Legend of the Great Sage

The Formless realm was an empty world without colour, substance, or existence.

Yet there would also be an instant where he felt himself swell, expanding endlessly, not by thousands or tens of thousands of metres, but by thousands and tens of thousands of kilometres until he filled the entire world.

If that really was just an instant.

There would also be an instant where he felt himself turn white—white skin, white blood, white eyes—except he was unable to sense his own existence.

If that really was an instant!

Afterwards, everything would turn back to normal, in an endless cycle, through constant resets.

Was it an illusion? Perhaps not. Perhaps he really did become that large and that white, breaking through some sort of boundary before returning back to where he was.

This sensation could not be described with words. It was even emptier than emptiness, even more despairing than despair, even more maddening than madness.

He had already gone insane countless times, running and screaming madly through the white world, but none of that mattered. Everything returned to how it was.

This form of eternal life was even more terrifying than death.

It became more and more difficult for him to gather his thoughts. Countless thoughts entangled together as a mess before gradually dissipating.

It was said that once a person spent far too much time in a snowy landscape, they would go blind if their eyes struggled to find a focal point for long periods of time. This condition was known as snow blindness.

The situation he was in was far worse than that. Perhaps it could be called heart blindness.

If he could not die, then there was no need to strive for survival. If there were no enemies, then why struggle and fight on at all?

Because certain things in daily life were far too natural, people would end up neglecting their value, just like air.

When time and space, the two basic concepts to existence, had been suddenly removed, everything that depended on them would gradually collapse, and there would never be an end to this collapse.

“Heh, is this the so-called Avīci?”

His expression suddenly changed, becoming solemn and seated in a lotus position. He murmured, “Avalokiteshvara, while practicing deeply with the Prajñāpāramitā, suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation he overcame all ill-being…”

TL: This is the beginning of the Heart Sutra.

He began to meditate.

He did not know that this was the Formless realm, but he did know that he had to find a way to free him from his own thoughts. He could live forever here, but once he became completely blinded, the impact would be irreversible.

He had to come up with a way to resist nothing!

The path of the māra was independent of buddhism, yet it possessed countless connections to buddhism.

Through the bitter, ascetic cultivation on the great ice mountain, his achievements with Dhyāna and Samāpatti had already reached the highest possible realm, form is no other than emptiness.

As a result, he began to peer into himself, observing everything he had seen and heard before he entered the Hell realm again.

The Hell realm was central to the entire six realms of saṃsāra. Without hell, there was no saṃsāra. Meanwhile, the six realms of saṃsāra were central to the trichiliocosm, to countless stars.

All worlds, regardless of size, were connected to the cycle.

As he rapidly ventured deeper into hell, the laws manifested more and more, but they also became more and more mysterious.

Or in other words, what he faced right now was not just the laws of the Hell realm, but the central laws to the entirety of the six realms of saṃsāra and the trichiliocosm.

Whether it was the trichiliocosm or the six realms of saṃsāra, all of it possessed a shared name—the Form realm.

The Form realm, central, white, emptiness…

Countless words gathered in his head, turning into a flash of inspiration. Don’t tell me this is the legendary Formless realm?

Then everything made sense!

Everything bizarre that occurred in the Hell realm could be explained!

Such as why the Bridge of Helplessness had suddenly shortened after crossing it.

This was just the most ordinary phenomenon that occurred in daily life. Unfamiliar paths would always come off as longer, but once it was travelled, it would immediately feel much shorter.

But in the regular world, the length in reality was always fixed. The only thing that changed was the feeling. Yet here, feelings could influence reality, directly changing the length of the bridge.

That also explained why there was only a single Road to the Yellow Springs, yet it could lead to countless worlds. The bridge was a certain length to him, yet in the minds of others, it was a different length.

The bridge was the same bridge and the road was the same road, yet they manifested with completely different “forms” or “appearances”. Because this was the boundary between the Form realm and the Formless realm, the various rules and laws that belonged to the Form realm were gradually being replaced by the rules and laws of the Formless realm.

It was just like how humans would demonify after entering the Demon realm. As someone who belonged to the Form realm, he would be converted once he entered the Formless realm. And formlessness was “emptiness”.

That was quite interesting!

“Form is no other than emptiness” was originally just a comprehension and realm. It was not actually too difficult to understand if he really wanted to explain it.

“Form” was a common term for all objects and matters, while the objects and matters were constantly moving and changing.

It was just like how a living person might be run over by a truck in the blink of an eye, reduced to a splat of flesh. This person would cease to exist, turning into “emptiness”.

If he took it a step further, such that even if it was not that sudden, where this person lived for several decades longer, the end result would still be the same.

If he took it even further, this person would still be constantly changing in the several decades he lived. Today and yesterday would be different. Tomorrow and today would be different.

Time would flow, regardless of day or night. Everything was constantly changing. Form itself was emptiness.

But “emptiness” did not mean “nothing” and death did not mean “disappearance”. They would only turn into other substances like soil.

All phenomena bore the mark of emptiness, where there was no birth nor death, no defilement nor purity, no increase nor decrease…

That was why his powers neither grew nor decreased in this Formless realm. He could neither live nor be destroyed.

It was just like how he could forget about ever finding that “fifth brother” if he travelled the Road to the Yellow Springs alone. None of the wicked fiends banished to the Formless realm would ever meet. He had to face everything alone.

Upon realising this, he did not feel disappointed at all. Instead, he felt extremely excited. He gradually understood this world, breaking through the realm of the four Rūpa-dhyāna and entering the realm of the four Ārūpyasamāpatti.

The first Samāpatti of the four Ārūpyasamāpatti—Ākāśānantyāyatana Samāpatti, the attainment of Infinite Space.

At that instant, his body stopped swelling and whitening. With a smile on his face, he meditated in silence.

Normally, no matter how profound the realm of cultivation and comprehension was, it required power to sustain, or he would just come off as a fool.

For example, someone slapped you across the face. Instead of properly training yourself, you go off to a monastery to meditate, coming back to spout a bunch of nonsensical buddhist truths at them. It would only earn you another slap across the face.

That was why emptiness itself was form. Emptiness could not go without form. It had to rely on it.

The so-called comprehension, the so-called truths, the so-called dharma that could not be converted into power was all like dogshit.

However, the wondrous part about the Formless realm was that it did not rely on anything. If you really did possess that comprehension, then everything would bend to your will. You could directly kill the enemy with “nonsense” on the spot.

It was also possible to reveal all your crimes on a mirror before producing various genuine tortures.

It was exactly because of this special characteristic that he could defeat the glaciers of ice and seas of fire through seeing through the various appearances of reality, allowing him to undergo the sixth heavenly tribulation in the end.

However, it was as clear as day that this state was very abnormal. If he could obtain whatever he wanted just from the thought of it, then all fatties would succeed in slimming down and all nerd shut-ins would have started a harem. There would be free lunches every single day.

Why is the Formless realm so wondrous and so different?

Li Qingshan sank into a lengthy thought. His consciousness began to gather and condense together again as his messy thoughts became sorted too. He entered the second Samāpatti of the four Ārūpyasamāpatti—Vijñānānantyāyatana Samāpatti, the attainment of Infinite Consciousness.

Issues arose one by one. “Form is no other than emptiness” was relatively easy to understand, but what did “emptiness is no other than form” mean?

The primordial spirit turtle had turned into Ruin’s End. What were the origins of the Formless realm then?

As the central component of the trichiliocosm and the six realms of saṃsāra, the Formless realm was far more important than Ruin’s End.

The primordial spirit turtle was created by the world. It was already the highest level of existence there could be, so who created the Formless realm? The buddha? Nüwa? No, not even they were capable of something like this.

Then there was only one possibility…

In his lengthy thought, he rediscovered his own existence. His heart was filled with joy, no longer feeling empty anymore.

The third Samāpatti of the four Ārūpyasamāpatti—Ākiṃcanyāyatana Samāpatti, the attainment of Infinite Nothingness.

The answer was crying out to him. He smiled and said, “Emptiness is no other than form.”

His voice rumbled thunderously, booming through the entire place and breaking the eternal silence.

“Emptiness is no other than—the Dao!”

Brilliant light illuminated the entire place, dyeing the unchanging pure-white.

The myriad paths led off in different directions to the same destination. They were just different names with different objectives.

Buddhism wanted to bring salvation to all living creatures, so they spoke about form and emptiness, using a heart of impermanence to eliminate the living creatures’ desires and obsessions.

Daoism pursued liberation, so they spoke about the great path, searching for a path that allowed them to transcend mortality.

At this moment, what Li Qingshan wanted was liberation, so he abandoned the Four Dhyāna and Eight Samāpatti freely.

He recited loudly, “The dao presents itself as empty, yet it can never be filled nor emptied. Infinitely deep, the dao appears to be the source of everyone and everything. It is hidden, yet always present. I do not know what produced the Dao, for it seems even older than the concept of God.”

TL: This is chapter 4 of the Dao De Jing.

This was the answer to everything. The Formless realm was where all the laws throughout the myriad worlds gathered. It was a world of “Dao”.

Whether it was the apple falling to the ground or the orbit of stars, they all followed “Dao”.

Ever so profound, it is the gate of wonders.

Only with the Formless realm as the source of everything was there the trichiliocosm of the Form realm. Only with the Form realm was there sentient beings and thus the Desire realm.

So-called cultivation was moving against the flow, rapidly approaching this source, approaching the Dao.

He realised this, so he entered the fourth Samāpatti of the four Ārūpyasamāpatti—Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana Samāpatti, the attainment of Neither Perception Nor Non-perception.

Ps： 归墟已经够难描绘了，这无色界简直要人命。如果看不明白，那不是你的错，但也请不要喷我，我只是完成我的承诺，带你们经历一个个奇妙世界，而不仅仅是换张地图，我也没得选择。不过还好，接下来就没这么抽象了。

Author’s PS: Ruin’s End was already difficult enough to describe. The Formless realm was basically out to end my life. If you don’t understand it, that’s not your fault, but please don’t rage at me. I’m just completing my promise, bringing you wondrous worlds after wondrous worlds, not just changing the map. I don’t have a choice in this either. But fortunately, what comes next won’t be so abstract.