Chapter 750: Consequences

In Li Qi's view, Buddha-Dharma had never flowed in the Buddhist Kingdom.

What truly transformed the Buddhist Kingdom into its current state was the kindness of Cloud Whale and the other three Yao, but to sustain this kindness, Cloud Whale paid too high a price, even sacrificing his own kindness.

He exchanged his lack of kindness for a benevolent outcome.

Even Li Qi couldn't answer this question.

After all, the bad deeds Cloud Whale committed were not few.

If one only considers the means and not the purpose, then his methods of striking down dissenters were no different from those of his ill-intentioned enemies; he did not conquer these people with Buddha-Dharma, but with the simplest and most brutal force.

In Li Qi's words, what he practiced was not Buddha, but Martial Arts.

A Buddhist Kingdom that cannot be established by Buddha-Dharma, even if Buddha-Dharma is promoted, people will not believe in Buddha-Dharma.

They will only believe in martial arts, which is to explain everything with strength.

Just like now.

Li Qi had already seen the future, not the true future, but the possibilities Li Qi had calculated and divined.

Among those many possibilities, Li Qi saw countless rebellions and the downfall of the Buddhist Kingdom.

The reason was very simple... Cloud Whale built the Buddhist Kingdom with his strength, so naturally, others would also overthrow the Buddhist Kingdom with strength.

"Oh, no need to calculate at all." Li Qi glanced outside the palace.

In the few seconds after Cloud Whale's death, someone had already noticed.

The people outside were about to come in, and the usurpers had arrived.

Li Qi shook his head, placed a hand on Cloud Whale's corpse, and then his figure vanished.

The rebels burst in the next moment but did not find Cloud Whale's body.

Before they could act, another group of rebels arrived, and the two sides immediately began to fight, vying for control of the city.

Cloud Whale's original forces also quickly mobilized; no matter what... there were still many people who firmly believed in Cloud Whale; they did not trust Buddha-Dharma, but they trusted Cloud Whale himself.

This was perhaps Cloud Whale's sorrow.

Cloud Whale devoutly believed in Buddha-Dharma, but his actions were not in accordance with Buddha-Dharma, so the Buddhist Kingdom he created could not possibly be based on faith in Buddha-Dharma.

Everything, everything, was predestined by Destiny.

Li Qi disappeared, and Cloud Whale's body also dissipated, his true spirit entering Reincarnation.

Li Qi was somewhat confused now.

Was Cloud Whale Sariputra?

However, Cloud Whale had neither the perseverance to endure nor the wisdom of cultivation itself; all he possessed was Buddha-nature, and this Buddha-nature was increasingly obscured by his deepening obsession.

Obsession, delusion, and that stubborn attachment to Buddha-Dharma even caused Cloud Whale to lose composure in front of Li Qi before his death.

Even the most powerful Buddha-nature was thus obscured, losing its brilliance, and the Great Luminous Mirror, born naturally, remained covered in dust and useless throughout its life.

Originally, there was nothing, so where could dust cling?

When there was no obsession, the mind was at Perfection, possessing Great Perfect Enlightenment Wisdom, but once obsession arose, one could no longer see the hearts of those around them.

"Alas, if these people keep doing this, when will Sariputra be found?" Li Qi returned to Shen Shuibi's side, sighing in the boundless Void Realm.

"If you can't find him, then you'll just say you can't, or you can directly summon a Bodhisattva or a Buddha now and have them search, since they're already in this world," Shen Shuibi casually suggested.

Li Qi shook his head, indicating it was impossible.

He said, "The Heavenly Demon's concealment is not that simple. Unless I truly find Sariputra with absolute certainty, it's very likely that even if Bodhisattva Bai Chen Fox King herself arrives and Sariputra is right in front of her, she will still overlook him."

Currently, Li Qi is a Fourth Rank and Shen Shuibi is a Fifth Rank, so Shen Shuibi actually knows less about the Divine Ability of many Great Powers than Li Qi.

Previously, the rabbit always educated Li Qi, but now it was time for Li Qi to educate the rabbit.

The power of Great Powers is inconceivable; as long as the logic holds, no matter what the reality is, it can be realized. Divine Abilities and spells are 'settings' for them, and 'settings' can be rewritten by themselves. All they need to do is make the 'settings' conform to their own logic, which is their 'Dao'.

However, after hearing this, Shen Shuibi tilted her head, thought for a moment, and then said, "Hmm... if that's the case, doesn't that mean the Heavenly Demon must be manipulating things from behind?"

"Not necessarily directly observing, but these matters will automatically be affected. The Heavenly Demon obscures too many things. In fact, according to my understanding, most things related to Buddhism have his interference, just like... me," Li Qi said, suddenly unable to help but sigh.

That's right, it was Li Qi.

Or rather, Li Qi was just like Buddhism...

In this Universe, any Dao Orthodoxy, person, or object targeted by the Heavenly Demon would receive such treatment; the Heavenly Demon is very petty.

The Buddha and he had a grudge, so the entire Buddhist sect was the Heavenly Demon's target; the conflict between Buddha and Demon has been passed down from ancient times.

Li Qi attracted his attention, and the result was the same.

The Heavenly Demon doesn't seem to specifically focus on such matters, but he will definitely intervene. Through some automatic mechanism unknown to Li Qi, the Heavenly Demon always makes various strange arrangements during the time he is Seal by the Heavens of the Formless Realm.

The Heavenly Demon might still be unaware in the Heavens of the Formless Realm, but his arrangements in the outside world will automatically handle these things for him, guiding everything towards the future he desires.

"Wait, if that's the case, we should approach it from other directions. I think if it's truly the Heavenly Demon's automatic mechanism at work, then it's absolutely impossible for him to just leave it like this and let you slowly search for possible targets," Shen Shuibi said.

Li Qi shook his head: "Otherwise, what else can we do? Should I activate my full perception and conduct large-scale soul searches and mind-reading? If I do that, I'm afraid I'll have to fight many battles. This is a Second Rank world after all, and there are dozens of Fourth Rank cultivators. I've already fought one person, which allowed Chang Qiao's actions to proceed unhindered. If I were any more arrogant, I'd probably be attacked by a mob."

"No, I'm not telling you to forcibly search, but rather, the reason the Heavenly Demon wants you to investigate this matter must be because... you can do what he wants you to do. If we think from this perspective, perhaps we can find an opportunity?" Shen Shuibi said.

This made Li Qi fall into deep thought.

Indeed.

Buddhism couldn't find him, and it was explicitly stated they couldn't; even Bodhisattvas and Buddhas couldn't find Sariputra. The final result was that only Li Qi could be responsible for this matter.

A search directed by Li Qi could find him, but anyone else acting on their own initiative would absolutely not find him. This was a conceptual concealment that only Li Qi could Breakthrough, or rather, the Heavenly Demon only granted Li Qi permission.

In other words, the task of finding Sariputra must be done by Li Qi, and the Heavenly Demon believes that through Li Qi's hands, he can achieve his ulterior motives.

From this perspective, to find Sariputra, one needs to speculate on the Heavenly Demon's attitude.

Why did the Heavenly Demon force Li Qi to search? How could Li Qi help him? Or, to put it another way, what could Li Qi do to disgust Buddhism?

Prompted by Shen Shuibi, Li Qi began to think from this angle.

From a motivational standpoint, the essence of this matter was a game between Buddhism and the Heavenly Demon.

Buddhism believed that entrusting it to themselves should be fine, they could find Sariputra, and the Heavenly Demon wouldn't cause too much impact, perhaps even causing him to stumble.

The Heavenly Demon, conversely, must have believed that he could use Li Qi's hand to complete his arrangements and make Buddhism suffer a huge loss.

So, in this matter, whose side has his actions benefited so far?

Li Qi began to review and calculate the consequences of everything he had done so far.

He began to repeatedly observe every second of his past two hundred years and every consequence it caused, taking all of them out to savor carefully.

What consequences did he cause?

Xiao Gou's two deaths, and two wasted wisdoms.

Er Gou's demonic possession.

And now, Cloud Whale's Buddha-nature was obscured, and his obsession was deep.

Li Qi suddenly felt a chill down his spine!

Damn it! He suddenly thought of a possibility!

It is well known that Sariputra cannot fall into demonic possession! Everyone agrees on this point.

Sariputra's Buddha-nature, wisdom, and Dao Heart are all top-notch; he cannot fall into demonic possession under any circumstances.

But what if Buddha-nature, Dao Heart, and wisdom were separated and underwent tribulations individually?

Li Qi suddenly realized this.

That's right, Er Gou is not Sariputra, Cloud Whale is not Sariputra, and Xiao Gou is even less Sariputra, but they are very likely parts that Sariputra split into!

Sariputra reincarnated, split into three parts, representing his wisdom, Buddha-nature, and Dao Heart respectively!

Could this be... Li Qi personally shattered Sariputra's Buddha-nature and Dao Heart?

Without the support of wisdom, Buddha-nature cannot clear away delusions.

Without the help of wisdom, the Dao Heart will lose its direction.

And wisdom without a firm Dao Heart can only see the path but cannot walk it, leading to statements like, "I always knew what the right path was, but I just didn't take it because it was too difficult!"

Similarly, having wisdom without Buddha-nature, where one eventually goes, is unknown. Li Qi also has wisdom, but he doesn't think Buddhism is correct.

These three: Buddha-nature determines the path to be taken, wisdom sees where the path leads, and the Dao Heart is the stepping legs.

None can be lacking.

And now, under Li Qi's interference and probing, Xiao Gou died and re-entered Reincarnation, Cloud Whale's Buddha-nature was obscured, and Er Gou's Dao Heart fell into demonic possession!

Then, is all that's left 'wisdom'?

Li Qi immediately stood up at this thought!

The Fourth Rank Buddha statue he had once collected as a clue might also be some kind of symbol. Before, even with his full cultivation poured into it, it only cracked a little. Over the past few hundred years, he had been studying and pondering this item in his spare time.

Now it seems that this thing... might be a reminder to him, and even possibly the key to Sariputra's appearance!

All these conjectures are just a possibility, but they can no longer be ignored.

Having finally come up with a conjecture, he must try it, and it might be too late!

He said to Shen Shuibi, "Yuer, you reminded me, there might indeed be something strange about this matter. I'll go take a look."

"Hmm, be careful." Shen Shuibi nodded. Since Li Qi had an idea, she would just support him.

Li Qi immediately accelerated, and in an instant, he had already arrived where Xiao Gou's true spirit resided.

Li Qi didn't know where Xiao Gou was, but he could forcefully calculate the other party's location and then determine that no matter what he did next, he would quickly encounter Xiao Gou.

The result of the calculation was that he would see Xiao Gou by traveling only two million li.

It's interesting; the outer Universe is so vast. Logically, without Li Qi controlling Reincarnation and manipulating Reincarnation, after Xiao Gou's death, she would most likely be reborn in some unknown corner, possibly reincarnating into worlds tens of billions of light-years away from Li Qi.

But in reality, this did not happen.

Xiao Gou was still reborn in the Myriad Demon Reservoir World.

This deepened Li Qi's suspicion, so he slightly accelerated.

Two million li was but an instant.

In the blink of an eye, Li Qi had already arrived next to Xiao Gou.

Xiao Gou's previous life was a Golden Crow; in this life, she was already old and frail.

In this life, he was a man, reincarnated as an ordinary Human Race, living in this world teeming with Yao.

The demon race has no concept of race, believing that all things have spirits, so there are also humanoid races here.

However, the current Xiao Gou is not a humanoid race, but a genuine 'Human Race,' meaning an immigrant from the world of All Under Heaven.

All Under Heaven is so vast that some people can't make a living there, or don't want to compete in All Under Heaven, or are simply on official business abroad. In short, for various reasons, they came to the outer Universe and left behind bloodlines, or perhaps even an entire team of immigrants.

Some of them simply didn't return and settled in the outer Universe.

The Human Race city in the Myriad Demon Reservoir World is also like this now.

Li Qi was anxious, so he didn't delay, nor did he greet the local strongmen, directly intruding.

Fortunately, his movements were very small, and almost no one noticed.

The Xiao Gou in front of him, oh... no, after Li Qi read his mind, he found that the other party's name in this life was Chen Jilang.

Chen Jilang, currently before him, was already a hundred years old, considered long-lived among uncultivated Human Race. This old man had been struggling his entire life, and his luck didn't seem to be very good.

Li Qi calculated with his fingers, easily deducing the other party's entire life.

Chen Jilang was born ordinary, plain, just like most people, nothing special, neither tragic nor glorious.

He still inherited that innate wisdom, but like most ordinary people with some talent, his wisdom was not well utilized.

As an infant, he learned to walk and speak at an extremely fast pace. In his childhood, he was intelligent and quick-witted, reciting poetry at three and composing couplets at five, a Genius renowned within a ten-mile radius, but his family didn't have enough money for him to cultivate, so he could only study.

By the age of sixteen or seventeen, he began to inherit the family's farmland, farming and studying to pass down the family legacy, and he was no longer as clever as he was in childhood.

Clever in childhood, but wisdom, if not nurtured, may not turn out well in adulthood.

Thus, he lived a mundane life, but it was also free from illness and disaster.

"Chen Jilang." Li Qi walked up to the old man.