Chapter 1693: The Mountain Sea is Finally Connected
Chapter 1693: The Mountain Sea is Finally Connected
"I'm afraid I'll fail again and drag you all down with me." Before their second attempt to reconnect the Mountain Sea, Li Fan’s face was etched with worry.
"Just do your best. Even if we fail again, it only means another thousand years of waiting. There's no need for such anxiety, Fellow Daoist Xuanpin," Shou Qiu Gong said with a smile.
"Besides, I can see you've grasped the core of it. Tricking the phantom Mountain Sea shouldn't be an issue."
Shou Qiu Gong was, of course, referring to the lesson Saint Lian Shan had given to the assembled Saints on the nature of the Fate Pivot and Primordial Creation.
Setting aside Li Fan's own remarkable aptitude, the sheer blessing of having all the Saints gathered within the Armillary Ring was profound. Even a mortal, meditating there for a thousand years, would have been able to grasp its deepest essence.
"Last time, everything went almost perfectly. As long as you can handle this final stage, Xuanpin, the reunification of the Mountain Sea is within our grasp."
Li Fan's expression turned solemn. "I will give it my all and not betray your trust!"
Once the Tai Wei Saint Emperor delivered a fresh batch of holy medicine, the Saints consumed it, tuning their conditions to an absolute peak. Then, one after another, they leaped into the Eternal Silent Void Realm.
Saints Lian Shan, Gui Hai, and Tai Yi led the charge, with Stealing Opportunity, Sundial Fate, and the others close behind.
Taiqi took the rear, while Square Inch moved freely among them.
As for Li Fan, his true body remained seated on the Other Shore. He needed only wait for the phantom of the Mountain Sea to re-emerge, at which point he would dispatch a sliver of his consciousness to guide it.
As they repeated their task, the Saints' immense talent and power ensured no mishaps occurred.
The void realm seemed to sense the Saints' determined return, and its tides churned with greater ferocity, but ultimately, it had little effect.
Pinpricks of light began to pierce the darkness, growing brighter. The shattered phantom of the Mountain Sea materialized once more!
"Go!"
With perfect, unspoken coordination, the Saints poured their divine consciousness into the phantom.
Their power flowed through its spiritual meridians like a vital elixir, reawakening its dormant life force.
This time, Li Fan made no mistakes.
Guided by Saint Lian Shan, he channeled the power of the Xuanpin Dao, perfectly simulating the turbulent contest between the Fate Pivot and Primordial Creation.
In that instant, the entire phantom Mountain Sea froze.
Then, a sound like the heavens themselves collapsing thundered from all directions.
Li Fan narrowed his eyes, trying to pinpoint the source of the cataclysmic sound.
However, a powerful repulsive force suddenly erupted from the body of 'Li Bufan,' ejecting his consciousness.
Like ice melting into water, his wisp of consciousness dissolved into the Dao Annihilation tide.
Li Fan paid no mind to the loss of that sliver of thought. Instead, he stared, transfixed, at the void realm.
Before his eyes, the phantom Mountain Sea erupted in a blinding display of light.
Infinite light and heat burst forth, relentlessly driving back the encroaching void realm inch by inch.
As the darkness receded, the sprawling vista of the Mountain Sea began to rise again from the gloom.
The spectacle was uncannily similar to what Li Fan had witnessed in a previous life: the advent of the Star!
Li Fan watched the magnificent scene without blinking, knowing that even though this image of the Mountain Sea appeared immensely powerful, it was not yet real.
It was still just an illusion.
Like water without a source or a tree without roots, even if it gained a momentary advantage, it would inevitably sink back into the tide of Dao Annihilation without a continuous source of power.
But soon, that power arrived.
It came from the more ancient Mountain Sea!
Once the gap severed by the void realm was temporarily bridged by the restored phantom, the Mountain Sea itself seemed to sense the change.
An unfathomable and majestic power suddenly descended.
A boundless, surging torrent of life and creation flowed downstream from the ancient past of the Mountain Sea.
Wherever it passed, the phantom solidified into reality!
It was as if Li Fan was watching a broken-off branch miraculously sprout new roots and graft itself back onto the trunk of a great tree. In mere moments, it was flourishing, covered in a lush canopy of vibrant green leaves.
"So this is the true power of the Mountain Sea..."
At the end of time, Li Fan had witnessed the Mountain Sea in its decrepitude, a pathetic sight as it was utterly routed by the forces of Dao Annihilation and the void realm.
But here, in his own time, he was a Saint of the Xuanpin Dao, his power seemingly on par with the Mountain Sea itself.
And so, he had come to somewhat underestimate the true scale of the Infinite Sea and the Upper Mountain.
It was not until today, witnessing the magnificent spectacle of the Mountain Sea's reconnection—a surge of power no less momentous than the rebirth of the Star—that he had a sudden epiphany. "What I've seen before was only a tiny fragment of the Mountain Sea."
"Even a timeline spanning hundreds of thousands of years is but an insignificant fraction of the whole. The true Mountain Sea inherited the vast majority of the True God's power..."
"If the Star truly possessed an overwhelming advantage, why would it need to resort to the Dao Annihilation, waging a war of attrition over countless millennia?"
"The Mountain Sea I saw in the past was not the true Mountain Sea."
"It was merely its shadow."
As Li Fan stood lost in thought, the downstream torrent of vitality arrived with overwhelming force.
It slammed into the present-day Mountain Sea!
At that moment, the white ring of the Other Shore abruptly dimmed, its light receding. It ceased to cover the Mountain Sea, contracting as much as it could.
Li Fan watched as countless changes erupted within the current stretch of the Mountain Sea.
Possibilities that had long been extinguished, but which still existed in the previous era, were suddenly infused with vitality. They began to grow anew, pushing the Dao Annihilation back from the Mountain Sea's shores.
Meanwhile, the possibilities that had no roots in the upstream era did not simply vanish with the merger. As if by instinct, they sought out their closest relatives among the existing timelines and slowly grafted themselves on.
It was like a new twig sprouting from an old branch.
Though nascent and fragile, they were now connected to the great tree itself and would no longer face the threat of easy annihilation.
The expressions of the Saints on the Other Shore grew distant and hazy.
Countless images flickered through their minds.
They were the memories of their "other selves" from the previous era of the Mountain Sea.
Their auras swelled and receded, simmering with the power of active volcanoes that could erupt at any second.
The effect was most pronounced in Lian Shan, Gui Hai, and Tai Yi.
They had already been Saints in the previous era of the Mountain Sea.
Now, with the two eras connected, it was as if their accumulated fate and power had doubled in an instant.
Their power was already unfathomable, but for a brief moment during the fusion, it flared like an exploding supernova, unleashing a blinding radiance.
It was a light too brilliant for anyone else to behold directly.
But the display lasted only an instant before subsiding back into tranquility.
The other Saints also reaped significant rewards, though it took them longer to assimilate the influx of power and memory.
As for Li Fan...
His mind remained a blank slate; no new memories flowed into him.
He was too young; a "Li Fan" had not existed in the previous era of the Mountain Sea.
This absence, however, fit perfectly with his identity as a traveler from the end of time.
He made no rash moves, sitting quietly and waiting for the transformations affecting the other Saints to conclude.
In truth, the successful reconnection of the Mountain Sea was not without its rewards for him.
It was just as Saint Lian Shan had said before.
The Saints stood upon the foundation of the Mountain Sea; the stronger it became, the more their own power would naturally rise. And if one's chosen Dao had no master in the previous era, one could claim that entire domain in an instant, adding a vast, untapped reserve of power to their own!
This was precisely what Li Fan was experiencing now.
The Dao returned to Truth; he was the first master of the Xuanpin.
No matter where the Xuanpin Dao existed, it already bore Li Fan's imprint.
Thus, the moment the connection was forged, Li Fan instantly sensed the aura of the Xuanpin Dao from the previous era.
Unfortunately for him, in the previous era of the Mountain Sea, the Xuanpin Dao already had a master.
And that master had already reached the realm of a Saint!
This led to a bizarre situation.
Within a single, continuous Mountain Sea, two Xuanpin Saints now existed simultaneously.
"In a way, the other Saint is the *true* Xuanpin," he mused. "However..."
"Now that I have claimed this Dao, how could I simply hand it over to someone else?"
With the absolute mastery over the Xuanpin Dao granted by [Return to Truth], Li Fan was confident that in any contest, he would be the sole victor. And it would be an easy victory at that.
With victory assured, Li Fan decided not to act for the time being.
He continued to wait for the changes on the Other Shore to settle.
When the Mountain Sea's reunification was complete and the flow of life had stabilized, the Other Shore ceased its contraction.
It expanded rapidly, connecting with the other Other Shore that existed upstream in time.
There was no earth-shattering collision.
For they were, in essence, one and the same.
The dazzling white light merged into one.
Identical images overlapped and became whole.
At the same time, three new figures appeared unannounced within the Armillary Ring.
"Let me first explain the current situation," Lian Shan began.
"The Mountain Sea has been successfully reconnected. Including the fifty-eight thousand, six hundred-odd years that were trapped in the Eternal Silent Void Realm, we now have a continuous history of three hundred thirty-nine thousand, eight hundred years."
"Tracing this reconnection upstream, the Saints of the latter segment of the Mountain Sea are myself, Gui Hai, Tai Yi... and Xuanpin."
"However, among the Saints of the former segment, there are some differences."
"Deep Silence, Light Ripple, and..."
"Xuanpin."
Saint Lian Shan spoke slowly, revealing that the list of Saints now included two "Xuanpins"!
Theoretically, such a thing was possible, but the probability was so low that no one had expected to witness it today.
After all, a severed segment of the Mountain Sea represented a little over one hundred thousand years.
For someone to be born within that time, cultivate from scratch, and reach Sainthood without any prior accumulation...
...was considered nearly impossible.
But since this new Xuanpin was a time traveler from the end of the Mountain Sea, his case was different.
An awkward silence fell over the Armillary Ring before Lian Shan spoke again. "To whom the Xuanpin Dao belongs is ultimately a private matter between the two of you. We should not interfere. However..."
"This traveler of the Mountain Sea holds the power of True Spirit Infusion..."
Deep Silence, Light Ripple, and the others from the previous era did not know what True Spirit Infusion was.
Lian Shan explained it to them.
Upon hearing that Li Fan had the ability to create Saints, both of them revealed expressions of shock.
"No wonder there are so many new faces all of a sudden."
"Even though the lengths of the two Mountain Sea segments are not far apart."
Deep Silence and Light Ripple exchanged a glance, then looked toward the Xuanpin they knew, sighing inwardly.
Considering the greater good, even if this new Li Fan was no match for their Xuanpin, he *had* to be the victor.
The ability to create new Saints was simply too terrifyingly valuable.
If Li Fan hadn't infused the five new Saints, the reunification would not have succeeded so easily.
Compared to that, a single[Xuanpin]...
Silence reigned in the Armillary Ring.
The original[Xuanpin] slowly rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping over the assembled Saints.
Lian Shan's voice, calm as still water, echoed once more. "If you are willing to relinquish the Xuanpin Dao, fellow Saint, we pledge to find another way to help you regain your path to Sainthood. If you are not..."
The original Xuanpin's face darkened, his aura surging uncontrollably as if he were about to explode with rage.
Though he was no match for all the Saints present, he would never allow himself to be slaughtered like a fish on a chopping block!
"Wait!"
Just then, Li Fan suddenly spoke up.
"Actually, it doesn't have to be the Xuanpin Dao for me."
At his words, all the Saints, including even Lian Shan, looked somewhat surprised.
"A Saint of the Mountain Sea is not born easily. It is a true pity to lose even one. Moreover, we are all dedicated to saving the world. If we start with internal conflict..."
"Though understandable, it would inevitably sow discord."
"Are you saying, Fellow Daoist Xuanpin, that you have a better solution?" Tai Yi asked.
Li Fan nodded slowly. "As I've said before, I have risen from obscurity many times. Attaining Sainthood through the Xuanpin Dao is simply the path I am most familiar with. If there is another path available..."
"I can walk it just as well."
Hearing this, the expressions of the Saints became subtle.
Achieving Sainthood was no easy feat. It required a confluence of destiny, aptitude, opportunity, and diligence. None could be lacking.
Even among those present, few would dare claim they could easily rise again after switching their Dao.
But Li Fan seemed to be brimming with confidence.
"Since there is still room for compromise, let's discuss this matter further for now," Lian Shan declared.
The oppressive aura around the original Xuanpin slowly subsided. Before sitting down, he gave Li Fan a slight bow.
Li Fan nodded in response.
After closing his eyes in thought for a moment, Saint Gui Hai spoke to Li Fan. "The latter one hundred ninety thousand years of this Mountain Sea segment have no potential left to excavate. However, within the first one hundred fifty thousand years, there might be an opportunity for you to attain the Dao."
Sundial Fate began his calculations, images flashing one after another before him.
Finally, he settled on one particular scene.
It was a peculiar and unique place within the Mountain Sea.
Tens of thousands of possibilities converged there but did not continue downstream.
As if sensing the crisis of destruction that lay ahead, they coiled up within the Mountain Sea.
Gradually, they formed a closed loop, becoming a self-contained cycle of reincarnation.
"This place was originally at the end of the previous Mountain Sea segment, close to the void realm. To avoid falling into the void, it produced this strange transformation on its own. We had a faint awareness of it before, but since it was of no help in saving the Mountain Sea, we paid it little mind. But now..."
Just as Sundial Fate was about to act, Lian Shan interrupted him.
Saint Lian Shan looked at Li Fan and said slowly, "If you wish to attain Sainthood again through this opportunity, I'm afraid you will have to make the journey yourself. We can certainly assist you, but..."
"On one hand, this opportunity is naturally wary of auras of our level. If we interfere forcefully, we might just scare it away. On the other, being tainted by our Daos would likely hinder your own cultivation."
Li Fan nodded slightly. "I understand the reasoning. It's no matter, just another journey."
"Please wait for me for a time."
"I leave the Xuanpin Dao in your care, fellow Saint."
As Li Fan spoke, a sharp light glinted in his eyes.
Then, the Xuanpin Dao he commanded was slowly shed, like an outer garment!
Once abandoned, the masterless Xuanpin Dao instinctively tried to flee.
But it was immediately seized by the other[Xuanpin]Saint.
As for Li Fan...
Without the blessing of a Great Dao of the Mountain Sea, his cultivation should have regressed to the Transcendent realm.
But a hazy radiance still shone from his body.
Even as the Saints watched, they could not discern the truth of his state!
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After transmigrating to the cultivation world for sixteen years, Zhou Fengnian remains a low-level spirit farmer in the Beast Taming Sect. That is, until the day his tamed beast dies, and a system panel awakens!
(End of this chapter)
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