Chapter 749: Dharma

Li Qi stood in the sky, observing everything that was happening below.

That young Monk, who originally believed in Buddha-Dharma and was firm in his faith, had always strived to cultivate with the four demons as his goal, wanting to spread the concepts of Buddha-Dharma and compassion throughout the world, but at this moment, he was shaken.

The young Monk trembled as he asked the four demons, "Masters, is... is Buddha-Dharma wrong?"

"Nonsense!" the four demons said in unison.

Then the Cloud Whale immediately chimed in, "How could Buddha-Dharma be wrong? Can't you see the Buddhist Kingdom we established? Are the seven treasures, peace, beauty, and compassion within the Buddhist Kingdom fake? Compared to the nations formed by bandits, isn't the Buddhist Kingdom more real?"

Although the Monk was afraid, he did not bow his head, but immediately said, "Masters, you rely on Buddha-Dharma to govern this Buddhist Kingdom, so why can't you rely on Buddha-Dharma to establish the Buddhist Kingdom?"

These words left the four demons silent and unable to respond.

Yes, they could govern the Buddhist Kingdom with Buddha-Dharma, but why couldn't they use Buddha-Dharma to establish the Buddhist Kingdom?

The answer was... they had tried.

Pure Buddha-Dharma alone could not establish a nation.

Buddha-Dharma could not establish a nation; they needed to rely on other means, such as violence, schemes, and trickery. They had to defeat those enemies to establish the current Buddhist Kingdom.

After driving out the enemies, they then used Buddha-Dharma to enlighten the world, and thus the present Buddhist Kingdom came into being.

But no matter what, it could not hide the fact that they had once used means despised by Buddha-Dharma to spread Buddha-Dharma.

Violence and trickery were methods despised by Buddha-Dharma, yet they had to rely on these means to establish the soil in which Buddha-Dharma could survive.

The beautiful Lotus of the Buddhist Kingdom bloomed upon the vicious and terrifying corpses.

The young Monk's question directly struck the hearts of the four demons, shaking their Dao Heart and halting their Dao path.

This was the first time since they began cultivating that they had to directly confront the problem of their Dao path.

This was the answer they had to give—

Why?

Why could Buddha-Dharma only maintain the Buddhist Kingdom, but not establish it?

If they could not answer this question, Buddha-Dharma would not hold, and this answer had to be able to convince themselves, to be acceptable to them.

This was what Li Qi experienced every day.

Li Qi's mind was constantly contemplating more profound contradictory problems than these, and there seemed to be an infinite number of solutions.

But for these eighth-rank beings, this was their first time questioning their Dao Heart and their Dao path.

The young Monk ultimately did not get the answer he wanted, because the four demons simply could not answer.

Thus, he left disappointed, deciding to seek the answer himself, even though he was just an unranked child.

The four demons silently watched him leave, then looked at each other.

The young Monk did not expose the丑态 (ugly state) of what they had done when establishing the nation in public, but he had already shamed the four demons.

Finally, Stone and Clear Wind chose to leave. They wanted to be like the young Monk and seek answers; merely maintaining the superficial peace of the Buddhist Kingdom no longer satisfied them.

Lotus and Cloud Whale remained in the Buddhist Kingdom.

From then on, the four demons became two demons.

Decades later, Lotus reached the end of her life, dying in distress. She never managed to achieve a Breakthrough to seventh-rank throughout her life, the reason being... this question plagued her for a lifetime.

Her talent, coupled with the Opportunity of Li Qi's teachings, should have made a Breakthrough to seventh-rank a matter of course, but because of a single question from the young Monk, her Dao path ended there.

Such is the path of cultivation.

Cloud Whale had a longer lifespan.

But if he was the only one left in the entire Buddhist Kingdom... it would be difficult to sustain the burden of the Buddhist Kingdom.

Originally, with Lotus there, the two of them working together, plus the prestige of Stone and Clear Wind who were out adventuring, they could still hold the fort, but after Lotus's death...

Within the Buddhist Kingdom's vast territory of ten thousand li, the floating islands that were combined together began to experience undercurrents.

Schemes and tricks reappeared in the Buddhist Kingdom.

Cloud Whale watched all of this; he could not stand by and do nothing.

He had to protect the Buddhist Kingdom.

And to protect the Buddhist Kingdom... pure Buddha-Dharma was useless. For those with hidden schemes, Buddha-Dharma had zero binding power over them.

Therefore, violence and schemes had to be used again.

To protect the faithful people of the Buddhist Kingdom, means had to be employed to destroy those evil individuals with ill intentions.

Cloud Whale thought so.

His Great Luminous Mirror became increasingly dim.

People, sentient beings, became increasingly distinct in his heart. He was increasingly able to 'distinguish between friend and foe.' In his heart, sentient beings had been categorized into different groups according to different standards, and could then be treated in different ways.

This standard, in fact, existed in many places.

In some places it was wealth, in others it was military power, in others it was wisdom, but all in all, it was about dividing sentient beings into different categories and then distinguishing them.

Even within Buddhism, divisions would occur, which is why many sects arose.

But the question was, after such divisions, were sentient beings... still sentient beings?

Cloud Whale did not know.

But what he did know was that to protect the Buddhist Kingdom, the painstaking effort of his life, some things simply had to be done.

Thus, throughout the Buddhist Kingdom, the turmoil of schemes began.

He began to focus on suppressing coup plotters, heretics, and rebels.

Those groups secretly plotting to subvert and overthrow the Buddhist Kingdom's rule, those villains who secretly undermined the rule with lies and charm, were 'preemptively dealt with' by Cloud Whale.

Through the exquisite manipulation of assassination, coercion, and terror, he prevented trouble before it arose.

Then, he built impregnable outposts and established armies stationed within them, waiting for enemy attacks, and repeatedly checking their defensive strategies.

Cloud Whale also cultivated loyal inquisitors, these elites always secretly watching for evil and corruption lurking within the Buddhist Kingdom.

When greed corroded the Buddhist Kingdom's system, when enemies tried to lure believers into darkness, when enemies through schemes and violence were about to make believers abandon Buddha-Dharma, these inquisitors would usually step forward to expose and crush the evil schemes.

The inquisitors constantly fought against all evil, filled with fanaticism, they would do everything possible to protect the Buddhist Kingdom.

Buddha-Dharma could not protect the Buddhist Kingdom, but military force could.

Finally, Cloud Whale also established authoritative regulations to ensure that all of this operated normally, so that the Buddhist Kingdom would not fall into disorder when he was not present.

Order, regulations, could keep all of this running normally even when Cloud Whale himself was not present, possessing the ability of self-purification.

After all, Cloud Whale could sense that he was also getting old; he had not achieved a Breakthrough to seventh-rank for a long time, and his lifespan was about to end.

After doing all of this, Cloud Whale was very happy. He enjoyed the joy of success alone in his grand hall.

His measures were very effective; those villains opposing the Buddhist Kingdom had been eliminated, and if they appeared again in the future, they would certainly only face elimination.

He sat in the grand hall, enjoying his success.

But at this moment, Li Qi appeared.

Li Qi came to Cloud Whale's side. Cloud Whale had now transformed into a human form.

"Ah, Senior!" Cloud Whale immediately bowed when he saw Li Qi!

He still remembered that it was this person who had transmitted Buddha-Dharma to him.

Over the years, Cloud Whale had countless times pondered Li Qi's thoughts. He felt that Li Qi must be an existence like himself and his companions, also spreading Buddha-Dharma.

He, the four demons, were influenced by his propagation of Buddha-Dharma, and thus embarked on the path of spreading Buddha-Dharma.

However, Li Qi looked at Cloud Whale.

When he first met Cloud Whale, he was full of Buddhist nature.

Now, looking at Cloud Whale again, he was like an emperor, sitting alone in the grand hall. The Buddhist Kingdom was stable because of him, and at the same time... the Buddhist Kingdom no longer resembled a Buddhist Kingdom.

Staring at the other for a long time, Cloud Whale was sweating profusely, his robes drenched in sweat.

At this moment, Li Qi suddenly spoke: "Cloud Whale, I once transmitted Buddha-Dharma to you. How do you think you have done now?"

Hearing this, Cloud Whale immediately looked up, straightened his back, walked to the front of the hall, and introduced to Li Qi: "Regarding this, Senior, look, we have spread Buddha-Dharma and established the Buddhist Kingdom!"

He pushed open the hall doors, showing Li Qi his magnificent palace!

Outside the palace were many Sangharama Buddhist temples, with seven layers of railings, seven layers of nets, and seven rows of trees, all surrounded by the four treasures.

Further on, there were seven large ponds, filled with water of eight virtues, the bottom of the ponds purely paved with golden sand, and the steps on all four sides were made of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and crystal.

Above were pavilions, also magnificently adorned with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, giant wood, red pearls, and agate.

In the ponds were Lotus flowers, as large as chariot wheels, blue with blue light, yellow with yellow light, red with red light, white with white light, subtly fragrant and pure. These were all born from the Lotus seeds of Lotus among the four demons.

Cloud Whale proudly introduced all of this, eager to present his achievements to Li Qi, who had transmitted Buddha-Dharma to him in the past.

"The nation enjoys favorable weather, peace, and prosperity. All good roots and Karma, good men and good women, upon hearing the Buddha-Dharma and upholding the names, are protected and remembered by all Buddhas! The sentient beings in the nation, every clear morning, each fill their robes with various wonderful flowers!"

"Such a Land of Ultimate Bliss, achieving such Karma and adornment! Senior, do you see Buddha-Dharma flourishing?"

Cloud Whale looked at Li Qi with anticipation.

And Li Qi surveyed everything before him.

In reality, he had seen all of this long ago.

He even understood the Buddhist Kingdom they had created better than Cloud Whale himself.

So, after seeing these, Li Qi asked, "Do you think this is Buddha-Dharma?"

"How could it not be? The Buddhist Kingdom that Senior described to us back then, I kept in my heart, and everything here is built according to that ideal Buddhist Kingdom," Cloud Whale said.

"Hmm... Then do you think there's any difference between this Buddhist Kingdom and other nations? Why can it be called a Buddhist Kingdom and not an ordinary nation?" Li Qi asked again.

This question made Cloud Whale愣 (stunned), but he immediately began to speak volubly.

He began to introduce the advantages of the Buddhist Kingdom.

He introduced it for a full quarter of an hour, without stopping his mouth.

Reporting how many temples, all the Monks, and three thousand great monasteries, one by one.

Favorable weather, devout belief in Buddha-Dharma, good men and women, all sentient beings have the mind to contemplate the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, Sangharamas are everywhere, Monks are visible everywhere, sentient beings contemplate Buddha-Dharma, all are compassionate towards each other, all people are greatly joyful and united in heart.

Then, he looked at Li Qi: "Can such a nation not be called a Buddhist Kingdom? In the past, when I offered my body to birds and beasts, I saw countless famines and evil deeds, but in the Buddhist Kingdom, such things no longer exist. All of this is brought by Buddha-Dharma!"

Li Qi nodded, indicating his approval.

Then, Li Qi asked, "Indeed, all of this can be said to be brought by Buddha-Dharma, but... if there were no Buddha-Dharma, would all of this not happen?"

Cloud Whale was puzzled and retorted, "If there were no Buddha-Dharma, the world would surely be filled with ignorance and foolishness, thus falling into the twelve Destinies, leading to sorrow and weeping from death, and experiencing immeasurable suffering. But under Buddha-Dharma, the insane are calm in body and mind, the poisoned are unharmed, and the imprisoned are all liberated. Can other things achieve this?"

Li Qi did not answer this rhetorical question.

Because he had already sensed that Cloud Whale's life was coming to an end.

He was dying; eighth-rank beings had a lifespan.

"Senior... I did well, didn't I?" In the last moments of his life, Cloud Whale looked at Li Qi and said so.

Li Qi did not answer, merely watching him.

Cloud Whale only felt an urgent desire for recognition rising from the depths of his heart.

Ever since Li Qi transmitted Buddha-Dharma to him, he had developed an obsession.

If this obsession continued to bind him, it would prevent him from resting in peace.

He wanted someone with sufficient authority and power to acknowledge his life's actions.

Li Qi remained silent.

Cloud Whale grew increasingly anxious. He became agitated. The fire of anger surged from within, but in front of Li Qi, he could not vent it.

Because Li Qi was too strong. When he was young, he didn't understand Li Qi's strength.

But now, having experienced much of the world and countless battles, he profoundly understood that this man before him was likely an extraordinary Great Power.

A kind of strength beyond his comprehension, even the strongest he had ever seen, the demon lord who ruled boundless territories, could not even begin to compare to him.

Time slowly passed, and Cloud Whale gradually weakened.

He seemed to feel that he would not get an answer, so he slumped down, waiting for life to ebb away.

Just as his consciousness was fading, in his dying moments, Li Qi walked up to him and said, "The reason the Buddhist Kingdom is a Buddhist Kingdom is not because of Buddha-Dharma, but because of you..."

Is that so?

Is it because of me?

Without receiving an answer, Cloud Whale completely closed his eyes.

But this is what Li Qi saw.

The reason the Buddhist Kingdom was a Buddhist Kingdom was not because of Buddha-Dharma, but because of Cloud Whale.

Living in peace and contentment, believing in the Three Jewels—all of this was not Buddha-Dharma, but merely Cloud Whale's kindness.

Did this count as Buddha-Dharma?