Chapter 1576: A Name Immortalized in the Divine Canon
Chapter 1576: A Name Immortalized in the Divine Canon
This first cultivator to reach Soul Transformation was none other than Su Bai!
High in the celestial expanse, the Benevolence Star erupted with a light thousands of times brighter than usual, blazing like a second sun and bathing the skies of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm in a sheet of searing white.
All other stars vanished, leaving only the Benevolence Star to shine!
As every living creature in the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm looked up, captivated by the sight, a thin line of light shot forth from the brilliant star, soaring toward the heavens.
It streaked straight toward the heaven beyond heavens of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm!
While the denizens of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm could sense the celestial phenomenon of the Benevolence Star, the events unfolding in the heaven beyond heavens were far beyond their perception.
All they could do was watch the Benevolence Star blaze, gazing upward and waiting in silence for the outcome.
The blinding radiance, as intense as the sun itself, persisted for a full hour. Only when the light began to recede did the slender thread that had shot into the outer heavens start its slow return.
The figure was so immense that the entire sky of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm could not contain His full form; only His seated upper torso was visible.
Before any living creature could even consciously identify this magnificent being, their bodies instinctively fell to their knees in worship.
And in that moment, they all understood who He was.
The Primordial Saint of Xuanhuang, Sovereign of Worlds and the Empyrean Heavens!
All living beings trembled, their very souls seething. It was like witnessing the Dao itself; their thoughts froze in terror, and their physical forms seemed to be drawn in, slowly disintegrating under the presence of the Saint Venerable’s spectral image.
They knew this was no illusion. The Saint of Xuanhuang was simply too powerful, and they were incapable of withstanding His divine might. Like snow destined to melt beneath the sun, all living things were less than ants before the great [Primordial Saint of Xuanhuang, Sovereign of Worlds and the Empyrean Heavens]. The slightest fluctuation of His aura would be enough to annihilate them all, turning them to dust.
The only reason they yet lived was that something stood between them and the Saint of Xuanhuang.
It was a long, boundless scroll, unfurled and floating in the void.
The scroll had been blank, but now, it bore its first name.
Su Bai!
Before, a name was merely a label. You could be named Su Bai, I could be named Su Bai, anyone could be named Su Bai.
But from the moment it appeared on the[Divine Canon], the name[Su Bai]became singular throughout heaven and earth.
It was, and could only be, the Benevolence Star that illuminated the world.
All others in the world who had shared the name Su Bai vanished like dust, leaving no trace of their existence—not even an imprint in the memories of their closest kin.
And in the future, no other Su Bai would ever appear.
This was the meaning of Soul Transformation in the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm: to be recognized by the Saint Venerable and granted a name for all eternity.
Of course, this eternal name was merely the most outwardly visible sign of ascension. The truly world-altering transformation that occurred within was known only to the one who had achieved it.
At last, the magnificent, colossal image of the Saint Venerable slowly faded away.
Without the Saint Venerable's radiance to illuminate it, the Divine Canon remained unseen by the masses, though it still floated in the outer heavens. Only Nascent Soul cultivators, those who had become stars themselves, could vaguely perceive its presence.
This only fueled their ambition. Cultivators who reached such heights possessed an innate pride. *If Su Bai can ascend to Soul Transformation,* they thought, *then why can't I?* Now that the first had emerged in the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, the arrival of the second and third would not be far behind.
Su Bai had, in effect, become a bridge, shortening the vast chasm between the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation realms.
The other cultivators, each with their own unique powers, now vied to be the second name inscribed upon the Divine Canon.
Yet Su Bai himself felt no joy in his ascension. Instead, his face was etched with pain as he sank into deep self-reproach.
“After the world’s transformation, the number of living beings multiplied countless times. How many of them shared my name...?”
“And now, they are all dead because of me.” Su Bai’s face went pale, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
“Saint Venerable, does being strong grant one the right to disregard the lives of the weak? To do as one pleases? Is this truly right?” Long after, Su Bai finally emerged from his remorse, yet these questions now consumed his thoughts.
He raised his head toward the outer heavens and posed his questions directly to the Saint of Xuanhuang.
But he received no answer.
Instead, a piece of unexpected knowledge flooded his mind, causing his face to pale once more and his heart to turn to ice.
“*The Calamity of Xuanhuang? Heaven and earth will be remade, and all living beings shall perish. Only those whose names are recorded on the Divine Canon will escape this fate...*” The revelation struck Su Bai like a bolt of lightning.
As one whose name was on the Canon, he should have been relieved, free from the threat of doom. But the thought of the countless multitudes below, all destined to be turned to ash in the coming cataclysm, was suffocating.
“Is there no way to stop this?” he asked instinctively.
The Saint Venerable did not answer.
There was only the cold Divine Canon, hanging high in the heavens, a silent reflection of the billion lives in the Xuanhuang Realm.
“There has to be a way. There has to be...” Su Bai muttered, his gaze shifting from bewildered to resolute as he stared into the outer heavens.
His reasoning was simple: if he could just meet the Saint of Xuanhuang face to face, perhaps he could persuade Him to retract the decree of annihilation.
“Only by reaching Dao Integration can I cross this formless boundary.”
“Dao Integration...” Su Bai narrowed his eyes, once again sensing the countless Great Daos that permeated the world.
This time, his will to advance was a thousand times stronger than before.
...
“As expected, Su Bai is still Su Bai.”
Li Fan had watched Su Bai’s transformation from start to finish, and he couldn’t help but sneer.
“Save the world? Can he save it all? If not the Calamity of Xuanhuang, then the Calamity of the Mountain and Sea. His own power is negligible, yet he wastes his thoughts on such things.” Li Fan, of course, felt no sympathy for Su Bai's plight.
Still, if this drove Su Bai to accelerate his cultivation and push his potential to its absolute limit, Li Fan had no reason to interfere with his thinking.
“After incorporating the Dao of Eternity, the resilience of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm has increased by at least thirty percent. And this effect will only grow as more names are added to the Divine Canon.”
This was, in fact, an unexpected boon.
When Li Fan, borrowing the name of[Saint Tai Yi], had attracted Eternity’s gaze, the entity had glanced at the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm and engraved a sliver of its eternal nature into the world. After that, the Dao of Eternity had closed its eyes again.
Li Fan had been quite satisfied with that result. Afterward, he had simply projected the image of his divine form into the minds of all beings in the Xuanhuang Realm.
That cultivators would later break through to Soul Transformation and have their names inscribed on the Divine Canon was all part of his plan.
What Li Fan hadn't anticipated, however, was that when Su Bai's name appeared on the Canon, Eternity—which had already closed its eyes and withdrawn from the world—opened them once more!
Though its gaze lasted for a much shorter time than when Li Fan had first summoned it, it was enough to bestow another measure of eternal nature upon the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm.
“I wonder if Eternity opened its eyes because of[Su Bai]specifically, or merely because of the emergence of such a pure genius.”
“But once the next name appears on the Divine Canon, I should be able to find out.”
Li Fan's divine sense swept across the entire Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, locking onto potential candidates.
Most were the ones he expected.
There was only one who came as a minor surprise.
Although the man was only at the Foundation Establishment realm, Li Fan estimated that he had the potential to be among the first three names on the Divine Canon.
“Such speed in cultivation and Dao comprehension...”
“He didn't have this before. Did it just manifest?”
“Is it because of Eternity's influence? Or...?”
The person who had caught Li Fan's attention was a lean man named Zhang Shangzhi. He carried himself with an air of righteousness, yet a strange, dark shadow would flicker in his eyes from time to time.
After a deeper observation of his inner self, Li Fan understood why the man's talent for Dao comprehension had suddenly surged.
This so-called talent was, in truth, simply an affinity with the various Great Daos.
Previously, Zhang Shangzhi's talent for comprehension had been average. Even now, it remained so.
The reason for the instantaneous, monumental change was the formal manifestation of the[Primordial Saint of Xuanhuang, Sovereign of Worlds and the Empyrean Heavens]!
The Saint of Xuanhuang was Li Fan, the very progenitor of the Xuanhuang Realm.
He was the greatest Dao in the world, the Dao above all Daos.
And Zhang Shangzhi, it turned out, had an exceptionally high affinity with Li Fan.
He would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. He trusted no one from the bottom of his heart. He was as cold and ruthless as a machine...
His many traits, his very patterns of thought and codes of conduct, were almost identical to Li Fan's.
If Li Fan hadn't known with certainty that he had no blood relatives in the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, he might have mistaken Zhang Shangzhi for his own flesh and blood.
Understanding the reason, Li Fan was left speechless.
Zhang Shangzhi's cultivation was soaring for one simple reason: he was "lucky" enough to be just like Li Fan.
“Outside the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, he'll be useless. After all, he doesn't have the [Truth] and lacks infinite Spirituality.” Li Fan shook his head slightly.
He decided not to pay him too much mind, nor to deliberately intervene.
The way of heaven was fickle; it was best to let things run their natural course.
Having settled the Dao of Eternity in the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, Li Fan prepared to return to the Merchant Immortal Boat to retrieve the two Cat Treasures. But the matter with Zhang Shangzhi sparked another thought.
“Xuanhuang, the Mountain and Sea... the principles are all connected.”
“Perhaps 'talent' is nothing more than a resemblance to certain beings.”
“The Great Dao originates from the Mountain and Sea, and the Mountain and Sea, in turn, from a so-called Creator God...”
(End of this chapter)
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