Chapter 188: Outside the domain

Upon hearing this, Shen Shuibi immediately raised both hands, and the surrounding Yin and Yang trigrams rose with her.

Li Qi, however, pulled her hand, shaking his head, signaling her to stop.

The rabbit was puzzled, but since Li Qi did so, she immediately stopped, only setting up a slight defense and no longer attempting to attack proactively.

Li Qi didn’t know if he had forgotten or what, but he didn’t let go of her hand and continued to speak while holding it, addressing the sky covered by the canopy: “Chan Zhi Great Master, Shaman Dao is but a minor Dao, and among the many branches of Shaman Dao, it is considered one that cannot be presented on a grand stage. Its Dao is insidious, twisting the meaning of ‘sacrifice,’ and goes against natural. If you use Shaman Dao as a reference, I fear you will only fall deeper into demonic thoughts and never escape.”

“If you truly wish to learn the balance methods of Shaman Dao, why not come to me for help, for I am the true Shaman.” Li Qi sat on the old horse, his Human miniature heaven and earth unfolding.

The surrounding weather gradually drew closer to Li Qi’s position, the natural aura slowly changing. Although still very nascent, it faintly exuded the oppressive feeling of ‘I am the Heaven and Earth.’

He had used this move on Jin Buhuan as well, by adjusting the rhythm of the outside world with his own, allowing his Human miniature heaven and earth to gradually spread out, forming an area similar to a Domain around him.

In this area, the timing and geographical advantages would naturally favor the Shaman, because this was inherently a part of his Human miniature heaven and earth.

It sounds simple, but Shaman Dao does not possess such a method.

Shaman Dao focuses on ‘cultivation’—cultivating Gu worms, cultivating demonic retainers, and even cultivating parts of one’s own body. For a Shaman practicing Shaman Dao, sacrifice is not a means of communication, but a means of cultivation.

This includes a series of blood sacrifice methods, all for the purpose of acquiring other resources from the outside world and then cultivating what one desires.

Sacrifice is no longer communication, but plunder.

This is the difference between Li Qi’s sacrifice and the blood sacrifice of Shaman Dao.

Li Qi was certain that if his speculation was correct, then if Chan Zhi Great Master continued to delve into Shaman Dao, falling into the Demonic Dao would be a foregone conclusion.

And what he was now demonstrating was what Chan Zhi truly desired.

Therefore, after gradually transforming the surrounding weather to suit himself, Li Qi held Shen Shuibi’s hand and whispered, “Don’t come looking for me later. Go to Guangyang City, find the Jinlang Sect, and then say Li Qi wants to find Wang Baiyan. Tell the person named Wang Baiyan what happened today. Also, leave the White Rhinoceros Army matters to Zhang Lan; you don’t need to get involved. Zhang Lan and Wang Baiyan will handle it later.”

“Don’t come looking for you? Where are you going?” Shen Shuibi immediately asked in return.

Outside, without Li Qi to shield her from so many things, she would have to actively interact with people, which made her seem very uneasy.

She felt nothing facing a seventh-rank expert, but Li Qi was leaving, and she had to proactively go out and talk to people, which made Shen Shuibi extremely uneasy.

But there was no other way.

Because, before Li Qi could even speak, a vortex suddenly appeared in the sky.

Seeing this, Li Qi smiled. As expected.

After witnessing the orthodox Dao of the Shaman, the opponent, as a seventh-rank, could easily recognize that this was what he hoped to pursue—a method that could help him balance the conflict between Buddha and Demon.

This was the method Li Qi came up with to stop this blood sacrifice.

To truly fight a seventh-rank would be a foolish choice; even Shen Shuibi couldn’t win, and everyone present would be buried.

It was better to take a risk and get everyone else out first.

As for Li Qi himself…

It was certain that he would be captured by Chan Zhi.

Li Qi firmly believed that in Chan Zhi’s eyes, none of this mattered as much as a method to resolve his Buddha-Demon conflict. He would certainly do whatever it took to achieve this.

Therefore, he arranged Shen Shuibi’s matters, which was the contingency for Chan Zhi’s affair.

Hopefully, Shen Shuibi wouldn’t mess things up.

As the vortex appeared, Shen Shuibi immediately tried to resist.

She shook off Li Qi’s hand, clearly unwilling to let Li Qi be captured no matter what.

However, just as she made her move—

A giant tree suddenly appeared around them.

A tall Bodhi Tree emerged there, incredibly splendid, with magnificent flowers and fruits blossoming, their radiance illuminating all around. There were also red, green, blue, and white jewels, cloud-like chains of treasures, adorning the precious pillars.

Golden beads and bells hung all around the branches, and exquisite treasure nets covered them. Hundreds of thousands of colors interwove, countless rays of light shone boundlessly, and all ornaments manifested as needed.

The Bodhi Tree was swayed by a gentle breeze, rustling its branches and leaves, producing countless wondrous Dharma sounds. Its sound spread throughout the surroundings, clear, melodious, subtle, and harmonious.

On the branches of the Bodhi Tree were countless birds.

There were ducks, geese, orioles, mynahs, parrots, mandarin ducks, peacocks, and other birds.

There were Gandharva birds, Kalanda birds, Kucira birds, Vahiga birds, Kalavinka birds, and Jivajivaka birds, and so on.

All the birds carried flowers and fruits in their mouths, gathering like clouds.

However, these birds all dropped the flowers and fruits from their mouths and instead flew towards Shen Shuibi’s great formation.

Even though the Yin and Yang trigrams were merely energy manifestations with no physical form, they were carried away by these birds!

Instantly, the formation was no longer a formation, the Dharma was no longer Dharma, and the technique was no longer a technique, its power completely lost!

Shen Shuibi frowned, speeding up, her hands forming incantations, her slender fingers moving. The remaining Yin and Yang trigrams around her quickly combined.

The Yin and Yang trigrams are the basic symbols that form hexagrams, the most fundamental runes that compose the Bagua Yin and Yang in Daoist sects. (Note: Yin and Yang trigrams, the long and short horizontal lines around the Bagua diagram, form different hexagrams, symbolizing different situations.)

At this moment, these Yin and Yang trigrams flickered, channeling Kan to fill Li, converging on Shen Shuibi’s body.

The two Qi of Yin and Yang creation merged, the essence Qi of the liver, gallbladder, heart, and kidneys mixed, operating according to the Five Elements’ cycle of generation and overcoming, allowing the Three-Flavored True Fire from the gallbladder to be unleashed.

However, before it could burst forth, Li Qi proactively stood up, left the old horse, and stepped out of the Yin and Yang trigrams’ protection.

Almost instantly, he was sucked into the vortex.

The surrounding sky curtain and the Bodhi Tree vanished as if they were an illusion.

Shen Shuibi’s attack had already formed, but Li Qi and the sky curtain were gone.

As if venting her anger, she pushed the condensed Three-Flavored True Fire forward. The mighty Qi in her hand surged, dispelling all demons, without any hint of gentleness. A powerful wave of fire crashed out like a tsunami!

Mountains split open; a small mountain range was forcibly broken in half by her, becoming two parts!

Lava overflowed, and fire waves raged.

She floated in the air, looking up at the sky.

The rabbit was angry.

Although she didn’t know who had captured Li Qi, she was furious.

At this moment, not far away, a figure quickly approached.

It was Zhang Lan, who had not fled.

Although Zhang Lan had been blocked by the sky curtain earlier, he had not escaped. Now that the sky curtain had disappeared, he immediately rushed over.

“Shen Guniang? Brother Li, he…?” Zhang Lan asked.

Shen Shuibi’s usually dazed expression turned into a serious frown.

Originally, she didn’t want to bother with Zhang Lan.

But then she remembered what Li Qi had said before leaving.

The rabbit rubbed her face irritably, then said, “Li Qi said to leave the matters of the White Rhinoceros Army and these civilians to you. I’m going to find someone. Goodbye!”

With that, Shen Shuibi, as if fleeing, rode a rainbow away by herself, flying towards Guangyang City.

First, to find that… Wang, Wang…

What was his name again? Wang…?

Oh no, she didn’t remember.

As for Zhang Lan, who was left behind by Shen Shuibi, he looked at the common people below and the White Rhinoceros Army, whose military Qi had almost completely dissipated.

The侠客 also sighed.

Brother Li Qi dared to sacrifice himself and take that seventh-rank expert away, so the remaining mess could only be left to him.

The White Rhinoceros Army’s morale was scattered, and the common people were even more panicked and at a loss.

“Damn it…!” He cursed.

He didn’t know if he was cursing Li Qi, or the seventh-rank expert who suddenly appeared, or himself.

A seventh-rank…

The high-ranking individuals in Orthodox Sword Palace were only seventh-rank. Even in Bailin Kingdom, a seventh-rank could be considered a high official, a Supreme figure ruling over thousands of miles.

How many such figures could there be…

A seventh-rank could be their Sword Master’s Dao Resonance, the wielder of the Three Hundred Sixty Zhou Tian Star Swords’ Dao Resonance principles.

Just as Zhang Lan was sighing, the old horse suddenly rushed over.

He looked at the old horse in confusion: “This is Brother Li’s Dragon Steed? Why?”

The old horse suddenly turned around, revealing a letter placed on its back.

Zhang Lan took it and quickly scanned it. Then, his expression became solemn.

“You follow me from now on. After we settle these common people, you and I will go to Orthodox Sword Palace!”

— — — — — — — — — —

Regardless of what happened there, the division of labor had been arranged.

And Li Qi, after Transmigration through that vortex…

He suddenly felt a peculiar sensation.

His vision was completely dark, he couldn’t see anything, yet from this very darkness, came feelings of bizarreness, madness, and loss of reason.

As if the surroundings were a world of despair.

He seemed to hear whispers in his ears, yet something peculiar began to rise, and his five senses gradually blurred.

His consciousness quietly sank into the darkness. The cold, deep golden color around him seemed to become warm, just like lying in bed and turning off the lights before sleeping, closing one’s eyes.

That feeling of darkness, yet security.

Carrying a sweet scent that invited sleep.

Li Qi almost fell asleep.

But the next second, beside him, two golden lines lit up. The golden lines swept through the darkness, and Li Qi, with his last bit of clarity, struggled to react.

But it had no effect.

Eighth-rank Jin Qi (Metal Energy) seemed utterly unable to shatter these things.

But—

Countless progress bars flashed before his eyes, as if he had passed by countless events.

Just then, Li Qi suddenly discovered that those progress bars, which he had long been accustomed to and could ignore, actually pierced through the darkness. These progress bars marked all the strange and bizarre existences around him, displaying them all before his eyes.

The darkness was pushed back by the progress bars, replaced by—

The starry sky.

A beautiful starry sky.

Not the kind of starry sky with tiny bright spots scattered on a backdrop.

Looking up at the starry sky from the ground, the sight was like sesame seeds sprinkled on a black cloth.

Such stars, at this moment, seemed utterly uninteresting.

Now, the Dao Resonance on Li Qi’s body dispelled the darkness for him, revealing an even more astonishing truth.

What appeared before Li Qi’s eyes now were endless galaxies, true wonders visible to the naked eye!

Vast space, filled with endless brilliance, hundreds of billions of burning spherical stars composed of superheated plasma!

But not only that!

He saw a great roc with a wingspan as large as a star, carrying magnificent palace complexes on its back, seemingly capable of holding several planets.

That great roc was unknown how far from Li Qi, so much so that the light it emitted reached Li Qi only the size of a fist, but the star beneath it was undeniably real.

A translucent giant in the starry sky was leaping through the boundless galaxy. Each step covered several star systems, and soon he vanished from Li Qi’s sight.

Even though his speed should far exceed light, far exceed Li Qi’s reaction speed, Li Qi could still see his movements. It seemed what he couldn’t see was not light, but some more profound information.

And a terrifying giant crocodile was swimming in the sea of the Universe, opening its massive mouth to swallow galaxies. Dozens of stars were sucked into its belly in one gulp, stirring up the sun and moon as if startled, and the waves of the galaxy as if overturned!

And, more, on rivers formed by indescribable energy, countless miniature heaven and earths floated, like small boats on an ocean. Countless miniature heaven and earths drifted on this rainbow-like vast sea.

There were also larger worlds, surpassing that rainbow ocean, almost occupying all of Li Qi’s vision, strangely shaped.

Some were spherical, like planets, but they were not planets. Instead, they were covered by a thin membrane crystal wall, with a hidden grotto-heaven within.

Others were floating continents, suspended in the Void Realm, drifting through the Universe according to some pattern.

Still others were hemispherical, with a round sky and square earth, covered by a dome over the land below.

Even, when Li Qi looked up, he saw an even more magnificent, unbelievable existence.

A giant Dragon, entirely composed of stars. On its body, stars were living things, galaxies were the wriggling muscles on its claws, and planets were its cells.

In the eyes of countless beings from other worlds, its existence was a mere speck of starlight embedded in the firmament.

This giant Dragon appeared before Li Qi for only a moment before vanishing without a trace, and this was merely a fleeting glimpse for Li Qi.

But he still recognized what it was.

Azure Dragon! This was the Azure Dragon, one of the Four Symbols!

In this boundless land, there were hundreds of billions of worlds, and beyond those hundreds of billions of worlds, there were hundreds of billions more worlds!

Countless sceneries gathered together, defying common sense!

Its beauty was even beyond description, like a crystal-clear snowflake. Although beautiful, if touched by hand, that pure beauty would melt. If it fell to the ground, that beautiful purity would be sullied. Only in the sky could it be truly real.

Even, when Li Qi had the thought of “wanting to record it,” carefully choosing words and phrases, attempting to encapsulate that kind of beauty in sentences, he could feel that the beauty lost its purity and became vulgar.

Li Qi knew.

He knew where he had arrived after Transmigration through that vortex.

The Outer Domain!

This was the Outer Domain!