The Ancestor of All Demons

E Shengfan fought life-and-death battles with Absolute Venerable in past years, entangled for many years. They were rivals in a past life and opponents in this life.

Ultimately, Absolute Venerable couldn't completely destroy him and believed that he would inevitably return someday. One major reason for leaving the "Demonic Destruction Treasure Record" was because of him.

Due to E Shengfan's overwhelming desire to destroy demons, all his disciples fell victim to demons, the greatest being E Shengfan. This "Demonic Destruction Treasure Record" aims to help liberate the reincarnated bodies of future disciples, but these disciples unfortunately proved unworthy to inherit this legacy, and it could only be sealed within the stone wall opposite the Yitian Cliff Dragon Elephant Temple of Master Fen Tuo, leaving later Buddhist leaders to choose new successors for this scripture.

According to the final decision made by several Buddhist elders, the selected successors are the two women from Immortal City.

Previously, Xin Ru Nun managed to acquire the Xie Family sisters, using some means to extract the content of the "Demonic Destruction Treasure Record" from their memories, and now passed it to E Shengfan, who had harmed Absolute Venerable's disciples and was to be the first Great Demon eliminated, as well as concluding this karma.

As an old demon, E Shengfan naturally understood Xin Ru Nun's intentions, and moved to tears, loudly praised her divine virtue.

He then told Xin Ru Nun, "That Evil Dragon's mana reaches the heavens, and after this passing of the Heavenly Tribulation, his mana has improved considerably. The 'Demon God Scripture' is linked to my life, and although I was brought here by the supreme divine power of Buddha this time, the connection with that demon scripture is not completely severed. There can be no guarantee that he will not cause trouble by using this connection in the future, secretly controlling me, so I beg my Buddha's mercy to completely cut off the link, allowing me to wholeheartedly focus on Buddhism and, together with my Buddha, build the Buddha Country Pure Land, delivering all living beings from suffering!"

Xin Ru Nun nodded and reached out, stroking the top of E Shengfan's head across the air: "I have long been aware of this matter. The connection between the demon scripture and you is internal rather than external. You have cultivated the 'Demon God Scripture' and vowed fervently, practicing diligently for years, thus entangled with the karma of the demon scripture. The reason for many entanglements lies in this. To sever the link between you and the demon scripture, you must first sever the attachment within your heart to the demon scripture..."

Xin Ru Nun provided the solution for E Shengfan to see through and let go of the 'Demon God Scripture', even completely forget it, severing the adhesions from the depths of his heart. Once the internal connection is severed, she would cast her spell, and naturally, Shi Feiyang would be unable to use the demon scripture against him. Otherwise, as long as his mind remains fixated on the demon scripture, her mana, however high, is external and cannot sever the connection.

E Shengfan has cultivated the 'Demon God Scripture' for over a thousand years, eventually becoming the master of the demon scripture's demon realm, and is deeply rooted.

Theoretically, according to the Buddhists, as long as the mind is free of attachments, without fear, and far from false dreams, one ultimately reaches Nirvana... then nothing can bind you.

But this is the realm of the Buddha's extinction. If he truly possessed such means, he would directly attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, Supreme Enlightenment, and become a Buddha, equal to Shakyamuni and Amitabha Buddha.

Thus, although this is the principle, in practice it is fundamentally unachievable.

Xin Ru also knew that he couldn't achieve it, so she let him cultivate the "Demonic Destruction Treasure Record", urging him to use Buddhism to subdue demons, with great perseverance and resolution, and vow to be reborn into the "Demonic Destruction Treasure Record", going forward, to suppress demons and eliminate them, redeeming all suffering and ultimately transforming the world into a demon-free realm.

Only in this way can the connection between him and the "Demon God Scripture" be completely severed.

E Shengfan then indeed made the vow to go into the "Demonic Destruction Treasure Record" in the future to subdue demons and cultivate Buddhism...

Once he completed all this, Xin Ru Nun asked him to return to his seat, sitting opposite Zhu Youmu on the Seven Treasures Lotus Platform: "From now on, you both shall be the two major disciples in my manifestation of Buddha's enlightenment process, comparable to Manjusri and Puxian Bodhisattvas under Shakyamuni in the Hua Yan World."

After handling E Shengfan, she then called Wei Fengniang to the altar, pointing with a finger at Master Guang Ming and Master Guang Hui on the lotus platforms beside her: "The entangled karma between you as apprentice and master was predetermined in previous lives, trapped in false dreams of greed and anger year after year. Now, you all have arrived at my seat, collectively to take me as Master, to break delusion and awaken, see the True Nature..."

Wei Fengniang knelt down, remorsefully kowtowed to the two masters, crying: "Disciple has been in a dream all these years, only now finally awakening from the great dream. Back then, I was foolish and greedy for men, causing mistake after mistake... I plead for Master's forgiveness..."

Master Guang Ming and Master Guang Hui also cried out: "We were all wrong in the past! By heaven's grace and Buddha's compassion, we have finally pierced the fog of delusion and seen the True Nature..."

Xin Ru Nun also presented Wei Fengniang with a Three Treasures Lotus Platform, letting her sit alongside Sleepy Nun Pan Du, Master Guang Ming, Master Guang Hui, and other masters, while another Jifandu sat on the opposite side.

She manifested as Buddha, her salvation reaching all beings, having prepared besides the two attendants who serve as Great Bodhisattvas, organizing ten divine nuns and masters, and ten high monks and bhikkhus. Back then, when Shakyamuni preached, his seat was with the ten Arhats. She wants to use two sets of both male and female: "At that time, Shakyamuni Buddha preached more to men and less to women, women had to reincarnate as men to be saved. I am now more transcendental than him; any good male or female, under my teachings, will all achieve enlightenment, bloom as Buddhas!"

Then she waved her hand, and every person who came along with Xin Ru Nun seemed to be covered in a layer of golden powder, all gaining the Arhat Golden Bodies.

Among them were the existing followers of the Western Sect, who are devout believers in the religious gods and buddhas. They don't understand the doctrines, nor the logic, believing whoever shows miracles.

Initially, they worshiped Jifandu, later worshiped E Shengfan, and now encountered the even more powerful Xin Ru Nun, they worship Xin Ru Nun!

Besides, some from the Earth World, including youths, children, and numerous school children, also believed they had seen the true Buddha. Their faces full of excitement, with arms nudged in uniforms covered in gold, looking even cooler than in movies.

One by one, excitedly thinking: "I've cultivated into an Arhat Golden Body! I've cultivated into an Arhat Golden Body!"

Among them, quite a few cultivated their skills on the other side of Earth, and in a meditative state came here to listen to E Shengfan preach. This time, due to excitement, they lost their meditative state and were directly bounced back.

Once they calmed down and re-entered the meditative state, they returned to Xin Ru Nun.

Xin Ru Nun was overjoyed to gain so many followers out of nowhere. With a wave of her hand, golden radiance surged in the sky, flowers rained down, and golden lotuses emerged from the ground. Combined with the followers on Jiuhua Mountain's original nine peaks, there were over a hundred thousand, spreading layer by layer, filled with golden light, all intently listening to her teachings.

On the other side, on the Outer Heaven Divine Mountain, Shi Feiyang, holding the Demon Scripture, observed all this through the Chaos Dragon Ball.

There are currently four major forces in the world. His Outer Heaven Divine Mountain counts as one, Xin Ru Nun as another, Giant Wood God as another, and Deng Yin's side as the last.

All four forces are strong. Xin Ru Nun possesses two supreme magical treasures from the Buddhist sect, their power unfathomable. Deng Yin's side has gathered a large number of demons, with many veteran demons being brought out, making it the one with the most experts. Shi Feiyang's side has the most people, but not many supreme experts.

In general, Giant Wood God's force was the latest to emerge, with the weakest foundation and seemingly the weakest strength, but he has backing. The roar of the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits echoes across the Central Earth Continent, day and night, causing all beings who hear it to tremble with fear.

Everyone is maintaining a fragile balance in a bizarre way, just waiting to see who makes the first move.

Additionally, there are two other forces. One is the Buddhist sect, originally the strongest with the most supreme experts, but unfortunately, they all ascended.

In the Shushan World, it was the Daoists who loved to ascend. Once they became Heavenly Immortals, they left, with little attachment to the human world.

While the Buddhist sects would often remain in the world for a thousand years. Their effort was long enough, yet they wouldn't go to Nirvana, nor come out to save the world, usually staying recluse, often for just one or two individuals.

Of course, spending a lifetime saving the world and spending a lifetime alone are essentially not superior or inferior, but this has resulted in more Buddhist experts remaining in the human world.

Until the advent of this great tribulation between heaven and earth, all those great monks finally left.

Mainly because they were disheartened. Bai Mei Zen Master delayed for Zhu Youmu, Master Zun Sheng for Shi Pi Elder, Tian Meng Zen Master for Xie Shan, having been held back for several hundred years, repeating guidance and transformation, all in vain. These great monks realized there was no saving them for now, so they all left.

Now, only Master Fen Tuo and Master You Tan are left to hold the fort in the Buddhist sect. Recently, they sought out Bai Mei Zen Master's junior, Zen Master Kong Tuo. Finally, the three stood firm, ensuring the Buddhist sect still had enough strength, but it was much weaker than the previous four major forces.

The other is the Emei Sect. Within the Emei Sect, a large number of Heavenly Immortals had long reached the time for ascension, and they, too, stayed behind. Lately, they've been hunting Red Flower Princess all over.

Deng Yin's side is also searching for Red Flower Princess, but Red Flower Princess dared not go to West Kunlun, because Princess of Stone God would find her first and capture her.

Falling into the hands of Princess of Stone God, just the thought terrifies Red Flower Princess.

She has prayed more than once to her father, Iron City Mountain Demon, hoping he would come forth to help, to openly escort her to Deng Yin.

But Iron City Mountain Demon showed no response, as if he did not exist at all.

Shi Feiyang used the Chaos Dragon Ball to observe the entire world, spending some effort to locate Red Flower Princess's hiding place.

It turned out Red Flower Princess was hiding in the Forbidden City, possessing the body of a palace maid, concealing herself with the emperor's dragon aura.

The palace maid she possessed was very ordinary-looking, usually quite inconspicuous, tending flowers and plants daily in the greenhouse.

Due to the fact that all the experts are now casting spells to alter the Heavenly Number and obscure the Heaven's Secret, Red Flower Princess has also displayed remarkable skills, creating several decoys to prevent the Emei Sect from finding her true body. She has been hiding here for more than three months.

Everyone knows the Dharma Decline Era is imminent, and they want to take action before it arrives to achieve their goals, yet no one is willing to make the first move, fearing others will take advantage.

Each is anxious, eagerly hoping someone else will start the fight soon...