Essence I
Whether one becomes a Celestial Venerable or not, the matter remains unresolved.
"Cultivation is essentially about perfecting oneself using temporal dynamics. Once you reach the Heavenly Venerable level, temporal dynamics lose their function, and you no longer have the potential to progress further... Therefore, the Heavenly Venerable is the endpoint of all systems," Lin Hui said.
"Since you understand, I won't say any more. What are your plans next?" Mu Cheng Jiang asked in a deep voice. "Your other disciples are also about to reach their end, and in the future, only we will remain. This is a situation that all Celestial Venerables will inevitably face. It is also the beginning of your most dangerous phase..."
Why?
"Because the true power of the Source Disaster begins at this moment, and all the people around you will disappear."
"You mean, Heart Disaster?" Lin Hui understood what the other person meant.
"That's right. At your current level, the only thing that can pose a threat to you is the Heart Disaster," Mu Cheng Jiang said.
"It's alright, as long as I advance fast enough, the Heart Disaster can't catch up with me." Lin Hui's speculation about the Blood Seal should allow him to evolve further. Over the years, he has been collecting the Existence Force.
Millions of years of gathering, all for the final step of evolution.
Mu Cheng Jiang didn't know where his confidence came from, but Lin Hui's rise from humble beginnings to the present was something that no one could understand.
There were so many illogical points in it that he chose to believe it.
"The real question is, how can we completely replace the Wind Disaster?" Lin Hui asked.
This problem filled Lin Hui with a sense of helplessness after he saw his disciples lose their chance to break through one by one.
As he continues to perish, Wind Disaster continue to arise. Because of his first-mover advantage, the area affected by these Wind Disaster is far larger than he imagined. At this rate, it will be impossible for him to replace the existing system even after hundreds of millions of years.
"In its current state, it's difficult," Mu Cheng Jiang shook his head. "Your Wind Energy needs to be accelerated and expanded."
"No... it's still not enough. If my previous guess was correct, the Void can be considered an existence with infinite dimensions, currently in a state of Void Life. The Void is still expanding infinitely. As long as the Wind Disaster keeps avoiding conflict with me and continues to occupy territory in newly opened areas, it can endlessly create a tug-of-war with me," Lin Hui said. "Within an infinite range, if I accelerate, it can also accelerate."
"Then there's only one way left," Mu Cheng Jiang said.
"Occupy it," Lin Hui said softly.
Yes, only by completely and fundamentally occupying the position of Wind Disaster and its ecological niche can we solve the problem once and for all.
This problem is unsolvable for the other Celestial Venerables, but for him... the Blood Seal hasn't reached its limit yet, so there's still a possibility.
"You... are you confident?" Mu Cheng Jiang couldn't understand.
"I don't know... I can only say I'll give it a try." Lin Hui felt that after fusing with the True Heavenly Venerable rank, he could now unleash Celestial Venerable-level attacks without any limit on the number of times he could do so.
Combining the Blood Seal with this extraordinary move, they might be able to secure victory in the shortest amount of time.
Mu Cheng Jiang said no more, turned around and disappeared.
Lin Hui stayed at Clear Jade Mountain for several days before leaving with a large amount of newly gathered resources of Existence Force.
Nowadays, there are very few people left in Clear Jade Mountain who feel familiar to him.
The world is becoming increasingly unfamiliar, and it's time for him to make a final confirmation.
Just as he left the sect.
On the outskirts of the Wind Lord War Zone, a massive, dark shadow was writhing and steadily approaching.
The giant shadow resembled a burning flame, yet it emitted absolutely no heat.
As it travels along, it devours every world sphere it touches, no matter how large it is.
"Karmic Fire... You didn't expect that, did you...? I, the Burning Shadow, have returned!! You thought you could evade my lock-on by disguising yourself as someone else? Evade my vengeance? Ridiculous!!"
Within the giant shadow, waves representing hatred constantly surged.
The fluctuations traveled back and forth, even directly shattering some of the smaller worlds in between.
As they rapidly approached the Wind Lord War Zone, the Burning Shadow slowly began to sense that something was amiss.
If before he could still sense the intense aura of Karmic Fire, which is why he rushed back after recovering, now, even though it's so close, he can't sense the slightest trace of Karmic Fire.
"Burning Shadow, are you sure you want me to help here?" Behind them, a humanoid creature, its body covered in icy liquid and emerald green, frowned as it stared at the edge of the Wind Lord War Zone, sensing something was amiss.
"I'm certain. I've located the target based on the cause and effect of hatred. It's right here, there's no mistake," the Burning Shadow answered decisively.
"But... this place..." The emerald green humanoid figure felt an inexplicable urge to leave.
"Don't be afraid. As promised, you only need to help me deal with the curses; I'll handle the rest," Burning Shadow said considerately.
"Well... alright..." The emerald green humanoid nodded.
Both continued to move closer to the Wind Lord War Zone.
But this time, they hadn't gotten very close when a blurry figure blocked their path.
"Burning Shadow?" The figure was dressed in white robes, with a dark gold longsword hanging at his waist. His face was ordinary and blurry; it was Lin Hui had just come from the sect.
Compared to the colossal Burning Shadow, he was now nothing more than an ant.
"Long time no see." Looking at the Burning Shadow, who had recovered and pounced on him the moment they met, he was now much calmer.
"Karmic Fire!!!" Upon seeing him, the Burning Shadow instantly turned a deep, dark red, a burning flame representing rage.
"I am not Karmic Fire. But I can represent Karmic Fire and settle this karmic debt with you," Lin Hui said calmly.
Now that he has reached this level, some meaningless causes and effects should be stripped away and resolved one by one.
As time passed, he grew increasingly lonely and isolated. This natural detachment from cause and effect brought clarity to his mind.
"You, not Karmic Fire!? No... you are... you are him!?" The Burning Shadow's angry thoughts surged continuously.
It became increasingly intense and chaotic.
"I can forgive and forget what happened back then. Now, if you are willing to settle our karmic debts and let bygones be bygones, I can pretend nothing happened," Lin Hui said.
The once incomparably powerful Burning Shadow is now nothing more than a slightly larger insect in his presence.
Compared to him, the opponent's enormous body, comparable to the Milky Way, was incredibly small.
"Cause and effect... no... mere Karmic Fire... you destroyed everything I had, everything... and now you still have the nerve to ask me to forgive you!!" The Burning Shadow grew even angrier.
"It seems you're unwilling to reconcile," Lin Hui sighed.
"Then go die."
He suddenly raised his hand and pointed.
Countless Wind Energy appeared out of thin air, enveloping everything, including the Burning Shadow and the emerald green humanoid figure.
The extremely high-level Wind Energy, like a potent poison, frantically decomposed the full power of both entities.
Wait!! I... I wish...
The thought of the Burning Shadow was abruptly cut off before it could be conveyed.
Its enormous body burst open like bubbles, dissipating completely into the endless void.
The emerald green humanoid ghost beside him was terrified.
"Senior, I have no ill intentions. I just came to watch the battle, to watch the battle!!" Because his body was not so dispersed, he disappeared and disintegrated more slowly.
"Since you've already embarked on this karmic journey, then serve me for ten thousand years," Lin Hui said casually, pointing a finger.
It instantly eroded the entire emerald green humanoid figure, transforming it into a fusion life form dominated by Wind Energy.
In order to combat and replace the Wind Disaster Wind Disaster, he also followed its example and created a multi-layered and multi-level system of Fusionist.
A large number of the Resistance Army joined them, and with the help of the Wind Energy system, they rapidly grew stronger and rose in power.
One advantage of Wind Energy systems over Wind Disaster is that they don't cause malignant distortions or pollution. Of course, borrowing power from others always comes at a price, and Wind Energy is no exception.
Once one decides to integrate into it, the possibility of challenging for the position of Celestial Venerable is no longer available.
But for the vast majority of geniuses, let alone the Celestial Venerable, even the Thought Endures Eternally, or even the Colloidal Dissociation, are incredibly distant.
Having dealt with the Burning Shadow, Lin Hui returned to the center of the war zone.
Phantom Vine was still being controlled and giving birth. Her face, contorted in agony, was brimming with boundless rage towards Lin Hui.
Anyone who has been tormented like this for millions of years would be filled with immense rage. And this is the greatest cause and effect that currently binds Lin Hui.
Lin Hui ignored her and instead took out the vast amount of Existence Force he had accumulated. These were countless dazzling golden orbs of light.
This is a crystallization of existence that he compressed and condensed himself, a crystal with a capacity of one billion units of Existence Force.
At that time, he had 300,000 pills in his possession.
This was all he had accumulated over the years. He had a premonition that this evolution might be the last one.
With a wave of his hand, Lin Hui shielded himself from everything around him, sat cross-legged in the void, and focused his attention on his Wind Energy.
Yes, this time he is directly evolving Wind Energy, which is intended to replace Wind Disaster.
The Blood Seal Mark allows everything to evolve, and everything belongs to him.
He lacks nothing now, except for the tug-of-war with the Wind Disaster that has dragged on for so many years, from which he has yet to achieve a complete victory.
Therefore, Wind Energy became the key to occupying the position of Wind Disaster, because the position of Wind Disaster itself does not seem to be lower than his, and he cannot think of a way to achieve this simply from the perspective of position.
But a position is a position, and the position itself is a rule, and behind every rule is a massive corresponding force supporting it.
Lin Hui speculated that the force behind the Wind Disaster was likely the Wind Disaster Energy visible in the True Sight.
Therefore... if Wind Energy can be completely converted into real Wind Disaster Energy, or rather, this underlying force, everything will be solved.
This is his line of thinking.
The inspiration arose only after integrating the True Status.
"Evolutionary Wind Energy," he declared in his mind.
Swish!
Suddenly, the long-unused Blood Seal flickered slightly, revealing lines of brand-new blood-red characters.
1-- Ultimate Wind Energy: The pinnacle and complete form of Wind Energy, with a fifteen-fold increase in decomposition ability, a 50% increase in expansion speed, and additional purification capabilities, capable of taking away anything that is not one's own.
2-- True Wind Energy: The form in which Wind Energy is transformed into real attributes. Reality transcends space and time. After transformation, Wind Energy will completely lose temporal changes and exist in any spacetime dimension.
3-- The Spirit-Sight Wind: The Wind Energy will further merge with you; wherever it goes, it will become an extension of your flesh and will. The Wind Energy's suppression of other Celestial Venerable ranks will increase by 50%.