Invasion Myth: Starting with the Schoolteacher

Chapter 758 Two Methods of Salvation
"Cultivation?" Xu Xuan raised an eyebrow. "What kind of cultivation can you do in a place like this?"

Ruoxu turned his head and revealed a calm yet somewhat eerie smile.

"Practicing the Infernal Affairs."

Infernal Affairs?!

Xu Xuan's pupils contracted slightly, and a fine layer of cold sweat seeped out from his back.

Infernal Affairs? What is Senior Brother implying?
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant—had the identity of the White Lotus Saint Father been exposed? Or... had his true nature as an "extraterrestrial demon" been seen through?

My senior brother's cultivation is unfathomable, and what's even more terrifying is his unreasonable "close at hand, yet worlds apart" supernatural power.

If a fight really broke out, he wouldn't even have a 10% chance of escaping.

He couldn't beat them in a fight, and he couldn't run away either. The main problem was that he was a monk who firmly believed in physics, not reason.

"Junior brother?" Ruoxu waved his hand in front of his eyes with concern. "Did you injure your soul during the fight just now?"

"Huh? No, no!" Xu Xuan snapped back to reality, a bright smile immediately spreading across his face. "I just think the name 'Infernal Affairs' is really cool! It's way more stylish than something like 'Vajra Subduing Demon Fist'!"

She quickly activated the White Lotus Heart Technique to suppress her turbulent thoughts. Her fair skin and jade-like bones glowed slightly, perfectly concealing her momentary loss of composure.

"It's good that you're alright." Ruoxu had no doubts.

"Come, come, let me tell you what Infernal Affairs is."

"As the Buddhist saying goes: 'Neither dwelling in birth and death, nor dwelling in Nirvana, is the path of no return.'"

Xu Xuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but his nerves remained tense: "So Senior Brother is trying to comprehend this."

It turns out that Infernal Affairs is the second step in the four paths of cultivation.

The Four Paths refer to the four processes of eliminating afflictions and attaining truth; through these, one can attain Nirvana, which is a summary of all Buddhist practices. The Four Paths are:

The Preparatory Path – the preparatory practice undertaken before the Path of No Interruption in order to eliminate afflictions.

The Path of No Interruption—a practice that directly eliminates afflictions, thereby allowing one to enter the path of liberation without any obstruction.

The Path to Liberation is the practice of attaining liberation from afflictions, realizing the truth, and achieving liberation.

The path of superior progress—after liberation, one goes further to perform other superior practices and fully completes liberation; or one satisfies the severance of afflictions and engages in the practice of observation.

All afflictions are eradicated through the Avici Passage. Among the fifteen minds of the Path of Seeing, the Eight Forbearances all belong to the Avici Passage. Furthermore, the afflictions eradicated through cultivation have nine grades in each of the nine stages, so the Avici Passage that can cure them also has nine grades.

The path of infernal affairs aims to dispel delusions, while the path of liberation aims to attain truth.
“Because the habitual tendencies remain even after severing the afflictions of the Avici Path, when one reaches the Path of Liberation, one abandons these tendencies and realizes the principle of Nirvana. This is called the severance of the Avici Path and the abandonment and realization of the Path of Liberation.” Ruoxu explained calmly with his hands clasped together.

“In the past, some eminent monks have voluntarily entered the Avici Hell, hoping to use the rules of this world to eliminate their troubles and go further.”

"I, as your elder brother, have also taken the opportunity to practice."

That's it!

Xu Xuan immediately felt relieved—he had been overthinking things!
Indeed, how could Senior Brother know the other meaning of "Infernal Affairs"? That is the secret inheritance of the extraterrestrial demons, which is completely unknown to cultivators of the Nine Provinces.

After regaining his senses, he asked with great interest, "So, how has your cultivation progressed, senior brother?"

It should be noted that Ruoxu's progress in cultivation is renowned as astonishing within the Pure Land School. It is said that he possessed terrifyingly strong comprehension from a young age, and whether cultivating the Righteous Qi or studying Buddhist teachings, he was a genius at the pinnacle.

however--

"No progress."

Ruoxu's answer was unexpected. He frowned slightly and continued:

"My troubles have always been there, they've just been shut out."

"In recent years... it has actually been gradually increasing."

At this point, he looked down at his fist, a rare look of confusion on his face.

"I may need a trigger to break free from my troubles and find liberation."

Xu Xuan was taken aback upon hearing this.

"Senior brother, I think I know where your breakthrough opportunity lies."

"You still need to witness a timeless love story and then face a woman you once deeply loved in your heart before you can overcome this obstacle."

It's a pity that Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai are no longer possible... Senior brother.

How about I direct a "A Chinese Ghost Story 2" to help you out? I don't know if it will work.

It's highly unlikely. That special person is that special person, irreplaceable.

That's how it is with eminent Buddhist monks; there are certain hurdles they just can't understand, and the higher the monk's status, the less easily he can be enlightened.

Thinking of this, Xu Xuan's expression became serious: "Senior brother, does the inability to overcome afflictions mean that one's cultivation will stagnate?"

Ruoxu gave him a strange look: "No."

"what?"

“I’ll just cultivate something else,” Ruoxu said calmly.

Xu Xuan: "..."

good good!
The arrogance of a genius is built upon the shattering of the moral compass of an ordinary person!

He's so handsome, yet so infuriating!
He suddenly realized that his worries were completely unnecessary—this senior brother's path of cultivation could not be fathomed by common sense!

Seeing his gloomy expression, Ruoxu laughed instead: "Junior brother, why bother? There are 84,000 Dharma gates in Buddhism. If one path doesn't work, just try another." "But you..." He gave Xu Xuan a meaningful look, "seemingly quite knowledgeable about 'love tribulations'?"

Xu Xuan froze for a moment, then forced a dry laugh and said, "Well... the theoretical school, the pure theoretical school!"

When the two arrived at the depths of the Avici Hell, Xu Xuan finally met the so-called "Fire God" - Hu Tian.

With a human head and a bird's body, its entire body was as black as ink. It wore a canopy on its head, and had leopard eyes and fangs, resembling a ferocious demon. Its body was a hundred feet tall, and its body was surrounded by surging flames. From a distance, it did indeed appear majestic and domineering, with a divine aura.

It's just that things are rather miserable right now.

Its enormous body was suspended in mid-air by countless black chains, and hundreds of instruments of torture from the deepest hell—mountains of knives, seas of fire, iron plows, and bronze pillars—were relentlessly tormenting its will. Its eyes, which should have been burning with divine fire, were now dull and lifeless, filled only with numb pain.

Upon seeing this, Xu Xuan couldn't help but sigh, "It's not unreasonable for this thing to be called a deity when it's out there; it certainly doesn't look bad."

Ruoxu said calmly, "It survives by extracting the primitive beliefs of barbarians from other regions, so even if its bones, meridians, and acupoints are shattered and its body disintegrates countless times, it still does not die out."

But falling into the Avici Hell is tantamount to courting death.

The rule here is "endless and without end." In just one year, they have eroded the opponent's faith accumulated over hundreds and thousands of years, leaving only the last embers remaining.

“Faith… is just willpower, right?” Xu Xuan clicked his tongue and shook his head. “It really is a primitive way of using it.”

The orthodox deities of the Nine Provinces either create "wish bodies" or "manifest bodies" to carry incense offerings, or rely on the divine power of the order of heaven and earth to purify the power of wishes. How could they directly devour the faith of believers like this?
His behavior as a lowly mountain god is no wonder he can't be considered respectable!

Hu Tian seemed to sense someone approaching and struggled to raise its head. When it saw Ruo Xu, a flicker of fear flashed in its eyes; how could a god possibly look down on a mere human monk?
Even in its current state of destitution, it still retains the arrogance of a god, its leopard eyes filled with disdain.

The philanthropist Xu Xuan fell silent.

Then, he decided to help the other party out.

"laugh--"

A bewitching flame of karmic fire ignited at his fingertips, flickering eerily.

Fire God, Fire God, I wonder if this kind of fire can be controlled?

Hu Tian's eyes changed instantly—from arrogance to fear, and then to an overwhelming pleading. It could clearly sense that this flame had a natural restraint on the power of faith!
In reality, those who can control karmic fire throughout history are extremely abnormal beings, and even immortals and gods would fear such power.

If Xu Xuan hadn't obtained a great opportunity from the Heavenly Punishment and preserved a trace of it within the Calamity Land, he wouldn't have been qualified to touch it.

"No..." Even though he wasn't a rogue immortal, Huo Tianshen panicked completely and managed to squeeze out a plea.

Not bad, the Central Plains dialect is very standard, with a slight northern accent.

Unfortunately, offending the future abbot of the Pure Land School will not end well.

Xu Xuan smiled slightly and flicked his fingertips.

"boom!"

The karmic fire instantly ignited the core of Hu Tian's remaining faith!
The backlash from the power of the vow has begun!

For thousands of years, the believers' prayers had never been answered, and the accumulated resentment had long since turned into a deadly poison. Now, all these ignored prayers erupted—

"Why don't the gods respond to me?!"

"My sister died of illness, why won't you see her?!"

"We have offered so many sacrifices, why do you never show yourself?!"

Countless questions, transformed into the sharpest blades in the flames of karma!

Hu Tian's divine body trembled violently, and its core began to disintegrate. It struggled frantically, but could only watch helplessly as its millennia-long accumulation of faith—the prayers of those "ants" it had never cared about—completely devoured it.

Xu Xuan observed coldly and said softly, "This is the true 'salvation'."

"That's good, that's good."

Hu Tian screamed in agony as he continuously sacrificed his own power, but it was too slow.

Ruoxu stood aside, clasped his hands together, and calmly said, "Since Junior Brother's matter is so urgent, I will also lend my last bit of strength."

Duang~~~
Before he could finish speaking, a heavy punch landed on the head of the Fire God's bird!
The house-sized head twisted into a terrifying arc in an instant, and karmic flames splattered everywhere.

Duang~~~
Another punch!
The fist struck like thunder, creating a shockwave that shattered the surrounding sea of ​​fire, causing it to surge and recede.

Duang~~~ Duang~~~ Duang~~~
If he remains silent, he will only keep throwing punches.

The already burning Fire God was beaten until his divine body was twisted and screamed repeatedly. Eventually, even his screams stopped, and the scene was too gruesome to bear.

Xu Xuan watched from the side, speechless—was this the reason why his fists were no match for his senior brother's?

This method of conversion is too hardcore!

He suddenly recalled the conversation he had at the Third Affiliated Hospital years ago—

My senior brother once said, "I have already achieved Pure Land. If our paths differ, I will first subdue you for five hundred years, discussing Buddhism and Taoism every day, and then we will naturally be able to distinguish who is superior."

So that's how "discussing Buddhism and Taoism" works.

It seems I still need to hide my identity as the leader of the White Lotus sect even more deeply.

Thus, through the "close cooperation" of these two fellow disciples in the Pure Land School, the Fire God Hu Tian was tortured to death.

Time taken: less than three hours.

Ruo Xu stood with his fist clenched, patted off non-existent dust from his sleeves, and turned to Xu Xuan, saying:
"Alright, junior brother. Let's go out."

(End of this chapter)