Chapter 1001: Hope of the Universe

Li Qi's plan finally surfaced.

This war to exterminate demons was merely his means, not his end.

All the help from Qi Palace and the great Bodhisattvas was for this very moment.

What was Li Qi's objective?

He had just said that he hoped to create a world where the Demonic Dao could not interfere, to free all living beings from the control of the Demonic Dao, and to ensure that all cultivators would no longer have 'Dao enemies' from then on.

And to achieve this, a specialized ultimate weapon against the Demonic Dao was needed: the former 'Heavens of the Formless Realm'.

The demise of the Demonic Dao's beings was meant to eliminate Li Qi's interference, and the Karma from these actions belonged to the Demonic Prince, but what about their true spirits? Where did they go?

Of course, they were quietly gathered by the Demonic Prince.

And the Demonic Prince used these demises to forge another thing, which was… the Heavens of the Formless Realm, given to him by the last World Honored One Tathagata.

The Heavens of the Formless Realm is 'nothingness', something completely opposite to the Heaven of Others’ Emanations.

Therefore, when all stillness and Void Realm were encompassed within it, the Heavens of the Formless Realm was also slowly recovering.

With the 'nothingness' brought by multiple First Grade battles, a part of the Heavens of the Formless Realm's power was finally restored.

The Heavenly God and the World Honored One Tathagata, as enemies, one created the Heaven of Others’ Emanations, and the other created the Heavens of the Formless Realm.

Now, the Heaven of Others’ Emanations is in Shamansan's hands, while the Heavens of the Formless Realm was given to the Demonic Prince before the last World Honored One Tathagata entered nirvana.

The Demonic Prince… received the same treatment as Sariputra.

When Sariputra entered nirvana, the World Honored One Tathagata prophesied that in the distant future, he would become the Luminous World Honored One Tathagata.

And the Demonic Prince, on the other hand, was the future Pratyeka Buddha.

All of this seemed to foretell something.

But regardless of what happened afterward, at this moment, the Demonic Prince had already appeared; he was as powerful as ever, even preparing to forcibly accommodate the Demon of Karma within himself.

The Demon of Karma, of course, would not sit idly by; in fact, the Demonic Dao also reacted at this moment.

Almost immediately, more than three Demonic Dao First Grades appeared.

They were the Demon of Bodhi-Wisdom, the Five Dust Demon, and the Good Root Demon.

Li Qi let out a long breath.

Thankfully, no First Grade made a move.

Then it was stable.

Thus, above the sky, the Golden Monkey swung his staff.

As the staff fell, all demons retreated, dark clouds vanished, and in an instant, the myriad worlds, billions of beings, the Opportunities of creation, and the principles of division were clearly discernible, like looking into a bright mirror where beauty and ugliness could be seen.

Seven spirits revolved, five colors intertwined, layers of buildings stacked, three Qi forming smoke, moving from light to light, truly like a full moon, encompassing the body of all bones, the forms of all phenomena, with the soaring Dragon and the vast, misty ocean, and the unceasing gentle wind and thunder.

The Golden Monkey did not fight as焦灼 or as calculating as Li Qi and the others.

Because there was no need; all changes, all calculations, for him, were merely the unfolding of a Dharma image and the swing of a golden staff.

He hammered all changes into 'Chaos', just as he himself was a Spirit Stone born from Chaos.

But there was a question…

Is the Golden Monkey of today truly born from Chaos?

However, this question certainly could not be answered at this moment.

The demons were beaten back by this blow and were about to pounce again when they saw the two Zhu family brothers already in position.

Changqin strummed the strings, while Zhu Fengdan let out a wild laugh, forming hand seals to seal off the surroundings.

The Demon of Karma was struggling within the Demonic Prince's Inner World.

The other Demonic Overlords looked over here.

The Golden Monkey stood guard, several great Bodhisattvas provided support, and the power of Li Qi, Zhu Fengdan, and Changqin enveloped the area.

It is well known that the Demonic Dao is not united, especially the high-First Grade Demonic Dao; they are almost all self-centered.

Their cooperation is entirely based on their 'self' perception, so when cooperation brings benefits, they will cooperate, and when cooperation does not bring benefits, they will decisively withdraw.

Don't expect the Demonic Dao to invest too much emotion in anything beyond themselves.

But similarly, the Demonic Dao knows very well when joining forces can bring the greatest benefits, and they can often assume the role of an 'absolutely rational person'.

Thus, these First Grade Demonic Daos decisively joined forces.

There could be no delay; if they continued to delay, the risk would be too great.

Once the Demonic Prince broke through to First Grade, the battle situation would be irreversible.

It had to be now.

The battle expanded.

Before, it was just a prison; now, the entire Universe was a battlefield.

The battle already involved a double-digit number of First Grades, which was definitely a grand spectacle even during the Human-Shaman War.

The entire Universe was affected; almost no place, no time, no space, could escape.

Except for the world, only the world remained safe and sound.

Even those First Grade civilizations and even First Grade civilizations were affected to some extent, so much so that their Great Powers had to intervene to prevent too many aftershocks.

And those worlds without protection faced both crisis.

Danger and Opportunity appeared simultaneously.

The Universe… changed.

——————————

How long did the battle last?

It was actually unclear.

On the battlefield named the Universe, a thick layer of corpses was spread.

Mu Yu was also part of the war, but his battle had ended, so he merely watched the First Grade struggle continue.

He gazed at the scattered, broken corpses across the field…

There were actually no corpses; what he saw were endless, extinguished futures.

Those possibilities were the corpses themselves; this was not the corpse of a particular being, but the decline of the entire Universe, the possibilities of the Universe being erased.

Watching the possibilities being erased in the Universe, Mu Yu felt genuine sorrow.

Possibilities are the most precious wealth.

Why are children endearing?

Because children possess infinite possibilities; compared to an adult whose life is already fixed and whose future holds no further possibilities, a young child with infinite possibilities is clearly more valuable.

And now, countless 'endings' floated in the Universe; these were terminated possibilities, and in these timelines, the Universe itself lost the possibility of moving into the future.

Therefore, these branches would be destroyed, turning into endless 'corpses'.

“Still watching?” At this moment, another Qi Palace First Grade's voice came from beside him.

Mu Yu lowered his head: “I thought we were the main force, but I didn't expect us to be just bait, and what's more, I didn't expect this war to be so cruel…”

He thought only countless civilizations would be damaged, but he found that First Grade battles caused far more terrible losses than that.

“Don't worry.” At this moment, that First Grade suddenly spoke: “Look, these corpses are not wasted.”

Mu Yu followed the other person's gaze.

He seemed to hear the soft cooing of the Universe drifting over.

In the dim rays, like twilight, radio signals still emanated from the silent possibilities of the Universe.

Those were the ones trapped in the Void Realm prison of the Universe, blocked by the endless Void Realm, unable to explore the outside world, so they put their hopes in their fastest communication method, hoping to encounter kind people who would reply to them.

These radio signals were like the silver-bell-like trill of a bird after a cruel winter, with widespread desolation, amidst this gray death.

As Mu Yu stood gazing at this unbearable scene of life's destruction, the winter in his heart retreated with that melodious bird song.

Echoing in Mu Yu's ears was the clear trumpet call of new life being born, following closely behind new possibilities.

In the dark space of the Universe, with what feelings did the birds face the darkness? How did they sing to nothingness?

Their possibilities had been erased, distance and the speed of light had gripped their throats, they would never have the possibility of a Breakthrough; this was their fate.

But in the night sky, there were such hesitant but clear bird songs, moving and even trembling.

While the earth was still frozen, such tiny, silver-bell-like sounds swiftly cut across the sky.

Mu Yu smiled with relief.

We cannot choose the world, we have almost no choices; in this Universe, the most precious thing is the power of choice, so Mu Yu could only watch as the bloody and terrifying steps of winter advanced.

But even First Grades could not stop this bird song, could not silence the birds, could not stop this high-pitched singing from higher intelligences.

Mu Yu made up his mind; he could not let these creative and beautiful worlds stop turning, because they had irresistibly come to Mu Yu's side.

Like it or not, it would be a new world.

There was once a story.

A boy desperately dug at his blind eyes with his fingers, and when his eyes hurt, he saw shooting stars.

Adults did not believe that blind eyes could see blood-red shooting stars, but the boy spoke with such certainty that it was impossible to doubt him.

Just as Mu Yu saw at this moment.

Mu Yu immediately set off.

Before, he had some complaints about Li Qi, complaining that his war had destroyed countless possibilities, and that he himself was merely one of the chess pieces.

But now he understood.

What Li Qi demanded, what Li Qi sought to pursue, what Li Qi wanted to protect, were these things.

The Demonic Dao is the ultimate denial, denying everything except oneself.

Only the self is real; everything else is false.

Under such denial from the Demonic Dao, it is like a storm descending from the sky; it缠绕s us, like a parasite burrowing into the brain, driving one mad, everything torn blood-red and plunged into darkness.

But it was never our true innermost self; deep within us, we have always been far from it, we have always been this clear bird song, first calm, then rising, and now gushing out like a mountain spring.

Therefore, Li Qi wanted to acknowledge all things, and for this, he paid a great price; to acknowledge all things, he had to accept them, and Li Qi's re-cultivation came from this.

At this point, one cannot help but recall two other Heavenly Gods.

Haotian and Taiyi.

Mu Yu pondered these things, then flew above those civilizations.

Let them all survive with all his strength, casting aside that extreme pain and countless corpses; death must never take them!

—————————

Many years later.

The war ended.

The Demon of Karma's power dissipated, and the Demonic Dao ultimately chose to retreat, because continuing the fight would lead to problems.

The Golden Monkey's destructive power was indeed immense; several Demonic Overlords could not withstand him, and they had lost the Demon of Karma, while the Demonic Prince was gaining the upper hand; once the time came, he could use the Heavens of the Formless Realm and the Demon of Karma's true body as his Dao foundation to ascend to First Grade.

The moment the Demonic Prince finally succeeded, the Demonic Dao chose to retreat.

And a new First Grade appeared in the Universe: the Demonic Prince Shang Fan.

This war ended.

The First Grades departed separately, and after Li Qi met the Demonic Prince, he said nothing more; both sides left, as they still had things to do.

After Li Qi left, he came to Mu Yu's side.

Because he had just seen that this chubby young man was bustling about in the Universe, secretly 'protecting' those young civilizations one after another.

He was eliminating their future dangers, subtly adjusting their history, allowing them to survive peacefully for a longer time.

This was a very dangerous thing; one careless mistake, and their history would be unrecognizable, turning protection into harm.

“Alright, take a break.” Li Qi appeared before him, patting his shoulder.

Mu Yu stopped, bowed to Li Qi, and then said: “Senior… won?”

“If I lost, would you still see me?” Li Qi laughed.

“Indeed, then truly… thank you, Senior.” Mu Yu said.

“Thank me for what? I should thank you; these are all extra duties.” Li Qi looked at the surrounding 'possibilities' and said.

“In the world, there's no such thing as within or outside one's duty; there are only things that can be done and cannot be done. What is being done now can be done, and should be done,” Mu Yu replied.

“Moreover, Senior is worthy of this thanks; Senior's foresight is indeed something I cannot match.”

“Stop with the flattery. Qi Palace suffered heavy losses this time, but it's inconvenient for me to appear. Some of them must have considerable resentment towards me now. All these follow-ups will have to be handled by you; they won't understand what happened,” Li Qi smiled and said.

For First Grades and First Grades to be enigmatic was truly unavoidable; they couldn't even describe the specific appearance of the battle to the outside world.

Even if they spoke, they wouldn't understand, they simply couldn't comprehend it.

If one forcibly tried to make them understand, directly pouring the experienced information into their minds, then they would die.

The war in those endless worlds and infinite possibilities was simply too grand; Mortals had no way of understanding the complex situation within it. Every node would bring more changes, every change would trigger a large number of butterfly effects, and the infinite fission of layer upon layer of multi-dimensional space-time was simply beyond the sanity of Mortals to bear.

Either they couldn't understand, or if they did, they would die.

“It should be so.” Mu Yu nodded, accepting the task.

Li Qi said nothing more.

This war, from beginning to end, was planned, laid out, and executed by him, so at this moment, he was also somewhat exhausted and ready to pack up and go home to rest.

No matter what, for Li Qi, home was always a place where he could put his thoughts aside.