"An Immortal from the Other Shore?" Li Fan's pupils contracted, and he could not help leaning forward.

"Do you mean that Other Shore?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes and no." Inherit Dao seemed to sink into his memories, his expression turning somewhat dazed.

Only after a long while did he return to his senses. He gently pointed at the wisps of green smoke floating before Li Fan.

Amid the curling smoke, numerous images emerged.

These were memories from the time when Inherit Dao had been a spirit stone at the edge of the Mountain and Sea.

"The legendary Other Shore is indeed a place yearned for by all living beings in the Immortal Realm. Even my master went there after achieving Transcendence. However, the term 'Other Shore' does not exclusively refer to that sacred land."

"Anything beyond the realm of possibilities of an unknown world can be called the Other Shore."

"In the ancient Immortal Realm, immortal coffins would occasionally drift across the Mountains and Seas, accompanied by the Dao Annihilation Calamity. The Nameless beings sleeping inside them had, for the most part, watched their own homelands perish in the wake of Dao Annihilation. Yet they had been unable to find a way to escape their predicament. In search of a glimmer of hope, they sealed themselves inside immortal coffins and drifted with the currents through the Mountains and Seas, hoping to find another place where they could dwell..."

As Li Fan listened, he could not help thinking of the previous Hunger Immortal and the distinct aura of the Great Dao it possessed, which clearly originated from beyond the [Yuanchu] possibility.

'It seems that it might have been one of those immortals from within the coffins.'

'Unable to cross between possibilities through its own strength, it could only rely on an immortal coffin to drift across the void. Its strength had not reached the realm of Transcendence, yet the coffin had endured the great tide of Dao Annihilation long enough to reach another possibility. Such strength must rank among the very best even among the Nameless.'

Li Fan's thoughts raced.

But another question soon arose in his mind.

"Then what exactly are these so-called immortal coffins? How can they protect those Nameless beings from the erosion of Dao Annihilation? If we collected enough immortal coffins, could we not construct an unsinkable vessel that would drift forever atop the great tide of Dao Annihilation?" Li Fan asked aloud.

Inherit Dao laughed derisively. "There is no such thing as forever. At best, it is like trying to stop boiling water by ladling it out. Those immortal coffins are actually condensations of the Great Daos that remain at the very end of a possibility."

"They still cannot prevent the invasion of Dao Annihilation. However, through a special method of compression and condensation, they can delay its erosion as much as possible. I do not know who originally created this method, but somehow, it has become universally applicable throughout the myriad heavens. And it is indeed remarkably effective, allowing the immortals within the coffins to gain a considerable amount of time to drift through the void."

"I remember that my master once witnessed an immortal coffin with his own eyes and even retrieved it. Unfortunately, the Nameless being inside had long since decayed and perished. Out of pity for its fate, my master refined its remains, together with the immortal coffin, into a stubborn stone similar to me. He then cast it beyond the Mountains and Seas, hoping that one day it might regain its vitality..."

Li Fan stared at the stubborn stone in Inherit Dao's memories. For some inexplicable reason, a sense of familiarity arose in his heart.

Yet no matter how thoroughly he searched his memories, he could not find the source of that feeling.

It was only when Inherit Dao waved his hand and dispersed the image that Li Fan suddenly snapped to attention. The stubborn stone shattered into countless points of light.

Every fragment derived from that stone looked remarkably like a medicinal pill!

"The Medicine King Sect. The square stone?"

The Dao Refining Medicine King Scripture had been passed down by Sun Piaomiao. Its origin lay in a massive square stone upon which he habitually sat while refining pills.

No matter what other method one used to examine it, the square stone appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary, unremarkable rock. Only when one firmly believed that it was a medicinal pill and swallowed it would a faint voice of inheritance sound beside one's ears.

This peculiar principle, whereby the whole concealed its nature while its fragments revealed the Dao, was something Li Fan had encountered only in Sun Piaomiao's inheritance. Yet now, he had glimpsed the same phenomenon in Inherit Dao's memories.

'Could Sun Piaomiao have been transformed from that stubborn stone?'

'After drifting through the mountains and seas for countless ages, his immortal body had already decayed. He would indeed have had the conditions necessary to glimpse the hidden secrets of the mountains and seas.'

'Moreover...'

Li Fan recalled something Sun Piaomiao had once said in Liu Ruchen's memories.

"'Birth, aging, illness, and death. These are eternal principles of the Great Dao. Even this starry sky cannot escape them, let alone you.'"

Li Fan's thoughts grew still.

'Those words do sound like something spoken by someone who has truly experienced the birth and death of a Great Dao. Moreover, his method of compressing and folding True Immortal seal script characters into Go pieces to transform them into an Immortal Domain bears some resemblance to the immortal coffins.'

'If he truly was a reincarnation of an immortal from within a coffin...'

Inherit Dao seemed not to notice the unusual thoughts stirring in Li Fan's mind. After dispersing the image of the stubborn stone, he continued speaking about the immortals from within the coffins.

"You mentioned earlier that the Dao Sword and Dao Saber wielded by the Guangwu Star Sea came from another possibility. This proves that they possess the means to establish connections with other possibilities. Although they might not be capable of crossing between possibilities themselves, they should at least be able to retrieve or capture things from beyond their own."

Inherit Dao smiled. "Junior Brother, it seems you have encountered a formidable enemy this time. Are you afraid?"

Li Fan played along, laughing freely. "With Senior Brother by my side, why should I fear a mere immortal from a coffin? Even if a Transcendent expert appeared, I would still dare to fight with everything I have!"

Clearly pleased by Li Fan's boldness, Inherit Dao smiled. However, his expression soon grew serious.

"Confidence is a good thing, Junior Brother, but you must not become careless. After all, these immortals from within the coffins managed to survive the great Dao Annihilation Calamity, which destroys entire possibilities. Their strength is certainly not to be underestimated."

"Moreover, the Guangwu Star Sea sent out that immortal coffin specifically in response to your method of subduing the Dao Sword and Dao Saber. I fear the coffin was not chosen at random..."

"Speaking of which, Junior Brother, how exactly did you subdue those two weapons? Even I might find it difficult to accomplish such a feat." Inherit Dao gazed at Li Fan with a genial smile as he suddenly posed the question.

Li Fan had naturally prepared an answer long ago.

Without the slightest hesitation, he took out the Dao Sword and Dao Saber, then demonstrated the Myriad Aspects Dao Net before Inherit Dao.

Li Fan had used this divine ability during his previous confrontation with Inherit Dao, so it was nothing unfamiliar to him. However, in the next instant, the purplish-black aura surging from within the Dao Net caused Inherit Dao's expression to change.

"These Dao Sword and Dao Saber indeed originate from another possibility. Even the Great Dao of Wuji cannot move them in the slightest. However, they remain confined within the mountains and seas and have yet to transcend the mortal world. The core of my Myriad Aspects Dao Net is the Ink Death Celestial Spirit, which wields a power close to Dao Annihilation. Naturally, it can suppress them!"

Li Fan spoke with an air of absolute confidence.

The illusory figure of the Ink Death Celestial Spirit, wreathed in swirling purple-black qi, floated out from the Myriad Aspects Dao Net and stood before Inherit Dao.

Inherit Dao was a spirit stone that had been nurtured at the boundary where the mountains and seas met. Naturally, he was no stranger to the aura produced by the fusion of mountains and seas.

Upon seeing the illusory figure of the Ink Death Celestial Spirit, he instinctively rose to his feet, his face revealing a trace of tension.

"Senior Brother, there is no need to worry. This power is entirely under my control." Li Fan withdrew the Ink Death Celestial Spirit and spoke calmly.

"This... where did it come from?" A trace of confusion and uncertainty flashed through Inherit Dao's eyes.

Li Fan noticed his reaction clearly, so he did not lie.

"Senior Brother, you and I both came from the [Lanke Dao Field]. You should naturally know about the various wondrous aspects of this experimental space."

Seeing Inherit Dao nod slightly, Li Fan continued, "In the world I inhabit, there are entities known as the Spirits of Heaven and Earth. They are, broadly speaking, manifestations of the laws of heaven and earth."

"Ink Death is one of them. I happened to discover its wondrous properties, so I tried every possible means to tame it..."

Li Fan spun his tale, mixing truth with falsehood as he recounted the events in an unhurried manner.

The Ink Death Celestial Spirit could be considered one of Li Fan's most important secrets. Having suddenly revealed it now, even Inherit Dao could not help being deeply shaken.

The most ingenious aspect of this lie was that the Myriad Aspects Dao Net's ability to suppress the Dao Sword and Dao Saber had only emerged after Li Fan subdued the two weapons.

However, unless someone was the master of the Ink Death Celestial Spirit, it would be exceedingly difficult to discover the truth.

What Inherit Dao had witnessed with his own eyes was the Myriad Aspects Dao Net, empowered by the Ink Death Celestial Spirit, effortlessly suppressing the Dao Sword and Dao Saber.

Inherit Dao could not help exclaiming in amazement, "Junior Brother, you truly have remarkable luck. If I am not mistaken, this should be one of the objectives the Immortal Realm originally hoped to achieve through its experiments."

"The power of merging mountains and seas."

"The starry sky where I first developed spiritual intelligence also contained a similar creation. It was the springhead that washed the stream..."

"However, compared with your Ink Death, Junior Brother, it falls short by more than just a little."

Although Inherit Dao felt somewhat envious, that was all it amounted to. Having received the enlightenment of Lord Hill Guardian, he had no intention of seizing his junior brother's treasure for himself.

"By the way, Senior Brother, do you know why the Immortal Realm suddenly abandoned this experimental Dao Field back then? They even left behind Master's inheritance without attending to it. From my observations, it seems we may already be close to finding a genuine solution to Dao Annihilation." Li Fan looked puzzled.

Li Fan's words did not reveal that he knew the experimental site's original purpose had been to capture the so-called 'Supreme Treasure of Salvation.'

Instead, he simply steered the conversation toward the Dao Annihilation Calamity and the means of resisting it.

Inherit Dao fell silent for a moment.

Suddenly, he looked at Li Fan with a somewhat peculiar expression.

"How do you know they didn't?"

"Hmm?" Li Fan was somewhat bewildered.

"This Dao Field was built by the Immortal Realm at tremendous expense and through immense effort. There is no possibility that it would have been abandoned all of a sudden."

"Perhaps it is empty now because they already accomplished what they set out to achieve."

"But the Immortal Realm was ultimately destroyed, and the Dao Annihilation Calamity still descended." Li Fan was astonished.

Inherit Dao sighed. "Junior Brother, you are being a little too naive. Even someone with Master's breadth of mind had no intention of standing firm against Dao Annihilation, resisting it, and saving an entire realm. Otherwise, he would not have departed so unconcernedly just as the Dao Annihilation Calamity was reaching its peak. What, then, can we expect from everyone else?"

"From beginning to end, the immortals of the Immortal Realm, including the Ruling Immortal Emperors, were pursuing only one thing: a method that would allow most True Immortals to survive."

"If the Immortal Realm is gone, they can simply rebuild it on the Mountain Shangfang."

"Ultimately, the Other Shore is the place everyone truly believes can resolve the calamity brought about by the fusion of mountains and seas."

"Everything else..."

"Is irrelevant to the overall situation."

Listening to these words, Li Fan could not help being stunned.

"Then what about the destruction of the Immortal Realm, and the countless True Immortals who fell like ants from the heavens..."

Inherit Dao smiled. "Those who died in the calamity of destruction were never included in the category of 'the majority.' Those who departed were the true representatives of the 'Immortal Realm.'"

"As for the so-called Three Treasures of Avoiding World, they were nothing more than abandoned wretches trying to save themselves."

...

Li Fan vaguely felt that something was wrong with this explanation.

"Then what about the Four Sage Lords of the Immortal Realm? Three of the four perished. Are you saying they, too, do not count as part of the true Immortal Realm?"

Inherit Dao let out a distant sigh.

"Lianshan, Guihai, and Taiyi. Those three Sage Lords simply no longer wished to live. Look at the Great Sage Jingfen. Is he not still alive and well? Does that mean the Great Sage Jingfen is more powerful than the three who came before him?"

"Besides, the supposed deaths of those three Sage Lords might not have been genuine deaths at all."

"They merely chose to abandon certain things."

Perhaps because Li Fan had previously revealed the secret of his Ink Death Celestial Spirit and thereby earned Inherit Dao's complete trust, Inherit Dao explained everything in considerably greater detail this time.

Li Fan gradually recovered from his shock and slowly reflected on the implications of Inherit Dao's words.

"Senior Brother, do you mean that Lianshan, Guihai, and Taiyi, the three Sage Lords who searched throughout the mountains and seas, were actually one and the same person?"

"Perhaps they were not originally. But ever since they opened up the Mountain Shangfang and connected it to the Infinite Spring, that has been the case."

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