Chapter 1713: Mountains and Seas Enter the Painting

Angry Squid: “How exhilarating! How exhilarating!”

“In the past, it was we who protected the mountains and seas. Now, the mountains and seas have become our cover! Truly, the cycle of karma is unfailing, and retribution is swift!”

Amidst the saints' bursts of wild laughter, the mountains and seas had already been shattered into pieces by the torrent of Dao Annihilation.

Logically speaking, mountains and seas suffering this extent of destruction should have long ceased to exist. However, a mysterious force seemed to be secretly resisting the erosion of the void, while simultaneously forcefully bonding countless fragments of the mountains and seas together. This caused the mountains and seas to still maintain a 'complete' appearance.

Li Fan's divine sense permeated the mountains and seas, and in an instant, he pinpointed the source of this sustaining force. As expected, it was the pair of divine thoughts left behind by the couple Qiu Tianhui.

As the Grand Dao of mountain and sea beings, the transit node from the beginning of the mountains and seas to the end of time, this couple, formed from divine thoughts, was not actually living beings. Rather, they were the concretization of concepts.

Ordinarily, they were unaware of this themselves, but now, with the mountains and seas facing the danger of annihilation, the couple instinctively looked up at the sky. Then, their expressions gradually turned blank.

Their figures seemed to be in rapid vibration, and with each fluctuation, an ethereal shadow of a living being detached itself, turning into a speck of light, drifting towards the sky.

The specks of light did not give birth to living beings, but rather flew to various parts of the perishing mountains and seas, like nourishing tonics. After the mountains and seas absorbed them, the fragmentation immediately slowed down. “The Qiu Tianhui couple indeed left a contingency plan!”

“This is the power of living beings nourishing the mountains and seas in return. It's like a powerful remedy for the dying, perhaps offering a temporary resurgence, but ultimately unable to save the mountains and seas!”

The saints understood this clearly, yet still stood by, doing nothing.

At the same time, most of their attention was still focused on the hidden network of the mountains and seas.

As the torrent of Dao Annihilation continued its erosion, the mountains and seas' instinctive reaction finally arrived. Its intensity, however, somewhat exceeded the saints' imagination.

In various parts of the mountains and seas, it was as if a great wind suddenly rose.

Those remaining possibilities could originally barely sustain themselves under the impact of Dao Annihilation, but as this wind swept through the interior of the mountains and seas, they instantly plunged into a terrifying vortex.

Countless possibilities were annihilated, transforming into the purest mountain and sea power. Living beings, civilizations, possibilities, paths to Dao – everything that existed within the mountains and seas turned to nothingness in this mighty storm.

What remained was only the mountains and seas themselves.

Utterly pure, and utterly powerful.

It was as if they had returned to their state after the initial primal division, where the mountains and seas were simply the mountains and seas.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Loud crashing sounds echoed from various parts of the mountains and seas, and several violent currents shot up into the sky. It was clear that the torrents of Dao Annihilation that had previously entered the mountain and sea network were being forcefully repelled by the immense power of the mountains and seas.

The enemy retreated, and we pressed forward.

An indescribably vast vitality flowed out from the network of the mountains and seas. The shattered mountains and seas slowly re-coalesced because of it. Perhaps sensing the specific crisis situation outside, the newly formed mountains and seas no longer evolved into numerous possibilities.

Nor did they manifest the rumored appearance of the Primal Immortal Realm. Instead, they were like a stone slab carving, with all the myriad forms of the mountains and seas etched within.

It lost the so-called 'changeability,' but instead emanated a different kind of solemn and majestic aura.

When the mountain and sea stone slab appeared, everything within the mountains and seas seemed to be enveloped by its power and lost its vitality, becoming part of the carving on the slab.

Even the saints within the Xuanji Ring could not escape its influence.

The white light on the periphery of the Xuanji Ring solidified and became still, as if frozen. The irresistible power of petrification continued to erode inward.

“Go!”

Seeing the unfavorable situation, Li Fan decisively chose to join the saints in manipulating the Xuanji Ring and fleeing into the void. Originally, they could have arrived in an instant, but now, within the mountain and sea stone slab, it was incredibly difficult to move even an inch.

Their intuition told the saints that if they didn't leave at that moment and continued to stay, they would likely suffer the same fate as the mountains and seas themselves: to be carved into stone.

At this critical juncture of life and death, they unleashed their full potential. Various lights of the Grand Dao shimmered, illuminating the Xuanji Ring in a myriad of colors.

They forcefully broke through the blockade of the petrified mountains and seas, successfully escaping into the void.

Only a long line drawn by the Xuanji Ring's encircling light remained in the solidified mountains and seas.

The saints, having taken refuge in the void, were still shaken and looked back.

It was ironic, to say the least, that in the past, everyone had desperately avoided the Dao Annihilation Void. But now, compared to the surging void, the petrified mountains and seas seemed even more dangerous.

At the very least, with the saints' power, no matter how turbulent the Dao Annihilation was, they could at least prolong their existence for a while.

But facing this petrification of the mountains and seas... if the saints hadn't fled, their fate would likely have been the same as all other things within the mountains and seas: the mountains and seas had already completed their metamorphosis, transforming into a complete stone slab.

Like a towering solid rock, no matter how the waves of Dao Annihilation crashed against it, it remained utterly unmoving.

One could vaguely discern the final scenes within the mountains and seas from the patterns on the stone slab.

Only, now, vitality was no more, and future was no more.

The mountains and seas remained forever frozen in that moment.

“Tai... Taiwei Daoist friend!”

As the saints were silently lost in thought, Shouqiu's startled cry made their hearts pound once more.

Following Shouqiu's gaze, they saw the towering figure of Saint Emperor Taiwei, etched onto the firmament of the mountains and seas.

Like a brilliant sun, he stood before the myriad people of the Holy Dynasty, attempting to resist this sudden calamity of mountain and sea transformation.

Although Saint Emperor Taiwei was petrified, his expression was still clearly visible.

He stood with hands behind his back, gazing skyward, showing no fear.

Unfortunately, the power of a saint was not enough to withstand this catastrophe of mountain and sea petrification.

Not only did he fail to save the people of the Holy Dynasty, but he himself was also buried along with them.

“Foolish! Why didn't Taiwei Daoist friend flee!”

“It's not that he couldn't, but that he wouldn't. Taiwei's entire foundation lay within the vast Holy Dynasty. Now that the Holy Dynasty and its myriad people are gone, even if he could barely escape, his power would surely be reduced to almost nothing. Rather than becoming sustenance for others, it's better to end it here.”

“What do you mean by that, Guiming Daoist friend?”

“Heh heh...” The petrification of the mountains and seas and the demise of Taiwei, under these various stimuli, brought the saints one step closer to recovering their true natures.

Li Fan, however, wasn't particularly concerned. He, Shouqiu, and Daode had already formed an alliance of one heart, allowing them to easily suppress the other saints.

At this moment, his gaze was intently fixed upon the mountain and sea stone slab before him.

This stone slab gave him a feeling identical to that of the Mountain and Sea Boundary Stele.

On the Mountain and Sea Boundary Stele, various Grand Dao marks were engraved. And the slightly raised lines on the mountain and sea stone slab seemed to correspond precisely to the various Dao principles within the mountains and seas!

“If I could absorb this stone slab, it would be like devouring the myriad Grand Daos of the mountains and seas whole!” This thought suddenly emerged in Li Fan's mind.

However, after witnessing the scene of the void realm colliding with the mountain and sea stone slab, he instantly dismissed this idea.

He saw that the Dao Annihilation power that had originally infiltrated the mountain and sea network was not only repelled, but even the parts of the void realm that had previously swallowed the mountains and seas now fell back under the control of the mountains and seas as the petrification progressed.

What the mountain and sea stone slab displayed was not fragmented, pitted pieces eroded by the void, but a complete panorama.

At the cost of sacrificing its own vitality, it caused the void realm's aggression, accumulated over countless years, to be lost in a single day!

And facing the mountain and sea stone slab, the massive waves of Dao Annihilation, and even the incarnations of the void, all sought to invade again.

But the stone slab, completely unified, remained immovably firm.

While reconnecting the disconnected mountains and seas in a bizarre way, it also completely concealed the mountain and sea network.