Chapter 1513: The Samsara Embankment
Cheng Dao closed his eyes and said nothing more. Li Fan’s own nerves were stretched taut.
He watched his surroundings with intense focus, ready to activate [Truth] at the slightest sign of trouble.
Although Shou Qiu was humble and never claimed to be one of the great powers of the Mountain and Sea, Li Fan was not about to be fooled. If his deception—posing as Shou Qiu’s disciple—was exposed, he didn't even need to consider Shou Qiu's reaction. Cheng Dao alone would likely hunt him to the ends of the earth.
Connecting the mortal world with the realm of the Mountain and Sea seemed to be an arduous task. Cheng Dao remained with his eyes closed for a full three days before finally completing the communication and rising to his feet.
“I have sent word and explained the general situation to Master. I just don’t know when he will have a moment to see it,” Cheng Dao said, a hint of regret in his voice.
The act of communicating with the Mountain and Sea was clearly a significant burden for Cheng Dao. His already ancient face now carried an even deeper air of decay and annihilation.
“Brother, you must rest,” Li Fan urged immediately.
Cheng Dao didn’t push himself, sitting cross-legged in the void. It took him more than a month to fully recover.
Li Fan feigned astonishment. “Is it truly so difficult to contact Master?”
“Forget about withstanding the pressure exerted by the Mountain and Sea. Even if one could, they would have to constantly face the aura of Dao Annihilation, which is countless times stronger than in the mortal world. It would be like a mortal drowning, their mind consumed by a sense of suffocation. They would likely go mad long before being devoured by the Dao Annihilation.”
Cheng Dao let out a long sigh. “Since ancient times, the Mountain and Sea has never been a place mortal beings could easily enter. If not for the pioneering efforts of the two Sage Lords, Lian Shan and Gui Hai, we would not even be able to gaze upon it from a distance.”
Li Fan, of course, knew the terror of the Mountain and Sea.
He had personally entered the Infinite Sea, where every drop of water seemed to possess a weight capable of utterly crushing his soul.
The difference, however, was that Li Fan possessed the treasure of [Truth]. Under the protection of [Fantasy Becomes Truth], he could now roam the Mountain and Sea unimpeded for a limited time.
“What does it feel like, to wander between the Mountain and Sea?” Li Fan asked, feigning the look of someone who had never seen it and was filled with yearning.
Cheng Dao, suspecting nothing, recounted his experiences and insights from walking between the Mountain and Sea in great detail.
Li Fan compared Cheng Dao’s account with his own experiences and felt a renewed sense of awe for the power of [Truth].
For a being like Cheng Dao, walking between the Mountain and Sea was an extremely difficult endeavor. He moved with extreme caution, as if treading on thin ice, constantly on the verge of falling to his doom. And according to him, this was only possible with the protection of Shou Qiu’s mark. Without his master’s guidance, Cheng Dao wouldn’t be able to travel far at his current level of strength.
From their casual conversation, Li Fan also confirmed that Cheng Dao hadn’t mentioned him to Shou Qiu during their communication. After all, every moment spent there was under immense pressure; he could only relay the most urgent matters.
Despite what Cheng Dao said, Li Fan didn’t let his guard down entirely. He remained ever vigilant, wary of Shou Qiu’s potential sudden arrival.
Now that he had reported the matter to his master, Cheng Dao was content to wait for instructions rather than act on his own. Based on past experience, Shou Qiu’s response times were erratic, with no set pattern.
Besides, the passage from the high wall to the outer star sea was now completely sealed by the Dao Annihilation. Even if they wanted to seek revenge against the Guangwu Xinghai civilization, there was nothing they could do for the time being.
They could only wait patiently.
The Great Rat Immortal’s act of condensing his Dao had been quite enlightening for Cheng Dao. Li Fan could clearly sense that the Dao Net clinging to the high wall was not only becoming more solid but was also sprouting many new Dao strings.
Some of these were Dao laws that no longer existed in the Primal Possibility. They were purely derived from Cheng Dao’s own enlightenment, and while they couldn't serve as a bulwark against the Dao Annihilation, they acted as an auxiliary part of the Shuo Xinghai’s Dao Net.
Cheng Dao gradually lost himself in his own contemplation, oblivious to the passage of time.
During this period, however, Li Fan began to study the method Guangwu Xinghai had used to fish from the tide of Dao Annihilation.
The unknown entity lurking within the Dao Annihilation had not yet departed, so Li Fan certainly wasn’t going to risk testing his theories within the high wall.
Li Fan’s true body appeared to be meditating in the Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm.
But in reality, his consciousness had already entered the [Unending Samsara].
In the days Li Fan had been ignoring it, the time loop had continued to play out endlessly within the Unending Samsara. The world-ending fate at the hands of the Hunger Immortal had repeated an unknown number of times.
The Zhen Shi Heavenly Venerate, stripped of all his spirituality, had lost all his cultivation talent and had even descended into madness.
But with or without this outsider, the Unending Samsara continued to re-enact a period of time that Li Fan had once experienced.
When Li Fan’s consciousness entered this time, he had no intention of toying with the Zhen Shi Heavenly Venerate again.
Instead, he intended to use this time stream to study Guangwu Xinghai’s fishing technique.
“First, I must verify whether this Unending Samsara created by [Truth] can be considered a complete possibility...”
As Li Fan thought this, his consciousness instantly traversed the Darkest Star Sea and arrived at the high wall.
Following a familiar path, he entered the space of the experimental site.
And there, as expected, he saw the five phantoms left behind by Shou Qiu.
“...”
Li Fan remained silent. After leaving the high wall, he began to explore the still-intact Shuo Xinghai.
The Dao Net, the Immortal Hunt, Cheng Dao.
All of them existed within this possibility.
When he had first unlocked the Unending Samsara function, Li Fan hadn’t given it much thought. He hadn’t found the time stream created by [Truth] to be particularly strange. It was only now, after leaving the high wall, encountering numerous Nameless True Immortals, and learning about the three Sage Lords and even the existence of transcendent beings, that he truly understood just how incredible it was.
He also began to faintly grasp that his [Truth] was qualitatively different from simple time reversal.
“In essence, it’s the same as the [Primal] possibility I experience every time I activate [Truth]. It’s just that a segment of time has been excerpted. And...”
Li Fan attempted to enter the Infinite Sea from within the Unending Samsara.
But as expected, he failed.
“The mortal world exists in attachment to the Mountain and Sea.”
“But this Unending Samsara was created out of thin air by [Truth], existing only in reliance upon it. It cannot connect to the Mountain and Sea. It’s like a sealed room. In a sense, it’s absolutely safe for me.”
“But reasoning in reverse...”
“Every time I use [Truth] in reality, I am reshaping the Mountain and Sea.”
Previously, Li Fan had judged from the lifespan of the mortal world displayed on his [Truth] panel that activating it reset the state of the entire Mountain and Sea.
But now, doubts had resurfaced in his mind.
Because after truly witnessing the power of the Mountain and Sea, and seeing how [Truth] behaved in its presence, Li Fan realized that [Truth] might not be superior to the Mountain and Sea. It was more likely that they were on the same level.
The fact that [Fantasy Becomes Truth] had such a short duration when deceiving the Mountain and Sea might be a clue.
“Of course, it’s also possible that my own body cannot withstand deceiving the Mountain and Sea for an extended period. Prolonged immersion might lead to unknown side effects, and [Truth] may have set this duration and cooldown specifically to protect me.”
Li Fan shook his head slightly.
At his current level of strength, he was still a long way from comprehending the true nature of the Mountain and Sea and [Truth].
In any case, as long as it worked for him, that was all that mattered.
Within this Unending Samsara, Li Fan could be said to have no natural enemies. He didn't need to worry about the Mountain and Sea, and with the experience accumulated in his current life, it took him little effort to re-establish the Primordial Desolation Immortal Realm and erect the numerous Heavenly Pillars within the high wall.
“You could call this a simulation within a simulation.”
“And yet, any insights into the Dao that I absorb here are completely real and effective.”
Li Fan gently stroked the pillar imprisoning the Hunger Immortal, feeling the Dao fluctuations emanating from within. The sensation was truly wondrous.
Although the Hunger Immortal was temporarily sealed, the beginning and end of this time stream were already set. Before long, she would return to the Immortal Ruins, remembering nothing.
With this in mind, Li Fan paid her no further attention.
He simply gazed at the host of Heavenly Pillars standing tall and straight before him.
“Since there is no true connection to the Upper Mountain or the Infinite Sea, the Dao Annihilation tide here is also just a simulation created by [Truth].”
“But what is real becomes false, and what is false becomes real. With the power of [Truth], there is almost no difference between the fake and the genuine. It’s more than enough for my experiment. If I can successfully construct it within this Unending Samsara, I can replicate it in reality.”
“Moreover, I can freely adjust and control the flow of time here...”
The entire Unending Samsara possibility was like a personal playground built for Li Fan. A one-to-one replica of the real world, it allowed him to proceed without any worries for the consequences.
He began to focus his efforts on researching the project: using the Heavenly Pillars as a breakwater to fish from the Dao Annihilation.
Even though he had only caught a fleeting glimpse of it in the Great Rat Immortal’s memories, the principle was not complicated.
And using the methods of the *Medicine King's Scripture of Dao Refinement*, shortening the Heavenly Pillars to varying heights was a simple matter for Li Fan.
After just over a dozen cycles of the Unending Samsara, Li Fan succeeded in creating this marvel for the first time.
With a single thought, Li Fan temporarily withdrew the power of Shou Qiu’s phantoms within the high wall.
As the supporting force suddenly vanished, countless dark clouds began to manifest around the shorter central Heavenly Pillar.
The sound of a roaring tsunami echoed, growing louder and more violent by the second.
Li Fan instinctively teleported to a safe distance.
His expression grave, he stared at the dark, abyssal vortex before him. He watched for a long time but could not discern any difference between this “fake” Dao Annihilation and the real one in reality that was connected to the Mountain and Sea.
“It seems my own path of making the false true still has a long way to go.”
Li Fan steadied his mind and turned his attention back to the Dao Annihilation vortex.
Without a connection to the Mountain and Sea, no foreign objects would naturally be drawn in and swept over.
But from the sheer scale of the disturbance caused by the descent of the Dao Annihilation, Li Fan confirmed that his first attempt had been a success.
The only thing he couldn’t yet do was restore the central, shorter Heavenly Pillar to its original state after successfully luring in objects from the Dao Annihilation tide, as Guangwu Xinghai had done.
The consequence of this was that once the project was initiated, the arrival of the world-ending Dao Annihilation calamity would not be far behind.
“Cutting them down is simple. But to restore what was cut, and have them return to their original state in such a short time...”
Li Fan’s mind replayed the bizarre scene of the Nameless True Immortals’ faces appearing on each Heavenly Pillar as Guangwu Xinghai fished the Dao Annihilation tide.
“Without their cooperation, it would be impossible.”
Li Fan stroked his chin, his gaze once again falling upon the Hunger Immortal sealed within the Heavenly Pillar.
The Hunger Immortal in this Unending Samsara was almost identical to the one he had come to know in the Primal Possibility. After witnessing Li Fan’s numerous heaven-defying feats and the miserable end of her True Immortal colleagues—who were turned into pillars only to be hewn down—the Hunger Immortal had wisely chosen to cooperate.
“Since I can strip away your comprehension of the Dao using the *Medicine King's Scripture of Dao Refinement*, you can naturally use it to reclaim what you have lost.”
“Life and death are one, in harmony with the Dao. Detached from all things, my elixir is formed. This is the Art of the Great Elixir of Heaven and Earth, and I shall impart it to you...”
Li Fan held nothing back, teaching her the entirety of this supreme and wondrous technique.
At first, the Hunger Immortal was somewhat apprehensive, but as her understanding of the *Medicine King's Scripture of Dao Refinement* deepened, her entire being was slowly captivated by it.
The Hunger Immortal’s aptitude was decent, but nothing more.
Li Fan was on the verge of losing his patience by the time she had finally grasped the rudiments of this marvelous Dao-refining technique.
However, Li Fan then discovered that while she was slow to learn, she was even more proficient than him in its practical application.
After careful observation, Li Fan finally saw a clue: “This Dao of Hunger seems to have a natural affinity for the *Medicine King's Scripture of Dao Refinement*. The Dao Elixirs I refine must be consumed and converted by others to be absolutely safe.”
“But the Hunger Immortal has no such concerns; she devours them directly without any inhibitions. True, she is a captive and has no reason to worry about any hidden schemes behind the scripture. But it partly illustrates the unique nature of the Dao of Hunger, this foreign Dao. After all, it is a path that, upon arriving in another possibility, managed to supplant the original and be reborn...”
And so, although he didn’t know how the Guangwu Xinghai civilization managed to alter the height of their pillars, Li Fan, through his own knowledge and after considerable effort, achieved the effect he desired.
Afterward, Li Fan even used the Hunger Immortal’s feedback to modify the version of the *Medicine King's Scripture* he had taught her.
He removed all the non-essential parts.
The technique only needed to be able to cooperate in achieving the transformation of the Heavenly Pillars.
...
With his objective achieved, Li Fan had spent a total of just over twenty cycles within the Unending Samsara.
And in the real world, less than an hour had passed!
Such was the terrifying power of [Truth].
Li Fan watched the Hunger Immortal, who was basking in the smug satisfaction of her new skills. He saw the look of utter shock on her face as the Samsara was triggered once more.
For some reason, a sentence Shou Qiu had once spoken to Cheng Dao suddenly came to his mind.
“Unrelated to the final outcome.”
“Just as the beginning and end of this Unending Samsara are already set in stone, perhaps everything in the mortal world has also been predetermined.”
“No matter how all living beings struggle, the ending will always remain the same.”
As Li Fan mulled over this, he couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
(Chapter End)
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