254: Chapter 254 Sealing the World

Upon hearing this, Patriarch Tian Yuanzi's body shuddered almost imperceptibly. This tremor was extremely slight, yet it was as if a silent thunderclap had exploded within him. Even the starlight embers swirling around him rippled rapidly and finely, like a pebble suddenly cast into a galaxy dormant for eons.

He did not answer immediately, but simply stared intently at Chu Changsheng. Those eyes, which had seen through the vicissitudes of eternity and witnessed hundreds of millions of years of joys and sorrows, now seemed to turn into two bottomless cold pools. Within their depths, incomprehensible undercurrents surged, seeking to pierce through flesh and bone straight to the deepest Origin of his Soul—

reflecting him clearly from the inside out.

After a long time, he slowly raised his head and let out a long breath toward the vast, boundless sky.

This breath was long and desolate, carrying the residual warmth and dust of burnt-out starlight. It condensed into a wisp of faint white mist in the chilly air. As it drifted away with the wind, it seemed as if countless unspoken, heavy memories and countless shackles of destiny weighing on his shoulders dissipated together into the silence of heaven and earth—

leaving behind only a trace of lingering melancholy.

“Protection?”

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi slowly repeated the word, drawing out the final syllable. It carried an indescribable complexity, as if he were chewing on a long-outdated lie, or reminiscing about a past too painful to look back on.

The corner of his mouth curved into an extremely faint smile—one that hid three parts relief, three parts helplessness, and four parts bottomless gravity, as if carrying the weight of the entire world:

“Changsheng, what you see is far too shallow.”

He suddenly turned around, no longer looking at the doubt and conviction in Chu Changsheng's eyes. Instead, he gazed once more at the sky, which seemed clear and spotless but actually harbored undercurrents—

where clouds rolled and unrolled, yet none knew how many unforeseen dangers and dusty secrets were hidden within.

His black Daoist robe fluttered in the breeze. As his sleeves billowed, it seemed as though the debris of falling stars was rustling down.

In the interplay of sky and shadow, his back appeared solitary and desolate, like a stone statue that had stood for eons, witnessing the birth and destruction of heaven and earth, yet remaining forever alone.

“The word 'protection' is too tender, and far too passive.”

His voice sank, sounding as if it came from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, or as if he were recounting a secret sealed for hundreds of millions of years. Every word carried the weight and vicissitudes of time:

“In the true chessboard of this world, how can there be pure protectors? It is all about weighing, exchanging, plotting, and even... sacrificing, with blood and bone as chess pieces, and life or death as the stakes.”

The moment the word 'sacrifice' left his mouth, the wind between heaven and earth seemed to stop. The air suddenly became stagnant and heavy, like a giant boulder pressing down on Chu Changsheng's heart, making his breathing sluggish and his heartbeat miss a beat.

He could clearly feel an invisible pressure spreading from Patriarch Tian Yuanzi. It was not deliberately released spiritual power, but a heavy aura brought by eons of secrets and destiny—

like an airtight net, trapping him firmly within.

He had a premonition that the words to follow would unveil layers of deeper, more terrifying truths, sweeping him into a torrent of destiny from which he could not escape.

“Do you know why the World Tree Dao Seed appeared in this realm? And why it happened to fall into your hands?”

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi's back seemed increasingly solitary in the dim light, his voice carrying a trace of ethereality, as if coming from the distant shore of time and space:

“This is no accidental creation, nor is it a heaven-sent Opportunity.”

“But rather, it belonged to you from the very beginning. It is your possession, an inseparable part of the depths of your Soul—”

“Without you, it would not exist.”

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi's words were like a silent thunderclap, exploding in Chu Changsheng's Sea of Consciousness!

Within his Sea of Consciousness, his originally calm Divine Soul power instantly whipped up monstrous waves. Countless golden runes drifted and shattered in the surging waves, emitting ear-piercing hums. Meanwhile, the World Dao Seed at his Dantian suddenly erupted with dazzling green light, which shot into the sky, echoing the tremors of his Sea of Consciousness—

as if confirming this earth-shattering truth, or cheering for the Awakening of its Origin.

“It belonged to me from the very beginning?”

Chu Changsheng subconsciously pressed his hand against his Dantian. His fingertips felt the warm, rhythmic pulsing of the Dao Seed. The sensation was so natural and fitting, as if this Dao Seed had resided in his body since the beginning of creation, an organ extended from his own body—

a Soul companion that coexisted, lived, and died with him.

He muttered in repetition, his eyes filled with shock and bewilderment, as if his entire understanding of the world collapsed and reconstructed at this moment:

“Without me, it would not exist?”

“Exactly.”

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi slowly turned around. On his aged face, that complex curve gradually transformed into a calmness akin to 'revealing the answer,' yet in the depths of his eyes, undercurrents even more turbulent than before surged—

as if hiding the collapse and Rebirth of the entire starry sky, and harboring hundreds of millions of years of waiting and anticipation:

“Rather than saying we chose you, it is more accurate to say that you 'awakened' it. Or rather, you crossed eternal time and space, from that long-annihilated world—”

“—and 'returned.'”

“Returned?”

Chu Changsheng keenly caught this word that made his heart palpitate even more. His heart clenched violently, as if gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and even his breathing grew rapid.

“Returned?”

From where did he return?

And why did he appear in this world?

Countless questions flooded into his mind like a tide, making him almost unable to breathe, as if an invisible mountain were pressing down on him, rendering him unable to move.

“In the ancient war, heaven and earth shattered, the galaxy reversed, and the Great Dao became flawed.”

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi's voice became extremely distant, carrying a sense of vicissitude and sorrow that transcended time and space, as if pulling Chu Changsheng along with him into that era where glory and destruction intertwined.

There, there was the wailing of falling immortals and gods, the thunder of clashes between gods and demons, the tragic state of a shattered heaven and earth, and the dead silence of a withered Great Dao—

Every image was so clear and shocking that it made Chu Changsheng's blood almost freeze.

“At that time, there was a supreme expert standing at the peak of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands. Seeing that the world's Luck was declining day by day and would eventually fall completely silent, with the Great Dao thoroughly withering and billions of living beings turning to ash...”

“Unwilling to accept this, and unwilling to let this world be annihilated, he paid the price of his entire Dao fruit, his lifelong Divine Soul, and even all imprints of his existence in the world, burning everything he had—”

“—just to catch a glimpse of a corner of the future.”

“In that corner of the future, there were no gods or buddhas filling the sky, nor endless immortals and demons. There was only a weak yet resilient spark.”

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi's voice was as soft as a sigh, yet it carried immense weight. Every word struck Chu Changsheng's heart, making his entire body tremble:

“A spark that could pierce through the eternal darkness, reignite the vitality of the Great Dao, and mend the rifts of heaven and earth.”

“And you, Chu Changsheng, are the bearer of this spark, the sole hope that the supreme expert bet everything to obtain.”

Chu Changsheng felt his blood freeze at this very moment!

The ancient war, the supreme expert, the sacrifice of the Dao fruit, the spark of the future...

These terms, which only existed in fragmented ancient texts and were occasionally mentioned in ancient legends, now seemed to be branded tightly onto him.

This weight was too heavy, too terrifying, making it almost impossible for him to breathe. A chill spread through his limbs and bones, and even his fingertips trembled slightly—

as if carrying the destiny of the entire world.

“The supreme expert... who was he?”

He opened his mouth with difficulty, his voice dry as if repeatedly rubbed with sandpaper. Every word carried a tearing pain, as if he had used up all his strength.

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi was silent for a moment, his gaze drifting toward the distant horizon, as if staring at the past long sealed by time, or as if fighting against some painful memory he was unwilling to touch.

His brow furrowed slightly, and the aura around him became increasingly gloomy, like the oppression before a storm. After a long time, he slowly uttered three characters, his voice carrying a near-devout reverence and desolation—

every word seeming to exhaust his mind:

“His name was Feng.”

“His title—Tianxia.”

“A person who has never appeared since ancient times, and will never appear again in the future.”

“...Feng Tianxia...”

Chu Changsheng repeated this title and name in a low voice. Every word seemed to carry ancient thunder, vibrating violently in his chest and causing his blood to surge.

Feng Tianxia!

What kind of arrogant and solitary spirit was hidden in this name? To dare to take 'Tianxia' as a surname, and 'Feng' as a given name—how Heaven-Defying, how wild and untamable was that?

This was the grand ambition to rise above heaven and earth, to rule the universe, and to seal off eternity!

Yet he, Chu Changsheng, a Disciple from an ordinary Sect in the Southern Region, a Cultivator who had once struggled bitterly just to survive—

had actually established such a fateful connection with such a legendary supreme expert?

It was simply unbelievable, yet he had no choice but to believe it.

“So,”

Chu Changsheng took a deep breath, forcing down the shock in his heart. He raised his eyes, where starlight and mist intertwined, showing shock, inquiry, and a trace of imperceptible confusion:

“the World Tree Dao Seed is the 'spark' he foresaw? It was transformed from his burned Dao fruit?”

“Yes, and no.”

Patriarch Tian Yuanzi slowly shook his head. His sleeves fluttered without any wind, rustling as if echoing some invisible rhythm between heaven and earth, and as if resonating with the pulsing of the Dao Seed inside Chu Changsheng's body:

“To be precise, you and he belong to the same lineage, sharing the same source, and sharing the same Origin.”

His gaze became incredibly solemn and deep, like two stars burning with eternal fire, staring straight into Chu Changsheng's eyes as he spoke word by word, clearly and firmly—

every word seeming to carry the will of heaven and earth, brooking no doubt:

“You are not Chu Changsheng, or rather, not just Chu Changsheng.”

“You are Taichu...”