Chapter 221: Arrival

The discussion of the Dao came to an abrupt halt.

The five people who had been discussing the Dao simultaneously turned their gaze towards Guangyang.

One Utmost Person looked up and said, "It's that."

Another Utmost Person nodded, "Yes, it's that young man who obtained the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method."

This place was at the border between Tang Nation and Baiyue, at least one hundred fifty thousand li away from Guangyang, extremely far.

But even at such a great distance, the aura of the Grand Ritual was still perceived.

Yun Fang then stood up from the ground, "I advise you all, it's best not to start a fight here. Didn't we say before that we came to negotiate, not to fight?"

The leading Utmost Person nodded and said, "Hmm, that's simple then. Find that young man, erase the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method from his mind, and the matter will be perfectly resolved."

A trace of anger appeared in Yun Fang's eyes.

Erasing memories would inevitably damage the Spirit Soul, which would have a significant and difficult-to-repair impact on his future.

And if this were done at this critical juncture, then Li Qi's Grand Ritual would inevitably fail.

For him, this was tantamount to having half of his Dao path severed.

Therefore, Yun Fang immediately said, "Gentlemen, this matter..."

However, Yun Fang had only spoken two words when, almost simultaneously, six people vanished from their original positions.

The four from Tang Nation had no intention of listening to Yun Fang.

What a joke.

When the Celestial Dynasty acts, does it need to consider the expressions of you barbarians?

If they failed, then negotiation would be fine.

But before acting, they did not need to consider your opinions.

— — — — — — — —

At the very center of Guangyang, Li Qi was presiding over the Grand Ritual.

On the altar, energy currents surged.

His body was like it was on fire, turning completely red, veins bulging, muscles twisting, with strange sounds and odd protrusions emerging from within, as if countless Demon Qi were dancing in his flesh and blood, screaming, wanting to break free from the confines of his skin and burst out!

These Demon Qi almost devoured his soul.

However, these were not actually Demon Qi.

Rather, they were information transmitted from all directions.

Intense pain swept over him!

Boundless emotions surged within Li Qi's mind.

Corrupting erosion, base thoughts, fervent longing for dreams, warmth of family, encouragement of success, anxiety of failure, joy, sorrow, jealousy, excitement, anger, melancholy.

Thousands of people, each with their own desires for the sacrifice.

But anyone who participates in a sacrifice must have a request, must make a wish.

Not just Mortals, even the rats from Rat Soil Mound and those Mountain and Water Deities were reaching out to Li Qi, demanding.

Mortals had various desires, hoping for food, happiness, wealth, health.

They were the same; they wanted incense and offerings.

The voices of countless people, gods, and ghosts converged.

At first, he could still clearly hear what they were like, but very quickly, Li Qi could hear nothing at all; it was chaotic, incomparably chaotic, the Mortal World's disturbances, countless thoughts, feelings, ideas, emotions, all surged in!

No one could bear such things.

And Li Qi, as the central hub, was bearing all of it.

He had to bear it; he couldn't resist or ignore it.

Listening to the demands of all parties, heeding the will of all parties, then communicating, allocating, and mediating all these demands with a fair attitude—this was the duty of a Invoker.

In fact, not only these Mortals and Ninth Grade beings, but Li Qi also had to regulate the monk corpses used as sacrifices.

The two monk corpses, one Fifth Grade and one Seventh Grade, contained the energy that was the foundation of the entire Grand Ritual.

Fortunately, the altar had the ability to divert; countless pieces of information, after the first massive influx, were immediately rectified and categorized.

Human information went to one side, divine information to another.

Sacrifices to the heavens went to one side, sacrifices to the earth to another, sacrifices to the stars to another, and the Great Yin and Great Yang to another.

In this way, the previously chaotic information flow became a less chaotic information flow.

It was still complex, but at least it could be processed by category.

This was complex information that Formation could not handle; only a person could.

Normally, Invoker did not do such hard labor.

In the books Li Qi had read, many Invoker had their own ways to complete these complex tasks, such as automated processing flows like customized protocols.

However, Li Qi dared not entrust the Grand Ritual process to an automated processing Formation.

If something went wrong, it would truly be fatal.

Therefore, in such a significant occasion, he could only, and only felt safe, handling it himself.

Fortunately, his Nascent Soul had already been condensed, and his processing ability had also greatly improved.

So, let's get to work.

Li Qi began to preside over the sacrifice.

Countless information streams flowed through his mind, and then, according to different rituals and his arrangements, countless types of Qi began to flow in Guangyang.

With Li Qi as the central hub, a massive ritual involving thousands of people was initiated.

In the northeast, there was Divine Qi, forming five colors. Then the Divine Qi moved, merging into Mountain Qi, and Human Qi circulated back, filling the Divine Qi.

This Human Qi, under the rituals and prayers, condensed into Incense Qi, dispelling the original Demon Qi of Rat Soil Mound, and condensing new Divine Qi.

If one were to shift their perspective to a high vantage point at this moment, observing Guangyang from above, they would see a marvelous sight.

Hundreds of thousands of different types of Qi, under Li Qi's command, moved in an orderly fashion, stopping in their designated places, operating with precision, borrowing power from various sources to compensate for existing deficiencies and losses, and then returning the excess Qi to the places from which it was borrowed, compensating for their losses.

All Qi governed separately, overseeing heaven and earth.

Musical pitch pipes, mountain records, water records, astronomical divisions, geographical maps, mathematical calculations, military camps, Formation, trigram shadows, architecture, burial sites, all Qi, cities, and the nation's altars—all measurements and divisions were perfectly ordered.

This was the discipline of Heaven and Earth, the response between humans and gods, aligning with the manifest above and the hidden below, riding the righteousness of Heaven and Earth, following the sequence of the four seasons.

Heaven and Earth's Qi interacted, and all things flourished, all Qi intermingled.

Almost visibly, Guangyang was becoming more and more vibrant.

The originally dried-up rivers and water veins became moist again.

The long-severed earth veins began to gradually recover.

Life, once again, appeared in this dead land; the white soil blocks underground, like saline-alkali land, gradually became moist, returning to their original black soil state.

However, to fully restore to its original state, it would require at least two and a half days.

And this Grand Ritual would only last for one day.

So Guangyang would still face the predicament of reduced production, but at least it was only reduced production, not a total crop failure.

As long as the Grand Ritual ended and supplies were allocated from other places, surviving this tribulation should not be a problem.

Completing this Grand Ritual would save the thousands of people in Guangyang, as well as thousands of Mountain and Water Deities , and the depleted land and water veins.

Li Qi handled all of this methodically.

But suddenly, he saw Le Ya in the distance, suddenly erupting, his figure flickering, and in the blink of an eye, he used some method of spatial traversal to arrive at the outskirts of Bailin Kingdom.

No one noticed the movements of this Fifth Grade being, as everyone's attention was drawn to Li Qi on the altar, and his movements were very subtle with no residual effects, making him difficult to detect.

But no matter what, Le Ya was the first to reach beyond Bailin Kingdom's border.

Layers of great Formation unfolded.

His miniature heaven and earth directly spread out in this series of places.

In an instant, Heaven and Earth unfolded, and layer upon layer of world illusions directly descended upon this place.

Covering between Heaven and Earth, encompassing within the four seas, there were nine continents and eight extremes; the earth had nine mountains, nine passes, nine Qi, nine winds, and nine waters.

From the Eastern Extreme to the Western Extreme, two hundred thirty-three thousand five hundred li.

From the Northern Extreme to the Southern Extreme, two hundred thirty-four thousand two hundred li.

From the center of the nine continents, there was a great mountain, its height eleven thousand one hundred fourteen steps and two chi six cun, extending in all directions, supporting the firmament.

It bore strange flowers and exotic beasts, countless in number, dwelling peacefully within it.

This was Le Ya's miniature heaven and earth, its appearance when he went all out.

This was the source of his power.

As a Fifth Grade Shaman, his miniature heaven and earth was already tending towards reality, and the things born within it could be brought into the real world.

Although they would disappear after a period, turning into ethereal Qi, during that period, the things taken out of it were undoubtedly real.

And the grade of this world was Fifth Grade.

Furthermore, this world had and only had one Fifth Grade being.

That was Le Ya himself.

All the resources and all the power of a Fifth Grade world were used to nourish Le Ya alone.

This was enough to reflect how great the difference was between Le Ya and an ordinary Fifth Grade.

And at this moment, to break through this defense, one would need to directly penetrate a Fifth Grade world and all the defenses Le Ya had set up.

But this display was too grand.

So much so that two Fifth Grade beings suddenly emerged from the surroundings.

Bailin Kingdom still showed no reaction, but the rulers of the two neighboring countries reacted directly and quickly descended.

These two Fifth Grade beings were extremely alarmed and immediately cupped their hands, asking, "May I ask why Senior has graced this place? Why such a grand display of power? This place is under Heaven's rule, and battles extending beyond a thousand li are not permitted."

They were both terrified.

A top-tier Fifth Grade suddenly descended, going all out, spreading his miniature heaven and earth to envelop the territories of two countries, making it hard to distinguish between reality and illusion, looking as if he intended to slaughter a nation.

And yet, the two of them couldn't stop him.

This Senior's cultivation was so profound that, despite being Fifth Grade themselves, they couldn't even stop him. So they were all trembling, unsure of what was happening, and could only invoke Heaven's rules to try and suppress him.

Le Ya looked at the two of them, frowned, and said, "Retreat quickly! This place is about to—"

However, he had only spoken halfway when a phantom suddenly flashed past the three of them.

Mountains and rivers shattered.

Le Ya's miniature heaven and earth directly exploded into six pieces.

He violently spat out a mouthful of blood, and all his preparations were instantly extinguished!

The remaining two Fifth Grade rulers were even more miserable; their Physical Body directly annihilated, and their cultivation was directly reduced by more than two tenths!

They didn't even bother to investigate; their Spirit Souls immediately flashed and fled, not even caring about their countries.

Even if their countries were actually the foundation of their Dao, it didn't matter.

Compared to their lives, what was the foundation of their Dao?

Even if their Dao path was severed, they would still be Fifth Grade, which was better than dying!

What on earth happened? What's going on!?

The reason was actually very simple.

Yun Fang, Zhu Fengdan, and those three Utmost Persons and one Earth Immortal had just passed through here.

Just passing by nearly killed three Fifth Grade beings.

To them, the strength difference among Fifth Grade beings was meaningless.

Le Ya and the other two were able to survive purely because Yun Fang had protected their vital points.

However, when facing double the number of enemies, that was all he could do.

Le Ya's intentions were good, but unfortunately, he greatly underestimated the newcomers.

No one would have expected Tang Nation to send four Third Grade beings at once.

The most urgent task now was to prevent these people from entering Guangyang.

If these people truly interrupted Li Qi's Dao path...

Yun Fang recalled his Disciple.

It used to be like this as well.

— — — — — — — —

Meanwhile, in Guangyang, Li Qi was still unaware of this, fully focused on presiding over the Grand Ritual.

He felt that he was becoming more and more proficient.

The True Knowledge Dao Resonance played a huge role in this.

Under the processing of the True Knowledge Dao Resonance, countless pieces of information allowed Li Qi to gain more and more understanding of them.

As he processed more and more information, he also began to discover commonalities and patterns within them.

Although people in the world have different temperaments, they all have compassion, reaching the same destination by different paths.

What's more, although all Qi are different, the underlying principle is but one.

Therefore, there are myriad Qi, but only one principle.

Having understood this point, although the tens of thousands of types of Qi had different properties, at a deeper level, they shared more and more commonalities.

This was like...

In the world, there are countless substances.

But all substances are governed by the same physical laws.

As long as one understands these physical laws, one can, to a certain extent, predict and control the operational modes of matter.

Being able to predict the operational modes of these Qi, instead of focusing on the properties of each Qi one by one, allowed him to transform a large amount of disordered Qi into his own assistance from a deeper level.

After understanding this...

Li Qi could feel that the pressure of the Grand Ritual on him was becoming smaller and smaller.

He was making progress.

Not progress in cultivation; that was too superficial.

His understanding of the 'Dao' and 'Principle' was deepening.

The things he was forced to study earlier when pressured by Chan Zhi, the monk, were now gradually showing their effect.

Just as Bo Yue had said.

For a Genius, what matters is never Physical Body Aptitude.

The way of thinking is the only standard to measure a Genius.

Divine Ability is easy to obtain, but wisdom is hard to find.

However, just as Li Qi's progress was becoming smoother, he suddenly felt that the Qi of the entire Guangyang was chaotic for an instant.

Pfft!

Such a chaotic state, even if only for an instant, caused the unprepared Li Qi to directly spit out a large mouthful of blood. He immediately knelt on the ground, and as the core hub of the entire Grand Ritual, he directly suffered a violent backlash!

"What's going on!?" He was startled, pausing the processing of the data, temporarily letting it accumulate, while looking outwards.

Then, he saw an old man, and the back of his Master, Young Master Zhu.

In the sky before them, there were four unfamiliar people dressed in luxurious robes.

It seemed... they were confronting each other?

The old man was the first to turn his head and glance back.

"Child, continue your work, don't be disturbed; leave this side to us," he said calmly.

And Young Master Zhu, without turning his head, merely transmitted a message to Li Qi:

"I failed to stop them just now; that was my negligence, Master. Don't worry, I'll twist their heads off for you later to let off some steam."