In a sense, for the Xuanhuang Realm to have ended up as it was today, he, Chen Tianhai, bore a massive share of the blame.
Because it was precisely he who had activated the Dao Transformation Mother Stone without authorization and carried out over ten billion deductions.
Only then was Chuanfa able to glimpse that sole, sliver of a chance of victory.
With the fall of the Ten Great Immortal Sects and six Longevity experts, he, Chen Tianhai, was an out-and-out sinner!
Such an enormous number of deductions on the Dao Transformation Mother Stone naturally could not be concealed. When his master, Daoist Xingji, returned and discovered that these horrific consequences had very likely been brought about by Chen Tianhai acting as an inside mole, he was beside himself with rage. He was on the verge of executing Chen Tianhai on the spot to make amends to the world.
Yet after thinking it over again and again, Daoist Xingji stayed his hand.
For one, master and disciple shared a deep bond like father and son; Daoist Xingji was soft-hearted in the end.
For another, if word of this truly leaked out, the Taiyan Sect would inevitably become the target of universal condemnation and might even be wiped out from the Xuanhuang Realm entirely. After all, a traitor was always despised far more than an enemy.
Yet the tragic deaths of his old friends and the crushing guilt in his heart meant Daoist Xingji could not simply pretend nothing had happened.
And so, he could only strip Chen Tianhai of his status as the First Direct Disciple, throw him into the Taiyan Sect's dungeons, and suppress him for eternity, publicly announcing that Chen Tianhai had defected.
Chen Tianhai did not know how long he languished in that pitch-black, sunless dungeon.
By the time he was released, the calamity had already struck, and the Taiyan Sect stood on the brink of life and death.
The world was plunged into chaos, and the once-renowned Ten Great Immortal Sects could barely look out for themselves.
Because disciples of the Taiyan Sect could make use of Dao Transformation Stones to continuously run complex deductions and thereby suppress the killing intent brought about by the restriction that dharmas cannot be practiced concurrently, they had not yet descended into total chaos like the other immortal sects.
Even so, they were already pushed to their limit.
Not only the Dao Transformation Stones inside each cultivator, but even the Dao Transformation Mother Stone itself—because of the abrupt emergence of an "extreme variable"—had overturned everything from the past and begun rapidly deducing anew. To seek a sliver of survival for the Taiyan Sect, its computational power was virtually drained dry. Before his candle flickered out, Master Daoist Xingji released Chen Tianhai.
And pointed out a path for him:
Discard the physical body; information is imperishable.
"Fortune and misfortune lean upon one another. Though you made a catastrophic mistake back then, through it you also deduced Chuanfa's true nature.
"Now Chuanfa has been drawn away by our final ploy and has temporarily left the Xuanhuang Realm. This has won us a sliver of breathing room to preserve our strength.
"Were it not so, I fear all of our immortal sect inheritances would perish!"
Before he could fully finish his final words, Daoist Xingji perished.
And before the calamity that dharmas cannot be practiced concurrently completely engulfed the Taiyan Sect, Chen Tianhai ultimately accomplished the deed of assimilating the entire Taiyan Sect into the Dao Transformation Mother Stone.
Fortunately, before his master died, he had already eliminated all opposition within the sect on his behalf.
Otherwise, Chen Tianhai would never have lasted until that moment.
When everyone in the sect was able to experience and draw upon the near-infinite computing power of the Dao Transformation Mother Stone, Chen Tianhai knew his master's decision had been correct.
And after the divided Dao Transformation Stones were merged back into its form and intermingled with the thoughts and will of over a thousand Taiyan Sect cultivators, the Dao Transformation Mother Stone itself underwent a wondrous transformation.
It developed its own sentience...
A collective consciousness that also belonged to the Taiyan Sect.
During the several millennia spent in seclusion in the Taixuan Realm, Chen Tianhai looked back upon the past and repeatedly re-analyzed what he had done back then.
At the time, he had frequently felt restless and uneasy, and had suspected he had fallen prey to some underhanded scheme of Chuanfa's.
Yet neither the sect's warding treasures nor his master, nor even Longevity realm experts from other sects like Taishang and Tianjian, had been able to detect anything amiss with him.
Chen Tianhai could only assume it was purely his own inner demons at work.
"Chuanfa's methods are truly insidious and impossible to guard against.
"It is just a pity that before Master could explain his true nature, he passed away. And the other knowledgeable figures of the immortal sects have long since vanished without a trace. Even so, after so many years, I have deduced an approximation..."
As Chen Tianhai listened to Sun Erlang recount his experiences in the simulation, thoughts surged within him.
"By the way, Senior, the cultivation methods I learned in the simulated world..." Sun Erlang hesitated.
"Naturally, they are real too," Chen Tianhai replied flatly.
"However, you had best not learn or use them in reality. Otherwise, you might just bring down the pursuit of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Protector Hall upon yourself," Chen Tianhai added.
"The Alliance's Protector Hall, is it..." Sun Erlang murmured, though there was no fear in his eyes.
"Very well. Since you have reaped great rewards, young sir, please take your leave. Do not keep your master waiting too long." Chen Tianhai issued an order of dismissal.
"Yi Shu will accompany you to the Daqi pocket world."
Before the words had finished echoing, Sun Erlang felt the vision before him blur.
When his senses cleared, he was already standing outside the translucent blue building.
Yi Shu stood smiling at his side, as if he had been waiting for a long time.
"Hm?" Sun Erlang instantly noticed how Yi Shu at this moment differed from before.
Indeed, he was different from every other cultivator within the Taiyan Sect.
No longer was his aura cold, uniform, and collective; instead, he was flesh and blood, radiating a vitality that belonged strictly to him.
"Thanks to you, young sir, I temporarily have a physical body in reality again and can go out to enjoy myself for a while." Yi Shu smiled and explained to Sun Erlang the current state of the Taiyan Sect.
"Information is imperishable..." Having been tempered by several centuries in the simulated world, Sun Erlang was noticeably far more composed.
Yet he was still deeply shaken by the Taiyan Sect's unconstrained, fantastical concept.
"You need not be so astonished, young sir. If you truly experienced it firsthand as we have, you would know that having a physical body actually makes little difference. In fact, a physical body in reality is an outright burden," Yi Shu said with a chuckle.
"Still, it's nice to switch things up once in a while."
Yi Shu followed Sun Erlang out of the Taixuan Realm, heading straight for the Congyun Sea and the entrance to the Daqi pocket world.
Clearly, the Taiyan Sect was not unfamiliar with the location of the Daqi pocket world.
However, when they passed through the Immortal Severing Formation and saw only a vast, desolate void with no pocket world in sight, Yi Shu finally showed a hint of surprise.
Sun Erlang was stunned for a moment before memories from a century ago seemed to resurface.
He said somewhat awkwardly, "Senior, please wait a moment. My Great Qi is currently wandering through the void, drifting about. I do not know where it is right now either...
"Allow me to inquire."
A moment later, a ray of golden light flashed out from the darkness, arriving before them in an instant.
"Greetings, Senior Baihua!" Sun Erlang bowed respectfully once he recognized who it was.
Daoist Baihua swept a gaze over Yi Shu and said nothing more.
"Follow me."
Glazed golden light enveloped the two of them, and the surrounding void seemed to warp, giving off an eerie luminescence.
When the golden light dispersed, they had already returned to Great Qi.
Chapter 1198