My Simulated Road to Immortality Chapter 2323 - 1738: Mountain Sea Enters the Painting
Previously on My Simulated Road to Immortality...
"Thrilling! Thrilling!"
"Back in those ancient times, we safeguarded the Mountain Sea, and today the Mountain Sea shields us in return! Indeed, the wheel of karma turns, and vengeance always catches up!"
In the midst of All Saints' manic cackles, the Mountain Sea gets torn apart into fragments by the surging Dao Yan deluge.
By all reason, after enduring such devastation, the Mountain Sea ought to vanish entirely. However, an unseen power appears to be covertly fighting back against the Void Realm's corrosion, compelling myriad shards of the Mountain Sea to cling together, preserving an illusion of 'integrity.'
Li Fan's divine sense sweeps across the Mountain Sea, quickly pinpointing the origin of this preserving energy. Sure enough, it stems from the divine sense remnants of Qiu Tianhui and his wife.
As the Dao Path representing the creatures of the Mountain Sea, they serve as a pivotal link spanning from time's dawn to its dusk. The pair, manifested through divine sense, aren't truly alive but exist as abstract concepts.
Normally, they remain oblivious to their own nature, yet when the Mountain Sea confronts utter ruin, the couple instinctively gazes skyward, their minds slowly clouding over.
Their figures appear to quiver violently, each tremor peeling off a spectral silhouette that morphs into glowing specks ascending toward the firmament.
These glowing specks fail to spawn new life; instead, they rush to the fractured zones of the Mountain Sea, acting like healing salve. Upon integration into the Mountain Sea, the breaking process halts abruptly.
"Qiu Tianhui and his wife truly prepared a final safeguard!"
"They're harnessing the essence of sentient beings to sustain the Mountain Sea. It's akin to a desperate elixir on the verge of demise, offering brief revival, yet in the end, it won't rescue the Mountain Sea!"
All Saints grasp this truth, but they choose to watch without interference.
Their focus largely stays locked on the concealed pathways inside the Mountain Sea.
As the Dao Yan torrent corrodes further, the Mountain Sea's natural counteraction finally emerges, far fiercer than All Saints had anticipated.
A colossal gale erupts across the entire Mountain Sea.
The surviving potentialities, which had once endured the Dao Yan onslaught, now get swept into a horrifying maelstrom as this tempest rages through the Mountain Sea's depths, leading to their swift demise.
Myriad potentialities are collectively erased, converting into the most refined essence of Mountain and Sea Power.
Sentient beings, societies, potentialities, Dao Paths—all that populates the Mountain Sea dissolves into oblivion amid this immense tempest.
Only the core of the Mountain Sea endures.
Utterly pristine, and overwhelmingly potent.
As though reverting to its primal, undivided state, the Mountain Sea embodies nothing but itself.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deafening clashes reverberate from every part of the Mountain Sea, with multiple streams surging forth—most notably, the earlier Dao Yan floods penetrating the pathways, now brutally driven back by the Mountain and Sea Power.
When foes withdraw, we press forward.
An unimaginably vast surge of life force pours from the Mountain Sea's pathways. The fragmented Mountain Sea begins to gradually reform.
Sensing the precise peril from outside, the reborn Mountain Sea refrains from generating numerous potentialities.
It also avoids displaying the fabled visage of the Taichu Immortal Realm.
Rather, resembling a carved monolith, the Mountain Sea etches its countless aspects into stone.
Devoid of the notion of 'transformation,' it radiates a singular aura of grave dignity.
The Mountain and Sea Stone Plate materializes, enveloping all within the Mountain Sea under its influence, stripping away vibrancy and integrating everything into the plate's carvings.
Not even the All Saints inside the Xuanji Ring evade the effect unscathed.
The Xuanji Ring's external white glow solidifies like frost. The petrifying force of the Stone relentlessly seeps inward.
"Retreat!"
Li Fan, recognizing the dire turn, promptly directs the Xuanji Ring alongside All Saints to teleport away into the Void Realm.
What was once a swift escape now proves nearly unattainable amid the Mountain Sea Stone Plate's domain.
All Saints' instincts warn them: delay means sharing the Mountain Sea's doom, etched eternally in stone like its fate.
On the edge of survival, they unleash their full might. Various Taoist Radiances shimmer, bathing the Xuanji Ring in vivid hues.
They shatter the Mountain Sea's petrification barrier by force, achieving teleportation into the Void Realm at last.
Behind them lingers only a trailing streak from the Xuanji Ring's encircling light, etched upon the immobilized Mountain Sea.
The fleeing Saints, hearts still pounding, glance backward.
In a twist of irony, everyone once shunned the Dao Yan Void Realm. Yet now, against the Void Realm's fury, the calcified Mountain Sea poses an even greater threat.
At minimum, with All Saints' prowess, they could persist amid the Dao Yan chaos for some duration.
But confronting this Mountain and Sea Stone...
Had All Saints lingered, their end would mirror the Mountain Sea's: fully transmuted into an indivisible stone plate.
It stands resolute like an unyielding boulder, impervious to the pounding Dao Yan surges.
Faintly, amid the stone plate's motifs, the final vista of the Mountain Sea's interior reveals itself.
But now, no vitality persists, no prospects linger.
The Mountain Sea stands eternally suspended in this instant.
"Tai... Taiwei Daoist!"
Amid All Saints' quiet despair, Guardian Hill's shocked cry jolts their spirits once more.
Tracing Guardian Hill's stare, they behold the imposing silhouette of Taiwei Saint Emperor inscribed upon the Mountain Sea's celestial vault.
Resembling a radiant orb, he shields the Holy Dynasty's people, battling fiercely against the abrupt catastrophe of the Mountain Sea's alteration.
Though petrified, Taiwei Saint Emperor's visage remains vividly discernible.
His gaze directed upward, hands clasped behind, betraying no trace of dread.
Alas, the Saint's might proves inadequate against the Mountain Sea's petrification disaster.
Not only does he fail to preserve the Holy Dynasty's inhabitants, but he meets his own entombment as well.
"Idiotic! Why won't Taiwei Daoist flee!"
"It's not that he couldn't, but that he wouldn't. Taiwei's entire basis rests upon the mighty Holy Dynasty. With the Holy Dynasty destroyed and its people lost, even a narrow escape would cripple his power greatly. Better to perish on his terms than serve as prey for rivals."
"What is Fellow Taoist Guisong implying here?"
"Haha..."
The petrification of Mountain Sea and Taiwei's fall stir All Saints toward reclaiming their authentic selves.
Li Fan remains unperturbed. Having allied with Guardian Hill and Morality, he readily curbs the other Saints.
His eyes lock intently upon the Mountain Sea Stone Plate ahead.
This Stone Plate evokes the same sensation as the Mountain and Sea Boundaryless Stele.
The Mountain and Sea Boundaryless Stele bears countless Dao imprints. Similarly, the Mountain Sea Stone Plate's protruding patterns align with the diverse Taoist Principles of the Mountain Sea!
"Absorbing this Stone Plate would equate to devouring every Dao within the Mountain Sea!" Li Fan's notion flashes abruptly.
Yet, observing the aftermath of the Void Realm clashing with the Mountain Sea Stone Plate, he discards the thought immediately.
Visible now, the Dao Yan incursions that had seeped into Mountain Sea's pathways not only retreat but the Void Realm's consumption yields to the advancing petrification, falling back under Mountain Sea's sway.
The Mountain and Sea Stone Plate presents not eroded remnants of the Void, but an intact vista.
By forfeiting its own life essence, it nullifies the Void Realm's eons of erosion in a single stroke!
Even the Dao Yan tides and Void Incarnate yearn to encroach upon the Mountain Sea Stone Plate once more.
But the unified, seamless Stone Plate stands firm, unyielding.
While dissecting the Mountain Sea, it mysteriously reunites it, and fully obscures the Mountain Sea's pathways as well.