Chapter 1733: The Age of the Mountain and Sea
Chapter 1733: The Age of the Mountain and Sea
"Stealing Opportunity, my friend, did you sense something amiss?" Li Fan asked, feigning ignorance.
"It was indeed quite strange. For a fleeting moment, I... I felt as if another Saint of [Stealing Opportunity] had descended upon the Mountain and Sea," the Stealing Opportunity Saint confessed in a hushed tone after a moment's hesitation.
"Two of the same Dao, coexisting within the Mountain and Sea. I felt my own foundation tremble, as if it were about to be seized by the other. At the same time, my heart was seized by both terror and greed..."
"The sensation was unlike anything I have ever known!" Stealing Opportunity declared, his face clouded with worry.
"Oh? Such a thing happened?" Li Fan exclaimed in feigned surprise.
Then, his brow furrowed deeply. "How is that possible? You achieved sainthood through [Stealing]. One Dao cannot have two masters, so how could there be a second... hmm?"
As he spoke, Li Fan seemed to recall something, his words coming to an abrupt halt.
Stealing Opportunity instantly noticed Li Fan's change in demeanor and quickly asked, "My friend, have you remembered something?"
Glancing at Shou Qiu, who stood nearby, Li Fan spoke slowly, "It concerns another's secret, so it is not my place to speak freely. Do not be anxious, friend. Allow me to inquire first."
"Then I thank you in advance!" Stealing Opportunity replied, his expression turning solemn.
Li Fan put on a show of communicating with the other Saint.
After a good while, he finally sent a telepathic message to Stealing Opportunity, explaining in a measured tone, "You must know, my friend, that Shou Qiu achieved sainthood by obtaining a fragment of the Great Dao of [Longevity]..."
Stealing Opportunity was sharp; with just this hint from Li Fan, he understood at once.
"Are you saying that Shou Qiu has experienced the same thing I just did?"
"Far more severely than you, in fact. Shou Qiu once said that he is not the true master of Longevity, but merely one who was fortunate enough to acquire a piece of it. The true master of Longevity, however, does not exist in the period of the Mountain and Sea that Shou Qiu inhabited. He exists only at the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea, just like many of the other powerful beings of that era."
"To escape the Dao Annihilation Calamity, they used the divine art of [Severing the Future], allowing them to exist eternally in the past. Under normal circumstances, they would never set foot in the middle and latter eras of the Mountain and Sea. That being, [Snare], came from the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea, and he fled in a hurry after exposing himself..."
"Before leaving, he seemed both frantic and furious. And you, my friend, sensed the aura of another who belongs to Stealing Opportunity."
Weaving these threads together, Li Fan presented his conclusion: "Could it be that the one who descended at that moment was the ancient Saint who commands [Stealing Opportunity] from the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea?"
Even without Li Fan's explanation, Stealing Opportunity's body had already jolted, the same thought flashing through his mind.
His first instinct was to find it unbelievable, but the fleeting sensation he had experienced was undeniably real.
"Within the Mountain and Sea, there truly is another being who commands [Stealing Opportunity]?"
"I... I have not fully mastered the Dao of Stealing Opportunity?"
"Born at the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea, his foundation must be far deeper than mine. And considering the spontaneous emotions that arose within me then..."
"Could it be that his mastery, his very fortune, surpasses my own?"
Stealing Opportunity spiraled into a vortex of profound self-doubt.
For a time, he seemed utterly lost in thought, his mind in turmoil.
It was only after he successfully split off another wisp of his consciousness and placed it within a fortunate mortal of the Mountain and Sea that he finally regained his composure.
When he once again perceived the world through the network of the Mountain and Sea, he saw the assembly of Saints before him.
There were the six Saints from the earlier segment of the Mountain and Sea: Connecting Mountains, Returning to Sea, Tai Yi, Sundial Fate, Broken Prophecy, and Shou Qiu.
There were also more than a dozen others who, like him, appeared not to be Saints but were in fact incarnations from a later segment of the Mountain and Sea.
Stealing Opportunity was already in a state of mental turmoil, so when he saw the scene before him—a vision of the future Mountain and Sea where he was absent—his heart lurched violently.
Although he had already learned from Li Fan that the battles ahead were brutal, leaving only six survivors, Stealing Opportunity, confident in his own power, had been certain he would be one of them.
But now, arriving here, he saw that his seat was empty!
This threw him further into disarray. "Even those far weaker than I survived. Doesn't this portend something in the grand scheme of things?"
Fortunately, his presence was merely an incarnation of a mortal, and one that had forced its way across the veins of the Mountain and Sea. For the moment, the other Saints did not notice his inner turmoil.
They were deep in discussion about the grand plan to reconnect the Mountain and Sea.
"Our friend, the Daoist of Cycle Return, is already scouring the mountains and seas, searching for promising talents. The later eras are filled with prodigies, yet this present age is so desolate. And the threat from the Void Realm grows more ferocious by the day..."
"Though we have now joined forces, we cannot afford to be complacent," the Returning to Sea Saint sighed.
Having endured some unknown, brutal war, the Three Saints of this timeline had lost some of their domineering aura, replaced by a cautious foresight.
In the time before the Mountain and Sea was officially reconnected, they were the same beings, yet their different experiences had molded them into slightly different personalities.
The incarnated consciousnesses of the Three Saints did not try to usurp control, still treating the Three Saints of this timeline as the core.
They all nodded in agreement.
The atmosphere grew heavy for a moment before the Connecting Mountains Saint spoke again. "But take heart. We need only overcome this calamity, and the path ahead in the Mountain and Sea will be clear and unobstructed! If we succeed in reconnecting it this time, for the next thirty million years, nothing in the Mountain and Sea will be able to stand in our way."
His words sent a jolt of energy through the assembly.
After several reconnections, they were well aware of the benefits.
Yet, all the fragmented pieces of the Mountain and Sea they had pieced together so far amounted to less than a million years of history.
Now, the Connecting Mountains Saint was claiming that a vast expanse of thirty million years awaited them.
If they could truly link it all together, to what heights would their power soar?
For a moment, the Saints were lost in imagination.
Even the dazed Stealing Opportunity felt his spirits lift.
"That's right. He hides at the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea, his power already fixed. But I am moving against the current, merging all my past selves into one. The true master of [Stealing Opportunity] is yet to be decided!"
...
Li Fan suddenly spoke up, his voice cutting through the reverie. "May I ask the Three Saints, how long ago was the so-called 'Beginning of the Mountain and Sea'? And how long must this reconnection continue?"
His question fell into the Armillary Ring, and a sudden silence descended.
It wasn't just the Saints present; any transcendent cultivator in the Mountain and Sea knew that its history was immeasurably long.
To measure it step by step might sound romantic, but to actually do it...
Furthermore, each segment was separated by a Dao Annihilation or the encroachment of the Void Realm.
The difficulty could not be summarized by mere words like "monumental" or "impossible."
In the past, the Three Saints had never spoken of specific dates, always blurring the actual years.
Influenced by the Armillary Ring, and with the Saints themselves subconsciously avoiding the topic, the question had always been ignored.
Now that Li Fan had laid it bare, the Saints present were forced to confront it.
How long has life in the Mountain and Sea truly existed?
Besides the Three Saints, no one present knew the answer.
Shou Qiu, who commanded Longevity, was already considered the most ancient among the Saints.
Yet, before the Three Saints, he could only call himself a junior.
Even Shou Qiu had no precise answer to this question.
The Saints could only turn their gazes to the Three Saints.
It was clear that the Three Saints had no desire to answer.
A long silence fell over the Armillary Ring.
It was the divine consciousness incarnation from the future who finally broke the stillness.
"Since our friend of Cycle Return has asked, then let us speak of it."
"We did not mention it before for fear of hindering your resolve to reconnect the realms. However, after several successful reconnections, I believe you all now possess the fortitude to bear the truth."
Hearing his other self speak, the Connecting Mountains Saint finally nodded.
"There are advantages to knowing sooner. In that case..."
The Three Saints waved their hands in unison, projecting a continuous image of the Mountain and Sea before the assembly.
It was not the first time they had seen this miniature panorama of the Mountain and Sea, but none of the Saints had a true sense of which segment they actually occupied.
"The fusion of the Mountain and Sea follows a pattern."
"Like the rings of a tree, each layer of depth is called an [Age]."
"One Age of the Mountain and Sea, translated into a measurement we are more familiar with..."
"...is approximately one hundred million years."
At this point, the Saints' expressions remained relatively calm.
The number "one hundred million" sounded daunting, but there were indeed Saints among them who had lived that long.
Thus, for the moment, it was acceptable.
Glancing at the faces of the assembly, Connecting Mountains continued slowly, "Since the fusion of the Mountain and Sea, since our birth, from what we can remember... the Mountain and Sea has existed for nearly a thousand Ages."
As if imbued with the weight of that immense timeline, the image of Connecting Mountains in the Saints' eyes seemed to grow ancient in that instant.
Within the Armillary Ring, there was dead silence.
One Age was a hundred million years.
A thousand Ages was one hundred billion years.
At first glance, the number might not seem impossibly vast.
But every Saint present had measured and reconnected the Mountain and Sea with their own two feet.
Their arduous efforts had only restored a mere million years of time.
And a journey of a hundred billion years still awaited them...
Even with the resolve of a Saint, this realization sent a wave of dizziness through them.
Even including the millions of years of smooth passage the Connecting Mountains Saint had spoken of, they had not even completed one ten-thousandth of the journey!
Could they truly finish it?
The thought emerged unbidden in the minds of the Saints.
Within the Armillary Ring, the six true bodies of the Saints held up relatively well.
Bolstered by the unified will of the Three Saints, even knowing the truth, they retained a faint glimmer of confidence, barely holding on.
But the divine consciousness incarnations that had crossed over through the veins of the Mountain and Sea were plunged into mental tempests of varying degrees.
If their journey was a hundred miles, what they had accomplished so far was not even the first step.
To grasp the sheer immensity of their mission and not collapse on the spot was a testament to their saintly dispositions.
Li Fan, like the other Saints, wore an expression of utter shock.
In truth, he had long ago estimated the scale of it all.
After all, the others could only guess at the scope of the Mountain and Sea through the occasional illusory projections shown by the Three Saints. But Li Fan had once obtained the [Mountain Sea Variation Outline] from the [Truth].
What it recorded was not the Mountain and Sea of a single moment.
It was the entirety of the Mountain and Sea.
Even with Li Fan's formidable mental strength, he had nearly lost himself when he first witnessed such a vast amount of data. It was no wonder the [Truth] had kept this option hidden until Li Fan had grown strong enough to handle it.
After using his infinite spirituality to wholly imprint the Mountain and Sea and become a Saint of the Mountain and Sea, Li Fan had begun to feel a deep suspicion about the Three Saints' plan of reconnection.
The past ages of the Mountain and Sea were simply too long.
The Saints' method of reconnection was truly like an ant's crawl.
And that wasn't even considering the obstructions from the Void Realm and other obstacles...
With Li Fan's appearance and his aid of True Spirit Infusion, they had indeed succeeded in reconnecting the Mountain and Sea several times.
But what if Li Fan hadn't existed in the Mountain and Sea?
Could the Mountain and Sea truly be reconnected?
The matter of reconnecting the Mountain and Sea originated at the End of the Mountain and Sea, passed down from a traveler of the Mountain and Sea.
Even with the strategic minds of the Three Saints, they had accepted and believed in it.
And they had committed to executing it.
Admittedly, in theory, if one step could be taken, a hundred could be taken. A thousand, ten thousand—it was merely a matter of patient, methodical work.
The possibility of successfully reconnecting the Mountain and Sea did exist.
But this was predicated on the assumption that everything in the Void Realm remained calm and peaceful.
In just a short journey back of a million years, Li Fan had already encountered an incarnation of the Void Realm, the web of an ancient Saint, and numerous other incidents.
It was truly hard to imagine how many more twists and turns awaited them on the road ahead.
Li Fan already felt that the life he had lived thus far was long enough.
But compared to the scale of a hundred billion years, he was still like an infant in swaddling clothes.
Faced with this enormous disparity, doubt grew naturally within Li Fan.
It had been hidden in his heart for a long time, but there had never been a suitable moment to voice it.
Now that he had finally asked, a great weight lifted from his mind.
Raising this question was not merely an act of provocation or doubt.
It genuinely contained a request for guidance.
Even Shou Qiu, the Saint of Longevity, could not resolve the questions in Li Fan's heart.
His only hope lay with the Three Saints.
Witnessing the bewildered state of the assembly, the Connecting Mountains Saint smiled faintly and shook his head. "It is precisely because I foresaw this reaction that I was unwilling to reveal the true age of the Mountain and Sea."
"From the perspective of an ordinary being, to see the true, immense length of the Mountain and Sea will indeed give rise to a profound sense of confusion."
"However..."
"Since we were willing to undertake the plan to reconnect the Mountain and Sea, it means that this plan is undoubtedly achievable!"
"A hundred billion years may seem long, but it is merely the road we have already walked."
"If you are all willing, you may experience the hundred-billion-year history of the Mountain and Sea firsthand, within our minds."
"I believe that once you have personally walked that path, the confusion in your hearts will naturally dissipate."
The voice of the Connecting Mountains Saint echoed within the Armillary Ring, stirring a faint white light.
A spark of excitement was ignited in the hearts of the Saints, and some of their fighting spirit returned.
Li Fan also began to understand.
From the scale of a normal lifespan, one would naturally be terrified by the horrifying number of one hundred billion.
But the Three Saints were, in a sense, the personification of the Mountain and Sea.
As they said, a hundred billion years was simply the path they had already traveled.
To walk it again, even with a few added hardships...
What was there to fear?
"It is precisely because they have lived it that they can believe," Li Fan mused.
He was the first to speak again. "I would dare to borrow the memories of the Three Saints and walk that long road of the Mountain and Sea."
"It would be like a prophecy of the reconnection."
"Otherwise, I fear I may not be able to truly endure."
Li Fan's tone was deliberately downcast.
The other Saints remained silent, but most of them felt the same way.
The logic was sound.
But there was a world of difference between having personally experienced something and relying solely on a vague belief.
The Three Saints exchanged a look, as if deliberating carefully.
Finally, they nodded in agreement.
"A hundred billion years is indeed a long time."
"We will guide you through the experience, but you may not be able to endure the entire journey."
"Do not force yourselves. Simply do your best."
"An incarnation of consciousness cannot withstand this. You must use your true bodies."
The one who spoke was the consciousness incarnation of Connecting Mountains.
The scene shifted back to where Li Fan's true body was, within the Armillary Ring of the current Mountain and Sea.
A hazy glow began to radiate from the bodies of the Three Saints.
Within it seemed to lie infinite light and infinite landscapes.
The Three Saints asked one final time, and after all the Saints nodded their confirmation...
The light swelled, completely engulfing the figures of the Saints!
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