Chapter 1763: The Beginning of the Mountain and Sea's Division
The Beginning of the Mountain and Sea's Division
The Dao of Truth and Falsehood draped over Li Fan like a sheer veil, concealing his presence and the net of Saints he carried.
Even so, the instant he stepped into this moment of divine division, Li Fan felt two gazes sweep across him.
Mountain and Sea. Their feeding paused for a moment.
Li Fan held his breath, remaining hidden.
After a long, fruitless search, Mountain and Sea resumed their focus on devouring the True God.
"This place is like a vast, boundless void. I see no Mountain, no Sea, nor the True God," Li Fan observed.
"I see no past, and no future."
Li Fan did not act rashly, choosing instead to carefully survey his current situation.
"The division of the divine is not a fleeting instant," he mused.
"Given the sheer scale of the True God, the process of Mountain and Sea dividing, devouring, and slowly digesting it must span an incredibly long age."
"No... that's not right."
A thought stirred in Li Fan's mind. He momentarily shifted his attention from the two colossal beings in the void to the nature of this spacetime itself.
"Here, there is in fact no such thing as the 'flow of time'."
"The very existence of this place is defined by a single state: 'The Devouring of the God by Mountain and Sea Is Incomplete.' In other words, anyone who arrives here will invariably find themselves at a moment before the devouring is finished."
"Once Mountain and Sea complete their feast, they will evolve into the Mountain and Sea of later ages, the Primitive Immortal Realm. This pocket of spacetime will then naturally cease to exist."
"Although the concept of time flowing does not apply, it doesn't mean I can stay here forever."
"By entering this place, I have already joined the contest for the divine."
"In the affair of the divine division, one's loss is another's gain. Once I cease to act and completely lose my qualification to contend, I will be expelled from this spacetime."
Li Fan had a faint feeling that he had already landed upon the massive corpse of the fallen True God, officially joining the rapacious feast for its remains.
"From the perspective of Mountain and Sea, they are still in a moment before the division is settled. All future events have yet to occur."
"But from the perspective of us who have traveled back in time, everything is already set in stone."
"A moment of divine division, both static and endlessly looping..."
Li Fan vaguely sensed that the corpse of the True God was like a cage.
It trapped Mountain, Sea, and any other existence that dared to covet the True God's remains.
"It transcends spacetime, anchoring all who enter into the role of prisoners vying for the divine."
"No one who participates in the division can ever truly escape."
Amidst the pitch-black darkness, Li Fan seemed to see the fallen True God, its corpse standing tall, its gaze cold and indifferent.
"I have come here, but not to contend for the divine. I am only here to glimpse the secret of the god's fall."
"But to do that, I must first be able to truly see the god's corpse."
The existence of the True God surpassed Li Fan's current cognition.
Thus, his eyes could not see it, and his ears could not hear it.
"You shall be my eyes and ears. Gaze upon the full mystery of the True God."
"Should any among you achieve a sudden epiphany, perhaps you can use divine power to tear this binding net of mine to shreds and regain your freedom," Li Fan said to the twenty-eight Saints in his net with a smile.
Even though they knew the probability of Li Fan's words coming true was practically zero, a sliver of fantasy still lingered in the depths of the Saints' hearts.
To contend with Mountain and Sea for the divine—this was something the Saints of the Primitive Immortal Realm had dreamed of for ages.
But the boundary between the divine and the mortal had trapped them all in the Primitive Immortal Realm, preventing them from advancing even half an inch.
Through years of exploration, the Saints had reached a consensus.
Only by breaking the limits of Mountain and Sea with a Saint's body could one enter the moment of the divine division.
Yet now, Li Fan had brought them all here by his own power.
The Dao of Truth and Falsehood was truly beyond comprehension.
"However, if we could obtain divine power..."
"Even the Transformation of Truth and Falsehood would have to submit!"
Since Li Fan had given them the opportunity to comprehend it to their hearts' content, how could they refuse?
The twenty-eight Saints now cast all thoughts of life and death aside.
They immersed themselves completely in perceiving the dark void before them.
To become a Saint, especially in the Primitive Immortal Realm, one had to possess the most supreme aptitude in all of Mountain and Sea.
The God and the future Mountain and Sea shared common ground.
As the Saints made their individual observations, the dark space gradually began to brighten.
With every fraction the darkness receded, the "divine might" Li Fan felt grew heavier.
The divine might of the fallen True God was no different from that of the descending one.
The Transformation of Truth and Falsehood shielding the Saints instantly bent slightly.
At that very moment, Li Fan was the first to have an epiphany. "The process of deepening my observation and cognition of the god's corpse is so similar to the descent of a new god."
"The moment I see the True God in its entirety will be like facing the True God itself."
"Except, the True God has already fallen, so there will be no 'return to god'."
"But the might of the True God is not something an ordinary Saint can withstand. One must be like Mountain and Sea..."
"Devouring and comprehending simultaneously."
Then, a question naturally arose. Mountain and Sea dividing the god between them was already the limit of what they could accept.
How could they possibly allow another existence to compete with them?
"A fight is inevitable."
"Let the Saints fight Mountain and Sea on my behalf."
From beginning to end, Li Fan's goal was crystal clear.
To witness the complete body of the True God and glimpse the secret of its fall!
As the Saints' comprehension deepened, the overlapping figures of the god gradually became clearer.
Mountain and Sea, who had been feeding, paused once more.
This time, they were finally certain that someone else had intruded.
The meal on their plate was being watched, and Mountain and Sea seemed utterly enraged.
The afterimage of the True God was replaced by the phantoms of Mountain and Sea.
The "God" as perceived by the Saints seemed to vanish temporarily from this spacetime.
Only the endless mountain ranges and the swirling, vast sea remained in the darkness.
Although the Saints had not yet been exposed, they were already surrounded by Mountain and Sea.
This was completely different from the Mountain and Sea known in later ages.
At the moment of the divine division, Mountain and Sea were primal, cruel, and savage.
Slaughter and consumption were their only methods of dealing with outsiders.
The phantoms of Mountain and Sea collided, sending ripples through the void.
The Saints were certain that without the protection of the Dao of Truth and Falsehood, their tracks would have been exposed instantly.
"Seize this final moment and achieve your enlightenment," Li Fan's faint voice drifted to them. "Mountain and Sea are in turmoil. The time you have left is short."
A knot of tension tightened in the Saints' hearts.
Forcing themselves to remain calm, they tried to peer through the overlapping shadows of Mountain and Sea, to continue their probe into the mysteries of the True God.
It seemed the intruders had thoroughly enraged Mountain and Sea. They now temporarily halted the division of the divine, focusing all their efforts on finding the hidden little insects.
What sounded like roars echoed through the mountains and reverberated across the sea's surface.
The surging currents rose higher and higher. The collision of Mountain and Sea even caused the bedrock of this spacetime—the remains of the True God—to tremble.
In this life-or-death crisis, the Saints' comprehension surpassed all their previous efforts.
Even surrounded by darkness, they gradually made out the blurry outline of the fallen True God within.
Every single Saint saw it.
Let alone Li Fan, who was borrowing the eyes of all twenty-eight.
The "remains of the True God," once an abstract concept, finally materialized in an instant.
A crushing weight immediately seemed to press down on Li Fan's shoulders.
His body and soul trembled.
"It's time."
Li Fan's eyes flashed as he gripped the great net holding the twenty-eight Saints.
Then, with a gentle tug and a toss, he threw them out.
Simultaneously, he withdrew the Transformation of Truth and Falsehood. The Saints, like brilliant stars, shone with dazzling light.
They instantly attracted the attention of Mountain and Sea.
Although they had long anticipated their fate, they never expected Li Fan to abandon them so quickly.
"Everyone!"
With no time for anything else, the Saints instantly united their minds, joining forces to face the wrath of Mountain and Sea.
Streams of radiant light illuminated the dark spacetime.
For a moment, they cast a seven-colored iridescence upon Mountain and Sea.
Each of the twenty-eight Saints possessed power comparable to Mountain and Sea.
Mountain and Sea were furious, but for a moment, they were unable to overwhelm them.
The faint trembling of Mountain and Sea sounded once more.
In the void, it was as if some unknown existence descended.
Pop...
Like squashing an insect, one of the twenty-eight points of light was instantly extinguished.
"What was that just now...?"
The Saints were baffled, but Li Fan, hiding in the dark, saw it clearly.
"This is the power that truly belongs to a god."
"Just like the True God's Finger."
"Mountain and Sea's devouring of the god has indeed yielded results."
Using this attack from Mountain and Sea, the body of the True God in Li Fan's vision became clearer still.
The closer he got to the god, the more distant everything else in the mortal world seemed to become.
Li Fan felt as if he were leaping over the sea, gradually ascending the mountain.
The clamor from the foot of the mountain and the surface of the sea faded away.
Only the True God above and the sparse presence of Mountain and Sea beside him remained.
Li Fan no longer cared about the lights being rapidly extinguished in the distance. He climbed upward, seemingly slowly but with incredible speed.
What he saw around him, what he felt under his feet...
From time to time, it gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"All laws, all things, originate from the God."
"So it is for Mountain and Sea, and so it is for the Dao of Truth and Falsehood."
"To reverse the universe with the Transformation of Truth and Falsehood is, in essence, also the God transforming itself..."
After all twenty-eight stars had been extinguished, Mountain and Sea, finally coming to their senses, seemed to at last notice Li Fan's existence.
The mountains beneath his feet trembled and shook violently.
A howling sea wind rushed toward him, threatening to blow him off.
"When truth feigns falsehood, falsehood becomes truth!"
Dressed in a straw raincoat, Li Fan ignored the wind and rain between mountain and sea.
He strolled leisurely, ascending step by step.
As he continued his climb, even the mountains and the vast sea slowly receded from him completely.
All he could see were a few lonely peaks and a distant corner of the sea.
But ultimately, they could no longer affect him.
The face of the True God above grew ever clearer.
The effort required for Li Fan to take each step also grew greater and greater.
"Mountain and Sea, God..."
All the experiences from past reincarnations swirled in his mind like a vortex.
It seemed that everything could find its reflection on the god's body.
Using the memories and experiences of the past as points of reference, he gradually sketched out the formless, shapeless god.
When Li Fan could no longer take another step forward...
The God finally appeared above him.
At that moment, Li Fan's body and soul seemed to freeze.
His mind lost all activity.
Fortunately, the True God had already fallen, leaving only an empty husk in the world.
After an unknown amount of time, Li Fan's non-thoughts finally began to slowly turn again.
"So... this is a god?"
It was vastly different from what he had imagined.
There was none of the divine might or domineering presence he expected.
Only a vast, dead silence hung above.
The freezing of Li Fan's thoughts just now was not due to divine pressure, but an entanglement with the god's fall.
"Before I saw the god's full form, I felt its divine might was everywhere."
"But now that I see its face..."
"The god is no longer a god. It is filled with nothingness, with deathly silence."
Li Fan frowned slightly.
The body of the True God was indeed vast and boundless, encompassing everything.
All cognition, all principles, seemed to have their answers within the endless dark clouds above.
But one fact was unavoidable.
The True God had fallen.
"Why did the True God fall?"
"Perhaps only by becoming a god can I find the answer."
At that moment, Li Fan became lost in thought.
He opened his mouth slightly, and the endless dark clouds above began to slowly rotate, being absorbed by him.
In just a few breaths, an amount of data comparable to all of Li Fan's past experiences was forcefully instilled (instilled/poured) into his mind.
It completely exceeded the limits of what he could process.
The normal approach would be to follow the example of Mountain and Sea: to take an endlessly long time to slowly devour and digest it.
But Li Fan took a different path.
"Let truth be made false..."
Everything he gained from the god instantly became ethereal and illusory.
It lost its applicable weight but still existed. If he wanted to access it, he still could.
His whole body felt lighter, and Li Fan quickened the pace of his consumption.
"Only by devouring all of the god can one inherit its full power."
"But what I seek is not to become a god, but to possess a god's perspective..."
It was precisely because he had witnessed the fate of a newly born god that Li Fan would not be tempted.
His will was unshakeable. He swallowed the remnants of the True God whole, devouring it indiscriminately.
He did not seek to digest it, only to consume it in its entirety.
Li Fan might have been able to maintain his composure, but his competitors, Mountain and Sea, fell into an extreme rage.
Mountain and Sea could already sense that Li Fan's rate of consumption far surpassed their own.
If this continued, the one to become a god would undoubtedly be Li Fan.
And so, Mountain and Sea made a desperate gamble.
The mountains beneath them crumbled with a roar.
The distant vast sea vanished.
Beneath the dark clouds of the True God, two similar dark clouds suddenly appeared beside Li Fan.
They were just a size smaller than the body of the True God.
They closed in on Li Fan, trying to crush him.
Li Fan's heart remained unmoved. He simply treated them as more remnants of the True God.
And devoured them as well.
He had not expected...
The effect to be surprisingly good.
It seemed the texture of Mountain and Sea was not fundamentally different from the body of the True God.
The only difference was that the two dark clouds of Mountain and Sea were filled with a crazed resentment.
It wasn't just the scar of their bodies being stolen, but also an indescribable hatred that transcended it.
It seemed older than Mountain and Sea themselves.
Compared to the erosion of Mountain and Sea's power, these feelings of resentment were far more troublesome.
Even with Li Fan's current mental fortitude, his face couldn't help but twist from time to time.
Within his mind, countless new personalities began to emerge.
They wanted to take Li Fan's place.
Li Fan's original self watched as one after another of "himself" appeared, a strange feeling rising within him.
It was as if the initial birth of Mountain and Sea had been just like this.
Recalling how the dark clouds of Mountain and Sea so closely resembled the corpse of the fallen god...
Li Fan had an epiphany: "Mountain and Sea were originally separated from the God."
"It's just that their consciousness originated from what the God had previously devoured..."
"Other gods?"
Before Li Fan's eyes, the overlapping shadows of many gods seemed to appear, fighting each other to their deaths.
He was about to deduce further but was interrupted by the countless newly formed "himselfs" in his mind.
A ferocious glint appeared in Li Fan's eyes. "Excellent. I'll have a taste of you all, and see what you're made of!"
A vortex of will, consuming all, hot or cold.
Even if they all wore his face.
He swept over them all and devoured them.
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