The primordial chaos has arrived, and you have to choose the crow at the start.

The Demon Court... the Seventh Prince?

What Demon Court? Which Seventh Prince?

On Xiniu Hezhou, all living beings looked up in bewilderment. Some were puzzled, some pondered, and some remained noncommittal.

The sun's rotation is a divinely ordained law; who would dare to defy it?

Let alone a demon, the first to object would be the Four Duty Officers, the Five Directions Protectors, and the Six Ding and Six Jia.

These deities are not to be trifled with. Once they discover a problem, the chief deity, with the strength of a Golden Immortal, will take action, and even the most powerful demons will be melted.

"Heh, this old ancestor has never heard of any Seventh Prince among the demon race."

Some people didn't believe in superstition and scoffed at it.

But some people felt something was off. If they remembered correctly, the voice was calling out to the Demon Court, not the Demon Clan.

If it were a demon race, the seventh son of any king could be called the Seventh Prince.

But if they dare to call themselves the Demon Court...

Some who knew of its existence dared not believe it and remained silent in fear.

Those who are unaware of it are dismissed with disdain and ignored.

"This demon must be mistaken."

In Lion Camel Ridge, the Golden-Winged Roc's eyes revealed doubt. He had lived a long life and had extensive knowledge, so he naturally knew some of the secrets from the past.

  

Deep within his bloodline was a record that before the creation of this world, there was an era called the Witch-Demon Clan, where the demon race established an organization similar to the Heavenly Court, known as the Demon Court.

There were ten princes in the Demon Court, but no further information has been passed down.

"Who cares about all that? This brother actually dared to speak up for my demon race, it's truly gratifying."

The blue-maned lion laughed heartily: "Although we have been taken in as mounts by the Bodhisattva, what's wrong with seeing our kin stand up and call him the Seventh Prince?"

(Note: The seven great sages in the original Journey to the West are not the same as the monsters that later caused the calamities. For example, Yu Rong Wang is not the Six-Eared Macaque, and Peng Mo Wang is not the Golden-Winged Roc, etc.)

The yellow-tusked old elephant nodded repeatedly: "The Buddhist sect of the Western Religion has gone mad, slaughtering my demon race on a massive scale. Let's see what they do now!"

However, some demons are worried that the Seventh Prince's high-profile actions might lead to his capture by a powerful Buddhist figure.

Inside the Spider Cave, the spider demons poked their heads out one by one. A monastic had come from outside earlier, but he hadn't entered the cave, presumably because he was afraid of them.

"Sisters, this brother is probably in grave danger."

The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord looked up at the sun and sighed, "The Sun God is the master of the Heavenly Court. How dare he hijack the sun? Even if the Buddhist sect intervenes, the Heavenly Court will soon have to eliminate him."

The Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord knew how terrifying the Heavenly Court was. Don't be fooled by the seemingly weak power of the Heavenly Court's officials; if they really caused trouble, there were plenty of ways to eliminate them.

Take Beiju Luzhou for example, the True Martial Emperor has already killed so many of their demon race that they dare not show their faces.

But to their surprise, the Heavenly Court did not send anyone directly to kill the "Seventh Prince".

Similarly, the Buddhist sect also unusually refrained from taking action against the seventh prince.

The sun was high in the sky, hanging there for three days and three nights without setting.

The Heavenly Court was completely silent, awaiting the intervention of the Western Thunderclap Temple.

Yet in the Great Thunder Temple in the West, amidst the chanting of Buddhist scriptures, the three thousand Buddha lands seemed not to be seen.

Sleeping Arhat yawned and lazily turned over.

Manjushri and Samantabhadra bowed their heads and chanted sutras, and even the three main Buddhas on the high platform seemed oblivious to what was happening outside.

Only Guanyin Bodhisattva would occasionally look up and gaze towards Xiniuhezhou.

"Bodhisattva, please don't be upset."

The Buddha of the South smiled and said, "As long as this demon harms sentient beings, sentient beings will resent him. When our Buddhist sect takes action to eliminate this demon, the Western Continent of Hezhou will naturally quickly submit to our will."

Once the entire Western Continent of Hezhou submits to Buddhism, the eastward transmission of Buddhist teachings will proceed much more smoothly.

Upon hearing this, Guanyin Bodhisattva chanted the Buddha's name, but her heart could not bear it: "However, the suffering of sentient beings is truly real, and this action is contrary to the Buddha's teachings."

"The Dharma is not only present, but also in the past and future; it exists in the three times."

Amitabha Buddha of the West also spoke, saying, "The suffering of sentient beings now will be their blessing in the future."

Guanyin Bodhisattva lowered her head and said nothing more.

The only thing that kept echoing in my mind was a prayer, a constant refrain.

On the fifth day of the Great Sun Never Sets, the water levels of rivers and lakes were noticeably lower. Chen Geng stood on the corpse of Emperor Bing and surveyed the earth.

The Buddhist sect's methods of killing demons have not stopped; in fact, they have intensified.

One country actually invited the Thunder God, Lightning Goddess, Wind Goddess, and Rain Master to try and bring rain and cool down the country.

But Chen Geng snorted coldly and sent a streak of fire towards the country.

The rain clouds were instantly burned dry, and not a single drop of rain fell.

Enraged by the burning flames, the Thunder Goddess, Lightning Goddess, Wind Goddess, and Rain Master flew towards him to demand answers:

"You demon are incredibly audacious and domineering! We've only been making some rain; what business is it of yours?"

"Your rain will only embolden the Buddhist community."

Chen Geng's pupils fell on them: "Considering your hard work and dedication in controlling the clouds and rain, if you dare utter another word, you'll die!"

What an unreasonable demon!

The four gods of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning gritted their teeth in anger, but dared not say anything more.

If they angered him, they might have to go back to the Investiture of the Gods list, so they could only threaten, "You wait, we'll report you to the Heavenly Court!"

Just as the wind, thunder, rain, and lightning were about to depart, a cold snort rang out: "I've said it before, say it again, and you die!"

He pressed one hand into the void, freezing the four gods in place. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he crushed the four gods to death, forcing their true spirits to be listed on the Investiture of the Gods.

On the tenth day, the sun still did not set, and people began to die from the heat in Xiniu Hezhou. Chen Geng clearly felt waves of karma enveloping him.

"Ridiculous! My demon race doesn't incur karma when it's slaughtered, but when humans die, my demon race incurs karma?"

He looked up and stared directly at the heavens, loudly questioning, "The Buddhist sect's killing of my demon race violates the will of heaven. My punishment of the human race to protect the demon race is in accordance with the will of heaven. What is wrong with that?"

Heaven does not speak, but karma only grows heavier with each passing moment.

Seeing this, Chen Geng's body shimmered with golden light. He regretted that his Golden Crow Avenue was not complete, otherwise he could bask in the sun wherever he wanted.

Neither the Buddhist sect nor the Heavenly Court intervened, probably waiting for his karma to reach its limit before following the will of Heaven and achieving two goals at once.

This was also a calculated move; they completely ignored Chen Geng's threats, and in the end, it was the mortals and minor demons who suffered.

Is Chen Geng going to hide his sun?

No, he didn't; in fact, he went even further!

No one can make him give up or back down; the true fire of the sun can even burn away karma.

The sun's true fire burned round and round for a whole month, turning almost 90% of Xiniuhezhou into desert, with countless dead souls and withered bones wandering the land.

"Look closely, this is Buddhism, this is Heaven. They disregard your lives. Who will ultimately kill you, me or them?"

Every day, Chen Geng would tell mortals and demons that he treated them all the same and burned them all!

"If you truly understand the demon race and the true nature of Buddhism, I will leave immediately."

But... Chen Geng didn't see any changes in humanity.

There are Arhats, Buddhas, monks, and Bodhisattvas who constantly travel through the mortal realm, telling them that the things in heaven are also the work of demons.

Only by having deep faith in Buddhism can one attain eternal bliss.

Some eminent monks even passed away in public, their physical bodies remaining incorruptible while their true nature entered the Buddhist realm.

Seeing that the high monks in the Buddhist realm could grant all requests and that there was no more suffering, people followed them like madmen to practice Buddhism.

Chen Geng even observed that in an entire country, everyone practiced Buddhism, yet there was no one managing or producing anything.

It's not that he's heartless, it's just that these people can't be woken up by the sun.

The rise of the West is a foregone conclusion.

"Then you'll all die!"

Chen Geng stopped trying to dissuade him. It was just karma; even if the True Fire of the Sun couldn't burn it off, he could always go find the Red Lotus Karmic Fire later.

Being both fire-related, it's no problem for him.

He has the merit of creating the heavens to protect him, and the power of the sun in his body, so he is not worried about getting lost in the calamity.

It's not like we have the will of Pangu; in the end, we'll still have to fight it out!