Chapter 1604: Spirit
The Hungry Ghost realm.
A slender hand extended into the night sky. A scarlet star drifted within the dark clouds, enchanting and illusionary.
The star was well beyond reach. Finally, she could only draw her hand back to her chest melancholically, having turned to white bone already. She let out a gloomy, soft sigh. “Qingshan.”
When he chased after the sun, there was also someone behind him, chasing after that ray of starlight.
Li Qingshan seemed to sense it, suddenly looking back, but all he heard was the whistling of the mountain winds, blowing from the distant horizon to the ends of the world. The great altitude was very cold. He currently stood at the very top, so there was no longer anyone around.
No, there was still someone, even if it was someone he did not wish to see.
Qian Rongzhi bowed slightly and asked politely, “My king, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” Li Qingshan shook his head. He had conquered the twelve dominions, unified the demonic land, and sworn a great vow to let the sun shine on the demonic land, but that was only the first step in this colossal journey.
Right now, he had far too many matters to tend to. His arms were completely full.
First of all, he needed to enter secluded cultivation to comprehend the Dao.
This was composed of two parts. One was the laws he had comprehended himself through Forging his Soul back into the Void. A majority originated from his own path, primarily the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine and the Heavenly Tome of Liberty. It did not have much of a connection to the laws of the Demon domain. In particular, there were still many transformations of the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine that he had not reached completion. He needed to use this opportunity to push them to a higher realm.
Afterwards, he had to use the Black Sun Demon Heart as a foundation and summarise the central laws he had obtained from the eleven Demon Gods to further comprehend the laws of the Demon domain. At the same time, he needed to comprehend the laws of Sukhāvatī and peer back into the most ancient memories of the Qilin Paradise.
During this process, he needed to use the plateau and mountains beneath his feet as a foundation, absorbing tremendous amounts of spiritual qi to sustain the depletion of energy. At the same time, he needed to constantly convert it into his own power. Only then would he truly possess the power of a true god.
To a god, laws and power was everything. It was what he relied on to rule over the Demon domain.
After that was the problem of the war that would be occurring within the next century.
He issued a series of orders for this.
The first order was to stop all invasion to other worlds, including the Human realm. They would completely switch over to strategic defence to deal with any foreign invasions while gathering their efforts to deal with internal issues of the Demon domain.
The Demon Gods all expressed their support of this.
With the emergence of the daemon star of misfortune, the crisis of the world began to unfold and the Demon Godking was born. The Demon domain would definitely be facing the most violent of opposition next.
The immortals and buddhas of the Nine Heavens would not just sit by and wait for them to develop and strengthen. The Desireless Heavenly Palace had probably been completely mobilised already.
It probably was not just the Desireless Heavenly Palace either. Instead, all of the heavenly palaces, all of the gods and buddhas beyond the Nine Heavens had begun to prepare for this crisis of the world.
The Demon domain of the past could only be described as an incurable disease, a slowly-developing benign tumour. It invaded many worlds and had plenty of battles with the Human realm, but compared to the enormous size of the entirety of the trichiliocosm and the six realms of saṃsāra, it could not be considered as a great threat at all. Nothing major would happen even if another ten thousand years passed, let alone threatening beyond the Nine Heavens.
Now, as Li Qingshan took over the Demon domain, the benign tumour had completely turned into a malignant tumour. When Li Qingshan directly designated annexing Sukhāvatī that was of utmost importance to buddhism as his objective, the very nature of the place had changed completely. They had gone from a group of bandits and refugees that simply occupied a place to an army of rebels wanting to usurp the current throne.
Perhaps his objective only threatened buddhism alone, but Li Qingshan himself possessed extremely deep ties with the seven Great Sages, which was enough to leave all of the gods and immortals restless.
The seven Great Sages were all suppressed, but they were all supreme existences of Merging the Void with the Dao. As long as the Dao remained, their existence remained.
Compared to them, the twelve Demon Gods were basically as docile as babies. Once they were released, the world would immediately plunge into chaos. Even gods would find no peace.
And that would definitely be Li Qingshan’s most important target next. Once his power peaked, he would immediately work towards saving the seven Great Sages, completing his promise of the Nine Heavens with brother ox.
That was exactly why the immortals and buddhas of the Nine Heavens would do everything they could to kill him. If he were to take a single step out of the Demon domain right now, probably the Zhenwu Emperor would send him off to the afterlife immediately.
The reason why he could sit here in comfort and think about these things was all thanks to the Demon domain.
Like regular worlds, the Demon domain also had a limit to what it could contain. It could only let in seventh heavenly tribulation existences of Forging the Soul back into the Void, and it rejected higher existences extremely violently.
The Demon domain itself possessed sufficient mass and a sufficiently strong will. It could twist and overwhelm the laws of all foreigners, even destroying and corrupting their laws. It could be viewed as a strengthened version of Demon God Hundun.
That was why while the Demon Gods did not have the courage to leave the Demon domain, they were basically capable of self-preservation. In particular, the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous was extremely powerful. Unlike the so-called formations of cultivators, it used the net of laws woven by the expansive Demon domain. Once activated, it could slay true gods, strengthening the restraint on existences on par with the Zhenwu Emperor.
That was why the internal structure was the greatest priority of the priorities. Forcing the Demon Gods to submit was actually a risky move. The existence of the twelve Demon Gods implied the existence of the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous. Demon God Hundun had gone completely mad, but he still served as an important foundation of the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous. The other Demon Gods could coerce him into defending.
If a Demon God perished, then the entire defence system would have broken, and it would be very likely for Li Qingshan to be executed as the new Demon Godking. Fortunately, the pro-peace Demon Gods were clearly even more willing than him to “take the bigger picture into account”.
Eleven Demon Gods had already submitted now, but he still had to resolve the problem of Demon God Hundun sooner or later. He had to find a way to awaken its consciousness and obtain the part of the central laws in its control. Only then would the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous be capable of launching attacks outwards.
As a result, he summoned Qian Rongzhi.
“Do you know why I’ve summoned you here?”
“Demon God Hundun has fallen from its position. You want me to replace it.”
“That’s correct. Are you willing?”
Normally, no one would be willing. This was not just an issue of the risk involved. Instead, it would definitely lead to a loss of a majority of their sense of self, even assimilating completely, becoming a chaotic and twisted monster that could not be considered as a god anymore.
“Of course.” However, Qian Rongzhi accepted gladly without any hesitation. “But I need to make some preparations.”
“You’ll need a very long time for the preparations. Go. I’ll support you in spirit.”
Li Qingshan waved his hand indifferently. He had already become the representative of the Demon domain’s will. His support in spirit meant endless resources and luck. After all these incidents, he no longer possessed much disgust towards Qian Rongzhi at this moment.
However, Qian Rongzhi did not back away. Instead, she took a step forward and stared at Li Qingshan. “My king, I have a request.”
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows. A feeling of disgust rose up in him again. Just from his senses, he immediately understood what Qian Rongzhi was planning. Qian Rongzhi wanted the Ming cult to flourish, to spread across the entire Demon domain. She would obviously be the leader of the Ming cult, while the supreme god that the followers worshipped would obviously be him, the great saviour of the demonfolk.
Afterwards, he would be turned into stone statues after stone statues, enshrined high up on an altar, becoming some kind of twisted representation. Those who followed him would obviously receive many advantages, while those who did not would face severe punishment. And in the future, was he supposed to create another Sukhāvatī for his most loyal followers? And a demonic land to send all the blasphemers.
That would basically be tremendously ironic!
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“I refuse. You’re dismissed now!”
Qian Rongzhi pointed at the black sun in the sky. “My king, I’ve experienced a few things that probably all demonfolk have experienced. Kindness will awaken in the hearts of many. If no one is out there to affirm this kindness, it will remain hidden in the bottom of their hearts, while the minority of people who have awakened will still be hunted down and executed brutally. Who will protect them?”
“If no one leads the demonfolk, this chaos will continue forever. The kind demonfolk will only face even greater pain, as if they are stuck in hell, burdened with sins, killing one another. All these generations of demonfolk will have gone through pointless pain and made pointless sacrifices. Without a stable order, without a loyal army, light will never arrive.”
Qian Rongzhi said with fervour and assurance. The pressure that Li Qingshan gave off became heavier and heavier, such that even breathing became difficult for her, but she still refused to stop.
Finally, she prostrated on the ground and slammed her forehead heavily against the rock. Blood splattered everywhere and the stone shattered.
“I implore the king to reconsider!”
