txolops Chapter 1771 External Perspective
Chapter 1771 External Perspective
Chapter 1771 External Perspective
"As for me..." Zhang Fan remained noncommittal.
He did not lose himself because of Zhen Shiyin's few words of praise.
But in a sense, his position is basically the same as that of Zhen Shiyin, or all living beings in the mountains and seas.
Mountains and seas vanish, reincarnation ends, all returns to one person.
The things that the true and false masters of the Great Dao did to prove their Dao were truly astonishing.
Whether for their own survival or driven by moral conscience, the cultivators of the mountains and seas should unite and stop him.
Of course, the premise is...
Everything that Zhen Shiyin said is true.
At Zhang Fan's current level, even if he was originally unaware of the truth, he could intuitively judge the authenticity of what he heard and the conversation.
"Zhen Shiyin wasn't lying."
"However, this does not mean that what he said is the whole story."
Zhang Fan had his own judgment.
It's very simple. If everything is as Zhen Shiyin said, then the old fisherman and Xuanyuan Hong should definitely stand up and join forces with Zhen Shiyin.
But they didn't; instead, they created a sanctuary and quietly hid away.
Zhang Fan's decision has remained unchanged from beginning to end.
He wanted to stand before the person behind the scenes and get to the bottom of it!
However, Zhang Fan did not reveal his true feelings in front of Zhen Shiyin.
Instead, he shook his head and said, "I am but a mere avatar, one of countless scattered pawns. Are those true and false masters of the Great Dao truly as terrifying as you say? What use could I possibly be?"
"Even if we join forces and successfully kill him, aren't you worried that I might become the new true and false master, causing all our efforts to be in vain?"
"What we have sought is already the limit of our current abilities. Why would we try to seek something infinitely after that and invite trouble upon ourselves? Besides... I don't think you would do that, fellow Daoist."
"Of all the chosen ones, you are the only one who is willing to give up the true and false paths. If I hadn't seen this, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Zhen Shiyin looked at Zhang Fan with burning eyes.
Zhang Fan chuckled, "Then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, fellow Daoist. The reason I gave up was because I couldn't obtain it. To be frank, if the true and false Great Dao were truly presented before me, allowing me to choose freely, then I would definitely choose it again without hesitation..."
Before Zhang Fan could finish speaking, Zhen Shiyin interrupted him: "But you've already given up."
"Even a good horse doesn't eat the grass it has already grazed, let alone the true and false Dao. Since you have given up the possibility of possessing the true and false Dao, then even if one day the true and false Dao are without a master, they will certainly not choose the one who once willingly gave them up..."
“At least, that’s how it is in this lifetime,” Zhen Shiyin said with extreme confidence.
Zhang Fan opened his mouth, but for a moment he was speechless.
In the end, he only said, "I'm afraid this is just your guess, fellow Daoist?"
In fact, Zhang Fan already knew what was going on.
The reason why Zhenshiyin chose to cooperate with him was entirely because he valued the two points: the existence of a true and false Great Dao Master clone and the possibility that he had not inherited the [True] power.
As for how much of a chance they have of winning?
They had no other choice.
Since that's the case, Zhang Fan no longer stood on ceremony: "Since you've already said that, it would be a slap in the face for me to be modest any further."
"Give me this tree, and from this day forward, we will form an alliance to jointly reclaim the true and false Dao."
Upon hearing this, all the saints of the mountains and seas, who were obsessed with enlightenment, turned to look at Zhang Fan.
Beneath that calm gaze lay a hint of malice.
Zhang Fan remained unfazed, waiting for Zhen Shiyin to make his decision.
There wasn't much of a commotion.
It was clear that Zhen Shiyin held considerable weight among the saints. Despite their deep reluctance, the saints who had attained enlightenment still made way for Zhang Fan, allowing him to truly arrive beneath the great tree where countless chosen ones of destiny hung upside down.
"Aren't you afraid I'll go back on my word? You agreed so easily." To be honest, Zhang Fan was somewhat surprised by Zhen Shiyin's decisiveness.
“We had no choice, and neither did you,” Zhen Shiyin said.
Zhang Fan immediately fell silent.
Speechless, he sighed softly and slowly opened his mouth.
Using the transformation between truth and falsehood, he gently brushed the fruit hanging on the tree.
A gentle breeze seemed to rise between the remaining mountains and seas, causing countless chosen ones to sway and tremble in the wind.
Then they fell one by one and disappeared.
At the same time, Zhang Fan's aura became increasingly ethereal and elusive.
Indeed, when Zhang Fan attained sainthood, he decided to give up trying to comprehend the true and false Great Dao.
However, he did not abandon the idea of using the true and false paths as convenient tools.
Just like what Zhen Shiyin and the surviving saints of the mountains and seas did in this life, he was merely an avatar of the "chosen one" and the true and false masters of the Great Dao.
Zhang Fan is able to personally use the power of the transformation between truth and falsehood.
As the fruit fell, the entire tree withered away.
The leaves turn yellow and flutter down.
The tree branch broke off, fell into the void, and vanished into nothingness.
Correspondingly...
The lives of the saints, too, wither away like flowers.
The saints had little fear of death.
In the end, he simply gazed at the numbers of truth and falsehood in the void, calmly awaiting his own destiny.
"This……"
Zhang Fan hadn't expected that this tree was sustained by the lives of all the saints. This ultimately explained why the saints were able to remain unchanged during the Mountain and Sea Reset.
Although he did not kill the saints, the saints died because of his own single thought.
After all, he spent most of his life in seclusion, and the only time he spent with others was in an atmosphere of kindness and guidance.
Zhang Fan was inevitably shaken at this moment.
"It doesn't matter, it's just dying again."
"Blessed by the true and false, they, though not as insightful as I am now, have gained an understanding of their own destiny, and thus are able to face death with such equanimity."
"Whether our plans succeed or fail, they will inevitably reappear with the restoration of the mountains and seas," Zhen Shiyin said slowly, standing beside Zhang Fan.
In fact, no one needs to comfort her.
The shock in his heart lasted only a few moments before Zhang Fan's attention was focused on the countless true and false paths that were coming from all directions.
It was originally destined by the will of millions.
At this moment, however, it flowed like a gentle stream, all flowing into Zhang Fan's mouth.
The view gradually brightened.
The post-apocalyptic landscape was no longer shrouded in darkness; everything seemed to have a discernible pattern.
A painting seemed to appear before Zhang Fan's eyes.
All the mountains and seas of the past are contained within this painting.
However, as the Dao eroded, the landscape of mountains and seas in the painting gradually became transparent.
To the average person, the mountains and seas have disappeared.
But in the eyes of the holders of the true and false paths, as long as the power is re-injected, the mountains and seas will reappear!
"This is the Outline of Changes in Mountains and Seas."
Deeply captivated by this wondrous scene, Zhang Fan seemed to have gained some insight and murmured to himself.
And it doesn't stop there.
Beyond the landscape painting, there seems to be a figure holding the scroll standing in the shadows.
Everything in the painting, from birth to death and change, and even the painting itself, is under this person's control.
After memorizing every detail in the landscape painting, Zhang Fan tried his best to see through the painting's barrier and look at the person holding it.
Because of this overstepping of authority, the landscape painting suddenly trembled violently.
The mountains and seas that came into view surged up, trying to block Zhang Fan's spying view.
Using his abilities to control both the true and false Dao, Zhang Fan suppressed all the unusual movements. His goal remained unchanged: to look beyond the painting and find the one holding the scroll.
The clash between the two forces caused this magnificent landscape painting to be torn apart and disintegrated inch by inch.
Correspondingly, Zhang Fan's soul also seemed to have developed countless tiny cracks, teetering on the brink of collapse.
It's not just a simple injury, but a backlash from the shift between truth and falsehood, with the very foundation of its existence constantly disappearing.
The two forces of longevity and oblivion are working hard to repair the cracks in Zhang Fan's soul.
Although it was a drop in the ocean, it did buy Zhang Fan more time to spy on him.
Zhang Fan's gaze finally pierced through the barrier of the landscape painting and saw the person holding the scroll.
Boom boom boom!
As if his soul had been violently struck, all the mountains and seas, and even the surrounding ethereal world, were hidden behind the scenes, becoming unimportant and fading from his sight.
Even countless paths, and even the true and false great paths, are like fleeting clouds.
In Zhang Fan's eyes, there was only one person left.
In that instant, he saw himself.
as well as……
Another layer of phantoms floated above him.
Slay the gods and change the world.
As Zhang Fan broke through numerous obstacles and used the channel of truth and falsehood to look at Li Fan...
Li Fan, too, used the other person's gaze to examine himself from an external perspective for the first time.
Thus, they also discovered the heavy, phantom-like shadow floating around them.
Clearly, all experiences and memories since the beginning of reincarnation have been stripped away.
Only the purest state from when I transmigrated remains.
But for some reason, there were other strange objects above my head!
For some reason, Li Fan, who suddenly witnessed this scene, was not very surprised.
Everything was expected.
In fact, he felt it was unbelievable that he didn't have a backup plan.
"I wonder, does this phantom originate from my past self, or..."
"That fallen true god."
The eye contact between Li Fan and Zhang Fan lasted only a brief moment.
After the [External Vision] disappeared, Li Fan could no longer observe the ever-present phantom above his head.
It was as if He did not exist at all; even with the help of changing between truth and falsehood, it was impossible to reproduce Him in the mind in the slightest.
Even the memory of this phantom's existence in my mind is slowly fading.
After trying several times and finding that he couldn't stop it, Li Fan decided to seize the last few moments to deduce the origin of this phantom as much as possible.
First, we can rule out the possibility that Li Fan was behind it.
"Now, my understanding of the true and false Dao has reached the pinnacle. Even compared to my former self, I am not much weaker."
"I don't think he has the ability to do that."
"It dwells in the body without knowledge or feeling, and cannot be seen, remembered, or recalled."
"Transcending mountains and seas, existing outside of cognition."
"The Phantom of the True God..."
In an instant, Li Fan made his judgment.
"Let's continue based on what we already know."
"This world is in an endless cycle of reincarnation."
Even true gods cannot last forever. As time goes by, new consciousness will differentiate within them. Whether this consciousness originates from a god that was once devoured or is simply a new evolution.
"In short, the old gods fall and the new gods descend; this is the destiny."
"While it could be described as a fall, it could also be called a return. Because..."
"[God] seems to possess uniqueness. After becoming a god, a god is simply a god."
"The cycle of reincarnation has come to an end, and now it is time for the mountains and seas to separate."
Things have changed.
"Mountains and seas are merely two differentiated ideas before the new gods evolved. Their sole purpose is to serve as a transition during the period of the true god's fall and rebirth."
"But they foresaw their inevitable demise. Unwilling to accept this fate, they attempted to defy it."
"They orchestrate a grand spectacle, deceiving everyone and transforming themselves into stars. If the performance concludes perfectly, they will replace the god who should have appeared, and ascend to the position of a new god..."
Having deduced this far, Li Fan's thoughts paused slightly.
The phantom of the true god is disappearing faster and faster; he needs to speed things up.
"God is one. But who exactly becomes God seems to be not one."
"Shan Hai's name wasn't originally on the list of those who would become gods. But they insisted on changing it..."
"The true god possesses boundless power and can know the past, present, and future. Thus, on the verge of his demise, he foresaw future changes."
"So they brought me from nowhere to be used as the one to break the deadlock outside the play."
"but……"
"Is that all?"
A cold glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
"With God's far-sightedness, He should be able to see everything that happens after I successfully tear apart the Great Mountain and Sea Drama."
"Just as True Departure and the others said."
"Mountains and seas are destroyed, reincarnation is over, all returns to me."
"..."
"This is not the outcome that true god desired."
"To sacrifice oneself, just to break the endless cycle of this world and make me, an outsider, successful?"
"God, are you really that kind?"
Li Fan snorted coldly.
This directly negates the possibility.
"But that true god still did it without hesitation."
"Only because..."
"He was absolutely certain that I could break the Great Play of Mountains and Seas and destroy the Star of Birth. But in the end, I could not kill the God."
"God can see far and foresee all the future. He exhausted all possibilities but could not foresee the scene of my success in killing God. So He did it."
"They recruited me to work, and now they want me to be their scapegoat..."
"That's really going too far."
Li Fan's state of mind was no longer the anger he felt when he first discovered the truth.
He just gave a helpless laugh.
However, behind the laughter, Li Fan's gaze was colder than ever before.
"Is the only reason for this final outcome this phantom of a true god above my head?"
In the limited time he had left, Li Fan tried his best to devise a countermeasure.
The ink has faded, and the phantom is gone.
Li Fan's expression revealed a moment of confusion.
"seem……"
"Something extremely important has been forgotten."
Feeling the inexplicable stirring in his heart, Li Fan pondered for a moment.
"Do you have any idea?"
He looked at the real and illusory figure standing to the side.
It is a mere phantom, lacking any subjective consciousness and possessing only mechanical reactions.
To answer Li Fan's question, layers of light and shadow attempted to trace back.
But in the end, they gained nothing.
Li Fan's expression remained largely unchanged.
Sometimes, the absence of an answer is the answer itself.
"I already stand at the pinnacle of this world, yet such a bizarre change can still occur to me..."
"Only God."
"Whether you remember or not makes no difference."