Chapter 1598: Breaking the Game Finally Revealed

When uttering these words, Li Fan had indeed prepared himself to become an infinite spiritual energy extractor. If his conjecture was wrong, if this was not a simulation but true reality, then the Saints, who had previously spared him out of compassion, would certainly not spare him again after such a heartfelt plea. Conversely...

Within the halo, an extremely bizarre atmosphere gradually took hold. The Saints remained silent, but beneath the dead silence, a terrifying storm seemed to be brewing. As if constantly buffeted by surging waves, countless ripples appeared successively on the standing figures of the Nine Saints.

The space where the Saints resided also plunged into violent turmoil. Cracks, like wounds, instantly spread everywhere. Even the halo encompassing Li Fan became distorted, as if it could disintegrate at any moment. The power restraining Li Fan consequently revealed a flaw, and Li Fan was able to escape from the state of being fractured into billions of fragments.

"It's going to succeed!" Li Fan secretly rejoiced, seeing the Saints' space on the verge of collapse.

But unexpectedly...

"Since that is so, we shall fulfill your wish."

"When the Mountains and Seas are fully restored in the future and the Dao Annihilation is no more, we shall grant you liberation and credit you with a share of the world's salvation!"

The Nine Saints' cold words suddenly appeared after a long silence. As if a basin of ice water had been poured over him, Li Fan's breath caught, and an expression of unbelievable shock appeared on his face.

"Wait..."

However, before he could finish speaking, as if crushed by an unfathomable immense force, the already distorted halo around him completely shattered, transforming into myriad points of light like snowflakes scattered across the sky! The utterly terrified Li Fan was thus completely exposed before the Nine Saints. The pressure he felt increased a hundredfold compared to before!

Originally, Li Fan had thought that the halo in the Saints' space was a means for the Nine Saints to analyze and observe entering cultivators. Now, after this halo shattered, Li Fan finally understood. This halo was fundamentally meant to protect the cultivators entering this place! The figures of the Saints only appeared blurred precisely because of this halo's obstruction. Only then could cultivators stand calmly before the Saints.

But without the halo's protection...

In Li Fan's eyes, the figures of the Nine Saints expanded at a terrifying speed. In just a breath's time, they transformed from being Li Fan's size into nine colossal, unfathomable giants. The phrase "standing between heaven and earth" could hardly describe even a fraction of their scale. The Nine Saints stood together, appearing like mountains and seas. They exceeded the range of Li Fan's ability to "see"!

Just as being in the Mountains and Seas naturally reveals their name, surrounded by the Saints, the names of the Saints also appeared in Li Fan's mind!

Lianshan!Guihai!Taiyi!Shouqiu!Xingcha!Yepan!Qieji!

As each Saint entered his vision, Li Fan felt as if he experienced once more the pain of Ever True being extracted! Before he could even fully see the faces of the Nine Saints, Li Fan's vision went black, and he completely blacked out.

"My final fate... is this how it ends?"

In a daze, Li Fan seemed to see many illusions. As if experiencing countless different endings of the Mountains and Seas, he witnessed the collapse of the Beyond, the shattering of the Mountains and Seas, and the temporary retreat of the Dao Annihilation... And so on. Seemingly illusory yet real, it was hard to distinguish truth from falsehood. But in all these Mountains and Seas, Li Fan himself did not exist, not even having the qualification to be an ant. He was purely a complete bystander.

Or rather... the fuel for the Mountains and Seas' restart?

Truly trapped in this despair-inducing situation, Li Fan's heart was unexpectedly calm. There was no fear, no regret, nor resentment. Besides his own unique bystander attribute at play, more importantly, in all these scenes he witnessed, the ultimate fate of the Mountains and Seas was always destruction. Without exception. Cycle after cycle of restarts were nothing but futile struggles. Li Fan even felt a sense of pity and good fortune that he himself had not fallen into such a desperate cycle.

The cycles of the Mountains and Seas were endless, as billions of light and shadow stretched like a continuous river, flowing endlessly, engulfing Li Fan.

After an unknown amount of time, a voice extremely familiar to Li Fan resounded in the darkness.

"This simulation has ended."

Like a pebble dropping into still water, then myriad ripples spread out, gradually awakening Li Fan's frozen consciousness.

"This voice, it's so familiar.""It's...""What was it again?"

"Do you choose to overwrite the current Mountains and Seas with the result of this simulation?"

Without responding to Li Fan's confusion, the voice continued, utterly indifferent. But these additional words were like tiny stones continuously tossed into water. Not only did they create countless small ripples, but they also splashed up countless water droplets! Ultimately, they awakened Li Fan's long-sealed memories.

"Ever True! Right, this is Ever True's voice!"

As if breaking free from a frozen state, the extreme joy in his heart, like a warm flame, awakened Li Fan. He ravenously savored the regained sensation within his heart, repeatedly replaying every word Ever True had spoken. After a long while, Li Fan finally came to his senses.

"End... the simulation has ended?"

Like a bolt of lightning splitting the darkness and illuminating his surroundings, Li Fan felt as if he had leaped out from underwater, finally able to breathe freely.

"What exactly happened at the last moment of my previous life? My plan seemed to have failed. And then I truly seemed to have been treated as a machine for extracting infinite spiritual energy..." Li Fan couldn't help but shiver. "But why did I successfully escape the simulation?" Although he was safe, Li Fan's mind was still surrounded by thick fog.

"Do you choose to overwrite the current Mountains and Seas with the result of this simulation?"

Ever True's cold voice resonated at the opportune moment, interrupting Li Fan's confusion.

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Li Fan couldn't help but be astonished again.

"Overwrite the current Mountains and Seas with the result of this simulation?"

He carefully savored the meaning of this sentence. Unlike any previous choice that appeared after Ever True, what appeared before Li Fan this time was an unprecedented option. Its meaning was not that difficult to understand. But it was truly too incredible, so much so that Li Fan found it hard to believe for a moment. So he instinctively sought confirmation from Ever True.

"Truth and falsehood are but a thought, illusions transform from the heart.""The Mountains and Seas are boundless, capable of being overturned in an instant."

Ever True replied only with sixteen characters.

After receiving Ever True's affirmative reply, Li Fan's thoughts paused, deeply shaken. Only then did he realize that his current state was very strange. In the past, when he actively activated Ever True, he would select the corresponding anchor point. When he awoke after Ever True, he would already be back in the chosen time and space.

But now...

Darkness surrounded him, and this space seemed empty save for himself.

"Only when I make a choice will changes occur next.""And here, I am absolutely safe."

After clarifying this point, Li Fan was in no hurry to make a choice. Ignoring the prompts from Ever True that occasionally sounded, he carefully pondered and thought.

"The result of this simulation...""It should refer to everything I experienced in the previous life."

Recalling the final outcome of being turned into an infinite spiritual energy extractor by the Nine Saints, Li Fan couldn't help but shiver.

"To overwrite the current Mountains and Seas," he mused, "should mean to transform my simulated experiences from falsehood into truth, making them reality." Li Fan repeatedly chanted the eight characters: "Truth and falsehood are but a thought, illusions transform from the heart," saying thoughtfully. When the true is made false, the false also becomes true. Regarding the transformation of truth and falsehood, Li Fan also knew a thing or two.

If the past Ever True executed "making true into false," turning his experiences into nothingness and returning to a predetermined anchor point, then this time, Ever True was executing "making false into true"! It was clearly just a simulation, but Ever True could use unfathomable power to turn the illusory into reality!

"If I can use the art of 'false becoming true' to create things from nothing, how could Ever True not be able to?""I should have thought of this earlier!"

But what followed was an uncontrollable doubt.

"To overwrite the current Mountains and Seas with the simulation result," he wondered, "does this 'Mountains and Seas' include the Beyond? Or, more specifically, will the Saints in the Mountains and Seas be affected and become aware of this?"

"If it cannot affect the Saints," he pondered, "then the moment Ever True initiates the overwrite, the Saints will be able to detect Ever True. But what if Ever True can even deceive the Saints..."

In an instant, Li Fan was utterly distraught.

"Although Ever True possesses great power," he thought, "the Saints' strength is also at the pinnacle of the Mountains and Seas. Most critically, the Nine Saints, acting together, could forcibly extract Ever True from my body.""Once I lose Ever True, I will have no chance of turning the tables again."

Having experienced setbacks in the simulation, Li Fan now had an extremely clear understanding of himself. Without Ever True's assistance, the Transcendent Realm would be his limit. To advance further, to achieve Sainthood, there was basically no hope. Not to mention, along with Ever True falling into others' hands, there was also the tragic outcome of him becoming an infinite spiritual energy extractor.

His thoughts surged, and only after a long while did Li Fan calm down. Attempting to ask Ever True, he received no response.

"No matter what," he reasoned, "the result of this simulation was simply too terrible. Even if Ever True's authority could affect the Saints, if the simulation's results were to continue to unfold, the Saints would certainly also become aware of Ever True and my infinite spiritual energy.""This simulation result definitely has to be discarded."

Thinking this, Li Fan took a deep breath, looking at the constantly flashing line of luminous text before him. He decisively chose "No." The glowing characters crumbled with a rumble, transforming into a curtain of water extremely familiar to Li Fan. Outside the dark space, a faint light appeared. Then the light grew stronger and stronger, and reality completely engulfed this space.

A moment later, Li Fan had returned to the Xuanhuang Realm, in Great Xuan, within his residence from when he was a mortal. All his previous experiences were like a dream. Too much time had passed, so much so that Li Fan himself felt a momentary daze. It took a full half-day for him to adapt.

"This time, although it was a simulation," he murmured, "in reality, it was no different from personal experience."

Li Fan stretched his limbs; the weak body of a mortal made him quite unaccustomed.

"The current time node is Anchor Point Year 1," he realized. "Ever True has already completed one recharge, but it was activated by my amnesiac self to perform a simulation.""Instead of resetting the Mountains and Seas and returning to a predetermined anchor point.""Now, the simulation has ended. Since I did not choose to overwrite the Mountains and Seas with the result of this simulation, it can be said that I gained nothing, essentially wasting an opportunity for Ever True.""No, strictly speaking, this simulation yielded immense benefits. Not only did it successfully verify a path of transcendence for myself, but it also clarified the true nature and risks of the Beyond.""Had it not been for this simulation, and I had rashly entered the Beyond, the outcome would have been the same as in the simulation, leading to an inescapable predicament. This simulation, initiated by my amnesiac self, can be said to have hit the mark by accident.""Or perhaps... it was Ever True's intentional act."

Li Fan's heart stirred, and he inwardly called upon Ever True. The Ever True panel, unseen for a long time, after a series of flashes, finally reappeared before Li Fan. Having gone through the Tribulation of Three Daos Merging, the information on the Ever True panel seemed to have been wiped clean, becoming completely empty. Anchor points, bound items, and so on, all vanished completely. Only the basic information regarding Li Fan and Ever True's abilities was displayed.

Li Fan felt little regret. He stared at the somewhat sparse Ever True panel, gradually understanding.

"The predetermined anchor points were wiped clean by the Tribulation of Three Daos Merging," he deduced, "so Ever True's activation had no specific target to execute. Thus, it performed a truly meaningful simulation, one never conducted before.""No...""Besides that, there are other factors."

Li Fan suddenly realized the specific condition of his current mortal body.

"The power of the Longevity Grand Dao that was originally contained within me has completely vanished.""Was it used up to fuel Ever True's simulation?" Li Fan gradually understood."If there wasn't the support of energy on the same level as the Mountains and Seas, like the power of the Longevity Grand Dao, and a simulation were initiated, what would happen then?""I just need to wait for Ever True to finish recharging to know the answer."

Li Fan was unhurried, sitting cross-legged and waiting patiently. Although he was in a mortal body, Li Fan at this moment was not much weaker than Li Fan in his True Immortal state. Not to mention his insights into the transformation of truth and falsehood, just with his mastery over the true meaning of transcendence, he could now effortlessly suppress ordinary True Immortals. Therefore, even being in an environment with no safeguards, Li Fan's state of mind remained exceptionally stable.

Until Ever True completed its recharge. Li Fan attempted to activate Ever True again. He could clearly feel the message transmitted from Ever True.

"Ever True must have transmitted this before," he mused, "but my amnesiac self didn't notice it.""There are two options: one is to return to the initial anchor point at Anchor Point Year 1.""As for the second option, it is to initiate another simulation.""However, due to insufficient energy for activation, the effect of this simulation is completely incomparable to the last one.""What I experienced last time was no different from reality. In fact, I could even overwrite reality with the simulation result. But this time, if I force a simulation...""Not only will what I experience in the simulation deviate from reality," he continued, "but more critically, the simulation result cannot affect reality.""The key is still the energy required for the simulation."