Eternal Night

Chapter 745 Mountains and Sea, Old and New Eras
(PS: Sorry for the long wait. I just arrived at my new place and have to set up all sorts of things, including reinstalling my computer. As you all noticed, there were a lot more typos the past few days than usual. That's because I was typing on a laptop. Now that my computer is back up and working, it should be much better. I'll resume two updates tomorrow. I apologize again for the delays these past few days.)
"Once, the Mountain and Sea Realm was known as the Primordial Realm, just like other transcendent-level great worlds. It was also a world where the strong preyed on the weak, and internally chaotic and disorderly. Whoever had the biggest fist was king, and the Heavenly Dao only favored the strong. At that time, humans were ants, prey, and the most lowly creatures in the world. The strongest beings in the entire world were demon kings, giant beasts, ancient gods, and strange beings..."

"At that time, the Primordial World was also vast and boundless, with all kinds of mountains and rivers reaching the sky. Famous mountains and great fields all had owners, and there were also some roots projected into this world, teaching their own path and collecting beliefs from all over the world. At that time, the most powerful race was called the Myriad Races, while humans were not even the ten thousandth of the Primordial Myriad Races."

"All of this continued until the appearance of a great man, who was also the first and only ruler of the world..."

"Back then, the primordial world was flat and the sky was round. The whole world was a huge and boundless land. At the edge of the land were seawater. This seawater led to the void and occasionally connected to the outer plane. It was the weakest point of the primordial world."

"The first world ruler, who called himself the Pirate King, was a fisherman living on the edge of the continent. His people were severely exploited by the myriad races of the prehistoric world who lived near them. He tried to find an island overseas to escape the myriad races, but because he went too deep, he was caught in the spacetime turbulence and fell into an outer plane."

"What happened after that is unknown to outsiders. All that is known is that when he returned to this world, the heavens sent down sweet rain, the earth sprouted golden lotuses, the mountains and rivers cleared a path for him, and a golden rainbow crowned him. At that moment, he gained a share of this world. Although it was only a tiny bit insignificant compared to the Heavenly Dao, it was the first time in the creation of the entire world. With this share, he was invincible in this world. Because once you oppose him, you are opposing this world. No matter how powerful and how much the myriad races wail, unless they can break this world and overthrow it, the overall situation and trend of the world will still shift towards the Pirate King."

"Thus, countless years have passed, and the history books have not recorded that process. All we know is that it was like the sky and earth collapsing and the earth splitting apart. Countless ancient races disappeared and were wiped out. The demon kings, giant beasts, ancient gods, and strange creatures that once dominated this world either stayed in the old continent or planned to take a risk to break out of the outer plane, or even imitate One Piece and guide the Heavenly Dao to devour a transcendent world, thus becoming the new world master. But unfortunately, their strength was both their strength and their downfall."

"Compared to humans, whether they are demon kings, giant beasts, ancient gods, or strange beings, they are all far too powerful. Their size is so enormous that once they enter another outer plane, it immediately triggers a desperate resistance from that outer plane. In the end, many outer planes are destroyed, but few are actually devoured and absorbed by the Heavenly Dao. Moreover, in this process, many powerful demon kings and giant beasts perish. In the end, with the balance shifting, this world eventually became the Mountain and Sea Realm. The Mountain refers to the inland, the still vast and boundless old continent, while the Sea refers to the expanded new oceans and new lands, as well as the Great Sea Route that forms its core!"

On a brand-new, yet-to-be-claimed, fifth-class warship of the World Government Navy, Wu Pifu lay in a rocking chair, basking in the sun while Mei read him historical documents about this world.

After listening, he roughly understood what had happened in the world.

In the past, the world was ruled by powerful races and individuals, such as demon kings, giant beasts, and ancient gods. Jiuying was probably one of them, or even one of the most powerful ones.

At the same time, the Mountain and Sea Realm was also plundering and devouring various dream worlds during that period. However, the methods were brutal, and they were mainly led by these powerful individuals, using invasion methods similar to those of the Root to devour and digest them.

All of this changed when a human who called himself the Pirate King suddenly appeared.

This pirate king did not use violent erosion, but took a different approach. Although the process and method were not recorded in detail, it should be related to some kind of subtle rule or a more moderate form of collective conquest. This made the resources obtained by the Heavenly Dao of the Mountain and Sea Realm far exceed those of the past. Most importantly, beings at the level of Nine-Headed Serpent would definitely gain more benefits from their methods of devouring other planes, while the Heavenly Dao of the Mountain and Sea Realm would only get scraps after complete destruction.

Before the appearance of One Piece, the Heavenly Dao was ignorant and unknowing. As the unifying general consciousness of the Mountain and Sea Realm, it only instinctively devoured and resisted external enemies, which actually gave these powerful beings the opportunity to fleece them.

Even Wu Pifu understands this principle.

In the entire dream world system, there are only two truly terrifying things. One is the source of pollution, but that applies equally to everything, so it can be seen as a natural rule, a law of heaven and earth.

The second is the terrifying origins lurking in and below the Zero Point Three Dream World.

They are the ultimate predators in the dream world system, without exception. Wu Pifu has fought against the Root, and he knows that kind of terror. Although Jiuying is powerful, it can only be matched with the weakest Root. It is only "matched". The two are still not on the same level.

Moreover, this is only the weakest source, the Zero Point Three Dream World. The further down you go, the more bizarre and terrifying it becomes. For example, Guanyin, whom Wu Pifu knows, is the source of the Zero Point Two Dream World. That kind of terror is beyond description.

The extraordinary worlds possess some unique ability to resist the erosion and invasion of the Root, but this must be related to the Heavenly Dao. The powerful individuals reliant on these extraordinary worlds are essentially like junglers with a cheat code in the fountain. If there's a Root or a powerful enemy, they immediately retreat to let the Heavenly Dao handle it. If not, they erode and invade the worlds they encounter, devouring them completely, leaving only a tiny remnant for the Heavenly Dao to consume...

Without comparison, there is no harm. If the Heavenly Dao never knew the secrets behind this, then it would probably still be ignorant and clueless, even regarding these beings who fleece it as the foundation of this world. But suddenly, a human came back with an entire world for it to slowly absorb, which shocked the Heavenly Dao for a hundred million years!
Good heavens, what were those leftovers all about? Was that supposed to feed beggars? No, even beggars ate better than Him!
Wu Pifu was naturally unclear about the true nature of the Heavenly Dao, but even if it wasn't based on the logical thinking of an intelligent being, as long as it possessed intelligence, the choice between giving a complete world directly and giving scraps to those who exploit it was obvious which to choose.

The entire world, the heavens, and the world itself will rejoice and form a mighty force to crush forward. As I said before, unless an individual like Jiuying can crush the entire Mountain and Sea Realm and achieve something that even the combined forces of the origin cannot achieve, their decline is just a natural consequence.

Wu Pifu estimated that the Nine-Headed Serpent took the risk and dabbled in the Misty Great World around that time. Given its level of existence, the Nine-Headed Serpent likely foresaw the potential of the Pirate King's emergence and probably did countless things during that period. However, ultimately, it was beyond its control, leading to the transformation of the Primordial World into the Mountain and Sea World. Moreover, it's clear that the mountains are beginning to pale in comparison to the sea; in the future, the proportion of mountains will decrease, while the proportion of the sea will increase…

But this is not a good thing... Even Wu Pifu's meager, almost non-existent, political intuition could tell that this matter actually planted a huge time bomb.

On the continent, once powerful races may gradually weaken and perish, but powerful individuals like the Nine-Headed Serpent can endure. How could they be willing to decline like this?

If the Heavenly Dao possessed the logic and intellect of intelligent beings, it would either strip these powerful beings of their strength or expel them from the Mountain and Sea Realm. However, the Heavenly Dao, following the approach and thinking of unifying the general consciousness, treated these powerful beings as "reserved power" and "world foundation," neither feeding them nor allowing them to eat meat, yet treating them as a powerful force that the Mountain and Sea Realm could rely on.

As the saying goes, even Wu Pifu knows the principle that a strong wind reveals the strength of the grass, and turbulent times reveal the loyalty of a minister. These great demons, giant beasts, and ancient gods are certainly not loyal ministers, but the changes made by the Heavenly Dao are actually treating these great demons, giant beasts, and ancient gods as loyal ministers, the kind of eternal loyal ministers who will never betray you... It would be strange if something didn't go wrong.

Wu Pifu had a hunch that the forces of the old era lurking on the other side of the mountain would undergo tremendous changes because of his arrival.

They might even have their eyes on him, but they're not yet sure if he's on the side of Heaven's will...

"If only he knew it was here, this place would perfectly meet his requirements for the environment to carry out his big plan. I can imagine that the entire Mountain and Sea Realm is just missing a big fire to ignite everything."

Wu Pifu muttered to himself.

Mei, her face full of worry, said, "My lord, are you really not worried at all? We've not only offended the Celestial Dragon noble families, but we've also killed three of the six envoys and crippled three others. Now we've robbed an important World Government naval port, killed three colonels, and stolen a fifth-class warship... To be honest, this is enough to trigger an admiral-level manhunt and a bounty of at least 500 million berries on the sea..."

"no need to worry."

Wu Pifu waved his hand, based on his confidence in his own strength, as well as his confidence in his ability to sense the autumn wind before it even stirs.

“Our true allies will be coming out soon, or rather, they’ve already arrived, haven’t they?”

Wu Pifu looked toward the warship's mast, where two naval soldiers on lookout duty were trembling.

But Wu Pifu wasn't looking at them; instead, he was looking at the transparent area beside him, where a transparent owl was staring intently at him with two large, light bulb-like eyes.

Wu Pifu looked at the owl, and the owl looked back at Wu Pifu. After a long while, neither of them spoke or made a move. Wu Pifu said impatiently, "I'll give you ten seconds. If you don't speak, I'll kill you."

This owl is no good either. Although it's not non-human, it's not human either. Killing it won't cause Wu Pifu any psychological burden.

"..."

Xiao pointed to his mouth in confusion. Seeing this, Wu Pifu started rolling up his sleeves, saying as he did so, "Fine, since you're so tough, I'll grant your wish."

As Xiao pointed repeatedly to his mouth, just as Wu Pifu was about to attack, an old voice rang out behind Xiao.

"You fraudster, why make things difficult for this little demon? It hasn't even dissolved its crossbones yet, how can it speak?"

"We meet again, you fraudster. Daiyu, the Martial Venerable, asked me to pass on a message to you. By the way, I am also an ancient great demon..."

"His name is Bai Ze."

(End of this chapter)