Chapter 1096: The Legend of Creation
"This power of the gloom," Li Fan began, his tone grave, "could certainly help us escape the Immortal Ruins. But that's only if we can control it safely."
"Otherwise..."
Li Fan's expression hardened. "If the world is corrupted by this gloom, I fear its fate will be no better than being consumed by the Immortal Ruins."
As they spoke, the gloom clinging to Mo Rubin's body suddenly pulsed and expanded, as if feeding on some unseen nourishment.
It swelled, threatening to engulf the corpse entirely.
Yet, strangely, the rhythmic pulse emanating from the body never ceased.
In fact, it grew even stronger and more distinct.
A tremor, like a monstrous heartbeat, reverberated through the desolate, gloomy land, stirring a deep sense of foreboding within Li Fan.
The other Dharma Transmitters in the group also sensed that something was amiss.
Only after they had retreated a considerable distance did the intense unease in Li Fan's heart begin to subside.
"I recommend we seal this entire area off completely," Li Fan advised. "Until we understand the true nature of this power of the gloom, no one should go near Mo Rubin's corpse."
"When I return, I will report this discovery to the Alliance immediately. I'll inform you the moment I hear anything new."
Seeing Li Fan's grave caution, Dharma Transmitter Zhou nodded in apparent agreement, but inwardly, he remained unconvinced.
"There's no need to be overly anxious, my friend," he said dismissively. "Whatever this power is, its nature is to repel the Immortal Ruins. That much is certain. It means it's destined never to encroach upon the Xuanhuang Realm."
Li Fan saw his dismissiveness, shook his head, and said no more.
With Mo Rubin dead, Li Fan had no further reason to linger.
His quest for vengeance had ended anticlimactically, but the discovery of this mysterious power was a momentous one.
After taking his leave of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, Li Fan swiftly convened the heads of his own association's departments and recounted his experience in the land of gloom.
"The power of the gloom..."
Daoist Baihua was the first to speak.
As someone who had survived since ancient times, his power may have been unremarkable, but his knowledge was vast and his experience extensive.
"I believe I recall a friend from a bygone era speaking of something similar," he began.
"He witnessed his own homeworld fall into the Immortal Ruins from a great distance. He described a surreal sight: all of creation dissolving, collapsing into a bizarre, twisting halo of light."
"According to his account, at the very moment his world vanished completely into the Immortal Ruins, a tremendous amount of matter seemed to erupt in the opposite direction."
"It was imperceptible to both the naked eye and spiritual sense. He was merely grazed by its edge, yet the impact left him grievously wounded. Even after he recovered, he was twisted into something neither human nor ghost."
As Daoist Baihua sketched a terrifying image of a cultivator whose face was a mass of black, writhing voids, a solemn mood fell over the room.
Then, Master Qiaogong seemed to recall something as well. "When the power of the Immortal Ruins first began to encroach upon the Ancestor," he said, "we were actually quite confident we could weather the calamity."
"Our calculations showed that the strength of the Ancestor's remaining form was more than sufficient to resist the pull of the Immortal Ruins. But as time went on, the pull grew stronger, and that was only part of the problem..."
A look of sudden understanding dawned on Master Qiaogong's face. "The true cause, the fundamental reason, was that the Ancestor's own strength was weakening by the day! It felt as if something essential was constantly bleeding away, causing its body to slowly decay."
"At the time, the elders were completely mystified. In the end, we could only attribute the decay to the overwhelming power of the Immortal Ruins."
"But now, it seems very likely that what we were losing... was this very power of the gloom."
Li Fan listened to their accounts, his expression thoughtful. "So what you're both suggesting is that this power of the gloom is an intrinsic part of a cultivator's strength. Its nature is diametrically opposed to the pull of the Immortal Ruins, so as a world draws closer to the abyss, this power is forcibly stripped away."
"In other cultivation worlds, this power would simply dissipate. But in the Xuanhuang Realm, for some unknown reason, it has all converged in one location, remaining bound to our world."
"And if the Xuanhuang Realm can one day break free from the Immortal Ruins, this power should, in theory, return to all living things within it."
Master Qiaogong and Daoist Baihua both nodded in agreement with Li Fan's analysis.
At that moment, Liu Ruchen of the Medicine King Sect spoke up. "I've never witnessed this 'power of the gloom' myself," he said, "but I once came across a certain legend in an ancient text."
"It's a story passed down among many ancient peoples, a legend concerning the origin of humankind."
"In the beginning, there were no humans, nor were there any cultivation worlds. Only a handful of powerful beings drifted through the absolute void. One of them, overcome with boredom, used its own substance as raw material to create and shape one world after another."
"Gradually, the void began to fill. The other great beings, drawn in by these fantastic, peculiar worlds, began to follow suit. They used themselves as archetypes to create all manner of different races."
"The ancestor of humankind was that very first creator of worlds."
It was clearly the first time anyone present had heard this legend, and they all listened with rapt attention.
"The universe became a much livelier place, but the great beings soon discovered a problem. None of their creations were immortal like themselves. They were all bound by the limitations of a 'lifespan.'"
"This vibrancy was only temporary; soon, the cosmos would fall silent once more. Creating for their own amusement was one thing, but to constantly create anew would become a tiresome burden."
"And so, one by one, the great beings lost interest in the lives they had brought into existence."
"But there was one who was different. Unwilling to watch his creations simply vanish, he fought and defeated his kin. He drew power from their very beings and gifted it to all the creatures of the world."
"And because of this gift, all living things gained the ability to procreate."
Here, Liu Ruchen suddenly trailed off.
The audience, captivated by the tale, gestured for him to continue.
Liu Ruchen simply shrugged. "That's all there is."
"The rest is just platitudes about being grateful for the grace of the creator gods."
"The reason I brought it up," he continued, "is because it might offer some insight. It could inspire us to study the effects of losing—or gaining—this power of the gloom."
"If this power has always existed within us, only to be drawn out by the emergence of the Immortal Ruins... then doesn't that mean that we, in our current state..."
"...are incomplete?"
"How are we different from the cultivators who lived before the Immortal Ruins ever appeared?"
Hearing this, Master Qiaogong's expression shifted.
"It's as I've always said! Ever since the Great Calamity of the Immortal Ruins, my insight and creativity have felt... diminished. Not what they once were."
"Could this be the reason why?"
Comments