My Simulated Road to Immortality Chapter 2385 - 1772: Truth and Falsehood

As soon as every trace of Starlight got fully consumed.

All aspects of the external realm, visions, noises, everything faded away.

Absolute, untainted darkness and hush completely engulfed Zhang Fan.

Besides Zhang Fan, no other entity lingered.

The very idea of Time no longer persisted.

After an prolonged dead silence, a faint, whispering noise abruptly echoed in Zhang Fan’s ears.

Within the utter stillness, it boomed like thunder.

"This is..."

Zhang Fan detected an odd familiarity in the voice, though he failed to place it right then.

Although the Return to God had zipped by in an instant, to Zhang Fan, it appeared that endless eons had elapsed.

Even his recollections started to fade and muddle.

Thus, he naturally yearned to hear it more clearly.

Similar to a lone cicada's cry, followed by a swarm of thousands.

Just moments before, it was mere soft murmurs; in the blink of an eye, it swelled into a vast, majestic orchestra.

"Xuan Yuanhong, Master of Slaying Destiny, the old fisherman..."

Names both known and alien began surfacing in Zhang Fan’s Spirit Consciousness one by one.

Leaving him in slight doubt.

Zhang Fan had forgotten the identities of these individuals.

Yet their raspy calls carried a sense of urgency, as though desperate to convey something to Zhang Fan.

Sensing their feelings, Zhang Fan attempted to steady himself and block out the surrounding disorderly sounds.

However, events unfolded contrary to his desires.

Before long, those recognizable voices drowned in the flooding wave that followed.

Fresh voices started to emerge.

Some familiar, others unfamiliar.

So recognizable that Zhang Fan could name them instantly, yet unfamiliar due to the absence of any memories in his Spirit Consciousness.

Zhang Fan faintly realized something amiss.

"Am I..."

"Decaying?"

In that instant, Zhang Fan sank into profound bewilderment and disorientation.

Suddenly, his objective resurfaced in his thoughts.

God-slaying.

His bold ambitions from before remained sharp in memory, his victory in engulfing Mountain Sea and shattering Star, his cultivation level, strength, and bearing all at their zenith.

He stood ready to challenge the legendary fallen True God.

Yet he never anticipated...

No True God appeared.

What awaited him instead was boundless isolation and obscurity.

In a flash, an eternity stretched out.

His form and soul commenced crumbling and waning.

And what lay stored inside him, everything he had previously absorbed, started to stir.

This deviated sharply from his expectations.

As if tricked, a blazing anger abruptly flared up inside Zhang Fan.

"Come out!"

"You get out here for me!"

He raged, bellowing in fury.

But not even he could perceive his own outcry.

The Dark Void stayed timeless and unaltered.

Like frigid ocean waves, it quietly absorbed Zhang Fan.

At that juncture, Zhang Fan sensed the piercing chill within the enveloping darkness.

He noticed his vitality abruptly diminishing, the essential ground beneath him swiftly vanishing. Instinctively, he sought to draw in air.

Yet he proved unable to halt this process.

The noises around him intensified densely.

Resembling oppressive clouds that blocked out the heavens and light.

Zhang Fan resembled a perishing colossal creature.

Weary, sprawled on the earth, powerless to resist.

Under the blazing sunlight, his flesh rotting, preyed upon by insects and vermin.

"I am dying."

This awareness streaked across his mind.

Then a profound reluctance welled up fiercely in Zhang Fan’s core.

"I toiled relentlessly, rising from a mere ant-like clone to this point. Devoured the origin, engulfed Mountain Sea, obliterated Lone Star. Nearly ascended to Godhood!"

"How could I perish in such an absurd manner?"

Zhang Fan lashed out in wrath, attempting to scatter the insects buzzing around his form.

But as he extended his limb, it turned into a breeding ground for the swarm.

Rather than bettering things, the ambient noises amplified further.

Echoing like a colossal surge.

Despite myriad regrets, Zhang Fan sensed his being fading, steadily approaching oblivion.

In a stupor, he appeared to catch a terrifying munching noise.

It felt as though in the shadows, an enormous entity was methodically consuming him.

Unlike those minuscule pests, its consumption proceeded leisurely and refined.

Almost whimsical, savoring in silence the downfall of Zhang Fan, the "New God."

Like dousing with icy liquid amid winter, the overwhelming wrath in Zhang Fan’s heart quenched at once.

Fear alone persisted.

At this point, no impulse to fight back stirred in his Spirit Consciousness.

Only a frantic urge to flee from that entity's jaws.

But its devouring proved inevitable, akin to destiny, impossible to evade.

Zhang Fan could merely observe in helplessness, clearly witnessing every part of his body getting gnawed, torn, ingested.

Followed by dissolution.

All that he had formerly consumed vanished through this intangible breakdown.

In the end, solely Zhang Fan himself endured.

The following instant, even Zhang Fan himself neared total consumption.

Freed from the weight of others, a fresh spark of survival hope ignited in Zhang Fan abruptly.

He had lost track of much, nearly all in fact.

But one element he retained clearly.

"True..."

"True or false..."

Like a beacon igniting in the void, though wavering, it momentarily lit up Zhang Fan’s scattered cognition.

"True or false... Dao Mark?"

He dimly recalled a realm where [True or False] was being cultivated.

Merely one step from emergence, yet confined within Mountain Sea, it could never fully manifest.

On his journey to Dao validation and godhood, he refrained from pulling that realm into his core.

Allowing it simply to evolve.

"It’s still there!"

As though glimpsing salvation, the surviving fragment of Zhang Fan blazed to life entirely.

He strained to widen his gaze, seeking that solitary sanctuary amid the infinite gloom.

"There it is!"

Remembrance surged back, and shortly Zhang Fan located his aim.

An everlasting realm, motionless and adrift.

As if present from the dawn of creation.

Immutable across epochs.

The mute consumption in the shadows disregarded him completely.

As if seizing the last lifeline for endurance, Zhang Fan countered the invading erosion with his leftover Divine Sense, and promptly arrived at that everlasting realm.

Even merely a fragment of it granted Zhang Fan an unparalleled serenity.

All encroaching dangers dissolved instantly, and Zhang Fan truly endured.

The obscurity receded, Time reclaimed its significance.

Zhang Fan regained his might.

After all, he had once ingested the whole of Mountain Sea and even drawn in Lone Star.

Even a mere vestige sufficed to deem him "powerful."

He gradually restored his calm.

What he had just undergone resembled nothing less than a harrowing dream.

Even presently, Zhang Fan struggled to grasp precisely what had transpired.

But the recognizable [True or False] essence emanating from this everlasting realm filled him with profound security.

Logic slowly resurfaced.

"It truly did nurture successfully?"

This marked the initial coherent notion that arose in Zhang Fan’s Spirit Consciousness.