Chapter 1742: The True Nature of the Saints
The turn of events was so sudden, so shockingly fast, that not even Li Fan could react in time.
The paramount leaders of the Saints, the grand marshals of the Mountain Sea reconnection—Lian Shan, Gui Hai, and Tai Yi—had perished without a single warning. And they had taken their own lives.
"How... how could this be?"
It wasn't just the three Saints of the current Mountain Sea segment. Even in the future era where Li Fan's true self resided, those three Saints, upon sensing the anomaly, had decisively chosen to end their own existence.
With the departure of their leaders, the white light of the Armillary Ring began to dim. A subtle, unsettling change crept into the expressions of the other Saints. The atmosphere within the Other Shore grew treacherous and strange.
"Same Heart Same Virtue!" Li Fan commanded without hesitation, signaling for Shou Qiu and Moral to act.
Before the Saints could be fully overcome by their original natures, Li Fan, Shou Qiu, and Moral took the places of the fallen three. The Armillary Ring's brilliance flared anew, and the gathering clouds of gloom were instantly dispelled.
Once again, the Saints fell under the influence of Same Heart Same Virtue.
But Li Fan, Shou Qiu, and Moral were not Lian Shan, Gui Hai, and Tai Yi. The disposition of the Saints had already begun to shift.
"You can't really call it running," another countered. "More like adding another chip to their stake in the Mountain Sea's Partition."
Although the recent events had been bizarre, the Saints had witnessed far too much in their long existence. They quickly pieced together what was happening.
In the Primitive Immortal Realm, the Saints were absent. The time of the Partition had arrived.
It seemed all the Saints from the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea were taking part in the grand drama of the Partition.
And all three Saints possessed the divine ability of Primordial Indestructibility.
A state of primordial unity, eternally indestructible. If every version of the three Saints across all of spacetime were to perish, leaving only a single instance surviving, then that final trio would see their power restored to its absolute peak.
To gain a greater advantage in this cosmic war, the three Saints had decisively chosen to eliminate all their other selves, concentrating their entire power at the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea.
"A pity. The Partition of the Mountain and Sea... such a momentous event, and we are not to witness it. And what's more..." All Knowing let out a long sigh, his gaze drifting beyond the Mountain Sea.
The three Saints were the very cornerstones of the Mountain Sea.
Their sudden disappearance had made the already precarious Mountain Sea catastrophically fragile.
Across its vast expanse, countless possibilities seemed to freeze over, losing all vitality. They were suspended in a static, icy stasis, as if they might shatter into infinite fragments at any moment.
In the few worlds that still endured, time itself seemed to slow to a crawl, everything within them moving with excruciating slowness. It was a sign of their existence decaying even further.
Their fundamental essence was no longer sufficient to sustain their evolution. Like a stream whose source has been cut off, they could only wither and dry up.
"If the Mountain Sea perishes, besieged by the void, I fear there will be nowhere left for us to run."
Without the piercing gaze of the three Saints to illuminate the correct path through the void, without their towering figures serving as beacons to guide the way...
Even with Li Fan's continuous True Spirit Infusion, the Saints would likely never escape the labyrinthine void.
Every Saint was keenly aware of this fact. As All Knowing's words hung in the air, no one offered a rebuttal.
"So what if the three Saints are gone?"
"If we unite our strength, we can still forge a path to survival!"
The future seemed utterly bleak, but into that despair, Li Fan's voice suddenly cut through.
His declaration was bold, devoid of any trace of panic.
"Friend Zhouhui, do you have a plan?" one asked. Between the influence of Same Heart Same Virtue and the lasting impression of his silent, constant True Spirit Infusion, Li Fan had earned their attention.
In the minds of the Saints, though his stature was not yet equal to that of the original three, he had undoubtedly become a pillar they could rally around.
Li Fan's eyes narrowed, a sharp light glinting within them. "The Mountain Sea has changed, so our plans must change with it. Before, our first priority was to reconnect and save it. But now..."
"All we can do comes down to a single word."
"Survive!"
Compared to the grand mission of saving the Mountain Sea imposed by the three Saints, the simple goal of survival resonated far more deeply with the Saints' true nature.
As Li Fan proposed it, not a single Saint objected. They all nodded in grim assent.
"The living can be used. The Mountain Sea can be used. Everything can be used!"
The situation was dire. Li Fan wasted no time, sharing his plan directly with the assembled Saints.
It was, in fact, the very strategy Shou Qiu had proposed earlier.
To harness the network of life that coursed through the Mountain Sea and ignite its latent potential.
"We've come to this point; there's no room for reservations!"
"The three Saints have gone to attend the gluttonous feast of the Partition. We may have missed our invitation, but we will not let them profit for free!"
"Tell us," they demanded. "What must be done!"
Without a moment's hesitation, every Saint agreed to Li Fan's plan.
"The Mountain Sea has remained indifferent to the void's threat because the void only consumes its current time segment, not the entirety of its being," Li Fan explained.
"Given its immense scale, it can naturally afford such a loss. However..."
"What if we were to spread the threat of its total collapse to every corner of its existence?"
Li Fan's words left the Saints momentarily stunned.
They had been consumed by the idea of saving the Mountain Sea for so long that such a brilliantly destructive notion had never occurred to them. Faced with his question, their minds went blank.
It was Li Fan who illuminated the path forward.
"Everyone! Do not forget, we have already used the network of life to cross the void and traverse the Mountain Sea. We can use that same network now to reach every other part of it!"
"Of course, our goal isn't just to leave. It is to bring the corrosion of the void with us, everywhere we go!"
Under the new leadership of Li Fan's trio, the Other Shore operated with terrifying efficiency.
Before his words had even faded, the Armillary Ring erupted with a blinding, incandescent light.
It enveloped the entirety of the fragile, decaying Mountain Sea.
In that instant, every surviving descendant born from Qiu Tianhui's Dao of Life was marked.
The consciousness of the Saints poured into them like a torrential river.
A moment later, a sky full of stars rose from the paper-thin Mountain Sea, following its hidden veins toward the past and the future.
And, just as Li Fan had demanded...
This time, the Saints did not merely send their consciousness. They acted as guides, blazing with their own light to illuminate the path for the void.
The hidden veins of the Mountain Sea were like secret tunnels honeycombing its entire structure.
The void devoured the Mountain Sea, but it had remained oblivious to their existence.
But now...
Countless new lights flared to life within those veins.
And they moved rapidly, traversing between the different segments of the Mountain Sea.
It was impossible for the void not to notice.
Compared to its slow, methodical erosion, attacking along these hidden internal veins would increase its efficiency many times over.
Without hesitation, the void immediately adjusted its offensive strategy.
The overwhelming tide of Dao Annihilation no longer consumed every part of the Mountain Sea indiscriminately.
Instead, it began to flow primarily through the openings the Saints had created, launching an insidious invasion that followed the veins of the Mountain Sea itself.
With the veins of the Mountain Sea diverting the onslaught, even as the Dao Annihilation invaded on a massive scale, the pressure on Li Fan and the others within the Armillary Ring was, paradoxically, significantly reduced.
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