All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes-Chapter 1620 - 359: No, I Refuse (4/6)
Crash!
The sound of the void’s tide arose, as if time had turned into a river, entwining around Di Yuan’s whole body. At this moment, he was neither Di Yuan nor Harmony with the Dao; he was Embracing the Void, Candle Day, or rather, the embodiment of the Law of "Devouring Evil and Returning to Truth".
Everything turned black and white, and heaven and earth lost all color; then time and space shattered, becoming infinite broken fragments, and amidst these flying fragments, Qingdu Taoist saw...
He saw—a blade of light!
This blade of light was eternally evergreen, purely noble in its purple hue. It pierced through the past and the future, yet inserted straight into the present; the heavenly dome could not be higher than it, and the earth could only serve as its sheath’s base.
Qingdu was startled, the aged Heavenly Venerate incredulously stared at his old friend, his comrade who had transformed into this blade of light.
He once thought Harmonization was absolutely impossible, he also believed that if true Harmonization occurred, degeneration into demons was inevitable. He thought that either he, or the Heavenly Cutting Venerable along with the other extraordinary Venerates at the Mysterious Heaven Ceremony could touch the ultimate peak, to reach the truly infinite realm.
However, reality told him, the Heavenly Dao told him, that things were far from being that bad and nowhere as good.
They actually all could.
Each one of them was a true genius, all capable of Harmonization.
But, the Heavenly Dao did not want that ordinary Harmonization, only one truly pure, or one genuinely possessing transcendence could open up a path in true desperation.
An Jing opened one.
And now, Di Yuan became the path.
At this moment, the power of the Huai Xu Divine Wood and the Huai Xu Heavenly Dao revealed themselves in the mortal world.
Above the infinite highland’s heavenly dome, at the moment the blue-purple Divine Wood appeared, it highlighted everything into nothingness, as if the entire world was merely a painting, a screen, a two-dimensional projection, while the tree alone was real, substantial.
And now, it lowered down its infinite branches, aiming to fill the infinite gaps within the painting.
It lowered down a newly born branch, intending to transform into a blade of light—
To Slay Demon, and Slay Oneself!
Between heaven and earth, everyone gazed at this blade.
Like both flame and light, a blade resembling a divine dragon, yet akin to a great serpent or bird, embodying all the joyous and hopeful imagery of the world, was unleashed, tearing apart the painting-like present world, aiming straight at the Netherworld, to slay toward the unspeakable demon awakening in the Abyss of Eternal.
The Holy Demon sensed this, and he roared in horror and rage.
Simultaneously, at the Huai Xu Ten Continents, at the core mountain gates of all Heavenly Ancestors, a radiant, indescribable flame, devoid of color, burst forth, its light soaring to the sky, forming an infinite network across heaven and earth.
That is the Heaven and Earth Core.
One after another, as the Huai Xu Divine Wood manifested, part of the Heavenly Dao also started to become active, beginning to converge toward that blade of light.
As the Heaven and Earth Core manifested, the faster it sped, the more intense, the more luminous it became.
To the point that all life within the Huai Xu realm witnessed this blade.
And on the North Mysterious Sacrifice Continent, within the Realm of Nonexistence, illumination arose as well.
An Jing was among them.
As the radiant, colorless flame departed from the Realm of Nonexistence, at this moment An Jing completely understood what the Huai Xu Heavenly Dao intended to do, and why.
The Heavenly Dao, although a great True Spirit, should not have ’self’.
As the assembly of all the imperative principles to abide by or reject, the Heavenly Dao sieved the Sea of Chaos into an infinite world that could permit all life to exist; it was so vast, encompassing every aspect, any life lived within.
However, the Heavenly Dao was also tolerant—"If a person is killed, they die, if a monster is killed, the same applies." This is a compulsory "necessary condition", the Heavenly Dao decreed this, but it did not regulate "how to kill", nor "when to kill", nor even "must kill".
It was so broad that it allowed infinite people’s infinite free will.
But, if the Heavenly Dao possessed self, had preferences...
Then, the Heavenly Dao would no longer be ’a generous filter’, but transform into ’a dominant hyperfilter’, an absolute despot.
With self, the Heavenly Dao would no longer be tolerant; the set of all possibilities would have a certain answer, all problems would receive the most precise answer to the minutest detail possible.
The previously broad condition of ’if a person is killed, they die’ would turn into ’each person owns an absolute, extremely detailed death method’.
Destiny
The so-called all is everything, from eating, drinking, defecating, to anger and despair, even questioning, fear, these possibilities and thoughts, even resisting destiny itself, gained absolute and specific answers.
Any existence not adhering to these answers would vanish, or it could be said such possibility never existed from the beginning.
At that time, all True Spirits would be fully assimilated by the "Only I Heaven", leaving no room for life to make any choice differing from the Heavenly Dao, completely losing free will.
This would be an "Eternalist Universe".
If it were like this from the beginning, that would be it, but if it fell from a free world to an eternal cage...
Then this would be Demon.
When the Heavenly Dao possesses self-will, regardless of whether it was originally good or evil, whether subjectively it loved people or not, when it could ’choose the outcome of an event’ based on its subjectivity, then everything in the world where this Heavenly Dao resides became an illusory joke, becoming as ephemeral as a dream; what it chose was the real world, what it denied was an illusory dream.
So, it must be cut.
The blade fell, slashing toward the Abyss of Eternal.
In the Abyss of Eternal, the Holy Demon angrily roared and raised both hands, within which was condensed "Heaven", a crystallized world where everything was frozen, past, present, and future held absolute equivalence; everything had happened, everything preordained, a world named "Eternalist Universe", where everything had happened, everything was lifelessly still, past, present, and future frozen like insects in amber.
This shield was so solid, it could block the Candle Day blade light of Huai Xu.
However, though it blocked, the Abyss of Eternal was ignited by the blade light’s overflowing aftermath, and infinite light turned to burn the Holy Demon’s body, causing him to howl in even greater fury and pain.
The collision between blade light and eternity was also the collision between branch and Holy Demon; the shadowy body of the Holy Demon in the Abyss of Eternal began to ignite in blue-purple radiant flames, dispersing.
Yet, as the Holy Demon dissipated, the Huai Xu Divine Wood was also ignited, turning to dust, and likewise started to dissipate.
Whether it was the Holy Demon or the Huai Xu Heavenly Dao, ultimately, they were yet unborn, and not truly fallen into demonization existences. Their collision was entirely a mutual destruction from the source; theoretically, both were infinite, there should not have been any advantage or disadvantage, but because generations of Heavenly Ancestors nurtured the Heaven and Earth Core, and truly obtained several methods leading to infinity, all this became the power of the Huai Xu Heavenly Dao.
Became its temporary dominance over the Holy Demon’s "regulation and momentum".
"So this is sorrowful."
At this moment, gazing at the blade light that burned itself out but also sought to eliminate the demon, An Jing could still hear the sigh as the Huai Xu Heavenly Dao spoke to him: "If I wish to exist, I will inevitably degenerate into such a "Destined Holy Demon", in fact, I have already started influencing infinite parallel spacetime, converging all possibilities toward the direction I desire."
"Therefore, I must die, returning all freedom to all sentient beings."
In saying so, the tone of the Huai Xu Heavenly Dao even carried a hint of lightness: "An Jing, well, this is probably my this Heavenly Dao’s..."
Heavenly Mandate
This is the Heavenly Mandate.
It is both the fate bestowed by Cangtian, also the fate that carries the hopes of the Heavenly Dao, furthermore, the fate acknowledged by heaven and earth, and also the fate the Heavenly Dao itself set for itself.
Heavenly Mandate, the Heavenly Mandate is thus, hence it cannot be altered, it cannot be denied, it cannot...
No.
"No."
"I refuse."
