Chapter 390: Touching

Li Qi floated in a vast sea, quietly observing.

He engraved everything he encountered here into his memory, planning to ponder it slowly after returning.

The Lord of Pestilence's thought process… was very interesting.

It could definitely be used next time.

The Lord of Pestilence silently waited for Li Qi for an hour.

Then, Li Qi took a deep breath and stood up: "Alright, Lord of Pestilence, I've obtained what I wanted. Now, let me examine your Physical Body."

Li Qi had already gotten what he wanted; next was to help him come up with a good algorithm to solve his cultivation method problem.

"Please." The surrounding sea echoed with the sound.

Li Qi slowly descended, stepping onto the water's surface.

Walking on water was not difficult; it was very easy for them.

In fact, at the Seventh Rank, if there were no divine abilities or special ranks, the natural environment could hardly cause much harm to a Seventh Rank existence.

Unless it was an extreme environment like the Earth's core, normal natural disasters in the surface ecosystem were not an issue for Seventh Rank cultivators.

It could even be said that the Seventh Rank itself represented natural disasters.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes—they were all just a wave of the hand.

Landing on the water's surface, Li Qi began his work.

Disassemble, observe.

Extract parameters; if they couldn't be extracted, then ask directly.

With the Lord of Pestilence's full cooperation, Li Qi's progress was rapid.

Finally, late at night, Li Qi rubbed his head.

It was a bit hot, at least sixty degrees; it had overclocked, and it seemed a bit cooked inside.

He raised his hand, grabbed a mass of water from the sea, then extracted the vapor, condensing it into a ball of pure water, discarding the remaining Impurities back into the sea, and placed the pure water on his forehead to physically cool himself down.

With just this one action, he killed at least three 'Lords of Pestilence,' each with independent consciousness and independent memories. From Li Qi's perspective, each was a living person.

But the Lord of Pestilence showed no reaction to this; he was completely indifferent.

Moreover… there was no such thing as 'collective consciousness' for the Lord of Pestilence. Every Lord of Pestilence was separate and equal; there was no concept of a Clone.

This meant that the entire Lord of Pestilence group felt that what Li Qi did was fine, as it should be, as if they didn't care about their own deaths at all.

However, amidst such complex calculations, results were finally obtained.

"The quantity gathered in each unit of water does not exceed two hundred forty-two billion, with a deviation of one hundred million up or down. If it doesn't exceed this deviation, while there's an effect, it's not significant."

"Taking thirty-one and nine units as one node, and seventeen nodes as one group, extending from the group to the node, a single operation cannot exceed six hundred million groups, otherwise the efficiency will decrease by at least ten percent, and the more groups, the more it decreases, possibly dropping to sixty percent at most."

Then, Li Qi stretched out his hand, and a series of complex three-dimensional models appeared in the air, containing tens of thousands of different compositions, and each implicitly contained a rule, requiring strict adherence to this rule for arranging the models within the body.

This was not Dao; this was a 'method,' just as a lever must be in a certain shape, a pulley must be in a certain shape, and the coupling of mechanical gears must follow a certain method to achieve maximum effectiveness.

Everything fit together perfectly.

But Li Qi also didn't know why it fit together so perfectly.

He had only calculated the results according to the formulas he saw, but he didn't understand why it was this way, nor had he figured out the underlying principles. That was the goal of his future cultivation method.

Then, he projected another set of models: "This is the composition between groups. You must strictly follow this model to arrange the groups within your body. If this is wrong, the efficiency will even drop by more than ninety percent."

As Li Qi spoke, he began to display other models.

A complete method was very complex, not to mention that Li Qi's version had not been simplified at all.

Simplification, in fact, was a very important step in creating a cultivation method.

Existing methods were basically simplified to the extreme, making them easy to learn.

For example, if Li Qi's calculated result was 1+1+1 = 1+1+1, in reality, this could be simplified to 3 = 3, saving a full six steps of calculation.

Of course, compared to the original version, it was only 'simple and easy to learn'; in reality, it was still very difficult.

Unfortunately, these models were not so simple to simplify, and Li Qi did not yet have that level of skill. He could only inconvenience the Lord of Pestilence for now, or perhaps the Lord of Pestilence could gradually simplify it himself through practice later, which was not impossible.

However, Li Qi could only do so much.

"Truly… I am endlessly grateful. I dared not imagine being able to retain so much power. With this, most of my dissipated Qi can be contained. Thank you, Brother Li Qi," the Lord of Pestilence said gratefully.

"You're welcome, we're just helping each other. You've also helped me a great deal. It's just that this model is too complex, and I'm afraid it won't be too easy to control. As I envision… with a Seventh Rank's computing power, it can probably be maintained at around sixty percent for a long time, right? My skill isn't enough; I can only do this much," Li Qi said.

Indeed, his skill was insufficient.

After all, even with a formula, the calculation still had to be done by oneself. For many people, even if given a formula, they might not calculate it correctly.

Clearly, Li Qi was one of these 'many people.' He could only calculate it roughly, because the Lord of Pestilence's Physical Body was simply too complex, and the rest was beyond his capabilities.

But compared to the Lord of Pestilence's past, it was infinitely better, at least he could control it with something other than instinct.

"No, no, no, it's already good enough! Moreover, I can maintain this model at its peak, which is over ninety percent, so it's already sufficient! The remaining part is no longer a concern!" The Lord of Pestilence in the sea said.

"Wait, ninety percent? How did you do that?" Li Qi asked, startled.

Impossible, Li Qi considered his own computing and information processing abilities to be among the best of the Seventh Rank. The Lord of Pestilence didn't even have a brain, how could he calculate faster than him?

Li Qi himself could only maintain this solution at around sixty percent!

"Hmm… how did I do it? It's simple, isn't it? Just let everyone restrain themselves?" The Lord of Pestilence seemed a bit confused: "Is there a problem? Should I not maintain it so high?"

"No… no, the higher it's maintained, the better. It's just too impressive, I'm a bit surprised," Li Qi said.

While explaining this, Li Qi looked around, pondering the Lord of Pestilence's words.

Wait, let everyone restrain themselves…

This sounded a bit off.

"Lord of Pestilence, are you, who are speaking to me now, and the other Lords of Pestilence, in agreement?" Li Qi couldn't help but ask.

He seemed to be understanding something deeper.

"Of course, our memories are shared. What I know, they also know," the Lord of Pestilence in front of him said.

Indeed.

The Lord of Pestilence could maintain over ninety percent stability for a simple reason: the division of labor was different, and many 'Lords of Pestilence' would specifically maintain this set of thoughts.

It was like a gestalt consciousness, even more extreme than that, because there was no so-called main consciousness, but all consciousnesses existed in parallel, with shared memories.

Humans only have two eyes and are accustomed to observing the world with this pair of eyes, feeling that this is the clearest way to see.

But a fly has thousands of eyes, and so many eyes form a compound eye.

The world seen by this compound eye is different from the compound eye seen by human eyes.

So… the Lord of Pestilence's self was built upon this 'shared memory,' and everything else was merely the Lord of Pestilence's metabolism.

These normally seen Lord of Pestilence consciousnesses were merely a superficial phenomenon, an 'organ' that this sea had developed and evolved to achieve its purpose.

In other words, for the Lord of Pestilence, memory and the Physical Body (this sea) were the important factors of the self. What mental entity was merely a cell that could be discarded and incorporated into metabolism at any time.

Cells in the human body also die and renew at any time in this way.

Li Qi suddenly looked up, realizing something.

Then… was his own consciousness also like this?

Consciousness itself was just an organ of the Physical Body and memory; 'I' itself was meaningless, just an organ born to help life survive.

'I,' that is, self-consciousness itself, consciousness itself, was not important. At least for life, it was completely irrelevant, just like legs, feet, and arms, all born to assist survival.

At least, the Lord of Pestilence thought so, and from the Lord of Pestilence's example, it could be seen that this actually didn't affect anything. The Lord of Pestilence even became stronger because of it, becoming a formidable person who could contend with Sixth Rank cultivators at his main body.

In other words, the concept of "I" was actually irrelevant. Purely for the purpose of living, or 'existing,' consciousness was dispensable.

Li Qi seemed to vaguely touch upon something.

His eyes immediately turned red; he felt he was just one step away!

The answer was right there, within reach, just covered by a piece of paper!

But he couldn't grasp it!

The answer was so close, just one step away from comprehending 'I am I,' but this step… was so difficult.

Li Qi felt countless choices and countless paths spreading before him, all seemingly passable, but… he didn't know which path was correct.

He dared not act rashly, only cautiously discerning one path after another.

And this process of discernment was what he needed to do during secluded cultivation; at least for now, he didn't have the leisure to do these things.

Li Qi had never felt such a lack of time.

Indeed, his progress was too fast, lacking foundation.

After these matters were settled, he would definitely go into seclusion for decades to properly rest and reorganize his vast knowledge and all sorts of miscellaneous secrets, categorizing them so that this knowledge truly became his foundation.

He was currently like a scrawny scholar who knew a lot about fitness, but it had never been put into practice. He needed a long time to convert his knowledge into practical application.

At the same time, he also didn't know which parts of himself were wrong and which were right; all of this required gradual attempts and corrections.

"Hmm? Student Li Qi?" The Lord of Pestilence asked, seeing Li Qi in a daze.

Why was Li Qi stunned again? Was his brain overheating?

"Ah… nothing. In that case, I shall take my leave first. I have some matters tomorrow," Li Qi came back to his senses, looking apologetically at the sea beneath his feet.

"Ah? So Student Li Qi has something on tomorrow. What a pity. You've helped me so much, and I have no way to repay you. I wanted to invite you to a literary gathering tomorrow," the Lord of Pestilence said with some regret.

"Literary gathering? What literary gathering?" Li Qi asked casually.

"Don't you know? The Lingxiao Flower Goddess, who has been away from Chang'an for hundreds of years, has returned and is holding a literary gathering. It is said that there will be an exhibition of Mr. Liu Donghe's new genuine works. Many students who practice Confucianism are preparing to go and observe it, and also to see the excitement."

"After all, I heard that many people from the Hanlin Academy have also been dispatched, saying they want to drive that shameless Lingxiao Flower Goddess out of Chang'an. For this, they even came to the Imperial Academy and pulled in many people, hoping everyone would go and watch."

"However, since Student Li Qi has something on, I won't press the invitation. Perhaps we can go together another time," the Lord of Pestilence said with some regret.

He had wanted to take this opportunity to invite Li Qi out and make friends.

After all, in the Lord of Pestilence's view, the answer Li Qi wanted was nothing. Li Qi didn't even ask the Lord of Pestilence for any answer; he just came to look at his main body, and the Lord of Pestilence didn't explain anything.

But he had genuinely received a custom-made superior cultivation method from Li Qi to control the dissipation of his body's power, and this certainly required thanks.

Moreover, this Li Qi was indeed a capable person, and befriending him would also be beneficial.

Li Qi heard this and smiled: "What a coincidence! My business tomorrow is also to go to this literary gathering!"

The Lord of Pestilence controlled the sea to ripple: "Such a thing! Then it's settled, we'll go together tomorrow."

"Good, good," Li Qi nodded.

"Alright, then I will now create a suitable Physical Body. We'll meet at the venue tomorrow. This is a rare grand event; not to mention the return of the Lingxiao Flower Goddess, just the handwritten works of a Third Rank Grandmaster are worth seeing," the Lord of Pestilence said.

Li Qi nodded, and the two exchanged a few more pleasantries.

Immediately, Li Qi left and returned to the dining hall.

The Peng Hai Cauldron was still there. Li Qi stepped forward to apologize, then wrote his post-meal review for the day, and then left, embarking on his journey home.

On the way, he continued to fall into deep thought.

Anyway, this was Chang'an, so he didn't worry about public safety. He could fully immerse himself in this, as long as he didn't take the wrong path, he didn't have to worry about anyone stealing or robbing him in Chang'an.

He was a bit anxious.

He couldn't help but be anxious; the answer was right in front of him, yet he couldn't grasp it!

With the Lord of Pestilence's inspiration, he felt he had taken a big step forward. Many previous doubts were answered, as if he had vaguely seen the answer.

Time, oh time. He really wished he could have a mental time chamber to quietly go into seclusion for a hundred years.

However, while Li Qi was deep in thought, returning home like a robot following a routine, behind him, a person was brazenly following, with no intention of stealthy trailing.

Upon closer inspection, it was none other than Yu Zao.