One with the Mountains and Seas

Though the prickling sensation at his back had faded, sudden shivers of dread still seized his heart from time to time. "Mastering a Great Dao at the level of the Mountains and Seas has little to do with actual combat prowess. Take myself, for instance: even with the supreme treasure Revert to the True in hand, before thoroughly comprehending the transformation of true and false, my strength was still inferior to that of a transcendent True Immortal. "Though the Mound-Guarding Lord wields Longevity, he has not reached the point of rivaling the Mountains and Seas either. Judging by Ziyi's implicit attitude earlier, their strengths should be roughly on par..." Li Fan pondered as he looked out at the Shuo Star Sea–Great Wall starry sky, completely transformed from a century ago, and ultimately decided against taking any risks. "Once I comprehend and test the Great Dao of Longevity a bit more, I can Revert to the True. "I have reaped far too much in this life, and I have already faintly touched a bottleneck. As for where to go from here, I still need a meticulous plan." Relying on the advantage of Revert to the True, Li Fan already stood at the finish line of the Great Dao of Longevity. Yet for the next life, he had no intention of inheriting this life's cultivation. In Anchored Year 1, he had no idea where the Mound-Guarding Lord resided, or whether he was even within the mortal realm of the Mountains and Seas. If the Mound-Guarding Lord were to sense Li Fan—an abrupt intruder upon the Great Dao of Longevity—suddenly descending upon the world, Li Fan, with Revert to the True still on cooldown, would be no different from a turtle trapped in a jar. "A connection of cultivation conjured out of thin air by Revert to the True is naturally beyond the senses of the Faceless Immortal or Archmage Tiandu. But with the Mound-Guarding Lord, who likewise commands a Great Dao of the Mountains and Seas, it is hard to say. "There is no need to take this risk. "Besides, the root of my growth in this life lies mostly in my comprehension of the Great Dao. Even if I return to the starting line of a half-immortal, I can swiftly regain my combat strength." Even having resolved not to inherit his cultivation, Li Fan still intended to spend his remaining time contemplating the Great Dao of Longevity. He returned to the starting point of comprehending Longevity, retracing his steps and savoring every detail. He was paving the way for his next life. Triggering Revert to the True and returning to Anchored Year 1 without inheriting his cultivation would effectively sever his connection to the Great Dao of Longevity. But by relying on the imprint left behind in this life, Li Fan might well forge a path of Longevity that belonged entirely to him. It would not be the Mound-Guarding Lord's Dao of the Mountains and Seas, nor did Li Fan dream of reaching heaven in a single bound. So long as he could be touched by a measure of longevity's essence, it would be enough. "The Mound-Guarding Lord's path of Longevity is sufficient to ignore the Dao Annihilation Tribulation. My path of Longevity seeks only to cross the Mountains and Seas. "Of course, this is merely my first step. In the future, I might even merge it with the transformation of true and false." After discovering the inexplicable connections between Mountain, Sea, Star, the Mountains and Seas, Longevity, and Revert to the True, Li Fan had once wondered what would happen if all these divine abilities converged in a single being. "Ascending to the realm of a True Immortal, blessed with the might of the Mountains and Seas; comprehending the transformation of true and false, wielding the supreme authority of Revert to the True; and simultaneously embarking upon the path of Longevity..." Presently, Li Fan had, to some degree, already united the three. Yet each held a vast amount of hollow pretense. In truth, he remained at the half-immortal realm, relying entirely on his avatar to connect to the Mountains and Seas. His grasp of the transformation of true and false merely scratched the surface, and his journey along the Great Dao of Longevity was no more than a superficial glance, devoid of true mastery. Even so, Li Fan could distinctly perceive subtle, indefinable changes taking place within himself. The most concrete evidence was the Epoch Projection Pearl. Before he comprehended the Great Dao of Longevity, even with the collective contemplation of all living beings in the star sea, analyzing it had required considerable mental effort, even if it was not entirely insurmountable. Now, however... To see it was to understand it; to perceive it was to master it. It was as if he had already observed and cast the myriad divine abilities within those possibilities countless times long ago. What he was doing now was merely revisiting the past. He had no need to learn anew; he needed only to remember. Moreover, the process by which his body actively aligned with the Great Daos of the heavens grew increasingly swift. Eventually, he had no need for the creatures of the star sea to aid his comprehension at all. The Epoch Projection Pearl, resembling countless intertwined threads, revealed the trajectory and exact state of every single thread to Li Fan with a mere glance. Unraveling its intricacies and reflecting them as clearly as a bright mirror became second nature. What was talent? This was it. It was enough to instill a twinge of fear in Li Fan himself. He felt no joy at this bodily transformation; rather, he felt as though he were gradually being swallowed whole by the Mountains and Seas. Taking advantage of Chengdao's inattention, Li Fan even drew in a sliver of Dao Annihilation power at the fringes of the star sea to test himself. Though he did not truly step into it, standing near the surging tides of Dao Annihilation no longer stirred that fatal sense of impending doom in his heart. If the past had felt like standing at the edge of an abyss where a single misstep would smash him to powder, it now felt like standing on the shore of an endless lake. Even if he accidentally fell in, he could paddle and splash his way back to land. So long as he did not actively court death by plunging into the lake's center, his life was not in danger. "In fact, as time passes, my ability to swim is only growing better. "Even if I do nothing and merely continue to live, a day will come when I can make a boat of my own flesh and cross the Mountains and Seas." An ordinary cultivator blessed with such immense fortune would have been ecstatic, but Li Fan felt only boundless unease. Most bizarrely of all, Revert to the True seemed completely oblivious to the changes occurring within his body. It even seemed pleased to see them unfold, maintaining complete silence throughout. Only once had it ever betrayed a slight anomaly, as though hesitating on the verge of speaking. This deepened Li Fan's sense of foreboding. Pondering Revert to the True's motives, Li Fan realized that perhaps even Revert to the True had never witnessed the manifold changes born from the fusion of these three, and was merely observing out of curiosity. As time slipped away, Li Fan's feeling of being devoured grew ever more suffocating. All manner of phantom visions began surfacing unbidden in his mind. Li Fan was certain that none of them originated from his own memories. Instead, they seemed like past events that had once transpired within the mortal realm of the Mountains and Seas. Outwardly, his physical form began assimilating into the surrounding world. The most glaring sign was that Chengdao, whether intentionally or not, began to forget Li Fan. Not long before, Chengdao had frequently sought Li Fan out to discuss insights into the Great Dao of Longevity. Yet gradually, he seemed to forget that he even had such a junior brother. Whenever Chengdao instinctively moved to act, a haze of confusion would wash over him, leaving him unable to recall what he had intended to do. Only when Li Fan appeared before him and Chengdao barely recognized him would the memory return. Stranger still, Chengdao himself perceived nothing amiss. If even Chengdao was like this, other beings fared far worse. As the creator of the Primordial Immortal Realm, Li Fan found that the Celestial Emperors and Sky Scars of that world had entirely forgotten him. Even the connection between the Primordial Immortal Realm and Li Fan had been severed, as though the Primordial Immortal Realm had been conceived innately from nature, bearing no relation to Li Fan at all. Even as the traces of "Li Fan" in the mortal realm slowly vanished, he sank ever deeper into the mortal world of the Mountains and Seas. Nor was this confined to the Primordial possibility. Li Fan looked up at the sky. At some unknown point, the dense, solid vault of heaven had been split by countless fine fissures. Through these rifts, one could vaguely see the vast, rolling expanse of the Mountains and Seas. And if Li Fan so desired, he could step out into the Mountains and Seas at any moment! The opportunity for transcendence lay right before his eyes. An instinctive tremor of longing welled within Li Fan's heart, but the relentless alarms from his spiritual perception held him back from taking that final stride. "I cannot stay here any longer," Li Fan thought to himself during a fleeting moment of clarity. The illusory haze of being swallowed by the Mountains and Seas had warped his perception of time. In his memory, merely a few days had passed since he received Chengdao's guidance and comprehended the Great Dao of Longevity. Yet when Li Fan checked the conditions in the Shuo Star Sea before resolving to Revert to the True, he was horrified to find that ten years had elapsed in the world! Li Fan shook his head, trying to shake off the disorienting detachment wrought by the Mountains and Seas. Once calm returned, Li Fan silently intoned in his mind, *Revert to the True!* The mortal world seemed to freeze. Li Fan waited for the darkness to engulf him. One breath, two breaths, three breaths... Yet the familiar darkness did not fall. As if doused with a bucket of freezing water in the dead of winter, Li Fan intoned again, *Revert to the True!* *Revert to the True!* *Revert to the True!* ... Yet Revert to the True was as though it had lost all power—or had abandoned him entirely. There was not the slightest response. A monstrous terror surged from Li Fan's heart, far outstripping the horror of being swallowed by the Mountains and Seas by thousands of times. His expression twisted into a snarl as he roared again and again. It was no longer confined to his thoughts; he was bellowing in fury in reality. Yet as though forgotten by the mortal world, nothing and no one offered him any response. Amidst this despair, a sudden streak of vicious ferocity flared within him. Li Fan unleashed his divine abilities, seeking to obliterate the star sea to vent his rage. But not only his spells—even his divine sense and physical body could no longer make any contact with reality. Vanishing from the mortal realm, merging into the Mountains and Seas. Li Fan did not feel his body turning transparent or fading, yet he was gradually ceasing to exist in this world. More and more rifts opened across the sky. In the next instant, he would inevitably be drawn in against his will, cast out into the Mountains and Seas. "Is this truly my final end?" When nothing he did could alter his ultimate fate, Li Fan instead grew calm. Faintly, he felt something was amiss, yet he could not put his finger on where the strangeness lay. Only when half his body had crossed into the rift, and Li Fan truly laid eyes upon the magnificent Mountains and Seas beyond the mortal realm, did he suddenly jolt awake. Had Revert to the True truly departed from him? If he had lost Revert to the True, could the mere combination of the Great Dao of Longevity and the Dao of the Mountains and Seas maintain this state of being swallowed by the Mountains and Seas? He would likely have broken free long ago. Only under the unity of all three Daos could he assimilate so seamlessly into the Mountains and Seas. Nothing else—not even transcendence, nor even the realm of the Three Sages—could achieve this. Simple logic snapped Li Fan back to full awareness. "I haven't lost Revert to the True." Like grasping a final lifeline, the calm, cold, emotionless void in Li Fan's eyes suddenly erupted with a gleam of hope. "Judging from Revert to the True's earlier actions at the bottom of the Sea of Infinity and Its initiative in imparting the art of Illusion Is Reality, It definitely does not want me discovered by the Mountains and Seas right now. "If the earlier unison of three Daos was merely tolerated because Revert to the True was curious, there is no reason It would remain indifferent now that I am about to be completely devoured by the Mountains and Seas." Li Fan's thoughts spun faster and faster. His distorted sense of time snapped back to normal amidst his deduction. "So it isn't that Revert to the True refuses to answer me. "Rather... "My connection to It has been severed. "Or It simply didn't hear my command to Revert to the True." Enlightenment flooded Li Fan's mind. "So long as Revert to the True is still here, all can be saved. "If calling out gets no answer, then I will kick the door down!" Li Fan had passed entirely into the fissure of the Mountains and Seas. The light from the Primordial possibility vanished as the rift sealed shut. Upon entering the Mountains and Seas, Li Fan found that the process of being devoured actually slowed down. At the same time, however, countless images and phantoms raged through his mind like a gathering tempest, growing more violent by the second. It seemed as though in the very next instant, these illusory visions would turn from void to solid reality, truly unfolding within the Mountains and Seas. Deep beneath the Sea of Infinity, atop Mount Shangfang above, across the distant shore of the Mountains and Seas, and even beyond the mortal realm of the Mountains and Seas... All seemed to detect the anomaly where Li Fan was. The Mountains and Seas roared and thundered. In the next breath, Li Fan might well be exposed before all living beings of the Mountains and Seas. Yet the direr the straits, the calmer Li Fan became. And he swiftly found the only way to save himself. Self-detonation. The energy accumulated through cultivation within his body, and even his divine soul and will, were ignited in an instant. Then, without holding anything back, they detonated with a cataclysmic roar. His immortal foundation, the Great Dao of Longevity... All of it became fuel for boundless brilliance. Li Fan had never realized that his body harbored such immense power. Ignited in a flash, it could even isolate Dao Annihilation, burn mountains, and fill the seas! The first to be affected was the Primordial possibility, whose rift had not yet fully sealed. An infinite brilliance like a blazing sun illuminated the dim starry sky. The Shuo Star Sea, the Primordial Immortal Realm, even the Great Wall and the Dao Net... All of it melted away like ice and snow beneath the fiery light. Across the entire Primordial possibility, only a mere handful of figures desperately held their ground. Starting from the Primordial possibility, a roaring blaze swept outward like a raging forest fire, spreading across the cosmos as swiftly as a shifting gaze. Wherever Li Fan looked, that place was swallowed by light. Heaven-scorching fire and blistering radiance blocked all outside scrutiny. Bathed in this boundless brilliance, Li Fan gained a fleeting moment of respite—a final surge of lucidity before the end, ushering in his ultimate zenith. By Li Fan's observation, the incinerated possibilities around him did not truly perish. Instead, they dissolved into phantoms and returned to the Mountains and Seas. Li Fan could even sense in real time the images echoing within his mind. "The Mountains and Seas, the mortal realm... what is their true relationship after all? "And what lies beyond the Mountains and Seas...?" Having reached the absolute pinnacle of power, he abruptly collapsed. Li Fan's thoughts snapped, unable to ponder another thread. *In the end... did I still fail to awaken Revert to the True?* This was Li Fan's final thought before he lost consciousness.