Chapter 586: Meeting in the Outer Realm

Looking at Li Qi in front of her, Zhang You suddenly felt a mix of emotions.

Li Shiwei was her good friend, and she knew Li Shiwei’s family was very powerful; after all, Li Shiwei could go out with a bunch of Spiritual Artifacts and Talismans even in the Ninth Rank, and she had also said her family had a Sixth Rank Grotto-Heaven.

As for her, she had been displaced since childhood, and only finally, through her own efforts, found a well-paying job. She had always worked diligently, just wanting to make her life better.

Therefore, she couldn't easily resign and pursue the Dao like Li Shiwei. She would rather waste her time on a world-class giant ship, just for the sake of 'stability'.

All of this was because she had an unstable grandfather.

And now, that unstable grandfather actually knew the Young Master of Shaman God Mountain standing before her, and it seemed their relationship was quite good.

If the elder generation had such a good relationship, then… why was the disparity among the younger generation so vast?

Why was it that she had been displaced since childhood, while Li Shiwei lived a life of luxury and privilege, and ultimately could even witness Li Qi appear before her…

“I didn’t know before, but when I was deducing matters concerning the Lingchou Realm, which was about twenty years ago, I learned of your origins. That’s why you came to the Lingchou Realm twenty years ago, and thus appeared here at this moment,” Li Qi said.

“Your grandfather… perhaps you don’t like him much, but back then, he truly had the demeanor of a knight-errant, with a free and easy spirit. If he had better luck, breaking through to the Seventh Rank wouldn’t have been difficult. It’s just that life is unpredictable, and I didn’t expect such a thing to happen,” Li Qi said, shaking his head and sighing.

Then, he continued, “However, he is my good friend. What he owes you, though I cannot repay it on his behalf, I can still—”

Just at this moment, Zhang You suddenly spoke, interrupting him.

Zhang You said, “Young Master, please don’t say that… I beg the Young Master to permit me to resign from my position… and leave the merchant association.”

Li Qi frowned slightly upon hearing this and said, “I haven’t given you any extra preferential treatment, nor have I ever given you special care. Your current position is something you earned yourself.”

“I hope the Young Master will forgive me,” Zhang You said, lowering her head.

“Alright,” Li Qi did not insist on her staying, “Then go through the normal procedures. You’ll receive everything you’re entitled to.”

“Thank you, Young Master,” Zhang You bowed, then turned and left without further delay.

Watching Zhang You’s retreating figure, Li Qi sighed.

Everyone has their own ambitions. She probably doesn’t want to be involved with Zhang Lan in any way. Now that he was offering ‘compensation’ because of Zhang Lan, it probably didn’t feel like compensation to her, but more like… humiliation?

Li Qi didn’t think so, but she certainly did.

She could even be said to resent her grandfather, Zhang Lan, and he was acting because of Zhang Lan…

For her, it must be hard to accept, right?

Forget it, everyone has their own choices.

Li Qi put the matter out of his mind. Let the youngsters decide their own affairs, and let Li Shiwei worry about this. Anyway, he wouldn't hold any grudges, and if the other party wished to return, he would welcome them.

That’s how it is. After all, friendship is something Li Shiwei herself wanted to pursue.

No longer concerning himself with the affairs of the young, Li Qi sat down and began his own work.

His next task was to integrate as many surrounding world clusters as possible into a single Formation, specifically the kind of Formation he had secretly learned from the Heaven-Devouring Demon Lord.

Subduing all the nearby world clusters, making them willingly set up Formations, and embedding these Formations with their local Heavenly Dao to form a cohesive whole would create a defensive position. Setting up such a position in advance would allow them to gain a geographical advantage and a slight edge when future conflicts arose.

This process might take a long time and couldn't be completed by Li Qi alone, so he wrote a letter and sent it home.

The foundation here had been laid; it was time for Shen Shuibi to come over and familiarize herself with the battlefield, making preparations in advance.

After writing the letter, Li Qi began to prepare himself.

Then, about a month passed.

Li Qi was currently in the Fu Cao Yi Realm. This world was quite impressive, a clear stream among many worlds filled with internal scheming and open and covert struggles.

A local Sixth Rank Cultivator from the Fu Cao Yi Realm reported to Li Qi: “Envoy, these are all the worlds. They have all been prepared. When humanity arrives, they can all be activated to ensure the worlds are not plundered by them.”

“Very good,” Li Qi nodded, then looked at the other party.

The other party was a crude, moss-covered, somewhat decaying, eerie wooden frame. Blocks of wood were roughly assembled into a humanoid shape, with a head that was a moss and mushroom-covered wooden cube.

This was not his true body, but his current vessel.

The beings of the Fu Cao Yi Realm were Spirit Soul creatures. They naturally possessed the ability to attach themselves to other things, whether it be inanimate objects, plants, animals, or even conscious beings.

Moreover, this was not ‘Possession’ but ‘symbiosis’, causing no harm whatsoever and even greatly enhancing the Cultivation and strength of the possessed, achieving a result greater than the sum of its parts.

They could fully experience the thoughts and emotions of those they attached to, which meant that the beings of the Fu Cao Yi Realm possessed almost absolute ‘empathy’.

True empathy, in the literal sense, meant that almost all conflicts would not occur.

The sheep could understand the wolf’s hunger, so it wouldn’t resent him for having eaten its family before.

The wolf understood the pain of the sheep’s flesh being torn, so it would no longer hunt the flock.

Through this power, people were no longer alone; everyone’s inner self was revealed, and all put aside their past hatreds because they understood the “predicament of their enemies” and the “thoughts” of those with whom they had previously fought.

When you truly “understand” others, instead of misinterpreting them from your own perspective, you will find that everything is excusable, everything is so logical. You won’t blame them, because everyone can “understand” each other, everyone has their difficulties, and everyone can discuss things.

This was almost comparable to the ‘Chaos’ of the Divine Dao, much like the conversations Li Qi had with the Deities.

Under this power, even in its primitive era, the Fu Cao Yi Realm never experienced any internal strife. Instead, everyone worked together to overcome difficulties, eventually breaking through the world barrier.

It was precisely at this time that they finally witnessed the Dao conflict.

It turned out that some contradictions were irreconcilable, conflicts that, even if both sides understood each other, even appreciated each other and felt a sense of mutual admiration, were still forced to result in life or death.

Li Qi was about to set up the next objective, but just then, a figure drifted over.

Moonlight cascaded down, and flowing sleeves of light gauze fluttered as Shen Shuibi descended gracefully.

The rabbit had arrived.

“Greetings, Daoist Master,” the Sixth Rank Cultivator from the Fu Cao Yi Realm bowed according to the customs of the Nine Lands Under Heaven, then wisely and quietly retreated.

Shen Shuibi nodded slightly to him, acknowledging his greeting.

Li Qi smiled and said, “Good, then I’ll temporarily leave this matter to you.”

As the person from the Fu Cao Yi Realm retreated, only Li Qi and Shen Shuibi remained.

Now like an old married couple, though not quite experiencing the seven-year itch, the passionate embrace of former days was gone. They simply approached each other, naturally linked arms, and chatted with smiles.

Li Qi said relaxedly, “You’re finally here. Now, several worlds that used to lean towards humanity are tough nuts to crack. There are about four or five Fifth Rank Cultivators who have joined forces to form a large Formation. I don’t want to use heavy troops, as the casualties could be significant.”

“So you called me here? I thought you called me for something else,” Shen Shuibi said with a hint of dissatisfaction. Why did it feel like she was here to do work?

“Of course not. It’s just easier for you to handle, and once this is done, all resistance from these world clusters will have dissipated. The remaining matters only need a quick review and can be left for them to do themselves. Then, we can quietly wait for the war to begin here, which counts as a good period of time,” Li Qi explained.

Hearing his tone, Shen Shuibi was somewhat surprised: “You seem much more at ease? You don’t look anxious at all.”

“What good is anxiety? It’s better to face it calmly. What about life and death? Just don’t go against the Dao in your heart,” Li Qi smiled. After these decades, he had not made no progress.

At least after grasping the application of Chaos Qi, he had a deeper understanding of the phrase ‘natural’.

The rabbit, hearing this, was somewhat pleased. She stood on her tiptoes and patted Li Qi’s head, praising him: “You look much more composed now. If you had this mindset back then, you wouldn’t have been chastised by Grand Invoker.”

“If I had this mindset back then, he would have chastised me somewhere else,” Li Qi laughed heartily. Taking advantage of Shen Shuibi standing on her tiptoes, he scooped her up, wrapped his arm around her waist, and leaped.

Though Shen Shuibi was somewhat surprised, she didn’t resist. Instead, she allowed him to carry her as they flew out of the world barrier and soared into the outer domain.

“Inside the world, many people can still sense us. Although they certainly wouldn’t dare to look this way, it’s still awkward. It’s more convenient to be out in the outer domain,” Li Qi said, holding Shen Shuibi.

The rabbit, hearing this, didn’t speak. She just leaned against him, feeling his body.

Truly feeling. She was examining Li Qi’s body.

Naturally harmonious, within his body seemed to be a well of Chaos, generating countless Chaos Qi from ‘nothingness’. These Chaos Qi then began to differentiate, decaying into other types of Qi.

Then, these Qi naturally followed the ‘Dao’ of his Inner World, self-arranging and self-assembling, forming a completely harmonious Inner World without any artificiality.

Such great progress.

Shen Shuibi had known the shortcomings of Li Qi’s Inner World before, which was that he relied on his powerful computational ability to forcefully approach the concept of ‘perfection’, making it artificial. But at that time, she couldn’t really say anything.

Artificiality is something that, when you’re unaware of it, might disappear one day with a sudden Epiphany.

But if you become aware of it and try desperately to remove it, then it will likely take a lot of effort. At such times, ‘cognitive bias’ will manifest and could drive a person mad.

However, Li Qi was indeed Li Qi. In such a short time in the outer domain, he had already reached this state.

Hmm… she could definitely brag to Yang Ning when they got back~.

The two traversed the outer domain, with the Ghost Chariot unfurled, obscuring the outside world. Finally, they could have the intimate conversations they hadn't had in over twenty years.

The details of their conversation need not be elaborated, and the Ghost Chariot was also heading towards Li Qi’s destination.

Which was, the world clusters that were still stubbornly resisting.

— — — — — — — — — —

At this moment, a standoff was in progress.

Because Li Qi did not wish to cause too many casualties, he had not initiated war, only having several local Fifth Rank Cultivators surround these worlds.

However, it was merely a encirclement. The opposing side also had several Fifth Rank Cultivators guarding these worlds, refusing to join Li Qi’s large world cluster Formation.

There were three Fifth Rank Cultivators who held dissenting opinions. At this moment, they were gathered together, discussing countermeasures.

Three Fifth Rank Cultivators, who should have been great existences capable of sweeping through myriad worlds, were now huddled together, barely clinging to survival, under the oppression of the Nine Lands Under Heaven.

“Damn it! Being trapped here now is just waiting for death! We might as well charge out and take some of their lives!” a Fifth Rank Martial Artist roared angrily.

He was a renowned Great Power in this world cluster, named Bin Kuang. He had once been a disciple of a general from the Tang Nation’s Ministry of War, but was later expelled from his sect. For some unknown reason, he had always sided with humanity.

At this point, a strange giant beast said, “Trade lives? How many can you trade if you charge out? I fear you won’t even trade one, just die there for nothing, right? Now, relying on my great Formation, we can still deter them somewhat. If you really charge out, can you handle it?”

This strange giant beast was named Shadowmoon Cold Tooth. He lurked in a dead zone of a world in the outer domain and was the ‘nightmare’ of that place.

World dead zones are areas where worlds have died, and their world barriers naturally break open, allowing their matter to escape and condense into a desolate, dead region. There are still some valuable things within, but most of it is like an asteroid belt. Some Cultivators form groups to explore it, searching for treasures, and might even find things like a World Heart, but they could also encounter danger. It’s a typical treasure-hunting ground.

Shadowmoon Cold Tooth was a demon beast lurking in a world dead zone, often preying on explorers. His legend was widely spread among independent Cultivators.

It was unknown why, despite being a demon beast, he firmly stood on humanity’s side, even risking being exterminated rather than leaving.

“There’s no need to argue. We’re all in this together now. It’s better to figure out how to deal with the Fifth Rank Cultivator from Shaman God Mountain. How do we respond to a single-person raid from a truly orthodox Legacy of the Nine Lands Under Heaven?” another Fifth Rank Cultivator replied at this moment.

This one, named Wang Wu, was the only human Cultivator among them. He had once studied in Chang’an, practicing the Yin and Yang school among humanity’s myriad arts.

The three Fifth Rank Cultivators, if they could join forces in this world cluster, could almost be said to dominate the region, yet at this moment, they were gathered here, barely surviving.

At this point, Bin Kuang clenched his fist: “How to respond? No matter how orthodox he is, one against three, he can’t be our opponent!”

(The beginning of the month also has double monthly votes, everyone please cast them, don’t waste them)