Chapter 579: Shinto, Star Officials!

The Shen Yijun did not stay with Li Qi for too long; he quickly left the Lingchou Realm, as he was only there to help.

Such was the killing power of a Martial Artist; after Li Qi revealed his background and helped suppress the opponent's spells, he launched a surprise close-quarters attack and single-handedly defeated the enemy.

As for Li Qi, after tidying up the aftermath, he went to visit the Lingchou Realm Lord.

Arriving at the Lingchou Realm Lord's office, Li Qi knocked on the door.

"Please come in..." The Lingchou Realm Lord's weak voice came from inside.

Li Qi pushed the door open and entered, seeing the somewhat haggard Lingchou Realm Lord. As a Fifth Grade, her appearance was truly... not very dignified.

Because she already knew that the Heavenly Dao had been refined, Li Qi hadn't even hidden it from her.

This was the choice she made; after personally witnessing Li Qi bear the Heavenly Dao's backlash with his Sixth Grade body, she made her decision.

"It's Young Master... So, is the dust settled?" The Lingchou Realm Lord saw Li Qi, and instead of being relieved, her tense body slumped into the chair.

"The Realm Lord is a Fifth Grade, she should be able to see the battlefield, or did the Realm Lord close her own eyes?" Li Qi walked over and sat opposite the Lingchou Realm Lord.

"Yes, I didn't dare to look, but... since it's you who has come, the Human Dao Emissary should have left by now, right?" The Lingchou Realm Lord took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

"If the Realm Lord's Dao Heart is only like this, the path ahead will likely be very difficult," Li Qi did not answer her question, but instead opened a new topic.

"What can be done? I am a Child of Destiny; this life's Fifth Grade is already my limit," The Lingchou Realm Lord naturally followed Li Qi's words, no longer pressing about the Human Dao Emissary's whereabouts.

Li Qi had already hinted, so there was no need to ask further.

"So the Realm Lord is a Child of Destiny; no wonder it's so... unbearable," Li Qi shook his head, his words a little harsh.

The Lingchou Realm Lord did not refute, but continued the conversation: "Now that the Heavenly Dao has been refined by Young Master, and this world has fallen into Young Master's hands, may Young Master show mercy and allow me to wander in Outer Void?"

"Why? My refining the Heavenly Dao is only a temporary measure, and I have no intention of monopolizing this world. The Heavenly Dao will be returned with both hands later. I was only worried about the Realm Lord defecting to the Human Dao. As for whether the Realm Lord is willing to join Shaman Dao, that is entirely voluntary. Shamanes respect the will of the world's civilization itself," Li Qi said.

The Lingchou Realm Lord gave a bitter smile: "Is there any meaning? If I don't join the Human Dao, then I will only be purged by the Human Dao. In the end, I still have to choose a side to join."

"This is not the fault of Shaman Dao. We will not force you, but... although we won't force you to join, you also cannot be enemies with Shaman Dao, otherwise, any future consequences will be self-inflicted," Li Qi spread his hands, unwilling to take the blame.

Shaman Dao believes that all things in the world have their own place, and countless positions similar to ecological niches form a stable balance, which is the balance between 'Heaven, Earth, Human, God, and Ghost' that Shamanes want to maintain.

They rarely force others to do anything unless necessary. For example, if the Lingchou Realm wants to become an enemy of Shaman Dao, then naturally there's no need to say more; action will definitely be taken.

But if it doesn't interfere with Shaman Dao, then Shaman Dao generally won't interfere with you, unless you're particularly unlucky and encounter a certain Shaman who wants to cause you trouble for personal reasons.

Personal reasons are out of the question; there are all sorts of reasons for that. But Shaman Dao, as a whole, generally has a 'non-interference' style of conduct.

"Yes, the Human Dao is not wrong, Shaman Dao is not wrong. The fault is ours, the Lingchou Realm's own fault..." The Lingchou Realm Lord murmured.

Li Qi did not answer, but instead released his control over the Heavenly Dao, then bowed slightly and left.

What a joke, even Shaman Dao itself is involuntarily forced to make choices.

How can anyone do whatever they want? Li Qi appears high and mighty, but isn't he still forced to participate in the war?

Who doesn't have their difficulties?

Leaving here, Li Qi did not delay, heading straight for the Lingchou Realm's outer dock, preparing to depart from there.

The matters of the Lingchou Realm no longer needed his attention; the business association he left behind would handle the cleanup. After stabilizing the world group represented by the Fifth Grade world, he could then proceed to the core of the Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu).

Outer Void wonder, 'Great Fire'.

Using the spell given to him by the Shen Yijun, he would see if he could truly communicate with Great Fire and gain a little favoritism from the Star Officials, or even absolute neutrality, which would be a great achievement.

Li Qi did not delay. He had already lingered in the Lingchou Realm for these many years. Although a few years was actually nothing, after all, they were all long-lived beings, and a small dispute taking a few years was common.

Thinking about these random things, Li Qi arrived at the Lingchou Realm's outer dock and set down his Ghost Chariot there.

The Ghost Chariot was vastly different from the surrounding flying boats. Hellish phenomena appeared all around, with imps beating gongs and drums, and various nether beasts constantly howling, startling everyone nearby.

Li Qi ignored them, driving the Ghost Chariot, surrounded by the phenomena, galloping wildly in Outer Void.

A ghostly road stretched out, with阴魂 laughing and talking in the air, some singing, some crying, ghosts pulling together, terrifying to the extreme. The visual style was not good at all, but... it was quite in line with the general public's impression of Shamanes.

Shamanes, after all, being a bit strange is normal. Li Qi even performed spirit dances during sacrifices, no big difference.

Under this visual style, Li Qi's speed soared to nearly a thousand times the Heavenly Dao limit, galloping wildly in Outer Void. Maintaining this speed, it would take about one year and three months to reach the closest large world built by Shaman Dao itself to Great Fire. There, a branch of the Star-Mansion Array was located.

Yes, a branch of the Star-Mansion Array. In the end, he still had to be teleported through the Star-Mansion Array. To fly to Great Fire at a speed of a thousand times the Heavenly Dao limit, if he were to diligently and painstakingly travel, it would take about three hundred years.

There was no other way; Outer Void was simply too vast and empty. Only Great Powers or those without urgent matters were qualified to travel in Outer Void. Everyone else had to stick to the well-laid-out highways.

The journey was very boring; basically, nothing could be seen. Only very occasionally would he pass by some world-class giant ships, but it was limited to passing by; the other party couldn't even see Li Qi, only the Ghost Chariot's exhaust.

After more than a year passed peacefully like this, Li Qi arrived at the location of the Star-Mansion Array.

This large world was a Fourth Grade, built personally by Shaman Dao, and originally had no natives.

That's right, although it was a Fourth Grade world, there was no native civilization; it was just an empty shell. It is said that because the Heavenly Dao here was extremely tyrannical, it repeatedly caused world-ending events, eventually annihilating all civilizations and turning it into a lifeless dead land.

Of course, a dead land is a dead land, but the world itself had no problems at all.

If a world only exists to endure, then it doesn't need life; it is life that needs the world, not the world that needs life.

After the Heavenly Dao's repeated world-ending events, civilization itself could no longer affect the world, so it maintained its Fourth Grade status until Shaman Dao discovered this world and refined it.

This place was basically a miniature version of Shaman God Mountain, which Shaman Dao transformed with its own ideology.

Li Qi did not stay here long, only replenishing his supplies slightly, visiting the local clansmen, leaving his intelligence and whereabouts, and then using the Star-Mansion Array branch here, with a whoosh, he arrived at a Divine Dao world not far from Great Fire.

The area around Great Fire was entirely comprised of Divine Dao worlds controlled by the Star Officials.

Li Qi was somewhat excited, as it was his first time encountering the true 'Divine Dao Orthodoxy'.

As Shamanes, their relationship with the Divine Dao was actually quite good. The Star Officials were also Great Gods with whom Shamanes often interacted.

These were not beings that wild gods could touch.

During the Star-Mansion Array' transmission, Li Qi couldn't help but feel a longing. He was a bit impatient to see what a true Divine Dao world looked like.

A few hours later, Li Qi successfully landed back in Outer Void.

Here, 'Great Fire' appeared exceptionally distinct, a blazing inferno hanging in the Void Realm, yet it was neither hot nor dazzling.

Great Fire appeared this bright when viewed from hundreds of thousands of light-years away, and now, at a distance of only one or two light-years, it remained the same brightness.

It seemed that the light of 'Great Fire' had no attenuation whatsoever; it was so at first, and it remained so hundreds of thousands of light-years away.

However, this world cluster...

Empty, lifeless.

There was absolutely no vitality to speak of.

Even in a place like the Lingchou Realm, world-class giant ships were everywhere, there were personal flying boats, and numerous means of transportation shuttled through the stars, fully displaying the vibrant life of Boundless Outer Domain.

However, in this territory controlled by the Divine Dao, there was no vitality.

Li Qi could feel the grandeur and magnificence; under the colossal power of Great Fire, Li Qi could feel his own insignificance. He could also see many worlds operating in an orderly fashion...

But... although they were operating, there wasn't a single person or a single ship breaking through the world barrier. They seemed to have no communication between them. These worlds must be very strong; they were worlds directly under the Divine Dao's control. The intelligence Li Qi had gathered previously indicated that even Fifth Grades were stationed here.

How could such a powerful world cluster be like this?

No commerce? No communication?

Is this what the orthodox Divine Dao is like?

With this doubt, Li Qi drove the Ghost Chariot towards a Divine Dao world closer to Great Fire.

Although this wasn't the Divine Dao's headquarters in the world, he should still be able to discern something, Li Qi thought.

After a few days, he slowly arrived outside a world barrier.

This world barrier was completely sealed; he couldn't enter.

Generally speaking, for worlds like the Lingchou Realm, the world barrier would have an opening to facilitate entry and exit, so there was no need to cross the world barrier every time. However, the Divine Dao worlds didn't have such an opening at all. From the very beginning, the people inside had no intention of coming out, and similarly, those outside shouldn't expect to enter.

Li Qi frowned. He began to travel, spending a few months visiting approximately one or two hundred Universes.

In this world cluster, so many worlds, each was like this.

Wow, what the Hell?

What's going on with the Divine Dao's territory? Are they simply not planning to communicate with anyone?

Li Qi wandered in the Void Realm for half a year, unable to find a single living soul to talk to. The endless Void Realm was empty, with only worlds operating steadily, and no living things outside.

"Perhaps... the method is wrong?" Li Qi thought to himself, "How about trying to summon a god?"

He thought, and then flew into the Void Realm, set up an altar, and began to try summoning a god.

This was a common method for Shamanes, and also one of Invoker's signature skills.

As the saying goes: "To inform a god with words is 'Zhu', to ask a god to inflict disaster is 'Curse'." This was also how the Shamanes of the world originally communicated with the Innate gods of the world.

The offerings were laid out, the rituals prepared.

The sacrificial vessels were complete, the pipes and chimes were rhythmic.

The Zhudao was reverent, the divine presence clear.

The paulownia gui was already noble, the elephant chariot was set up later.

The sound reached, the music completed, the descent was accepted with abundance and purity.

There was the sound of a wind sheng, fragrant and intoxicating, and the pipes and chimes all began to play softly.

This was quite a grand sacrifice, because Li Qi wanted to communicate with a relatively large area; he wanted to communicate with all the worlds he could currently see in the Void Realm.

As an orthodox Invoker, his sacrifice quickly received a response.

And so, in that instant—

Boom!

Li Qi sensed a response from 'divinity'.

It wasn't the kind of godhood achieved through faith, surrounded by believers.

It wasn't a Mountain God formed by occupying mountains and waters.

It wasn't a fictional god concocted from nothingness.

But... a Great Dao, a Great Dao from the Celestial Dwelling (Xinxiu)!

Li Qi could see that the worlds he had previously visited, the worlds he had passed by and found their world barriers completely closed, had begun to move.

These worlds, like meridians and Acupoints... formed a body.

How to describe it...

A constellation map?

Li Qi had once seen constellations in such drawings, a few stars dotted, then connected by lines, and then these lines formed a rough outline.

However, the constellation outlines in the drawings didn't actually look very large.

But now... this so-called 'constellation' formed by hundreds of worlds responded, and condensed a body with pale blue starlight, appearing before Li Qi!

Li Qi had been wondering what a Divine Dao world should be like, but he never expected... the Star Official Lineage of the Divine Dao were the worlds themselves! And not just one world, they were constellations, constellations formed by worlds!

Li Qi looked at that enormous body, which probably spanned half a light-year...

What Star Official was this? What was its cultivation?

Under such immense pressure, Li Qi took a deep breath, relying on the composure he had developed from years of touching high-voltage wires, and carefully observed the Star Official's body.

First, this was definitely not an ancient Star Official; it should just be a righteous god of the Star Official Lineage.

The ancient Star Officials, at the very least, were Third Grade. The Four Symbols, Nine Luminaries, Twelve Yuan Chen, and twenty-eight lunar mansions were all famous and well-known. If he couldn't recognize it, then it certainly wasn't one of them.

If it was just an ordinary Star Official, then he should... be able to see through it.

Li Qi activated all his senses, and aside from the True Knowledge Dao Resonance that had already been sealed, he used all his methods.

He could clearly see that within the body of that righteous god...

They had no Inner World, because their Inner World was a real world.

They also had no 'Self-Dao', because the Divine Dao was the most universal, most common 'World Dao'!

Gods are the Heaven and Earth itself!

Gods are the concrete manifestation of the Heaven and Earth's power, they are Innate Great Daos!

"Shaman, what do you summon me for?" That Star Official sent out a silent message, but Li Qi felt it was deafening!