Chapter 2060: Chapter 1594: The True Face of the Mountain Sea Revealed
The Tai Ji Wooden Stick was on its last breath, its black and white faces at both ends had become as thin as paper. The patterns on the staff had almost completely disappeared, leaving only a few remnants.
Having survived a catastrophe, it completely calmed down.
Faced with Li Fan’s Xuan Huang shadow feeding it, it was desperately eager. It even showed a face of flattery.
Only after a satisfying meal did it slowly recover, but it did not remain honest for long.
Just three days later, the Tai Ji Wooden Stick relapsed.
Having already realized Li Fan’s formidable strength, this time it did not choose to attack him again. Instead, it leapt directly off the ship, fleeing towards the source of the “scent” it sensed earlier in the Dao Yan.
Without noticing at all, the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat was closely following behind.
“This creature has some Spirit Wisdom, but its level of intelligence is truly not high.” The leader of the Twelve True Immortals, an old dwarf named Ruan Ruixu, observed and joked.
“As the elder said, a beast is just a beast.” Others responded in agreement.
The Tai Ji Wooden Stick’s memory was indeed poor.
Every time it was tormented to the brink of death in the Dao Yan, it instinctively fled back in as soon as there was an opportunity. There seemed to be something even more terrifying than the Dao Yan onboard the Xuanhuang Immortal Boat.
After a few initial laughs, the Twelve True Immortals finally realized something. Even though the Tai Ji Wooden Stick’s Spirit Wisdom was low, it still had the instinct of a living being to avoid harm. A few attempts at escape could be seen as temporary greed clouding its mind. But if it persisted continuously…
Everyone looked at Li Fan, standing independently at the bow, with an inscrutable expression. A chill surged in their hearts again.
Questions originally at the tip of their tongues were forcibly suppressed.
In the hearts of the Twelve True Immortals, regret began to stir for boarding this “pirate ship.” Despite its supposed course toward the Otherworldly Era, numerous signs indicated that the other party might not want to take them there so easily.
But apart from continuing to stay on the ship, a path leading to darkness lay ahead, they had no other choice. To trespass into the Dao Yan was a path to death. Resisting Li Fan, perhaps an even quicker demise. Despite the thousand grievances in the Twelve Brothers’ hearts, they could only silently endure.
The Twelve True Immortals did not realize that they misunderstood Li Fan in this regard.
It’s not that he didn’t want to take them to sail toward the Otherworldly Era.
Rather, Li Fan himself did not know where exactly this so-called Other Shore was, or how to get there.
“In theory, there should exist multiple similar lighthouse Signal Beacons in this vast Mountain Sea to guide the specific direction of the Other Shore. A new Transcendent Strongman only needs to persist until they find the nearest lighthouse. Then, continue the voyage towards the next lighthouse, and in time, they’ll reach the Otherworldly Era.”
“But for unknown reasons, despite drifting for so long in the Dao Yan, I’ve yet to see a trace of the lighthouse.”
“There are two possibilities: I have not condensed my own True Essence of Transcendence, so even if the lighthouse were right in front of me, I wouldn’t be able to perceive it. This possibility isn’t very high. After all, the Ye Gufan above my head isn’t fake.”
“The other possibility is that traversing these mountains and seas inherently requires such a lengthy timeframe. Just as in my memories of the lone sail, without directional guidance, the time required to traverse could exhaust a Transcendent Strongman’s lifespan completely. If there were definite directional guidance—however…”
“Even if the time required was cut a hundredfold, it still represents an unimaginably lengthy period.”
In this regard, Li Fan’s mind was already prepared.
He didn’t expect to reach the Other Shore quickly.
“Back when Zi Yi descended, he repeatedly mentioned ‘unwilling to help run errands,’ ‘not willing to make a pointless trip.’ This illustrates that even in the eyes of such a veteran Transcendent Strongman, the possibility of descending from the Other Shore is not an insignificant consumption.”
“But previously, when Primordial possibilities repeatedly involved those Transcendent Strongmen, they seemed to sense and descend instantly…”
Riding the waves within the Dao Yan, Li Fan’s heart faintly arose with a premonition.
In this vast Mountain Sea, it seemed that the concept of time flow essentially did not exist.
Or perhaps said, time flow only acted upon them.
No matter how long they stayed here, it wouldn’t affect any possibilities in the Mortal World.
It seems somewhat incredible, but having once reversed the flow of the River of Time, Li Fan could barely understand the reason.
“Leaving the Mortal World and entering the Mountain Sea is an instantaneous leap out of the River of Time. The moment of the jump, the River of Time seems to be relative ice sealed until reentry, when the River of Time resumes its flow.”
“If one views the Mountain Sea itself as a flourishing tree growing upward from below, then the numerous possibilities in the Mortal World are akin to the circles of the tree’s rings.”
“Below represents the past. Above indicates the future.”
“The rings representing possibilities are not mere planes, but three-dimensional, traversing the up and down of the tree according to time.”
“Originally, if the Dao Yan didn’t exist, the past and future of the Mountain Sea would be connected as a coherent whole. Those capable of reversing the flow upward could freely traverse, smoothly between different positions on the tree.”
“However, with the appearance of the Dao Yan, the Mountain Sea Tree was cut off at the waist.”
“Even if time could be reversed, the scope of activity is limited to the segment of the trunk currently occupied.”
“Moreover, the tissue originally belonging to the trunk between the rings has largely been consumed by the Dao Yan. Common living beings can only survive along the lines of the rings.”
“I reversed within the River of Time, going from top to bottom along the markings of the rings, longitudinally traversing within the Mountain Sea Tree. To cross Transcendence is to leave the line of the ring occupied, while moving laterally beneath the Mountain Sea Tree, resisting the Dao Yan and traveling.”