Chapter 1771: The View from Without
Chapter 1771: The View from Without
"As for me..." Zhang Fan remained noncommittal.
He wasn't about to lose his sense of self over a few flattering words from True Death Hidden.
Yet, in a sense, his stance was fundamentally aligned with that of True Death Hidden—and indeed, with every living being in the Mountain and Sea.
The Mountain and Sea obliterated, Samsara erased, all to be consumed by a single being.
The deeds committed by the master of the Dao of True and False in his pursuit of enlightenment were nothing short of horrifying.
Whether driven by the instinct for survival or the call of conscience, the cultivators of the Mountain and Sea had every reason to unite and stop him.
Of course, that was all predicated on one thing...
...that everything True Death Hidden said was the truth.
"True Death Hidden isn't lying," Zhang Fan mused.
"But that doesn't mean he's telling me the whole story."
Zhang Fan relied on his own judgment.
The logic was simple. If everything was as True Death Hidden claimed, then figures like the Fishing Old Man and Xuanyuan Hong would surely have joined him to form a united front.
But they hadn't. Instead, they had merely crafted a world of refuge and hidden themselves away in silence.
Zhang Fan's resolve had never wavered.
He would stand before the mastermind himself and demand answers.
In front of True Death Hidden, however, Zhang Fan kept his true intentions hidden.
Instead, he just shook his head. "I am merely a single clone, one of countless scattered pawns. If the master of the Dao of True and False is as terrifying as you claim, what difference can I possibly make?"
"And let's say, for the sake of argument, that we did join forces and managed to kill him. Aren't you worried I'd just become the new master of True and False, rendering all your efforts meaningless?"
"Scheming against one master is already the absolute limit of our current capabilities. Why would we court disaster by trying to account for an infinite number of successors? Besides..." True Death Hidden's voice was firm. "I do not believe you would do such a thing, fellow Daoist."
"Of all the Sons of Destiny, you are the only one who willingly relinquished the Dao of True and False. Had I not perceived this, we would not be having this conversation." True Death Hidden's gaze burned into Zhang Fan.
Zhang Fan gave a wry smile. "Then I'm afraid I must disappoint you. I only gave it up because it was beyond my reach. To be perfectly honest, if the Dao of True and False were to appear before me now, ripe for the taking, I would seize it again without a moment's hesitation..."
Before Zhang Fan could finish, True Death Hidden cut him off. "But you have already given it up."
"One does not return to a path once abandoned. This holds doubly true for something like the Dao of True and False. Since you forsook the chance to possess it, even if the Dao were to one day become masterless, it would never choose one who had actively rejected it before..."
"At least, not in this lifetime," True Death Hidden declared with utter confidence.
Zhang Fan opened his mouth, but for a moment, found himself at a loss for words.
Finally, he could only manage, "That's just your speculation, isn't it?"
In truth, Zhang Fan already understood.
True Death Hidden had chosen to cooperate with him for two very specific reasons: his identity as a clone of the master of the Dao of True and False, and his inability to inherit the power of [Truth].
As for their chances of success?
They simply had no other choice.
Since that was the case, Zhang Fan dropped all pretense of humility. "Very well. Since you've put it that way, it would be an insult to refuse."
"Give me the tree. From this day forward, we are allies, united in our goal to reclaim the Dao of True and False."
At his words, all the Saints of the Mountain and Sea, who had been lost in their Dao enlightenment, turned to look at him.
Beneath their placid gazes, a subtle malice stirred.
Zhang Fan met their stares without fear, waiting for True Death Hidden to make his decision.
There was no great drama.
It was clear True Death Hidden held considerable sway among the Saints. Though their hearts were filled with reluctance, the Saints parted to form a path, allowing Zhang Fan to approach the great, inverted tree from which hung countless Sons of Destiny.
"Aren't you afraid I'll go back on my word? You agreed so easily." To be honest, Zhang Fan was surprised by True Death Hidden's decisiveness.
"We have no choice," True Death Hidden replied. "And neither do you."
Zhang Fan fell silent.
Left with nothing to say, he sighed softly and slowly opened his mouth.
He summoned the power of the True-False Transformation, shaping it into an ethereal hand that gently brushed against the fruits hanging from the great tree.
A soft breeze seemed to stir through the remnants of the Mountain and Sea, and the countless fruits—the Sons of Destiny—began to sway, trembling in the wind.
Then, one by one, they fell from their branches and vanished into nothingness.
Simultaneously, Zhang Fan's own aura grew increasingly ethereal and indistinct.
True, when Zhang Fan had attained Sainthood, he had resolved to abandon the pursuit of comprehending the Dao of True and False.
Yet, he had never abandoned the idea of wielding it as a convenient tool.
This was precisely what True Death Hidden and the surviving Saints had done in this lifetime. The only difference was that as a "Son of Destiny," a clone of the Dao's master...
...Zhang Fan could wield the power of the True-False Transformation himself.
As the fruits continued to fall, the great tree itself began to wither.
Its leaves yellowed and drifted away on the nonexistent wind.
Its branches snapped, plunging into the void and disintegrating into ash.
And in tandem with this decay...
...the lives of the watching Saints faded like wilting flowers, one after another.
They faced their demise with little fear.
Their last moments were spent gazing into the void at the flow of True and False, serenely awaiting their fate.
"This..."
Zhang Fan had never imagined the tree was sustained by the very life force of the Saints. This finally explained how they had managed to persist through the resets of the Mountain and Sea.
He had not killed them, yet they were dying because of his decision.
Having spent most of his life in secluded cultivation, with his only interactions taking place in an atmosphere of goodwill, the sight inevitably shook him to the core.
"It matters not. It is merely another death."
"Favored by the Dao of True and False, they may not be able to see through the cycles of Samsara as I can, but they understand their own destiny. That is why they can face death with such tranquility."
"Whether our plan succeeds or fails, they are destined to reappear with the next reset of the Mountain and Sea," True Death Hidden explained, standing beside Zhang Fan.
In truth, he needed no consolation.
The shock lasted only a few moments before his focus shifted entirely to the power of the Dao of True and False that now filled the void.
The power that had once been divided among countless Sons of Destiny...
...now flowed like a gentle stream, pouring entirely into him.
His perception began to clear.
The gloom of the apocalyptic Mountain and Sea receded, and for the first time, everything seemed to possess a discernible pattern.
Before his eyes, a magnificent scroll seemed to unroll.
Everything the Mountain and Sea had ever been was contained within it.
But as the Dao Annihilation eroded it, the scenery depicted on the scroll was slowly fading to transparency.
To the eyes of an ordinary person, the Mountain and Sea would have simply vanished.
But to one who wielded the Dao of True and False, all that was needed was to infuse it with power, and the Mountain and Sea would manifest once more!
"This," he realized, "is the [Mountain and Sea Variation Outline]."
Captivated by the profound sight, Zhang Fan murmured the name in a moment of sudden understanding.
But there was more.
Beyond the scroll itself, he could faintly perceive the presence of a figure holding it.
Every change, every birth and death depicted within the scroll—and indeed, the scroll itself—was under this person's complete control.
After committing every detail of the scroll to memory, Zhang Fan strained his sight, trying to pierce through the scroll's confines to see the one who held it.
At this act of transgression, the scroll of the Mountain and Sea began to tremble violently.
The world depicted within it surged forth, attempting to block his prying gaze.
Zhang Fan wielded the Dao of True and False to suppress the commotion, his goal unwavering: he had to see the figure beyond the scroll.
The clash of these two powers caused the scroll itself to tear and disintegrate, inch by agonizing inch.
In response, countless fine cracks spread across Zhang Fan's soul, bringing him to the verge of collapse.
This was no mere injury; it was a backlash from the True-False Transformation, and the very foundation of his existence was beginning to unravel.
The powers of Longevity and Forgetfulness, two great Daos of the Mountain and Sea, desperately tried to mend the fissures in his soul.
It was a futile effort, like trying to douse a wildfire with a cup of water, but it bought him a few more precious seconds.
At last, his vision pierced through the barrier of the Mountain and Sea's landscape, and he saw the one who held the scroll.
RUMBLE!
It felt as if his soul had been struck by a cataclysmic force. The Mountain and Sea, the surrounding void, even the Dao Annihilation itself—all of it faded into the background, becoming utterly insignificant.
Even the countless paths of cultivation, even the Dao of True and False, seemed as transient as passing clouds.
In his vision, only one person remained.
And in that instant, he saw... himself.
As well as...
...another spectral, overlapping shadow hovering over his own form.
In the God Punishing Variation world.
The moment Zhang Fan broke through the barriers and gazed upon Li Fan through the channel of the True-False Transformation...
...Li Fan, too, used that gaze to look back, seeing himself for the very first time from an external perspective.
And so he, too, saw it: the spectral, overlapping shadow that clung to his very being.
He had painstakingly stripped away every experience, every memory accumulated since the beginning of Samsara.
All that remained was the purest state he had been in when he first arrived in this world.
And yet, for reasons unknown, this foreign presence still lingered over him!
Strangely, the sudden revelation did not surprise Li Fan.
It was as if he had expected it all along.
In fact, it would have been more incredible if there *wasn't* some contingency attached to him.
"The only question is," he mused, "does this shadow originate from my former self... or..."
"...from the fallen True God?"
The shared gaze between Li Fan and Zhang Fan lasted but a fleeting moment.
When [The View from Without] vanished, Li Fan could no longer perceive the phantom that had been hovering over him.
It was as if it had never existed at all. Even with the aid of the True-False Transformation, he could not recall even the faintest impression of it.
Even the very memory of the phantom's existence was slowly slipping away.
After a futile attempt to stop the memory from fading, Li Fan decided to use the last few fleeting moments to deduce as much as he could about the phantom's origin.
First, he ruled out the possibility that his past self was responsible.
"My current comprehension of the Dao of True and False has nearly reached the apex of the Mountain and Sea. I am hardly any weaker than my former self."
"I don't believe he possessed the power to accomplish something on this level."
"To reside within my very being, yet remain unknown and unfelt... invisible, unrecordable, and unremembered."
"It transcends the Mountain and Sea, existing beyond the bounds of cognition."
"The shadow of the True God..."
In an instant, Li Fan reached his conclusion.
"I'll start with what I already know."
"This world is trapped in an endless cycle of Samsara."
"Even a True God cannot last forever. Over eons, a new consciousness will inevitably emerge within its being—whether it originates from a previously devoured deity or is an entirely new evolution is irrelevant."
"In short, the old god falls, and a new one arises. This is the unchangeable law."
"It is called a fall, but 'return' might be a more fitting term. Because..."
"...the [God] seems to be a singular entity. Once godhood is achieved, there is only *the* God."
"The cycle turns, bringing us to the present era—the era of the Mountain and Sea's divine emergence."
"But things went differently."
"The Mountain and Sea were merely two nascent consciousnesses, a transitional phase between the True God's fall and its rebirth."
"But they foresaw their own inevitable demise. Unwilling to accept this fate, they sought to defy destiny."
"They orchestrated a grand play, a cosmic deception to transform themselves into the Star. If their performance reached a perfect conclusion, they would usurp the place of the rightful new god and claim divinity for themselves..."
Here, Li Fan's train of thought paused for a second.
The memory of the phantom was fading faster now. He had to hurry.
"Godhood is singular. But *who* attains it is not set in stone."
"The Mountain and Sea were never meant to be on the list of successors, but they sought to force their way on..."
"The True God's power is limitless; it knows the past, present, and future. Thus, on the verge of its demise, it foresaw this deviation."
"And so, it plucked me from beyond this reality, an outsider meant to shatter their play."
"But..."
"...is that all?"
A cold glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
"With its foresight, the God must have seen what would happen *after* I tore their grand play to shreds."
"Just as True Death Hidden said."
"The Mountain and Sea would be annihilated, Samsara undone, and all would be subsumed by me."
"..."
"That is hardly the outcome the True God desired."
"To sacrifice itself, to break the endless cycle of this universe, all just to ensure the ascension of an outsider like me?"
"Is a god really that benevolent?"
Li Fan scoffed.
He rejected the possibility out of hand.
"And yet, the True God went through with it without a shred of hesitation."
"There can only be one reason..."
"...it was absolutely certain that while I could destroy the grand play of the Mountain and Sea, while I could extinguish the nascent Star, I could never, ultimately, kill a god."
"The God saw all possible futures. It exhausted every variable and never once foresaw a timeline where I succeeded in killing it. And that is why it acted."
"Using me as its pawn, and then setting me up to take the fall..."
"That really is taking things too far."
Li Fan's anger, which had flared when he first uncovered the truth, had now subsided.
All that remained was a humorless laugh.
But behind that laugh, his gaze was colder than ever before.
"So the reason for that one, unchangeable outcome... is this shadow of the True God hovering over me?"
In the time he had left, Li Fan pushed his deductions to their limit, searching for a countermeasure.
The ink-like stain faded, and the shadow was gone.
A flicker of confusion crossed Li Fan's face.
"It seems..."
"...I've forgotten something vital."
Feeling an inexplicable tremor in his heart, Li Fan murmured thoughtfully.
"Do you have any idea what it was?"
He looked to the silent phantom of [Truth] standing beside him.
The phantom of [Truth] possessed no consciousness of its own, only a capacity for mechanical response.
To answer Li Fan's question, layers of light and shadow flickered as it attempted to retrace its steps.
But it ultimately found nothing.
Li Fan's expression remained unchanged.
"Sometimes," he said softly, "the absence of an answer is an answer in itself."
"I stand at the very pinnacle of this world. For something to still be capable of causing such a bizarre phenomenon..."
"...it can only be the [God]."
"Whether I remember or not... it makes no difference."
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