Chapter 760: Ten Thousand Years Later

Secret Technique: Three Autumn Leaves

Meng Chuan truly wished to paint the story of how so few people managed to conquer the land.

In the early days, various races contended for dominance, and humanity was insignificant among them.

But then, with a particular generation of humanity, driven by environmental and other factors, a spirit of conquest emerged. Starting with fifteen individuals, relying solely on their own legs, they continued generation after generation, traversing the entire continent to become the dominant race across the land. In that primitive era, this was an incredible miracle. After all, in that barbaric period, there were many ferocious beasts with unique bloodlines. The natural environment was far harsher than it is today, with primitive mountains, dense forests, venomous insects, noxious miasma, and formidable beasts. Leaving a safe homeland for an unknown place meant facing countless dangers; many would perish, and only a rare few would ultimately find a new home.

Yet, the spirit of conquest ingrained in their bones kept this generation constantly moving forward. When the parents perished, their children continued; and when the children perished, their grandchildren took up the mantle. Generation after generation took up the relay. In three thousand years, they traversed and conquered the continent. Meng Chuan could feel the ancestors' spirit of conquest; he was both awestruck and proud of them.

Meng Chuan gazed at the sprawling painting before him, noting that 120 million years ago, primitive humans began to appear amidst the contention of various races. It was only 30 million years ago, when those fifteen individuals embarked on their sea voyage, that humanity truly became the master of this living world.

Even in that era, dangers were everywhere, and the average human lifespan was only twenty to thirty years. Even then, there was no complete cultivation system, only incomplete methods that had been imperfectly developed. Even then, they were few in number and very weak. Yet, relying on these factors—an average lifespan of twenty to thirty years and their weak strength—they continued generation after generation, completing an incredible miracle: the conquest of the entire continent. Meng Chuan, observing history, clearly understood how difficult it was to conquer the continent in that era. They contended with the environment and competed with other races; many from each generation fell along the way, but the survivors pressed on.

Meng Chuan could feel the overwhelming resilience of life.

As a God-Fiend and a mighty figure of the Tribulation Realm, Meng Chuan cared for the weak. However, he had also come to believe that while mortals were indeed the foundation, they were ultimately very weak, and a race's prominence depended on its powerful members. However, in the portrayal of "generation after generation taking up the mantle," Meng Chuan saw the incredible resilience of life.

Even mortals!

If one generation was not enough, then ten generations, or a hundred generations, could still achieve what even God-Fiends could not. Even mortals! Generation after generation, they continued to gradually foster a cultivation system! As long as they persistently pursued one direction, they could create incredible achievements; this was the source of humanity's rise. His own achievements were also built upon the foundations laid by his predecessors; he was merely a part of this "generation after generation relay."

"A race," Meng Chuan murmured, "needs precisely this kind of resilience. Only with such resilience can it overcome any difficulty and grow stronger." He continued, "Cultivators also need such resilience; with it, the mind becomes increasingly tenacious, able to withstand the erosion of time."

At the far right end of the entire sprawling scroll, Meng Chuan wrote five characters: *The Resilience of Life*.

Meng Chuan personally painted each human ancestor from that era, bringing them vividly to life. This process also refined his own mind. "Even my spiritual will has been affected and significantly improved," Meng Chuan sighed. His spiritual will had undergone countless trials; he had even listened to the Eternal's teachings and comprehended a purple secret technique. After reaching such a realm, further improvement became increasingly difficult. Although the painting *The Resilience of Life* only brought a slight improvement, Meng Chuan realized that even comprehending another purple-grade secret technique now might not offer as much help as this painting. The higher one cultivates, the harder progress becomes, and the help this painting offered was already substantial.

In the following days, Meng Chuan accompanied his wife, continuing to observe the history of Cangyuan World. During this process, Meng Chuan painted nine epic human history paintings of Cangyuan World, including *The Resilience of Life*, *The Continuation of Bloodlines*, *Nation*, *Family*, and *Culture*. He also created one hundred and nine portraits of historical figures from Cangyuan World. Meng Chuan had been steeped in Cangyuan World's culture since childhood. As he observed its history, especially realizing that everything he had learned culturally had its origins there, he naturally felt a deeper resonance. These historical sources greatly moved him.

The nine epic human history paintings and the one hundred and nine portraits of historical figures almost encapsulated the core and most brilliant key elements of Cangyuan World's history. They also completely reshaped Meng Chuan's cultural understanding, making his cognition complete. His wisdom naturally improved, and his spiritual will also naturally increased.

During this same period, Meng Chuan also thoroughly integrated the Spatial-Temporal Rule into his own Primordial Spirit technique, elevating *Painting the World* to the level of an Eighth Tribulation Realm art.

However...

Meng Chuan's spiritual will was still unable to bear the Spatial-Temporal Rule. The saying 'the greater your heart, the greater your world' implies that one's spiritual will determines the extent of one's reality; clearly, Meng Chuan's spiritual will was still unable to fully contain space-time.

Time passed.

Another five hundred years passed in Cangyuan World. However, since his primary Primordial Spirit essence was cultivating in Qianyuan Mountain, Meng Chuan's actual cultivation time had advanced by over sixteen thousand years. Throughout these sixteen thousand years, Meng Chuan dedicated himself to cultivation.

In the later stages of cultivation, wisdom determined one's will. If one reached omniscience, their spiritual will would become eternal; this was how Eternal Beings existed. Using the Spatial-Temporal Rule as a foundation, Meng Chuan conversely deduced and comprehended various fundamental rules. Rules are the secrets of how the world operates; the more rules one masters, the closer one gets to omniscience. Like Master Moshan and Dragon Ancestor, he was still progressing on this path. What Meng Chuan was doing now was simply what every half-step Eighth Tribulation Realm cultivator would do: comprehending the ten fundamental rules of his home universe.

In addition to the original Chaos Hole Rule and Creation Rule, Meng Chuan also comprehended eight other fundamental rules: the Karma Rule, the Matter Rule, the Immeasurable Rule, the World Rule, the Nirvana Rule, the Origin Point Rule, the Chaos Rule, and the Reincarnation Rule. With the complete mastery of the ten fundamental rules, the secrets of all things in his home universe became clearer to Meng Chuan. His doubts diminished, his Primordial Spirit technique became more perfect, and his spiritual will naturally improved.

During these sixteen thousand years, Meng Chuan also slew three more peak Seventh Tribulation Realm Chaos beings in Qianyuan Mountain. With his vast accumulation of cultivation, he also created more powerful techniques of his own. His personal accumulation deepened, yet his spiritual will still hadn't reached the threshold of the Eighth Tribulation Realm for Primordial Spirit.

Meng Chuan was not in a hurry. In the entire River of Spacetime, very few individuals throughout history had possessed a spiritual will capable of bearing space-time. This path was destined to be incredibly difficult. With a lifespan of nearly two hundred thousand years in the Seventh Tribulation Realm, he had only lived for just over thirty-three thousand years. What was there to rush? Compared to those ancestors who used their lives to conquer one home after another, what was this small obstacle he faced?