Chapter 542: New life

After that, Li Qi naturally began his daily life.

He stabilized his cultivation, slowly improved, read books at fixed times every day, then went home to take care of his child, spent ordinary days with the little rabbit, and occasionally inquired about Old Ma's situation in the Outer Domain.

Stable days, a quiet life, absolutely exhilarating.

This routine continued for fifteen years.

Fifteen years later, Li Shiwei was already seventeen years old.

The seventeen-year-old girl decided to leave home.

Actually, it wasn't very far; it was originally Li Qi's property, a world cluster development project in cooperation with Mount Luofu and the Lingxiao Kingdom Lord.

Yes, it had now evolved from individual worlds into world clusters.

The Lingxiao Kingdom Lord was quite efficient; after Shen Shuibi's Formation was completed, she used it to expand several world clusters, totaling over a million worlds.

Among them, there was one Fifth-Rank world, over thirty Sixth-Rank worlds, more than a thousand Seventh-Rank worlds, and countless Eighth-Rank, Ninth-Rank, and even unranked worlds, so many that they weren't even bothered to be included in the accounting, with only those specifically responsible for these worlds knowing the exact numbers.

Even though a casual Ninth-Rank world could have over a hundred million people, many worlds were still omitted during statistics, after all... to the Universe, a Ninth-Rank world was simply too small.

Therefore, it only further highlighted how terrifying the people of the world were.

The population of the Outer Domain was ridiculously large, but the population of the world, at most, was ten trillion; despite this huge population disparity, the number of Genius produced in the world could go head-to-head with all the Genius in the entire Outer Domain, showing how extraordinary the Aptitude of those born in the world was.

And Li Shiwei, even among those born in the world, was considered to have top-tier Aptitude; she couldn't compare to her father, but as the child of a Fifth-Rank and a Sixth-Rank, at seventeen, she was already at the Eighth-Rank Peak, and that included her combat capabilities.

Her personality was not settled, so she didn't choose her father's Shaman Dao, but instead learned the direct lineage of Mount Luofu from Yang Ning, making her a little Daoist with a very strong self-awareness.

She was already at Eighth-Rank Peak, and in terms of skill, she had no further room for improvement; what she needed now was to break through the illusions, find her Dao path, and then attain longevity.

And this was very difficult to achieve through teaching at home.

Thus, Li Qi agreed to the little girl's request, preparing to let the mischievous child go out with the next batch of Mount Luofu's team to the world cluster that was currently being developed.

Incidentally, she could also go see Old Ma.

Old Ma was also there now, but for some reason, he still hadn't attained longevity; however, Dragon Steed still had several hundred years of life left, so there was no immediate rush, and thus, it was fine for Li Shiwei to go now.

"Father, Mother, then I'll be going!" The little girl walked out of the Immortal Cave, waved, and waved to her still-young father and mother behind her.

Li Qi watched the graceful young woman smiling happily and waving at him, and he couldn't help but feel a touch of a doting father's tears.

Seventeen-year-old Li Shiwei was tall and slender, with a sturdy build, wearing a beautiful and clean female long gown, with a jade pendant hanging at her waist, looking heroic and spirited, and she even pretended to carry a longsword on her back.

Although she didn't know how to use a sword, it was purely for aesthetics.

However, it did look good.

She had completely inherited her mother's beauty, appearing even more spirited; unlike Shen Shuibi's coolness, she was more passionate and lively, so beneath similar appearances was a completely different temperament, just like a young female knight venturing into the Jianghu for the first time, full of curiosity.

Watching his daughter excitedly run off, not even looking back, completely disregarding her old parents' reluctant gaze behind her, Li Qi still couldn't help but call out: "Stone, you're smarter than her, remember to give her some pointers!"

Then, the Mountain Xuan Jade hanging at Li Shiwei's waist shook, vibrating and sounding: "As per Invoker's decree!"

Yes, the Mountain Xuan Jade that broke out of the stone back then simply named himself Stone, and after being called that for thousands of years, he had gotten used to it.

After that, Shen Shuibi polished him into a jade pendant.

Such carving could make him 'become a vessel'; the so-called carving jade into a vessel, after such treatment, the jade itself could radiate greater brilliance and become easier to cultivate.

Li Shiwei liked it very much, and Stone himself had no objections, so Stone became her childhood playmate and had been with her ever since.

Of course, as a Anomolus Spirit of Mountain Xuan Jade, Stone was very intelligent, appearing even smarter than Li Shiwei.

However, Li Shiwei immediately quickened her pace.

She had wanted to leave home for a long time!

It had been over a decade, and she could finally see the real world.

Unlike her old father's reluctant thoughts, the young girl happily ran out of the house, embracing her new life.

Her independent life.

Yay!

The little girl was like a petrel learning to fly for the first time, quickly disappearing from her parents' sight.

Only Li Qi remained there, gazing longingly, unwilling to return to the Immortal Cave for a long time.

Shen Shuibi walked up to him and said with a smile, "Having a child has become a Heart Demon for you?"

"Alas, only now do I understand why Grand Shaman Yun Fang would embed the demonic thoughts deep within his heart, maintaining his Senior Brother's 'immortality'." Li Qi sighed, speaking thus.

In the past, he had a conversation with Grand Shaman Yun Fang, who had helped him a lot. (Details in Chapter 225)

In that conversation, Li Qi knew that Yunfang Great Shaman could easily pluck out those demonic thoughts; these demonic thoughts posed no threat to him at all, they merely existed and would hinder his cultivation from further advancement.

However, when Li Qi asked this question, Yunfang Great Shaman's answer was: "If it could be easily let go, how could it become a Heart Demon?"

Yes, materialized demonic thoughts are easy to remove, but how can the obsession in one's heart be removed?

This is the true demonic thoughts.

If Li Shiwei were replaced by that Senior Brother, and Li Qi by Yunfang Great Shaman, Li Qi felt that he would probably make the same decision, right?

"Alas, I still can't see clearly, can't understand." Li Qi lamented: "On the Dao path, there is only oneself; this is easy to say, but who can truly achieve it?"

Those who pursue the Dao need to abandon those 'low-level pleasures'; what are low-level pleasures?

In reality, they are everything except the Dao path.

This is also a choice.

Those who attain longevity possess theoretically infinite life; this infinite life must have something to do, otherwise living would be meaningless. One must do something while alive; not doing anything means giving up thinking, becoming a stone floating in the Universe, what's the difference from a dead person?

Therefore, those who attain longevity will definitely do things; they do many things, such as enjoying pleasure, building achievements, creating art, refining their skills, or creating a country they like, and so on.

However, these things are not long-lasting.

Yes, although for Mortals, such things require several lifetimes or even dozens of lifetimes, and dozens of generations of continuous relay efforts, often lasting two thousand five hundred years, or a hundred generations of struggle.

However, all of this appears too brief in the face of 'longevity'.

A great undertaking lasting two thousand five hundred years, pushing the inhabited world out of the world cluster? Is that long?

A hundred generations, so what?

In the face of infinite life, these things are but a flick of a finger.

All great achievements, all pleasures, all sufferings, will ultimately turn into dust and dissipate, disappearing into the torrent of time under the time span of 'infinity'.

Infinite time means infinite things can be done; there's even a term called 'Poincaré recurrence'.

It means that in a closed System, after a long period of time, everything will inevitably return to a position infinitely close to its initial position, although the length of this time far exceeds imagination, it will certainly be realized. Such a cycle is called a Poincaré recurrence.

Although, in reality, we cannot determine whether the state of any physical System can truly recur, we can use such a cycle as an example, after all, this is the largest time cycle in the conventional sense.

This cycle is approximately 10 followed by a billion zeros years.

Is that long? Is it almost infinite for ordinary people?

However, in the face of infinity, a Poincaré recurrence is pitifully small.

Infinity means there are infinite Poincaré recurrences.

Infinite recurrence.

You will endure infinite anger, infinite loneliness, infinite fear, infinite joy; every single thing, all things will repeat infinitely.

All your thoughts, all possibilities, will become fixed and infinite under the quantifier of eternity.

No end, eternal and endless.

Eventually, all things in the world will be known to you, the position of every atom, the distribution of every ray of light, the time of every quantum fluctuation.

And the immortal, after knowing all this, will still infinitely cycle through Reincarnation, constantly repeating all of it.

This is eternity, this is 'infinity'.

This is fundamentally different from 'living long'.

Eternity, this word is too vast; the longevity of those who attain longevity, even many of them themselves cannot bear it.

In this world, no specific thing can carry 'infinite' life; the life of those who attain longevity will, in its infinite stretching, become a curse.

Do not casually use the word 'infinite', because 'infinite' is larger than imagined.

And how can meaning be given to this cursed 'infinite life', how can a goal be found for this infinite time to be entrusted to?

There is only one thing that can achieve this.

In this world, only one thing can bear endless life.

That is the 'Dao' itself.

Everything in the world is born from the 'Dao'.

The end of all things, the source of everything, is the 'Dao'.

The end of the Dao path is the end of everything; only this supreme goal can bear the curse brought by infinite life.

Li Qi now has such awareness, but at only over a hundred years old, he finds it difficult to have such a true feeling.

Let alone Li Qi, even Yunfang Great Shaman, didn't he also fail to break free?

Therefore, on the current Dao path, Li Qi can only sigh at his daughter.

A seventeen-year-old girl, so worried...

However, the little rabbit was very open-minded; she wrapped her arm around Li Qi's and said with a smile, "If one could truly achieve that, then what would be the purpose of Dao Orthodoxy? Wouldn't everyone become a lone traveler?"

Li Qi smiled, waving those unrealistic thoughts out of his head.

A hundred million years is already terrifyingly long, why think about Poincaré recurrence?

"Yes, if one could truly achieve that, what would be the purpose of Dao Orthodoxy? Let's go home." Li Qi said with a smile, walking back into the Immortal Cave.

No need to consider those things, at least at this moment, on the Dao path, you are by my side.

——————

However, unlike the melancholy and thoughts of her old father and mother, Li Shiwei was now truly like a Dragon entering the waves, a hungry tiger entering the mountain, with the vast sea for fish to leap and the high sky for birds to fly.

She ran wildly, only stopping after leaving Mystic Radiance Mountain Immortal Cave a full thousand li.

"Phew! Finally out of the mountain range, they shouldn't be able to see me here, right?" Li Shiwei let out a long breath, observing her surroundings.

They shouldn't be able to see her, right?

However, the jade pendant at her waist vibrated with a hum: "Boss, I need to remind you, Divine Spirit's method of observing mountains and rivers in their palm means they can see you even if you run ten thousand li."

"Then what should I do! Doesn't that mean there's no difference from being at home!" Li Shiwei was greatly alarmed.

Stone sighed, continuing to emit a clear sound: "Wake up, Boss, if they can't even let go of you, then you wouldn't have a chance to go to the Outer Domain at all. Do you think Invoker and True Monarch are fools? They have long since matched their words with their actions; if they say you can go, they will naturally let you go. Why would they keep an eye on you? Do you think they lack even that much courage?"

"Oh, you're right, if they didn't want me to go, I wouldn't be able to leave the house... Oh, you're so smart, I was worried for nothing." Li Shiwei patted the jade pendant.

Stone said with a sigh: "If you go to the Outer Domain like this, I highly doubt you'll be able to return. People in the Outer Domain may have slightly inferior Aptitude and a slightly worse environment, but they're not fools."

Although as a piece of jade, he didn't breathe, he still had a feeling of panting, perhaps feeling that otherwise, it wouldn't be enough to express his emotions.

"It's fine, don't I still have you?" Li Shiwei giggled, not worried at all.

Stone helplessly reminded her: "Me? I am a rare jade even in the world; although I am still unpolished jade, waiting for my inner potential to be excavated, if I am used to forge a Spiritual Artifact, I can serve as the base for a Sixth-Rank Spiritual Artifact. So, once we reach the Outer Domain, if I keep speaking without reason, Boss, you might not be able to return."

"What, does anyone dare to kill and seize treasures?" Li Shiwei drew her sword: "Perfect, all my skills were precisely honed for that time!"

Stone didn't speak, just silently watched the seventeen-year-old girl in front of him.

This is bad.

The Boss usually seems quite smart, but did she not bring her brain with her today or something?

(New Chapter)