His state of mind had improved.
Zhou Qing's mind was complicated. He reflected on the principles behind the Swarm Kingdom's survival, connected them to the origin of the Alaya-vijnana Dragon, and considered how his own distracting thoughts were like dust, constantly rising and falling. Suddenly, enlightenment came to him—
There were three methods for keeping the primordial spirit tranquil.
The first was to wear away every distracting thought in one's heart, leaving only the primordial spirit to command the entire body. Thus, one would naturally be single-minded.
The second was to allow distracting thoughts to proliferate. So long as they did not affect one's cultivation or disturb one's mind, they could be ignored. But if they were going to affect the primordial spirit, one had to take the initiative and battle those distracting thoughts and inner demons to the end.
Now, Zhou Qing had sent all the Inner Gods away, leaving only his own primordial spirit behind. He had been following the first path, remaining single-minded. Yet after witnessing the Alaya-vijnana consciousness, countless thoughts had arisen within him, and distracting thoughts surged and ebbed between birth and extinction like an ocean of waves. It seemed blue and boundless on the surface, but hidden currents churned beneath.
Thus, he would also follow the second path.
Why was his heart still unsettled even after the Inner Gods had left his Inner Scenery?
Because those had originally been foreign "gods."
Take the Five Sacred Beasts as an example: the Heart Ape, Mind Horse, Gold Lord, Wood Mother, and Yellow Crone had originally been the Five Sacred Beasts of that world on the Five Elements Continent. They were not Zhou Qing's true Inner Gods.
The statues worshipped in the Five Viscera Temples atop the Five Viscera Mountains within his Inner Scenery were his true