Chapter 988: Control evil thoughts

The Universe is full of people like Wang You.

Of course, they don't all necessarily have experiences like Wang You's, but the things they encounter are broadly similar.

Each type of person has different distinguishing characteristics, their own unique virtues and vices, and their own immense sins.

These people all have two souls, two natures; they possess both beautiful, rational things and cruel, hateful things, which means they are all complex and chaotic, without a 'pure' nature.

They declare war on themselves, with two aspects within one person's soul and body becoming mortal enemies, irreconcilably opposed, specifically working against each other.

This is consistent with Li Qi's understanding.

All living beings inherently have no single 'nature' to speak of; everything itself is contradictory.

It is out of a desire for laziness and 'simplicity' that people summarize, generalize, and subtract, continuously reducing various things to simpler forms, making them easier to grasp.

To reduce all things to 'one'—then by mastering 'one,' one masters everything. What a convenient idea.

But in reality, this itself is wrong, or rather... Li Qi believes it is wrong.

From Li Qi's perspective at this moment, there is no 'Dao,' no 'root source' that can easily explain all things, just as a person, in fact, has no 'nature.'

Does a person have a nature?

Does a group of people, all people, have a common 'nature'?

If one believes in the existence of an ultimate Dao, a 'root source,' then one should also believe that all human Chaos has a nature, and all Chaos in a crowd also has a common nature.

But if, like Li Qi, one denies the existence of a 'root source,' one will find that all Chaos is merely due to Chaos and contradiction, like unknowable darkness; all things are inherently contradictory, and there is no metaphysical entity to unify all things. All things are naturally self-contradictory, just as mathematics can never be complete.

Mathematics and logic can never avoid self-referential problems, and thus cannot possess completeness; therefore, there is no formula that can interpret all problems.

The ultimate Dao, therefore, does not exist.

Thus, Li Qi can see various contradictory temperaments mixed within them: they can feel both happiness and pain, and these two not only oppose each other but also coexist inextricably.

This contradiction is universally present in everyone; for example, those who pursue power are ruined by power, those who pursue money are ruined by money, those who humble themselves are ruined by servility, and those who pursue pleasure are ruined by indulgence.

It is for the same reason that everyone in Qi Palace will experience such things.

They can achieve their goals through the almost infinite wealth in Qi Palace, and so they will become increasingly unrestrained. No one can give them orders, they don't have to act according to others' whims, and these people who come to Qi Palace ultimately decide their every word and action freely.

Everyone can obtain what their true inner impulses drive them to pursue; Li Qi has given them absolute freedom.

They are no longer bound; such vast wealth is enough to fully expose and reveal their 'inner self,' and this exposure is almost certainly chaotic.

They will find that they cannot control their exposed thoughts.

Infinite wealth and almost boundless power can amplify their every thought, turning their various contradictory thoughts into reality.

Some are at times kind and benevolent, wanting to save all beings, while at other times they are irritable and evil, feeling that it would be better to destroy everything.

And when these thoughts are merely hidden in the heart, they are just thoughts and will not have much impact; generally, they are thought and then dismissed.

However, Li Qi has given these people the ability to realize all their thoughts.

In this way, all people's contradictions and Chaos can be fully transformed into real occurrences. If their self-control is insufficient, they will allow their thoughts to manipulate them.

They might think this is 'freedom.'

However, some clever people may have already realized that this 'freedom' is, in fact, death.

When one truly possesses almost infinite wealth, everyone's demonic thoughts will be exposed, and once exposed, one will fall into immense loneliness.

When you no longer need to establish various relationships, when all sorts of people are irrelevant to you, even the self within you will split apart because of this.

Because even oneself has no relation to oneself, people will slowly suffocate in increasingly thin air.

Even if these people are full of longing, with good intentions, opening their arms to accept discipline, ready to live with others, it is already useless; now no one will pay attention to this 'free person.'

In fact, it's not that people hate him or dislike him; on the contrary, because of his wealth, because of their property, they can easily have many friends, many people like him, but what he always receives is only friendly attitudes. People invite him as a guest, write him kind letters, but no one truly approaches him; he has no intimacy with others.

No one can understand these people; after their inner selves are fully exposed, everything around them slips away. They are unable to establish relationships, and neither will nor desire can help them overcome this force.

They will go mad, wanting to break something, to smash some precious commercial exhibitions, even slapping themselves, bruising their faces, causing a ruckus, breaking the halos of revered celebrity idols, giving a few tickets to outer planets to some disobedient children, or seducing a young girl, disrupting normal social order.

All of this is due to their inability to control their thoughts.

They will enter a lonely procession, even committing self-harm because of it, and it will be genuine 'self-harm.'

It is wrong to call all those who end their lives suicides; many in this category become suicides due to accidental reasons, and suicide does not necessarily stem from their will.

Only such a passing, entirely of one's own volition, can truly be counted as suicide.

But there is a way to solve it.

That is to control one's thoughts out of one's own rationality, out of complete self-control and understanding of the world.

Just like Li Qi.

Li Qi has ample power to realize his every desire, every thought, but Li Qi clearly has not done so; he controls his power very well, which is why he can suppress the demonic thoughts in his heart.

Li Qi also wants to select such people.

People who, even after being endowed with sufficient power, can still suppress the thoughts filling their minds.

Only such people can join Li Qi's subsequent ranks.

The screening mechanism lasted for about one hundred million years.

Ultimately, Li Qi... was barely successful, perhaps?

In the Universe, many, many more people emerged who could, to some extent, suppress their thoughts.

Li Qi rarely uses the term 'demonic thoughts' anymore, because, frankly, all subjective intentions can be considered 'demonic thoughts,' and the more attached one is, the more obsessed one becomes.

A lifelong dream, that is a person's greatest demonic thoughts; can it be removed?

Therefore, demonic thoughts cannot be... at the very least, it is difficult to remove, unless you reach the Realm of 'emptiness.'

Thus, what is needed is control, not removal.

Controlling one's thoughts, suppressing one's desires, and recognizing with clear wisdom which thoughts are necessary and which are not.

Indulgence and suppression are also the Yin and Yang sides of the Taiji diagram; all contradictions are like this.

Now, it's time to reel them in.

On this very day, at this very moment, before all the 'qualified people,' the same person appeared.

——————————

Bailu is a second-generation resident of the world, born locally.

This is because she was indeed born in this world, but her parents were not native residents of this world; they came from outside the Domain.

Furthermore, her birthplace was not ideal; she was born in the Demonic Dao's City of Dreams.

Her parents were teleported to City of Dreams through the Demonic Dao, and then they spent effort to smuggle themselves to the other half of City of Dreams, which is Li Qi's Dao field.

Half of City of Dreams's Domain still belongs to the Demonic Dao, but the other half is actually Li Qi's Dao field, even though Li Qi rarely comes here.

Because Li Qi found it difficult to take over; when the Demonic Dao began to seriously defend this area, even a second-rank cultivator would find it hard to conquer.

The ability to claim half of it as a Dao field back then was entirely due to the Demonic Dao's deliberate intent; they wanted Li Qi to become entangled with the Demonic Dao.

Anyway... Li Qi is one of their own.

As another Heavenly Demon's kin besides the Demonic Prince, Li Qi's identity should not be a secret among the Demonic Dao's high-ranking members.

However, even if Li Qi practically cannot manage this place, he can indeed create a relatively good environment for this half, at least much better than City of Dreams.

Thus, another peculiar situation has formed: for those from outside the Domain, the best way to enter this world is to come directly to City of Dreams through the Demonic Dao, and then find a way to reach Li Qi's Dao field.

This has even spawned an entire industry.

City of Dreams even advertises Li Qi's Dao field, using its existence as 'hope,' like a carrot dangled before a pig's snout.

Then, they also opened many smuggling channels, precisely to continuously ignite people's potential, strengthen their desires and beliefs, all for this tiny glimmer of hope.

You see, sometimes, the act of 'going to the promised land' itself can become an obsession. When one has such an obsession, especially in the days leading up to its completion, a person can unleash incredibly terrifying belief and willpower.

And this willpower is what the Demonic Dao desires.

The Demonic Dao is not stingy about sending two people over, because as long as there are two examples, there will be two thousand foolish individuals with strong wills who believe they can succeed, actively offering themselves.

So, with this strategy, coupled with the destruction of Buddhism, City of Dreams's population actually surged by two or three times or more.

Under the dimly lit, desolate night sky, beneath the indifferent gaze of billions of stars, in this bleak world, hope is the most precious wealth for people in despair, and the Demonic Dao aims to claim this most precious wealth for itself.

But Bailu was lucky; her parents successfully reached the other half, a much better place, and gave birth to Bailu, making her a native of this world.

And Bailu's good fortune clearly didn't stop there.

As she grew up, she unexpectedly discovered a cave, from which she unearthed endless treasures.

Countless Medicinal Pills, Spiritual Artifacts, various types of cultivation methods, spells, technologies, blueprints, and even various Spiritual Materials, immortal gold, divine iron, and Spiritual Plants.

She carefully collected these things, telling no one.

This wasn't because she was stingy, but because she knew that if exposed, it would only invite disaster.

Bailu was born in City of Dreams, and she knew very well what kind of people lived there.

However... she didn't abandon them either.

In fact, after Bailu acquired that boundless wealth, she used it carefully, improving her cultivation, strengthening her power, and then... helping more people from City of Dreams.

She certainly wouldn't try to fight the entire Demonic Dao, but if the Demonic Dao puts in one person out of a thousand as bait, as a success story, what if she could help two people get in?

Two people is too much to hope for; even if she could bring in 0.1 people, that would be enough. This way, one person out of ten thousand could escape that Hell.

Don't underestimate that one person out of ten thousand.

How many people are in City of Dreams?

It's calculated in the trillions.

In other words, Bailu could save many, many billions of people.

That's quite a lot.

And the reason she did all this was simple: because she and her parents were also saved in this way by someone else.

The person who saved them was named Maudgalyāyana. Although this esteemed monk cannot be found now, she still remembers him deeply. Since childhood, her dream has been to become someone like Maudgalyāyana.

Therefore, Bailu dedicated all her power to this, not being swayed by the endless wealth. For her, wealth existed for her goal, but wealth itself held no attraction for her.

She needed money, but that didn't mean she loved money.

All of this was solely for her dream; cultivation, wealth, knowledge, all existed for these purposes.

She even knew that the Demonic Dao had probably already discovered her existence.

However, precisely because of Bailu's 'dream,' the Demonic Dao did not interfere with her; one could even say that the Demonic Dao allowed her to do these things.

The Demonic Dao loves people who have dreams and are steadfast.

When her Dao Heart shatters and demonic thoughts proliferates, she will become an ultimate delicacy.

This situation has persisted for many years.

Bailu's life had also stabilized.

However, on this day, a normal morning, after finishing a large amount of paperwork from the previous night, as she was about to drink something to refresh herself—

A person appeared before her: "What would you like to drink? I'll get it for you."

Li Qi said so.