Chapter 1059: Faith

Li Qi is fighting.

Mortal beings have already perished due to this battle.

Of course, perhaps some Great Powers would say this is actually illusory, but in reality… how can what the heart feels be illusory?

For all sentient beings, they have not awakened, not removed their self-attachment, not seen their true nature; thus, all experiences are naturally real. They will suffer when they should suffer, and they will experience everything they should experience, without any falsehood.

Before attaining the Dao and before gaining substantiality, no one can escape various vexations and sufferings. Pretending to be empty, pretending to see through things, will only reveal one's true form. As the saying goes, 'time is short, like saving a burning head,' it is precisely so.

Since this is the case, sacrifices have already been made, so there can be no more shrinking back.

Therefore, he focused wholeheartedly. No matter the cost, he could not give up at this moment. He would bet everything, even if his body perished and his Dao vanished, he could not stop at this critical juncture.

The Demonic Prince clearly thought the same.

Although things have developed to this point with many unexpected situations, many unplanned events, and even this grand decisive battle starting now is purely an accident.

They initially weren't prepared to have the final decisive battle with the Devil King at this time; they were purely forced into it by Amitabha.

But since they're here, they're not leaving.

They'll fight to the end.

And Li Qi was especially resolute about this.

Because Li Qi would not accept the Devil King's illusions.

The Devil King always made others believe that the world where only he existed was real.

Li Qi knew that was one of the common forms of escape for fragile people.

When life is too harsh, some people tend to escape reality with such fantasies.

They convince themselves that all of this is fictional, just a huge prank.

The Devil King can always grasp that fragile seed; by merely pushing them, he can make sentient beings defeat themselves. The harsher life is for them, the more the Devil King persuades them to believe the Universe is a hoax.

But the Universe is not a hoax.

This Universe is real.

Sentient beings, and the Dao that sentient beings pursue, are the truth of the Universe, just as the answer Li Qi had previously obtained.

The development of the world arose from the mutual interference of sentient beings.

All things, sentient beings, everything, are shaped by everyone. The birth of Destiny, the mutual changes among sentient beings—thus, this world was born.

Higher intelligence itself, the 'heart' of sentient beings itself, is an objective component of reality; this transcends subjective consciousness itself.

Arranging each 'reality' will reveal the activities of all 'realities' in the Universe, which is to depict the history of the Universe, the present of the Universe, and the future of the Universe.

The Devil King wants to decide everything by his own will. Li Qi will not accept this; this is his Dao struggle with the Devil King.

Li Qi wants to contend for a 'freedom' for this Universe.

What freedom?

Freedom of choice.

This will be Li Qi's gift to the Universe he cares about, the most precious gift to this Universe.

The power of choice!

Sentient beings are not illusory; even if they are humble, they can choose their own possibilities.

From the moment Li Qi grasped substantiality, he had been troubled by this answer.

And now, he had never been so firm.

He firmly believed his answer was correct.

This was his answer, his ultimate interpretation of this world.

The myriad Dao have no ultimate end; perhaps sentient beings will always be on the path of pursuing the Dao, but that is already splendid enough.

This answer gave Li Qi an incredibly firm belief.

As long as he firmly believes this, Li Qi will not shrink back.

However, the Demonic Prince suddenly said at this moment, "You'll get very tired if you take everything seriously."

"In this world, is there anyone who isn't tired? Even Shamansan, or even the Heavenly Emperor, aren't they tired?" Li Qi smiled, "Rather than one person bearing the burden of all sentient beings, it's better to let sentient beings walk their own path, giving them freedom and choice, and also allowing myself to worry less."

"Then I can't block this one anymore, your turn?" the Demonic Prince said.

"What? Oh, Retribution of Black Karma." Li Qi glanced and understood what the Demonic Prince meant.

The Retribution of Black Karma, countless times more terrifying than before, from the Devil King's serious form, struck.

If everything is regarded as illusory, then the Retribution of Black Karma's effect on him would not be as potent.

But if everything is regarded as real, and the hearts of sentient beings are considered one of the reasons for the world's existence, then the suppressive force brought by the Retribution of Black Karma will increase by countless times.

And the Demonic Prince here seemed unable to suppress so many demonic thoughtss anymore.

"Alright, then I'll do it."

Li Qi smiled and accepted this wave of Retribution of Black Karma from the Devil King.

It was merely meeting force with force, adapting to circumstances.

They had fought the Devil King for so long, resisting countless methods every second; Retribution of Black Karma was merely one of them, nothing unusual.

In this instant, Li Qi was swept into the Black Karma.

Reincarnation across endless time began; he would endure the washing of thought-currents in units of trillions of years.

Life and death are long, immeasurable, without boundaries.

There is a great stone mountain, one Yojanas in length and breadth, one Yojanas in height. A person in a long robe with wide sleeves comes once every hundred years to brush it, and the stone mountain is worn away; that is one Kalpa. Repeating this countless hundreds of thousands of times is one 'Black Karma,' one Avici Hell.

However, the current Li Qi is already a second-rank, and his mental resilience is incomparable to the Demonic Prince's when he was a fourth-rank. Although the Retribution of Black Karma in the Devil King's serious state can easily destroy the sanity of a third-rank, for the current second-rank Li Qi, he still has the power to resist.

Outside, it was but an instant.

Inside, Li Qi had already endured countless years of Reincarnation.

His entire consciousness was washed by time, attempting to shut down every thought circuit, eradicate every memory, and destroy every subtle thought pattern established since birth.

When these patterns are cleared, they are forced to release their portion of energy, and the entire body becomes a chaotic vortex.

But these so-called pains are not the horror of destruction; there is only one terror: the mind is never confused. When consciousness is erased, the mind can feel itself slowly receding, retreating into death, until it finally disappears, awaiting Rebirth. The mind is bidding farewell, as if mourning in an endless funeral.

It wasn't until the great stone mountain was destroyed and the mustard seeds in the great iron prison were picked clean that Li Qi, in a daze, finally perceived a sentence during a lull in the Retribution of Black Karma.

"If you are reading this, you have been unconscious for twenty years. We are employing the latest treatment methods. We don't know where this message will appear in your dream, but if you see it…"

Li Qi chuckled softly, "Hmph, Devil King, why are you using such low-grade tactics now? Do you really think I've lost my mind?"

"Hmm? Fully experienced a Retribution of Black Karma, yet still maintain cognitive ability? You're stronger than Shang Fan." The Devil King's voice echoed in Li Qi's mind.

"Shang Fan accepted your move when he was a fourth-rank; I definitely couldn't have withstood it at fourth-rank." Li Qi stretched lazily, "But now, I'm not that fragile. Bring on whatever moves you have, otherwise, once I awaken from the Black Karma, it'll be my turn to strike."

"You're really confident. You're different from before," the Devil King said.

Li Qi indeed had changed a lot now.

Because he had found his way to interpret this world. Through so many years of experience, he had made his own judgment about the fundamentals of this world.

Perhaps some might disagree, but that didn't matter; this was Li Qi's own answer.

There was more to life than simply existing. So he found it.

Don't let this world stop just because you have questions.

The Devil King looked at Li Qi and finally asked, "So, what exactly is your purpose?"

Li Qi felt a sense of relief.

He suddenly laughed with relief, bursting into loud laughter.

The roaring laughter lasted for more than ten seconds, which was already very long, even a huge flaw, but the Devil King did not take the opportunity to attack.

"Devil King, I finally made it so you can't see through me, right?" Li Qi asked.

"Indeed, this is a… great improvement. Can you become the next World Honored One? Can you become proof of my other existence?" the Devil King said to Li Qi.

Li Qi reined in his smile and pulled the Retribution of Black Karma off his body: "Let's not talk about those for now. What I can tell you is my purpose."

Li Qi, word by word, solemnly spoke to the Devil King.

Of course, he could conceal his purpose and use all sorts of schemes, just like the Devil King or Shamansan.

However, although Li Qi did not detest schemes, on this matter, he wanted to be like humanity, to speak his purpose grandly, to state his ultimate goal, and to charge towards that goal in front of everyone.

In the face of such honesty, the Devil King perceived what he had always sought to pursue.

Yes, this was it.

The Devil King wanted another World Honored One.

And now, Li Qi displayed such a quality.

Therefore, the Devil King even stopped; he revealed his essence, seriously listening to the unheard voice of his heart.

Yes, Li Qi's and the Demonic Prince's inner voices were obscured by the Heavens of the Formless Realm, so he couldn't hear them.

But Li Qi still wanted to speak it out.

This answer, for the Devil King, was like hearing the previously unheard voice of the heart.

Therefore, he attached particular importance to it.

Li Qi, meanwhile, attached even greater importance.

He tore open the Retribution of Black Karma and firmly stated his goal: "I want to return life and death to the sentient beings who live and die."

"Sentient beings are not you, Devil King. Sentient beings have their own paths. The myriad paths of the Heavens and myriad realms can only be walked by sentient beings themselves, not by you. They have their own beliefs."

The Devil King then asked, "Belief? Belief in what?"

"Yes, belief in what? This must be asked of oneself. That's right, this is what I want to give them, this is the gift I want to give to sentient beings: they can choose what they believe in."

The Devil King chuckled, "They cannot bear such a great gift."

"They can bear it. There must be something in this world worth believing in, and they will find it, instead of placing everything on you."

For this, Li Qi was willing to believe; he believed without a doubt.

This power transformed all his thoughts within it into reality. Thus, the random purpose became clear, and the Dao path appeared before his eyes.

What sentient beings pursued, their Dao, was simply laid out in their hearts.

All Li Qi had to do was eliminate a wrong answer.

Remove the Devil King, that wrong answer.

The Dao path would then be much smoother.

Just as he said at the beginning.

He wanted these sentient beings to be free from demonic disturbance.

The Devil King heard Li Qi's answer and looked at the Demonic Prince.

"Li Qi gave me a good answer. So, what about you?"

"Me? I'm not that complicated. I just want you dead," the Demonic Prince replied casually.

The Devil King smiled.

"Good, good. One has the welfare of all sentient beings at heart, while the other only has himself in his eyes. One is for the great righteousness of the common people, while the other is out of personal resentment. You two are completely different, even completely opposite, yet you still came together to trouble me in your own ways."

Li Qi and the Demonic Prince were indeed completely opposite in personality.

Li Qi was steady and cautious, even a little timid.

The Demonic Prince was brave and arrogant, to the point of recklessness.

But at this moment, their goals were aligned, so much so that they had repeatedly displayed completely opposite traits.

But those no longer mattered.

Li Qi was about to break free from the Retribution of Black Karma.

At this moment.

"That's not so easy to get out of," the Devil King said. "You merely used the Heavens of the Formless Realm to obscure your demon thoughts; it doesn't mean you no longer have demonic thoughtss. You've merely become… another person's illusion."

The Devil King looked at Li Qi and the Demonic Prince before him.

In this world, only one person was on equal footing with the Devil King.

That was 'another thought,' another thought entity in this Universe where only the Devil King existed; he was the World Honored One Tathagata.

The World Honored One Tathagata had no demonic thoughtss, because he was not the Devil King's illusion.

And now, Li Qi and the Demonic Prince, whose demonic thoughtss were obscured, were also each other's illusions. This was a war between two thought entities, and the Demonic Prince and Li Qi were merely external manifestations.

The Devil King looked at the Heavens of the Formless Realm.

Ultimately, he was still fighting the World Honored One Tathagata.

What Li Qi, what Demonic Prince, were merely illusions, merely secondary manifestations of a truly existing thought entity.

The fact that two second-rank individuals could repeatedly create miracles was not because second-ranks were so powerful, or because their talents were so extraordinary, but because they were manifestations of the World Honored One Tathagata.

He had always been contending with the Tathagata; Li Qi and the Demonic Prince were merely pawns.

Conquering the World Honored One Tathagata, fully recognizing the second thought entity, recognizing the existence beyond this world—this was the Devil King's purpose.

As he thought this, the Devil King's power once again overwhelmed Li Qi and the Demonic Prince.

Just as the Devil King said.

Want to break free from Black Karma? That's not so easy.

However, at this instant!

The Immortal Heaven suddenly smashed down from the sky! Sending the Devil King flying.

Li Qi broke free.

"Shamansan!" The Devil King glared angrily at the sky.