Primordial Era: If I remain in Longevity Mountain, I will steadily attain sainthood.

Chapter 110 The Final Conclusion of Zixiao Palace

Hongjun remained silent, ignoring everyone else, and focused his gaze solely on Hongyun. Hongyun, with a calm expression, also looked at Hongjun.

Gradually, the unusual behavior of the two attracted the attention of the other sages, who couldn't help but look at them with alarm.

As the four sages argued, they realized the awkward atmosphere and quickly quieted down.

Everyone was watching Hongjun and Hongyun.

Suddenly, Hongjun was the first to suppress his aura, glanced at Hongyun, then at the other sages, and said, "This is not the place to discuss this. Let's go to Zixiao Palace!"

After saying that, Hongjun's figure flashed and disappeared.

After Hongjun left, everyone's attention turned to Hongyun. Zhen Yuanzi asked, "Hongyun, what's wrong?"

Everyone looked at Hongyun.

Hongyun simply sighed, shook her head, and then vanished in a flash, heading towards Zixiao Palace.

Seeing this, the saints had no choice but to follow.

Inside the Purple Cloud Palace, everyone sat down on the prayer mats in turn, while Hongjun sat silently on the platform.

Hongjun's gaze swept over the assembled saints, finally settling on Hongyun, and he asked, "Hongyun, what is your explanation for this great calamity?"

Hongyun said, "There is no explanation."

"Hmm?" Hongjun looked at him.

Hongyun said, "This great calamity will either result in the Jie Sect being destroyed by the Four Sages, or conversely, the other two great sects being destroyed."

"This is the will of Heaven, regardless of whether it is in accordance with fate or not!"

Upon hearing this, Zhunti became anxious and said, "Sixth Brother, you also founded Buddhism! How can you say such things?"

Hongyun ignored him and looked at Hongjun, saying, "Master, I wonder if what I said is right or wrong?"

Hongjun nodded slightly and said, "Good!"

He then addressed the saints, asking, "Do any of you have anything further to say?"

The Supreme Saint of Taiqing was the first to shake his head, and then the Primordial Heavenly Venerable gritted his teeth and followed suit.

The Master of Heaven simply smiled faintly, clearly having nothing to say as the big winner.

The Sage's face was full of bitterness, but he didn't know where to begin.

Only Zhunti remained unwilling, and after thinking for a moment, said, "Master, it's bad enough that Tongtian destroyed my great sect, but he also stole my most precious treasure. I beg you, Master, to do me the right thing and return the Chaos Bell to me!"

Upon hearing this, the Tongtian Sect Leader immediately laughed.

The laughter sounded particularly grating to Zhunti's ears, making his face turn red, but he still looked at Hongjun pleadingly.

Clearly, they did not want to give up the Chaos Bell, a priceless treasure.

Hongjun Daozu closed his eyes, seemingly pondering how to handle the situation. After a moment, he opened his eyes, shook his head, and said, "Alright, Zhunti, I have already bestowed the Chaos Bell upon you, but you failed to guard it, so you cannot blame me."

"Step down!"

Zhunti had no choice but to sit back down.

In this great calamity, he truly suffered a complete defeat. Not only was his avatar severed and his great sect destroyed, but he also lost a supreme innate treasure.

Such a loss is heartbreaking to even think about.

Seeing this, the sage beside him looked even more distressed.

But by this time, Hongjun had already made his conclusion, and even if they were saints, they had no choice but to accept it.

Fortunately, Buddhism is divided into Mahayana and Hinayana. In reality, it is Mahayana Buddhism that has been destroyed, while Hinayana Buddhism, due to its unique doctrines, cannot be eradicated even if one wanted to.

Mahayana Buddhism teaches the salvation of all sentient beings, while Theravada Buddhism teaches only to save oneself, not others, and to cultivate alone, undergoing countless hardships to attain Buddhahood.

The Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism is different from the Buddha in Theravada Buddhism. The Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes that "if you have Buddha in your heart, you can become a Buddha." Regardless of heaven, earth, humans, gods, ghosts, or any evil or crooked path, you can lay down your butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot.

In Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddhas have varying levels of cultivation, with the weakest only reaching the level of Taiyi Golden Immortal.

Theravada Buddhism is different. Once one achieves enlightenment, one possesses great supernatural powers and vast magical abilities. Every Buddha in Theravada Buddhism is a quasi-saint.

Therefore, Mahayana Buddhism will be destroyed, but Theravada Buddhism will not, because the Buddhas of Theravada Buddhism include incarnations of Hongyun and Zhenyuanzi.

That is, the World-Free King Buddha, the Pure and Blessed Ancient Buddha, as well as the Amitabha Buddha who guides, and the Cundi Buddha Mother of Cundi.

These four Buddhas are the foundation of Theravada Buddhism, ensuring that Buddhism will not be completely eradicated.

In order to prevent the great religion from being destroyed, so that the merits would be scattered and the person would be dethroned.

Otherwise, if Mount Sumeru had been destroyed by the Jie Sect, Zhunti and Jieyin would have been dethroned long ago, and their fates would have been even more tragic than they are now.

However, the essence of Theravada Buddhism lies in the four saints themselves, and it would be extremely difficult to completely eradicate Buddhism.

As a result, Zhunti and Jieyin maintained their status as sages.

Even so, the destruction of Mahayana Buddhism caused the two to lose a great deal of their merit and spiritual cultivation.

Now, among all the saints, there is no doubt that the two of them have become the bottom.

This also made everyone realize that the path to enlightenment through merit is unreliable and will change with the rise and fall of merit.

If one day all the merits are wiped out, then he will truly be dethroned from his holy position.

However, to be honest, as things stand, all the saints have their own defenses against this, but it is difficult for them to be dethroned.

Leaving aside Hongyun and Taiqing Saint, in addition to their merits and achievements, they respectively proved the Dao through the world and by severing the three corpses, thus attaining the true Primordial Dao Fruit.

However, no matter how much merit or virtue they accumulated, it was difficult to affect the two of them.

Next, although Yuanshi Tianzun and Tongtian Jiaozhu both attained enlightenment through merit, their merit mainly came from the merit of creating the world.

This is their foundation, so as long as this primordial world is not destroyed, their merits in creating the world will remain secure, and they don't need to worry about being dethroned.

Furthermore, as long as the prehistoric human race is not completely wiped out, the merit of Nuwa in creating humans is extremely secure.

Humanity is currently the protagonist of the world, with the strongest fortune and the greatest merit. Nuwa's cultivation is stronger than ever before, so there is no need to worry at this time.

Zhen Yuanzi's merits mainly consist of two parts: his own Earth Immortal Sect and Theravada Buddhism.

However, it's similar to the teachings of Jieyin and Zhunti. As long as these two sects aren't completely destroyed, Zhen Yuanzi's merits are secure.

After all, putting aside the Earth Immortal Sect, their aim in destroying Hinayana Buddhism was essentially to kill all four of these saints.

Who can do that?

That's why everyone called Hongyun a scoundrel when Buddhism was first established.

This method of forcibly locking in merit is really too shameless.

At this moment, Hongjun Daozu said again: "This great calamity is due to the war between you saints, which has caused the primordial land to be divided into four parts. After that, it will be divided into four major continents: Dongsheng Shenzhou, Nanzhanbuzhou, Xiniuhezhou, and Beijuluzhou."

"These four continents, together with the four seas of the primordial world, constitute the Earthly Immortal Realm. Apart from this, you saints, though powerful, must not easily enter the Three Realms in the future, especially not fight within them, or you will surely face divine punishment."

Upon hearing this, the saints were startled, but dared not object, and all nodded in agreement.

Hongjun then said to Tongtian Jiaozhu, "Although your Jie Sect has won a great victory this time, you must remember that too much of a good thing can be bad. After you return, you can have Shen Gongbao set up the Investiture of the Gods List and confer titles upon the gods. That will be the end of this matter."

Upon hearing this, the Tongtian Sect Leader naturally agreed. However, when the Primordial Heavenly Lord heard the name Shen Gongbao, his eyes lit up, and his gaze flickered slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

After saying all this, Hongjun dismissed all the saints, leaving only Hongyun behind.

(End of this chapter)