Chapter 332: Heterodox

Li Qi's heart trembled.

The three lives ancient mirror, was it one of the Heavenly Demon's eyes?

He quickly looked towards the Heavenly Demon.

However, as the Grand Tutor pointed this out, the originally beautiful and charming face suddenly became somewhat terrifying.

One of those lively eyes suddenly caved in, turning into a black void.

The void seemed to be some kind of extreme vortex that couldn't be looked at directly; just a glance made him feel as if his Spirit Soul was about to be sucked into it, unable to extricate itself.

The Heavenly Demon immediately transformed.

From that charming woman, she turned into a muscular man, only, the void in the eye still remained.

Then, he continued to change, turning into a dog, but the void was still there.

The transformations continued non-stop, animals, plants, objects, men, women, old people, children, in just a single instant he changed into thousands of forms.

Every one was different, every form was completely distinct.

Possessing completely different appearances, completely different temperaments, completely different Dao paths!

Everything he transformed into, all of it was indistinguishable from reality…

No, that was reality!

Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations, infinitely changing, every one of them was real!

However, after the Grand Tutor appeared, no matter how he changed, one eye always remained a void vortex.

After more than five breaths of transformation, the Grand Tutor had already walked one-third of the distance in the darkness.

“Sigh, it seems I’ll have to talk with this ugly thing, really… Can’t you let me cover it up? You just had to expose it, what if Li Qi gets scared?” The Heavenly Demon muttered self-pityingly, but no longer transformed, returning to the form of that charming woman.

But Li Qi, in her infinite transformations, saw what was hidden deep within the vortex of her eyes.

That was—

True Knowing Dao Resonance!?

What the hell, the Heavenly Demon's eyes contained True Knowing Dao Resonance!?

Moreover, Li Qi, through his own True Knowing Dao Resonance, could vaguely sense fragments of the three lives ancient mirror.

His heart sank.

He immediately started thinking, tracing back to the source, inferring based on the existing clues!

The three lives ancient mirror was the eye of the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations.

In other words, the three lives ancient mirror had actually been observing things in Chang'an all along, and by utilizing the Heavenly Demon's eyesight, the three lives ancient mirror was able to trace people's three lives.

The Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations, using his transformation ability, became the spitting image of the three lives ancient mirror, and no one had ever seen through it!

Leaving aside whether the eminent monk Kasyapa Matanga, who came from the Buddhist kingdom to the Central Plains to preach, was a pawn or a spy, those things are not important; simply looking at this matter, the Heavenly Demon should have been very knowledgeable about many things in Chang'an.

The function of the three lives ancient mirror was to help people see through Dao Heart flaws and their weaknesses, and according to previous rumors, the three lives ancient mirror was said to be a very rare Spiritual Artifact that had not even developed sentience at the First Grade.

Bullshit! This was not a First Grade Spiritual Artifact at all, but the eye of the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations, a scheme he set up in Chang'an!

During that assassination incident, Li Qi had once experimented, projecting his own flaws through the reflection of the three lives ancient mirror, and then correcting them one by one.

This means… who knows how many people in Chang'an have used the three lives ancient mirror… and don't forget, the three lives ancient mirror was directly powered by the Dragon Vein.

It is said that the three lives ancient mirror has passed through more than a dozen generations of Human Emperors…

How many people's secrets has the Heavenly Demon spied on, and how many people's flaws does he know?

How many people has he secretly implanted demonic thoughtss into, and how many people in Chang'an have unknowingly become the Heavenly Demon's pawns and ears?

Furthermore, he even brazenly drew energy from the Dragon Vein to power himself, and perhaps, by connecting to the Dragon Vein, he even had his own arrangements within the The Axis of All Realms.

At this thought, Li Qi's cold sweat broke out again.

So, was his assassination incident truly arranged by 'Nanshan Academy'?

Was his placement at the three lives ancient mirror for the examination the Heavenly Demon's idea, or the Academy's idea?

Or… did the Heavenly Demon induce the Academy's idea?

Just thinking about these things is enough to know that the three lives ancient mirror must be of great use to the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations; it was a significant hidden move, and this hidden move was laid using one of his eyes.

Then, just for himself, he actively exposed this eye.

Not only exposed, but even… shattered this eye.

Then, having paid so much, what was he after? What was the point?

Let's start analyzing from the things he did…

After paying these costs, Li Qi analyzed that he did three things.

First, he actively gave himself the second wisp of Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance, and even possibly actively let Great Shaman Mi Xin know about it.

Li Qi couldn't say what this represented, but his being sought out by the Dali Temple's thief-catchers must have involved a lot of behind-the-scenes operations; it wasn't something one person could decide on a whim, and the thief-catchers showing up would certainly involve many procedures.

Great Shaman Mi Xin's recent action, and his defeat, and even the connivance of those Chang'an officials and the Great Shaman's plea… should all be related to this.

Second, he caused a major incident in Chang'an, and this major incident probably prompted the birth of some even greater events, because Li Qi had just heard that the Human Emperor had just left.

Would the Human Emperor leave casually? That's certainly impossible; there must have been a very, very big event that required this big shot to personally go and handle it. Li Qi boldly speculated that this matter was definitely caused by the Heavenly Demon through the Chang'an incident, creating a flaw in Chang'an, which then facilitated his arrival today.

And, the third thing, which was also the one Li Qi feared the most.

The Heavenly Demon took his clues and traced back his past life, even rushing to the edge of the Universe! There, Li Qi personally witnessed the lingering effects of the Universe's expansion, which was the echo of creation.

Through this fortuitous encounter, a very, very small portion of the residue from the echo of creation was learned by him, allowing him to comprehend the mysteries of 'creating something from nothing' and advance to the Seventh Grade.

This was what Li Qi feared the most.

The Heavenly Demon took him back through his past life, just to let Li Qi listen to the echo of creation?

Bullshit, no idiot would think that!

Li Qi had a thought he dared not entertain, yet had to.

However, it can be speculated that the Heavenly Demon's goal was to trace Li Qi back to Earth, but he absorbed the Dragon Vein until it overloaded, even with consumption tens of times that of an ordinary Third Grade, plus his own accumulated consumption…

Through the words of that Grand Tutor, Li Qi could determine that the Heavenly Demon's eye traced all the way back to the end of the Universe, and its consumption might be far more than the energy consumed by dozens of Third Grades, and the shattering of the three lives ancient mirror was indeed due to overload…

This is very frightening.

The Heavenly Demon's goal was to follow his origin, tracing all the way back to… Earth.

However, it now seems that the Heavenly Demon failed.

The reason is also very simple: he has already traced back to the edge of the Universe and cannot go further.

So, am I, this outsider… a bit too far outside?

Furthermore, just now, Li Qi discovered other True Knowing Dao Resonances in the Heavenly Demon's eyes, exactly like the one Li Qi himself possessed…

What is True Knowing Dao Resonance?

Is it the Heavenly Demon's Dao Resonance? In other words… is True Knowing Dao Resonance actually Heavenly Demon’s Dao Resonance?

Or, is True Knowing Dao Resonance something from Earth? It's just that the Heavenly Demon stole a part of the True Knowledge, and he only got two wisps?

Did the Heavenly Demon steal True Knowing Dao Resonance from him, or was he forced to accept True Knowing Dao Resonance by the Heavenly Demon?

No matter the answer, Li Qi felt a chill run down his spine.

Because this indicated that the Heavenly Demon indeed sought something from him, and this sought-after item was extremely important, even important enough to abandon the three lives ancient mirror.

Moreover, if one were to speculate in this direction…

Li Qi suspected that from the moment he obtained the True Knowing Dao Resonance, that is, when he obtained the progress bar, the Heavenly Demon had been arranging his path.

Arranging for him to enter Shaman God Mountain, arranging his contact with the Demonic Dao, and even… was it truly the rabbit's 'flash of inspiration' to give him the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method? Was the Heavenly Demon influencing things from behind?

And what was the ultimate outcome of all this?

It was that he had to come to Tang Nation, he had to go to Imperial Academy, and he… had to look into the three lives ancient mirror under the watchful eyes of the Human Emperor and many First Grade human Dao cultivators.

Then, the three lives ancient mirror took him back to the edge of the Universe.

Looking at it this way, was all this really a coincidence?

However, as he was thinking, the distance between the Grand Tutor of Tang Nation and the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations gradually closed to only thirty steps.

The two were only thirty steps apart.

The old man was still advancing, but his speed had slowed down considerably.

He and the Heavenly Demon were still conversing. Li Qi, while pondering things, was also paying attention to their conversation, to see if there was any useful, hidden information.

“You've already scared him, why not just let him leave? When the two of us talk, without outsiders, we should always be more frank.” The Grand Tutor continued to step calmly in the darkness.

So close now, Li Qi could finally see things somewhat clearly through his True Knowing Dao Resonance.

He had only taken one step, but the spatial distance seemed to have been distorted; he didn't know how far that one step had taken him.

However, no matter how far he stepped, the darkness before him extended infinitely, so much so that every step seemed like he was treading in place.

But, he was indeed slowly approaching the Heavenly Demon.

Li Qi couldn't help but put himself in that situation.

If he were to sprint in this darkness, even at hundreds of times the Heavenly Dao's limit speed, running for… uh, a billion years?

He didn't know if a billion years would be enough to cover the distance of that one step?

“Outsider? How can Li Qi be considered an outsider? Are you, old man, trying to sow discord between us?” The Heavenly Demon showed an expression of dissatisfaction.

“Knowing too much is not good for him,” the Grand Tutor said.

“Wrong, the more you know, the better. Knowledge is innocent; the more you understand, the better. If one commits a crime because of knowledge, then it means others are wrong,” the Heavenly Demon immediately retorted.

The Grand Tutor shook his head and sighed: “Alas… Demonic Dao.”

In the eyes of the Demonic Dao, it was indeed so.

After all, the Demonic Dao doesn't care about Dao path conflicts, nor will there be any Dao Heart flaws; as long as you become a demon, these things are all fleeting clouds to you.

However, the Grand Tutor immediately continued: “Enough, talking about those things is useless. I am here, and not a single bit of your power can escape. It seems you also failed to make Li Qi fall into the Demonic Dao. Now, besides leaving to save your life, what else can you do?”

The Heavenly Demon chuckled: “Why would I want him to fall into the Demonic Dao? What good would falling into the Demonic Dao do for him?”

“Don't ask me, ask yourself. The Demonic Qi on his body is already overflowing.” The Grand Tutor was still advancing: “You'd better choose quickly, because Li Qi's Master has already rushed towards Shaman God Mountain. Mixin has already sent a secret message back.”

“Li Qi's Master? Oh, Zhu Fengdan. Does his rushing to Shaman God Mountain pose any obstacle to me?” The Heavenly Demon chatted casually, as if he truly didn't care.

“When the Shaman God stationed there makes a move, you'll know what an obstacle is,” the Grand Tutor said.

“You dare to let a Shaman God enter Chang'an?” The Heavenly Demon tilted her head, asking somewhat surprised.

What's the difference between letting a Shaman God enter Chang'an and letting the Heavenly Demon rush into Chang'an?

The answer is no difference.

Both would be a violent冲击 to the Human Dao, and perhaps the Shaman God, due to the intense Dao conflict with the Human Dao, would cause even more damage.

“You dare to rush into Chang'an, and the Shaman God dares to reach an agreement with us, so why wouldn't I, Meng, dare? Besides, how dare you say that this isn't a trap we set, just to lure you over?” the Grand Tutor retorted.

The Heavenly Demon heard this and laughed in amusement: “That's really something, we all thought of the same thing. Well, then, that's that.”

“Li Qi, remember to come to the Desire Realm when you have time~. If you want to know what exactly happened to you, I promise you, if you come here, you can get all the answers you want.”

“Your curiosity is strong, but these old geezers all think 'knowing too much is not good,' only I think the more you know, the better. You know very well who you get along with.”

“Well then, goodbye~.” The Heavenly Demon waved her hand.

The surrounding darkness rapidly receded.

The Heavenly Demon, along with the boundless darkness, quietly disappeared.

The Grand Tutor of Tang Nation did not stop her, but allowed the Heavenly Demon to leave.

Li Qi still sat in place, a bitter smile on his face.

Other than thinking and reasoning, he could do nothing. A Seventh Grade, caught in a conflict between First Grades… what could he do?

He didn't even dare to breathe heavily.

The surroundings returned to the appearance of that Immortal Cave, the one Li Qi had rented, and even the arrangement of things around it hadn't changed.

Only, time was still stagnant, and there was an old man standing beside Li Qi.

“Li Qi… is that right?” he asked kindly.

Li Qi immediately stood up and bowed respectfully: “Qi, greetings to the Grand Tutor.”

His legs were trembling a little.

Within one day… facing two First Grades…

And, a Shaman God might also come?

Oh no, his legs felt weak, he couldn't stand up.

The old man seemed to have seen through Li Qi's thoughts: “Don't worry, I was lying to him. This old man isn't so muddled as to let a Shaman God into Chang'an.”

Li Qi couldn't help but stammer, “Uh, uh.”

Are you messing with me, old man?

But then, the next sentence made Li Qi solemn.

The Grand Tutor said: “Sit down, I'll tell you what just happened.”