Chapter 642: The Countdown to the Final End
No, perhaps from the very beginning, he had fallen into a misconception.
Chen Yan suddenly thought of something.
There was no doubt that Uncarved Simplicity Realm cultivators possessed the ability to single-handedly dominate an entire domain of heaven and earth.
Perhaps a Creating Illusion Realm Lord could also sweep across the Three Thousand Worlds with their own strength alone.
But the authority that an Uncarved Simplicity Realm cultivator obtained to govern a domain of heaven and earth was not due to their own personal power.
The authority of a Sage was granted by the Creating Illusion Realm Lord.
So then, what about the authority of a Lord?
"If the one governing these Three Thousand Worlds is Lord Qingluo..." Chen Yan said slowly.
"Then who is above Lord Qingluo?"
"The Primordial Beginning Realm Dao Venerable, and then above him, the Immortal Heaven Realm Dao Ancestor."
Zuo He answered.
"Those beings are truly able to touch the essence of the immortal path, able to birth or annihilate millions of worlds with a single thought."
As he spoke, Zuo He slowly raised his head, yet his pupils gazing at the sky could only reflect the pure white emptiness of this sea of consciousness.
"But what meaning is there in knowing of their existence?"
Immediately after, Zuo He continued.
"The life and death of this domain's heaven and earth are still governed by Lord Qingluo."
"If we're talking about the life and death of this domain..." Chen Yan paused for a moment, then continued.
"Approximately over a hundred thousand years ago from now, the Sage of Imperial Void left his legacy within this domain of heaven and earth, and its name was Heavenly Summit Mountain."
"Heavenly Summit Mountain..." Zuo He nodded thoughtfully.
"That name is quite similar to his mirror."
Indeed, it was precisely because Chen Yan had found the Heavenly Summit Mirror at the peak of Qingxuan Mountain that he began to speculate that Heavenly Summit Mountain on Chenping Continent was the legacy left by Bai Chen, the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void.
"Before Heavenly Summit Mountain came into being, not a single Immortal Ascension cultivator had ever appeared on Chenping Continent. For the cultivators of Chenping Continent, Dao Union was already the end of the Path to Immortality." Chen Yan continued.
"That's still far from enough."
Zuo He shook his head.
"It could be that this domain of heaven and earth is restricted by the corrupted laws of heaven and earth, and without external intervention, no one could ascend to immortality. Or it could be that Chenping Continent has simply not existed long enough, and the development of the immortal path has not yet reached the realms of Ascending to Immortality and beyond."
"It wasn't until after Heavenly Summit Mountain came into being that Chenping Continent produced its first Immortal Ascension cultivator. Then, after several tens of thousands of years, approximately sixty thousand years ago from now, Heavenly Summit Mountain encountered a calamity that was utterly undeserved."
Chen Yan said.
"A massive rift spanning tens of thousands of li was torn open in the sky, and from within it emerged a colossal Seven-Colored Flowing Gold Goddess Statue. With just a single clasp of its hands, the legacy of Heavenly Summit Mountain was utterly obliterated."
"The Mystic Maiden."
Zuo He said.
"If that Goddess Statue was several thousand zhang tall, then it was a weapon under the Lord's command, known as the Mystic Maiden."
As he spoke, Zuo He seemed to recall the past and continued with a sigh.
"Back when I first took control of Tianji Continent, Lord Qingluo also gifted me two Mystic Maiden statues several dozen zhang tall, to bolster my prestige when I had just entered the Uncarved Simplicity Realm."
"Lord Qingluo... is a good person?"
Hearing this, Chen Yan probed cautiously.
"Heh."
Hearing Chen Yan's question, Zuo He first let out a cold sneer, then straightened the hem of his black daoist robes and said.
"Good my ass!"
Chen Yan wasn't the least bit surprised by this answer.
"You're at least an Immortal Ascension cultivator. After struggling along the Path to Immortality for so many years, you should have comprehended one truth by now."
The Tianji Sage offered this admonition.
"The further a cultivator walks along the Path to Immortality, the higher their cultivation, the more rotten they become... gradually losing their humanity, turning cold-blooded. Everything they do is for profit, or rather, to climb higher... because if they didn't do this, amid the deception and intrigue of the cultivation world, they could never have made it this far."
Cultivation.
Was in itself the ultimate form of egotistical individualism.
Perhaps the cultivation world of Chenping Continent appeared to have deep bonds of brotherhood between fellow disciples within the various sects, and the vast majority of people possessed a strong sense of belonging to their sect.
But that was only because the position they stood at wasn't high enough yet.
From the height at which the Ultimate Sage of Heaven's Extremity stood, what he had just said wasn't wrong at all.
If a Creating Illusion Realm cultivator could govern the Three Thousand Worlds, then it meant that this Lord needed to stand out from at least three thousand Sages.
The further one walked along the Path to Immortality, the more self-serving one became, and the more lonely.
"The Lord often sends his Mystic Maidens to patrol within the chaotic flow of time... The reason the Mystic Maiden appeared over sixty thousand years ago and destroyed Heavenly Summit Mountain, I believe, is because the Mystic Maiden detected traces of an Uncarved Simplicity Realm cultivator's existence within this domain of heaven and earth, where such traces should not have existed at all."
Zuo He explained.
Chen Yan believed Zuo He was right.
Because of the Cause of Calamity.
Back then, when he had returned over sixty thousand years into the past through the Heavenly Summit Mirror, it was precisely because he had engaged in two-way communication with Elder Wen Mian, or rather, Li Haowen who had traveled back over sixty thousand years into the past. That was how he had been detected by that so-called "existence."
Chen Yan had read Li Haowen's lip movements through the Heavenly Summit Mirror, and thus had shouldered the Cause of Calamity.
And the Cause of Calamity was the karmic thread of Bai Chen, the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void.
All of these events, the underlying reasons behind them, had finally been fully explained at this very moment.
In other words, the "existence" that Li Haowen had spoken of back then referred to the Mystic Maiden or Lord Qingluo?
But somehow it still didn't quite feel right...
"So then, what exactly is Bai Chen plotting?"
Zuo He's voice yanked Chen Yan back from his own thoughts.
"To answer the Sage, this junior has already told you just about everything I know... However, above Chenping Continent right now, due to some calamity a few years ago, a rift identical to the one from over sixty thousand years ago has appeared once again. Only this time, the scale is somewhat smaller."
Chen Yan answered.
"However, it is currently still gradually expanding. Although it's only about a dozen li in size right now, if this trend of expansion continues, I'm afraid that one day, its size will match that rift spanning tens of thousands of li from over sixty thousand years ago."
Upon hearing this, the Tianji Sage paused for a few breaths, then fixed his gaze upon Chen Yan's eyes.
This exchange of looks did not make Chen Yan feel that his dao resonance erosion had accelerated.
In other words, Zuo He harbored no killing intent whatsoever.
"You know what that means, don't you?"
Immediately after, Zuo He asked.
"Perhaps it means... the countdown to the final end of this domain's heaven and earth."
Chen Yan answered.