The pathway had materialized out of nothing, birthed from annihilation itself.
It did not seem to be of physical substance, but rather an exceedingly unique form of energy, carving a passage by force through the void.
Ziyi took a single step forward, and his figure vanished in an instant. The next moment, he had already appeared at the far end of the pathway.
Li Fan and Chengdao exchanged a glance and closely followed behind.
Had the two of them been alone, stepping for the first time into an alien starry sea teeming with True Immortals, they might have exercised caution. But now, with such a powerhouse leading the way, what was there to fear?
The moment they stepped onto this heaven-spanning path, a strange sensation Li Fan had never experienced before welled up within his heart. It was almost impossible to describe in words; if he had to capture it, the word would probably be "safety."
Living in the mortal realm, constantly under the looming threat of the Great Tribulation of Dao Annihilation, even if Li Fan himself did not consciously fret over it, it was undeniable that this grim reality had forged an instinctive sense of crisis deep within his body and divine soul. Shaped over countless years, it made one like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow, living each day in dread and unease. Even if the Tribulation of Dao Annihilation had not yet descended, and even with the Nameless True Immortal Heavenly Pillars holding things up, that underlying fear lingered in his heart.
After all, let alone a mere few Heavenly Pillars, even the Immortal Realm had perished beneath Dao Annihilation. Who could possibly guarantee how long these pillars would hold?
Yet now, within this passage carved out by Ziyi, that long-standing sense of dread had finally vanished.
"Even if Dao Annihilation finally arrives, so long as this path remains, I will be safe and sound."
Without any factual basis, such a thought welled up in Li Fan's heart.
It was a form of blind confidence, but Li Fan was not the only one overcome by it.
Looking at Chengdao, he saw the exact same expression.
The inevitable sense of crisis that came with residing in the mortal realm was gently soothed away. Li Fan felt his mind become calmer than it had ever been.
Countless stray thoughts slowly settled to the bottom of his consciousness, leaving only the purest, clearest stillness.
*What an extraordinary divine ability!* Li Fan marveled inwardly.
*A pity this pathway is not permanent. Ziyi created it merely to open a road. With his departure, it is destined to vanish before long. Such formidable power, capable of holding back Dao Annihilation...*
*Setting aside the fact that observing such divine power up close is a great fortune in itself, the environment created within this path alone is something countless living beings in the mortal realm could never attain in their lifetimes.*
*If I could remain here indefinitely, my comprehension of the Transformation of Real and Unreal would surely advance to a higher level in no time.*
As the path reached its end and they were about to step off, Li Fan actually felt a trace of reluctance.
He even caught himself contemplating repeating all his actions from this life in his next Revert to the True cycle, purely to experience this brief period once again.
Li Fan genuinely gave it serious thought.
*From my current comprehension, even ten or more successive cycles of Revert to the True would not yield as much insight into the Transformation of Real and Unreal as these few moments spent within this pathway.*
*Calculated that way, it really would be worth it...*
Li Fan was captivated by the peace and perfection this path offered.
Chengdao was the same.
When facing the Mountains and Seas alone, one could maintain an unyielding resolve.
Yet when a safe haven capable of sheltering one from wind and rain suddenly appeared, staying inside for even a short time slowly eroded the sharp edge of one's spirit.
Chengdao's weathered, steadfast face had softened slightly.
Perhaps sensing the thoughts of the two juniors, Ziyi's voice drifted slowly over, interrupting their reverie.
"You may observe it, but you must not imitate it."
"This is my Dao, not yours. Ultimately, you must forge your own path before you earn the right to cross the Mountains and Seas."
Hearing this, Li Fan and Chengdao felt a jolt run through them. The wisp of greed in their hearts vanished instantly.
"Thank you for your guidance, Senior." Coming back to their senses, the two hurriedly expressed their gratitude to Ziyi. They had realized that the absolute sense of safety within the path had fostered a dependence within them in such a short time, naturally breeding desires such as greed and monopolization.
It was only because of their overwhelming inner calm that these stray thoughts had accumulated deep inside without showing on the surface. Now exposed by Ziyi, they burst like punctured bubbles, surfacing from the depths of their hearts.
"The Mountains and Seas are boundless; only the self serves as the vessel."
"To traverse and cross the Mountains and Seas, a steadfast Dao heart is indispensable."
"Though your strength and disposition are among the finest in the mortal realm... you are still lacking a bit."
"What a nuisance..."
Ziyi shook his head and muttered the final complaint before his figure vanished from their sight once more.
Li Fan and Chengdao exchanged a glance. Stepping off the pathway, they looked back, both breaking out in a cold sweat.
Chengdao sighed. "Junior Brother, I finally understand why Master chose to interact with us as little as possible."
"Such shelter truly is not a good thing."
Li Fan nodded slightly. "If we had stayed a moment longer, I'm afraid I wouldn't have wanted to leave."
In the end, the two broke free from the temptation of the heaven-spanning path and hurried after Ziyi.
Ziyi moved with astonishing speed; his figure was already gone from sight.
Yet there was no need to worry about losing his trail.
Wherever Ziyi passed, the cataclysmic tremors he caused—like crashing mountains and surging tsunamis—were simply too conspicuous to miss.
A pathway had appeared out of thin air within the void swallowed by Dao Annihilation. How could the Guangwu Star Sea fail to notice such an anomaly?
Their reaction was exceedingly swift. Judging by the profound, mountain-like auras rising in the distance, the peak combatants of the entire Guangwu Star Sea had likely gathered.
Yet before Ziyi, they were utterly outmatched.
A powerhouse capable of traversing possibilities was by no means something the True Immortals of the present Guangwu Star Sea could resist.
Li Fan and Chengdao pushed forward along the path Ziyi had cut, finally witnessing firsthand what it meant to crush dry weeds and smash rotten wood.
The numerous purple talisman papers drifting around them were actually True Immortals who had been suppressed and flattened.
Li Fan discreetly tried to collect these talisman papers, only to discover that Ziyi had not killed them, but merely trapped them for the time being. Li Fan could still faintly sense the overwhelming terror radiating from the consciousnesses of the True Immortals within the papers.
After a moment's consideration, Li Fan and Chengdao refrained from acting rashly and sped toward Ziyi's location.
The closer they drew, the more sealed True Immortals appeared around them.
It seemed there was something of vital importance worth guarding there—something they would risk their lives to protect against any invader.
Yet their resistance was ultimately in vain.
The disparity in strength was simply too vast.
Even risking their lives did not manage to delay him in the slightest.
Still, as a civilization that had survived and multiplied from the Great Tribulation down to the present day—and could even fish within Dao Annihilation—they certainly possessed substantial foundations.
"Senior, do not push us too far!"
A furious roar erupted ahead, followed by a violent eruption of energy that seemed scarcely weaker than the commotion Ziyi had stirred.
When Li Fan and Chengdao arrived at the scene, they found that the surrounding starry sky had been reduced to a colossal zone of absolute vacuum.
It had likely once been a sprawling cluster of vital structures, but now every trace had been completely vaporized.
Ziyi was examining a glowing orb in his hand with great interest.
Within the orb, imagery shifted incessantly, as if countless figures were moving within.
Before Ziyi stood a middle-aged man in tattered clothes, despair written across his face.
"A Dao Epoch Projection. This is not something you could have created. Did you fish this up as well?"
Ziyi asked nonchalantly. With a light pinch of his fingers, the orb was compressed infinitely between his fingertips, finally reducing to a single brilliant speck of light.
Then, Ziyi flicked the speck toward Chengdao.
As if concerned that Chengdao could not bear the pressure radiating from the speck, he had coated it with a protective power akin to that of the heaven-spanning path. This allowed Chengdao to observe the scenes within without being overwhelmed by its force.
Chengdao first expressed his gratitude to Ziyi once more, then looked into the speck in his palm.
A moment later...
Li Fan noticed his senior brother's body begin to tremble uncontrollably.
Cold sweat poured down his forehead as if he were bearing an immense burden.
After a few breaths, Chengdao forced himself to avert his gaze. Yet he looked completely drained, his face deathly pale.
Li Fan's astonishment deepened.
One had to remember that Chengdao's true form was a spirit stone beside the Mountains and Seas. Having accompanied the Mound-Guarding Lord, he had guarded the mound and watched the sea.
He could gaze upon the vistas of the Mountains and Seas with equanimity. Just what could be inside this orb to reduce Chengdao to such a state?
Seeing Li Fan's inquiring, concerned look, Chengdao seemed still unable to shake off the orb's harrowing aftereffects. He merely handed the orb containing the Dao Epoch Projection to Li Fan, gesturing for him to see for himself, then closed his eyes to rest his spirit, speaking not a word.
Seeing this, Li Fan grew even more curious.
With his mind on guard, he looked into the orb.
The single point in his palm exploded with a roar in an instant, expanding to envelop his surroundings and commandeer the entirety of his consciousness.
Endless streams of light and shadow shifted in rapid succession, flowing like water.
From the absolute void where Great Daos did not exist, to the chaotic void where Daos were birthed and flourished, to the birth of a world and the manifestation of living beings. Then to those beings comprehending the Dao through themselves, culminating in the birth of an Immortal Realm.
Countless years of history flashed past at blinding speed.
Until finally, the Great Daos of all things withered away, ushering in the end times.
From the beginning to the end, everything that had transpired and every being that had ever been born during that span was condensed within this single speck of light.
It was far more than a simple projection or record.
Within those flickering lights and shadows, every Great Dao, divine ability, and magical technique that had ever existed across that possibility—from its inception to its demise—had been replicated and fused into the orb.
If this orb were unleashed against an enemy, it meant confronting the combined strike of every heroic figure across countless years within the river of time across an entire possibility!
Such a terrifying spectacle nearly caused the orb to slip from Li Fan's hand. The words "Revert to the True" almost burst from his lips.
A drop of cold sweat ran down his forehead as Li Fan pulled his consciousness free from the Dao Epoch Projection.
The orb in his palm seemed infinitely heavy.
For a moment, Li Fan even suffered the illusion that he could not keep his grip on it.
*Fortunately, Ziyi led the way this time. If Chengdao and I had faced this Dao Epoch Projection alone, I'm afraid our Daos would have been extinguished on the spot.*
Li Fan exchanged a glance with Chengdao, who had already opened his eyes. Both saw the profound shock in the other's expression.
Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that the Guangwu Star Sea would possess such a treasure.
Compared to this, the previously encountered Dao Sword and Dao Saber were as fireflies to the bright moon.
"Fishing within Dao Annihilation is indeed a viable means of survival. Those capable of surviving in the Mountains and Seas include not only desperate True Immortals making their final gambles in an apocalyptic age, but also those powerhouses who failed transcendence—those who sought to traverse the Mountains and Seas only to be engulfed by them."
"Perhaps their minds have been erased by the Mountains and Seas, but there remains a small chance that their physical remains endure, along with the treasures they carried. This Dao Epoch Projection came from such a source, did it not?"
Ziyi spoke as he uprooted the dikes formed by the Heavenly Pillars one by one, gathering all the terrified True Immortals within them together. Then, pressing his hands inward with force, a brand-new Heavenly Pillar shrouded in purple qi came into being.
Ziyi planted the Heavenly Pillar upright here, and only then did the roaring of Dao Annihilation caused by the missing pillars subside.
Li Fan noticed that during the brief interval when the Heavenly Pillars were being replaced, even though anomalies of Dao Annihilation descending had appeared, the disturbance was not even as severe as what had occurred within the Great Wall of the Shuo Star Sea.
This was clearly due to Ziyi's presence.
Merely by standing there, he functioned like countless Heavenly Pillars, holding back Dao Annihilation to a certain extent.
In the Guangwu Star Sea, the ragged middle-aged man stared blankly at the Heavenly Pillar of many immortals before him.
A record spanning more than a hundred thousand years had been overturned in a single day, nearly breaking his spirit.
He did not reply to Ziyi's question at first.
Yet after a long silence, the middle-aged man slowly gathered his wits.
He said hoarsely, "Senior speaks the truth. By sheer luck, we obtained a remnant husk."
"It was supposed to be our great fortune, yet who could have foreseen..."
Ziyi cut him off. "That *was* your fortune. That Dao Epoch Projection might be beneath notice, but that powerhouse's remnant husk could have given rise to a new transcendent powerhouse. What a pity you strayed onto the wrong path."
"Treating the body as a master, you could have comprehended the Dao of past powerhouses. Yet what did you do?"
The middle-aged man's expression grew somewhat dazed. After a long pause, he whispered, "We sent it back into Dao Annihilation, using it as a vessel. First, to search for other safe havens; second, to gather other drifting treasures..."
Ziyi snorted and berated him mercilessly, "Fools!"
The middle-aged man sighed. "It is not that we were unwilling to comprehend it. We simply could not."
"The remnant husk was like a mountain before our eyes, yet we were as though trapped within the mountain, unable to see its true face."
"We tried for many years, yet made no progress. Out of desperation, we eventually gave up and sought new uses for it."
The middle-aged man had thought this explanation would elicit some sympathy from Ziyi.
To his surprise, Ziyi simply nodded and said coldly, "Then you are even more foolish. Utterly beyond cure."
Ziyi tapped lightly toward the man of the Guangwu Star Sea. The man opened his mouth, wanting to say something more.
A moment later, he burst like a bubble, dissolving into thousands of purple motes of light that were swallowed by the surrounding starry sky.
A powerhouse at least at the realm of a Nameless True Immortal was thus wiped out with a casual gesture from Ziyi.
Witnessing this, Li Fan and Chengdao could not help but feel a chill in their hearts.
*If not out of respect for the Mound-Guarding Lord, this Ziyi would never have been so accommodating.*
As though he had done something of no consequence whatsoever, Ziyi cast the middle-aged man from his mind.
He stepped to the very center where the Heavenly Pillar dike had once stood, fixing his gaze straight ahead.
His vision seemed intent on piercing across the Mountains and Seas and the mortal realm.
Chapter 1516