"Who, who are you?"
Christ could not see the appearance of the person who spoke within the light realm. His emotions gradually shifted from continuous tremors to numbness. He had thought Mr. Gu was the most extreme person in the past world, but after the old eon was extinguished, beings even more powerful than Mr. Gu appeared before his eyes one after another.
These people were connected to the old eon, yet not recorded in history. They resided in unfathomable places, perhaps beyond the control of even the Nine Nether Sin-Exorcising Heavenly Venerate.
And he, who had thought this light realm was a unique place he had attained, his own private land.
Unexpectedly, someone already existed here.
"I am a person who never existed in the void myth."
"Once, a great door was opened, and from behind it, ten directions of Void Heavenly Venerates were released. Although it was called ten directions, it was merely a figurative term. The number of Void Heavenly Venerates actually released is unknown. I am one of them."
The person spoke of an ancient story, explaining his identity, but Christ still could not understand. The person shook his head and sighed,
"The path of the world was originally only one. Later, upon reaching the other shore, it was discovered that there were many places on the other shore, and thus the path was opened into many. Things that did not exist in the past also flourished, even erroneous delusions. For the beings within those delusions, those were correct matters."
"You too should not have existed; you were born through reflection... I am speaking of eon after eon of old eons."
Christ also shook his head, "I know. The old eon was evolved by a Heavenly Venerate. He is the beginning of the Jade Purity, the source of us all, and the source of all myriad phenomena. We originally came from the void, so reflection or not is irrelevant."
"To be assimilated or separated by others, or to be mere playthings casually shaped by others, but no matter what, I truly exist, and I endured the destruction of the eon, successfully attained my own path, and arrived at the light realm. I have lived out all my own phenomena and am no longer anyone's appendage."
The person heard this and let out a laugh:
"Good. Your having such thoughts shows that your phenomena have surpassed the Lord of Great Phenomena. You are a new phenomenon with infinite possibilities! And now, with your departure, all the shackles of the First Jade Purity have collapsed, including yourself. You are no longer bound by the Old Primordial."
"In fact, it should be this way. If you did not leave the First Jade Purity, all of you would remain under the Old Primordial's restraint. You still retain the holy title of Primordial Heavenly Venerate, which is proof that you have not broken free from his Primordial phenomena."
He praised Christ and then extended a helping hand:
"I will send you to a certain other shore. There, there are broader paths for you to soar endlessly. Your path is no longer suitable for this place. Wishes gather sentient beings; you do not need to imitate those Five Directional Emperors or anything similar. In the beyond of the beyond, the Dharma is endless, and wishes are not just the thoughts of sentient beings, but also the thoughts of non-sentient beings."
"The other shores we can observe are not yet enough."
Christ thought, so he was the last Jade Purity cultivator, the first to betray the Primordial doctrines. From that moment on, he was no longer strictly a Jade Purity cultivator.
He cultivated to the extreme in the East, then went to the West to cultivate, replacing the gods of their past myths and becoming one of the most powerful beings in the Heavenly Heart realm. Now that the Heavenly Heart path was finally broken, he did not have to enter the True Heavenly Realm like Jiajing.
There were other paths!
Boom!
The radiance in the light realm gathered. The person reached out, pressing all the light onto Christ's forehead, igniting a flame.
In that instant, all past realms were shattered. A new path began to open, and from its birth, it stood at the same level as the True Heavenly Realm, even more powerful in some aspects.
No need for the Heavenly Dao as support, no need to borrow great destiny from the outside.
Spirituality was developed, completely ignited. Divine fire boiled, burning throughout the body, becoming an original person.
"Every phenomenon has an original archetype. Finding this archetype and uniting with it is the true attainment of self-elevation. All phenomena are 'self-existent and all-encompassing.' It is precisely because of this that they can manifest in the world and become phenomena. Finding the original archetype of a phenomenon is another path similar to the Primordial path... Now, I am turning you into the original archetype. How far you can go depends on your future efforts."
"Go."
The person waved his hand, sending Christ into another other shore. The light realm then completely closed. This Void Heavenly Venerate also disappeared, declining along with the fading of the lights.
Christ departed from the light realm and went to an unknown other shore. Thus, all Jade Purity cultivators in the old eon evolved by the Nine Nether Heavenly Venerate ceased to exist. The path of the First Jade Purity was completely severed at this point. When this path was severed, Ji Xiang also sensed it.
Subsequently, the light of the Second Jade Purity erupted from the deepest part of his consciousness. After the residual part of the First Jade Purity's path completely disappeared, the Second Jade Purity completely replaced the position of the First Jade Purity, and a massive new eon entrance instantly evolved behind Ji Xiang.
A great phenomenon descended with a roar, supporting the dark profound phenomenon from before, directly confronting the immortal, undying flower burning fiercely in the divine wondrous world.
The thoughts within the immortal, undying flower began to stir. Under the burning of the immortal fire of sentient beings' wishes, it seemed to regain some clarity, but it still exuded a melancholic aura, regretting not having assimilated a Lord of Great Phenomena.
"If you have experienced many old eons, you should have seen many Lords of Great Phenomena. You did not assimilate them, yet you wish to assimilate me. Is it because the power of time and the fire of sentient beings' wishes accumulated over countless old eons make you feel that you can contend with the Lords of Great Phenomena?"
Ji Xiang's tone carried a magnificent authority. The new eon of the Second Jade Purity appeared, compressing the divine wondrousness into a small point. The flames of the immortal, undying flower then enveloped the divine wondrous world from the outside, appearing like a perfectly round golden elixir.
And now, Ji Xiang, as the Unending Heavenly Venerate, had elevated his realm to an unimaginable level by borrowing the power of this flower.
The temporal mist on the immortal, undying flower began to distort. The fire of sentient beings' wishes completely burned the flower, turning the unified flower into ashes. Within the temporal mist, a residual image was projected down.
As soon as this residual image appeared, everything around it became its own, merging with it. Beyond this old eon, beyond this new eon, was the boundless realm of fate. But at this moment, all fate converged towards that residual image, becoming its own.
This scene made Ji Xiang think it was Qing Luo reborn. Among the people he had encountered in the past, only Qing Luo's fate could assimilate other fate laws and then summon Mr. Gu.
But now, those fates, even the phenomena that formed fate, were unified by that residual image and merged with him. After gaining control of the realm of fate, he still, like Mr. Gu, headed straight for the profound phenomenon as if he would devour everything.
"Profound phenomenon! The profound phenomenon of the other shore! If I obtain you, a certain 'me' can be resurrected and gain new life from the phenomena here!"
"The phenomena here were born from the first void thought, truly 'the son of whom no one knows'! No one exhaled a breath of essence to give birth to him, nor is there anyone who will come to stop me."
The residual image's voice was filled with longing. When Ji Xiang saw the profound phenomenon again, that dark, deep, ancient abyss, for the first time, had a thought towards this strange existence that seemed to share some characteristics with it.
This was the second void thought since the appearance of the profound phenomenon!
And this void thought was completely transmitted to Ji Xiang. Ji Xiang's spirituality was instantly emptied. All the phenomena he could perceive disappeared, replaced by a distant, dark, profound scene. Within this scene, that thought descended, mingling with the dust.
Dust appeared after the first void thought arose, symbolizing all phenomena in the world.
The profound phenomenon does not have the cognition of "you," "I," or "he," nor does it view everything with such cognition. A void thought descends, and then all eons and myriad things arise together. The other shore and this shore coexist. The myriad phenomena of the ancient starry sky, the heavens, the Dharma realms, and the billions of phenomena appear and disappear simultaneously, rising and falling, just like this dust.
"Second void thought."
"Long but not dominating; this is called profound virtue."
Selfless, humble, uncontentious, deep, far-reaching, returning to the origin with all things, and then reaching great harmony. He is the lord of all things but does not arbitrarily control all phenomena; this is profound virtue.
Profound virtue is deep and far-reaching, returning to primal simplicity with all things.
That was precisely the unified state, but it was a completely different path from the residual image that emerged from this unified state. Within the realm of the second void thought, deep within the profound darkness, a repulsive force erupted.
It exceptionally rejected this residual image, being irreconcilable with it, existing on opposite paths.
And the second void thought also pointed out the next new realm for Ji Xiang. He did not need to follow the transition from great phenomena to formless phenomena, nor did he need to ascend to the profound again.
As the Void Heavenly Venerate in the light realm said, there are endless other shores in the world, all with their own paths. Once the Primordial shackles are broken, the sea is vast and the sky is boundless! He is not constrained by the Primordial phenomena that descend from the profound phenomenon, but directly connects with the profound phenomenon!