Chapter 751: The demon appears

The old man sat by the tree stump, his eyelids drooping, bare-chested, like an ordinary old farmer.

No, he was, in fact, just an ordinary old farmer.

Li Qi walked up to him and called out again, "Chen Jilang."

Because he had called Chen Jilang's name before, but he seemed not to hear, Li Qi also noticed that the other party's hearing was not very good, so he raised his voice.

This time he heard it, and he looked up with a puzzled expression, looking at Li Qi: "Youngster, what?!"

His voice was very loud, obviously due to his poor hearing.

"Chen Jilang, how do you think your life has been?" Li Qi asked.

This question made Chen Jilang full of confusion. This young man who suddenly appeared, why would he ask such a strange question? This made him suspicious, and he did not answer, but instead asked: "Youngster, who are you? Why do you ask such things?"

Li Qi smiled, waved his hand, and used illusion to cover the surroundings, preventing outsiders from seeing what was inside. Then, he flicked his finger lightly, and strange phenomena emerged around them. A great wind stirred, blowing sand and stones. Between the mysterious clouds and white mist, the scenery abruptly changed.

Pavilions rose, and waterfalls and springs flowed, forming a boundary. The surrounding space expanded, and as the pavilions ascended, a beautiful pond appeared beside them. A painted boat immediately appeared beneath their feet, with smoke dissipating from its Phoenix cover and waves lapping at the beautiful boat. Silver screens and golden houses adorned the scene, and many flowers bloomed in the pond outside the painted boat. The fragrance of flowers filled the air, and at times, large fish could be heard leaping in the waves, and roosting birds chirped on the banks. The garden's terraces, pavilions, and clear radiance were breathtakingly beautiful.

In just an instant, the surroundings had transformed into a human Immortal realm.

Chen Jilang was dumbfounded, immediately realizing that he had encountered an Immortal. He immediately got up, knelt down repeatedly, calling out to the Immortal, extremely excited.

Li Qi helped him up and said to him, "Get up and speak, Chen Jilang, how do you think your life has been?"

Chen Jilang's mind immediately began to ponder countless thoughts.

Unlike others, he had enjoyed contemplating things since he was a child, and his speed of thought was very fast. Unfortunately, the things he considered were useless in reality. Although he always considered himself a 'smart person' and could foresee many things, seeing through them did not change anything.

An ordinary, slightly clever old man—this was the best description of him.

And now, an Immortal had come to ask about his life!

Could it be that he had an Immortal Opportunity?

So, Chen Jilang immediately thought: "If I answer correctly, can I also achieve Immortal Ascension?"

His inner thoughts were very rich. Just Li Qi's appearance had already made him imagine his appearance after Immortal Ascension. At the same time, he was not idle; he was still thinking about what good or bad deeds he had done in this life, to see if they could affect his Immortal Ascension.

When he was famous as a child prodigy, he had bullied people from his neighbor Zhang Daling's family. This should count as a bad deed, right?

But he also used his reputation to earn a memorial archway for the village, which reduced taxes. This was a good deed, right?

Many memories flowed like water, and all the good and bad deeds he had done in his life emerged. Chen Jilang began to deliberate: which ones could be told? Which ones could not?

But, if they couldn't be told, would the Immortal not know? That was an Immortal! He must know everything. Look at this painted boat and pavilion; they suddenly appeared. How incredible!

Should I tell or not? If I tell, I won't be a good person. But if I don't tell, will the other party not know?

Wait, what if the other party is just testing my honesty? At this time, it's better to honestly say everything. Anyway, I haven't done anything outrageous. He felt that the most serious thing was secretly peeking at the clothes Wang, the widow next door, had hung out to dry. At most, it was being disrespectful to elders. It should be fine, right?

Countless thoughts surged in Chen Jilang's mind, and all of this was seen by Li Qi.

All his thought activities and mental movements were clearly seen by Li Qi.

Li Qi immediately realized that the other party's wisdom... had also begun to be clouded.

Regardless of whether this was Sariputra's wisdom or any other conjecture, just looking at Xiao Gou's True Spirit, it had indeed gradually become clouded after three cycles of Reincarnation.

So-called wisdom is essentially the ability to process information.

Receiving external information, dissecting it, and then processing it into the content one needs—this is the meaning of wisdom.

Knowledge and skills are not Innate, but are Acquired through Acquired practice and learning. In other words, any skills and knowledge we master are also input to us by others or the outside world, only integrated and reorganized by our wisdom to be used by us.

And now, after three lifetimes in the Mortal World, Chen Jilang still possessed the ability to receive information, just as he memorized books and recited poems when he was young. People with high wisdom can easily remember a large amount of information.

However, he had lost the ability to process and integrate information.

He remembered a large amount of information, and he could even recall things from his childhood, but... this information was just stagnant in his mind, unable to be smoothly output as useful information, nor could it help him make effective decisions.

In this situation, wisdom... might as well not be there.

There are two situations in which people are most mediocre.

First, the stage where one knows nothing, the most ignorant and uninformed stage.

Second, the stage where one knows everything and remembers everything, but cannot process this information well, only letting it pile up in the mind like garbage.

There is a condition called hyperthymesia, which is the ability to remember all external information.

What was said, what was done, everything is remembered clearly. As long as he thinks about it, past events will appear in his mind scene by scene like a movie. Unfortunately, these memories are disorganized.

The books he has read, although he can recall the knowledge from them, he finds it difficult to understand. It is even more difficult to recall and extract knowledge points in exams, and it is not easy to try to understand knowledge.

Because memory does not equal understanding.

Memorizing things without understanding cannot turn memory into knowledge. In other words, the food you eat must be digested to be nutritious; if not digested, it will only cause intestinal obstruction.

Only when memory is completely broken down, abstracted, and understood does it become one's own and can be applied in various places. This process of collection and decomposition is the embodiment of wisdom.

Li Qi, with just a single sentence and some mind-reading, had already seen the problem at hand.

Chen Jilang, his wisdom had already lost half of its capacity, hence his mediocrity. The three Reincarnations caused by Li Qi had already caused problems for this unknown True Spirit.

Looking at Chen Jilang, who was hesitant, indecisive, didn't know what to say, and whose mind was a mess... Li Qi immediately made a decision.

First, no matter what, during this period when Sariputra's Dao Heart might be corrupted by Demonic Qi and his Buddhist nature clouded, regardless of whether the previous conjecture was correct or not, his wisdom must be preserved from complete loss.

And if he undergoes a fourth Reincarnation, it's hard to say whether he can Awaken again.

Therefore, Li Qi decided that Chen Jilang must not die. He must help him Awaken his past Innate wisdom.

Past Innate wisdom... Tsk, a bit troublesome.

Breaking through the confusion of the womb is usually something done in one's youth. But now he is already a centenarian, can he still do it?

Li Qi didn't know, but he could try.

The method is very simple, just like in many myths and legends.

A Mortal wanders into the deep mountains, meets an Immortal, converses with the Immortal, and then leaves the mountains, only to find that unknowingly, hundreds of years have passed in the outside world, and the Mortal objects he held have already rotted away.

So, Li Qi smiled and said to him, "It's merely a matter of fate, so I ask the elder to speak of his life, to chat about his life, nothing more. Come, let's talk while we eat."

Saying that, Li Qi clapped his hands.

Chen Jilang blinked, only to find that many maids had suddenly appeared around him.

These maids were all like Heavenly Immortal, wearing green sparrow hairpins, pearl tassels, and strings of necklaces. Their dresses were shimmering with embroidery, and their skirts had a hundred pleats.

They came forward and acted independently. Some presented wine to Chen Jilang and stood by his side.

Fruit dishes, platters, wine cups, and bottles were all set out.

All kinds of delicacies were presented one by one, leaving this Mortal old man stunned.

Li Qi raised his wine cup and toasted him.

Chen Jilang quickly returned the bow and then drank it all.

With cups clinking and endless delicacies, a banquet unfolded. Beautiful women, freshly adorned, with fragrant sleeves, danced in the courtyard, their graceful movements like the Xiang River spirits, their slender hands delicate, playing the zither.

Picking up a chopstick of delicious food, a strange flavor immediately filled his throat and tongue, and a spiritual light illuminated his lungs and liver.

One meal, as if reaching the Tushita Heaven, with joyful songs and shouts. Chen Jilang had never seen such a scene before and was immediately captivated, looking left and right, eating, drinking, and watching, wishing he had two mouths, four hands, and eight eyes.

All the miscellaneous thoughts he had before naturally vanished into thin air at this moment.

Li Qi accompanied him in drinking, pouring eighteen cups. Chen Jilang gradually showed signs of drunkenness. After a while, full of food and drink, he actually fell into a deep sleep.

Just after he fell asleep, the surrounding maids, dancers, and singers all transformed with a series of thuds. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be mountain cats, wild foxes, and squirrels, revealing their true forms one by one.

These were all mountain spirits and wild monsters from this place, commanded by Li Qi's spell to entertain guests. Now that the banquet was over, they naturally returned to their original forms.

Li Qi said, "You may go and clean up. The banquet's provisions are your reward."

These mountain spirits and wild monsters bowed in gratitude to Li Qi, then eagerly scrambled to snatch the plates, dishes, lamps, bowls, wine bottles, and other items. These were all Spiritual Artifact, imbued with Divine Ability.

Li Qi ignored them and walked to Chen Jilang's side, gently placing his hand on his forehead.

Now that Chen Jilang was asleep, he would be in a dream… a dream of a thousand years.

Li Qi wanted to use his Divine Ability to stimulate his dreams, allowing him to experience simulated Reincarnation within the dream. In this way, he would refresh and Awaken the other party's wisdom, and awaken his past Innate wisdom.

No sooner said than done, Li Qi activated his Divine Ability and began to weave a phantom dream.

This method should be effective, but the specific outcome would only be known after practical application.

In the dream, Chen Jilang began to experience his brand new life.

From his perspective, everything began to change. He awoke from the banquet, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself back in his infancy, in swaddling clothes.

This was... an Opportunity given by an Immortal?

Thus, in a daze, he began his second life.

But outside...

The banquet dispersed, and all the items were carried away by the mountain spirits and wild monsters. Even the tables were gone, for to them, even leftover dishes were priceless treasures.

To be commanded by Li Qi was an Opportunity they could not even beg for; they could only encounter it once by pure luck.

Li Qi sat beside Chen Jilang, experiencing life with him.

Under Li Qi's weaving, the phantom dream gradually unfolded.

A great dream of a thousand years, who can distinguish between truth and falsehood? At least for Chen Jilang, all of this was real.

Under Li Qi's arrangement, he would continuously experience new lives, just like protagonists with infinite Rebirth abilities, constantly trying new things.

In this process, he would not die. He would only continuously undergo tempering until he regained his past Innate wisdom, or until his wisdom showed signs of completely disappearing.

This kind of illusion utilized the methods of the Demon of the Five Aggregates. Li Qi was now very proficient in applying the power of the Demon of the Five Aggregates.

However, at this moment—

Li Qi suddenly looked up, staring outside the barrier he had set up.

Outside, stood a beautiful woman.

With slender, elegant eyebrows, dressed in white, her hair hanging down, a cascade of ink against the white, she had a slender and tall figure, a sword on her back, exuding a heroic and valiant aura. As the wind blew, her white robes fluttered, and her hair danced in the breeze. What a female swordswoman!

But seeing this person, Li Qi's mood sank, and his expression immediately became serious.

Demonic Qi.

A faint Demonic Qi had already permeated his barrier, reaching Li Qi's senses.

Heavenly Demon!

"Li Qi, you rat!" The female swordswoman glared, her expression and tone entirely those of a martial artist.

But the next moment, the female swordswoman swayed slightly and suddenly transformed into a male monster.

That was—Er Gou!

Er Gou, as a Golden-winged Bird, had now transformed into human form and greeted Li Qi, saying with a chuckle, "Senior Li Qi, do you still remember me? It was because of your arrangements that I became a Devil. Look, now that I'm a Devil, I've come back to find you."

Listening to Er Gou's words, Li Qi took a deep breath.

True Knowledge Dao Resonance swept over the other party.

It could be confirmed, it was the real Er Gou, not an illusion.

No! It could also be fake. The feeling of 'being real' could very well be created by a Heavenly Demon.

After all, this was a Heavenly Demon.

Li Qi dared not relax in the slightest, and all the spells he could activate in advance were already prepared.

However, the Heavenly Demon did not break in, but stood honestly outside Li Qi's barrier, and through the permeating Demonic Qi, continued to say to Li Qi: "What's wrong? Not talking?"

"So... I was right, wasn't I? Sariputra was indeed split into three parts: Buddhist nature, wisdom, and Dao Heart. Now, the True Spirits of the Buddhist nature and Dao Heart have fallen into your hands due to my previous oversight, becoming Devils, haven't they?"

"What, aren't you going to snatch the last one? Or can't you snatch it? Do you have to use my hand to make Sariputra become a Devil?"

Li Qi stared at the other party and said so.