Chapter 1700: End to Beginning

Furious Squid:

When Lianshan Sage uttered these words, the expressions of all the Sages became somewhat peculiar.

Although it was a tracking method akin to fishing, it still required involvement in the process of creatures being born within the Mountains and Seas.

In a sense, those born in this manner could all be considered descendants of Qiu Tianhui and his wife.

"Then let's see who has such good fortune," Guihai Sage said with a smile, flicking his finger to release thousands of green lights that dispersed into the Mountains and Seas.

He was clearly setting an example, fragmenting his own power and entrusting it to the world. Whenever a creature was conceived, a part of him would attach to it.

The three Sages did not seem to care much, so the other Sages had no choice but to follow suit.

In an instant, the Sages of the Other Shore unleashed all their methods, each investing countless powers into the current Mountains and Seas.

It was estimated that approximately one-tenth of the newly born creatures in the Mountains and Seas would be manifestations of the Sages' latent power.

Like a vast, ominous net, it slowly wove itself across the Mountains and Seas.

Time flowed, years indistinguishable.

After an unknown period, a fish finally took the bait.

"Hmm?!" The lucky one, surprisingly, was Qie Ji.

His expression was not very pleasant; he let out a cold snort and projected an image.

In the mundane world, an ordinary infant was seen being born with a cry.

It seemed no different from other ordinary creatures, but this newborn, possessing a trace of Qie Ji's consciousness, very keenly perceived its own abnormality.

"The amount of true spirit a person possesses is almost predetermined at birth. It is closely related to one's innate aptitude and talent. To increase it later in life, there are only a few special methods: absorbing other possible versions of oneself, a flash of insight during an enlightenment breakthrough, or receiving external infusion from the Universe Reversal Dao Annihilation."

"In short, the amount of true spirit in Mountains and Seas life is entirely allocated by the Mountains and Seas. This is what is meant by Heaven's will, each person's destiny. However..."

"This lucky body of mine, besides the portion naturally allocated by the Mountains and Seas, has received another portion!"

The infant, still in the womb, had not even fully developed its facial features.

Yet, at this moment, curled up, it suddenly opened its eyes, discerning its own being.

Guihai Sage nodded slightly: "This is Qiu Tianhui, whose Dao Fruit manifests by leveraging the power of Mountains and Seas creatures for cultivation. Although Qiu Tianhui's descendants number less than one-hundred-millionth of the total creatures in the Mountains and Seas, by leveraging the Great Dao of creatures, they can occupy more true spirit."

"As the proportion of their descendants continuously increases, the Qiu Tianhui couple's ability to interfere with living beings gradually strengthens..."

"It seems these creatures might truly seize half of the Mountains and Seas' true spirit."

The Sages fell silent for a moment.

Then Li Fan chuckled softly: "In that case, it's fortunate that the Mountains and Seas ultimately belong to the Void Realm. Otherwise, wouldn't this expanse of Mountains and Seas eventually be surnamed Qiu?"

Although it was a joke, the Sages clearly harbored reservations about the Qiu Tianhui couple's cultivation method of leveraging living beings.

"Strictly speaking, only when the Mountains and Seas are being devoured by Dao Annihilation and are gradually declining can their Great Dao of creatures be cultivated so smoothly. Otherwise, they would surely suffer backlash from the Mountains and Seas. Initially, the Mountains and Seas might not have noticed this leveraging, but as it gradually grew in power, how could the Mountains and Seas remain unaware?"

"It's just that being embroiled in conflict with the Void Realm, they were too preoccupied to spare any strength to target them," Taiyi Sage said indifferently.

"Since the Mountains and Seas are too busy to look after themselves, let us work on their behalf."

Qie Ji's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked in the direction of a faint intuition.

Ordinary descendants of Qiu Tianhui would naturally find it difficult to perceive this connection with their "innate parents."

This was because during infancy, when the connection was most apparent, they were still in a state of ignorance. As they gradually grew, this creature connection became extremely faint and difficult to distinguish. But now, Qie Ji's current body was precisely at the very beginning of its creature conception, when the connection was strongest.

Moreover, the pursuit was initiated by the Sages of the Other Shore, who were arguably the strongest group of cultivators in the Mountains and Seas.

With deliberate planning against an unwitting target, no matter how hidden the actions of the Qiu Tianhui couple were, they could not escape such tracking.

Qie Ji's gaze was piercing; through his perspective, the Sages seemed to see a wisp of thread piercing through the Dao Annihilation and traversing into the Void Realm ahead.

Originally, traversing the Void Realm blocked all information.

But this thread was hidden beneath the Void Realm, concealed within the vanished Mountains and Seas that had already been swallowed by Dao Annihilation.

Leveraging this, the Sages' gazes were able to cross layers of the Void Realm and look toward the Mountains and Seas ahead.

Although it wasn't as clear as seeing something directly in front of them, appearing as if seen through a layer of mist, it was still enough for the Sages to trace clues.

"Is this the so-called Mountains and Seas' Network?"

"I wonder how Qiu Tianhui managed to detect and utilize it."

The Sages of the Other Shore wanted to follow the vine to find the melon, but as they followed this thread of connection and scanned all related creatures in the Mountains and Seas ahead, they were stunned to find no trace of the Qiu Tianhui couple!

"This..."

The Sages focused their minds and searched carefully once more.

The result was the same.

"Since they dared to leverage power so openly, it seems they had prepared beforehand and weren't afraid of being traced by others. Interesting," Guihai Sage praised softly.

"But they underestimated the heroes of the world somewhat." In an instant, countless illusory images seemed to flash before Guihai's eyes.

The clues seen by all the Sages, densely arranged and rapidly shifting, mostly faded into obscurity.

The remaining lines became fewer and brighter.

Finally, only three remained, exposed before the Sages.

One was rooted in the Mountains and Seas ahead, pointing to an ordinary couple of cultivators. Their appearance and demeanor bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Qiu Tianhui couple. Their cultivation was only at the Nameless Realm, having not transcended or jumped out of a single possibility.

And the other two...

One pointed to the very beginning of the Mountains and Seas, impossibly distant.

The other pointed to the very end of the Mountains and Seas, eternally long.

This strange sight caused Guihai Sage's divinatory gaze to freeze.

As his heart trembled, the three thin lines in his sight suddenly broke and vanished without a trace!

After a moment of silence, Baixiao spoke up, asking: "May I ask, Guihai Sage, what was the meaning of the anomaly just now?"

"In the Mountains and Seas ahead, they no longer exist as a couple," Guihai Sage said with a heavy voice.

"However, our previous judgment was not wrong. A part of them indeed still exists in the Mountains and Seas ahead," Taiyi Sage added.

Recalling the three different thin lines they had just seen, the Sages vaguely understood.

"They are..."

"Leveraging Mountains and Seas creatures to scatter their own existence among their descendants?" Baixiao couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Confined to one place, they can naturally be traced. But if scattered throughout the Mountains and Seas, then tracing them again would be incredibly difficult. Especially against the backdrop of the Dao Annihilation's obstruction. We can indeed trace back to previous segments of the Mountains and Seas, and even earlier segments, but the Mountains and Seas are vast, and truly beyond our reach," Taiyi Sage admitted.

"By transforming into their own bloodline, they can achieve more complete concealment while also enjoying the benefits of leveraging living beings."

"It's almost foreseeable that even without deliberate manipulation, as long as they arrange for themselves to be born at the end of the Mountains and Seas, they can uniquely possess half of the Mountains and Seas' true spirit..." The more the Sages thought about it, the more they found the couple's methods extraordinary.

Among the Sages present, only Li Fan had actually been to the end of the Mountains and Seas.

End Sage Qiu Xinhui indeed bore a strong resemblance to Qiu Tianhui, as if she were his reincarnation.

"But what about the two threads remaining in the Mountains and Seas ahead, and the one pointing to the beginning of the Mountains and Seas?" Li Fan asked.

"The pair in the Mountains and Seas ahead, they are both the Qiu Xinhui couple and can also be seen as not. The part that leveraged living beings has already escaped. What remains is just their past selves... Doing this, besides leaving a trace of thought, might also involve the other two threads, one before and one after," Lianshan Sage finally spoke after observing for a long time.

"Originally, I thought that even if they reincarnated, the couple would remain together. But now it seems..."

Before Lianshan Sage's eyes, countless divinatory light-images also continuously flashed.

Only, compared to what Guihai Sage derived, it was more concrete and complex.

"They actually split up and went their separate ways. One went to the beginning of the Mountains and Seas, and the other to the end of the Mountains and Seas. The time span from the beginning to the end of the Mountains and Seas is too immense. Fearing severance, they chose to leave a trace mark in their original Mountains and Seas as a relay. Only by doing so could they maintain the connection of these three thin threads across the entire Mountains and Seas."

Lianshan Sage's deduction was like parting the clouds to see the sun.

But it brought more confusion.

"What exactly do this couple seek?" "Could it be that they truly saw more?"

The Sages watched the three threads gradually fade away, all falling into deep thought.

"The one who went to the beginning of the Mountains and Seas must be related to the initial splitting of the Mountains and Seas."

"And perhaps only at the end of the Mountains and Seas, with the aptitude support of half of the Mountains and Seas' true spirit, could they support the actions of the other one at the beginning of the Mountains and Seas. The initial splitting of the Mountains and Seas was exceptionally perilous. Even if this couple were already monstrously talented, foolishly attempting to get involved would only result in instant annihilation."

"But now..."

"They truly have the qualifications to participate," Lianshan Sage nodded and said.

Coming from Lianshan Sage's mouth, this was an extremely high praise.

The other Sages didn't know what Lianshan Sage's words specifically implied, but Li Fan understood very clearly.

At the beginning of the Mountains and Seas' splitting, many Sages who foresaw the future catastrophe of the Mountains and Seas chose to use the method of "severing the future" to eternally remain in the past.

By doing so, they tried their best to preserve their strength.

The three Lianshan Sages, having reunited the three segments of the Mountains and Seas, had their strength almost doubled.

It was truly hard to imagine how powerful the three Sages were at their peak.

And at the beginning of the Mountains and Seas, the group of Sages who could sit and discuss the Dao with them...

...would certainly not be much weaker than them.

"It is indeed extremely perilous."

"However, this only makes the Qiu Tianhui couple seem even more remarkable. Born in the middle and late stages of the Mountains and Seas, having lost all favorable timing and geographical advantage, they nonetheless, relying on the unique method of leveraging living beings within the Mountains and Seas, forcibly cultivated themselves to be able to contend with the Sages of the Grand Beginning..."

"Remarkable," Li Fan exclaimed inwardly.

"From just a little bit of that true Lord of Longevity, I can sense the extraordinary power of these Sages who severed the future. That Qiu Tianhui, born in our era, could cultivate to such a realm is truly astonishing," Shouqiu Gong also couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

Li Fan suddenly asked: "Shouqiu Gong, what do you believe is the relationship between Qiu Xinhui and Qiu Tianhui?"

"The End Sage of the Mountains and Seas is open and forthright. Her heart is righteous, not appearing to be deceptive. She should not be Qiu Tianhui herself, but rather a saintly talent naturally born after the Great Dao of leveraging living beings evolved to its extreme. Given that she occupies half of the Mountains and Seas' true spirit, such a performance is not surprising," Shouqiu Gong pondered for a while before giving his answer.

"That aligns with my thoughts. It's just a bit puzzling, where did the Qiu Tianhui couple go? Could it be that all their hard work was for nothing but to serve others?" Moral Sage said with some doubt.

"Mountains and Seas Walker..." The three suddenly thought of something at the same time.

"Traveling backward from the end of time, this act is truly romantic. However, upon closer thought, it is indeed somewhat unbelievable. We have experienced several reconnections and know how perilous traversing the Void Realm is. Yet, the one born at the end of the Mountains and Seas could truly travel all the way to the beginning of the Mountains and Seas. And this is even with Qiu Xinhui occupying most of the Mountains and Seas' true spirit..."

"Only those with great perseverance and great wisdom can achieve such a feat," Shouqiu Gong mused.

"I do have a conjecture," Li Fan's heart stirred.

He then slowly articulated his thoughts: "Through the method of leveraging living beings, the Qiu Tianhui couple's perspective and life successfully extended to a realm unreachable by ordinary Sages. However, the more they observed, they eventually reached the bottleneck of their own limitations."

"After all, they were merely creatures born in the middle and late stages of the Mountains and Seas; no matter how extraordinary their talent, their upper limit remained fixed, ultimately unbreakable."

"Then they encountered a problem that they couldn't solve even with everything they had..."

"After much contemplation, Qiu Tianhui finally thought of the only way to break the deadlock."

In Li Fan's eyes, just like with the three Sages, countless light-images flickered during his deduction. However, the changes in the images were not as rapid.

Instead, they were extremely peculiar, stopping and starting, flickering continuously.

It was not pure deduction, but rather Li Fan, based on the information he currently possessed and using the Great Dao of Truth and Illusion as his foundation, evolving a virtual world within his mind.

Performing a so-called "simulation."

With Li Fan's current strength, he was already capable of supporting such an endeavor.

Naturally, it couldn't be compared to Huan Zhen's simulations, which could almost pass off as reality. But compared to ordinary deduction methods, it was undoubtedly far more sophisticated.

The simulation consumed an extreme amount of mental energy, and Li Fan slowly began to falter.

He had to borrow mental power from Shouqiu Gong and Moral Sage.

Observing the virtual world within his mind, he continued: "As the creator of the method of leveraging living beings, Qiu Tianhui naturally knew what terrifying extent the Mountains and Seas' true spirit they could harness would reach at the end of the Mountains and Seas."

"To conceive a living being at that time, its talent, ambition, and emotions would undoubtedly far surpass ours. A problem that we struggle to solve through strenuous thought, perhaps he would have a solution?" In the simulation, Qiu Tianhui said excitedly to Shao Zidai.

Shao Zidai naturally agreed.

So Qiu Tianhui self-generated his own descendants and, through the Mountains and Seas creature network, traveled to the end of time.

There, he witnessed the birth of Qiu Xinhui, who was born possessing half of the Mountains and Seas' true spirit.

And indeed, from her, he found the answer he sought.

So, step by step, he set off towards his original goal.

The beginning of the Mountains and Seas.

There, his Dao companion, Shao Zidai, was also waiting for him.

"How is my deduction?" The deduction's consumption was truly too immense; the scene abruptly cut off.

Li Fan asked with a hint of pride.