Chapter 1481: Please, All Daos, Disperse
As the Tiandu Grandmaster spoke, his tone carried a reverence far exceeding what he had shown when mentioning Lian Shan, Gui Hai, or even his own master.
It was clear how much weight this final, "unspeakable" Sage Lord held in his heart.
"The Immortal Realm has fallen, and the Sages are no longer sacred," Li Buren retorted coldly, his ignorance making him fearless.
The Grandmaster shook his head. "One does not become a Sage by shouldering responsibility. It is because they *are* Sages that they can achieve Sagehood. The survival or destruction of the Immortal Realm actually had very little to do with them. If my master had understood this sooner, perhaps he would have lived much longer."
"If your master knew you would say such things, he should have taken you with him when he perished."
Faced with Li Buren's sharp words, the Grandmaster was struck speechless.
The comment seemed to plunge him into distant memories.
"Your master was one of the Four Sages of the Immortal Realm, and you served by his side for tens of thousands of years. How is it that you're still merely at the half-immortal stage?"
Li Buren continued his relentless stream of questions, engaging the Grandmaster in idle conversation.
While probing for information, he was also stealthily using the Ink Death aura to corrupt the man's only remaining true body.
The thousands of Dao aspects Li Buren had previously devoured held no memories; they were merely records of the Daos reflected by the illusory phantoms.
And judging by the progress of the Ink Death's corruption during their chat, he discovered that although the Grandmaster was only at the half-immortal stage, his body and soul were seamlessly fused, like a perfect creation that should not exist in this world. There were no weaknesses to be found.
Killing him would be easy enough. But to possess him and peer into his past...
That was beyond Li Buren's current capabilities.
...
The Grandmaster seemed completely oblivious to Li Buren's clandestine actions.
"Connecting mountains will inevitably lead to returning to the sea."
"My master and the other two Sage Lords proved this with their own fates. Why would I be foolish enough to repeat their mistakes?"
"Besides, if not for my 'half-immortal' body, how could I have escaped the great calamity that destroyed the Immortal Realm? This is what they call cause and effect; everything is preordained," the Grandmaster replied, completely unbothered by Li Buren's scorn.
"If it weren't for your appearance, fellow Daoist—an existence that should never have been—I would have certainly taken that step I envisioned," the Grandmaster added, his tone tinged with a hint of lament.
Just as Li Buren was about to unleash another taunt to destabilize his opponent's mind and facilitate the Ink Death's invasion, the Tiandu Grandmaster, who had been the one answering all the questions, suddenly turned the tables. "Fellow Daoist, you exist outside the calculus of heaven and earth. Could it be that you've obtained... that treasure?"
"Treasure? I have no idea what you're talking about." In that instant, a tremor shot through Li Fan's true self. But Li Buren, his own consciousness suppressed to act as a mere tool for Li Fan's will, answered with perfect composure.
"Stop making excuses for your failures. Didn't the Xuantian King nearly capture you alive ten thousand years ago? A mere half-immortal like you doesn't require someone outside of fate to be dealt with," Li Buren responded with utter disdain.
The Grandmaster stared intently at Li Buren for a long moment but found no cracks in his facade.
He then turned his gaze outward, toward Source Dao Province and the wider Xuanhuang Realm.
Taking in the sight of a world transformed beyond recognition, he finally mused aloud, his voice wistful, "In what felt like a moment of secluded meditation, the world outside has been turned upside down. Yet, strangely, all these changes have avoided the area of my enlightenment."
"Fellow Daoist, you were wary of me from the start. And yet, this is the first time we've met..."
The Grandmaster slowly closed his eyes, his thoughts turning inward.
"Is your name, Tiandu Grandmaster, not famous enough throughout the Xuanhuang Realm?" Li Buren offered no further explanation, just that one terse reply.
"You are absolutely not from the Xuanhuang Realm. Everything in the Xuanhuang Realm, and even this entire star sea—what has appeared in the past, what exists now, and what will be born in the future—is all preordained. They are like chess pieces, taking turns on the board in game after game. Even with the new variables introduced by the Immortal Realm's fall, a piece remains a piece. It can never become a precious jade..." The Grandmaster spoke with extreme slowness, as if suppressing some powerful emotion.
Hearing this, Li Buren's eyes narrowed.
The boundless Ink Death aura gathered like a storm cloud above the Grandmaster's head, while the thousands of devoured Dao aspects around them fixed their cold, indifferent gazes upon him.
Whatever the Grandmaster had guessed, Li Buren would not allow him to live another moment.
"My master's plan back then... it was actually possible."
"What a pity. It's too late."
The Tiandu Grandmaster, still fearless amidst the countless chilling stares, suddenly opened his eyes and looked back at Li Buren.
His gaze was that of someone who had just discovered a priceless treasure.
"No!"
"It's not too late!"
"If I can..."
The Grandmaster, who had seemed resigned to his fate moments before, was suddenly overcome with intense excitement.
An abrupt, immense force erupted from his body, expelling Li Buren's corrosive Ink Death aura. The Daoist robes he wore billowed and rustled, animated by an unseen wind.
"Everything... can be saved," the Grandmaster declared, his eyes locked on Li Buren, his voice heavy with conviction.
Though he was surrounded by the countless Dao aspects under Li Buren's control, it felt as though the Grandmaster was the one encircling them.
In an instant, he had seized the high ground, reversing the balance of power.
Li Buren sensed that although the thousands of Dao aspects were controlled by his Ink Death aura, they still couldn't resist the urge to bow and prostate themselves before the Grandmaster.
It was just like the scene Li Buren had witnessed when he first invaded the Grandmaster's body.
The Grandmaster stood at the center of innumerable Daos, receiving their worship and reverence.
Like an emperor, like a Sage—his nobility was beyond description!
Even Li Buren was subtly affected. The body constructed from the Dao Net began to bend in an unnatural way, as if the weight of the Grandmaster alone surpassed that of the thousands of other Great Daos combined!
Knowing he could wait no longer, Li Buren instantly commanded the myriad streams of black ink to surge from the Dao aspects and strike the Tiandu Grandmaster in the center.
Tainted by different Great Daos, the Ink Death aura morphed into countless twisted, humanoid figures. All kinds of Daoist arts manifested, exploding around the Grandmaster like a cascade of fireworks.
"First there was Tai Yi, then came the Immortals."
"But Wuji existed even before Tai Yi."
Two simple lines, spoken with quiet authority, acted like a charm to calm the winds, instantly freezing the countless ripples of Dao in place.
The Grandmaster's figure walked out from the mottled shadows of the Daos, step by step.
"Since you have seen Wuji..."
"Why not disperse?"
He asked another gentle question, and the countless Dao ripples surrounding him truly scattered like a light breeze.
Even with the Ink Death aura holding dominion, it could not halt the process.
In the blink of an eye, Li Buren's "army" had vanished.
All that remained was the power of the Ink Death Immortal Soul itself.
Worse still, Li Buren could feel that *Illusory Birth* and *Eternal*, the two pillars supporting the Ink Death's existence, were beginning to resist him.
Suppressing the internal turmoil, Li Buren was forced to re-evaluate the Tiandu Grandmaster before him.
"'Wuji existed even before Tai Yi'?"
"Such audacity."
Although the Grandmaster still wore the guise of a young Daoist acolyte, his aura had undergone a complete transformation.
He stood high above, looking down upon all living things, as if Saint Tai Yi himself had descended, making it impossible to meet his gaze directly.
"Saint Tai Yi was indeed my master," the Grandmaster's tone was laced with pride.
"But the reason he took me as his disciple was primarily because of my own extraordinary nature."
"Do you really think just anyone could remain safely under a Sage Lord's tutelage for tens of thousands of years?"
"Please, Master, disperse."
The Grandmaster pointed a finger at the sky-filling black aura.
Then, he gave a slight bow.
Li Buren felt the two foundations of the Ink Death aura tremble violently, losing nearly half their power in an instant. The Dao of *Illusory Birth*, having evolved over many years, was not a perfect equivalent to Tai Yi's, and so a sliver of its power remained.
"Please, Master's Brother, disperse."
The Grandmaster bowed once more.
With those words, the other foundation of the Ink Death aura, the Dao of *Eternal*, shuddered slightly before abruptly dissipating.
With just two simple sentences, he had directly severed the very basis of the Ink Death Immortal Soul's existence!
The sky-filling black aura remained, but it was now completely uncontrollable, turning feral and indiscriminate, much like the Dao Annihilation Calamity itself.
While he was stealthily possessing the countless Dao aspects, the Tiandu Grandmaster had also managed to see through the Ink Death Immortal Soul's nature with utter clarity!
The rampaging black aura framed the Grandmaster's face, making him appear both terrifying and awe-inspiring.
Though he had lost the aid of the Ink Death Immortal Soul, Li Buren did not panic.
He was analyzing the reason for this sudden turn of events.
Everything in the world had a reason.
Why should the Grandmaster's two sentences cause the Daos of *Eternal* and *Illusory Birth* to vanish into thin air?
Recalling the image of the Grandmaster being worshipped by thousands of Dao aspects, a realization dawned on Li Buren.
"The Grandmaster's goal was never to comprehend all these different paths simultaneously."
"He treated them just like the illusory phantoms—as tools."
"Tools to aid his own cultivation."
Li Buren couldn't suppress the turmoil in his heart. "He wasn't cultivating thousands of Great Daos. He was cultivating a Dao that *commanded* thousands of Great Daos to bow in worship!"
"Is this the Dao of Nobility? Or Supremacy?"
An ordinary mortal being in this world could likely never even conceive of such an unbelievable path.
But if what the Grandmaster said was true, that his identity was special and possibly related to the *Wuji* that preceded *Tai Yi*, then perhaps he truly could achieve it!
"To cultivate this path means that no Daoist art or divine ability in the world can harm him."
Li Buren tested it, and it was just as he suspected.
Any divine ability or magical art vanished without a trace upon coming within three meters of the Grandmaster.
While Li Buren was contemplating his next move, the Grandmaster strolled through the out-of-control Ink Death aura as if taking a walk in a garden.
He was gradually closing the distance to Li Buren.
"That Xuantian King you mentioned, the one who nearly captured me alive..."
"He was born at the very moment the Immortal Realm shattered, which made him exceptionally special. Thus, he had a chance to leap off the chessboard, his future immeasurable. I wished to avoid conflict with him, but he insisted on causing trouble. So, I could only use a secondary body to placate him."
"I never expected his luck to be so formidable. By a twist of fate, he vanished directly from this star sea."
As he spoke, the Grandmaster arrived beside Li Buren.
Wherever he went, all Great Daos yielded.
Li Buren, his body constructed from the Dao Net, felt an unprecedented weakness because of it.
It felt as if he could dissipate at any moment.
"But to use that Xuantian King alone as a measure of my strength is, I'm afraid, a bit unfair," the Grandmaster finally said, standing face-to-face with Li Buren, his words slow and deliberate.
They stared at each other, eye to eye.
"Surrender the treasure, and I will let you leave," the Grandmaster promised solemnly.
Li Buren's brow furrowed.
It wasn't because of the demand itself.
It was because the Grandmaster was acting so...
Naive.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Li Buren repeated his earlier statement.
But the Grandmaster was utterly convinced of his own guess.
Seeing Li Buren's continued denial, he shook his head with a touch of regret.
"Then I suppose I'll have to take it myself."
"Wuji..."
"Please, all Daos, disperse."
The Grandmaster gave a slight bow toward Li Buren.
Li Buren felt the last vestiges of Dao principles within him begin to scatter, on the verge of vanishing completely with that single phrase.
Once all Daos were gone, only the treasure from beyond the Great Dao would remain.
"Are you so certain?"
Just as the Grandmaster felt victory was in his grasp, Li Buren's voice cut through the air.
A strong, powerful hand suddenly clamped down on the Grandmaster's throat.
They were so close that the Grandmaster had no time to react to this sudden burst of power.
"How is this possible?"
The Grandmaster stared at the suddenly revitalized Li Buren before him, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Perhaps all the Great Daos of heaven and earth must obey your command."
"But what about the mountains and the sea?"
Li Buren's figure became hazy, as if he stood on the peak of a great mountain, on the shore of a vast ocean.
The Grandmaster froze for a moment, then, as if waking from a dream, he exclaimed, "Shou Qiu?"
Li Buren shook his head slightly. "It seems you have never truly met Shou Qiu."
"And you were completely unaware of the contingency he left behind here."
"But that's to be expected. After all, you're merely a half-immortal. You were right about one thing: cause and effect, everything is preordained."
Li Buren threw the Grandmaster's own words back at him.
After this sudden turn of events, Li Buren's killing intent toward the Grandmaster was now unstoppable.
However, he hesitated for a moment, unsure of how exactly to deal with him.
After all, he was only able to temporarily suppress him with the power of Shou Qiu.
Ordinary methods would still find it extremely difficult to kill the Grandmaster. Furthermore, he was potentially connected to the so-called *Wuji*.
Even with Li Buren's hand tight around his throat, the Grandmaster remained calm.
"The matter of Shou Qiu was indeed beyond my expectations."
"But my origin lies beyond heaven and earth, at the dawn of the Great Dao. The concepts of life and death do not apply to me."
"You cannot truly kill me."
As if he were the one in control, the Grandmaster was still trying to persuade Li Buren to hand over the treasure.
Li Buren almost found it laughable. "You don't even know what that treasure is or what it does. Why are you so obsessed with it?"
The Grandmaster replied with great earnestness, "In your hands, the treasure can at most reverse destiny and save the world from peril."
"But in my hands, it can correct everything that should not have happened."
"My master, and the other three Sage Lords of the Immortal Realm... their fates might also be rewritten."
Li Buren shook his head. "It can't. The so-called treasure cannot do any of that."
"It can."
The Grandmaster affirmed once more.
(End of Chapter)
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