Chapter 855: Each Method

The four people's thought processes were very fast, so after a brief decision, they immediately began to act.

First, all the Monks who had been brought in, as well as the local cultivators who had been conscripted, were to maintain the entire grand formation in place. This only required giving orders. Li Qi was responsible for notifying the local Realm controllers, while Sariputra notified the Monks who had followed him.

The orders had been given, and now it was up to the four First Grade individuals.

However, things were still a bit strange.

More than a hundred years passed, and finally, Maudgalyāyana, with his Celestial Eye and Celestial Ear, discovered the Demonic Dao's arrangements.

All four knew that the Demonic Dao was definitely not that simple.

However... since it was in the world, then, with four First Grade experts acting together to break it, nothing would go wrong, unless they could break the suppression of the world, but that would at least require a First Grade expert to act.

If a First Grade expert acted, then things would be much bigger, and Li Qi and the others wouldn't need to worry; the Shaman God and the Buddhas would handle it.

After considering all aspects, there were no major problems, so the four immediately set off, each handling their own situation.

Li Qi was responsible for the Demon of the Five Aggregates, Sariputra for the Heaven Demon, Maudgalyāyana for the Demon of Affliction, and Jing Wuzhen for the Demon of Death.

Almost simultaneously, they had already arrived at the hidden nodes and began to use their power to destroy the Demonic Dao's arrangements!

First, it was Sariputra.

The tall and thin Sariputra wore ordinary cloth clothes, with no Spiritual Artifacts on him.

Because there was no need.

As Sariputra stepped into this place, black mist instantly surged from all directions, and the real world was cut off here.

This was no longer 'the world,' but a 'Heaven,' a gateway to Heaven of Others’ Emanations!

As expected, the Demonic Lords had disappeared, hiding within Heaven of Others’ Emanations!

Sariputra gently shook his head, and the Purification Method unfolded.

His thoughts were completely clear, and all desires had vanished.

Heaven of Others’ Emanations, also known as the 'Desire Realm,' is essentially the collection of all desires, while the Heavens of the Formless Realm, which suppresses the Heaven Demon, utilizes the nature of 'emptiness' to suppress the Heaven Demon.

Sariputra quietly walked into it—

The human world, after all, is an emptiness. the Purification Method profoundly expresses this meaning, which the Buddha often called 'the Four Greats are all empty.' Life will eventually fall into 'emptiness,' from beginning to end, entirely within the Realm of emptiness.

The so-called 'Realm of Emptiness' is originally a Buddhist term.

This is something no one can deny, and no one can do anything about. Those in Buddhism truly recognize this Realm and can abide in it, which is what Buddhists call Nirvana.

As long as one gains nothing, it is still emptiness; it's just that ordinary people don't understand and insist on seeking gains in this Realm of emptiness, stubbornly trying to satisfy all their desires, which then forms the various follies and evils of human life.

This statement sounds abstract, but it is actually very concrete and real.

All matters of human life, one should know, are illusory and unreal, immediately becoming empty. When hungry, one wants to eat; when full, one wants good clothes; with clothes, one wants a beautiful wife. Round and round, what one truly desires is the same: 'external things.'

Humans in this world always want to obtain various external things, but external things are external precisely because they will disappear. If one says that wealth can satisfy other desires, then all desires disappear as soon as they are satisfied, like enjoying delicious food: one picks up a chopstick and puts it into one's mouth, the tongue is happy for a while, but after swallowing, it is no longer happy, so one then pursues the next chopstick.

One chopstick after another, won't it just never stop?

That's how desire is.

Doesn't it still end up with nothing gained? Power is even more indirect, status is indirect, and reputation is still indirect.

When people have power, status, and fame, they can have wealth and enjoyment, but ultimately, these will still disappear when time is stretched out.

Therefore, it is still an emptiness.

The understanding of emptiness, like happiness, where is happiness? As soon as you think about it, happiness immediately becomes empty.

Like poverty, where is poverty? As soon as you think about it, poverty immediately becomes empty.

Other successes and failures, everything is like this.

However, this is just one perspective of Buddhism; many Dao Orthodoxy probably do not agree with this point.

But this does not prevent this idea from being very suitable for dealing with the Heaven Demon lineage.

The Heaven Demon is 'existence,' and the Desire Realm is 'the sum of all reality.' If Buddhism speaks of 'emptiness,' then even the Desire Realm, what can it do to me?

Facing the surging black mist, Sariputra gently clasped his hands together: "I practice Prajnaparamita, practicing distant emptiness, without this Karma."

— — — — — — —

And on Maudgalyāyana's side.

Troubles surged from all around, referring to greed and even wrong views. Their nature is fundamental trouble. They can give rise to secondary defilements, hence the name fundamental trouble. Trouble means disturbance, and vexation means disorder. They disturb and disorder sentient beings, keeping them in the cycle of birth and death. Sentient beings, because they possess consciousness, are called sentient beings. Sentient beings, because they possess greed and other defilements, have disturbed bodies and minds, and are thus long immersed in the sea of birth and death, unable to attain liberation, hence the name trouble.

Some Bodhisattvas, relying on their fame, many followers, and knowledge, slight other Bodhisattvas who practice good deeds. Such people have no real signs or Karma of irreversible progress, and because they lack this Karma, various troubles arise.

Countless troubles rolled in Maudgalyāyana's mind, endless emotions stimulating his consciousness.

Inferior thoughts, fervent longing for dreams, the warmth of family, the encouragement of success, the anxiety of failure, joy, sorrow, jealousy, stimulation, anger, melancholy.

Who knows how many, everyone's deepest troubled memories, piled up, at least hundreds of millions of years of thoughts, countless people's desires, joys, pains, all accumulated together.

Maudgalyāyana's lifespan was only about ten thousand years; amidst thoughts measured in billions, he was but a small boat in a storm.

He understood the booming words.

"You told Mom you'd study hard, didn't you!? Why are you still playing?" A middle-aged woman's voice, full of disappointment, came.

"Do you know, she used to like you?" A frivolous young man's voice sounded.

"You..." It seemed like a girl was asking her boyfriend.

"Sorry, can I borrow your Spiritual Artifact for a few days? I'll return it later if I get a chance." It sounded like a delinquent youth's tone.

"She's a half-breed, her dad seems to be an Eighth Grade demon, very rich." It was a poor boy's envious tone.

"Wife... it's been two hundred years, hasn't it?" It was an old man's nostalgic voice.

"How could this be!? How could I not have passed!? I worked so hard!" A hysterical female voice.

"Hey, be with me?" A vibrant young girl's voice.

"No." A man's rejecting voice.

Low whispers, like waves crashing into the deepest part of his mind.

Numerous unfulfilled desires, insatiable greed, unrequited love, born of delusion, following ignorance, seemingly endless suffering like birth, old age, sickness, and death, surrounded Maudgalyāyana.

Infinite pressure crushed his soul piece by piece, and then, within the shattered soul, countless tiny worms floated and gnawed.

However, Maudgalyāyana was seen softly chanting a Buddhist name, saying: "I shall endure being trampled upon by all sentient beings, like a bridge, like a deaf person, like a mute. How can I repay others with evil words? I should not destroy this profound Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi mind. When I attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, I shall deliver all these suffering sentient beings. How can I give rise to anger?"

Trouble, I shall overcome it with Divine Ability.

Let me bear all people's troubles, all people's suffering.

My Divine Ability is vast, I can bear it!

This is 'Divine Ability First'!

— — — — — — — —

Jing Wuzhen held a heavy sword. Unlike the strangeness encountered by others, what she had to face was simple.

Before her was a well-ordered Demonic Army, disciplined and arrayed, with nine hundred billion rockets, two hundred billion long spears, and two hundred billion long axes. When fired simultaneously, they were like heavenly fire burning down, irresistible to iron and stone. Spears and axes pioneered to break defenses, and cavalry charged on both flanks.

Wind and rain poured down, thunder and lightning darkened, fire flew with smoke, and sand and stones were stirred up. They were equipped with defensive tools and made full use of bows and arrows.

Countless hundreds of thousands of Demon Heavenly Sons, each with their weapons and riding various mounts, all descended here, raising pure red banners of unconquerable power, standing by the peaks.

And like the Demonic Army of Heaven of Others’ Emanations mentioned above, they held their weapons firmly, surpassing the Heaven of Enjoyment of Others' Creations, with their countless hundreds of Heavenly Sons, countless thousands of Heavenly Sons, countless hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Sons, surrounding and descending, raising pure white banners of unconquerable power, standing by the peaks.

There were also several Dharma Bodies formed by the Demonic Army's formation, which mutually warned each other, wearing armor and holding weapons, with solemn bodies, all clad in them and riding various mounts.

And those small Demonic Overlords and all the dependents of the Thirty-Three Heavens, at a single thought, all donned armor, rode various mounts, and armed themselves with various armors and weapons, along with the Sky Yakshas and the various small kings of the Thirty-Three Heavens.

Yakshas, hungry ghosts, Hell ghosts, Asura, the celestials of Heaven of Others’ Emanations, various Demonic Overlords, and even Yin souls and specters, countless in number, had already surged towards Jing Wuzhen.

However, if one was below First Grade, then these Demonic Lords would be invisible, and one wouldn't even feel anything, only vaguely, in a dream-like illusion, be surrounded by ill omens, gradually suppressed, gradually distorted, gradually losing even oneself, becoming a complete madman, and then dying.

Only beings with substantiality could perceive the Demonic Army formed by these Demon of Death powers.

"Demonic Army, huh..." Jing Wuzhen rotated her wrist, and the eight-sided heavy sword 'Slay' in her hand also twirled a sword flower, and immediately, Martial Dao Divine Intent permeated the blade, dazzling brilliantly.

The Demon of Death lineage sought to return all things to oblivion.

Well, that's quite a coincidence; Martial Dao is also best at killing and conquering.

The next moment, Martial Dao Divine Intent erupted! The light of tens of millions of suns bloomed in the裂隙 between Heaven of Others’ Emanations and the world!

— — — — — — — — — — —

Li Qi also arrived at the location of the Demon of the Five Aggregates.

He had personally experienced the Five Aggregates Demonic Blood and withstood its erosion, so he was best at dealing with the Five Aggregates Devil lineage.

In fact, dealing with the Demon of the Five Aggregates is very simple.

For example, there's a counter-intuitive fact: the normal Human Race's vision, due to optical and neural structures, is actually inverted, but the spatial structure is adaptively corrected by your brain.

If you wear special inverting glasses, after a few days your brain will adapt, and the world will appear "inverted back" after taking off the glasses.

Of course, it only takes a period of time to adapt back.

Amputees also experience the illusion of "my prosthetic limb even has touch" after using a prosthetic limb for a period, generally called 'phantom limb sensation.'

Therefore, the brain's adaptive capacity, which is 'five aggregates,' actually fully supports you growing a few more "fingers." Theoretically, after training, even "growing a pair of wings" would be no problem. The five aggregates themselves are very convenient.

People who are proficient in using a certain tool use it as if it were an extension of their arm because it truly "becomes an extension of their arm." Their five aggregates have completely mastered the ability to control this thing, and they can even 'control objects from a distance.'

For ordinary people, the range they can sense and control with their nerves is limited to their own bodies, meaning that their directly owned limbs and flesh are the upper limit of their control. They cannot control more things and can only rely on their bodies to manipulate them indirectly.

But after long training, some "masters" can break free from this limitation.

For example, a chef who has practiced knife skills for decades, or some professional athletes, can "spread" their direct control, just as if their nerve endings extended to the tools they are skilled at using. This invisible tentacle can even extend further, manifesting as precise manipulation, using tools like an extension of their arm, light and fast, capable of terrifying precision that ordinary people cannot achieve.

When Butcher Ding dismembered an ox, he never saw the whole ox in his eyes; he only needed to touch the ox's body with his spirit, without using his eyes to see, as if his vision had stopped working and he relied entirely on his spiritual will.

This effortless mastery can even accelerate thought, making the perceived flow of time significantly slow down for the spirit, and can also synchronize tools with the human spirit, achieving a state of perfect use, commonly known as the unity of man and blade, unity of man and sword. Generally speaking, Seventh and Eighth Grade cultivators can easily achieve this.

But for true "powerhouses," such as beings of Li Qi's level, they can go a step further.

He enveloped the surrounding world with his 'five aggregates.'

This move seemed to astonish the Five Aggregates Devil lineage's power in the surroundings; this should be a technique of the Five Aggregates Devil lineage.

However... precisely because this was a technique of the Five Aggregates Devil lineage, Li Qi was able to use it so skillfully.

Five Aggregates Demonic Blood... is the blood of a First Grade being.

Moreover, Li Qi did not receive it directly but purified it from Mahakala's bowl.

Mahakala, who practices Dual Cultivation of both Buddha and Demon, is a famous Demonic Buddha but also a renowned Dharma Protector god, a god who subjugates demons. The Kapala bowl in his hand contains demonic blood.

This is not ordinary demonic blood, but the genuine demonic blood of the First Grade Four Demons. The intentions from the Four Demons within it have been purified by Mahakala, leaving only pure 'nature.'

This was Li Qi's confidence when facing the Five Aggregates Devil lineage. Since that time, he had never fallen for any of the Five Aggregates Devil lineage's tricks; he was basically immune to anything he encountered.

Facing the surging Five Aggregates Demonic Qi before him, Li Qi smiled.

Then, a deeper Demonic Qi surged from his body.

The Demon of the Five Aggregates can alter my five aggregates...

Then, since my methods are superior and my understanding deeper, it shouldn't be a problem for me to alter your five aggregates, right?

The moment they met, Li Qi had already turned the tables! He began to erode the Demonic Dao in reverse!

In the past, the Demonic Dao always eroded others; today, let them taste this feeling!

Maudgalyāyana's discovery once again revealed the arrangements beneath City of Dreams, reigniting the chaotic battle here.

However, it seems Li Qi and his allies hold a distinct advantage. (End of Chapter)