Chapter 1599: The True Face of the Mountain and Sea
The Taiji staff was on the verge of collapse.
The black and white faces at its ends had grown as pale and thin as paper. The intricate patterns along its length had all but vanished, leaving only a few faint, residual lines.
Having survived the ordeal, it had finally learned its lesson. It eagerly accepted the sustenance offered by Li Fan's Xuanhuang phantom, its demeanor almost fawning in its impatience.
Only after a full meal did it slowly recover its strength. But its obedience was short-lived.
A mere three days later, the Taiji staff reverted to its old ways.
Now aware of the sheer scale of Li Fan's power, it didn't dare attack him again. Instead, it leaped directly off the boat, hurtling toward the source of the "scent" it had previously detected within the Dao Annihilation.
It was completely oblivious to the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat following close behind.
"This creature may possess a spirit, but its intellect is laughably low," the leader of the twelve True Immortals, an elderly dwarf named Ruan Ruiyu, remarked with a chuckle.
"As you say, senior. A beast is just a beast," the others chorused in agreement.
Time and again, it was tormented to the brink of dissolution within the Dao Annihilation, yet at the first opportunity, it would instinctively flee back into that very abyss. It was as if something on the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat was even more terrifying than the void itself.
After a few more jokes, the twelve True Immortals finally grasped the implication. Even if the Taiji staff's intelligence was low, the basic instinct for self-preservation should remain. Fleeing once or twice could be dismissed as a momentary lapse in judgment, driven by some lure. But to do so repeatedly...
Their gazes shifted to Li Fan, who stood alone at the prow, his expression inscrutable. A renewed chill crept into their hearts.
They swallowed the questions that had risen to their lips.
Deep down, all twelve of them were beginning to regret boarding this "pirate ship." It was supposed to be a voyage to the great world of the Other Shore, but from all indications, their host had no intention of taking them there so easily.
But beyond staying on the boat and seeing this path to its dark end, they had no other choice. To enter the Dao Annihilation on their own was certain death. To resist Li Fan would likely be an even swifter demise. Whatever bitterness brewed in their hearts, the twelve brothers could only bear it in silence.
The twelve True Immortals didn't realize they had misunderstood Li Fan.
It wasn't that he didn't want to take them to the Other Shore.
It was that Li Fan himself didn't know where this so-called Other Shore was, or how to get there.
"Theoretically, there should be numerous beacons, like lighthouses, scattered throughout this vast Mountain and Sea, guiding the way to the Other Shore. A newly transcendent expert would only need to find the nearest beacon and then navigate from one to the next to eventually reach their destination."
"And yet, despite drifting in the Dao Annihilation for so long, I haven't seen any sign of such a beacon."
"Two possibilities come to mind. First, that I haven't condensed my own transcendent will, and so, even if a beacon were right before my eyes, I couldn't perceive it. This seems unlikely. After all, the Solitary Sail above my head is quite real."
"The other possibility is that crossing the Mountain and Sea simply takes this much time. Just as I saw in the memories of the Solitary Sail, without a guide, the journey can take so long it drains the entire lifespan of a transcendent being. And even with clear directions..."
"...even if the time required were reduced a hundredfold, it would still be an unimaginably long voyage."
Li Fan was already mentally prepared for this.
He had no expectation of reaching the Other Shore anytime soon.
"When Ziyi descended, he repeatedly mentioned 'not wanting to run errands' and 'not making this trip for nothing.' This suggests that even for a veteran transcendent expert like him, descending from the Other Shore into a possibility is not a trivial matter."
"And yet, whenever the Primal Possibility involved those transcendent experts, they seemed to sense it and descend in an instant..."
As he sailed through the waves of the Dao Annihilation, a premonition began to form in Li Fan's mind.
It seemed that within this vast expanse of Mountain and Sea, the concept of time's passage did not exist.
Or rather, the flow of time only applied to them.
No matter how long they spent here, it wouldn't affect the myriad possibilities of the mortal world.
It seemed incredible, but having once traveled against the current of the River of Time, Li Fan could grasp the principle behind it.
"To leave the mortal world and enter the Mountain and Sea is to leap out of the River of Time in an instant. At the moment of that leap, the River of Time enters a state of relative stasis. It only begins to flow again when one re-enters it."
"If you envision the Mountain and Sea itself as a great tree, growing vigorously from bottom to top, then the myriad possibilities of the mortal world are the tree's growth rings, one laid upon the other."
"The bottom represents the past. The top points to the future."
"These rings of possibility aren't just flat planes. They are three-dimensional, running through the tree from top to bottom, following the axis of time."
"Originally, if the Dao Annihilation didn't exist, the past and future of the Mountain and Sea would be a single, connected whole. Those who could travel against the current could move freely up and down the tree's length."
"But because of the Dao Annihilation, the Tree of Mountain and Sea has been severed at its trunk."
"Even if one can reverse the flow of time, the scope of movement is now limited to the single segment of the trunk one currently occupies."
"Furthermore, between the growth rings, the tissue that once formed the trunk has been almost entirely consumed by the Dao Annihilation. Ordinary beings can now only survive along the lines of these rings."
"My journey against the current of the River of Time was a vertical traversal of the Tree of Mountain and Sea, from top to bottom, following the traces of a growth ring. Transcending, however, is a horizontal journey. It means leaving one's own growth ring and moving across the tree's cross-section, resisting the Dao Annihilation along the way."
"Whether vertical or horizontal, all movement is confined within this one segment of the trunk."
"And the great world of the Other Shore..."
Having personally crossed the Mountain and Sea, Li Fan now had a tangible understanding of its structure.
But even so, he still couldn't imagine what the Other Shore could be.
"However, one thing is certain: the Other Shore is completely independent of the myriad possibilities within the Mountain and Sea."
"If I were to force an analogy, perhaps it's like hollowing out a section of this trunk from top to bottom. A space created outside of everything else."
"From there, one could travel to any point in time in any possibility... without traversing the River of Time or crossing the Dao Annihilation..."
"If such a power truly exists, then it is indeed worthy of the name 'Other Shore.'"
Li Fan's thoughts flowed, his imagination soaring as he pictured the Other Shore.
Meanwhile, the Taiji staff, fleeing frantically through the Dao Annihilation, finally led the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat to a convergence of life force after dozens of attempts!
It wasn't a complete possibility.
It was an immortal coffin, floating upon the Dao Annihilation!
Having drifted for an unknown length of time, the coffin's surface had turned pitch-black.
Even from a distance, Li Fan and the twelve True Immortals could sense the ominous aura clinging to it.
The Taiji staff, however, wasn't picky. It didn't care who or what was buried inside. Black and white swirled into a Taiji symbol, enveloping the drifting coffin and clamping down hard.
The Taiji diagram spun rapidly, causing the light and shadow around the coffin to warp and blur as it was slowly drawn into the vortex. Although the coffin's protections were still intact, they seemed on the verge of being swallowed by the Taiji symbol.
Just as the Taiji staff was about to devour the coffin, Li Fan tugged on an invisible line, forcefully dragging it back from the Dao Annihilation.
Back on the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat, it still refused to release the coffin from its grasp.
Li Fan flicked his finger several times, striking the staff until it reeled, its patterned lines scattering in disarray. Only then did it reluctantly let go.
It retreated to a dark corner, glaring at Li Fan who had snatched the prize from its mouth.
Li Fan paid it no mind, calmly placing the immortal coffin before him.
On the boat, the twelve True Immortals wore grave expressions, unconsciously huddling closer together.
"Senior, there seems to be something ominous in that coffin," Ruan Ruiyu warned.
"Ominous..." Li Fan chuckled, completely unconcerned.
He unsealed the coffin.
Instantly, an infinite brilliance erupted from within.
Black qi swirled with bloody light, eerie and terrifying.
A figure dressed in the bright yellow robes of an emperor, radiating an indescribable noble aura, suddenly appeared before them.
After a moment of silence, the figure demanded in a cold voice, "You see this Emperor, yet you do not kneel?"
"Immortal... Immortal Emperor?" Ruan Ruiyu stammered, his eyes wide in disbelief.
But just as everyone was reeling from the shock, the regal figure suddenly lunged at them.
Its fine robes began to tatter and decay.
Its human head twisted and transformed into that of a massive rat!
The twelve True Immortals were paralyzed by its presence, about to become food for its slavering jaws.
"So, it is you."
But Li Fan, as if he had expected this all along, summoned a transparent furnace. It rose into the air, its walls towering around the Great Rat Immortal, sealing it within.
The twelve True Immortals, their souls still trembling, stared in lingering fear at the monster in the furnace, which had now completely shed its human guise and fully transformed into a monstrous rat.
Li Fan studied the old acquaintance before him, watching it struggle madly within the furnace, unable to break the seal.
"It seems I haven't strayed too far from the Primal Possibility after all."
"I'm still within the range that the Guangwu Xinghai could salvage from the Dao Annihilation. To be specific, I'm still in the coastal waters."
The Rat Emperor before him was no different from the one he had encountered in the last life.
The Rat Emperor's power, born from devouring an entire possibility, was undeniable. Yet before the current Li Fan, it was utterly helpless.
It was slowly refined within the furnace.
Its essence became fuel to strengthen the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat.
Li Fan watched impassively as the Great Rat disintegrated into countless specks of light.
But his mind was on other things. "I obtained the legacy of the Mount Tai Emperor and gained the ability to travel back through the River of Time. However, when I returned ten thousand years, the Mount Tai Emperor from that past time node had also vanished. This proves that one who masters the Dao of Reverse becomes a special existence attached to the River of Time, spanning the entire length of the Tree of Mountain and Sea."
"The transcendent experts on the Other Shore might possess a similar ability, though they likely achieve it through the special nature of the Other Shore itself. On their own, their Daos probably couldn't accomplish this."
"However, whether it's a master of Reverse or a transcendent being, within a severed segment of the Tree of Mountain and Sea, they should be unique. If they perish at any point in time, it's a final death. Not even reversing the flow of time can change that."
"But Return to Truth..."
Li Fan's brow furrowed slightly.
"As a power on the same level as the Mountain and Sea itself, it can directly reset the state of the Tree of Mountain and Sea."
"As long as something is not beyond the scope of the Mountain and Sea, it will be affected."
"However, I can't yet be certain if the scope of Return to Truth's influence is limited to this single segment of the Tree of Mountain and Sea I inhabit... or if it encompasses all of Mountain and Sea..."
"There is one way to find out."
"Shou Qiu Gong!"
"In the last life, Shou Qiu Gong was not within the Mountain and Sea, but in the Eternal Silent Void Realm outside the tree trunk. If Return to Truth did not affect him, then he is bound to have some memory of my last life with Cheng Dao." At this thought, Li Fan's heart tightened.
"It seems that after reaching the Other Shore, even if Return to Truth awakens, I cannot use it rashly. At least, not until I've figured this out. I should avoid exposing myself to those Saints as much as possible."
Li Fan dared not simply go and ask Shou Qiu Gong to find out.
In fact, both Ziyi and Cheng Dao, who could contact Shou Qiu, could become triggers for his exposure.
Cheng Dao was fine, trapped on the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat by Li Fan's 'Sitting and Discussing Dao.'
But Ziyi was beyond Li Fan's control.
"I can only hope that the reach of Return to Truth is greater than I imagine."
"Otherwise, I might have to flee before I even arrive at the Other Shore." Li Fan tried to calm the sense of urgency in his heart.
Li Fan wasn't one to worry needlessly.
But after his recent deductions, he now knew that the existence of Return to Truth could be exposed. Naturally, he had to take precautions for the future.
"To give up and not go to the Other Shore is out of the question."
"But to be blindly optimistic and make no preparations is also unacceptable."
Reviewing all the power at his disposal, Li Fan couldn't find any method that would guarantee his escape from Shou Qiu Gong.
"The only thing the Saints care about is the continued existence of the Mountain and Sea."
"The only thing that might give them pause is my newly learned secret technique: True Spirit Destruction."
"This technique..."
A sharp light glinted in Li Fan's eyes; he had made his decision. "I must make good use of it."
"The True Spirit Destruction technique, while capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, has a major drawback: the true spirit fire spreads too slowly."
"Unless..."
"I'm already prepared. I will scatter seeds of fire across different possibilities and different time nodes throughout the Mountain and Sea!"
"A single spark can start a prairie fire. And my infinite spirituality is enough for me alone to plant these seeds throughout the entirety of Mountain and Sea."
"Then, with a single thought from me, the Mountain and Sea will burn."
"In all likelihood, the transcendent experts of the Other Shore would extinguish it before the Mountain and Sea is completely incinerated. The spirituality I consumed to ignite it would also become nourishment for the Mountain and Sea. But a severely wounded Mountain and Sea might not survive the continued corrosion of the Dao Annihilation."
"The transcendent beings of the Other Shore... wouldn't dare take that gamble!"
"This deterrent should be effective."
Li Fan considered it repeatedly, the unease in his heart gradually fading.
"It seems I need to make ample preparations before heading to the Other Shore."
"I'll just proceed slowly. At every possibility I reach, I will plant my hidden hand."
"Other transcendent experts unite their myriad selves into one. I, however, will go from one to myriad!"
"Heh..."
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