Chapter 1649: One-time Collection, Permanent Collection

“The End of Mountains and Seas?”

“If we were to reverse time to the beginning of Mountains and Seas, to when everything started, I could understand that. But at the end of time, when Mountains and Seas are about to be swallowed, when everything will return to nothingness… why persist until then?” Li Fan’s face showed confusion.

The white-haired youth still answered Li Fan.

“To know the answer to that question, you must first understand what the true End of Mountains and Seas is like.” A dim light erupted in the youth’s eyes.

His snow-white hair and beard seemed to ignite, turning into countless ash-like fragments. They blew in like a sudden blizzard. In a daze, Li Fan saw a great fire sweeping across the Mountains and Seas. Innumerable possibilities were incinerated.

Thousands of lights fell into darkness. The Dao Annihilation raged, and Mountains and Seas decayed, bringing forth an unstoppable apocalypse. Fewer and fewer safe possibilities remained for shelter, until finally, only a solitary, tiny boat was left. Outside lay endless oblivion!

Li Fan had once experienced the Primordial Void up close. Even before truly entering it, while still at a considerable distance, his very existence began to show signs of disintegration. It was like thousands of ink threads dissolving irreversibly in water.

As Li Fan looked at the scene of the last surviving possibility of Mountains and Seas, he had a premonition. Being inside it truly felt like purgatory. Even if it wasn't as intense as the pressure from the Void he had previously felt, it wouldn't be much weaker.

“Living there would absolutely be a form of torture,” he thought. “Yet, due to the instinct to live, one would have to struggle to survive… But thinking about it differently, anyone who could live freely under such conditions, though not a Saint, would at least possess the ability to survive in the Primordial Void.”

At this thought, Li Fan couldn't help but look at the white-haired youth.

“This original body, constructed from fantasy, is certainly no ordinary being.”

The white-haired youth’s voice came from within the scene of the End of Mountains and Seas: “Have you felt anything?”

“The omnipresent aura of the Void, making one shiver uncomfortably,” Li Fan answered truthfully.

“Anything else?”

“Anything else?” Li Fan paused slightly. He examined it carefully again, then after a long silence, shook his head in response.

The white-haired youth was momentarily speechless. “Indeed, the affinity with the Grand Dao of Mountains and Seas seems to have little to do with strength or aptitude,” he sighed. “All the Venerables of our Calamity, and even Ming Dao, recognized the uniqueness of the End of Mountains and Seas at a glance. Yet, you, the one favored by the Grand Dao of Xuanpin…” The white-haired youth felt a pang of bitterness and shook his head repeatedly.

Li Fan’s expression remained calm; he could only smile. He certainly couldn’t tell him that his ability to attract the Grand Dao of Xuanpin was entirely due to the four characters “Grand Dao Reversion to Truth” and had nothing to do with him personally, could he?

To be honest, the changes that occurred with the Grand Dao of Xuanpin after the "Reversion to Truth" were quite unexpected for Li Fan. The moment he saw the Grand Dao of Xuanpin descend, Li Fan thought it, like everything else in Mountains and Seas, had been reset with the activation of “Reversion to Truth.” But soon, Li Fan sensed something was amiss.

After the four characters “Grand Dao Reversion to Truth: First Xuanpin” on the Reversion to Truth panel emitted a dreamlike seven-colored light, the Grand Dao of Mountains and Seas, which had previously seemed unattainable in Li Fan’s eyes, instantly became familiar. It was both the Grand Dao of Mountains and Seas, newly emerged and re-copied in this era, and the First Xuanpin, subjugated and returned to truth by Reversion to Truth! Thus, what happened next was without suspense.

With almost effortless control, Li Fan, using his transcendent cultivation, easily drew the allegiance of the Grand Dao of Xuanpin. Li Fan was unsure if the Grand Dao of Xuanpin had already been altered before its descent, or if it was only tagged with “Reversion to Truth” after appearing in Mountains and Seas and being influenced by the Reversion to Truth. In reality, the distinction between these two made no practical difference. Li Fan only cared whether this newly captured Grand Dao of Mountains and Seas could be used as an energy source for Reversion to Truth’s simulations and deductions.

Unfortunately, the answer was no.

“With the activation of Reversion to Truth and the reset of Mountains and Seas, a new Grand Dao of Xuanpin indeed seems to have appeared. This is because I didn’t feel any weakening of the First Xuanpin’s power within ‘Grand Dao Reversion to Truth’.”

“However, precisely because Xuanpin has already reverted to truth, any Xuanpin – whether in the past, future, present, or any time-space – now belongs to Reversion to Truth. For Reversion to Truth, it’s like food once eaten; there’s no new appetite for it. A Grand Dao of Mountains and Seas that has already reverted to truth naturally won’t generate new simulation power.”

“Even so, this ability to forever capture is truly overbearing.” If viewed from the perspective of the Grand Dao of Xuanpin in this era of Mountains and Seas, the terrifying aspect of Reversion to Truth becomes apparent. It’s like living a perfectly good life, with contentment and no family worries, when suddenly someone appears, claiming to be your master. You must obey their commands unconditionally. And you, with no power to resist, can only completely accept this sudden destiny. “No hope of ever recovering, for all eternity. Tsk tsk tsk…”

“However, I like it.”

“I just don’t know what Reversion to Truth truly needs for its simulations. I previously thought that because Saints were involved, it required a Grand Dao of Mountains and Seas of comparable rank as energy. But now, it seems related to Reversion to Truth’s own internal consumption?” Numerous thoughts flashed through Li Fan’s mind in an instant.

After a series of sighs, the white-haired youth before him no longer kept them in suspense. He explained in detail the reason for their plan to go directly to the End of Mountains and Seas.

“We are all products of Mountains and Seas. As the saying goes, ‘If the skin is gone, what will the hair adhere to?’ Thus, if Mountains and Seas are swallowed by the Dao Annihilation, we too will return to nothingness.”

“Even now, while Mountains and Seas still exist, if we were to leave them, the very foundation of our existence would dissipate.”

Li Fan nodded slightly: “That is indeed true.”

“Only Saints, whose bodies are akin to Mountains and Seas, can exist without relying on the power of Mountains and Seas. However, when the River of Time reaches the End of Mountains and Seas, this situation changes.”

A bright light flickered in the white-haired youth’s eyes: “At that time, Mountains and Seas will have weakened to their absolute limit. Their restrictive power over the beings within them will also reach its weakest point since the very beginning of Mountains and Seas. Especially in that fleeting moment just before Mountains and Seas perish.”

Li Fan’s heart stirred. Connecting this to the myriad rivers of possibility conjured within the World of Life and Death, he vaguely began to understand. “So, our plan is…”

“Precisely!” Immortal Ming Dao said forcefully. “The moment Mountains and Seas are consumed by the Dao Annihilation, we will use these countless imagined possibilities to leap out of Mountains and Seas and stand alone.”

“Mountains and Seas will be too preoccupied to resist us significantly. The only threat we will face is that of the Primordial Void.”

“However, the pressure faced when within Mountains and Seas versus outside them, in front of the Dao Annihilation, is entirely different,” the white-haired youth slowly added.