Chapter 1667: The Last Walker of Time
As if from personal experience, the white-haired youth seemed lost in memory. "If we can successfully shed our affiliation with the Mountain and Sea," he murmured, his voice distant, "we can survive in the Eternal Silent Void Realm, even without reaching the Saint realm."
"Compared to being within the Mountain and Sea, the destructive power of Dao Annihilation is significantly weaker there. This gives us one final chance to save ourselves."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, studying the white-haired youth.
The other Venerables of the Life and Death Realm seemed to place immense trust in the white-haired youth. They all accepted his conclusions without question.
Li Fan’s skepticism, however, could not be so easily dispelled.
"And after we leave the Mountain and Sea?"
"Even if we can survive in the Eternal Silent Void Realm, as you claim, how long could we possibly last?"
Facing Li Fan's questions, the white-haired youth answered calmly, "Once the Mountain and Sea is overturned, the Star will reappear. In a sense, that marks the beginning of the next cycle. Perhaps one day, a new Mountain and Sea will emerge and consume the Star again. But by then, we will have secured a place for ourselves in the new era."
"That's pure speculation, isn't it?" After hearing the white-haired youth's grand plan, Li Fan's expression grew rather peculiar.
"It is... and it isn't." The white-haired youth offered no further explanation, simply uttering that single phrase before falling silent.
Seeing the conversation reach an impasse, the Inscription Immortal stepped forward to smooth things over. "You must understand, for cultivators like us who have not reached the Saint realm, this is the only path to survival we could deduce. Among all possible plans, this one offers the highest probability of success."
"In other words, even if we fail to achieve independence at the very moment the Mountain and Sea returns to the Star, we will have at least survived until the very end, will we not?"
"Of course..." The Inscription Immortal's tone shifted as he looked at Li Fan. "You are different from us, fellow Daoist. You now command the Xuanpin Dao. Barring any accidents, your ascension to Sainthood is practically a certainty. If you do not wish to join our endeavor, we would understand."
"We only hope that, for the sake of our long acquaintance, you will not reveal the secrets of the Life and Death Realm." The Inscription Immortal's words were sincere.
Li Fan sighed and fell into a contemplative silence.
"I need to think about it before I give you my answer."
Li Fan’s reaction was well within the Venerables' expectations.
He was, after all, a "quasi-Saint."
Had he agreed to join the plans of the Life and Death Realm without any hesitation, the Inscription Immortal and the others would have found it far more suspicious.
Li Fan considered their proposal for a full three years before finally giving the Venerables his answer.
"I would rather place my trust in you than in the nameless Saints of the Other Shore."
At these words, even beings with the composure of the Inscription Immortal couldn't help but look overjoyed.
"After all, it is thanks to all of you that I was able to obtain the Xuanpin Dao. How could I possibly betray your trust in a matter of life and death?"
"I will diligently cultivate and comprehend the Dao to achieve Sainthood as soon as possible. When that time comes, our plan will have an even greater chance of success," Li Fan declared righteously.
The Venerables all voiced their fervent approval.
With this, Li Fan had truly earned their trust and was finally, fully integrated into the circle of Venerables of the Life and Death Realm.
In the exchanges that followed, Li Fan gradually learned more of their secrets.
The white-haired youth had indeed been brought into existence by a "Mountain and Sea Walker" using the method of Empty Thought Construction.
A long time ago, the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables had encountered this Mountain and Sea Walker.
The Walker told them about the Empty Thought method and the vision of the end of the Mountain and Sea.
At first, the five naturally refused to believe him.
So, the Mountain and Sea Walker demonstrated the great divine ability of Empty Thought Construction right before their eyes.
Amidst a surge of blurry light and shadow, the white-haired youth slowly walked forth.
Arriving in an unfamiliar place, the white-haired youth was momentarily confused. But after sensing his circumstances within the Mountain and Sea and seeing the Mountain and Sea Walker, gravely weakened by the act of creation, a sorrowful expression crossed his face. He sighed, "It seems I failed in the end."
The Mountain and Sea Walker smiled. "But now there is a chance to salvage everything."
"Let us hope so. You go and do what you must. If I should fail again..."
"Then I will return again," the Mountain and Sea Walker vowed.
And with that, he vanished before the eyes of the five Venerables.
The white-haired youth's name was Qiu Xinhui, and he was the most dazzlingly talented cultivator from the last remaining possibility at the very end of time.
He was an unparalleled genius who still managed to attain Sainthood in an age of Dharma decline, a time when nearly all Saints had fallen and not one in ten thousand Daos remained!
However, Qiu Xinhui was born in the wrong era.
A Saint from the end of time was far weaker than one from the current age.
According to Qiu Xinhui's deductions, even if he could traverse the Eternal Silent Void Realm and successfully reach a prior Mountain and Sea timeline, he would be so severely injured that he would be reduced to the level of an ordinary transcendent cultivator.
Without his Saint status, what was the point of traveling to another time?
And so, Qiu Xinhui abandoned the plan of traversing time himself.
Instead, he created a "Mountain and Sea Walker" to travel upstream in his place, to warn the Saints of the past.
He urged them not to give up, to unite and save the Mountain and Sea.
After exhausting nearly all his Saintly power to create the Mountain and Sea Walker...
Qiu Xinhui himself began to execute his second plan.
This was his final, desperate gamble: a full-throated attempt at self-preservation during the final moments when the Mountain and Sea returned to the Star.
"So, let me get this straight," Li Fan began, piecing it all together after hearing Qiu Xinhui's account. "The Mountain and Sea Walker traveled upstream against the flow of time, journeying from the very end of the Mountain and Sea to its very beginning. After fulfilling his mission, he returned to the end of time. There, he witnessed your original self's failure and, in order to change your destiny, taught the Empty Thought method to the Five Fellow Calamity Venerables, which is how you were recreated here?"
The white-haired youth nodded.
"I have a few questions. Your original self couldn't ignore the dangers of the Eternal Silent Void Realm and travel freely through the Mountain and Sea. How did that Walker manage it?" Li Fan asked with a frown.
"It's not that I couldn't traverse it," Qiu Xinhui corrected the error in Li Fan's statement.
"It's just that after the journey, I would be gravely weakened and lose my cultivation as a Saint."
"Once you fall from Sainthood, recovering through cultivation is incredibly difficult. Even I don't have absolute confidence."
"But that Mountain and Sea Walker..."
"...has a unique constitution, an indomitable spirit."
"Even if he falls to his lowest point, given enough time and resources, he can certainly recover to the peak he once attained."
"He was the perfect candidate to walk the Mountain and Sea in my stead. And I raised him myself, so I can trust him completely," Qiu Xinhui explained.
The explanation was, for the most part, plausible.
However, Li Fan still sensed that Qiu Xinhui hadn't told him the whole story.
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