The initial fusion of two Daos was the most challenging. The Grand Rat Immortal cultivated the Dao of Imperial Law. The more subjects he ruled, and the more loyal they were, the greater his power. Two hundred million years of accumulation had brought his Dao of Imperial Law to its theoretical peak. All under heaven bowed before him.
It was this supreme Dao of Imperial Law that allowed him to effortlessly absorb a second Dao, treating it like a subservient subject. One became two, two became three. Under the guise of imperial decrees, he secretly summoned True Immortals and devoured them one by one.
Initially, he targeted weaker, less renowned True Immortals. But as his Daos merged, he grew bolder.
Despite his growing greed, the Grand Rat Immortal hadn't forgotten his original purpose: to embody the Three Sages and save the crumbling world. Under his rule, the world, teetering on the brink of Dao Obliteration, endured for another hundred million years, seemingly defying its inevitable end.
But all stories must conclude.
After being stalled for eons, the Dao Obliteration seemed to lose patience. It gathered its forces and launched a concentrated attack. One day, the Grand Rat Immortal discovered, to his horror, that the pressure of Dao Obliteration upon the Immortal Realm had doubled without warning.
Centuries of peace had dulled the immortals' sense of danger. By the time they reacted, attempting to mend the heavens with their immortal power, it was too late. The Grand Rat Immortal could only watch as the terrifying tide of Dao Obliteration swept across the Immortal Realm, consuming vast swathes of it in an instant.
Countless True Immortals perished. The survivors were utterly terrified, their fighting spirit broken.
Witnessing the destruction of his realm was a crushing blow for the Immortal Emperor. But such emotions were irrelevant now. Survival was the only thing that mattered.
Yet, the Grand Rat Immortal, the Eternal Immortal Emperor, realized with despair that there was nowhere left to run.
The surviving immortals gathered around him, begging for a way to live. He looked at the ravaged Immortal Realm, despair consuming him.
But as a ruler for three hundred million years, he wouldn't give up so easily. A desperate, audacious plan formed in his mind.
He would gather the power of all the immortals and reach the Other Shore of Transcendence.
Legends of the Other Shore, of other possibilities, existed within his world, but they were closely guarded secrets, known only to a select few. Even the Grand Rat Immortal had only learned of them in his youth, overheard from the Three Sages. True Transcendent experts were unheard of.
With no precedent to follow, he had to rely on his own ingenuity. And time was running out.
Searching the remnants of the Immortal Realm, he finally found a method of traversing possibilities: the Immortal Coffin Crossing.
Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only survivor strong enough to endure the journey within the world-transformed coffin, adrift in the tide of Dao Obliteration. The others, even if they could enter the coffin, wouldn't survive the journey.
He could flee alone, but as the Eternal Immortal Emperor, could he abandon his subjects to die? He wasn't that selfish.
Drawing upon his experience of absorbing and merging Daos, he devised a plan. He would use his Dao of Imperial Law to maintain the balance of the absorbed Daos. By keeping them in a state of partial absorption, the immortals wouldn't be fully consumed, retaining their individual Daos, cultivation, memories, and emotions. Once they reached the Other Shore, he would release them, saving them from Dao Obliteration.
After a trial run with a dozen True Immortals, he confirmed the method's feasibility. The only drawback was the immense strain of simultaneously absorbing and maintaining the separation of Daos, a torturous contradiction that intensified with each absorbed Dao and the passage of time.
He hesitated for a moment, but as more immortals perished, he hardened his resolve. The Immortal Realm was on the verge of collapse. There was no time for explanations, and even if he explained, they might not believe him.
With unwavering determination, he began absorbing the remaining immortals. They were terrified, but powerless to resist, cursing and pleading in their despair.
Though his actions were resolute, their words etched themselves into his heart.
"Grand Rat! You are the greatest rat in the Immortal Realm!"
"Your Majesty, please spare me!"
"Even if you devour me, I will become a vengeful spirit and haunt you until your demise!"
Initially, he listened to these voices. But as the number of absorbed immortals grew, he became increasingly numb, eventually shutting them out completely.
Just before the final collapse of the Immortal Realm, as the tide of Dao Obliteration threatened to consume everything, the Great Dao twisted and manifested as a colossal Immortal Coffin. The Grand Rat Immortal, along with the surviving immortals, took shelter within.
Then began an agonizingly long journey, so long that even the Grand Rat Immortal's memories blurred. Inside the coffin was absolute darkness. Outside, the destructive tide of Dao Obliteration gnawed at the coffin's defenses. He could feel it weakening, and he prayed they would reach the Other Shore before it was too late.
But perhaps his three hundred million years as ruler had exhausted his luck. Time stretched on, and they encountered neither the Other Shore nor any safe haven. The coffin drifted aimlessly in the tide of Dao Obliteration, seemingly without hope.
He had also underestimated the difficulty of maintaining the balance of the merged Daos. Within the confines of the coffin, surrounded by Dao Obliteration, it became increasingly challenging. He desperately tried to resist, but he could only watch as his body absorbed his former subjects, truly becoming the "Grand Rat" they had cursed him as.
The last flicker of light within him died. The Eternal Immortal Emperor fell into darkness.
Countless years later, as the Immortal Coffin finally succumbed to Dao Obliteration, a tremendous roar echoed through the void. The Grand Rat Immortal found himself in a new starry sky, still bearing the scars of Dao Obliteration, but offering a temporary reprieve.
Li Fan and Cheng Dao watched the unfolding scene in silence.
"If it were me, I wouldn't have done any better," Li Fan sighed. "He tried his best, but fate was against him."
"His plight is pitiable, his actions forgivable," Cheng Dao agreed. "If he hadn't been so aggressive, perhaps we wouldn't have had to take his life."
Shame washed over Li Fan. "I acted rashly. I never imagined such a story lay behind that monstrous exterior."
Cheng Dao waved his hand dismissively. "Don't blame yourself, Junior Brother. Most Grand Rat Immortals are malevolent. Don't let this one exception change your perception."
"You are right, Senior Brother."
Cheng Dao then shared the Dao insights he had gleaned from the Grand Rat Immortal's Dao Pill, even adding his own understanding. The spirit stone by the sea, disciple of the Hill Watcher, possessed extraordinary comprehension. Li Fan suspected that even consuming the Dao Pill himself wouldn't have yielded better results.
As he listened, Li Fan observed Cheng Dao closely. The Dao Pill seemed to have no adverse effects.
"But it's too early to conclude anything. More testing is needed," Li Fan thought. "Guangwu Star Sea… just you wait."
Ninety-nine days later, Cheng Dao's teachings concluded.
"Senior Brother," Li Fan asked, frowning slightly, "do you feel that the possibilities within the Eternal Immortal Emperor's world… are weaker than ours?"
"That's not your imagination," Cheng Dao confirmed. "It's true."
"Why?"
Cheng Dao narrowed his eyes, considering his answer. "Perhaps because that possibility has already produced an exceptionally powerful being."
"What?"
"This is just speculation. Master hasn't confirmed it." He paused, then continued, "Excluding the Three Sages, the strength of the most powerful being a possibility can produce seems to have an upper limit. It's not just about the number of cultivators, but a combination of their number and cultivation realms."
"Of course, I'm referring to Transcendents, those capable of leaving their own possibility." He drew a circle in the air. "Imagine a pool of fixed size. Each Transcendent that emerges takes a portion of the water. Once the pool is empty, no matter how talented the remaining cultivators are, they can no longer reach Transcendence."
Li Fan studied the shrinking circle. "Senior Brother, in the Eternal Immortal Emperor's world, the Three Sages vanished. Could it be because that possibility's potential was exhausted, preventing further Transcendents from emerging?"
Cheng Dao smiled enigmatically, offering no answer.
Li Fan, however, understood. He gestured at the circle, redrawing the subdivisions. "That world lacks not only beings like Master, but even Transcendents are rare. This implies that the powerful being who emerged before… was incredibly strong. Strong enough to nearly exhaust an entire possibility's potential."
He used the term "potential" to represent the circle.
"Could it be… even stronger than Master?" He was astounded.
Cheng Dao remained calm. "When Master saved the Immortal Realm from Dao Obliteration, he remained humble despite the reverence of the Immortal Emperor and all the immortals. He never considered himself a powerful being of the Mountain and Sea. In his own words, he was merely 'Shou Qiu Sheng De,' the virtuous guardian of the hill."
A wave of respect washed over Li Fan. "Master is worthy of respect not only for his strength, but also for his humility. Even if you surpass him one day, Senior Brother, I believe you will still revere him as your master."
"Naturally," Cheng Dao agreed.
"The Mountain and Sea is truly filled with powerful beings," Li Fan mused, his gaze returning to the circle, fixated on the smaller circle within, representing the being that had consumed nearly all of a possibility's potential. "I wonder what the Other Shore is like, with so many unimaginable experts gathered there."
Cheng Dao smiled. "Don't worry, Junior Brother. With our talent, reaching the Other Shore is only a matter of time."
Li Fan laughed. "I thank you for your kind words, Senior Brother. Speaking of other possibilities, there's one we can visit now."
"You mean Guangwu Star Sea?"
"Indeed." Cheng Dao presented a new image: nine Heavenly Pillars arranged in a circle, surrounding a central void of absolute darkness radiating the familiar aura of Dao Obliteration. Beyond the nine pillars, hundreds more stretched towards the heavens, arranged in concentric circles of increasing density.
Though not every pillar necessarily contained a sealed Unnamed One, the sheer scale of the structure was impressive. Unlike Li Fan's use of pillars to simply support the crumbling heavens, these pillars were of varying sizes, increasing in strength from the center outwards, forming a stepped structure.
The nine central pillars were the weakest, attracting Dao Obliteration inwards. The hundreds of surrounding pillars formed a robust barrier, preventing its spread.
Li Fan looked at the central void, like a reservoir. "Is that how Guangwu Star Sea retrieves artifacts from other possibilities?"
"It seems so. Quite ingenious."
"Ingenious indeed. But the power required to create these hundreds of pillars… we underestimated Guangwu Star Sea. They are far stronger than I thought." Cheng Dao's voice held a hint of respect.
(End of chapter)