My Simulated Road to Immortality Chapter 2371: 1765: Zhen Shi Yin
Previously on My Simulated Road to Immortality...
“Who are you?”
A hand rested on his shoulder, chillingly cold beyond measure. It felt as if it could halt every trace of life force inside him, impacting him severely.
Zhang Fan swiftly invoked the True and False Changes for protection, but even so, he couldn't entirely halt the drain on his vitality.
Throughout his cultivation path to the Saint Realm, Zhang Fan had rarely battled. As a result, in this opening fight after reaching Sainthood, he faced a slight reversal.
Thankfully, while he hadn't attained the Dao via [Immortality], he had drawn certain benefits from it. The mild essence of Immortality surged softly like a gentle brook, warding off the total freeze.
As he steadily regained composure from the ambush, Zhang Fan's features hardened, his stare keen like daggers, zeroing in on the assailant immediately.
Without knowing the foe's background, so long as they fell within his detection, the Life Cutting Knife could lash out!
And it went beyond a lone strike.
A delicate jade hand emerged from nothingness, softly clutching the Life Cutting Knife.
Next, resembling the fold of plain white paper, the Life Cutting Knife divided in half, halves becoming eight. In merely one breath's time, the blades poured down like a torrent, approaching with dire threat!
“Who are you!?”
“Who are you!?”
“Who are you!?”
This served as both a probe into the other's origins and a challenge to their reality.
The sound reverberated like rolling thunder, hammering repeatedly.
Designed to wipe out the adversary utterly.
Paper Folding blended with Life Cutting, Wangji integrated with True and False.
At the initial glimpse of that ghostly pale spot, Zhang Fan sensed the enemy's might right away. Therefore, he released every divine skill in tribute!
The pale spot uttered a low moan, and the grip on Zhang Fan's shoulder faded away.
Still, its luster held firm and unwavering, showing no impact from Zhang Fan's full arsenal of Taoist methods!
Obviously, all the divine skills struck true, yet inexplicably, they produced no effect at all.
“This sensation—could it be the shield from True and False Changes?”
Zhang Fan felt a jolt in his spiritual awareness instantly.
Yet shortly after, he detected a variation.
“Not unaffected exactly; more like he's weathered such assaults countless times in the past. He's grown so used to them that he endures without truly bearing them!”
Zhang Fan dimly realized the strength of this pale spot might surpass his expectations by far. Thus, once he repelled it, he held back from further moves.
The pale spot's light dimmed, unveiling its shape and visage.
The likeness of a plain, slim middle-aged man.
“I am [Zhen Shi Yin],” the man declared with hands clasped, a slight grin on his face.
“Zhen Shi Yin?” Upon these three words surfacing in his spiritual sense, Zhang Fan experienced a faint ripple in his insight into the True and False Dao. It was as though this lean figure tied somehow to [Real].
Zhen Shi Yin resembled a typical mortal in every way, yet his mere presence there weighed upon Zhang Fan.
Zhang Fan withdrew silently, acting unaware, and responded, “I fail to see what you imply by the mastermind behind the scenes, Daoist Zhen.”
Zhen Shi Yin skipped exposing Zhang Fan's act, instead plainly disclosing, “The force stirring up this disorder in the Star Sea is, of course, the ruler of the True and False Dao.”
“Regarding you and the rest…”
“All of you are simply avatars he has formed.”
“Ava… Avatars.” Zhang Fan stood frozen in shock.
“Avatars? Ah, now I see.”
In no time, clarity struck him like emerging from slumber, grasping the whole truth. Relief mingled with a hint of disorientation in his mind.
The old saying holds that the true form of Mount Lu eludes those amid its peaks. Zhang Fan had quietly detected the lurking presence for ages, even breaking loose from scripted destiny step by step, absorbing various Mountain and Sea Extraordinary Dao Rules, and rising to Saint Realm.
Still, he had clung to the notion that some other figure pulled the strings.
And deep down, he had brushed aside any chance that he could be an avatar.
Only now, in hindsight, did Zhang Fan respond to the revelation.
Maybe it stemmed from the underlying guidance of the Mountains and Seas old fisherman, Xuan Yuanhong, and their like.
“Just because I held firm to my identity as a separate being, not another's avatar. That unyielding faith probably let me claim the Dao inheritance and advance to prove the Saint. Had my spiritual sense ever wavered toward being an avatar, even fleetingly, the Saint path would have closed off.”
Grasping this hazily, Zhang Fan sensed a bit of good fortune.
“You likely know already, Daoist, the Mountain and Sea endures infinite cycles of rebirth.”
“Shattering and fading without cease, in perpetual rounds.”
“True and False matters are illusions at their core.”
“But across endless trials, such a moment has never occurred before.” Zhen Shi Yin indicated the towering tree poised in the Void before them.
“Hence, we get this chance to behold the True and False Dao so intimately.”
An obvious wave of emotion colored Zhen Shi Yin's statement.
About the Mountain and Sea's rebirth loop, Zhang Fan possessed only loose theories.
Confirmation from Zhen Shi Yin brought little astonishment.
He concentrated mainly on the True and False Dao, prompting him to ask, “Did you discover something?”
Zhen Shi Yin gave another soft chuckle, “Without sight of it, what discovery is possible?”
“The True and False Dao chooses solely one individual. Exhaust all tricks, and still, contact or insight remains out of reach. I anticipated as much earlier, yet only here do I surrender all hope and release it.”
“So how did you persist with us through the recent minor Mountain and Sea reset?” This alone baffled Zhang Fan.
“Our endurance owes nothing to personal might. It comes from the labors of innumerable prior Heavenly Destiny Children.” Zhen Shi Yin shared openly.
“True and False Changes elude our comprehension or control, yet we can bend and warp the Heavenly Destiny Child's convictions, spurring them to freely bestow True and False power upon us.”