Chapter 1018: The war breaks out again

Li Qi had been traveling in the Universe for a long time.

He did many things.

Helping the Buddhist Path with its propaganda, acquiring the Desire Realm, eradicating City of Dreams, establishing Qi Palace, and many other things. His busy efforts and constant travels were all driven by the same underlying goal.

That was, to cause trouble for the Demonic Dao.

These actions, obviously, also affected the Demonic Dao.

Similar to that Third Grade civilization from before, which was originally a breeding ground for the Demonic Dao, but after Li Qi semi-forcibly opened up the Da Sanzang, they also began to develop basic resistance to demonic thoughts.

In response, the Demonic Dao showed no visible reaction.

If the Desire Realm was gone, it was gone.

If City of Dreams was eradicated, then it was eradicated.

If the Demon of Karma died, they seemed indifferent.

When the Demonic Prince obtained the position of Karma in Reincarnation, they also showed no reaction.

Li Qi was jumping around the entire Universe, yet the Demonic Dao didn't even acknowledge him from beginning to end.

This was truly problematic, to the extent that every move of the Demonic Dao itself began to be scrutinized by other Dao Orthodoxy.

An abnormal situation must hide something unusual. The Demonic Dao was not a peaceful Dao Orthodoxy. Their tolerance of Li Qi's continuous provocations indicated that something must be behind it.

Li Qi was also quite anxious about this, but he had no solution.

The Demonic Prince also seemed indifferent, continuing to read the Da Sanzang, and even planning to visit the Human Path to consult the Da Zhengzang after finishing it, as if targeting was not an urgent matter for him.

Li Qi merely sighed and continued to wait.

And so—

In Mystic Radiance Mountain…

“Whoosh—”

Shen Shuibi drained the sweet rice wine from her cup in one gulp, her throat trembling during the process, yet a few drops still spilled, trickling down her neck.

Beside her, Li Qi quietly admired her swallowing motion.

Unlike Li Qi, her snow-white neck, without any protrusions, trembled rapidly with each swallow, and her rarely seen collarbone swayed along.

The lines of her jaw and throat merged seamlessly, gleaming with moisture.

“What are you looking at? Aren't you busy lately?” Shen Shuibi noticed Li Qi's gaze and immediately wiped the water droplets with her sleeve, regaining her composure.

“I'd like to be busy, but… I can't find anything to be busy with. I've done everything I could think of to provoke the Demonic Dao into further action, but what exactly is the Demonic Dao hiding?” Li Qi lay on the recliner, feeling a bit of a headache.

“In my opinion, you might as well wait for them to react, why be so proactive?” Shen Shuibi said.

“Waiting for the rabbit? Ha, that's true, I'll just wait for the rabbit, I hope they make a move, I've done almost everything I can.” Li Qi sighed, there was nothing else he could do.

————————————

However… the Demonic Dao was not as calm as it appeared.

The First Grade Four Demons indeed showed no reaction, but due to Li Qi's actions, the Second Grade Demonic Overlord were truly in a state of distress.

They began to entangle their thoughts in the Void Realm, like a spider web, as if they were a single entity, and began to think.

Demon of False Guidance spoke first: “He was not affected, in fact… he seems to have lost his pursuit of knowledge. I haven't seen any impulse in him to pursue new techniques or new knowledge for now.”

“That's natural. He's only reached Second Grade, and hasn't even fully digested what he learned before. Your current harm to him isn't great. But… why would he contact Immortal Heaven? Did he learn about the Heart Demon?” Demon of Bodhi-Wisdom asked.

“That's why I hid, letting him continue to develop. It shouldn't have been exposed,” Heart Demon replied.

This was a secret, one that very few within the Demonic Dao knew.

The Heart Demon's Dao opportunity was 'Immortal Heaven'.

The so-called Heart Demon arises from excessive arrogance.

Whenever a thought arises in the mind, this demon manifests.

To conquer demons, one must first conquer one's own mind. When the mind is subdued, all other demons retreat. When the mind gives rise to various demons, and when the mind is extinguished, all demons are extinguished. Obstructing the Righteous Path and thus losing the wisdom of life is called the Heart Demon.

In essence, the Heart Demon is the fluctuating thoughts within your mind, the various distracting thoughts that arise in a cultivator.

Thoughts like, “So annoying, I don't want to read anymore.”

“Tired, don't want to do this anymore.”

“Is this person crazy? I want to kill him with a knife.”

These are manifestations of the Heart Demon, fleeting thoughts that appear for a moment, and which you yourself likely deem incorrect and would not act upon.

If you acted on them, it means you lost control.

And throughout the entire Universe, there was a highly cultivated being who, at the same time, found it difficult to eliminate his Heart Demon.

That was Immortal Heaven.

Immortal Heaven was the Heart Demon's Dao opportunity.

As long as the Heart Demon completely ensnared Immortal Heaven' mind, and completely took Possession of the 'Immortal Heaven' that floated on the surface, then the Heart Demon would become a First Grade like Immortal Heaven.

Normally, at Second Grade, one can control their thoughts, and the Heart Demon would have little impact on peers.

But Immortal Heaven was different.

Immortal Heaven couldn't even control his own thoughts, and the Heart Demon's nature allowed him to gradually and subtly transform 'Immortal Heaven' into himself using these distracting thoughts.

And originally, everything was progressing smoothly.

They even had the Demon of False Guidance, through the connection between the Heart Demon and Immortal Heaven, give Li Qi an address.

The address indeed led to Immortal Heaven; no matter how it was verified, how it was checked, or even just secretly glanced at, what could be seen was absolutely Immortal Heaven.

As long as Li Qi had even a shred of curiosity, even if he just stayed far away and tentatively checked its authenticity, Li Qi would definitely fall into the trap.

Unfortunately, Li Qi never harbored any distracting thoughts from beginning to end, not even the thought of 'going to see'.

However, it was just a casual move anyway; it didn't matter if Li Qi didn't come.

However… the death of the Demon of Karma put all these Second Grade Demonic Overlord on alert.

They continued to vigorously advance the Heart Demon's actions. As long as the Heart Demon took Possession of Immortal Heaven and used Immortal Heaven' nature to elevate the Heart Demon to First Grade, Li Qi would naturally be insignificant.

But, at this critical moment… Immortal Heaven was pulled away by Li Qi.

This made these Demonic Overlord almost suspect that they were being targeted by a First Grade.

Fortunately, the Four Demons showed no reaction, so it was likely no First Grade was involved. If a First Grade had truly intervened, the Heavenly Demon would not have been able to sit still. They could only guess this was another move by Li Qi.

But in any case, the Heart Demon's progress was interrupted. Immortal Heaven was now embroiled in the conflict between the Spirit Dao and Shaman Dao, making it difficult for the Heart Demon to act, and more variables were likely to arise.

Originally, Immortal Heaven would never get involved in any disputes. Given Immortal Heaven' nature, he could have continued to hide until the Universe's destruction, giving the Heart Demon ample time to gradually advance his plan.

But after getting involved with Li Qi, all of this changed.

Now that the Da Sanzang compilation was complete, coupled with this large-scale propaganda, the numerous benefits and strategic space the Demonic Dao had previously conceded seemed meaningless.

These issues had to be resolved.

That's why these Second Grade Demonic Overlord gathered for a meeting.

“Actions against Immortal Heaven must now cease, actions against City of Dreams have also ceased, actions against Qi Palace stopped long ago, and actions against Li Qi himself were halted previously. All concessions have become empty talk. If we don't act, then the previous losses will become real,” the Root of Goodness Demon reminded.

It's like trading futures.

Before everything settles and you truly convert your goods into money, all losses are unrealized losses, and unrealized losses don't count as losses.

Only when they are realized and unrealized losses become real losses does the problem become significant.

With Immortal Heaven as a safeguard, all losses were unrealized, and the Demonic Overlord were not panicked. As long as Immortal Heaven' matter was resolved, all losses would be returned twofold, without any actual loss.

But the current situation… if they continued to concede, allowing unrealized losses to become real losses, that would be truly disastrous.

Many of their future plans, many events that needed to be advanced, would all come to a halt.

For example, Li Qi's forging of Qi Palace consumed many resources. These resources were possibilities, materials, and even some manpower and followers of high-grade cultivators themselves.

The Demonic Dao Second Grades naturally would have similar plans and assets.

Many Dao opportunities, and even certain chances, would be lost or directly forfeited due to the current situation.

This was also a significant loss for the Second Grades.

Things could not be allowed to escalate to that point.

“We must actively attack Immortal Heaven now, and we should put aside our prejudices and join forces with the Spirit Dao,” Heart Demon urged.

This matter concerned his Dao, and he had to step forward to take the lead.

His First Grade opportunity was Immortal Heaven; if he missed it, he wouldn't know when he would encounter another First Grade, a personification of natural law, again.

“Will the Spirit Dao join forces with us?”

“They will. They also need Immortal Heaven, and furthermore, there's a conflict between Shaman Dao and the Spirit Dao now, though not large, there's an opportunity to exploit it.”

“Precisely because they also need Immortal Heaven, they might refuse to cooperate with us. The Spirit Dao's stance is well-known.”

“Whether we cooperate or not is not up to them.”

“Hmm, alright.”

The Demonic Overlord spoke one after another, though their manifestation was as if a single mind was expressing different thoughts.

For these Demonic Overlord, they generally existed within the 'inner minds' of sentient beings, without a physical entity. They were the manifestation of the sentient beings' minds, and within this manifestation, differences in the perception of 'mind' arose, leading to the birth of different Demonic Overlord.

But no matter how surprised, the Demonic Overlord were well aware of their situation.

Absolute selfishness, paradoxically, led to the Demonic Overlord's concerted cooperation, to the extent that they could even put aside their worries and merge with other Demonic Overlord to achieve absolutely confidential communication.

Soon, the Demonic Overlord dispersed.

Everything Li Qi had done had already significantly impacted them, and they couldn't allow the impact to spread further.

And so—

The Demonic Dao began its actions.

In this Universe, City of Dreams began to be rebuilt in large quantities.

However, this time, the Demonic Dao did not attempt to alter the past.

In fact, the Demonic Dao was no longer planning to change reality.

Once it involved altering reality and tampering with history, this war would devolve into a tug-of-war, becoming slow and stagnant, with the time in the Reality Universe even stopping until a certain stage was reached.

That wouldn't do.

Such a battle would make it difficult to determine victory or defeat, as one could always retreat by sacrificing history and possibilities.

So, this time, the Demonic Dao got serious.

No need to make choices in history, let's just fight directly in this shared reality.

And don't use history as a shield, there's no need, just go all out from the start.

Without the cover of history, when Li Qi wanted to interfere, he would have to directly step forward and fight for his life in the Reality Universe, in the most direct and obvious way.

Li Qi had seen this kind of struggle before.

The battle between Zhu Fengdan and the Human Path Third Grade in Grand Yang was precisely this kind.

Could Li Qi's so-called 'Qi Palace' withstand it?

The Demonic Dao didn't know.

And Li Qi himself didn't know.

But in any case—

The various Dao Orthodoxy in this Universe—the Nine Lands Under Heaven, like the second-rate Dao Orthodoxy such as Dao of Reason and Martial Dao, and those high-level civilizations, all these super-civilizations with Universe-wide observation capabilities, suddenly discovered this change—

The previously dormant Demonic Dao, at this moment, bared its fangs.

The old tortoise that used to take hits without retaliating suddenly turned into a crocodile!

——————————

The Demonic Dao made its move.

In just one year, over six hundred trillion new City of Dreams rose from the ground, so quickly that Qi Palace didn't even have time to react.

After all, a year passes too easily for an immortal.

Not to mention immortals, even Mortals with a slightly longer lifespan, ordinary Mortals who can live seventy or eighty years, often exclaim, “Huh? A year has passed? I haven't done anything yet!”

Time is like a medicine; the more you use it, the more resistant you become.

It takes more, larger doses of time to create a new sense of stimulation.

Children complain about not growing up fast enough, while elders lament that a lifetime flashes by, as if they haven't done much.

And in the eyes of immortals, a year is as fleeting as the blink of an eye.

In that blink of an eye, the Demonic Dao launched a swift offensive.

The rising City of Dreams were overseen by many Third Grade, who sought out former members of Qi Palace and attacked them without hesitation.

Qi Palace, of course, reacted, but this reaction was more instinctive than a coordinated resistance orchestrated by Great Power, so its effectiveness was minimal.

After a year, the Demonic Dao's lightning war had mostly lost its effectiveness. Once the Great Power noticed, Qi Palace's Third Grades immediately began to backtrack.

They prepared to return the battle to before it began, turning the Demonic Dao's head start into nothing.

However, when they began to backtrack…

They found that this war had no past.

Don't think about escaping into history anymore.

Fix bayonets. (End of Chapter)