Chapter 136: Directly Flipping the Table, If Anyone Dies, It'll Be You!

Chapter 136: Overturning the Table Directly—If Someone Dies, It Will Be You!

Between the common people of the world and his beloved master, Bai Ze would find himself in a dilemma.

If he killed, it would be a wrongful killing, staining his Buddha heart with dust.

If he did not kill, he would forget his original intention, leaving his Buddha heart flawed.

Either way, Shang Yanran would achieve her goal and seize the Great Sun Golden Lotus.

Having figured all this out, Qi Yuan felt speechless inside.

This Fate Slate, forever toying with fate, was far too cowardly.

If it were him, damn the consequences—he would just swallow the Great Sun Golden Lotus outright.

If it didn't even dare to devour the Great Sun Golden Lotus, what kind of Fate Slate was it?

But at this moment, Qi Yuan was also caught in a dilemma.

If he let Bai Ze remember that he was once a great demon, the Flowing Wind Realm would be utterly doomed.

If he didn't expose Shang Yanran as the demoness and the Fate Slate, her goal would be achieved.

And now, Shang Yanran gazed at Bai Ze, her eyes full of anticipation.

"Join me, kill the great demon, and the world will be at peace; if you don't kill..."

Bai Ze's clear eyes grew turbid.

That was the mark the Fate Slate had left on his Buddha heart ten thousand years ago.

He looked at Qi Yuan, at the hundred thousand supreme beings, and his eyes showed grief: "I..."

He couldn't speak.

On one side was his master, on the other, the common people of the world.

Qi Yuan glanced at Bai Ze and said loudly, "Bai Ze, I will teach you one last time.

All the troubles in the world arise from not forgetting.

Forget everything, and there will be no troubles."

Bai Ze's Buddha heart wavered once more.

One last time?

Could it be that his master would sacrifice himself for the common people, just like last time?

Shang Yanran was stunned, then ecstatic inside.

Ning Tao's pupils contracted; she stared blankly at Qi Yuan, saying nothing.

But her eyes said it all.

All the supreme beings looked at Qi Yuan like that, which made him feel a bit bewildered.

Did everyone think he would sacrifice himself to save the world?

Since when had his moral character become so lofty?

But then, he turned to Shang Yanran: "Your master will teach you one last time as well.

Playing with people's hearts, playing with fate—there's no future. Only by mastering power can you win people's hearts and control fate."

For some reason, hearing this, Shang Yanran's pupils shrank, and a sudden fear rose in her heart.

Did the Blood Master... know something?

How could he possibly know?

Then Qi Yuan said loudly, "Shang Yanran, don't you know who the real demoness is?"

For the first time, fear appeared on Shang Yanran's face, and she said urgently, "Don't say it!"

If he said it, the Buddha would remember everything.

The Great Sun Golden Lotus would burn everything to ashes.

The Flowing Wind Realm would be finished, and so would she!

Qi Yuan turned a deaf ear to her words.

People's hearts?

Scheming?

Fate?

Without power, all you can do is play with these disgusting tricks!

Rubbish—nothing but a jumping clown. He would just overturn the table!

Such a big boss had no style at all!

"Shang Yanran, you are the demoness! You are the spirit of the Fate Slate!"

"Bai Ze, you are the Buddha! You were once the great demon!"

"Everything that happened in the Mirror of Ten Thousand Demons is your life!"

Qi Yuan, without any scruples, directly announced the truth.

His voice echoed within the Gate of Ten Thousand Demons, and everyone was utterly stunned.

Shang Yanran was terrified: "No, we'll die, we'll die! I have to leave here, leave here!"

She was truly panicked!

The Flowing Wind Realm was about to end!

Even the Ten Thousand Demons Realm, connected by the Gate of Ten Thousand Demons, would be destroyed because of this.

She, who had always toyed with fate and people's hearts, was now exposed, like a real jumping clown, with no trace of a strong person's demeanor.

At that moment, in Bai Ze's eyes, endless emotions spread.

Countless memories poured in like a tidal wave.

On the Heartless Lotus, an aura of terrifying intensity began to emanate.

Shang Yanran tried to flee, but Qi Yuan blocked her with a sword: "Where do you think you're going? Hurry back to Gotham City—Batman is waiting to beat you up!"

"Madman, you're a madman, a complete madman!" Shang Yanran fumed.

She wanted to escape, but she simply couldn't leave.

On Bai Ze's body, a chaotic and evil aura kept spreading.

On the Heartless Lotus, all kinds of terrifying emotions accumulated.

Shang Yanran looked at the Heartless Lotus, and finally, despair appeared in her eyes: "It's over, it's all over. We're all going to die. The Flowing Wind Realm is truly finished!"

Shang Yanran was hysterical, her former confidence completely gone.

On the field, the hundred thousand supreme beings all looked at Bai Ze, their hearts filled with fear and dread.

They had a premonition that something terrifying was about to happen!

“Hahaha, Blood Lord, you are the true sinner. You made Bai Ze recall the past. The Great Sun Golden Lotus is the relic of the Great Sun Radiant Buddha; tarnished, it will incinerate all in this world!

Hahaha, the Gate of Ten Thousand Differences is shut, no one can leave. Hahaha, we all die!” Shang Yanran glared viciously at Qi Yuan.

It was all him, all him.

The world’s sinner.

And at that moment, Bai Ze opened his eyes—his eyes, a sea of blood.

All who saw Bai Ze felt a deep terror rise in their hearts.

Bai Ze’s gaze fell upon Shang Yanran.

In his eyes were grief, helplessness, but above all, chaos.

The past, every memory, came flooding back.

He would lose control of himself, becoming a true great demon.

The tarnished Great Sun Golden Lotus began to incinerate all in the world.

“Master…” A glimmer of clarity appeared in Bai Ze’s eyes, and he let out a long sigh.

Whether he resented Qi Yuan for exposing this, or pondered something else, none could tell.

“Ha, in another hundred breaths, this world will be utterly destroyed.

Once the Great Sun Golden Lotus ignites, it cannot be stopped.” Shang Yanran was now completely deranged. “Blood Lord, ha, in this battle, there are no winners—only losers!”

Hearts grew heavy, and fear gripped everyone.

But at this moment, Qi Yuan was eerily calm.

“Who says there are no winners?”

“In this game, if I kill you, I clear it!”

Qi Yuan spoke, then turned to Bai Ze, who was descending into demonhood: “Bai Ze, do you remember what I taught you just now?

Only through forgetting can the world be free of sorrow.”

Amidst the chaos in his eyes, Bai Ze clung to a shred of clarity: “Master, your disciple is useless—I cannot forget.

I cannot forget those I slaughtered.

I cannot forget those who died from heart demons breaking their bodies.

Your disciple is a sinner; your disciple is a great demon!”

“If you can’t forget, I’ll help you forget!”

Qi Yuan shouted.

Since he couldn’t forget, he’d beat Bai Ze into senile dementia—then wouldn’t he forget?

“Do not resist—I will help you forget!”

The Great Forgetfulness Heart Sutra was now invoked.

A cold smile curled on Shang Yanran’s face: “Forgetting is nothing but self-deception!”

Yet Bai Ze, following Qi Yuan’s command, offered no resistance.

When the primal divine power of the Great Forgetfulness Heart Sutra fell upon his body,

a new clarity dawned in Bai Ze’s eyes.

“So that is how it is.”

In that moment, he understood something.

Bodhi originally has no tree; where can dust alight?

Why his master possessed a second primal divine power, and why it was this very power—he did not dwell on it, nor add to his own troubles.

He looked at Qi Yuan, his gaze filled with Buddha-nature: “Master, before I forget everything, I will end her.”

His feud with the enchantress, his feud with the Stone of Fate, would truly come to an end.

Bai Ze struck. In that moment, the power he unleashed far surpassed the Great Supreme.

A wild look crossed Shang Yanran’s face: “Why? What is this?”

She could not understand why the Great Sun Golden Lotus’s burning had slowed.

What had the Blood Lord done to Bai Ze?

“All evil in the world, all ill omens, shall be forgotten.”

Bai Ze’s palm landed on Shang Yanran.

That palm transcended the Great Supreme, transcended all.

Even Qi Yuan, witnessing it, was moved.

That palm—he could not withstand it.

The palm fell; evil was extinguished, and the Stone of Fate finally shattered.

Shang Yanran’s last expression was one of madness: “Once the Great Sun Golden Lotus ignites, it cannot be stopped—we all die!”

And so, she fell here.

A helpless look appeared in Qi Yuan’s eyes.

This time through the game, the Supreme was killed by the hundred thousand Supremes.

The final boss was slain by Bai Ze—was he just here for the ride?

But this feeling of slacking off was truly satisfying.

Shang Yanran, like the enchantress of eons past, fell once more at the hands of the Great Buddha.

[The No-Return City instance has been cleared. Rewards received.]

The game’s prompt sounded.

[Reward 1: Obtain Key Fragment x99.]

[Reward 2: May name the key once.]

Shang Yanran’s fall marked the end of the North-South conflict.

The task of guarding No-Return City was finally complete.

Qi Yuan received the long-awaited mission reward.

But at this moment, he had no time to focus on the rewards; his gaze was fixed on Bai Ze.

If Bai Ze continued to descend into demonhood, the Great Sun Golden Lotus would incinerate this realm.

Everyone would die.

After slaying Shang Yanran, Bai Ze’s eyes held both madness and clarity.

He glanced at the hundred thousand Supremes behind Qi Yuan, then at the ever-burning Great Sun Golden Lotus.

A deep expression swirled in his eyes. Bai Ze spoke: “Master, even if I forget all—

Yet it once did, and it always had, truly come to pass.

The Golden Lotus of the Great Sun would ultimately burn, after all. This realm... would still be undone.

Shang Yanran was right.

There was no escaping this realm, not even by stepping into the Myriad Demon Realm.

The Golden Lotus of the Great Sun would incinerate both worlds until nothing remained.

Moreover, even without the lotus, as long as the demonic taint persisted within those hundred thousand Paragons, the Liufeng Realm would eventually face utter destruction one day.

"That is because your forgetting was not thorough enough," Qi Yuan said.

Had his innate divine ability reached the level of inscription, he could have made Bai Ze forget even more.

Alas, Bai Ze’s true form was simply too powerful.

Even though he had opened his mind completely and allowed Qi Yuan to deploy the Scripture of Great Forgetting, he could not truly and fully wipe the slate clean.

Or perhaps, in the deepest recesses of his heart, Bai Ze still clung to the past, unwilling to forget.

The Golden Lotus of the Great Sun burned incessantly, and every Paragon upon the field wore a look of sheer terror.

They sensed a profound, suffocating threat.

This Golden Lotus of the Great Sun would set the firmament ablaze and reduce all existence to ashes.

Bai Ze glanced at the Gate of Myriad Demons, his narrow eyes brimming with helplessness: "Even with what I have forgotten, I can only sustain the Golden Lotus of the Great Sun for a single century.

A hundred years from now... this realm will still be burned to nothingness.

Unless this monk can comprehend the true meaning of forgetting.

When even the Tablet of Destiny can plunge me into ruin, how can I ever grasp the true Great Forgetting?"

Right then, a sudden premonition gripped Qi Yuan.

With the game cleared, his departure from this world was imminent.

The Golden Lotus of the Great Sun would burn this world to cinders, but its flames could never reach the Canglan Realm.

He looked at Bai Ze: "How about you give the Golden Lotus of the Great Sun to me?"

A look of astonishment flashed across Bai Ze's eyes.

Then he heard Qi Yuan speak: "I wish to condense a golden core, and this Golden Lotus of the Great Sun looks rather splendid."

Confusion grew deeper in Bai Ze's gaze.

As things stood, whoever laid hands on the Golden Lotus of the Great Sun would be the first to perish.

"If Honored Master desires it, take it," Bai Ze replied. He did not know what his master intended, but whatever his master wished to do now, he would not stand in the way.

The sarira left behind by the Great Sun Buddha of Radiant Light had become the culprit of the world's destruction.

Even having forgotten the reality of his own nature as a great demon, Bai Ze was still consumed by immense self-reproach.

Qi Yuan looked at the Golden Lotus of the Great Sun, a fierce, ruthless glint flashing through his eyes.

Time was running out; he was about to clear the game and leave this realm.

He cast a deep, lingering look at the Canary clad in her black gown.

She was somewhat different from how she used to be, possessing an even colder, more enchanting grace.

The Canary’s eyes had remained fixed on the figure in the blood-colored robe.

The moment she saw his eyes, she understood his intent.

She smiled, a sudden display of boundless, captivating charm: "Blood Pearl, no matter when it is, I am willing to accompany you, and I am willing to... wait for you."

Just as it had been back at Mount Jiupan.

As she spoke, the black veil drifted off her face, and her flawed yet snow-white left cheek finally came into Qi Yuan's sight.

Qi Yuan looked at the word "Demon" etched upon it, looked at Ning Tao’s breathtakingly beautiful countenance, and remembering the words he had once spoken, he said, "The Canary has always been the number one beauty of the Eighteen Mountains."

She had never been ugly.

At that moment, the Canary could finally restrain herself no longer. Just as she had at the Ends of the Earth, she threw herself at Qi Yuan, her legs wrapping tightly around his waist, her petite and delicate frame hanging upon him.

Qi Yuan held the Canary close, a smile gracing his eyes.

This wretched game really did intend to hand out a digital wife!

He turned his gaze toward the Golden Lotus of the Great Sun and suddenly opened his mouth.

The endlessly burning Golden Lotus of the Great Sun entered Qi Yuan's belly in that instant.

Blazing, scalding, incinerating all things...

Yet not a trace of fear showed on Qi Yuan's face.

An endless aura of terror seemed ready to tear Qi Yuan to pieces.

Right now, he felt insurmountably powerful, yet he also felt as though he might explode at any given second.

The Canary clung to Qi Yuan, as quiet and still as a little bird, uttering not a single word.

Though watched by countless pairs of eyes, she felt no bashfulness in her heart, choosing instead to cherish this very moment above all else.

Gripping his blood-colored longsword, Qi Yuan suddenly turned to face the hundred thousand Paragons behind him.

"The inner demons of the world are all but illusions."

"Forget the inner demons, and they shall cease to exist!"

Augmented by the Golden Lotus of the Great Sun, Qi Yuan's voice resounded through the Gate of Myriad Demons and echoed across the entirety of the Liufeng Realm.

"Demonic taints of the world, heed my decree, and forge this blade together!"

With his left arm holding the Canary and his right hand gripping the blood-red longsword, Qi Yuan thrust it toward the heavens.

This sword was forged from every source of taint in the world.

This sword was also a Dharma treasure born from Qi Yuan living the life of a great demon, stripping that essence away to finally manifest it.

In a certain sense, this sword could be considered the very fountainhead of this realm's demonic taint.

Furthermore, this sword was the very blade inscribed by the Heart Demon Index, Ruler of the Void Realm.

By this action, Qi Yuan intended to inscribe every inner demon of this realm onto this very sword!

Seeing this scene, Bai Ze smiled serenely: "Allow me to lend Honored Master a hand!"

Boundless Buddhist radiance suffused the blood-red longsword.

Above the firmament of the entire Liufeng Realm, a colossal, blood-red longsword manifested.

Pride, greed, sloth...

Infinite, endless emotions spread across the blood-colored blade.

A mighty, echoing Buddhist hymn also reverberated through the Liufeng Realm at this very moment.

Within the City of No Return, Yuan Qi looked up at the giant sword in the heavens, a smile surfacing on his face that nonetheless appeared incomparably desolate: "Guardian..."

Across all the one hundred and eight thousand cities, every single cultivator looked up at the sky at this moment, their eyes filled either with bewilderment or with the peace of final deliverance.

In the streets and alleys, countless people gazed at the blood-red longsword, at a loss, and bowed their heads in worship.

Countless heart demons, in that moment, soared toward the sky, merging into the blood-red longsword.

Qi Yuan's body grew ever hotter, white mist rising in endless billows.

The blood-red longsword, having drained the infinite heart demons, appeared even more eerie, like a peerless sword of slaughter, a demonic blade!

With one strike, it could move the world.

Bai Ze's face showed a look of relief; he gazed at Qi Yuan, his eyes filled with admiration.

If this matter concluded, he would not return to the Buddha's realm, but remain in this world for life after life.

Only, he did not know how his master would ultimately resolve the matter of the Great Sun Golden Lotus.

And at that moment, Qi Yuan endured the searing pain within his body, glanced at the Goldfinch, a hint of reluctance in his eyes: "I have to go..."

The Goldfinch held him tightly, and after several breaths, murmured unconsciously: "This young lady... is asleep."

Qi Yuan looked at the Goldfinch's closed eyes, her long lashes trembling slightly, as if she truly slept.

Seeing this, he finally said: "This time, I will not seek you at the end of the ages."

There was one more thing Qi Yuan did not say.

But... you might have a poor memory, sometimes forgetting me.

The Goldfinch, seemingly lost in slumber, smiled, and beneath the character "demon," a shallow dimple appeared.

Qi Yuan, holding the Goldfinch, glanced at everyone, including the Thirteen Northern Demon Lords who had breached the Ten Thousand Demon Gate to awaken him.

All of them also looked at the figure like a blood-red sun, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

Ling Yayi forced a smile: "If there is reincarnation, Master, remember my name, Ling Yayi."

He did not know what the Blood Lord intended to do.

But he knew the outcome would surely be farewell.

He Wu's gaze was bleak, silent.

The Sheep Chaos Sovereign was even more dramatic; a dignified sovereign, his eyes actually brimmed with tears: "Blood Lord... wuwuwu..."

A key appeared in Qi Yuan's hand.

This was the key rewarded for guarding the City of No Return.

[Please name the key.]

Qi Yuan looked at the Ten Thousand Demon Gate, a gleam of determination flashing in his eyes.

"The Key of Ten Thousand Differences!"

Yes, he named this key the Key of Ten Thousand Differences.

He gazed at the Ten Thousand Demon Gate, a smile in his eyes: "Now, you are the Gate of Ten Thousand Differences!"

The Gate of Ten Thousand Differences that everyone saw could be different.

It could be the Gate of Ten Thousand Demons, or the Gate of Ten Thousand Monsters.

At this moment, it was the Gate of Ten Thousand Differences.

With Qi Yuan's voice.

Above the sky, a gate appeared before him.

On the gate were all sorts of strange symbols, among them one symbol that no one, upon seeing it, could ever recall existed.

Qi Yuan, holding the Goldfinch and carrying the longsword, flew toward that gate.

The Gate of Ten Thousand Differences!

He placed the key into the lock.

Click.

A great gate swung open.

A surge of vast, desolate, profound, and dark energy swept forth.

Qi Yuan could see nothing; he held the Goldfinch and plunged fiercely into that darkness.

The Gate of Ten Thousand Differences closed in an instant.

The hundred thousand sovereigns, like a hundred thousand soldiers in a city seeing off a dragon king, shouted in unison: "Farewell to the Blood Lord!"

Qi Yuan did not hear these voices; by now, he had already left the Flowing Wind Realm.

"Hold me tight!"

Qi Yuan shouted, one arm holding the Goldfinch, the other gripping the longsword.

He felt as if he had fallen into an endless deep sea.

His body, his soul, suffered boundless rejection.

Something seemed to be pressing against him.

"I am the Dao Foundation!"

He raised the longsword and let out a great cry.

The chaos ahead finally split open, and what met Qi Yuan's eyes was nothing less than infinite, countless stars.

So many stars, vast and boundless, beautiful.

A river of stars filled the sky.

He looked over.

[This is a star, yet unnamed.]

This was a real star, not a projection! Qi Yuan felt a surge of excitement.

"Is this... not the 'universe' where Canglan Realm lies?"

The Great Sun Golden Lotus burned fiercely, as if to incinerate everything.

But Qi Yuan's heart was filled with elation.

"Indeed, extorting the Dao has its uses after all!"

(The chapter ends)