Chapter 1726: From the End to the Beginning
When the Connecting Mountains Saint finished speaking, the expressions on the other Saints grew a little strange.
Although it was a tracking method akin to fishing, it still required entanglement in the process of life within the Mountain and Sea.
In a sense, any being born this way could be considered a descendant of Qiu Tianhui and his wife...
"Then let's see who has such good fortune," the Returning to Sea Saint chuckled, flicking his finger to scatter countless motes of azure light into the Mountain and Sea.
As if setting an example, he divided his own power and seeded it between heaven and earth. Whenever a new life was about to be conceived, a fragment of his power would attach itself.
The three primary Saints seemed unconcerned, so the others had no choice but to follow suit.
In an instant, the Saints of the Other Shore unleashed their methods, each casting innumerable threads of their power into the current Mountain and Sea.
It was estimated that among the new lives to be born in the Mountain and Sea, roughly one-tenth would be born with the latent power of a Saint.
Like a vast, formidable net, it was slowly woven throughout the Mountain and Sea.
After an unknown period, a fish finally took the bait.
"Hmm?!" The lucky one turned out to be Stealing Opportunity.
His expression, however, was far from pleased. With a cold snort, he projected an image for all to see.
The scene showed the mortal world, where an ordinary infant had just been born with a cry.
It seemed no different from any other common life form, but this newborn, possessing a sliver of Stealing Opportunity's consciousness, was keenly aware of its own abnormality.
"The amount of a person's True Spirit is almost determined at birth. It is intrinsically linked to one's innate talent and aptitude. To increase it later in life requires one of a few special methods: absorbing oneself from other possibilities, a moment of inspiration during a breakthrough in enlightenment, or an infusion of external power from the Dao Annihilation of the Cycle."
"In short, the amount of True Spirit for a life in the Mountain and Sea is entirely allocated by the Mountain and Sea itself. This is what is meant by [Predestination], the fate assigned to each individual. However..."
"This fortunate body of mine, in addition to the portion naturally allocated by the Mountain and Sea, has received another share!"
The infant, still in its mother's womb, had not even fully formed its facial features.
Yet at this moment, it suddenly opened its eyes while curled in the darkness, clearly discerning its own state.
The Returning to Sea Saint nodded slightly. "This is the manifestation of Qiu Tianhui’s cultivation, using the momentum of the Mountain and Sea’s living beings to achieve his Dao Fruit. The number of Qiu Tianhui’s descendants is but an infinitesimal fraction of the total life in the Mountain and Sea, yet by leveraging the Great Dao of living beings, they can claim a greater share of True Spirit."
"As the proportion of his descendants continues to grow, the couple's ability to interfere with living beings will gradually strengthen..."
"I fear these beings will truly come to occupy half the True Spirit of the Mountain and Sea."
A silence fell over the Saints.
Then, Li Fan chuckled. "In that case, it's a good thing the Mountain and Sea ultimately returned to the Void Realm. Otherwise, wouldn't this whole realm eventually have been renamed Qiu?"
Though it was a joke, the Saints were clearly unsettled by the couple's method of cultivation through leveraging living beings.
"Strictly speaking, their Great Dao of living beings could only be cultivated so smoothly because the Mountain and Sea was being devoured by the Dao Annihilation and was in a state of decline. Otherwise, they would have certainly faced a backlash from the Mountain and Sea itself. Initially, the Mountain and Sea might not have noticed this leveraging, but as their influence grew, how could it remain unaware?"
"It was simply caught in its conflict with the Void Realm, unable to spare the power to deal with them," Saint Tai Yi stated calmly.
"If the Mountain and Sea cannot attend to it, then we shall act on its behalf."
Stealing Opportunity's eyes narrowed as he followed the faint, mystical connection.
An ordinary descendant of Qiu Tianhui would find it difficult to perceive this connection to their ‘progenitor parents’.
This was because the connection is most apparent during infancy, a time of ignorance and unawareness. As they grow older, this spiritual link becomes exceedingly faint and hard to discern.
But the body Stealing Opportunity currently inhabited was at the very dawn of its conception, when the connection was at its strongest.
Furthermore, the ones conducting the search were the Saints of the Other Shore, arguably the most powerful group of cultivators in the entire Mountain and Sea.
With the prepared hunting the unprepared, no matter how covert the couple's actions were, they could not escape such a pursuit.
Stealing Opportunity’s gaze was intense. Through his eyes, the other Saints seemed to see a single thread piercing through the Dao Annihilation, crossing the void into the next segment of the Mountain and Sea.
Normally, crossing the Void Realm would sever all information.
But this thread was hidden beneath the Void Realm, concealed within the remnants of the Mountain and Sea that had already been consumed by the Dao Annihilation.
Leveraging this advantage, the Saints' vision was able to cross the vast expanse of the Void Realm and gaze upon the Mountain and Sea ahead.
Though the view was not as clear as their immediate surroundings, as if looking through a layer of mist, it was sufficient for the Saints to trace the clues.
"Is this the so-called network of the Mountain and Sea?"
"I wonder how Qiu Tianhui managed to perceive and utilize it."
The Saints of the Other Shore intended to follow the vine to find the melon, but as they followed the connection and scanned all related beings in the Mountain and Sea ahead, they were stunned to find no trace of Qiu Tianhui or his wife!
"This..."
The Saints focused their minds and searched again, more carefully this time.
The result was the same.
"Since they dared to leverage the world so openly, they must have made preparations beforehand, unafraid of being traced. Interesting," the Returning to Sea Saint remarked with a note of appreciation.
"But they have somewhat underestimated the heroes of this world."
In that instant, countless illusory images flashed before the Returning to Sea Saint's eyes.
The clues, visible to all the Saints, were densely arrayed and shifted rapidly. The vast majority of them dimmed and faded away.
The remaining lines grew fewer and fewer, yet brighter and brighter.
Finally, only three threads remained, exposed before the Saints.
The first was rooted in the Mountain and Sea ahead, pointing to an ordinary pair of Daoist companions. Their appearances bore no resemblance to Qiu Tianhui and his wife. Their cultivation was only at the Nameless realm; they had not transcended or escaped a single possibility.
As for the other two threads...
One pointed to the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea, impossibly distant.
The other pointed to the End of the Mountain and Sea, stretching across eons.
This bizarre sight caused even the Returning to Sea Saint's divinatory gaze to freeze.
As his heart trembled, the three threads in his vision abruptly snapped and vanished without a trace!
After a moment of silence, the All Knowing Immortal asked, "May I ask the Returning to Sea Saint, what was the meaning of that strange phenomenon?"
"The couple no longer exists in the Mountain and Sea ahead," the Returning to Sea Saint replied, his voice grave.
"However, our previous judgment was not wrong. A part of them does indeed remain in the Mountain and Sea ahead," Saint Tai Yi added.
Recalling the three different threads they had just seen, the Saints began to understand.
"They have..."
"...dispersed their own existence among their descendants, leveraging the living beings of the Mountain and Sea?"
The All Knowing Immortal couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment.
"Confined to one place, they can naturally be traced. But if they are scattered throughout the Mountain and Sea, tracking them becomes incredibly difficult, especially with the Dao Annihilation separating everything. We can certainly trace them back through the previous segment of the Mountain and Sea, and the one before that, but the full expanse of the Mountain and Sea is simply too vast for our reach," Saint Tai Yi admitted.
"By transforming themselves into their own bloodline, they achieve a more thorough concealment while also enjoying the benefits of leveraging the living beings."
"One can almost foresee that, even without deliberate manipulation, simply by arranging their birth at the End of the Mountain and Sea, they could possess half of its True Spirit..." The more the Saints thought about it, the more extraordinary they found the couple’s methods.
Among the Saints present, only Li Fan had truly been to the End of the Mountain and Sea.
The End Saint, Qiu Xinhui, did indeed bear a strong resemblance to Qiu Tianhui, as if she were his reincarnation.
"But what about the threads that remained in the Mountain and Sea ahead, and the one pointing to the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea?" Li Fan asked.
"The pair in the Mountain and Sea ahead both is and is not Qiu Tianhui and his wife. The essence of them that leveraged the living beings has already moved on, leaving only their past selves behind... Besides serving as a memento, this act is likely related to the other two threads, one pointing to the past and one to the future," the Connecting Mountains Saint finally spoke after a long period of observation.
"I originally thought that the couple would remain together, even in reincarnation. But now it seems..."
Before the Connecting Mountains Saint's eyes, countless deductive light and shadows also flickered continuously.
But they were more concrete and complex than the ones the Returning to Sea Saint had conjured.
"They have actually gone their separate ways. One to the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea, the other to the End. The time separating the beginning from the end is far too vast. Fearing they would lose contact, they chose to leave an imprint in their original segment of the Mountain and Sea to act as a relay. Only by doing so could they maintain the connection of these three threads across the entire span of the Mountain and Sea."
The Connecting Mountains Saint's deduction was like parting the clouds to see the sun.
But it also raised more questions.
"What is it that this couple truly seeks?"
"Could it be that they have truly seen something more?"
Gazing at the three fading threads, all the Saints fell into deep thought.
"The one who went to the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea must be connected to the initial schism."
"And perhaps only with the support of half the Mountain and Sea's True Spirit, obtained at its End, could they sustain the other's actions at the Beginning. The time of the initial schism was exceptionally perilous. Even if the couple was already monstrously talented, had they rashly involved themselves, they would have been instantly crushed to pieces."
"But now..."
"...they indeed have the qualifications to participate," the Connecting Mountains Saint said with a nod.
Coming from the Connecting Mountains Saint, this was undoubtedly the highest of praise.
The other Saints did not know the specifics of what the Connecting Mountains Saint was referring to, but Li Fan understood perfectly.
At the time of the initial schism, many Saints who foresaw the coming Great Calamity of the Mountain and Sea chose to use the method of Severing the Future to keep themselves forever in the past.
By doing so, they preserved as much of their strength as possible.
When the three Saints reconnected the three segments of the Mountain and Sea, their power nearly doubled.
It was truly hard to imagine what kind of power the three Saints possessed in their prime.
And the group of Saints at the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea who could sit and discuss the Dao with them as equals...
...would certainly not have been much weaker.
"Truly, it is exceptionally dangerous."
"But this, in turn, only makes Qiu Tianhui and his wife seem all the more remarkable."
"Born in the middle-to-late period of the Mountain and Sea, lacking all advantages of time and place, they relied on the unique method of [Leveraging Living Beings] to forcefully cultivate themselves to a level where they could stand on equal footing with the primordial Saints..."
"Incredible," Li Fan marveled internally.
"From the small glimpses of that true Lord of Longevity, I can sense the transcendent power of these Saints who severed their futures. For Qiu Tianhui, born in our era, to cultivate to such a realm is truly a breathtaking sight," Shou Qiu also sighed in admiration.
Li Fan suddenly asked, "I wonder, in Shou Qiu's opinion, what exactly is the relationship between Qiu Xinhui and Qiu Tianhui?"
"The End Saint of the Mountain and Sea is open and honest. Her heart is righteous; it does not seem like an act. She is likely not Qiu Tianhui himself, but rather a sacred prodigy naturally born from the ultimate evolution of the Great Dao of Leveraging Living Beings. Possessing half the True Spirit of the Mountain and Sea, it's not surprising that she would exhibit such qualities," Shou Qiu replied after a moment of contemplation.
"That's what I was thinking as well. I just can't figure out where Qiu Tianhui and his wife went. Could it be that all their hard work was just dressing someone else for their wedding?" Moral asked, somewhat puzzled.
"The Wayfarer of the Mountain and Sea..." The three of them suddenly thought of something at the same time.
"To travel upstream from the end of time—the act itself is incredibly romantic. But thinking about it carefully, it is truly unbelievable. Having gone through several reconnections ourselves, we know how perilous it is to traverse the Void Realm. Yet someone born at the End of the Mountain and Sea was actually able to journey all the way to the Beginning. And they did so even when Qiu Xinhui possessed the majority of the Mountain and Sea's True Spirit..."
"This is something that cannot be done without great perseverance and great wisdom," Shou Qiu mused.
"I have a guess," Li Fan said, an idea striking him.
He then slowly explained his thoughts. "Through their method of leveraging living beings, Qiu Tianhui and his wife successfully extended their perspective and their lives to a realm unattainable by ordinary Saints. However, the more they observed, the more they eventually reached a bottleneck defined by their own limitations."
"After all, they were beings born in the middle-to-late period of the Mountain and Sea. No matter how immensely talented they were, their upper limit was still there, ultimately unbreakable."
"Then, they encountered a problem that they could not solve with all their power..."
"After long and hard contemplation, Qiu Tianhui finally thought of the only way to break the deadlock."
Within Li Fan's eyes, just like the three Saints, infinite lights and shadows flickered as he performed his deduction.
However, the images did not change as rapidly.
Instead, they moved with a strange, stuttering, flickering motion.
This was not a pure deduction, but Li Fan using the information he currently possessed, founded upon the Great Dao of Truth and Falsehood, to manifest a virtual world within his mind.
He was conducting a so-called ‘simulation.’
With Li Fan's current strength, he was powerful enough to support such an action.
Naturally, it couldn't compare to the simulations of [Truth], which could almost substitute the false for the real. But compared to ordinary methods of deduction, it was undoubtedly far superior.
The simulation consumed an immense amount of mental energy, and Li Fan slowly began to feel the strain.
He had to borrow mental energy from Shou Qiu and Moral.
Observing the virtual world within his mind, he continued, "As the creator of the method of leveraging living beings, Qiu Tianhui naturally knew to what a terrifying extent they could draw upon the Mountain and Sea's True Spirit at its very End."
"‘A life conceived at that time—their talent, their ambition, their passion—would surely far surpass our own. A problem we could not solve even after endless contemplation... perhaps they would have a way?’ In the simulation, a highly excited Qiu Tianhui spoke to Shao Zidai."
Shao Zidai naturally agreed.
Thus, Qiu Tianhui manifested his own descendant and, through the network of life in the Mountain and Sea, traveled to the end of time.
He was able to witness the birth of Qiu Xinhui, who was born possessing half the True Spirit of the Mountain and Sea.
And, from her, he truly found the answer he was looking for.
And so, step by step, he set off toward his original goal.
The Beginning of the Mountain and Sea.
There, his Daoist companion, Shao Zidai, was waiting for him.
...
"How was my deduction?" The drain of the deduction was simply too great, and the image came to an abrupt halt.
Li Fan asked, a hint of pride in his voice.
Comments