The Dao that Situ Xing had attained was "Carve."
Using himself as a blade, everything in heaven and earth, whether tangible or intangible, could be carved by him.
He had originally drawn inspiration from the Dao-inscribing methods of the Dao-Inscribing Immortal of Supreme Virtue. Combining that with what Situ Xing was best at, he achieved this Dao art unique in heaven and earth.
The reason Situ Xing's Dao-attainment ceremony had been so grand was that his carved creations could serve as a lesser substitute for inscribing the Dao.
The Four Holy Monarchs of the Immortal Realm stood high above all else.
Opening the immortal road and clearing the Spring of Infinity from nothingness were monumental achievements of eternal merit that blessed all immortals. But for the vast majority of True Immortals in the Immortal Realm, none had lived through that desolate antiquity when "no immortals existed in the world." In their eyes, both the existence of the immortal path and the infinite nature of immortal power were naturally taken for granted, things they had long grown accustomed to.
In their minds, the Four Holy Monarchs of the Immortal Realm were mere symbols, like distant deities.
The Dao-Inscribing Immortal, on the other hand, was the figure truly revered above all others by the gathered True Immortals of the Immortal Realm. And for good reason: the Dao-Inscribing Immortal possessed peerless, god-given genius. He had observed the three thousand Great Daos and comprehended every single one of them. What was more, he had inscribed and transformed the intangible Great Daos he perceived, bestowing them upon the world.
A single sprawling text, the Supreme Dao Scripture, fully expounded the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.
It was said that nearly half of the Nameless True Immortals in the Immortal Realm were born after studying the Supreme Dao Scripture.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Dao Scripture, which had originally drifted within the Boundless Astral Sector for all immortals to behold, met with misfortune during the very first large-scale Dao Annihilation Tribulation that erupted in the Immortal Realm.
It was said that the moment the tide of Dao Annihilation descended, every single character of the Supreme Dao Scripture erupted with boundless brilliance. Transforming into ribbons of light spanning the heavens, they temporarily held back the calamity of Dao Annihilation,
buying a brief window of escape for the many True Immortals below who were contemplating the Dao.
Yet it was, in the end, only a single scripture, ultimately incapable of withstanding that horrifying catastrophe. Together with the entire astral sector, it was swallowed by the Dao Annihilation.
Only a few symbols of the Great Dao survived.
Situ Xing was fortunate enough to be born before the Supreme Dao Scripture vanished. From studying it, he had determined his own path with absolute precision.
He would become the second Dao-Inscribing Immortal!
One had to understand that although the Supreme Dao Scripture had spanned the Boundless Astral Sector for all immortals to see, the Immortal Realm stood atop Mount Shangfang, vast and without end.
The Boundless Astral Sector alone was beyond what immortal power could fully chart. Those with the ability, determination, and fortune to actually reach it and gaze upon the scripture were exceedingly few.
The Supreme Dao Scripture was like a wall of sculptures built against a mountain, immovable.
Yet if someone could carve and record the scripture to transfer it elsewhere, allowing the True Immortals of the world to glimpse its true form without having to travel across vast distances, that would be an immense act of merit!
Situ Xing set his ambitions on precisely that.
Without the guidance of the scripture itself, becoming a second Dao-Inscribing Immortal was fraught with thousands of hardships and perils. But Situ Xing possessed extraordinary aptitude and fortune. Stumbling forward and spending half a lifetime, he ultimately attained the Nameless realm as he had dreamed.
Attaining the Dao of "Carve" meant that the Dao-Inscribing Immortal had a successor, sending shockwaves through the Immortal Realm.
Numerous Nameless Ones vied to visit him; that was the most glorious period of Situ Xing's life.
Unfortunately...
Inscribing the Dao was far from as simple as he had imagined.
At first, relying on his memories of contemplating the Supreme Dao Scripture in the past, he could still carve many paths into tangible forms.
Yet as time went on, Situ Xing gradually discovered that his success rate was falling lower and lower. After attaining the Nameless realm, his body became one with the Dao of Carve, which naturally alienated him further and further from other paths.
Attempting to carve again...
He tried and failed, tried again, and failed once more.
Only when he completely gave up did Situ Xing finally recognize the Dao-Inscribing Immortal's immense power amidst this cruel reality.
Inscribing the Dao was something no ordinary person could accomplish.
Regrettably, after leaving behind the Supreme Dao Scripture, the Dao-Inscribing Immortal had vanished without a trace, rendering Situ Xing's hopes of asking how to make all Daos compatible an absolute impossibility.
Yet Situ Xing was not one to be broken by setbacks.
While he could not directly inscribe the paths of the Dao, carving down his own insights and those of other immortals was something he could achieve.
Though a step below, it still brought universal benefit to the world. In a sense, Situ Xing's ambition to become the second Dao-Inscribing Immortal had, in fact, been realized.
...
"Mount Shangfang?"
"The Supreme Dao Scripture?"
Li Fan withdrew from Situ Xing's radiant remnant thoughts.
Even as mere remnants, the memories were extraordinarily vivid. Empowered especially by the Supreme Dao Scripture within them, this strand of Li Fan's divine sense had become entirely immersed, nearly losing itself.
Fortunately, because the Dao Annihilation Tribulation was pressing near, the surging tempest in Situ Xing's thoughts snapped Li Fan awake in time.
Returning the strength he had pulled back from the other Heavenly Pillars and the phantoms of the Mound-Guarding Lord, the Dao Annihilation Tribulation gradually faded into nothingness beneath their collective support.
Yet Li Fan keenly sensed that the pressure borne by each Heavenly Pillar seemed slightly heavier than before.
"It seems using the Dao Annihilation Tribulation as a scare tactic isn't something I can do too often. Every time it's used, a flaw is created, causing the tribulation to arrive earlier."
However, this was outside Li Fan's concerns. At the very least, before he used Trueness in this lifetime, repeating it four or five more times should be more than enough.
Moreover, having suffered a single "Dao Annihilation scare," Situ Xing's sea of mind had already been breached. It was no longer condensed and flawless as before. With a bit of effort, Li Fan could inspect it on his own, just as he had done with the Hunger Immortal.
From the memories of this long-established Nameless True Immortal, Li Fan indeed reaped an abundance of invaluable information.
"Man ascends the mountain and transforms into an immortal."
"Holy Monarch Lianshan was the first sage to ascend Mount Shangfang and find a path up the mountain for all living beings."
"Mount Shangfang and the Sea of Infinity. They should be entities of the same scale in the mortal world."
"The so-called immortals claimed the mountain to build the Immortal Realm. Yet the destiny of the mountain and sea merging also predetermined the inevitable arrival of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation."
Li Fan's consciousness had once visited the Sea of Infinity in person and experienced its boundless nature firsthand.
Since the mountain and the sea were of equal rank, the mountain was bound to be just as vast.
"The Immortal Realm created upon Mount Shangfang is boundless and endless, an infinity of its own in a certain sense."
Compared to the mountain and the sea, True Immortals were no different from ants. Yet those ants had scaled the heights and briefly trodden the mountain and sea beneath their feet.
It gave Li Fan a surging sensation of man conquering nature.
Besides the four Holy Monarchs, such as Lianshan and Guihai, the Dao-Inscribing Immortal was also one of those figures who seemed capable of looking down upon the mountain and sea.
In Situ Xing's memories, the Supreme Dao Scripture floating above the Boundless Astral Sector inspired awe and reverence. It seemed to exhaust the truths of both mountain and sea.
"The True Immortal seal characters I glimpsed in the past, including 'Creation,' seem to have come from this very scripture."
"Even just one or two characters possess such boundless mystery. It's truly difficult to imagine how shocking the complete scripture would be."
Even in the Lower Realm, legends of the Dao-Inscribing Immortal circulated. Li Fan had first learned of his existence from Baihua. The renown of his title and the depth of his influence upon the Immortal Realm were plainly evident.
As for the Four Holy Monarchs or even the Mound-Guarding Lord, though their strength might have been greater, they fell far short in terms of widespread renown.
This was determined by the nature of their different paths.
"The Dao-Inscribing Immortal concealed his traces long ago and no longer appears in the world. Perhaps he has already departed from the 'Primordial' possibility."
"With his method of inscribing all three thousand Daos, it only makes sense that he could achieve transcendence."
...
Thinking up to this point, a doubt welled in Li Fan's mind.
Through his exchanges with True Immortals—and even Nameless True Immortals—during this period, he had managed to roughly piece together the origins of the Immortal Realm and how the Dao Annihilation Tribulation came to descend.
Yet now, an unavoidable question presented itself before Li Fan.
"The formation of the Immortal Realm stems from the mountain and the sea."
"Yet what is the connection between the different possibilities and Mount Shangfang and the Sea of Infinity?"
"From my earlier theory of the 'Unity of All Selves,' the mountain and the sea are clearly powerhouses inherently of that level. In reverse, this means that even across infinite possibilities, there is only one Sea of Infinity and one Mount Shangfang."
"Perhaps sharing the same mountain and sea is the theoretical foundation that enables jumping between different possibilities."
...
After pondering for a long time, Li Fan finally shook his head slightly.
Without having reached that realm, no matter how much one imagined, it was impossible to comprehend the underlying truth. Yet the emergence of the mountain and sea had pointed the way forward for Li Fan's path, which had previously been shrouded in fog and stalled at the half-immortal stage.
"Leaving transcending the mountain and sea aside for now."
"Situated between the mountain and the sea, if one wishes to obtain immense strength, borrowing the power of the mountain and sea is unavoidable."
"Lianshan—connecting mountains; Guihai—returning to the sea. These are the titles of the two Holy Monarchs, and they also expound the true essence of 'Immortal' power."
"Originally, all was well. The True Immortals trampled the mountain and sea beneath their feet, creating a glorious golden age. But the problem now is..."
"The mountain and the sea are merging."
From the understanding in Situ Xing's memories, it seemed the Immortal Realm was built upon Mount Shangfang.
When mountain and sea merged, everything on the mountain plunged into the deep sea.
The Immortal Realm naturally vanished into thin air along with it.
Recalling the Dao Annihilation Tribulation he had witnessed with his own eyes, Li Fan's heart suddenly stirred. "The Dao Annihilation Tribulation is not simply a matter of the Immortal Realm being swallowed by the Sea of Infinity."
"Rather, when mountain and sea merge, the mountain is no longer a mountain, and the sea is no longer a sea."
"Perhaps it is a return to what existed before the mountain and the sea..."
The fable Sun Piaomiao had left behind surfaced once more in Li Fan's mind.
The mountain and sea quarreled, and the sea asked the mountain in return: "What do you mean by 'originally belonged'? Are our infinite lifespans innate to us?"
Countless scenes played out in Li Fan's mind.
"Situ Xing said that the merging of mountain and sea is the prevailing trend. But the key to solving everything lies in why mountain and sea would merge in the first place."
Li Fan looked into the distance toward the horizon, in the direction from which the Black Heavenly Physician had barreled across possibilities that day.
"Perhaps the true answer to this question exists only in that so-called 'Great World of the Other Shore.'"
"The Heavenly Physician, Su Bai, the Dao-Inscribing Immortal, the Mound-Guarding Lord..."
"Whether those I have encountered myself or those I have only heard of in historical legends, they may all converge there."
Faces flashed across his mind one after another. Li Fan took a deep breath, calming his surging emotions.
Truth be told, Li Fan's strength was still far from theirs.
Yet possessing the supreme treasure Trueness, reaching their stage one day was an absolute certainty, beyond any doubt.
"The key is how to get there."
"For now, my concept of devouring with Mo Sha, evolving the three thousand Great Daos, and integrating them into a single body remains the most suitable path for me."
"Especially after learning of the existence of the Supreme Dao Scripture."
"It's just a pity that the scripture was swallowed by the Dao Annihilation so long ago. What little remains is merely two or three characters. Otherwise, if I could devour the scripture, wouldn't I instantly leap into the realm of transcendence?" Thinking of this, Li Fan could not help feeling a twinge of regret. One perfect shortcut had been lost.
Yet on second thought, though the genuine scripture had vanished, perhaps some who had seen it in the history of the Immortal Realm were still alive today.
"Anyone who could survive the great calamity of the Immortal Realm back then certainly possesses formidable strength. There is a high probability they traveled to the Boundless Astral Sector and witnessed the scripture in those days. Such True Immortals, just like Situ Xing, are potent tonics for me!
"They can save me hundreds or thousands of years of arduous contemplation at the very least!"
A brilliant light flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
If his envisioned Myriad Aspects of Dao Annihilation relied solely on his own solitary comprehension...
With his virtually limitless consumable spirituality, he might eventually succeed over endless cycles of Samsara.
Yet the efficiency was far too low.
How could it compare to the convenience of directly extracting the Dao from immortals?
Just like in this lifetime, after devouring the Hunger Immortal and Archmage Tiandu one after another, he had already managed to weave an initial web of the Myriad Aspects of Dao Annihilation.
And now, by absorbing the memories from Situ Xing's mind, that web would instantly expand several times over.
"The theoretical limit of a Nameless True Immortal in a single possibility is becoming one with the Dao. To take a step further, one must devour the versions of oneself from other possibilities."
"Whereas for me, every aspect of Mo Sha can reach the realm of a Nameless True Immortal. Solely within a single possibility, as the three thousand Great Daos all converge into my person, I could grow to a level rivaling Sinister Su Bai and the Black Heavenly Physician."
"Not to mention..."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly. "The limit of each Mo Sha Dao Aspect is those powerhouses who have united all their selves."
"What Sinister Heavenly Physician, what Black Su Bai..."
"They will merely be food on my plate."
With a cold snort, wisps of Mo Sha's black qi enveloped the Heavenly Pillar that Situ Xing had become, seizing the nourishment Li Fan required for his cultivation.
Within the Pitch-Black Star Sea, all hidden concerns had been dispelled. Li Fan could finally cultivate in peace and digest his recent gains.
With a single thought, an intangible Dao Net instantly enveloped the entire Pitch-Black Star Sea,
analyzing and deconstructing all the Daos manifested within it.
Meanwhile, the path leading beyond the Great Wall opened once more, steadily drawing in the more complete Dao paths of the Shuo Star Sea.
Even those of transcendent talent might fail to comprehend a single Dao path in their entire lifetimes. For Li Fan to comprehend three thousand Great Daos simultaneously, his progress was destined to be exceedingly slow.
He had long prepared himself mentally for this.
Therefore, he did not seek perfection, aiming first to erect the rough framework.
Even if these were merely superficial outlines that would crumble upon contact and possess no utility for now, as long as immortals were stuffed into them in the future, it would suffice.
"First, compile the Investiture of the Gods..."
"Then, slaughter the immortals of the world."
As Li Fan's thoughts wandered, the rudimentary form of the myriad-aspect Dao Net forged by Mo Sha gradually took shape.
The three Heavenly Pillars, along with the five phantoms of the Mound-Guarding Lord, were all shrouded beneath the increasingly dense Dao Net.
Time flowed on.
When Li Fan's dormant consciousness awoke once more, a century had already passed.
It was not the arrival of the Dao Annihilation Tribulation that disturbed him, but rather his awareness of someone's return that prompted him to wake.
The newcomer was none other than the avatar of Di Sanmo's Carefree Dream power.
Earlier, Di Sanmo had volunteered to search for Wan Shiyong, only to vanish without a trace.
Li Fan had asked Di Sanmo's true body about it, but Di Sanmo had also lost all perception of his dream avatar.
All he knew was that upon entering the starry sky where Wan Shiyong resided, all connection had been severed.
Li Fan had originally thought this dream avatar would never return. Unexpectedly, a century later, it had hurried back.
And not just the dream avatar.
Even Di Sanmo's true body, upon finally sensing what the dream avatar had experienced over these years, suffered a sudden and dramatic change of expression.
Without hesitation, he requested an audience with Li Fan.
As for what could shake this beast of wisdom who had lived for countless ages...
"You're saying you followed Wan Shiyong to another possibility?"
Li Fan's manifested figure looked at Di Sanmo, whose two bodies had recombined, and spoke in a deep voice.
"Indeed. I did not actually stay long in that possibility. After learning the general situation, I returned quickly, never expecting that a century had already passed here. Although Kuying warned me in advance that such an unexpected circumstance might occur, having a hundred years pass in an instant still left me somewhat shaken..." Di Sanmo's tone was filled with wistful sighs.
"The other possibility..."
"What is the situation there?" Li Fan asked thoughtfully.
"All Thirteen Primordial Dao Forms exist. It is a supreme golden age for my clan," Di Sanmo said slowly.
"Oh?" Li Fan raised an eyebrow and stared closely at Di Sanmo,
trying to discern the truth of his words from his expression.
"Isn't that the place of your dreams? Why return? To fetch your true body?
"Rest assured, I won't stop you," Li Fan said indifferently.
Di Sanmo shook his head. "Senior misunderstands. In the history of that possibility, because there was no slaughter by human Nameless Ones, my clan has thrived continuously to this day. Though various internal struggles and killings occurred, we remained flourishing overall. However..."
"The Dao Annihilation Tribulation is still unavoidable."
"And it has arrived too quickly."
A deeply buried panic could be heard in Di Sanmo's voice.
"The Thirteen Dao Forms are struggling bitterly to hold it back, but I fear they still cannot escape the fate of destruction. Time is running out for my clan."
"So?"
"You want to guide your clansmen over here?" Li Fan faintly guessed Di Sanmo's intention.
Di Sanmo nodded. "Indeed, that is my thought."
"Though our world is also suffering Dao Annihilation, by comparison, the star sea of the Lower Realm is relatively stable. At the very least, there is still a long period of safety. If we can regroup here..."
Li Fan smiled. "If you could make the jump on your own, you wouldn't have come back to find me."
Di Sanmo did not deny it, admitting frankly, "I truly require Senior's assistance."
"For some reason, the Xuanhuang Realm does not exist in that possibility. Therefore..."
Chapter 1489