Chapter 1180: Mastering the Power of Past and Present, Taking the Great Way as Home

Melville dared not speak, only continued to listen.

She stood respectfully beside him, like a servant.

If other tenth-tier beings were to see this scene, they might be greatly surprised, given that the fame of the Nine-Headed Ancient Mother resonated throughout this land, deterring other entities from appearing in public.

In fact, she herself couldn't help but be astonished. As one of the overlords of this land, ancient in years, she still didn't know the origin of the clay sculpture, only that it came from a prehistoric civilization at least five billion years ago. This could be considered one of the greatest archaeological mysteries outside the entire Chaos Heaven.

After all, even in this distant era, much is submerged in the Sea of Chaos. It's believed that the number of cosmic entities in that ancient era was terrifyingly vast. Some even speculate that most of the stars in the entire universe at that time were used to create clay sculptures, which is why a considerable number of them still survive today.

"To know such ancient deeds, it must signify a profound background! Absolutely profound!"

Melville's heart skipped a beat. This further confirmed the opponent's ancient and mysterious nature, and a terrifying background beyond imagination.

"Our clan, though originating from a prosperous period over a billion years ago, which is now untraceable, only recently began to awaken from ancient ruins after our decline. We have been gradually recovering and redeveloping, with only seven generations of Sages since our resurgence, spanning less than seventy million years. The history we know is barely more than what an ordinary newly ascended Sage would know..."

"Moreover, our bloodline has thinned. If we had Sages in every generation, guided by ancient beings, our bloodline would naturally not be diluted by time. But previously, our strongest generations were merely Deities and Heavenly Emperors; they couldn't maintain the purity of our bloodline, which became diluted over time... This is why, even after our revival, we are not very powerful today!"

Therefore, as the current clan leader, the Nine-Headed Ancient Mother, she constantly sought to restore her bloodline. She was so excited upon seeing the Emperor's spatial bloodline that she desired a marriage alliance, even willing to marry down.

She knew that if these two great spatial bloodlines were to produce offspring, and if those offspring were continuously nurtured and could merge the bloodlines, there might be a possibility of surpassing their ancestors' bloodline!

Surpassing their ancestors...

She saw the powerful bloodline of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art and perceived the possibility of renewed glory; how could she not be excited?

"Renimansiga, before me, must belong to those ancient, venerable family holy lands, tenth-tier civilizations that are hundreds of millions of years old... Perhaps his tenth-tier civilization is already progressing towards multi-dimensionality, beginning to traverse the Sea of Chaos." She secretly speculated, "And probably among the very top tier."

The power of individuals is weak.

Infinitesimally small in the torrent of history.

Even if a civilization produced a Dao-enlightened Saint, one who brought glory to their lineage, ascending beyond the universe, standing proudly in the Chaos Heaven as a Great Dao Saint, presiding over the cosmic order below and wielding the authority of the Heavenly Dao from a domain outside of Chaos, it would still be but a fleeting moment... falling within less than ten million years.

Sages are individual lives; only through the continuity of lineage and the torch of civilization can eternity be achieved.

Some powerful Sages, much like mortal noble families on a planet, cultivate their descendants so that another Sage may emerge after their demise, continuing the glory of their civilization and race. These are known as... Great Dao Families!

They virtually monopolize most subordinate branches of a certain Great Dao; the Sages within those branches are all from their lineage.

Just like the Nine-Headed Ancient Mother's lineage, which achieves Dao-enlightenment through "spatial distance." If many members of their clan achieve Dao-enlightenment, generation after generation, they would monopolize this "spatial distance" branch. Looking at the Great Dao's tree-like diagram, one would see a subordinate Dao belonging to their bloodline, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it their home.

This is what a Great Dao Family is: proclaimed to wield authority over past and present, making the Great Dao their home!

These are the true giants.

Ancient Sage families, with their successive heirs holding sway over a certain aspect of the cosmic Heavenly Dao order, produce Sages for the universe generation after generation. In some eras, there could even be several Sages, possessing a profound accumulation of power that other entities can hardly imagine!

"But the torrent of history is still too terrifying. Any random upheaval, any failure to pass on the torch, will cause an interruption... Sages will fall from glory, and those families will vanish. It's just that this method of continuous inheritance is extinguished somewhat slower..."

The Nine-Headed Ancient Mother clearly understood that time was the most terrifying force; even the strongest supreme beings of the universe could not escape the torrent of years. She said in a bitter whisper:

"The longest-lasting Sage family I've ever seen only passed down for seventeen generations! At the time, I was utterly astonished... they had traversed over a hundred million years of cosmic history!"

But over a hundred million years is absolutely insufficient to know about five billion years of prehistory!

Renimansiga before her could only be even more ancient...

But five billion years, was that truly possible?

Her mind was somewhat in a trance. At her level, her Dao Heart had long been as steady as a mountain, but now she suddenly felt bewildered, suddenly questioning the world she perceived...

It was well-known that outside the Chaos Heaven, there was a famous curse: The Dao does not pass beyond five hundred million years; Sages do not cross ten million years.

This saying means: The lineage of a Sage family will inevitably decline within five hundred million years. The lifespan limit of a Saint is almost impossible to exceed ten million years; they will then be completely assimilated.

This represented a critical point.

The universe was in transition, and its eras overlapped.

No eternal tenth-tier civilization could remain supreme, controlling cosmic affairs, monopolizing the Heavenly Dao, and ruling as Sages from above; rise and fall were inevitable.

Just like dynasties on Earth, which, though seemingly flourishing for millennia upon their unification of all lands, typically lasted only around three hundred years—an astonishing curse.

What was the concept of five hundred million years?

A Great Dao Saint could not live beyond ten million years before being assimilated! Five hundred million years would require a complete lineage of fifty generations, with a Great Dao Saint emerging in every single one!

Mortals have a saying, "wealth does not pass three generations," but that only applies to mortals. Here, it was fifty generations, fifty Great Dao Sages—what kind of concept was that? It was impossible!

On Earth, how many mortal families with complete genealogies have managed to pass down for fifty generations? Even mortals cannot endure the changes of dynasties, the passage of time, natural disasters, and man-made calamities; even a famine or a bandit attack could sever their lineage... And this was at the pinnacle of the universe!

Furthermore, was it so easy to produce a Great Dao Saint?

Each one was a stroke of fortune; even with meticulous cultivation, success wasn't guaranteed!

Fifty in a row was already unimaginable, almost impossible. Yet this only covered five hundred million years of inheritance; what about going even further back?

It was even more impossible!

Even the Sage family she knew that had lasted over a hundred million years was now inevitably declining generation by generation after more than ten generations.

Not a single Great Dao Saint remained. Only a group of false tenth-tier descendants, following false Dàos, were propping up the façade, living off past glory. They had to hide in the powerful domains fortified by their ancestors through generations just to barely maintain their prosperity and avoid being breached and plundered by other Sage entities.

They still hoped that, hidden within their domains, a brilliant talent would emerge in some generation, re-enlighten as a tenth-tier being, and restore their former glory. But how easy was that?

"This is a curse beyond Chaos: the Dao does not pass beyond five hundred million years..." Melville felt an intense bitterness in her heart. At the same time, her heart pounded even faster as she looked at Renimansiga. The more she heard these historical accounts, the more shocked she became, her mind going blank. This was far beyond five hundred million years! What kind of civilization was this?

It couldn't be fake.

"But none of this could be fabricated," she thought, finding it unbelievable.

At that moment, as her mind drifted, Xu Zhi continued walking along the coastline on the beach, speaking softly, with an air of timeless tranquility: "Those four-dimensional beings could traverse past and future. In those ancient times, once a creature became a four-dimensional being, they could swiftly reach the end of their lives,

almost instantly arriving in the distant future, crossing the timeline to meet their selves countless millions of years later. By then, their selves would have advanced from eighth-tier deities, surpassed the ninth-tier, and achieved the ultimate Great Dao."

"Four-dimensional beings are truly terrifying."

Medusa and the others felt a jolt in their minds, exclaiming at the profound mysteries and feeling that they had indeed benefited greatly.

To mortals, these stories were just tales, historical knowledge. But to beings like them, knowledge was power, and historical knowledge was also a form of power.

Moreover, these were the truths of the Great Dao, the historical process of cosmic evolution, giving them a clearer understanding of the entire universe's structure!

This extensive discourse on past and present was nothing less than an earth-shattering sermon!

It was an unimaginable opportunity!

"Greatly beneficial," Medusa thought happily.

"Who would have thought that the torrent of ancient history, these ancient civilizations, could be so wondrous and brilliant?" Even the man dressed as an emperor was astonished.

"You've stumbled upon a great fortune, arriving just in time to hear Father's sermon," Shi Ji proudly nudged the Nine-Headed Ancient Mother's arm. "Outsiders rarely get to hear history like this."

"Indeed," a hint of detachment flickered in the Nine-Headed Ancient Mother's eyes, as she became utterly convinced.

"This fellow, I wonder what's going on in her mind. She was so unyielding before, but now there's no struggle. Perhaps the four-dimensional beings I mentioned impressed her." Xu Zhi naturally had no idea what the stunned Melville was thinking, believing it was the historical accounts he shared that caused it.

In reality, Xu Zhi, being new to this, didn't realize how much impact his words would have!

His actual lineage was only one year long, yet his words, once spoken, conveyed an immense antiquity and depth, seemingly breaking the universe's temporal constraints and placing him at an unimaginable height.

"For a time, four-dimensional beings appeared in great numbers. They rapidly broke through to the tenth-tier ultimate realm and began to achieve Dao-enlightenment."

"In that ancient era, there wasn't a significant distinction between eighth, ninth, and tenth-tier realms. In their eyes at that time, once one broke through to the eighth-tier, it was equivalent to immediately reaching the tenth-tier."

Xu Zhi continued recounting history.

He spoke as he walked, his voice a low murmur along the beach's tide, like a traveler standing on the cosmos's zenith.

The Nine-Headed Ancient Mother continued to listen.

She looked at Medusa, the Four Grandmasters, Shi Ji, and the others around her, and suddenly felt a sense of peace. There was no deceit or trickery, no need to constantly be wary of others trying to seize her bloodline...

The group here lived peacefully, discussing the Dao together, with no mutual suspicion.

Previously, her bloodline was too powerful, coveted by countless people; she was like a walking treasure, with virtually no friends she could trust.

But here, no one valued her bloodline, considering it quite inferior. They simply walked on the beach, leisurely exchanging insights, as if on a leisurely outing...

Perhaps this was the life she truly desired. Everyone's bloodline here was formidable, even vastly superior to hers. All of them devoutly pursued the Dao together, possessing greater opportunities. A flicker of realization passed through her mind. She had previously felt deeply humiliated, but now she thought this might be a tremendous opportunity.

She was a proud person.

But now she felt that being able to walk endlessly on the beach, to live with mutual trust and without constant apprehension, was also a form of happiness. Furthermore, following Renimansiga, this mysterious man walking on the beach and recounting ancient history, an unimaginable supreme Sage from antiquity...

...was also an unparalleled honor.