“Old friend, try this samsaric gaze, it should be familiar to you.” Samsara Wild Ancestor roared with both of his eyes open. A third one emerged between them.

“Boom!” Everything disappeared afterward, only darkness remained in this epoch.

One wouldn’t be able to see their hands in front of them in this place void of the light. This was an endless samsaric cycle of darkness. Challenging this power was a futile exercise.

“Rumble!” Even the river of time in this region was affected under the rule of darkness with its flow lingering in this area.

The emperors became alarmed after seeing this because they wouldn’t be able to jump out of this particular cycle of perpetual darkness.

Just imagine, how many people could withstand and persevere in this darkness? One would turn crazy and become devoured by it. Emperors tried to imagine themselves in this situation and weren’t certain whether they could defend their dao heart or not.

“Clank.” Saint raised his sword against the dark cycle. He changed to a defensive stance while the light on the river of time gathered around him and turned into a fiery state.

The sword became a torch with resplendent holy light. It was countless times stronger because all of the light in an epoch had condensed in this place in order to illuminate the world.

The tides of darkness began their assault but peace could be found near this torch. 

The darkness might be terrorizing but the torch could reach the heart of all. It pointed the direction in the darkness, so that the wavering could have a clear goal and head for the light without becoming lost.

In this perpetual cycle of darkness, the torch was the symbol of hope. The emperors felt warm while looking at this holy torch. As long as it was around, the light was still present.

Saint became eternal while standing beneath this torch, unmoved by the waves of darkness. He kept on raising it to illuminate the heart of people. Despite being in the dark, he had jumped out of its shackles.

“Old friend, even if you can shine the world, you can’t reach everyone’s soul.” Samsara said while looking at the holy torch: “If everyone in the world had a will of light like you, our epoch wouldn’t have been destroyed. I am not the culprit, it is the darkness in everyone’s heart and I simply added oil to the fire. There are no devils, only people turning into devils.”

“As long as I’m around, so will the light.” Saint was still calm while treading through the darkness: “Even if they have darkness in them, the holy light will still light up their heart to stop their weak souls from wallowing in despair. Even if they were to falter, the light will still be there in their lives! This is my meaning for existence. Even if I can’t end the darkness, I’ll continue to bring light and hope to others! I will never stop.”

Saint spoke quietly but it struck a resounding chord in the listening emperors.

When the darkness comes, what would they pick against overwhelming power? If resistance was futile, why bother to do so?

There was no doubt that Saint had found his answer. Just bringing some color to the lost souls in the darkness was enough to not have any regrets!

“This is your most amazing trait, knowing that it is impossible yet still doing it. I can’t beat you in this regard.” Samsara nodded before becoming serious: “Alas, all will end today. You might be able to illuminate others, but not yourself!”

“Boom!” The darkness receded with an unbelievable speed. All was swallowed by Samsara’s third eye, turning it into translucent darkness, quite an unbelievable spectacle.

This samsaric eye had returned to its origin, no longer distinguishing between light and dark.

“Buzz.” The eye shot out a ray that was neither light or dark. It seemed to be a type of ray from the very beginning of the world, primal and pure without any affinity and changes. This tiny ray could cross through time itself and kill someone. 

The top emperors slightly batted their eyes because the most frightening thing about the ray wasn’t its offensive potential but rather its primal origin. This was something that could shoot through someone’s dao heart and remove their perseverance.

Saint’s expression sank after seeing the ray and gripped his sword tighter in front of his chest. His wings moved forward in order to form a massive barrier.

The ray instantly made contact with the wings and loud shaking noises ensued. Their epoch’s spot on the river of time was trembling as if a monumental change was occurring.

“Buzz.” The ray pierced the wings and sword to reach Saint’s dao heart.

The holy light suddenly flickered like a candle trapped in a storm, on the verge of going out.

With tiny noises, the strands of holy light began to extinguished, replaced by strands of darkness. However, it wasn’t that easy for the darkness either. These dark strands were also flickering. Some died and were replaced by light strands.

This contest between the dark and light continued as a cycle. This was the power of the samsaric gaze, changing one’s dao heart back to the initial state. In this situation, whether it gave birth to light or dark would depend on the person’s perseverance.

There was no doubt that Saint’s dao heart was of the light affinity. Thus, the gaze wanted to destroy this light and reverted the heart back to the origin. In the very beginning, of course, either light or darkness could be born.

This was the fundamental essence behind the current contest between Samsara and Saint. Despite the lack of violence, it was much worse than a battle with swords and blades. If Saint were to lose, the darkness would take over his dao heart. If he were lucky enough to not falter, the consequence would still be quite harmful.

After numerous cycles, Saint began to lose. More dark strands came out and the light couldn’t extinguish them. The remaining light strands turned dimmed and could go out at any moment.