Archean Eon Art

Chapter 760: Passing the Test

Translator: CKtalon

Meng Chuan exited the dark-red space and sat cross-legged in the mountain forest on Dry Origin Mountain.

Meng Chuan trembled and felt dizzy and light-headed. All sorts of feelings attacked him.

Due to them violating taboos, these Chaos overlords were imprisoned by an Eternal existence. There was a limit to the number of them. In-name disciples of the Eternal existence could kill only one. Biy due to the rules set by the Eternal existence—which were enforced to the letter upon its promulgation—killing them on Dry Origin Mountain could allow them to devour their powers perfectly, forming a talent that was most suitable for them.

Such an opportunity was extremely precious.

Meng Chuan used this opportunity on Chaos overlord, Wise.

After the mysterious power fused with Meng Chuan’s Essence Soul for a moment, a vast number of memories surged into Meng Chuan’s mind.

Boom!

After cultivating to the Essence Soul Eighth Tribulation realm, Meng Chuan’s Essence Soul had immense endurance. However, the surging memories made Meng Chuan momentarily unable to think.

The memory surge lasted for more than 30 seconds before Meng Chuan finished absorbing them.

I perfectly devoured this Chaos overlord and obtained its memories? Meng Chuan was astonished. He originally thought that it was a talent, but who knew that it was a vast memory base?

Meng Chuan tried to understand these memories.

It took Meng Chuan more than 12 hours to understand the memories that took about 30 seconds to inject. After all, Meng Chuan could read vast amounts of information with a thought, but he spent so much time reading the memories.

So this is why this Chaos overlord is called Wise? Meng Chuan came to a realization.

After reading the memories, he understood everything. When Wise, a Chaos overlord, was still a Fifth Tribulation Chaos creature, it had encountered Abyss. Back then, Abyss was already at the top of the Eighth Tribulation realm. It devoured countless spacetime creatures and stored them in its body. Back then, Wise had been sucked in just like that. It became one of the countless living beings in Abyss and experienced cruel competition.

Growing amidst the competition, Wise became a Seventh Tribulation Chaos creature. It had the right to occupy a layer of the abyss alone, and its modifications to the abyss layer made it the strongest. This delighted Abyss itself, who then began nurturing it.

Under Wise’s suggestion, the entire abyss’s structure gradually became perfected. Abyss finally broke through to the limits of the Eighth Tribulation realm, so it naturally favored Wise more. A large number of Seventh Tribulation Chaos creatures and even Chaos overlords were given to Wise for devouring. Just like that, Wise transformed into a Chaos overlord.

With its help, Abyss became stronger. It even became more terrifying at the Eighth Tribulation realm’s limits.

The Eternal’s personal disciples could only fight it to a draw in battle. It was then that the Eternal personally imprisoned Abyss and Wise.

It was also today that Meng Chuan killed Wise, obtaining its memories.

Wise is a hundred-headed monster. It’s born with a hundred heads, and each head has a different personality, thoughts, and hobbies. It’s like a hundred completely different living beings, but their memories are interconnected, forming a complete consciousness. These hundred heads deliberately seek different cultivation paths. It’s important to note that it devoured many Chaos creatures in Abyss, and it’s born to devour the memories of other creatures.

The more memories it devoured, the more knowledgeable it became.

The hundred heads took a hundred cultivation paths? Meng Chuan sighed in amazement. He had only taken one path—the Painting Dao!

Wise actually took a hundred paths simultaneously—one for each head. The Painting Dao was also one of them, but Wise’s attainments in the Painting Dao were only at Meng Chuan’s level when he was at the Sixth Tribulation realm.

However, that didn’t undermine Wise’s multiple paths.

Painting Dao, Soul Dao, Heart Dao, Dream Dao, World Dao, Talisman Dao, Array Formation Dao... These paths weren’t figured out by Wise. Instead, they were gradually consolidated by the memories of the countless living beings it devoured in Abyss. Therefore, each path’s realm wasn’t high.

The higher ones were around the Seventh Tribulation realm, while the lower ones were around the Sixth Tribulation realm.

Although it had relied on devouring memories to take a hundred paths, it still astonished Meng Chuan.

This was because he knew very well that one had to be dedicated to one path when taking it. Just like the Painting Dao, one needed a pair of eyes that could paint the world. It was the same for other paths.

Wise was indeed extremely talented. It walked a hundred paths with a ‘hundred dedication.’ Every path was sincerely liked by its heart, and it had the necessary talent. Only by doing so could it ultimately walk a hundred paths.

The reason why it’s called Wise is that it can comprehend anything from the vantage of a hundred paths simultaneously. By verifying and cross-referencing using the 100 paths, the intersection that Wise figures out will be something it finds absolutely correct. It’s also because of this method that it constantly deduced the structure of Abyss, allowing Abyss to become more perfect and powerful. Meng Chuan sighed in amazement.

The intersection of 100 insights? It can be done?

As an opportunity offered to him as an Eternal disciple, Meng Chuan could perfectly devour a Chaos creature once, but all he received were memories.

However, the memories regarding the 100 Dao were too precious. Meng Chuan was very satisfied.

He felt that he could use his Painting Dao to draw on the strengths of these hundred Dao.

This was how cultivation should be. Every Great Dao led to the final goal—Eternal! His Painting Dao could use the 100 Dao as sustenance.

He couldn’t cultivate a hundred Dao like Wise. This was because he had to be dedicated to a path before he could go far!

Ordinary creatures could only walk one path.

Whoosh.

Meng Chuan was in a good mood. He was naturally happy that his foundation in painting had a chance of improving.

When Meng Chuan opened his eyes with a smile, he saw a black-and-white beast staring at him with its eyes wide open.

Meng Chuan was shocked; he didn’t sense it.

“Senior Thousand-Hands.” Meng Chuan immediately stood up and bowed.

“Now, you can call me Senior Brother,” said the black-and-white beast with a smile.

Meng Chuan was delighted.

Killing a Chaos overlord meant passing the test. He could be considered a disciple of an Eternal existence, so Thousand-Hands could now be addressed as senior brother.

“Greetings, Senior Brother Thousand-Hands.” Meng Chuan bowed respectfully.

The black-and-white beast threw out a jade talisman. “Refine it.”

Meng Chuan caught the jade talisman and infused his Power of Essence Soul into it.

The jade talisman immediately fused with Meng Chuan’s Essence Soul, causing a flame mark to appear at his glabella.

“From now on, you can barely be considered Master’s disciple,” said the black-and-white beast.

When Meng Chuan refined the jade talisman, he understood many things. For example, his master’s name. For example, his master’s cave abode and his 99 residences.

“Barely count?” Meng Chuan was puzzled.

“You will naturally be considered Master’s disciple after passing the test,” said the black-and-white beast. “But strictly speaking, you still have to head to Master’s cave abode, Azure Volcano, and obtain Master’s personal approval.”

Meng Chuan nodded slightly. As a disciple, he could use a mystic technique to form a spacetime teleportation tunnel that linked Dry Origin Mountain to Azure Volcano. Even an Essence Soul Eighth Tribulation Eminence would take ten years.

“Once you arrive at Azure Volcano, you have to wait for an audience. Master might sleep for hundreds of millions of years. When he summons you will naturally depend on his will,” said the black-and-white beast.

“Understood.” Meng Chuan nodded. Eighth Tribulation Eminences were beyond the River of Spacetime. They had the patience, no matter how long they had to wait.

However, he didn’t have much time left before his tribulation. He couldn’t afford to wait.

“The most important thing for you right now is to transcend the tribulation,” said the black-and-white beast. “Master is very lenient with his disciples. He allows them to cultivate and grow. Even if they encounter danger and die to a powerful enemy, Master will pull his disciples out from spacetime. But there’s one thing... Master can’t save you when your lifespan is up.

“Who determines your lifespan? In fact, it’s the endless spacetime law which deems when you die,” said the black-and-white beast. “Do those Sixth and Seventh Tribulation Eminences really die because of age? It’s the endless spacetime law determining that it’s time for them to die of old age. The endless laws of spacetime cannot be violated. Only by transcending the ninth Heavenly Tribulation can one truly transcend and become Eternal.

“You are now facing the eighth Heavenly Tribulation. If you fail to transcend it, you will die. If the endless spacetime believes that you deserve death, even if Master scoops you out, you will be obliterated once more,” said the black-and-white beast.

Meng Chuan understood. If the endless spacetime wants me dead, even Master can’t save me.