Chapter 1009: The Secret of the Spiritual Path The Truth of the North Pole

In the six hundredth year, Bei Jia broke through to the Seventh-Rank, regaining his youth.

And he also stood at Li Qi's last footsteps.

This was where all legends converged.

He had followed Li Qi's footsteps for six hundred years, witnessing all the traces left by this Great Power.

Li Qi's current power could influence many things; he might just eat a meal, take a photo, or give a 'V' sign, and then this place would undergo special changes, producing various Spiritual Objects.

Although these Spiritual Objects were not worth much to someone of Li Qi's level, they were considered miracles to those of the Eighth or Ninth-Rank.

Not to mention, there was also Chang Qiao, a True Dragon, nearby.

The True Dragon's presence was immense; once, the Dragon King's Third Prince of the West Sea, when urinating into the water, fish that ate it could transform into a demon dragon, and when urinating on a mountain, the grass would turn into Spirit Ganoderma, which granted longevity if consumed.

Although Chang Qiao couldn't compare to him, it was common for her Dragon Qi to catalyze the emergence of Dragon Beasts.

Coupled with Li Qi's occasional spontaneous actions, he often created various Immortal legends, such as Immortal footprints, drawing a prison on the ground, fox and alligator snakes, as well as slaying demons and eliminating evil, averting disasters and neutralizing poisons; many strange tales were all traces he left behind on his journey.

Many places surprised Bei Jia; some places where not a blade of grass grew were inhabited by the Human Race.

Chasing these, Bei Jia arrived at the place where Li Qi disappeared, which was also where Li Qi decided to seclude himself to observe the entire North Pole.

However, when he truly arrived here, he suddenly discovered something.

In his pursuit of Li Qi, he was like an inhuman puppet, out of place with his surroundings.

Yes, out of place with his surroundings.

He found that the people around him didn't care much about these so-called 'relics,' so what was it that he cared about?

Was it the emotion from his childhood?

But how could that momentary emotion drive him on this arduous journey of six hundred years of bitter cultivation?

Bei Jia was not here for tourism; what was a leisurely stroll for Li Qi was an incredibly dangerous demon's den for him.

Just like a cruise trip, Li Qi enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the sea and the gentle, giant sea beasts.

But Bei Jia was piloting a small boat across the vast ocean; those gentle, giant sea beasts could capsize him just by passing by, and he constantly had to fight off sharks, hunger, and lack of water.

The scenery was beautiful, but he couldn't enjoy it.

So, why do this?

Bei Jia found a stone and sat down, resting his arms on his knees and cradling his head in his hands, sinking into extremely bitter contemplation.

This was the first time in six hundred years that this once-child, now an old man, seriously contemplated the emptiness of life.

His immense emptiness over these six hundred years!

Now, he was like an old deer whose head had been whitened by time, having lived for a very long time, yet, despite enduring hardships and having deep experiences, he had never met a person whose happy dream had not fallen through, nor had he seen a heart without scars.

It was as if, like him, everyone's dreams seemed to ultimately not end well, and even if they did, they would endlessly repeat.

You achieved a goal, that's great, so... start the next goal.

Sisyphus-like futility.

Goals and desires were merely carrots pushing people into futile efforts; with these, people would endlessly engage in meaningless labor.

But even if you got the carrot, you would soon hang a second one, calling it 'starting anew.'

But... did he truly start anew?

However, Bei Jia also discovered a terrifying thing.

He had already repeatedly hung countless carrots for himself.

His memory wasn't very good; he found that this kind of pain of his had actually started long ago, but he had just forgotten it.

For a person, pain would never continue forever; it would end sooner or later.

The reason was simple: because the human heart had limits, which was a great misfortune for all sentient beings; they couldn't even maintain a painful state of mind for long.

You would forget the pain, you would start anew, and then you would get the pain again, cycling endlessly.

Unconsciously, Bei Jia found that his childhood memories of Li Qi had gradually faded.

That feeling of emotion was also gradually being lost.

In this world, there were indeed things one understood but still couldn't avoid.

Just as one couldn't stop a falling meteor from being incinerated by atmospheric friction and disappearing into a flash of light and stardust, a small stone once cherished as a treasure in childhood would, unconsciously, become worthless.

Even this very body was like that.

Bei Jia stood up, feeling a sense of loss.

All dreams, passions, and great futures thus vanished from the world!

This life was but a momentary dream, a painful dream!

Humans came into the world only to suffer, and if there was any remaining value, it was merely due to those unerasable sorrows and the eternal torment from thought.

But at this moment, Li Qi withdrew from his observation, and an Incarnation manifested before Bei Jia.

Bei Jia, who had transformed from a child into an old man, stared in astonishment at Li Qi, who appeared exactly as he did before.

Li Qi said to him, “You seem to have been looking for me for a long time, and now you have found me.”

“Ah... Senior Li Qi.” Bei Jia looked at Li Qi, as if sighing, and also as if relieved.

After saying this, he froze in place, silently surveying his surroundings, and then looked at Li Qi again.

After a long while, he finally said, “I only realize now... what I found was not actually you. I'm a little curious, Chang Qiao should also be someone like me who chased after you, why is she so happy, without a trace of suffering?”

Bei Jia had never met Chang Qiao.

But he accurately described Chang Qiao's situation, all because he had seriously collected those legends and inferred the personalities of Li Qi and Chang Qiao from them.

Moreover, he even managed to get a terminal in a place like the North Pole, allowing him to connect to networks and view Chang Qiao's freshly released travel logs from six hundred years ago.

“Curious? I'm curious too. The reactions of higher intelligence still haven't been deciphered. I know very well how to create higher intelligence, but once created, that thing is no longer under my control. To this day, I can't find a way to control the thoughts of higher intelligence,” Li Qi said with a smile.

“Is that so... but I remember there are ways to brainwash, right?” Bei Jia asked.

“Perhaps brainwashing is possible, but that's merely killing the other party and then creating a new one, and even then... this new one will also break free from control after developing for a period,” Li Qi stated.

“I see.” Bei Jia didn't delve deeper into the topic, merely tidying his belongings: “Well, I'll be leaving now. I hope we both find our answers.”

Li Qi said nothing, watching him depart.

Very good.

Excellent.

The moment the other party chose to bid farewell to Li Qi, Li Qi perceived it.

He saw Bei Jia before him, and something within Bei Jia's heart had triumphed over his own most fervent emotions and greatest fears.

Li Qi gently raised his hand.

He had found the traces of the Spirit Dao.

Within every fat person, a thin one is hidden.

Within every stone, a sculpture hides.

Eternal masterpieces are just there, waiting for someone to unearth them from the sea of words and mountains of phrases.

The painting has always existed in the heart; what is painted is merely a clumsy imitation of the pattern in the heart.

That is 'Spirit'.

To say 'soul' comes from this; the essence of all things is called Spirit.

Essence, clarity, meaning shining essence, is the core part of all things after their Impurities have been removed.

After the mundane shell is shed, what remains is the manifestation of 'eternity,' the purest essence.

Li Qi grasped this point.

And then...

His spirit twisted at this instant.

The entire North Pole inverted.

At this moment, Li Qi arrived in an indescribable Domain.

Is this... also the myriad heavens?

Or is this simply the North Pole?

But this place was different.

It had the same scenery as the North Pole, but there was something amiss about this scenery.

Bizarre and colorful, Li Qi could only describe it that way.

It was as if scenes from history, books, and paintings had been extracted into the present, and the profound scenery displayed its sacredness and grandeur!

No one could fail to be shocked by such a scene, for this scene existed in all history.

Imagine, doesn't everyone have a question: is history 'repetitive'?

Are the countless 'beauties' actually just the endless repetition of the same thing?

The legendary heroes, those magnificent Auras, such glory, with unparalleled radiance, leading the heroes of a great era across surging seas, through deserts; they are passionate desires, shadows of heaven, and grand history declares the Incarnation of miracles.

Is this history beautiful? Is it magnificent?

However, if they are all repetitions of the same thing, then to display this 'one thing' before one's eyes, how beautiful would that be?

At this moment, what Li Qi saw was precisely this.

He saw the 'most beautiful essence' within all the endlessly repeating beautiful scenes.

How to describe it?

For example, a certain artist, his paintings have a very distinct personal style.

At a glance, everyone knows, “This must have been painted by this artist, and even if not, it's an imitation of his work.”

Why?

Even though he paints different content and different subjects, it's immediately recognizable as his work.

Because he possesses a unique 'artistic style.'

What is 'artistic style'?

The special concept into which all painting characteristics are transformed, a 'Spirit' within creation, is called 'artistic style.'

So, if one disregards all 'paintings,' disregards those 'physical existences,' and simply appreciates 'artistic style,' then... what does 'artistic style' look like?

And what Li Qi saw at this moment was precisely that.

A thing composed of soul, concept, and logic, an 'idea' abstracted to the extreme; as long as the 'concept' here is reproduced in the real world, works with identical 'artistic style' can be created, and one hundred, ten thousand, or even a hundred million works with the same artistic style can be created.

This is true 'abstraction,' abstracting a painting into a concept, into mathematics, or even logic itself, abstracting it into a situation that no concrete reality can express.

Many abstract arts pursue the extraction of 'beauty' from concrete objects and then its re-presentation; from this perspective, it's not an exaggeration to say that this moment is the ultimate pinnacle of abstract art, making the beauty of art the purest abstraction.

The common beauty in all of an artist's works is described here and can be perfectly reproduced. Is there a more artistic abstract work than this?

Such a pure concept, this is the world where the Spirit Dao resides.

However, when Li Qi saw all of this, he merely twitched the corner of his mouth.

Truly... absurd.

He looked around, and in this 'North Pole' constructed of pure concepts, in this 'backside of the real North Pole,' Li Qi finally found the lair of the Spirit Dao.

This was an abstract North Pole, a place without any concrete reality, existing only as abstract concepts.

Eyes, ears, touch, none had any effect here, for there was no light, no sound, and no tangible matter.

Perception here relied solely on the 'Heart'.

What is 'Heart'?

Don't ask; if it can be asked, it's not 'Heart.'

This was an a priori knowledge, requiring no learning or understanding, inherently known; everyone naturally understood what 'Heart' was, with no need for explanation or instruction.

Li Qi also naturally understood.

But he still scoffed a little.

The Spirit Dao was still searching for the commonality of things, the essence of things, which Li Qi considered utterly absurd and meaningless.

Things had no essence, or rather, a thing itself was its own essence.

However... it wasn't entirely without merit.

Li Qi scanned his surroundings and clearly found that the Spirit Dao was not pursuing something like 'the absolute unique ultimate concept.'

There were many types of 'concepts,' which could conflict or coexist harmoniously; although concepts were extracted from things, they were not absolute.

Relying on these extracted concepts, Li Qi had already understood the existence form of the North Pole.

It turned out that the reason he couldn't find the North Pole was that Li Qi hadn't sufficiently extracted his own existence; he was simply too 'concrete.'

Only when he perceived that 'power that overcame his own most fervent emotions and greatest fears' within Bei Jia's heart did he finally discover the existence of 'Spirit.'

“Been looking for a long time, haven't you?” At this moment, a 'message' appeared in Li Qi's ear.

“Only six hundred years,” Li Qi chuckled.

For a Second-Rank, six hundred years was just a nap, truly not that long.

“What do you think?” the voice asked again.

“Nothing much to see. By the way, who are you?”

“My name is Ming Leshan. You are Li Qi, right?”