Chapter 1095 - 496: Ancient

Chapter 496

However, the disaster did not cease.

Having lost the "command" of the "Throat of Chaos," those altered laws did not return to normal; instead, like a pack of mad dogs who lost their master, they began to ravage this world in an even more chaotic and erratic manner!

The waters of the East Sea no longer flooded back but transformed into billions of cold blades, slicing through the void. The West Pole Divine Mountain no longer soared to the skies but began to melt, turning into scorching metallic magma filled with a sense of annihilation, submerging the land.

This world, like a patient infected by a virus, then severed from its connection to the mother body, no longer had the virus continuously infused but had the virus spread within, beginning to frenziedly reproduce towards complete collapse.

Dao Sheng, by means of self-harm, won a moment of respite, yet faced an even more desperate mess.

He fell onto the ground, smashing a huge human-shaped crater. He lay at the bottom of the crater, with only his left eye, gazing blankly at the gray, chaotic sky.

He had failed.

Completely and utterly failed.

He had overestimated himself and underestimated the true "chaos." He thought he was the player, not knowing from the start, he was the most crucial piece on the board.

Eighty centuries of effort turned into nothing. Guardianship became destruction. Creation brought about termination.

An unprecedented sense of weakness and defeat engulfed him like a tide. His consciousness began to blur. Perhaps, to fade into nirvana with this world would also be a kind of release...

Just when his consciousness was about to sink into eternal darkness.

A wisp of faint yet incredibly familiar warmth suddenly touched his divine soul.

The aura did not belong to any Law in this world; it was older, more primal.

It was the aura of the "Fire."

It was the will that enlightened him upon birth!

"Child..."

A vague thought, crossing endless time and space, gently echoed in the depths of his divine soul.

"You were wrong."

Dao Sheng’s remaining consciousness stirred slightly.

"I...was wrong?"

"Your mistake was that upon seeing the ’shadow,’ rather than thinking of how to coexist with it, you thought of how to illuminate it, making it a part of the ’Light.’

Your mistake was trying to use your ’order’ to define, bind, and control that which is inherently formless and intangible ’chaos.’ You incorporated it into your system, giving it a form that could attack you."

"You thought you severed it, but what you severed was merely the ’fruit’ that manifested through you. Its ’cause’ had long been sowed across the world the moment you embraced it."

The will of the Fire bore no blame, only a peaceful elucidation, like guiding the lost child towards the true path.

"What do you...want me to do?" Dao Sheng asked with the last of his strength within his divine soul.

"Forget your ’order,’ and forget your understanding of ’chaos.’

Feel and listen. This world is crying. It doesn’t need a lofty ’god’ to define everything. What it needs is a ’companion’ who can understand all its ’possibilities.’

’Possibilities?’

Yes. Life is a possibility, death is too. Order is a possibility, so is chaos. Perfection is a possibility, and imperfection...is likewise a possibility."

The will of "Fire" gradually dissipated, leaving only the last words echoing in Dao Sheng’s divine soul like a dawn bell and dusk drum.

"When you cease trying to ’become’ everything, you can truly...’embrace’ everything."

"Embrace...everything..."

Dao Sheng muttered, a glimmer of understanding flashing in his only remaining left eye.

He seemed to...understand something.

The path he had always walked was "I" defining the world. I define Light, I define darkness, I define order, I define chaos. Everything had to be included in "my" Dao. How domineering and...self-centered was this?

And what Fire pointed towards was another path.

A path where..."the world" defines "me."

At this moment, a slight, affectionate cry woke him from his contemplation.

He turned his head with difficulty, using his only remaining left eye to look.

On the edge of the deep pit, a small beast cautiously extended its head, watching him.

It was a small deer with a body radiating soft white light, its antlers seeming crafted from crystal, entwined by a green vine apparently condensed from Life Origin. Its eyes were as clear as newborn heavens and earth, devoid of any impurity.

Dao Sheng recognized it.

It was born when he emerged from the miraculous five-colored stone, amid the rain of light, the first batch of creatures enlightened in the valley. Upon it flowed his most original, pure "Dao Sheng" essence, untainted by any learned "order" nor touched by a hint of "chaos."

It represented the initial "Dao Sheng."

At this moment, the whole world was rejecting him, was his enemy. Only this small beast sensed that most intimate aura deep from his Origin, following it across mountains and waters, crossing the chaotic realm of laws, arriving at his side.

In the deep pit, Dao Sheng lay quietly as if a weathering Divine Statue.

The little deer named "Chu Ling" did not flee due to the overwhelming tide of laws that could overturn all worlds. It merely retreated to a relatively safe distance, its eyes as clear as Liuli reflecting the terrifying Energy vortex, filled with extreme concern and sorrow. It could sense the source of life that gave it birth, familiar and close, was moving towards an "end" in a way it could not comprehend.