299: Geological variables, crushing

Pulling his consciousness back, Lin Chen remained in the Sea of Origin, setting up a Dao Fruit Ripening Formation.

Because he had become the Karma Dao Master, Lin Chen had many new ideas for ripening Dao Fruits. He could optimize the current process, compressing the time to a hundred years and halving the power consumption.

The new ripening Formation only required one extra portion of power to ripen one Dao Fruit with one portion of power, greatly slowing down the rate at which the Sea of Origin would fade.

The power contained within the Sea of Origin was limited; if too much was consumed, it would wither and retreat into the depths of the Universe.

Lin Chen didn't want the Sea of Origin to wither for now. There were still twenty-three treasures being nurtured within it; the Sea of Origin could not wither before they had fully matured.

As a newborn Universe, the Dize Universe had limited accumulation. Lin Chen needed to achieve infinite things within those limited resources; he didn't want to drain the Dize Universe dry.

A year later, Lin Chen had set up twenty-three great ripening Formations. These Formations were linked together, further enhancing their effects.

Within eighty years, Lin Chen would harvest seven Dao Fruits, eight Dao Rhyme Supreme Treasures, and eight Dao Rhyme Spiritual Roots.

The price was that the Sea of Origin would never be able to nurture new treasures again. Its volume would shrink to one percent of its current size, only able to supply energy to the pseudo rule embryo, and its remaining existence would be shortened from several hundred million years to eighty thousand years.

Ripening twenty-three Dao Rhyme Supreme Treasure-level items at once could be said to have severely overdrawn the power of the Sea of Origin. If Lin Chen hadn't improved the ripening Formations midway, the Sea of Origin would have withered directly after eighty years.

"As expected, when a treasure land encounters an existence like me, even the land itself can't withstand my devastation."

Lin Chen admitted he was draining the pond to catch the fish.

After all, he truly didn't have the time to wait for the treasures to mature naturally.

The time it took for a treasure to form naturally was far too long for him. He had only been cultivating for over three hundred years so far; compared to the tens of millions of years treasures often took to mature, his time was so short it was negligible.

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"Lin Fellow Daoist, please return to provide support quickly. Foundation Level energy fluctuations have been detected in the Dize Universe; there may be Indigenous Gods Attaining the Dao to the Foundation Level."

Sometimes, things really do happen one after another.

Lin Chen had just finished setting up the Formations and sealed the core of the Sea of Origin, preparing to wait peacefully for the treasures to mature, when the communication mark he left behind sent a message.

Unless it was a major matter, the Dize Human Race would not look for him.

If they were looking for him, it was bound to be something big.

"Attaining the Dao to the Foundation Level? I'll go take a look."

Lin Chen took a step forward and left the Sea of Origin.

With another step, he had already returned to the Human Race Territory of Dize, arriving at the local Human Race's meeting place.

With nearly a hundred years having passed, the Dize Human Race had already moved beyond the outpost galaxy, spreading their footprints across a Star Domain spanning three hundred million light-years. They were currently building the first Star Domain-level territory for the Dize Human Race.

During this process, they clearly hadn't encountered any particularly strong resistance. A newborn race and a few Indigenous Gods who had obtained Opportunities were no match for the organized Human Race expedition and were crushed one by one.

The expansion of the Dize Human Race was much easier than the expansion in the main world.

This Universe had no Foundation Level. The strongest enemies were only at the Main God Level. Occasionally, there were gods who had comprehended a few strands of Dao Source Power, but they were no match for the Human Race's Main Gods either.

"Lin Fellow Daoist, you're back."

"Tell me the specific situation."

Main God Wan Hua immediately explained the details.

Only then did Lin Chen understand what had happened.

In the center of the Dize Universe, in the region near the core of the primitive 'Singularity', an Opportunity for Attaining the Dao had appeared.

At this moment, countless Dize Indigenous Gods on the verge of Attaining the Dao had headed there to fight for it. The Human Race had also sent several Main Gods to join the fray.

On one hand, it was to determine the final outcome; on the other, it was to see if they could seize the Opportunity and gain a chance for Attaining the Dao.

The struggle had now reached a fever pitch. In another year or two, the Opportunity for Attaining the Dao would fully manifest.

Because the Sea of Origin's isolation from the outside world was very strong, Lin Chen had not sensed the Opportunity manifesting in the center of the Universe.

His Luck hadn't shown any reaction either. Perhaps a single Opportunity for Attaining the Dao was no longer enough to draw Lin Chen's special attention, which was why it hadn't given him a premonition.

"Alright, I'll make a trip. This Opportunity for Attaining the Dao is suitable for my Human Race, and it rightfully belongs to my Human Race."

Opportunities are obtained by those with fate and virtue.

Lin Chen was clearly that person of fate and virtue.

Sometimes, the one with the biggest fist is the one with fate and virtue.

If anyone dared to say he lacked fate or virtue, he could convince them with reason.

He had just been promoted to Foundation Level combat power and was currently in a state of expansion.

Main God Wan Hua wanted to say something more, but Lin Chen had already vanished before her. With her cultivation as a top-tier Main God close to Attaining the Dao, she felt nothing at all, as if Lin Chen had never appeared.

"Hiss, has this person attained the Dao?"

Wan Hua speculated as such.

Because last time she could still perceive how Lin Chen left, but now, when Lin Chen departed, he left no traces or information. Even with her best efforts, she couldn't detect a thing.

Only the Foundation Level could achieve this step, which was why she guessed Lin Chen had attained the Dao.

At this time, Lin Chen was rushing toward the center of the Universe.

The Dize Human Race's outpost Star Domain was located in the frontier region of the Universe, quite far from the center—about over a hundred billion light-years away.

This distance was not very far for Lin Chen.

In a mere moment, he had already crossed this distance and arrived at the place where the Opportunity was manifesting.

"An instinctive reaction of the Dize Universe?"

After observing for a moment, Lin Chen understood the reason for this Opportunity's appearance.

Normally, the Opportunity for Attaining the Dao here should only have appeared eight hundred thousand years later. Furthermore, when the Opportunity appeared, it wouldn't be obtained by any living being; instead, it would retreat into the depths of the Universe and become a legend.

Only in the future would the Opportunity be acquired by a fated being, allowing that fated person to step onto the path of Attaining the Dao, eventually reaching the Foundation Level and becoming one of the Universe's supreme powerhouses.

However, Lin Chen had manipulated things in the Sea of Origin. Even though he acted covertly and erased his traces from various levels to prevent the Universe from discovering him...

He was, after all, acting within the Universe. The changes in the Sea of Origin still stimulated the concept of the Universe, causing the Universe to instinctively alter certain things.

That was why this Opportunity had appeared ahead of time.

The Universe instinctively wanted to cultivate a Foundation Level being to deal with the unknown (Lin Chen).

"Lin Fellow Daoist!"

Liu Tianxing was currently a bit reactive.

He and four Main God Level companions were staring intently at the Opportunity, ready to strike and fight for it at any moment.

When Lin Chen appeared silently, the five of them instantly entered a combat state, various divine techniques ready to fire. Only after seeing clearly that it was Lin Chen did they relax slightly.

"Everyone, there's no need to be nervous. I've come this time to tell you to retreat further away. I will take action to collect this Opportunity for Attaining the Dao in advance. The commotion will be quite large when the time comes."

Lin Chen's purpose was indeed this.

"Alright, we will retreat first."

Liu Tianxing did not question whether Lin Chen had the strength; in any case, he just had to follow along. They were of the same race, so it was impossible for Lin Chen to set them up. Besides, a single Opportunity for Attaining the Dao wasn't worth Lin Chen shamelessly plotting against them.

As long as one knew of Lin Chen's deeds, they wouldn't doubt him, much less think that a single Opportunity for Attaining the Dao would be enough for Lin Chen to care about to the point of needing to send them away.

After Liu Tianxing's group of five had retreated to a safe position, Lin Chen began to act.

This time, he did not hide his figure, appearing openly in the Universe under the watchful gaze of numerous Indigenous Gods.

As a Karma Dao Master, he naturally couldn't keep a low profile; he still had to cause trouble. Only by causing trouble and forging Karma with everything could he increase his cultivation and break through the threshold of transcendence.

The sliver of the Karma concept within the Karma Rule required a massive amount of Karma feedback to be infused. Thus, Lin Chen had to cause trouble, and it had to be big trouble.

Forcibly seizing the first manifested Opportunity for Attaining the Dao in a Universe and interrupting the Universe's path of self-preservation—the Karma involved in this was Universe-level.

Forging Karma with a Universe was the only way to demonstrate his stature as the Master of Karma.

Only in this way could the resulting Karma feedback be maximized.