Chapter 1640: A Heaven Beyond the Mountain and Sea
Chapter 1640: A Heaven Beyond the Mountain and Sea
"An immortal unforgiven by the Mountain and Sea? What in the world is that...?"
The Dao Annihilation tide arrived so abruptly this time that Li Fan, who had been watching events unfold from behind the curtain, barely had time to react and was almost consumed.
But he was no stranger to grand crises. After his narrow escape, Li Fan quickly regained his composure.
"I never would have thought," he mused, "that Dharma Transmitter Jiang's 'All Things as I Am' ability had such profound origins."
With his experience, Li Fan could tell at a glance that the All Knowing Immortal and his immortal artifact, [As One Wishes], were far more complex than any initial description had ever suggested.
"To anger a Sage Lord is to be unforgiven by the Mountain and Sea. Could it be... that this All Knowing Immortal is one of the two beings suppressed within the Eternal Heaven Steps on the Other Shore?"
"Moreover, there was the Dao Annihilation tide's strange reaction..."
From his many previous close encounters with the Dao Annihilation, Li Fan had confirmed that it possessed some form of consciousness. In other words, if the Dao Annihilation was an advancing army, then there had to be a supreme commander directing its offensive.
This time, however, upon sensing something related to the All Knowing Immortal, the Dao Annihilation's reaction was entirely different.
"It was as if a scout had discovered traces of a priority target and, in an instant, summoned the main army, its spearhead aimed with unerring precision!"
Li Fan felt a sudden jolt of alarm.
"The essence of Dao Annihilation is the return of the power of the [Star], a force that transcends the Mountain and Sea, causing them to dissolve into one another. For just a single fragment of an immortal artifact forged by this being to provoke such a massive response..."
"In a way, does this mean the All Knowing Immortal—or perhaps [As One Wishes]—is significant enough to have caught the eye of the [Star] itself?"
Instinctively, Li Fan's curiosity was piqued.
"I might have been able to glean more from Dharma Transmitter Jiang's memories, but that opportunity is lost in this lifetime."
"I'll just have to wait for the clash between the Moral Immortals."
Li Fan glanced far into the distance, beyond the bounds of the Mountain and Sea.
Instead of seeking refuge in another possibility, he simply raised the Solitary Sail and began to drift upon the tide of Dao Annihilation.
Feeling the undercurrents of the Dao Annihilation, a realization dawned on Li Fan. "Even with the Primal Possibility destroyed, it hasn't given up the search. That means, from its perspective, a world-ending tide of that magnitude was never enough to kill the All Knowing Immortal. If he has vanished, it must be because he escaped and went into hiding again."
"To be able to stir the emotions of the Saints on the Other Shore... he truly must be someone extraordinary!"
Li Fan recalled his encounters with the Saints in his simulations. They had always appeared utterly composed, completely in control—even when observing the nature of [Truth] and his own boundless spirituality.
It was hard to imagine what the All Knowing Immortal could have done to warrant the Saints themselves taking action to suppress him.
"The source of Dharma Transmitter Jiang's power—that fragment that broke free when the Immortal Realm collapsed—is probably just one of the All Knowing Immortal's many remnants scattered across the Other Shore."
"And even so, the Dao Annihilation treats it with such gravity."
All of this led to a single conclusion: the All Knowing Immortal, and his artifact [As One Wishes], could play a pivotal role in the great war between the Dao Annihilation and the Mountain and Sea.
If not capable of deciding the final outcome, they could at least be enough to break the current stalemate.
"It seemed this All Knowing Immortal was also unique to the Primal Possibility."
"What's going on? Isn't this possibility I'm in a bit too extraordinary?"
"Putting aside a sage-like being such as Shou Qiu, there's also a character of this caliber?"
"Then there's the Scripture Grave Great Saint, the Moral True Immortal, the Xuantian King and his wife..."
"And on top of all that, there's me and [Truth]."
"Weren't single possibilities supposed to have a ceiling on their potential?"
Li Fan's brow furrowed.
"Could it be that when I named this the 'Primal' Possibility, I accidentally hit upon the truth?"
But the observed facts contradicted this notion.
The Primal Immortal Realm was long shattered, and its remaining fragments had been annihilated countless times.
There was nothing special about it at all.
"Where did it all go wrong?" Li Fan keenly sensed the deep contradictions at play.
Everything felt strange, discordant.
"Theoretically, great talents arise in prosperous times. If a single possibility possessed a foundation deep enough to produce so many powerful figures of the Mountain and Sea, it couldn't possibly be this fragile. And yet..."
Li Fan drifted with the current, floating upon the Dao Annihilation, hidden within the Mountain and Sea, pondering this question without cease.
Within the Mountain and Sea, time held no meaning.
An unknown amount of time passed. Then, after witnessing other nearby possibilities where their Immortal Realms still thrived, an idea struck Li Fan with the force of sudden enlightenment.
"I have always assumed the Primal Immortal Realm was destroyed long ago. But..."
"What if—and this is a long shot—what if the Heavenly Net Emperor's plan actually succeeded?"
The Heavenly Net Emperor's method for salvation was to elevate the entire Immortal Realm to a higher state of existence. By transcending the Mountain and Sea, it would naturally escape the Dao Annihilation. It sounded like an impossible fantasy, but Li Fan didn't know the original details of the plan.
The fact that it had so many supporters at the time suggested the plan must have held some measure of feasibility.
Even if the probability was infinitesimally small, it wasn't zero.
If the Heavenly Net Emperor had truly succeeded in carrying the entire Primal Immortal Realm through that monumental act of transcendence...
Then, the many anomalies within the Primal Possibility would begin to make sense.
After such a transcendence, the very foundation of the entire possibility would have undergone a qualitative change, blessing its countless beings. Even the "dregs" shed during the process would have been affected. Mediocrities would transform into geniuses, and geniuses into peerless prodigies.
They would rise far above their peers. Prodigies whose potential was once capped at the level of Nameless True Immortals would find themselves able to glimpse the realm of transcendence.
"Perhaps that would explain why the humble Primal Possibility gave birth to so many transcendent experts."
"Moreover..."
"I should have realized sooner that in the boundless Mountain and Sea, with its countless possibilities, [Truth]'s decision to choose the [Primal Possibility] was likely no coincidence."
"The Xuanhuang Realm isn't the only special thing here—it's the [Primal Possibility] itself."
"It must be because it inherited the resources of this Primal Possibility that the little Xuanhuang Realm seems to be teeming with so many hidden masters."
At this thought, it was as if a thick fog in his mind had been pierced, and everything suddenly fell into place.
Although, for now, all of this was merely his own speculation.
But his intuition, like a beacon in the dark, told him that the moment he formed the guess, he had stumbled upon the truth.
"It was truly incredible."
Faced with this conclusion, Li Fan himself fell silent for a long while.
It was precisely because the idea was so outlandish that even with the various signs he had seen, Li Fan had never allowed his thoughts to stray in this direction.
He hadn't dared to.
However, after learning of the [All Knowing Immortal]'s existence through a fortuitous turn of events in this lifetime, Li Fan suddenly shattered the confines of his previous thinking.
But this realization only gave rise to even greater questions.
"The Heavenly Net Emperor... just what kind of being was he?"
"And after the Primal Immortal Realm successfully transcended... where did it go?"
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