CHAPTER 748: CHAPTER 279: BORN OF THE SAME ROOT, ENEMY OF THE DAO

[How much strength does your reincarnation body have left, and how much are you willing to waste here?]

"I must give him an explanation."

Mu Shitian spoke calmly, as if discussing an obvious truth.

He looked up at the old acquaintance descending with a miraculous manifestation of Dao, and whispered,

"Moreover, I’m curious, where have you been all these years, and why... haven’t you changed at all."

On the White Lotus, the golden Buddha’s eyes showed compassion and mercy, reaching out as if spreading willow branches, and dots of glazed light fell like fine rain, spilling over the heavens and the earth, the river of time surging and receding, the water rushing, at this moment...

A brief reverse flow!

Those beings who could only briefly revive in Hel’s realm and finally take refuge in the Divine Country were all somehow completed in an unseen way.

Afterward, even if they left the Divine Country, they gained the qualification to survive, no longer mere water plants rooted in the Divine Country.

The Buddha has a wish for universal salvation.

...

In a battlefield distinct from the river of time.

Ji Jingqiu allied with Hel, pulling down from the divine throne a pseudo-god of the Buddha Country, a formidable existence equivalent to a Seven Realms Grandmaster on the divine throne!

And once off the divine throne, the Red Lotus Bodhisattva’s karma position directly fell to the Third Tier of Heavenly Person, and his aura continued to decline, finally standing on the Third Tier unsteadily until he fell to the Second Tier.

This is the path of the demigod, where some Heavenly Persons, feeling hopeless in Martial Arts, seek the path to godhood to ascend higher tiers.

Such a path is doomed to be void of the Great Dao, with combat power far inferior to deities of the same tier, not even matching those of the same realm Martial Artists, and heavily bound by various constraints, losing all strength once they fall from the divine throne.

Despite its many shortcomings, it is still the dream and goal of many Heavenly Human Martial Artists as a stepping stone to glimpse higher realms.

At this moment, Hel stirred her true form, barely manifesting her Divine Country through the divine power conveyed from the void.

The Divine Country of a God is equivalent to the dojo of a Martial Artist, and even higher.

Life and death meat, flesh turn into bone, is the effect of her divine authority, reversing reality and illusion, but it had little effect on Red Lotus.

This is Hel’s current problem; despite having high position and essence, she lacks divine power, having done her utmost to pull Red Lotus from the divine throne.

Even having fallen from the divine throne, Red Lotus remained Ji Jingqiu’s most formidable opponent thus far.

The three levels of Heavenly Person: the First Tier masters Unity of Heaven and Man; the Second Tier comprehends "My Heart is the Heart of Heaven", a true dominance of man over heaven.

In the final Third Tier, one undergoes the trials of wind and fire, the Inner Heaven and Earth beginning to show life, only lacking the final lightning trial to create Heaven and Earth.

Simultaneously, in this realm, Heavenly Persons master Dharma to the extreme, seeking the realm of [True Union with Dao], greatly enhancing the strength of Unity of Heaven and Man, reaching beyond typical stars, even being able to communicate with the will and power of a constant star.

Though Red Lotus fell from the Third Tier, he was still standing at the peak of the Second Tier and had Grandmaster-level combat experience.

Ji Jingqiu used every technique he had, barely matching him.

But Red Lotus was both shocked and furious!

Being forcibly dragged from the divine throne was enough to terrify him.

Now, this young man who hadn’t even reached Heavenly Person could tangle with him!

"Thousand-Handed Buddha!"

Red Lotus knew he couldn’t let this continue; he had to end this youth quickly.

He wore a solemn expression, devoid of joy or sorrow, forming a seal with his hands, striking out with a hundred palm imprints centered on himself in an instant.

Ji Jingqiu faced it without fear, proactively vying with Red Lotus for the power of Heaven and Earth.

Boom, boom, boom—

In mere moments, the two had exchanged hundreds of palm strikes, the aftershocks of the palm winds slicing the air like blades, cutting through buildings like tofu.

Each of Ji Jingqiu’s strikes was filled with boiling qi, growing stronger the longer he fought, and each palm collided fiercely.

Unfortunately, he temporarily lacked the complete Ten Thousand Ancient Blade and couldn’t replicate the previous slash of [All Laws are Void].

Fortunately, within Hel’s Divine Country centered around him, it continuously eroded the pseudo Divine Country that Red Lotus evolved from his Heaven and Earth Dojo.

Though he was also within Hel’s Divine Country, he wasn’t harmed at all, and instead felt subtly empowered.

In Hel’s realm, a dreamlike reversing power pervaded, the world like a dream, indiscernible from reality, the unreal became real, upending Qian Kun.

Ji Jingqiu silently pushed forward with punches and palms, undaunted by his body’s damage in each collision, confronting Red Lotus head-on with intense ruthlessness, even towards himself.

He simultaneously continued to comprehend Hel’s power.

Using this Divine Country, he seemed to see many things, coexistence of reality and illusion, he saw the beings in Hel’s heart: heaven and earth, void, the universe, as well as the true nature and divinity!

At this moment, Ji Jingqiu suddenly entered a void state, as if he vanished entirely, breathless, resembling a dead man, causing Red Lotus’s expression to drastically change.

Ji Jingqiu was visibly present, yet Red Lotus couldn’t sense any presence, as if he had already died.

But his "self" remained, and shone even brighter, deriving from the void, from the depths of the Spiritual Holy Embryo, that undying self!

Daoists call it "Heavenly Nature", "Primordial Spirit", whereas Buddhists refer to it as "True Self", "Dharma Nature".

Ever so, unchanged and immutable, neither born nor destroyed, neither increasing nor decreasing, neither defiled nor pure.

Ji Jingqiu realized the true self at the boundary of dreams and reality, revisiting the [Dharma Realm]!

Red Lotus’s expression drastically changed, realizing he had lost to Ji Jingqiu in the contest for the power of Heaven and Earth!

Ji Jingqiu’s spiritual intensity seemed to surge, elevating Unity of Heaven and Man alongside it.

"This is... the Dharma Realm?!" Red Lotus was aghast.

At this moment, Ji Jingqiu unleashed his Divine Skill, The Beginning of One Element, to the extreme, using All Phenomena to evolve the Dharma Realm.

All Phenomena is the Dharma Realm, manifesting the selfless True Self!

He calmly threw a punch, absent of qi ripples, dharma principles, only a tranquil heart, punching with the power to silently annihilate the sun and moon, flip the heavens and earth!

The weight of that punch caused the meticulously crafted divine body of Red Lotus to show a crack!

"You..." Red Lotus, filled with rage, tried to speak, but a palm descended, inherently carrying the Martial Intent of the Big Stone Breaking Palm, shattering the sea and breaking mountains, flipping heaven and earth!

As Ji Jingqiu’s palm struck, the entire world quaked, the ground beneath shattered in an instant, the overwhelming palm power almost matched the weight of a planet in his palm!

With this palm, nothing could withstand it!

The crisp sound of something like glazed shards shattering resounded beneath Ji Jingqiu’s palm, Red Lotus’s complexion drastically changed, fear overtaking his expression.

Insane... insane! First, it was the descent of the Dream God’s shadow, absent for millennia, and then there was an unparalleled divine prohibition in the Heart Image Realm perceiving the location of the Dharma Realm!

"Wait..." he began to speak, but hadn’t finished.

Ji Jingqiu continued, palm after palm, all infused with the intention of the Big Stone Breaking Palm, hammering Red Lotus like a torn sack!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With thunderous explosiveness, Red Lotus’s divine body was forcibly smashed to pieces, disintegrating into a mass, until there was no sound.

In the next moment, a blood-red Holy Embryo shot out from the shredded, scrambled mess, fleeing at an incredible speed.

Ji Jingqiu didn’t even attempt to stop it, merely watching coldly.

Red Lotus once thought he had narrowly escaped with his life until he had flown an indeterminate distance, yet couldn’t find any exit.

He attempted to tear the void, connect with the Nether Sea, but every attempt failed here.

Until he finally realized his surroundings were...

the realm of a True God.