Chapter 606: Humanity

In the Void Realm, Shen Shuibi faced Li Qi's old acquaintance, the Lord of Pestilence.

The battle with this peculiar being made Shen Shuibi focus her mind.

Now it seemed that a being like the Lord of Pestilence truly perfectly suited the Human Dao.

Because the Lord of Pestilence's cultivation speed was very slow; his thoughts were too scattered. This wasn't Li Qi's multi-threading, but rather a super multi-personality, to an incredibly numerous degree.

Hundreds of millions of tiny insects, each one a separate Lord of Pestilence. These Lords of Pestilence would even engage in internal strife and self-devourment, all of which severely hindered the Lord of Pestilence's path to enlightenment. So, even though he was very likely tens of millions of years old, he was still only a Seventh Rank.

However, while his cultivation was slow, the Lord of Pestilence's combat power was incredibly strong. Among Seventh Rank beings, the Lord of Pestilence could be said to be 'invincible.' Fighting the Lord of Pestilence was like facing hundreds of millions of Seventh Rank beings who had dropped in rank.

Every Lord of Pestilence was individual, with independent thoughts and their own insights, only the cultivation they controlled was too little. Even if the Lord of Pestilence's cultivation was hundreds or thousands of times higher than that of a peer, it couldn't withstand being divided among so many individuals.

But this also meant that to fight the Lord of Pestilence was equivalent to fighting thousands of times the cultivation controlled by countless brains. A peer opponent could almost never win, unless you were a super strong man like the Demonic Prince, who could win even against thousands of times his own cultivation.

And what restricted the Lord of Pestilence was only cultivation and rank. While he was strong, his path was also difficult, which could be considered a form of fairness.

But for the Human Dao, what did that matter?

If your cultivation wasn't strong enough, and your rank wasn't high enough, then just give you an official position.

Let the Human Dao bestow cultivation upon you, bestow rank upon you, bear the strength of the multitude, and use the 'official positions' already forged by the Human Dao to make up for the Lord of Pestilence's only weakness.

If it weren't for the Seventh Rank being truly too low to bear a higher official position, Shen Shuibi had no doubt that the Human Dao would even be willing to place a Third Rank official position on his head.

After all, bearing an official position also required one's own foundation to be strong enough; an official position was not without cost, and the short-lived Human Emperors were the most typical example.

Therefore, Shen Shuibi would now face a Fifth Rank Lord of Pestilence.

It was truly... a bit difficult.

Shen Shuibi was already considered very formidable among Fifth Rank beings. At this moment, she was also controlling a Formation, with the power of the Formation boosting her. Facing a Fifth Rank being whose rank was forcibly elevated by an official position, what should have been a crushing battle now subtly felt like she was at a disadvantage.

A Fifth Rank being elevated by an official position should have been very, very weak, only capable of suppressing some foreign native Fifth Rank beings at most, and finding it very difficult to win against elite Fifth Rank beings from outside.

But this rule did not apply to the Lord of Pestilence.

Extremely rarely, Shen Shuibi's computational power was actually suppressed by the opponent!

Countless Lords of Pestilence, each with their own thoughts, exerted computational power that even suppressed Shen Shuibi, making her feel constrained everywhere, as if all her actions were within the opponent's predictions.

She once again formed a hand seal, making the sea of fire boil again!

Shen Shuibi wrote while shouting, "By the boundless divine power of the Nine Heavens Fire Thunder Ministry, obey my command!"

The divine talisman she was writing in her hand was completed, then she threw it into the Void Realm. The divine talisman suddenly ignited, the red script shone and fell, wind and fire intertwined ceaselessly, a phantom of a divine image appeared, accepting the talisman and obeying the command.

And so, the next moment.

The flames were no longer scattered but condensed, forming a crimson city, with trigrams at the bottom of the dipper, spread out in all directions, covering the Lord of Pestilence. Inside, fierce flames flew with power, different types of flames generating simultaneously.

There were Nine Heavens Fire Thunder Fire, Electric Fire, Flying Fire, Blazing Fire, Flowing Fire, Seven-Star Fire, Thunderbolt Fire, Blazing Lightning Fire, and then Fire Camel, Fire Elephant, Fire Horse, Fire Eagle, and tens of thousands of fire beasts, fiercely pouncing on the opponent!

Crossing fire dragons with golden eyes and fierce lightning, holding burning divine light for thousands of miles, eighty thousand fire calamities gathered into a single abode, scattering across the horizon, a giant fire millions of feet high, flames filling the sky, one blaze reaching a thousand miles, three thousand blazes in an instant, in a flash, the world dried up, and all things turned to dust!

Hundreds of billions of Lords of Pestilence were incinerated, and a large number of Lord of Pestilence personalities turned to ash amidst wails.

Every second, Shen Shuibi was annihilating countless Lords of Pestilence, but at the same time, more and more Lords of Pestilence were being born.

These Lords of Pestilence formed spells, formed Divine Abilities, and formed thousands upon thousands of new Lords of Pestilence.

No single Lord of Pestilence needed to rack his brains; instead, countless Lords of Pestilence chose on their own, constantly brainstorming every moment.

Facing such a collective will, Shen Shuibi began to fall into a disadvantage.

At first, a flaw in her Dan Fire was discovered.

It must have been accidentally discovered by one of the Lords of Pestilence.

But the next instant, all Lords of Pestilence immediately shared this flaw, and the Dan Fire was directly flattened by three hundred million miles!

This was one of the Lord of Pestilence's combat methods.

Infinite trial and error, using life to trial and error.

A person with only one consciousness can only make trial and error again and again. Perhaps the speed of trial and error is very fast, thousands or tens of thousands of times per second. With a Fifth Rank's brainpower, millions of times per second is not impossible, but this consumes a lot of creativity, because there are indeed not many things a person can think of.

But the Lord of Pestilence was different; they were faster than that.

Countless Lords of Pestilence, each making different attempts every second. Even if many of these attempts were similar, when the sheer number was stacked, their trial-and-error speed was far, far faster than other Fifth Rank beings.

As a result, Shen Shuibi immediately made corresponding adjustments.

Then, the Lord of Pestilence adjusted accordingly, even faster than Shen Shuibi.

Sweat began to bead on the rabbit's forehead. She mobilized a large amount of brainpower to calculate, to decipher the opponent's spells, and to create more perfect, flawless spells.

But the Lord of Pestilence, countless Lords of Pestilence, each doing the same thing as Shen Shuibi.

This was true 'collective wisdom,' countless thoughts, countless directions, every Lord of Pestilence could mobilize resources to experiment, and could choose different directions.

Multiple personalities? No, no, this is called a brain cluster array!

Collective intelligence simply surpasses individual intelligence.

And the Lord of Pestilence, he himself was a collective; he was a single civilization!

Only then did Shen Shuibi realize she had been overconfident.

She thought that with her own strength, plus the Formation, no one among the Fifth Rank could stop her, and she could easily probe the Human Dao's reserve strength.

However, the appearance of the Lord of Pestilence had dragged her down here!

Even with the help of the Formation, she and the Lord of Pestilence were at best evenly matched, and she was even at a disadvantage. The battle rhythm was dragged into that of a normal Fifth Rank battle, meaning it was very likely to last for a month.

Could it last a month?

Perhaps in at most half an hour, other Human Dao Fifth Rank beings would join the battlefield.

Oh no, will I be held here and captured this time?

Shen Shuibi began to grow anxious, and more and more flaws appeared.

She wouldn't lose for a while, but if the Human Dao reinforcements arrived, her pressure would only increase.

Yes, the rabbit was very smart and learned to fight very quickly, but she always had the personality of a researcher. She hadn't experienced many evenly matched life-and-death battles.

To put it plainly, she was a training ground king, a simulator champion, very strong in power, with excellent awareness and extremely fast hand speed, but in reality, she had never played a ranked match.

Now, in a ranked match, she encountered a true King tier opponent who could fight her to a draw, and this was also a timed challenge. If time ran out and she couldn't defeat the opponent, the opponent's reinforcements would arrive...

At this point, Shen Shuibi's composure began to waver.

With her composure unstable, her spells also became unstable, and the front line immediately collapsed again—

Shen Shuibi took two deep breaths, her body emitting a moon-like silver light, which then flickered on and off, finally dissipating.

Calm down... calm down, Yu'er. Although the opponent is strong, he is not overwhelmingly strong. Both sides are still evenly matched. Learn from how Li Qi does things. Li Qi is best at dealing with this kind of pressure...

Yes, in Shen Shuibi's mind, Li Qi was best at enduring pressure. In reality, it was indeed so; Li Qi was already very accustomed to touching high-voltage wires and now felt nothing seeing a Third Rank.

A Ninth Rank fighting a Seventh Rank, a Seventh Rank seeing a Third Rank—though nervous, he still maintained his composure, able to make good decisions, not making mistakes due to his own misplays.

This was also the reason why Shen Shuibi had initially looked at Li Qi with new eyes.

Even if he trembled with fear, Li Qi would not let his actions become distorted because of it.

So... learn from him.

The rabbit forced herself to calm down and began to deal with the opponent.

One spell after another was cast, beginning to weave a net and set up a Formation, and then she moved to break the opponent's situation, neutralizing the enemy's attempts to control, constantly calculating her own moves, and predicting where the enemy's attacks would land.

A magical duel across thousands of miles was like this.

But she still grew anxious.

Fighting like this, it would be normal to fight for ten days or half a month. For a while, she couldn't find a way to escape.

But in a little while longer... the opponent's reinforcements would arrive, and then there would be even less she could do.

What to do? What to do?

However, just at this moment—

The Lord of Pestilence suddenly stopped.

He ceased his attack and even cleared a path.

Shen Shuibi was stunned, momentarily unable to react.

But then, a voice came: "Greetings... Mrs. Li."

"Hmm?" Shen Shuibi immediately realized he was addressing her.

But this address, was he indicating that he was Li Qi's friend?

"It truly is Mrs. Li. Why are you here?" The Lord of Pestilence actually started to converse.

Shen Shuibi was momentarily at a loss, but since the other party had stopped, she could use this time to chat while thinking of a countermeasure.

So, she replied, "I merely joined the battle with my husband."

"So that's how it is... Alas, after that farewell, I knew there was a possibility I might face Brother Li in the future. I never thought this day would come so quickly." The Lord of Pestilence sighed.

"However, looking at it now... forget it, let's not talk about this. Please, Mrs. Li, leave quickly," the Lord of Pestilence said.

"You want me to leave? Why? Won't you be punished by military law for this?" Shen Shuibi was surprised.

"I once promised Brother Li Qi that if I ever faced him in the future, I would definitely retreat and not confront him directly. Since Mrs. Li and Brother Li are a couple, how could I make a move? Please retreat quickly. When others arrive later, it will be difficult to leave," the Lord of Pestilence said. (For details, refer to Chapter 424.)

Shen Shuibi heard this and glanced at the other party.

Then, without hesitation, she turned and left, disappearing into the distance.

The Lord of Pestilence truly stood still, watching her depart.

After Shen Shuibi had left for about a quarter of an hour, the Lord of Pestilence still stood there, not having moved.

As the phantom of the Golden Dais appeared, Liu Junyi emerged at this location.

"Lord of Pestilence, do you confess your crime?" Liu Junyi's tone was very gentle. He said, 'Do you confess your crime,' but his tone sounded more like he was saying, 'Are you alright?'

However, the Lord of Pestilence knew that the other party would not go easy because of this.

"Allowing the enemy to escape, the Lord of Pestilence confesses his crime." The Lord of Pestilence cupped his hands, retracting the misty cloud around him, gathering all the 'Lords of Pestilence' into one place.

"Alas, if I punish you now, you will also be transferred from this war zone. Is that what you wanted?" Liu Junyi asked.

"General, you see clearly. The Lord of Pestilence indeed made a vow and does not wish to be an enemy of Li Qi. Transferring me is the best decision," the Lord of Pestilence replied, looking at Liu Junyi.

He knew that this decision was not easy to make.

Because... to be honest, if the Lord of Pestilence stayed here, then Li Qi's chances of winning would be zero.

Liu Junyi had long known about the existence of the People of No Return and also knew where Li Qi's vitality lay. He knew that the other party would definitely target the The Axis of All Realms's base station, so... the Lord of Pestilence, as a reserve force, was responsible for guarding the The Axis of All Realms's base station while also bearing part of the responsibility as a reserve unit.

Liu Junyi had already prepared for Li Qi's plan in advance, but... Liu Junyi didn't know he was facing Li Qi.

Yes, Liu Junyi initially didn't know that the enemy he was facing was Li Qi, so he chose the Lord of Pestilence as his helper, after all, the Lord of Pestilence was truly very strong.

Unexpectedly, this became a flaw in the battlefield. The Lord of Pestilence could absolutely not make a move against Li Qi, after all... his Dao foundation was built upon Li Qi's research achievements.

So, Liu Canzhi sighed, "Alas, so be it. Every action has its Karma. This can be considered repaying the past Karma. However, this war is too important. With your retreat... it will be difficult to explain to the Ministry of War."

"General need not explain; just let the Ministry of War handle it as they see fit," the Lord of Pestilence said with a smile.

"...Good, I will clarify." Liu Junyi nodded. "Then let's go. First, return to the curtain. Afterwards, you will go to Chang'an to receive your punishment."

"I am dull and ignorant, unable to adapt, and have caused trouble for the General." The Lord of Pestilence bowed and said this.

"It's nothing, just bad luck. Who knew we'd encounter Li Qi? Among the thousands of Shaman Dao war zone commanders, we just happened to meet him. Such a coincidence is not a crime of war, nor your fault. But since this is a vanguard battle, your retreat... indeed has a significant impact. The Ministry of War will probably not be too lenient. You must be careful; some fellows in the Ministry of War... still think you are not worthy of being human."

The Lord of Pestilence seemed to find nothing special about it, merely nodding.

"However, after this matter, although the punishment will not be light, many people will probably look at you with new eyes, and more people should recognize you. Oh, right, you will probably be transferred from the Human-Shaman Dao battlefield to the True Dragon side. You don't have acquaintances there too, do you?"

The Lord of Pestilence bowed his head in shame, not answering.

"Never mind, those are matters for the future. Let's not talk about them. Let's go." Liu Junyi waved his hand, ending the topic.

The Lord of Pestilence also said nothing, following Liu Junyi away from the place.