Chapter 523: Win or Lose

The “Heaven's Five Thunders” does not refer to ordinary Five Elements thunder magic.

If it were just ordinary Five Elements thunder magic like metal thunder, water thunder, or fire thunder, how could it be called “Heaven's”?

The so-called “Heaven's” refers to the wrath of the heavens, the sky striking out in anger, which is “Heaven's”.

Heaven's Five Thunders is a decree to the Five Directions Thunder Emperors: the Eastern Sky-Shaking Earthquake Thunder Emperor, the Southern Red Sky Fire-Light Suppressing Thunder Emperor, the Western Great Darkness Earth-Subduing Thunder Emperor, the Northern Sky-Overturning Sea-Flipping Thunder Emperor, and the Central Yellow Sky Collapsing-and-Cracking Thunder Emperor. These Five Directions Thunder Emperors simultaneously unleash Five Thunders.

Heavenly Thunder descends calamities, Earth Thunder slays Spirit Souls, Dragon Thunder raises wind and clouds, Divine Thunder executes righteous law, and She Thunder subdues original Qi, annihilating the enemies of Heaven.

The essence of this ritual is to act on behalf of Heaven in punishment, hence it is called “Heaven's Five Thunders”.

For the Little Heavenly Master to be able to decree the Five Directions Thunder Emperors with the power of a seventh-rank, what kind of might is that?

A great storm and rain came from the northwest, shrouding an area of a thousand li in darkness, the ground turned red like a blood pill, and the Demonic Prince instantly died.

Everyone thought the dust had settled. Having died like that, the Demonic Dao could wait to retrieve him from the underworld. It was highly unlikely he would live again; he would have to undergo Reincarnation and cultivate anew.

However, after that, many third-rank cultivators were even surprised.

The Demonic Prince truly managed to resist death with willpower.

The arriving underworld emissaries couldn't get close, and Reincarnation couldn't even take his shattered Spirit Soul. Moreover, he remained expressionless, continuing to do what he was supposed to do.

Even the Little Heavenly Master was frightened; he couldn't for the life of him figure out how this was done.

But when that boundless Demonic Qi rushed over, the Little Heavenly Master trembled.

Let alone the Little Heavenly Master, even Li Qi was frightened.

Oh, no, Li Qi was never very brave to begin with, so it should be rephrased.

Let alone Li Qi, even the Little Heavenly Master was frightened!

That boundless killing intent, and the will strong enough to resist death, made the Little Heavenly Master truly realize the terrifying aspect of the Demonic Dao.

What is the greatest strength of the Heavenly Demon, the supreme existence of the Demonic Dao?

Thanks to the Buddhist sect's tireless public education, everyone knows.

The Heavenly Demon lineage's philosophy is: I am the world, an extreme solipsism. Everything in the world is a self-projection of the Heavenly Demon, and the demonic thoughtss in your hearts are proof that you other existences are merely projections.

All existences are Heavenly Demons, and the Heavenly Demon is also all existences simultaneously. Who dares say that the demonic thoughtss in their heart do not actually belong to themselves?

You have demonic thoughtss in your heart, and as is well known, all demonic thoughtss are Heavenly Demons.

demonic thoughtss are a component of the Heavenly Demon, and if demonic thoughtss belong to the cultivator themselves and also to the Heavenly Demon, doesn't that prove that cultivators and Heavenly Demons are… actually one?

Therefore, for the Dao Orthodoxy of the Heavenly Demon, the entire world originates from self-spiritual projection. Apart from 'I', everything in the world has no actual meaning.

Absolutely idealistic, absolutely solipsistic; apart from 'I', nothing exists.

Expanding on this, the willpower of other Dao Orthodoxys can only be used for self-control, but the willpower of the Heavenly Demon lineage… actually possesses real power.

If your firm mind is not crushed by objective reality, then your will can influence objective reality.

Now, this is precisely the case.

The Demonic Prince doesn't want to die, so he won't die, unless you can break his will and force him to accept death.

The Little Heavenly Master also realized this, and thus, a flaw appeared in the Little Heavenly Master's mind.

Facing a monster who truly won't die because he says, 'I don't want to die,' how can one win?

The Little Heavenly Master's resolve to win wavered.

Thus, demonic thoughtss arose from his heart. With demonic thoughtss within and Demonic Qi without, the Demonic Prince seized this opportunity, with a completely shattered body and a completely shattered Spirit Soul, resisting death while attempting to shatter the Little Heavenly Master's belief.

If his belief shattered, even his Dao Heart would be affected.

However, at this moment, someone from the Dao Sect made a move.

A third-rank Earth Immortal walked out of the crowd and glanced at the Demonic Prince.

With just one glance, the Demonic Prince's 'willpower' directly collapsed.

This was the first time the Demonic Prince lost his composure in this battle.

Under the gaze of the third-rank, even the Demonic Prince began to tremble.

Fear, bone-deep fear, mercilessly enveloped the Demonic Prince's mind… His firm will, capable of resisting death, was instantly shattered by that single glance.

With his willpower broken, the Demonic Prince rapidly entered true death.

Fortunately, at this moment, another Demonic Dao magnate made a move, quickly restoring the Demonic Prince's body and reviving him.

It's just that, with elders from both sides making a move, the battle naturally ceased.

However, the winner and loser were decided.

The Little Heavenly Master lost.

If no elder had intervened, he would have had his Dao Heart crushed by the Demonic Prince. He wouldn't have died, but his cultivation might have been lost.

Afterward, it was time for arguments.

The Demonic Dao sneered that the Dao Sect was a sore loser, and that a third-rank attacking a seventh-rank was disgraceful.

The Dao Sect accused the Demonic Prince of being vicious and ruthless, stating that it was clearly just a sparring match, and the Little Heavenly Master had held back multiple times, showing his demeanor, but the Demonic Prince was clearly aiming to kill, so an elder naturally had to intervene.

The Demonic Dao was even more unconvinced, saying that a third-rank personally intervening, even if it was just a glance, could shatter a Martial Artist's pride and break his Martial Dao path, and incidentally make him lose motivation and spirit. Now that the Demonic Prince had directly endured it, this was clearly an attempt to shatter the Demonic Prince's霸者 Dao foundation, to break all his spirit and pride, and turn him into a cripple from then on. It was all the same thing, but if you want to talk about viciousness and ruthlessness, you are more malicious.

Martial Artists have always been known for their firm Martial Dao Heart, but a third-rank's gaze is enough to destroy a Martial Artist's backbone. The Demonic Prince directly endured it, and it is indeed possible that his Dao Heart would be lost from then on, and when fighting others, he might recall that gaze and be too frightened to elevate his cultivation.

Then both sides argued, and the surrounding spectators dispersed.

Arguing was fine, but if they started fighting while arguing, the spectators would be in trouble.

Li Qi and Shen Shuibi also quickly left.

Anyway, the two who were fighting were heavily injured and lying there.

However, Li Qi always felt that, according to typical developments, he should be the one lying there. With so many people watching, he should be the one shining brightly and having his reputation spread throughout the world or something.

But never mind. The world is so vast; no matter how strong you are, there's always someone stronger. Besides, Li Qi didn't want to be the center of the world at all.

On the path of Dao, what use is fame?

Striving for power and profit, fame and wealth, are but fleeting clouds. Enough is enough; what's the use of more?

Only when it's not enough, and when material scarcity affects the path of Dao, will those pursuing Dao find ways to acquire resources.

To put it bluntly, they are not swayed by greed and vanity. Although they still possess the seven emotions and six desires, anyone who can't distinguish and understand these will die halfway.

After watching the battle, Li Qi and Shen Shuibi spent some time returning to Huliang.

Then, from Huliang to the northeastern border of the Human Dao.

Upon returning to the Human Dao's territory, they took an Earth Flow Vehicle to the nearest Golden Dais.

The Human Dao's traffic rules are too strict; Old Ma doesn't have a permit and can't drive on the road, so they could only buy tickets and take the vehicle.

They arrived at the Golden Dais and instantly reached the border between the Human Dao and Baiyue.

Then they arrived at Baiyue.

After arriving in Baiyue, Li Qi didn't rush to leave. Instead, he planned to visit old acquaintances. Anyway, going to the Star-Mansion Array could barely be considered on the way, just an extra hundred thousand li or so.

Visiting old acquaintances, of course, meant the Paibo Gang members he had arranged in Song Kingdom.

The journey to Song Kingdom took less than seven days.

They arrived at the place where he had originally arranged for the Paibo Gang.

Old Ma, as usual, transformed into a loach and hung on Li Qi's shoulder.

The rabbit also followed Li Qi, but in the Baiyue Area, she still used an invisibility spell.

There were too many Mortals, which could easily cause a disturbance.

The fully recovered Shen Shuibi, even with her face covered, her mere aura could make people unable to look away. This was a beauty derived from the Dao principles; a fifth-rank in Baiyue was truly too high.

Therefore, even if they were to meet Li Qi's old acquaintances, it would be when they met them; there was no need to show her face on the street.

Li Qi descended from the sky and arrived in Song Kingdom.

Song Kingdom, next to Great Deer Kingdom, a Baiyue Kingdom that was conquered by Tang Nation in three days, has now completely undergone a transformation. The original rulers, various Shamanes, either fled or died, and various Anomolus Spirits, demons, and cultivators from other Dao Orthodoxys have all been dealt with cleanly by the Human Dao.

Today's Song Kingdom is very 'clean' and much closer to the normal standards of the world.

In the world, places as backward as the Baiyue Area are truly rare. The damage caused by the Human-Shaman Dao struggle here was too great; cultivators born here have a path that is several times harder than others.

Therefore, after Tang Nation cleaned up Song Kingdom, it actually appeared more advanced and fresh.

“There's no sewage on the streets, which is quite amazing,” Shen Shuibi walked beside Li Qi, but she was invisible, so Li Qi couldn't see her, only capture her voice through True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

“After all, someone is responsible for cleaning it up. The Human Dao, putting aside other things, is truly clean, it's just too clean…” Li Qi shook his head and sighed.

Yes, it's too clean.

So clean that only 'humans' are left.

However, Li Qi didn't pay too much attention to these things. After all, he had even seen the true Human Dao, so Song Kingdom naturally came as no surprise.

He quickly arrived at the place where he had arranged the Paibo Gang. Now, almost three years have passed since the arrangement. What is the current situation of the Paibo Gang?

He was a little curious.

With this feeling, Li Qi prepared to walk towards that residence.

However, the sixth sense of a Shaman suddenly gave him a bad feeling.

He immediately accelerated, quickly flashed, and in an instant, crossed several li, directly descending from the sky into that residence.

Shen Shuibi followed suit. Keeping up with Li Qi's movements was not difficult for her.

Upon entering the residence, Li Qi discovered that it had already been abandoned.

Indeed, a Shaman's premonition rarely goes wrong.

He immediately laid out a pile of tools, sat down on the spot, and began to try to deduce.

After all, as a Shaman, fortune-telling and divination are part of his job. Even if he wasn't a professional Diviner, Li Qi actually possessed divination abilities like Qi observation.

Now, with a sixth-rank cultivation, using their residence as the foundation for divination, divining a group of people whose average cultivation was unranked shouldn't be a problem.

Shen Shuibi stood by, waiting for Li Qi to burn a tortoise shell and examine the patterns on it.

After Li Qi finished looking, he sighed: “The Paibo Gang has disbanded.”

“Disbanded?” Shen Shuibi tilted her head, then counted on her fingers, beginning to deduce Karma.

A fifth-rank deducing an unranked person can follow the clues all the way back without obstruction, even seeing the other person's childhood. It just requires computing power and is not easy, so people don't usually do it.

But at this moment, it was clearly necessary to do so.

Deduction itself is actually using certain clues to trace back to more clues, and then, through these clues, piecing together the complete sequence of events.

Mortals can also complete deductions through some thinking, and cultivators are even more convenient; they possess extraordinary tracing abilities, even being able to deduce what happened in a residence from the traces within it, thereby obtaining more information and proceeding to the next step of deduction.

However, this is the Dao Sect's method of deduction, mainly relying on computing power, similar to Laplace's demon.

Knowing the present, one also knows the past and the future. Although the world may be random, it is still rational on a macroscopic level. With sufficient computing power and cultivation, one can deduce with high accuracy.

As for Li Qi's Shaman deduction method, that is metaphysics; it is guidance from the 'netherworld', including instructions from local natural spirits, records from Karma lines, and even the Shaman's own 'intuition'.

It doesn't require much cultivation or computing power, but its accuracy is also very metaphysical, often producing inexplicable results.

But no matter what, a fifth-rank and a sixth-rank deducing an unranked person will not have much discrepancy, unless a Great Power intervenes to obscure Karma, otherwise there will be no difference.

So the results obtained by the two were almost identical, with only some subtle minor differences.

The Paibo Gang disbanded.

The reason was also simple: Sixth Uncle, the core figure, died.

Sixth Uncle's health had never been good. After all, he had endured half a lifetime of hardship and exhaustion. Hauling boats itself was a job that squeezed the body, grinding bones to feed the belly, and the excessive exploitation had already made his life precarious.

His talent was also poor, and he started cultivating too late, making it almost impossible for him to embark on the path of cultivation. It was better to let him enjoy a few good days after the rise of the Paibo Gang during his last bit of time.

After Sixth Uncle's death, the Paibo Gang split and then descended into internal strife.

After the internal strife, the new people in the Paibo Gang, those who joined later, such as Liu Bo and others, began to rise up without Sixth Uncle's suppression (see Chapter 430 for details).

Without Sixth Uncle's prestige to suppress them, they incited internal strife, vying for the Carp Current Intent, because this was originally the reason why outsiders joined the Paibo Gang.

If it weren't for the cultivation method, who would risk their lives for you?

Ultimately, after an internal war, some died, some scattered, leaving a mess, and this place was abandoned.

Li Qi had given them a choice, but they ultimately failed to choose the right path. Even after witnessing Li Qi's power, they still fought to the death for the Carp Current Intent.

Li Qi shook his head. Everyone chooses their own path; no one can help.

However…

He flew up, heading towards Sixth Uncle's grave.

Sixth Uncle's life had come to an end. Although Li Qi did not advocate manipulating Reincarnation, it was still possible to hold a memorial ceremony for him, accumulate Yin Virtue, and help him have a good Reincarnation.

A memorial ceremony, to bid farewell to this old man who first saved his life and allowed him to gain a foothold in this world.