Chapter 598: No return

Within Outer Void, a world dead zone drifted.

After a world dies, its world barrier gradually melts away, exposing the matter within. If there is enough of this matter, the gravitational pull it generates is sufficient to hold these materials together, preventing them from being diluted by the infinite expanse of Outer Void.

In this way, an area similar to a small asteroid belt forms, which is called a 'world dead zone'.

At the same time, because there was no world barrier to begin with, these world dead zones were not affected by the human Dao's method of dissolving world barriers. They remained exactly as they were initially.

This characteristic made these world dead zones a gathering place for the People of No Return.

People of No Return, that was the name they gave themselves.

Wandering with No Return, looking back with thoughts of the old homeland.

Wailing with a broken heart, holding a cup of wine with sorrow.

The human Dao destroyed countless worlds in an instant. Most worlds had no ability to resist. Some worlds, combined, only had two or three Ninth Ranks. These Ninth Ranks were already enough to be called 'Grandmasters' or similar names in their worlds, and were the founders of their world's cultivation system.

However, there were still many worlds that were Sixth Rank, even Fifth Rank, and even Fourth Rank worlds. These worlds themselves might have been torn apart and turned into raw materials, but before the world's dying wails, these powerhouses protected a portion of their civilization's people, safeguarding them as they left, becoming wanderers in Boundless Outer Domain.

Only a few Third Rank worlds were qualified to protect their hometown worlds from being torn apart in front of the human Dao.

But for these Fourth Rank and Fifth Rank powerhouses, they would never have a home again. There was no 'home world' they could point to and tell others about; their ancestral land had completely collapsed.

Initially, these people, by unspoken agreement, sought out the world dead zones, preparing to find a new foothold there.

They did not hate the human Dao, nor did they dare to hate it.

They truly did not dare, not even to hate.

The disparity was too great. That was the human Dao. Creatures from Boundless Outer Domain might not be very clear about the other eight places in the Nine Lands Under Heaven, but any civilized world must have heard of the human Dao.

Because the human Dao had never stopped its conquests for a single moment. Infinite worlds were being swallowed by the expanding human Dao every moment, and every moment there were worlds desperately resisting, some succeeding, some failing.

Indeed, there were worlds that, through their own efforts, defeated the human Dao in their own world. Generally speaking, the human Dao would not make a second move, and there was even a very small chance that they would send an invitation to the other party to join the human Dao, because the other party had already proven that they were qualified to possess the 'human' status in Boundless Outer Domain.

After all, the human Dao generally would not make a big show of destroying a certain world. Generally speaking, Fifth Rank generals would conquer Fifth Rank worlds, and Ninth Rank teams would conquer Ninth Rank worlds. The difference would not be too great.

Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? This was the human Dao's consistent style. They were very adept at cost control. The purpose of conquest was not for expansion, but for resources. To destroy a Ninth Rank world at the cost of an Eighth Rank Spiritual Artifact was itself a waste. If it were all like that, what would be the point of conquest? That would be called charity.

Only Demon of Death would destroy for the sake of destruction. The human Dao was actually not very interested in destruction. The reason they started wars was simply for resources.

It's just that... even in peer competition, few worlds could survive.

Few, but not none. Therefore, through the propaganda of these fortunate surviving worlds, or by feeling a shared sorrow, the human Dao's fearsome reputation in Boundless Outer Domain was enough to scare world masters to death.

So, this time, these world masters didn't even have thoughts of revenge. There was absolutely no need. They just found a world dead zone to huddle in and thought about what to do next.

Once, when the human Dao first embarked on its conquest journey in Boundless Outer Domain... at that time, there were many, many worlds that thought they could hitch a ride on the human Dao's great ship.

They were so naive, wanting their world to be strong and hoping the human Dao would help, yet also wanting the human Dao to treat them equally, even wanting to play both sides and manipulate great Dao Orthodoxy in their palms.

Later, these people discovered that the human Dao did not view them as 'peers' at all, but as 'resources'—trees planted in the forest, minerals buried in the earth, pigs frolicking in the wild, wild fruits and mushrooms waiting to be picked.

It didn't matter when they weren't needed, but when they were, tonight they would eat roasted wild boar belly.

Therefore, the concept of 'revenge' never even occurred to anyone; it simply did not exist from beginning to end. Being able to survive was already a stroke of luck.

However, after a period of time, they discovered that it seemed... there was still a possibility of revenge.

Because the Shaman Dao side had sent them some information.

Only then did they realize that this time, the human Dao was not after resources, but after 'war'.

A evenly matched war, the great war between the human Dao and Shaman Dao.

Oh, and the message was sent by Li Qi.

Li Qi keenly detected the emergence of such a group of people, so he employed a few small tricks.

He first observed the human Dao's actions.

Those special operations partial armies could evade Li Qi's observation, but the movements of the human Dao's large armies were almost impossible to conceal. Therefore, Li Qi could clearly see that the human Dao did not care about these 'homeless dogs'.

They were indeed homeless dogs; their homes had been dismantled by the human Dao.

For the human Dao, these things no longer needed attention, but for Li Qi, they were a fresh force, a usable guerrilla unit behind enemy lines.

Therefore, Li Qi, through the 'Alliance', found this group of homeless dogs and told them that this time, they did not have to be homeless dogs.

Li Qi gave them a new choice: to be a bargaining chip in the human-Shaman Dao war, helping Shaman Dao to leverage the human Dao's chance of victory.

This might very well lead to death, even extinguishing their last ember of civilization.

But...

Still, many people joined.

One Fifth Rank said this to Li Qi, responding in the 'Alliance': "Can a civilization with only me left still be called a civilization?"

Nearly sixty percent of the strongest individuals of solitary races chose to join. The remaining forty percent had no particular feelings for civilization to begin with; many were originally wanderers who had left civilization to pursue the Dao. Li Qi did not force them.

There were also some who had protected their last remaining clansmen and chose to retreat. They still had to plan for the future and did not want their last spark of civilization to be completely extinguished. They wanted to leave the war zone.

And some chose to have both. They settled their clansmen and then joined the People of No Return themselves.

All because of a private promise from Li Qi.

Li Qi promised them that they could join his merchant association and become a direct subordinate of a Young Master.

Since they were fighting for Shaman God Mountain, why not give them a position within Shaman God Mountain?

These people, who joined the People of No Return alone after settling their clansmen, all knew that their world had been destroyed, and a civilization without a foundation was like duckweed, instantly dissipating with a gust of wind or a splash of rain.

However, exchanging their lives for the remaining clansmen to receive the protection of a Young Master, allowing their civilization a chance for stable development in the future, was still very worthwhile.

Through these means, in short, Li Qi indeed gathered a group of people.

Then, he revealed the location of his scouts to this group of People of No Return.

This was a test, and also a collaboration.

These scouts would be found by the People of No Return, and then they could personally see the sincerity of the People of No Return.

Just as Li Qi expected, the reconnaissance team he chose deliberated for a moment and quickly agreed to meet.

Logically speaking, the human Dao should have already discovered these clandestine communications, because all communications must use magic, and in Outer Void, even the slightest movement is very conspicuous, just like a calm water surface where even a single leaf falling in will cause ripples.

However, Li Qi had already started a war not far away. Just a few light-years from here, a Sixth Rank world had actively attacked a human Dao army.

The fluctuations of the war turned the surrounding calm water surface into a waterfall.

In a calm body of water, a falling leaf is easily noticed, but if there's a waterfall nearby, it's not so easily detected.

It is believed that the human Dao also understands these matters. Therefore, in the current war, a large number of battles are serving this effect. At this very moment, while the reconnaissance team sent by Li Qi is active, the human Dao's reconnaissance team must also be probing within Shaman Dao.

Both sides are well aware of this, but also know that they cannot control it.

Then it's just a matter of who operates better, who makes fewer mistakes, and who gains more battlefield advantages.

Leaving these aside, let's see how the movements of the reconnaissance team were concealed, and then they quickly Transmigrated to a world dead zone.

Inside the world dead zone stood a Fifth Rank.

His appearance was very strange, somewhat like a humanoid creature, but not so 'humanoid'. He had four limbs and a head, but his limbs were very long and slender, and his skin was grayish-blue, like a strange four-legged octopus.

However, one could clearly sense the rank of this four-legged grayish-blue octopus.

This was a Fifth Rank cultivator, and among the People of No Return, he was the one who chose to personally venture into a dangerous place to welcome this reconnaissance team.

"Jia Yin Three Realms,箕中偏西三行 team, you are the captain, Xundongxing, right?" the octopus asked.

The captain of the reconnaissance team looked at the situation in the world dead zone, still chose to trust, and then nodded, saying: "That's right, it's us."

The reason this captain chose to trust was because... it was his nature. He was always the more aggressive and adventurous type, which was why he was exposed by Li Qi to the People of No Return.

He didn't know it himself, but this was 'Heaven's Will'.

His appearance here was an arrangement of 'Heaven's Will'. Therefore, his reaction, which he thought was his own decision, was actually something Heaven's Will had already anticipated.

However, Li Qi actually didn't know what was happening at that moment. He didn't have that much attention to focus on every single person. Just focusing on the situation of the world-level battlefield was already exhausting him.

However, not only Xundongxing was influenced by Li Qi; at this very moment, Li Qi was manipulating many, many people, guiding them to the appropriate places.

Why would Li Qi put the right people in the right places without paying full attention to the scene?

Nothing more than following the natural course of things.

This was a method Li Qi gradually developed after cultivating for a long time in the Dao Orthodoxy and comprehending how Chaos Qi transforms into a human Inner World.

Following the natural course is the true Heaven's Will.

Water naturally flows to the lowest point where it can stop, and for water to reach its destination, it doesn't require meticulous arrangements at every step along the way. Even immortals cannot arrange for every single person.

For a variable as large as a world, a slight deviation leading to a huge error is considered small. You cannot arrange for everyone. Trying to approach Heaven's Will by relying on computing power to arrange for everyone is the wrong approach.

It's like Li Qi's previous Inner World. When he wanted to turn the illusory into reality, the method he thought of was to observe reality, and then use realistic parameters as much as possible to approximate and correct the parameters of his Inner World, to precisely calculate the movement of every wisp of Qi.

However, this approach could only 'infinitely approximate' but never truly achieve 'turning the illusory into reality'.

It's like a circle. Previously, Li Qi used his computing power to forcibly approach the limit of pi, attempting to create a perfect circle.

But no matter what, he could never achieve perfection, because pi is infinite, and pursuing infinite perfection with finite life is impossible.

To become Heaven's Will, one cannot use this line of thinking to arrange for every single person. If so, no matter how high Li Qi's computing power, he still wouldn't be able to calculate it all.

To control water flow to a specific lake, one doesn't need to control all the water flow; Li Qi only needs to dig a ditch.

The water flow actually only needs a ditch, and then it will naturally come into the lake. Everything is natural.

Therefore, he doesn't need to control everyone; he only needs to change the overall environment of the entire world cluster, including everyone among the People of No Return, and Xundongxing, the captain of the Jia Yin Three Realms reconnaissance team, and thousands upon thousands of people like them, who will all act according to Li Qi's will, carrying out their own actions.

This approach works very well.

Li Qi doesn't need to pay attention to so many people, doesn't need to strain his computing power, and can still control the overall situation.

For example, now—

Xundongxing followed the People of No Return and arrived behind enemy lines.

Soon, the guerrilla forces for operations behind enemy lines will be formed.

And Li Qi attaches great importance to this.

So much so that he specifically took the time to send a message to Shen Shuibi through the 'Alliance'.

"Yuer, I have a task that only you can do. If successful, it might secure victory."

Shen Shuibi, who was fighting on the front lines, heard this and chose to leave the front lines.

A few days later, she returned from the front lines and came before Li Qi.

However, she faintly felt something was amiss.

Could it be... that this mission was very dangerous?