They cultivated not the Heaven-Shielding Method, nor the Golden Core Great Dao, but the Three Wheels and Seven Meridians, such unorthodox methods...
It was merely using unorthodox methods to achieve strength comparable to refining essence into qi, and refining qi into spirit... The essence was quite different from immortal cultivation methods.
Or rather, there were two branches of Heavenly Dao methods: one was orthodox immortal cultivation, the profound gate, the cultivation method of the Eastern world.
The other was a variant immortal cultivation, the unorthodox gate, the cultivation method of the Western world...
The prosperity of the Eastern world far surpassed the West by an immeasurable degree. Therefore, the profound gate was the orthodoxy in this era, while the Western lands belonged to the unorthodox gate. The methods cultivated there were naturally unknown to the Eastern world. It was only in their current stronghold that there were so many powerful individuals. If they went to the Eastern world, they would be mere fodder for the cultivators of the East!
These mortal humans were snatched from the ancestral land of humanity, from numerous human tribes, by the Two Sages of the West long ago!
When the Two Sages of the West achieved sainthood with the Primordial Violet Qi, they instantly deduced the past and future, learning that humanity was the destined protagonist of heaven and earth.
They learned that in the future eras of Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West, humanity would merely be harvestable incense and offerings for the gods and Buddhas. The disciples of the Sages in that era would harvest countless incense, destiny, and faith from humanity, thereby gaining boundless magical power and divine abilities.
The Two Sages of the West, having glimpsed a corner of the future, instantly altered the present based on that future vision. After achieving sainthood, they directly went to the human tribes in the Eastern world and plundered a portion of humanity.
There were originally three thousand human tribes. The Two Sages of the West plundered billions of humans, bringing over the population of at most ten tribes, which was easily accomplished.
After millions of years of propagation, the human population in the Western lands has now reached nearly a hundred billion...
Incense and faith greatly benefited the Arhats, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas of the Western Sect!
According to the rules set by the Two Sages of the West...
Every mortal human must enshrine statues of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats of the Western Sect in their homes!
Mortal humans must regard these statues as supreme deities and the spiritual anchor of their hearts!
Every day, they must spend at least five hours praying to the statues with undivided attention, offering their wishes... incense, faith...
Note! This requires five hours of focused, undistracted devotion!
If their minds wandered and they were not focused... it would take more than five hours!
Five hours is equivalent to ten hours!
The humans in the Western lands, apart from eating, drinking, and relieving themselves, lived lives almost identical to pigs raised by Buddhas, lives of being penned and inhuman. If these humans did not possess even a sliver of cultivation and did not need to sleep, they would have long since perished!
The Buddhas did not require mortal humans to perform any arduous labor.
They only hoped that such a massive number of humans could provide them with abundant faith!
Incense and faith are, in essence, precious cultivation resources...
To further exploit humanity's incense, and to quantify it for trading, the Buddhas of the Western Sect refined standard quantities of incense into Faith Beads and Incense Beads, allowing them to trade incense and faith with other Bodhisattvas and Buddhas...
The Buddhas of the Western Sect had truly reached a new realm in their understanding of faith and incense...
They could even create Faith Beads and Incense Beads...
The mortal humans, numbly, listened to an Arhat of the Western Sect preach:
He preached:
"To know the cause of the past life, one receives it in this life; to know the cause of the next life, one creates it in this life..."
"The Buddhist scriptures contain thousands of words, all urging people to do good and cultivate. Whatever misfortunes or blessings befall in this world are self-inflicted!"
"What does it mean to do good? Almsgiving is the root of goodness!"
The Arhat subtly twisted the concept, directly equating the amount of money donated as the standard for measuring good and evil!
"What does it mean to cultivate? Believing in Buddha is the root of cultivation!"
The Arhat continued to twist the concept, directly stating that cultivation is believing in Buddha! If one does not believe in Buddha or respect Buddha, it is not cultivation!
"If there are good men and good women who sincerely give alms and believe in Buddha, they will naturally become officials and ministers, and live long and prosperous lives!"
The Arhat still twisted the concept. According to his words, as long as one donated money, one could become an official or a prime minister, live long and prosperously. The emphasis was on donating money!
"The poverty and suffering of people in this life are all due to their ignorance of believing in Buddha and giving alms!"
The Arhat twisted the concept for his final blow! That is, why is your life so poor and full of hardship? Of course, it's because you don't believe in Buddha! You haven't donated incense money to Buddha!
This was a threat! A threat to urge you to quickly donate incense money! Otherwise, your life will be filled with suffering forever!
"Donate money quickly! Donate money swiftly! Don't be flustered when the time comes! Donate early and be done with it!"
The Arhat descended from the high platform, concluding his lecture.
Many of the mortal humans, numbly, praised:
"The Arhats of the Western Sect are truly skilled!"
"Everything they say is perfectly clear!"
"As long as we donate incense money, we will have everything!"
"Yes! Whether it's believing in Buddha, cultivating, or good and evil, the key is how much incense money is donated! Donate a lot, and you'll have immense fortune! Donate little, and you'll be committing grave sins and be sent to the eighteen levels of hell!"
"Money is everything!"
"We don't need to read those difficult parts of the Buddhist scriptures! We only need to remember to donate money! These Arhats of the Western Sect have saved so much effort for the vast human race!"
"Exactly! By simplifying countless profound and difficult Buddhist scriptures into the two words 'donate money'! By simply chanting 'Amitabha' for four words, one can attain everything! This Arhat is so skilled! With such simplified concepts, there's no fear that ignorant people won't understand!"
"Yes! Only in this way can Buddhism be Mahayana Buddhism and save all sentient beings! Those who study Buddhist scriptures, no matter how long they study, how can it compare to donating incense money?"
Devadatta listened to the Arhat's sermon from below.
A voice inexplicably appeared in his mind.
"Is this Buddhism?"
"No! The World Honored One once said, 'Having attained the Buddha's seal, one is unimpeded, as if having obtained the king's seal, there are no obstacles...'"
"Even if it is not spoken by the World Honored One, one who obtains the Dharma seal can be considered as Buddha's words..."
"This is the foundation of Buddhism, the Three Dharma Seals!"
"Anything that violates the Three Dharma Seals is heresy!"
"Even the World Honored One, even the true Buddha, if they violate the Three Dharma Seals, they are also heretics!"
"These numerous Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats of the Western Sect... they are not true Buddhas! They are false Buddhas! They are demons!"
"The two sect leaders of the Western Sect, Zhun Ti and Jie Yin, are merely using the name of Buddha to practice heretical ways, to act like demons! They are not true Buddhas..."
"Shakyamuni is an awakened one, a mortal, not a god or Buddha. Who is deifying him... The right awakening and the right path... have been lost!"