Chapter 178: Sacrificial offering to heaven

Three hours later.

Li Qi rode out of Guangyang City with a gloomy expression.

Without a doubt, he had been driven out by the Zhang family.

All signs indicated that Wang Baiyan was telling the truth.

Guangyang Sima was a useless slacker who neglected his duties.

Guangyang Situ, on the other hand, was an inhumane piece of trash, capable of performing blood sacrifices to guard the pass, and the reason was merely ‘to guard against possible demons’.

This Guangyang Prefecture was rotten to the core.

The Zhang family naturally couldn't sell him grain; he had been thrown out.

Thirteen whole hours had passed since he set off.

A full day.

He didn't have much time to waste, so Wang Baiyan's proposal was his only option at the moment.

Li Qi didn't think Wang Baiyan truly wanted to help him; he certainly had his own agenda, but it didn't matter. One couldn't expect everyone to be entirely selfless.

As long as the other side could indeed procure three hundred thousand piculs of grain, it was acceptable.

Li Qi rode his horse, galloping through the wilderness, his mind pondering the upcoming arrangements and what precautions to take.

But as he rode, he suddenly reined in his horse, stopping in the middle of the road.

The surrounding forest was silent.

Li Qi sighed, “Who is it? Someone sent by Guangyang Situ?”

As Li Qi spoke, the atmosphere around them changed, and a middle-aged man in grey robes floated into view.

“To have entered the Innate realm at such a young age, truly a hero emerging from youth. But how does your nascent Innate realm compare to mine?” The grey-robed middle-aged man stood on a treetop, chewing on a tender blade of grass, holding a sword in his arms, looking down at Li Qi from above.

“Your Excellency is?” Li Qi looked up at the grey-robed man.

His face was weathered, his beard scruffy, and his sword was wrapped in tattered burlap. He stood on a tree leaf with his toes, but the leaf did not sag.

“You haven't heard of me? Well, it's normal for young people not to understand the Jianghu.” The grey-robed man shook his head, “I am Piao Xu Sword Liu Sanlong.”

“I began learning the sword at three, refined my bones at five, killed the Five Bandits of Barren Mountain with five swords at seven, became famous within five thousand li at twelve, entered the Innate realm at twenty, and it has been twenty-three years since then.”

“For twenty-three years, I have dominated the Martial Forest for too long. You are also an Innate at over twenty years old, so you must be a Genius, just like I once was. However, I have had twenty-three more years of refinement than you.”

“Originally, for a junior like you, I should have protected your growth. Unfortunately, you provoked someone you shouldn't have and did something you shouldn't have. Today, I was entrusted to take your life. Do you have any other questions?” The grey-robed man spoke a string of profound words.

Li Qi, meanwhile, was looking around.

Only this one person?

“Still looking around when facing a strong enemy. It seems I overestimated you.” The grey-robed man shook his head.

Since that was the case, he would just have to take his life.

The long sword in the grey-robed man's arms unsheathed.

A flash of sword light, and then a crisp 'pop' sound.

A golden thread streaked past, and both the half-drawn sword and the person were cut into two.

“I thought there were others hiding… I didn't expect it to be just one.” Li Qi muttered, urging his old horse to continue running.

As for the other party's self-introduction, he hadn't even listened.

He was just a newly entered Ninth Grade Martial Cultivator, what threat could he pose?

He had thought it was an ambush, but it turned out to be just one person.

He was truly underestimated.

After that, the journey was peaceful.

Well, not entirely peaceful.

There were still some small flies.

But Li Qi had two golden threads wrapped around him, following him like shadows, beheading all attackers. Along the way, he killed about ten people, roughly two or three of whom were Ninth Grade, with the rest being mostly cannon fodder.

But it could still be considered peaceful; not even the old horse's pace was hindered.

After that, no one else came.

Soon, he returned to the Jinlang Sect's manor.

Dismounting, he loudly called out, “Brother Wang, I'm back! When do we depart?”

Wang Baiyan walked out, “Already prepared! We leave at once!”

The two responded to each other and immediately set off together, without the slightest delay.

Shortly after the two left.

Inside Guangyang City, at the Situ Mansion.

The scenery here was beautiful, surrounded by inlaid yellow stone walls over ten zhang high, with dozens of rooms in the middle. The layout was three rooms in the front and three in the back, with a small alley connecting them in the middle, and corridors winding through trees, long and short lines.

At this moment, in the central room.

Guangyang Situ listened to his subordinate's report, his fists clenched.

“Piao Xu Sword, Shan Nan Brothers, Lu Tiejin, He Yuxiu… all dead?” Guangyang Situ asked.

“Yes…” The trembling scout below reported, “The bodies have been collected…”

“How is that possible? This person isn't also Ninth Grade? I saw his cultivation, he just barely entered the ranks, and as a Shaman, he doesn't even have a single body god. How is that possible?” Guangyang Situ was utterly perplexed, his words even containing two “how is that possible,” showing how astonished he was.

An ordinary Ninth Grade Shaman, without a body god, and no apparent special Spiritual Artifact, yet he could continuously slay several Ninth Grade Cultivators!

One must know that those Ninth Grade Cultivators were all renowned figures in the Jianghu of Guangyang Prefecture. None of them were mediocre; at the very least, they were Sect Leaders of a School, considered High Grade among Ninth Grade Cultivators, with extraordinary strength.

“This person still has a trump card, so don't let anyone else go to their deaths. Oh, right, let Old Ancestor Zhang of the Zhang family make a move. He is just a step away from condensing Martial Dao Divine Intent and has reached the peak of Ninth Grade. He should be able to easily defeat this person.”

“Oh, right, where is he now?” Guangyang Situ asked.

“Unknown. Our other personnel haven't returned yet.” The scout below replied.

“Haven't returned?” Guangyang Situ frowned.

Because he knew that if they hadn't returned by now.

Then they most likely wouldn't be able to return.

“Hmph, good, good! I was wondering what was going on. So, there's someone behind him. The direction he's heading is the Jinlang Sect's granary outside the city. Is the 'patron' standing behind him that one?”

“I thought this person was genuinely kind-hearted and wanted to save people. Though ignorant, he was still a good person, and I wasn't planning to kill him. I never expected him to be just an outsider's dog, wanting to obstruct the formation of the great array. Delusional! Give the order! No, forget it, I'll go myself!” As Guangyang Situ thought of that patron, he was instantly enraged, stood up immediately, and walked out the door.

Leaving the scout behind, wiping cold sweat, fearing he would be implicated.

The scout watched as Lord Situ walked away, then finally let out a sigh of relief, unable to resist exclaiming, “This great array is truly difficult to construct…”

After speaking, he chanted a spell, his body turning illusory, and he secretly left the place.

A good scout would not reveal himself easily.

——————

Putting those matters aside, Li Qi, riding his Dragon Steed, rushed quickly. In less than a quarter of an hour, he had already entered the Immortal Cave.

As expected of an Immortal Cave left behind by a Seventh Grade expert, it contained a hidden grotto-heaven. Upon entering, the sky was vast and the earth wide, like a paradise.

However, it was empty inside; everything had long been moved out, not a single thing remained. Even the potted plants, lawns, fish, and birds were gone.

They really dug three feet deep…

“In a place like this, Brother Wang could actually discover a hidden miniature heaven and earth. He's truly… perceptive.” Li Qi looked up at the scene in the Immortal Cave, which looked as if it had been scraped bare, and his eye twitched slightly.

“Haha, without such a thorough search, how could I have found that miniature heaven and earth? Brother Li, follow me, it's right here.” Wang Baiyan smiled and walked forward, stopping in front of a mural on a wall.

Li Qi followed and saw that the mural depicted a hundred scenes.

There were oceans, deserts, cities, mountains, rivers, military formations, and celestial phenomena.

The vastness of heaven and earth, the prosperity of the human world, natural wonders, grand and beautiful landscapes, all kinds of beautiful scenery, were all contained within it.

Before he could finish looking, Wang Baiyan gently waved his hand and flicked, and the painting broke open, revealing a vortex within it. A tearing force appeared, trying to pull Li Qi in.

However, the force was not strong, and Li Qi easily stabilized his body.

But Wang Baiyan actively took two steps forward, walked in, and disappeared into the vortex.

Seeing this, Li Qi sensed it.

His sixth sense told him there was no danger.

So he believed it.

After all, a Shaman's sixth sense was no joke; it was a genuine, subtle intuition.

Therefore, Li Qi also took a step forward and walked in, with the old horse following suit.

After walking out, Li Qi only felt a wave of dizziness.

Then, he appeared in a vast desert.

In the desert, the scorching sun shone on the sand, raising wave after wave of heat, making it difficult to open one's eyes.

Staying here for a while longer, even one's skin would probably crack from the wind.

The scorching sun above and the hot wind around that could peel off one's skin, along with the hot sand underfoot that could be used for barbecues, all made one feel as if they were walking in Hell.

It was high noon, and the blazing sun overhead made all creatures in the desert, except for cacti or thorny bushes, hide away. Even insects hid under thick sand dunes to escape the heat.

“Here…” As soon as Li Qi arrived, he felt a repulsive force.

“So, this is what it feels like.” Li Qi recalled, comparing the differences between here and the Earth Oil Realm.

The Earth Oil Realm did not repel them; the Heavenly Dao of that world had already been refined, so it was well restrained.

But the Heavenly Dao of this world was different. This place was still filled with a wild and savage aura, and the Heavenly Dao here was frantically trying to expel them.

However, this was merely an unranked miniature heaven and earth, so it couldn't push them out; it merely suppressed a portion of Li Qi's strength.

According to the classification of extraterrestrial worlds, worlds are graded according to the maximum grade of Cultivator they can withstand. The Heavenly Dao cannot support the existence of another entity of the same grade as itself.

Therefore, the Heavenly Dao of a native world is generally one grade higher than the world's grade. In other words, in an Eighth Grade world like the Earth Oil Realm, the Heavenly Dao's ability could reach Seventh Grade.

In such an unranked world, the Heavenly Dao would be Ninth Grade.

The Heavenly Dao here was of the same grade as Li Qi and the others.

However, Li Qi also knew one more thing: the Heavenly Dao, in any grade, was always at the absolute pinnacle.

It was truly the absolute pinnacle. As the books said, the Heavenly Dao in its native world, with the exception of a few Children of Destiny, generally crushed opponents of the same grade when facing them.

What did 'crush' mean?

It was probably the same way Li Qi killed other Ninth Grade Cultivators this afternoon.

Of course, the Heavenly Dao had spirit but no intellect, so it generally wouldn't act on its own initiative.

After confirming the surrounding situation, Li Qi stopped thinking about other things and turned to Wang Baiyan:

“Brother Wang, how much of your combat strength do you have left?” Li Qi asked.

Wang Baiyan clenched his fist, tested his strength, and then replied, “Five-tenths left.”

“I'm better off than you; I still have eight-tenths.” Li Qi said.

Wang Baiyan nodded upon hearing this, “That's good. It was indeed correct to invite you. Shamanes have a natural affinity with heaven and earth. Although this Heavenly Dao dislikes outsiders, it is still more tolerant towards you.”

Then, he continued:

“Then please, Brother Li, set up a Heaven Sacrificing Ceremony to facilitate communication between me and this Heavenly Dao. Previously, I was repelled, unable to do anything here. The grain I planted here would wither and die. If I were to plunder the kingdoms here, a Child of Destiny would emerge to oppose me, and I would always lose. Even if I mined minerals or hunted animals, accidents would occur. I truly had no way to deal with this world.”

“I'll try first.” Li Qi nodded.

He estimated that all of this was within the other party's calculations, including the fact that he was a Shaman.

So, looking at it this way, Wang Baiyan had been eyeing him for a long time?

Li Qi pondered what Wang Baiyan was secretly plotting, but his hands didn't stop working.

The Heaven Sacrificing Ceremony requires offerings of wine, adhering to the ritual of solemn prayer, sweeping the ground for the sacrifice, presenting delicious pickled meats and fine salt, burning firewood on the altar, and then reporting to Heaven.

Li Qi had also performed a Heaven Sacrificing Ceremony in the Earth Oil Realm, but that time he hadn't prepared anything; he was just going there to mock, so no extra offerings were needed.

But it was different now. This time, he was genuinely preparing to have a good talk with the Heavenly Dao of this world, so he still needed to prepare the ritual and offerings.

Fortunately, Wang Baiyan seemed to have been prepared long ago.

Whatever Li Qi needed, he could surprisingly produce it.

“Brother Wang, are your preparations a bit too complete…” Li Qi was a little unsettled, glancing at him.

And Wang Baiyan explained, “After all, I sell grain… It's perfectly normal to carry these things in a mustard seed bag, aren't they all just food?”

“What about the firewood for the burnt offering? Can that also be prepared in advance?” Li Qi asked while preparing the altar.

Wang Baiyan opened his folding fan and laughed, “Haha, coincidence, coincidence. I picked this up before, and I never expected it would come in handy at this time.”

Li Qi was noncommittal.

He continued to arrange the altar.

However, at this moment, a sudden strong wind began to blow.

“A sandstorm is coming… sigh, you see, I told you, being rejected by the Heavenly Dao always leads to things like this.” Wang Baiyan sighed.

A sandstorm had no lethality for them, but it could hinder the progress of the sacrifice. Clearly, Wang Baiyan was powerless against such natural phenomena.

But Li Qi was different.

“No matter.” Li Qi said.

Then, he lightly pressed his hand to the ground, creating a sand pit.