Chapter 1000: Karma

What was Li Qi's true objective?

It was actually what he confessed to Shen Shuibi.

He hoped to create a world where the Demonic Dao could not interfere, and he hoped to free all living beings from the Demonic Dao's control.

He hoped that all cultivators of the Dao would have no 'Dao enemies'.

Therefore, eradicating demons was naturally one method, but eradicating demons was impossible to achieve, at least not at this stage.

So, Li Qi's current plan was to curb the Demonic Dao's interference with the Reality Universe, to prevent the Demonic Dao's wanton encroachment on history and reality, and to at least make it not so easy for them to plunder sustenance.

Li Qi did not lie about this objective, nor was there any need for him to lie.

However… achieving this by eradicating City of Dreams was impossible.

Li Qi was also a second-rank, so he naturally knew the power of second-ranks. For example, a Heart Demon could easily pull all of City of Dreams out of people's hearts.

It was simply too easy.

Eradicating City of Dreams was a great undertaking that had taken countless years, generation after generation, and countless lives and blood to pave for Mortals, but Li Qi knew that it was merely a trivial matter.

This was not a great undertaking; it was merely a 'move' in a battle between second-ranks.

So, what method did Li Qi intend to use to stop the Demonic Dao?

Let's look at the current battlefield.

Within the Universe, in countless spatial-temporal realms, including the past and present, 'dimensional leaks' appeared everywhere. This was the impact of the battle between second-ranks on the Universe.

In these leaks, time also became chaotic, and people were often sent to spatial-temporal realms they knew nothing about, or to the past and future.

In short, the stability of space-time was completely gone, and Mortals could travel through various spatial-temporal realms with the help of various rifts.

At the same time, the power of dreams greatly increased, and subjective consciousness could even effectively influence the material of the real world. The power brought by subjective initiative was beyond imagination.

'Anomalous phenomena' greatly increased, and unusual things began to appear widely. These were all evidence that the Demonic Dao was invading reality.

The Bodhisattvas also made their move.

Then, more and more second-ranks joined the battle.

Second-rank Bodhisattvas began to descend on a large scale, and more Demonic Overlords appeared in the Demonic Dao.

The more participants there were, the more possibilities there were. Every time a participant made a move, one more possibility was added.

How many possibilities are there?

It's like the Tower of Hanoi.

The minimum number of moves for an n-layered Tower of Hanoi is 2 to the power of n minus 1.

So, for a relatively simple 8-layer tower, at least 255 moves are required.

When the number of layers n = 64, at least 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 moves are required. If one move takes one second, a common year has 31,536,000 seconds, and a leap year has 31,622,400 seconds, meaning it would take 584,554,049,253 years to complete.

So, how many layers n are there now?

The answer is, n has reached the level of Graham's Number.

They have made so many moves that it's impossible to count, and how many steps does this current layer of the Tower of Hanoi require?

It's actually a very simple calculation, it's just that the final number is too large to write here.

Among the living beings, some sensitive ones had already begun to realize what the infinite they were exploring was.

They came into contact with those great existences through dimensional rifts, and even conversed directly with them, attempting to 'contain' them, or to borrow their power, using human lives to constantly probe the nature and power of these things.

Ultimately, the wise among them already knew what it was—

This was… a prison surrounded by infinite space and time. This prison confined all their possibilities, and in the end, they were destined for extinction.

Because they could not create any possibilities outside of this prison.

And so, they became extinct.

They died peacefully, in a time that seemed like a natural extinction.

Originally, many life forms and civilized races would become extinct.

Even without the interference of second-rank battles, civilizations themselves could become extinct. This extinction could last for a very long time, for example… a civilization developing virtual reality, leading to the entire civilization indulging in nothingness, unwilling to procreate and thus becoming extinct.

It could also be that a civilization developed hibernation technology, and everyone wanted to hibernate, everyone wanted to go to the future, and no one wanted to live in the present and strive for the future.

So, in the slumber of hibernation, the civilization became extinct.

This was a very normal thing. The extinction of a civilization could very well be a long process, slowly, slowly, the entire society and all individuals would wither away.

But here, the situation was somewhat different.

These civilizations were not simply becoming extinct.

Their extinction process lasted for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years, with repetitions in between, but overall, they found that they could never escape the cage.

The cage of possibility had bound them. Even if they achieved eternal life for all individuals, even if they could traverse the Universe and conquer star systems, they still could not escape this prison composed of infinite space-time.

Ultimately, their birth rate dropped to its lowest, and then they became extinct.

All of this was caused by the eternal space-time that enveloped all things.

It could be seen that they developed various navigation technologies countless times, such as hyperspace travel, light-speed travel, and even time travel, all in order to repeatedly explore and search in the desolate spaces.

However, each attempt failed. Each time, these civilizations could only return to their cage, eventually being swallowed by time, or falling into slumber, or dying, or falling into a deep sleep with the help of anesthetic drugs.

This endless cage eliminated the possibility for all living beings to achieve glory.

But… this was exactly what Li Qi wanted to create.

He deliberately guided his battle with the Demonic Dao to this outcome.

This kind of cage would lead to two results.

Either, after rigorous trials, these civilizations would continue to advance, reaching the peak of development.

Thus, driving them to continuously progress and conquer new things after descending into other dimensions.

One must know that for progress and sustained development, the emergence of difficulties is indispensable, and overcoming difficulties will be the ladder to progress.

However, at this moment, the voice of the Demon of Karma came: "Soon your pawns will be used up, won't they? When everyone is destroyed, when all possibilities are ended, what else can you use to stop us?"

Indeed, from the current situation, Li Qi was at a disadvantage.

"The Golden Monkey has not yet made a move," Li Qi said. "Are you so certain that I am at a disadvantage?"

"Golden Monkey? Haha, you probably don't quite understand, do you? He is not Sun Wukong," the Demon of Karma replied.

This answer alone was enough to cause alarm.

Who exactly was the Golden Monkey? Was he a Heart Demon? A monkey hair? Six-Eared Macaque? Or someone else?

But Li Qi merely chuckled: "What does it matter if he is Sun Wukong or not?"

The Golden Monkey had long told him that, like Li Qi, the Golden Monkey himself was not clear about what he was, but he was completely indifferent to it; he had already moved past it.

No matter who he was, what the Golden Monkey was going to do would not change, and that was enough.

"That's truly, quite open-minded, aren't you? Aren't you worried that he's a demon?" the Demon of Karma said again. "At this time, if the Golden Monkey turned against you, the pressure would be immense, wouldn't it? Is that why you refuse to put him into battle?"

"I haven't even called upon my teacher, so what does it matter if I don't call upon the Golden Monkey?" Li Qi turned his head to look at the Void Realm.

Their conversation naturally took place in the Void Realm. To them, being in two different dimensions was no different from talking face to face.

"Hmm… so, you still have many trump cards. Then I'll wait," the Demon of Karma said, and then fell silent.

The war continued.

Possibilities were still being sealed one after another, and the worlds that Li Qi's Dao could interpret became fewer and fewer.

The same was true for the great Bodhisattvas participating in the battle.

Places no longer illuminated by the Great Bodhisattva's radiance increased. This was all because the Demonic Dao was blocking their possibility of interfering with the outside, blocking all mediums.

And the Golden Monkey, Zhu Fengdan, and Taizi Changqin still had not made their moves.

This also meant that the Demonic Dao had not gone all out. For example, second-rank Demonic Overlords like the Yin Demon were also wary of Li Qi's trump cards.

However, the Demonic Dao still relied on its current advantage, gradually encroaching on Li Qi's battlefield space step by step.

This would continue for many, many years, and would encompass many, many things.

One world after another was invaded, swallowed, and plunged into destruction. This was the Demonic Dao 'confining' them, by suppressing the events they could interfere with, thereby limiting their possibilities.

Battles at historical key nodes could no longer kill second-ranks; they only affected third-ranks. Interference with second-ranks was about "limiting their scope of interference."

Through this method, the Demonic Dao was gradually restraining them.

If there were no other second-ranks to hold them back, Li Qi's range of activity would become smaller and smaller, eventually leading to his confinement, achieving a 'Seal'.

As for killing him, it seemed unlikely, as Li Qi's trump cards had not been fully forced out yet.

Thus, the battle continued for a long time.

When the last consciousness faded, and when Li Qi's Inner World became completely 'singular', the Demon of Karma spoke again: "Still not making a move?"

"Is it necessary?" Li Qi said. "By the way, let me ask you a question. You specialize in creating Karma. Have you ever wondered where such immense Karmic Obstruction from the demise of all living beings went?"

"Ha… Is this your trump card? I don't know where it went, but I know that no one in this world is more skilled at manipulating Karma than I am, so there's nothing to worry about," the Demon of Karma replied.

"If you are the most skilled, then how was this Karma stolen?" Li Qi retorted.

The Demon of Karma chuckled: "Of course I let you steal it. You are stealing Karma, preparing to bear it yourself. Did you think I didn't know? It's just that when you bring out that Karma, that's when the battle ends."

"So that's how it is. Then I'm relieved," Li Qi sighed.

After he finished speaking—

Karma erupted!

The Karma generated by the demise of all living beings all retaliated at this instant!

On the Demon of Karma's main body side, he gently crooked a finger.

Li Qi's accumulated Karma was like a flood, but in front of him, the flood was like a well-behaved dog, obediently bowing its head.

"Trying to suppress me with Karma, what were you thinking?" The Demon of Karma did not absorb this Karma but controlled it externally. Although he was mocking Li Qi, it was merely his habit.

In reality, he had already treated this batch of Karma as a dangerous item of the highest caliber.

Within the nodes of history, his Dharma Body inspected the comings and goings of every piece of Karma, peeking into the origins and flow of this batch of Karma from the crevices of time.

However, at this moment—!

"You are the Demon of Karma?" A voice came from within the Karma.

"A third-rank?" The Demon of Karma felt the owner of this voice, astonished for a moment.

A third-rank, daring to interfere in a direct battle between second-ranks?

Seeking death?

But he didn't waste too much time. Almost in the next instant, the Demon of Karma had already directed the Karma towards the opponent.

The Karma of the destruction of all living beings, a mere third-rank was not qualified to bear it. The shattering of the Dao Heart and the collapse of the Inner World were almost inevitable. If one couldn't bear it, their possibilities turning to zero was also very normal.

Caused by bodily Karma, verbal Karma, and mental Karma, yet the mind is formless and cannot be perceived, thus illusory phenomena arise.

Without a master, without a self, appearing differently according to Karma, yet in reality, there is no doer within it.

All phenomena are inconceivable, like dreams and illusions.

Just as one views the Demon Body, born from hundreds of billions of evil virtues, with all its features wicked and dark, obscuring the masses, countless billions of sovereign Brahma Kings no longer appear.

The eye faculty is heavily obstructed by sins, defiled and turbid, stirring up evil Karmic manifestations, false speech, flowery language, harsh words, divisive speech, slandering and lying, praising wrong views, speaking useless words; such numerous and mixed evil Karma, fighting and disrupting, speaking non-Dharma as Dharma, evil Karmic thorns emerging from the tongue, severing the wheel of righteousness from this tongue. Such an evil tongue severs the seeds of merit, speaking forcefully on many counts in matters of unrighteousness, praising wrong views like fire adding fuel, like a raging fire harming living beings, like one who drinks poison and dies without a wound.

All thoughts are unwholesome, creating endless evil Karma and uninterrupted Karma, like a monkey, and like sticky glue, clinging everywhere to all six senses.

The Karmic power of the six senses, with branches, flowers, and leaves, fills all twenty-five existences in the Three Realms, and can also increase the twelve sufferings of ignorance, old age, and death. There is no one who has not experienced the eight wrong paths and eight difficulties!

The Demon of Karma attacked a third-rank!

But—!

The Demon of Karma felt a strong backlash.

That Karma, that Karma that should have belonged to the Demon of Karma, at this instant, including all the Karma the Demon of Karma himself controlled, all backfired!

A third-rank, backfired a second-rank!

That endless Karma, even the Demon of Karma himself had never felt it!

This was Li Qi's method to deal with the Demon of Karma.

Using a demon to control a demon.

Let the Demon of Karma experience the true 'Karma Retribution'!

Retribution of Black Karma!

The Karma that the Demonic Prince once polluted the Central Saha World with, which even Dizang Wang Bodhisattva found difficult to handle.

The Demonic Prince once devoured the Retribution of Black Karma, holding back Dizang Wang Bodhisattva. His capacity had already reached the second-rank level during the Retribution of Black Karma.

And now, it was not just Karma.

The Demon of Karma clearly felt a power.

The bane of the Demonic Dao, even the Heavenly Demon was once Sealed by it!

This was… the Heavens of the Formless Realm that should have been destroyed!?

In the hands of the Demonic Prince!

And far more than that!

His aura was still rising!

Now… utilizing this great chaotic battle, utilizing the 'consciousness of nothingness' of the living beings who died in that infinite prison, the Demonic Prince, who reconstructed the Heavens of the Formless Realm, will rely on the support of these things to devour the Demon of Karma and ascend to the second-rank! (End of Chapter)