Chapter 1052: Ah? ? ?

The Demonic Overlord and Amitabha under the Bodhi Tree were fighting.

He sneered, "Sitting under the Bodhi Tree, do you think you are the World Honored One Tathagata?"

Amitabha and the Bodhi Tree itself had no entanglement; sitting under the Bodhi Tree at this moment was merely a clumsy imitation of the World Honored One Tathagata.

However, this Bodhi Tree was indeed significant, because this Bodhi Tree was "Bodh Gaya," the place where the Buddha attained Dao.

Amitabha sat here, using the geographical advantage to fight against the Demonic Overlord.

The Demonic Overlord, on the other hand, had no geographical advantage; he merely used the same methods he once used against the World Honored One to stir up a demonic thought tide, attempting to annihilate the Bodhi Tree.

The two were engaged in a confrontation over this.

Every moment, countless dust-like spatial-temporal fragments were annihilated here, with demonic power and Buddha-Dharma light interweaving within them. The situation reversed constantly, repeating the same cycle of Reincarnation.

As is well-known, Amitabha has two attendant Bodhisattvas, namely Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva.

Li Qi and Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva had done so much; how could they not contact Amitabha?

However, Amitabha needed an opportunity.

An opportunity to suppress the Demonic Overlord.

The Demonic Overlord was very strong, which was a well-known fact. He could be suppressed in the past because he was Sealed by the World Honored One Tathagata in the Heavens of the Formless Realm. In this state, only a part of his power could appear in the outside world. For a First Grade, this was a very brief contact, posing no threat whatsoever.

But now, the Demonic Overlord had completely escaped.

It was too difficult to suppress the Demonic Overlord who had already escaped the Heavens of the Formless Realm; there had to be a counter-opportunity.

This opportunity was created by Li Qi using himself as bait.

When the Demonic Overlord believed Li Qi had failed, he finally revealed himself and even intended to attack Li Qi.

This instant was Amitabha's opportunity.

And at this very moment, it was also Li Qi's opportunity.

Li Qi had never taken the demise of the Demonic Dao as his Dao foundation; his Dao could not take the extinction of a certain thing as its foundation.

The First Grade Dao foundation he truly desired was the Demonic Overlord himself!

This was also why he refused the Yang Zhenqian!

Although Li Qi could be compatible with the Sun-Moon Orbit, he was unwilling to take this path. He had long set his own potential for advancement.

One must know that Li Qi possessed one of the Demonic Overlord's eyes, which was the complete True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

This was Shamansan's spoil of war from the Human-Shaman War, eventually given to Li Qi.

Since then, Li Qi had been reluctant to use this eye, as he knew it would surely be spied upon by the Demonic Overlord. He would only use it in very rare circumstances.

This was not because he was afraid, but because he intended to save it for now.

Li Qi forcibly gouged the True Knowledge Dao Resonance from his forehead.

At that moment, he truly felt he would be better off dead.

Death seemed so beautiful at that instant.

The intense pain made Li Qi ignore the aftershocks of the First Grade battle outside, making him ignore his own weakening condition due to the aftershocks.

Even a Second Grade's mind seemed so fragile amidst such sweeping pain.

Fortunately, Li Qi had conviction.

Conviction has a powerful force; once it starts moving, it's hard to stop.

Li Qi tore at the True Knowledge Dao Resonance that had long since Fused with him, which made the Demonic Overlord laugh heartily, even temporarily suspending his struggle with Amitabha.

This was also something he had arranged long ago.

True Knowledge had long since Fused into Li Qi's Physical Body, becoming his eyes, his ears, a part of him. This was not just an organ, but it had integrated into every cell like a gene.

This would be a lock for the Demonic Overlord to restrain Li Qi.

One of the Demonic Overlord's eyes, it was not easy to take.

Of course, Li Qi knew this, so he wanted to dig out the True Knowledge at this moment.

The pain and pressure this brought surpassed his imagination and estimation. Perhaps Li Qi's Inner World would completely collapse before success, so the Demonic Overlord wanted to see what he planned to do.

Although this glance would cause him to be suppressed for a period in his battle with Amitabha, the Demonic Overlord didn't care at all; he just wanted to see what other tricks Li Qi had.

However, to everyone's astonishment...

No tricks.

Li Qi just tore off the True Knowledge Dao Resonance like that.

His hand showed no hesitation, no sorrow, no doubt.

All of this was because he knew that this reality was so complete and real, and he himself was sound and full.

A Second Grade might foresee a terrible fate ahead, but that was natural, an inevitable pain.

He gazed at the intersection of reality and illusion with his own eyes, not the Demonic Overlord's eyes, knowing that it was the enemy's territory, the Demonic Overlord's domain.

He clutched the Demonic Overlord's eyes in his hands, feeling that he had grasped a new reality for the future, and at the same time, he was confident in his new situation.

Li Qi was full of ambition. Even though he had seen the countless possibilities of the bloody Universe Void caused by the cruel war converge into tens of thousands of blood rivers flowing towards him, he allowed these waves of blood to gently strike him, neither feeling indignant nor evoking sorrow or pity.

He just quietly endured it.

Then, he tore off the True Knowledge.

"Oh?"

"Hmph!"

"Hmm—?"

Around Li Qi, several surprised voices were heard.

Obviously, many people were paying attention here.

However, Li Qi didn't care about their attention, even though he had achieved an astonishing feat in front of everyone.

He tore open the True Knowledge by himself.

This made the situation exceed the Demonic Overlord's control.

And Li Qi did not hesitate at all; he swallowed the Demonic Overlord's eye into his belly.

Since he had decided to use the Demonic Overlord as his Dao foundation, then, he would start with the eye.

Li Qi began to corrode the Demonic Overlord's eye.

This was simply an inversion of the natural order!

It was already good enough that the Demonic Overlord hadn't corroded you; how dare you, through the True Knowledge as a medium, in turn corrode the Demonic Overlord?

Is the Demonic Overlord someone you can corrode?

If it were normal times, Li Qi would have already paid the price for his recklessness.

Unfortunately, now was not normal times.

When the Demonic Overlord glanced at Li Qi, Amitabha had already begun to gain the upper hand.

The Demonic Overlord had no spare energy to continue corroding Li Qi. On the contrary, he had to guard against Li Qi continuing to spy on the internal state of the Demonic Overlord's main body through that eye.

"Well done." The Demonic Overlord smiled, "It was indeed a bit unexpected, but it's not enough."

As the Demonic Overlord finished speaking casually, the Desire Realm in Li Qi's hand suddenly became restless!

The Desire Realm began to riot, seemingly wanting to break free from Li Qi's hand!

The Desire Realm began to expand, and Amitabha's Pure Land was repelled by the Desire Realm!

This was the Demonic Overlord's counterattack; his hidden moves were endless. Li Qi's efforts were nothing in front of him. As long as the Desire Realm expanded, he could instantly use the True Knowledge to devour Li Qi and suppress Amitabha!

However, at this moment... the Heavens of the Formless Realm quietly descended.

The Heavens of the Formless Realm in the Demonic Prince's hand joined the battlefield at this time.

The Desire Realm and the Heavens of the Formless Realm accommodated each other.

The Demonic Prince appeared and joined the battle.

This gave Li Qi a momentary respite. Although the Demonic Prince could not fight the Demonic Overlord, using the Heavens of the Formless Realm and the Buddha-Dharma he commanded was more than enough to block the rampaging Desire Realm.

After all, the Demonic Overlord's main body was being blocked by Amitabha.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Myriad Heavens and the Desire Realm were brought out by Li Qi at this moment.

The Heavens Li Qi himself had opened, the Myriad Heavens, and the suppressed Desire Realm, were fiercely slammed together by Li Qi at this moment!

Fusion!

With the endless possibilities of the Myriad Heavens! Devour the Desire Realm!

The Heavens of the Formless Realm suppressed the Desire Realm's own resistance, just as the World Honored One Tathagata suppressed the Demonic Overlord back then.

The Myriad Heavens devoured the Desire Realm.

Li Qi himself devoured the Demonic Overlord's eye.

This was the foundation of the Dao foundation. Li Qi wanted to use the devoured part of the Demonic Overlord's Physical Body and even authority as his Dao foundation, attempting to Breakthrough to First Grade here!

Everything was waiting for the Demonic Overlord to make his move personally!

Destroying the Demonic Overlord was just a pretense; these were all layers of traps set for the Demonic Overlord, bait to lure him into action. Even Hao Tian preventing Li Qi was part of Li Qi's plan.

How could Li Qi not know Hao Tian's temperament? He knew from the beginning that Hao Tian hoped for more possibilities in this Universe, so he would always prevent him from destroying the Demonic Overlord.

And Amitabha had been waiting for the moment the Demonic Overlord attacked Li Qi!

As long as Li Qi devoured the Demonic Overlord's Physical Body and the Desire Realm at this critical juncture, whether successful or not, this would be a huge step forward for him!

If successful, he would ascend to the Heavens in one step, reaching First Grade!

If not, he could still advance further towards First Grade, perhaps even approaching the level of a Heavenly God's 'Emperor'!

As for the risk of death?

That certainly existed. If the Demonic Overlord indeed brought out something very powerful, then it would be natural for Li Qi to fail and die.

However, how can one do such a thing without taking risks? Did he really think he could just eat the Demonic Overlord for free? That would be too wishful thinking.

Li Qi had made all his plans. With Amitabha personally backing him, even if he only devoured a part, there was a possibility of a complete retreat.

Devouring the Demonic Overlord brought terrifying backlash. Intense pain swept through Li Qi's Inner World and all his sensory organs, directly causing his Inner World to collapse.

So, he began to repair.

He continuously repaired his broken Physical Body, weaving here, stitching there, stuffing new possibilities into the wounds, turning his Inner World's blood vessels inside out, trying to put them back in place.

Upon closer inspection, one would find that in such a short time, the stitches on his body were already more numerous than his blood vessels.

Moreover, whenever a possibility died, the remaining intact parts would be cut off and used to repair the limbs and organs of another possibility.

This cycle continued. The most troublesome thing was dealing with the dying demonic thoughts itself; once it spread, it was impossible to know how to restore the possibilities to their original state.

If someone were to observe Li Qi's Physical Body, they would find the incomplete Inner World absolutely horrifying.

Seeing Li Qi's state, the Demonic Overlord almost burst out laughing.

No way, was Li Qi serious?

Did he really want to devour the Demonic Overlord's Physical Body and use the Desire Realm as his Dao foundation?

Indeed, the Desire Realm was once the Demonic Overlord's eggshell, and the True Knowledge Dao Resonance, as one of the Demonic Overlord's eyes, could all serve as springboards to the Demonic Overlord's main body, but if it was just like this...

The Demonic Overlord ignored Li Qi and turned to Amitabha.

Then, he said, "Amitabha, do you really think sitting under the Bodhi Tree can suppress me? You are already First Grade; can't you understand? Are you still so foolish after the World Honored One entered Nirvana?"

"You forged the Western Pure Land with great Divine Ability, calling it the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, where all who recite your name can be freed from all suffering and be saved here. This is a Major Achievement of the Buddha-Dharma Divine Ability lineage. Guanshiyin, as your attendant Bodhisattva, also learned this set from you, doing something like reciting his name to attain liberation, claiming to be able to observe all sounds in the world, hence the name 'Guanshiyin.'"

"You do this, and I can't even imagine how the World Honored One Tathagata views you. Your conduct, elevating the character 'Buddha' so high, means that from now on, there is no Buddha in the world, because Buddha is in Heaven."

"You teach sentient beings to recite your names, so those novices do not recite the Dharma, do not recite scriptures, but only recite 'Namo Amitabha Buddha' every day, just waiting to be saved by you after death to enjoy blessings."

"In my opinion, the destruction of Buddhism has nothing to do with me. The World Honored One Tathagata was forced to die by you. It was you who elevated the Buddha to Heaven, thinking yourselves compassionate, yet failing to see how much evil karma you created."

The Demonic Overlord casually narrated these words.

Amitabha remained silent, continuing to sit under the Bodhi Tree, using the power of Bodh Gaya to confront the Demonic Overlord.

But the Demonic Overlord knew that demonic thoughts was useful; he had found Amitabha's demonic thoughts.

There was no existence of demonic thoughts in this world. Only the World Honored One Tathagata, and only he could completely suppress all Demonic Dao, including all Demonic Overlords among the Four Demons, none were his match.

These words could not defeat Amitabha, but they were enough to help the Demonic Overlord find a crack.

The Demonic Overlord's power flowed upstream.

Then, he continued, "Are you borrowing Bodh Gaya because you lack confidence in completely suppressing me?"

"Who are you imitating by sitting under Bodh Gaya?"

"You outwardly claim to be 'Amitabha,' yet when you face me, a Demonic Overlord, you still need to borrow the World Honored One Tathagata's power. Why is that?"

"Does that mean you also think that the Buddha is the World Honored One Tathagata?"

What exactly is a Buddha?

A Buddhist First Grade can be called 'Buddha' by the outside world, such as Amitabha, Bhaisajyaguru Vaiduryaprabha Buddha, and the Buddha World Honored One Tathagata, and so on.

But in the hearts of Buddhist First Grades, who exactly is the Buddha?

Is it themselves? Or is it the World Honored One Tathagata?

When Amitabha sat under Bodh Gaya, whose Buddha-Dharma did he believe in?

While Li Qi was still trying to devour a part of the Demonic Overlord's Physical Body as a springboard...

Amitabha's front line had already begun to collapse.

demonic thoughts appeared in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The Pure Land was not pure.

Amitabha was not the Buddha either.

Li Qi was completely unaware; he was just doing his own thing.

But the Demonic Prince's cold sweat had already started to flow.

What's wrong with Amitabha?!

Failing at this moment?!