Chapter 353: Witch God's instructions

Why did Shaman God give Li Qi a Demonic Clone?

Only now did Li Qi clearly understand the arrangements of a First Grade Da Tu.

I, for what am I?

This answer is probably the way to break the endless illusions of the demonic thoughts.

A mix of anger and trepidation rose in Li Qi’s heart.

Anger at the demonic thoughts’s arrogance.

Trepidation at the demonic thoughts’s terror…

An incomprehensible, indescribable terrifying existence; if Shaman God allowed him to experience the perspective of a First Grade Da Tu, then the demonic thoughts made him feel the omnipotence of a First Grade.

Truly… omnipotent.

Everyone has demonic thoughts, and the demonic thoughts can appear from anyone’s demonic thoughts.

The Desire Realm can appear beside anyone, dragging them into the demonic thoughts’s Domain, where everything is at the demonic thoughts’s mercy.

If he truly wished to… and if no other First Grade intervened, Li Qi felt that the demonic thoughts could instantly destroy all life in countless worlds within this Universe, and then recreate them.

And such an opponent had set his sights on him, declaring that he would personally torment him.

This was even more terrifying than being manipulated by Karma.

One could still struggle against Karma, but how could one resist the demonic thoughts?

Heaven-Defying might be a narrow escape from death, but resisting the demonic thoughts was a dead end.

If Shaman God hadn’t left him a contingency plan, he would probably have just followed the demonic thoughts’s intentions.

Moreover, Li Qi keenly noticed something.

That was… the demonic thoughts seemed not to have discovered his Demonic Clone.

Was it due to Shaman God’s arrangements?

It’s possible, after all, the Demonic Clone was something Shaman God personally created, and its purpose was clearly to help him distinguish between illusion and reality.

Alas…

He had gotten entangled in a struggle between First Grades.

What is a First Grade?

A God?

That word is far from enough to describe them, or rather, ‘God’ in the narrow sense is far from enough.

A First Grade should be a God in a philosophical… or conceptual sense.

Li Qi felt both fear and curiosity.

Curious about what a First Grade of the ‘Divine Dao’ would be like; would that be a ‘God’ in the true sense?

He was just such a person; in his heart, curiosity held a very, very large proportion, so much so that even fear couldn’t suppress it.

If Li Qi were still doing research, he might be the kind of person who, while fearing the unknown, steps into dangerous Domains that humans have never ventured into.

Unfortunately, in the current world, venturing into the unknown is a bit difficult.

The Dao Orthodoxy of the world is too advanced, too powerful; they have explored far too much of the known.

Just learning these ‘knowns’ was already quite demanding for him; to undertake the task of exploring the unknown, he would need many, many years of effort.

So… he had to work even harder.

Work hard to survive.

Before, he had thought he had a hundred years to slowly ponder, but now, he probably didn’t have that much leeway.

The secret of ‘I, for what am I’ was imminent.

He didn’t necessarily have to truly master or comprehend this matter, but he at least needed to make some Breakthrough progress.

At least when the demonic thoughts descended next time, he couldn’t be completely defenseless.

Li Qi closed the Eight Trigrams plate and emerged from the illusion.

Then he suddenly jumped out, startled!

Because his Demonic Clone had actually moved on its own and sat down in front of him!

Had this thing been corrupted by the demonic thoughts?

However, the next second, Li Qi calmed down.

Because the Demonic Clone began to speak, saying to Li Qi, “Do you understand now? Why this happened.”

The voice was very familiar.

Gentle, steady, and instantly reassuring.

This was Shaman God’s voice.

As Li Qi breathed a sigh of relief, he felt his body lose all strength, but he still forced himself to gather energy, immediately bowed, saluted, and then said in a trembling voice, “This junior… greets Shaman God.”

“No need for formalities. Do you want to know when the demonic thoughts found your weakness?” Shaman God, through the Demonic Clone, went straight to the point.

“Please, Shaman God, instruct me.” Li Qi did not show off the small guesses he had made with his own cleverness.

He had profoundly realized the wisdom and irresistible power of the First Grades.

Although his unique circumstances led him to interact with First Grades at this stage, it didn’t mean he was truly qualified to play with them.

Da Tu Shaman God, within the Demonic Clone, nodded and said, “You mentioned me to an outsider.”

Li Qi’s hair stood on end, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

He barely managed to stand firm, not daring to utter another word.

Because, when he faced Yang Ning, he had actually been a bit smug; seeing Yang Ning’s surprised expression, it was impossible for Li Qi not to feel a bit of secret pleasure.

So, that moment of smugness made him utter the words “Shaman God.”

It turned out that the demonic thoughts didn’t start from the wardrobe where he saw the rabbit, but from his arrogance.

“That’s not your fault. demonic thoughts is never generated by yourself. The demonic thoughts can make you have many ideas you didn’t originally have, and these ideas will in turn breed demonic thoughts. These demonic thoughts will then continue to influence your thoughts, cycling like this until you are ultimately possessed by a demon.”

Shaman God sighed, “In the past, when the Buddha achieved Dao, he was also surrounded by the demonic thoughts. He did not pass that trial easily either.”

“However, don’t worry. You are only bearing a tiny trace of the demonic thoughts’s Qi. Buddhism covers the world with the Heavens of the Formless Realm, suppressing the Desire Realm with purifying Dharma. Every time the demonic thoughts meets you in its true form, it pays a heavy price.”

“He won’t come too frequently. This time’s weakness was also deliberately sold by me to him, just to make you sober up and feel a sense of urgency.”

Li Qi looked up, astonished, and said, “Shaman God knew the demonic thoughts was coming?”

“Whether I knew or not isn’t important. The key is that he indeed came, so, can you understand now?” Shaman God said.

Li Qi was speechless, only able to nod.

“Then that’s all for now. When you can distinguish between two identical ‘yous,’ you will be able to distinguish the difference between the Desire Realm and reality.”

“After I came this time, your demonic thoughts and Demonic Qi have been filled into this Clone. Before the demonic thoughts comes next time, you will return to normal. However, from now on, if you wish to see me again, you will probably need to cultivate to the Third Grade.”

“Li Qi, you are the most outstanding Young Master of this generation, and you bear many Karma. You have even come into contact with so many things at the Seventh Grade. I have great expectations for you. Keep up the good work.”

Shaman God’s gentle voice faded, and then, Li Qi felt that the Demonic Clone once again became an inanimate object.

Shaman God had left.

He let out a deep sigh.

Difficult.

That leisurely feeling he once had completely vanished from him.

Before this, as the Young Master of Shaman God Mountain, coupled with his exceptional talent and limitless future, and having already reached the Seventh Grade, he temporarily possessed limited immortality.

All these conditions combined made Li Qi feel no sense of urgency whatsoever.

As an immortal, he had all the time in the world to slowly progress. Besides, his progress was already very fast, so there was no need to worry at all.

At the same time, he had no real-world pressures on him. He wasn’t short on money, nor cultivation method, and had no crises.

Furthermore, his personality was good, and he handled himself with proper measure. There were no second-generation scions in this world who would inexplicably try to fight him to the death, so he had no enemies.

Moreover, he had no national grudges or deep-seated hatred. This world itself was incredibly peaceful, and its social system was very well-developed, with a clear and transparent promotion system.

Unlike most people, his luck was so good it was hard to describe.

How could such a Li Qi feel any urgency? His life was perfectly comfortable.

However, facts proved that one always had to pay the piper.

His comfortable life before was merely because the big trouble hadn’t arrived yet.

His experiences and identity had shielded him from most minor troubles, but they would also filter out the remaining major ones for him.

Like this super big trouble.

The demonic thoughts.

Now, comfort was no longer an option.

But luckily…

Li Qi was not the kind of person who, after living a comfortable life, couldn’t fight desperately.

The demonic thoughts wanted his life; even if he couldn’t win, he had to take a few bites.

However, Li Qi was not a reckless person.

Such a thing couldn’t be handled recklessly. Was he supposed to fight the demonic thoughts to the death?

This required detailed planning.

And for any planning, the first priority was intelligence.

Li Qi looked at the rabbit’s Immortal Cave, no longer in the mood to slowly sort and organize things, and simply shoved everything into his mustard seed pouch.

It was time to find his teacher. Perhaps his teacher knew something.

If his teacher didn’t know either, he would beg him to grant him Grand Invoker’s authority, allowing him to go to Shaman God Mountain’s library and examine it carefully.

He also wondered where the actual mountain gate of Shaman God Mountain was. It seemed to be distributed now; everyone lived separately, as long as they were within this area, and there wasn’t a true central location.

Indeed, according to Shaman God Mountain’s cultivation policy for its descendants, there was no need for many people to gather together. Everyone was simply left to their own devices, at most, their own teacher would teach them behind closed doors, and then release them to be tempered by natural forces.

Keeping people confined like in a breeding farm, with small competitions every three days and big ones every five, was completely unnecessary for Shaman Dao. Only the Human Dao would do such a thing.

So there was no need for a gathering place at all.

To clear his tense mind, Li Qi began to ponder these things aimlessly.

But his hands were not idle; he haphazardly packed everything in the Immortal Cave, not even looking at what was inside, as it all belonged to the rabbit anyway.

After tidying up, he left the Immortal Cave.

Old Ma was outside, munching on grass boredly, wondering if he had eaten any immortal fungus or Spiritual Plant that was about to become a demon.

Such things were not uncommon in Mount Luofu’s temporary encampment.

However, Li Qi didn’t dwell on these things. Instead, he mounted Old Ma and left directly without saying goodbye or anything.

It was awkward to say hello. Last time he came, he brought the Roc and used his power to intimidate, scaring the remaining people of Mount Luofu quite a bit.

Only those welcoming sparrows could smile at him; others probably wouldn’t have a better attitude than Yang Ning when they saw him.

His sister-in-law still showed some deference, but others might not, and they might actually fight to the death.

Riding Old Ma, strolling along, he left this area and returned to Shaman God Mountain territory through the main gate. Li Qi sensed his direction, speeding up towards Zhu Fengdan’s Immortal Cave.

This place wasn’t far from Zhu Fengdan’s Immortal Cave; at Old Ma’s full speed, it would only take three or four days to arrive.

Three or four days passed in a flash.

Returning to his teacher’s territory, Li Qi finally felt a sense of relief.

Zhu Fengdan’s territory was very simple, just a mountain, without even a cave. One had to enter the Immortal Cave within to find a ‘pleasant surprise.’

Arriving at the foot of the mountain, he formed hand seals, constructing strange spells that formed special runes, then pressed them all onto the door.

As he moved, the world spun, as if the surrounding light was twisted.

When the distortion of light disappeared, Li Qi arrived at Zhu Fengdan’s… home.

It should be, right?

The surroundings were the same as his last visit: very ordinary decorations, a very ordinary residence, no one around. The courtyard was piled with a massive amount of things, some treasures, some scraps, all arranged like a junk heap.

He wondered what Zhu Fengdan was thinking. Perhaps she was just too lazy to tidy up. Many of these things weren’t even Zhu Fengdan’s own.

According to her, they were ‘borrowed to play with.’

In reality, it was indeed so. Although the other party might not be willing to lend them, after Zhu Fengdan managed to get her hands on them and played enough, she would genuinely return them on time.

It’s just that this ‘time’ could be quite long, but after all, she was a Third Grade Da Tu, so a few thousand years… shouldn’t be considered long, right?

Walking past this junk heap, Li Qi bowed towards the grand hall: “Teacher, I’ve returned.”

“Oh, then find a place to sit wherever you like. I don’t have guest rooms here, so just make do. Anyway, there are no taboos, feel free to wander around.” Zhu Fengdan’s voice came from the grand hall, sounding lackadaisical.

Li Qi knew she had no taboos. This place was purely her residence, with no secrets to speak of.

However, he still maintained his respect, walking cautiously into the grand hall.

Inside the grand hall, Li Qi witnessed an extremely horrifying sight.

Zhu Fengdan’s head was placed on the table, resting on a cushion, yawning.

And the rest of her body, including her internal organs, limbs, and bones, were disassembled into pieces, each floating in the air.

Her two iron-eating beasts were currently gnawing on her leg bones, crunching loudly, constantly sparking, seemingly very happy.

“Uh…” Li Qi stopped in his tracks at the sight.

“Ah? Oh.” Zhu Fengdan glanced at Li Qi and said, “It’s easier to repair when disassembled. I was too heavily injured before, and repairing it bit by bit was too slow, so I just took it all apart. This way, I can repair many parts simultaneously, and the injuries heal faster.”

“Then… this?” Li Qi pointed at the two black and white bears, stacked on top of each other, cutely gnawing on the leg bones.

“They can’t bite through it anyway, whatever. It just helps them grind their teeth, so they don’t bite my things.” Zhu Fengdan’s head swayed, looking utterly unconcerned.

Li Qi broke into a sweat.

Alright, he still didn’t understand the daily lives of these big shots.

But at this moment, Zhu Fengdan spoke proactively: “By the way, why did you suddenly come here? Aren’t you returning to Tang Nation?”