The nine-hundredth step was not somewhere just anyone could reach. It was an absolute heavenly barrier!
Since ancient times, every cultivator who had set foot on the nine-hundredth step had been a monstrous prodigy or the young of fearsome creatures such as true dragons. All had cultivated to the hundred-thousand-jin limit of the Body Tempering Realm and pushed their physiques to the utmost in every realm.
If someone unable to withstand it rashly stepped onto it...
At best, they would suffer grave injuries that damaged their foundations; at worst, they would perish on the spot, their bodies and souls annihilated.
Boom!
Yet, under Xiang Yunjie's dark gaze, Lin Fan stepped onto the nine-hundredth step just like that.
The scene he had imagined, of Lin Fan vomiting blood and being sent flying off the cloud stairway, never appeared.
Only after reaching the nine-hundredth step did Lin Fan slow a little. He no longer climbed three steps with each stride, instead ascending one at a time.
A terrifying gravitational pressure descended. Every step Lin Fan took seemed to weigh ten thousand jun. His Chaos Gods and Devils Body circulated, shrouding him in hazy black-and-white divine light.
Lin Fan's eyes brightened.
He understood that this place tested the utmost limits of the physique, targeting the pinnacle of each realm.
The utmost limit of the Body Tempering Realm was the threshold for entering this place.
Only by reaching the utmost limit in every realm would one have a chance to ascend the thousand-step cloud stairway and obtain the inheritance.
For Lin Fan, who had just reconstructed his divine body and foundations and undergone the baptism of the Chaos Gods and Devils Body, it was practically his for the taking!
It was as though this inheritance had been prepared especially for him.
Xiang Yunjie was not the only one who noticed that Lin Fan had reached the nine-hundredth step and was heading toward the thousandth.
The cultivators below also saw this scene, their eyes widening as their gazes filled with nothing but that handsome young master in white, who looked as though he were out for a spring stroll. Had some of them not still been enduring the cloud stairway's pressure, they really would have wondered whether Lin Fan was merely playing around.
"Heavens, Imperial Son Lin actually reached the nine-hundredth step!"
"He's still going forward! Could he have come for the Archaic Lineage's inheritance?"
"The last person to reach the nine-hundreds seemed to be the previous generation's Overlord Body! No one has ever set foot on the thousandth step. Is the Imperial Son going to shatter this legend too?"
Under everyone's gazes, Lin Fan continued onward just like that. When they saw him truly step onto the thousandth step and vanish, the cultivators below erupted into a clamorous discussion.
"He really shattered the legend!"
"The Archaic Lineage's inheritance is about to emerge!"
Xiang Yunjie had long since frozen in place. "He actually reached the summit..."
Suddenly, an inscrutable divine gleam flashed through his eyes. If he remembered correctly, this person was only in the Pill Condensation Realm...
The summit of the cloud stairway!
After stepping onto the thousandth step, Lin Fan found nothing here but drifting clouds and mist. Everything below lay within view, and before him stood the thousand-foot divine statue.
"Endless ages have passed, yet in the end, no cultivator of my Ancient God Lineage came."
Suddenly, a lingering sigh echoed in Lin Fan's ears, as though it had come from ancient times, weathered and ancient, filled with boundless solitude.
"Who's there?"
Startled, Lin Fan looked around, but no one was there.
Finally, his gaze settled on the thousand-foot divine statue before him. Divine radiance flashed through his Double Pupils, and he sensed that the previously lifeless statue seemed to have gained a trace of vitality.
He understood that it was very likely a strand of divine sense left by the powerful expert who had left this inheritance.
Lin Fan was somewhat dazed. The divine statue seemed to have come alive.
At that moment, it seemed that only a figure clad in golden battle armor stood before Lin Fan, looking down upon the nine heavens and ten lands, as imposing as a figure a hundred thousand feet tall. Behind him, terrifying experts fell one after another.
"So be it. My divine sense cannot last much longer!"
"Since you could come here, it means you share a fated connection with my Ancient God Lineage. To keep the inheritance from dying out, I shall entrust part of the Archaic Lineage's inheritance to you."
"I hope that if you encounter cultivators of the Ancient God Lineage in the future, young friend, you will lend them a hand!"
Toward the end, the once-majestic, weathered voice grew increasingly weak, ethereal as an immortal melody, as though it might drift away on the wind at any moment. "Or, if you have the chance in the future, pass on my Ancient God Lineage to someone you find interesting who shares that fated connection! Thank you!"
Before Lin Fan could agree, the voice finally faded away.
The scene before Lin Fan dissolved, and everything returned to normal.
With a humming flash, a streak of light flickered in the divine statue's eyes and shot thunderously into Lin Fan's mind. The information contained within that light was the Ancient God Body Refining Art and the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art.
Lin Fan rejoiced. The Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art and the first three stages of the Ancient God Body Refining Art were his!
He had achieved his purpose for this trip and reaped a rich harvest.
As for what that person had asked of him, Lin Fan had already tossed it to the back of his mind, declaring, "I never agreed to what he said. He forced it on me!"
Still, Lin Fan was not heartless or faithless. If he encountered the Archaic Lineage, he would certainly lend them a hand. But if the other party was a Son of Fortune, there would be no room for discussion!
As for the inheritance dying out, was that possible?
As long as he, Lin Fan, remained alive, it would never die out!
Lin Fan first examined the Ancient God Body Refining Art. He had long looked forward to this body-refining method.
After briefly reading the introduction, Lin Fan could not help sighing and clicking his tongue. Its cultivation requirements were far too exacting, and the resources it required were terrifying in the extreme. Very few people could master it.
The Ancient God Body Refining Art had three revolutions in total.
The first revolution was golden blood, the second golden liquid, and the third a golden body.
The first revolution required tempering all the blood in the body until it turned golden; the second, tempering the spiritual liquid in the dantian into a pure yellow; the third, tempering a golden body with laws.
Perfecting all three revolutions would allow one to rival a Great Emperor!
It required an ocean of resources. Only a great orthodox lineage could afford to support it.
Finally, Lin Fan's gaze fell upon the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art.
The Chaos Gods and Devils Body devoured all things to replenish its origin.
The Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art differed from the Chaos Gods and Devils Body's devouring ability.
Created by a mighty expert with a mortal physique, it could devour all things and convert them into power for one's cultivation, or replenish one's own origin. It was more comprehensive.
Which should he cultivate first?
Lin Fan chose to cheat!
Lin Fan said, "System, how many Villain Points would it take to cultivate the Ancient God Body Refining Art to the second revolution and perfect the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art?"
[Ding! Host, upgrading the Ancient God Body Refining Art to entry-level second revolution requires 250,000 Villain Points! Cultivating the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art to perfection requires 150,000. Would you like to allocate points?]
Allocate the points!
As Lin Fan's words fell, his original 477,000 Villain Points instantly dwindled to just seventy-seven thousand.
Boom!
A terrifying power of blood and Qi erupted from Lin Fan's body! His blood and Qi surged like a vast ocean.
Sitting cross-legged and sensing the changes within him, Lin Fan discovered that all the blood in his body had begun turning golden, and his physique was gradually growing stronger.
He circulated the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art.
Winds rose and clouds surged between heaven and earth. With Lin Fan at the center, his surroundings seemed to become a massive vortex, drawing in the hazy spiritual power around him. Lin Fan refused nothing, absorbing all the surrounding Spiritual Qi into his body to replenish his expenditure.
Suddenly, delight stirred in Lin Fan's heart.
He discovered that after activating the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art, he occasionally absorbed a tiny amount of pure Chaos Origin, about one hundredth of a strand.
Better than nothing. Coming here wasn't a mistake!
The Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art was terrifying indeed!
The bottleneck of the Spirit Sea Realm was loosening, and his Spirit Sea was slowly opening up as well.
This showed that coming to the Primordial Chaos Realm had not been a mistake.
If he could not obtain enough Chaos Origin, at worst, Lin Fan would devour the entire Primordial Chaos Realm until it collapsed.