Chapter 547: ‘Hero’

The thousands of Talismans she had arranged around her were actually a simulated Dharma Idol.

Logically speaking, a true Dharma Idol could generally only be formally condensed at the Seventh-Rank; anything before that was merely a phantom, because only upon reaching the Seventh-Rank, after glimpsing the mystery of longevity, could one truly establish their Dao Orthodoxy.

Only when you have truly established your Dao Orthodoxy and possess your own foundation can you speak of something like a 'Dharma Idol,' as the essence of a Dharma Idol is the crystallization of your cultivation and Dao, a manifestation of your cultivation achievements, which will display your unique characteristics, your techniques, and the core of your Dao Orthodoxy.

However, the Li Shiwei before them, through tens of thousands of Talismans, vibrated her surroundings, expanding her Great Dao to the area, forming an amplifier to enhance the power of her techniques!

She also used Lightning Dao! It was Heavenly Lightning Dao.

Although it couldn't compare to the Little Heavenly Master's Five Thunder Strike—no, why compare her to the Little Heavenly Master, she couldn't even touch his heel—it should be said that although it couldn't compare to the Divine Firmament Sect's Lightning Dao, it was still an extremely superior Heavenly Lightning.

Infinite lightning erupted, and thick electric serpents slithered across the ground, like Dragons and serpents galloping.

Beneath the azure sky.

Clouds rolled ceaselessly, like a vast ocean inverted in the sky, and from within that ocean, tens of thousands of lightning serpents poked out their heads, pecking wildly at the ground.

The air was struck by lightning and expanded at an unimaginably terrifying speed, forming intense wind pressure.

This wind pressure squeezed open rock layers, penetrated the bodies of the savage beasts, and even some residual force directly pierced through the center of that city wall, then transformed into high-pressure wind cannons and exploded!

The city wall, which the savage beasts had failed to breach, was instead blasted open by Li Shiwei, creating a gap; the collapsing wall fell, then was shattered and exploded by the lightning serpents.

Moving at extreme speed, the lightning serpents carried sharp wind cannons, cutting into the body of the black giant, then dispersed the wind cannons, exploding directly within the wound, releasing their full power!

This was just the prelude.

Divine Lightning descended, instantly piercing through the body of that Eighth-Rank savage beast!

In the past, even Yan Jun in Qingwu City could pierce through ten miles with a single strike, and Li Shiwei was more than five times stronger than Yan Jun!

The black giant suffered severe damage but did not die; it was an existence capable of resisting several Eighth-Ranks, so how could it be defeated so easily? However, the black giant's body erupted with raging Yang Qi, and the flowing blood radiated countless vitalities; its injuries actually healed rapidly!

This made the faces of the other Hunter Sea World native cultivators turn pale.

Judging by the decline in the savage beast's vitality, this level of healing ability, if not instantly killed, would probably require at least a day of fighting.

The supporter just now had already collapsed a section of the city wall; if it truly took a day of fighting, then the city would probably be destroyed not by the savage beasts, but by this person—

However, Li Shiwei was not finished!

She flashed back, dodging the savage beast's swing, pulled out a blank Talisman paper, threw it into the sky, then bit her finger and wrote the Talisman with blood.

A Talisman is divided into a Talisman Head, Talisman Gall, and Talisman Foot.

First, on the Talisman Head, Shen Shuibi's revered name was written: Mother Goddess of the Yellow God of Lunar Qi in the Moon.

Then, below was the Talisman Gall, performing a true Qi Lightning Dao; this was the origin of her name, Chonghexia Dan, Heavenly Qi Purple; Shi Wei meant to emulate the Ziwei True Palace.

The Talisman Foot ended with the local sun and moon.

"True Monarch's Edict, Jade Pivot's Command!"

As her Talisman was cast, a new moon unfolded in the sky, and intense Yin Qi descended; the surrounding lightning instantly transformed into Yin Lightning, which rose from the ground, sounding like stones striking thin ice, or snow dancing before the wind.

The Yin Lightning was like a maggot on bone, rapidly eroding the Yang Qi from the black giant's body; through the Talisman, a Fifth-Rank aura faintly revealed itself.

The Yang Qi and vitality within the black giant's body were corroded; it let out a painful sound, and its wounds continuously erupted with even stronger Yang Qi, attempting to heal, causing its blood to gush out like a volcano!

The dense Yang Qi directly melted the ground beneath its feet, and the molten lava rivers sprayed outwards, forming a magnificent fiery waterfall; lava splattered everywhere, like a boiling rainstorm...

The foul gases brought by the lava suffocated living creatures, and the constantly leaping tongues of fire churned and surged across the surface!

However, the Hunter Sea World natives also cast their own techniques; along with the drizzling rain, enchanting singing could be heard.

At that instant, it was as if they had merged with the pouring rain, sound intertwined with water; in an instant, high mountains and flowing water, ten thousand ravines and pine winds, water light and cloud shadows—then an Eighth-Rank controlled the surrounding great river, pouring the entire river down to extinguish the Yang Qi.

But the water suddenly froze.

Because Yin Qi was continuously spreading; though it was only a wisp of Yin Qi, it directly froze the black giant, destroying all its vitality.

Then, Li Shiwei waved her hand, and countless Talismans stirred up a storm in the air, making rustling sounds as they flew back into her hand; as she waved, the Talismans swiftly dropped into her hand, stacking into a neat pile, utterly graceful.

Li Shiwei was a top-tier Eighth-Rank, and this was no joke; she inherited a portion of her parents' Great Dao, becoming a ball for decades before being born; her own comprehension ability was also not bad, one could say... in the Eighth-Rank range, she belonged to the kind that could rank among the top in the world.

Therefore, with just a simple display of her skill, she awed everyone present.

Even Zhang You.

Zhang You stared blankly at Li Shiwei.

She knew Li Shiwei was formidable, and she also knew that this best friend of hers had an extraordinary background, but she had never imagined Li Shiwei could be this strong.

Perhaps she hadn't reached the Seventh-Rank level, but facing an Eighth-Rank like Zhang You, Li Shiwei, going all out, could easily take on a hundred without any problem.

Li Shiwei... truly, both powerful and fortunate.

Unlike the stunned Zhang You, the Little rabbit looked at her masterpiece with smug satisfaction.

A beast tide, easily resolved by her, and an ultra-powerful Eighth-Rank savage beast, hmph!

She landed below, her face full of self-satisfaction.

The battlefield below was already devastated, with a large number of soldiers dead.

The entire battlefield was strewn with corpses; collisions, traffic, and normal order had largely broken down; people who were thrown by the aftershocks but still alive crawled on the ground; some cried out loudly, others cursed loudly; logistics personnel from the city wall were rushing over, but by the time they arrived, many would likely have died.

Furthermore, Li Shiwei could even see people occasionally falling from that massive city wall, like dumplings dropping, leaving splattered marks on the ground.

Besides people, the bodies of savage beasts were also torn apart and scattered everywhere.

About thirty percent of these casualties were caused by Li Shiwei; her large-scale Heavenly Lightning and the collapsed city wall caused no small amount of damage, inflicting almost identical losses on the front-line soldiers while shattering the beast tide.

The wind rustled, and dust and black smoke billowed from the fires, polluting the outside air.

The smug smile on Li Shiwei's face froze slightly.

It wasn't guilt or anything, but the scene was somewhat nauseating; severed limbs were everywhere, and the stench had already wafted over.

At this moment, the local Eighth-Ranks of Hunter Sea World also rushed towards Li Shiwei.

These Eighth-Ranks had varying attitudes.

Some looked at their surroundings with sorrow, some looked at Li Shiwei with admiration, even awe, and others glared with anger but were pulled away by their companions to another side.

But there were also some who approached with smiles, cupped their hands, and spoke to Li Shiwei in a very familiar common language: "Welcome to the Chamber of Commerce, how should we address Senior?"

"I... my surname is Li. I'm sorry, I seem to have, accidentally injured many people. I apologize." Li Shiwei was a bit slow to react at first, somewhat dazed, but she immediately realized what she had done and quickly apologized to the Hunter Sea World native Eighth-Rank who had approached her.

"No need, no need, this is a necessary sacrifice, and they will be very happy; if Senior Li hadn't acted, they would have died even more meaninglessly, and perhaps the city wouldn't have been saved!" The Hunter Sea World Eighth-Rank immediately waved his hand, speaking as if he didn't care.

"Is that so?" Li Shiwei glanced around, frowning slightly.

She didn't feel guilty, because... it felt like it was just that? She was a bit embarrassed, but she couldn't just stand by, could she? More people would definitely have died then.

Then, she observed the natives of Hunter Sea World again.

The natives of Hunter Sea World were typical humanoids, looking very similar to humans from the world, but their skin was brownish-black, and they were somewhat hunched, yet still had two arms, two legs, one nose, and two eyes; one could even say they were the same species.

Many natives were actually humanoids, largely similar in appearance to humans from the world, and the reason was simple: this posture was the most aligned with the rules of most worlds.

This was not a coincidence, but a subtle, unseen influence.

Just as water naturally flows downhill when there is gravity, in terms of Dao of Heaven’s Evolution, it's called 'convergence'; this human form is suitable for cultivation and for the awakening of intelligence, and the microcosm of the human body is also more regular than grotesque bodies, so it naturally occupies most worlds; haven't you seen that the beetles in Holy Flame World also walk upright with two arms and two legs, which sufficiently demonstrates the evolutionary advantage of this posture.

Possessing an evolutionary advantage, life will naturally converge towards this posture.

In this world with cultivation abilities, this posture is a typical evolutionary advantage.

"That is certainly so, Senior Li, please don't take it to heart, it will affect your mood. A banquet has already been prepared in the city, just waiting for the Seniors of the Chamber of Commerce to collect these twenty years' worth of supplies!" That Eighth-Rank led Li Shiwei, his attitude could even be described as humble.

However, Li Shiwei still noticed that of the five Eighth-Ranks who had surrounded her, one was being held back by two others, who were constantly trying to persuade him of something.

Only the remaining two Eighth-Ranks had humble attitudes, cheerfully introducing her to the happenings here.

This made Li Shiwei somewhat curious about the difference in their attitudes.

Rationally, she could understand that different people would have different attitudes towards her, but... how could she not have helped Hunter Sea World? Just that Eighth-Rank savage beast, if it weren't for her, these five people absolutely couldn't have stopped it, and this city would inevitably have been destroyed.

One could say she saved this city, so why would they still glare at her? Because of accidental injury?

This couldn't even be called accidental injury; such a wide range of Heavenly Lightning, she couldn't control it either, could she? Should she have just watched the city be breached? What kind of situation would that have been?

Forget it, don't think about those things.

Li Shiwei put aside those feelings and was welcomed into the city by the two Eighth-Ranks.

Then, she experienced treatment she had never enjoyed before!

Over the next few days, Li Shiwei received a grand welcome and was treated as a hero.

Local natives lined the streets to welcome her, treating her with the utmost reverence and etiquette; her power was widely spread, and her deeds were reported in various media!

She even caused traffic chaos on the street due to the crowds gathering to see her.

Various celebrities and high-ranking officials of the world invited her to participate in various events.

Where had Li Shiwei ever seen such a spectacle?

Up and down Mystic Radiance Mountain, there were only twenty to thirty thousand speaking beings; after leaving Mystic Radiance Mountain, the place with the most people she had stayed in was the Chamber of Commerce's ship.

But on the ship, she was just an inconspicuous little security guard, responsible for some mediation and security matters; at first, she had all sorts of interests, but after staying for over a year, she felt a sense of suffocation.

Li Shiwei didn't know what she wanted; she merely inherited curiosity from her father.

Like Li Qi, she was eager to experience all sorts of novel things, to see things she had never seen before; she herself wasn't even aware of this.

However, unlike Li Qi, Li Qi clearly knew why he was observing all things.

Li Qi wanted to ascend to a high place, to survey all Dao, to understand their thoughts, to understand their propositions, to draw nourishment from these philosophies and wisdom, and then to support himself in climbing to a higher position, seeing more things, thus forming a cycle.

This was his Dao.

But Li Shiwei did not have such awareness; she was merely driven forward by the desire for curiosity, she didn't know why she was curious, it was just a child's instinct to try new things.

So—

This instinct also applied to the sense of accomplishment at this moment.

Countless people praised her achievements, making her experience the feeling of being 'above others' for the first time.

"Senior Li, there's another beast tide coming next time, everyone is waiting for you to make a move!"

Such words were repeated; at first, she was displeased, calmly judging that these people wanted to use her as a pawn, and she subtly refused.

But when she had settled the supplies for this base, took the goods, and headed to the next base, she found that the people at the next base also recognized her.

She was still recognized.

This made Li Shiwei secretly delighted, but she remained calm; it was normal, after all, with such widespread publicity, it wouldn't be confined to just one city.

It was just that this time she didn't encounter a beast tide, so she didn't act.

Zhang You also didn't bring up those matters again, remaining silent and gentle as always.

Until she arrived at the fourth city.

Here, there was also a beast tide.

And this time, she was also prepared to be a 'hero' again.