Chapter 1100 - 498: The Master Doesn’t Care (2)

Deception? Manipulation?

When a person’s meaning of "existence" is even defined by others, what does so-called deception amount to?

"Fire... what an apt name for Fire..." Dao Sheng murmured to himself, his golden left eye, with a pupil deep like the sun of Dao, seemed to ignite at the eternal, immovable "origin point," revealing an extreme calmness and rage. Meanwhile, his right eye, which contained the Chaotic Nebula, the gray nebula spun more violently, billions of "possibilities" within it were frantically emerging and vanishing, as though deducing every path to escape fate.

"So, everything I have experienced, everything I have endured, was merely your ’tempering’ mastery. ’Throat of Chaos’ is the hammer, the flow of Law is the water, my world, my Dao, is merely the anvil and flame for you to forge me as the ’Weapon.’"

His voice did not escape this world, only echoed within his Divine Soul. But he knew Fire could hear.

In the void, those few ancient observers had fallen into a death-like Silence. They had obviously also captured the cold will of Fire.

"Fire... it ultimately has reached this step." The thought of the "Source of All Things" carried endless emotion and a deep sense of dread, "With the myriad realms as the furnace, with epochs as kindling, all just to forge a Dao Fruit capable of bearing the ’Ultimate’... it is more insane than ’Chaos.’"

"Insane? No, this is its ’Dao.’" The "Touch of Void" rebutted, "In its perception, to deal with the inevitable ’Great Nirvana,’ all sacrifices are worthwhile. We, Dao Sheng, even the billions of beings in this Sea of Chaos, are merely numbers on its chessboard."

"The Eye of Silence" that timeless, unchanging eerie light, seemed to pierce through the fog of time and space, seeing something even deeper. Its thought, for the first time, became somewhat uncertain: "Fire’s Dao is ’continuance.’ To allow the concept of ’existence’ itself to continue, it can sacrifice any specific ’existence.’ It’s not creating a weapon, it’s creating a new ’concept,’ a concept that can counter ’Ultimate Nothingness’... but will this new ’concept’ really go as it wishes?"

Their exchanges, Dao Sheng did not listen to.

At this moment, all his Heart Spirit was immersed in the confrontation with Fire.

That cold will resounded again, with unquestionable majesty and a self-evident tone:

"You need not feel anger or deception. The name ’Dao Sheng,’ this identity, even your eight thousand years of memories were set as ’initial parameters’ to help you better understand ’Order.’ Now, you have transcended them, those things are shackles to you. You should thank me; it is I who gave you the qualification to touch ’reality.’"

"Reality?" The curve on Dao Sheng’s lips grew more mocking, "Reality manipulated by you, or reality defined by you?"

"The only meaningful reality." Fire’s will was unmoved, beginning to infuse Dao Sheng with vast and despairing visions.

It was the edge of the Sea of Chaos, an expanse known as the "Sea of Realms." An embankment of unknown billions of light-years, built from countless remnants of shattered Cosmos, solidified time, and the Dao bones of ancient supreme beings, stood there.

On one side of the embankment is the lively Sea of Chaos (even though filled with strife and chaos).

And on the other side of the embankment lies an "darkness" indescribable by any language.

This is not the "dark" of light and darkness, but a kind of "nothingness." A pure, absolute "nothingness" that devours all concepts. It has no energy fluctuations, no traces of Law, not even the attribute of "existence." It simply is there, quietly "eroding" the embankment.

Any material that approaches it, any powerful Divine Techniques, any eternal Laws, when touching that "darkness," is "wiped out," not destroyed, but completely erased from the root of "existence," as if they never appeared.

"That is ’Gui Xu.’" Fire’s voice was like eternal ice.

"Everything in the Sea of Chaos is born from ’being.’ Order and Chaos, Light and Darkness, Life and Death, are just different expressions of ’being.’ And ’Gui Xu’ is the manifestation of ’nothingness.’ It is the ’counterpart’ of the entire Sea of Chaos, the ultimate destiny of all ’existence.’"

"With the end of every epoch, the tides of ’Gui Xu’ will rise, overflow the embankment, cleanse everything. This is the ’Great Nirvana.’ Then, all returns to nothingness, everything starts anew."

"And the ’Throat of Chaos’ is just a negligible wave splashed in the tide of ’Gui Xu,’ infiltrating the embankment, prematurely stirring the ripple of chaos within the supposed calm Sea of Chaos. Its death led to that embankment node it eroded to develop a slight crack."

Fire’s will transformed into a clear command, etched into Dao Sheng’s mind.

"Your first task is to go to the 7,200th segment of the ’Blood-crying Ancient Wall’ of the Sea of Realms Dam and use your ’New Dao,’ which contains Order and Chaos, to mend that crack. Your Power is the only kind capable of ’counteracting’ and ’neutralizing’ the force of ’Gui Xu’ without being directly erased by it."

"This is your mission, your only meaning of existence."

Fire’s words, filled with irrefutable logic and a sense of fate. It laid everything bare, exposing the most terrifying truth starkly before Dao Sheng, as if saying: see, this is the truth of the world, apart from fighting for me, you have no other choice.

Dao Sheng fell silent.

He gazed at the scene, feeling the "nothingness" of "Gui Xu" that could make any supreme being despair, and he finally understood Fire’s arrangement.

It needs a "monster."

One that belongs neither to pure "being" nor to absolute "nothingness," an intermediate state existent. One that can stand at the boundary of "being" and "nothingness," becoming a "living patch" for that embankment, even, becoming the existence of a "Weapon" to counterattack "Gui Xu."

And he, Dao Sheng, is the chosen "monster."

"What if I refuse?"

After a long time, Dao Sheng finally spoke again, his voice frighteningly calm.

Fire’s will seemed to pause, as if not anticipating, after witnessing the terror of "Gui Xu," Dao Sheng would still ask such a question.

"Refuse?" For the first time, Fire’s will carried a hint of emotion, a freezing "pity," "You cannot refuse. Your ’Dao,’ your ’existence,’ all come from my design. If I can bestow you all this, I can naturally retract it. Without me, you wouldn’t even be able to maintain your current form, the Order and Chaos within you would lose control again, shredding you into fragments smaller than dust."

"More importantly," Fire’s will grew grander, like the voice of Heavenly Dao, "the coordinates of this ’Dao Origin Realm’ you reside in have already been exposed before that crack. If you do not go, the first to be swallowed by the ’Gui Xu’ tide will be your homeland. Everything you guard, this new world you ’acknowledge’ will silently transform into absolute ’nothingness.’"

Threat.

Bare, yet irrefutable threat.

Dao Sheng closed his eyes.

He could feel, his Dao Origin Realm, every inch of his land, every twisted Law, closely connected to his Divine Soul. He could even feel that little deer named "Chu Ling," was looking at him worriedly with its clear eyes.

He could not care whether his ’existence’ was defined, he could not care whether he is a pawn.

But he could not ignore all this.