Chapter 323: The Devil King, the Substitute

“The only Buddha in the past? Well, it’s hard to say who came first or later!”

Someone sneered on the spot,
“What I just said are all the words of the true Buddha. In addition, we have also heard a story that happened in the past. Do you dare to listen?”

He glanced around, facing the hesitant people, and gave a strong dose of medicine, saying in a deep voice:
“You should have heard that in the eyes of other forces, the only Buddha we believed in in the past has always been regarded as one of the four demons!”

“Be bold!”

“Be careful!”

“How can we take their words seriously? They can’t even produce any evidence!”

In an instant, the man was scolded by everyone.

But the former did not waver, facing the countless fiery eyes that were looking for someone to devour, he said with a sad look:
“You will understand after you listen to my story.”

For the sake of the True Buddha, everyone calmed down their anger a little. Some people were still scolding, but some people spoke up to stop them.

They all vaguely realized something. Since there were two “Buddhas” living in the same world, there might be a dispute. They should not take sides easily, so they should listen to what this person said.

The man who claimed to be listening to the Dharma said:

Ten thousand years ago, the Buddha took on the burden of the sea of ​​suffering for all living beings and was about to enter Nirvana. The demon whose plan to destroy the world was destroyed by him came to him and said:

“The day you become extinct will be the day when Buddhism will be corrupted. At that time, I will steal your authority and let my demon sons and grandsons sneak into your temple, wear your robes, and destroy your Buddhism.”

“They will distort your scriptures and destroy your commandments in order to achieve what I cannot achieve with my military force today.”

After hearing what the demon said, the Buddha said calmly:

“At that time, my true disciples will take off their robes, wear plain clothes and go to the world. The world will become my new temple, and the old temple will become a prison to imprison your demon sons and grandsons.”

“I practice the true Buddhahood, and you steal the Buddha’s name.”

“The reason why people are willing to convert is because of the truth of Buddha, not his false reputation. Buddha is more valuable for his truth than for his false reputation.”

“If you can truly live up to the truth of Buddha and practice it every day, you will become my disciple and another Buddha.”

“But if you just want to enjoy worship in the temple under the name of Buddha and covet false reputation, in just ten or twenty years, the world will see through your nature as a demon and see that this temple is a demon prison. Then they will abandon this false Buddhist doctrine that is written as Buddha but read as demon.”

“By that time, my disciples had already put on plain clothes and went out into the world to practice and spread my teachings, and to guide the world to overthrow the false Buddhism of your demon sons and grandsons.”

“Whether the teachings are called Buddha or Demon, they cannot frustrate my will.”

“As long as there are people willing to practice the Buddha’s truth, my teachings will live forever in the world…”

——This is the Buddha’s answer.

As the story unfolds, more and more people show fear on their faces, while some suddenly realize something, and then become palpitating, angry, and terrified…

No expressions can describe the ups and downs of people’s hearts here.

When this story is combined with what the man mentioned earlier – the only Buddha in their eyes is one of the four demons in the eyes of the various forces in Jiuzhou.

After the two things confirmed each other, a horrible truth surfaced.

The only tacit understanding that everyone can maintain is silence.

Deathly silence enveloped the hall.

No one dared to respond, because the implications were too great. Even the most devout believers in the past could not help but tremble, pursed their lips, pointed at the person who had spoken first, and did not utter a word for a long time.

It was not until a long time later that an old monk raised his hand tremblingly, pointed at the man and said sternly:
“You are… slandering the Buddha!”

Someone in the crowd whispered, “Who is the real Buddha?”

Someone shouted, “Buddha has protected our civilization for thousands of years. Have you forgotten it?”

“But the story also mentioned that at that time, the demon will steal the power and put on the cassock… And judging from today’s actions, the upper echelons may not have really misinterpreted the truth, but it is the Buddha’s original intention…”

“Why did the only Buddha want to open the barrier between Jambuvipa and the nine continents?”

“The Buddha is such a being, his actions have their own meanings! Don’t try to figure out his mind!”

“But then again, in these thousands of years, when has the Buddha revealed his true form? You can’t provide evidence to prove that the Buddha is one of the four demons, so what should we do…”

“You are blaspheming the Buddha! The Buddha will abandon those who are not pious. You will fall into the dark sea! Along with the civilization and forces behind you!”

“Disloyal? But the Buddha said that the Buddha will not abandon anyone, even if he does not believe in Buddhism. He is the teacher of all realms and the loving father of the six realms and four lives. Haven’t you heard that great wish?”

“If you don’t save sentient beings and the end of the world, then you don’t seek the future! If this isn’t the true Buddha, then who is?!”

“Ridiculous, ridiculous…”

An old monk looked at the increasingly fanatical and polarized crowd in disbelief, and slowly stepped back, muttering,

“You are all crazy, crazy. You actually doubt the One and Only Buddha. You will go to hell and suffer endless pain…”

For ungodly faith, once the seeds of doubt are planted, they are difficult to contain.

Not to mention the Buddhist land of today.

Even for Buddhists, it was difficult to fully explain some problems in the past, but at that time they were able to cover them up with piety.

It was precisely these problems that made the Buddhist Land hostile to the forces of the Nine Continents. However, because there was no conclusive evidence and the Buddhist Land had indeed solved the survival problems of most of the lower-level civilizations in the Jambu Continent, it was tolerated until recently.

But when another true Buddha appeared in the world, their faith began to waver.

The most important thing is that this is not to let them give up their faith, but to “return to the right path” and convert to the true Buddha!
……

……

The young monk had a cold expression and was wearing a snow-white robe. He stepped into an empty cave.

The first thing that comes into view is a bottomless green pond.

There is a Buddhist temple ahead.

He did not stop, but walked into the corridor of the palace, climbed up the stairs step by step, and overlooked the venue below.

This is the place where “Buddha preached and the lotus flower bloomed” thousands of years ago. At that time, representatives of countless civilizations cried for joy and knelt down to beg Buddha to promulgate the Dharma to save the people of Jambudvīpa from dire straits.

Afterwards, various civilizations protected themselves with the Buddha’s teachings, which really alleviated the invasion of the strange fog in Jambu. It was also because of this that the Buddhist land was able to develop step by step to where it is today, almost reaching the top of Jambu Continent.

Until a few years ago, a sudden oracle caused the Buddhist village to completely fall from the altar and become an existence hated by the gods and ghosts of the Nine Continents.

The young monk stopped for a short while and continued to climb to the top, arriving at a small pagoda at the top, named “Xiangji”.

He walked in and saw a man sitting cross-legged in the center of the pagoda with his back to him, and a Buddha statue in front of him.

“Still worshipping Buddha?” The young monk sneered, “Didn’t you hear what I said below? You are worshipping a fake Buddha.”

“No matter it’s true or false, as long as he can protect us, he is the real Buddha.” The man slowly opened his eyes, without looking back, and said calmly.

“Are you talking about the one and only Buddha who will protect us for thousands of years, and then let us become the common enemy of the Nine Continents, and then ignore us until the true Buddha is born and sends down oracles again?” the young monk asked with a sneer.

The man was silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, “Why are you so anxious to take sides? Even though he is a true Buddha who has made great aspirations, his realm seems to be only the seventh realm. How can he protect us?”

The young monk said angrily:
“It was you who insisted on opening the passage, but we were the ones who suffered heavy losses in the end. You want us not to rush to take sides?!”

“Seventh realm? So what if it’s the Seventh realm? Even if that demon is above the True Saint, how much power can it bring to the world and help the Buddhist community escape from its current predicament?!”

“This huge Buddhist village almost laid the foundation for the unification of Jambudvīpa, but in just a few years, it collapsed. How many of our believers died, and how many civilizations were completely wiped out?”

At this point, the young monk seemed to think of the countless corpses. His face twitched and gradually turned hideous. His veins throbbed with anger, and his eyes were filled with the blood color that covered the ground.

“All this is thanks to you! Even the nightmare demon among the four demons in the Mother Goddess Church in the past never issued an oracle that treated believers like grass! Even before he fell from the throne, he just let his believers fend for themselves!”

The man remained silent, and finally sighed, “What do you want to do?”

“I heard that this person issued a new oracle yesterday?” The young monk’s rapid breathing gradually calmed down, and he said coldly, “I am here to inform you on their behalf that when the true Buddha comes to the world in the future, you’d better stand aside and watch, and don’t rush to take sides!”

After saying this, he looked expressionlessly at the faceless Buddha on the platform, turned away, and left, leaving the man alone to continue sitting cross-legged in the tower.

The man looked up at the statue of the only Buddha and remained silent for a long time.

……

The great universe, the border of Yanhuang.

“The Lord God has issued a new oracle!” The old man was in high spirits. He looked around at the several celestial beings in front of him and said in a low voice, “Let me do everything I can to get rid of Ji Jingqiu of the Yanhuang Federation!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the celestial beings from the four different demonic arenas became ugly.

This is a nearly impossible task.

As long as Ji Jingqiu stays on the Dong 3 Huang Star, who in the universe can do anything to him?
“Just find a way to lure him out.” Someone said in a low voice.

“That’s easy to say. But how to lead him, where to lead him, and who to send to lead him?” someone said coldly.

“This is the will of the Lord God.” The old man emphasized.

The scene returned to silence in an instant, and the Tianren who had asked the question earlier fell silent.

Someone suddenly said, “Not long ago, the Wanwu Association invited us. They are planning to attack the Four Guardian Stars and liberate Hila. Perhaps we can cooperate with them.” The old man’s eyes lit up and he said, “Contact them as soon as possible. If we can lead them to the vicinity of the Four Guardian Stars, once Hila is liberated, Hila, who has been suppressed by the two men of the Federation for ten thousand years, will never let their descendants go!”

“Using Hela’s hand to kill people?” Someone said in surprise. “Yes, at the moment, I’m afraid only this kind of super-special existence can steadily kill Ji Jingqiu!”

“I will follow up on this matter and will arrange it as soon as possible. Although we cannot sneak into the federation, we still have some spare pieces to leave behind. I hope we can successfully lure Ji Jingqiu over.”

……

……

East 3 brilliant stars.

“In seven days, someone will take advantage of the lack of defense on the Four Guardian Stars to invade them and liberate Hila?”

After browsing the terminal, Ji Jingqiu shook his head, called Ji Anquan, and asked him to check the source of the email.

Soon, Ji Anquan said:
“The owner of the account died a few years ago. The other party did it very cleanly and left no trace. But it is not difficult to guess.”

“The real purpose of this email is only one, and that is to lure you out of the East 3 Brilliant Star and set up the siege near the Four Guardian Stars.”

Ji Jingqiu nodded slightly, looking suspicious.

Who sent this email?

“The person who sent the email is quite interesting.” Ji Anquan smiled, “He is most likely one of the members who attacked the Four Guardians. Their goals are not the same. Someone thinks your life is more important than the secrets of the Four Guardians.”

Ji Jingqiu didn’t say anything.

Just lead yourself out of Dongsanhuang Star?

“Considering your current strength, these guys are still confident that they can get rid of you by using the Four Guardian Stars…” Ji Anquan thought for a moment and said, “It seems that their goal this time is to liberate Hela and use her to kill you.”

Ji Jingqiu raised his eyebrows and “looked” at Lajiang in the inner world.

The latter snorted coldly: “Why are you looking at me? When my real body comes out, I will kill you first.”

Ji Jingqiu chuckled.

“What are the benefits of releasing Hela? Creating crisis and chaos, forcing several gods to return to defend, and testing the Federation’s back-up plan?” Ji Anquan was still asking himself questions and answering them, analyzing the pros and cons.

Soon, he seemed to have found the answer, and narrowed his eyes and said, “I hope the Wanwu Association is not involved. If so, then these guys can all die.”

“What do you mean?” Ji Jingqiu asked curiously, wondering how this guy had linked this matter to the Wanwu Association.

“Her Majesty suppressed the magic weapon left behind by Hela.”

Ji Anquan said briefly,

“Back then, I had high hopes for Zhang Tiancheng and gifted him a legacy. After Zhang Tiancheng broke through to Grandmaster level, I went back to take a look. Later, it was spread that this magic weapon had taken a fancy to Zhang Tiancheng, but because it was needed to suppress Hila’s body, the two were not destined to have it.”

Ji Jingqiu was speechless. This rumor was indeed outrageous.

In addition, if they are really from the Wanwu Association, do they think that after releasing Hila, Senior Xuanyi will take the initiative to surrender to Zhang Tiancheng who is nowhere to be found?
At this moment, Ji Jingqiu was very suspicious whether Zhang Tiancheng had used some means on these people, otherwise why would it come to this.

“There are also some other historical reasons.” Ji Anquan pondered, “You don’t actually need to come by then. The Four Guardian Stars may seem to be poorly guarded, but the Snow Ancestor of the Meng family has been invited to the Four Guardian Stars. This is currently one of the most heavily guarded places in the entire universe.”

really.

Ji Jingqiu understood, since Xue Zu was there, he would not join in the fun.

“If you are really bored, you can come and have a look.” Ji Anquan added.

Ji Jingqiu shook his head and said, “It’s meaningless. They are just chickens and dogs. It’s not worth my special trip. They want to see me, so I have to let them see me? How embarrassing.”

“Okay, then just practice with peace of mind.”

“I am planning to go to Jiuzhou recently to speed up the practice of the Three Disasters.” Ji Jingqiu said, “There are no enemies in the Federation that are worth my attack.”

“it is good.”

……

“The heaven and earth have the sun and the moon. The first thing the king of heaven must do is to hang a ‘real’ sun and moon in the inner heaven and earth. After that, the sun and the moon will rise alternately, and the yin and yang energies will intertwine to evolve the five elements.”

In a luxurious and restrained palace on a floating island at the highest point of the Jiugong Ancestral Temple, everyone sat opposite each other. Ji Jingqiu was in the guest seat, and an old man in front of him was talking eloquently:

“Among them, the Moon is the ancestor of the Moon, and the Sun is the ancestor of the Sun. The history of the Nine Palaces records that when the universe was first created, in addition to the five innate gods, there were also some companion gods. Two of them were the Moon God and the Yang God, who were the first sun and moon born in the universe.”

“It is said that all the days and months since then, including all the worlds, can be regarded as the ‘descendants’ of the two.”

Another old man said:
“Brother Ji, remember that those who are born here have already taken advantage of the situation. They have monopolized the entire world without doing anything. If you encounter guys who call themselves ‘Moon Palace Clan’ or ‘Great Sun Clan’ in the universe in the future, either don’t provoke them, or if you do, be more careful.”

“They huddle together for warmth, calling themselves the ‘Star Spirits’. They are the roots of the innate gods. If we don’t handle them properly, we will easily suffer from their harm. When the rules of the universe loosen, these guys who are almost as old as the heavens and the earth will wake up one by one.”

Ji Jingqiu asked curiously, “Every sun and moon could be a god?”

The old man from the Great Mirage Palace was named Liu Xu. He shook his head and said:
“Very few, only one in ten thousand can give birth to spiritual beings from the stars, and even fewer are qualified to call themselves innate gods. They all have ‘uniqueness’, which means they start as heavenly kings, but they are often born with that upper limit.”

Ji Jingqiu nodded.

“I heard that Junior Brother Ji’s magical power of establishing the Dao is in harmony with the bright moon in the Dao field of heaven and earth. This ‘Moon Soul’ was collected from a Moon Palace Seed, which is just right for Junior Brother Ji to use.”

Liu Xu introduced for a while, and finally took out a jade box with a smile.

After hearing La Jiang say that this was a good thing and indeed suitable for him, Ji Jingqiu smiled shyly: “Since it is a gift from my senior brother, I will gladly accept it.”

Liu Xu smiled and said, “You are too polite, Junior Brother. One Moon Soul is nothing. My disciples of the Great Mirage Palace in the Great Universe still need Junior Brother to take care of them.”

“Brother, you are too polite. Even the mirage dragon is with me. How can I not take care of it?”

The Mirage Dragon, which is regarded as a treasure by the Great Mirage Palace, is the “foundation” of the Taoist Palace in the sky on the East 3 Huangxing Star. It spends the whole day swallowing clouds and spewing mist and sleeping lazily.

Not long ago, the mirage dragon, with the help of the power of the East 3 Brilliant Star, escaped from its infancy in one fell swoop.

When talking about the mirage dragon, Liu Xu’s face was full of smiles: “Thanks to Junior Brother’s care, the little guy was able to grow up early.”

For Jiugong, the mirage dragon is a strategic-level asset. As Jiugong’s large army migrates, it cannot find enough places to stay for a while. This mirage dragon can be indistinguishable from the real thing and create a world in the void at will.

Lu Tong at the side asked: “Jingqiu, why did you come to Jiuzhou this time?”

“Two things.”

Ji Jingqiu frankly stated his purpose.

After listening to his explanation, Lu Tong and several other kings from various palaces pondered for a moment and said that they needed feedback and discussion with the top management before they could give him an answer.

After all, there are far more than just Jiugong family that are attacking Foxiang. Ji Jingqiu wants to gather the remaining forces in Foxiang. Jiugong cannot represent all forces, so negotiations are needed.

“Brother, are you going to visit the ancient road’s will again?” Someone exclaimed, “I’ve never heard of anyone being able to enter the ancient road before it’s opened. Is this the value of being the best in the ages?”

“Well, there is no shortage of resources in the ancient road, especially the incomplete caves and planes. The charm of the great way contained in them is like a tonic for warriors above the heavens. Junior brother is blessed.”

“Not bad!”

“Brother Ji, do you feel that the current universe is too boring?”

Suddenly, someone asked.

Ji Jingqiu looked away.

A middle-aged man smiled faintly and said, “With no one to fight for you, Junior Brother Ji must be feeling very bored, right? Why don’t you try to cross the battlefield and fight against the divine prohibitions of other forces?”

“Oh? What do you mean, brother?”

The middle-aged man smiled and said, “Now all the families in Jiuzhou are busy migrating back to the universe. As far as I know, more than a dozen families have joined the competition for the Ascension Platform and are enemies with the True Saint Dojo of the Three Thousand Jambuvipas, but the situation is not very good.”

Ji Jingqiu seemed to be thinking about something.

There are true saint-level dojos in Jiuzhou, but I don’t know if there are any divine bans in this generation.

“If you are interested in ‘playing for me’, you can borrow the passage to other ascension platforms. I can help you contact them.”

“The warriors of the Three Thousand Jambu Ti don’t like my junior brother, but we in the Nine Continents have no taboos!”

Soon, he added, “Except for the Southern Wasteland Continent, there are still followers of Senior Southern Emperor there, but there are not many, and most of them want to get rid of you as soon as possible.”

Hearing this, Ji Jingqiu was suddenly moved.

The current Federation is indeed boring. Either the Federation needs it, or it is all in the Federation’s calculations. Several gods have let him stay silent for a while…

“Let me think about it.” Ji Jingqiu said as a few thoughts flashed through his mind.

After a luxurious dinner, Ji Jingqiu bid farewell to his fellow brothers, and with his mind together, he connected with Gu Lu’s will.

[You’re back. Eh—have you already achieved a breakthrough?]

A slightly surprised voice came into my ears, it was Gu Lu’s will.

“I was lucky enough to break through and become a celestial being.” Ji Jingqiu said, “I came here this time to ask for some spiritual nourishment from you, senior.”

[…You are the Lord of Heaven, no need for courtesy, I will lead you into the ancient road.]

(End of this chapter)