Chapter 453: Reason

Li Qi readily accepted Wang Dun's invitation to the Doctrinal Canon.

Mainly, he truly found it difficult to refuse what the other party offered.

However, before leaving, Li Qi still asked, "No one should know that I came here to eat, so how did Brother Wang find me?"

"Oh, you mean that? I recently met a monk who is very accurate at fortune-telling. He told me to come to a restaurant on this street at this time to find the person I wanted to see, saying he was eating a six-hundred-year-old swordfish," Wang Dun said with a smile. "So I asked the stall owners on this street. Today, there were only two six-hundred-year-old swordfish. I checked both places, and naturally, I found you, Brother Li Qi."

"He even calculated the age of the swordfish?" Li Qi was astonished. This monk's fortune-telling was truly impressive.

However, he wasn't that surprised.

Monks are inherently skilled in divination, even comparable to Diviner. Information from any source reveals the extent of these monks' spiritual abilities, to the point where they can divine a person's past and future lives, seeing clearly what a person will do and encounter in their next life.

"Indeed, he follows the path of a master. He seems to be an enlightened monk, with a cultivation of Rank Seven, which is already quite strong," Wang Dun said.

"Then how did Brother Wang come to know such a person?" Li Qi stood up, preparing to go with Wang Dun to the so-called 'Doctrinal Canon,' but he didn't forget to ask his question.

This monk's calculations were so precise that Li Qi might be able to use him, especially since he still had Dragon scales and Dragon blood. Although he could perform divination himself, it was always better to have a professional do it.

"Haha, that still relies on that ocean-going ship. That monk also needed a spot on the ocean-going ship. He reportedly needed to do something in the East Sea, so he used divination to find out I still had tickets. He then proactively came to me and offered a trade, hoping to do something for me in exchange for a spot. And just like that, I had him help me find you, Brother Li Qi, and it truly worked," Wang Dun said with a chuckle, his body parts rattling.

So that was it. Li Qi nodded, but the constantly rattling parts made Li Qi unable to resist scrutinizing the other party's Physical Body again. Although True Knowledge Dao Resonance would be repelled and the Dao Principle Extractor would be detected, ordinary visual inspection could still provide some information.

The other party's Physical Body still retained some flesh and blood, such as the brain and heart. These organs seemed to maintain sufficient vitality and felt very healthy.

But most of the limbs, things like muscles and bones, had already been replaced with Spiritual Artifact.

As they walked along the road towards the Doctrinal Canon, Li Qi asked again, "Brother Wang, what is the purpose and benefit of your modification…? Will it not damage the Physical Body? A person's natural Physical Body is so exquisite, and the microcosm within the human body is even natural, formed by natural processes, containing profound principles. If you just replace it like this, how will you compensate for it in the future?"

"Ah? Compensate for it? Why compensate for it? Don't you think your Physical Body is very weak?" Wang Dun became interested when he heard Li Qi ask this.

From the look of it, he was eager to show off his Spiritual Artifact body to others.

Li Qi pondered for a moment, estimated his own capabilities, and then said, "My Physical Body… how should I put it? I am a Shaman. It's natural for my Physical Body to be weak, as I haven't really trained it much. But if I condense Qi from mountains and supplement it with Qi from water to dissipate force, and if I can utilize some hydraulic principles and then expand my microcosm to amplify my inner body spirits, I can now… probably lift four million catties of heavy objects. But this is just my Physical Body. If I don't use my Physical Body, but instead use spellcraft, this number can increase by about four to five thousand times. Moving mountains and filling lakes would still be more than enough."

"When you condense power with mountain Qi and water Qi, isn't that essentially still using spellcraft to strengthen your Physical Body? If you don't use anything, what level can your Physical Body reach?" Wang Dun asked again.

"Hmm… without using anything, relying purely on muscle, then I should be able to lift one hundred thousand catties of heavy objects. If I burst forth, I can double that, which is probably the level of a Rank Nine Martial Artist's full-strength strike," Li Qi calculated, arriving at the answer.

There was nothing he could do. He was a Shaman, so he didn't train his body much, and his Physical Body was weak.

But he excelled in various Divine Abilities and spellcraft, as well as numerous mysterious knowledge and insights. His methods of cursing and communication were also unique. For him, the Physical Body didn't need to be overly emphasized. Some Spirit Shaman would even directly abandon their bodies and maintain their existence with a pure Spirit Soul, changing bodies whenever they felt like it.

Anyway, Spirit Shaman excelled at Possession, which made them less likely to die. If their Physical Body was killed, their Spirit Soul could simply escape, making it easy.

As they spoke, they had already arrived at the parking lot.

What was called a parking lot was actually more like a stable, filled with all sorts of mounts, large and small, aquatic and terrestrial.

It was divided into two sections: one for deep water, and the other an open space.

Old Ma was in the open space, being attended to by a snail-person who was brushing his fur and feeding him seaweed.

The snail-people had a rather unique appearance. Most of them were like sea snails or clams. The so-called 'clam girls' were typical snail-people. They had natural shells, which they usually carried with them, while their Physical Bodies were strange and varied. Some were indistinguishable from humans, while others looked like lobsters.

This scene made Li Qi very angry.

Oh my god, the seafood dish the chef served at the restaurant earlier was the same type as Old Ma.

How dare they charge him so much for that?!

However, before Li Qi's anger could erupt, Wang Dun said, "Look, you excel at Divine Abilities and spellcraft, but you're not good at Physical Body combat. Isn't that actually a big weakness? If someone can target your Physical Body or get close to you, it's very difficult for you to resist. For example, if a Martial Artist gets close, you'd basically be defeated instantly, right?"

"If a Martial Artist gets close, then naturally I have no means of resistance. However, I also have trump cards. With some Spiritual Artifact and Divine Abilities, I can indeed secure a bit of Life Qi for myself. But your Spiritual Artifact body should achieve the same effect; it's impossible to overwhelm a Martial Artist," Li Qi said.

"Oh? Is that so? Brother Li Qi, please observe the strength of my arm." With that, Wang Dun reached out and grabbed a boat nearby.

As a place similar to a parking lot, there were, of course, boats or other flying Spiritual Artifact here, just placed alongside other mounts.

This boat was also a treasure ship, about one or two hundred meters long, and it looked to weigh over twenty million catties, or about ten to twenty thousand tons.

Then, Wang Dun gently stood up. The ground cracked slightly, but with just one hand, he lifted the entire boat.

Li Qi's pupils contracted.

Twenty million catties with one arm meant that if he used his whole body, this strength could increase four or five times, or even ten times, without any problem.

But he immediately noticed that Wang Dun's strength was not mere brute force, but involved the application of skill, and specifically, Martial Dao techniques.

"That is indeed astonishing, but Brother Wang, for the sake of mere physical strength, you've also cultivated the Martial Dao. Isn't that a bit of a waste of effort? You're putting the cart before the horse," Li Qi shook his head and commented.

This Spiritual Artifact body certainly had its unique aspects, but to unleash its physical power, one still needed to use Martial Dao techniques.

That meant needing to learn the Martial Dao, which was a pure waste of time. With that time, one could delve deeper into the Dao path and spellcraft, yielding greater returns.

Let's put it this way: after doing all this, perhaps you might have some resistance when facing close combat, but if you used that time to refine your spellcraft, a Martial Artist might not even be able to get close to you at all.

It was completely putting the cart before the horse.

"Learning? Why learn?" Wang Dun retorted.

"Why learn? It's obvious, people must learn these techniques to use them." Li Qi frowned.

"But this hand is a Spiritual Artifact," Wang Dun answered with a smile.

This answer suddenly gave Li Qi a jolt.

Right!

This entire body was Spiritual Artifact!

What are Spiritual Artifact? They are things that can be modified, edited, and even directly infused with an entire spell or Formation. Many Spiritual Artifact can operate autonomously.

In other words, the Martial Dao techniques just now weren't learned at all; they were inherent to that arm.

Multi-purpose, with built-in martial arts and even various spellcraft. Maintenance… it probably didn't even need maintenance. If it broke, you just pull it off and replace it, plug and play.

Whatever spellcraft you wanted to learn, you didn't need to learn it yourself. You just plug an installation module into your body, and your 'arms and legs' would learn it themselves. Then you just needed to activate it to use it.

Such a set of Spiritual Artifact bodies, apart from the cost and potential impact on the human microcosm, had immeasurable benefits. With such a set, it truly reached the Rank of 'having no weaknesses.'

Seeing Li Qi's surprised expression, Wang Dun smiled smugly, "Understand now? This is the Spiritual Artifact body developed by my Dao of Reason. How could it have so many drawbacks? Moreover, this modification is reversible. To put it plainly, isn't our Physical Body just a precisely operating Spiritual Artifact? It's just that the parts that make up this Spiritual Artifact are not metal components and runes or Formation bases, but flesh, bones, and nerves. Essentially, there's no difference."

"Furthermore, flesh and bones themselves are Materials for refining many Spiritual Artifact, so Spiritual Artifact can completely replace the Physical Body. Moreover, one can completely reshape the Physical Body. If I wanted to, I have many bodies I could switch between. We had a period of cooperation with the Eclectic School, and at that time, our lineage had already created artificial bodies and solved the compatibility issues of the thinking organs transitioning between multiple bodies."

"The Spiritual Artifact body is never an abandonment, but a brand new choice. Isn't this what we want? To exhaust the principles of all things, find the commonalities among them, and keep exploring until we discover a theory that can explain all things in the world. Then, these discovered things can be used by all sentient beings. Oh, Brother Li Qi, do you want to try adding an extra hand to yourself? It's very useful, you know, sometimes it has miraculous effects," Wang Dun said.

Li Qi greatly admired the philosophy of the Dao of Reason, but he politely declined the idea of transplanting an extra hand. So he cupped his hands and said, "No thank you… I am a Shaman, and this would really be of little use to me. I'll pass."

"What a pity. But everyone has their own ambitions, it doesn't matter. Let's go first, we'll get our respective mounts, and then go to my Doctrinal Canon! Everyone can't wait!"

Wang Dun, excited, went directly to find his mount.

Li Qi also found Old Ma, spoke a few words to him, and then the two, one person and one horse, set off to meet Wang Dun.

Wang Dun's mount was very peculiar; it was a… uh, self-propelled mecha?

It was roughly spherical, with four mechanical legs, as well as grapples and propellers. It looked like it could be used in all terrains, a design with a considerable sense of technology.

The entire structure was made of pure metal, with a humanoid 'socket' installed on it. An ordinary person certainly couldn't enter it, nor could they stand steadily inside, but Wang Dun's Spiritual Artifact body could easily plug itself in, just like a USB drive into a USB port, fitting perfectly. It was clearly custom-made.

"Brother Wang, this is…?" Li Qi was astonished.

"I made it myself, it's very useful. Come on, I'll take you to my Doctrinal Canon! It's not far, only about fifteen minutes away." Wang Dun was impatient and immediately accelerated.

Of course, it was still at a speed the city could accommodate.

After all, at this distance, a Rank Seven person exploding with speed could reach it in a few minutes, even if it was hundreds of miles away, but that would cause damage to the city.

As they advanced, they naturally discussed the knowledge of the Dao of Reason and Shaman Dao with each other.

These things were common knowledge to themselves, but to the other party, they were novel information. Exchanging them now was beneficial to both.

Only now did Li Qi understand the operational logic of the Dao of Reason.

The word 'Dao,' in the view of the Dao of Reason, was ethereal. When you talk about 'Dao,' it's difficult to delve deeply, to discover, or even to fundamentally explore 'Dao.'

No one has the sensory perception to directly observe 'Dao,' except for those mindless savage beasts that are formed by the Dao, as they are purely manifestations of Dao Principles.

Given this, then for these Dao seekers, the so-called pursuit of Dao is meaningless.

It's merely chasing a completely ethereal goal that can never be reached, and even if found, cannot be seen or touched. What's the use of that?

Therefore, they turned to pursue 'Li' (Principle).

What is 'Li'?

Dao is the general term; Li is the specific item.

What is universally followed by Heaven is called Dao.

What has its own rules is called Li.

Qi flows, nourishing all things. Perhaps the core within is truly that ethereal 'Dao,' but what is presented before people and can be intuitively perceived is only Li.

Dao is invisible; Li is tangible.

With this Li, there is this Heaven and Earth; with that Li, there can also be that Heaven and Earth.

For example, it's like negative numbers and positive numbers.

Positive and negative numbers are different; they have completely different properties and applications, but the rules behind them are the same.

Positive and negative numbers follow the same set of rules. This set of rules is 'Dao,' which is logic itself. This logic is invisible, but positive and negative numbers can be written on paper and calculated.

Similarly, like chemistry and biology, fundamentally they indeed follow a set of essential rules, but those rules are too ethereal, no one can find them, and there's no need to deviate from chemistry and biology to study the fundamental particles that are their essence.

Those who study chemistry only need to study the inherent laws, study chemical bonds, and see how molecules combine.

Those who study biology can study cells, metabolism, immunity, and such things. There's no need to concern themselves with what makes up cells; assume their existence and set them aside.

Because the essence detached from phenomena is meaningless, and when all phenomena have been observed, the essence will naturally become clear.

This is the Dao of 'Li'.