Red clouds represent the highest achievement in Daoist cultivation, similar to how blood transforms into azure qi upon ascension to immortality; it is a manifestation of "Dao qi." Correspondingly, in Buddhism, reaching profound levels of cultivation manifests as light wheels of different colors, known as "Buddha-light."

The nameless Ji Xiang was surrounded by red clouds that gradually swirled, encompassing the entire universe. At this moment, they even stretched from the future, growing increasingly dense under the gaze of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, accompanied by a thought that arose and began to return from the future to the past.

"The Heavenly Heart is not in the future, but in the past and the future."

Tathagata Mahavairocana murmured, repeating Ji Xiang's previous words, gaining a significant understanding.

One who embodies the Heavenly Heart possesses immense thoughts. Some wish to become Buddhas, some wish to become Gods, some wish to become Immortals, some wish to devour everything, some wish to deliver all beings, some will not pluck a single hair, some use heavenly laws to restrain the heavens, and some do not know why they walk towards the Heavenly Heart.

Not knowing why the thought arises.

Achieving a demon king? A moment of joy. Achieving a national ruler? A moment of pleasure. Achieving the true realm of the Heavenly Dao? A single moment of delusion.

Those who achieve the Heavenly Heart all have different methods, and they are wary of being known by others. Only those with profound cultivation, or those who have encountered extraordinary events like Ji Xiang before them, dare to broadly proclaim their path to achieving the Heavenly Heart to the world.

For example, making great vows. This is also a common method in both Buddhism and Daoism. In essence, it is borrowing strength from the future. If a great vow is made now, perhaps the future will change because of this vow. Thus, one achieves the Heavenly Heart in the future and reflects it back to the past.

"But, without making a great vow, the future self is already in the future."

This point contradicts Tathagata Mahavairocana's understanding. Therefore, what is seen before him, the nameless Ji Xiang, is beginning to project the future into the past. What kind of changes will occur, and what kind of variables will happen to the past as a result?

The eyes of the Five Dhyani Buddhas crossed this not-so-long period of time, watching the spreading red clouds.

The power of the Heavenly Echo also extended, descending from the heavens, merging with Ji Xiang, and then returning to the heavens.

The nameless Ji Xiang asked:

"How can the future answer the past?"

"How can the past become the Heavenly Heart?"

Above the heavens, there was a hollow, loud vibration.

[How can the past question the future?]

The response from above descended!

The Five Dhyani Buddhas did not speak, quietly watching everything.

Throwing the question to the future self, and then letting the future self inform the past self, while the past and future are one, that is, I am, therefore I answer.

When the nameless Ji Xiang asked the question, the heavens gave a useless response, but this was already the answer.

"How can the future answer the past?"

"How can the past become the Heavenly Heart?"

"How can the past question the future?"

Tathagata Mahavairocana was stunned, the discussion of the past and future has always been regarded as one of the shortcuts to understanding the Buddha-fruit in Buddhism. If one can understand one's own view of the past and future, then one will naturally generate supernatural powers and produce extraordinary changes.

The feeling of emotion in his heart was extremely deep, secretly saying that the incarnation of Yuanshi was indeed extraordinary. As cause and effect continue to entangle, the view of the past and future is also taking shape, and this is pointing to the "original one."

One.

In some schools of Daoism, it is Yuanshi Tianzun. In other schools of Daoism, it is Taishang Laojun. In the school of Immortals, it is the Taiyi God. In the school of Fangshi, it is the Five-Colored Celestial Auspice. In the Warring States period, it was the Heavenly Ghost God. In the Five Pecks of Rice Daoism, it is the Green Goat. In the Taiping Dao, it is the Yellow Heaven. In Mongolia, it is the Ninety-Nine Tengri Gods. In Korea, it is Dongmyeong. In Japan, it is Amenominakanushi. In Buddhist Tantra, it is the Adibuddha. In other schools of Buddhism, it is the Dipamkara Buddha. In Confucianism, it is the oldest Emperor of Heaven, transformed into the absolute "Principle."

Accompanied by the starting One, accompanied by the thinking of different people on different lands, accompanied by their culture, many primitive gods were born. They all held the oldest and most powerful authority, and they themselves were the personification of the wishes of this part of the believers for the original one, for the ultimate philosophy of the past.

Therefore, whoever can prove this "One" is to become the true original deity of these primordial gods, which also means obtaining the "Dao" or the "Buddha-fruit." This is not a goal that can be achieved by obtaining a divine title. The divine title is just a visible carrier of these primordial gods who are personified by people's wishes, carrying a part of the power.

"Does he know the answer?"

Akshobhya Buddha of the East asked the other Buddhas beside him. He felt that the nameless Ji Xiang had produced an inexplicable change. After accepting the Heavenly Echo, although the Heavenly Echo itself was an extremely rare event, that was, after all, a scene that could only be seen when the Dao was opened and transformed into the Heavens.

"Hush... Something is coming."

Amitayus Buddha of the West perceived something deeper. Amoghasiddhi Buddha of the North said: "To understand, I have vaguely understood something."

The Five Dhyani Buddhas are all incarnations of Tathagata Mahavairocana. When one Buddha has an understanding, the other Buddhas are all shocked.

Indeed, something was coming. Just observing the nameless Ji Xiang, it seemed that they themselves were about to...

"Why did I become a Buddha?"

"Why am I a Buddha?"

"Tathagata Mahavairocana is me, I am Tathagata Mahavairocana, and I am also Ratnasambhava Buddha of the South. My beginning, is it the Buddha, or is it me?"

"I became a Buddha, or the Buddha became me, or I was originally the Buddha and the Buddha was originally me. If that is the case, then I am here, where did the Buddha go?"

"Where is the Buddha?"

Ratnasambhava Buddha of the South suddenly spoke. His expression was stunned as if he had fallen into a demonic obstacle. The other Buddhas were all like this. For a time, the Five Buddhas were speechless. They looked back at their past. It was clearly vivid and even themselves were reflected in it. But this true appearance, they thought, was it because they became Buddhas that they originally had a self, or was it because they had a self that they became Buddhas?

The Five Dhyani Buddhas fell into a cycle and suddenly disappeared, vanishing from this future without a trace, not knowing where they had gone. Only the voice of Tathagata Mahavairocana descended from the emptiness:

"The torrent of karma, I have witnessed it..."

The torrent of karma is the Twelve Nidanas, the supreme truth that the Buddha once attained, which is the twelve links in the process from "ignorance" to "old age and death." Cause and effect follow each other, and the three lifetimes continue without interruption, causing people to flow in the sea of ​​birth and death, unable to escape. Therefore, the life of the world has no beginning, or every place is the beginning!

........

Tathagata Mahavairocana witnessed the torrent of karma. At this moment, he was also qualified to sit on the Buddha's seat, but he himself transformed into the Twelve Nidanas, disappearing in this karmic retribution, even disappearing in the reflected history.

At this moment, a great uproar was caused in the reflection of history. Countless Heavenly Heart experts discovered the strange disappearance of Tathagata Mahavairocana, but only the Buddha, who was in an unknown place, let out a cry of exclamation.

"Witnessing the Twelve Nidanas means that within the universe, as large as a world, as small as a dust, there is no real inherent nature to speak of. Every thing is created by itself through cause and effect. Everyone is within the Twelve Nidanas. Entering the torrent of karma means that you have exceeded the concept of Buddha."

"The so-called Buddha-fruit."

"The Buddha's cause and effect."

"The Daoist's Dao."

"It is also like this."

"This kind of thing exists fixedly, but not many people can get it, so just being able to witness it and gain an understanding is already an unparalleled opportunity."

........

Returning to the future, only the nameless Ji Xiang remained here.

Past events were vivid in his mind, but those were only brief past events in the human world. Finally, the red smoke and clouds spread to a long past, which was the Dafuli Land, where countless divine titles stood, and incense filled this huge Dharma realm.

That long, long time ago, as one without offerings, even beginning to forget one's own name and identity, that was the nameless Heavenly God.

"If I am the Heavenly Heart, then at this moment, I am also the Heavenly Heart."

The nameless Ji Xiang spoke, but the one who really spoke was not the nameless Ji Xiang, because the past mind and the future mind have both disappeared, and only one mind remains forever, so when he traced back to this moment in the Dafuli Land a hundred years ago...

The nameless Heavenly God was already the Heavenly Heart!

Ji Xiang seemed to walk through the original path again, passing through those divine titles. As the incense decreased, the names of the gods also became ancient and obscure, but in such a deep place, there was a place where the incense was strong and never declined, and that was the divine position of Yuanshi Tianzun.

The nameless Ji Xiang crossed the divine position and came to the back.

There should have been a blank divine title there, but now it was empty, and Ji Xiang did not hesitate, walked to that position, and sat down.

No past self arrived, because the past self did not exist.

There was no blank divine title, because the blank divine title was also the only one.

"This is, modifying the past."

"I have no name, before Yuanshi, before all things."

Empty——

A huge sound, an indescribable sound, spread outward from Ji Xiang's own existence. In front of him, the divine title of Yuanshi Tianzun slowly turned around. According to the original historical trajectory, this moment should have been to send the nameless Heavenly God down to the world and rescue him with the *Du Ren Jing* (Scripture of Universal Salvation).

But this time, the divine title of Yuanshi Tianzun did not make any sound, only that vast and empty meaning was watching the nameless Ji Xiang.

So, who is the innate supreme now?

So, who is before the innate now?

A Celestial Venerable (Tian Zun), can be named and yet is nameless, proving the principle in the realm of absolute words. The great image is without image, ascending to the mysterious in the midst of nothingness.

"Before the primordial colors were opened, its light was profound and mysterious."

That voice seemed to be spoken from Ji Xiang's mouth, but in the direction that the divine title of Yuanshi Tianzun was facing, there was no Ji Xiang.

There was only a blank divine title.

*Yuan*, *Xuan*.

*Xuan* (玄), is distant and profound, black with a reddish color is the *Xuan* phenomenon, and is hidden and covered.

In Daoism, *Yuan Xuan*, or called *Xuan Yuan*, if *Xuan Yuan* is one, it is the state before the origin of all things is opened. The ancients observed celestial phenomena, and when they observed to the extreme distance, it was dark and they could not see anything. Seeing the distant, unknown, and nameless, it is "the mystery of mysteries."

The gate of all wonders.

The divine title of Yuanshi Tianzun changed. This time, looking from the direction it was facing, the blank divine title disappeared, and Ji Xiang appeared.

Yuanshi Tianzun also began to change, appearing in form and spirit, but that appearance was exactly the same as Ji Xiang. He looked in the direction of the nameless Ji Xiang, but he seemed like a believer.

The nameless Ji Xiang also saw this scene and thought of what a Daoist of the human world had said.

You believe in the Celestial Venerable, and the Celestial Venerable believes in you.

Corresponding words also appeared on the blank divine title.

[Innate Heart: Celestial Venerable offers sacrifices, to see the Xuan phenomenon!]

........

In the ten-thousand-zhang Yin City, above the Ghost Capital, the Eastern Flower Fairy (Donghua Xiannu) was summoned to come here. She saw Ji Xiang, still in that black-clothed appearance, beckoning to her. This made her breathe a sigh of relief, and her mood became a little easier.

It seemed that he had not encountered anything irresistible.