Chapter 248

One hour after Papiyas fled toward the [Lunar Sanctuary], an incredible giant tree appeared on the moon.

Its branches were translucent and glass-colored, as if condensed from light. Each leaf fluttered, reflecting phantoms of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The flowers were as large as carriage wheels, emitting a golden-white radiance. UU Bookstore—this was where dreams began, and where dreams came true. Fragrance permeated the lunar surface.

That was exactly the "Dragon Flower Tree" prophesied in Buddhist scriptures. As recorded in the *Sutra of Maitreya's Descent*, this tree was a full 160 kilometers tall.

According to the scriptures, the Dragon Flower Tree only blooms when Maitreya descends to become a Buddha, summoning billions of living beings to come and listen to the Dharma.

As this tree grew out of thin air, supernatural management departments all over the world quickly sent urgent reports to the Church and [The Society]:

[Lunar Sanctuary]'s mysterious knowledge was now open to all of humanity.

All of humanity, everyone, regardless of whether you are good or evil, noble or base, could now freely use their consciousness to connect to the [Sanctuary] and draw upon whatever knowledge or techniques they desired.

Volume 6: Thunder █ Hero · Lunar Expedition: 227: The World is Finished

The world is finished.

Upon hearing the urgent reports from the Church and [The Society], Elaine felt the world go black before her eyes, and she nearly fainted.

Qi Xing reached out to steady his wife. Although he wasn't as flustered as Elaine, his brows were deeply furrowed.

Papiyas had opened up all the magic, mystery, and forbidden knowledge that the [Hermes Society] had accumulated in the [Lunar Sanctuary] over the past two thousand years to all of humanity.

Anyone could connect directly and take what they wanted.

Does this sound like a good thing? Is it benefiting the world?

I'm afraid not.

Giving everyone on Earth a gun would cause chaos; let alone the fact that Papiyas wasn't handing out guns, but supernatural powers capable of twisting reality?

Sasa's [Atheism] universe was not one of those cultivation worlds where resources were piled up. Anyone, as long as they had a sufficiently intense desire, plus a little corresponding esoteric knowledge, could master supernatural powers capable of killing people and destroying buildings in a short time, even if they were just an ordinary person.

If one wanted to pursue a higher realm, it required clarifying one's mind and seeing one's nature—identifying one's true desires—but even with just desire and secret knowledge, it wasn't difficult to reach the combat power of a human tank.

Sasa's universe was, in essence, a very terrible knowledge-and-state-of-mind cultivation world.

Orthodox sects would admonish their disciples, telling them they must practice self-discipline, control their desires, and explore their true nature. Although most mages never found their true nature in their entire lives, they had at least received training in restraining their desires.

But now, Papiyas had opened the floodgates, allowing all of humanity, allowing anyone, to connect to the world's largest magic database…

"Desire, sigh."

Rubbing his forehead, Qi Xing let out a sigh.

"Playing this game, are you, that Demon Buddha."

If all of humanity longed for world peace, hoped that people would no longer hate or alienate each other, and joined hands to desire the happiness of all mankind—then perhaps, with this single move by [Papiyas], all of humanity could run toward an ideal society, right?

However, how many people actually had such desires?

In terms of proportions, the desires that threatened and harmed society and others definitely made up the majority.

Papiyas's move was tantamount to stuffing a lit powder keg into everyone's brain—greedy desires would be indulged, and the ugliness within would be released. Chaos would spread across the world like a wildfire.

It had been less than four hours since the [Lunar Sanctuary] became open-source, and already, many horrifying phenomena and tragedies had occurred across the globe:

In a slum in Rio, Brazil, a teenager learned the incantation for "Sun Summoning," and with a wave of his hand, released flames that turned several streets into scorched earth—one could only wonder what kind of desire he had to unleash such murderous intent.

In downtown Tokyo, a heartbroken white-collar worker used "Flesh Refining" to sew himself and his ex-girlfriend together, turning them into a twisted, stitched-up meat puppet.

On Wall Street, a speculator learned hypnosis, but instead of using it for lewd purposes, he thought of using mental suggestion to cause traders to collapse and make mistakes, thereby profiting. Truly despicable!

In war-torn West Asia, the Church sent an urgent report that several children had used "Sand Shaping" to build armed giants, which were going head-to-head with tanks.

…As for those guys who immediately used magic for lewd purposes, there were too many to even mention.

All over the world, too many humans who had never come into contact with the hidden world had become dangerous spellcasters in just three hours.

If this continued, modern human society would inevitably collapse.

"…How can one connect to the [Lunar Sanctuary] database now?"

After a moment of contemplation, Qi Xing asked.

"Dreams. Now, one only needs to dream, and anyone has the possibility of connecting."

Elaine immediately sensed Qi Xing's thought and shook her head.

"So, there is simply no way to prohibit ordinary people from connecting to the [Lunar Sanctuary]."

Geez.

And that was just talking about ordinary people. However, were ordinary people the only ones who would need power to cause trouble?

…Seeing that even ordinary people could accidentally connect to the [Lunar Sanctuary] and learn magic, those with ambition, or those mages who were originally unsuccessful, would certainly be even more inclined to actively connect and learn magic.

This was not just a simple case of ordinary people gaining supernatural powers in large numbers and secular social order collapsing; even the original supernatural society, the magic world that relied on restricting the spread of knowledge to maintain order, would have to be completely reshuffled from now on.

Actually, in all fairness, Qi Xing himself wanted to change the order of modern society and overturn the chessboard that the first two ancient demon kings had been running for two thousand years… but he ultimately couldn't bring himself to do what [Papiyas] was doing.

"…Even if we went over now and killed [Papiyas], I don't think the door that has already been opened can be easily closed. The knowledge that has already flowed into the [Dream of All Living Beings] can never be erased by a single victory."

Qi Xing shook his head.

Although it was impossible for everyone to learn magic and gain power, from now on, supernatural power would no longer be the exclusive domain of a very few.

The rules and order that modern society relied on were probably truly finished.

The future world would inevitably be an era where the strong acted with impunity, an era dominated and fought over by individual power.

An era where all old social systems and laws, and the order maintained by morality and consensus, would be as fragile as paper in the face of violence.

Perhaps some would say, "Oh my, a great era has arrived!"

But Qi Xing had a rather complex attitude toward this.

"I remember it is recorded in the *Sutra of Maitreya's Descent* that when Maitreya Bodhisattva descends to become a Buddha, he will attain fruit under the Dragon Flower Tree, hold three Dharma assemblies, and preach the Dharma to save all living beings."

Looking at that giant tree on the moon with his clairvoyance, Qi Xing said slowly.

"Do you think this counts as the three Dharma assemblies having been completed?"

Sure enough, everyone shook their heads.

"It's hard to say if this even counts as one." Elaine directly retorted, "What kind of saving living beings is handing out magic to all of humanity?"

"So, I don't think he is really the descended Buddha. But we can't just let him continue to hold this Dragon Flower Assembly on the moon. Heaven knows what he plans to do next?"

Qi Xing turned to his companions gathered around him.

"Waiting for the major organizations to slowly react will take until the year of the monkey. We will fly to the moon ourselves and beat up [Papiyas]."

"It's just that they have three demon kings on their side; I can't defeat them all by myself—Xue Ning, Rin, I need your help."

"I am willing to serve you, [Master Leipu]." Xue Ning bowed, a rare flash of fighting spirit in her eyes. "I was beaten like a fool by [Papiyas], and I can't let that go without paying him back."

"Very good, that's the spirit."

"I originally left Japan to meet the heroes of the world, but since leaving, I haven't had a decent fight." Jingo Rin also frowned and said, "Father said I should at least bring back the head of a Demon King's lackey to complete the mission. Qi Xing, spare one for me."

"Fine."

Qi Xing couldn't help but laugh.

"I have already seen the powers of the [Demon of Delusion] once. Compared to me, you might be more suitable to deal with her, so I'll leave her to you."

In any case, Qi Xing's group was never the type to need precise planning to act.

The simple combat deployment was quickly settled, and everyone immediately prepared to set off, ready to fly to the moon.

However, before leaving, Xue Ning said to Qi Xing privately: " [Master Leipu], there is one thing I suggest you prepare for in advance."

"I know."

Qi Xing nodded; he didn't need her to finish.

She was talking about Sasa.

If Papiyas was truly a Giant Spirit that had gained self-awareness, how exactly did he obtain it? Why did Sasa assert it was impossible at first, but then appear so nervous and panicked halfway through?

Moreover, Papiyas also claimed to be the "Son of God."

Which God? It couldn't be Jesus, as Qi Xing already had Rin, who was a suspected descendant of Christ. It didn't seem to be the same thing.

As for Sasa, Qi Xing didn't think she had actually given birth to any descendants who inherited her bloodline—it was more like she had built an AI full of loopholes two thousand years ago, and now it had finally gone out of control.

But for the past few hours, Sasa hadn't dared to speak to Qi Xing.

Before going to the moon this time, Qi Xing had to have another conversation with her and get the truth out.

"Speaking of which, Xue Ning,"

Thinking of this, Qi Xing had to discuss another matter with her.

"With [Papiyas] causing such a mess, the world is already in chaos. Won't the other two ancient demon kings—your master, and the First-Born Demon King of the [Magis Sect]—intervene?"

"I don't know the First-Born Demon King of the [Magis Sect], so it's hard to determine what he will do."

Xue Ning shook her head worriedly.

"But given the personality of our Master, the Saint, I'm afraid he will indeed start to take action."

"It's just that both ancient demon kings usually live in the otherworldly realms they created, giving commands remotely. Plus, the immortal often react slowly. For my master to react, contact us sect leaders, tear open space, and return in person, it should still take some time."

"As for that more ancient First-Born Demon King, if he wants to return, it will certainly take even more time."

The "some time" in the mouths of the immortal was probably not a few minutes or a few hours. At least a few days.

"That's good news for us."

Qi Xing nodded.

"The worst situation for us would be if we were entangled with [Papiyas] while the other two ancient demon kings ran back and wiped us all out."

"That is indeed the case, but [Master Leipu]," Xue Ning still looked somewhat worried, "What if, just as you have defeated [Papiyas] and are exhausted, my master brings the other sect leaders here… What should we do then?"

What to do? What else could they do. This was indeed very troublesome. Not to mention Qi Xing, even the magnetic field experts next door were very afraid of this kind of situation where the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Many of the strongest died exactly like this.

"There's no way around it. That's the flaw of fighting alone. We don't have strong enough allies to hold back the other demon king factions."

Qi Xing sighed.

"That's why we have to act as quickly as possible now."

— — — — — — — — — —

Meanwhile,

Qi Xing didn't know that at this very moment, in Aomori, in the northeast of Japan,

A place that Qi Xing and Rin had managed to clear up with great difficulty a few months ago, was already in a mess again today.

People who had obtained magic power were wantonly, and one could even say uncontrollably, wielding their power. Rin was not in the northeast, and the newly formed civil servant team simply could not effectively suppress them.

However, in the midst of this chaos, for some reason, only one street was surprisingly quiet.

Rin's father, Jingo Shinji, walked alone on the road, strolling leisurely.

…However, both sides of his path were full of various corpses lying horizontally and vertically.

They were all people who had obtained magic power from the [Lunar Sanctuary] and immediately wanted to try out their new powers, harboring malicious intentions.

It was unknown how, but as long as Jingo Shinji passed by, they all died. Only Shinji, leisurely and carefree, walked through the city toward that nursing home of the Jingo Family.

Coincidentally, perhaps it was telepathy, Asuka also woke up very early today. For some reason, her body, which had often felt heavy in the past, felt lighter than usual today.

When Shinji pushed the door and walked into her ward, although a flash of joy crossed Asuka's eyes, she didn't seem very surprised.

"Good morning, Asuka."

Shinji said to her with a smile.

"Since Rin went out to play with friends, I've been coming here more diligently than usual. Are you tired of it yet, little Xiangxiang?"

"What stupid things are you saying again, stupid Shinji."

Usually, when Rin came to visit her mother, she asked all day if her husband had come; when the husband actually came, Asuka started acting tsundere instead. What a mushy couple!

But soon, Asuka noticed the spots of blood on Shinji's clothes, and her expression changed: "No, Shinji, what is that on your clothes?!"

"It's just blood."

"Don't say it like it's just water splashed on you! Stupid Shinji, are you hurt?!"

"Ha, how could that be? It's just the blood of some rats."

As Shinji's laughter echoed in the ward, Asuka also gradually realized—the nursing home today seemed exceptionally quiet for some reason, and in the morning, she hadn't even seen a single nurse.