Only at the Mahayana Stage Does the Reversal System Appear - Chapter 90

Chapter 90: Can the Mahayana stage still fight against opponents of higher levels?

The Outer Demons, appearing from nowhere, possess a profound desire for destruction. For several epochs, the Immortal Realm and the Outer Demons have been locked in a standoff. However, the Outer Demons are at a disadvantage, their base impregnable. Otherwise,

the Immortal Realm would have annihilated them long ago. Nine thousand years ago, the Immortal Stairway vanished for unknown reasons. Immortal Elder Changcun speculated that the Outer Demons were responsible. Unable to defeat the Immortal Realm, they sought to invade the lower realms, slowly eroding the Immortal Realm.

The void is like an ocean, and the worlds are like fish, constantly shifting. However, the Immortal Realm is a vastly larger fish. Compared to ordinary fish, the Immortal Realm is more like a Kun, while the Nine Provinces are like a whale.

The Immortal Stairway is the Immortal Realm’s sole means of communication with the other worlds. The Outer Demons caused it to vanish, leaving neither side unable to locate the other worlds. However, the Outer Demons may have other methods of locating the Nine Provinces’ approximate location. Every few hundred years, one of these Outer Demons finds the Nine Provinces.

A celestial demon of the Earthly Immortal level attacked Jiuzhou. Upon arriving, it unleashed a reckless slaughter. Jiuzhou was naturally unable to resist, and the Human Emperor had to bear the

brunt of the attack, aided by other Tribulation Crossing and Fusion Stage cultivators, as well as various other means, such as immortal artifacts and the blessing of the lord’s national destiny. Jiuzhou’s wealth was steadily depleted, and Tribulation Crossing cultivators continued to fall. Nine thousand years ago, there were twenty Tribulation Crossing cultivators ruling Jiuzhou. Now, only four remain: Bai Hongtu, Yu Yin, the leader of the Dharmakaya Sect, and Commander Liu of the Human Emperor Palace.

…

Jiang Li returned to Mount Xumi. The confrontation between Jiang Li and the Old Buddha had already attracted all the monks. The two had traveled into the void, and only one returned, clutching a relic. The Old Buddha’s fate was foreseeable.

No monk approached Jiang Li to question why he had killed the Old Buddha. The monks understood their conversation: the Old Buddha had killed to save his life, and Jiang Li had come to punish him.

No one could accuse Jiang Li of wrongdoing. Karma and karmic retribution were fundamental Buddhist principles.

Jiang Li handed the incomplete relic to the Buddhist disciple Wuzhi. As if he had anticipated this, he stopped chanting the mantra and instead took the relic, respectfully bowing to Jiang Li.

“Human Emperor, Master once said that if you come and he’s not around, he’ll ask you to go get something from beneath the lotus platform.”

Jiang Li paused for a moment before finding a list beneath the old Buddha’s lotus platform.

It was a list of all the followers of the Shenzang Sect.

The first line read: Leader, Qin Xi, from the Peacock Country.

Qin Xi was the lay name of the old Buddha Xumi. Xumi had once smiled and told Jiang Li that the presence of the character “Xi” in his lay name meant he was destined to be with the Western Paradise. The

Peacock Country, a nation that had vanished thousands of years ago, was mentioned below.

Following that were the deputy leaders, priests, and so on, most of whom were marked in red, indicating their death.

Logically, Xumi could have kept track of all the followers, so there was no need to keep a list.

Jiang Li didn’t know why Xumi kept this list, and he didn’t want to know.

The reason why Old Buddha Xumi became the master of Mount Xumi wasn’t due to his profound cultivation, but rather his deepest understanding of the Dharma.

Buddhism doesn’t judge one’s status by cultivation, but by the Dharma itself. Jiang Li could foresee that the ultimate master of Mount Xumi would be the Buddha Wuzhi.

…

“Where is the Immortal Elder? I need your advice.”

“What happened to Buddhism? I felt the presence of an immortal, it seemed to be Old Buddha, but now I can’t feel it anymore.” Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu asked simultaneously upon meeting.

“…Old Buddha broke the precept of killing.” Jiang Li uttered only this one sentence.

Bai Hongtu, who had known Jiang Li for nearly five hundred years, saw Jiang Li’s distraught look and heard him speak, and immediately understood what had happened.

The Old Buddha must have committed a great many murders, otherwise Jiang Li wouldn’t have killed the Old Buddha Xumi, whom he respected.

He told Jiang Li the location of Immortal Changcun and patted his shoulder, “Don’t push yourself too hard. Relax for a while.”

Jiang Li smiled wryly. “If you knew there was a Celestial Immortal-level demon from outer space lurking in Jiuzhou for at least 380 years, would you still relax?”

Bai Hongtu was shocked.

A Celestial Immortal-level demon from outer space? How could this be? Grandmaster Changcun had said that only Earth Immortal-level demons could reach Jiuzhou.

And when demons from outer space arrived in Jiuzhou, they killed people, acting like crazy and irrational. There was no such thing as a lurking demon!

Besides, if they came to Jiuzhou 380 years ago, why didn’t they just kill people? Back then, Jiang Li wasn’t even at the Tribulation Crossing Stage. Who could stop the rampage of a Celestial Immortal-level demon?

And even Jiang Li now, could he stop a Celestial Immortal-level demon?

Was there something in Jiuzhou that the demon feared?

“Is this true? Is the news accurate?” Bai Hongtu asked, not because he didn’t believe Jiang Li, but because the news was too bizarre and contradictory.

“The old Buddha told me before he died.”

“Let’s go see our Grandmaster together.”

With such a serious incident, Bai Hongtu and Jiang Li decided to go and question the Immortal Elder Changcun.

At that moment, the Immortal Elder Changcun was in the uppermost level of the Daoist Scripture Pavilion, flipping through ancient tome no older than himself.

Jiang Li asked directly upon meeting him, “Immortal Elder, are you sure the Outer Realm Demons are only Earth Immortals?”

“Why do you ask?” Changcun Elder looked up in confusion. “The Outer Realm Demons are indeed only Earth Immortals. I’ve never seen a Celestial Immortal Demon in the Immortal Realm. Their only advantages are their sheer numbers and the difficulty of destroying their base camps. They have no brains, only strength.”

“I did encounter a Celestial Immortal Demon, and one with immense wisdom. How do you explain this?” Jiang Li said in a deep voice, a hint of questioning. He felt that the Immortal Elder Changcun must know something, such as the reason the Outer Realm Demons killed people, or the Divine Treasure Venerable…

Seeing Jiang Li’s seriousness and Bai Hongtu’s eagerness for an explanation, Changcun Elder knew he couldn’t hide it, so he had to tell them the truth.

“I lied to you. There are actually celestial demons at the level of celestial immortals.” Immortal Changcun sighed and explained, “The reason I kept saying there were only terrestrial demons was because I was worried that if the Jiuzhou knew there might be a celestial demon invasion, your predecessors would think, ‘What’s the use of defeating the terrestrial demon now? There are still celestial demons to come.’ They would live in fear forever.”

“Even if you were already in the Mahayana stage, I would not want to tell you this. You should be at your most confident and high-spirited. Why would I discourage you now, saying there are actually more powerful enemies and you can’t win?”

“Earthly Immortal-level demons do have low intelligence, but when they reach the Celestial Immortal level, their intelligence increases significantly, making them even more difficult to deal with. I don’t think you can defeat such a demon.”

Jiang Li pondered and spoke frankly, “The Celestial Immortal-level demons seem to be very afraid of me and dare not fight me head-on.”

“Ahem—” Immortal Changcun almost choked on his own saliva. Good fellow, you are so outrageous at the Mahayana stage, theoretically the same level as an Earthly Immortal?

I know you can fight against opponents of higher levels, but it’s not so outrageous that you can even fight against opponents of higher levels at the Mahayana stage!

(End of this chapter)