Chapter 406: Chapter 405: Everyone With Their Own Thoughts

Although Long Eyebrow Buddha set an example, with the intention of advancing to the Mahayana Realm, the majority of people were still dubious.

If there truly were a Mahayana Realm, why couldn’t they sense it while they were still at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage?

However, the immortal elder and Long Eyebrow Buddha both had the same attitude, and the others, having no other recourse at the moment, decided to try and understand it.

…

“Immortal Elder, you are really something. I could tolerate the Heavenly Demon part as your fabrication, but also inventing the Mahayana Realm?” Jiang Li didn’t know what expression to have when he saw all this.

“No wonder before me, everyone had a skeptical attitude towards the Mahayana Realm.”

Jiang Li recalled that when he went to the Sword Tomb to rescue Sword King, and self-introduced as a practitioner in Mahayana Realm, the Sword King didn’t seem to believe him at all.

Sword King, a man from four thousand years ago, his attitude towards the Mahayana Realm represented the attitude of a considerable proportion of high-level cultivators.

In fact, before Jiang Li became a practitioner of the Mahayana Realm, many cultivators did not believe in the existence of the Mahayana Realm.

This differed from the Heavenly Demons; the Heavenly Demons would typically wreak havoc across the continent every hundred or two hundred years. The evidence was there for all to see, so people naturally believed in them.

Meanwhile, the only confirmation as to the existence of the Mahayana Realm came from the claims of the Immortal Elder.

In the span of over eight thousand years, many astonishing Transcendance Tribulation Stage cultivators emerged within Nine Provinces. Some of them even went through two-to-three cycles of the Immortal Tribulations, such as Commander Liu and Old Buddha at the Foot of Mount Meru. They all claimed that they could not see any trace of the Mahayana Realm.

The Mahayana Realm was considered too vague and elusive, without even a basic cultivation direction.

This uncertainty persisted until Jiang Li emerged, attaining the Mahayana Realm, and only then did people believe that the Mahayana Realm truly exists.

However, Jiang Li never doubted the existence of the Mahayana Realm from the very start.

Before his transmigration, Jiang Li had read many cultivation novels, and they all clearly distinguished a realm called the “Mahayana Realm”.

After transmigrating, Jiang Li naturally believed in the existence of the Mahayana Realm and then continually cultivated to reach the Mahayana Realm.

With his growth and continuous advancement after achieving the Mahayana Realm, he felt that he could do more than just reach the Mahayana Realm; he could potentially make a breakthrough above it.

Who could have imagined that not only are there no breakthroughs above the Mahayana Realm, but even the Mahayana Realm itself was concocted by the Immortal Elder!

“But if the Mahayana Realm is concocted by the Immortal Elder, then what about the system? It also assessed me to be in the Mahayana Realm?”

Jiang Li still remembered when he first received the system. It was naively insistent that it was five hundred years in the past from now. When he asked the system for his current level, it responded that he was in the Mahayana Realm.

“The system isn’t supposed to make mistakes in assessing levels.”

“Was the realm already existing and the Immortal Elder just stumbled upon the truth by accident, or did my arrival make the Immortal Elder’s lie become reality, making the Mahayana Realm real?”

Jiang Li wore a perplexed expression, inclined to believe the latter.

“But if the Mahayana Realm is so simple, why couldn’t anyone achieve it?”

…

Although not many people truly believed in the Immortal Elder, it did plant a seed of hope. Those at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage now saw another option aside from ascending into immortality.

“Elder, do Heavenly Demons and the Mahayana Realm exist?” The Little Monk was confused and went to question the Immortal Elder behind Long Eyebrow Buddha’s back.

“I’ve read many ancient texts, such as travel notes and diaries of past immortals, and none of them mentioned the slightest hint of Heavenly Demons or the Mahayana Realm.”

“I never lie.”

The Little Monk couldn’t get the answer he wanted and fell into disappointment. He still felt like the Immortal Elder was lying.

…

After another thirty years, large-scale blood sacrifices rarely occurred in Nine Provinces. Although it could not be called peaceful, it was significantly better than when the Immortal Ascending Staircase was still around.

No more incidents occurred where cultivators at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage lost control due to their obsession with ascending to immortality.

On this day, the Heavenly Demons descended on Nine Provinces once again, their fearsome aura enveloping the land.

The Immortal Elder’s face grimaced, not only because two Heavenly Demons dared to show up, making it hard for him to explain, but also because they were each equivalent to an Earth Immortal!

“Damn it, the Immortal Realm is so intent on exterminating Nine Provinces.” The Immortal Elder cursed under his breath, preparing to engage his old friends in battle.

“I’ll deal with one, you guys hold off the other!” The Immortal Elder delegated tasks briefly.

“We have limited Immortal power, so use it sparingly.” The Immortal Elder was helpless. With his talent, he could defeat two Heavenly Demons after paying a certain price.

But he needed to think about the future.

The Nine Provinces only had him as the sole Immortal. He was their leader, and while the Heavenly Demons were innumerable and causing incessant disasters, he had to fight them in each battle. And if he depleted his Immortal power and perished, it would be a minor issue. He didn’t mind dying after seeing his teacher and fellow disciples get killed.

He just couldn’t abandon Nine Provinces.

Who will fight after he dies?

The Immortal Elder had already foreseen this day. In order to conserve his Immortal power, he had been studying martial arts for the past one hundred and thirty years.

Changing his usual strategy, the Immortal Elder engaged in close combat with the Heavenly Demon.

The other Transcendance Tribulation Stage cultivators surrounded the other Heavenly Demon, their hearts filled with great anxiety.

The Heavenly Demon was irrational and roared madly.

“Kill!”

Ignoring his teachings on killing, Long Eyebrow Buddha was the first to act, casting the Angry Vajra Image and fighting with the Heavenly Demon.

However, at the first encounter, the Heavenly Demon’s rugged flesh caused cracks in the Angry Vajra Image.

The Angry Vajra Image was the result of Long Eyebrow Buddha’s thousand-year cultivation. Despite this, he didn’t care at all and continued to fight the Heavenly Demon.

Everyone had never seen Long Eyebrow Buddha in this fierce state. The peaceful and detached look he usually had was a huge contrast to his current one.

Under the influence of Long Eyebrow Buddha’s courage, other cultivators from the Transcendance Tribulation Stage also joined the battle.

But, Long Eyebrow Buddha quickly discovered a problem.

With nineteen of them here, cooperating and defeating the Heavenly Demon was easy.

But, the premise was cooperation.

People were worried that if they gave it their all, they would attract the Heavenly Demon’s hatred, which could become disastrous in the future. Therefore, they were all holding back, trying to protect themselves from being directly targeted by the Heavenly Demon.

Everyone was cherishing their own lives.

Moreover, they were worried if they were severely injured in the fight, would they be taken advantage of by their enemies?

Both the righteous and demonic cultivators were selfish in reality.

“What is the point of thinking about these things at this time!” Long Eyebrow Buddha was furious. If it continued like this, they would lose an assuring winning situation.

The anger of Long Eyebrow Buddha had no effect. It even drew murmurs from a Transcendance Tribulation Stage cultivator.

“If we lose, we lose. Maybe after the Heavenly Demon has killed enough mortals, it will retreat. Why should we fight desperately?”

Long Eyebrow Buddha even had thoughts of killing his companion.

The battle gradually reached a state of fierce intensity. Then, with a squelching sound, a sharp claw pierced through the chest of Yuan Shang, and the Heavenly Demon threw him aside like a piece of trash.

Even if left with a single piece of skin, a Transcendance Tribulation Stage cultivator can still fight; a pierced chest was just a minor injury for Yuan Shang.

As Yuan Shang was healing his injury and preparing to return to the battlefield, he noticed Li Wu standing nearby.

Yuan Shang realized that Li Wu had not fought at all since the battle began.

“Li Wu, what are you doing?”

“I am providing support from the periphery to prevent the Heavenly Demon from escaping,” answered Li Wu guiltily.

A hundred years ago, he almost got swallowed by a Heavenly Demon and barely survived but was scarred for life. He dared not face the Heavenly Demon directly.