Chapter 455: Abstract characteristics (Yang)

While they were speaking, they finally arrived at the 'Doctrinal Canon'.

Through this conversation, Li Qi learned more about the Dao of Reason, and even managed to glean some information about The Axis of All Realms through indirect questioning.

However, Li Qi also knew that all of this was an exchange.

The other party seemed very generous in telling him these things, but this was an investment.

Ultimately, an investment seeks a return.

And that return was very simple: Li Qi's knowledge. This was an exchange.

As Li Qi, who upholds 'righteousness', he naturally wouldn't play tricks. He would give back as much as he received. So, if the Doctrinal Canon spoke about the Dao Principle Reader, he wouldn't hide anything.

Of course, many things concerning his personal safety and life could not be revealed, but he could compensate by giving more knowledge in other areas.

They arrived at the Doctrinal Canon.

Li Qi could see that the Doctrinal Canon's base... was actually on a ship.

It was an extremely vast treasure ship, adorned with carved and镂丹, with blue canopies and crimson borders, its Qi soaring to the heavens, looking like a mountain from afar. It had elevated walkways, capable of carrying six or seven thousand people and tens of thousands of bushels of goods.

At the bow of the ship, there was a stone drum, with a large character '警' (warning) carved upon it.

Li Qi had heard of this type of drum.

"Records of the Sea": The world says: when the stone drum sounds, there will be bandits and chaos. This drum has sounded repeatedly, and indeed there were thieves. There are many Mountain and Water Deities and water spirits, so one should not ascend lightly. The people's king offered sacrifices to the Mountain and Water Deities , seeking to reach the drum's location, and thus succeeded. He grasped the mallet and struck the drum, and its sound, like that of gold and jade, was heard throughout the villages. Upon descending the mountain, he immediately fell ill and died. This was ascending the mountain to invite disaster, and striking the drum to commit suicide.

This was a warning drum, utilizing the mysterious methods of Shaman Dao. It relied on consulting the opinions of the Mountain and Water Deities or spirits from various places. If there was danger, an invisible spirit would strike this drum to warn people.

Of course, if one struck this drum casually when there was no danger, it would disturb the Mountain and Water Deities below, and one might suffer retaliation.

This was not just an ordinary disturbance; due to the subtle connection between the stone drum and the Mountain and Water Deities , striking it casually would cause them severe shock, and they would naturally retaliate.

Besides this, the ship was also enveloped in a layer of treasure light.

Li Qi recognized the ship's hull; it was made from the trunk of a Fusang Tree.

Fusang Wood: Its leaves resemble those of the phoenix tree. When they first emerge, they are like bamboo shoots and can be eaten. Its fruit is like a red pear. Its bark can be spun into cloth for clothing or even brocade. It bears fruit once every nine thousand years. Eating it causes one's body to glow with Jin Qi (Metal Energy) and one's heart to soar.

Moreover, this item has an Old Ancestor, which is the Fusang Divine Tree where the sun rests.

The ship before him was certainly not made from the branches of the Fusang Divine Tree, but it should be crafted from high-grade Fusang Wood. Its entire structure emitted a strong Yang Qi, sufficient to suppress the yin and evil in the water.

Furthermore, there was a tall building on the ship's bridge, with eight sides and eight corners, each hanging eight treasures, all of which Li Qi recognized.

The first is called 'Xuanhuang Talisman', shaped like a tablet, about eight inches long and three inches wide, round at the top and square at the bottom, with a hole near the round part. It is made of Huang Yu, its color like steamed chestnuts, deep and smooth like congealed fat, capable of warding off human warfare, epidemics, and evil spirits.

The second is called 'Jade Chicken', with complete feather patterns, made of white jade. It appears when the world is governed by filial piety.

The third is called 'Valley Bi', made of white jade, five or six inches in diameter. Its grain patterns grow naturally, indistinguishable from carved ones. If used in sacrifice, the five grains will be abundant.

The fourth is called 'Jade Ring'. Also white jade. Six inches in diameter, its jade color is twice as good as ordinary jade, and its luster is even more radiant and extraordinary. Holding it can give a person a powerful aura, causing others to feel a sense of attachment upon seeing them.

The fifth is called 'Ruyi Pearl', which is the Ruyi Pearl among the 'Great Pearls' mentioned earlier. It is perfectly round, the size of a chicken egg, and its light is crystal clear. Placed in a hall, it shines like a full moon.

The sixth is called 'Red Mackerel', as large as a giant chestnut, red and rotten like a cherry. It appears to shatter at a touch, but when touched, it is firm and unbreakable, and thousands of Jin Qi (Metal Energy) cannot harm it in the slightest.

The seventh is called 'Precious Jade Seal', about half the size of a hand, with a pattern like a deer's footprint. When an object is placed in its center, its true form appears, capable of breaking through illusions.

The eighth is 'Thunder God Stone', two pieces, axe-shaped, about four inches long and an inch wide, without holes, smooth like green jade, capable of suppressing demons and evil, like the striking hammer and pestle of the Thunder God.

These eight treasures hung in eight directions. From Li Qi's Qi observation perspective, the entire ship glowed with white Qi reaching the sky, illuminating like the moon. The methods of suppression used were so profound that even Li Qi did not know them.

"As expected of a fifth-grade Spiritual Artifact ship... Your Dao of Reason is on this?" Li Qi looked at Wang Dun.

"Yes, we all live here now. After all, we built this East Isle. For now, we are responsible for its construction, maintenance, and upkeep. Later, others will take over. The shift changes every two hundred years, which is actually quite good," Wang Dun replied with a smile, then led Li Qi onto the ship.

A fifth-grade Spiritual Artifact ship, filled with countless treasures. The Dao of Reason's paraphernalia was truly ridiculously abundant. They say bad students have many stationery items; this group of good students' stationery was simply incredible...

Is this the item-based flow?

Indeed, if a manufacturing profession has so many weapons that they can sell them, it means they must be hiding even better ones themselves. As the Dao of Reason, known throughout the world for its item-based flow, their level was truly not to be underestimated.

Just from this one treasure ship, Li Qi knew that while humanity might have many Spiritual Artifacts, they were definitely inferior to the Dao of Reason in terms of quality and creativity. The Dao of Reason had already analyzed and replicated various techniques from numerous Dao Orthodoxy, incorporating them all and making them readily available for use.

Just from this one ship, Li Qi had already seen the shadows of many Dao paths. Of course, what he was most familiar with was the Shaman Dao suppression method just mentioned, but even with that, he couldn't see its intricacies.

As for the others, he understood even less.

Since Li Qi began his journey, he had rarely encountered things he completely failed to understand. The treasure ship before him instantly expanded his inventory of unseen knowledge.

However, this also raised other questions for him.

"By the way, I heard that the limit of a Spiritual Artifact assembly line is sixth-grade, which means mass-producing Spiritual Artifacts of around sixth-grade. If the Dao of Reason cultivates beyond fifth-grade, can they still maintain such comprehensive strength without weaknesses?" Li Qi suddenly realized this and looked at Wang Dun.

But Wang Dun did not answer directly, instead smiling, "For example, in this Deep Ocean, the Dao of Reason sells seventh-grade ships, and the price is very fair, basically only requiring a world of the corresponding grade."

"But ships above fifth-grade are not for sale; only we have them."

Li Qi understood.

As they spoke, they had already arrived inside the Dao of Reason.

There were many people in the Dao of Reason. Li Qi looked around and estimated there were over a dozen people. Wang Dun greeted each one, then said somewhat strangely, "Oh, where is Great Master Jingmo? Did he leave?"

Li Qi also observed these people, who should all be from the Dao of Reason. However... to Li Qi's surprise, not everyone had modified their bodies with Magic Treasures; many still had ordinary Physical Bodies.

It seemed that the Dao of Reason was not entirely composed of the modification faction; they must have many internal divisions.

At this moment, one of them nodded, then looked at Li Qi curiously: "The Great Master said he had something to take care of and left first. Who is this behind you?"

"Haha, this is Brother Li Qi! He's here today to explain the Dao Principle Reader to us! I've been looking for him for days, and I finally managed to invite him over!" Wang Dun said, patting his chest.

As soon as he said this, many people around immediately stood up, their eyes shining!

This is the person who understands the Dao Principle Reader?!

Li Qi was like a roasted chicken arriving amidst a group of hungry ghosts. This group of hungry ghosts immediately stood up and surrounded him, encasing him in the middle.

This sentence had two meanings.

However, Li Qi cleared his throat twice: "So... do we need to wait for that Great Master to come? Or should we start now?"

He wasn't surprised by this reaction, because through their previous conversation, he had already understood the importance of the Dao Principle Reader to these members of the Dao of Reason.

Everything the Dao of Reason currently does is based on analyzing and dissecting other Dao paths, then applying them in practice without causing conflicts.

Therefore, for them, how to unify the conflicts of other Dao paths is particularly important, because the Dao of Reason cannot examine other Dao paths from the perspective of the original Dao path.

For example, if he wanted to combine a human Dao technique and a Shaman Dao technique to create a Formation Plate.

At this time, he could not use the principles and perspectives of the human Dao, nor could he use the perspectives of Shaman Dao, because using these two perspectives and principles would inevitably lead to incompatibility.

Therefore, at this point, there must be an impartial third-party perspective to ensure that these methods can be used simultaneously. So, they need to master as many compatible third-party perspectives as possible.

And such a third-party perspective is not so easy to obtain. This thing is a means for a Dao path to understand the world, and most of them are very complex and precise.

And the Dao Principle Reader is clearly the Spirit Dao's method of understanding the world. For these Dao of Reason members, the Spirit Dao's Dao Principle Reader, especially the Shaman improved version, is a completely new perspective, a very useful thing. Through this perspective, they can integrate more techniques.

Therefore, it's no wonder Wang Dun was so eager, even paying a large amount of other knowledge and the entrance fee for this ship to exchange for Li Qi's Dao Principle Reader.

Moreover, this exchange of knowledge was far from over.

Li Qi came here to attend lectures, not just to give lectures to others. He would learn many, many things here before leaving.

How could he just leave casually after finally connecting with the Dao of Reason?

On the other side, Wang Dun urged: "No time to lose, let's start now!"

"Good!"

"Let's begin quickly! Please take your seat, sir!"

"Tea has been prepared here. Please start the lecture quickly. The teaching aids are all ready. What form will the explanatory illusions take? Flat or three-dimensional?"

A group of Dao of Reason members eagerly opened the projector. This device could display different images through illusions based on the operation, making them lifelike and very convenient for teaching and giving examples.

Li Qi stood before everyone, cleared his throat twice, and said, "Ahem, then I'll just use flat ones. Please excuse me. If there's anything I say incorrectly, please feel free to correct me. Let's learn from each other and make progress together!"

After speaking, he began to demonstrate and explain his Dao Principle Reader.

The Dao Principle Reader is the sensory organ of those on the Spirit Dao.

As purely spiritual beings, they don't even have a Spirit Soul.

Because the Spirit Soul is also a substance, it can be perceived, touched, and even destroyed by powerful forces. It is merely a mysterious substance that can exist as a thinking organ.

Pure spirit, however, is something even more mysterious and profound. They do not rely on any substance and cannot perceive things in the material world, just as you cannot perceive the number 'one' in the material world.

You can perceive things very similar to 'one', such as one cup of water, one bowl of rice, one tree, one horse, one building, one ship.

But never 'one' itself.

'One' is an extremely abstract, extremely symbolic thing that exists only in pure logic. It has no real-world equivalent, and all numbers are like this.

However, in the Dao Principle Reader, you can clearly feel 'one'. You can directly read the abstract logic within this concrete world.

The Spirit Dao calls these information flows and abstract logic 'Dao' and believes this is the foundation of all existence. Therefore, they call the ability to observe these abstract logics the 'Dao Principle Reader'.

The foundation of all this comes from abandoning the five aggregates, allowing one's senses to directly receive the impact of external things.

Because external things are material, concrete substances, they must have their abstract flip side, just as there is light there is shadow; abstraction is the inevitability of concreteness.

For example, like painting and writing.

A painting does not depict the substance itself, yet you can still see the painting and then understand what it represents. Even if the painting looks completely different from the original substance, you can still understand it.

You can also see text. This text may have no relation to the substance at all, but you can still understand what substance the text represents.

Because what you understand is not the substance itself, but the abstract qualities of the substance.

This is the 'abstract quality' of a substance. Humans can extract this abstract quality and then reproduce it, thereby recreating the substance itself in the minds of others.

This is why the Dao Principle Reader can identify concrete substances: concrete substances must possess abstract qualities that can be understood by the mind.

Through the description and portrayal of abstract qualities, a language similar to 'Dao Principle' was created.

This is also how the Spirit Dao confirms the existence of others' minds.

By understanding the abstract qualities of matter, 'Dao Principle' is transformed into a language. Because there is no private language in the world, all languages must have public accessibility. Through this public accessibility, the existence of others' minds can be confirmed, and at the same time, the abstractness of others' minds can be obtained, allowing for concretization and communication.

This is the fundamental principle of the Dao Principle Reader.

"Therefore, to understand and use the Dao Principle Reader, you first need to abandon your preconceived notions of the material world. A stone is not just a stone; behind it lies something completely different. This something is another layer of the stone's essence, a more peculiar essence beyond its mass, material composition, and spectrum."

Under Li Qi's words, the Dao of Reason members began to attempt to interact with the Dao Principle Reader.

The lecture continued.

And because Li Qi would be traveling with them to the Deep Ocean, this lecture was not a one or two-day affair.

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