Chapter 1185: Chapter 1076: Myriad Dao Returns to the Mortal

The grey mist turned black, breeding a bizarre black flower, within which a secret eye was about to open in an instant!

With the emergence of this secret eye, within the entire Hanque Mountain Range, all creatures felt a tremendous fear at this moment.

It was as if death had come.

“What is this…”

“The end of life… I feel like I can sense the end of life!”

“Is that the flower of death?!”

Many people were whispering, murmuring to themselves.

In the mountain range, a black python trembled, a black ape buried its head under the roots of a tree… Even the Forbidden Beasts were afraid.

Not just the Hanque Mountain Range.

All of the Kaiyuan Continent had sensed it.

“What’s happened in the Hanque Mountain Range?”

“No… With this aura, could it be the dark calamity has arrived?”

“Everything between heaven and earth will be destroyed, no one can withstand it!”

The world trembled in fear.

Above the sky of Thunder Emperor City, that blue arc secret eye suddenly vanished.

“The flower of darkness blooms… Calamity is upon us…”

The portal that had been opened from the Thunder Path Pure Land also abruptly closed.

Lei Ting disappeared!

…

In the Origin Valley within the Hanque Mountain Range.

Dugu Yuqing looked at that sinister black flower and was shocked in an instant.

“The Eye of Origin… How dare it show itself…”

He murmured softly:

“Miss Yun Xi has said, the Eye of Origin is also afraid of Master, it would never dare to appear in front of Master…”

As long as Li Fan does not appear, the Eye of Origin will always be wary.

Now, the eye has actually emerged – does it mean that the Origin has the confidence that this time Master will not be able to make a move?

He did not know, but now that the Eye of Origin had appeared, the only choice left was to fight with all their might!

“One Sword Suppressing the South Heavens!”

Dugu Yuqing roared, and once again lifted the Phoenix Sky Brush to inscribe the five imposing characters.

The five characters reappeared, sword intent soaring to the skies, but the Eye of Origin only opened a sliver.

In an instant, vast black Qi pressure dominated the heaven and earth!

The five characters Dugu Yuqing inscribed, unfortunately, dimmed, suppressed by the black Qi!

At this moment, Dugu Yuqing’s hands were trembling, and he could clearly feel that his entire being… was locked onto by that eye, powerless to make any move.

Even with the Phoenix Sky Brush in hand, he couldn’t swing it.

Despite mastering the Supreme Sword Dao, he couldn’t initiate an attack.

He was sober, yet completely suppressed.

This feeling, it was his first time experiencing it!

But the power of the Secret Eye didn’t kill him directly; within the sinister black flower, a wisp of black smoke re-emerged.

“I have returned…”

This was the black smoke from before!

It had been slashed by Dugu Yuqing, turned into grey mist, and should have dissipated.

Yet now, the black eye had twisted the grey mist back into black smoke, allowing it to reappear.

“This lamp… no one can light it, no one can take it away!”

The black smoke transformed into a human shape, reaching out its giant hand towards Fan Yaoyao and Fan Paiming.

It wanted to snatch the Ancient Bronze Lamp!

But, at this moment!

“Boom!”

A horrifying black sword light suddenly erupted from Linyihao’s side.

Directly striking the great hand!

A huge explosion occurred, the hand was annihilated, and the sword intent dispersed in all directions.

Seeing this, everyone was shocked.

“Thirteen… you dare to strike at me?!”

The black smoke cried out in shock and anger.

And then, Linyihao stood there stunned, as his Path-Scenic Land autonomously emerged, with a Rotten Sword Immortal, sword in hand, stepping forth from within.

The Corpse Wrapping Cloth covering the Sword Immortal had split open, her body rotten, bones eerily exposed, yet she exuded an indomitable aura.

“No… the power of the Corpse Wrapping Cloth has failed… how did you do it?!”

The black smoke was shocked.

Thirteen, now a Rotten Slave, had somehow regained consciousness.

“In life I battled darkness, and in death, I shall also battle darkness…”

The Rotten Sword Immortal murmured lowly, looking up at the secret eye in the sky vault, she said:

“I am willing to be forever silenced, to not enter Samsara, to sacrifice all that’s left of my soul and memories, to use all the karma associated with me in this world as kindling… in hopes that this sword strike may cleave the heavens!”

Her voice was hysterical, her body trembled, rotten flesh constantly fell off, bones broke, and fluids of decay flowed everywhere. She exhausted all her strength, then frantically struck out with her sword!

She wanted to use this sword strike to create a sliver of opportunity for survival for Dugu Yuqing.

But that sinister black flower, the terrifying Secret Eye, didn’t even spare her a glance.

It was the black smoke from before, which transformed into the black Heavenly Net Earth Trap and pressed down upon her, completely suppressing her sword strike.

Even though the Rotten Sword Immortal used all her might… she still could not change anything.

“Thirteen has tried her best…”

A soft lament seemed to murmur, and then, the rotten body’s Corpse Wrapping Cloth completely fell off, rotten flesh turning into dust and scattered with the wind, leaving only a skeleton, which collapsed onto the ground.

Even her black rusted sword had shattered, falling to the ground in pieces.

At this moment, a dead silence pervaded between heaven and earth.

Dugu Yuqing had been thoroughly suppressed!

“The sword is strong, but not strong enough…”

In the black, sinister flower, the Secret Eye stared at those five words for a long time, as if a whisper arose, a surge of qi emerged, and the “One Sword Suppressing the South Heavens” written by Dugu Yuqing instantly vanished into smoke and clouds.

After that, a torrent of black mist surged towards Dugu Yuqing, within which a huge Corpse Wrapping Cloth seemed to intend to wrap and cover Dugu Yuqing completely.

At the same time, the resurrected black smoke also reappeared in front of Fan Yaoyao and Fan Paiming!

…

Meanwhile.

In the Land of Mist within the Hanque Mountain Range.

In an area laid with black stones, Li Fan was left with the last piece of black stone.

All stones… had been chiseled by him.

Some stone carvings were left only with a hand, some only a leg… As he moved on, more and more of those carvings were chiseled away, with some even reduced to simple, monotonous lines.

“Stones are originally void of anything. With the addition of carvings, they go from nothing to something. When the carvings are perfectly harmonious, it is an aspiration of greatness.”

“Seeing emptiness from the midst of greatness, one can embrace the incomplete, using nothingness to overcome something.”

Having said that, he picked up the chisel and directly erased all images on the last stone carving.

The stone carvings lined up in a row.

Looking from the last stone forward, it was a progression from nothing to something, with lines gradually increasing, culminating in completeness.

But looking from the first stone backward, it was a regression from something to nothing, with lines gradually decreasing until vanishment.

Stone by stone, whether incrementing or decrementing, one could see the traces of the evolution of the sculpting Dao; the increase and decrease flowed seamlessly and naturally as if heaven-sent.

“From nothing to something, from something to nothing… Something prevails over nothing, but nothing can also prevail over something.”

Li Fan put away the chisel and uttered lightly.

The reason for his action was solely because the sculptor had entered the realm of greatness.

But to discern the true meaning of emptiness from within the realm of greatness is exceedingly difficult.

If one were to use a vulgar analogy, it would be like comparing an Emperor and a beggar. From begging to the loftiness of imperial power, one acquires authority, honor, riches… possessing everything in the world, from utter nothingness to absolute greatness.

But once one becomes an Emperor, how many can see the limitations and shackles of “greatness”? Seeing through from the midst of greatness is almost impossible.

As the saying goes, a profusion of flowers can dazzle the eyes. Amidst the splendor of blooming gardens and endless landscapes, who can foresee their own looming decline amidst the glory?

In the same vein, the way of carving is also so: mastering boundless skills and mystical methods, acclaimed as perfection, yet these “great attainments” of skills and methods are also shackles, the very weaknesses of oneself.

From something to nothing, one still needs to let go of all attachments.

Even if one seizes the myriad Dao, one can still face them with the equanimity of a mortal, starting from the common and ending in the common.

In the midst of mundane dust, yet detached.

In this way, all things in the world become helpless against oneself.

All paths lead to the mundane.

It is precisely so.

However, Li Fan was uncertain of the significance of changing these carvings and leaving them here.

Even he thought that perhaps the original sculptor would not understand them if they were to see the changes.

From Li Fan’s perspective, experience determines understanding. In his life, he had always stayed in a small village, living a plain and simple life, and had grown accustomed to the mundane, hence his tranquil state of mind.

But what about others? They could be cultivators, or world-renowned master sculptors…

Who would be as ordinary as he…

Only those who have wandered through the mortal world and waded through the ordinary may comprehend Li Fan’s state of mind.

And if the sculptor does not share Li Fan’s mindset, they certainly won’t have the same experience, and might even think that Li Fan does not grasp the way of carving at all, going at it haphazardly.

Just like a beggar suddenly telling an Emperor that everything he possesses is but shackles and bindings, worse than having nothing at all…

Obviously, that would get him beaten.

…

He rose to his feet and left this place.

It was time to find his Disciple and the others.

What he didn’t know was that just after his departure.

This space suddenly seemed to connect to another world.

In that other world, as if in an endless darkness, within that dark there seemed to be a lofty throne, a pair of pitch-black eyes glanced over these Stones of Utmost Darkness.

At the scene, the carvings on those Stones of Utmost Darkness seemed to come to life, demonstrating some kind of Sword Dao that goes from nothing to something, from something to nothing!

Bang!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Stones of Utmost Darkness on the spot began to collapse and smash directly!

The Stones of Utmost Darkness, capable of bearing all Dao and acclaimed as immortal stones… couldn’t even withstand this causality-like existence!

…

And it was at this moment.

In Origin Valley.

The Corpse Wrapping Cloth had already covered Dugu Yuqing’s body.

The resurrected black smoke had already taken the Ancient Bronze Lamp from the hands of Fan Yaoyao and Fan Paiming!

Suddenly.

Hum!

In this Origin Valley, the supreme stone carvings scattered around on the stone stumps seemed to come to life.

The Sword Dao evolved, the true intent flowed, and those stone stumps exploded one after another!

Boom!

Waves of sword intent flowed out from these stone stumps, without the sharpness that shocks the heavens, without vast surges, without the might that makes the Great Dao of heaven and earth yield…

As ordinary as water, as hidden as a still current.

“Not right…”

But up above in the Sky Vault, within the sinister flower, the Secret Eye of Darkness was suddenly startled!

…

Goodnight.