Chapter 355: Monk

Li Qi was still in a daze when he left Zhu Fengdan's Immortal Cave.

Although things were exactly as Zhu Fengdan had said…

If he treated these matters as nonsense and ignored them, then these words would have no impact on him.

However, if he thought carefully and pondered deeply, these words would become his death warrant.

He would truly die.

When he wanted to put one of those ideas into practice, he was gambling with his life; although the danger was not as great as having a jumble of Dao Orthodoxy paths mixed within him, it was still very risky.

This was not Cultivating the "Zhu" Book.

The "Zhu" Book was a peaceful, safe, and even Bottleneck-free Cultivation.

The reason was simple: all the dangers, obstacles, and stones in the way had been removed by his predecessors, smoothed out into a clear path to the heavens; all he had to do was walk it.

The difficulty of Cultivating the "Zhu" Book was incredibly low.

Of course, this was only by comparison; compared to ordinary cultivation methods, Cultivating the "Zhu" Book was very simple.

But advancement was still not that simple; although all the pitfalls were filled in and the forks in the road were clearly marked, the path still had to be walked, not a single step less.

If you couldn't walk it yourself, you couldn't blame the cultivation method.

And now, Li Qi had voluntarily left the clear path to the heavens arranged for him by the "Zhu" Book, and was running onto a rugged path to seek death.

But there was no other way.

If he didn't take the small path, the Heavenly Demon would truly make him pay the price.

Walking was a struggle for survival, not walking was certain death.

Sigh.

However, Li Qi barely managed to regain some sanity and didn't continue to dwell on these 'insignificant' things.

As Zhu Fengdan said, he still had some time.

Aside from anything else, the Shaman God also said that it was not easy for the Heavenly Demon to make a move against Li Qi.

Heaven of Others’ Emanations, which is the Desire Realm, was suppressed by another world.

The Shaman God's original words were: "Buddhism envelops the world with Heavens of the Formless Realm, using the pure Dharma to suppress the Desire Realm."

Heavens of the Formless Realm should be a special existence corresponding to Heaven of Others’ Emanations, a First Grade one, right?

Heavens of the Formless Realm suppressed Heaven of Others’ Emanations, just like the Buddha exiled the Heavenly Demon to the outer realms in the past; the Heavenly Demon couldn't just come and go as he pleased, as Li Qi had imagined.

Every time the Heavenly Demon made a move, he had to pay a heavy price; in places Li Qi couldn't see, the Heavenly Demon was not doing well.

Of course, this 'not doing well' was in reference to a First Grade being, and certainly couldn't be compared to Li Qi.

However, even the Shaman God said 'heavy' price, so it must have been very heavy.

So Li Qi felt that after the Heavenly Demon made two moves in a short period, he would probably quiet down for a while; at least within the next few years, he should be fine.

As he thought this, he suddenly felt someone pulling him.

He looked back and, unknowingly, he had already walked out of his teacher's Immortal Cave and had been wandering in the wilderness of Shaman God Mountain for a long time.

The old horse had been following him, and it seemed to sense that his state was not right, so the old horse actively bit his sleeve and pulled him back.

This also temporarily pulled Li Qi out of the whirlpool of thought.

At the same time, he suddenly woke up.

His Cultivation had started to become chaotic, and some fluctuations appeared in his small human world.

When his Dao Heart was in disarray, he couldn't control his Cultivation.

Fortunately, it was still within a controllable range and could be repaired.

The collapse of a Dao Heart and immediate self-detonation was not a legend or a joke, but something that often happened in this world.

Cultivators could exert powerful forces through their Cultivation.

And their ability to control this power relied on 'Dao' and 'Heart'.

Dao is the foundation; Cultivation is chaotic and disordered power; only by relying on Dao, and the techniques and cultivation methods derived from Dao, can Cultivation be transformed from a disorganized rabble into an orderly army.

To describe it, it would probably be...

Cultivation is a group of refugees, a vast accumulation of Qi; these Qi are very scattered, with contradictions and friction, making them very difficult to control; if one is not careful, they will backfire and cause you to self-detonate.

cultivation methods can filter out the Qi you need, for example, only absorbing water Qi, or refining it into internal Qi and so on.

Then, the required Qi is filtered and gathered, and then, using cultivation methods, they are trained into a well-trained elite army.

Such an elite army can then execute 'tactics' as desired, which are techniques, exerting stronger power.

And most importantly, the Heart is the commander.

Only a firm, powerful Heart, capable of controlling Dao, Dharma, and techniques, can command these soldiers and refugees, making them work for oneself, and prevent them from backfiring.

Li Qi's Dao Heart was in disarray, so his Cultivation naturally became scattered, and there was a tendency for it to turn into a riot within his body.

Fortunately, the old horse woke him up in time, preventing him from suffering too much loss…

Li Qi stroked the horse's head, sighed, and said, "Thanks, brother. Sigh, never mind, let's not think about those things for now. Let's stabilize my Dao Heart first."

Just as he finished speaking, Li Qi suddenly froze.

Wait… Heart? Is that Heart related to the spiritual entity mentioned before?

Dao Heart, and that ethereal spiritual entity, perhaps…

He had just thought this when he suddenly turned and slapped himself.

The slap was so hard that his neck made a cracking sound, his cervical spine twisted, and half of his face was directly smashed.

It wasn't just red and swollen, but directly torn open.

The old horse stepped back two paces, its horse face filled with fear.

Had Li Qi lost control of his Dao Heart and gone mad?

As for Li Qi, he picked up a wisp of Life Qi in his hand and slapped it onto the wound.

The intense vitality quickly healed his wound and made the intense pain disappear.

Stimulated by this, Li Qi finally let out a long breath.

That was just a loose thread, but don't think too much about it; there's plenty of time later.

Li Qi forcibly suppressed his deeper thoughts, because he knew that if he continued, he would truly self-detonate.

"Old horse, carry me. Let's go to Star-Mansion Array. You should be able to find it, right?" Li Qi said as he mounted the old horse.

The old horse nodded and let out a roar, indicating that it knew.

Star-Mansion Array is a transportation hub in Shaman God Mountain, similar in function to Tang Nation's Golden Dais.

Star-Mansion Array refers to astronomy, and herbs refer to geography; in winter, plants wither, but the Star-Mansion Array in the sky remain, hence the saying 'only half of the sky is visible'; what is seen is the central pivot, and these four seasons' welcoming Qi are all in the four suburbs.

The so-called Star-Mansion Array refers to numerous world groups.

I have to say, these Great Powers are very good at naming things; they're cultured people.

Li Qi was going to Star-Mansion Array to take a ride, and then return to Tang Nation.

He planned to temporarily put aside the controversies in his mind, first go to Tang Nation to complete the demon dragon puzzle, and get the 'boundary' inspiration he had been coveting.

Then… take those Imperial Academy students to Holy Flame World for a trip.

Shen Shuibi, Yang Ning, and the group of Imperial Academy students, with all of them combined, the matters of Holy Flame World should be settled.

After dealing with Lu Mountain God and 'persuading' Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord, he would then return to Imperial Academy and wholeheartedly focus on his remaining tasks.

This was Li Qi's plan.

He and the old horse left Zhu Fengdan's barren mountain, which didn't even have vegetation.

It would take about ten days to reach Star-Mansion Array, not long.

Including these ten days, it had been over a month since he left Tang Nation, and there was still one month until the holidays.

So Li Qi had to rush back within a month to bring the Imperial Academy students back, and to have a sufficient reason to piece together the Immortal Cave in the classroom.

— — — — — — — —

It was a ten-day journey to Star-Mansion Array.

This was the sixth day since the old horse set off.

As usual, after the old horse got tired, Li Qi chose to land in a picturesque place, rest for about an hour to recover his strength, and then set off again.

The old horse was meditating nearby, absorbing the clouds in the sky to replenish its strength.

Li Qi found a pool of water, sat down nearby, and began to read.

Cultivation was a daily, continuous effort.

Reading more books and newspapers was always beneficial.

As he was reading, his ears twitched, and he looked down the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, there was a very ordinary mountain village.

Mountain villages were considered the basic organizational units of the Human Race within the Shaman God Mountain jurisdiction, so they were very common and nothing unusual.

However, at this moment, that mountain village seemed to be under attack by demons.

Generally speaking, Li Qi would not interfere in such matters.

The mountain village had its difficulties, and the demons had their reasons.

Each side had its own justification.

Ultimately, everyone was just trying to survive, and it was inappropriate for Li Qi to intervene.

It was like a wildlife documentary director who would never stop a polar bear from hunting seals; that would be wrong, even if it was a 'kind act', it would violate natural laws and disrupt the delicate balance, leading to greater harm.

But this time, Li Qi frowned, because he saw Buddhist light in the battlefield.

Why would there be Buddhist light?

Buddhist Cultivators?

Li Qi got up and said to the old horse, "Old horse, you eat first, I'll go take a look."

With that, he directly got up and rushed down to the mountain village.

The speed of a Seventh Grade was very fast; the straight distance of a dozen li down the mountain was covered in just two breaths, and Li Qi arrived above the battlefield.

He did not reveal himself, but remained in the Shaman Dao state of 'Body Merged with natural', quietly observing below.

The battlefield below was quite chaotic, with about a few hundred people and dozens of demons.

Most of those demons were herbivores, such as deer, wild boars, and goats.

Looking at the Human Race side, they were dressed as farmers and hunters, mostly people born and raised in the mountain village; there were very few proper combat-type Cultivators, and occasionally, they were just hunters.

The battle was fierce, with techniques flying and flesh and blood splattering, but casualties were always kept within double digits.

After all, the total number of combatants on both sides was only a few hundred, not even a thousand; if casualties reached ten percent, it would already be terrifying.

Li Qi then glanced at the hillside where the battle was taking place.

The mountain here was not large, covering only a few dozen li in circumference, and nearly half of it was planted with cash crops by the human mountain villages.

It seemed to be another struggle caused by living space.

They would probably fight until both sides could no longer bear the casualties, and then sit down and talk again.

Li Qi had no intention of interfering in such a struggle; if he interfered, who would he help? Who was truly wrong? Which side should be forced to give in? Or should he punish both equally, send them back to stew, and then let them secretly fight again after he left?

None of it was appropriate.

So it was better to let nature take its course; Li Qi just continued to look around, wanting to find the source of the Buddhist light.

He didn't spend too much time, and soon he found the source of the Buddhist light.

It was a monk.

Naturally, under normal circumstances, only a monk could have Buddhist light.

What Li Qi feared was not the abnormal situation; seeing that it was emitted by a monk, his heart temporarily relaxed.

The monk's Cultivation… Li Qi looked, and it seemed to be Eighth Grade, the highest on the entire battlefield.

The battles between mountain villages and demons were basically between Ninth Grade individuals; clearly, neither the demons nor the mountain villages had brought out their trump card Eighth Grade fighters.

If their own Eighth Grade died, they would completely lose their qualification to stand in this area and would be wiped out by other things.

This was the cruel natural competition, survival of the fittest.

Within the Shaman God Mountain region, the average grade and average combat power of people were so high, primarily because of the spiritual sources of heaven and earth that were well cultivated by the Shaman Dao Great Powers.

The second reason was the screening effect brought about by this competition.

Then he looked at the monk over there.

He was at the edge of the battlefield, not participating in the fight, and was carefully hiding himself.

However, every time a person or demon died, he would utter a Buddhist chant, and then a faint, almost imperceptible Buddhist light would flash, guiding the soul of the deceased.

Now, he already had dozens of dazed Spirit Souls in his palm.

These Spirit Souls were spared from the techniques in the center of the battlefield and the damage from the sun in the sky, and the monk seemed to be waiting for something else.

Li Qi frowned.

This monk… he wouldn't be thinking of superceding these Spirit Souls, would he?

It wasn't that Li Qi didn't trust him, but all the monks he had encountered so far were not good people, and Buddhism had left a very bad impression on him.

Although theoretically, Li Qi knew that Buddhism should guide people towards goodness, the Chan Zhi monk from Guangyang had left too deep an impression on Li Qi.

Not to mention the three lives ancient mirror, and the White Horse Temple, Kasyapa Matanga, and others he had read about in books before, none of them were good people; they basically had unclear connections with the Demonic Dao, which led Li Qi to have some prejudice against this Dao Orthodoxy.

But the monk he encountered now seemed to be… doing good deeds?

Li Qi continued to watch for a while.

This monk was wearing a dark blue monastic robe and looked very young, only sixteen or seventeen, a novice monk.

Then, he found that this monk really seemed to be collecting the Spirit Souls of the fallen and preparing to supercede them.

But just as Li Qi was observing, the monk suddenly looked up, and his gaze met Li Qi's.

Li Qi was startled.

This Eighth Grade monk saw him?

Quite something.

The monk trembled, then immediately looked away as if nothing had happened.

His acting was too clumsy, very consistent with his apparent age.

So, Li Qi floated down, crossed the battlefield, and stood in front of the monk.

Seeing that he couldn't hide and had been discovered, the young monk immediately put his palms together: "Senior Shaman Dao Cultivator, please… please allow this humble monk to supercede the departed souls before questioning, if that's alright?"

This reaction amused Li Qi.

Quite self-aware.