Over these hundred thousand years, Lin Tian had not advanced an inch in his cultivation realm.
He had not even crossed into the Middle Great Unity Golden Immortal Stage.
And to enter the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm, he needed one hundred million Evolution Points.
Lin Tian's paths to advancement were extraordinarily unique in the Primordial World.
For he had several choices.
He could improve his race and innate foundation until, upon attaining the foundation of an Innate Great Encompassing Golden Immortal, he would naturally become an Innate Great Encompassing Golden Immortal of the Primordial World, like water flowing into a channel.
At the same time, he could personally enter the Primordial World's Boundless Tribulation, obtain the Great Dao merit bestowed by the Great Dao along with Heaven-Earth Xuanhuang Qi, and use that merit to become a Merit Great Encompassing Golden Immortal.
He could also use a method of Attaining the Dao from a later age, far beyond anything known to the Primordial World's creatures at this time—the Three-Corpse Path to Enlightenment that Daoist Hongjun would teach in Zixiao Palace in the future—and sever his corpses to enter the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm.
Even without using the system's Evolution Points, Lin Tian could still rely on these three methods to enter the Great Luo Golden Immortal Realm fair and square.
And in this age, before a tribulation had arisen in the Primordial World, whoever could break the old rules and teach a method of Attaining the Dao far beyond this era could become the leader of the Primordial World's myriad races, receiving merit bestowed by the Heavenly Dao as a result.
Thus, Lin Tian had countless choices for entering the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm.
Precisely because of this, he now understood why the system had not set the requirement for entering the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm at ten million Evolution Points, but had instead increased the points a full hundredfold, bringing them to a despair-inducing one hundred million.
The reason was that the system wanted Lin Tian to find his own path during this long process of exploring how to enter the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm.
Whether he improved his innate foundation and evolved his race, obtained Great Dao merit, or even revealed the Three-Corpse Path to Enlightenment that Daoist Hongjun would teach in Purple Heaven Palace, each was a road to the heavens that could lead directly into the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm.
He could not afford to miss a single path!
At that moment, when the system's notification sounded.
Lin Tian's heart filled with joy. In nearly a hundred thousand years, the Heaven and Earth Origin was the first Origin he had obtained.
He still could not help grumbling inwardly, The road is long indeed, and far must I search.
At the same time, he settled firmly on a course: he would continue following the system's arrangements, collecting Origins to increase his Evolution Points.
Then, during that process, he would walk all three roads to the heavens that he already knew before finally entering the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm.
When that time came, even without the system's Evolution Points, he would still be invincible throughout the Primordial World beneath the Great Encompassing Golden Immortal realm!
Meanwhile.
Within the Innate Ten-Direction Formation, at the moment the dust of the Lone Peak became stars scattered across the sky.
A subtle opportunity, mysterious beyond mysteries, arose in Lin Tian's heart.
He could feel that his connection with his system seemed closer than before.
This feeling had never arisen in his heart before.
An ancient, vast mystery, coming from the distant past, from the future, and even from countless worlds.
In an instant, all of it surged into Lin Tian's heart.
Lin Tian stood within the Innate Ten-Direction Formation, contemplating these countless mysteries, profound beyond mysteries and difficult to fathom.
His Primordial Spirit immersed itself entirely in this contemplation.
In the flick of a finger, another thousand years passed.
On this day.
Lin Tian's Primordial Spirit awakened from its contemplation of those mysteries.
At the moment he awoke.
He suddenly discovered that his surroundings had changed completely.
The Innate Ten-Direction Formation, once a barren expanse containing only endless dunes and a Lone Peak cut in half...
At the moment he opened his eyes.
He saw.
The vast mountain range spanning tens of millions of li that he had previously seen outside the Innate Formation-layer upon layer of lush greenery, emerald peaks rising like a lotus in bloom-was now spread out before Lin Tian.
Moreover, this mountain range spanning tens of millions of li faintly revealed an unmistakable unusual stirring!
At that moment.
Lin Tian immediately realized that this Innate Formation was not actually as simple as it had seemed when he first refined it.
Within this Innate Ten-Direction Formation lay another Innate Formation, one of illusions!
During these thousand years.
As Lin Tian contemplated the unfathomable mystery of the dust transforming into stars.
The stars filling the sky, formed from the dust of that half of the Lone Peak, had already absorbed Lin Tian's Origin power and Origin laws over the course of those thousand years.
During those thousand years, as Lin Tian's Origin power and Origin laws evolved, the true face of the illusion formation hidden within the Innate Ten-Direction Formation had slowly revealed itself.
What Lin Tian saw now.
Was the true face of what lay within the Innate Ten-Direction Formation!
The barren expanse and Lone Peak he had seen before were an illusion!
At that moment, Lin Tian was overjoyed!
He gently swayed his Nine Nether Vine body.
From the Thirty-Six Heavens Worlds within the Nine Nether Vine's thirty-six divine leaves, he retrieved that Golden Strike Wood.
The instant Lin Tian took the golden-strike divine wood out of the Myriad Heavens World space-
Roar, roar, roar, roar!
The Little Beast Emperor immediately burrowed out of the hollow among the Golden Strike Wood's roots.
In a moment.
Like a streak of golden lightning, he appeared at the foot of Lin Tian's vines.
After nearly ten thousand years apart, the Little Beast Emperor could no longer have "Little" attached to his name.
Previously, when he entered the tree hollow to cultivate in seclusion, he had been only three zhang in size.
Now, as he emerged from the hollow, he had grown to a full nine zhang.
Meanwhile, over those ten thousand years, Lin Tian's Nine Nether Vine body had shrunk from six zhang to three.
Standing before the Beast Emperor, Lin Tian looked small but formidable.
However.
The Little Beast Emperor's antics were outrageously showy.
His enormous beast head, a full three zhang in size, pressed against the ground and nestled right beside Lin Tian's body, which was the same size as his head!
Thump, thump, thump!
His beast head rubbed back and forth against Lin Tian.
Lin Tian slowly raised a vine and gestured to the Little Beast Emperor.
Over the hundreds of thousands of years they had spent together.
Even though they had spent most of that time either cultivating in seclusion or traveling, Lin Tian and the Little Beast Emperor had developed ever greater rapport, almost to the point of sharing a telepathic bond.
After Lin Tian made this gesture to the Little Beast Emperor.
Only then did the Little Beast Emperor shake his glittering golden fur, which carried a trace of red light, and open his enormous eyes, within which lightning faintly formed.
The Little Beast Emperor's two eyes revealed two different colors.
A golden light shone within his left pupil, forming a golden lightning mark.
Within his right pupil was a dusky azure Azure Thunder Mark.
The lightning marks in his left and right pupils shared one thing in common: within each lightning mark, a faint, elusive strand of blood-red was entwined!
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