Merging the first two Daos was the most difficult.
The Giant Rat Immortal originally cultivated the Great Dao of Imperial Law. The more subjects surrendered to him and the more loyal they were, the stronger the feedback he received from it.
Accumulation across two hundred million long years had brought his Great Dao of Imperial Law to its theoretical limit. Under all the heavens, none dared withhold their submission.
It was precisely by relying on this supreme Great Dao of Imperial Law that the Giant Rat was able, with absolute, crushing force, to absorb and integrate a second Great Dao at his side like a minister bending the knee.
Once done, it could be done again. And after a second time, a third was possible.
In the name of the Immortal Emperor, he secretly summoned the immortals, then devoured them one by one in secret.
At first, the cautious Giant Rat Immortal chose ordinary, obscure True Immortals. But later, as countless Daos merged within him, he grew reckless.
Even so, it had to be said that the Giant Rat Immortal truly lived up to his title of Everlasting Immortal Emperor.
Even as greed for the Dao gradually drowned his mind, he never forgot his original intention. Single-handedly manifesting the Three Sages, he propped up the crumbling realm.
Under his rule, a world tottering on the brink beneath the Dao Annihilation Tribulation was forcefully preserved for another hundred million years. For a time, it seemed as though there truly was hope for eternal survival.
Yet every story must eventually meet its end.
After being held at bay for eons, the Dao Annihilation Tribulation seemed to lose all patience for the stalemate. Mobilizing its forces, it concentrated its offensive.
Then, one day, the Giant Rat Immortal discovered to his horror that the pressure of Dao Annihilation bearing down on the Immortal Realm had inexplicably doubled.
Hundreds of millions of years of peaceful, tranquil days had long robbed the immortals of their sharp judgment in the face of crisis. By the time they realized what was happening and sought to mend the heavens with immortal might, it was already far too late.
The Giant Rat Immortal could only watch helplessly as the terrifying tide of Dao Annihilation swallowed more than half the Immortal Realm in an instant with irresistible might.
Countless True Immortals fell. The survivors were frightened out of their wits, unable to summon even a shred of courage to resist the disaster.
As the actual ruler of the Immortal Realm, watching his own territory collapse in the blink of an eye brought an overwhelming sense of defeat. Yet at that moment, such emotions no longer mattered.
Surviving was the only thing of any real significance.
Yet the Giant Rat Immortal—the Everlasting Immortal Emperor—discovered in despair that, with disaster overhead, they had nowhere left to flee.
The immortals gathered at his side, begging for a way to survive.
Looking upon the riddled, broken Immortal Realm, even he fell into despair.
Still, having ruled the Immortal Realm for three hundred million years, the Giant Rat Immortal would not give up so easily.
In the depth of despair, a mad idea welled up in his heart.
Pool the strength of all the immortals to cross straight to the Other Shore of transcendence.
In the possibility he inhabited, legends of the Other Shore and other possibilities circulated as well. Yet few knew of them; they were secrets among secrets. Even the Giant Rat Immortal himself had only heard of them by chance from the mouths of the Three Sages in his youth, to say nothing of anyone actually attaining true transcendence.
With no precedent to consult, he had to grope his way forward alone.
Crucially, the time remaining to him was running desperately short.
Searching through what remained of the Immortal Realm, he finally discovered a method barely capable of traversing possibilities.
Crossing in an Immortal Coffin!
Regrettably, among the surviving immortals, he seemed to be the only one powerful enough to survive inside the Immortal Coffin—formed from the remnants of the world—as it drifted upon the tides of Dao Annihilation.
Even if the others managed to enter, they would likely disintegrate before long, let alone reach the Other Shore.
The Giant Rat Immortal could certainly have fled alone. Yet as the dignified Everlasting Immortal Emperor, could he simply stand by and watch his subjects perish tragically?
He was clearly not so selfish.
Relying on his rich experience of secretly devouring immortals to integrate Daos over the ages, he devised a brilliant technique at the final moment: using Imperial Law to govern the Daos and maintain their balance.
As long as they were kept in an ongoing state of devouring and half-devouring, the immortals would not truly be absorbed by him. They would retain their independent Dao paths, cultivation bases, memories, emotions, and identities.
Once hidden inside the Immortal Coffin and safely drifted to the Other Shore, he could release them, guiding everyone through the catastrophe.
After tentatively taking in more than a dozen True Immortals, he found the method viable. The only drawback was that he had to simultaneously drive the devouring of Daos while straining to keep each Dao strictly distinct.
This profoundly contradictory approach subjected him to ultimate torment.
Moreover, the agony scaled directly with the number of Daos he ingested and the duration he held them in equilibrium.
Hesitation had flickered in his mind for a brief moment, but during that hesitation, countless more True Immortals met gruesome ends.
The Giant Rat Immortal made up his mind.
The Immortal Realm hung by a thread, and the final surge of Dao Annihilation could erupt at any moment. There was simply no time to explain everything to the surviving True Immortals.
Even if he explained, they might not believe him. Clinging to that conviction, the Giant Rat Immortal resolutely began to devour the immortals en masse.
Faced with their Everlasting Immortal Emperor's sudden cannibalistic rampage, the immortals were filled with horror and dread.
Yet they could not resist at all.
In despair and panic, they could only curse furiously and plead for mercy.
Though the Everlasting Immortal Emperor did not waver for an instant, their words and cries branded themselves deep into his soul.
"Giant rat! You are the greatest parasite in the Immortal Realm!"
"Your Majesty, spare us!"
"Even if you devour me, I will turn into a vengeful wraith and wait for the day you fall!"
...
At first, he still listened to those inner voices.
Yet as the number of devoured immortals mounted, his heart grew instinctively colder. In the end, he simply disregarded them altogether.
In the final instant before the Immortal Realm was completely shattered and swallowed whole by the Dao Annihilation tide, the Great Dao twisted into matter, and the Immortal Coffin descended into the world.
Carrying the surviving True Immortals within him, the Giant Rat Immortal concealed himself inside.
What followed was an agonizingly long passage of time—so long that even his memories began to blur.
Inside the coffin was absolute darkness. Outside raged the apocalyptic tide of Dao Annihilation.
The Giant Rat Emperor could clearly sense the process of Dao Annihilation relentlessly wearing away at the coffin.
He could only pray in secret that they would reach the Other Shore before the coffin corroded away.
Yet perhaps ruling an Immortal Realm for three hundred million years had exhausted all his fortune. As countless eras passed, far from reaching the Other Shore, he did not even encounter a safe haven.
The Immortal Coffin drifted with the waves, bobbing upon the tides of Dao Annihilation.
Hope seemed perpetually out of reach.
Furthermore, the Giant Rat Immortal had underestimated the difficulty of sustaining the harmony of ten thousand Daos.
Perhaps it could be maintained within the environment of a normal Immortal Realm, but trapped inside the coffin surrounded by Dao Annihilation, keeping the balance grew ever more difficult.
In his heart, he had never wished to devour the immortals.
Yet he could only watch helplessly as his own body assimilated his former subjects.
He truly seemed to have become the 'giant rat' cursed by hundreds of millions.
The last ember of light in his heart gradually died out. The Everlasting Immortal Emperor plummeted into boundless darkness...
After untold years, when the Immortal Coffin had completely decayed and could no longer withstand the tide of Dao Annihilation, a tremendous rumble shook him awake. To his disbelief, the Giant Rat Immortal discovered that he had finally arrived in another star sky.
Though this star sky was likewise scarred and ruined by the ravages of Dao Annihilation, it was, at least for now, safe.
...
Looking upon the scene unfolding before them, the two fellow disciples, Li Fan and Chengdao, remained silent for a long time.
"Had it been me, I could not have done better than this Everlasting Immortal Emperor."
"Though he did his utmost, the overarching tide could not be turned," Li Fan sighed.
Chengdao also commented, "His feelings evoke pity, and his actions deserve pardon. Had he not been so aggressive, taking his life might not have been necessary."
Li Fan showed a look of shame. "I was too rash. I never expected that beneath such a monstrous exterior, this Giant Rat carried such a past."
Chengdao waved his hand. "Junior Brother, do not blame yourself. The vast majority of Giant Rat Immortals are not benevolent. You must not change your perspective on account of a single outlier like the Everlasting Immortal Emperor."
"Senior Brother speaks truly."
Next, Chengdao recounted the Dao paths he had comprehended from the Giant Rat's Dao Pill to Li Fan without reservation, even weaving in his own insights into the Great Dao from time to time.
This disciple of Shouqiu, born a spirit stone beside the Mountain and Sea, possessed truly extraordinary comprehension. Li Fan even suspected that even if he had consumed the Dao Pill himself, the result would not have been any better.
While listening to the scripture and Dao, Li Fan quietly observed Chengdao.
After swallowing the Dao Pill, Chengdao displayed no anomalies whatsoever.
*Still, it's too early to draw conclusions so easily. I need to feed him a few more.*
*Guangwu Star Sea, hmph...*
Ninety-nine days passed before Chengdao concluded his instruction.
"Senior Brother, did you get the sense that the Dao paths in the possibility where the Everlasting Immortal Emperor lived were far weaker than those in ours?" Li Fan asked with a frown after closing his eyes to reflect, his tone carrying a hint of uncertainty.
"It is no illusion. It is indeed so," Chengdao nodded.
"Why is that?"
Chengdao narrowed his eyes, remained silent for a short while, and then said slowly, "Perhaps it is because an unprecedented figure had already emerged from that possibility."
"Oh?"
"This is merely my speculation; it has not been confirmed by Master."
Chengdao gave a qualification before continuing: "Setting aside the Three Sages, there appears to be a certain upper limit to the number of powerhouses that can be born within any given possibility.
"It is not determined purely by sheer numbers, but jointly by a combination of quantity, cultivation realm, and other factors.
"Naturally, when I speak of powerhouses, I refer to transcendent beings capable of leaping beyond their own possibility."
Using his finger as a brush, Chengdao drew a circle before Li Fan.
"Think of it as a pool of fixed size. Each time a powerhouse is born, a portion of that pool is carved out. Once the pool is completely claimed, even those with heaven-defying talent can no longer reach the realm of transcendence."
Staring intently at the circle being partitioned before him, Li Fan took on a thoughtful expression. "Senior Brother, in the world of the Everlasting Immortal Emperor, the Three Sages actually vanished. Could it be because the potential there was exhausted, and no further transcendent beings could ever be born?"
Chengdao looked at Li Fan with a faint, knowing smile, but did not reply.
Seeing this, Li Fan already had his answer.
Continuing to study the small circle before him, Li Fan waved his hand to repartition the hundreds of subdivided regions.
"In that world, to say nothing of powerhouses like Master, even those in the transcendence realm were exceedingly rare.
"In that case, just how powerful was the figure born before them?
"To almost exhaust the potential of an entire possibility?"
Li Fan used 'potential' as a temporary term for the small circle.
"Could their strength have surpassed even Master's?" Li Fan could not help clicking his tongue in wonder.
Chengdao remained very calm. "Long ago, when Master resolved the Dao Annihilation Tribulation and saved the Immortal Realm from dire peril, he remained exceedingly modest before the reverence of the Immortal Emperor and the immortals.
"He never considered himself any sort of powerhouse among the Mountain and Sea.
"In Master's own words, he was, in truth, nothing more than 'Immortal Shengde of Shouqiu.'"
Hearing this, Li Fan immediately turned solemn and nodded in agreement. "Master qualifies as a teacher not merely because of his strength, but because of his breadth of mind and magnanimity. Even if your strength should surpass his one day, Senior Brother, I believe you would still revere him as your master."
"Naturally!" Chengdao did not deny it.
"The Mountain and Sea truly teems with supreme figures." Li Fan returned his gaze to the small circle before him, staring blankly at the inner ring that occupied nearly the entire area.
"I truly wonder what the legendary Other Shore is like, where so many unimaginable powerhouses gather together."
Chengdao chuckled. "Junior Brother, do not fret. With our talents, setting foot on the Other Shore one day is a certainty."
Li Fan laughed heartily. "Then I thank you in advance for the auspicious words, Senior Brother."
"Setting the Other Shore aside for now, if you wish to see visitors from other possibilities, you can do so right now," Chengdao said after a brief pause.
"Senior Brother means... the Guangwu Star Sea?"
"Indeed." Chengdao displayed an entirely new scene before Li Fan.
Nine Heavenly Pillars formed a circular enclosure.
At the center encircled by the pillars lay absolute darkness. From it, Li Fan sensed the familiar aura of Dao Annihilation.
Beyond those nine Heavenly Pillars, spaced from sparse to dense, stood nearly a hundred more pillars supporting the heavens!
Though not every Heavenly Pillar necessarily sealed a Nameless True Immortal within,
one could still feel the sheer magnificence of this pillar array.
Unlike Li Fan's simple approach of using pillars to support a falling sky, these pillars were not uniform in scale. Instead, they progressed from inner to outer, from weaker to stronger.
They formed what looked like a staircase.
The center where the nine pillars stood was the weakest point,
precisely because it was designed to draw Dao Annihilation toward it.
Meanwhile, the nearly one hundred dense pillars around it formed a solid bulwark, preventing the attracted Dao Annihilation from spreading outward.
Looking at the reservoir-like expanse enclosed by the nine Heavenly Pillars, Li Fan had a sudden realization.
"Is that the Guangwu Star Sea's method for dredging up creations from other possibilities?"
"It should be. Truly ingenious."
"Beyond its ingenuity, the strength of the Guangwu Star Sea to construct a hundred such pillars is certainly not to be underestimated. Earlier, I had underestimated them," Chengdao praised.
Chapter 1511