Chapter 1645: Enlightenment Before the Void Realm
Seventy-four thousand, eight hundred and seventy-six years.
That was the temporal limit Mount Tai Emperor had reached when he journeyed upstream through the river of time.
This time, as Li Fan and the Moral True Immortal traveled back for nearly sixty thousand years, a sense of crisis began to well up within him.
"This feeling..."
"Are we approaching the dawn of time for this segment of the Mountain and Sea?"
The sensation surging through him at this very moment was identical to the one he had experienced on the Other Shore, at the Eternal Heaven Steps, when he had gazed upon the Eternal Silent Void Realm from afar.
The only difference was that the Other Shore was protected by warnings and restrictive barriers outside the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
But now, Li Fan was personally traversing this perilous domain, flowing against the current of time. As they drew ever closer to the beginning, the sense of crisis and instinctual dread multiplied a hundredfold with each passing moment.
As a result, both of them subconsciously slowed their pace.
"Can you still keep up?" Li Fan asked, turning his head with an air of nonchalant ease, betraying no weakness.
The Moral True Immortal's expression was grave. "I knew of the dangers of the Eternal Silent Void Realm, but only by coming here in person can one truly grasp its meaning. If one were to fall in, I fear the very concept of morality would be instantly erased."
"However... I can still try to push on," he added.
"Doesn't this perfectly fit the 'desperate situation' you seek?" Li Fan offered a faint smile, his posture unchanging as he continued forward.
On the surface, he remained utterly composed, but inwardly, he was already drenched in a cold sweat.
Every cell in his body was screaming warnings, desperately resisting the approach toward the Eternal Silent Void Realm ahead.
Li Fan's own spiritual intuition was also relentlessly telling him of the extreme danger that lay before them.
The only small comfort Li Fan found was that [Truth] had shown no reaction to his attempt to approach the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
"I'm only observing it from a close distance, not actually entering. It should be fine."
With that thought, Li Fan overcame his primal instincts and continued to step forward.
An absolute, vacant darkness began to rise in his field of vision, possessing an utterly overwhelming power. The closer he got, the more suffocating it became.
Li Fan even sensed that his own Dao path and cultivation base were growing unstable.
It was as if his "Dao," sensing its impending doom, was instinctively trying to flee and disperse.
Like a drop of ink in water, it dissolved into a thousand threads, scattering in every direction!
The instinct to survive and flow is inherent to the Dao itself. Thus, Li Fan found it nearly impossible to stop this self-dispersal with his will alone.
"Furthermore, this process of dissolution is irreversible. Once it's lost, it's lost for good. Even if I return to a normal point in the Mountain and Sea's timeline, this dissipated cultivation won't return. I would have to cultivate it all over again."
However, thanks to the advantage of [Truth], Li Fan was completely unconcerned about the dissipation of his cultivation. Even if he were reduced to a mere mortal, he could return to his saved anchor point and be restored to his original state.
But as his cultivation level dropped, his situation at the dawn of time grew increasingly perilous. Li Fan became ever more cautious, ready to activate [Truth] at a moment's notice.
The Moral True Immortal, on the other hand, was far from being as composed as Li Fan.
His cultivation was the fruit of painstaking effort and accumulation. Now, with every step forward, decades or even centuries of hard work vanished into thin air.
He had not yet become a Saint; how could he not feel the sting of this loss?
Compounded by the ever-intensifying sense of crisis in his heart, the Moral True Immortal's pace grew even slower.
At times, he came to a near standstill, taking a long while just to move a single step.
Gazing at Li Fan's back—still moving forward at an undiminished pace, his figure elegant and free—a feeling of deep admiration for Li Fan rose spontaneously in the Moral True Immortal's heart.
"It seems my previous speculations were correct! Only a being who has once traversed the Eternal Silent Void Realm could stroll through the dawn of time with such leisurely grace!"
The further they went, the faster their cultivation and Dao foundation disintegrated, and the weaker they became.
The weaker they became, the less courage they had to continue forward.
Caught in this vicious cycle, the Moral True Immortal ultimately failed to reach the absolute limit of this segment of the Mountain and Sea.
He did, however, come within a single step of it.
"Another half-year forward, and we'll be at the initial time node of this Mountain and Sea segment."
"Approximately..."
"Sixty-eight thousand, four hundred and thirty-seven years before the anchor point."
The nothingness of the Eternal Silent Void Realm stretched across his vision, almost close enough to touch.
Darkness loomed overhead, nearly enveloping his entire body.
It felt as though if he reached out of his hand, it would vanish into that profound, deep blackness.
Every thought Li Fan processed required a thousand times more effort as he struggled to suppress the primal fear constantly erupting from the depths of his soul.
This had nothing to do with one's strength of character; it was the instinctive terror of a living being facing the tribulation of "conceptual annihilation."
Thinking was this difficult; acting was even more so.
The Moral True Immortal was drenched in sweat, his expression contorted and terrifying.
He tried to move his feet.
He attempted it several times, but ultimately, he could not bring himself to do it.
Finally, he let out a long sigh and gave up.
"This is my limit."
The Moral True Immortal closed his eyes and spoke with immense difficulty, "I have a premonition that if I insist on moving forward, my very existence will collapse on its own, even without falling into the Eternal Silent Void Realm."
"For me, what lies ahead is the ultimate dead end."
Li Fan stood before the Moral True Immortal, his hands clasped behind his back, leaving an unforgettable image etched in the other's mind.
He spoke slowly, "A pity. In this place, every step forward reveals a world-shattering new vista. What I see now, you are unable to perceive."
With that, Li Fan shook his head and retreated from the edge.
Even though his heart had not yet recovered from the state of extreme fear, occasionally sending out sharp, tearing pains, it did not affect Li Fan's composed expression, which suggested he was far from finished.
"In truth, the mysteries that lie further ahead are a hundred times more profound than this place. It's just a shame..." Li Fan sighed softly, his words trailing off.
He didn't specify what "further ahead" meant, but to the Moral True Immortal, it clearly referred to the Eternal Silent Void Realm itself!
"So it was the traversal that damaged his cultivation, causing him to fall from the realm of Saints?"
The Moral True Immortal's mind instantly leaped to this conclusion.
If the loss of one's Dao and cultivation was this severe even before entering the Eternal Silent Void Realm, how much worse would it be inside?
It was only logical that crossing it would cause a drop in one's cultivation realm.
All his conjectures about Li Fan now formed a complete, closed loop. The Moral True Immortal spoke with great solemnity, "I ask for your assistance, fellow Daoist!"
"Very well!"
A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
The fire of the True Spirit reappeared.
The flames blazed fiercely, forming an arc that sealed the Moral True Immortal in place.
From the Moral True Immortal's perspective, before him lay the utterly terrifying Eternal Silent Void Realm.
And behind him, the searing fire of the True Spirit.
Although the True Spirit's fire was also exceedingly dangerous, it was still a lesser threat compared to the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
Therefore, in a life-or-death situation, if he had to choose for the sake of survival, he would undoubtedly opt to break through the blockade of the True Spirit's fire.
Just as the Moral True Immortal had said before, even the True Spirit's fire combined with the Dao Annihilation Calamity was far from a truly desperate situation!
But Li Fan was not finished.
Gazing at the Moral True Immortal seated cross-legged in the void, Li Fan's expression suddenly turned cold.
It was a look of supreme detachment, completely at odds with every other existence in the Mountain and Sea, a look of someone gazing down upon all living things.
The Moral True Immortal's gaze met Li Fan's, and his heart trembled.
He had the illusion of once again facing a Saint!
"Perhaps... it is not an illusion?"
As this thought crossed his mind, the Moral True Immortal suddenly felt a great terror descend from within the flames of the True Spirit before him!
The threat level of the True Spirit's fire instantly multiplied by thousands.
And the feeling it gave him seemed remarkably similar to that of the Eternal Silent Void Realm!
"To fall into it is to have both body and soul annihilated..."
One moment, there was still a path of retreat.
The next, there was no escape!
The hairs on the Moral True Immortal's skin stood on end, and cold sweat dripped from his brow.
"Are you satisfied with such a desperate situation?"
Li Fan's voice, cold as ice, passed through the flickering flames and reached the Moral True Immortal's ears.
"Proceed with the Moral Separation at once."
"Do not attempt to flee, or else..."
"I'm afraid there will no longer be a Moral True Immortal in this world."
The flames flared violently, completely blocking the Moral True Immortal's vision.
He could tell that Li Fan's words were no joke.
If he were to instinctively try to force his way through, the other party would show no mercy!
This desperate situation was what he had sought, what he had journeyed back tens of thousands of years for, all to execute the great divine art of Moral Separation.
But now that he was truly trapped in it, the Moral True Immortal felt a sliver of regret.
However, now was not the time for regrets.
Seeing the Moral True Immortal hesitate without taking action...
The line of True Spirit fire actually began to slowly advance toward him!
The Moral True Immortal's heart leaped into his throat, and he cried out, "Fellow Daoist, wait!"
Yet Li Fan seemed not to hear him at all, and the line of True Spirit fire continued its inexorable advance, completely ignoring his plea.
At this moment, the Moral True Immortal was truly in a desperate plight.
Forward, the pressure from the Eternal Silent Void Realm would cause him to disintegrate.
And backward...
The True Spirit's fire, along with the great terror within it, would likewise annihilate his body and soul.
The Moral True Immortal could only force himself to calm down.
"This moment is just like when the Immortal World was shattered and the Dao Annihilation Calamity descended."
"Only when there is no way out can great divine arts be born from necessity."
"As they say, when at an impasse, you must change. Through change, a path will open!"
Two completely different expressions now appeared on the Moral True Immortal's face.
The left half was furrowed in a deep frown, as if filled with worry.
The right half, however, seemed to have attained great enlightenment, beaming with joy.
But in the next instant, the expressions on the left and right sides switched.
The left side relaxed, while the right side grew troubled.
Another instant, and the two expressions swapped again.
This cycle repeated, the speed of the changes accelerating.
Finally, the two disparate expressions seemed to merge, returning to a single, calm face.
The change in his facial expression was merely the first step of Moral Separation.
A wisp of the True Intent of Morality seemed to spin within the transformation.
It gradually differentiated into two streams of energy, one black and one white.
Yet, from a distance, these two energies did not appear pure.
They remained intermingled and inseparable, each containing a part of the other.
Black and white chased each other, coiling and spinning, forming a Taiji Diagram.
And from all corners of the Mountain and Sea, streams of the Dao of Morality seemed to be drawn to it, ignoring the blockade of the True Spirit's fire and descending here to merge into the Taiji Diagram!
"This is..."
Outside the flames of the True Spirit, Li Fan maintained his output of spirituality and the True False Transformation, carefully observing the mystical changes happening to the Moral True Immortal.
The great terror the Moral True Immortal felt was, of course, the True False Transformation.
Or, more specifically, the "Truth becomes Falsehood" transformation.
After more than thirty lifetimes of contemplation, the power of his "Truth becomes Falsehood" divine art had increased by more than a hundredfold compared to the initial spirituality-severing blade.
It was no longer a simple matter of reducing spirituality.
Even against a transcendent expert like the Moral True Immortal, Li Fan was confident he could slowly erase his existence, reducing him to complete nothingness!
It would just...
...require some time.
The Moral True Immortal's premonition was both right and wrong.
The True Spirit's fire, combined with the "Truth becomes Falsehood" divine art, would indeed erase his existence, just like the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
But Li Fan, of course, could not be compared to the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
If the Eternal Silent Void Realm was a vast swamp that could swallow the Moral True Immortal in an instant...
Then Li Fan was, at best, a patch of clinging tar that could only slowly consume the localized area it touched.
Although the effects the two could achieve were arguably similar...
Their efficiency of annihilation was on completely different levels.
The reason the Moral True Immortal had the illusion of being truly trapped in a desperate situation was due to the vast and imposing facade created by the True Spirit's fire and his complete ignorance of the True False Transformation.
If he had truly disregarded everything and charged toward the True Spirit's fire...
He absolutely would have been able to escape, at most suffering some injuries.
But the Moral True Immortal had come seeking enlightenment in a desperate situation, so he did not act in such a way.
"The flow of morality approaches a state of change."
"It has formed an atmosphere of transcendence. That is why it can attract the same Dao of Morality from across the Mountain and Sea to come here from thousands of miles away."
Concealed within the flames of the True Spirit, Li Fan silently observed the Taiji Diagram, lost in thought.
Just as Heavenly Net Emperor's plan to make the Immortal Realm transcend could attract a host of followers to serve him, the mysterious Taiji Diagram manifested by the Moral True Immortal now constructed a vision of transcending the Mountain and Sea.
However, it was merely a vision.
"If the Moral True Immortal's understanding of the True Intent of Morality had truly reached the limit of the Mountain and Sea, he might have been able to turn this vision into reality!"
"Morality flows on its own, and the Taiji gives birth to all things. This is a Dao path that could rival the Mountain and Sea, just like the Dao of Longevity..."
"But, the Moral True Immortal is, after all, only at the ordinary transcendent realm. He is far from fully grasping its true meaning. He has not even fully comprehended Morality, let alone the Taiji."
As if confirming Li Fan's speculation...
The streams of the Dao of Morality that had traveled from afar discovered that the Taiji Diagram before them was merely an empty vision woven from nothing. The vast majority of them no longer lingered.
They soon turned back and disappeared.
Yet, a very small portion seemed to see potential in the Moral True Immortal and chose to remain.
Receiving this unexpected supplement of the Dao of Morality, the Moral True Immortal's aura solidified somewhat.
Most of the power he had lost from approaching the Eternal Silent Void Realm was also restored.
And most crucially...
This departure and this staying—two different choices.
They generated the initial, primordial driving force for the Moral Separation!
As if cleaved by a single stroke, the Moral True Immortal split into two identical phantoms!
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