Chapter 1687: A Glimpse into the Secrets of the Mountain Sea
The Eternal Silent Void Realm seemed to sense this segment of the Mountain Sea that had reappeared from destruction.
An undercurrent suddenly surged, shaking the long chain of Saints relentlessly.
The shadow of the Mountain Sea flickered in and out of existence, like a candle flame in the wind, threatening to be extinguished again at any moment.
The Saints stood firm, their bodies like a great dam protecting the newborn phantom of the Mountain Sea.
In this stalemate, their individual consciousnesses had already dispersed to every corner of the Mountain Sea's phantom.
This segment of the Mountain Sea, once swallowed by the void, spanned a continuous period of over fifty-eight thousand, six hundred years.
Because Li Fan's true self was still in the Other Shore, his divided consciousness could only wander the edges of the phantom, near the real Mountain Sea.
"Even with the protection of the Saints' chain, we are still within the Eternal Silent Void Realm, a situation vastly different from the real Mountain Sea."
Even though it was like being amidst reflections in water or flowers in a mirror, where everything was blurry and indistinct, Li Fan still recognized one of the main arteries at a glance.
It was the one he knew better than anything else—the Xuanhuang Realm, the Primal possibility!
Without hesitation, Li Fan's consciousness slipped into it.
The phantom released a faint glow, absorbing his consciousness.
As Li Fan poured his awareness in, he too seemed to enter a state between reality and illusion.
...
Though not a true Saint, Li Fan's ability to command the Dao of Xuanpin meant his consciousness was not much weaker than that of the Saints.
Thus, after only a slight delay, his consciousness quickly awakened.
He shook his head slightly, dispelling the feeling of unreality, and tried to fully immerse himself in the current possibility.
After a long while, the strange sensation of his body being at odds with the surrounding world finally faded.
Li Fan began to examine his current situation.
"Because 'I' don't exist at this point in time, I can only inhabit someone else's body."
"The Xuanhuang Realm, the Divine Wood Sect, Li Bufan. This name... is rather interesting..."
"An age of great cultivation, where countless sects flourished and the path to immortality was not yet severed."
Li Fan's gaze drifted up to the Divine Wood overhead, a colossal tree that blotted out the sun, its canopy casting a shadow over a region of more than fifteen thousand kilometers.
"Not long ago, the Desolate God Sect summoned twelve Desolate Gods into the world, shaking every sect under heaven."
"Three of those Desolate Gods joined forces to attack us, but thankfully, the Divine Wood repelled them."
"However, the Divine Wood was injured in the process."
"The Divine Wood is the very foundation of the Divine Wood Sect; the sect's rise or fall, its entire future, depends on it."
"The sect elders have tried every possible method to heal the Divine Wood's injuries. Among them, Elder Qu Changchu heard that the Reincarnation Sect possessed a [One Glance Ten Thousand Years Bead], which had the miraculous effect of accelerating time. So he went to ask for it."
"But he only brought back a painting."
"While it temporarily eased the Divine Wood's condition, it treated the symptoms, not the underlying cause..."
Li Fan carefully reviewed the memories in 'Li Bufan's' mind, and his expression grew somewhat peculiar.
"I've seen this point in time before."
Deep within the core of the Rotten Axe Dojo, guided by the secret message left by Sun Piao Miao in the bronze immortal crane, Li Fan had locked onto and glimpsed a marked period of time.
"Year 213 of the Heavenly Net Era. Spanning from the celestial cycle of Shangzhang Dayuanxian to that of Yanmao Xuan'yi..."
"It's the very period I find myself in now."
"It is also a crucial artery of the Mountain Sea's phantom, the place where the so-called memories of the Mountain Sea are condensed."
"It seems Sun Piao Miao's guidance was not without purpose."
As his thoughts raced, Li Fan stretched his slightly stiff body.
He recalled the instructions the Saints in the Other Shore had given him earlier.
"To help the phantom Mountain Sea transition from illusion to reality and develop on its own, the most crucial thing is to let nature take its course. In other words, let what was meant to happen continue to unfold along the arteries of history."
"But because this segment of the Mountain Sea exists only as a phantom, with the Eternal Silent Void Realm watching hungrily from the outside, we must compress the time it takes for these key arteries to develop."
"To put it simply, without altering the original course of history, we must accelerate the occurrence of a series of key events."
"If we could use the methods of a Saint, it would be effortless. But the phantom Mountain Sea is simply too fragile. A Saint is an existence on par with the Mountain Sea itself. If it detects the intrusion of an external force, it would likely trigger an immediate rejection, which would be counterproductive."
"More importantly, once the phantom Mountain Sea distinguishes the difference between itself and the real Saints from the outside world, it will realize that it is already in a state of 'destruction.' The 'truth' maintained by the Saints will burst like a bubble in an instant. Everything will return to square one."
"We would have to go through the painstaking process of connecting the Saints' chain from the previous segment of the Mountain Sea and stimulating it all over again..."
This was all experience gained by the Saints of the Other Shore during their previous attempt to reconnect the Mountain Sea.
Though the conditions seemed exceedingly strict, the Saints undertaking this task possessed talent that was unparalleled in the Mountain Sea. To them, it was merely troublesome.
"First, I need to figure out what these key memories of the Mountain Sea actually are."
"But that should be simple enough."
Li Fan sat cross-legged, his consciousness communicating with his true self in the Other Shore.
His true self's gaze fell upon the phantom of the Mountain Sea shrouded in darkness, focusing on the location of the Primal, the Xuanhuang.
He observed the situation after the current point in time.
The nexus of the phantom Mountain Sea's re-emergence.
Even if they were somewhat blurry, they were clearly different from the other flickers of light and shadow, recognizable at a glance.
"A figure secretly descends from the Immortal Realm to the Xuanhuang, slips through the Mountain and Sea Fishing Ground, and escapes elsewhere."
"The Divine Wood withers day by day, attracting the covetous eyes of the Ruomu Tree, leading to a world-shaking battle."
"The Desolate God Sect petitions the Desolate Gods again, but the Immortal Realm does not respond."
"..."
"No, that's not right. None of these should be the key."
Suddenly, a thought struck Li Fan. His gaze pierced through these peripheral scenes, reaching the true inner core of the Mountain Sea's phantom.
The image was hazy, but he could faintly make out a figure that suddenly 'tumbled' out of the void in a sorry state.
The figure looked around, a hint of joy on its face.
It muttered a few words under its breath, then formed a hand seal and cast a spell to conceal itself.
Just a few moments later, its specific features could no longer be seen within the memories of the Mountain Sea.
And yet, the Mountain Sea had already begun to change because of it.
The Mountain and Sea Fishing Ground, which had been gradually closing due to the figure's descent, slowly began to open again.
The war between the Divine Wood and the Ruomu Tree had been a stalemate. But then, as if an invisible wind swept through, the Divine Wood's green leaves suddenly withered. From that point on, it began to lose ground.
The Dao Annihilation tide from beyond the realm was inexplicably influenced, changing its direction. It lightly brushed against a corner of the Primal Immortal Realm. Vast swaths of immortal territory were erased in its wake. In the Xuanhuang Realm, numerous sects lost contact with the upper realm.
...
It was as if an invisible hand was manipulating and altering the Mountain Sea, with the Xuanhuang Realm at its center. Every change was like another invisible thread being spun.
A densely woven net slowly took shape.
The mysterious figure nodded slightly, taking its position at the center of the web.
It seemed to be waiting for something.
An unknown amount of time passed before the figure abruptly looked up.
It raised its hand and made a grasping motion towards the space far above.
In that instant, the Mountain Sea itself seemed to twist and distort!
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