Chapter 132: Distant

Li Qi said that Invoker’s statements require sincerity; Invoker rewards the virtues of loyalty and filial piety, makes life-and-death pacts with the gods, demands unity of purpose, and uses absolutely truthful and sincere sacrificial words to inform the gods, making agreements with them through honesty, magnanimity, and offerings that express 'xin' (meaning noble and beautiful character). Therefore, all gods are pleased and willing to contribute their strength.

“Indeed, the power of Shaman God Mountain is an indispensable part, because whether it is demonstrating virtue or sincerity, it can only be effective on the basis of equality. Otherwise, it can only circulate among gentlemen. To make people without virtue also follow justice, power is needed as support,” Li Qi added at this point.

“However, I believe that although power is important, it is not the true reason why Invoker can become a communication node among heaven, earth, humans, gods, and ghosts,” Li Qi said solemnly. “Speaking of power, Martial Dao specializes in strength, and the Dao Sect and Human Dao are not weak. I have heard that there are many other paths in the world that are good at combat, such as the Military Dao and the Dao of Reason branches, but why can’t they become people trusted by all things?”

“Earlier, Senior Brother used a spell to break through the flaw in my Dao Heart, which made me think even more. Since the Dao Heart is a necessary thing in the pursuit of the Dao, what is the ‘Dao’ that we are pursuing?”

“After much thought, although I couldn’t come up with the truly correct answer, I did come up with two answers that wouldn’t be wrong for me: one is ‘Uprightness,’ and the other is ‘Righteousness.’”

“Uprightness is an attitude of impartiality and fairness; Righteousness is the law and morality suitable for the general populace.”

“After pondering this answer, I immediately felt clear in body and mind. Therefore, I am preparing to put it into practice. I don’t have the ability to stop the Great Deer Kingdom Lord, but I feel I should start with what I can do.”

“I cannot stop Great Deer Kingdom from continuing to exploit this world, but I can stop the conflict between the two of us and allow more people to survive,” Li Qi said.

The Diviner looked at Li Qi, his gaze changing from previous disdain to solemnity.

“What you said makes sense. Although I don’t fully agree, I can see that you have found what you should put into practice,” the Diviner said.

Li Qi remained silent, waiting for the Diviner’s next words.

The Diviner abandoned his previous disdain and spoke to Li Qi with a solemn attitude: “However, the Dao I believe in is not the same as yours. The Dao of the Diviner establishes divination to question the spirits. Therefore, the virtue of the Zhu is perfectly divine, but the virtue of the Bu is square and wise. You take Uprightness and Righteousness as your path, but I must take wisdom and strength as my path. Regarding the attitude towards this eighth-grade world, I cannot agree with your approach.”

“Moreover, if you treat this world with Uprightness and Righteousness, will this world treat you with Uprightness and Righteousness?” the Diviner said.

“Previously, I regarded you as an enemy, so I was unwilling to tell you. But after hearing your words, I am willing to regard you as an opponent, so I can only tell you the truth. Among the results of my divination, one point indicates your current location, Satellite City Number Four.”

“There is great danger here. It seems that the Child of Destiny has already set his sights on both of us, and you are the primary target,” the Diviner said.

Then he explained, “In my original plan, I used the demonic seed to disrupt your Dao Heart, which was also a disguised way of forcing you to stay here. Here, I had already set up two fatal traps in advance using the Dao of Divination. When you are attacked by the Child of Destiny, I will activate them and defeat you.”

“Counting the time, it’s almost here. After you personally witness the Child of Destiny’s attitude towards you in this world, can you still insist on treating them with Uprightness and Righteousness?” the Diviner said.

Li Qi, however, felt his scalp tingle.

Damn it, Diviner are indeed a bunch of old schemers.

They’re not good at direct combat, but they can always set up killing moves in advance.

“Thank you for the reminder. Since Senior Brother is unwilling to accept this alliance, I will withdraw the ritual first to focus on the enemy,” Li Qi said.

“But… I have my own means to observe your location. You can withdraw yourself. I want to see if you can uphold the path you have pondered,” the Diviner said, scrutinizing Li Qi.

Although Li Qi spoke very logically and his words were very persuasive, if the principles he spoke of could not be put into practice, then he would merely be a boastful person.

For a Dao seeker, mere talk is not enough.

The connection between the two was severed.

An ‘alliance’ is a grand ceremony. If it fails, the Invoker will inevitably suffer a loss. After all, the ritual of ‘alliance’ is guaranteed by the Invoker’s own credibility and power. Both parties form a covenant under the watchful eyes of the Invoker and the Heavenly Dao, and its binding force is much stronger than an oath. Correspondingly, if the Invoker fails to facilitate the alliance, the Invoker will also suffer a backlash.

After Li Qi disconnected, he felt a tightness in his chest.

However, the backlash wasn’t very strong, because the other party refused politely rather than rudely interrupting.

“I lost some reserved Qi… but fortunately, my personal micro-Universe was largely unaffected,” Li Qi assessed the loss and evaluated the outcome.

“That Diviner said the Child of Destiny would appear here and try to kill me,” Li Qi murmured. “He wouldn’t lie to me, which means that Child of Destiny is indeed planning to ambush me here.”

“I should hurry back. It’s safer with Shen Shuibi and Bai Di around. The Child of Destiny of this world must not be easy to deal with,” Li Qi muttered to himself.

However, still in the wilderness, he had just set off when he suddenly felt the city before him recede.

Wait, it wasn’t the city getting farther away, but the surrounding space expanding!

This desert was stretching and expanding!

The original distance of about twenty li had, in this short amount of time, expanded to over a hundred li!

What followed was a cold notification.

A female voice came.

“Young Master of the Immortal, you will die here today.”

Li Qi immediately felt a headache.

He had just figured things out, and now they were knocking on his door?

No, I didn’t cause this. Why are you chasing me? Go find the Great Deer Kingdom Lord.

However, Li Qi also knew that complaining was useless.

So, he immediately cupped his hands and said, “This Child of Destiny, why don’t we talk? I didn’t come here to exploit your world!”

“Perhaps we can negotiate a solution that is good for everyone!”

However, as Li Qi shouted this, he could feel that the other party had not stopped.

The spell that expanded the distance was still expanding.

“Sigh,” Li Qi sighed.

Clearly, with the battle already at this point, it was obviously impossible to persuade the other party with talk of ‘Uprightness and Righteousness.’

Although Li Qi had already clarified his direction in his heart, he was not a pedantic person. He knew when to reason and when to reason after the fight.

Just like he used to with those people.

Justice can convince people, but the premise is that you must have the power to uphold justice.

You must be a person of strength and credibility to win over the masses and practice the Dao of the Invoker.

Otherwise, mere justice is nothing but a joke. Many people will come out to slap you in the face, trample your cherished Uprightness and Righteousness underfoot, and use reality to make you understand that justice is worthless.

Just like now.

The Immortals, that is, the people of Great Deer Kingdom, dominated this world, bringing endless suffering to it.

So, trying to persuade the Child of Destiny of this world at this point was clearly impossible.

Reasoning, let’s wait until the opponent is beaten into willingness to listen.

— — — — — — — —

Bai Di was practicing martial arts, counting as he went.

“Four hundred ninety-seven…”

“Four hundred ninety-eight…”

“Four hundred ninety-nine…”

“Five hundred…!”

He completed exactly five hundred sword swings, his bare upper body muscles bulging, Qi and blood surging within, and sweat pouring out like a spring.

Only then did he stand up, wipe his sweat, and take a sip of water.

This training room was specially prepared for him by Zhang’s Company. It was very high-end, with combat dummies, various exercise equipment, various weapons, a boxing ring, and even a recovery pod, providing a place for people who over-exercised to nourish their bodies.

And there were two sparring partners on standby at all times.

However, he didn’t need them. He only trained in his own way, which was swinging his sword.

Five hundred sword swings might seem like a small number, but with each swing, he used his entire body’s strength.

This included his muscles, inner Qi, and all accumulated intent.

Every swing was done with full concentration, unleashing his entire body’s strength, and each time would leave him in extreme fatigue. If it were an ordinary martial artist, they could only strike once a day and would be paralyzed for two hours, only regaining the strength to fight the next day.

Moreover, they couldn't control their power at all; the attacks they unleashed would fly out uncontrollably, destroying much of the environment.

But when Bai Di swung his sword, each time he could divide the force into two parts, causing them to cancel each other out.

Any force, in essence, is a resultant force composed of countless component forces. Therefore, as long as the force is perfectly controlled, the resultant force of the two parts can be zero, causing no impact on the outside world.

Swinging the sword five hundred times in this manner was his daily routine.

Initially, he also couldn’t control the force and would unleash Qi blasts that damaged the surroundings, only able to strike once a day.

But after years of training, he was no longer the same. Even among ninth-grade martial artists, he was outstanding, just a step away from breaking through to eighth-grade.

Just…

“Martial Dao is done. Let’s try the rituals,” he put down his sword and rested for a while.

His Shaman Dao cultivation still hadn’t entered a Realm, just like Li Qi; both were unranked Shamanes.

However, Li Qi was on the verge of entering a Realm and would definitely do so once the Qi of the four seasons was complete, but he… had been stuck here for many years.

Because his ambition was not here, he didn’t like Shaman Dao and had no talent for it either.

But Great Deer Kingdom was founded on Shaman Dao, and as a scholar of the Bai family, he had to cultivate it. In fact, because his Martial Dao cultivation progressed too quickly, his uncle had scolded him several times for his Shaman Dao remaining stagnant.

In their eyes, Martial Dao was not a proper profession.

Bai Di appeared refined, but in reality, he also had his own inner struggles.

But he didn’t change because of it; he had long been accustomed to it.

Still, I should practice. My uncle and the others also have a point.

The Martial Dao I like is ultimately a minor path. There is simply no great Martial Dao sect like Shaman God Mountain in the world.

I’m not a child anymore; I should be more realistic.

— — — — — — — —

Shen Shuibi was absorbing Lunar Qi.

Daoist cultivation is different from the Dao of the Invoker.

The Dao of the Invoker cultivates through rituals and regulations, and what they obtain is the pure Qi of heaven, earth, and spirits, which doesn’t need to be refined by themselves and can be used directly.

To be precise, the Invoker are more like merchants doing business, traveling among heaven, earth, gods, and ghosts, relying on their own abilities and credibility, using various means to earn their Qi for their own use.

But the Dao Sect is like a miner who works himself. They extract what they need bit by bit from the existence of this world and accumulate it.

As a moon rabbit, a Lunar essence, the speed at which she absorbed Lunar Qi was simply astonishing.

At this rate, what ordinary Dao Sect Disciples would take decades or even a century to accumulate, she could probably achieve in three to five years.

However, even after that, recovering to the eighth Realm was still a hurdle, not that simple.

Each Realm’s advancement requires something unique to that Realm; otherwise, Realms wouldn’t be distinguished.

Martial Dao eighth-grade requires comprehending Martial Dao Divine Intent.

Shaman Dao requires cultivating inner body spirits.

The Dao Sect is also very simple: ninth-grade is achieving the Golden Core, and eighth-grade is achieving the Yin Spirit.

The Yin Spirit can roam spiritually, traveling hundreds of li in an instant and traversing a province in a day, but it cannot interfere with reality; it is a purely spiritual product, though it can also cast some spells.

At higher Realms, one can condense a Yang Spirit. The Yang Spirit is the product of Spirit Refining and returning to emptiness. Through cultivation, the essence and Qi condense without dispersing, and by cultivating both nature and life, one can transform the ethereal into the tangible, turning divine intent into a physical entity, freely moving through heaven and earth, interfering with all things, and able to exist independently of the main body. Even if the main body dies, the Yang Spirit can still survive.

The Yang Spirit is a true life, with flesh and blood, capable of interfering with reality, and can be said to be the Daoist’s second body.

“Sigh, both my Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit were shattered. It’s so difficult to re-refine them now…” Shen Shuibi couldn’t help but sigh, her rabbit head nodding slightly, full of worry.

When she first cultivated, her body was complete, and she only needed to comprehend the key points.

Now, all the key points are understood, but there are fragments everywhere in her personal micro-Universe, and each time she cultivates, it’s like putting together a puzzle.

The cultivation method of Mount Luofu is based on oneself as the Celestial Pole of the heavens, with the external Universe revolving around oneself.

But now, this chen ji itself is unstable, making it difficult to form the Yin Spirit.

“I need to find a way, otherwise I’ll be stuck at ninth-grade.” The rabbit curled into a ball, racking her brain, deep in thought, her beautiful face scrunched up.

But before she could come up with a solution, she suddenly looked out the window.

“The method of ‘Near at Hand, Yet a Thousand Miles Away’? What’s going on?”

Near at hand, yet a thousand miles away, means something is seemingly close but actually far away.

This spell can stretch space to create the effect of storing many items within a small area.

But… this is not a spell that a ninth-grade can master.

No amount of external force would work.

Shen Shuibi sighed.

“Ah, something’s happened. Someone must have gone after Li Qi! Oh dear, that idiot, if he can’t even look where he’s going, how could he be trapped by something like this? He has no foresight at all, and he insists on traveling alone. Really!”

However, she immediately returned to normal, muttering, “But… nothing will happen anyway, so forget about him.”