Chapter 706: Another Hundred Years

Heaven's Dao truly exists.

As an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator who had now attained a certain understanding of the Dao of Cause and Effect, Chen Yan was keenly aware of this.

The so-called Heaven's Dao had no connection whatsoever to any living being in this world. It was akin to an even more exalted law of heaven and earth, the "will" of the River of Time or of the myriad causes and effects.

At least, as far as Chen Yan knew, no cultivator had ever been able to transcend Heaven's Dao.

Because Heaven's Dao was the fundamental rule that all operations in the world were compelled to obey.

Eight thousand years ago, the death of Chenping Continent's foremost Sword Immortal, Su Hongzhen, was because he had "defied" Heaven's Dao. Having attempted to act against heaven's will, he received the punishment he deserved.

Not only did he die, but even the Dao Basis he left behind in the world after death was corrupted by Heaven's Dao, ultimately giving rise to the Great Demon's Egg that nearly severed the path to immortality on Chenping Continent and plunged all living things into misery.

It was as if Heaven's Dao were mocking the Falling Star Realman for overestimating himself.

And according to what Li Haoran, the Supreme Pivot Elder of Kongshan Sect, had said when the Outer Court Cataclysm occurred at Kongshan Sect all those years ago, the reason this foremost Sword Immortal of Chenping Continent chose to strike at heaven with his own body was to seek a way out for all the living beings of Chenping Continent.

As for exactly what way out he sought, even Li Haoran did not know.

But Chen Yan could roughly deduce the specific sequence of events.

He himself had left the "Cause of Calamity," that span of cause and effect belonging to the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void lasting over sixty thousand years, in the Fallen Sword Mountain Range eight thousand years ago.

Little Su, in his final moments, had already touched the threshold of the Returning to Void Realm. He was merely half a step away from achieving the Returning to Void Realm and stepping into the position of True Lord.

In other words, Su Hongzhen must have possessed a certain understanding of Heaven's Dao and cause and effect.

Chen Yan had "died" beneath a tree in the Xiling Mountain Range eight thousand years ago.

The historical records of Chenping Continent had once noted that Sword Immortal Su frequently visited his good friend, Li Haoran, the Supreme Pivot Elder of Kongshan Sect.

And when Su Hongzhen traveled to Kongshan Sect to visit Li Haoran, he would also often go alone to the Xiling Mountain Range, not too far from Kongshan Sect, as if to pay respects to a departed friend.

Chen Yan knew that Su Hongzhen was going to pay respects to him.

The cause and effect belonging to the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void, spanning over sixty thousand years, was also located within the Xiling Mountain Range.

Perhaps it was precisely for this reason that Su Hongzhen came into contact with the Sage of Imperial Void's cause and effect. Having a certain understanding of the Dao of Cause and Effect, Su Hongzhen then discovered from it a secret that had always been unknown to others behind Chenping Continent:

Heaven and earth were incomplete.

Chenping Continent had no future.

For this reason, Su Hongzhen chose to sever heaven.

The final outcome was something the world had long since known.

As for the final destination of the "Cause of Calamity," since Su Hongzhen was able to learn the truth behind Chenping Continent from it, then in all likelihood he too had once, like Chen Yan himself, encountered that fragment of the Sage of Imperial Void's consciousness concealed within that cause and effect.

In other words, Su Hongzhen had already shouldered that span of "cause and effect" lasting over sixty thousand years upon himself.

Therefore, the final segment of the Sage of Imperial Void's cause and effect, after Su Hongzhen's fall, remained in the world within the Dao Basis that had been polluted by Heaven's Dao.

That was to say, within the Abyssal Tower.

......

Exactly as Chen Yan had anticipated.

The Sage of Imperial Void's cause and effect had already merged into one with the Mirage Palace's Abyssal Tower, and Chen Yan, through the Emptiness Annihilation Art and the Great Derivation Art, successfully separated that span of the Sage of Imperial Void's cause and effect from the Abyssal Tower once more.

The segment of a Sage's cause and effect located in the Western Region of Chenping Continent, within the Martial Immortal Mountain Range, as well as the segment located in the Northern Region of Chenping Continent, within the Extreme Abyss, had both already been escorted to Du Cang Mountain by Mr. You.

By collecting the complete cause and effect of the Sage of Imperial Void, and then using the Heavenly Summit Mirror to project the Sage of Imperial Void at his peak from the past into the current era, this was one of the "plans" that Bai Chen had been unfolding over the past seven million years.

Chen Yan was keenly aware that to contend with the Seven-Colored Flowing Gold Mystic Maiden Statue beyond that pitch-black rift, the power wielded by the Sage of Imperial Void, as well as the sage authority he commanded, were almost indispensable.

But the current moment was absolutely not the best time to project the Sage of Imperial Void at his peak from the past into this era.

Chenping Continent, with its currently incomplete laws of heaven and earth, could no longer even fully bear an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator.

Yet the appearance of Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators, and even Returning to Void Realm cultivators, was still permitted by the domain heavens or by "observers" at a higher level.

But Uncarved Simplicity Realm was different.

An Uncarved Simplicity Realm cultivator was absolutely not permitted to appear on the plane of Chenping Continent.

Just like eight thousand years ago, when Mr. You forcibly became a Sage.

They had to wait for the best opportunity.

Including Chen Yan, the Steward of Chenping Continent, the current seven Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators of Chenping Continent had all made their final preparations to deal with the "enemies from beyond the heavens."

After all, the enormous pitch-black rift torn open in the heavens above had already reached twice the size of when Heavenly Summit Mountain was destroyed all those years ago.

By now, Chenping Continent should have been completely exposed to the threat of "that existence," yet "that existence" had still made no move at all.

And this eerie calm made Chen Yan and the other Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators more uneasy than the arrival of a violent storm.

Yet this eerie calm continued on, against all expectations.

Five years, ten years, twenty years...

Fifty years, eighty years, one hundred years...

Another hundred years passed.

The pitch-black rift in the heavens above had expanded to a terrifying extent, spanning hundreds of thousands of li, and had directly and indirectly caused the deaths of tens of billions of living beings on Chenping Continent.

The cultivation world of Chenping Continent still tried its utmost to relocate refugees willing to leave the areas shrouded by "Eternal Night" to safe regions, but even these cultivators had long since realized that such efforts were growing increasingly futile.

Because the expansion speed of that pitch-black rift torn open in the sky had almost caught up with their speed of evacuating refugees from "Eternal Night."

But during these hundred years, the cultivation world of Chenping Continent had not been entirely without achievements.

Du Cang Calendar, Year 245.

The number of Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators on Chenping Continent had gone from seven to nine.

They were Realman Xihe from Lingxiao Temple, and Realman Liuguang from Wind Ravine Valley.

Not only that, but that swordsman of Yibai Peak named Ling Lin from Kongshan Sect had now also reached peak Dao Union Realm cultivation.

Compared to Realman Xihe of Lingxiao Temple and Realman Liuguang of Wind Ravine Valley, who had stepped into the Immortal Ascension Realm earlier, Kongshan Sect's Ling Lin actually received more attention from the cultivation world of Chenping Continent, and the reason behind this was quite simple.