Chapter 1603: Ancient Mystery, Responsibility! (Third Update)

Wang Lin gave a bitter smile, looking at Situ Nan who was completely stunned. He picked up the wine pot from the ground and took a large gulp.

"This is everything I know from the Immortal's memory… You should know about the Sealing Venerable, not me, but the previous generation's Sealing Venerable. He came from the Ancient Immortal Realm, he doesn't belong here… And those Immortal Consorts I once saw in the Primordial Stars, and that mysterious Seven-Colored Daoist… These people all come from a continent called Immortal Astral. This continent is tens of thousands of times larger than the Inner Realm and Outer Realm combined. That is their hometown. Where we are is merely an Immortal Cave belonging to the Sect Master, Seven-Colored Immortal Venerable, within a sect called the Seven Dao Sect on the Immortal Astral continent!"

"The sky we see is the sky of that Immortal Cave, the ground we see is the ground of that Immortal Cave… The so-called Inner Realm and Outer Realm are actually just the inner and outer chambers of this Immortal Cave."

"Will you believe all this? What if I also tell you that even the Dao we cultivate, this Heavenly Dao, was seized and nurtured by that Immortal Venerable? It is precisely because he seized the Heavenly Dao and nurtured it within this Immortal Cave that the spirits of all living beings were born and evolved, and that you and I came into existence.

Will you still believe these things…?"

"If there were no Heavenly Dao, if that Immortal Venerable hadn't seized it back then, then this Immortal Cave Realm would not have seen the emergence of us living beings. It would just be an Immortal Cave… When you know all this, will you feel lost? Will you ask, what is the purpose of living, and why does one breathe?"

"And the Heavenly Tribulation. The Heavenly Dao is nurtured by that Immortal Venerable, and all living beings exist within this Immortal Cave. This Heavenly Tribulation was naturally also created by him. He created the Heavenly Tribulation to kill all existences that attempt to alter the Heavenly Dao's planned path… What is a Reverse Cultivator? This is a Reverse Cultivator… It's like a Mortal planting a field of crops. After everything is planned, there are always some that don't grow according to your wishes. You change them, making them return to their original trajectory.

However, in this field of crops, as time passes, some tenacious weeds will appear. They grow very quickly, they want to break through this invisible plan, they cannot be changed, they are to be destroyed. This is a Reverse Cultivator!

The purpose of the Heavenly Tribulation is to blast these arbitrarily growing weeds and eradicate them! I am a weed… but this weed, the Heavenly Tribulation couldn't destroy; instead, it was destroyed by me!

I destroyed the Heavenly Tribulation, reclaimed my destiny from it, and even learned the secrets of the world I inhabit… Since you asked about all this, I'll tell you, but will you believe it!"

Situ Nan fell silent, his expression bewildered. After a long while, he quietly sat down, drinking mouthfuls of wine without saying a word. His eyes showed struggle, disbelief, and also belief.

If it were anyone else, even if his Master Qing Lin had said this, Situ Nan would not have believed it. All of this was too fantastical, simply impossible for anyone to believe.

But the person who said these words was Wang Lin, his brother Situ Nan. He understood Wang Lin; he had practically watched Wang Lin grow up. How could he not believe Wang Lin's words!

"Everything is just an Immortal Cave… So what is the war between the Inner Realm and Outer Realm…?" Situ Nan subconsciously looked up at the sky, and a sense of fear slowly emerged in his eyes.

He rarely felt fear, but at this moment, after hearing Wang Lin's utterly horrifying words, his mind was uncharacteristically seized by fear. What he feared was, if all this were true, then what was he? Was his happiness truly happiness?

He was just an actor, performing life very seriously, watched and manipulated by that strange existence at the peak of the sky… just like when he looked down at the earth, seeing the ant nests in the soil, seeing those ants struggling, surviving… "I have a guess about the war between the Inner Realm and Outer Realm, but I haven't fully figured it out yet. However, I've left a contingency. In three years, I will understand everything about this war!" Wang Lin was silent for a moment, then spoke softly.

"Immortal Cave…" Situ Nan gave a bitter smile, lowering his head and gazing at the wine pot in his hand, mumbling to himself.

"We look at the sky, wanting to know what is beyond the sky… When we gained cultivation and saw the starry sky, we thought that was the end, but we didn't expect that beyond the starry sky was the outside of the Immortal Cave… Wang Lin, if what you say is true, then what do you intend to do… I think you already have an answer."

Wang Lin drank his wine; he wasn't drunk. The wine, like life, turned spicy upon entering his mouth, causing his thoughts to continuously replay the past two thousand years.

"My path of cultivation has three stages. The first stage was for others… The second stage was confusion and weariness, a yearning for the life of a Mortal… I thought I would spend my entire life in this second stage, until I had enough cultivation to awaken Wan'er, and we would spend our remaining years together, closing our eyes as one.

Now, the third stage has appeared…" Wang Lin put down the wine pot and stood up, letting the mountain wind tousle his white hair. He looked at the sky, the confusion in his eyes replaced by a look of determination, filled with an unyielding spirit.

"All my life cultivating, I've never truly acknowledged it in my heart, but today, I, Wang Lin, on this Vermilion Bird Star where I was born and raised, will enter the third stage. I will cultivate!

Situ, I used to be weary of cultivation, but after today, such thoughts will no longer exist in my heart. I will cultivate, I will become stronger, I will break out of this world, and I will go see if the people of the Immortal Astral continent truly have three heads and six arms!"

"Even if I die nine times and turn to dust, what does it matter!" Wang Lin waved his right hand, and a pot of wine on the ground flew directly into his hand. He tilted his head back and drank half of it.

Wiping his mouth, Wang Lin burst out laughing.

"My whole life, I've lacked a word, and that word is 'responsibility'! I lacked this responsibility; I couldn't hold up a sky by myself!

The title of Sealing Venerable belongs to me, but it was given by others, because I did a few things, because the Inner Realm needed a Sealing Venerable! But I truly am not worthy to be called a Sealing Venerable!

I myself was weary of cultivation, I myself cultivated for others; how could I bear the title of Sealing Venerable! The old me simply couldn't shoulder this responsibility.

In fact, before, I even childishly thought that I truly was the Sealing Venerable. I fought desperately for my homeland, for the Inner Realm, to resist the invasion of the Outer Realm… I thought doing so made me the Sealing Venerable!

I never thought that many others were doing the same; almost all Cultivators in the Inner Realm were doing so. It's just that my cultivation was deeper, which is why I reached this point… But what am I? Why should I receive the respect of the Inner Realm Cultivators? The ones we should respect are those deceased Fellow Daoists, those who spilled their hot blood for the Inner Realm and became the departed souls of our comrades!"

"I never pondered these matters, but now, I have pondered them. I understand the responsibility and accountability of the title 'Sealing Venerable'. It's not just about resisting the Outer Realm's invasion; it's about leading the Cultivators of the Inner Realm out of this sky, out of this Immortal Cave, and blasting open the determination of all enemies blocking their path!

This resolve, this responsibility, I did not possess before, but after today, I will! This, perhaps, is my Dao, my destiny…" Wang Lin drank the remaining wine in the pot and flung it down the mountain. The wine pot traced an arc, falling silently and disappearing from Wang Lin's sight.

At this moment, the sky gradually darkened, the setting sun descended as the eastern fence rose, turning back to gaze upon the southern mountains, birds scattered and gathered, their calls returning, a stretch of Mortal World mist broken!

"I will kill the Immortal Venerable! Kill him, and our generation's fate will return; kill him, and the clouds will part! But before that, Situ, I will go guard the frontier for three years!"

Wang Lin flicked his wide sleeve, stepping into the sky. His figure, like a long rainbow, instantly appeared in the heavens and earth. Standing there, Wang Lin looked down at the earth. The first thing he saw was his own Heaven-Reaching Statue on the Vermilion Bird Star!

The statue of himself held the Heaven-Splitting Axe, glaring at the firmament, an indescribable Aura, which Wang Lin clearly felt from the statue for the first time.

This Aura was one of unwavering forward momentum, never looking back, where any obstructing force would be cleaved apart by an axe, a shocking Aura that no person, no existence could impede!

This Aura was that of a Sealing Venerable, one who understood responsibility and accountability, one who, after questioning himself, possessed the resolute might of a Sealing Venerable!

If the sky stood before him, it would collapse; if the earth stood before him, it would crumble. All enemies before him would disintegrate. On this statue, Wang Lin for the first time saw this oppressive power, for the first time saw a resolve that he was familiar with, one he had once felt from Venerable San Ling!

Taking a step forward, in an instant, amidst the fluttering of his white robes, Wang Lin stepped onto the head of his statue. He stood there, facing the fierce wind, facing the setting sun and the Mortal World, gazing at the heavens and earth.

"Fellow Daoists of the Inner Realm on Vermilion Bird Star, are you willing to follow me to Luotian and fight the Outer Realm!!"

As Wang Lin's voice resounded, transforming into a thunderous roar that echoed throughout the Vermilion Bird Star, at this very moment, the Cultivators who had been sitting in meditation on the Vermilion Bird Star, awaiting Wang Lin's descent, suddenly opened their eyes from their trance. Those bright gazes revealed a shared determination.

"We are willing to follow!" Shouts erupted simultaneously from countless locations on the ground, forming a heaven-shaking roar. As each voice joined in, long rainbows shot up from the ground, and amidst the astonishing whistling, countless long rainbows ascended into the sky, heading directly towards Wang Lin and his statue.

Within those long rainbows were Cultivators, each with murderous intent. They had endured humiliation for so many years, countless fellow disciples and friends had died, and those who remained had already staked their lives!

They only needed one voice to abandon everything and fight, even if it meant paying the price of their lives!

When a nation is about to perish, heroes will surely emerge; this saying has been passed down through the ages, and it holds true in this Inner Realm as well!

The plot has reached a critical point, and the subsequent story needs to be coherent without any mishaps. Er Gen needs to adjust carefully, so there will only be three chapters today.