Chapter 798: The True Face of the Dharma Spreader
“The soul of heaven and earth, born into the world...”
“The soul of heaven and earth, born into the world...”
The elderly Xu Ke stood frozen, his face a mask of disbelief. He muttered the words over and over, his voice a low whisper.
“There are beings in this world so powerful that they leave indelible marks upon heaven and earth. These imprints are so profound that even after they perish, they can be restored from these traces.”
“Their every action, their every mannerism, is identical to the original.”
“And yet,” Mr. Bai said, his voice perfectly serene, “they are still nothing more than an echo, a mold.” He showed no sign of distress at the fact that he was merely the shadow of another.
“Then... how can he be truly resurrected?” the old man asked, his hand instinctively reaching for the black coffin on his back. His voice was laced with an urgent desperation.
Mr. Bai shook his head and smiled faintly. “That is a question for someone chosen by fate, I’m afraid. After all, he himself never had any desire to be revived.”
Xu Ke opened his mouth to press further, but Mr. Bai cut him off abruptly.
A gentle breeze swept past Xu Ke.
A moment later, he vanished from the world, spirited away to an unknown destination.
And in that same instant...
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The transparent crystal encasing the Xuanhuang Realm shattered into countless pieces.
High above the heavens, a face that was intimately familiar to every cultivator of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance suddenly materialized!
From beyond the world itself, it gazed down upon the myriad beings of the Xuanhuang Realm!
In a heartbeat, the entire world seemed to be flash-frozen.
Every living creature, down to their very thoughts, was locked in place, held in perfect stasis.
At that moment, the Xuanhuang Realm...
was utterly silent!
From the void beyond, several dark golden chains shot forth, instantly binding the limbs of Mr. Bai, who stood suspended in the air.
Mr. Bai seemed to have anticipated this, for he offered no resistance.
He simply looked down at the Xuanhuang Realm below.
Under the influence of the Dharma Spreader’s true visage, a low, ominous hum began to rise from the depths of the earth.
Deep chasms split the surface of the land, spreading in all directions like a web of destruction.
The entire world trembled at the mere sight of the Dharma Spreader’s face!
Under the weight of such terrifying power, any being below the stage of a Longevity Heavenly Venerate was utterly helpless.
Most of them couldn't even comprehend what was happening.
Their consciousness was still trapped in the moment the Dharma Spreader had first appeared!
The tremors grew more violent. Mountains crumbled, and rivers raged out of their beds.
New ranges rose from flat plains, while highlands were flattened into desolate expanses.
Geological transformations that should have taken the Xuanhuang Realm thousands of years to undergo were now unfolding in a single, catastrophic instant.
This was not the gentle hand of natural evolution, but the brutal, destructive force of an external power!
Just as an even more terrible change was about to occur, five distinct powers erupted from within the Xuanhuang Realm.
In a flash, they swept across the land, desperately trying to stabilize the disintegrating world.
The Dharma Spreader in the sky seemed to take notice. The features of its revealed face blurred slightly, and the violent upheaval showed signs of calming.
But the chains coiled around Mr. Bai showed no signs of loosening.
On the contrary, they tightened their grip.
Witnessing the scene below, Mr. Bai let out a soft sigh.
“The Xuanhuang Realm of today...”
“It no longer belongs to me.”
“...”
“Then I shall return it to you.”
After speaking these words, Mr. Bai cast one final glance down at the Xuanhuang Realm.
A complex, unreadable emotion flickered in his eyes.
Then, an infinite white light burst forth from his body.
In that moment, his entire being transformed into pure light!
Countless specks of brilliance, like an inverted Milky Way, streamed upward into the sky.
They were like innumerable stars, returning to their celestial home.
Finally, like a fleeting dream, they faded into nothingness, dissipating between heaven and earth.
With its target gone, the dark golden chains retracted into the void beyond.
But it seemed the Dharma Spreader was not finished.
Its face still loomed, indistinctly occupying most of the sky.
The rest of its features gradually faded, merging with the heavens.
Only its eyes remained, growing deeper and more profound.
Like two black suns, they hung high in the sky!
The entire Xuanhuang Realm was plunged into a swift and sudden darkness.
And the countless beings whose minds had been frozen were guided by some unknown force to lift their heads, their gazes meeting the twin eyes in the sky.
Nearly every living thing in the world did so.
Only a handful of powerful existences managed to lower their heads, averting their gaze from the Dharma Spreader.
Under the unblinking stare of the Dharma Spreader, the Xuanhuang Realm fell into a brief period of absolute stillness.
Then... as silently as it had arrived, the face of the Dharma Spreader vanished from the firmament.
A few moments later, the inhabitants of the Xuanhuang Realm began to awaken.
They were dazed at first, staring blankly for a short while.
Then, they simply resumed their lives and cultivation.
Just as they had before.
All memory of the colossal figure known as "Mr. Bai," of the technique called "Foundation Establishment Through Oneself," and of the entire cataclysmic event had been completely erased from their minds.
It was as if none of it had ever happened.
...
In Longevity Valley.
As the members of the Medicine King Sect slowly came to their senses, they looked around at the somewhat ravaged landscape with expressions of confusion.
They had a vague recollection that this was somehow related to a peerless, powerful figure.
But when they tried to grasp the details, their minds drew a blank.
A painful feeling of loss settled in their hearts, as if they had forgotten something of immense importance.
Several of the children present even began to cry inconsolably for no apparent reason.
The three Dao Integration cultivators of the Medicine King Sect exchanged glances, a flicker of deep-seated fear in each of their eyes.
Liu Yihang was the first to recover, directing the disciples to restore order amidst the chaos.
Jiang Yushan stared at her own hands, a hint of doubt clouding her features.
Fang Zaiji went to comfort the weeping children.
Suddenly, as if struck by a thought, he quickly retrieved a Recording Stone from his storage ring.
It should contain an image from just before the strange event occurred.
However, when he viewed the scene captured within, he was once again baffled.
Dozens of children sat on the ground, chattering excitedly, seemingly engrossed in conversation.
But the object of their collective attention was empty space. There was no one there.
And no sound came from their mouths.
They were like actors in a silent play, conversing with a "non-existent" person.
This utterly bizarre scene sent a chill down Fang Zaiji’s spine.
He instinctively put the Recording Stone away, clenching it tightly in his hand.
“Existence... erased...”
The thought flashed through his mind. Connecting it to the strange phenomena that had just swept through the entire Medicine King Sect, his heart grew heavy as lead.
He made a decision then and there: he would bury this secret in his heart forever.
He would never speak of this to another soul.
It took a full seven days for Longevity Valley to gradually return to a state of order.
While clearing away the debris, a child by the name of Gu Xinghan found something buried beneath a pile of rubble.
It was a crystal-clear jade disc.
——
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