Accompanying the momentary appearance of the five figures' faces was a calm, gentle voice. It didn't seem directed at the intruding Li Buren, but rather a pre-recorded message.
"Shengde, the Hill-Guarding Immortal, greets later sages."
"Having achieved the Unnamed realm, transcendence is our goal. However, with the hidden threat of Dao Obliteration, we must not shirk our responsibility."
"We have fortuitously discovered a method to withstand this devastating calamity using projections in place of our physical bodies."
"We share this with you…"
The five figures spoke in unison. What followed wasn't ordinary sound, but something that imprinted a cultivation method directly onto Li Buren, surrounded by the figures. He felt no pain or discomfort, only a sensation of recalling long-forgotten memories, as if this knowledge had always belonged to him. He bypassed the usual process of learning and mastering, instantly achieving complete understanding.
However, to Li Buren's slight disappointment, the five figures imparted the method only because all the Immortal Domain chess pieces, equivalent in rank to an Unnamed True Immortal, had gathered. The Hill-Guarding Immortal viewed the chess pieces as a single entity, imprinting the technique onto this whole. Li Buren received only a fragment.
But even this fragment of a secret technique meant for Unnamed True Immortals was enough to broaden his horizons!
"This method is called 'Hill-Guarding Musings'."
"By the edge of the great ocean, there is a small, nameless hill."
"Shengde guarded the hill for one hundred and twenty-three epochs, witnessing the tides ebb and flow, life flourish and fade. Every insight was recorded in these musings. As time passed, the musings became complete…"
Li Buren processed the "memories" in his mind. The simple words painted a picture of a solitary figure, standing on a nameless hill by a vast ocean, watching the tides for one hundred and twenty-three epochs.
"This Hill-Guarding Immortal, capable of withstanding the Dao Obliteration Calamity with just five projections, is far more powerful than his humble musings suggest."
Li Buren exhaled, as if shaking off the weight of those eons.
"Sun Piaomiao's message mentioned the Heavenly Net Era. 'Epoch' must be the time unit used in the Immortal Realm. I wonder how many years in the Xuanhuang World correspond to one Immortal epoch."
"Regardless, one hundred and twenty-three epochs must be an incredibly long time."
"And the sea and hill he guarded for so long must be extraordinary."
Li Buren recalled the fable of the mountains and seas from the book possibly written by Sun Piaomiao.
"If the sea represents the Infinite Sea, then what does the mountain represent…?"
The Hill-Guarding Immortal Shengde's musings didn't just impart the method of using projections, but also detailed his thought process in developing it. It wasn't a sudden epiphany, but a gradual refinement of countless thoughts over eons.
Having received this method, Li Buren felt like he was experiencing Shengde's one hundred and twenty-three epochs, his body, soul, and mind reliving those years. Even facing only the mountains and the sea, the sheer volume of data almost overwhelmed him.
Fortunately, he shared the burden with the other Immortal Domain chess pieces. His divine sense, a projection of the Dao Net, and his body, fragments of Immortal Domain laws, allowed him to endure.
"No wonder the Hill-Guarding Immortal's projections only appear before Unnamed True Immortals. It's not stinginess, but that those below the Unnamed realm simply can't withstand it!"
Swept away by Shengde's thoughts, Li Buren felt like he was back in the Infinite Sea, each droplet around him containing eons of time.
"According to Shengde, the sea's erosion of the mountain has existed since ancient times. But like the tides in the mortal world, it fluctuates in intensity."
"Since he began guarding the hill, the sea's power has been steadily rising, far from reaching its estimated peak."
"Shengde noticed this in the twentieth epoch, and the following hundred epochs confirmed his observation."
"He warned others long ago, but perhaps his words went unheeded?"
"This…" Li Buren was puzzled. Shengde's narration provided the answer. Back then, he was still an ordinary True Immortal, not even having reached the Unnamed realm. Naturally, his words were ignored.
However, in the eighty-eighth epoch, Shengde finally reached the Unnamed realm. He didn't announce it, continuing to quietly guard the hill. Around that time, the Immortal Realm experienced an upheaval, distracting the Immortals from the distant hill guardian. The entire Immortal Realm seemed to forget him.
Until one day, a towering wave surged over the hill…
…
Snapping out of Shengde's seemingly mundane yet extraordinary life, Li Buren focused on the "Projection Dao Bearing" technique.
"According to Shengde, sitting on the hill and watching the fluctuating tides was like facing the countless Great Daos of the world."
"The crashing waves and the rhythm of the Great Dao are two sides of the same coin."
"Standing on the hilltop, like a boulder, one is constantly battered by the waves, gradually eroding, but also leaving one's own unique mark between the mountain and the sea."
"…"
Shengde's musings were incredibly profound. Even Li Fan, with his centuries of reincarnation experience, struggled to understand.
"If not for True Return and my experience in the Infinite Sea, even with this method, I would be completely lost, perhaps even dismissing it as a joke!"
"This method is fundamentally different from any cultivation system in the world."
But the brilliance of Shengde's musings lay in this: even if the recipient couldn't comprehend its essence, the imprint from the five figures allowed them to instinctively utilize the Projection Dao Bearing technique.
"It requires no personal expenditure, merely extracting the traces left in history and the Great Dao, transforming them into projections to bear the weight of Dao Obliteration…"
"Such a divine ability is truly beyond imagination!"
Moreover, Li Fan realized that Projection Dao Bearing wasn't just for resisting the Dao Obliteration Calamity. Dao Bearing was just one of its many functions.
"Invulnerability, immunity to all methods, immortality…"
"And most importantly, transcendence!"
"The fundamental method of escaping the confines of this world's Great Dao."
Extracting the traces left on the mountain and sea was also a process of severing all worldly connections. Then, unburdened and unbound by the Dao Net…
Li Fan felt a surge of yearning. Just then, Shengde's transmission reached its end. The Hill-Guarding Musings were fully imprinted.
The five projections bowed slightly to Li Buren, then flickered and dissipated, returning to their silent Dao-bearing state.
Li Buren solemnly returned the bow, understanding Shengde's hope that future sages would also use projections to bear the Dao.
"The Hill-Guarding Immortal's projections probably aren't limited to this wall."
"Where is he now, after leaving these projections? Has he left the current possibility?"
Thinking of the Lower Realm Star Seas that still clung to life despite the Dao Obliteration Calamity's ravages, Li Buren had a sudden realization. He didn't doubt that the Sea-Gazing, Hill-Guarding Immortal possessed the power to traverse possibilities.
"Regardless, leaving behind these Dao-bearing projections and a wondrous method for future generations to save the world, the Hill-Guarding Immortal has fulfilled his duty."
"He is worthy of the name 'Shengde' (great virtue)."
After a long contemplation, Li Buren returned to his senses and looked at the Immortal Domain chess pieces. They seemed different after being imprinted by Shengde. Previously, these fragments exuded a palpable, unsettling aura. Now, they were unremarkable, easily overlooked.
"Or perhaps, 'gradually detaching from this world' is a more accurate description."
A sense of caution arose within Li Buren. He hadn't forgotten that when he encountered True Return before, the Unnamed True Immortal's leg bone within the Immortal Domain seemed to react, flying towards him.
"The Unnamed realm transcends the concept of life and death."
"Although it's just a leg bone, still fragmented, who knows what might happen after receiving the Hill-Guarding Musings?"
Li Buren cautiously picked up a white chess piece. Ignoring the others, he manifested his original body from his Dao Net chess piece form.
A repulsive force struck him, and he tumbled down from the top of the cylindrical hall, carrying the Medicine King Cauldron.
(End of chapter)