Chapter 339: First meeting with Wushen

Nuo sacrifice is a ritual to expel diseases, clear the Qi of the four seasons, and harmonize Yin and Yang and Feng Shui, as the saying goes: "Seasonal Nuo, performed in the four seasons, driving away evil from the nine gates, completing in spring, to startle and expel plague ghosts."

To expel plague ghosts with Nuo, one must erect peach figures, reed ropes, Cang'er, tigers, canopies, banners, and lights, wear crowns and masks, don bear furs, wield spears, and make "Nuo, Nuo" sounds to drive away ghosts.

Nuo sacrifice is a large-scale ritual, usually requiring thousands of people to perform, and if it reaches the corresponding season, it can even reach the level of a 'Grand Ritual', requiring hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people to perform together.

But why is there a Nuo sacrifice in front of this giant?

"Two Seniors, why... is there a Nuo sacrifice here, and what exactly are these lifeforms performing the Nuo? Ghosts... they don't seem like it, but they're not Gods either, and certainly not Shamanes. Such strange things." Li Qi finally couldn't help but ask.

Hearing Li Qi's confusion, the two Wu Yu first exchanged glances, seemingly communicating.

Then, after confirming some things, they said to Li Qi: "Young Master, you're mistaken. This is not Nuo; this is Yang."

(Note: Yang, Yang refers to a man who died violently, meaning that when it is difficult to expel the plague, it is used to drive away ghosts who died violently.)

Li Qi's expression immediately darkened.

He understood.

The Yang sacrifice is similar to the Nuo sacrifice, but its nature is completely different.

Yang is the name for a powerful ghost.

The Nuo sacrifice can drive away common ghost plagues and is held regularly.

The Yang sacrifice, however, is a ritual to expel powerful ghosts, performed only when encountering extremely troublesome ghosts who died violently. It is more complex and dangerous.

So, combined with what these two Wu Yu said before... Shaman God is currently in some kind of situation.

Could it be this situation?

What kind of 'ghost' could affect Shaman God?

Li Qi shivered with cold, yet could only sigh.

There was nothing he could do to interfere.

The gap was too vast; he could only wish Shaman God good fortune.

As if sensing Li Qi's dejection, one of the Wu Yu finally spoke proactively.

She said: "Young Master, there's no need to worry. This matter is not about forming enmity with someone or anything else; it's merely Da Tu Shaman God's choice."

Hearing this, Li Qi looked up and asked: "Da Tu Shaman God's choice? What do you mean by that?"

He didn't know who Da Tu Shaman God was, but he presumed it was the Shaman God he was about to meet this time.

The Wu Yu continued to explain: "Buddhism forged Hell, and the Divine Path created Reincarnation. While bringing all heavens back under the dominion of Reincarnation, they also brought many drawbacks, such as the appearance of 'ghosts'."

"Reincarnation has flaws. In the middle of the month, when the sun passes through the Pleiades, billions of ghosts gather underground, and difficult Yin Qi spreads throughout heaven and earth. The Qi of accumulated corpses in the great mounds, when it disperses, malevolent ghosts follow and emerge."

"If left unchecked, the Yin Qi moves to the right, operating naturally. The void's northern position encounters the two stars of Si Ming, Si Ming's northern position encounters the two stars of Si Lu, Si Lu's northern position encounters the two stars of Si Wei, and Si Wei's northern position encounters the two stars of Si Zhong. When the Qi passes through the void and Si Wei, the Qi of the four offices of void and Si Wei will become a great calamity. At that time, all heavens will suffer from Yin and Yang imbalance, and the Ghost Gate will open wide."

"Da Tu Shaman God could not bear to see this scene, so he used Shaman God Mountain as a pivot, shouldering Reincarnation, lifting the Yin Qi of Reincarnation with one hand, and dissolving it through his own Yang sacrifice."

"The ghost hordes and exotic beasts around, two or three li tall, are all transformed from difficult Yin Qi. Just passing by them requires enduring immense pressure, which is why Young Master needs to wear the Zhaotai Armor, to prevent the difficult Yin Qi from entering his body and contaminating his personal small heaven and earth."

Listening to the Wu Yu explain this, Li Qi looked again at the thousand-li giant supporting the base of Shaman God Mountain.

So, this giant is Da Tu Shaman God?

Li Qi examined his body.

He was a bit large, but overall, he was a lean, capable man, about forty or fifty years old, without a beard but with long hair.

His hair strands floated in the breeze of countless energy flows, occasionally brushing against his muscles.

His physique was quite robust, but not excessively powerful; his muscles were well-proportioned, full of strength, and... a certain indescribable rhythm.

It seemed as if his very existence was altering the surrounding heaven and earth.

While observing Shaman God, Li Qi was led by the two Wu Yu, moving forward again. After advancing about three hundred li, at this distance, Da Tu Shaman God's body almost completely obscured all sight.

You couldn't see the full extent of his body at all.

Imagine, a giant over a thousand li tall. When he stands upright, he can span a strait with one arm; lying down, he could flatten a province.

For an ordinary Mortal body, simply getting close would make it impossible to perceive his full form.

What was now clearer to see was the boundless ghost horde.

From afar, it just looked like there were some ghost hordes around.

But upon closer inspection, one could perceive how terrifying their numbers were.

They filled thousands of li around, far more than just tens of thousands.

Yin Qi soared, ceaselessly, and all sorts of monstrous ghosts, too hideous to describe.

These ghosts were black in color and plump in form, resembling both humans and beasts. Each radiated an immense amount of Yin Qi, wore masks, and stood a thousand meters tall, performing eerie dances in the boundless darkness.

This scene was unsettling no matter how one looked at it.

Li Qi also saw a giant ghost, dancing, suddenly lose strength and crash down with a boom, then its Yin Qi dissipated, and surging energy burst forth, as if to devour heaven and earth.

But very quickly, this difficult Yin Qi completely vanished, diffused by the immense pressure of the surroundings.

Li Qi estimated that it would probably take many, many years for it to slowly diffuse to the surface, and then gradually be neutralized, without causing too much impact.

This 'many, many years' was from his current perspective as a long-lived being.

Perhaps... hundreds of thousands of years?

They continued to move forward for a while.

At Li Qi's pace, he walked about twenty li.

Upon reaching this point, the two Wu Yu finally stopped: "We've arrived. Young Master, please go on alone. Just walk towards Da Tu Shaman God, and when you are close enough, Shaman God will naturally project his will."

"Thank you, two Seniors, for leading the way." Li Qi first thanked them, then said: "Without further ado, I shall depart now."

The Wu Yu then said: "After your conversation, Young Master, just return here. We will wait here, and when you return, we will take you to the surface."

Li Qi nodded, indicating that he understood.

Then, he set off, walking towards the giant.

He hurried along, and the further he walked, the less he could see.

Under the giant's enormous body, all scenery disappeared; except for the giant, nothing else could be seen.

This was like a person standing on Earth, no matter how they looked, they could only see the scenery of Earth.

When something is too big, you cannot see anything beyond it.

Seeing the Shaman God's body obscuring everything, Li Qi, as a Genius, suddenly understood something.

No wonder, no wonder one needed to go out and temper oneself.

Perhaps this was the reason for going out to temper oneself.

When the thing protecting you is too powerful, it can instead obscure your vision, preventing you from seeing anything clearly.

You must go out, only by going out can you see more.

By seeing more, you can understand more.

Ultimately, you can go further.

Shaman God Mountain was like this giant.

If you stayed in the mountain, all you could see was this giant.

You wouldn't see any of the vast world outside.

Li Qi's peculiar ability to associate allowed him to connect the giant's body to this point.

However, just as he was thinking to himself, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

The voice said: "Just by looking at my physical form, you can begin to comprehend principles on your own. As expected of a Genius who cultivated to Seventh Grade in less than four years."

Hearing this voice, Li Qi immediately stopped, then bowed deeply to the giant.

"This junior, Li Qi, greets Shaman God!"

— — — — — — — —

Shaman God, the pinnacle of Shaman Dao. The three main branches of Shaman Dao, and thousands of other large and small branches, all have their respective titles before Second Grade, such as Qiren, Invoker, Wu Yu, Ritual Patriarchs, and so on.

However, after reaching Shaman God, all titles converge to a single point, with no further distinctions; they are all called Shaman God.

This unique characteristic leads to circulating rumors in the outside world where they are sometimes referred to as First Grade, sometimes as some ethereal entity, and sometimes as surpassing First Grade, with no definite measure.

In short, compared to unequivocally First Grade officials, the existence of Shaman God is somewhat like a legend.

Of course, as Shaman God Mountain, Li Qi himself knew that Shaman God indeed existed, and their grade was First Grade, located at the pinnacle of the current Cultivation system, the Nine Grade classification method.

The Nine Grade classification method divides each grade by qualitative change; the difference between each grade is so vast it's like an Ascension.

In fact, it is true. Theoretically, in a world without grades, to advance a grade, you would have to 'Ascend' to a new Nine Grade world that can accommodate you and support your Cultivation.

However, even Li Qi didn't know how many Shaman God there were.

This was the first one he had seen, Da Tu Shaman God.

Shouldering Reincarnation, supporting Shaman God Mountain, and resolving the difficult Yin Qi within Reincarnation for all beings.

What a gentle Shaman God he was...

Facing the sudden voice, Li Qi rose after bowing.

Then, he saw a white light appear before his eyes.

This white light appeared so abruptly in the surrounding dark world, but as soon as he saw it, Li Qi confirmed that this was Shaman God's projected will.

Da Tu Shaman God's will had just descended, then suddenly transformed into a human form, naturally speaking: "Gongzi Qi, we finally meet. It's truly not easy to get you to come here."

Upon hearing this, Li Qi immediately lowered his head: "Shaman God, why do you say that?"

What did the Senior mean by that? He hadn't disobeyed orders, had he? Didn't he come as soon as he was summoned?

Why say it's not easy to meet him? That didn't sound like a compliment.

And what did 'finally' mean? Li Qi had only been with Shaman God Mountain for less than four years, could Shaman God use the word 'finally' for him?

Li Qi was full of doubts, and a little flustered.

However, Shaman God's attitude seemed good.

After all, he even proactively transformed into a human form, likely to make Li Qi feel more at ease during their conversation.

Da Tu Shaman God heard the apprehension in Li Qi's words, so he explained: "That's not what I meant. It's just that to get you to come, I had to persuade the other Shaman God, and that's truly not an easy task."

Li Qi relaxed a little after hearing that.

So that was it.

"Then Shaman God, what is it you wish to instruct me about, by calling me here?" Li Qi immediately asked.

Da Tu Shaman God smiled, and said softly: "I just wanted to see what the most renowned Young Master of this generation looks like. Among the Great Shamanes, your reputation has already spread."

"The fastest Cultivator in several epochs, one grade per year, directly ascending to Seventh Grade in three years, coveted by the Heavenly Demon, closely related to Mount Luofu, coincidentally knowing the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method, bearing the opportunity of a First Grade Dao... burdened with Dragon Karma, simultaneously cultivating five Great Daos, yet his personal small heaven and earth remain stable."

"Honestly, with your configuration, if I said I was merely curious and wanted to meet you, would it seem presumptuous?"

Li Qi didn't know what to say, so he immediately cupped his hands: "Of course not. If Shaman God wishes to know the details, Li Qi will speak without reservation, holding nothing back."

He truly didn't know what to say; he just wanted to sweat.

From his own subjective feeling, these matters were nothing, but now that someone else articulated them, he realized they seemed a bit outrageous.

Da Tu Shaman God said: "The details, I might know even more clearly than you, but some things, after all, can only be known by seeing them with one's own eyes. However, upon seeing you, I already knew."

Li Qi nodded, and said nothing more.

Speaking those things in front of Shaman God was truly useless; it was better to just let the other party achieve their goal, as he couldn't interfere anyway.

Thus, a strange silence fell between Da Tu Shaman God and Li Qi.

Da Tu Shaman God just quietly looked at Li Qi.

Although Li Qi felt nothing, he knew that Shaman God was meticulously examining every cell in his body through his own methods.

This was what he meant by 'seeing with one's own eyes'.

What Li Qi knew, or didn't know, Shaman God would know.

This silence lasted for about five minutes.

Li Qi suddenly felt that the Demonic Qi within his body, which he couldn't extract, was being pulled by a powerful yet gentle force.

Previously, in front of the Heavenly Demon, Li Qi had no choice but to use this Demonic Qi to reconstruct his personal small heaven and earth.

This also led to a significant portion of his Cultivation being composed of Demonic Qi.

However, now, all of this Demonic Qi was being expelled.

Most crucially, there were no side effects whatsoever.

Under normal circumstances, extracting the Qi that constructs the personal small heaven and earth would directly lead to collapse, and then the loss of all Cultivation and death.

But, for every wisp of Demonic Qi drawn out, a perfectly balanced wisp of natural Qi would fill its place.

These natural Qi were extremely pure Qi, including Water Qi, Fire Qi, Divine Qi, and so on, completely replacing the original Demonic Qi without any side effects.

This was an extremely precise operation; if one had to describe it, it would be like visually inspecting cells throughout the body, then one by one opening the cell nuclei, extracting DNA fragments from within, picking out the mutated ones, and replacing them with good ones.

In reality, it would only be more difficult, because all this Demonic Qi was left by the Heavenly Demon, and every wisp required a direct confrontation with the Heavenly Demon!

Now, Li Qi was undergoing such an operation.

Da Tu Shaman God seemed to be completely eliminating all traces of the Demonic Dao's influence from his body!