A new, dim scene was born within the Xuanxiang, a seed of a new image, constantly sinking, destined to become a mote of dust.

Since the first Xu Nian (Void Thought), no new dust had been born, but now, after the second Xu Nian, the first mote of dust appeared.

Ji Xiang placed this dim scene into the Yuanjie (Realm of Affinity), letting it drift away along those affinities, transforming into dust within the affinities. This mote of dust would then be reborn somewhere on the other shore, carrying the residual images obtained from the Xuanxiang, a seed for a new powerhouse.

It might also reappear in other new and old Guangyin (Streams of Time), and then, after a long period of time, it would return to the Xuanxiang again.

This was the last and greatest respect given to a seeker of the Dao.

"Not cutting off his Dao, not extinguishing his reason. Laws and techniques are things that every life has, but the Dao is the highest insight within a being, even within an image. It will flow eternally, to be inherited by future generations, completing the unfinished work of those who came before."

This battle could be called earth-shattering. Ji Xiang himself had not expected that the origin of the Fangshi (Alchemists) would be like this. But from the words of the Undying Immortal Shadow, perhaps the Fangshi were also reflected projections. Everything about them was like this, entering here to be refined by the Chaotic Flower, forgetting the past, abandoning the old Dao, and transforming into Fangshi.

"Things reflected from the other shore cannot come from nothing, so the path that assimilates the Fangshi is also a reflected projection, a memory from the Undying Immortal Shadow's past, manifested here."

"How many other shores are unknown, how much history is buried in inexplicable places?"

The inexplicable places in the world could now be considered a kind of other shore, but perhaps those places were more like passages leading to other shores, just like the Yuanjie, where the origins of affinities could be seen.

Ji Xiang's gaze returned to the Second Jade Purity beneath the Xuanxiang.

At this time, Ji Xiang's gaze towards this new Guangyin changed.

In the past old Guangyin, there was the path of the Heart, the path of the Thought, and the path of the Fate.

The Heart could create gods, the Thought could derive all kinds of mysterious changes, but what ultimately decided everything was Fate. Heavenly Fate, Determined Fate, Great Fate. Those who possessed these were truly qualified among the derived beings, with a chance to leave this great image.

The Second Jade Purity was, after all, just a great image. Even if it was without beginning or end, in this long, endless age, those beings constantly transforming within life and death, motion and stillness, might eventually, some of them, be able to reach the extreme level of Guangyin by relying on inexplicable places.

Even if he was one with Dao Xuan, he could not make up for this flaw in the great image, and could only follow the old method of guiding other old Guangyin to cast residual images here.

But the Xuanxiang was not something he could cast at will. Even if it was cast down, beings would not be able to see it.

"Yes, the path exists, but there is no way to see it. The method to see it is sealed off, or rather, that kind of image cannot be manifested externally."

"Once the image cannot be manifested externally, it is unknowable and cannot be known, but at least at this time, there is still a way to know, a way to know through affinity."

The master of the great image ascends Xuan to the realm of No-Image, abandoning the old image body. The so-called No-Image, abandoning the constant Dao, without traces, means that the beings below the realm of No-Image cannot see the existence of the realm of No-Image, unless they actively manifest.

Therefore, the realm of No-Image is truly beyond the great image, it is unknowable, cannot be known, and even more impossible to know, unknowable by affinity.

"The heaven of heavens... if the lower image is incomplete, then why can fate be completed? The so-called Heavenly Fate, Determined Fate, Great Fate, are residual images. I already understand. If a person with fate can receive a response from the heaven of heavens, or be chosen by the heaven of heavens, then they have obtained a residual image falling from the heaven of heavens."

"Therefore, the solution to the incompleteness of the great image does not lie in Mister Gu. The destruction of Guangyin caused by Mister Gu, guiding out the death aura of Guangyin, and even the thousands of people like Mister Gu in the past, they are not the final solution."

"The master of the great image believes that the old Guangyin is destroyed, and a new Guangyin is born. Although Primordial Beginnings will still appear, the original old Guangyin has escaped the constraints of the master of the great image, and should be able to break through the shackles and slowly make up for the incomplete parts, because that kind of image has no origin, which is in accordance with the principles of the Xuanxiang's operation."

"If many images have origins, then their selves are not their true selves, which means I am not me, he is not him, seemingly many images, but in fact they are all one image."

"Beings have no beginning, everywhere is the beginning, all beings falsely see birth and death in non-birth, each beginning is different."

"We strive to prove this principle, but no matter how talented and brilliant people are, they are one step short, because this heaven is incomplete." The heaven of heavens is the truly complete place, while the heaven below is incomplete, everything here is flawed.

Ji Xiang decided to go to the heaven of heavens, and began to act.

The new Guangyin, with the power of the Boundless and Endless Celestial Venerable, began to bloom with vast brilliance.

It vibrated under the Xuanxiang, and countless affinities in the Yuanjie were attracted, gathering towards the new Guangyin derived from the Second Jade Purity, and with the complete return of the four images within, it began to give birth to incredible myriad phenomena.

And Ji Xiang stripped out an image from the supernatural power of Ultimate Scene, and with the re-manifestation of that image, Mister Gu, who had been frozen for a long time, was placed by Ji Xiang like a chess piece in front of the Second Jade Purity.

After doing all this, Ji Xiang stopped all actions, and the Boundless and Endless Celestial Venerable in the Xuanxiang was also frozen, but a thought came from the Xuanxiang.

"Gods disappear and cannot be seen again, neither existing nor not existing, the gate of myriad transformations."

This was a secret technique of the Divine Firmament Sect, which could be used to communicate with the heaven of heavens, without needing to "comprehend the Dao" or obtain "Great Fate", but it was only a one-sided prayer, and it was unknown whether it would receive a response.

But Ji Xiang was confident that this communication would definitely receive a response.

Because he was already one with Dao Xuan, the fundamental core of this secret technique had been thoroughly comprehended as soon as it was used.

That thought was transmitted into the void and disappeared, just like when he first sensed the changes in the heaven of heavens.

At the same time, Ji Xiang took out the Jade God Pan and the Qingping Sword, and the Primordial Beginning Ritual began, but it was also refined by Ji Xiang for the second time, and thus became the Xuanxiang Ritual.

The Xuanxiang replaced the position of the Primordial Beginning Celestial Venerable that should have appeared in the new Guangyin, which would cause beings to not see their beginning, and the world would lose the name of Primordial Beginning.

This was a false change, but it could liberate beings from the shackles of the great image, at least no longer making their roots all at the beginning of the great image. In this way, if there were existences like Mister Gu again, beings could withstand the destruction of Guangyin, and no longer need to rely on those with Heavenly Fate to become arks of salvation.

Buzz—

The outline of the Boundless and Endless Celestial Venerable, frozen in the Xuanxiang, suddenly produced fluctuations.

Ji Xiang's gaze looked towards the distant darkness, and pieces of invisible things began to become clear, and those invisible things also seemed to see Ji Xiang, they were greatly shocked, not understanding how someone in the lower world could actually see the Xuanxiang.

And from within the Xuanxiang, arrive at the heaven of heavens!

"A new path."

Those invisible things gradually became clear, the beings of the lower world could not see or know them, but once they entered the heaven of heavens, they would appear, because their manifestation relied on the part of the Xuanxiang that had once been seen, rather than the usual great image. Their transformation into reality was like the transformation of that part of the Xuanxiang.

But at this time, the appearance of the realm of being one with Dao Xuan was far from their path of No-Image.

And they could not see Ji Xiang's existence clearly either, they could only see an extremely blurry outline, shining out from the distant darkness, and reflecting the scene in the heaven of heavens into that darkness.

The image of the heaven of heavens descended into all the Guangyin, and the beings of the realm of No-Image watched all these changes, they knew that the incomplete path had been completed, and the severed echo would once again resound in countless Guangyin.

And those few existences of the realm of No-Image could only watch as that outline changed from clear back to blurry, and then gradually dissipated in the Xuanxiang.

"The paths of the world are unpredictable, being one with Dao Xuan, there are such existences."

And Ji Xiang went to the depths of the heaven of heavens, where everything had not yet been seen, perhaps there were even greater existences on the other shore.

————(End of the book)