Chapter 281: Rabbit's Path

Yes, Li Qi wants to start a war.

"War...?" Shen Shuibi seemed to want to frown.

Unfortunately, the Sacred Flame Clan's Physical Body was very stiff, with no expression, so she couldn't frown.

"Yes, war. After all, it's impossible to reclaim this World through negotiations, right? And if we're going to act, it's impossible for us to do everything, right?" Li Qi smiled.

"To reclaim one's Dao, to rebuild one's Dao, one cannot rely on others. They must reclaim it with their own strength, and we can only be an aid."

"The previous Immortal certainly wouldn't be willing to hand it over directly, so the only option is to resort to violence."

"War is inevitable, and we can't fight it for them. This war is a calamity for the Holy Flame World, and it's an obstacle on their Dao."

Li Qi said with a relaxed tone.

Shen Shuibi nodded.

Indeed.

What Li Qi said was right.

The Dao must always be walked by oneself, even for a World and a race. To escape the Dao conflicts of the Immortals, they must strive for themselves.

"In that case... how do we make money?" Shen Shuibi was puzzled.

If Li Qi had such a plan, the speed of earning money would be too slow.

Just selling cultivation methods and Spiritual Artifacts, not to mention where the supply would come from and how to price them, this kind of thing could not possibly be faster than violently occupying the Holy Flame World and enslaving it for money.

If they were truly seeking wealth, what they should be doing now is to figure out the opponent's forces, then see if they can make a move, or find a way to expel the other side and seize the Holy Flame World.

Now, playing the arms dealer game is truly small-minded and slow to make money.

"You don't understand, Jade. War, famine, disease are always the most profitable situations, without any exceptions," Li Qi said with a smile. "Look, what is the source of wealth?"

"Labor," Shen Shuibi replied.

She also understood this point: the source of all value comes from labor. Even raw Materials must be dug out and processed by someone to have value.

"Our plundering is merely plundering the wealth they accumulated through past labor. That's a root-digging affair, too much of a loss for us who are now empty-handed, but we also don't have the ability to operate a World ourselves," Li Qi spread his hands.

"The best method, of course, is what those Immortals in the Holy Flame World did: directly use their Dao to erode this World, making it completely their subordinate. However, this is not something we can do now. We don't have that many preachers, nor a complete set of Great Dao that can be used for invasion," Li Qi said.

While speaking, the two found a roadside stall, ordered some food, and continued chatting.

However, no one else could hear their conversation.

Li Qi gestured his meaning.

First, they didn't have the conditions for large-scale preaching.

To preach on a large scale, one needs many, many followers, or disciples, who can understand and follow one's Great Dao. They understand your Dao and are willing to uphold it as a guiding principle.

Dao Orthodoxy comes from this.

If many small Schools gathered together to form a group for profit, then these large Dao Orthodoxys all gathered together because of similar philosophies.

Fellow Daoists are closer than father and son.

Father and son can still turn against each other, but as long as fellow Daoists remain fellow Daoists, there will absolutely be no rift between them.

Li Qi and Shen Shuibi, as two lone individuals, certainly didn't have that many disciples and subordinates to support such a large-scale undertaking that would last one or two hundred years.

Even though, in reality, a hundred years is not long.

Li Qi explained: "So, to ensure that the Holy Flame World retains its labor capacity to produce Sacred Flame, we must preserve the Holy Flame World's original production mechanism and the operation of the Great Dao. This is the fundamental reason why we must support their resistance. If we directly plunder, we can only plunder past wealth, but we cannot earn future wealth."

"But there's another problem: if the Holy Flame World maintains its original Great Dao rules, then they cannot be used by us. They will use their resources and wealth for their own development. In this way, we won't achieve our goal either."

Shen Shuibi listened quietly beside him, not expressing an opinion.

Although she was very intelligent, she was not familiar with these matters because she had been staying in Mount Luofu for the past nine thousand years. Her Dao was inherited from Mount Luofu.

Mount Luofu is one of the branches of Dao Orthodoxy, the reclusive branch.

Dao Orthodoxy is also divided into two large branches and many small branches. The two large branches are the Huang-Lao School and the Lao-Zhuang School, which are the Manifested Daoist Faction and the Reclusive Faction.

Currently, the Huang-Lao School, this branch of the Manifested Daoist Faction, advocates 'Cultivation, World Governance, and Practical Application.' It has a very strong purpose and actively transforms this World, which is 'World Governance and Practical Application.' For reasons unknown, it is currently fully supporting the expansion of the Human Dao and is a honored guest of the Human Emperor and the Zhu Zi Officials. The Human Emperor even built Daoist temples for them in Chang'an and granted them the official title of National Master.

And Mount Luofu is the Reclusive Faction. This faction advocates purity and non-action, opposes struggle, follows the natural Dao, and lives freely. Currently, this branch is distributed in various places. One branch is researching 'Mathematical Universe' with the Northern Pole Spirit Dao, and many more live in seclusion in deep mountains, silently doing what interests them, with no desire to transform the World, living a life of carefree recluses.

For the Reclusive Faction of Dao Orthodoxy, what Li Qi said was not within her scope of knowledge, and she didn't understand these things, so she could only listen silently to Li Qi's analysis.

She knew very well not to speak carelessly about things she didn't understand.

But she was still a clever person, so she could still understand Li Qi's meaning when she listened.

Li Qi continued to explain: "So we need to create an external enemy, and one that is already present."

"Look, this Immortal's Great Dao erosion hasn't fully taken effect yet, and there's still a group of people who are resisting. If we support the Sacred Flame Clan in their resistance, we can force the Sacred Flame Clan to continuously produce Sacred Flame for us."

"We don't have much demand for other Materials in this World. Sacred Flame is the only thing of value to us, and Sacred Flame is a product actively manufactured by the Sacred Flame Clan."

"Once the war begins, they will not only give us their previously stored Sacred Flame to purchase military supplies, but they will also continuously and actively produce Sacred Flame to ask for our help. We just need to find a place to sit and wait for them to deliver the Sacred Flame into our hands."

"As for what we need to do, we only need to provide some cultivation methods and Spiritual Artifacts, and prevent the opponent's Fifth-rank experts from interfering, maintaining the balance of this war. We don't need to invest too much; the Sacred Flame Clan will handle those trivial matters themselves."

This was Li Qi's plan.

It's actually very simple: without an external enemy applying pressure, the Sacred Flame Clan would not honestly offer up Sacred Flame.

They only had two people; they couldn't swallow all the Holy Flame Clan's resources and capabilities in one go. Those things had to be taken slowly.

To accumulate initial capital, they still needed to exchange technology for capital.

First, get the first batch of Sacred Flame.

Then, use the Sacred Flame to exchange for the needed Spiritual Artifacts or low-level cultivation methods in the Universe.

Going back and forth once could earn at least a hundred times the profit.

As a special product of the World, Li Qi valued Sacred Flame using the Divine Dao method, believing that if it scaled up, its price in the Universe would not be cheap, at least not for Shen Shuibi, a Fifth-rank.

If they truly completely occupied this Sixth-rank World, it would be a considerable fortune.

This would be the first pot of gold.

Although it was still far from repaying Mount Luofu's debt, to earn a trillion, the first small goal should be to earn a hundred million.

One step at a time.

Understanding Li Qi's subsequent arrangements, Shen Shuibi nodded and then asked: "So... what do we do next? You have less than twenty days until you go to Imperial Academy, right?"

"And that Holy King rejected your proposal. He doesn't look like he regrets it. Can he still be supported?" Shen Shuibi asked.

Did she not see it? Or did that Holy King really want to go back on his word?

"No, he looks like his bones have been broken, although the Sacred Flame Clan doesn't have bones, that is," Li Qi shrugged.

That Holy King probably genuinely couldn't muster the will to resist.

He was currently in a state of submission yet unwillingness, resistance yet fear. He was truly unable to stand up.

To cure his mental illness, it still needed to be done slowly.

"Then what are you planning?" Shen Shuibi was confused.

"It's not just one person resisting. There are always people with fire in their hearts. Let's eat something, and then... go kill people tonight," Li Qi said in a light tone.

It was only because the Sacred Flame Clan's Physical Body had no expression that one couldn't see him smiling.

Li Qi was not some Holy Mother.

He had principles, but he had never been soft-hearted when it came to killing. This was necessary to repay the rabbit's debt.

If there was Karma, he would accept it. The Heavenly Dao cycles, it was just so.

The rabbit sat on the other side, nodding slightly.

"Killing people...? How do we do it?" She nodded, without much resistance, accepting it directly.

She didn't feel there was any problem either.

The rabbit was originally a person without good or evil.

She wouldn't actively do bad things or good things. Most of the time, like all Reclusive Faction, she would honestly immerse herself in her own World, only doing her own things.

But if she had to do good or bad things, she wouldn't be too resistant to either.

This was the Dao of the Reclusive Faction.

Neither good nor evil, truly like one's own nature.

Not caring about the outside world, only needing to pursue one's own perfection and progress. When everyone progresses, the entire World will naturally become beautiful, without needing to deliberately do anything else.

This was the 'non-action yet action' pursued by the Reclusive Faction.

As for interference with the outside world?

A True Immortal of the Reclusive Faction once said: "Doing good does not immediately bring fame; doing evil does not immediately bring punishment."

Meaning, doing good things won't immediately earn you fame, and doing bad things won't immediately bring you punishment.

Good and evil are merely your own choices. The World doesn't care what you do; you just need to do well for yourself.

"It's very simple. We need to destroy the myth of the Immortal's invincibility," Li Qi said.

"The reason the Holy Flame World isn't resisting now is simple: because those Immortals can indeed suppress this World. Only these two generations have the spirit to resist. In another hundred years, the 'refinement' of this World will be over."

Refinement means replacing the opponent's Dao with one's own Dao.

From this perspective, although the Heavenly Dao of this World has not changed hands, its civilization has already been 'refined.'

Li Qi continued to arrange: "When we came, we didn't find any Fifth-ranks, which means that the remaining suppressors are basically parts that we can handle relatively easily."

"I just asked someone to do a divination and found a relatively weak one among them. Tonight's target is him."

"Just asked someone to do a divination? Where did you find someone?" Shen Shuibi was a little curious.

"This." Li Qi pulled out his terminal and showed the chat history: "I asked Bo Yue and Zhong Minglou to help me. Although there's some delay, the terminal can still be used in this place."

"Wait, that is to say, it's the Human Dao that wants to invade this World? They extended The Axis of All Realms here!? Otherwise, how could there be a signal?" The rabbit was astonished.

"That's not right. I looked at that Great Dao mark. Although it has some Human Dao aura, its foundation is still Divine Dao. How could the terminal have a signal?" The rabbit pondered, then quickly took out her own terminal.

Then, she was surprised to find that there really was a signal.

This indicated that there was a branch base station of The Axis of All Realms in this World!

Seeing Shen Shuibi's surprise, Li Qi smiled: "Don't worry, the other party is not a force of Tang Nation. It's just that he needs a branch of The Axis of All Realms for communication, so he probably rented a The Axis of All Realms base station to use."

"What do you know?" Hearing Li Qi's words, Shen Shuibi looked up.

Li Qi was being mysterious; what did he know?

That's not right, Shen Shuibi knew he had always been by her side and had no time to gather information, right?

"It's not that I know anything, it's mainly that it's really familiar. This aura, it's hard not to recognize it," Li Qi shook his head and said teasingly.

"Woo—?" The rabbit was bewildered. She tilted her head, making a confused purring sound.

What secret was Li Qi still keeping?

However, this time Li Qi did not explain to the rabbit.

This made the rabbit pout.

But she didn't dwell on it for too long. She quickly regained her composure and curiously followed Li Qi, waiting for him to reveal the mystery.

After all, no matter how much he hid it, he couldn't hide it past tonight.

After they finished eating, the two prepared to set off.

The meal was common fare in the Universe, but the ingredients were local.

Even their diet had been eroded to this extent.

It was like never eating braised pork again, and only eating steak in the future.

Fortunately, their diet was also meat, although they didn't know what kind of meat it was. It might be a problem for ordinary people, but Li Qi and Shen Shuibi's Physical Bodies far surpassed Mortals, so they didn't need to worry about it at all.

For them, eating was purely for the pleasure of the palate, not a necessity.