Chapter 355

…

The 461946494646469th time.

Xi looked up, standing on the trunk, gazing at the canopy above. In His eyes, every leaf carried the power of the Dao of Time, shimmering with silvery radiance.

Thus, when thousands of leaves swayed in unison, it was as if a starry sky were beckoning to Him, brilliant and dazzling, which reminded Him…

Countless years ago, He had also sat beneath a great tree, watching the starry sky of the ancient era—so beautiful, so mysterious, so… warm.

…

The ∞-th time.

Xi silently closed His eyes. At the center of His brow, a Dao mark slowly emerged, but compared to the beginning, this Dao mark had dimmed significantly, becoming somewhat illusory.

It is said that every speck of starlight comes from the starry sky of the ancient past, and during the long journey from the past to the present, countless specks of starlight are worn away.

In the end, only these remain; people of the present cannot imagine the starry sky of the past.

And He belongs to the past, and like the past, He will be slowly worn away during the journey.

Just like memories—at first, you remember every branch and leaf of a tree, but in the end, you will only remember the trunk standing there.

…

"Yes."

Lin Yi nodded.

If there were no Time Holy Court, could he still complete the [Immortal Emperor Qiming] task? If there were no arrangements by the Time Holy Court, could he have walked steadily from the beginning to the present?

In the Qiongming Domain, although the Saint Qiu Ding severed the Southern Domain continent, he had also established the situation set up by the Time Holy Court, and even after that…

The three Small Worlds, the Saintess suppressing Shao Shenyun, Nan Qing obtaining the method of Sword Liberation, the feud between Yin Yang and Ye Linyuan, Bixia Yuanjun stealing the Divine Origin… how many traces of the Time Holy Court were among them?

In the Yueming Domain, Immortal Emperor Qiming established the Dao Wood, scattered Her own Dao into the world through suicide, Xiao Xiyue entered the mortal world, the Immortal King and the Devil King reigned over the Three Realms, the Five Great Immortal Sects and the Six Paths Sect fought each other, the dispute between Buddhism and Daoism, the dispute of the barbarians…

In the Shengan Domain, in recent days, the Goddess of Life fell into a timely slumber, the Devil King became a god, the Demon Realm opened wide, Life reached the Half-Step Dao Harmonizer Realm…

And in the ancient era, the Great War of Gods and Demons, the establishment of the Saintess Convent, the Saintess of Light falling into a sealed slumber…

Although it cannot be said that it was all the merit of the Time Holy Court—most of it was accidental and coincidental, and some were even caused by the System's abilities.

But… in order to deal with him, to let him walk to the present, so that they could obtain the "power" they spoke of, they indeed made quite a few "contributions."

"…"

Xi looked at Lin Yi in silence, seemingly unable to believe it. He could understand Lin Yi's words; His own path to Dao enlightenment in the past had also been a great struggle.

But… He could not admit that His own planning and the death of His close friends were merely for the Dao enlightenment of a Dao Harmonizer.

This was not a matter of belief, but… an inability to accept.

He could not accept all of this.

Chapter 464: Polytheism Servant Disintegrates.

"What is your Dao position?"

Lin Yi asked.

"The second of the Dao of Time, 'Existence of Past and Present'."

Xi replied.

Although a Dao position is the most core secret of a Dao Harmonizer, at this moment, He clearly did not care about these things.

He wanted to know if this was a mockery of fate, but clearly… as a Dao Harmonizer, He had already escaped the constraints of fate.

Of course, He was still searching for the "future" on the tree of time. If He found it and this possibility was pruned, He would not have to worry about His Dao position being known by others.

When He spoke of His Dao position, Xi could feel the great Cultivators behind Him beginning to whisper to each other.

But He did not care; these whispers did not make Him lose His composure. He continued to look at Lin Yi seriously.

"So it is [Existence of Past and Present],"

Lin Yi realized. Sword had briefly explained the mystery of this Dao position to him.

"Then you need not waste any more effort; you have not found any possibility of success."

"Because… you are destined to fail; this was decided from the moment your plan began."

Lin Yi shook his head gently. "As a Cultivator of the Dao of Time, you should understand that the more you want to interfere with time and fate, the more you will be toyed with by time and fate."

"Your resistance will all become a part of the future you saw."

"As a Dao Harmonizer, you should not have been restricted by time and fate, but you actively embraced them; you have already become their pawn."

Lin Yi continued speaking, and Xi listened carefully. He was still searching with all His might, not disturbed by what Lin Yi had said.

As a Dao Harmonizer, He was not so fragile as to give up just because of a few words from Lin Yi.

"I have indeed not achieved Dao enlightenment; this is what you saw. Immortal Emperor Qiming ascended to the throne again and achieved Dao enlightenment; this is also what you saw. None of this is wrong."

Lin Yi affirmed.

"Even before this, what you observed was all true."

"But precisely because it is true, you will not doubt that everything is indeed moving forward exactly as you said."

"Regarding Elder Sister's Dao of Time magic, the two disconnected pieces of information, did you intervene in them?"

Lin Yi suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question, bringing up someone whom no one knew about except for their side and Xi.

Xi nodded gently. "Her ability was too weak. If not for my help, only the first half would have reached her, and the second half would have been lost in time."

"Then I think I must have Elder Sister use the magic to transmit it back when she is still weak."

Lin Yi smiled. "In that case, I will trouble you then."

"It is nothing."

Xi shook His head. He seemed to have calmed down again, and even somewhat accepted this mockery. "As a token of gratitude, please tell me some of the information you know."

Lin Yi nodded indifferently. Anyway, Xi and the others had to die. Although he was being talkative, he had already used the Qiankun Ding to secure this Void Realm; only entry was allowed, not exit.

And Xi, the only one he found somewhat troublesome, was currently killing Himself by constantly courting death. This would take some time, and Lin Yi needed to stall for a bit.

Although he had told Xi these things, it was clear that Xi would not give up.

Even if He understood that He had already failed, all He could do was continue walking toward His end, at least dying on this path rather than giving up before reaching the end.

"Your perception and that of the Dao Harmonizer of the Heavenly Secret Dao were not wrong, but that was not something you were meant to know. It was just that someone needed you to know, so you came to know it."

"Who?"

"Do you not understand?"

Xi was silent. Having detached themselves from time and fate, who else could bind them? There was only the Dao they relied upon.

"It is He…"

Xi sighed with emotion. This was the first time He had revealed a different expression.

…

Xi's figure was incomparably thin, as if a gust of wind could blow Him away.

He looked up at the leaves that resembled starlight, revealing an incredibly pure smile. He wanted to reach out and touch them, but only saw the void spreading towards Him.

"You are truly biased…"

No one responded to Him, and His voice was swallowed by the void. In His eyes, only the tree of time remained, eternal and unchanging, from the past to the present, and leading to the endless future.

…

Lin Yi watched as Xi's figure dissipated, as if erased by an eraser, with a sense of abruptness like a white ball appearing on a black curtain.

Beside Him, Sword and the Emperor watched Him die in silence.

For practitioners of the Dao of Time, even the death of close friends and relatives, even the erasure of their Souls and their inability to reincarnate, was not an unacceptable thing.

After all, from the perspective of time, they had already existed eternally.

In the endless river of time, they were just living in one segment, and within this segment, they would never die; this was the tolerance and kindness of time.

But for non-practitioners of the Dao of Time, death is death—it is unacceptable.

Especially the death of someone like Xi, who died from the Origin—it was impossible to accept calmly.

Lin Yi raised Sword. At the moment Xi died, the System panel in front of him popped up, on which [Immortal Emperor Qiming] was displayed as completed.

Lin Yi had severed the hand the Time Holy Court had extended toward the Yueming Domain. After losing Xi, the Time Holy Court could no longer disrupt the Realms.

Lin Yi claimed the reward, and not far away, Sword and the Emperor had already stepped out in silence.

Pei Yuhan and Lu Jiajing flew out quietly. Pei Yuhan wanted to test her Sword path against Sword, while Lu Jiajing faced the Emperor, who had also once cherished the people of a nation.

Behind Sword and the Emperor, five Half-Step Dao Harmonizers flew out together, and countless great Cultivators also turned into beams of light, wanting to descend toward the Immortal Realm.

Some had already tried to leave, but how could the Void Realm sealed by Lin Yi be broken by them?

Even those Half-Step Dao Harmonizers could not break the Taiyin-Sun-Senluo Creation Realm under the enhancement of Lin Yi's multiple Dao positions—Lin Yi had already replaced this Void Realm with the Creation Realm.

Only Sword and the Emperor could ignore this Seal and come and go freely.

But… seeing Xi die and learning that what they sought was merely an illusion, they had already decided to die on this path.

Immortal Emperor Qiming steered the Cloud Top Immortal Palace to meet them, fighting five Half-Step Dao Harmonizers alone, guarding the Void Realm by herself, almost causing those great Cultivators to suffer a crushing defeat.

The Cloud Top Immortal Palace was created by her, so it was most suitable for her to use; one plus one achieved an effect greater than two.

Come to think of it, this was the first time Immortal Emperor Qiming had used the Cloud Top Immortal Palace to fight enemies; since creating it, she had only used it to calculate the Dao Wood.

Jiang Miaoxuan helped Immortal Emperor Qiming deal with the five Half-Step Dao Harmonizers while clearing out those great Cultivators who were like cockroaches.

Immortal dynasty emperors and Sword Masters of the Dao appeared everywhere, yet in Jiang Miaoxuan's hands, they one by one bled into the Void Realm and fell on the spot.

As she moved, dragon and tiger seemed to intertwine in the Void Realm, Yin and Yang rotated, and Kan and Li merged. With a slight grasp, countless great Cultivators fell one after another.

A Dao Harmonizer mixing in among the Dao Harmonizers was simply too terrifying.

Lin Yi did not pay attention to this war. He looked at the Dao position slowly descending before him, with Dao rhymes flowing. He sensed a faint attraction from it, and without hesitation, he reached out and grabbed it.

Above his head, Sword cast down endless Essence of Reason to protect him, and those who wanted to rush over to his side were all blocked by the four Dao Woods entwined outside the Three Realms.

These Cultivators naturally heard the conversation between Lin Yi and Xi, and they also knew that there were mysteries about him.

And clearly, seeing the Dao position in front of Lin Yi, they would also think about whether they could seize this Opportunity.

Unfortunately, they all died within the roots of the Dao Wood, and from time to time, the aftermath of the clashes between Pei Yuhan and the others would sweep down, causing their Daos to be damaged and their lives to vanish.

If they could break through the Seal of the Dao Wood, they would find a barrier around Lin Yi; that was the Creation Realm, isolating Lin Yi.

And immediately, they would see Jiang Miaoxuan's figure descend; she had kept some of her attention on Lin Yi.

With her heart set on the young Fairy, she would not care about the Three Realms; she was just helping out casually.

Her main attention was still on Lin Yi.

And even if they were extremely lucky and broke through these layers of restrictions to reach Lin Yi, the Sword above Lin Yi's head was not to be trifled with.

Its Sword body contained two Dao positions; it might even be stronger than the Dao Harmonizers present!

At this moment, Lin Yi seemed to have fallen into a dream; an incomparable warmth enveloped him, just like… a mother's embrace.

In the warm light, Lin Yi saw It…

Yin-Yang Union, this was the name of this Dao position.

Yin and Yang harmonize, rotating into one, containing Chaos, transforming into ten thousand Daos.

Lin Yi opened his eyes, his body brimming with Dao rhymes, his white clothes the same, yet different from before. He reached out and grabbed, and Sword descended.

Lin Yi lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze sweeping across the entire battlefield.

In the northwest, Pei Yuhan and Sword were fighting; one turned the Sword into thousands, the other used her body as a Sword. In the southwest, Lu Jiajing and the Emperor fought until the Void Realm shook; one used ethereal immortal magic, the other used a resplendent imperial kingdom.

Lin Yi did not disturb them; he drifted down and stood beside Jiang Miaoxuan, with the Cloud Top Immortal Palace beneath his feet.

Immortal Emperor Qiming withdrew her divine light, and the five Half-Step Dao Harmonizers and many great Cultivators also retracted their Dao magic, their expressions tense.

"Dao Harmonizer, can we reconcile? We will retreat now, how about that?"

A great Cultivator asked.

Lin Yi looked over, and seeing the hope in his eyes, he shook his head gently. "Since you have come, then do not leave."