Chapter 193: Chapter 193

The first level of the Five-Tiered Pagoda.

Now, eight whole hours have passed since Li Qi arrived here.

Li Qi was observing the One Hundred and Eight Demons, his expression enraptured, completely immersed and unable to extricate himself.

He had even forgotten that he was in danger.

Too… too wonderful.

The One Hundred and Eight Demons each possessed different arts, methods, and Dao, with varying Divine Abilities, forms, and focuses.

It was as if by thoroughly studying these One Hundred and Eight Demons, one could comprehend a heaven-reaching Dao!

Li Qi's curiosity and his desire for the Dao were thoroughly stimulated by these Demonic Overlords.

He felt as though he had returned to his school days, where he didn't need to worry about scheming or office politics; he only needed to fully immerse himself in the problem at hand to achieve the greatest sense of accomplishment and earn everyone's praise.

Li Qi had already delved into the fifty-second Demonic Overlord.

His eyes saw only deepening mysteries; he seemed to have understood the six paths of rebirth and death.

He advanced bravely and diligently, acting with proper intention; with each secret and riddle unveiled, his mind became clearer, his peace and joy increased, but at the same time, his curiosity grew stronger.

He truly hoped to continue his research forever.

Forever.

If he continued to study, he would be able to truly understand the all-pervading conceptualizations of phenomena based on their dependent origination, and thus truly understand all formless phenomena.

If he continued to study, truly understanding dependent origination, he would truly understand all defiled phenomena.

If he continued to study, truly understanding the perfected reality, he would truly understand all pure phenomena.

If he continued to study, he would be able to truly understand formless phenomena based on dependent origination, thus eliminating defiled phenomena. He would be able to eliminate defiled phenomena. He would be able to attain pure phenomena.

Such is the root of virtue.

Truly understanding all formless phenomena, defiled phenomena, pure phenomena, and truly understanding formless phenomena, he would eliminate all defiled phenomena, and by eliminating all defiled phenomena, he would attain all pure phenomena…

A flash of insight arose in Li Qi's mind.

Then, he would attain the fruit, and be named the Bodhisattva Skilled in All Phenomena.

As long as he continued to solve the riddles before him, as long as he continued to unveil the true faces of these Demonic Overlords, understanding their arts, methods, and Dao, then the great position would be within reach.

Just keep going.

Just keep going.

Time passed minute by minute; Li Qi had even forgotten that time was flowing, and he didn't know how long had truly passed.

Seventy-five heads.

Eighty-two heads.

One hundred and three heads.

Until finally, the one hundred and eighth head.

Li Qi walked to the side of this last Demonic Overlord.

As long as he analyzed this last one, he would be able to…

He would be able to break the first Demonic Overlord.

Li Qi walked up with clear eyes, his previously suppressed consciousness expanding, and the True Knowledge Dao Resonance now displayed its power.

Runes flickered around him, and Li Qi placed a hand on the Demonic Overlord statue.

But then the statue quickly came to life!

It was an ugly-looking Demonic Overlord, emitting a putrid smell, its emaciated body covered in leathery black skin. Behind its protruding ears, a huge curved horn rose from its skull. A mouth with jagged teeth occupied half of its hideous face.

Its hands and feet were long and slender, and where its sharp fingers pointed, an inexplicable energy dispersed. All of Li Qi's previous curiosity and desire for the Dao suddenly erupted at this moment!

The Heart Demon, accumulated from one hundred and seven Demonic Overlords, was unprecedentedly powerful!

Some energy streams were forcibly extracted from Li Qi's mouth and nose.

Li Qi's pupils instantly turned dead white, like cataracts.

His 'curiosity,' 'Dao Heart,' and 'memory' were forcibly extracted at this moment!

The energy stream converged into a sphere in the Demonic Overlord's hand, which it then swallowed in one gulp.

Then—

The Demonic Overlord began to bleed from its nose, uncontrollably, its body trembling, letting out painful wails.

An unbearable pain, even for this Demonic Overlord, surged into its heart and simultaneously covered its body!

Its skin cracked, and intense pain rapidly escalated, like boiling water being poured into its belly, scalding its internal organs! Then, molten hot iron was poured into the wounds, melting its muscles and viscera! It felt as if it were truly in a sea of lava and fire!

"Ah—!" It couldn't help but scream in pain, kneeling on the ground, tearing at its skin!

But in an instant.

This pain suddenly vanished.

Because the Demonic Overlord's skull exploded like a watermelon.

On the other hand, Li Qi, who was nearby, took a deep breath and returned to normal.

He opened his eyes, a bitter smile on his face: "This was just a Demonic Overlord? And it had to be brave enough to actively swallow my Dao Resonance, which then burst it to death."

Yes, of the One Hundred and Eight Demons, he spent an entire day finally analyzing one.

This also allowed him to master some Buddhist techniques.

And it was mastered through True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

"The Demon of Desire is not just an evil thought; it can also devour my memories and stir up deep-seated desires within me. If it weren't for the True Knowledge Dao Resonance, I might have truly fallen here."

Li Qi shook his head and sighed.

To achieve balance, one must first understand the specific situation.

Just before, by using the True Knowledge Dao Resonance, which had just inexplicably returned to its original state, Li Qi discovered that he could analyze the weaknesses, strengths, and the powers represented by these Demonic Overlords.

Yes, the powers they represented.

These Demonic Overlords seemed to be just… tentacles.

Li Qi didn't know if this description was appropriate, but from the perspective of the True Knowledge Dao Resonance, these Demonic Overlords were merely tentacles emanating from a great existence.

There were countless such tentacles, all branches of that great existence.

Analyzing these Demonic Overlords was like analyzing that great existence itself.

Therefore, the difficulty was extremely high, and the danger was also extremely great.

This time, when analyzing the Demon of Desire, Li Qi risked his life, slowly incorporating these demonic thoughtss into his mind, and then counter-killing at the last moment.

Before that, he was truly deluded, truly immersed in a false sense of satisfaction, absorbed in the accomplishment of his thirst for knowledge being fulfilled.

Even Li Qi's mind couldn't resist; he could only win by relying on the Dao Resonance's backup plan.

And there were a full one hundred and eight such Demonic Overlords.

No wonder Chan Zhi the Monk went mad.

One must know that these Demonic Overlords had already been killed and eaten by Chan Zhi.

He devoured one hundred and eight Demonic Overlords through the method of devouring hearts.

The Demonic Overlords remaining here were merely the demonic thoughtss rooted in his heart.

Li Qi seemed to have defeated one, but in reality, the Demonic Overlord statues here were still one hundred and eight.

The demonic thoughtss were deeply ingrained in Chan Zhi's Buddhist Heart; as long as Chan Zhi lived, the Demonic Overlords would persist.

And if the Demonic Overlords died, Chan Zhi probably wouldn't survive either.

Troublesome.

No wonder he even had to flee from the Western Paradise Buddhist Kingdom to Baiyue, just to seek the Shaman's natural balance Dao.

Perhaps Chan Zhi the Monk had no other choice.

"This is truly too difficult," Li Qi rubbed his temples.

His original plan was to analyze these Demonic Overlords, and thereby understand Chan Zhi the Monk himself.

Because these demonic thoughtss had already merged with Chan Zhi; if he could thoroughly comprehend all these demonic thoughtss, he would not only accumulate a large amount of foundation and knowledge but also understand Chan Zhi's weaknesses.

At that time, it would be time to turn the tables.

However, Li Qi underestimated the difficulty of doing these things.

Chan Zhi could confidently let Li Qi do this, probably because he had already anticipated this point.

Li Qi simply did not have the ability to do this in a short time.

"Let me see, it's been… eight hours. I'll rest first." Li Qi shook his head and sat down just like that, taking out some dried meat and rations from his Mustard Seed Bag, condensing water droplets with Qi, then controlling fire to boil it, making a pot of dried meat porridge to make do with.

After eating, he began to sleep.

Anyway, there was plenty of time ahead; all his backup plans were deployed, and all he had to do was protect himself and wait for rescue.

Before that, he would see what he could do.

Li Qi began to sleep.

Time passed. Anyway, in this pagoda, although there was an hourglass for timing, there was no sun or moon, so it didn't matter when he slept.

However, while sleeping soundly, Li Qi suddenly felt something was wrong.

The Shaman's sixth sense was wildly disturbing him!

Wave after wave of premonitions urged him, wake up quickly, wake up quickly!

Li Qi unhesitatingly followed his inner reaction and immediately opened his eyes.

However, upon waking, he found that the surrounding scene had changed.

The ground he was stepping on was so insubstantial; it was no longer solid ground, but…

The intestines of some creature?

The entire passage was the intestinal tract of some creature, filled with yellowish-green viscous matter, he didn't know if it was gastric juice or what, emanating a nauseating stench.

The surrounding scene had completely changed. The large intestine-like passage was rapidly蠕动着, and the yellowish-green gas it emitted caused Li Qi's body to feel a stinging pain.

He was being digested!

"Holy crap!" Li Qi cursed loudly, waving both hands, and two streams of Jin Qi (Metal Energy) immediately shot out.

And this time, there were no cool golden threads.

The afterimages of the golden threads were themselves a result of poor control; now with his Nascent Soul, Li Qi's control over himself had reached an extreme, so the golden threads disappeared, but the speed increased by a full thirty percent!

The Jin Qi tore through the internal organs, and Li Qi flew out from the creature's belly.

He didn't know when, but he had actually been eaten.

However, as soon as he emerged, he witnessed a terrifying sight.

Indescribable, incredibly numerous, bizarre monsters.

Low growls and roars from all directions, and the sound of sharp claws and scales scraping the ground was particularly grating.

Flesh splattered everywhere, and this Pagoda became disgusting.

Limbs were scattered everywhere, and there was blood-like plasma and mucus all around, like crawling infants playing, splashing the monster's bodily fluids like paint on the ground.

The One Hundred and Eight Demons, alive!

The one hundred and eight Arhat statues, their golden bodies dim and covered in a decaying aura, their power gone, were instead suppressed by the demons!

At this moment, Li Qi was amidst the animated Demonic Overlords.

He had just ripped through a demon's belly and burst out from inside.

As soon as he landed, he saw that all one hundred and seven Demonic Overlords around him were looking askance at Li Qi.

They stared at each other, eye to eye.

Li Qi's face immediately fell.

Jin Qi flickered!

However, countless tentacles flew at him. Li Qi reacted extremely quickly, immediately shifting his feet, rolling and crawling, instantly dodging dozens of tentacles.

At the same time, two streams of Jin Qi around him began to rotate, cutting off more than ten tentacles.

The monsters' roars echoed all around!

The Demonic Overlords chased after Li Qi!

Li Qi's face was bitter. The first level of the Pagoda was now covered in much mucus and exuded a deathly stench.

Any fool could tell it was poisonous, and he couldn't stay here long.

Demonic Overlords were constantly being cut apart by Li Qi, green, mustard-like blood oozing from their wounds.

Li Qi could see countless piles of flesh around him, huge and swollen, completely shapeless, just flesh balls covered in human faces.

Li Qi's attacks seemed to sting them, causing the human faces on the flesh piles to begin howling, appearing especially terrifying.

The monsters continuously howled, and Li Qi weaved through them, fleeing for his life, looking utterly disheveled.

Second floor! The only target was the second floor!

Only the second floor could save him!

Although these Demonic Overlords were all subdued by Chan Zhi during his ninth-grade period, and their strength was all at ninth-grade, if it were just one or two Demonic Overlords, he might be able to fight and struggle.

One hundred and eight, no way.

Just wait for death!

The only way out was the second floor!

The second floor was Chan Zhi's Bodhisattva Heart, cultivated after suppressing these One Hundred and Eight Demons.

Only there was safe!

Fortunately, although the Pagoda was large, it still had its limits, only a hundred or two hundred meters across.

Li Qi was already considered a master among ninth-grade cultivators, and under the protection of his Jin Qi, he quickly broke through the Demonic Overlords' encirclement and rushed to the second level.

The entire escape only took a few seconds, but Li Qi had already faced extreme danger.

Over a hundred Demonic Overlords displayed their Divine Abilities, almost pinning Li Qi to the spot.

"Damn it… good thing I didn't abandon my martial arts cultivation, otherwise I would have truly fallen here." Li Qi, having narrowly escaped death, looked thankfully at the scene downstairs.

Downstairs, it was still that terrifying scene of a hundred ghosts walking at night.

But the second floor was brilliantly radiant and peaceful.

"This Pagoda is the manifestation of Chan Zhi the Monk's cultivation… Looking at it this way, Chan Zhi's situation is really serious," Li Qi muttered to himself.

This Pagoda, at night, actually had a situation where a hundred ghosts turned around and suppressed the Arhats!

So, would the next step be for the hundred ghosts to turn against this Bodhisattva Hall?

As soon as this thought crossed Li Qi's mind, he saw the Buddha light on the second floor flicker.

Then, the Bodhisattva statue shed tears of blood.

The white Bodhisattva statue turned red and white.

The surrounding Buddha light began to flicker wildly, like a broken light bulb.

Li Qi couldn't help but shiver! Cold sweat poured down him.

He quickly sped up, ascending four levels in a row, returning to the fifth level.

It was probably unsafe below!

However, as soon as he reached the fifth level.

Chan Zhi the Monk was gone.

In his place was a sitting Demon God.

His terrifying, glistening body breathed in the air, and countless tentacles with barbed suckers replaced his lower half.

On each of these writhing, maggot-like tentacles was a human face, filled with brutality and distortion, yet surprisingly, with a hint of clarity.

Now, this Demon God looked at Li Qi, who had rushed up, with malice.

Li Qi's body stiffened on the spot, his hairs stood on end, and his heart skipped a beat.

Things had gone bad.

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