My Simulated Road to Immortality Chapter 2325: 1740: The New God Descends Upon the World
The void that appears when the Void Realm swallows everything is entirely distinct in nature.
Dao Yan consumes parts, but the whole of Mountain and Sea endures. It happens in patches, resembling a massive tree pierced by countless wounds. So long as the mighty tree stands unbroken, the Saints roaming freely across the mountains and seas can deploy their powers to dodge the ruined zones and ensure their continued existence.
Yet the emptiness invading the mountains and seas now feels like an inferno igniting from the tree's very base. The furious blaze engulfs the entire mountains and seas, leaving nowhere to flee.
Should the Saints seek refuge inside the Void Realm, they only shift their position. Their ties to Mountain and Sea persist unbroken. This hidden blaze will trace those invisible bonds, dooming the Saints alongside everything else!
“Has the battle of the Divine Split truly ended with Mountain and Sea's defeat?”
In the midst of every Saint's astonishment, a profound terror surged up instinctively in their hearts.
This foretells their unavoidable end.
Once Mountain and Sea vanishes, the New God ascends to power. Everything Mountain and Sea claimed from the ancient gods, everything Living Beings gained from Mountain and Sea, all must be surrendered back.
Only by leaving Mountain and Sea behind, placing the timeline after the Divine Split, might one evade this disaster.
From a distance, all the Saints watched the far edge of Mountain and Sea, where endless eons spanning trillions of years transformed into sparkling lights, streaming and merging toward Mountain and Sea's origin.
It started in stillness, but as the lights kept accumulating, a powerful surge built up steadily.
Despite the Void Realm stretching across the space between, the colossal waves rolled softly right through it.
Before this irresistible current, the Saints sensed a drawing force from Mountain and Sea's dawn, pulling them like a call to their roots. They could hold their ground for now, but inside them, stars started slipping away without control.
Not only the inhabitants of Mountain and Sea suffered this fate.
The Void Realm itself failed to avoid the transformation.
Within the gloom, dark forms appeared to churn and heave endlessly. Thin, shadowy strands escaped from the Void Realm, hurrying toward Mountain and Sea's inception.
As though ripped apart and yanked free, a thunderous roar and shrill scraping echoed in unison.
“Even the things once absorbed by the Void Realm can't break free. This is…”
“Who exactly is this Divine Split Saint?”
During this chaotic turmoil, Li Fan kept his focus locked on the Mountain and Sea Stone Plate.
The stone-frozen Mountain and Sea proved somewhat more resilient against this pull of return than in normal times.
But the difference was slight.
After holding out for almost double the duration, it still succumbed to the inevitable return to the divine.
Like sharp winds carving away, the etchings and patterns on the Stone Tablet were eroded bit by bit. All the Taoist Principles Li Fan had grasped from the Mountain and Sea Stone Plate were carried off by the torrent, heading to the New God at Mountain and Sea's start.
In the end, the once-solid Stone Tablet crumbled into myriad grains of dust, fading into nothingness.
“Fellow Taoist Zhou Hui, you mentioned going back to the Void Realm earlier. I… want to try that.” In this dire instant, Duan Chen spoke up first.
The force of the return to the divine grew ever stronger.
As the Saints wavered in doubt, not just a tenth of their essence had eroded away, but their forms wavered unsteadily too. They resembled ink spilled in chaos, drifting helplessly toward Mountain and Sea's origin.
Even the Saints' reach into the outer world faded swiftly. In particular, their voices transmitting grew choppy and weak, barely louder than the hum of distant bugs.
If Li Fan hadn't stayed at full power, he could have been lost in the vast spectacle of Mountain and Sea yielding to the divine.
Amid the Saints' plight, Li Fan alone preserved his utmost vigor.
This was solely because, the instant Li Fan detected the shift, he cloaked himself in the True and False Changes.
Existing in that hazy space between reality and illusion, he faced the mighty tide of return to the divine without faltering, calm and unburdened.
If the current Mountain and Sea flowed like a boundless river rushing to the Eastern Sea, then Li Fan's bond with Guardian Hill and morality resembled a simple skiff adrift on its waters.
Unable to halt the river's rush, they could at least shield themselves for the moment.
Li Fan set aside the Saints' pleas for now and instead furrowed his brow, inquiring, “What are your thoughts on this New God, Guardian Hill?”
“Even though it claimed the prize from Mountain and Sea's Divine Split…”
“I doubt it's a genuine god. It's probably just kicking off a fresh era for Mountain and Sea.” Guardian Hill cut straight to the truth.
Li Fan couldn't suppress a grin: “For one thing, in the Great Dao True Hall, every dao stands firm without stirring. For another, our True and False Changes remain as solid as a mountain.”
“Since we're faring this well, there must be others like us within Mountain and Sea. Against that so-called True God, it's still leagues away in power.”
“Take the Void Realm too. Sure, it had to cough up the Mountain and Sea it devoured, but the Void Realm endures. And don't forget the [Star]. This New God will surely clash with the Void Realm. In my view, it's nothing more than another loop beginning anew, doomed to the same lonely starfall as before.” morality nodded along.
“That said…” Guardian Hill, sensing some hidden peril, grew grave all at once.
“Unlike Mountain and Sea, this New God likely won't stay passive. Once it clears out the remnants of the old Mountain and Sea, next it'll come for us holdouts.”
“No worries, then let it sample the might of Hai Zhen!” Li Fan laughed lightly.
Stirring echoes of his former life's recollections, Li Fan harbored zero uncertainty about Hai Zhen's ability to overpower this New God.
Across innumerable prior loops, spectacles identical to this day's had unfolded.
Yet each time, Hai Zhen restored the balance.
“Since Hai Zhen can reclaim the Star in a mere thought, he can just as easily cast off the divine mantle with the next.”
“We'll go against the flow and get a closer look at this New God.” Li Fan narrowed his eyes and declared.
Guardian Hill and morality readily consented.
“Regarding the other Saints…”
In the midst of the divine return's deluge, the Saints could no longer hold their shapes intact.