Chapter 1488: The Moment of Attaining the Nameless
This was not merely what Li Fan had personally witnessed during his cycles of reincarnation, but also what he had glimpsed through Evil Su Bai, the [Truth], and even the Infinite Sea.
Countless apocalyptic scenes, each more ghastly and soul-shattering than the last, unfolded before Si Tu Xing in an instant.
Even for one who was once a Nameless True Immortal, his composure finally cracked upon witnessing a spectacle a billion times more horrific than any hell.
Si Tu Xing did not look away, absorbing every last detail of the visions. After a moment of heavy silence, he spoke, his voice strained.
Yet, he did not alter his conviction. "All living beings are fated to perish in the Dao Annihilation. Under the grand, unchangeable tide, this is their destiny. As the saying goes, born of the Dao, they perish with the Dao. No one in this world is inherently responsible for the lives and deaths of others. Besides, in the eyes of a True Immortal like myself, these..."
"...most of them cannot even be considered 'living beings'."
Si Tu Xing's voice was faint at first, but it grew firmer and more resolute with each word.
Li Fan scoffed. "After all that self-righteous posturing, it all boils down to one simple phrase: the weak have no right to live. In that case, today, you are the meat on the chopping block, and I am the blade. What say you, now that you are to be sealed as a pillar of the heavens?"
Si Tu Xing opened his mouth but offered no contradictory argument. "The strong prey on the weak. I have nothing to say. To be sealed within this pillar is a testament to my own inferiority, a tribulation of my own making."
Si Tu Xing tried to say more, but he suddenly felt the Great Dao around him constrict with crushing force.
This time, Li Fan gave him no further chance to argue.
The Dao fused into his being, freezing his vision and sealing his thoughts.
Alongside the bones of Primal and the Hunger Immortal, another celestial pillar now stood erect in this space.
However, as its foundation was merely the shadow of a Nameless Immortal, this third pillar was noticeably more slender than the other two.
Because it wasn't formed from a true Great Dao, this "pillar" could not even bear much of the pressure from the Dao Annihilation.
And yet, Li Fan still insisted on sealing Si Tu Xing.
It wasn't that he feared this ancient Law King, this Nameless Immortal of the lower realm. His primary objective was the same as with the Hunger Immortal: to suppress him while slowly extracting the memories from his mind.
In Li Fan's eyes, Si Tu Xing's value was far greater than that of the Hunger Immortal. The Hunger Immortal had spent the first half of his existence in the Immortal Realm as a mere servant to Wu Wei, the Non-Action Immortal.
Si Tu Xing, on the other hand, had been the ruling Immortal Chancellor of the Desolate Mist Star Domain. The few words he had let slip earlier were enough to confirm that he knew countless secrets of the Immortal Realm.
"Immortal Chancellor... from the sound of it, he was the master of a domain. The Nameless realm is indeed qualified to rule over a region. Although Si Tu Xing himself claimed that his memories of his upper-realm body were fragmented due to the Dao Annihilation..."
"...I'll be the judge of that."
If the Hunger Immortal's mind was but a diffuse ball of light, then Si Tu Xing's consciousness was like a brilliant pearl. Countless thoughts and memories were compressed into a single, infinitesimal point, incredibly solid. An outsider wishing to peer inside would first need to pry open a crack in its impenetrable surface.
As a master of psychological manipulation, Li Fan carefully observed for a moment before discovering the flaw in Si Tu Xing's heart.
A cold sneer touched his lips. "Such grand words. But the demise of his true self amidst the Dao Annihilation has clearly left a profound scar on his psyche. All I need to do is press on that wound..."
Li Fan formed a series of hand seals.
His clone, Li Buren, acted in concert.
Within the Darkest Star Sea, the other pillars of the Dao Annihilation—the phantom of Shou Qiu, Primal, and the Hunger Immortal—all began to retract their power.
It was as if they intended to let the newcomer, Si Tu Xing, bear the entire weight alone.
A single pillar cannot prop up a collapsing mansion, let alone the world-ending Dao Annihilation.
A sound like a great, surging tide began to echo from beyond the heavens. Within the Darkest Star Sea, which had just begun to be nourished by the relatively complete Great Dao of the outer star domains, wisps of black Dao Annihilation qi suddenly appeared.
They were ghastly and terrifying, like phantoms.
The reviving Great Dao was thrown into chaos once more.
The living beings within the Star Sea were all struck by an inexplicable sense of impending doom. Though most slumbered in the Land of Carefree Joy within the Xuanhuang Realm, they instinctively furrowed their brows, their expressions uneasy.
If the common people were so affected, what of Si Tu Xing, who was holding up the sky for them "above"?
It was precisely because he had truly experienced the horror of the Dao Annihilation that, when faced with it again, this Nameless Immortal who had been so eloquent moments before had his mental defenses shattered in an instant.
Faced with utter annihilation, he lost all the composure he had previously displayed in his words.
He shrieked in terror, his primal fear erupting in guttural howls.
He was no different from the mortals he had looked down upon in their final moments, as shown in Li Fan's illusions.
"A Nameless True Immortal. Nothing more."
Li Fan watched the clown-like Si Tu Xing and sneered in derision.
The pillar formed by Si Tu Xing alone could not hold for long, and Li Fan had no desire for the Dao Annihilation to truly descend.
Seizing the opportunity of his broken defense, Li Fan dispatched a sliver of his divine sense, slipping through the cracks in his mental fortitude and into his mind.
Though it couldn't compare to the consciousness of the [Truth], the deluge of past experiences that flooded him was still like plunging into a raging tsunami.
But having survived far greater storms, Li Fan took only a moment to acclimate, soon able to move about with relative ease.
"It seems Si Tu Xing wasn't lying."
"This sea of consciousness is indeed fragmented and incomplete."
Li Fan scanned his surroundings and found that Si Tu Xing's thoughts were not continuous like a normal person's. Instead, they were punctuated by gaping black voids.
From these voids, Li Fan could sense the aura of the Dao Annihilation.
At this moment, the voids within his thoughts were resonating with the true Dao Annihilation outside, slowly expanding.
Sooner or later, they would completely devour Si Tu Xing's mind.
"Even though his clone escaped the calamity, his heart is still being devoured by it. The blow was not merely physical, but spiritual as well."
Li Fan carefully avoided the voids of Dao Annihilation and turned his attention to the nearest and most conspicuous memory.
It was the most glorious moment of Si Tu Xing's entire existence.
Even with his true body gone, this memory remained firmly etched in the mind of his clone.
It was the moment Si Tu Xing attained the Nameless realm!
Unlike the lonely scene of the Hunger Immortal's ascension that Li Fan had witnessed, Si Tu Xing's memory was filled with countless True Immortals standing all around, observing and offering their congratulations.
And on the distant horizon, a host of immortals stood guard around a towering figure.
"Congratulations to Si Tu!"
Amidst the chorus of congratulations, Si Tu Xing turned toward the distant, towering figure and bowed deeply.
"I bestow upon you the Desolate Mist Star Domain."
"I bestow upon you an Innate Spirit Treasure."
"I bestow upon you one hundred thousand immortal servants."
...
The proclamations echoed one after another.
Under the watchful eyes of all, Si Tu Xing's thoughts surged, his heart pounding with exhilaration.
(End of this chapter)
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