Chapter 326: Sudden visit

A night passed.

Li Qi and Shen Shuibi chatted with such excitement that he wished he could directly time-travel a few months forward, then go and fiercely stroke the rabbit fur.

He could do other things while stroking it.

Unfortunately, he couldn't touch her; talking across a screen was fine, but his hand couldn't reach through.

Li Qi had a sleepless night.

Tossing and turning, he finally fell asleep with great difficulty.

Fortunately, he didn't really need to sleep for a long time, and his energy wouldn't be affected in the short term.

This short term was probably a few decades; after a few decades without sleep, he would probably feel tired and start to be affected by fatigue.

After lying there all night, Li Qi still went to work and school as usual the next day.

No matter how grand the plan, it ultimately had to be carried out step by step, grounded in reality.

Every day after that, Li Qi diligently studied and worked.

Aside from calling the rabbit at fixed times to exchange feelings, and occasionally chatting with the other Young Masters of Shaman God Mountain, his Senior Brothers, about their experiences in Tang Nation, nothing else strange happened.

Li Qi experienced the most peaceful period of his cultivation since he began.

Indeed, time in school is stable and always seems to fly by.

In the blink of an eye, more than four months had passed.

During these four months, Li Qi lived a standard three-point-one-line life, but his progress was also evident.

Daily study and consolidation led to direct changes in his personal small world.

He went from being newly initiated into the Seventh Rank to finally stabilizing his cultivation at the newly initiated Seventh Rank.

His body no longer suffered from various internal friction problems due to the rapid increase in cultivation; from now on, he was truly a Seventh Rank Cultivator, able to act without restraint without worrying about a sudden internal Dao Orthodoxy conflict causing him to explode.

How he achieved this was actually not that difficult.

Within Li Qi's body, there were three major Dao Orthodoxys: Human, Shaman Dao, and Dao Orthodoxy, jointly Dominating his personal small world. Among them, Shaman Dao held an absolute advantage, with the entire foundation built upon Shaman Dao, while the other two merely existed as a part of the adjustment.

Therefore, his external manifestations and Divine Abilities were actually those of Shaman Dao. To others, he was a person of Shaman Dao. The Human Dao Orthodoxy within him could only be said to exist more as a 'hidden danger' rather than a part of his cultivation.

Now, after studying the Human Dao Orthodoxy System, the Human Dao Orthodoxy and Shaman Dao within Li Qi's body could finally coexist in harmony, becoming a part of his cultivation.

The method Li Qi chose was the Military School of Thought method.

Integrating the chaotic Human Dao Orthodoxy within his body and reshaping it with the Human Dao Orthodoxy Military School of Thought method, although it was equivalent to dual cultivation, it was essentially barely compatible.

From then on, Li Qi could genuinely call himself a Military School of Thought Cultivator.

After systematic guidance from the Youqi General of the Imperial Academy, he had become a professionally trained Military School of Thought Cultivator.

He could also condense Military School of Thought Qi, perform Military School of Thought Divine Abilities, and regulate the Qi within his body with military law.

By doing this, the impact of the Human Dao Orthodoxy on Shaman Dao was greatly reduced.

Compared to the Confucian school, which constantly debates the great Dao Orthodoxy of heaven and earth and 'how' this world 'should be,' the Military School of Thought school has much less influence in this regard. Therefore, it does not impact the original territory of Shaman Dao, nor does it seize Shaman Dao's ultimate right of interpretation over the personal small world.

If Li Qi cultivated Confucianism, he would have to explain whether 'sacrifices' should be performed by humans or by witches.

This problem could cause him to self-destruct.

This was also why he chose the Military School of Thought path.

The Military School of Thought Dao Orthodoxy is a very pragmatic Dao Orthodoxy. It is easier to control in terms of discussing profound and illusory concepts, and with Daoist thought harmonizing within it, Li Qi completely stabilized his cultivation.

He can now also use it.

As for Daoist thought, Li Qi allowed it to spread subtly throughout his body, using it for harmonization.

However, this also led Li Qi to cultivate some Daoist spells, such as the most basic Five Elements spell and breathing techniques. If he pretended to be a Daoist of around the Eighth Rank, it's estimated that anyone below the Seventh Rank wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

These were the changes in his cultivation.

In addition, the concept of 'boundaries' in the Military School of Thought's method was no longer just a雏形 (rudimentary form) but had a complete framework.

The Imperial Academy students, including Li Lieqi, collaborated with Li Qi, and the class finally managed to create the Military School of Thought framework of this method.

There is still room for optimization, but this is no longer just an idea; it has become a Military School of Thought method that can be replicated, taught to others, and reproduced in the hands of anyone who learns it.

The name hasn't been decided yet, but the overall effect is already extremely powerful.

The Military School of Thought Qi condensed through this method is not affected by formations, but rather focuses more on the unity of people's hearts.

Instead of condensing Military School of Thought Qi with individuals as the basic unit, it uses small collectives as the basic unit.

In this way, individuals become less important; as long as these small collectives do not experience large-scale group collapse, the Military School of Thought Qi will not be affected.

In other words, by using this method in the army, flexibility can be greatly enhanced, allowing for wave-like charges, with small teams spearheading insertion and assault operations.

These charging small teams can also receive the protection of Military School of Thought Qi, greatly enhancing their survival ability, destructive power, and mobility.

This is unlike before, where they had to arrange formations and rigidly adhere to their positions according to the formation.

If the combat power on both sides is similar, but one side can move freely while the other can only stand and respond, the advantage is much greater.

This also indirectly proves that Li Qi's victory over Li Lieqi was essentially due to Divine Ability, not military strategy.

But it didn't matter, winning was winning.

Now, through the concerted efforts of these Imperial Academy students and Li Qi, everyone has mastered this more powerful method, which will be of great benefit to their future path in the Military School of Thought Dao Orthodoxy. It can be said that their path has broadened.

Everyone was very happy, and Li Qi's relationship with these classmates naturally became closer. Even the stoic Youqi General often smiled at them recently.

It's probably because they did indeed perform well; their cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, and after four months, everyone received an 'A' rating in the tests.

Moreover, Li Lieqi received the only 'A+' in the entire class.

She regarded this as a sign of her victory over Li Qi, feeling smug and believing she had finally avenged herself. Her attitude towards Li Qi also improved greatly.

Li Qi was also very impressed, because he really didn't hold back and only got an 'A-' with his full effort.

No way, he only spent about less than ten percent of his energy on studying military strategy; most of his energy was focused on surveying the cave dwellings and developing the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact.

Military strategy... he could consider it in his spare time. He didn't rely on it for a living, as long as the Military School of Thought's Dao Orthodoxy could be traversed, at most he would research Military School of Thought Divine Abilities.

Why bother researching military strategy? He wasn't commanding a large army in battle.

That was roughly the situation in the class.

Also, Li Qi's cave dwelling survey was nearly eighty percent complete.

Out of a total of forty-nine cave dwellings, thirty-nine had been surveyed, essentially nearing completion.

This is very complex, because what needs to be pieced together is not just topography, but also geomantic veins, water veins, and even some more profound and mysterious things.

The difficulty is roughly equivalent to breaking the Earth into pieces, making it a tangled mess, waiting a few hundred years, and then asking you to reassemble the Earth to its appearance from a few hundred years ago. If you make a mistake, it's useless.

If that's still not intuitive enough, it can be understood as plate tectonics. The continents of the Earth now are the result of plate drift after the initial Pangu supercontinent tore apart.

Now, you are asked to look at the Earth's continents and reassemble the Pangu supercontinent, and not a single detail can be wrong. Every coastline, every mountain range, every river channel must match perfectly, otherwise it's useless.

Even Li Qi was stumped by such a task. He could only collect current information as much as possible, deduce past information, and finally try to restore the past appearance before starting the puzzle work.

To be honest... this was also an 'impossible task'. Li Qi estimated that it would probably not be completed in a short time and would still have to be broken down into smaller tasks to be done slowly.

Next, was the matter of the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact.

The progress of the Shamanic Silkworm Artifact was not so rapid. Li Qi and Liu Canzhi's progress was stuck at the upper limit of three nests of Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't make them advance further.

Of course, behind the stagnation of this research, in addition to the exhaustion of inspiration from the two, there was another important reason: the Sacred Flame that Li Qi brought back had run out.

The Sacred Flame possessed higher activity and stronger activation capabilities than demon beast remnant souls, so all research on strengthening was predicated on the Sacred Flame.

However, the Sacred Flame Li Qi brought back from the Holy Flame World was, after all, limited in quantity. Over the past few months, Li Qi only had some Sacred Flame left as samples.

He was planning to use these samples for promotion. If he met the right person and said he had something called Sacred Flame, there are thousands of things called Sacred Flame in all the heavens and myriad worlds; who would know what Li Qi was talking about?

So samples definitely had to be kept, just in case.

Therefore, the research there was temporarily shelved. Anyway, even if everyone racked their brains, they couldn't come up with any good ideas, and even if they did, they didn't have enough equipment to do it.

There was nothing he could do. Li Qi could only tell Liu Canzhi that in a few months, when the holidays came, he would take Liu Canzhi to the Holy Flame World, and then there would be enough Sacred Flame to collect.

Liu Canzhi also had no choice; he couldn't just fly there to get it, and he couldn't fly there anyway, so he could only accept it.

He did want to skip class and go directly, but Li Qi still had many things to do here and couldn't skip class, so he could only wait for the natural holidays.

All in all, these were four stable but rapidly progressing months.

It was another ordinary day. Li Qi woke up, washed up, changed clothes, and prepared to go to school as usual.

Just then, suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Li Qi's expression darkened.

He hadn't sensed anyone outside the door, which meant the visitor was beyond his sensory abilities.

Who is it?

This is Chang'an; there shouldn't be anything happening, right?

He secretly became vigilant, prepared himself, and then responded, "Who is it? Coming right away."

Saying that, he walked to the door and opened it.

He saw a valiant man standing at the doorway.

Black boots, dark clothes, a small crown with long hair, a scabbard hanging at his waist with a three-foot white blade inside, and Qi behind him, a heavy mass of Qi circulating behind his back, as if Mount Tai was pressing down.

His clothes were embroidered with a dark gold fierce tiger. He was tall, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes. He wasn't exactly handsome, but he gave people a very steady and trustworthy feeling.

Beside him stood a thin black dog, panting with its tongue out.

Its cold eyes flashed like lightning, and its majestic posture left an impression. One could tell at a glance that he was no Mortal.

"May I ask who Your Excellency is?" Li Qi cupped his hands and asked the valiant man in front of him.

"I am Wan Wuheng, an external bandit catcher of the Dali Temple. I am ordered to investigate the matter of the Heavenly Demon entering the capital. Now the clues have led to Young Master, so I have specially come to inquire. Please forgive me, Young Master." He cupped his hands and said, simultaneously displaying his token.

The token listed his basic information.

Name: Wan Wuheng.

Position: Bandit Catcher.

Rank: Sixth Rank (equivalent to a ceremonial junior sixth rank).

That was all the information on the token, and it also had a special fluctuation, similar to... an anti-counterfeiting mark?

Li Qi didn't think the other party was faking it.

He knew that such a group of people did exist.

The position of 'Bandit Catcher' externally hired by the Dali Temple had no official rank, but the Dali Temple relied heavily on these external personnel, who were mostly masters capable of acting freely.

In other words, they were 'licensed to do dirty work,' legally killing and legally using illegal means, provided, of course, that they didn't go too far.

Even Tang Nation, in reality, had shadows.

Things in the shadows are best handled in the shadows.

To allow the majority of 'ordinary people' living in the sunlight to freely enjoy a safe life, a group of people must delve into the shadows and strangle evil before it spreads to the sunlight.

After realizing, Li Qi immediately cupped his hands in salute: "So it's Bandit Catcher Wan. Please come in quickly."

"Whatever you need to investigate, just ask. I, Li, will certainly tell all and hide nothing, and will definitely assist with all my might to help Bandit Catcher Wan capture the evil organization causing trouble in Chang'an."

Li Qi vowed solemnly.

Wan Wuheng smiled, shook his head, and then said, "Young Master need not act like this. I am merely here to inquire about some simple matters. May I ask, Young Master, have you encountered anything related to the Heavenly Demon recently?"

"No, since the last time, the Heavenly Demon has never appeared again," Li Qi immediately said.

His memory was also like this; since the incident in Chang'an, the Heavenly Demon seemed to have completely forgotten about the place, and there had been no further actions.

"Is that so? Then it seems the intelligence is accurate; Young Master is indeed deeply afflicted." Wan Wuheng sighed, "Young Master's elder, an unknown Grand Shaman, informed the Dali Temple that Young Master has a wisp of Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance in his body."

"Ah?" Li Qi was astonished.

"That Grand Shaman stated directly that he had originally sensed it but wanted Young Master to realize it himself. However, he found that Young Master was falling deeper and deeper and might find it difficult to extricate himself, so he sent us to bring Young Master to remove this wisp of Dao Orthodoxy Rhythm," Wan Wuheng said.

But Li Qi was stunned.

Is that true?