After he finished speaking, he bowed deeply to Xu Le, expressing his sincere gratitude. One could clearly feel his love for the world.
After the old man finished his prayers, he looked at Xu Le, who had no expression on his face, and pointed to the blue ball of light in Xu Le's hand. With a worried expression on his face, he said, "Fellow Daoist, this thing is also a creation of an evil god. Why not destroy it and do a good deed for this world?"
The blue orb also possessed a certain level of intelligence. Upon hearing the old man's suggestion that Xu Le eliminate it, it glowed with a hint of red, seemingly in anger.
Xu Le ignored his suggestion and said, "When I first heard the monster inside the stone tablet say that it was a fusion of evil thoughts and the blood of an evil god, I didn't doubt it. But later, when I preached in exchange for merit, this world actually drove animals to learn the Tao and become demons. At first, I thought it was overestimating itself, but..."
As Xu Le spoke, his gaze fixed intently on Jing Hongzi's goodwill. His face, once affable, was now expressionless and calm. Xu Le continued:
"But so much has been sacrificed for this preaching. I thought he was too eager to advance to a higher world, but the later transformation of Da Niu into a demon made me realize something. I also had a guess in my mind: the sky is no longer the same sky."
At this point, Jing Hongzi's expression remained calm, his eyes cold and devoid of resentment or disgust, like a machine.
Xu Le looked at Jing Hongzi, who seemed devoid of emotion, and laughed loudly: "The Heavenly Dao of an ordinary world should be a combination of the consciousness and rules of all things. Even if it suddenly absorbed the inner world of a Celestial Immortal, it is impossible for it to become so far-sighted and use me to lure out demons and monsters so early."
However, if we look at it another way, and if this Heavenly Dao was devoured by Jing Hongzi, then it makes sense. Jing Hongzi was originally from a higher world, and he was also a Qi cultivator. Qi cultivators are most familiar with the development of the world, so it's not surprising that he could replace the Heavenly Dao.
“You are very clever. Back then, I was tainted by the blood of the evil god and could not get rid of it. Fortunately, I came to this world. I abandoned everything and merged into the Heavenly Dao of this world. I was a celestial being before. Even if my soul was weak, it was still superior to this world in essence.”
Jinghongzi narrated all of this with a blank expression, without any emotional fluctuation, as if the protagonist of this story was someone else rather than him.
Xu Le absorbed the ball of light into his inner world, where twelve pillars of light suppressed it. The God Cube slowly rotated within his heart, radiating golden light from within to form a protective barrier.
Xu Le said, "You seem to have omitted a lot. For example, you are not a kind thought, but rather Jing Hongzi's obsession or ego. Otherwise, if you were to merge with the Heavenly Dao, the massive flow of information could replace a person's consciousness. Only an ego or obsession devoid of any emotion would be qualified to merge. So you have no emotions now, right?"
More than four hundred years ago, you helped the founding emperor of the Shang Dynasty not because of any regrets in your heart, but because you sacrificed a lot of power to sever that corrupted part. Without enough power to fight against the Heavenly Dao, the result of rashly merging with it would only be assimilation by the Heavenly Dao and becoming a part of it.
So you helped the founding emperor of the Shang Dynasty successfully establish a unified dynasty. If I'm not mistaken, you must have held a grand sacrificial ceremony at that time, using immense spiritual power to gain recognition from the world and simultaneously acquire the power to defy the will of Heaven.
As soon as he finished speaking, a bolt of lightning carrying an aura of destruction struck Xu Le's pale golden barrier. The powerful lightning did not shatter the barrier, but the powerful impact sent Xu Le flying dozens of meters away.
A cold glint flashed in Xu Le's eyes, and his voice carried a hint of anger as he said, "The appearance of demons is indeed to promote the evolution of the world, but forcing Da Niu to become a demon step by step is to use him to cause a surge of demonic energy in the dark side of the world and defile the Heavenly Dao."
For four hundred years, your relentless erosion of the Heavenly Dao has made great progress, but it is not the original product of this world, and there is still a resistance. However, the only way to eliminate this resistance is to completely annihilate the Heavenly Dao.
However, you yourself are also part of the Dao of Heaven. If you take matters into your own hands, you will not be able to perfectly integrate with this world, and it will leave a huge flaw.
But you dare not let the evil god in the inner world take action. If something goes wrong, the world will be finished, and mortals do not have the power to defy the heavens. So you have been waiting for the right opportunity.
"At this moment, I appeared, a person who does not belong to this world, appearing in this world with enough power. Your opportunity has come."
You arranged three Xuan Tie tokens for me. Your original idea was to use your cultivation technique to lure me and dispel my suspicions. After all, the technique is real, and I would definitely think that Jing Hongzi is dead, so I wouldn't consider the possibility that Jing Hongzi devoured the Heavenly Dao.
But you didn't expect that the evil god would break free of the seal and, unfortunately, bump into me, and I destroyed him in the process. You probably don't know that this guy had already told me that he was a fusion of your evil thoughts and the evil god.
Unaware of what had transpired inside the stone tablet, you believed the plan was proceeding smoothly, so you instigated the war while simultaneously pretending to be the Eternal Heaven and handing the creature over to Wolf Teng.
At this moment, a terrifying aura permeated the air, dark clouds filled the sky and earth, pressing down on the entire world. Countless lightning snakes swam within the dark clouds, and the whole world seemed to have entered the apocalypse.
Seeing this terrifying power, Xu Le mentally connected with the Gate of All Realms, ready to flee at any moment.
Xu Le stretched out his right hand, and the blue ball of light was once again in his grasp. He shouted loudly at Jing Hongzi, "This is not some creation of an evil god at all, but rather the last remaining trace of the original Heavenly Dao of the original world!"
Upon hearing this, a silver light flashed in Jing Hongzi's eyes, and his aura became even more ruthless and ethereal.
It turns out that after being eroded by Jinghongzi for four hundred years, the original Heavenly Dao of the world was left with only this last trace of its origin, which could no longer be eroded. Protected by the world's instinct, it could neither devour Him nor kill Him in this world, because killing Him would mean being rejected by the world, which would not be in line with its plan.
So he had the demonic energy generated by the Great Bull's fall draw in the source of demonic energy in the void, corrupting Him. Then he sealed Him and handed Him over to Wolf Teng, while manipulating the shaman priest to tell him two methods of manipulation.
The purpose was to prepare him to use the second method when he encountered Xu Le who was no match for him: to sacrifice himself to summon the corrupted Heavenly Dao consciousness. Then, the chaotic Heavenly Dao consciousness would definitely attack anyone indiscriminately, and Xu Le would surely destroy him when he saw this.
At that time, Xu Le will be rejected by the world, while Jing Hongzi will reap the benefits and successfully replace the will of Heaven with his own, becoming the new Heavenly Dao.
Moreover, this world is about to advance, and once he succeeds, he will be able to regain his original strength. At that time, he will retrieve the good thoughts and obsessions that were sealed somewhere and merge them. Although he will lose his evil thoughts, Jing Hongzi will still be resurrected again.
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Chapter Sixty-Two: Extortion
The two of them stared at each other calmly, without saying a word.
Below them, in the dark clouds, lightning still flashed, streaks of lightning constantly moving about, and every now and then a few white lightning bolts shot out of the clouds and exploded around Xu Le.
Lightning flashed in the clouds, seemingly unwilling to let Xu Le go.
Suddenly, a flicker of emotion crossed Jing Hongzi's usually stagnant eyes. He saw Xu Le produce a statue—a statue he would never forget. The octopus-like head, the disdainful gaze, seemed to recall the memories of being corrupted four hundred years ago…
Even though he had lost his emotions, Jing Hongzi still harbored fear of this evil god in his memory. With his complete rationality, he dispelled all the dark clouds, and the world returned to peace and tranquility.
Jinghongzi stared at the statue in Xu Le's hand and said, "Tell me, what do you want?"
Xu Le put the statue away and said, "Very good, that's straightforward enough. Take the world origin that's the same amount of merit you gave me last time, and we'll be even. I'll also help you resolve this Heavenly Dao consciousness."
After speaking, Xu Le flicked his finger lightly at the blue light cluster, which quieted down the small blue light cluster that was looking around.
"That's too much. I'll give you a quarter at most." Jing Hongzi refused without even thinking. The essence he gave up last time was already a huge loss. If he had to do it again, it would really be a serious injury.
"That's too little. It should be at least half of what it was last time. If not, I don't mind destroying this world. After all, it's just a low-level world and doesn't have much value to me. You can try to see if I can keep my word."
Xu Le was too lazy to bargain with Jing Hongzi. What did the world's life or death have to do with him? However, he also knew that he couldn't push too hard, because even a rabbit will bite when cornered, so he lowered his demands.
Jinghongzi weighed the pros and cons in his mind. He could tell that Xu Le was not joking. After observing him for so many days, he already knew what kind of person Xu Le was.
Selfish! Greedy! Seemingly kind but actually heartless, and most importantly, he keeps his word.
After careful consideration, Jing Hongzi realized he had no choice but to agree to Xu Le's request. After all, Xu Le could summon the evil god and leave, as this world held no appeal for him. But he couldn't; he was on the verge of successfully replacing the world's Heavenly Dao and couldn't afford to give up.
"Yes, but you must destroy the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao, or at least bring it into this world. Although I am just Jing Hongzi's own obsession, I also know that the development of the inner world requires the birth of the Heavenly Dao, but even my predecessor did not achieve this. However, obtaining the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao can accelerate this process, so it can be considered a help to you."
Jing Hongzi agreed to Xu Le's request. There was no anger or distress in his tone, as if he had been threatened. He was now just an obsession, like a program in a computer, only there to complete a task. His previous attack on Xu Le was merely because Xu Le had ruined his plans, an instinctive attack. He had now become a machine, devoid of any joy or anger, and had become absolutely rational.