Chapter 1029: day

In a sense, Shen Shuibi's Dao and Li Qi's Dao have diverged, and there are even some differences with Yang Zhenqian.

However, both the Reclusive Daoist Faction and Li Qi have extremely inclusive Daos. For example, Li Qi believes that all things can exist in contradiction to each other, and thus will not reach the point of a Dao dispute.

Li Qi feels that what Yang Zhenqian believes also makes sense.

The Reclusive Daoist Faction's attitude towards Li Qi is the same. Although Li Qi's view is black, they can completely tolerate black and white coexisting, because the essence of this world is mutual contradiction and transformation, which is also part of the ultimate Dao.

Theoretically, it is very difficult to have a Dao dispute with Li Qi; it would require the other party to completely negate the meaning of everything besides themselves.

Li Qi believes that all things have meaning, and all things are 'natural'. Your meaning is meaningful, his meaning is meaningful, and my meaning is also meaningful. Even if we conflict with each other, it doesn't matter, because this world itself is contradictory, and contradiction does not mean conflict. For example, is there any conflict between black and white?

There is no conflict, just like the Taiji diagram; although there are contradictions, it does not prevent them from being combined.

The Reclusive Daoist Faction is even more typical in not caring about external disputes, focusing solely on cultivating their own Dao, and being even better than Li Qi at self-isolating and slacking off.

This is also the philosophy of the Reclusive Daoist Faction.

In terms of this philosophy, it's like two Buddhist-minded people who won't argue even if their views differ; they simply won't negate each other.

As long as you are not so extreme as to 'negate all meaning of others besides yourself,' you will not have a Dao dispute with Li Qi.

Unfortunately, the Demonic Dao is exactly like that.

The Demonic Dao only recognizes its own meaning, negating all other meanings and dismissing them as illusions, even actively demeaning and crushing these things just to prove its own correctness.

Li Qi has suffered greatly from this, and his dispute with the Demonic Dao stems from this.

To be honest, even towards humanity, Li Qi has never been so agitated or hostile. As long as humanity doesn't provoke him, Li Qi is still unwilling to go to war with humanity.

Of course, if they come knocking, that's another matter.

As for Shen Shuibi, what Li Qi is doing now is beyond her ability to comment on. She doesn't even have the possibility of touching the goals planned by Second Grades.

After all, the current Shen Shuibi simply doesn't understand what Li Qi wants to do. The difference between them is too great, to the point where Shen Shuibi is like a hamster in Li Qi's palm.

Can a hamster clearly see a human's appearance?

No, a hamster can only see what the hand that feeds it daily looks like.

That's why Shen Shuibi wants to entangle Li Qi to have a second child, so that... she can feel at ease supporting Li Qi.

She knows very well that Li Qi might one day leave and never return.

But even so, there is only support.

Back then, during the Human-Shaman War, when Li Qi was besieged by humanity and he pushed Shen Shuibi away, the rabbit understood one thing: she would ultimately have to support him in continuing his path.

There was no other path to choose, and no option for compromise.

Thinking of this, she stroked Li Tian De's head.

The little guy, abandoning his usual cold calmness in front of Li Qi, hugged his mother tightly, afraid of seeing his aunt again.

Sure enough, social butterflies are best for curing these self-righteous little brats.

Empress Luofu merely watched Shen Shuibi and her grandson with a smile, then looked at Yang Ning who was playing wildly over there.

But after watching for a while, she saw Yang Ning fleeing to the other side.

Looking closer, she saw a True Dragon chasing Yang Ning.

The True Dragon's body was beautiful, shimmering with a light blue glow, surrounded by green breezes, and it had no problem moving through the primordial essence of Chaos.

The True Dragon's physique is truly robust; at the Fourth Grade, even the primordial essence of Chaos cannot harm it, and it has probably long been immune.

Ah... is this the 'Lan Yue' that Yang Ning mentioned earlier? It looks like it's chasing something.

The lives of young people are truly hard to understand.

——————————

Shen Shuibi, Yang Ning, and Empress Luofu's journey continued.

During this period, many major events also occurred in the Universe.

For example, a dispute arose within the Heavenly Gods. Emperor Jun emerged, and Heavenly Gods like Tai Sui also appeared, with the unsealed Xiang Liu naturally among them.

This war was no less significant than the demon-extermination war initiated by Li Qi. The Second Grades of the Divine Path fought chaotically among themselves, and the Heavenly Gods displayed infinite power.

But soon, Haotian appeared and suppressed them.

So the war ended, and everything returned to normal.

After that, the demon race launched an 'emperor fluid paste' operation. In countless worlds, on every 'planet,' a golden moon's phantom appeared, from which myriad golden threads descended upon the Mortal realm. Plants, rocks, mountains, rivers, various Qi, birds, beasts, and all sorts of things without the Innate Three Treasures were all transformed into Yao upon contact.

The entire Universe was swept by a Yao Chaos.

In the endless Universe, mountains, lands, and even various demon beasts that had been enlightened began to sweep through the original civilizations, igniting countless conflicts.

In many worlds, 'Beast Tides' emerged. Things similar to 'Demonic Beasts' and 'Crystal Beasts' were all over the Universe; depending on the local language, there would be a new term, but the essence was the same: these were Yao creatures enlightened by the emperor fluid paste.

Different worlds had different fates. Some were harmonious worlds where Yao creatures coexisted peacefully, integrating into the world and becoming companions, as warm as a summer breeze. The appearance of 'Yao Spirits' did not disrupt the world's order but became a part of it.

Others were Beast Tides, where mutual hostility led to repeated conflicts. Perhaps some called it an epic, but those within it could only experience cruelty and despair.

However, correspondingly, in addition to Beast Tides, many unique Yao civilizations also emerged, some of which were interesting, such as the increase in rock races and many plants gaining sentience.

But this level of change was actually not much different from Li Qi's demon extermination. Everyone changed a part of the Universe's ecology, but from the overall perspective of the Universe, the change was not earth-shattering.

After these two major events, Li Qi felt... that what he had done was not so shocking after all.

It seems everyone is doing it.

The Yao are scattering emperor fluid paste throughout the Universe, the Divine Path is fighting among themselves over the attitude of Mortals, and although humanity's expansion has temporarily halted, that's only because they are still digesting the Buddhist heritage and Da Zhengzang. In the future, humanity's endless expedition will certainly continue.

the Manifested Daoist Faction of Dao Orthodoxy expressed support for this. Humanity still maintains contact with them. At the same time, a group of people from the Martial Path and Dao of Reason firmly support humanity, and they are merely biding their time now.

Looking at the True Dragons, they weren't idle during the Yao Chaos. The great competition brought by the Yao Chaos was something the True Dragons were happy to see, so they also took this opportunity to cultivate many demon dragons.

Just as humanity cultivates 'humans,' but before becoming 'human,' there are many steps to take and many things to learn, gradually becoming those high-standard, strict individuals. Becoming a Dragon is the same.

It's even more troublesome, because you need to constantly 'shed your cocoon,' modify your gene expression, control your evolutionary path, and finally reach a 'perfect' state to become a True Dragon.

demon dragons are advancing on this path, and during the Yao Chaos, many True Dragons were born as a result.

Overall, various Dao Orthodoxys are constantly causing trouble according to their own needs.

Even the Spirit Dao and Shaman Dao had good opportunities to tear each other apart over the Immortal Heaven matter, but the situation never expanded beyond the high levels; Shamansan basically handled it himself.

From this perspective, Li Qi roughly determined his position.

Perhaps... destroying City of Dreams, from the perspective of a Second Grade, is a major event, a life-and-death war, but at the level of 'Dao Orthodoxy disputes,' it's similar to a border skirmish.

Border skirmishes and small-scale regional wars are certainly serious matters, requiring the full support of the nation and military to accomplish. However, compared to a true world war, there is still a significant difference.

Therefore, given the power Li Qi currently possesses, he still needs to accumulate for a period of time.

As for Li Qi, after returning from fishing in the East Sea, he found a pond in Mystic Radiance Mountain's grotto-heaven to raise the Kun he caught. He originally thought that the pond-sized sea was large enough to hold a Kun.

However, that Kun transformed into a small bird, flew out of the pond, and ran away.

Li Qi didn't stop it, just watched it fly away with a smile.

He was also tired of fishing in the East Sea. Next time, he somewhat wanted to try the scenery of the Heavenly River.

It is said that many 'turtles' with clusters of stars on their backs wander in the Heavenly River. These turtles swim in the Heavenly River, feeding on the sun. So, fishing there involves using the sun as bait, casting it into the Heavenly River, and waiting for the Star Beasts within to bite. The top prize among them are those turtles.

It is said that although those turtles are savage beasts, they are very alert and won't bite easily, so it tests one's skill.

Of course, using Divine Abilities to catch them is easy, but that would be like choosing to drain a reservoir when fishing, losing elegance and lacking skill, and would be laughed at by many fellow anglers.

Hmm, settling, accumulating...

So, where should he go next to accumulate power? Should he cultivate Third Grades and Second Grades himself as future power reserves, or should he seek allies to join him?

To be quick, choosing allies is certainly the way, but allies are hard to come by. Li Qi attracting the great Bodhisattvas was already luck. Who else can he attract next?

He can't find anyone useful for now. As for those extraterrestrial civilizations, although there are Second Grade civilizations, it's probably impossible to get them to intervene in the disputes of the Nine Lands Under Heaven.

They have finally reached Second Grade civilization and are almost eternally immortal. Why would they intervene in the struggles of the Nine Lands Under Heaven? If they lose, they're gone.

Unless... Li Qi can offer more leverage.

But as fellow Second Grades, what more leverage can he offer? So-called leverage is actually what the other party needs, and for Second Grades, ordinary materials are worthless. What can unite Second Grades is only a common belief, such as cooperation with the great Bodhisattvas, which was due to the common pursuit of demon extermination, not because of any shedding or concession of interests.

How can he offer more leverage?

Perhaps... only by advancing his cultivation further.

Li Qi lay in his rocking chair on Mystic Radiance Mountain, pondering how to advance his cultivation further.

Promoting to First Grade is temporarily out of the question; the gap is too vast, almost equivalent to an unranked person contemplating how to advance to Second Grade.

The Demonic Prince is actually doing these things. Reading Da Sanzang and Da Zhengzang seems to be the method he found for himself.

But it's useless for Li Qi. Li Qi doesn't plan to cultivate Buddha-Dharma, and he has no interest in the Buddha's views. But if he were to find something that could work for him... perhaps only the Desire Realm.

But thinking carefully...

Li Qi is not very interested in the Demonic Dao methods of the Desire Realm either. So, in which direction should he develop next to increase his foundation and strength?

After much thought, given Li Qi's foundation, there are only two paths to further advancement.

One is to start from the Daoist temple, which means expanding from Li Qi's foundation in the world. However... the waters of the world are too deep, and Li Qi doesn't want to get involved unless absolutely necessary.

This is a Chaos arena; it's easy to get in, but hard to get out. If it really escalates to a Second Grade free-for-all, it will be too difficult to handle.

The second path is to start from his divine essence.

Li Qi's body is composed of many different possibilities.

So, perhaps he can try to be like Taiyi.

Devour more possibilities, allowing himself to spread out more tentacles.

No... why is his thinking heading towards the Demonic Dao? He doesn't need to devour more possibilities, but rather... create more possibilities.

"So, perhaps I can try opening up the heavens?" Li Qi murmured to himself.

Opening up the heavens.

An ability possessed by Third Grades, but Li Qi had never tried it.

The so-called 'opening up the heavens' is to create brand new, rule-different space-times outside the Reality Universe.

Of course, according to the definition of 'Universe,' these 'Heavens' are all part of the Universe, but they are indeed independent space-times with different timelines and spatial regions.

The Heavens Li Qi is most familiar with is the Desire Realm, which also has the name 'Heaven of Others’ Emanations.' It is a space-time composed of pure spirit, and obviously its rules are vastly different from the Reality Universe.

Another is the Heavens of the Formless Realm.

The Heavens of the Formless Realm is 'completely different' in another sense; there is nothing in it, and even the existence of space-time is difficult to say. It is a Heaven composed of 'emptiness,' almost completely opposite in nature to the Desire Realm.

The Heavens are space-times with different possibilities, opened up by Great Powers.