Chapter 856: The Overlord’s Dao Foundation?

The Devil Heads’ messages spread quickly.

In fact, basically, the moment Maudgalyāyana’s Divine Ability was unleashed, the Demonic Lords had already exchanged messages, informing all their collaborators about the situation.

“Maudgalyāyana found us.”

“Trouble… How much longer until the plan is fully initiated?”

“Originally, there were thirty years left.”

“Do we have to force the initiation?”

“Yes, we must force it. Maudgalyāyana’s Divine Ability is too penetrating, and with his Celestial Eye and Celestial Ear, he can hear thoughts, making evasion impossible.”

“Thirty years… that’s too far off. What about Li Shiwei’s side?”

“It’s already settled.”

“Let’s just start.”

“Starting now… there are still many flaws.”

“I don’t know what kind of madness Maudgalyāyana is in, to actually damage his own cultivation just to observe underground.”

“Alright, no more complaining. It’s only natural for them to conduct reconnaissance.”

“But we also made preparations. Who knew this person would be so reckless? If we hadn’t, he would have suffered a terrible loss this time.”

“But we did, didn’t we? He gambled correctly. Stop complaining, get to work.”

The Demonic Lords relayed their opinions, chattering away, but after the last ‘get to work’ was uttered, the entire demonic thoughts communication cluster fell silent.

The Demonic Lords had already begun to act.

In the next hour, they had done everything possible to achieve the most Perfection arrangement.

All that remained… was the final push.

Looking at the battlefield—

Sariputra faced the encroachment of the Heavenly Demon’s demonic thoughts, holding to the Purification Method, unmoving, like a steady rock amidst the waves.

There was simply no place to Breakthrough; Sariputra was truly too steady.

And on the other side, Maudgalyāyana, facing the Demon of Affliction’s demonic thoughts.

He was seen stepping on a Golden Lotus, holding ‘all sentient beings’ troubles’ in his hand.

He said to the sentient beings’ troubles: “I have attained Arhatship, achieved True Enlightenment, and the Buddha-land I reside in is adorned with immeasurable and inconceivable Karma. There are no Hells, hungry ghosts, animals, or crawling creatures among all sentient beings. And all beings from the Yama-loka, Asura-loka, and the three evil paths, who are reborn in my land and are transformed by my Buddha-Dharma, shall all attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi and never again fall into evil destinies.”

He was not resolving troubles, nor was he resisting with his mind. Instead, he was using his Divine Ability to forcefully eliminate these troubles, transforming these troublesome resentments with his own power.

Whatever troubles you have—lack of food, lack of clothing, lack of love, lack of wealth, lack of luck—as long as there are no evil thoughts in your heart and your actions harm no one, then… all will be satisfied, and your wishes will be granted.

But if there are evil thoughts in your heart, then they will be directly annihilated physically, so that trouble has no place to exist.

This is similar to the approach of ‘Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’ or ‘Amitabha’.

Buddha transforms the world and spreads the Buddha-Dharma through various means.

For example, the current method, using great Divine Ability to extensively transform the world. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva empties Hell, and Amitabha creates the ‘Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’. Their essence is the same: using their own Divine Ability to allow all people to achieve a peaceful and harmonious outcome and environment.

The Buddhist scriptures even explicitly state: “Or there are sentient beings who commit unwholesome deeds, the five heinous crimes and ten evils, possessing all unwholesomeness. Such foolish people, due to their evil Karma, should fall into evil paths, enduring endless suffering over many kalpas. When such foolish people are at the end of their lives, they meet good spiritual friends who comfort them in various ways, preach the wonderful Dharma to them, and teach them to recite the Buddha’s name. These people are afflicted by suffering and have no time to recite the Buddha’s name. The good friend tells them: If you cannot recite that Buddha’s name, you should invoke and take refuge in Amitayus Buddha. With such utmost sincerity, let the sound be continuous, completing ten recitations of Namo Amitabha Buddha. By reciting the Buddha’s name, in every thought, eighty billion kalpas of the sins of Rebirth and death are eliminated. At the time of death, one sees a Golden Lotus like the sun wheel appearing before them, and in an instant, one is reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.”

As long as you sincerely turn towards good and sincerely repent, then reciting Namo Amitabha Buddha ten times can instantly eliminate eighty billion kalpas of the sins of Rebirth and death. After death, you will be reborn in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, no longer suffering in Reincarnation.

This is also why many monks often recite “Amitabha” for no particular reason.

Of course, it’s not that simple. The mere eight characters of ‘sincerely turn towards good and sincerely repent’ can block ninety-nine percent of people. While Amitabha uses great Divine Ability to transform the world, he doesn’t accept just anyone.

And Sariputra, on the other side, represents wisdom. So his way of ‘transforming the world’ is to spread wisdom. It’s as if he himself only perfected himself, which is called ‘perfecting oneself to perfect others’.

If he acquires a million in wealth, not only does he become a rich man himself, but this million in wealth can be used by anyone, for hundreds of thousands of years. Anyone can use his million, and everyone becomes rich, yet he still retains his million, not a single penny less.

This is the power of wisdom.

And Maudgalyāyana’s transformation through great Divine Ability is simpler and cruder: I have this million, so I use this million to do this. When it’s spent, I earn more; when I earn more, I spend it again. Thus, with a million, I save a million people.

Although it seems much more foolish than the method of wisdom, it is direct and can cope with the current challenges.

Both Buddha Sons are skilled at dealing with the Demonic Dao, or rather… the Buddha-Dharma is inherently specialized in this, so there’s no need to worry.

Li Qi and Jing Wuzhen’s side was also quite smooth.

Jing Wuzhen had a bit more trouble; the Demonic Lords of Demon of Death seemed endless.

Every time these Demonic Lords were killed, they would Rebirth again under the power of ‘death’.

How do you kill something that is already dead but still moving?

Jing Wuzhen gave her answer.

If it can move, it means there’s still ‘energy’, which means it’s not thoroughly dead yet; there’s still order present.

Beat you until your ‘entropy’ is at its maximum chaos, your energy completely disordered, and then you’ll naturally be completely dead.

This is actually the outcome that Demon of Death believes in.

What we usually perceive as death is part of the life stage, but a deeper death is entropy increase, the macroscopic dissipation of life, the microscopic stillness of particles. Eternal slumber is not death; even ancient undead will die.

Whether this answer is correct or not, at least it cannot be refuted.

The principle of entropy increase contains the idea of irreversible time; time is not infinitely extended, and it will inevitably reach an end.

The more one understands, the more a sense of despair arises, just like crying oneself awake at night as a child upon realizing one would eventually die, or feeling sad for a long time in middle school upon learning that the sun would one day explode and swallow the Earth.

From this fear was born the demonic thoughts of Demon of Death: since this end is destined to come, why not embrace it actively?

Moreover, with the swinging of that eight-sided heavy sword, the Demonic Army was constantly annihilated and constantly Rebirth, leading to a stalemate. Demon of Death and Demon of Death’s thoughts battled each other.

However, at least there was no sign of collapse.

On the other side—

Li Qi had completely seen through the five aggregates. Even if the bridge between reality and thought inevitably existed, he could easily distort the existence of these five aggregates.

In other words… his speed in compiling this bridge was faster and stronger than the Five Aggregates Demon Lord before him!

Extraordinary information processing speed, coupled with Li Qi’s long-term trained mental power, allowed Li Qi to, in turn, erode the Five Aggregates Devilish Qi.

But the Five Aggregates Demon Lord was not to be trifled with either. Both sides constantly tampered with each other’s five aggregates, constantly compiled new five aggregates, set traps, plotted counterattacks, disguised, bombarded with information flow, and countless lies and fabrications gnawed at both sides’ minds.

But… Li Qi gnawed faster.

“How is this possible—” the Five Aggregates Demon Lord thought to himself.

Li Qi’s progress was too fast. Was this the Young Master with the fastest Realm progression in Shaman God Mountain? He learned his techniques just by looking at them, and could quickly surpass him.

“Why not possible?” At this moment, a voice sounded in the Five Aggregates Demon Lord’s ear.

This immediately startled the other party!

Are you kidding me!

This kind of trick usually appeared when the Demonic Dao dealt with others. For example, Li Qi was constantly whispered to by the Heavenly Demon, which made him a bit PTSD now.

Now, he, a Fourth-Rank Demonic Lord, was actually being subjected to this trick.

This indicated that his mind was already riddled with holes, and even his ‘inner thoughts’ had been heard.

He immediately sealed off his mind, preparing to completely sever the five aggregates and assume a complete ‘thought’ form, ready to counterattack.

But before he could do so, his body and Divine Ability were already out of his control.

“Demon of the Five Aggregates, I was truly too soft. I should have come for you earlier.” Li Qi said, and his vision suddenly cleared.

All the Five Aggregates Devilish Qi had dissipated. Before him were two Five Aggregates Demon Lords, both having lost their ability to resist.

Their methods were too crude, their level far from enough. Compared to the modifications contained within the Five Aggregates Demonic Blood, they were full of flaws and could not possibly deceive Li Qi.

Moreover, Li Qi also possessed True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

True Knowledge Dao Resonance could even directly replace the five aggregates for reading. When True Knowledge Dao Resonance bombarded, Li Qi could sometimes directly face the information flow itself, reading the underlying code directly.

All of this constituted his absolute suppressive power over the Five Aggregates Devil lineage.

The Five Aggregates Demonic Blood, True Knowledge Dao Resonance, plus Li Qi’s battered yet resilient and unyielding mind and computational power, all served as the bane of the Five Aggregates Devil lineage.

Li Qi even felt a bit of regret.

He had always been very cautious in choosing enemies; he knew the terror of the Demonic Dao.

But now, looking at it, while it was hard to say for other Demonic Daos, for the Five Aggregates Devil lineage… he might even be able to achieve the same level of invincibility as the Demonic Prince.

This feeling was truly quite peculiar.

He seemed to have sensed the Demonic Prince’s state of mind, that feeling of… as long as it’s the same Realm, no matter how many come, it puts no pressure on him at all.

“Is this… Overlord Dao Foundation?” Li Qi was somewhat amused.

He hadn’t expected that at Fourth-Rank, he would experience this feeling on the Five Aggregates Demon Lord, to the point of touching the threshold of Overlord Dao Foundation. If he wanted to, he could even seize the opportunity to establish his own Overlord Dao Foundation now.

Presumably, many Geniuses also touched the threshold of Overlord Dao Foundation due to this invincible ‘feeling’, and then embarked on this irreversible path, until they reached the Peak, or were defeated, their Dao Foundation collapsed, and they never recovered.

However, he casually dismissed this thought.

Overlord Dao Foundation was not Li Qi’s Path. Li Qi did not pursue invincibility, nor did he pursue this state of mind.

To him, it was merely void. It was better to quickly resolve the Five Aggregates Devilish Qi here.

Looking at the two Five Aggregates Demon Lords before him, Li Qi grabbed them, who had already lost their ability to resist, and swallowed them into his Inner World.

Their cultivation had not changed at all, and their bodies were intact; they were in perfect condition, one could say.

However, their five aggregates had all been sealed, completely losing their ability to perceive and control the outside world. Their minds lost the ability to control the real world, falling into an unbreakable dream.

It was similar to the period when Li Qi was controlled by the Five Aggregates Demonic Blood, and also similar to… those Mortals whose five aggregates they had once manipulated.

At this moment, Li Qi looked at the world after the Five Aggregates Devilish Qi had receded.

“Desire Realm… Heaven of Others’ Emanations, no wonder it was hidden so deeply.” Li Qi sighed.

It was fortunate they discovered it early; truly good luck that Maudgalyāyana was willing to take a risk.

“So, sealing this gap and blocking the connection between the Desire Realm and the world will be enough, right?” Li Qi thought this, and his hands moved to perform spells, preparing to Seal off this opening.

Block this place, then Seal off this area. This way, the other three nodes should also be damaged. Without support from this side, the power from the Desire Realm should gradually weaken and be unable to support City of Dreams.

However, at this moment, Li Qi suddenly felt a Mortal’s flying boat nearby.

A Mortal’s flying boat, appearing to be only at Seventh-Rank.

It seemed… they had just passed by here.

Li Qi glanced over there, then quickly read their minds.

This was a team of ‘explorers’. They were pioneers of their civilization, driving their flying boat to explore after discovering a mysterious ‘ruin’.

Extraterrestrial civilizations often did this. The technology contained within a certain ruin could very well directly change the fate, or even the Rank, of an entire civilization.

However… this particular ruin, unfortunately, was a rift in the Desire Realm.

And it was precisely because of this that they came to the Desire Realm…

Evidently, this was even more terrifying than coming to Hell. However, these Mortals did not give up, but struggled to survive, trying to find a way back. They had been trapped here for many years, faced countless challenges, overcome countless difficulties, and finally found the rift where Li Qi was, having just arrived.

Then, they encountered the Five Aggregates Demon Lord who was defending this gap, encountering a tremendous terror that was completely indescribable and incomprehensible to them!

Their luck was truly unparalleled.

However… correspondingly, this will also surprised Li Qi.

So, Li Qi gently lifted their flying boat and sent it into outer space.

“To the extraterrestrial explorers who have persevered, continuously extending the flame of your civilization, congratulations on graduating from this arduous and long journey, bringing new hope to the spring of your civilization.”

“May I ask… who are you?” A cautious message came from the flying boat.

“I am a passing traveler. Now, go back.” Li Qi said, gently sending them away.

For them, it must have been a wondrous experience, like facing Cthulhu and surviving.

Then, he once again cast Divine Ability, preparing to close the rift.