Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 778: The Great Dao Does Not Exist

The world within the Mountain River State Diagram was flourishing.

The wasteland was no more, replaced by a land of mountains and rivers.

In the center of this land was still that solitary island.

The Great Broken Stream was like an otherworldly paradise, nurturing countless lives.

Creatures called the Lattici were the rulers of this paradise. They were one of the earliest inhabitants of the Great Broken Stream and had developed within its climate, ultimately becoming the strongest community of animals on the lonely island, an independent intelligent species.

To be able to reach this stage of development in only a few centuries was certainly not the work of natural evolution, but thanks to the formation that He Chong and Tang Jie had laid out there in this period.

The Cyclic Time Formation's first part had been completed all the way back in the Verdant Cloud Domain, and while it still couldn't cover the entire Mountain River State Diagram, it could at least influence its core.

Time was advancing at one hundred times the normal rate on the island.

For every one hundred years in the outside world, ten thousand years had gone by on the island.

Tens of thousands of years of development and the meddling of the creator had caused the creatures on the island to gradually develop intelligence, which was how the Lattici had developed.

They looked similar to humans, but they had very long hands and feet, and their bodies were covered in numerous fine scales, which served as their skin. Spiritual energy could be pumped into these scales to turn them into a defense.

The intelligent Lattici already had their own little feudal society.

In this social system, there was a king and subjects, and the entire island was their territory.

They erected their homes on this territory, as well as their temples and palaces.

They were sun worshipers initially, prostrating toward the Space Crystal in the sky, after which they began to imagine gods.

Their highest deity was the Supreme Godhead, to which they erected a temple and consecrated a statue within it.

One would find that this statue looked somewhat like He Chong.

Although He Chong had never appeared before them, Fate had seemingly guided the Lattici into taking his image as that of their supreme god.

Another sun appeared in the sky, joining the Space Crystal in shining over this world.

But the myth of Hou Yi shooting down the suns did not exist here. Instead, it was the legend of the Godhead who made suns.

In the legends, this world was originally dark, devoid of light and rain.

But then the Godhead appeared in this world, sowing the seeds of life, which led to the existence of the Lattici.

Then, he felt the world was too dark, so he made the first sun.

But even with the light of the first sun, the world was still too dark, so after a long, long time, he managed to make a second sun.

From then on, the world had light.

The first sun became the moon. It followed after the sun, and at certain intervals, it would move in front of the sun and block the majority of its light, creating the night. This told the Lattici that it was time to rest, and so the Lattici would rest until the next day came.

Thus did the world turn and the Lattici thrive.

As the Mountain River State Diagram world had spiritual energy, Lattici society had a basic cultivation system.

But the highest a cultivator could reach here was Spirit Sea.

They never left the lonely island, regarding the world beyond as a wild, dangerous, and scary place. Once, an independent-minded Lattician wanted to leave the island and see the world beyond, causing panic among the rest of its kindthey killed that traitorous Lattician.

Thus, the Lattici continued to live isolated from the world, unaware of how big it was or how wondrous were the changes it was experiencing.

The world outside had been completely transformed.

Tens of thousands of years of development and the addition of so much additional matter had caused natural features to form.

Tall mountains disrupted air currents, allowing different climates to develop, which led to different environments.

Some of these environments were made by He Chong, but others were natural.

In truth, with the increase in quantity and variety of basic materials, the Mountain River State Diagram began to evolve on its own.

Lush grass began to grow on barren wastelands, creating grasslands and forests, and following plants, animals began to emerge.

These weren't species brought in from the outside world like the ones on the lonely island, but creatures that had developed from the Mountain River State Diagram world.

They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. There were giant pupas that slowly crawled through the dirt, creatures with long mouths that were extendable so that they could extract resources from the area around them, animals with extremely sharp senses of smell that could let them smell water or plants from fifty kilometers away, and there were even clumps of mud that could freely change form.

The Mountain River State Diagram had initially been an extremely barren world, so all of its creatures evolved with a focus on maximizing their resources.

Thus, life was extremely varied.

They didn't have the intelligence of the creatures on the lonely island, but they also weren't as isolated. On this vast world, they tenaciously survived, all of them contributing to a natural world completely different from the one Tang Jie knew.

Deng Yuqing was interested enough to give these plants and animals names. He drew up an evolutionary tree and began to play the role of a botanist and biologist.

Meanwhile, Duan Fourth began to gather up dead animals and plants and started to taste them. Whether it was roots or fruits, kidneys or brains, tasty or tasteless, poisonous or poison-free, disgusting or not, so long as he could put it in his mouth, he ate it up like he was Shennong when drafting his book on herbs, noting everything down. He quickly became a chef and herbalist.

Time here moved faster than on the lonely island, a thousand times faster than the normal rate, and even He Chong didn't dare to step in for fear of being ground to dust by time. He spent most of his time outside the accelerated time region, quietly watching the world evolve. In this process, his strength gradually grew almost to the peak of Soul Transformation, only missing that last step. As for Deng Yuqing and Duan Fourth, they both managed to reach the Heart Demon Tier.

While observing the world evolve, He Chong felt like he had grasped the truth of this world, but for some reason, he couldn't comprehend a Dao.

This left He Chong perplexed. Observing the transformation of the world was in itself a great opportunity to comprehend the Dao. It was just that it involved such a vast span of time that it was extremely difficult to realize.

Why was it that he could observe tens of thousands of years of development and feel inspired so many times yet still not feel the supreme Dao of the world?

He Chong couldn't understand why.

Today, he was still sitting outside the accelerated time zone. This area was still a wasteland, an undeveloped area, and on the edge of this continent was an endless sea that went all the way to the end of the world. The Space Crystal's ability to expand space was not infinite, so this world had an end.

As he was thinking to himself, Tang Jie appeared next to him.

Upon seeing Tang Jie, He Chong stood up and bowed.

In the past, He Chong had been forced into submission, but now, he was completely subservient to Tang Jie.

Tang Jie was now a Celestial Sovereign, above him in both cultivation and bearing.

Even by just standing there, he exerted a mountain-like pressure on He Chong. This aura alone informed He Chong that while Tang Jie was only at Infant Tending, his true strength was at Deification.

Breaking that barrier between tiers was as easy to him as breathing.

It was no longer possible to fathom the methods of such an existence. All that was left was an awareness that they possessed a power that could make the heavens weep, could see through all thoughts and schemes.

For this reason, He Chong had no choice but to submit and respect this person who was so much younger than him.

Seeing how respectful He Chong was being, Tang Jie said, "Seeing as I'm in a good mood, do you have any worries on your mind? Any questions?"

"Yes, Freedom Celestial Sovereign," He Chong said. "I just have a few small questions on cultivation that I wish to ask the Celestial Sovereign."

"Let me hear them."

He Chong recounted his observations to Tang Jie.

Tang Jie closed his eyes and pondered.

He Chong stood to the side, not daring to disturb him.

In the distance, Deng Yuqing and Duan Fourth had seemingly sensed Tang Jie's arrival and ran over to see if he had any orders.

Upon seeing the situation, they immediately stood off to the side. Deng Yuqing didn't see Yiyi, and there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

After a while, Tang Jie said, "Your question is very interesting, and I don't have a definite answer right now. However, I have a possible reason that could explain your confusion and also the world's constant disasters."

Disasters were still wreaking havoc on the Mountain River State Diagram, and getting fiercer with time. A few days ago, there was even a black fog that devoured all living creatures and was very difficult to kill. Even He Chong had needed to go to great lengths to finally eradicate it.

These disasters and He Chong's situation formed a great enigma that had bothered Tang Jie for a long time.

But several dozen years of quiet cultivation had steadied Tang Jie's temperament and solidified his foundations, and his vision and knowledge had both broadened, allowing him to develop a possible answer.

He Chong's group perked up their ears. "Please teach us, Celestial Sovereign!"

Tang Jie slowly said, "I suspect the reason you can't comprehend the Dao is that the Great Dao doesn't exist here."

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