Chapter 1673: The True Face of [Truth] is Finally Revealed
A torrent of a thousand imaginings surged forth, rising like a constellation of countless stars to illuminate the cold, dark void.
Like threads of light, they wove a phantom image of the Mountain and Sea in an instant.
But this tableau was not destined to last.
The real Mountain and Sea had already been annihilated within the Eternal Silent Void Realm; what hope did this imaginary one have?
The surrounding darkness immediately crushed the light radiating from the phantom Mountain and Sea.
Turbid waves of shadow surged, threatening to drag it into eternal blackness.
"All Saints, assemble!"
The voice of Qiu Xinhui, the Mountain Sea End Saint, suddenly echoed through the void.
It forcefully repelled a wave of darkness.
These were the Transcendent cultivators born from the plan to infuse True Spirits using the [I Birth Infinite] technique.
[I Birth Infinite] had created over a thousand half-Saints.
The number of ordinary Transcendent beings was beyond counting.
All who were Transcendent could traverse the Dao Annihilation.
They possessed a degree of resistance against its encroachment.
Now, countless Transcendent beings joined forces, each contributing their meager power to collectively hold aloft the imaginary Mountain and Sea as it began to sink into the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
With every moment that passed, great swathes of light representing the cultivators dissipated.
Though they were doomed to fail in changing the imaginary Mountain and Sea's fate, they bought the Saints of the Mountain Sea's End precious time for their next move!
An illusory river suddenly drifted out, flowing across the imaginary Mountain and Sea.
With its arrival, the flow of time began within this new world.
"Farewell, old friend!"
The voice of the Shifting Figure rang out, and as it echoed, ripples seemed to spread through the imaginary Mountain and Sea.
Li Fan saw it clearly: within the imaginary Mountain and Sea, countless possibilities began to evolve.
If the initial imaginary Mountain and Sea was merely a blank canvas shaped from the memories of many, then with the addition of the River of Time's power and the force of infinite deduction, it began to grow on its own along two different dimensions.
The aura of "imagination" slowly faded.
It became like the Mountain and Sea that had once truly existed in reality.
This newborn Mountain and Sea, though weak, was bursting with vibrant life.
The sacrifice of the two Saints was like a spark setting a prairie ablaze.
More and more, endless possibilities began to grow wild and unrestrained.
The River of Time stretched infinitely, from antiquity to the present.
The presence of the newborn Mountain and Sea swelled in the darkness, expanding at a rate ten million times greater with each passing moment.
Though it remained incomparably tiny next to the Eternal Silent Void Realm, it was enough to draw its attention.
Even a fraction of the power the void had used to besiege the remnant Mountain and Sea was more than the newborn world could bear.
It was instantly plunged into a perilous state, its light dimming, on the verge of falling completely into the darkness at any moment.
At that very moment, over a thousand half-Saints appeared within the Mountain and Sea.
Their expressions were fearless, dauntless.
As if consumed by fire, their bodies dissolved into streams of light, carrying the True Spirits they had absorbed and pouring them into the newborn Mountain and Sea.
Like a potent stimulant, it fortified the faltering world, allowing it to temporarily resist the tide of darkness.
Although the newborn Mountain and Sea had grown many times stronger, it still could not compare to the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
Once the void finished dealing with the two remaining specks of light in the darkness, the newborn Mountain and Sea would ultimately face the same fate: extinction.
"I have seen the fragments of the Mountain and Sea's flowing years; I know its former appearance."
The voice of Qiu Xinhui, the Mountain Sea End Saint, emerged once more.
He waved his sleeve lightly, scattering countless points of light.
As they flew, it was as if an invisible hand guided them, placing these fragments where they were always meant to be.
As if awakening an ancient memory and finding its primary structure, the newborn Mountain and Sea began to grow wildly once more, following a discernible pattern.
It could now even occasionally suppress the encroaching waves from the void.
But this act seemed to have thoroughly enraged the shrouding darkness.
Determined to give the newborn Mountain and Sea no further chance to grow, the void's oppressive force suddenly intensified a thousandfold!
Almost instantly, the newborn Mountain and Sea's luster faded until it was nearly invisible.
It faced the same predicament as the remnant Mountain and Sea.
Though several streams of brilliance flowed to protect it, under the void's relentless pressure, they too were eventually extinguished.
"Before the Eternal Silent Void Realm in its full might, even Saints can only last for so long!" Li Fan saw the figures of the Mountain Sea's End Saints within those dissipating streams of light. His own condition was deteriorating, and a thread of terror inevitably coiled in his heart.
Fortunately, with one new and one old Mountain and Sea drawing its fire, the pressure on Li Fan was somewhat less than when he had first fallen into the void.
Thus, he could still hold on.
"You've been watching this show long enough. Why can't I use [Truth] yet?!" Li Fan was furious.
He could feel that while the void was destroying the foundation of his existence, it was also erasing the Xuanpin Dao itself.
Consequently, the force binding him was gradually weakening.
Theoretically, he should be able to use [Truth] now.
But for some unknown reason, [Truth] still refused to activate.
Clearly, [Truth] itself was unwilling.
Powerless, Li Fan could only strive to maintain his existence and quietly observe the unfolding events.
With the Saints of the Mountain Sea's End having fallen, Qiu Xinhui still had not given up.
"All Saints, assemble!"
Endless yellow light burst forth from the newborn Mountain and Sea.
Acting as a shield, it blunted the void's erosion.
At the same time, one Saintly figure after another stepped out of the nothingness.
It was the very Saints who had already fallen!
However, they were not their true selves, but bodies of pure imagination!
But their existence was clearly different from ordinary imaginary constructs. They somehow possessed the ability to manipulate their own Mountain and Sea Daos!
The River of Time reappeared, its shifting figures myriad.
The newborn Mountain and Sea received another wave of nourishment, swelling with power!
"How is this possible?"
Li Fan was utterly shocked by the sight.
These imaginary Saints were clearly Qiu Xinhui's creation.
Despite not being their true selves, merely imaginary constructs, they could still exercise the power of a Saint's path.
This meant...
"Qiu Xinhui, this Mountain Sea End Saint, knows the Dao paths of the other Saints as well as he knows the back of his hand!"
"It's like how I know the Xuanpin Dao. Though I am not the Xuanpin Saint, I can don its mantle and wield a Saint's authority."
"And he... he resurrects Saints from imagination to perform a Saint's duty!"
Li Fan's mind reeled as he watched Qiu Xinhui single-handedly turn the tide.
Each time the protective light of the imaginary Saints was annihilated by the void, Qiu Xinhui's call of "All Saints, assemble!" would be followed by new imaginary Saints appearing from thin air.
They would nourish the Mountain and Sea once more.
And so, the cycle repeated.
The power of this Mountain Sea End Saint seemed inexhaustible.
There was no end to his strength in sight!
"This..." Li Fan was stunned into silence.
At the End of Time, he and Qiu Xinhui had survived together for a long while, yet he had never realized the man's power was so terrifying, so unfathomable!
"And I remember that this Dao of Imagination is not his path."
"What, then, is the Dao by which he became a Saint?"
Li Fan watched in silence as the newborn Mountain and Sea grew strong within the Eternal Silent Void Realm, nourished by the Saints. An even greater question bloomed in his mind.
"I truly underestimated this Mountain Sea End Saint."
"With the power he's displayed... could the newborn Mountain and Sea actually have a chance?"
In the Eternal Silent Void Realm, the tides churned.
Although each crashing wave could devastate the newborn Mountain and Sea to the point of utter annihilation, as long as the faintest glimmer of its light remained, Qiu Xinhui could restore it completely.
Thus, under the void's constant erosion, this newborn Mountain and Sea managed to grow, arduously, through continuous destruction!
If this were allowed to continue indefinitely, it seemed even the Eternal Silent Void Realm would be powerless against it!
Sensing this, perhaps, the cold darkness fell silent for a moment.
And then...
The boundless silence was parted from within.
Like a solitary star suspended in the night, or a god opening its eye.
Within the Eternal Silent Void Realm, an unknown existence had arrived.
The newborn Mountain and Sea froze in place.
Then, it shattered, layer by layer.
Even as the imaginary Saints ceaselessly appeared, striving to stop it, the speed of its destruction was simply too fast.
No matter how they tried to repair it, their efforts were in vain.
"Finally, the face of the Star..."
"Heh. Daoist Fan, are you not going to act?"
Qiu Xinhui's voice suddenly reached him.
Li Fan was still stunned by the appearance of the [Star]. Hearing Qiu Xinhui's words, he froze.
"Act?"
"Me?"
With the mere Xuanpin Dao, he could barely handle the dark tides stirred by the Eternal Silent Void Realm. How could he possibly be a match for the [Star]?
Li Fan found the notion absurd.
At the same time, a sense of panic quickly rose within him.
Given the power Qiu Xinhui had shown, he certainly wouldn't say something so baseless.
"Unless?"
Realizing this, Li Fan's body moved involuntarily.
It was not his own will, but a compulsion.
He drifted out from the darkness.
Facing the invisible rift torn in the void, he gently pointed at the [Star] that had appeared within.
"When truth is made illusion..."
"...illusion becomes truth."
A voice, ancient yet young, rang out.
The solitary star seemed to vanish.
Meanwhile, the imaginary Mountain and Sea instantly multiplied into infinite phantoms. A moment later, these phantoms solidified, turning from illusion to reality, boundless and filling his vision.
It was as if the Mountain and Sea had been reborn!
The truth made illusion was, of course, the now-shrouded Star.
And the illusion made truth was the newborn, once-imaginary Mountain and Sea.
Li Fan, with his power alone, had completely reversed the situation.
Or rather, it was not Li Fan.
It was [Truth]!
"When truth is made illusion, illusion becomes truth. A magnificent 'when truth is made illusion, illusion becomes truth' indeed!"
Within the reborn, endless Mountain and Sea, Qiu Xinhui's figure appeared before Li Fan.
"The transformation between truth and illusion is truly profound."
But Li Fan just smiled and said with self-deprecation, "What is false cannot become true, and what is true cannot become false."
He pointed in the direction where the star had vanished, his expression unreadable. "I can block the star for a time, but not for an eternity."
This answer was beyond Qiu Xinhui's expectations.
He looked at the boundless, seemingly reborn Mountain and Sea and asked, "How long can this last?"
"That cannot be known," Li Fan replied with only those four words.
Qiu Xinhui finally fell into complete silence.
He asked with genuine sincerity, "Daoist Fan, what is your ultimate assessment of our plan?"
Li Fan pondered for a moment before slowly offering his evaluation. "If the Star were not the Star, the plan could succeed. But alas..."
Hearing this, Qiu Xinhui's expression grew solemn. He cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and asked, "May I ask, friend, what is the Star?"
"I too am searching for that answer."
Li Fan's reply left Qiu Xinhui speechless.
The two of them stood within the Eternal Silent Void Realm, quietly watching the momentarily reborn Mountain and Sea.
With the newborn Mountain and Sea as their foundation, the surging tides of darkness seemed completely powerless against them.
An unknown amount of time passed, and the newborn Mountain and Sea seemed to have returned to its previous peak state.
The world's destruction felt like nothing more than an illusion.
Qiu Xinhui finally spoke again. "May I ask, Daoist Fan, have we..."
"...met before?"
A smile finally touched Li Fan's lips.
"If we had never met, then from where would my [Truth] have come?"
Qiu Xinhui looked perplexed. "[Truth]?"
Li Fan simply smiled again, offering no further explanation.
Instead, he said, "Let us go back. There is no longer any point in staying here."
Qiu Xinhui sighed, but in the end, he did not refuse.
Thump, thump, thump...
The clear, rhythmic beat of a heart sounded for no reason.
It grew heavier, spreading throughout the space.
Beyond the Eternal Silent Void Realm, the Star seemed about to reappear.
But a mysterious and supreme power was already slowly filling the void.
Reversing everything.
The heartbeat grew faster and faster.
As if a rewind button had been pressed, the scenes that had unfolded here replayed themselves.
Only in reverse.
The light and shadows flickered with increasing speed, while the sound of the heartbeat grew fainter.
When the sound faded completely...
At the End of the Mountain and Sea.
Li Fan's eyes snapped open, and he scanned his surroundings.
"This is...?"
He looked around in disbelief.
Qiu Xinhui was smiling at him, and it seemed he was back at the very moment he had crossed over and arrived at the End of the Mountain and Sea!
"Did I successfully activate [Truth]?"
"No. This is..."
Faint images surfaced in his mind, but as Li Fan tried to examine them, a sharp, piercing pain shot through his head.
It prevented him from focusing his thoughts.
His entire body ached as if he were utterly spent after a great battle.
"What happened? I remember it was the time of the final battle between the Mountain and Sea and the Eternal Silent Void Realm."
Li Fan pressed his temples, trying to clear his muddled head.
"[Truth]! Right, [Truth]!"
As if remembering something, Li Fan realized with a jolt that [Truth] might have been exposed. He snapped his head up to meet Qiu Xinhui's gaze.
But Qiu Xinhui, just as he had in memory, was helping the people from the collapsing Life and Death Realm to stabilize their injuries.
"I know you may have many questions, Daoist Fan."
"Please be patient for a moment. I will explain everything."
Answering his inner call, the [Truth] panel reappeared before Li Fan's eyes.
And at this point in time, he had only just donned the mantle of the Xuanpin Dao; the binding force had not yet fully formed.
He could activate [Truth] at any moment.
Finally feeling a sense of security, Li Fan nodded silently, patiently waiting for Qiu Xinhui to finish his tasks.
During this time, Li Fan saw the Saints of the Mountain Sea's End once more.
But aside from Qiu Xinhui, none of them seemed to have any knowledge of what had just transpired.
"A scene like this... Could it be?"
Recalling the various similarities he had sensed between the Saints and [Truth],
Li Fan began to form a suspicion about Qiu Xinhui's true Dao path.
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