Chapter 24 The Bitter Sea

"Emperor Jinmu...will not let you go!"

Emperor Chongde's last voice was full of resentment, but he himself was a gathering of resentment, and then he stepped into the realm of immortality. After being annihilated this time, he could no longer be resurrected.

Large swaths of white cloud tides appeared in the sky and earth at some unknown time.

The divinity that overflowed and collapsed from the three dead vengeful spirits was all swallowed up by these cloud tides.

When people die, they become ghosts, and ghosts are made of souls; when ghosts die, they become ni, and ni are ghosts who have lost their form and spirit.

When ni die, they become xi, and when xi die, they become yi. At these two levels, even the willingness and the last will are extinguished, and they cannot even descend into the world with non-physical forces such as curses. They are completely non-existent!

"Jinmu... Xu Fu, should have a reaction now."

Ji Xiang devoured the incense of the three great vengeful spirits. After this battle, his strength increased instead of decreasing. He only sensed the surrounding national fortune, but did not try to restore these three vengeful spirits. Of course, the biggest reason was that the national fortune could no longer do such a thing.

If the foundation is destroyed, Ji Xiang doesn't know if there is any way to repair the so-called "power of the divine kingdom," but it seems that if you want to restore the existence of these vengeful spirits who have stepped into the realm of immortality, you will have to pay a considerable price, just because they are stronger than ordinary fake immortals, and also more ancient. Of course, their existence is also more special.

The national fortune of the divine kingdom did not react.

Instead, this Taoyuan (Peach Spring) world opened up a gap on its own. Now, all that remains is the mountain of flesh monster lying on the ground, which is the Ama-no-Iwato (Heavenly Rock Cave) where the deity Amaterasu once secluded herself in myth.

Ji Xiang pushed the divine banner, and the scarlet divine banner covered the sky and the earth, smashing it a lot shorter in an instant. It was actually inserted directly into its head!

This movement caused the mountains and rivers within hundreds of miles to vibrate and sink, so that continuous earthquakes occurred even in the outside world.

The aura of the ancient heavenly demon overflowed downwards from the divine banner. The Ama-no-Iwato was constantly falling, and the divine banner seemed to carry the weight of the entire sky, gradually crushing it!

This thing is essentially a being that can create corpse disintegration, and it is the personification of the world's fear of darkness in ancient mythology. It has extremely similar points to the demons formed by willingness, and from the root, it is almost the same thing, but compared to those demons of willingness that were born with the help of the *Golden Crow Jade Rabbit Collection*, this thing has been passed down from ancient times and has existed to this day.

Xu Fu used the fear of the entire divine kingdom as food to feed it, allowing it to exist and grow to its current tyrannical state, capable of swallowing the sky and devouring the earth, and accepting all laws.

"Tongtian Mingyan, descend!"

The white cloud tides surging around him began to descend like an avalanche. The cloud sea collapsed and turned into a vast ocean. The corpse disintegration divinity on the Ama-no-Iwato was constantly devoured by the white cloud smoke. The constant loss of its power caused this giant monster, comparable to the sky and far surpassing the mountains, to wither and fall. Its pitch-black body faded in color, turning into pale stone slag. The rocks were destroyed, and the limbs also collapsed continuously due to the loss of power.

But this giant monster did not dare to make the slightest resistance, just because the scarlet divine banner was stuck in its head.

The Ama-no-Iwato monster, which was being deprived of its corpse disintegration divinity and gradually turning into pale rock, began to spread all kinds of terrible mutations within its body. This caused an ominous aura to gush out from its giant mouth, overflowing this land like a torrent.

This is not a disaster, nor is it karma.

It is all kinds of fear.

People have all kinds of emotions, and all kinds of emotions can give birth to fear, because these are all from the heart. In Buddhism, they are all kinds of troubles. Fear arises from gains and losses, and various demonic obstacles are summoned and born because of terror.

Buddhism can indeed purify fear. Ji Xiang has many major Buddhist techniques in his hands, and he also has a Biyuan Vajra incarnation of Ksitigarbha as an accessory, but these fears in the Ama-no-Iwato are like the wishes born from people's prayers and sacrifices. They are inherently thoughts, but because there are too many of them, they can actually turn into incense and burn fiercely. The prerequisite for this transformation of intangible things into tangible things is the large number.

There are too many, a tide of fear like a vast ocean. The vitality that is contaminated by the power of fear will turn into an ominous aura. Ji Xiang saw that a divine kingdom monster that had not yet died began to go mad on its own the moment it came into contact with the aura of fear. It constantly mutilated itself in madness, and finally tore its own head apart, chewing its brains in its mouth, and making crying sounds. At the same time, at this point, it had not yet died, as if it had become a walking corpse driven only by fear.

Finally, it ate everything it had, tore off its internal organs, and the blood and flesh that it was gnawing flowed out of its throat. The mouth became very distorted and extremely huge, actually occupying the entire upper body, and then, it destroyed itself in this way.

"It's good to leave it here, let Xu Fu deal with this thing..."

Ji Xiang thought so, and didn't want to care about this thing. After all, such an out-of-control force appearing on Japanese soil would definitely require Xu Fu to spend endless energy to stop this matter, so that he could achieve the goal of consuming the other party again.

But at this moment.

The future illusion suddenly appeared in his eyes!

The supernatural power of Reversing Qiankun (Heaven and Earth) automatically sensed, and the future vision took effect again. In Ji Xiang's eyes, he saw the future illusion. Xu Fu's figure appeared in this ominous aura, and the fragments that flashed after him showed that the aura of fear was swallowed by the divine kingdom, and did not cause much damage to this country.

On the contrary.

The Way of the Gods even took advantage of this opportunity to repair a certain foundation.

"It seems I'm a bit naive."

Ji Xiang touched his forehead and sighed.

He originally thought this was a trouble, but now he was reminded by the future vision that he realized something was wrong. Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed correct. This kind of thing was originally cultivated by Xu Fu. Since he was going to supply it with so much nourishment, then what he would get in the end would definitely not be a useless fruit.

Speaking of which, isn't this the method of the Way of the Gods? Even the Great Thing Master God who crossed the sea and spread various disasters in ancient times was also an ancient ghost god, and was also something refined by Xu Fu.

"So, if I deal with it, what will happen?"

Since the future vision appeared, it meant that there would be a divergence here, which could be interfered with.

Ji Xiang thought so, and then the future vision reappeared, and pieces of future illusions appeared. Ji Xiang saw a tall stone tablet, surrounded by monstrous demon energy, confusing people's minds, and his side was entangled with these ominous auras of fear, dispelling those demon auras.

Then, it was a scene of a great supernatural power being displayed, and these auras of fear transformed into a blue sky, which was empty.

Following closely, the third illusion appeared, and the fourth illusion appeared... all of them were ominous scenes.

Sometimes he was in a turbulent sea, sometimes he was in Abi (Avici) hell, and sometimes he was in a place full of yin energy. The enemy he faced was a gray-clothed Confucian scholar on the sea who could not see his face, but behind him, countless phantoms of divine generals manifested; in Abi hell were many evil ghosts, and in the place full of yin energy was a human-skinned corpse general, behind whom there seemed to be two obscure sculptures.

"It seems that if I interfere, the ending is not very good, but there is no sign of Xu Fu."

"And I have already refined the aura of fear into a supernatural power?"

Ji Xiang discovered that in the future illusions where he chose to interfere, Xu Fu's traces did not appear, but he also did not know the situation in Japan. On the contrary, he himself seemed to have fallen into many dangerous situations.

But in any case, it is much better than strengthening Japan.

So he immediately activated the supreme Dharma in his heart.

With such a great power of fear, his half-baked Buddhism would not be of use. If he used the Heavenly Demon Qi to devour it, it would still take a long time to refine it. Now there was no ample time, so he had to immediately deduce a spell that could subdue these fears.

The true meaning of the Three Teachings!

A batch of inventory was quickly burned out, and under Ji Xiang's deduction, rays of immortal light condensed on his body!

It was just a pity that the Shinto religion did not have any scriptures or classics. It would be much better if Heian Shrine was a stronghold for Onmyōji (Yin-Yang Masters). The Way of Yin and Yang has many classics passed down, of course, from its nature, it is similar to those waste papers of the White Lotus Sect, but after all, there are some useful things.

Ji Xiang took many Buddhist scriptures from Honnō-ji Temple when he was refining the Heavenly Demon Qi, and now he sacrificed them all together. In the end, the quality of the Buddhist scriptures used for sacrifice is the highest, often being worth three or four books of other doctrines.

Not only is the quality high, but the quantity is also large. It is a pity that most of the Buddhist temples are on the side of the righteous path, and Ji Xiang cannot blatantly go in to "borrow" them.

If it were in the eras when the Three Wu and One Sect persecuted Buddhism, then he should be able to collect a lot of high-level Buddhist classics, and he would not have to bear the karma of eradicating Buddhism.

As the deduction progressed, Ji Xiang began to experience the calamity of the mortal world, and it became larger and larger, and more and more accumulated, but now it was not a big problem for Ji Xiang. He only needed to use the power of the Heavenly Venerable of the Yellow Dao (Huangdao) after the event to slowly refine it to avoid this disaster.

However, the accumulated calamity of the mortal world still surprised Ji Xiang.

This was almost comparable to the sum of the calamity of the mortal world on his body before, and it was still increasing, just because he was deducing a spell, he did not expect that there would be such terrible consequences.

And the Buddhist scriptures were also sacrificed one by one. Seeing that the Buddhist scriptures taken from Honnō-ji Temple were about to run out of inventory, finally, after bursts of immortal light erupted, the deduction of the spell was also completed. At this time, the power of fear had already infected this Taoyuan world, leaving only the piece of heaven and earth where the scarlet divine banner stood uninfected.

Ji Xiang opened his hands, and two rays of immortal light fell from the sky.

In an instant.

The infinite power of fear poured into the two rays of immortal light!

The voice spread and echoed continuously:

"The essence of the heart is round and perfect, containing all directions; the body is like the void, without boundaries."

"Bitter Sea!"

The two rays of immortal light spread, and this infinite fear entered it, transforming into a vast ocean, restrained by Ji Xiang, and transformed into the Bitter Sea supernatural power!

The bitter sea is boundless, turn back to the shore!

The so-called bitter sea refers to the troubles and sufferings of the mortal world. The practice of both Buddhism and Taoism aims to escape the bitter sea, that is, to get rid of all troubles and evil obstacles, and to attain the Dao and become immortals and Buddhas as the ultimate goal.

If you want to escape the bitter sea, you must let go of all the traces you have left in the mortal world!

From this point of view, even the ancestors of Taoism and Buddhism have not achieved it.

And Ji Xiang refined this infinite power of fear into a supreme supernatural power, and even the immortal scripture deduced reached an amazing fourth-grade!

Infinite immeasurable, supreme light!

As soon as the bitter sea was opened, Ji Xiang suddenly sensed several powerful existences. Their power permeated the bitter sea, and he could even sense the troubles and karma of countless beings in the world!

"Huh?"

A strange, questioning voice came out, but it did not seem to notice Ji Xiang's existence. It came from the infinite power of fear of all living beings, which was not caused by Xu Fu's magic power, but came from a higher and more immeasurable place!

One of the forces made Ji Xiang feel familiar.

When performing superordination for the dead, the name of this great god will be recited.

The Celestial Worthy of Great Mercy That Averts Suffering!

And this feeling was only sensed in the first moment when the bitter sea was opened. Now, Ji Xiang is in a heaven and earth like a Dharma Realm, which is the power of the Bitter Sea supernatural power. As long as there are still living beings in the world, there must be the existence of willingness. If there is the existence of willingness, the world is like a bitter sea, and troubles and karma will never be cut off.

"The Bitter Sea supernatural power can actually sense these high-level existences, but I don't know if it can have an impact on them."

"They can't perceive me."

The calamity of the mortal world floated in the bitter sea, and at this moment, it actually left Ji Xiang's body. Under Ji Xiang's gaze, it sank into the bitter sea and gradually disappeared, and the bitter sea itself seemed to have grown a lot.

This calamity of the mortal world itself is also a kind of many tribulations, belonging to a kind of suffering, and it is also a kind of indelible trouble for those who are entangled by it.

"It can actually erase my calamity of the mortal world, this... is too good!"

Ji Xiang was quite surprised, but immediately became a little strange.

"Huh? Something seems wrong."

The power of fear accumulated over the ages has transformed into the Bitter Sea supernatural power, but it is different from what he saw in the future vision before.

Shouldn't his great supernatural power be that empty blue sky?

Could it be that that supernatural power was not formed by the power of fear? But in the illusion one scene before this, he clearly appeared to be using the aura of fear.

"Could it be that the supernatural power is still changing and has not yet taken shape?"

"Or is it, that it is actually a new supernatural power derived from the bitter sea?"

Ji Xiang didn't know why, but in any case, for the current him, the calamity of the mortal world can not only be converted into merit, but even improve the bitter sea. In the future, the true meaning of the Three Teachings can be used frequently, and he should also visit the strongholds of the White Lotus Sect more often.

When the aura of fear in this world completely disappeared, Ji Xiang disappeared from here with the other two.

The barrier of the divine kingdom had long been broken through.

The sea was turbulent.

And in Kyoto, Xu Fu sensed Ji Xiang's departure and the destruction of the Taoyuan world, but said nothing.

"Killed the three great vengeful spirits, destroyed the Taoyuan I created, and the place of corpse disintegration was also destroyed... This heavenly demon is doing whatever he wants in my divine kingdom, such a provocation is really infuriating."

"But those three guys also had the intention of rebelling against me, wanting to go beyond my control, be reborn, enter the state of being born as gods, and then step by step ascend to immortality, entering the realm of true immortals... It's better if they die."

"Otherwise, if I destroy Taoyuan myself, I will be hurt, and I will have to lose my own luck. Now that I have been cut off by that heavenly demon, although it is like cutting off one of my arms, there will be new people inheriting the vacant position. In this way, it is like a dragon entering the sea, and a bird ascending to the blue sky, no longer bound!"

What is important is not the things on the land.

But the land itself!

Just like what is often said in Middle Earth, this place will produce emperors, there is dragon energy, and there are dragon veins.

It is because there is this kind of land that can create this kind of future.