Chapter 517: Daoist pursuit

The sights and sounds along the way need no further mention.

Whether it was the various poisonous insects, miasma, Anomolus Spirits, and Spiritual Plants nurtured by the abundant Heaven and Earth Origin of Shaman God Mountain, or the village residents living within it, all continued to live their lives as they always had.

However, Li Qi would occasionally pick some Spiritual Plants and fish from the Spiritual Springs he encountered while traveling, mainly to catch some fish and gather some fragrant herbs to enhance the enjoyment of his journey.

If he needed to travel quickly, he would simply let Shen Shuibi drive the Earth Flow Vehicle to the outer domains, and they would arrive in no time; traveling was primarily for relaxation.

The fish raised in the Spiritual Springs were delicious, but Li Qi got scolded for lighting a fire on the Old Horse's back.

Let him scold, the Old Horse ate plenty himself anyway.

Upon arriving at Star-Mansion Array, he skillfully found the handler to activate the switch, completed Star-Mansion Array' questions and tasks, and then gained permission to use it, instantly arriving at the edge of Baiyue.

Upon reaching the edge of Baiyue, both of them had terminals, so they could easily obtain the basic entry permit for The Axis of All Realms, which was not an issue.

However, there was traffic control in the Dao Orthodoxy, so the Old Horse couldn't fly freely at this point; everyone landed and enjoyed themselves in the bustling streets, buying local snacks and admiring the vibrant night view of the Dao Orthodoxy.

It must be said, the snacks of the Dao Orthodoxy were quite delicious; they truly knew how to enjoy themselves.

Carriages drank from embroidered hubs, the moon shone on towers, and a large shopping mall just happened to open in the sky above, with ten thousand golden lotuses scattering down onto the celestial street, lanterns rising, ten thousand petals blooming simultaneously, gathering like fireflies and scattering like stars, accompanied by the songs of orioles and the dances of swallows, and the clamor of flutes and drums.

After staying in the Dao Orthodoxy for one night, they boarded an Earth Flow Vehicle the next day, and with a rumbling sound, quickly arrived at the local Golden Dais.

Boarding the Golden Dais, they were instantly transported to the northeastern border between the Dao Orthodoxy and the Dao Orthodoxy.

The northeastern part of the world, belonging to the Dao Orthodoxy, was a peninsula and an archipelago.

The northeast region is the junction of the north and east, and as is well known, the true east of the world is the East Sea, while the north is the ice plains, so the northeast region consists of cold island groups; of course, this is the basic climate.

In reality, whatever temperature the Dao Orthodoxy wants this place to be, it will be; it doesn't matter.

In this northeastern region, there are large and small peninsulas and islands.

Commonly known as the Three Islands and Ten Continents.

As for the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Minor Grotto-Heavens, they are widely distributed throughout the entire world, not necessarily confined to the northeast.

The northeastern region is merely the foundation of the orthodox Dao Orthodoxy; the Dao Orthodoxy has never forced anyone to stay in one place since ancient times.

That would go against the meaning of carefree.

Carefree, in essence, is the ultimate pursuit of the Dao Orthodoxy; this is a conclusion Li Qi drew from Shen Shuibi and the Mount Luofu cultivation method during this period.

What is carefree?

Following one's Heart-Nature, unbound, doing whatever one desires—this is the fervent wish of Dao Orthodoxy practitioners, their ultimate goal, the ultimate goal of the entire Great Dao Orthodoxy, similar to the Dao Orthodoxy's 'replacing heaven with man' or Shaman Dao's 'absolute natural'.

A carefree state unburdened by desires, unfettered by limited perspectives, unobscured by demonic thoughtss, unconstrained by physical limitations, and unaffected by life and death—everything and anything cannot restrict this freedom.

What they seek is the eternal life of the individual, and eternal freedom.

Eternal life here does not mean living long, but rather absolute 'immortality', or rather, one dies only when one wishes to die, and can live when one wishes to live, unable to be destroyed by any means.

Even a Seal cannot achieve this; if one's Heart is free, then the body is naturally free as well.

Eternal and indestructible, unbound, acting as one pleases, and freely carefree—this is the pursuit of all 'Immortals', just as Shen Shuibi demonstrates; Shen Shuibi does not care about the life and death of strangers, because it is utterly unimportant to her.

She only wants to protect those around her, and that is enough.

But this does not mean that all True Immortals are self-centered, cruel, and merciless Demonic Overlords.

Because the difference between Immortals and Demonic Overlords is that their pursuit of carefree freedom does not find joy in the suffering of the weak; in fact, it can be said that they truly achieve the feat of making the limits of the weak their own limits, and together with all things, form an organic whole.

The “Discourse on the Equality of Things” states: “Heaven and Earth are born with me, and all things are one with me”; one is not nobler than all things, but while all things are confined by shackles, one has leaped out of the cage, truly able to experience these circumstances.

Furthermore, true carefree freedom also includes controlling one's emotions, not allowing the joys, sorrows, and pains of the mundane world to disturb one's free and pure Heart-Nature, maintaining one's natural disposition from beginning to end, while external benevolence, righteousness, morality, worldly values, fame, wealth, political doctrines, and rituals are all fences that bind and enslave people.

To truly transcend everything, to transcend physical limitations, spiritual limitations, life and death limitations, and the limitations of worldly Karma, ultimately reaching a state of absolute freedom where nothing is constrained—that is 'carefree'.

And cultivation, accumulating cultivation, and nurturing one's Heart-Nature are all for achieving the ultimate 'carefree' state, because you cannot achieve it out of thin air; cultivation is the foundation for realizing all of this, and so, the Dao Orthodoxy created many cultivation methods and magical arts to help themselves gradually approach this goal.

Of course, this is only the goal of the reclusive faction, as most Dao Orthodoxy practitioners Li Qi has encountered are from the reclusive faction, while the Dao Orthodoxy actually also has the Manifested Daoist Faction.

Li Qi has had little contact with the Manifested Daoist Faction, only knowing that they have close cooperation with the Dao Orthodoxy, with many Daoists even entering the homes of royalty and nobles, or serving as National Preceptors in the Human Emperor's palace, being granted the status of high officials.

It is likely that both sides share common interests, otherwise, it would never be so.

However, the Manifested Daoist Faction is merely a branch; since the Dao Ancestor of the Dao Orthodoxy belongs to the reclusive faction, naturally most of them are the reclusive faction, including the Three Islands and Ten Continents, especially Penglai, which is the Holy Land of the Dao Orthodoxy and the core of the reclusive faction.

Although there are no internal support mechanisms within the reclusive faction.

Everyone comes together to seek carefree freedom; they each have some Sect or personal friendships, but in reality, it's impossible for them to form an effective and complete group.

Only the Dao Orthodoxy can gather the strength of all people, while in a loose organization like the Dao Orthodoxy, everyone does their own thing, and no one interferes with anyone else.

A Cong Dragon flew across the sky, and Li Qi looked down at the sea below.

Countless islands, truly countless.

Here, practitioners seem to claim islands as their territory, and coincidentally, for Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade practitioners, creating islands out of thin air is not difficult, so there are many, many, many islands.

However, the world is vast, and this sea area is also very large, still controlled within a certain range, it is evident that these are still islands, separated by dozens of miles or more of sea, rather than forming a continuous continent.

Although dozens of miles is practically face-to-face for practitioners, it is still very far.

Li Qi looked around; he had never been to these northeastern islands before, so he naturally should take a good look at the scenery.

The islands stretched endlessly, vast and distant to gaze upon, indistinct in the far-off view, filled with strange and beautiful wonders, and peculiar crevices filling the paths.

Wind and clouds shifted, ancient trees twisted, cinnabar osmanthus bushes grew, and everywhere, jade branches stood tall, with coral growing luxuriantly.

Large coral reefs spread near these Immortal islands, with many Anomolus Spirits and even more sea beasts, giving a sense of 'island clouds steaming the great sea, and mountain mist connecting with the forests'.

However, Li Qi could also see that there were almost no cities or settlements around; instead, there were only Immortal Mountains, with occasional Daoist temples within them, rarely a Daoist, and very few people, almost no Mortals.

It seemed that without cultivation, one was not worthy of appearing in this place.

"Jade, why are there no Mortals at all? How do you manage to recruit Disciples and pass on your Legacy? You can't all go to the outer domains, right? People in the world are naturally stronger than those in the outer domains; recruiting Disciples in the outer domains is a bit uneconomical," Li Qi asked Shen Shuibi curiously.

Why does the world still need the reproduction of Mortals?

It's because the stronger the world, the more talented the people living in it naturally are.

For people in a Ninth Grade world, becoming a Ninth Grade is extremely difficult; becoming a Ninth Grade means being a top-tier existence in that world, dominating an era, a Martial Forest Supreme, with only one appearing among hundreds of millions of people.

But for people in a First Grade world, becoming a Ninth Grade is much, much simpler.

As for the world, it is a much stronger world than a First Grade world; for people born in the world, Ninth Grade is roughly one in a thousand, a huge difference, a difference of several million times.

Baiyue is an exception; this place can probably reach one in ten thousand or even more, because this is where the Dao struggle takes place, but even Baiyue can still reach the level of hundreds of thousands of times.

Therefore, abandoning these natives of the world and going to the outer domains to find Disciples would truly be unwise.

It's not that there are no people in the outer domains; those scattered geniuses who Break through the world's shackles are indeed no worse than the people of the world, after all, the base number is there; what's one in hundreds of millions? Even if one appears in trillions, the outer domains can still produce countless for you, and some super geniuses will always be born among them.

Moreover, cultivation doesn't always depend on innate talent; the way of thinking, commonly known as Heart-Nature and intelligence level, is a more valuable point to consider, so the major Dao Orthodoxys do not always choose people from the world.

But the top geniuses born in the entire outer domains are probably only on par with the world itself; abandoning the world is equivalent to abandoning nearly half of the available talent.

But Shen Shuibi shook her head and said frankly, “I don’t know. I’ve never been to Penglai. In fact, we have no contact whatsoever; we are complete strangers.”

Alright, the reclusive faction is like that.

The sounds of chickens and dogs could be heard from each other, yet they lived and died without interaction.

"That truly is strange, but it's normal to not understand some things when first arriving. Everything will become clear once we reach Penglai," Li Qi nodded.

It wasn't as if he had to know everything right now; the place he was going was Penglai, and he would certainly be able to learn more there.

The Old Horse continued its journey, swiftly gliding over the countless islands below.

Hu Liang was not far away, about two days' journey, a mere nap away.

As one of the 'Three Islands', Hu Liang served as a transportation hub and also a gathering place.

The scriptures say: “In past times, Fanghu was a place of play, where Immortals walked together, riding a single crane in the morning and a pair of wild geese in the evening, traveling back and forth between Yuanqiao and Fanghu.”

This describes the magnificent scene of Hu Liang, which is also one of the rare market places in the Dao Orthodoxy; the so-called Fanghu is Hu Liang, also known as Fangzhang.

After all, everyone is human, and although most are homebodies like Shen Shuibi, they still have basic trading needs. As more people came and went, it became like this, and eventually, they even built the teleportation point here.

Not long after, the two people and one Dragon finally arrived at Hu Liang.

Here, they could finally see a part of the Dao Orthodoxy's production capacity.

The first thing that came into view were mountains standing tall, one after another; the Dao Orthodoxy seemed to particularly enjoy living in mountains, but there were also buildings.

Mountains floated in the ethereal mist, pavilions and towers rose amidst five-colored clouds, and the surrounding world became even more 'vivid'.

Swallows flew startling butterflies, white cranes leaped, clouds gathered and began to turn, Phoenixes danced as if about to soar.

Countless small boats approached Hu Liang from the sea, and Hu Liang, the Immortal island, seemed to swallow the boats like mist, with countless boats immersed like stars in a palace, the water rippling, Spiritual Qi overflowing, dazzlingly beautiful.

There were also many flying Spiritual Artifacts or mounts, such as Li Qi and his companions, who could see many floating peaks in the sky, with one floating mountain after another suspended in mid-air.

Precious scrolls and baskets hung with golden tassels, and crimson pouches were locked with jade rings; countless golden tassels slowly descended from the Immortal Mountain to the ground below, inscribed with innumerable runes, each possessing divine power; floating peaks were connected by jade locks, with ring after ring of jade chains binding the floating peaks together, preventing them from flying too far apart.

Precious light shimmered, five colors diffused, pearls and jade embroidered, majestic and magnificent, with an imposing aura, spanning the clouds, golden powder flowing with light, dazzling over two hundred miles.

As they drew closer, Immortal music resonated in the air, and a fragrant aroma filled the surroundings, seemingly the scent of Medicinal Pills, and not just one or two; there seemed to be a large quantity of Medicinal Pills and herbs here, their emanating scent invigorating the Heart.

Continuing to approach, truly nearing Hu Liang, golden palaces chimed at dawn, ten thousand households stood in rows, jade steps and Immortal guards, sitting amidst a thousand palaces, brocade banners in the brilliant sun, feathered robes sweeping the sky, minds refreshed by purple Qi, gazes fixed on white clouds, various Immortal Beasts and spirit pets filled the ground, and many Dao Orthodoxy practitioners walked and hurried about here.

They did not appear busy, but rather leisurely went about their affairs, even the Daoist youths were the same; time seemed to slow down here, and reality became even more vivid.

The greatest characteristic was that everything became incredibly clear, as if a cinematic filter had been applied; the mountains were grander, the water clearer, the sky bluer, and even the rolling sea of clouds seemed more vibrant.

Flutes and drums soared into the sky, smoke and mist intertwined, stars outshone, lamps and candles were not bright, wind-swept windows and cloud-beams, thousands of gates and households, towers with nine pillars, gazing east at the peak of Ling Shou, the moon shading a jade bed, gazing west at the ridge of Huagai, bamboo like gold, luxuriant and dew-proof.

Human talismans intertwined, reflecting green silk, a towering purple canopy, the beauty of Immortal refinement, this was the most exquisite.

The Old Horse, usually majestic when out, truly resembled a small mud loach here, like a passerby buying steamed buns who accidentally wandered into a grand movie scene.

“This is truly… cool,” Li Qi exclaimed. “I never knew people of the Dao Orthodoxy liked such a display.”

If these were mere illusions or phantoms, it would be fine; Li Qi had seen cooler illusions, after all, he was in that line of work.

But the most terrifying thing was that all of this! It was all real!

Anyone below Third Grade couldn't create such a spectacle!