Chapter 1720: Bearing the Spirits of the Three Saints
It seemed to offer an answer, yet it was one that apparently no one but the Saints themselves could grasp.
This was true not only for the other Saints of the Mountain and Sea; even the three great Saints—Lian Shan, Gui Hai, and Tai Yi—were each countered by one of the Congenital Ferocious Items: the Turtle Shell, the Ancestral Bone, and the Life Rope, respectively.
In a past life, Li Fan had personally witnessed the Void Realm's sudden assault: the Life Rope had bound Lian Shan, the Turtle Shell had subdued Gui Hai, and the Ancestral Bone had captured Tai Yi.
But an answer had been given, nonetheless.
Li Fan gave a slight nod. "I will take the guidance of the Three Saints to heart and never forget it."
"Since the Three Saints wield these Congenital Ferocious Items," Li Fan continued, "their Void Realm incarnations must wield them as well. While they may lack the profound mystery of the originals..."
"...the Void Realm might use its inscrutable power to amplify their effects manifold. We cannot afford to be unprepared."
Li Fan slowly explained his reasoning for insisting on knowing the true nature of the Congenital Ferocious Items.
"Amplified manifold..." Tai Yi echoed, his expression turning pensive upon hearing Li Fan's words.
"By common logic, a Void Realm incarnation is a perfect replica of its original. Its cultivation, divine abilities, and artifacts are all identical—not one iota more, not one iota less."
"Unless..."
"...the Void Realm has played another piece," Gui Hai interjected sharply.
After a moment of silence, Saint Lian Shan spoke in a low voice, "In its standoff with the Mountain and Sea, the Void Realm uses every ounce of power with meticulous precision, wasting nothing. If it truly has strength to spare for such a move, it must be because it has somehow foreseen the possibility of us crossing the Mountain and Sea to provide aid."
"Daoist of the Cycle Return, your foresight is truly comprehensive."
Li Fan smiled. "I wield the Great Dao of the Cycle Return. Within infinite cycles, I foresee everything. No matter how remote a possibility, before the endless turning of the wheel, it is a certainty that must be considered and faced."
"It is always better to be prepared."
The images of deduction in Saint Tai Yi's gaze subsided, and his expression grew solemn. "Even if our goal is merely to stall for time, should the Void Realm truly press its advantage with multiple Congenital Ferocious Items..."
"...it will be impossible to resist unless we are there in person."
Tai Yi's gaze fell upon Li Fan, Shou Qiu, and Moral.
Shou Qiu had not revealed his mastery over the True-False Transformation, and even with the power Li Fan had previously demonstrated, he was certainly not equipped to subdue the three great Congenital Ferocious Items.
Thus, Tai Yi's assessment was not incorrect.
After a moment of contemplation, Lian Shan offered a final solution. "We can bestow a sliver of our divine spirits upon you. Would you be willing to bear it?"
"Under normal circumstances, this spiritual presence would remain dormant. It will only manifest to help you contend with the Congenital Ferocious Items when they appear. It will not greatly impede your actions. However..."
"...it is, after all, a spiritual presence meant to counter the Congenital Ferocious Items. Even a sliver will not be weak. To house it within your bodies will inevitably cause your minds to tremble."
One might have expected Li Fan to hesitate, even for a moment.
But to their surprise, he agreed on the spot without the slightest hesitation.
"To bear the spirits of the Three Saints within my own body—what an honor!"
With Li Fan offering no objection, Shou Qiu and Moral naturally agreed as well.
Before they bestowed their spirits, Saint Gui Hai gave a final warning. "The instant our spirits enter you, you may witness all that we have ever experienced. The visions will be as real as truth, almost impossible to distinguish. You must hold fast to your true self. Otherwise, your path of the Dao will become twisted to varying degrees."
"However, you need not be overly concerned. We will be watching closely. If the task proves too much for you, we will halt the process immediately."
Though it was merely the bestowing of a sliver of spirit, the process seemed far from ordinary. The Three Saints were more cautious than ever before.
Under the watchful eyes of the surrounding Saints, Li Fan and his two companions prepared themselves.
"I will bear the spirit of Lian Shan," he declared in a heavy voice.
Shou Qiu followed. "I will bear the spirit of Gui Hai."
And Moral spoke last. "I will bear the spirit of Tai Yi."
The physical forms of the Three Saints remained as still as mountains.
Each simply extended a finger and lightly touched the brow of their chosen vessel.
In the physical realm, it appeared as though nothing had occurred.
But within the minds of the three recipients, a tempest of unimaginable proportions had been unleashed.
Li Fan could not know what the others were seeing.
In that single instant, he himself witnessed a vision of countless overlapping figures.
It was just as he had suspected in his past life.
The name Lian Shan, Connecting Mountains, came from the very act of striving toward the "Upper Mountain".
The source of Saint Lian Shan's power was the sum total of all existences that had attempted to connect to the mountain but failed. From the very first living being at the dawn of the Mountain and Sea to the present moment, every attempt to ascend the Upper Mountain had become a cornerstone of Saint Lian Shan's path to enlightenment.
Countless civilizations, individuals, and even attempts made by the Mountain and Sea itself were faintly recorded and encompassed within this power.
And though only a sliver of Lian Shan's spirit now entered Li Fan's body...
...it was as with the Armillary Ring: to gain a part was to gain the whole.
The only difference was a slight lack of substance, of weighty reality. In terms of sheer volume and complexity, it was nearly identical to the original.
The Three Saints were not, in the strictest sense, ordinary living beings.
What was second nature to them could become an unbearable, horrific catastrophe for a "person" with a singular consciousness.
In that moment, Li Fan felt the countless civilizations and individuals from the Mountain and Sea's past—all who had striven to connect to the mountain—attempting to bore into his body simultaneously.
These were not mere phantoms, but entities with tangible thoughts and data, as real as any individual.
It felt as if his consciousness had shattered into countless fragments, each one hurled into a different era of the Mountain and Sea's history to live out a thousand different lives.
An ordinary soul could never hope to contain such a transformation.
But Li Fan was, after all, anything but ordinary.
In theory, having one's consciousness forcibly occupied and splintered by countless civilizations should have resulted in utter chaos—a state like a host of dragons without a leader, a cacophony that filled the heavens.
Yet, what actually transpired within Li Fan was that his own original thread of consciousness remained serenely enthroned at the very center of the storm.
No matter how tumultuous the surrounding chaos became, it remained utterly unmoved.
Seated firmly on its throne, it watched the clamoring masses with a detached smile.
Occasionally, a civilization or an individual would attempt to challenge Li Fan's dominion.
Yet, the very instant the thought arose, it was quashed by a sudden and inexplicable dread that compelled them to cease.
Whether civilization or individual, all possess a fundamental instinct for survival.
And it is often this instinct that profoundly shapes their destiny.
Now, within Li Fan's being, though they knew not why nor understood the reason, these countless phantom civilizations acted on that same instinct to seek fortune and avoid calamity, making their choice.
A myriad of images swirled around the periphery, clashing with one another in a spectacular frenzy.
Yet at the center, where Li Fan's consciousness resided, there was only silence.
The sheer weight of the Mountain and Sea's civilizations, laid upon Li Fan, felt as light as a single thread, as if it were nothing at all.
As he gradually acclimated to the fragmenting influence of the Mountain and Sea civilizations, Li Fan, now finding himself in a tranquil inner space, slowly recovered his independent consciousness.
He looked up and saw, amidst the countless overlapping shadows before him, the form of Saint Lian Shan, gazing back at him from afar.
Li Fan gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.
As Saint Lian Shan had said, it was only a faint, divided wisp of his spirit. In response to Li Fan’s greeting, the Saint offered only a brief acknowledgment.
There was little exchange between them.
Lian Shan's spirit resided within Li Fan.
Through it, Li Fan could glimpse the essence of Lian Shan.
Likewise, Lian Shan could see Li Fan with perfect clarity, even surrounded by those infinite phantoms.
However...
...it was as if he looked, yet did not see.
An invisible veil seemed to shroud Li Fan, concealing the deepest secrets at his core.
This was the very reason the Mountain and Sea civilizations had instinctively shied away.
Saint Lian Shan was, of course, aware of this.
But since the Mountain and Sea civilizations that constituted the very source of his power had all recoiled in self-preservation, how could Saint Lian Shan himself make a contradictory choice?
He too chose to keep a respectful distance, to turn a blind eye.
In fact, ever since Li Fan had roused the vast, stagnant True Spirits within the Void Realm, creating a force that rivaled the true Mountain and Sea, Lian Shan—or rather, all Three Saints—had sensed something strange about him.
He was far more than merely a friend of Shou Qiu.
But the Mountain and Sea was full of beings who kept secrets. Besides, they had already deduced that Li Fan's actions were truly aimed at saving the Three Saints who were fated to perish in the previous era of the Mountain and Sea.
Since his actions benefited them and their goals were aligned...
...there was no need to probe deeper for the time being.
As for seemingly revealing the secrets of themselves and the Congenital Ferocious Items...
...at the dawn of the Mountain and Sea, these things were common knowledge.
There were no secrets to leak.
...
Within Li Fan's mind, the storm forged by the civilizations of the Mountain and Sea finally began to subside.
Returning to himself, Li Fan bowed to the true forms of the Three Saints within the Armillary Ring. "I have not failed in my task."
Then, to the astonishment of the other Saints, he turned his gaze to Shou Qiu and Moral, who were still contending with the spirits they had received.
Shou Qiu's strength was beyond question.
Especially now that he had inherited the great fortune of a past life; if it came to a true battle, even the current Three Saints might not be his match.
There was no cause for concern there.
What surprised Li Fan, however, was Moral.
Though his features were twisted in a grimace, as if trapped in a terrifying nightmare, his aura remained perfectly stable, showing no signs of collapse.
"If Lian Shan is the collective embodiment of the Mountain and Sea's civilizations, then Tai Yi is the constant flux and conflict of the Great Dao itself, from beginning to end. Moral's own Dao is a part of that Great Dao; he should have been swept into the vortex, unable to escape. And yet..."
Moral's own path to Sainthood had been guided by Li Fan.
Within the Dao Return Hall, Moral had already found his place.
Though Li Fan couldn't see exactly what was transpiring within Moral, he could make an educated guess based on the subtle shifts in his aura.
"For one, Tai Yi must have been holding back. After all, this was an act of bestowal, not of consumption. And for another..."
"...Moral's Dao is complete, a self-contained cycle. With the principles of Morality, one can deconstruct the infinite transformations of the Great Dao of the Mountain and Sea. Although with his current insight and cultivation, it is still a struggle for him..."
"...his future is bright!"
"Perhaps, in addition to Shou Qiu, I can also consider Moral as a candidate for succession."
Shou Qiu recovered shortly after Li Fan.
Moral took significantly longer.
But in the end, all three successfully received the spirits of the Saints.
Before their departure, Li Fan requested, as was his custom, the use of the Armillary Ring's power to unite their minds.
Having already entrusted them with a sliver of their own spirits, the Saints had no reason to refuse this request.
After the three treasures—the Connecting Mountains Staff, the Returning to Sea Shovel, and the All Living Beings Stick—were handed over and their minds were linked, Li Fan, Shou Qiu, and Moral bid farewell to the assembled Saints and sped off toward the distant Mountain and Sea.
"We have made every possible preparation. If even this is not enough..." Gui Hai's voice was low and heavy.
"It is a good omen," Tai Yi suddenly declared.
"We too must hasten our efforts to reconnect the Mountain and Sea," Saint Lian Shan concluded. "We cannot place all our hopes on Shou Qiu's group. The sooner the Mountain and Sea is whole, the sooner we can resolve this calamity." With his words, the remaining Saints of the Other Shore sprang into action.
...
Far from the Mountain and Sea, deep within the Void Realm, Li Fan and his companions suddenly came to a halt.
They had each been contending with the spirit of a Saint individually, but now, with their minds united, the three of them formed a supportive triad, an inner circle pushing back against the divine presence of the Three Saints that surrounded them.
"With the protection of the Truth, it's remarkably easy," Moral remarked, a tinge of envy in his voice. "To simply ignore the probing of the most powerful of the Three Saints... it's enough to make one green with envy."
While he had not inherited memories of a past life like Shou Qiu, he had learned the full story from Li Fan.
"I do hope you won't go back on your word, friend Li Fan. In some future life, I'd truly like to inherit it and feel it for myself," Moral added.
Shou Qiu shook his head with a faint smile. "Once we are within the Armillary Ring, it makes no practical difference which of us inherits it. Why not let you have it in the next life?"
The lighthearted banter ceased, and the expressions of all three turned solemn as they focused on the divine presences of the Saints encircling them.
Lian Shan, the phantom sum of the Mountain and Sea's civilizations.
Gui Hai, the origin and final destination of all life.
Tai Yi, the infinite flux of the Great Dao.
Any one of these three was a supreme fortune in itself.
To have them all present now, their essences intertwined, carried an awe-inspiring, almost chilling significance.
Shielded by the Truth's Dao of True and False Transformation, they had no fear of being seen through by the Saints' spirits.
This allowed them to observe and comprehend the spirits' nature once again, and in greater detail.
With their three perspectives corroborating one another, they began to perceive subtleties they had previously missed.
"It seems there is some power, much like the Armillary Ring, that connects the Three Saints to one another."
"Indeed. It is not merely the power of a united mind, but something more profound."
"Or perhaps, the uniting power of the Armillary Ring is merely an imitation of this original connection, created by the Saints."
The three exchanged a look, a shared sense of shock passing between them.
"The civilizations of the Mountain and Sea, the origin and destination of life, the flux of the Great Dao... These are fundamentally ethereal concepts, yet they have taken human form. It seems this is inseparable from that connection," Shou Qiu said gravely.
"I am curious," Li Fan said after a moment, pulling his gaze away, "but now is not the time for investigation. In this life, we must stick to the plan: save the Three Saints and observe the changes in the Mountain and Sea."
Shou Qiu and Moral nodded in agreement.
Once more, the three of them resumed their journey, speeding toward the Mountain and Sea.
"Since our goal is to save the Three Saints, it would be unwise to reveal the Dao of True and False Transformation."
"Fortunately, all we need to do is delay and wait for the Mountain and Sea to be reconnected."
"If the Dao of True and False Transformation does not manifest, the mastermind behind the Void Realm will not show itself. We will only need to contend with multiple Congenital Ferocious Items, which is not as difficult as it might seem," Shou Qiu and Moral said in unison, looking at Li Fan.
A look of confidence appeared on Li Fan's face. "The spirit of an ordinary being would indeed struggle to resist the influence of a Congenital Ferocious Item."
"But with the Truth upon me..."
"...wielding a spirit to control it will be a simple matter!"
This was not idle boasting, but a genuine conviction born from having personally witnessed, and even experienced, the might of the Congenital Ferocious Items.
"Even the very nature of your origin as a transmigrator provides a unique defense against them," Shou Qiu added with a nod.
"And with the two of you helping, we should be able to hold out for even longer. We might even be able to probe the true nature of the Congenital Ferocious Items themselves."
"They are, after all, manifestations born from the lingering will of the True God," Li Fan said, his eyes glinting with a sharp light. "If we can truly comprehend something from them, the benefit to us will be immense!"
Comments