Chapter 328: Sudden arrival

Dao refers to the rules that govern the operation of all things.

And Dao Resonance is the remnant of Dao, a lingering trace left behind.

However, Dao Resonance can obviously also guide some laws.

After Li Qi discovered the unreliability of memory and thought, he immediately realized that the material world might retain traces of the Heavenly Demon.

But this trace is clearly not so easy to find; he needs to look from another angle.

For example...

The traces of the Demonic Dao guiding the operation of the human body's microcosm.

Memory can deceive, thought can deceive, but the real world will not.

Of course, the real world might also be deceptive, also fake, but there's no need to consider that. If one were to consider the real world as fake, then everything would lose meaning, so why consider so much?

As long as Dao manifests, it will inevitably cause changes in rules, unless that Dao Resonance does not cause any external influence.

But if that Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance does not cause any external influence, then it means his own memory and thoughts have not been tampered with.

If they have been tampered with, it means the Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance has caused an influence.

Under this logical deduction, as long as the Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance appears, it will definitely cause some reactions.

Some single-Cultivation practitioners might not feel it very strongly, because the Demonic Dao does not conflict with them, so the traces are impossible to find, completely like searching for a needle in a haystack.

But Li Qi is a master who places three Dao paths together in his body.

If other people's human body microcosms are stable great mountains, his is an inverted great mountain.

Top-heavy, with the mountain root at the top and the peak at the bottom, it could collapse at any time, requiring great effort to keep this great mountain from falling due to Dao contention.

In such an environment, even a slight external fluctuation could break this delicate balance.

However, in the past six months, Li Qi had already put in a lot of effort to stabilize himself, finally not collapsing so easily.

But... in this situation...

It's better to collapse it.

Thinking of this, Li Qi immediately took hold of Wan Wuheng's shoulder.

"Your Excellency, please stop for a moment, give me a few minutes," Li Qi said.

"What does Young Master wish to do?" Wan Wuheng was somewhat confused, not knowing what Li Qi wanted to do.

"Please act as my Dharma Protector, Your Excellency. I want to try to extract the Heavenly Demon's influence on me," Li Qi replied.

Wan Wuheng frowned slightly, seeming somewhat puzzled: "Why bother? White Horse Temple has eminent monks who can remove demonic thoughts for you, and it's only a few hours from Chang'an to Luoyang."

"It makes no difference to Tang Nation, but it's very important to me; it concerns my future, so I hope Your Excellency will understand," Li Qi immediately replied.

Wan Wuheng originally didn't understand, but after thinking it over carefully, he immediately understood the meaning of the Young Master of Shaman God Mountain before him.

According to the intelligence he had received, a Great Shaman wanted him to personally detect the abnormality on his body, so he let it be.

But after letting it be for so long, this Young Master seemed to have no intention of noticing anything... Now that he had been reminded by him, this was probably his last chance to perform in front of his teachers.

If he were just taken to White Horse Temple, he would be safe, but he would definitely receive a bad evaluation from his teachers in the future.

So, this Young Master wants to try to find the Heavenly Demon's parasitic location himself?

Wan Wuheng then nodded, not forcefully stopping Li Qi, but still imposing a restriction: "Since Young Master wants to try, then try it. It won't delay much time, and the carriage will arrive in a while anyway. However... you only have one hour. If it still doesn't work by then, please still go to White Horse Temple, lest the demonic thoughts enter Young Master's body and he perish."

He was afraid Li Qi would get stuck in a rut and instead be invaded by demonic thoughts, directly leading to his death here...

Although, Li Qi's death would actually be a good thing, right?

He had also heard that the reason this Young Master came to Chang'an was to be a hostage, because he had by chance learned the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method and became the focal point of the dispute.

Tang Nation actually wanted him to die. In terms of keeping secrets, no hostage was as simple and convenient as a dead person.

Shaman God Mountain, however, could not possibly kill its own disciple, so at Zhu Fengdan's suggestion, and with Li Qi's own willingness, he finally came to Chang'an.

But from Wan Wuheng's personal perspective, he actually didn't want this Young Master to die here.

Putting aside the various commotions that would arise after his death, and the responsibilities he would have to bear... just considering this Young Master's character, he actually didn't want him to die here.

It was a coincidence, but Wan Wuheng actually had a good friend, who was crucial to his current rise and stable footing.

This friend was a book Anomolus Spirit from the home of a fifth-grade Senior, and the kind that could stay close, responsible for helping that fifth-grade mighty figure transcribe scrolls and record daily life.

Unlike many people in the Central Plains, Wan Wuheng did not despise lives not classified as 'human', so he had good relationships with many types of Anomolus Spirits, which was also a source of much of his intelligence as an Arresting Officer.

As he reciprocated, he would also use his strength and connections to help these Anomolus Spirits live better.

Only earlier, when he was still a young lad, that book Anomolus Spirit friend had always secretly copied the fifth-grade's insights and given them to him.

Wan Wuheng's promotion to the sixth-grade owed greatly to this book Anomolus Spirit friend's life-threatening transcriptions, so they had a life-and-death friendship.

A month or so ago, he heard from his good friend that it had spread throughout the book Anomolus Spirit circles that Li Qi had saved a book Anomolus Spirit's life, and that he treated the various Anomolus Spirits and demon spirits serving in the Imperial Academy very well, without any arrogance or harshness.

Perhaps this was related to his Shaman Dao identity; he heard that people of Shaman Dao were all like this.

Therefore, from Wan Wuheng's personal perspective, he actually didn't want anything to happen to Li Qi, after all... according to his intelligence, Li Qi was, in a not-so-strict sense, a good person.

Because of these considerations, he agreed to be Li Qi's Dharma Protector.

Li Qi immediately expressed his thanks, then said: "One hour is more than enough. Thank you for your generosity, Your Excellency. Then, when you act as Dharma Protector, please be sure to suppress my fluctuations. At that time, I might lose control of my Cultivation, so please be sure to block the aftershocks and prevent them from spreading out and damaging other people's houses."

Upon hearing this, Wan Wuheng smiled: "Since that's the case, why don't we find a paid Immortal Cave for Cultivation? Not only is it more efficient, but it also has other protective measures, much better than doing this on the street."

Paid Immortal Cave? Li Qi was slightly stunned.

Oh, is it that kind of Immortal Cave where you pay money, go inside to Cultivate, and it has all sorts of facilities, drinks, alcohol, snacks, professional sparring partners, and even doctors and lifeguards?

He had heard of it, but had never used it, so he hadn't thought of it for a moment.

He didn't have that need; his Cultivation wouldn't cause much commotion, it was very peaceful.

However, since the situation was like this now, such a place would be perfect, so he nodded: "That's great, let's do that then. Would Your Excellency mind leading the way?"

"Good," Wan Wuheng agreed, and then led Li Qi to the Immortal Cave he frequented.

Immortal Caves in Tang Nation had long developed into a mature business. As resources frequently used by practitioners, naturally many people engaged in this business. Moreover, due to the existence of Tang Nation's ultimate government, prices were controlled very well, and the social economy and resources appeared vibrant due to plunder and replenishment from outside the domain.

So these places were actually very lively, and many people would use them.

However, Li Qi's Cultivation method was too detached from worldly affairs, giving him no need for these external things, so he naturally rarely sought to understand them, probably only staying at the level of hearsay.

He didn't know how to contact these things.

Fortunately, Wan Wuheng was very familiar with these things. He arranged everything, and within ten minutes, he had Li Qi arrive at an Immortal Cave.

Li Qi entered the Immortal Cave, paid the money, still using silver.

The price was quite expensive, probably enough to buy a standardized ninth-grade Spiritual Artifact, and only for one day.

But upon closer thought, it was acceptable. After all, this was a room capable of withstanding a seventh-grade practitioner's full-force attacks inside, where no matter how much chaos and smashing occurred, the aftershocks would not escape, and it also had other services and snacks.

Li Qi entered it and weighed it.

The Formation here was quite stable, indeed enough for him to cause some trouble inside, and it was absolutely soundproof and could block detection. However, the shop itself had internal monitoring to prevent customers from causing problems inside.

After confirming these matters, Li Qi sat down.

Then, according to his guess, he began to try.

First, he paused the circulation within his body.

Then... expand!

Li Qi suddenly exploded all the rules of the Human Dao, Shaman Dao, and Dao Sect, directly stirring up a Dao contention within his body!

He directly abandoned maintaining balance, letting the high mountain collapse!

His human body's microcosm immediately began to collapse. Countless Dao principles conflicted with each other, were incompatible, and reversed themselves, causing his Cultivation to completely lose control, directly entering a state where he could self-detonate at any moment.

Li Qi's Cultivation overflowed, hundreds of millions of strands of Qi burst out of his body, revealing Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, mountain and water Qi, as well as human Qi and Divine Qi. Countless complex Qi, numbering over a thousand categories, surged out uncontrollably!

If he were outside, just these runaway Cultivation energies would be enough to annihilate a ten-li radius, creating a vacuum.

However, with the Formation protecting him now, all his destruction was suppressed within three feet of his body, causing no other damage.

Such a chaotic situation, even Li Qi couldn't withstand it; he would probably explode in about a minute.

However, all of this was within Li Qi's expectations. He wasn't nervous; instead, he began to use the True Knowledge Dao Resonance to closely monitor the situation within his body.

The Dao principles within his body were out of control. All the Dao were expanding and operating according to their original laws. If they encountered other Dao principles, they would conflict; this was their essential manifestation as laws.

At this time, if he had ever been affected by the Demonic Dao... then the Demonic Dao would definitely also manifest in this chaotic situation.

Memory can deceive, thought can deceive, but this world will not deceive.

Li Qi, in the form of self-detonation, forcefully compelled the Demonic Dao to appear!

Whether it appears or not, it must come out!

To suppress the Dao Resonance's instinct and prevent it from regulating other Qi also requires power.

In other words, whether the Heavenly Demon manages it or not, as long as Li Qi's observation accuracy is high enough, he can detect clues!

This method was what Li Qi came up with to find the Heavenly Demon's traces!

In his estimation, the Heavenly Demon would inevitably expose a flaw because of this. Whether it managed or not, there would inevitably be traces, it was just a matter of the size of the flaw. If he couldn't observe it, it was because his observation accuracy wasn't enough, and the Heavenly Demon had evaded him.

In terms of observation accuracy, the True Knowledge Dao Resonance was trustworthy.

If he still couldn't observe it, then he would make an even bigger fuss, directly dispersing all his Cultivation, leaving only the seventh-grade framework!

This might take one or two years to reconstruct his Cultivation, but during the process of dispersing his Cultivation, all Dao principles would spontaneously begin to conflict. Under such a massive melee, the Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance would absolutely not be able to hide!

Moreover, he had lied to Wan Wuheng about one thing.

He had implied to Wan Wuheng that he was afraid the Great Shaman would look down on him, so he wanted to proactively do this.

This made sense logically and successfully deceived Wan Wuheng.

But in reality, Mixin's regard or lack thereof was completely unimportant to Li Qi. Even if he wanted to prove himself, it couldn't be related to Mixin.

Going back a hundred steps, if he wanted to curry favor with his teachers, he should curry favor with Zhu Fengdan, not Mixin.

So, that was just an excuse.

Li Qi's real purpose was to draw out the entity behind it. He wanted to capture that wisp of Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance, and then trace it back to its source!

He didn't trust the Human Dao, nor did he trust Buddhism; he wanted to handle it himself.

Even if it meant facing the Heavenly Demon directly.

But that's unlikely.

This is Chang'an; the Heavenly Demon would never dare to truly descend.

--------

Leaving aside what Li Qi was doing inside the Immortal Cave.

Outside the rented Immortal Cave, the shopkeeper was chatting with Wan Wuheng.

These common people, various shops, and forces on Chang'an Street all had good relationships with Wan Wuheng.

An Arresting Officer, after all, always had to deal with all sorts of people; these were all Wan Wuheng's informants.

Li Qi was a high-and-mighty Young Master who rarely dealt with these street-level forces, but he was different; a large part of his job required the cooperation of these low-class individuals.

"Arresting Officer Wan, whose young lad is this again, that you personally brought him and are guarding him outside? This relationship is quite extraordinary," the owner of this rented Immortal Cave asked with a smile.

"Young lad? Don't talk like that when he comes out later. Don't ask about his identity; if I tell you, it'll scare you to death, you'll probably wet your pants!" Wan Wuheng, abandoning his serious demeanor in front of Li Qi, joked with the shopkeeper with his legs crossed.

"Haha, even a sixth-grade..." The shopkeeper wanted to say something, but suddenly, he heard a thud from inside the room!

A muffled sound echoed from inside the Immortal Cave.

The shopkeeper's pupils constricted! He stood up abruptly: "The Immortal Cave's protective Formation is broken! How is that possible? Even a seventh-grade self-detonating inside couldn't break the Formation; that was set up by a sixth-grade!"

Wan Wuheng, however, didn't waste words and immediately rushed into the room!

But just as he moved, the surroundings suddenly darkened.

Then--

In the darkness, the flow of time ceased.