Chapter 752: Walking Three Thousand Years (Supplementary Chapter)

The Nine Tribulations Star was widely renowned, yet its creator remained a mystery. Was it an Eighth Tribulation Realm expert from this universe? Or an external Eighth Tribulation Realm expert who had traveled here, been moved, and created the paintings? All possibilities existed.

Given Meng Chuan's cultivation level, he could determine the sequence of the nine paintings simply by visual inspection. By employing the Eternal Secret Technique, 'Six-Brush Sigil,' to observe from afar, he could even discern the subtle shifts in the paintings' aura.

Whoosh.

Meng Chuan first landed on the first painting, which was also the initial work created by the mysterious Eighth Tribulation Realm expert on Nine Tribulations Star. This painting depicted five large lakes, four swamps, vast plains, and connecting rivers. It was the most ordinary of the nine. As Meng Chuan landed in the plains, a surge of fierce, malevolent aura immediately rose and rushed towards him.

Whoosh.

Three thousand tiny dark chaotic holes hovered around Meng Chuan, merely protecting an area within a thousand *li*. They focused solely on defense, allowing the malevolent aura to strike them.

"Entering the Nine Tribulations paintings triggers an attack," Meng Chuan mused inwardly. "But this is ultimately just the malevolent aura drawn by the paintings, not a deliberate formation set up by an Eighth Tribulation Realm mighty figure. Its power isn't too formidable. Even a newly promoted ordinary Seventh Tribulation Realm expert could withstand the first five paintings. A top-tier Seventh Tribulation Realm expert could even navigate all nine."

"The key to this first painting lies here," Meng Chuan thought. While he observed for half an hour, his primordial spirit clone in Qianyuan Mountain spent over a day comprehending it. After fully understanding the first painting, he stepped to a critical node within it—a seemingly ordinary area, only one or two *li* in circumference. Standing there, the influence of the malevolent aura weakened to an almost negligible degree.

"The second painting."

Meng Chuan then flew towards the second painting.

Meng Chuan stayed for half an hour on the first painting, and a total of three hours on paintings two through five. However, he remained on the sixth painting for a month and a half. On the seventh painting, Meng Chuan stayed for three years. He spent ten years on the eighth painting. Considering the 33-fold time acceleration in Qianyuan Mountain, the actual time Meng Chuan dedicated was astonishing.

Rumble.

A vast ocean, with dark waves rolling, and a malevolent aura that shook heaven and earth. The terrifying eighth painting was composed of the ocean and over three thousand islands. The malevolent aura contained within this painting alone required a top-tier Seventh Tribulation Realm expert to resist with full effort.

"What formidable spear arts."

In Meng Chuan's eyes, the ocean and islands transformed into a long spear. As the spear danced, the universe trembled.

"The ninth painting." After spending ten years here and gaining initial insights, Meng Chuan eagerly moved towards the ninth painting.

The ninth painting depicted the highest mountain range on Nine Tribulations Star. This majestic mountain commanded all rivers and lands. As Meng Chuan entered, he felt the suppressive force of the ninth painting, but its malevolent aura was scattered and unstructured, significantly reducing its threat. Its might was far inferior to that of the eighth painting.

"What a pity," Meng Chuan said, shaking his head slightly in disappointment. "That Eighth Tribulation Realm mighty figure intended to create even higher-level spear arts, spear arts meant to challenge the Ninth Tribulation. But it clearly has flaws; it's not even as good as the eighth painting."

"The first eight paintings form a complete set of spear arts. The ninth painting is flawed."

If it had been transmitted through text or other means, Meng Chuan, though able to use painting secret techniques to aid his cultivation, would have found it very difficult to practice. However, since the creator had fully integrated their insights into the paintings, Meng Chuan found it much easier to comprehend. He was more sensitive to paintings.

After staying on Nine Tribulations Star for over ten years, Meng Chuan had only grasped the general idea of the spear arts contained within the first eight paintings. He resolved to remain on Nine Tribulations Star for a total of thirty years to truly comprehend the complete ultimate art.

"What a formidable set of spear arts. It's the most dominant and powerful ultimate art I've ever seen." A complete set of spear arts had formed in Meng Chuan's mind. He had fully extracted the spear arts from the paintings, though he couldn't completely grasp some of the moves yet, as he was only a top-tier Seventh Tribulation Realm expert.

"No wonder he dared to attempt creating spear arts capable of challenging the Ninth Tribulation. This Eighth Tribulation Realm mighty figure... perhaps isn't far behind Dragon Ancestor." Meng Chuan had witnessed scenes of Dragon Ancestor and other beings creating universes. Having comprehended the complete spear arts from the nine paintings, he could roughly determine the power level of this mysterious Eighth Tribulation Realm expert. He also speculated that the creator of the Nine Tribulations Star paintings was likely not from this universe. This was because in this universe, the strongest was Dragon Ancestor, followed by five others like the Demonic Mountain Master, none of whom were renowned for spear arts.

"Although I am a Primordial Spirit Seventh Tribulation Realm expert, I can integrate these spear arts into my Primordial Spirit world and into my formations." Meng Chuan was quite pleased. He truly hadn't expected to learn the most powerful secret art he had encountered so far on Nine Tribulations Star. While the Eternal Secret Technique 'Six-Brush Sigil' was the most valuable, it was an auxiliary method, not for combat. Meng Chuan judged this set of spear arts to be almost comparable to 'Dragon Ancestor's Universe Creation.' After all, he had learned many Eighth Tribulation Realm secret arts over the years, and none matched these spear arts.

After staying on Nine Tribulations Star for forty-three years, Meng Chuan journeyed to other ruins left by Eighth Tribulation Realm experts.

The Sword-Forging Cave, which contained thousands of swords; Nightmare Star, where even Seventh Tribulation Realm experts could be trapped; the strange black mountain floating in the void, 'Black Mountain Abode'... Most of these ruins left by Eighth Tribulation Realm experts posed no danger to Meng Chuan now. He traveled from one to another, comprehending the traces left by those mighty figures. Although he didn't gain another ultimate art as powerful as the 'Nine Tribulations Spear Arts,' he still gathered many scattered insights.

Meng Chuan traveled throughout his home universe for over a century, visiting all the discoverable Eighth Tribulation Realm ruins. There were very few such ruins, only a few dozen in total. Meng Chuan spent the most time at the painting ruin, 'Nine Tribulations Star,' while other places required significantly less time. This was because the time flow in Qianyuan Mountain was thirty-three times faster than in his home universe. Over a century of travel, Meng Chuan had actually spent over three thousand years in comprehension and cultivation, with a little less than half of that time on Nine Tribulations Star.

"I've visited all the discoverable Eighth Tribulation Realm ruins in my home universe that I could access," Meng Chuan said, standing above a gigantic handprint. He recalled his travels over the years. His scattered insights from this period, all following the footsteps of those Eighth Tribulation Realm experts... ultimately converged at a common point: the rules of space-time.

Within Meng Chuan's mind, the rules of time became increasingly clear. He wasn't deliberately pondering how to integrate them; simply through a vast accumulation of scattered insights, his understanding naturally became clearer. Meng Chuan understood that with such continuous accumulation, even without external triggers, he would likely be able to fully master the rules of time within ten to twenty thousand years.

Although the White Bird Pavilion Master became a half-step Eighth Tribulation Realm expert in less than thirty thousand years, and Meng Chuan himself had benefited from an Eternal Being's opportunity, he felt he should certainly perform well. However, Meng Chuan also understood a principle: cultivation is not about competition, and it cannot be rushed! Haste makes waste!

"That's right," Meng Chuan realized. There was still one more Eighth Tribulation Realm ruin: Demonic Mountain!

"I've been focused on comprehending the rules of time all these years, and it's been a long time since I visited Demonic Mountain. I wonder if I can reach the summit now, and what exactly lies at its peak?" Thinking this, Meng Chuan took a step and set off for Demonic Mountain.