The Emperor Jiajing's mouth had barely closed.
The world then experienced a violent tremor.
Within the mountains and rivers, amidst the heavens and earth, various timelines, countless futures, suddenly erupted with brilliant radiance. They rose as their followers, ubiquitous, as if making a final, desperate struggle, to leave an eternal testament to their existence in the world.
Emperor Jiajing and Yuan Miao Great Sage looked towards the distance. The Taiji Heavenly Palace had vanished like smoke, ceasing to exist, so nothing obstructed their sight and perception. Only the Daoist rhyme of the Taiji True Person had not completely dissipated, a sliver of it remaining. After all, he was one of the Four Great True Persons of ancient times, and his existence in the mortal world ultimately left behind a lingering afterglow.
However, he could no longer return through this residual afterglow. It was like the ashes of a completely burnt-out fire, still retaining a slight warmth. Even if reignited, it would no longer be the same as the ashes before they became "ashes."
That would be another spirit that inherited, or rather, could inherit the title of Taiji True Person. Everything had to start anew.
Emperor Jiajing, however, intended to completely eradicate this possibility, even to eliminate this residual afterglow. Before he could even act, the upheaval in the mountains and rivers had already occurred.
"Look, those are the brilliant and dazzling countless futures. Those with Heavenly Hearts saw the reflection I left behind."
"Their Heavenly Hearts are severely damaged, their futures shattered. This final light is merely their last struggle after madness, because they refuse to believe my words. They firmly believe that the Heavenly Heart can definitely evolve into a splendid future belonging solely to themselves."
"Thus, they burn everything, pouring all their spiritual essence and the might of their Heavenly Hearts into it, even abandoning their past selves."
A smile gradually appeared on Yuan Miao Great Sage's face.
The Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and even the Buddhas, their Buddha-hearts destroyed, their realms regressing, these were not terrifying calamities. To annihilate the grand future they believed was inevitable, this was the true way to destroy these individuals.
Everything was before the brink of despair. Before reaching the brink, people always believed there was still hope. Unfortunately, the brink was too vast, too colossal to be seen, yet it firmly controlled all Heavenly Hearts, manipulating everything.
People pursued great power excessively. It had been this way since the ancient times, starting with "The Great King in the Profound." Ancient Heavenly Hearts, today's Heavenly Hearts, following the will of heaven, acting on behalf of heaven's will. People thought they were gradually approaching greatness, capable of casually manipulating creation and transformation.
All of it was false.
The fundamental Dao had not advanced an inch. They were submerged in the superficial great power that borrowed heavenly might. With the past and future eternally present, they felt they were on par with heaven.
Hum—!
A dark energy erupted. Compared to the brilliant light of time before, this dark energy was more like the embodiment of despair. Therefore, it quickly dimmed, but it continued to spread, revealing the true state after a severe damage to the Heavenly Heart. These powerful individuals, lacking even the last hope, and without the will for a desperate struggle, even their spiritual essence had cracks, difficult to mend.
"That is the death qi within time, something that never existed, only the despairing qi after the future's destruction. Although these individuals did not obtain those great futures, they at least drew down the death qi from beyond time. Accompanied by the shattering of their Heavenly Hearts, this death qi, which can only exist in the future of the future and must not exist in the past, has truly appeared in the current 'past years'."
"Consequently, this death qi will permeate their futures, and spread to all their disciples and believers. This is not a curse or a blessing, those minor arts, but it is far more terrifying than curses and blessings."
"But, just as I said... look, do you hear it?"
Emperor Jiajing narrowed his eyes. He moved to clear away the residual afterglow of the Taiji True Person, and from the heavens, and indeed from the spiritual essence of everyone, Buddhist chants arose.
That was the voice of the Buddha.
The sounds left behind in the娑婆 realm earlier had stabilized the death qi within time and painstakingly pieced together the shattered futures. Although they could not be restored, their collapse was halted.
"There are still more Heavenly Hearts that hold faith in the future, that do not believe they are trapped in despair. You see, the Heavenly Hearts that have fallen and shattered, and the Heavenly Hearts that erupted with brilliance, together, number only a little over ten."
"Distributed among the Three Teachings, there are only a few individuals."
"Therefore, as long as the Buddha exists, they will not be completely destroyed by your words. After all, if the Heavenly Heart is despair, if even the昭明 world is destroyed, then after the Confucian teachings are extinguished, how can the Buddha who still exists today be explained? He also advanced from the level of Heavenly Heart upwards. Now, perhaps he has surpassed the Hunyuan, reaching another new level. And only the Buddha has proven the Twelve Links of Causation."
"As long as the Buddha is not dead, it means the path still exists, albeit more difficult. For all Heavenly Heart powerhouses, this is a form of hope. As Heavenly Hearts, they can even magnify this sliver of hope with the wishes of sentient beings. It might take thousands of years, but what does that matter?"
"As long as it is proven that despair is not absolute, it is enough."
"Despair is not absolute."
"Despair is merely not 'perceived'."
The Buddha is the awakened one. Not perceiving, is merely not yet perceiving.
Emperor Jiajing looked at Yuan Miao Great Sage. Yuan Miao Great Sage's expression was very subtle, and he finally sighed:
"That old, immortal bald donkey."
"Never mind. Being able to shake their futures and create immense rifts, the goal has been achieved. Collapse and decay are only a matter of time, just as Buddhism says, great calamities will always come. Delaying it slightly is just delaying it slightly."
The figures of Jiajing and Yuan Miao Great Sage also gradually dissipated at this moment. They were using a form of evasion technique.
"Is this the缅匿法? It is said that the缅匿法 cannot be deciphered."
Yuan Miao Great Sage inquired about the origin of this evasion technique. Emperor Jiajing said, "I exchanged the缅匿法 from the Demon Heavenly Master, solely to perfect this evasion technique. This is what Bao Pu Zi referred to as the 'Body Concealing Art'."
"The缅匿法 is merely a degraded version of the Body Concealing Art, but few people in the world know this."
Yuan Miao Great Sage mused, "Where do we hide now? Should we seek out a Heavenly Venerate from Yuqing? To complete the convergence of the Three Pure Ones?"
Jiajing: "No matter where we hide, we cannot escape the scrutiny of the Heavenly Hearts. Only by hiding in the abode of another Heavenly Heart, as we did before, can we evade them. And they will divide into three parts: one part to extinguish their own futures, one part to search for the fated individuals in the human world, and one part to hunt us."
He picked up the Six Extremes Dao Scripture in his hand.
"Therefore, we came to kill the Taiji True Person and obtain the Six Extremes Dao Scripture. With this, we have obtained the Hundred Daos. So, for our next advancement, we must go to 'Within the Dao'. And I surmise that the Buddha, not existing in the娑婆 realm, yet able to stabilize the world, is in some unknown place, likely somewhere similar to 'Within the Dao'."
"For example, the end of karma, or... the 'Origin of Causality'."
Yuan Miao Great Sage looked confused: ".oγg"
"The Origin... of Causality?"
Jiajing smiled, "I cannot say for sure, I only know such a concept exists. And all concepts in the world are within the Four Images, thus there are various worlds, born within the past and future, within karma and causality. The only difference is whether we can find them, and whether they are willing to be witnessed by us."
"Therefore, we can go to 'Within the Dao' using a medium. And during this process, you need not worry about anything, because I possess the power of Taishang Laojun."
"Lao Jun is the Dao Ancestor."
"Above and below the heavens, through infinite transformations; Ancestor of all sages,宗 of all true gods!"