Chapter 1063: Future World

Shen Shuibi had been sent back to the world, inside the Shaman God Mountain.

It was extremely crowded here now.

In fact, the entire world had begun 'taking refuge'.

All parts of the world began to take refuge in their own ways. The method of Shaman God Mountain was to take everyone into the Shaman God Mountain, protected by many Second Grade beings.

This was actually safe enough, because the First Grade beings, except for a madman like the Demon of Death, didn't really want to destroy the world.

Even if they destroyed the world, they wouldn't destroy it down to the world.

The existence of the world was too important, involving too many things, so it had always been well protected.

Everyone was sheltered, including Shen Shuibi, who was assigned her own position and quietly waited for the catastrophe to pass.

From this level of organization, it could also be seen that this was not the first time such a thing had occurred.

In fact, the last time such a chaotic battle occurred was the world-destroying war initiated by the Four Demons.

Even First Grade battles of this level... were not happening for the first time.

It seemed to subtly hint at the cycle of history.

In the endless Universe, everything followed old patterns, with no difference or novelty.

Insignificant Mortals considered themselves miracles of great change, feeling the so-called transformations of countless generations and civilizations, but in reality... it was so in the past, and it remains so now.

People were filled with illusory pride, believing themselves to be beings different from others in time and space. Countless people held this illusion, thinking themselves unique, irreplaceable, and unreplicable.

In the foreseeable future, there will be more and more such people... to the point of being endless.

Although all of this, under the gaze of the Heavenly God and other Great Powers, was merely an ordinary and inevitable occurrence.

However, even in the lives of beings like Heavenly Gods, moments they considered strange, extraordinary events, and all the astonishing coincidences of environment, opportunity, and accident, were actually... just dramas that repeated themselves over and over again.

The great chaotic battle of the First Grade, a terrifying catastrophe that Mortals could almost never perceive, had also occurred several times.

Shen Shuibi was incredibly worried. Although she mustered the courage to find Haotian, she never expected even Haotian to be involved.

What, exactly, should be done?

Things were already far beyond what she, a Fourth Grade, could comprehend or control.

Zhu Fengdan and Taizi Changqin had already plunged into the chaotic battle and could no longer protect her.

She sat there despondently, holding Li Tian De, praying that Li Shiwei and the stone could find a place of refuge, praying that Li Qi could return soon...

Besides that, she could do nothing.

However... at least Li Tian De was still by her side, at least Li Shiwei should still be alive...

As for the battle itself, she couldn't even observe it.

A fly flying fast in a high-speed train cannot fly out of the train's scope. If the train accelerates to light speed, the fly on the train might not feel anything at all.

Essence precedes all phenomena, and Mortals can only perceive phenomena.

Although Shen Shuibi possessed incomplete reality, she was still within the realm of Mortals.

Below Third Grade, all are Mortals.

They do not possess the power to truly become 'real units'.

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And on the battlefield of the Demon of Death and the Heavenly Demon.

The battle had entered a stalemate. One could see many twisted possibilities and shattered timelines splashing around, blood spraying, congealing into a final chorus.

Neither side was prepared to reveal their trump cards at this stage, but without revealing them, neither could do anything to the other, so they remained here, with no further development.

But the Demon of Death seemed very displeased. He wished for the intensity to continue to rise, preferably bringing all things to extinction right now.

However, the Heavenly Demon persuaded him, saying, “The Age of Dharma Decline is about to begin. Why be in such a hurry? No matter who wins, Haotian or Taiyi, the Heavenly Court will surely collapse.”

“Once the Heavenly Gods no longer sustain this world, then... you will have as much death as you desire.”

Upon hearing this, the Demon of Death reluctantly suppressed the turmoil in his heart.

In any case, the war could no longer be stopped.

Even the Heavenly Demon, who personally instigated this conflict, could not stop it.

Of course, he didn't want to stop it, but not wanting to didn't mean he could.

The war had reached a point where all means of reversion had failed.

At this moment, the Medicine King Buddha joined the battlefield.

“Oh, a Buddha, and of the Divine Ability lineage. Amitabha is dead, why are you joining the fun? Your Dao path was personally denied by your Buddha Ancestor,” the Heavenly Demon said to the Medicine King Buddha.

Yes, the Medicine King Buddha was also a Buddha of the Divine Ability lineage.

The Divine Ability lineage was much easier to cultivate than the Wisdom lineage. Even within Buddhism, more Divine Ability was cultivated than wisdom. After all, this method was easy to start, high in success, required less effort, and yielded quick results, with good efficacy.

For Great Powers, forging a 'Pure Land' was very simple and effective.

For Mortals, simply chanting the Buddha's name was enough to be reborn in the Pure Land, which was even easier.

The Pure Land of the Medicine King Buddha was called 'Eastern Lapis Lazuli Pure Land'. Those who wished to be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, but whose hearing of the True Dharma had no effect, if they heard the name of the Medicine King Buddha, at the time of their death, eight Bodhisattvas would come by Divine Ability to show them the way, and they could be reborn in the Eastern Lapis Lazuli Pure Land. Believing in the Medicine King Buddha could cure all diseases, relieve various chronic ailments and pains, eliminate disasters, and extend life.

He once made twelve great vows, these twelve subtle and profound vows, hoping to bring present happiness to sentient beings, to allow sentient beings to live in peace and without illness in this life, to have complete faculties, and to lead them to liberation. Thus, he became a Buddha based on these vows, residing in the Pure Lapis Lazuli World, whose splendor was as magnificent as the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

The Medicine King Buddha was also one of the Mortal enemies of the Demon of Affliction.

Unenlightened sentient beings are plagued and disturbed in body and mind by various troubles, especially greed, anger, and ignorance, which mix together to produce forty-eight thousand different kinds of troubles, tormenting those unenlightened sentient beings.

The manifestation of the Medicine King Buddha's Vow Power is to eliminate these troubles, freeing beings from their suffering. Therefore, chanting the mantra of this deity or the Medicine King Buddha's original vow merit sutra, and making respectful offerings, can not only eliminate disasters and extend life, and eradicate all calamities, illnesses, and suffering, but also allow one to be reborn in the Pure Lapis Lazuli World at the end of life.

It was precisely because of this that he was called 'Medicine King'.

His 'Medicine King Mantra' could eliminate all troubles.

But at this moment, he did not go to the Demon of Affliction, but instead came to the center of the Heavenly Demon's battlefield.

The Heavenly Demon was a bit curious.

But the Medicine King Buddha departed immediately.

Hmph, it won't cause any waves. The death of the Buddha Ancestor has completely locked down the Dao paths of these Divine Ability lineages.

Unless they find a way to refute the Buddha Ancestor, unless they Breakthrough the Buddha Ancestor's Dao and forge a new path, otherwise, all First Grade beings of the Divine Ability lineage have fatal weak points.

The Buddha Ancestor's Nirvana essentially fully exposed the fatal weak points of these Divine Ability lineage First Grade beings, making it almost impossible for them to win in peer-level combat.

Amitabha also knew this, which is why he chose to enter Nirvana voluntarily.

The Heavenly Demon already knew the fatal weakness of the Divine Ability lineage; no Divine Ability lineage could win in a First Grade battle.

In other words, the remaining Buddhas in Buddhism now, namely the Medicine King Buddha and Maitreya Buddha, are all of the Divine Ability lineage.

Although Maitreya Buddha was niche, he still had the 'Maitreya Pure Land'.

The Maitreya Pure Land, also known as the Tusita Mandala, might evolve into the 'Buddhist Pagodare Human Pure Land' later, but it seems impossible to go down there now.

It has forty-nine layers of subtle and precious palaces. Each railing is composed of countless billions of Brahma Mani jewels, and between the railings, nine hundred million Heavenly Sons and five hundred billion Heavenly Maidens are naturally born. In the hand of each Heavenly Son, countless billions of seven-treasure lotus flowers are born, and on each lotus flower, there are countless billions of lights. Within these lights are all kinds of musical instruments. Such heavenly music plays by itself without being struck, and when this sound emerges, the maidens naturally take up various musical instruments and compete in singing and dancing. Maitreya Buddha preaches the Ten Good Deeds and the Four Great Vows within it, and all the Devas who hear it develop the supreme Dao Heart.

These are the various Pure Lands of Buddhism: Maitreya Pure Land, Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and Lapis Lazuli Pure Land.

Five Buddhas.

Amitabha, World Honored One Tathagata, Medicine King Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, Dipamkara Buddha.

Three of them actually placed their hopes on the method of 'Pure Land'.

No wonder the World Honored One Tathagata ultimately entered Nirvana; even among the First Grade Buddhas, more than half behaved this way, and his own Buddha disciple Maudgalyāyana also relied on Divine Ability.

Buddhism must be broken for the Buddha-Dharma to truly spread.

But in other words, he personally exposed the fatal weakness of Buddhism, meaning that now the only First Grade Buddha with combat power is Dipamkara Buddha.

However, Dipamkara Buddha has not yet made a move, and Maitreya Buddha is still young among the First Grade.

The Heavenly Demon felt no threat.

Clearly, these First Grade Buddhas had been completely abandoned by the World Honored One Tathagata.

Since that was the case, there was no need to worry so much.

Just wait... just wait.

The Heavenly Demon was very patient.

There were two ways to prove that this world was entirely subjective, shaped by the Heavenly Demon's subjective will.

One was through the World Honored One Tathagata, through the second 'wisdom', which could indirectly prove that he was wrong and that the world still had objective reality.

But the World Honored One Tathagata had already entered Nirvana.

So, the second method... had already begun.

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How long did the First Grade war last?

It's actually hard to say, because everyone's subjective perception of time is different.

For example, for the sentient beings in the world, in their subjective time, it was only a few million years, which was very short.

However, in some timelines, the Universe there had already been destroyed, possibilities had long been cut off, and the duration had to be calculated in tens of trillions of years. Even black holes had cooled down, all celestial bodies had disintegrated into energy, and the Universe had undergone heat death.

In some timelines, they didn't feel anything at all; for them, not a single second had passed.

Time is a completely subjective experience.

It's impossible to measure the Universe using time as a metric; the essence of relative time already represents the differences in each person's subjective consciousness.

Unless one transcends the subjective.

Unfortunately, no one has been able to do that yet.

Leaving that aside, what is currently known is that in the wars of the First Grade beings, the Universe restarted one hundred and ninety-two times.

One hundred and ninety-two times, ten times more than last time.

Every First Grade being was doing their own thing.

The illusory nature of subjective time at this moment further increased the chaotic nature of this great battle.

Imagine a spell cast on May 10th arriving at its destination on May 1st.

And, it was meant to arrive on May 1st; this was part of the plan.

Both sides could foresee each other's actions, because they could go back to the past to stop the other after experiencing the future. Therefore, in a series of endless guesses and counter-guesses, history was twisted by one side, then twisted back again. Timelines were endlessly modified. Since both sides could foresee wars hundreds of millions, even tens of billions of years in the future, both sides could return to the past after one of the opponent's actions succeeded, and counterattack before the action was implemented. Consequently, the war naturally fell into a destructive stalemate for a long time.

Only by forcing the opponent to be unable to stop your action in any form can you 'make a move'.

Only by forcing your opponent to be unable to make a single move can you complete a closure of possibility.

But one closure of possibility is too little. In fact, every instant of the battle closes tens of thousands of possibilities, and how many instants has the battle lasted?

Unknown, because subjective time has long lost its meaning.

Consequently, the temporal order brought by the Reality Universe also completely lost control.

The battle had evolved into a Chaos situation that beings below First Grade could not understand, observe, or predict.

Too many First Grade beings were participating in the battle, and their mutual shaping of reality had made the book so chaotic that even First Grade beings couldn't see clearly.

At this moment, there was no longer any 'divine foresight'.

The First Grade beings' ability to 'calculate with a pinch of fingers' also failed at this time. No Great Power could deduce spacetime to this extent.

The Chaos of this Universe reached its historical maximum; all spacetime had become unpredictable Chaos under the battles of the First Grade beings.

However... for Mortals, subjective time still held meaning, because they could only perceive the outside world through subjective time. They could not perceive more time, so no matter whether time was rewound or fast-forwarded, it remained unchanged in their eyes.

This was actually... an advantage.

This meant that no matter how time changed outside, the subjective time of Mortals always remained normal.

Not being able to perceive abnormality was also an advantage, preventing one's mind from falling into the Chaos of this spacetime.

And Sariputra fully enjoyed these advantages.

Sariputra, before him, had already arrived at the Maitreya Pure Land.

However, at this moment, the Maitreya Pure Land contained only Sariputra and Maitreya Buddha.

A long time ago, confusion and despair enveloped Sariputra, so he chose to enter Nirvana.

This was Sariputra's end. What he saw were the last moments of death. The past disintegrated before his senses. He knew he was dead.

But he did not surrender to eternity.

He charged into the unknown again and again, time and again.

Now, countless and boundless inconceivable eons have passed.

Maitreya Buddha softly said, “The future age has arrived, Sariputra, you shall become a Buddha.”

No sooner had he finished speaking.

Maitreya Buddha, entered Nirvana.