Chapter 618: ‘coincidence’

It was no longer possible for Shen Shuibi to interfere with the outside world. Even if she could hold on for a few more days, it wouldn't matter, as two Fifth-rank Cultivators were still harvesting the People of No Return outside.

As for the remaining hundreds of thousands of People of No Return, even if they formed a military Formation, with two Fifth-rank Cultivators acting and their Qi mutually canceling out, a quarter of an hour would be more than enough.

The remaining time would be ample to easily destroy the detector.

The dust settled, and the outcome had surfaced; ultimately, Liu Junyi had a slight edge.

But at this moment…

Cha Xike, not far away, suddenly opened his eyes.

Thump-thump.

Thump-thump-thump.

His heart began to beat rapidly, and his blood Qi seemed to surge.

What's going on? Wasn't he dead!?

Yes, Cha Xike had died earlier.

It wasn't for any other reason, but because he tried to absorb Shen Shuibi's shattered Golden Core and the Fifth-rank Inner Worlds that had been blasted apart by the Golden Core. He failed, was backlashed by the Dao韵 within, his Physical Body shattered, and his Inner World was utterly ruined.

However—

Perhaps it was a coincidence.

In Outer Void, there are some 'meteors'.

These are actually the remnants of dead worlds, neither too large nor too small. They are not enough to form a dead world, but also not so small as to be diluted by the vastness of Outer Void. Their own gravity is sufficient to maintain their existence.

There are quite a few such meteors in Outer Void.

Of course, 'quite a few', when diluted across the entire Void Beyond, is still extremely rare. If you were a Seventh-rank Cultivator, you might encounter one after traveling non-stop in the Void Realm for several hundred years.

After all, Outer Void is simply too vast. This is also why many indigenous worlds can exist; in such a large Void Beyond, there are always some nooks and crannies for even the smallest creatures to survive.

Back to the meteor: Gou Lou, who had been thrown out, waiting to die and then enter Reincarnation, was grazed by a meteor that came from who knows where.

Just that one graze caused Gou Lou's remnant body to deviate, drifting to the side of the already deceased Cha Xike.

Cha Xike wasn't completely dead yet; after all, it's very difficult for a Fifth-rank Cultivator to die completely. Although his Physical Body was already decaying, he could still hold on for a bit.

Just for that brief moment, Gou Lou's remnant body drifted to Cha Xike's side.

At this moment, Gou Lou, whose Spirit Soul was clearly completely shattered and body completely destroyed, somehow mustered a last shred of strength and grabbed Cha Xike.

"Eat me…" he said through Spirit Soul fluctuations, as he no longer had a throat, and his vocal organs were completely shattered.

One could only say, he was indeed a Martial Artist. Even when reduced to a puddle of rotting flesh devoid of consciousness, he could still store his thinking organs within the few remaining living cells.

Of course, it was merely clinging to life; unless a Third-rank Cultivator descended, death was only a matter of time.

This sound received no response.

"Eat me!" Gou Lou let out a final roar, which made his remnant body become even more withered and pale.

This caused Cha Xike to suddenly awaken.

He looked around, then looked into the distance.

As a Fifth-rank Cultivator, his mind was clear, so without any hesitation, he struggled to tilt his head and bit into the remnant body.

The Physical Body of a Fifth-rank Martial Artist, and the remaining fresh blood, flowed into Gou Lou's body.

His Physical Body began to revive.

Then, his eyes moistened slightly, because he had eaten some remnant souls.

Gou Lou's consciousness completely disintegrated, unable to even enter Reincarnation.

But Cha Xike didn't delay, diligently chewing the Fifth-rank Cultivator's flesh and blood, swallowing it into his stomach.

However, as he ate, he suddenly started crying.

It wasn't because of some sacrifice; he had already seen countless sacrifices. Cha Xike had personally witnessed the deaths of hundreds of thousands of People of No Return, which was already commonplace.

Therefore, he wouldn't cry for sacrifice.

He merely recalled his hometown, recalled boasting with Gou Lou about the great achievements of their respective worlds, and even almost getting into a fight.

He and Gou Lou weren't newly acquainted; they were already good friends, having roamed Outer Void together for many years, knowing each other since they were Seventh-rank Cultivators.

Cha Xike still remembered that among the many lone wanderers and travelers in Outer Void, there was generally a commonality: when wanderers from Outer Void gathered, their topics of conversation were usually about their own worlds, and boasting about their world's achievements was something every wanderer from Outer Void had done.

The People of No Return were all wanderers from Outer Void.

No, he shouldn't be called Gou Lou, he should be called Babu.

While crying, he tore apart and ate Babu's body piece by piece, quickly recovering a tiny bit of strength.

According to normal development, he should now comprehend some true meaning of the Dao, and then be able to improve his cultivation.

However, reality was cruel. Cha Xike didn't comprehend anything. He merely dragged his body, which had recovered a little strength, and rushed towards that chaotic Qi again.

Nine deaths, one life?

No, even ten thousand deaths, one life, would not be enough to describe it.

But, he had to do it. This was his Dao; this was his path.

— — — — — —

At this moment, in the center of the Human Dao War Fortress, in the far rear, was where Liu Junyi's command tent was located.

Liu Junyi sat inside, neatly dressed, his long hair neatly tied up, with a hair crown and a sash. His simple green robe was without a single wrinkle, just like him—perfect, almost without flaws.

Although he wasn't devastatingly handsome, his gentle and serene temperament added a lot to his charm.

However, Liu Junyi looked a bit haggard.

Commanding wars across countless worlds simultaneously was simply too mentally exhausting. Even with The Axis of All Realms and the staff group sharing the burden, it was still incredibly difficult.

But at this moment, The Axis of All Realms suddenly transmitted a message.

Before even reading the message, just the sender made Liu Junyi's pupils contract sharply.

One of the Protectors, the Grand Dao Resonance of the Right Martial Guard! A Third-rank Cultivator!

He was Liu Junyi's direct superior!

One description would suffice to understand the status of this Grand Dao Resonance.

This person was the counterpart to Zhu Fengdan; in this Human-Shaman War, he was precisely Zhu Fengdan's opponent.

What did it mean for this Grand Dao Resonance to send him a message personally? The matters he had to deal with were extremely important, so why would he suddenly send him a message?

It was like Li Qi going to find a Seventh-rank or Eighth-rank World Master and sending them a message. Once something like this happened, it must be because those Seventh-rank or Eighth-rank World Masters had done something earth-shattering that even surprised Li Qi.

Similarly, Liu Junyi was in the same situation now.

Even he, receiving a direct message from a Third-rank Cultivator, felt a bit restless at this moment, but he quickly read the message.

After reading it, Liu Junyi's expression became much uglier.

"Controlling coincidence… Li Qi's?" Liu Junyi's face was ashen, already haggard, now devoid of color, like a student who had pulled all-nighters for a month for cramming.

He had just received a message.

Just now, many light-years away, a Karma fluctuation had occurred, precisely controlling the occurrence of a coincidence. It was suspected that someone in the vanguard battlefield had developed faint Third-rank characteristics. He was ordered to investigate this matter thoroughly.

After Liu Junyi read this message, his first thought was 'impossible'!

Absolutely impossible!

How could such a thing happen!?

If it were true, once Li Qi ascended and had enough cultivation to obscure or even trace back Karma, he would directly become one of the top Fifth-rank Cultivators.

Even if Liu Junyi entered the Dao with the standard of a gentleman and ascended to Fifth-rank with his own Dao Heart as his Dao foundation, it would be hard to say who would win.

Of course, Liu Junyi didn't care about individual combat power; the combat power of a Fifth-rank Cultivator was actually irrelevant. What truly surprised him was… the other party possessed some Third-rank characteristics.

Just learned? Impossible!

However, the source of the message was a Third-rank Cultivator, which meant it was true, and the coordinates mentioned—

The coordinates were the battlefield with the detector!

Something might have happened.

Liu Junyi immediately contacted General Zhou: "Has anything strange happened on the battlefield?"

General Zhou was currently working with the Mohist Cultivator to suppress Shen Shuibi. The sudden message startled him a bit, but he still diverted his attention to read it.

Liu Junyi must have known what he was doing now, but still sent the message, which showed its importance. It might be something that could affect the front-line situation.

But this distraction created a flaw in what would have been a guaranteed hit, allowing Shen Shuibi to seize the opportunity to dodge, gaining a moment to catch her breath and recover her Qi.

With just that tiny flaw, Shen Shuibi could hold on for a while longer.

"What's going on?" The Mohist Cultivator glanced at General Zhou, frowning slightly.

This shouldn't be happening; at this level, how could a mistake still occur?

But General Zhou didn't reply. He was surveying the entire battlefield, then replied to Liu Junyi: "I've checked, there's nothing unusual. Why? Is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

Liu Junyi then said: "Be careful. The Grand Dao Resonance of the Right Martial Guard just told me that there was a trace of Karma fluctuation here, but it wasn't a Third-rank Cultivator's doing."

Just hearing the words 'Karma fluctuation' made General Zhou's hair stand on end!

What the hell?!

But this was information from the Grand Dao Resonance of the Right Martial Guard, meaning it was true.

So General Zhou immediately warned the Mohist Cultivator next to him: "There's a Karma fluctuation! Stay alert, pay attention!"

The Mohist Cultivator, hearing this, immediately sputtered and then cursed: "Has our Third-rank Cultivator been killed!? Why would there be Karma fluctuations?!"

General Zhou, however, said: "With the Grand Dao Resonance present, Zhu Fengdan absolutely cannot act at this moment. It wasn't a Third-rank Cultivator who did it!"

Their conversation was not concealed; the information-carrying fluctuations spread outwards, allowing Shen Shuibi to hear them as well.

Hearing this, she slowly, deeply took a breath.

She didn't dare to breathe too fast, as her chest was leaking Qi.

She hadn't dodged in time earlier and was pierced by the long halberd. The tyrannical Qi intent clung to her, and the Dao韵 continuously vibrated, preventing healing. Even a Yang Spirit would find it difficult to heal directly; these Qi intents had to be removed before she could recover.

However, her neck lifted, and joy appeared in her eyes.

She knew—

It must be Li Qi, definitely Li Qi.

Even countless light-years away, Li Qi was still helping her.

— — — — — — — — — —

Meanwhile, in the heartland of Shaman Dao, Li Qi was floating in the sky. Around him was the Infinite Sea of Blood.

The sky was blood-red, the Yin and Yang were blood-colored, and the land and oceans were submerged by blood and severed limbs. This dying world was immersed in such a vast amount of Death Qi and blood Qi, as if it were about to revive.

Indeed, from death, life is born. If it continued to be immersed in such concentrated Death Qi, it wouldn't be impossible for this world to come back to life.

But it certainly wouldn't happen now, because at this moment, all this Death Qi belonged to Li Qi.

Li Qi had intercepted a portion of the Death Qi from the blood sacrifice and allocated it to himself.

For the entire world-cluster Formation, the power generated by the blood sacrifice every single second was immense. Even just a small portion of it was enough to immerse an entire world and provide Li Qi with an almost infinite energy boost for him.

Under such a boost, he began his adventure.

What kind of adventure?

The answer was, impersonating 'Heaven's Will'.

Why did a meteor quietly fall from who knows where, precisely hitting Gou Lou?

Because of Li Qi.

Why was the battlefield divided into such a strange configuration?

Because of Li Qi.

What caused General Zhou of the Seventh War Zone to be transferred by Liu Junyi to the detector's battlefield?

It is well known that Liu Junyi sent General Zhou, the commander of the Seventh War Zone, to deal with Shen Shuibi because the pressure on the Seventh War Zone was the lowest. (See Chapter 611)

So, why was the pressure on the Seventh War Zone relatively low?

Very simple, it was still because of Li Qi.

When the 'natural' Dao he comprehended from the Chaos of the Divine Dao, combined with Li Qi's mental and computational power, and his previous attempt at the 'Heaven's Will' method, the three together directly overwhelmed Li Qi, making it impossible for him to use this method at all.

Too difficult, too difficult.

A Sixth-rank Cultivator simply couldn't sustain such consumption. Tracing back Karma and manipulating facts through Karma relationships was too difficult. The current Li Qi's cultivation was too low; doing so would crush him.

However, after activating the blood sacrifice, he had enough power and could distribute the pressure.

With an endless supply of death providing Li Qi with power, he could achieve this.

Only…

"Pfft-wah!" Li Qi suddenly spat out a mouthful of old blood, although he was already soaking in the blood sacrifice.

Then, he fell from the sky.

The trajectory of just one meteor had already exhausted Li Qi.

"Pass on my order: all war zones, while maintaining the current situation, may make their own decisions when encountering matters." Li Qi immediately conveyed this to the Fifth-rank World Masters through the 'Alliance'.

Then, he tilted his head and fainted.

Becoming the true 'Heaven's Will' was an incredibly huge burden for him. Even with the support of the world-cluster Formation and the blood sacrifice as backup power, he almost died doing it.

This was only… manipulating two meteors. The Karma relationship of a meteor is very simple; for at least tens of millions of years, this meteor was just ordinary Void Beyond debris.

To manipulate such objects with extremely simple Karma relationships, Li Qi had to pluck tens of millions of Karma threads.

At the same time, he also understood more clearly where his 'Heaven's Will' power came from.

This was the power derived from Li Qi's answer to 'I am I'.

The power of Karma threads.