Chapter 1734: A History of a Hundred Billion Years
Chapter 1734: A History of a Hundred Billion Years
Lian Shan represented the civilization of the Mountain and Sea.
Gui Hai, the living beings of the Mountain and Sea.
Tai Yi, the Great Dao of the Mountain and Sea.
Together, the Three Saints were an approximation of the Mountain and Sea itself.
At Li Fan's urging, the Three Saints immersed all the other Saints within the Armillary Ring into the depths of their own vast memories.
This journey did not begin at the moment the Mountain and Sea first sundered its divine consciousness.
Instead, it began with the cataclysmic collapse of the Primordial Immortal Realm, as the Mountain and Sea initiated their gradual fusion.
Because they were only experiencing a memory, they did not manifest as distinct, physical individuals.
Everything the Three Saints had seen and heard was displayed before them on three separate screens of light.
Though they were merely "watching," the Three Saints used their unfathomable power to bestow upon them a sense of total immersion.
It was nearly indistinguishable from experiencing it all firsthand.
Through the eyes of the Three Saints, they caught a fleeting glimpse of a corner of the true Primordial Immortal Realm. What had once been a hollow concept now slowly sharpened into a clear and concrete reality.
The Primordial Immortal Realm was born and evolved after the Mountain and Sea divided its divine aspect, yet before the Mountain and Sea was fully formed.
Perhaps this was because the power of the [True God] was immeasurable, and the Mountain and Sea could not consume it all. Or perhaps, when the True God fell, the Mountain and Sea failed to seize its entirety.
In any case, the Primordial Immortal Realm was home to countless strange beings, born of heaven and earth. Some even fed on the Dao itself. Creatures battled one another, and many coveted the divine providence the Mountain and Sea had gained from devouring the god.
All things competed in a vibrant explosion of life.
There were no boundaries, no restraints, no taboos.
Who lived and who died, who survived and who perished—
—it was all a matter of their own strength.
No one knew how long the Primordial Immortal Realm had existed. But if even the Mountain and Sea could not last forever, then it was inevitable that this realm would one day face its end.
Countless tiny black voids began to appear in every corner of the Primordial Immortal Realm.
Like terrifying vortexes, they devoured everything around them.
The fundamental principles that formed the bedrock of the Primordial Immortal Realm vanished into them in an instant.
Its inhabitants fled for their lives, their previous conflicts forgotten in the desperate struggle to survive.
The green motes of light flickered constantly as the consciousnesses of the Saints intertwined.
"The Primordial Immortal Realm... such a magnificent, colossal existence, nurturing countless Daos and living beings. To think it would crumble in a single day under the fusion of the Mountain and Sea!"
"No matter how extraordinary it was, it was merely an experiment for the Mountain and Sea. Once the Mountain and Sea understood its destiny lay in fusion, the realm was naturally discarded."
"Born from a whim of the Mountain and Sea, and destroyed by a whim of the Mountain and Sea..."
"To think that even the Three Saints could feel such fear in their hearts."
"This scene is strikingly similar to our own struggles before the coming of the Dao Annihilation. To think that everything we endured, our predecessors experienced a hundred billion years ago. From this perspective, the Mountain and Sea truly seems like a grand cycle of reincarnation."
...
The disintegration of the Primordial Immortal Realm was a merciless storm that swept through its surviving inhabitants. Even beings as mighty as the Three Saints were like mayflies in the wind, battered by the squall. They were utterly powerless against this cosmic trend of the Mountain and Sea, able only to beat their wings desperately to stay alive.
The Saints, who just moments ago had the leisure to discuss amongst themselves, were now swept into the tempest of the Mountain and Sea's collapse. As time wore on, they slowly lost the ability to speak.
Only then did they truly understand what a blessing it had been to have the protection of the Primordial Immortal Realm.
This calamity was similar to the all-consuming Dao Annihilation, yet fundamentally different.
This storm was the Mountain and Sea making full use of its resources, purging all that was foreign to it.
Everything that had once originated from the [True God] but had not yet been absorbed was now being reclaimed completely.
Nothing would exist beyond the Mountain and Sea.
No transcendent beings, nothing that could stand above it.
To survive the storm, one had no choice but to become a part of the Mountain and Sea.
The storm raged for tens of millions of years before it finally subsided.
Had they experienced this calamity firsthand instead of merely observing it through the Three Saints' memories, it was doubtful that even one in ten of them would have survived.
Having seemingly absorbed all the essence it had taken from the [True God], the Mountain and Sea finally revealed its true form.
The Infinite Sea, which gave birth to all possibilities.
Without the concept of time, countless points of starlight—cycles of birth and death—continuously evolved and dissipated within it.
The Upper Mountain stood majestic and imposing. Though formless and intangible, it represented eternal energy and served as the cornerstone. Like a great pillar, its existence allowed the infinite possibilities within the Infinite Sea to persist.
Mountain and Sea were intertwined, seemingly independent yet mutually reliant.
"Everyone, this initial Mountain and Sea... it seems vastly different from what we would later come to know, does it not?"
"In the later ages of the Mountain and Sea, the so-called infinite possibilities were still constrained by the river of time, like a thousand great rivers flowing in parallel. But the Mountain and Sea at this moment..."
"The possibilities are like ripples spreading across a tranquil pond. They appear and vanish without affecting the Infinite Sea itself. Compared to the Mountain and Sea of our time, this initial state is undeniably more stable. Why was it forcibly merged?" The question arose unbidden in the minds of the Saints.
But such thoughts could only arise in the minds of observers. For the beings truly living through it, there was only one focus.
Survival!
Compared to the once taboo-free paradise, the rules of the fully-formed Mountain and Sea were incredibly strict.
Even cruel.
Regardless of one's power, nothing could last forever. Like the countless possibilities constantly being born and dying within the Infinite Sea, life and death were not one's own to control.
Even those who had once roamed unchallenged through the Primordial Immortal Realm could now only fade away in silence.
To the beings of the past, the new rules of the Mountain and Sea were unspeakably harsh. Yet, they forged a new and sufficiently stable order.
The birth and death of possibilities seemed to follow some unfathomable law. Though the pond glittered with points of starlight, its waters remained as placid as ever.
The Upper Mountain stood like a stone pillar by its edge.
Mountain and Sea, interdependent, balanced, and harmonious.
Most of their former companions had perished. The Three Saints, however, lay dormant within the Mountain and Sea, either having already returned to it or biding their time.
The initial Mountain and Sea was exceptionally calm.
The possibilities that evolved within it were also exceedingly simple.
There were not even any living beings in the strictest sense, only life forms akin to algae.
But as the points of light flickered differently within the Infinite Sea...
...the forms of evolving possibilities gradually grew more complex.
In some of these possibilities, intelligent life began to appear.
The Three Saints, struggling to survive under the harsh rules of the Mountain and Sea, took the opportunity to slip into these nascent worlds, seeking respite.
Compared to the naive creatures newly born in these possibilities, the Three Saints from the Primordial Immortal Realm were akin to true "sages."
But the Three Saints made no attempt to intervene; they simply observed in silence.
When they sensed a possibility was about to end, they would withdraw just in time and return to their struggle for survival within the Infinite Sea.
An unknown amount of time passed in this way.
If nothing unexpected had occurred, the Mountain and Sea might have remained this tranquil forever.
Then one day, without any warning, the Infinite Sea began to boil and churn violently.
The star-filled sea spread across the sky like a vast mirror, as if trying to reflect a scene from beyond the Mountain and Sea.
The Three Saints looked up, hoping to seize this chance to peer outside.
Yet, from just a few fragmented images, they instantly understood the reason for the Mountain and Sea's turmoil!
After devouring the [True God], the Mountain and Sea had sought to maintain a state of "eternity," free from the flow of time.
Without beginning or end, it could naturally exist forever.
And it seemed to have succeeded.
But...
...outside the Mountain and Sea, time was still quietly flowing!
And all this time, the Mountain and Sea had been completely unaware!
It was as if, from the very beginning, a pair of eyes had been watching them with a cold, unwavering gaze.
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