Inquiry about immortality

In the blink of an eye, the world has changed.

The cave where Qin Sang was located sank from the mountain to the bottom of the lake, and the surrounding environment was transformed into the Taoist temple of the Tiancang Kingdom.

The stone bed beneath him transformed into the Gengchuzhi altar, and the Dugong Seal within the altar reappeared in his dream.

Centered on Qin Sang, the entire dream world was turned upside down, and the vast territories of the half-demon kingdoms, their countless people, and the eight dragon veins all appeared.

To the west of the half-demon kingdoms, the wind and desert also manifested.

On this territory, all sorts of astonishing phenomena appeared at the same time: a sea of ​​stars, a blue dragon, heavenly fire, and thunder. It turned out that what Qin Sang 'dreamed' was exactly the time when he was performing rituals in reality.

"Start the altar!"

"Perform the ritual!"

When Qin Sang opened the altar and issued the decree, the masters of the Jingtan, Dutan, and branch altars all obeyed the decree.

Ten thousand thunderbolts rise together, piercing through the heavens.

We will offer sacrifices to thunder in the heavens and march west to vanquish our enemies!
At that very moment, the four half-demon True Monarchs mobilized the dragon veins to assist them. The dragon roars shook the heavens, and the eight dragon veins gathered the divine will of hundreds of millions of half-demon people, just like ten thousand rivers flowing into the sea, converging towards Qin Sang.

Unfortunately, Qin Sang is not the 'sea', and besides, it contains the divine will of four True Lords.

At this moment, Qin Sang truly understood what it meant to have "the will of the people and the support of all." This power was not ethereal; it could be "touched." The Great Dao evolves into all things, and all living beings exist within it. The convergence of the hearts of billions is itself the Dao!

The impact was even more intense than Qin Sang had anticipated; he could hardly bear it, but fortunately, the Dream Seed provided a buffer.

When this scene reappeared in the dream, when the Thunder Altar was activated, time in the dream suddenly slowed down, becoming a hundred or a thousand times slower than normal.

The strange phenomena on the battlefield and people's movements all slowed down. The incredibly fast lightning almost froze, and time slowed down to near standstill.

This is exactly the opposite of what happened in Yang Shen's dream.

This moment was crucial for Qin Sang's enlightenment, and the impact of that instant was too intense. Qin Sang successfully tricked the half-demon of the Great Wind Plains into helping him achieve enlightenment, falsely conveying the Celestial Master's decree and deceiving the four True Lords. It was also a risky move. He not only gained astonishing rewards but also exceeded his own capacity to bear them. At that time, his Dao foundation was shaken, and without the Dream Seed, his Dao foundation might have collapsed.

In an instant, it seemed that too much information was transmitted, yet it was also like a chaotic mess, leaving Qin Sang at a loss. He wanted to use the dream seed to 'slow down' time, so that he would have the energy to 'disassemble' and comprehend it.

Qin Sang sat alone on the altar, maintaining the same posture in both her dream and waking life.

At this moment, Qin Sang's divine will spread out, first along the network of the Dao Court's altars, extending to every branch altar, sensing the divine will of each altar master and disciple. These cultivators all practiced Dao Court thunder magic and could be regarded as disciples of the Five Thunder Academy. Their divine will was also the purest, without distraction, focusing solely on casting thunder magic, activating the altars, and assisting him in casting the Thunder Sacrifice Oath.

In the dream, most of these cultivators had no faces; Qin Sang had never seen them before, and he couldn't even recognize all the disciples of the Five Thunder Sect. Qin Sang's impression of them came entirely from those divine wills, which he fabricated in the dream based on those divine wills.

Before long, their blurry faces gradually became clear, and facial features began to appear. Then, a horrifying scene unfolded: their facial features, after being distorted, began to resemble Qin Sang more and more!
It was as if countless Qin Sangs had possessed them, or perhaps they had become incarnations of Qin Sang.

Like these rulers of the altars, Qin Sang, a citizen of the half-demon kingdoms, could not have seen them all; what appeared in his dreams were only those divine wills.

These divine wills are too numerous and too chaotic, far exceeding those of the master of the altar.

The divine will of hundreds of millions of half-demon people mingled together, forming a torrent that surged forth in an instant. There was fear and sorrow, doubt and blind obedience, devout prayers and angry curses. Some worshipped him as a god and were willing to dedicate the rest of their lives to serving him. Some were confused and doubtful. There was even ecstasy and the relief of liberation, and so on.

When a great calamity strikes, a thousand people will have a thousand faces, and all sorts of different personalities!
Qin Sang couldn't possibly verify them all; even with a long enough time in the dream, his energy would be insufficient to sustain him.

Fortunately, among these torrents of divine will, one will dominates.

The half-demon lord revealed the truth to all his people: the enemy was upon them, and annihilation was imminent. Faced with this catastrophe and the threat of death, everything they once cared about became a mere illusion; survival became the only instinct for most.

However, faced with the terrifying heavenly fire and the powerful divine abilities that were almost divine might, the half-demon people had no ability to resist.

At this moment, the Half-Demon True Lord told them that someone would stand up and save them from their dire straits, bringing them a glimmer of hope in their desperate situation, the only light in the darkness!
Whether for themselves or for their loved ones, they prayed, they pleaded, regarding that person as a savior, or even a god, from the bottom of their hearts, without any ulterior motives!

In reality, at that moment, countless half-demon citizens knelt on the ground, including cultivators who once thought they possessed great power and could control their own destiny. Now they realized they were just as insignificant and powerless as mortals, and chose to beg the 'gods' to save them...

These converged into the most powerful and purest divine intent within the torrent of divine will!
Furthermore, the dragon vein created by the half-demon lord is a treasure of the Mahayana path. Imperceptibly, the dragon vein has long been rooted in this land and in the hearts of every half-demon citizen, and it is now playing its role.

They gather divine will, restrain and isolate distracting thoughts. When the thoughts of all people converge on Qin Sang through the dragon vein, they have already been filtered and purified!

That's why Qin Sang could easily identify that divine intent, and all he needed to do was discard everything else and firmly grasp it, which was already enormous enough.

However, this divine power was still too overwhelming, so Qin Sang decided to start with mortals.

In the kingdoms of half-demons, mortals are the most numerous. The combined divine will of countless mortals is extremely powerful, but the power of a single mortal is very weak.

Qin Sang 'accepted' those divine wills, and her mind and spirit merged with them, as if she had entered the river.

Even the largest rivers are made up of drops of water. Humans are weak. Qin Sang doesn't need to be specific to every single drop of water; he only needs to find the streams of water, and his speed will naturally be much faster.

He searched and experienced in the rivers and lakes. As time went by, some blurry faces began to become clear in the half-demon kingdoms, growing features similar to Qin Sang's.

Millions, tens of millions...

When Qin Sang had found the divine will belonging to mortals in the half-demon kingdoms, the next to be found were the Qi Refining stage cultivators, and then the Foundation Establishment stage cultivators...

With each higher realm, the amount of divine intent decreases by several orders of magnitude, but these divine intents become more powerful, including those of cultivators at the Void Refinement stage.

Qin Sang vaguely understood something, but he still had unresolved questions.

Thus, to the south of the half-demon kingdoms, oceans and islands were born in the empty land, just like lightning and thunder.

At the same time, another Qin Sang appeared in that sea area.

Although he had been away for over a thousand years, it was still the place he knew best, the former Storm Realm, now the Green Sheep Clan.

Time returned to the moment when the Siyou tribe's army besieged the city. When Qin Sang activated the Thunder Altar, it was also a moment of life and death, and the people prayed for him. When the thunder struck the western land, Qin Sang controlled the ten thousand thunderbolts and defeated the invading enemy in one fell swoop. He was worshipped and countless people chanted the name of a saint.

Qin Sang still vividly remembers that scene, and now she dreams of that time again.

Having learned from his previous experience, Qin Sang used the same trick again in Qingyang, and it went very smoothly and quickly.

Immediately afterwards, the dream continued to expand outwards, and Qin Sang appeared on an ordinary piece of land.

This is Moonbeam Bay, the first place he arrived at after his ascension. There are also many immortal kingdoms here, but they were all created by humans, and their strength is far inferior to that of the half-demon kingdoms. Even the slightly stronger half-demon immortal kingdoms were able to unify this place.

This is where his exploration of the Mahayana path of killing began; it was his initial attempt.

Qin Sang intimidated the Lone Cloud Elder of Yundutian, annihilated the Dark Falcon Ancestor with lightning, and uttered a decree: "On the mortal realm, neither immortals nor demons may enter!"

Once a law is issued, it is as if it were divine law.

Immortals, demons, monsters, and ghosts alike dared not disobey.

Here, Qin Sang begins to understand that the Mahayana killing path is about killing for the sake of protection.

However, he did not know what the Ziwei Sword Scripture protected, nor was he sure if he could continue on his path smoothly, and he even had the words "Qingfeng is me, I am not Qingfeng".

Qin Sang's divine will spread throughout the world, recalling her state of mind back then.

I still remember that he destroyed the Fallen Soul Abyss and drove out the Cloud Capital Heaven because the Cloud Capital Heaven and the Fallen Soul Abyss treated the common people as pawns, arbitrarily manipulating their lives and deaths. He thought that the 'protection' of the Mahayana Killing Path was pure protection, and he founded the Qingyang Temple to monitor the world.

At this moment, Qin Sang from Yuedu Bay suddenly raised her head and looked at Qingyang Zhi herself.

During his time in Qingyang, he was probably most convinced of the 'Mahayana Killing Path'. At that time, the enemies were aggressive, and he was protecting his 'hometown'. Among the people he was protecting were many relatives and friends, and the Qingyang Temple, which held the last wishes of his deceased friends. It can be said that he did it willingly.

Qin Sang, who was being treated by Qingyang, felt something and raised her head, looking at her former self. Then they both looked towards Dafeng Plain.

Qin Sang of Dafeng Plain had been watching them all along.

Unbeknownst to him, he had actually reached this point, never changing his cultivation method, and had cultivated the "Purple Star Sword Scripture" to such a high level.

However, the higher his level of understanding, the more questions he had.

Qin Sang's mind raced. All the half-demons had transformed into disciples of Qingyang Temple, such as Yu Fu. If Qingyang Temple was behind them, she probably wouldn't have such strong doubts.

During his time in the Kingdom of Jiaosheng, his doubts were at their strongest. At that time, the Kingdom of Jiaosheng had gradually grown from a tiny country into a hegemon under his rule. However, the Kingdom of Jiaosheng and the surrounding immortal kingdoms became pawns in his hands because of his selfish desires. He would first put them in dire straits, and then save them from their predicament. In this way, he manipulated them at will.

Such behavior, treating the people as pawns, is no different from the Yun Du Tian and Luo Hun Yuan that he previously despised. Yet, despite his 'reckless' actions, his cultivation continued to grow, and he even successfully pushed his cultivation to the peak of the Refinement Void Realm, cultivating the "Zi Wei Sword Scripture" to its ultimate level.

Even now, the desperate situation faced by the half-demon people is partly related to him; those divine wills were all obtained through deception.

Is this really 'Mahayana'?

For his people, was he a savior or a demon of chaos?
There's no need to weigh the balance between principles and personal desires; one can obtain everything solely for personal gain.

Is it that my understanding of the Mahayana path is wrong, or is this the essence of spiritual practice, and the so-called Mahayana is just one person's Mahayana?

Qin Sang looked back at her past self, and the insights she had gained and the changes in her state of mind at that time, no matter how small, flowed into her heart.

He shifted his gaze slightly, as if taking in all the kingdoms of the half-demons.

If someone were to appear in Qin Sang's dream at this moment, they would witness a horrifying scene: countless Qin Sangs scattered across a vast area, regardless of their cultivation level, all adopting the same posture and expression, bowing and worshipping themselves.

There was one exception: there were four divine wills from a half-demon true lord, which Qin Sang was unable to make 'manifest'.

Perhaps it was because the Half-Demon True Monarch was too powerful, or perhaps they had doubts. Although they hoped that Qin Sang would bring the Dao Court and drive away the powerful enemy, they could not possibly worship him as a god and savior.

Qin Sang simply waved them away; after all, those were enough, and forcing things might cause problems.

Looking at the countless people who looked like her, Qin Sang seemed to understand a little.

Perhaps I don't need to think so much at all; perhaps my questions about selfishness and justice are just unnecessary worries.

The Great Way is impartial, and it has no distinction between right and wrong, good and evil.

If someone stands up when they are in dire straits, and someone is protected because of it, then if this is the Mahayana path of killing, then they are practicing the Mahayana path of killing.

As for the balance between personal desires and principles...

Qin Sang swept her gaze over those people, and their divine intent surged forth like a raging torrent.

It seemed as if they had become themselves, or conversely, as if they themselves had woven these divine wills into countless 'seeds'. Countless seeds of divine will wove together a vast net, capturing them within it, and Qin Sang himself was also caught in the net.

The way of fire is the way, the way of humanity is the way, and these half-demons are also the way!
All things and all beings exist within the Tao.

Fire-element cultivators must align themselves with the Great Dao of Fire.

If Qin Sang was propelled by these seeds of divine will when he entered the border, then these seeds of divine will will be present when he achieves Dao integration. In other words, they will become part of the Great Dao that Qin Sang will cultivate in the future!

Entering the Integration Realm requires the unity of essence, energy, and spirit. Once a certain path is chosen, there is no turning back. The cultivator's body and mind need to be completely integrated. Even if one later discovers that they have made a mistake and there are better options, it is difficult to change course. One can only continue down this path.

The higher one's cultivation level, the deeper one's connection with the Great Dao becomes, as one gains control over it. What the Great Dao requires is also what one needs and must practice!

By then, there should be no more, and no more, such questions.

Because axioms are private desires, and private desires are axioms!
but……

To unite, to unite with the Dao.

What exactly is it?

Is it the cultivator who merges with the Dao, or the Dao that merges with the cultivator? (End of Chapter)