,500 Epoch.

Law Inscriptions are a rather specialized area of knowledge.

Lin Yi himself could certainly understand the Law Inscriptions and perform some basic inscription applications. This was a basic skill for cultivators in the Eternal Source Realm, just as cultivators in the True Source Realm could understand the Chaos Rules runes.

But just like someone who can pilot a spaceship doesn't necessarily know how to repair it, there's a huge difference between understanding something and actually being able to fix it.

Therefore, after testing the waters with his clone and experiencing the difficulty of repairing the Ancient Law Inscriptions, Lin Yi decisively adjusted his strategy.

He first sent his first clone, who was serving as the Constant Guard in Mist Sea City, on a special trip to the Myriad Crystal Hub Commerce.

As one of the most famous trading centers in Mist Sea City, Myriad Crystal Hub, a ninety-nine-story building, gathers high-end goods from the entire Mist Sea City and even several surrounding megacities.

His clone didn't linger in the dazzling array of treasures; instead, it went directly to the ninety-eighth floor, which specialized in selling advanced knowledge books.

There, he spent a full 100,000 Eternal Cosmos Crystal to buy an information crystal called <Detailed Explanation of Law Inscriptions>.

One hundred thousand Eternal Judgment Crystal —this price isn't the absolute top among Law Inscriptions books, but it's definitely a high-end item. It covers all the basic knowledge of Law Inscriptions from the initial stage of the Eternal Source Realm to the perfect stage of the Eternal Source Realm, includes standard framework templates for over three hundred million common Law Inscriptions, and characteristic analyses of tens of thousands of ancient inscription schools.

Buying <Detailed Explanation of the Law Inscriptions> is not enough.

He also spent 500 Points through the Constant Island Emblem to purchase a Course Information Crystal, <Law Inscriptions Construction and Repair>, from the exchange list on the Inner Island of Constant Island.

The so-called course crystals are prepared for practitioners who cannot attend classes in person. The advantage is that they are cheaper, but the disadvantage is that they cannot ask questions on-site.

The instructor for this course was none other than Eric Vandrogen, the Constant Lord who had given him the assignment.

Five hundred Points is not a small amount for him now, but he feels that the investment was worthwhile.

Eric, as a Constant Source Realm Mid-Rank, possesses a course whose crystal value far surpasses that of commonly available general-purpose books on the market.

The crystal contains Eric's core methodology in the field of Law Inscriptions Restoration, as well as numerous practical case studies from the First Constant Domain Ruins excavation site.

Once this knowledge has been learned, both the Main Body and the clone will naturally receive the information synchronously.

Of course, this only means knowing the content; it doesn't mean you've mastered it.

Therefore, Lin Yi first had his clone burn his Spiritual Enlightenment Qi for over three thousand Epoch to fully understand the contents of the <Detailed Explanation of Law Inscriptions> and Eric's course crystal.

With the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi, the original obscure and difficult-to-understand Law Inscriptions, the structural templates that required repeated contemplation to barely grasp, and the ability to distinguish schools of thought that required extensive practice to accumulate, were absorbed and understood by the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi at an alarming speed.

The clone learning means that he learns it himself.

In his eyes, the Law Inscriptions transformed from a complex woven fabric of law threads into a complete language system.

Each inscription node is a word, each inscription segment is a sentence structure, and each inscription loop is a complete expression.

The Repair Law Inscriptions is essentially about using this language to complete a fragmented text.

Of course, understanding is one thing, but being able to use it skillfully is another.

But at least he knew what to do.

During the subsequent repair process, Lin Yi also noticed an additional benefit.

The process of repairing the Law Inscriptions is essentially a highly precise deduction and reorganization of the law's structure within one's consciousness.

In this process, each of the rejected error correction solutions represents a flawed direction in the thread of the law.

Some erroneous paths will still be encountered in his understanding of the laws of his Main Body, which can save him some repetitive work.

This extra benefit, which was practically free, made him quite satisfied.

Now that the third Chaos Seal Pact has been formed, it's time to update the clone...

Lin Yi thought to himself, then immediately disbanded the clone beside him and summoned it again.

As for the other two clones, since they are far away in Mist Sea City, he plans to update them again after he breaks through to the middle stage of the Eternal Source Realm.

Soon, the brand-new clone stepped out from the ripples of spacetime.

Lin Yi waved his hand, pushing the fragment of the Law Inscriptions was floating in mid-air back in front of his clone.

The clone didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly, then sat down cross-legged again, holding the fragment in its palm.

He raised his right hand, and a very thin, pale golden light shone from the tip of his index finger. It was a rune engraving knife formed by the pure power of the Chaos Law condensing at his fingertip.

With a gentle touch of the carving knife on the broken veins of law at the fracture edge of the fragment, a brand new inscription thread extended from the broken end, precisely connecting with an adjacent broken vein in an extremely precise arc.

Lin Yi watched for a while, nodded in satisfaction, and then withdrew all his attention.

His clone has his own tasks, and he himself has his own things to do.

Ultimately, understanding and personal qualities are the foundation.

The degree of understanding of the laws is the core yardstick for measuring the strength of cultivators in the Eternal Source Realm.

After all, the understanding of laws and the Chaos Power are the foundation, while seals and secret techniques are merely amplification amplifiers. If the base difference is too great, it is difficult to make up for it by external means alone.

With this in mind, Lin Yi sank his consciousness into the depths of his soul.

The Spiritual Enlightenment Qi is ignited.

Purple flames silently rose from the deepest recesses of the soul.

That familiar, ingrained sense of clarity enveloped his consciousness once again.

At the same time, the three seals simultaneously emitted strange fluctuations.

The combined amplification from the threefold soul enlightenment allowed him to achieve a significant leap in comprehension efficiency when burning Spiritual Enlightenment Qi compared to when condensing the Constant Union Seal Pact.

His current understanding of the laws is like reading a book; the content hasn't changed, but some blank spaces have been marked with simple annotations.

Progress is proceeding steadily.

Ten thousand Epoch passed silently in deep asceticism.

For those old guys in the Chaos Cosmic Sea who have lived for countless Universal Epoch, ten thousand Epoch pass in the blink of an eye.

But for Lin Yi, this was a very long period of seclusion.

However, the results were also gratifying.

When he opened his eyes again, his understanding of the laws had stabilized at 25.1%.

Lin Yi silently assessed the situation and was fairly satisfied with the progress.

The comprehension of laws becomes increasingly difficult as one progresses. To achieve such progress within ten thousand Epoch is already an incredibly terrifying speed, comparable to that of the most outstanding geniuses.

To prevent his cultivation speed from becoming too fast and arousing suspicion from the powerful figures, Lin Yi immediately consulted the cultivation records of renowned geniuses in the Imperial Archives after becoming Constant Guard.

It turned out he was overthinking it.

Throughout the history of the empire, the fastest cultivator was the Emperor, who achieved the Constant Source Realm in less than 100,000 Epoch, putting him in a commanding lead.

The time it took for those well-known Dao Lord level experts to cultivate to the Constant Source Realm was generally between Epoch and 5 million Epoch, mostly around 2 million Epoch.

After seeing this, Lin Yi immediately realized he had been overthinking things, and at the same time, he was amazed by the talents of those Dao Lord.

"Fortunately, I also have my own talent, and I managed to keep up with the top group in terms of cultivation speed."

While thinking this, Lin Yi also spared a sliver of his mind to sense the progress of his clone's repair.

At the bottom right corner of the fragment, the newly woven Law Inscriptions have covered nearly half of the missing area.

The repair progress has reached 52.2%.

He quickly calculated in his mind that if they continued at this pace, the fragment of the Ancient Law Inscriptions should be completely repaired within 20,000 Epoch.

"Not bad."

Lin Yi thought to himself, then continued to check on the other two clones.

When comprehending the laws, in order to remain focused, he will block out the perception of his clone unless the clone actively warns him, and then receive the information once in a periodic cycle.

Now is the time for Lin Yi to relax a little and see what his clone has gained.

He first sensed the clone that was stationed in Mist Sea City, fulfilling its duties as the Constant Guard.

During this ten-thousand -Epoch, it expanded its inspection range even further.

The chaotic turbulent zone and several major shipping lanes surrounding Mist Sea City had already been swept back and forth many times by the clones and their Blue-Armored Machine Servant during the first few thousand Epoch.

Some of the small and medium-sized pirate gangs that made a living by plundering were wiped out on the spot, while others had received advance warning and had already disappeared.

Therefore, his clone stationed in Mist Sea City simply expanded its patrol range to a more distant area, covering several border cities adjacent to Mist Sea City.

In addition, the clone also cooperated with another colleague of the Constant Guard to jointly hunt down a pirate gang, which consisted of two people at the Eternal Source Realm Completion, four people at the middle stage of the Eternal Source Realm, and three people at the Early Order of the Eternal Source Realm.

Lin Yi knew very well that his colleague's invitation wasn't for his combat strength at all.

What people value is the Blue-Armored Machine Servant he dismounted.

Lin Yi remained calm about this.

Overall, in the less than 30,000 Epoch since he left Mist Sea City, this clone has accumulated approximately 2,600 contribution points.

Meanwhile, the second clone on the Frontline of the Black Mist Sea reaped even greater rewards.

Although Lin Yi's second clone only brought two silver-armored Mechanical Servants, there were more opportunities to fight on the Frontline, and he was responsible for dealing with Second-Order Black Silence Beast. Therefore, he accumulated about five thousand contribution points.

In total, it's less than 8,000 contribution points.

If converted to Eternal Judgment Crystal, it would be equivalent to approximately eight million Eternal Judgment Crystal.

Of course, he wouldn't be foolish enough to exchange contribution points for Eternal Cosmos Crystal. These contribution points were meant to be exchanged for rare treasures that couldn't be bought with money outside the Constant Guard's exchange list.

After all, if they heard news of the blood essence of a Chaos Beast ranked fourth or even first outside, they would most likely have to trade it for something else.

Apart from that, all the acquaintances in Mist Sea City are doing quite well.

The Xiluo siblings, needless to say, already had a solid foundation, and with his influence, the An family prospered smoothly, while the Rui Family defied the odds and flourished.

What made Lin Yi even more gratified was that during this period, the various Venerables and Sovereigns who emerged from the Origin Universe's Cosmic Clam also found their own foothold in the unfamiliar world of Mist Sea City.

Back in the Cosmic Clam, they were all giants standing at the pinnacle of the universe, whose every word and action could determine the fate of countless beings.

But once you reach the Chaos Tribunal Sea, there are still countless towering mountains above you, such as the True Source Realm, the Eternal Source Realm, the Constant Source Realm, and even the Path Source Realm, that you need to look up to.

This feeling of falling from the clouds to the mortal world is not something everyone can accept easily.

But life must go on, and so must spiritual practice.

Fortunately, because they were from the same hometown as Lin Yi, they weren't bullied in Mist Sea City.

After the destruction of the Huo Family branch, the local families and various forces in Mist Sea City held Lin Yi in high esteem. Even those Venerables and Sovereigns who emerged from the Cosmic Clam, even if their cultivation was not high, would be treated with more respect by others after they heard about him.

After all, no one would be foolish enough to bully a fellow villager from Shenbang who Constant Ban.

Of course, Lin Yi would not allow them to abuse their power and do evil.

This is a red line that he has seriously emphasized from the very beginning.

One of his motivations for striving to become stronger was indeed to protect his relatives and friends, allowing them to live and cultivate in a relatively safe environment, instead of them silently evaporating in a corner of the Chaos Cosmic Sea like those unfortunate souls whose clans were wiped out.

But if the opposite happens, and these relatives and friends take advantage of his power to bully others, then he has gone against his original intentions and turned from a victim into a perpetrator.

Lin Yi would never allow it.

Fortunately, judging from the current situation, everyone has listened to his words and adapted to their new life roles.

Some lords chose to cultivate in seclusion, renting a quiet cultivation room in Mist Sea City, preparing to cultivate in seclusion and break through to a higher realm.

Some of the lords joined the Carlos Family. After the Xiluo siblings settled down in Mist Sea City, they needed a large number of reliable people to enrich the new family's ranks.

These sovereigns who emerged from the Origin Universe Cosmic Clam had impeccable backgrounds and intricate connections with Lin Yi, making them naturally desirable to the Xiluo siblings.

Another group of the venerable ones went to the Rui Family.

After the downfall of the Huo Family, Ruizhan's Rui Family experienced a rebound, with its family business expanding several times over in a short period of time, creating an urgent need to recruit more staff.

Although these venerable ones are not considered to have profound cultivation, they are good people with clean backgrounds and reliable character.

Venerables like Xuan Yan and Xuchen passed the selection process of the City Lord's Mansion in one fell swoop and became official staff members under Ote.

Although it was only a low-level position, being able to occupy a place in the City Lord's Mansion, which is the official power center of Mist Sea City, was already countless times better than most Cosmic Source Realm cultivators struggling at the bottom.

Lin Yi knew that such things were actually difficult to avoid.

Xuan Yan and Xuchen's abilities are undeniable. In the Origin Universe, they were managers at the pinnacle of a civilization, having overseen countless civilizations and territories. This gives them a natural advantage over natives who were born directly from the Chaos Cosmic Sea.

Lin Yi wouldn't deliberately make them give up opportunities they could earn through their own abilities just because of his status.

As long as they don't abuse their power, Lin Yi is happy to see them establish themselves in their respective fields.

All is well.

If there's any drawback, it's the situation on the Black Mist Sea Frontline.

The intensity of the Black Silence Beast Tide surging from the depths of the Black Mist Sea has increased slightly recently.

It's not just the increase in numbers that's causing the problem; what's even more troublesome is the slowly increasing frequency of Second-Order Black Silence Beast appearing in the beast tide.

Although the defenses of Mist Sea City were relatively solid and the coordination between the various fleets was becoming increasingly seamless, the trend of the intensity slowly increasing still made Lin Yi feel somewhat uneasy.

Not long ago, Mo Lin was nearly severely injured by a dying counterattack from a mid-stage Tier 1 Black Silence Beast.

If it weren't for his second clone constantly monitoring the movements of his old friends on the battlefield and intervening in time, Mo Lin would probably have been severely injured, if not killed.

The intensity is still rising.

If the Frontline defenses really break down, those cultivators in the rear city, including his relatives and friends, and the Cosmic Clam who settled his clansmen, will once again face the crisis of displacement or even annihilation.

Lin Yi remained silent for a moment, dispelling these thoughts, and then slowly closed his eyes.

The eruption of the Black Mist Sea was too big a deal for someone as lowly as him, a mere Eternal Source Realm, to worry about.

Now, he has no other choice but to become stronger.

The cultivation room fell silent once more.

Lin Yi sat cross-legged in the center of the platform.

Within the Purple Mist Space, the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi surged once more.

The grand structure of the Chaos Law became clear again in his perception.

With the blessing of Spiritual Enlightenment Qi, the level of understanding of the laws began to advance further.

25.7%.

27.2%.

28.8%...

Progress is slow but steady.

Time passes silently, yet the energy patterns in this cultivation room in the eastern part of Inner Island of Constant Island remain bright.

Nineteen thousand Epoch later, when his comprehension of the laws steadily surpassed the 30% threshold and he officially entered the fourth stage of the Eternal Source Realm, Lin Yi slowly opened his eyes.

Within the Chaos Source Sea within his body, the Law Skeleton sensed the leap in realm and automatically began to expand outward.

Countless pure chaotic energies surged from the energy channeling patterns on the walls of the cultivation chamber and were absorbed into these new Source Sea spaces.

Fourth stage of the Eternal Source Realm.

Lin Yi silently felt the increasingly vast and solidified Chaos Source Sea within his body after a new round of expansion, and a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

After getting used to the changes brought about by the new realm, Lin Yi separated a wisp of his mind and probed the other side of the cultivation room where his clone was engrossed in repairing the inscriptions.

At the bottom right corner of the fragment, the once jagged ends of the law-based veins are now more than 90% covered by densely packed new inscription threads.

Repair progress: 97.7%.

With just a tiny bit more, this Ancient Law Inscriptions, which has been dormant for countless Universal Epoch, will be reborn in his hands.

Lin Yi stared at the remaining gap for a moment, then made a decision.

Since he hadn't obtained the new essence blood yet, he planned to focus his energy, along with his clone, on the final repair of the Law Inscriptions.

Within the Purple Mist Space, Spiritual Enlightenment Qi suddenly ignited.

Lin Yi and his clone, both consciousnesses, entered that state of ultimate clarity at the same instant.

They simultaneously raised their right hands, each fingertip emitting a highly refined pale golden light, and the two carving knives struck the edge of the fingernail-sized notch in the center of the fragment.

The carving knife for the Main Body cuts in from the left side of the notch, while the carving knife for the clone cuts in from the right side of the notch.

Two condensed beams of light of law slowly advanced through the narrow gap, and new inscription threads extended from the severed ends.

Eight hundred and fifty Epoch passed quietly in this extreme focus.

As the last strand of pale gold inscription thread was perfectly embedded, the newly restored inscription veins on the surface of the fragment lit up simultaneously with the original ancient inscription veins. At first, it was only a very faint light, but soon, the light became brighter and brighter, transitioning from pale gold to blazing gold, and then from blazing gold to a warm but not dazzling white.

A shimmering light emanated from every thread of law on the fragment, like a living liquid slowly flowing through the veins of the inscription.

As the light swirled, the crystal plate, which had been lifeless like a fragment of an artifact, seemed to come alive.

Lin Yi stared at the inscription that was glowing on its own, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

This is a reinforcement rune.

In the classification system of Law Inscriptions, reinforcement runes are specifically used to enhance the defense and structural strength of objects, and are usually inscribed on the armor layers of various defensive buildings, fortresses, and warships.

A high-quality Fortification Rune can increase the defense of a target object by several levels.

On the battlefield, this often means the difference between life and death.

What truly impressed Lin Yi was its difference from the commonly used reinforcement runes of today.

This ancient fortification rune consumes nearly 30% more energy than similar modern runes.

It needs to draw more chaotic energy to maintain full power operation. The design of the core hub circuit alone has a total of thirty-two auxiliary nodes and seven additional energy flow circuits compared to the modern version.

If it were inscribed on the armor layer of a standard Imperial Army, the warship's energy core would likely need to be upgraded to match its power supply, and its maintenance cost would be significantly higher than that of modern hardened runes.

However, in terms of defensive capabilities, this ancient rune far surpasses its modern counterparts.

According to Lin Yi's rough estimate during the comparison process, under the same power supply conditions, the defensive effect of this ancient rune is at least 50% higher than that of modern mainstream reinforcement runes.

The additional auxiliary nodes and flow-guiding loops ingeniously boosted the efficiency of the chaotic energy conversion process by a whole new level.

The design philosophy of modern reinforcement runes tends to prioritize sufficiency, seeking the optimal balance between defensive capabilities and energy consumption, and pursuing long-lasting and stable operation.

This is not wrong in itself. After all, in actual combat, a warship that can sustain combat for a long time is often more valuable than a warship that has a strong burst of power but quickly runs out of energy.

But Lin Yi still felt that this ancient rune was more to his liking.

Defensive runes should prioritize defensive capabilities.

So what if it consumes more energy? It can withstand stronger attacks and help you survive a little longer in the most critical moments. This defensive capability could save the lives of all the soldiers on the warship.

Of course, he also knew that only someone as extremely health-conscious as him would take this idea of "high energy consumption doesn't matter" for granted.

For major powers that need to deploy defensive facilities on a large scale, the extra energy consumption of a single rune, which is 10% or 20% higher, becomes an astronomical extra expense when amplified to the entire fortress or fleet.

Of course, this kind of choice is not something he needs to consider.

His job was to restore the runes; now that his task was complete, it was time to report back.

Thinking of this, Lin Yi raised his right hand, his five fingers slightly spread, and aimed at the complete Law Inscriptions that was glowing on its own, transferring a stream of pure Chaos Power from his palm into the core hub of the inscription.

Condensing rune patterns out of thin air using the Chaos Power is a basic application technique included in <Detailed Explanation of Law Inscriptions>. It is specifically used to temporarily construct complete rune circuits when physical inscription materials are lacking, in order to test whether the repaired inscription can function properly.

These temporarily formed inscription patterns cannot last. Once the Chaos Power infused within them is exhausted, the patterns composed of pure energy will dissipate on their own.

However, it is sufficient to verify the results of the repair.

The moment the Chaos Power surged into the core nexus, the entire Law Inscriptions suddenly shone brightly.

Those threads of law that were originally just slowly flowing in the shimmering white light suddenly accelerated as if they had been infused with life.

Countless fine inscription veins extend from the core hub, rapidly intertwining in the once-damaged area in the lower right corner of the crystal plate, perfectly connecting with the original ancient inscription veins at the break point.

The entire inscription came to life at that moment, radiating a profound and ancient aura of law.

Lin Yi felt the powerful aura emanating from it and slowly withdrew his hand.

He then stood up, placed the repaired Law Inscriptions back into the crystal box, stored the crystal box within his Divine Kingdom, and then turned and walked out of the cultivation room.

Soon, Lin Yi stood once again outside the manor gate shrouded in a deep purple protective light shield.

Deep within the manor, in the study.

Eric stood with his hands behind his back before the inscribed wall made of countless crystal panels.

He was still wearing that deep purple robe, examining the crystal plate in front of him whose seventh cycle of reflux patterns had just been adjusted, a rare look of satisfaction on his face.

Just then, the purple dot beside him suddenly said, "Master, exchange student Lin Yi is outside the courtyard and requests a visit."

Eric raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this.

"Oh? It's not even 30,000 Epoch yet, and you're already awake?"

He pulled his hands back from behind his back, turned around, and a smile appeared on his lips.

"Indeed. To back down so quickly, without clinging to pride as a so-called genius, shows a level of self-awareness far superior to most so-called prodigies. Recognizing reality and cutting losses in time demonstrates a level of self-awareness that surpasses that of most self-proclaimed geniuses."

Eric nodded and affirmed, "He's a promising talent. Let him come over."