Chapter 1060: Death

“Shamansan!” The Devil King frowned, calling out Shamansan's name.

But no matter what, the Immortal Heaven' main body had already crashed down and landed beside Li Qi, also conveniently smashing away the main body that the Devil King had manifested.

With the Immortal Heaven, Li Qi was overjoyed!

Sure enough, the Shaman God hadn't given up on him, right?

Then… he would use his past experience.

Li Qi didn't integrate the Immortal Heaven into the Three Realms, because the Three Realms was already very perfect; the Form Realm composed of the Myriad Heavens and the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss was sufficient. Adding anything more would simply be superfluous.

However, Li Qi himself wasn't enough to control the Immortal Heaven; he and the Demonic Prince controlling the Three Realms was already their limit. Adding another would ultimately be beyond their capabilities.

Therefore, according to experience, what Li Qi needed to do was unfold the Immortal Heaven.

Just like the unfolding method of the Spirit Dao.

The Immortal Heaven unfolded, revealing its true appearance within.

Then, Li Qi firmly locked onto the Immortal Heaven and launched an attack within it!

At this moment, many of the First Grades watching the battle around them showed surprised expressions.

Shamansan, who was flying towards the Dao Ancestor, also looked back.

Hmm.

Indeed, it wasn't him who understood the Devil King best, but Li Qi and the Demonic Prince.

When the Immortal Heaven entered the fray, the battle finally became somewhat interesting.

Many First Grades sat up.

Before, they were just watching to see when Li Qi would die, but now… Li Qi finally had a Breakthrough.

At this moment, inside the battlefield, Li Qi unfolded the Immortal Heaven, and then said to the Devil King who had been smashed away: “Devil King, you once incited the Heart Demon, wanting him to Possess the Immortal Heaven, right? But after that time, when you became a spectator and watched me and the Heart Demon, I knew that the Heart Demon Possessing the Immortal Heaven was a First Grade opportunity you revealed.”

“So, the world where I confronted the Heart Demon that time was inside the Immortal Heaven, and you were also inside the Immortal Heaven.”

“Now the Immortal Heaven is in my hands, and I have unfolded it. There must be your claw marks inside, right!?”

As Li Qi said this, he fiercely bombarded the inside of the Immortal Heaven!

Originally, Li Qi's previous attacks on the Devil King mostly missed, and even when they occasionally hit, the injuries weren't very serious.

Even if the Devil King was truly injured, he would heal in the blink of an eye.

The Devil King had been dealing with Li Qi with a mocking attitude throughout, and even when he was knocked away, his external defense was not something Li Qi could shake.

But now, the Devil King had actively inserted a part of his body into the Immortal Heaven, and this part became a flaw!

The Devil King loved to scatter parts of his body everywhere!

The former three lives ancient mirror, Li Qi's True Knowledge Dao Resonance, and the claw marks inside the Immortal Heaven were all like this!

If it were normally, these would all be 'foreshadowing', capital for the Devil King's arrogance, and symbols of the Devil King's recklessness. He would bury these foreshadowings everywhere so that he could pull out trump cards at any time.

For example, when fighting Shamansan, the things buried deep within the Immortal Heaven could play a huge role.

But at this moment, one of these trump cards turned into a vulnerability.

Li Qi unfolded the Immortal Heaven without hesitation and bombarded its interior!

This time! In a defenseless state, it caused Dao injuries!

Li Qi negated the Devil King's existence, refuted the Devil King's meaning, and refused to acknowledge the Devil King's uniqueness and the world's inherent emptiness.

This was a negation of the Demonic Dao.

This kind of negation had been constantly isolated by the Devil King before, who refused to engage directly.

But now, the two Great Daos were directly intertwined.

Directly beginning to affect the Devil King's interpretation of the world!

The Devil King felt his control over everything around him weakening.

“So clear, did the World Honored One tell you? Or Shamansan? No, Shamansan doesn't know about this.” The Devil King's tone became somewhat gloomy.

Li Qi replied: “I guessed it myself. You also know that the World Honored One is already dead. You are really too afraid of the World Honored One, don't mind too much.”

“Come on, Devil King, now it's your turn to break my offense.”

The Devil King let out a cold laugh.

For the Devil King, to prove the existence of the world, there must be the existence of consciousness.

And all consciousness can only prove its own existence, not the existence of other consciousnesses.

Therefore, he didn't need to bother.

Because even if Li Qi was willing to acknowledge all living beings, it was merely his wishful thinking.

This answer couldn't refute the Devil King.

Unless Li Qi could transcend his subjective time, or completely eliminate the demonic thoughts in his heart, he would never be able to refute the Devil King's Dao.

In other words, Li Qi couldn't prove that the Demonic Dao was wrong, nor could he even suppress the Demonic Dao.

These Dao injuries were irrelevant!

So, the Devil King completely ignored those injuries and said to the provoking Li Qi: “You just touched my main body, right?”

Li Qi frowned.

The next instant, Li Qi's subjectivity was stripped away.

“Come, you said you wanted to deny the existence of absolute subjectivity, so come and taste what 'objective' experience is.” The Devil King bared his fangs, launching a direct attack on Li Qi, a Second Grade, a full-scale First Grade method of attack.

The small skirmishes were over; now it was time for the main course.

In just an instant, Li Qi's 'subjective experience' was stripped away.

However, Li Qi seemed to have no changes at all.

This was normal, because at this moment, Li Qi was a 'zombie'.

A hypothetical being indistinguishable from a normal person and considered to lack conscious experience, sentience, feeling, and qualia. This zombie was something physically identical to Li Qi, but without conscious experience—its inner world was a void.

At this moment, under the Devil King's Divine Ability, Li Qi's subjectivity was stripped, and he became a philosophical zombie.

In a certain sense, Li Qi wouldn't change much, because he still retained all his thinking abilities, all his emotional fluctuations, and even all his instinctual feelings.

Just like a country.

The ministers were still there, the bureaucratic System was still operating, the people were still living in peace and contentment, and all order was the same as before.

Only an emperor was missing.

Everything about Li Qi was normal, except for the absence of that high and mighty, imperious 'self-consciousness' that sat on the throne, directing all other matters.

This was a question that touched upon the foundation: can consciousness transcend itself to perceive the external world?

What exactly can consciousness do? What exactly is consciousness?

What did Li Qi feel at this moment?

Was it in a way independent of the mind?

Was it that the world is the world because of perception?

When one opens their eyes every day, the world exists there, that is the world?

Is the reality we experience what the body feels?

Where exactly is the location of consciousness?

Or in other words, where was Li Qi…?

Just like plants, plants are much more active than people think; they are just a bit slow, but if you speed up their movement, you will find that they are moving.

They don't just sway with the wind; many plants appear to have goals and exhibit intentionality, such as where to sprout, or when to secrete sap, but they don't have any kind of nervous System, nor do they exhibit 'consciousness' like humans.

So, where is their consciousness? Is it a tree demon? Or some other manifestation?

But no matter what, Li Qi was finished.

Facing the serious Devil King, he was still too naive. He hadn't even anticipated this move from the Devil King, to the extent that he had no defense of any kind.

The moment Li Qi's self-consciousness was stripped away, the Demonic Prince sensed that something was wrong.

Li Qi showed no change; he was still handling the Devil King's techniques and Divine Ability, and emotions still existed, but it just felt like… something was missing.

The Demonic Prince wanted to resist, but the next instant, he also felt… a sense of detachment.

He seemed to have become detached from this world.

His joys, angers, sorrows, and delights all became bland.

And then… and then…

And then there was no 'then'.

The Demonic Prince's subjectivity was also erased; they simply couldn't comprehend the Devil King's methods, so there was naturally no talk of effective resistance methods.

Two philosophical zombies continued to fight, but they couldn't even understand what they were fighting for. Without subjective consciousness, there was no purpose to speak of; everything was just 'ordinary', and there was no 'miracle'.

Subjective consciousness didn't know what it was for, but losing subjective consciousness seemed to mean losing a lot.

The battle was decided; it was over.

The Universe began to reopen.

The Devil King looked around at all the people watching the battle and waved his hand: “What are you looking at? You don't really think these two can deal with me, do you?”

“Everyone, disperse, disperse. And you, Shamansan, I've noted down this matter of throwing the Immortal Heaven. I'll take the Immortal Heaven as a lesson for you.”

Saying this, the Devil King picked up the Immortal Heaven.

The battle ended.

Ending with the death of the Demonic Prince and Li Qi.

After their self-consciousness disappeared, what remained were just two zombies. The two zombies would fight, live, and even live for a long time normally.

They had complete memories; everything was the same as before.

Except they had no self-consciousness.

They couldn't create miracles because they had lost the power to interpret this world.

They had all the techniques they possessed, all the memories, all the emotional reactions, but only the 'self' was gone.

Because their self had been annihilated by the Devil King.

This was a First Grade method.

Li Qi struggled so much, breaking the Devil King's methods again and again, even counterattacking the Devil King.

But he could succeed countless times, yet he could only fail once.

If he failed to break the Devil King's move even once, then all of Li Qi's previous efforts would turn to dust.

As the Devil King spoke, Shamansan was conversing with the 'Dao Ancestor'.

The Dao Ancestor, the first First Grade of the Dao Sect, and the founder of everything.

Shamansan said: “So, I have decided to enter the fray. Morality, what about you?”

Shamansan actually had a good relationship with Morality.

The phrase 'Dao follows natural' had already determined that the relationship between the two sides wouldn't be bad.

“Exorcising demons? Rather than asking me, you should ask Yang Zhenqian.” The Dao Ancestor said softly, then looked at Yang Zhenqian standing below.

“Yang Zhenqian, what do you think?” the Dao Ancestor asked.

Yang Zhenqian didn't reply immediately, but looked at Li Qi's battlefield.

Li Qi had already lost his self-consciousness; it was evident that he had lost, even died. The possibilities had already converged. The Devil King, with a First Grade method that was almost incomprehensible and uncrackable, easily subdued Li Qi and the Demonic Prince.

“Heavenly Venerable.” Yang Zhenqian addressed the Dao Ancestor thus: “If Li Qi fails, can you help me retrieve the Sun-Moon Orbit?”

“Hard to say. If Li Qi fails, this thing will probably belong to the Devil King. It's as hard as ascending to heaven to snatch something from the Devil King's hands.” The Dao Ancestor shook his head and said.

“What about the Shaman God?” Yang Zhenqian looked at Shamansan again.

“I can't do it, but I can tell you that all those suitable for the Sun-Moon Orbit in Shaman Dao have already perished, and in this world, the only person you can choose is Li Qi. Are you planning to keep it for yourself?” Shamansan said.

“Don't listen to his nonsense. How to use it still depends on you.” The Dao Ancestor immediately interrupted Shamansan's words.

Shamansan was not a good person. A large part of the treacherous and cunning stereotype that Shamanes displayed externally was brought about by Shamansan.

Yang Zhenqian suddenly prostrated himself on the ground and said: “Heavenly Venerable, I was struck by the human emperor sword and then fell into such a long slumber, losing my spirit. But the Sun-Moon Orbit is, after all, the result of my lifelong effort, and I am truly unwilling for it to fall into the Devil King's hands.”

“I heard that the current Heavenly Master cultivates the Dao of Yin and Yang Taiji, and the Sun-Moon Orbit is also a great complement to him. Does the Dao Ancestor not wish for another First Grade to emerge in the Dao lineage?”

“Let natural take its course; that is good. Yang Zhenqian, your thoughts are too heavy. Why worry so much? It all depends on your own heart.” The Dao Ancestor seemed a bit impatient, saying this.

“Lifelong effort, how can it not be heavy? I truly can't imagine anyone who could treat it as insignificant.” Yang Zhenqian sighed.

“Let go, and it won't be heavy.” Shamansan interjected.

The Dao Ancestor glared at him, and Shamansan smiled, closed his mouth, and took a step back.

Yang Zhenqian then stood up: “I have troubled you two First Grades with my complaints.”

“Have you made a decision?” the Dao Ancestor asked.

“Yes.”

“That's good.”

After speaking, Yang Zhenqian flew up to the sky.

In the past, Li Qi refused the gift of the Sun-Moon True Lead Cauldron, unwilling to use the Sun-Moon Orbit, deciding to walk that path himself and let the Sun-Moon True Lead Cauldron keep the Sun-Moon Orbit for its own use.

At that time, the Sun-Moon True Lead Cauldron actually wanted to fight to the death.

And now, he made the same choice as back then.

However, the choice was the same, but his state of mind was different.

This time, he wasn't seeking death.

Sometimes, one's own Dao doesn't necessarily have to be completed by oneself. Isn't this precisely the role of descendants and Legacy?

At this moment, Yang Zhenqian burst into the First Grade battlefield.

The Devil King seemed to have noticed something.

He waved his hand abruptly, and Yang Zhenqian's body immediately disintegrated.

But the next instant, the Devil King's power was blocked.

The Dao Ancestor personally intervened!

Yang Zhenqian arrived beside Li Qi.

Unfortunately, in just an instant, he was already dead.

He fell in front of Li Qi.

A Second Grade participating in a First Grade battle simply couldn't have any power to fight back.