Chapter 1039: Take away

The human emperor sword truly had something special; the Desire Realm was actually damaged.

Perhaps because of the Human Emperor, the number of Second Grade individuals in Dao Orthodoxy was relatively scarce compared to other Dao Orthodoxy, and they could only rely on the official System to compensate, but things like the The Axis of All Realms and the human emperor sword were still of a high standard, not something ordinary Second Grade could resist.

But it didn't matter, because the first sword strike had already been blocked.

Li Qi had also awakened from his frozen state and merged into that vast demonic thoughts.

Such profound demonic thoughts caused the surrounding Second Grade individuals to frown deeply.

He had long heard that Li Qi was a demon child, but his main identity was still that of a Shaman, so he had never expected him to be able to control and release such Demonic Qi.

The subsequent battle was very simple and brutal, as it didn't involve space-time, but merely a confrontation of pure spells, techniques, and strength; it didn't even involve any 'Dao' disputes.

The time was too short.

Normal battles, intertwined with space-time and Dao struggles, were like two special forces kings fighting; if they were fully prepared, fully armed, and put into a dense forest battlefield, then this would become a protracted battle of all skills.

Survival skills, Physique, endurance, willpower, knowledge, and various tolerances, such as resistance to fungal infections, firearm maintenance, vigilance, and luck, and so on.

This was the type of battle Li Qi usually encountered; on the battlefield of endless space-time, there were too many things to compete in, almost an all-round confrontation, with every aspect being tested.

Victory or defeat would be a long hunt, with both sides traversing space-time, acting as hunter and prey, establishing their advantage from every detail.

However, if the battlefield was restricted for a short period, and even various elements were suppressed, with both sides engaging in close combat on a stage, then there wouldn't be so many fancy competitions.

One person, one knife; whoever remained standing depended on courage and an instantaneous judgment.

Martial Artist were good at dragging opponents from the jungle onto the stage.

Therefore, the battle between Li Qi and Guo Zitai at this moment was very similar to a duel between Martial Artist, and the time would be even shorter, as there were only fifteen seconds.

How many times did they clash in fifteen seconds?

Li Qi didn't count, and presumably, others didn't bother to count either.

Because the other Second Grade individuals were astonished to see Li Qi engaging in a head-on confrontation with Guo Zitai, who was holding the human emperor sword.

No... it wasn't exactly head-on; Li Qi was relying on the demonic thoughts to evade, not going head-to-head.

However, to be able to perform 'evasion' while facing the might of the human emperor sword and a slight Heavenly Strategist Supreme General was already astonishing.

How profound was this person's foundation?

How many things did he know? And how much did he truly learn?

Why had he never shown it? Was he that low-key?

No, he had shown it, because he had personally set up a trap to ambush a Demon of Karma, and at the same time, he had personally killed a Heart Demon.

He had the heads of two Second Grade individuals in his hands, which was enough to explain many things.

It seemed necessary to re-evaluate this person's combat power.

This person... unknowingly, had already become a strong individual among the Second Grade. Why was he so fast? And... was the Divine Ability he resisted derived from the 'Heavens'?

Had he touched upon the high-level abilities of 'Heaven'?

It couldn't be confirmed, only suspected.

Fifteen seconds passed quickly.

Li Qi was panting, wiping away sweat.

Guo Zitai remained in place; he had already been overwhelmed by the power of his official position, and even if he forcibly borrowed the power of Heavenly Strategist Supreme General , he could only exert less than one ten-thousandth of it.

Is this a First Grade official position...?

The Three Dukes did not have official positions; they were all true First Grade.

And the oppressive power of the First Grade official position of Heavenly Strategist Supreme General was something a Second Grade could not withstand.

What Guo Zitai used to suppress Li Qi was actually just borrowing the Heavenly Strategist Supreme General 's status to wield the human emperor sword, but Li Qi almost didn't last even fifteen seconds.

The human emperor sword... was indeed very powerful, fortunately, it was just a Spiritual Artifact.

High-grade Spiritual Artifact are divided into two types: one is completely indistinguishable from a cultivator, like Yang Zhenqian, who truly became a spirit, just like a stone becoming a spirit.

The second type is like the Imperial Academy’s Chancellor Ruler and the human emperor sword. They still retain some characteristics of Spiritual Artifact, or rather, this is also part of their 'Dao'. Therefore, without a sufficiently qualified user, their power will still be partially diminished.

When held by the Human Emperor, the human emperor sword could unleash immense power, even providing sufficient support in First Grade battles. All these abilities were gained by completely eliminating generality and autonomy.

From its inception, the human emperor sword existed as a ritual artifact for the Human Emperor, just like the The Axis of All Realms. It belonged to a special type of Second Grade; they had almost no possibility of cultivation progress, and they themselves had great limitations.

This limitation caused the The Axis of All Realms to exist outside of space-time, suppressed by the possibilities of the entire Universe, unable to perform any form of action, only able to observe and send basic messages. This message sending was not even unlimited; it also required 'base stations' like tentacles to serve as carriers.

The human emperor sword was also like this.

Guo Zitai had already been overwhelmed by the power of his official position; his consciousness was probably destroyed. Although existences above Third Grade do not 'die', only have their possibilities sealed, reaching this point is even more terrifying than the death of Mortals.

The death of Mortals is merely the demise of the Physical Body and soul, but for Third Grade and Second Grade, although their true forms cannot perish, it is more terrifying than death, because they can absolutely not escape the cage of possibilities.

A person whose brain is destroyed, only their body alive, and then locked in ten layers of iron coffins, then sunk to the bottom of the deep sea, is probably in such a state.

But... the human emperor sword was indeed powerful.

Li Qi glanced at the damaged Desire Realm. Fortunately, he had a treasure comparable to the human emperor sword.

Fortunately, it was only fifteen seconds.

If it had been twenty seconds, there would have been real trouble.

Speaking of which, repairing it later would also be troublesome, but... it could also be considered a good thing.

Li Qi couldn't destroy the Desire Realm by himself; that thing was really powerful.

But the human emperor sword had cut through the Desire Realm, which meant he could now look at its deeper structure.

As for the later repairs, he would figure out a way then. Besides, even if he didn't repair it, the Desire Realm would slowly recover on its own. At worst, he could go find the Golden Monkey and just blow the thing up, and new Desire Realm seeds would burst out, just like last time.

Last time, the Golden Monkey smashed the Desire Realm with a single blow, but Desire Realm seeds burst out from it, and Shamansan replanted them with Li Qi's help.

It was the same now, so Li Qi was not worried about any major problems with the Desire Realm at all. This was the former Physical Body of a First Grade, perfect for blocking a blade.

After wiping his sweat, Li Qi looked at the human emperor sword over there.

Since the Desire Realm was like this, by the same logic, the human emperor sword was also of a similar status.

It floated there as always, only the tip of the sword seemed somewhat helpless.

Li Qi didn't know how he could see a 'helpless' expression on a sword, but he indeed felt that way.

"You seem very calm," Li Qi walked forward and said to the human emperor sword. "Do you know we can't do anything to you? Or are you helpless about his death?"

The human emperor sword did not remain silent; instead, it replied to Li Qi: "The reason why those who dare to die are noble is not the difficulty of dying, but the ability to accomplish something. If dying can accomplish something, then what is difficult about death? If dying cannot accomplish something, then why would one lightly seek death?"

"Guo Zitai dared to die, but he could not accomplish anything. He died in vain, without meaning. I am only lamenting this point."

Li Qi, however, sighed and said, "Meaningless? Not necessarily. You say he didn't accomplish anything, but something has already been accomplished, hasn't it? With his death, the focus is no longer on the Human Emperor being abducted, but on our barbarian's malicious actions."

"The matter has changed from a disgrace to Dao Orthodoxy to a tragedy for Dao Orthodoxy. With his death, the nature of the Human Emperor's remains being abducted has changed."

"As for whether changing the nature of the matter is more important than the combat power of a Second Grade, that's a matter of opinion."

What do you want to gain? And what is the cost? These are the answers derived from each person's Dao, and others cannot answer them. The wisdom of a Second Grade is sufficient to discern advantages and disadvantages, but the choices made still differ because their Dao are different.

In the same situation, everyone made different choices. This wasn't because they were foolish, nor because they couldn't see the situation clearly, but because they knew they had to do it this way.

If it were purely about self-interest from beginning to end, then all Great Power would only make one choice; they would never choose wrongly, their wisdom would be sufficient to make them realize where their true interests lay.

But it's clearly not like that.

Sometimes, even a Dao opportunity can make way for it; the so-called Dao opportunity is merely a chance for verification, and cannot replace the Dao itself.

Li Qi stepped forward, his hand already on the hilt of the human emperor sword.

Then he yanked his hand back abruptly, only to see his palm already broken, and an incredibly powerful Sword Qi was rushing towards him.

Li Qi's arm simply detached entirely, severing its connection with his body.

The Sword Qi continued to climb, until it completely shredded the entire arm into dust, smaller than the tiniest particle, reaching the limit of being almost 'infinitely divisible'.

Visually, it turned into powder that scattered with a gust of wind.

"It really can't be picked up, but you can't move either, so I'll take this thing." Li Qi placed his hand on the Human Emperor's coffin and then glanced at the other Second Grade individuals behind him.

The other Second Grade individuals stood far away, with no intention of competing with Li Qi.

Li Qi's direct close combat with Guo Zitai, who held the human emperor sword, had already demonstrated his qualification to take the Human Emperor's coffin. Others would not contend with him.

Unless they also wanted to fight Li Qi.

But Li Qi had no Dao injuries, and his Qi had already recovered almost completely; the previous losses had mostly been replenished. Except for the still-damaged Desire Realm, he was completely in his peak state.

This was also a common situation in battles between Great Power.

In most cases, they were either close to death or at full health and status.

It was rare to encounter a situation where they were at low health but still had the strength to fight, because theoretically, if they still had the strength to fight, it meant they had ample time to fully recover their status.

Just like Li Qi was now.

Carrying the Human Emperor's coffin, Li Qi prepared to withdraw.

He was too lazy to bother with what happened next, and he didn't care about the attitude of Dao Orthodoxy either.

Besides that, he had no other pursuits regarding Dao Orthodoxy.

Carrying the coffin, he prepared to walk to the entrance of the Human Emperor's Imperial Palace, and then directly teleport back to Mystic Radiance Mountain.

Because the Human Emperor's Imperial Palace was still suppressed by the human emperor sword, it was difficult to teleport. Here, space-time abilities had to first overcome the suppression brought by the human emperor sword and the The Axis of All Realms.

Instead of fighting them, it was better to walk a few steps; once outside, there would be no problem.

However, just as he was halfway and preparing to leave, he saw a Fifth Grade among the piles of corpses outside, among the Mortals killed by the other Second Grade individuals.

That was... Liu Canzhi.

Is that so?

Confirm it.

Trace the Karma, deduce his life.

Yes, it was Liu Canzhi.

He joined the Jiafang Office during the Human-Shaman War, and after that, through his crafting ability, he was responsible for manufacturing equipment and armor, and then gradually grew up.

After that, he married, had children, and his cultivation gradually embarked on its journey, slowly transforming from that dissolute young man into a mature and steady middle-aged man.

Although there was a big gap between him and his father and brothers, he was not impatient, doing what he could, and persisting in learning and progress every day.

Finally, he lived until the end of the Human-Shaman War and was promoted to Fifth Grade.

Looking at him now, there was no trace of his dissolute youthful appearance, that of a playboy who liked to wear pink robes and wear flowers in his hair. What could be seen was a dedicated, humble, and polite craftsman, only occasionally uttering a few flirtatious words.

However, in today's battle, he saw his corpse.

Li Qi looked at him for a few more glances, but said nothing, and continued carrying the coffin away.

Different Dao were destined to diverge, and moreover, he and Liu Canzhi were no longer just 'different Dao'; Liu Canzhi couldn't even understand what Li Qi was pursuing.

Only...

That's good too.

Li Qi turned and left, walking out of the Imperial Palace under many gazes.

With the observational abilities of a Second Grade, presumably all Second Grade individuals who participated in the battle would know that he had taken the Human Emperor's coffin, just as Li Qi could also see the battle results of others.

The The Axis of All Realms were in a great battle, and the fighting was deadlocked.

The Fengchan ruins of Mount Tai were being contested.

The True Dragon were vying for the waterways; chaos erupted on the River Diagram.

It was said that when Dao Orthodoxy and the True Dragon had a good relationship, the Flood Dragon traversed the waterways of Dao Orthodoxy, but later, Dao Orthodoxy forbade the Flood Dragon from traversing the waterways, and anyone who caused floods by traversing the waterways would be executed, directly severing many Dragon Gates.

And now, what the True Dragon were vying for were these waterways. If the True Dragon succeeded, it would truly allow Dao Orthodoxy's water transport to be beyond control from then on, and the True Dragon would gain many more authorities.

One could also see the Shaman civil war, with the Shaman of the Two Clans of Chong and Li and the Shaman of Shaman God Mountain fighting among themselves, seemingly clearing their ranks.

However, no results had been achieved yet; Li Qi was the fastest to secure a result.

After all, it had only been a dozen seconds so far.

Walking out of the Imperial Palace, he glanced at the Imperial Academy.

There was also fighting in the Imperial Academy; the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy was battling the invaders.

Chang'an was in a mess.

The Demonic Overlord had also invaded.

Oh, last time the Heavenly Demon led an invasion, was it also when the Human Emperor was about to die?

Li Qi pondered, then returned to Mystic Radiance Mountain.

The Human Emperor's death, for him, ended here.

However, he could take a look at what happened within Dao Orthodoxy.

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