Chapter 1692: The Great Backlash from the Void Realm
Chapter 1692: The Great Backlash from the Void Realm
"Ever since I arrived at the Other Shore and began interacting with the Saints, [Truth] has remained completely dormant. Yet now, it suddenly risks discovery to send me a warning..."
"This means that if I had actually proceeded with my plan, my situation would have become far more perilous."
Having been with [Truth] for so long, Li Fan instantly understood its intent, even though it had only communicated through a faint, subtle ripple without uttering a single word.
"Before [Truth]'s warning, my plan was..."
"To mimic the fluctuations of the two clashing entities as closely as possible, thereby deceiving the Shadow Mountain and Sea."
After careful consideration, Li Fan gradually understood.
The Primordial Creation and the Fate Axis. The fluctuations caused by their clash were, in theory, fundamentally irreplicable. Even the Mountain and Sea itself could not truly recreate that scene.
"Only the True False Transformation could perhaps achieve a perfect replication. Trapped in this predicament, in my desperation to reproduce that moment, I instinctively considered using it."
Having pieced this together, Li Fan inwardly sighed in relief.
In truth, his identity as a traveler reversing the course of time from its very end already had a few holes in it. It was only because he did indeed possess the divine ability to infuse a true spirit that the Saints could still choose to turn a blind eye. However, Li Fan was certain that if he also revealed he possessed the Primordial Creation, the outcome might be very different.
"I just need to use the power expected of the [Xuanpin Dao] and do my best to replicate it. As for whether I can truly fool the shadow of the Mountain and Sea and succeed in the reconnection..."
"This time, I've only come to probe the Saints' true capabilities and find a path for further advancement. What does the Mountain and Sea's fate truly matter to me?"
Li Fan scoffed inwardly.
Then, his thoughts momentarily coalesced, and his heart sank slightly as he recalled his earlier state of mind.
"It's rather strange. After sitting in this Armillary Ring for so long, I've slowly, genuinely started to want to save the Mountain and Sea."
"The influence on my true self isn't as obvious yet. But the sliver of consciousness I invested into the Shadow Mountain and Sea..."
"Although its methods are still similar to mine, its goal has truly become to reconnect the Mountain and Sea. It has been sparing no effort."
"These old masters... they're truly not to be trifled with. No wonder they insist that newly ascended Saints take a seat in this Armillary Ring. It can subtly and imperceptibly alter a Saint's thoughts."
"Although I've come to my senses now, I can't guarantee when I might fall under its influence again. I must return to my anchor before I'm changed completely..."
The hint from [Truth] was like a sudden awakening, temporarily freeing Li Fan from the influence of the Armillary Ring and the Saints.
His avatar in the shadow Xuanhuang Realm, Li Bufan, also naturally became less zealous.
"These preparations should be sufficient."
"If I can fool the Shadow Mountain and Sea, all the better. If not..."
"I've done my best."
He sat atop the Ruomu Tree, thinking to himself.
Time flowed on, and the day of the clash between the Fate Axis and the Primordial Creation in the Mountain and Sea's memory arrived.
Although Li Fan had gained control over nearly all the possible power within the Xuanhuang Realm, he still couldn't perfectly replicate the profound and mysterious fluctuation of that moment.
A deviation from the memory occurred, and faint tremors began to emanate from the deepest veins of the Mountain and Sea.
Although the foundation laid by the previous two memory points had made the shadow more solid than before, preventing an instantaneous collapse, the instability at the end was already starting to affect the entire segment of the Shadow Mountain and Sea within the void realm.
It was almost a foregone conclusion that it would soon be on the verge of a catastrophic collapse, facing imminent and total annihilation.
"This is bad!" In the Other Shore, Li Fan's true self cried out, losing his composure.
The anomaly in the shadow had already caught the attention of the other Saints.
Although the three Saints—Lian Shan, Gui Hai, and Tai Yi—wanted to help, their true bodies were at the forefront of the void realm, too far away to intervene effectively.
And the newly ascended Saints closer to Li Fan were powerless to help simulate that mysterious fluctuation.
Even with Lian Shan's shadow sending guidance via telepathy at the first possible moment, it was too little, too late.
The collapse of the Mountain and Sea began from the smallest crack.
The shadow, which had been ninety percent complete, began to crumble in an instant.
Countless images of light and shadow shattered like bubbles in a flash.
As if stirring up a colossal wave, a tremendous backlash from the cold void realm arrived in an instant.
"Return!"
Within the Armillary Ring, the shadows of Lian Shan, Gui Hai, and Tai Yi shouted in unison.
The white ring simultaneously erupted with an unprecedented brilliance, a light that seemed to pierce through the boundless void realm and reach the true bodies of the Saints.
Li Fan saw it clearly. It was as if invisible tethers extended from the Armillary Ring, connecting to the Saints in the void realm.
In that moment, the tethers pulled taut, violently yanking the Saints, who were caught in the backlash, back to safety.
The Saints' shadows instantly solidified from their illusory forms, and all of them spat out a mouthful of blood in unison.
The only exception was Li Fan, whose true body was already within the Armillary Ring.
Li Fan seemed stunned by the scene, frozen on the spot.
Before he could speak, Lian Shan announced gravely, "A backlash from the void realm, a great tide of Dao Annihilation. It will devour at least eight hundred years. We can't hold it back. Abandon it."
The newly ascended Saints didn't understand what he meant, but the original nine Saints of the Other Shore sighed softly and prepared themselves.
The ring of light around the Other Shore seemed to contract abruptly.
The area it protected invisibly shrank by a small section.
After the protective range was adjusted, Li Fan saw it. At the end of this segment of the Mountain and Sea, a black tide rolled in silently.
It was even more suffocating to watch than to experience firsthand.
Wherever it passed, it left only devastation in its wake.
Everything within the Mountain and Sea was swallowed in an instant.
Countless possibilities, countless living beings, were lost because of it.
It surged forward, devouring a full eight hundred years' worth of time, its momentum finally halting only when it met the white light of the Other Shore.
Although the tide of Dao Annihilation was temporarily stopped, the price was steep...
The Saints within the Armillary Ring once again collectively spat blood.
The Other Shore was still shaking violently, seeming as though it could capsize at any moment.
The onslaught of the Dao Annihilation tide wasn't just coming from the direction of the void realm.
It was suddenly erupting from all over this segment of the Mountain and Sea.
Li Fan personally witnessed countless possibilities, which had been in a state of stalemate, instantly lose their balance and fall into the tide of Dao Annihilation.
The Mountain and Sea had been relatively healthy before, but now, after a single round of backlash from the void realm, it was riddled with a thousand wounds!
This scene was like being in a storm when the roof of your house is suddenly torn off by a gale. Torrential rain pours in, flooding the entire home. It was a scene of chaos, devastation, and precarious survival.
"This is my fault!" Li Fan slapped his thigh, overcome with feigned regret.
"We just failed to reconstruct a memory shadow. How did it lead to this?" the All Knowing Saint coughed, a hint of horror in his voice.
"In the struggle against the void realm, if you don't advance, you retreat. If the construction had failed from the very beginning, it would have been fine. The backlash wouldn't have been so terrifying," Lian Shan explained as he suddenly rose to his feet.
He took a single step forward.
In that instant, it was as if countless versions of him stepped out from the Armillary Ring, spreading to every corner of the Mountain and Sea.
Each silhouette of Lian Shan acted like a dam.
They forcibly plugged every leak throughout the Mountain and Sea.
A short while later, the ceaseless tremors of the Mountain and Sea finally began to subside.
It had been pulled back from the brink of that world-shaking catastrophe.
Only then did Lian Shan turn to look at Li Fan.
A low hum resonated...
The pressure emanating from his true presence was on an entirely different level from his shadow. The two could not be compared.
Even with the protection of the Xuanpin Dao, Li Fan suddenly felt as if the entire, endless Mountain and Sea was pressing down on his shoulders!
He seemed to hear the roars of mountains and the crashing of seas, an ever-intensifying sound that echoed endlessly!
Although Saint Lian Shan said nothing, the formless pressure in the air was as tangible as a physical weight.
The Saints fell silent, all turning their gazes upon Li Fan.
Li Fan seized the opportunity to bow his head, continuing his act of remorse. "It is my fault! The beginning was perfect, and I thought the final step would be an easy victory. I never imagined..."
"Enough," Saint Lian Shan said, suddenly waving his hand and cutting off Li Fan's self-recrimination.
He returned to his seat and said softly, "It is my fault as well. I too believed that Daoist Xuanpin could succeed."
His words seemed to carry a deeper meaning, but the other Saints present simply looked at their noses and their noses at their hearts, showing no sign of reaction.
Li Fan, for his part, continued to keep his head bowed in silence.
Saint Tai Yi stepped in to smooth things over. "Victory and defeat are common in war. Our last attempt to reconnect the Mountain and Sea was not without its troubles either. This is but a matter of resting, reorganizing, and trying again. Why be so disheartened?"
With his words, the frozen atmosphere in the ring finally began to thaw.
Just then, as if sensing what had transpired among the Saints of the Other Shore, the figure of the Tai Wei Saint Emperor descended.
He brought with him nine great medicinal pills.
"This is all there is."
"The next refinement will be in a thousand years."
The Tai Wei Saint Emperor came and went like the wind, leaving immediately after speaking. Just before he departed, however, his gaze seemed to sweep over Li Fan for a fleeting moment.
There were sixteen Saints present.
Yet there were only nine pills of Great Luck Saint Medicine.
Lian Shan, Shou Qiu, and Tai Yi were the first to speak. "We do not need them."
Li Fan quickly followed suit, tactfully saying, "Fellow Daoists, please, you first."
After them, Shou Qiu, Stealing Opportunity, and Sundial Fate also declined.
Only then was the ownership of the great medicine settled.
After consuming the pills and a period of recuperation, the auras of the Saints finally stabilized completely.
"We shall begin again from where we failed."
"Today, let us first discuss the Fate Axis and the Primordial Creation."
Saint Lian Shan spoke once more.
Within the Armillary Ring, the scene from the Mountain and Sea's memory reappeared.
It was vivid and lifelike, even more "real" than what Li Fan had perceived while observing from a distance at the Other Shore.
"The being known as the Fate Axis mastered the Dao of Destiny."
"The fate of every living being in the Mountain and Sea has its own string, all subject to its pluck and pull."
"It can gather them into a net, or scatter them like pieces on a board."
...
Saint Lian Shan's voice was perfectly calm as he expounded upon the principles of the Fate Axis.
Li Fan listened, gradually becoming engrossed.
Before he knew it, he seemed to have already grasped the rudiments of the Fate Axis's Saintly Dao.
"This is definitely not a talent I possess on my own."
"It is... the assistance of the other Saints in the Armillary Ring, comprehending the Dao together."
"This power of mutual influence is even stronger than when the Saints were in their shadow forms."
As Li Fan thought this, a sense of guilt began to well up inside him.
It was his own negligence that had caused the reconnection to fail.
Though he quickly snapped out of it, this trend of "awakened conscience" was like a surging tide, unceasing.
It was difficult to suppress.
"Now that we have discussed the Fate Axis, let us speak of the Primordial Creation."
"Although I do not know its true form, since the Mountain and Sea has retained its memory, it can be reproduced to a certain extent."
Saint Lian Shan gestured lightly toward the center of the circle of Saints.
A point of light emerged at his touch.
It was the fluctuation from the memory shadow of the Mountain and Sea, stripped of the Fate Axis's influence.
The Saints stared at the point of light in the center, lost in thought.
"This wisp of Daoist intent is quite peculiar. It bears a three-tenths resemblance to what I saw back then..." Saint Tai Yi said with a frown after observing it for a moment.
"I don't know if it's my imagination, but I seem to sense the aura of [Morality] from it," the Moral Saint said, his face showing his astonishment.
"It seems to encompass all things in the Mountain and Sea, containing everything. And it is like a bright mirror, capable of reflecting us," Saint Gui Hai said softly.
...
The Saints each shared their views, and Li Fan followed suit, saying, "Indeed, one can faintly perceive the aura of the [Xuanpin] Dao from within it."
He appeared calm, but inside, a storm was already raging. He was merely forcing himself to remain composed.
Because the moment the point of light appeared before him, he had distinctly sensed the aura of [Truth] from within it.
Yet, [Truth] was still within his body, so Li Fan quickly realized that it was Lian Shan's simulated manifestation that resembled the aura of [Truth].
"The True False Transformation. The ignorant cannot comprehend it."
"But Saint Lian Shan was able to restore it to this degree..."
Seemingly unaware of Li Fan's inner thoughts, Saint Lian Shan continued to guide the Saints' discussion. "Saint Gui Hai's words are brilliant. Though we do not know the name of this Primordial Creation, it is indeed like a bright mirror!"
"Since it can reflect all things in the Mountain and Sea..."
"We can, by comprehending the Mountain and Sea, in turn glimpse the existence of this mirror."
As he spoke, without needing any signal from Lian Shan, Saint Gui Hai coordinated with him, and the two simultaneously projected an image of the Mountain and Sea.
The Mountain and Sea stretched on, appearing and disappearing, faintly visible.
It resonated with the point of light before them.
Within the point of light, a corresponding scene of the Mountain and Sea seemed to appear.
And the boundless shadow of the Mountain and Sea also slowly contracted, transforming into another point of light.
Like twin suns hanging in the sky, they hovered before the Saints.
The Saints, of course, did not know the details of the Primordial Creation.
But regarding the various aspects of the Mountain and Sea, the Saints knew a great deal.
The Saints first looked at the point of light representing the Mountain and Sea, then at the other.
From one, they inferred the other.
The once-untouchable existence now, upon another look, emanated a sense of familiarity.
Lian Shan looked at Li Fan again and asked, "How confident are you in reproducing it now?"
Li Fan squinted, not answering immediately.
After pondering for a while longer, he reached out and manifested another point of light.
Although one could tell it was different from the other two in the center, it was already seventy to eighty percent similar.
Saint Lian Shan nodded. "After another thousand years of polishing, it should be fine."
"Let us wait for the tide of the Dao Annihilation backlash to recede."
After speaking, Saint Lian Shan closed his eyes and said no more.
He left the two points of light in the center for the Saints to comprehend.
Having gained the upper hand, the void realm did not cease its assault. Instead, it continued its relentless devouring.
The ring of light of the Other Shore did not confront it directly, retreating again and again.
Only after another thousand years of time had fallen into the Eternal Silent Void Realm did the two sides once again reach a balance.
The Saints' injuries had long since healed, but they did not act rashly.
Instead, they waited for the Tai Wei Saint Emperor to finish refining the great medicine.
During this period, Li Fan also searched for talent that could be molded into a Saint, but unfortunately, his search throughout the Mountain and Sea yielded nothing.
Within the Armillary Ring, the number of Saints remained unchanged.
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