This Is Way Too Hard
The Silverblue slowly slowed down in the Clear Void.
Lin Yi stood at the porthole of the bridge, looking up at the incredibly large tower in front of him, knowing that he had arrived at the Constant Source Summit.
"Master, an energy field fluctuation has been detected ahead," Xuanji's voice came through. "The intensity is extremely high and cannot be penetrated by the scan."
There was an outer barrier preventing the spaceship from getting any closer.
Lin Yi nodded slightly; he had expected this.
The Constant Source Summit is the ultimate testing ground built by the Imperial Court. How could they possibly allow someone to drive a spaceship directly to the tower's entrance?
He straightened his Constant Ban Golden Armor, stepped out of the spaceship, and then stored the Silverblue and Xuanji into his Divine Kingdom. Afterward, he flew towards the giant tower.
The instant Lin Yi stepped into the Clear Void surrounding the giant tower, a huge crystal wall directly in front of the tower's base suddenly lit up.
At the very center of the wall, countless threads of light surged from the depths of the crystal, intertwining and entwining with each other, instantly outlining an extremely tall silhouette.
It was an energy guardian.
Its size was almost half again as tall as Lin Yi's Origin Law True Body. Its head was an inverted triangle with no facial features. Its arms hung naturally at its sides, and three pairs of semi-transparent light wings floated behind it. Its aura was deep and ancient.
Lin Yi couldn't sense its specific level of cultivation, but he was certain that if he faced it head-on, he would have no chance of winning.
At this moment, a grand and indifferent voice emanated from the guard's body. The voice was not loud, but it carried a majesty that made the entire void tremble slightly.
"The Trial Grounds at the Constant Source Summit: No one may enter without a valid pass."
The guard slowly raised one hand, palm facing Lin Yi, fingers slightly spread, a very fine and bright dark golden light shining from the fingertips.
Show your access pass. Otherwise, leave immediately.
Lin Yi didn't waste any words.
He took the wooden gift box from his inner Divine Kingdom. The moment the lid popped open, the diamond-shaped emblem flew out of the box and hovered above his palm.
He raised his hand and pushed the token slowly toward the guard.
The energy guardian simultaneously raised its other hand, fingers slightly spread, and an invisible force field drew the token into its palm.
An extremely fine beam of light shone on his face, sweeping across the very center of the certificate.
"The Dao Resonance Imprint record has not exceeded the limit; verification of the credentials has been successful."
"Those who present their credentials, please state your name."
Lin Yi.
"Lin Yi." The energy guardian repeated the name, "Your name is now bound to your soul fluctuations. From this moment forward, your trial results will be recorded on the Constant Source Summit Rankings. The leaderboard is ranked according to the number of levels cleared, and within each level, it is ranked according to the Points earned."
Lin Yi nodded slightly.
He had consulted these rules countless times in the Constant Guard database and knew them by heart.
After the energy guardian took the token, its massive body stepped back to the side. At the same time, an archway silently cracked open in the center of the crystal wall behind it.
Inside the archway was a pure, luminous white light, with no visible structure.
"The Nine-Level Trial at the Constant Source Summit: Upon first entering each level, one can comprehend the Dao Origin Atlas. After defeating the guardian, one can proceed to the next level."
Lin Yi took a deep breath and stepped into the gleaming white archway.
The light spread silently before my eyes.
When the white light finally faded slowly, Lin Yi found himself standing in an extremely spacious square hall.
The walls, floor, and dome of the hall are all constructed from the same dark blue crystal.
A huge pale golden light screen floated in the center of the hall, hanging from the dome to the ground, its width almost covering the entire wall facing the entrance.
The screen was densely covered with lines of text, each line representing a name followed by a string of numbers and a layer number.
Lin Yi walked to the light screen and looked up.
At the very top of the light screen, in the area marked "Ninth Floor," there are only four names.
He recognized the first name at a glance.
Yican.
This name is indispensable in any historical record of the Chaos Cosmic Sea.
The legendary Dao Lord of the Imperial Era, author of "The Way of Origin Law," was personally invited by the Emperor to the Imperial Palace to discuss the Dao for a full seven hundred Universal Epoch.
His Way of Origin Law is widely recognized as having reached its end, and even the Emperor himself admitted that he could not surpass him in terms of Origin Law techniques.
The second name is equally renowned.
Feilong.
The name reminded Lin Yi of an ancient book he had stumbled upon in the Constant Guard archives.
The Feilong Dao Lord is one of the three most powerful personal guards under the Emperor, and is recognized as one of the closest beings to the Emperor Imperial Era.
The third name is Kluo.
The fourth name, Oz.
Although Lin Yi these two names is somewhat vague, they have appeared in some extremely ancient battle histories, and he was one of the top Dao Lord of the Imperial Era. As for more detailed information, it has become difficult to verify with the fall of the First Constant Domain.
From the Ninth Floor downwards, Eighth Floor.
The Eighth Floor has more names than the Ninth Floor, but it's still sparse compared to the Seventh Floor.
Lin Yi's gaze swept quickly across those names. Most of them were ancient Dao Lord from the Imperial Era, and a few were Dao Lord who rose to prominence after the emergence of the Black Mist Sea. All of them were among the top figures at present.
The Seventh Floor.
There were noticeably more names on this floor. Lin Yi's gaze lingered on this floor for a moment before he spotted a familiar name.
Aote.
Lan Chen Commander's real name.
The Seventh Floor.
Lin Yi silently made a mental note of it.
It turns out that before becoming Dao Lord, Commander Lan Chen had reached the Seventh Floor of the Constant Source Realm.
This achievement is outstanding in the entire history of the Chaos Tribunal Sea, no wonder he became the supreme commander of the Seventh Constant Domain of the Constant Guard.
He glanced down again and saw another name in the middle of the Seventh Floor.
Darkrend.
Lin Yi remembered that name.
That was an extremely ancient Dao Lord of the Seventh Constant Domain; the patriarch of the Carlos Family had once been his mount.
The sixth floor.
The name of the Dao Lord Xi Mo was prominently listed.
However, unlike Lan Chen and Darkrend, Xi Mo's name was at the very end of the sixth level, almost slipping into the fifth level.
Lin Yi looked at the name, raised an eyebrow slightly, and didn't dare to think too much about it.
The number of names on the fifth and fourth floors was even greater. Lin Yi glanced at them and saw many active Dao Lord of the Seventh Constant Domain on the fifth floor, and even a few Dao Lord on the fourth floor.
The third layer.
There were already many names here. Lin Yi quickly browsed through them and found a name that made his heart sink slightly.
Wen Xiao.
Lin Yi stared at the name in silence for a moment, then sighed inwardly.
I don't know where he is now...
Second layer.
After all, the number of names on this floor is already quite large.
Lin Yi glanced around and spotted familiar faces such as General Lieka.
General Ka Lie, a powerful expert at the high level of the Constant Source Realm, only managed to reach the second level.
This is not to say that Ka Lie is not strong enough, but rather that the difficulty of the guardians at the Constant Source Summit is Dynamic adjusted according to the trial participants' realm.
The higher the level, the stronger the guardian you face.
First layer.
The first floor had the most names, but Lin Yi couldn't find his name at the very end.
Clearly, a name will only be entered into the leaderboard after passing at least one level.
He hasn't even seen the guardian of the first level yet, so naturally he's not on the list.
Lin Yi withdrew his gaze and stood silently in front of the leaderboard for a moment.
"It's really difficult."
He muttered something to himself, with a hint of emotion in his voice.
Those Dao Lord reigned supreme in the Seventh Constant Domain, back when they were still at the Constant Source Realm, also stood in this hall, gazing up at the same leaderboard, looking at the names left by their predecessors, and then embarking on that destined-to-be-difficult path of trials.
As for the Ninth Floor, which only has four names, it's unknown when a fifth name will appear.
Lin Yi didn't linger at the door any longer.
Time is precious.
He turned around and walked toward the archway directly opposite the hall.
The archway slid open silently the moment he approached.
Lin Yi stepped inside.
Behind the door was a vast, pure white space.
The floor was white, the walls were white, and the ceiling was white; there was no decoration, no patterns, and no landmarks for reference.
The entire space is only one color.
Pure white to the extreme.
This white space was extremely vast, but at this moment, there was only one thing suspended in the very center of the entire space.
That was a picture.
To be precise, it is a two-dimensional catalogue woven from countless extremely fine, flowing threads.
The threads displayed a chaotic hue that defied description, as if all known colors in the entire Chaos Cosmic Sea had been extracted, each taking its finest essence, then crushed, stirred, and rewoven into a color never before seen in the world.
The image is an irregular circle, as if it were forcibly torn from a larger whole by some force, showing countless constantly changing fractal cracks.
The filaments at the crack continuously extend outward, fork, wither, and then new filaments grow back from the withered ends, repeating this process endlessly.
The interior of the catalog is even more dazzling.
Countless curves intertwine in an extremely complex arrangement.
In some areas, the curves are extremely dense, overlapping each other so closely that it is almost impossible to distinguish individual lines.
In some areas, the landscape is relatively sparse, with a few solitary curves slowly meandering against the empty background.
In some areas, the curves exhibit a seemingly orderly yet completely incomprehensible arrangement pattern.
The strangest thing is that these curves are not static.
They are moving.
Each curve changes at its own independent speed and frequency.
Some curves slowly shift, like a silent serpent of light swimming in the void; others show sections of the curve constantly branching outwards, with the branches changing their curvature and direction as they grow.
Other curves exhibit periodic oscillations within specific regions, with varying frequencies and amplitudes, showing no discernible pattern.
Lin Yi stared at the catalog for a moment.
Then he admitted that he couldn't understand it at all.
To him, those curves looked like a jumble of lines randomly tangled together by an invisible hand, then forcibly suspended in mid-air by some force.
He could see clearly the direction of each line, the intersection of each node, and the angle of each bend individually, but when they were put together, only one thought popped into his mind.
What the hell is this?
Just as Lin Yi was staring blankly at the catalog, a grand and indifferent voice suddenly rang out in the vast space.
The voice was exactly the same as the one from the energy guardian earlier, equally devoid of any emotional fluctuation, yet even deeper and more resonant.
"Trial participant Lin Yi has entered the first level of the Constant Source Summit for the first time."
"You will be granted 100,000 Epoch of time to study the Dao Origin Atlas."
"After the comprehension period is over, the guardian of the first level will appear. Defeating the guardian will grant you Constant Source Summit Points and the qualification to enter the second level."
"The period of enlightenment begins."
Lin Yi stood there for a moment, then sat down cross-legged.
Dao Origin Atlas.
He had seen this name in the Constant Guard's database no less than ten times.
Each appearance is accompanied by lengthy annotations and comments, with each annotation repeatedly emphasizing the same point.
This is a supreme treasure left to future generations by the Emperor. It is the only Chaos Supreme Treasure in the entire Chaos Cosmic Sea that can be freely comprehended by cultivators of the Constant Source Realm. It is of great benefit to cultivators of the Constant Source Realm who can comprehend the Dao Resonance and advance to the Path Source Realm.
The so-called Chaos Supreme Treasure are those supreme treasures that contain the Dao Resonance.
Each Chaos Supreme Treasure was formed innately, and then barely crafted by Dao Lord using their own Dao Resonance as a foundation, incorporating countless rare materials and unparalleled techniques.
The total number of known Chaos Supreme Treasure in the entire Seventh Constant Domain is only a handful, and each one is the lifeblood of its respective Dao Lord.
Those items were all incredibly precious, treasures of powerful Dao Lord. How could they possibly be given to Constant Lord to observe and comprehend?
The so-called Dao Resonance is a power that cultivators can begin to comprehend before fully mastering the Chaos Origin Law, and it is also the most important condition for advancing to the Path Source Realm.
The Dao Resonance doesn't mean you have to wait until you reach the Constant Source Realm Completion and fully master the Chaos Origin Law to comprehend it. As long as you enter the Constant Source Realm, you can comprehend it.
It can not only greatly enhance the power of source laws and various secret techniques, but also greatly promote the progress of comprehending the Chaos Origin Law.
The more Dao Resonance one comprehends, the greater the increase in combat power, and the faster one comprehends the Origin Law.
Once the Dao Resonance has accumulated to a sufficient degree, and the Chaos Origin Law has been cultivated to perfection, one can attempt to condense the Chaos Dao Fruit and step into the Path Source Realm.
Of course, once you fully grasp the Chaos Origin Law, the difficulty of comprehending the Dao Resonance will be reduced.
Therefore, generally speaking, one will not ponder the Dao Resonance before reaching the perfection of the Constant Source Realm.
After all, the Dao of Chaos depends on one's own comprehension, and there are no more scriptures to guide one. It is too difficult, too difficult, to comprehend the Dao Resonance before reaching the Constant Source Realm Completion.
Even Perfection of the Constant Source Realm is basically achieved through his own wild guessing or hoping for a flash of inspiration.
As for methods that don't rely so much on luck, of course there are those too.
That is to observe various Chaos Supreme Treasure in order to comprehend one's own Dao Resonance.
This is why every cultivator at the Constant Source Realm yearns for the opportunity to observe the Chaos Supreme Treasure.
But this desire is far too difficult to fulfill.
The reason is simple.
Chaos Supreme Treasure are usually kept and nurtured by the Dao Lord, and then released for others to comprehend. Just like a flint placed in the air will continuously consume heat, it will consume the Dao Resonance of the treasure. Once consumed, the Dao Lord has to replenish it himself, so basically no Dao Lord will do this.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, the only chance for a cultivator at the Constant Source Realm to access Chaos Supreme Treasure is to wait for a Dao Lord to display it on a special occasion.
For example, during celebrations, apprenticeship ceremonies, or some major transactions, the Chaos Supreme Treasure might be occasionally displayed for people to study and comprehend.
Therefore, such opportunities are so rare that they can be ignored.
The Constant Source Summit is the only place where one can openly gain the opportunity to comprehend its secrets.
The Emperor himself created the Dao Origin Atlas, a Chaos Supreme Treasure.
It does not require any nurturing from Dao Lord, because it draws energy directly from the origin of the Chaos Tribunal Sea to maintain its operation.
Of course, even so, its recovery speed after its Dao Resonance is consumed is limited.
This is precisely why the entry requirements for Constant Source Summit are so stringent.
Each Dao Lord can only recommend three people in their lifetime, which means that among the billions of cultivators in the entire Chaos Tribunal Sea, only a very small number of those with sufficient talent at the Constant Source Realm have the opportunity to access the Dao Origin Atlas.
Behind these stringent requirements lies the design logic of the Emperor.
Rather than letting mediocre people waste their time, it's better to reserve the limited opportunities to comprehend the Dao Origin Atlas for truly exceptional geniuses.
Lin Yi was well aware of this background.
Therefore, he cannot afford to waste even one Epoch out of ten thousand Epoch.
He took a deep breath, taking in the slowly changing Dao Origin Atlas, and then ignited the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi deep within his Soul Origin.
Purple flames rose silently.
That familiar, profound sense of enlightenment enveloped his consciousness once again.
He focused all his attention on the catalogue before him, which was composed of countless interwoven curves, trying to find even the slightest pattern in those seemingly chaotic lines.
Ten thousand Epoch have passed.
Lin Yi sat cross-legged in the center of the pure white space, his expression changing from initial solemnity to confusion.
He stared at the ever-changing and evolving curves on the Dao Origin Atlas, a single thought swirling in his mind.
Can't read.
I really can't understand it.
During this ten-thousand -Epoch, he tried to start with the overall layout of the catalogue and try to find out if there was some kind of macroscopic arrangement logic between those curves.
The result was that everything was changing, and becoming completely chaotic.
He tried starting with a single curve, tracing the trend of a specific curve to see if it was conveying some kind of information.
As a result, the curve seemed to behave relatively well for the first few hundred Epoch, slowly moving along a relatively stable trajectory. However, around the thousandth Epoch, it suddenly began to oscillate violently, with the amplitude and frequency becoming completely random.
Then, without warning, it split into three sub-curves, each drifting in a different direction, and finally all disappeared into the dense area, making it impossible to catch up.
He tried starting with the color of the curves.
Although the curves all appeared to be the same chaotic color at first glance, a closer look revealed extremely subtle color differences. He spent nearly three thousand Epoch dividing all the curves in the entire catalog into hundreds of groups according to their color differences, and then attempted to analyze the arrangement patterns within each group.
The results showed that the curves within each group were arranged haphazardly, and the curves between different groups were constantly merging, changing color, and splitting.
He tried closing his eyes and simply using his soul to perceive the curves.
His Soul Power had just reached the edge of the catalog when it was blocked by an extremely gentle yet extremely powerful force.
The force didn't harm anyone, but the information it transmitted back only confused him more.
What he perceived was not lines and colors, but something extremely vague and indescribable.
It was as if countless tiny fragments of consciousness were suspended inside the catalog, each whispering something.
But when he tried to hear the whispers clearly, all the sounds vanished at once.
The Ten Thousandth Epoch.
For a full ten thousand Epoch, he made not the slightest progress whatsoever.
Lin Yi rubbed his temples, silently comforting himself.
"Only ten thousand Epoch, it's still early. Back when I broke through to the Constant Source Realm, it took me tens of thousands of Epoch just to touch the threshold of the Origin Law. The Dao Resonance is many times more profound than the Origin Law. If you can comprehend even a wisp of it in ten thousand Epoch, that's a huge gain. No rush, no rush."
He took a deep breath and refocused his mind on the Dao Origin Atlas.
Another 30,000 Epoch passed.
Lin Yi's brows were furrowed into a deep frown.
During those 30,000 Epoch, he tried everything he could think of.
He tried focusing on a tiny local area in the catalog, recording the changes of every curve in that area at every instant, and then trying to find some kind of periodic pattern.
The results showed that the curve changes in that local area did indeed have a periodicity, but the period itself was also constantly changing.
The first cycle lasted 3.75 Epoch, the second 1.8 Epoch, the third jumped to 17 Epoch, and the fourth 1400 Epoch...
Then, after the fourth round ended, all the curves in that area suddenly disappeared, and a completely new set of curves was generated, with all the periodic patterns being reset and starting all over again.
He tried shifting his attention away from the curves themselves and observing the negative space between them, that is, the blank areas not covered by the curves.
He wondered if the curves themselves were merely a vehicle, and that the true Dao Resonance lay in the blank spaces.
This idea excited him for a while, but after spending another 10,000 Epoch recording the patterns of change in the blank areas, he discovered that the changes in the blank areas were also random.
He tried to infuse his Soul Power into his eyes, pushing the power of the Awakening Radiance Seal Pact to its maximum, attempting to discover whether there was some hidden energy pathway through the Awakening Radiance.
As a result, all Awakening Radiance saw was light.
Those curves transformed into an extremely dazzling chaotic sea of light in Awakening Radiance's vision. Within the sea of light, countless layers of superimposed energy waves surged, layer upon layer, densely packed, giving him a splitting headache just from looking at them.
Forty thousand Epoch have passed.
Lin Yi's only takeaway was that he began to seriously doubt his own intelligence.
Soon, another 60,000 Epoch passed.
That grand, indifferent voice resounded once again in the pure white space.
"Your time limit for comprehension has expired. Prepare to face the first level's guardian. No external aids are permitted during this challenge."
As soon as the words were spoken, the Dao Origin Atlas, which was suspended in the center of the pure white space, began to slowly fade.
One by one, the ever-changing curves disappeared, and the fractal cracks at the edge of the catalog gradually closed up. In the end, the entire catalog turned into an extremely fine and bright point of light, which flashed slightly and then completely disappeared into the void.
Lin Yi sat cross-legged on the ground, staring at the spot where the Dao Origin Atlas had disappeared. He remained silent for a long time before finally letting out a long sigh.
The 100,000th Epoch.
It's neither long nor short.
In these 100,000 Epoch, he had not even comprehended a single Dao Resonance.
"This is fucking too difficult. Before, when I looked at the rankings, I thought Lord Lieka Constant Lord and Wen Xiao were pretty weak, and even Dao Lord Xi Mo was only at level five, which seemed like nothing special... But now it seems they are terrifyingly strong! I haven't even grasped this Dao Resonance. Will it be a bit embarrassing if I tell people about this later?"
Lin Yi was speechless for a moment.
He truly hadn't expected that Dao Resonance would be so difficult.
Before coming, he had calculated that his soul comprehension was already quite good, and with the blessing of the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi, although 100,000 Epoch was short, he should at least have grasped a wisp of it.
Reality, however, gave him a resounding slap in the face.
He couldn't even find the threshold, let alone touch the edge.
However, Lin Yi quickly adjusted his mindset.
He wasn't doing all of his work in vain during those 100,000 Epoch.
Although he didn't directly comprehend the Dao Resonance, he firmly memorized the shapes of those curves, the patterns of change, the distribution of negative space, and the way energy waves were superimposed.
With his current memory, even after 100,000 Epoch, he can accurately reproduce every frame of the scene.
If one's mind sharpens in the future, and one can ignite the Spiritual Enlightenment Qi deep within their soul to savor these memories, although the effect is far less than directly studying the Dao Origin Atlas, it will still be useful nonetheless.
"Besides..." Lin Yi stood up from the ground, somewhat indignantly, "Who said that without Dao Resonance, one is bound to fail the first trial?"