Chapter 781: The World's Force of Rebirth
The babbling brook swelled in an instant, transforming into a mighty, surging river.
Accompanying this change, the land within the grotto-heaven expanded rapidly once more.
Nourished by the abundant river water, the vegetation inside the grotto-heaven flourished. Trees shot up from the earth, their canopies a vibrant, flourishing green.
"The River of Imminent Creation..."
Li Fan watched the Sacred Embryo, Xu Bai, and nodded with a sense of deep satisfaction.
He then departed the grotto-heaven, resuming his travels across the Xuanhuang Realm.
Like a mortal wayfarer, he measured the vast land with his own two feet.
Whenever he encountered one of the world's nascent changes that suited his purpose, he would pluck it like a rare herb and absorb it into his grotto-heaven.
After the initial shock, the sight became so frequent that he grew accustomed to it, almost numb to the wonder.
They all described the world's nascent changes as being like the meridians in a mortal's body—elusive and nearly impossible to locate without special techniques.
Furthermore, they warned that extracting one would inevitably cause an earth-shattering disturbance, a tremendous commotion.
Yet all this accumulated wisdom proved meaningless when it came to the Sacred Embryo, Xu Bai.
With but a moment of narrowed focus, he could determine whether one of the world's nascent changes was present.
Then, with a slow wave of his hand, as if summoning a gentle breeze, he would silently claim it for his own.
As more and more of these forces of change and renewal were integrated into the grotto-heaven...
The Sacred Embryo Xu Bai's personal grotto-heaven was made new each day.
Mountains, canyons, plains, rivers, forests...
The world within the grotto-heaven teemed with life, a hundred forms born from its vitality. It had all the appearances of a small world in a constant state of growth.
Yet, in a rare display of concern, the Sacred Embryo, Xu Bai, furrowed his brow.
"Something is still missing."
"This vitality is merely an illusion; it cannot sustain itself in a perfect cycle."
"Without a constant external infusion, this force-fed grotto-heaven will soon wither and return to desolation."
Li Fan perceived his thoughts.
The Sacred Embryo, Xu Bai, hovered in mid-air, his gaze sweeping across the horizon in all directions.
He remained there, watching, for an entire day.
Then, a faint smile touched his lips.
Unhurried, he took a single step and set off toward his destination.
From Li Fan's perspective, Xu Bai's pace wasn't particularly fast.
He wasn't even using spiritual energy, moving forward solely through physical strength.
To any other observer, however, he seemed to cross a thousand miles with a single step, vanishing in an instant.
It wasn't that he was moving, but that heaven and earth were actively cooperating, shrinking the distance for him.
The ground itself was shrinking, bending to his will to ease his journey.
As Li Fan carefully observed the way the world warped with each of Xu Bai's steps, a sudden realization dawned upon him.
"Though my body has been borrowed by Mr. Bai for his rebirth, this is, in fact, an incredible stroke of fortune for me."
"Each undiscovered nascent change represents an unparalleled treasure, the very kind that can forge a Soul Transformation master."
"What's more, every one of Xu Bai's movements is in perfect harmony with the world. Each action could be considered a divine ability in its own right."
"The verdant energy that vitalized the grotto-heaven, the effortless grace with which he plucked the Marrow of Heaven, and now this ability to shrink the very earth beneath his feet."
"With my own aptitude, I would be fortunate to grasp even one such ability in a single lifetime. Yet now, I am witnessing them one after another."
"Most valuable of all, he performs these feats using my body, my senses. It feels no different from if I were doing it myself. With some study in the future, I might even be able to replicate them perfectly."
"Assuming, of course, that there is a next life for me."
The torrent of thoughts in Li Fan's mind came to an abrupt halt as Xu Bai finally reached his destination.
"This is... the Cong Yun Sea?"
Snapping back to the present, Li Fan was shocked.
Nearly ten years had passed since Ink Death's devastation.
Although the area still bore the scars of apocalypse...
...the once-violent lava had ceased its eruptions. It had gradually cooled, solidifying into hard, black stone.
The spatial rifts that had once gnawed at the landscape like countless insects had, at some point, sealed themselves shut.
At first glance, the former site of the Cong Yun Sea was still a picture of absolute desolation.
But upon closer inspection, a different kind of power seemed to be gestating within the ruins.
Of course, this was a subtlety Li Fan could only perceive by leveraging the uniquely blessed and supreme aptitude of the Sacred Embryo, Xu Bai.
Any other cultivator would likely have felt only waves of lethal danger, fleeing in terror before they could get any closer.
Xu Bai stared at the ruins for a long moment. But before stepping into the ravaged land of the Cong Yun Sea, he cast a glance in the direction of Source Dao Province.
A wave of resentment and apprehension instantly flooded Li Fan's heart.
For the first time, a negative emotion flickered across Xu Bai's face.
With a cold snort, he turned away and strode into the heart of the Cong Yun Sea ruins.
Unlike the clear aversion he felt toward Source Dao Province, the emotions that stirred within him as he walked through these ruins were surprisingly complex.
It was a sensation born from a confluence of many different feelings.
For a moment, Li Fan found himself unable to parse it, to identify the true nature of the feeling.
Soon, however, Li Fan's attention was drawn to what Xu Bai was doing with his hands.
His purpose here was clear: to find the nascent change that could bring true, self-sustaining life to his grotto-heaven.
This time, however, he did not act with his previous casual ease.
Instead, there was a rare solemnity to his actions.
Using his hand as a brush, his body darting through the air, he drew a line between the tangible and the intangible, etching it into the fabric of the world.
The line was unbroken, stretching from the western, coastal borders of Source Dao and Shilin Provinces all the way east to the shores of an endless ocean.
In little more than half a day, he had enclosed the entire expanse of what was once the Cong Yun Sea.
The outline was strange and irregular, however, and the area it encompassed was significantly smaller than the original sea.
Once the line of light and shadow met and closed, it flashed once before vanishing, hidden from sight.
Then, Xu Bai took a deep breath.
He reached out, grasping the invisible line, and began to pull.
As he gathered the shimmering thread into his hand, something within the very essence of the Cong Yun Sea seemed to be slowly dragged forth.
Li Fan focused his mind completely, unwilling to miss a single detail.
The Dao Transformation Stone crystal in his mind pulsed with a brilliant blue light, recording every insight, every sensation originating from Xu Bai's body, down to the most minute detail.
At first, Xu Bai reeled in the line with relative ease. But the more he gathered, the stronger the resistance from the void became.
Each pull required nearly all his strength. The thin thread clutched in his palm shifted from illusory to solid, its touch as gentle as a spring breeze, yet as cold as spun ice.
Xu Bai's gaze remained firm, his movements resolute as he continued to draw in the line.
And as he drew out more and more of the thread, the deceptively calm ruins of the Cong Yun Sea suddenly erupted!
Boom!
The black-red magma, which had long since quieted, erupted with renewed violence.
Black, writhing voids materialized one after another, swarming across the land like a plague of insects!
The terrifying aura of a world ending descended once more.
"This is..." Li Fan's pupils contracted.
"The Cong Yun Sea was on the verge of recovery, and now it's reverting to a land of death!"
"What he's pulling out... it's the very force driving the world's rebirth!"
The world around them reverted to a living hell, yet Xu Bai's actions remained utterly without hesitation.
His expression was impassive, betraying neither joy nor sorrow.
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