Chapter 1042: Museum

However, all around, Demonic Qi filled the air.

And within the Demonic Qi, there were Demonic Overlords, these Demonic Overlords surrounded them, holding square goblets pouring out fine wine, their slender fingers holding jade cups.

They wore five-flowered crowns of pearls, their cloud-like hair cascaded down, their rosy robes and flowing sashes adorned with precious stones, their delicate tongues lightly strumming heavenly music, as if floating in the clouds, their qin strings plucked at night bringing wind to the palace, their drums beaten in spring making flowers bloom on the stage.

Every frown and smile evoked a multitude of emotions, making one feel like a mortal, as the surrounding demonic thoughts, Demonic Qi, and Demonic Overlords spurred on evil tricks, even a monk couldn't control his heart.

There were deer maidens with flowers in their mouths, celestial maidens circling, and Dragon maidens presenting wine—

Besides these, there were clam maidens, flower maidens, butterfly maidens, qilin maidens, sword maidens, cloud maidens, and even fox and dog spirits, all in all, a hundred different types of women.

Twisting and turning, circling left and right, mirror light like the moon illuminating a solitary phoenix, celestial maidens scattering flowers, their jade pendants jingling softly.

Pearls, jade pendants, and golden threads adorned them, Demonic Overlords and demonic beauties surrounded the imperial court.

A crowd of fragrant beauties flaunted their waists, a chorus of singing clouds followed their every move.

Fluttering at first like snow returning with the wind, then gracefully turning like geese following the shore.

The scent of osmanthus filled the palace where the moonlight concubines walked, and a rain of flowers flew through the sky as celestial maidens descended.

“Such a beautiful scene, it truly lives up to its name, ‘A Song of Rainbow Robes Sows Calamity’,” Li Qi said, immediately recognizing his surroundings.

In the past, Li Qi had heard of a visualization diagram called the “Heavenly Demon Hundred Beauties Erotic Diagram.” (For details, see Chapter 363 and Chapter 677)

This visualization diagram was drawn based on a Celestial Devil, originally painted by a Human Race Hanlin scholar.

There were many stories during this period, but broadly speaking, it was essentially what happened when the Celestial Devil incited the Human Race's great rebellion the time before last, leading to the demise of the previous Human Emperor.

At that time, the Celestial Devil entered Chang'an in the form of a woman, deceiving everyone. As an peerless dancer, she left behind the ‘Celestial Devil Dance,’ known as ‘Rainbow Robes.’

Afterward, the creation of this diagram was also like this: the Rainbow Robes dance, stunning Chang'an, was witnessed by a Human Race Hanlin scholar skilled in calligraphy. He was so amazed that he immediately picked up his brush, exhausting his mind and spirit, painstakingly depicting a Divided Soul of its Dao Resonance.

At that time, as soon as this painting appeared, he himself achieved an Epiphany on the spot, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. This diagram also became a famous object, its name at the time being ‘Rainbow Robes.’

Later, well, everyone could pretty much guess.

Rainbow Robes was actually a manifestation of the Celestial Devil, inciting internal strife within the Human Race, which led to the premature demise of the Human Emperor from the generation before last, and that Hanlin scholar also fell into the Demonic Dao during the catastrophe.

As for that diagram, it also changed from the “Rainbow Robes Diagram” to the “Heavenly Demon Hundred Beauties Erotic Diagram.”

Although it was still a visualization diagram, its nature had completely reversed.

This incident was also known as ‘A Song of Rainbow Robes Sows Calamity.’

And now, the place Li Qi had arrived at was actually inside the “Heavenly Demon Hundred Beauties Erotic Diagram,” which means within the body of the visualization diagram itself. It formed its own grotto-heaven, which was astonishing.

However, it seemed that something had set a restriction inside, so only the external appearance could be observed, while the true Dao Resonance was sealed within, hidden from ordinary people.

Indeed, if safety measures weren't in place and this item was simply released, everyone would probably descend into madness.

“Are you… in a museum?” Li Qi explored his surroundings and asked.

La Qi, still shaken, let out a sigh of relief, then composed himself, and only then did he bow to Li Qi, saying, “Master… you could have said something when you arrived.”

After speaking, La Qi glanced around.

Most of the people around had retreated. There were still people there before, but the moment Li Qi appeared, most of them ran off, though they left behind many astonished glances.

How to describe it? It was probably similar to… everyone came to see a history museum, but unexpectedly saw Qin Shi Huang himself.

Yes, in terms of status, most of the strange objects in this museum are not worthy of Li Qi. The things Li Qi created are enough to have a separate exhibition space here.

Not to mention the things Li Qi created, even the meditation mat Li Qi usually used could be placed here, with a few lines of large characters hanging, saying, 'Meditation mat used by a certain second-rank individual, imbued with a certain Dao Resonance, possessing certain symbolic meanings,' perhaps even used for rituals to connect with Li Qi himself.

Chang Qiao had collected many of these things back then, and now she must be a super-rich woman among the fourth ranks.

This is the importance of investment.

On the other side, Li Qi and La Qi walked out of the visualization diagram one after another, arriving outside.

Outside, Li Qi saw a series of ‘halos.’

These halos were composed of different types of space-time, with varying flow rates and distinct histories, even more distant than parallel Universes.

However, such distant space-time was woven by a Great Power using Divine Ability into a beautiful ‘World Possibility Belt,’ like a scarf. Here, each space-time was a thread of this scarf.

And within these space-times, there were many ‘visitors.’

Most of these visitors were reckless foreign tourists who hadn't entered through the main gate; they had arrived at this place through various incredible fortuitous encounters.

For example, getting lost in a thick fog, surviving a tsunami, or having their house blown away by a strong wind, or their spaceship crashing into a black hole.

Through these events, they arrived at this museum.

Normally, the museum staff would guide them through the strange exhibits, and then, amidst their astonishment, send them back to where they came from.

Because this experience was too bizarre, many people would treat it as a dream, completely unable to imagine it was reality.

Of course, there were abnormal situations.

That is, they were killed by the exhibits.

Just a few seconds ago, Li Qi witnessed an example.

It was an inscription carved on a stone tablet, the author seemed to be from the Demonic Dao. Among the visitors nearby, fourteen listeners died from infighting, the highest cultivated among them was a fifth-rank, who, after having no one left to kill, gnawed off one of his own legs, thus surviving.

In addition, there were some visitors who entered through the main entrance, like La Qi.

They knew about the existence of this museum and entered through proper procedures by buying tickets. Therefore, they could visit more powerful exhibits and move between various exhibition halls, instead of being limited to a specific space-time.

“Is this museum run by the Final Civilization?” Li Qi asked, looking at these.

The Final Civilization, a second-rank civilization, but they do not have second-rank cultivators.

In reality, they built an ‘observation machine’ located at the end of time, and through this machine, they observe all space-times, and by this means, they interfere with these space-times, and then modify their existing reality.

This is the source of their second-rank method. That machine has integrated all the knowledge and wisdom of the entire civilization, and even the souls of all its people reside within it.

If needed, they can create physical bodies and manifest in the world.

If not necessary, they will continue to observe all space-times at the end of time.

It can be said that this entire civilization, all life, all technology, everything combined, constitutes a complete second-rank entity.

And this museum is a new space-time they opened up.

Li Qi seemed to have heard the reason for it.

It is said that this so-called ‘Final Civilization’ loves observation the most; they are a civilization born at the ‘end of possibilities’ of their own timeline.

How to describe it? It's roughly like, in the Final Civilization's timeline, they had actually reached the ‘end of possibilities,’ all their possibilities had pretty much closed, and they had arrived at the end of time.

There, entropy had reached its maximum value.

At that time, the entire civilization was saying, “Our Universe is dying.”

What they possessed was merely a dim galaxy; almost all stars had vanished, all stars and galaxies gradually extinguished and perished. Their timeline had operated for a hundred quintillion years, and the entire starry sky had become pitch black, with only a faint glimmer of light struggling to survive in the twilight years.

Matter and energy were annihilated, and space and time consequently disappeared along with them.

All possibilities of this Universe had been exhausted, and space-time was perishing due to the demise of its fundamental units. This was a dying timeline.

The stars extinguished, and the galaxies successively breathed their last. Space truly became ‘space,’ with only the remnants of the very last dark star remaining.

That was the last black dwarf; all other celestial bodies had completely extinguished.

The last civilization gathered beside this black dwarf, their emotions chaotically stirred by the dying embers of the stars, watching everything gradually approach absolute zero.

However, they did not give up. At the very end, they gathered all their knowledge and intellect, merging them into one, hoping to create new possibilities at the end of possibilities.

No one knows how they did it, nor how long they had been preparing in advance.

Perhaps… they began this accumulation when their civilization first stepped onto the surface of their planet?

In any case, a super machine they created at that moment integrated all the knowledge of this timeline, governing everything with a unified super-harmonious will, including everything that had ever existed in the Universe.

Ultimately, this super-will, which had gathered everything, truly created new possibilities, reversing the already ended timeline, and reaching the level of ‘third-rank.’

After that, they called themselves ‘The End,’ and their favorite thing to do was to observe all possibilities of other timelines, and they built a museum to preserve precious items, which was also open to the public; one could enter by buying a ticket.

And the ticket was an exhibit itself.

Hearing Li Qi's question, La Qi replied, “Yes, I heard they recently collected many Demonic Dao exhibits here, so I came to see them, but… sigh.”

La Qi sighed as he said this.

Indeed, many Demonic Dao exhibits had been recently collected here, and the main reason was related to Li Qi.

Li Qi's Demonic Overlord extermination campaign killed many Demonic Overlords. Some of these Demonic Overlords' collections were destroyed, some were taken as spoils of war, but others flowed to various parts of the Universe, and a portion of them were acquired by the Final Civilization and placed in their museum.

This included the “Heavenly Demon Hundred Beauties Erotic Diagram” seen earlier.

La Qi came to the museum also for these Demonic Dao products. He naturally knew that his Master had been involved in the Demonic Overlord extermination, and in fact, he also participated in many of Li Qi's actions, such as the Qi Palace battle, but what a fourth-rank could do was just assist, not get too deeply involved.

It was probably like a teacher doing an experiment, and he helped wash the bottles.

“Why are you sighing?” Li Qi asked with a smile.

“It’s nothing.” La Qi seemed unwilling to say more, merely glancing sideways.

Li Qi also followed his gaze.

In places invisible to the naked eye, Li Qi could also feel surveillance.

But it was normal. Li Qi was used to it. With his status, he would certainly be the center of attention wherever he went, so it was normal for people to be cautious.

However, he immediately realized something was wrong.

Monitoring Li Qi was normal, and Li Qi generally wouldn't avoid such surveillance. You watch me, I watch you, everyone is at ease, so nothing difficult happens, and there's no bickering.

But why monitor La Qi?

La Qi was only a fourth-rank; did he have the qualifications to be watched?

So, Li Qi clapped his hands: “The End… right, I know you are a collective consciousness, one coming means all have come. Would you care to show yourselves?”

As he spoke, a figure emerged in the Void Realm.

It seemed to be in the form of the Human Race, perhaps to match Li Qi.

“Mr. Li Qi, it is a great pleasure to meet you here,” said the civilization in the form of the Human Race, extending a hand to Li Qi.

Li Qi also shook hands with the other party and then asked, “I apologize for disturbing you, but I just wanted to ask if there's any reason why my disciple is being watched by you?”

“Alright, Master, don’t ask anymore.” La Qi quickly stepped forward and pulled Li Qi, seemingly wanting to stop him from pressing further.

The End cleared its throat: “Well… it’s mainly for the security of the museum.”

This answer made Li Qi also clear his throat, swallowing the words he was about to unleash.

“Cough, cough, so that’s how it is. Then it’s understandable. We apologize for disturbing your work. Please continue. We’ll go look at the Demonic Dao collections you’ve gathered.”

“Thank you for your understanding,” the other party said, then merged into this space-time.

After watching the other party leave, Li Qi looked at La Qi, as if nothing had happened, and said, “So, you came here to view various Demonic Dao Dao Artifacts. What have you gained?”

“I’ve gained… quite a lot. This is what I’ve been organizing recently; take a look.” La Qi was also sensible, acting as if nothing had just happened, merely handing his records to Li Qi.

Li Qi took them and examined La Qi’s progress.

However, as Li Qi read, his expression gradually became solemn.

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