Chapter 198: with translation of chapter title

198. Chapter 195 Heavenly Demon Appears, Laozi Enters the Demon Path

He saw the memory of Laozi falling from his saintly position and Panhuang achieving the Heavenly Dao, which also let Rahu understand why Zhunti's state of mind suddenly became perfect again—the reason lies here.

Zhunti's state of mind developed a crack because of Panhuang, but now it becomes perfect again also because of Panhuang, since Panhuang has grown to a height that even Zhunti cannot reach, so that little resentment in his heart now looks like a joke.

Precisely for this reason, Zhunti's state of mind becomes perfect again, because he no longer regards Panhuang as his opponent, he is no longer worthy to be Panhuang's opponent; upon realizing this, Zhunti remains a Heavenly Dao sage and the creator of Ling Mountain, so his state of mind becomes perfect again.

"Without Zhunti, there's still Laozi! Although Laozi has fallen from his saintly position, if handled properly, his strength could possibly recover; then my demon realm would gain another sage guardian!" Rahu muttered to himself.

"Although Laozi has fallen from his saintly position, the sage's state of mind remains, so Rahu plans to send a stronger heavenly demon to tempt Laozi, and the temptation point is exactly what Laozi currently craves most—strength, and also Panhuang."

He intends to use Panhuang to make Laozi lower his guard, thereby achieving the goal of eroding Laozi.

Saying it, doing it—Rahu quickly selected a relatively powerful heavenly demon.

"Go, whether my demon realm can rise or not is up to you." Rahu said with a smile to the heavenly demon before him.

"Demon Ancestor, disciple will surely not disappoint expectations and bring back a sage guardian for my demon realm!" The heavenly demon, looking solemnly at Rahu, said this, then turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished into Chaos.

Although the demon realm is a world attached to the Honghuang and exists because of it, the heavenly demons within the demon realm can move freely in Chaos, utterly unafraid of its chaotic qi.

Not long after, this heavenly demon arrived at Laozi's dojo; when he entered Laozi's dojo, Laozi was cultivating.

Because he fell from his saintly position, Laozi's foundation was damaged; no matter how he cultivates, his cultivation remains only at the mid-stage of quasi-saint, unable to advance even a bit.

"Is this what a former sage looks like? He seems no more than this!" The heavenly demon, upon seeing Laozi's grim face, sneered in his heart.

He dares to say this now because, if Laozi had not fallen from his saintly position, the heavenly demon would not dare appear here; otherwise, Laozi would have already blasted him to ashes.

While the heavenly demon was muttering, Laozi once again fell into cultivation; the demon seized the opportunity to burrow into Laozi's body and lie in wait, for now is not the time to meet Laozi.

Laozi's state of mind has not yet reached the stage of entering the demon path, so the heavenly demon plans to lie low for a while, observe Laozi, and silently influence him from the shadows; when the time is ripe, Laozi will be able to enter the demon path.

After the heavenly demon had finished lying in wait, it sent a message to Rahu; upon learning that the demon had concealed itself, Rahu's lips curled into a smile.

"Laozi's move has already been made; then let us begin laying plans in Honghuang, for I still have a personally transmitted disciple there." Rahu said with a smile.

Having said that, he transferred his consciousness into the World-Ending Black Lotus.

Jinnaluó's ability to enter the demon path is actually thanks to Rahu; back then, Baihuaxiu perished, and Jinnaluó was expelled from Ling Mountain by the Tathagata, causing his faith to collapse instantly.

Because Mount Sumeru was once Rahu's dojo, Ling Mountain, no matter how it is sealed, still has demonic qi in its spiritual veins; however, this qi cannot affect those within Ling Mountain.

However, Jinnaluó, due to his faith collapsing, inadvertently touched a strand of this primal demonic qi, and Rahu instantly sensed it.

Afterward, things became clear: Rahu discovered Jinnaluó, learned of his deeds, and used that strand of primal demonic qi to pull Jinnaluó's primordial spirit into the demon realm and take him as a disciple.

After taking Jinnaluó as his disciple, Rahu even gave him the World-Ending Black Lotus, intending to use him to lay plans in Honghuang.

Jinnaluó did not disappoint Rahu's expectations; today Mount Sumeru is half Buddhist, half demon: its sunny side is Ling Mountain, its shady side is the Wu Tian Buddhist Sect.

"Looks like this disciple of mine still has some talent, using the dark abyss to forge Mount Sumeru's shady side into a little demon realm." Rahu said with a smile.

"Let the master lend you a hand." Rahu chuckled lightly, and in the next second, countless low-ranking heavenly demons entered the Wu Tian Buddhist Sect along the energy conduits of the unseen.

"It's time for my demon realm's presence to appear upon the Honghuang earth." Rahu added.

I don't know why, but after the failed attack on Shouyang Mountain, Honghuang cultivators discovered a problem: their strength gains are becoming ever slower.

Even a slight carelessness now carries the risk of cultivation deviation into demonic influence, whereas before they never had such a situation.

What they don't know is that this is all Rahu's doing; he sent low-ranking heavenly demons to the Wu Tian Buddhist Sect, then used the sect to have those demons invade the subconscious of the vast majority of Honghuang cultivators.

Once these cultivators' practice runs into trouble, heavenly demons will manifest, and if fortunate, demonic cultivators will soon appear in Honghuang.

The Heavenly Dao quickly noticed this, but strangely, it did not block the heavenly demons' invasion.

Because the Heavenly Dao discovered that its strength had actually recovered a bit, at first this puzzled the Heavenly Dao, since heavenly demon invasion logically should be a great harm to Honghuang; if mishandled, Honghuang could very well be occupied by the demons.

Yet at this moment the Heavenly Dao actually regained some strength due to the heavenly demons' invasion, showing that the invasion benefits Honghuang.

After the Heavenly Dao's calculations, it found that the heavenly demons' invasion could enable Honghuang cultivators to undergo survival of the fittest and even give back to Honghuang; therefore, it not only did not stop the invasion, but secretly promoted it.

Due to the heavenly demons' invasion, Honghuang powers began to reshuffle; first were the small factions, because they lacked quasi-saints or Great Luo Golden Immortals to hold the line, and being eager for quick success, their minds were inherently unstable, making them most susceptible to heart-demons during advancement.

After being invaded by heart-demons, the outcome is self-evident: they directly dissolved their bodies and entered reincarnation; as for their flesh, it nourished Honghuang, because their strength was so low that even heavenly demons disdained it, and they would never let them fall into demonhood.

"What a tumultuous autumn; it seems Honghuang is about to fall into chaos." Zhao Gongming said in Shouyang Mountain.

"It's quite normal; the Hongjun Dao Ancestor has now transcended the Heavenly Dao, Laozi has fallen from his saintly position, the Heavenly Dao's strength has greatly diminished, and with its current power it cannot control Honghuang, so the demon realm seizes the opportunity; nevertheless, those who ultimately suffer are the small forces surviving in the cracks." The Great Peng first showed a hint of compassion.

"Survival of the fittest, the strong survive—this has always been the iron law of Honghuang." Ao Mo'ang said.

After the Journey to the West ended, Zhao Gongming took Ao Mo'ang as his disciple, so he now counts as a disciple of the Ren Sect.

"No matter how Honghuang changes, as long as we protect the Ren Sect and humanity, that's enough; we can't manage anything else!" Sun Wukong said.

Everyone nodded; indeed, that's the case—now they only need to guard Shouyang Mountain and humanity, and as for other matters, they have no relation to them nor any need to concern themselves.

But they don't want to concern themselves, yet someone steps forward apart from the Ren Sect to save the masses.

Because of the heavenly demons' invasion, Honghuang underwent a great reshuffle; aside from New Year's Eve, demonic cultivators also took root and sprouted in Honghuang, developing like a locust swarm, and within just ten years they occupied one-fifth of the red-light cultivators.

After demonic cultivators appeared, they began massively slaughtering Honghuang cultivators; besides Honghuang cultivators, ordinary beings in Honghuang were also their targets, and even humanity became their prey.

But after they slaughtered humanity, the Holy Court and the human ancestral lands strongly suppressed several demonic cultivator forces and beheaded the strongest demonic cultivators currently in Honghuang, after which the demonic cultivators learned their lesson.

They came to understand a principle: besides humanity, any allied species friendly to humanity must not be touched; everything else is fair game.

For a time, everyone sought to befriend humanity, even clinging to it, but humanity could never accept them; their attachment to humanity was merely refuge, not genuine friendship, and once the calamity passed, their ugly faces would reappear.

Since humanity and the Holy Court refused to accept these species, they turned their gaze to the Ren Sect of Shouyang Mountain; this time they did not rashly show up at the door, but intended to use public opinion and righteousness to coerce the Ren Sect into accepting them.

"As the foremost power in Honghuang, the Ren Sect ought to aid all beings of Honghuang!"

"The Ren Sect is now the only force in Honghuang untouched by demonic cultivators; since they have the ability to resist demonic cultivators, they should also have the strength to save our lives!"

"We are all beings of Honghuang; Ling Mountain has said before that saving one life outweighs building a seven-story pagoda, and the Ren Sect's refusal to rescue will bring karmic retribution."

"Ren Sect, if you still have conscience, you ought to open Shouyang Mountain and accept us."

Every word sounded noble and righteous, but Zhao Gongming and the others simply would not buy it—forcing them with grand righteousness? Sorry, they have no such righteousness; they only have the Ren Sect's small sense of duty.

Seeing no movement from Shouyang Mountain, Honghuang beings again wanted to form an allied army to attack the Ren Sect and compel it to comply, but this time no one responded.

Now they still have demonic cultivators behind them; if forced to choose between attacking the Ren Sect and resisting the demonic cultivators, the vast majority, like Xuanzang alone, would resist the demonic cultivators.

"Let chaos reign, let chaos arise; without destruction there can be no establishment, and the new order will surely be more suited to the present Honghuang than the old." In the Ziwei Palace, the Heavenly Dao murmured to itself.

Because of the reshuffling of the Primordial Wilderness, the strength that the Heavenly Dao had just recovered fell again, but this time he could feel his foundation continually being solidified, indicating that the current situation in the Primordial Wilderness should not be a bad thing for him.

After a hundred years, the situation in the Primordial Wilderness stabilized; the myriad races of the Primordial Wilderness, under the invasion of the Heavenly Demon, were reduced to one in ten, and now the myriad races have become a hundred races, the survivors are all elites, while those who died have long been forgotten in the river of time.

Because the Heavenly Demon acted as a catalyst, the overall strength of the Primordial Wilderness not only did not decline but actually increased slightly, thereby raising the strength of the Heavenly Dao considerably.

The Primordial Wilderness is changing, and Laozi in Chaos is also changing.

After the Heavenly Demon invaded Laozi's body, it began to influence him intentionally and unintentionally; although Laozi now possesses a sage's mindset, he lacks a sage's strength, and his mindset often undergoes great fluctuations, which the Heavenly Demon exploits to slowly influence him. Now the opportunity has matured, and the Heavenly Demon feels it is time to let Laozi fall into demonhood.

That day, after Laozi finished his cultivation as usual and checked his realm, he found that his realm had made no progress, and his face darkened as usual.

"Hmph! I don't believe it; my training hall bears the trace of a sage's Dao, I have merely fallen from the sage's position, and I will surely ascend to the sage's position again." Laozi muttered to himself.

"You have no chance!" Suddenly, a voice welled up from the depths of Laozi's heart.

Upon hearing that voice, Laozi immediately became tense: "Who!"

"I am you!" the voice sounded again.

When Laozi heard those words from the Heavenly Demon, his expression eased a little, for he already knew what kind of thing was speaking.

"A mere Heavenly Demon, you dare to disturb my mind?" Laozi said contemptuously.

"Do you want power? Do you wish to return to the sage's position? Accept me, and you can return to the sage's position." the voice of the Heavenly Demon sounded.

"Just by you, a mere Heavenly Demon?" Laozi said contemptuously.

"I am the other side you refuse to acknowledge; originally I was indeed a Heavenly Demon, but now I am called Laozi, I am your other side, the embodiment of all your negative emotions." the Heavenly Demon said with a laugh.

"We are one entity; my strength is yours. As long as you accept me, you can return to the sage's position, then you can walk out of this prison-like training hall, then you can go find Panhuang. When you return to the sage's position and find Panhuang, his eyes will surely show an incredulous expression." The Heavenly Demon's tempting voice sounded again.

This time Laozi did not speak; he fell into deep thought. He had to admit that the Heavenly Demon's words were tempting, for Laozi devoted himself to cultivation solely to one day return to the sage's position and then go find Panhuang to take revenge, and now the Heavenly Demon's words struck exactly at his heart.

"I am you, you are me, we are one; what is mine is yours. Come, accept me, accept my power, return to the sage's position!" Seeing a crack appear in Laozi's mindset, the Heavenly Demon's voice softened considerably, and the sense of temptation deepened.

"No, you are not me; you are merely a filthy Heavenly Demon." Laozi suddenly awakened; he had almost lost his focus.

Seeing this, the Heavenly Demon was not annoyed, nor did he expect to make Laozi fall into demonhood in one go; the Heavenly Demon clan has a fine tradition of having an excellent temperament, and he has plenty of time to let Laozi fall into demonhood.

After several more cultivation sessions, Laozi still gained nothing; each time, the Heavenly Demon would come out to chat with him a couple of sentences, tempting him. The first few times, Laozi's vigilance was very strong, and he even tried some methods to purify the Heavenly Demon, but they failed.

The Heavenly Demon told Laozi that he was Laozi's obsession, Laozi's karmic obstacle; as long as Laozi harbored obsession and karmic obstacle in his heart, he could not possibly dissipate.

As time passed, Laozi no longer resisted the Heavenly Demon much, and even began to believe the Heavenly Demon's words—that he was his own karmic obstacle, his own obsession.

That day, after finishing cultivation, the Heavenly Demon as usual chatted with Laozi; this time he noticed that Laozi's focus frequently lapsed. Knowing the opportunity had come, after some temptation, Laozi's focus lapsed again. The Heavenly Demon seized the moment, lunged forward, enveloped Laozi's focus, and then smoothly entered Laozi's sea of consciousness. (End of chapter)