Chapter 1724: End of the Mountain and Sea Mystery

The starlight scattered.

A powerful presence gradually emerged, standing proudly in the world. The True God's Finger materialized from nothingness, reappearing in existence!

It seemed that for the starlight, this severed finger held an attraction far greater than Li Fan himself.

All the radiance, as far as the eye could see, converged entirely towards the True God's Finger.

Even the specks of light that had occupied most of Li Fan's body abandoned him without hesitation.

Li Fan gradually regained control of his body, though he felt he hadn't fully adapted. He felt alienated from this physical shell, every part stiff and unyielding.

"Just a moment of starlight immersion felt like countless millennia away from the mortal world."

The extreme discomfort in his body made Li Fan's thoughts feel somewhat corroded.

However, spurred by his survival instincts, he didn't forget the perilous situation he was in.

With a thought, the Transformation of Truth and Falsehood enveloped him.

It was as if he had donned a straw cape in a storm. His mind and body entered a state of profound tranquility and stability.

The sensation of corrosion was expelled, and Li Fan's thoughts and supernatural abilities returned to their normal levels.

He observed the anomaly ahead.

There should only be one True God's Finger in the world.

Thus, when the True God's Finger appeared under the starlight, the Boundary Stele that had been in the Mountains and Seas immediately fell into turmoil. Its foundation gone, only the traces of the Saints' paths remained. Ultimately, it could not withstand the fate of the Mountains and Seas without a boundary.

The traces of the Great Dao snapped inch by inch, like fragile branches.

The Mountains and Seas, previously merged, now instantly showed signs of separation!

Within the Xuanji Ring, due to the intense side effects of using the Ruyi, the Three Saints tightly closed their eyes, re-suppressing the Ruyi.

"Hmm?"

At that moment, the Lianshan Saint was the first to notice the anomaly in the Mountains and Seas.

Lianshan represented all civilizations and beings that had once attempted to connect mountains across seas. Their strength and cultivation were largely based on the fusion of the Mountains and Seas.

As the Mountains and Seas now manifested separation, the Lianshan Saint was naturally the most affected.

The Mountain Above, which had been level with their shoulders, seemed to inexplicably rise, moving away from the mortal world and its inhabitants.

Even as Lianshan's bridges stretched desperately to repair the growing fissures, the speed of the Mountains and Seas' separation far outpaced the Lianshan Saint's ability to mend.

Buzz, buzz, buzz...

When the gap exceeded a certain limit, faint sounds of cracking emanated from between the Mountains and Seas.

The sounds echoed throughout. Mortal beings, however, noticed nothing.

But all true immortals felt a premonition, as if a great disaster was imminent, their faces filled with terror.

Immortals stood upon the Mountain Above, connected to the Infinite Sea.

Possessing the high stature of an immortal, they wielded boundless divine abilities.

But at this moment, the bridge connecting them to the Mountain Above collapsed with a roar.

The multitude of immortals on the bridge naturally could not escape this calamity and plummeted along with it.

Their cultivation and aura rapidly plummeted at a visible rate.

Saints, Transcendants, the Nameless, True Immortals.

Regardless of their realm, power, or struggles, none could avoid it.

All fell to the mortal realm.

Being mere mortal bodies, how could they wield the infinite again?

Those caught in the Dao Annihilation were unable to protect themselves and perished instantly.

Those who sought refuge in the Mountains and Seas were instead consumed by the immense power of the Infinite Sea, becoming part of the boundless ocean.

With the disappearance of the Mountains and Seas Boundary Stele, in that instant, ninety-nine percent of cultivators above the True Immortal realm in the Mountains and Seas were utterly annihilated. Though the remaining lucky few still struggled, they were destined to face extinction.

Because...

The Mountains and Seas had awakened!

Without the True God's Finger, the Mountains and Seas separated, reverting to their original, god-devouring form. Countless fallen cultivators within the Mountains and Seas became nutrients, returning to them. This caused the previously dying Mountains and Seas to instantly regain some vitality, as if they had consumed a potent tonic.

While not back to their peak state, they at least possessed the strength for a final desperate struggle.

More crucially, the will of the Mountains and Seas, which had been distorted and rewritten by the True God's Finger, now returned to normal.

Ranges of mountains stretched endlessly, standing majestically.

The boundless ocean reflected the vast world.

Two wills, truly representative of the Mountains and Seas, descended upon them.

When the Mountains and Seas were merged, they intertwined, chaotic and indistinct, guided only by an ethereal instinct.

But now, split into two, the mountain was merely a mountain, and the sea merely a sea.

Each independent will, upon separating from the other, became incredibly robust.

At this point, the Three Saints found themselves in differing circumstances.

Although the Three Saints were also affected by the anomaly and fell to the mortal realm, they remained alive for various reasons.

As if sensing what was about to happen, the Lianshan Saint looked at the other two and sighed, "There's no banquet that doesn't end..." Before finishing the sentence, the Lianshan Saint—not just a single figure or section within the Mountains and Seas, but all their countless manifestations—transformed into streams of light and vanished into the Mountain Above.

The Guihai Saint, in response, also let out a soft sigh.

Countless blue specks of light floated and merged into the Infinite Sea's boundless possibilities.

As for the last one, the Taiyi Saint.

Countless figures vanished as if vaporized. Taiyi, along with the infinite Great Dao of evolution it represented, all returned to the Mountains and Seas!

The Mountains and Seas had once birthed countless Great Daos and endless beings.

But now, they were all reclaimed.

Everything reverted to its most primal state!

Just like when the Mountains and Seas first split from the deity.

The anomaly occurring within the Mountains and Seas was already astonishing.

Yet, compared to the changes caused by the collision of starlight and the True God's Finger in the void, it seemed almost insignificant.

It was as if a key to escape imprisonment had been found.

Centered around the True God's Finger, infinite starlight instantly diffused outwards.

Compared to the solitary star Li Fan had once seen descend, the pervasive starlight before him seemed somewhat gentler.

At the very least, the void realm could still persist under the starlight's illumination.

At the very least, Li Fan could still barely maintain his Transformation of Truth and Falsehood state, allowing him to continue observing.

As the endless starlight first appeared, for a fleeting instant, a blurry figure hidden behind the light seemed faintly discernible.

But as the starlight instantly expanded millions of times over, Li Fan's vision was completely obscured.

"Could it be a hallucination?"

Li Fan was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

However, he soon had no time to dwell on that question.

Starlight spread endlessly from the depths of the void realm.

As the central node for the star's descent, the True God's Finger also seemed to sense the increasing radiance around it, undergoing another transformation.

What changed was not the True God's Finger itself, but its "posture."

It was an extremely mysterious phenomenon: though merely a severed finger, it could perform various distinct actions.

Each action represented a different divine ability and effect.

What Li Fan had previously witnessed—the Mountains and Seas without Boundary—was the distortion of the Mountains and Seas' will, causing them to merge.

But now, the finger shifted, pointing towards the pervasive starlight.

In a single instant, the shimmering starlight seemed to lose its color, transforming from dazzling brightness to dim black and white.

The entire void became dim as a result.

The no-longer-bright starlight, like a weapon that had lost its sharpness, seemed to have its threat diminished by more than half.

Li Fan, gazing upwards, subtly felt that he could now withstand its effects even without relying on the Transformation of Truth and Falsehood.

However, Li Fan did not rashly put himself at risk; the changes before him were truly unexpected.

"What's happening? Why is the True God's Finger attacking the starlight in return?"

"Shouldn't the solitary star and the True God's Finger both be contingencies left by the deity? Did the solitary star descend to make the Mountains and Seas merge?"

The events unfolding before him completely contradicted Li Fan's conjectures.

While filling Li Fan with doubt, it also subtly brought him closer to the truth about the deity, the Mountains and Seas, and the stars.

"Since the identity and motives deviate from the actual actions, then I must re-evaluate."

"Among the three, the Mountains and Seas are both the perpetrators who split the deity and the victims."

"The True God's Finger..."

"It carries a faint ancient aura. Moreover, one gesture rewrote the will of the Mountains and Seas, leading to their fusion. Another gesture dispersed the pervasive starlight, re-imprisoning the solitary star. Such might, such divine ability. Only a True God could possess it."

Li Fan first confirmed this point.

"Finally, the stars."

What exactly were the stars?

At the end of every cycle, a solitary star would descend and engulf everything.

It seemed clear that the stars were a contingency left by the True God, intended to destroy and then be reborn after being devoured.

When the solitary star descended, the Mountains and Seas would be annihilated, and the void realm would cease to exist.

Then a new deity would be reborn.

Li Fan had always thought this way before.

But was this truly the case?

The scene of the True God's Finger inverting to seal the starlight completely shattered this conjecture.

"The stars are not the True God?"

"Then the stars..."

There were no other known options that could serve as an answer. If the stars were not the deity, then...

The stars were the Mountains and Seas.

"The stars are the Mountains and Seas? The stars are the Mountains and Seas!"

The moment this thought arose in his mind, Li Fan's body and soul trembled violently. The shock of such a stark contrast nearly made him lose his protective Transformation of Truth and Falsehood, exposing him in the struggle between the True God and the starlight.

"How could this be? How could this be possible?"

Li Fan forced himself to calm down.

But a premonition had already risen within him, making him aware of the conclusion of his deductions even before he fully thought it through.

In his mind, the boundless memories of his past self surged forth like a bursting dam, no longer suppressible.

They burst forth with a roar.

Countless figures floated, countless past scenes, all burned fiercely like firewood.

Ultimately, they converged into an overwhelming, uncontrollable sense of unwillingness.

And an endless fury born of despair.

These were the last emotions of the former Li Fan, before he made his decision.

And they were also the reason for the existence of the current Li Fan.

"So that's it." Li Fan's expression became very strange.

Watching the struggle unfolding before him, his calm demeanor, like a divine needle stabilizing the sea, systematically organized all the unwillingness and anger.

What his former self had found utterly unacceptable now seemed trivial to the current Li Fan.

"It's just that I feel it wasn't worth it for you."

Li Fan scoffed softly.

With the boost of past memories, everything became logical and clear.

All doubts vanished from Li Fan's mind.

"If stars are not stars, then stars are the Mountains and Seas."

"The Mountains and Seas devouring themselves seems absurd. But if we consider their predetermined fate of fusion, and the True God's Finger's set attributes and actions..."

"Then everything can be explained."

"Let's rewind time to when the True God fell and the Mountains and Seas split from the deity."

A strange scene immediately appeared before Li Fan's eyes.

In the darkness, two unseen, monstrous entities seemed to be silently gnawing on something, greedily and with enjoyment.

The True God vanished, and two new deities were about to be born.

But...

Suddenly, a feeling of fear spread from the hearts of the Mountains and Seas.

After devouring a part of the deity's body, they gradually acquired some of the deity's abilities.

As a result, they seemed to be able to foresee future events to some extent.

They saw that after the True God died, it did not completely dissipate.

It was as if the deity's solitary eye was still coldly watching them.

As long as the Mountains and Seas existed, the True God's Finger would appear.

The Mountains and Seas would gradually merge, eventually returning to nothingness.

Leaving only pure energy.

Upon this boundless, endless breeding ground, upon the corpses of the mountain and the sea.

The True God would be reborn.

The True God would return once more.

The True God's remains suddenly ceased to be appetizing.

As newly born deities, the Mountains and Seas naturally did not want to suffer the same fate as the food in their mouths.

After foreseeing their own destructive future, the Mountains and Seas then deduced countless possibilities.

However, in all those outcomes, there was no scenario where they survived.

The True God's final strike before its demise had annihilated all possibilities for the Mountains and Seas to reverse their fate.

The Mountains and Seas had no chance of victory.

Having just undergone a metamorphosis and rebirth, they were about to embark on a path destined for destruction.

How could these two newly born deities accept this?

Even ants cling to life.

Let alone deities?

After completely devouring the True God's body, an unknown amount of time passed.

Draining countless eons, the Mountains and Seas, working together, finally deduced the only possible method to turn defeat into victory.

"Since the Mountains and Seas are fated to perish, then..."

"Let the Mountains and Seas perish." "They would completely bury themselves, and then, before the True God could revive, they would re-germinate."

"Is this your method of survival?"

Li Fan's gaze seemed to pierce through the dark void realm, reaching directly to the will behind it.

In his mind, he once again recalled the scene of the solitary star descending and engulfing everything.

"The existence and activation conditions of the True God's Finger are the existence of the Mountains and Seas."

"As the Dao Annihilation invaded the void realm, the Mountains and Seas ceased to exist, and the True God's Finger also dissolved into nothingness, disappearing without a trace."

"With their only feared opponent finally gone, the stars—or rather, the Mountains and Seas reborn—descended without hesitation."

"Allowing no other entity to exist, only I remain."

"Only I am left, only I am born, only I triumph."

"So, the Dao Annihilation in the void realm was merely a tool for the Mountains and Seas to self-destruct."

"It turns out all of this was just a meticulously crafted play."

"All beings of the Mountains and Seas—Lianshan, Guihai, Taiyi, Shouqiu, Daode—were merely characters in this play."

"As long as they followed the script and completed their designated performances, it would be a happy ending for everyone."

"The True God utterly perished, and the new deities would be free from worry."

"The grand play concluded, and the new deities ascended."

"Perfect. But precisely because of that..."

Li Fan let out a long sigh.

Not for anything else, but for the Li Fan who had once perished.

"Into this grand play, an individual who should not have existed intruded."

"The Mountains and Seas' self-destruction, in his eyes, was an utterly terrifying catastrophe. With life suffering, he sought to rescue beings from their plight."

"If once wasn't enough, he tried a hundred times. If a hundred times weren't enough, he tried a thousand, ten thousand times."

"Countless times."

"Finally, finally, finally..."

"He turned the impossible into possible. He broke the script set by the Mountains and Seas."

"The Mountains and Seas 'won' in the end. But..."

"How could the script continue then?" Just as the Mountains and Seas had foreseen.

As long as the Mountains and Seas existed, the True God's Finger would not perish.

There was no void realm, no Dao Annihilation.

The Mountains and Seas had merged, yet they had not vanished.

And so the Mountains and Seas were enraged.

Towards Li Fan, the disruptor, they finally bared their sharp claws.

For the Mountains and Seas, countless cycles of reincarnation were but an instant. They cared nothing for them.

But Li Fan had actually shattered the script they had set.

Therefore, Li Fan had to die.

And so...

Starlight blanketed the Mountains and Seas, the Saints drew their blades, and the Mountains and Seas regarded Li Fan as an enemy threatening their very existence.

At this moment, Li Fan truly understood why he had shed that tear back then.

It was not despair.

But utter disillusionment.

He ceased to resist, allowing what he had once protected to pierce through him.

But fortunately, at the last moment, he changed his mind.

Thus, the current Li Fan came into being.

After understanding the past, Li Fan felt little resentment.

The Mountains and Seas' actions were understandable.

Had it been him, he would have done the same.

However...

"What you can do, I naturally can do too."

Li Fan watched the scene before him with profound calm.

The Mountains and Seas, the void realm, and the stars.

He then inexplicably thought.

Even the Mountains and Seas, who devoured the True God's corpse, could foresee their own demise.

Then, when setting up the True God's Finger, could the fallen True God truly not have foreseen a counter to the Mountains and Seas' "golden cicada escaping its shell" strategy?

"Unless..."

"An outsider to the play came to break the Mountains and Seas' scheme."

"This is actually why I am here."

A scene from a long time ago suddenly appeared in Li Fan's mind.

It was his life before his transmigration.

His parents were alive, and he had both a son and a daughter.

"Damn it all!"

"All of you, die!"