Chapter 1480: The Four Sage Lords of the Immortal Realm
Chapter 1480: The Four Sage Lords of the Immortal Realm
"To comprehend three thousand Daos with the power of a single man. The Grandmaster's ambition, surprisingly, aligns with my own."
Glancing around, Li Bairen was somewhat astonished. And a little perplexed.
The Grandmaster's inner self was a reflection of all living things.
It was also a manifestation of the countless Great Daos between heaven and earth.
Countless beings, copied by the Grandmaster, had become vessels for the manifestation of these Daos.
Li Bairen looked upon the countless faces arrayed around him and, for a fleeting moment, felt as if he were inside the Dao Net.
In fact, conceptually speaking, the Grandmaster alone was indeed comparable to the "Dao Net."
However, whether it was the intricate detail of the beings' enlightenment or the sheer number of Dao principles, it still paled in comparison to the Dao Net Li Fan had witnessed in Shuo Xinghai.
Li Bairen's gaze shifted from Lan Yu to another figure, a mortal from Source Dao Province.
The aura coalescing around him was a Great Dao related to "painting."
The intensity of the aura's fluctuations was something no mere mortal could possibly possess!
"The shadows copied by the Grandmaster have a comprehension of the Dao that far surpasses their originals..."
Li Bairen looked toward the focal point of all the phantom beings' gazes.
In the unseen void, where the Phantom Shadow resided.
Understanding dawned on Li Bairen in an instant. "So that's how it is. The Phantom Shadow is the pinnacle of change. Not only does it adapt to the flow of time, but it can also produce different reactions based on the countless different beings it comes into contact with."
Back when the Ten Great Immortal Sects entered Tiandu and saw the Phantom Shadow, each of them perceived different techniques, yet all of them seemed inexplicably linked to their own previous studies, as if tailor-made for them.
Because of this, the members of the Ten Great Immortal Sects were convinced that the Grandmaster must have come from the Immortal Realm, and that what he had imparted to them were legacies from that higher plane.
"The Immortal Realm... How could it possess mortal techniques? The true legacies of the Ten Great Immortal Sects are still a far cry from immortal arts!"
"They would never have imagined that their so-called legacies were nothing more than the different evolutions naturally produced by the [Phantom Shadow] upon contact with them. Just like a mirror!"
"The Grandmaster let them in to face the [Phantom Shadow], and later periodically froze the living beings of Source Dao Province, likely for the very purpose of capturing the Dao-images reflected in that mirror."
Thinking of this, Li Bairen couldn't help but see the Tiandu Grandmaster in a new light.
He had obtained a supreme treasure that led directly to the Nameless Realm, yet unlike the Hunger Immortal, he didn't try to comprehend the treasure's own Dao directly. Instead, he used it as a tool, attempting to bring all the Daos of the world under his command...
And the Grandmaster himself was, in reality, still just a half-immortal.
Such an endeavor could only be described as arrogant and wildly overambitious.
But Li Bairen knew deep down that for the Grandmaster to face a Nameless Treasure and still suppress his greed, to stand guard for ten thousand years without wavering from his original goal...
He was certainly no fool.
"He must have his own reasons for doing this."
For the moment, Li Bairen didn't press him, but instead looked at the different Daoist paths the Grandmaster had accumulated over millennia through the Phantom Shadow's transformations. He then gave a rare, faint smile.
"Not strong enough. You've only been preparing a feast for another."
"I shall accept this generous gift, then."
With that thought, a cataclysmic tide of ink erupted from Li Bairen's body.
Like countless tendrils, it reached out and tainted the myriad Dao-images within the Grandmaster, one after another.
Just as Li Bairen had deduced, each figure contained the enlightenment of a different path.
They were like fruits that had ripened for tens of thousands of years, their fragrance utterly intoxicating to any cultivator.
Li Bairen showed no mercy, claiming every last one for himself.
As the thousands of Dao-images were devoured by Li Bairen, within Li Fan's main body, in the endless black ocean of his Ink Killer immortal soul, droplets of different colors began to appear.
It was exactly the same phenomenon that had occurred when Ink Killer had first tainted the heavens and earth of the Xuanhuang Realm.
The Grandmaster's millennia of comprehended Daos, combined with Li Fan's own enlightenment from countless reincarnations...
Innumerable ink droplets, representing different Daoist paths, separated themselves from the Ink Killer soul.
The myriad forms of life emerged unceasingly.
While bringing a spark of life to the Ink Killer soul, it also provided it with pathways to transform into different Great Daos.
Feeling the dramatic change within him, a thought flickered in Li Fan's mind. A pulsating flame, black at the edges and red in the center, appeared in his palm.
"Ink Killer as the essence, Crimson Flame as the form."
"This flame..."
With a flick of his finger, the black flame instantly transformed into a thin thread, flying out of the Xuanhuang Realm and striking the heavenly pillar formed by the Hunger Immortal in the Darkest Star Sea with a resounding crash.
Not a single ripple was produced; the pillar remained perfectly still.
After all, it was the transformed body of a Nameless True Immortal, capable of withstanding the Dao Annihilation Calamity. Li Fan's main body was still only at the half-immortal stage. As strange as Ink Killer was, it was not nearly enough to harm the Hunger Immortal's pillar.
Li Fan wasn't surprised. He raised an eyebrow, sensing the inconspicuous black scorch mark left on the pillar.
"Even the powerful repulsive nature of a Nameless Immortal's body, fused with a single Dao, cannot completely expel the Ink Killer."
"And with that black mark, the corrosion of Ink Killer continues. It's slow, but it's relentless."
"Stretched across an infinite timeline, even this towering pillar might one day be pierced."
"And this is just the beginning..."
Li Fan had a premonition that as he corrupted more and more Daos, Ink Killer's corrosive ability would only grow stronger.
"It's as if different Daoist paths share certain common threads. The more paths I corrupt, the more of these commonalities I master."
"Using them as keys, I will eventually be unstoppable."
The idea of using Ink Killer to corrupt the three thousand Great Daos had just been born, but it had already taken root and begun to sprout.
Aside from his own accumulation of knowledge, this was largely thanks to the Grandmaster's tens of thousands of years of collection.
As the overwhelming ink completely consumed the Grandmaster's inner world, Li Fan also noticed certain characteristics of the Grandmaster's method of enlightenment.
Unlike the Dao Net, with its structure of countless parallel nodes, the Grandmaster ultimately centered everything on himself.
Thousands of Dao-images stood in attendance around him.
Like an emperor receiving the homage of all the Great Daos in the heavens!
But now, with Li Fan's interference, this majestic emperor had been reduced to a solitary figure.
Li Bairen stood face to face with the true Grandmaster.
Surrounded by countless versions of what was once himself, trapped in a desperate situation, the Tiandu Grandmaster was surprisingly devoid of despair, fear, or anger.
The Daoist child, with his youthful and innocent appearance, remained perfectly calm. He was simply pinching his fingers, endlessly calculating something.
Finally, as if his efforts were fruitless, He shook his head and gave up.
He asked in a faint, ethereal voice, "Where do you hail from, friend?"
"I come from where I come from, of course," Li Bairen replied coldly.
Seeing Li Bairen's unwillingness to reveal anything, the Grandmaster didn't press the matter.
Instead, he tried to bargain. "I will offer you the [Shadow of Tai Yi] willingly. In return, let me leave. Is that acceptable?"
"Tai Yi?" Li Bairen paused for a moment in thought.
Then he answered with cold indifference, "If I kill you, this Phantom Shadow will be mine anyway."
Hearing this, the Grandmaster seemed wistful, though not because of Li Bairen's murderous intent, but because of the different names for the shadow. "So, in your eyes, it is a Phantom Shadow."
"It makes no difference."
The Grandmaster shook his head. "Before the heavens and earth were born, there was boundless chaos. From this, Tai Yi first emerged."
"Then, the myriad things came into being."
"Tai Yi is the ultimate principle of change in the universe. If Tai Yi were still Tai Yi, the world would not have become what it is today."
"Even the Great Dao itself is in decay. Tai Yi devolved into a Phantom Shadow... Heh, I was deluded in the past."
Li Bairen narrowed his eyes, listening to this rather cryptic explanation.
"Even if the Great Dao were not in decay, and the true Dao of [Tai Yi] were placed before you, what could you, a mere half-immortal, possibly do with it?"
Seeing that Li Bairen had yet to make his move, the Grandmaster was happy to live a little longer.
"Ah, but you are mistaken, friend. The Dao of Tai Yi already has its master. And that master is my own."
"Though my Master has departed, leaving only a remnant shadow in this world, his legacy is not something I would dare covet. I merely sought to borrow my Master's divine might to comprehend the myriad Daoist paths of the world," the Grandmaster said serenely, showing no sign of someone whose life hung by a thread.
"Do you think inventing some non-existent master will stop me from refining you?" Li Bairen snorted.
The Grandmaster gave a faint smile and pointed to his own Daoist robes. "This Daoist child attire... I have worn it for eons. It is exactly as I was when I served my Master. I haven't changed it since. How could it be an invention?"
"Believe it or not, as you wish. But you need not worry. Even if you kill me, my Master will not intervene on my behalf. Back then, he left this shadow behind to support the collapsing heavens of the Immortal Realm. But before I could deliver it, entire immortal domains were drowned by the Dao Annihilation. I looked upon my Master's shadow, and greed was born in my heart..."
"A being who can transcend, yet cannot even control a remnant shadow of themselves? Your lies are becoming rather crude," Li Bairen commented.
The Grandmaster glanced at Li Bairen, his tone peculiar. "When I say my Master departed, I mean he passed away. I do not mean he transcended. Though my Master possessed heaven-defying abilities, he chose to die. Naturally, not a trace of his spirit remains."
Li Bairen was stunned into silence.
What the Grandmaster said was completely beyond his expectations.
"One who has merged with the Dao of [Tai Yi]... can die so easily?" His voice was laced with disbelief.
"Easily... Hehehe."
The Grandmaster laughed but didn't answer directly, changing the subject instead. "Indeed, if my old Master wished to continue living, he likely had ways to extend his life. But he simply had no desire to!"
"Who in this world wanted him to live more than I? After all, as long as he was alive, even the reigning Immortal Emperor of the era had to treat me with the utmost respect."
"But once he died..."
"Hehehe."
The smile on the Grandmaster's face became somewhat sinister and twisted.
"In that case, your master must have been one of the supreme experts of the Immortal Realm. How did he compare to Shou Qiu Gong?" Li Bairen asked, ignoring the man's strange expression.
"Shou Qiu Gong." The name pulled the Grandmaster out of his resentful state, leaving him momentarily dazed.
Then he spoke slowly, "My Master and Shou Qiu Gong never met."
"My Master was a renowned expert known to all in the Immortal Realm, while Shou Qiu Gong was a recluse who emerged from the wilderness, his fame exploding overnight."
"I once asked my Master about Shou Qiu Gong, but he only said..."
The Grandmaster suddenly paused, as if to build suspense.
But Li Bairen managed to restrain himself, simply watching the Grandmaster with a cold gaze, waiting for him to continue.
After a tense moment, the Grandmaster, feeling it was pointless, said, "My Master only spoke five faint words: 'Without responsibility, one is naturally strong.'"
"What that truly meant, I could not possibly know."
"In any case, right up until he passed away, he never mentioned that Shou Qiu Gong again."
Li Bairen savored those five words, "Without responsibility, one is naturally strong."
After a while, he suddenly asked, "In the former Immortal Realm, how many experts like your master were there?"
The Grandmaster's expression grew distant as he fell into recollection. "Those who could sit and discuss the Dao with my Master... in the entire Immortal Realm, there were only three."
"Of course, this does not include Shou Qiu Gong."
"When my Master went to visit them, he would sometimes take me, and other times he would journey alone in spirit."
"I remember, I once asked him who among the four Sage Lords was the strongest. My Master didn't answer, only smiled and tapped my forehead. He said..."
"'Who is strongest, I do not know. But if you ask who bears the heaviest burden, it must be the two Sage Lords, [Lian Shan] and [Gui Hai].'"
"After saying this, my Master seemed to think of something amusing and burst into loud laughter."
The moment he heard the names [Lian Shan] and [Gui Hai], Li Bairen instinctively thought of the mountain and sea that Shou Qiu Gong had seen.
He couldn't help but ask, "This Lian Shan and Gui Hai..."
The Grandmaster snapped out of his reverie, staring intently at Li Bairen.
After a long silence, wondering what to make of the question, he finally answered.
"Lian Shan, the world's first immortal."
"Gui Hai, who connected to the Infinite Spring."
"It can be said that these two Sage Lords, from nothing, forged the eternal golden age of the former Immortal Realm," the Grandmaster said with a solemn expression, each word deliberate.
From his demeanor, his reverence for these two Sage Lords was clear as day.
Though the words were few, they struck Li Bairen's ears like claps of thunder.
The Grandmaster's words were not difficult to understand.
Lian Shan was the very first immortal in the world.
Gui Hai was the True Immortal who had found a way to connect to the Infinite Sea, making immortal power endless from that point on.
Having personally witnessed the vast, boundless expanse of the Infinite Sea, Li Bairen knew that a figure who could harness its power must have reached an unimaginable level of strength.
And the name "Lian Shan," Connecting Mountains, when juxtaposed with the opposing Infinite Sea, was profoundly thought-provoking.
"Perhaps the mountain was the original foundation of a True Immortal's power."
Li Bairen's mind raced.
The Grandmaster's origins were far grander than he had ever imagined.
"Besides the three Sage Lords [Tai Yi], [Lian Shan], and [Gui Hai], who is the last one?" Since the Grandmaster was answering everything, Li Bairen continued to press him for information about the old Immortal Realm.
"The last one..." The Grandmaster paused, a rare hesitation in his voice.
"Cannot be named."
After a long while, he shook his head.
"My Master, Lian Shan, and Gui Hai have all passed away. Only this Sage Lord still exists in the world."
"To speak their name is to be perceived."
(End of Chapter)
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