One Dao, One Step

Amidst the layered black shadows, Li Fan could only feel countless copies of "himself" continually replicating and forming. Deep beneath Daoyuan Province in the Xuanhuang Realm, this subterranean mass of shadows was collectively evolving at high speed toward the realm of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha. Blessed by the traits of the two great Dao paths, Illusory Life and Eternity, they could disregard the threshold of immortal ascension entirely, crossing straight over the divide between immortal and mortal. From mortal, ascending to immortal! Immersed in this inky ocean, Li Fan saw the functions of these two Dao paths with absolute clarity. Illusory Life provided infinite momentum for derivation and evolution, extending limitlessly through extremity of numbers and sheer quantity until it shattered the shackles separating mortal and immortal. Eternity, on the other hand, served as an incomparably solid foundation of the Dao: no matter how internal or external conditions shifted through myriad changes, it stood firm and unyielding. Even a tower tens of millions of zhang tall had to be erected atop this ground. Between the changing and the unchanging, an instant was ten million years. At last, when a wisp of brand-new ink broke through every obstacle and descended into the world, its transformation quickly spread to the rest of the inky mass. The Xuanhuang Realm, this mortal body of flesh, had conceived an Immortal Soul within its womb! Because Li Fan had single-handedly provided all the energy consumed for Mo Sha's ascension from start to finish, the "birth parent" of Mo Sha in this world was actually Li Fan. It had merely borrowed the belly of the Xuanhuang Realm. Yet, as the birthplace that nurtured the Immortal Soul, once Mo Sha ascended, the delicate bond cultivated between it and the Xuanhuang Realm over tens of thousands of years still brought a degree of reciprocal nourishment to Xuanhuang. However, compared to the transformation that would have occurred had the Xuanhuang Realm ascended normally, the changes brought about by Mo Sha ascending first were far less pleasant. Originally just one among many spirits of Heaven and Earth, it now occupied an absolute dominant position. Even as Mo Sha transformed into an Immortal Soul, it forcibly imposed some of its own traits onto the Xuanhuang Realm, brooking no refusal. Dense layers of dark clouds gathered without warning, blanketing the entirety of Xuanhuang's sky. Across the land, gusts of black wind blew from time to time. As if Mo Sha had descended upon the world, wherever the sweeping winds passed, everything was reduced inch by inch into black particles. The Xuanhuang Realm, which had just eliminated the threat of the Immortal Ruins and seen its vitality fully restored, suddenly turned into a dim, ghostly purgatory of doom! Fortunately, the vast majority of living beings slept within the Carefree Dream Paradise, sheltered beneath Li Fan's power. Toward Li Fan—its "kin" and "parent"—Mo Sha still showed some deference, refraining from any frontal collision with the paradise. Li Fan could vaguely detect the fluctuations of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's emotions: incandescent with rage, yet daring not voice its wrath. Not even the power of an entire realm was a match for the present Immortal Soul of Mo Sha. The Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm had no choice but to endure for now, slowly amassing strength from the benefits brought by Mo Sha's ascension. Yet Mo Sha showed no inclination to stop there. Though it did not strike directly at the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, it extended its tentacles toward the realm's numerous spirits of Heaven and Earth. Originally the manifestations of countless different laws with myriad forms, the spirits of Heaven and Earth gradually showed streaks of Mo Sha across their bodies under the erosion of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha. The ways their powers manifested between heaven and earth also took on Mo Sha's destructive traits. Even spirits of Heaven and Earth that had not been particularly aggressive, such as Crimson Flame, became terrifying and dreadful. "If this blackened Crimson Flame were ordered to boil the ocean, Congyun Sea would probably run dry in a day and night." Nor was Mo Sha merely corroding them. As the inky black gradually overtook the Xuanhuang Realm, the chilling shadows surrounding Li Fan actually branched into "Immortal Souls of Mo Sha" possessing various different properties. Though their essence remained unchanged, they possessed certain traits of other Dao paths of the world. The whole remained harmonious, while giving rise to an unusual vitality. ... Taking in all these changes between Mo Sha and the Xuanhuang Realm, a wondrous premonition stirred within Li Fan's heart. "Perhaps the Xuanhuang Realm, reformed by the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha, possesses a certain ability to survive under the Dao Annihilation Tribulation. "Perhaps reformation to this degree is still not enough. But compared to its former pristine state, its resistance to Dao Annihilation has undoubtedly increased immensely. "Could this be the intended goal when the testing ground originally implanted the power of Mo Sha?" The current Xuanhuang Realm looked somewhat sinister and dreadful. Yet against the broader backdrop where the entire mortal realm was soon to perish in the Dao Annihilation Tide, it appeared all the more "fit for survival." "Just as in a cultivation wasteland, a crude subterranean cave is far more suited for survival than a magnificent palace above ground. "If this Xuanhuang Realm model were promoted across the entire mortal world..." Li Fan narrowed his eyes. "Even if it still cannot avert the outcome of the Dao Annihilation Tide engulfing everything, after the tide recedes, perhaps one or two islands will survive. In a sense, it could be considered a way of salvation. "Yet that is on the premise of first being baptized by Mo Sha." Feeling the tens of thousands of squirming shadows around him, Li Fan shook his head slightly. Not all cultivation realms could withstand the changes wrought by the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha as readily as the Xuanhuang Realm. Leaving aside its unique nature as an Immortal Realm testing ground— Even for a realm as special as Xuanhuang, without the protection of Li Fan's power, or the bond forged over tens of thousands of years of Mo Sha gestating in its womb, lacking either of these would have left Xuanhuang severely battered in this inky baptism. To say nothing of other normal cultivation realms in the mortal world. "If this mass of shadows were released, I fear not even the Shuoxing Sea, reinforced by the Dao Net, could bear its weight. "It might resist for a time, but before an Immortal Soul of Mo Sha possessing the trait of Illusory Life, it would ultimately be stained black inch by inch." Li Fan, who had once penetrated the core of the Dao Net and possessed a clear understanding of both the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha and the power of the Dao Net, reached this conclusion after a round of deduction. "Rather than devouring and absorbing it myself, allowing it to evolve on its own will unleash its characteristics far better." Li Fan sensed the various Mo Sha shadows evolving around him, examining each one carefully. He had originally integrated with the Dao through the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha. If he simultaneously mastered these tainted laws, he could easily replicate them one by one. Looking around, Li Fan seemed to glimpse his potential next step forward. "When a True Immortal comprehends the Dao, one of the greatest shackles is that Great Daos cannot be cultivated together. "Even with heaven-defying techniques like the Boundless Tianshu Soul Departure Art, at most two or three Daos can be fused into one. But if I use the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha as my foundation... "The three thousand Great Daos shall all lie within my grasp!" Li Fan seemed to see the endless Dao Net hanging from the heavens to the earth slowly being tainted by Mo Sha, arriving from parts unknown. Involuntarily, he reached out and looked at his own palm. Amidst countless writhing black particles, as his comprehension deepened, different Dao paths seemed to differentiate and branch out. Though they were merely common Dao paths he had comprehended in his past cultivation journeys—such as the Five Elements, Azure Wind, Blue Flame, and the like—with each new facet added, Li Fan felt himself grow noticeably stronger in an instant. "The reason I can easily accomplish what countless ancient sages and paragons could never achieve is that the Dao of Mo Sha never originally belonged to this world. "Its most fundamental core is Dao Annihilation. It is the Infinite Sea. "It stands above the Great Daos of the mortal realm! Thus, it is not bound by the restriction that the Daos of the mortal world cannot be co-cultivated! "Any Dao seen within the mortal realm can be comprehended and wielded." Looking at his increasingly vivid inky body, a surge of enlightenment welled up in Li Fan's heart. "If Mo Sha is like this, then what of... "Revert to the True?" As the ink boiled, Li Fan's thoughts ultimately returned to his most fundamental core. "Through Mo Sha, taint every Dao path in the world. "One Dao, one step. When all the Great Daos of the mortal world are held in my grasp, perhaps I will be but a single step away from the transformation of true and false..." Li Fan's inky body burst apart with a bang, merging completely into the newly born Immortal Soul of Mo Sha of the Xuanhuang Realm. First, he would transfer over the Dao paths that this newly born Immortal Soul of Mo Sha had already grasped. ... His true body having gained immensely, he had finally found the path best suited to him against the backdrop of an apocalyptic era where the immortal path was severed and the Great Dao withered. And Li Buren, sensing the changes in the true body, looked at Archmage Tiandu, who remained enveloped within the Illusory Life phantom ahead, and already had a plan in mind. A speck of ink emerged at his fingertip. It then transformed into a wisp of black mist, drifting slowly toward Archmage Tiandu. Merging into the echoing recitation of the Dao, it was like a drop falling into a vast lake, quickly disappearing without a trace. Yet the ink did not vanish. Instead, it turned around and dyed the vast lake in a new color! The Illusory Life phantom rippled slightly, attempting to dispel the ink corroding it. Yet every ripple it made actually provided Mo Sha an opening to invade further. Within the phantom's body, a shadow quietly took hold of its forehead. Archmage Tiandu, whose face had remained as unruffled as an ancient well ever since Li Buren locked onto him, finally showed a change. Though he still appeared calm and composed, Li Buren could tell he was forcing himself to maintain his composure. "Mo Sha is indeed more effective than the brute force of my Dao Net." Thinking this, Li Buren also guided a wisp of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha's power into his own body. As if the stars across the heavens had suddenly dimmed, the myriad heavens fell into silence. Yet after several breaths, beneath this murky starry sky, an even greater vitality arose. Empowered by Mo Sha's traits, Li Buren could not directly rival the Illusory Life phantom on that alone, but he could ignore its influence to a certain extent. Surrounded by the chanting of scriptures, he took one difficult step after another. Slowly yet resolutely, he finally arrived before Archmage Tiandu. Clamping tightly onto the other's throat, amidst the Archmage's increasingly terrified expression, he dragged him bodily out from the protection of the Illusory Life phantom! "You..." The Archmage wanted to speak, but the dim Dao Net had already wrapped tightly around him. Wisps of ink poured in from the crown of his head. The Archmage's pupils vanished in an instant, turning pitch-black. His continuous struggles gradually ceased. Li Buren was using Mo Sha to corrode the Dao paths the Archmage had cultivated. Li Buren had initially assumed that since the Archmage had clung stubbornly to the Dao of Illusory Life for ten thousand years, the path he painstakingly cultivated would also be the Dao of Illusory Life. Yet once Li Buren followed Mo Sha into the Archmage's inner core, he was startled to realize something was wrong. "The Archmage is not like the Hunger Immortal, who experienced distorted time from cultivating the Dao of Hunger—where ten thousand years had passed externally, but only a few days had elapsed for her. He has genuinely been meditating on the Dao while clinging to the Illusory Life phantom ever since the era of the Xuan Heavenly King, Xuanyuan Hong. "Across such vast ages, spending day and night alongside the Illusory Life phantom, even a pig would have gained a respectable comprehension of the Dao of Illusory Life. Yet this Archmage... "From the moment he encountered me, he has relied almost entirely on the phantom's protection. The calamity-averting capability he exhibited on his own is practically negligible." Though Li Buren had entered the Archmage's core with the aid of the Immortal Soul of Mo Sha, what he glimpsed was far too "flimsy." Not just the Daos he had comprehended, but his experiences and memories as well. It was completely unlike the capacity expected of Archmage Tiandu, who had presided over Tiandu and looked down upon Xuanhuang for tens of thousands of years. Li Buren looked around, instinctively sensing something amiss. Looking at the empty scene around him, he suddenly recalled the sight of countless cubic star seas juxtaposed side by side in the Great Wall testing ground. "Could this be merely one compartment within the Archmage?" Li Buren had a sudden realization. Boundless ink erupted from his body, completely submerging the area within several breaths. Then, under the crushing pressure of terrifying force, it began seeping into other spaces. Boom! Boom! As cracks spiderwebbed open, a sky-filling inky tide surged beyond what Archmage Tiandu presented on the surface. It was as though he had abruptly barged into a world filled with living beings. Countless figures floated across the sky. Though their facial features were completely identical, each and every one was undeniably Archmage Tiandu! "These people... seem somewhat familiar." Among these figures, Li Buren even spotted several familiar individuals. They were precisely the mortals and cultivators living in Daoyuan Province: Blue Feather, Dugu Xi, Dugu Shi, Feng Mu, and others. At this moment, their expressions varied: some were beside themselves with rage, some terrified without end, while others looked utterly indifferent. "Are the living beings of Daoyuan Province all transformed from Archmage Tiandu?" This was the first thought that leaped into Li Buren's mind. But he quickly realized that was not right. For at this very moment, the living beings of Daoyuan Province were still living undisturbed across the land of Daoyuan Province, unaffected by the Archmage's capture. Li Buren thought of the bizarre phenomenon in Daoyuan Province where ten years of time would be swallowed up. In a flash, he understood. "It isn't that ten years of time truly vanish into nothingness. Rather, all living beings within it are placed into a state of stillness. "Only the Archmage alone remains able to move. "During those ten years, he fashioned replicas of all living beings of Daoyuan Province within his own body, one by one. "And as for his purpose..." Li Buren grabbed the figure of "Blue Feather" from among them. "Though he is not the real Blue Feather, still..." From this figure, Li Fan could still sense an aura of comprehension regarding the Dao of Life and Death. In fact, it was even deeper than the comprehension of the Blue Feather he had once met in person. Li Buren looked toward the countless different Archmages floating across the sky. Every single one was comprehending a different Dao path!