Chapter 1750: Li Fan's God-Making Chronicle
How is a god made?
Without personally venturing into the Primitive Immortal Realm and taking part in that titanic struggle, one might never find the true answer to this question.
Li Fan could only rely on the different outcomes produced by various variables to piece together an understanding.
"It seems there were other factors at play, beyond Snare being gravely injured."
Li Fan waited for a long while, but the Three Saints' proclamation—"The time for the divine schism has come"—never arrived.
Refusing to waste any more time, Li Fan decisively initiated a reset with [Truth].
He chose to retain the [Dao One Mountain Sea Map], which was on the very brink of completion.
Pausing his plans, Li Fan first meticulously reviewed every detail of the timeline in which the new god had descended.
"Could it be," he mused, "that beyond Snare's grave injuries, the Saints infiltrating its consciousness to battle it was also a critical factor?"
With this in mind, Li Fan summoned dozens of Saintly Spirits from the Mountain and Sea.
He would use them as his pawns.
The Saints who had previously entered Snare's web to confront it were, in order: Stealing Opportunity, All Knowing, Square Inch, and the Tai Wei Saint Emperor. Li Fan himself had been the last to enter.
The first three had already left their imprints in the Dao Return Hall, so fabricating them to produce an equivalent effect wouldn't be difficult.
"The crucial part is the Tai Wei Saint Emperor. An ordinary being would struggle to manifest that noble, imperial aura."
Li Fan's gaze swept across the chosen 'lucky ones' until he found the most suitable vessel. Then, he breathed softly upon it.
The creature, initially in a state of dazed confusion, slowly began to change. A subtle transformation took hold of its temperament and expression.
The other spirits gathered nearby seemed to sense this shift, instinctively pulling away, too intimidated to approach. What Li Fan had infused was more than just a phantom memory; it was the very essence of an emperor's heart and mind.
Li Fan observed for a moment but remained unsatisfied, shaking his head slightly.
"It has the spirit of the Saint Emperor, but not the substance. It's still not enough!"
In the timeline of the new god's birth, the Saint Emperor had comprehended the Great Dao of Living Beings. The power he split off to infiltrate Snare's web was almost negligible.
Therefore, to perfectly replicate the conditions of the new god's birth, Li Fan had to forge a Saint Emperor of nearly equivalent power.
"My comprehension of the True False Transformation isn't yet sufficient to create a Saint with a single thought. However..."
"I can *transform* my own cultivation!"
"The Dao of Cycle Return... shed!"
A bizarre scene unfolded. The very skin on Li Fan's body began to writhe, as if seized by an invisible force that was viciously tearing it away.
Slowly, a figure peeled itself away from Li Fan's form.
It was faceless and formless, shimmering and indistinct.
Yet it radiated the immense aura of a Saint-realm existence.
Li Fan himself, however, had reverted to the state of a mortal!
A mortal, compared to a Saint, is as an ant to the entire Mountain and Sea. Ordinarily, anyone attempting such a feat would lose control of the 'Saintly cloak' the very instant they shed their own power.
But Li Fan was no ordinary mortal.
The foundation of his power rested almost entirely on the [True False Transformation]. Even as a mere mortal, he could still command and suppress the Saintly cloak.
Furthermore, the Dao of Cycle Return had already been recorded in the Dao Return Hall. These two factors combined made it impossible for the shed power to escape his control.
"But now is not the time to act. I must first cultivate back to the Saint realm."
For his second round of cultivation, Li Fan chose the Xuanpin Dao.
Li Fan's comprehension of the Dao of Cycle Return was profound enough to have left a mark on the Mountain and Sea No-Boundary Stele. Naturally, his understanding of the Xuanpin Dao was not yet as deep.
Even so, it took him a mere four hundred years to become a Saint once more.
Restarting again and again, proving the Dao time after time. For other cultivators, the path to Sainthood was an unattainable dream, as difficult as climbing to the heavens. But for Li Fan, it was gradually becoming as simple as eating and drinking.
"A day will come," he thought, "when creating a Saint from nothing will be as simple as a single thought."
In high spirits, Li Fan, now a Saint of the Xuanpin Dao, took the shed 'cloak' of the Dao of Cycle Return and headed for the region of the Mountain and Sea sealed by Snare's web.
As before, he used Fantasy Becomes Truth to pave his way, slipping inside without a sound.
He then released his fabrications in sequence: 'Stealing Opportunity,' 'All Knowing,' and 'Square Inch'.
Snare's web reacted accordingly. While the changes weren't identical to those in the new god's timeline, the general trajectory was correct.
"And now," he addressed the final piece, "it's your turn."
Li Fan looked at the phantom of the 'Saint Emperor' in his hand, smiled faintly, and draped the cloak of Cycle Return over it.
As the Saintly power enveloped the phantom, Li Fan simultaneously began to contest the ownership of the Dao of Cycle Return within the Dao Return Hall.
How could an ownerless cloak possibly contend with him?
The Dao of Cycle Return vanished from the hall.
The cloak quickly fell from the Saint realm, retaining its vast, accumulated power but losing its Saintly status.
This perfectly matched the state of the real Saint Emperor when he had descended upon Snare's web.
The actions of the 'Saint Emperor,' tutored by Li Fan, had already been predetermined.
It would disperse its power, build an undying legion, and force Snare to reveal itself and change the rules.
And once the fabricated 'Saint Emperor' had been reduced to ash, it was Li Fan's turn to take the stage.
"Huh? You..."
Even though Li Fan was well-hidden, Snare instinctively sensed that something was amiss.
A sense of crisis bloomed in its heart for no apparent reason.
"A mere ant from a later era is making me feel uneasy?"
Snare was alarmed and uncertain. Yet, it was one of the first Saints of the Mountain and Sea, an ancient being that had survived the brutal environment of the Primitive Immortal Realm.
It wasn't about to be scared off so easily.
The scene played out once more.
The outcome, naturally, was a foregone conclusion.
Li Fan showed no mercy, using the Dao of Stealing Opportunity to fleece Snare once more.
A cold, unsettling feeling blossomed in its heart. The unease it had deliberately suppressed earlier was suddenly magnified a thousandfold.
"This is a chain of events, clearly a long-planned trap."
"Who in the world is scheming against me!"
Snare roared internally. For some reason, the situation felt eerily familiar.
Once the thought took root, it could not be dispelled. It began as an insignificant snowflake but, in an instant, became a thundering avalanche.
Unease morphed into terror.
In a daze, Snare even saw a vision of its own demise!
"I'm going to die?"
"I'm going to die!"
Reeling from a shock it could not comprehend, its mind flooded with confusion, astonishment, and fear, Snare could no longer afford to hesitate. It fled in utter disarray.
"Did I fleece it a bit too much this time?"
Li Fan keenly sensed the subtle shift in Snare at the last moment, his expression unreadable.
His form grew faint, and he concealed himself before Snare's web dissipated completely.
Snare's web receded inexplicably, leaving the Saints of the Mountain and Sea baffled. Unable to find a reason, they could only attribute it to some anomaly from the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea.
Li Fan remained hidden, patiently waiting for the outcome.
The appointed time arrived, yet there was still no sign of the new god's descent.
"Another failure?" Li Fan frowned.
Just as he was about to reset and try again, a realization struck him.
"Snare may have sensed something and become more cautious," he reasoned, "but that can't change the fact that its very source has been damaged."
"What is doomed to die, will die."
"It's just managed to prolong its miserable existence a little."
His gaze seemed to pierce through the layers of the Mountain and Sea and the barriers of the void, reaching straight to the beginning of time. A sudden understanding dawned on him.
He then concealed himself once more, quietly awaiting the herald of the new god's descent.
This time, he was not disappointed.
The ethereal sensation, like a sudden plunge from the highest heavens, struck without warning.
Across the many segments of the Mountain and Sea, the Three Saints rose abruptly.
They gazed up toward the Primordial Beginning, their expressions incomparably solemn.
At the words, "The time for the divine schism has come," the Three Saints all took their own lives, their power converging upon the Primitive Immortal Realm.
They left behind the other Saints in utter bewilderment, and a Mountain and Sea plunged into chaos.
"I've waited so long for this moment to finally arrive again!"
Seizing the opportunity presented by the turmoil in the void of the Mountain and Sea, Li Fan scattered millions of living beings with a wave of his hand.
These were all the 'fortunate souls' he had gathered on his journey against the river of time.
He infused them into the very lifeblood of the Mountain and Sea.
"Dao Annihilation, return!"
As starlight flooded the Mountain and Sea, Li Fan pointed to a spot in the vast void.
The forces of Dao Annihilation, previously a leaderless horde, now had Li Fan's guidance. They instantly transformed into a pack of savage beasts that had caught the scent of prey.
Roaring, they surged forward, charging deep into the realm with unstoppable momentum!
The Mountain and Sea fell in an instant.
All life was extinguished, and most of the Saints scattered and fled.
Only Shou Qiu remained, trying desperately to halt the tide.
But without the enhancements of Li Fan's unity and True False Transformation, Shou Qiu possessed only the strength of an ordinary Saint. Against such a cataclysm, his greatest efforts were but a drop in the ocean.
Li Fan paid them no mind, his gaze fixed intently on the Mountain and Sea.
"Whether the cost of three timelines will pay off... all depends on this moment."
The Mountain and Sea, invaded by the vast forces of Dao Annihilation, erupted with astonishing potential of its own. A deafening roar from its depths temporarily pushed back the cataclysmic tide.
And then...
The scene that followed was identical to the one from the timeline of the new god's birth.
Everything else within the Mountain and Sea was utterly pulverized.
Only the pure essence of the Mountain and Sea itself remained.
The Mountain and Sea Slab reappeared!
Furthermore, because the scale of Dao Annihilation that Li Fan had instigated in this timeline far surpassed previous ones, it invaded along the lifelines, causing the Mountain and Sea to fall with extraordinary speed. As a result, the petrification was not limited to just the current segment.
It stretched across a total of thirty-six segments, spanning approximately twenty-five million years of history!
Even on the scale of the Mountain and Sea's hundreds of billions of years, this was no longer an insignificant trifle.
It was the equivalent of gouging a chunk of flesh from its own body.
Countless living beings were lost in the process.
Yet Li Fan, the architect of this devastation, remained impassive. He even offered a sarcastic remark, "Cutting off one's own arm to save the body. Admirable, truly admirable!"
"But this is exactly what I needed!"
This Mountain and Sea Slab, spanning twenty-five million years, was far more detailed than any he had ever seen.
The infinite, boundless nature of the Mountain and Sea seemed to have found a tangible form.
Merely observing it from the void carried the risk of being drawn in and consumed.
It stood like a great dam before the tide of Dao Annihilation. The waves crashed against it, but for the moment, they could make no headway.
Li Fan no longer resisted the pull, allowing himself to fall toward the Mountain and Sea Slab.
He even harnessed its power to extend his spiritual sense, spreading it across every corner of the vast slab.
Every minute detail, every subtle line, was perfectly clear.
Li Fan immersed himself in it, utterly captivated.
Compared to the [Mountain Sea Variation Outline], which recorded all the data of the Mountain and Sea, this slab—born from the Mountain and Sea itself—was infinitely more detailed and concrete.
"To know one is to know all. But given the boundless infinity of the Mountain and Sea, the 'one' required to see the 'all' is itself an immeasurable vastness."
Li Fan compared the patterns on the slab with the records in his Variation Outline, cross-referencing them with what he had inscribed on his own Dao One Mountain Sea Map.
A new level of understanding began to blossom in his mind.
The final stroke, which had eluded him for so long, finally seemed within reach.
"But..."
"Something still seems to be missing."
Li Fan mused as his spiritual sense continued to roam across the Mountain and Sea Slab.
Suddenly, it paused upon a seemingly insignificant "point."
"This is..."
On the slab where everything had been annihilated save for the Mountain and Sea itself, there was an "external object."
It was like a drop of ink on a stone tablet, utterly incongruous with its surroundings.
And yet, it also seemed to complement them, existing in perfect harmony.
This was why his spiritual sense had swept over it previously without detecting anything unusual.
And this external object was no stranger to Li Fan.
It was the Mountain and Sea No-Boundary Stele!
"Even with the Mountain and Sea petrified, it remains."
"The Mountain and Sea is boundless, eternal and unchanging. Life, death, survival, and extinction are all fixed by this law."
His spiritual sense rapidly contracted from across the twenty-five million years of the petrified Mountain and Sea, reforming into his human shape before he plunged into the No-Boundary Stele.
He repeated his previous actions, inscribing a trace upon the stele with his comprehension of the Dao of Cycle Return.
His spiritual sense immediately attached itself to the mark.
"Good. I don't see the mark I left here before," he thought. "Otherwise, I would have been seriously startled."
"This Mountain and Sea No-Boundary Stele... it's the finishing touch. The very stroke that will bring my creation to life."
Observing the faint, almost imperceptible traces on the No-Boundary Stele, a profound understanding dawned in Li Fan's mind.
"Mountain is mountain, and sea is sea. Even though they split from a common divine origin, they remained two independent entities. Interdependent, yet mutually exclusive."
"But ever since the appearance of this Mountain and Sea No-Boundary Stele..."
"Only then could the Mountain and Sea truly be called the [Mountain and Sea]."
Li Fan's eyes grew bright. Having understood everything, he felt a profound sense of relief and couldn't help but laugh aloud.
His laughter, however, was quickly cut short by a deafening roar from the outside.
"This is..."
"The torrent of divine return?"
Li Fan's expression turned grim.
While he had been lost in comprehension within the slab, the conflict of the divine schism in this timeline had finally drawn to a close.
Like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.
The myriad beings of the Mountain and Sea, all born from the god's schism, were now returning to the new god.
The torrent was immense, its force of return crushing all in its path.
Even the frozen, petrified Mountain and Sea Slab was pushed by this force, trembling as it drifted toward the Beginning of the Mountain and Sea.
Had this been his first time witnessing such a scene, Li Fan would have undoubtedly been frightened enough to immediately use [Truth] and flee for his life.
Now, however, Li Fan watched it all with calm indifference.
For the descent of the new god in this timeline was a spectacle entirely of his own making.
It stripped away any trace of the fear he had felt during his first encounter with the god.
"Gods..."
"Are nothing special."
"They can be molded, and they can be shed."
"This... is the essence of the True False Transformation..."
Li Fan carefully mulled over the myriad variables from the past three timelines.
He was summarizing the conditions required for the new god's birth.
"It seems Snare's demise alone is not enough."
"Its battle with the other Saints was also a critical factor."
"But why?"
Although he didn't yet know the specific reason, he had, at least, grasped a reliable method for instigating the new god's descent.
"However, given the cautionary tale of the silver specks of light, I cannot repeat this process too many times."
"Otherwise, it might awaken its memories of being a god, and could even faintly perceive the existence of [Truth]—an awareness that a reset cannot erase..."
"That would be far too dangerous for me."
"This time, however, it was a necessary measure to perfect the Dao One Mountain Sea Map."
As Li Fan pondered this, his train of thought came to a sudden halt.
He had just realized that the Mountain and Sea No-Boundary Stele, which had been drifting toward the new god along with the slab...
...had suddenly stopped.
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