Chapter 633: The fall of the second rank

Li Qi found it hard to describe the scene.

Above him, there was nothing, just a dark dome.

But at this moment, above them, it was rising at the end of the world.

It was a red disc, its curve perfectly exquisite, emitting a deep red light; even from here, one could feel its scorching heat.

It was like the sun rising from the horizon.

The Universe shattered, Li Qi could see the Dao intertwining and tearing apart.

The rules of the Universe had never been so chaotic at this moment; Li Qi could even feel his Inner World being affected, with a destructive force invading all Dao, including everyone's Inner World.

It was as if Humanity had plundered 'Silver,' taking 'Silver' from the Five Metals, making the Five Metals incomplete ever since, and the myriad worlds no longer possessed Silver.

Now, that sun rising from the edge of the Universe also began to attempt to 'plunder' all suns.

The Yang Qi of the entire Universe began to converge.

Li Qi could see that, compared to that sun, the Universe appeared so… fragmented.

So many Dao were intertwined in the entire world, like a graffiti, or like living in a dilapidated Universe full of crisscrossing cracks.

The Universe was too vast, too chaotic, with various conflicting elements mixed together, so crude, like a crumbling, dangerous building.

But that orb of light, illuminating the entire Universe, was so 'pure.'

Li Qi had never seen anything with such a simple shape, like a 'data' existing only in theory, an absolutely flat wilderness, and that light wheel with a perfect arc.

In this scenery, the light and simple geometric lines were captivating; he gazed intently, unable to help but feel dazed.

How to describe it?

Perhaps it was… 'absolute smoothness,' 'no friction,' 'absolute rigid body,' 'true circle' from physics problems appearing in reality.

Especially the 'true circle.'

As is well known, pi is infinite, which means all circles are inherently imperfect.

If a perfect 'circle' appeared, it would mean that pi actually has a limit, or… this world is infinitely divisible, capable of infinite decomposition.

These are absolutely reality-subverting concepts.

A 'circle' is a concept, not a physical object, nor can a physical object exist.

All natural circles are approximations; if magnified, their edges are found to be bumpy, all polygons, not perfect arcs.

There has never been an exception.

But now, there was an exception.

That sun, illuminating all space-time in the Universe, appeared, more perfect than any real object, a pure and absolute conceptual product, and it had already manifested in reality.

Only… there was only the sun.

But no Moon.

The Demonic Prince also gazed at that sun.

He knew a little more than Li Qi.

Since Silver disappeared from the world for three and a half billion years, such a rare spectacle finally reappeared in the Universe.

The essence of this current Universe is merely the ruins left by those ancient Dao Orthodoxy.

This world appears fragmented, with mixed Dao, and even the physical rules differ in various places, and the speed of light can be arbitrarily changed; this is because the Universe is riddled with holes, gradually cooling, and the Dao of the Universe is slowly weakening, and the First Gods are unable to recast new Dao.

The First Gods, they could no longer achieve feats like separating all things from Chaos as they once did.

Therefore, Humanity wanted to take over this matter.

As for the ordinary worlds that emerged in this broken Universe, the ordinary civilizations born within them were merely cockroaches that had just hatched in the ruins of war.

Furthermore, these worlds began to pursue Dao, began to develop technology, and their technology was entirely built upon a 'wrong Universe.'

These worlds would never know that the 'Dao of Metal' actually consisted of Five Metals.

No matter how they explored, how they practiced, how they searched and deliberated, unless someone who knew the truth told them, these civilizations, from birth to destruction, would never know that the 'Dao of Metal' also had Silver.

Their self-proclaimed interests, their self-proclaimed survival, their self-proclaimed path of civilization, were merely competing with other cockroaches for the few remaining survival resources within these ruins and remains.

Occasionally, they would be swept into real wars, just like the countless worlds destroyed by Humanity's creation of the 'Great Wall'; only then could they catch a glimpse of truly great existences from this ruin-like Universe.

Even the Demonic Prince was somewhat moved by this scene.

Hmm… I just don't know what the Heavenly Demon is thinking.

Never mind that, for now, let's just enjoy the ceremony.

This was a Second Grade's leap, and the Demonic Prince held absolute respect for it, respecting the courage of a Dao seeker.

At this moment, it was either the instant a First Grade was about to be born, or the moment a Second Grade fell.

Such a great feat, it's not common.

Li Qi didn't know as much as the Demonic Prince, but he also had a vague feeling, knowing what was happening now.

The sun continued to rise mercilessly, but the Moon never appeared.

By now, blinding white light streamed down, becoming increasingly intense.

Then… the sun shattered.

All the Dao fell silent in that instant.

Li Qi immediately felt a suffocating sensation; a certain power gripped his throat, even penetrating his skin and bones, squeezing his heart!

All the anomalies vanished in an instant, and Li Qi felt an unprecedented tremor.

It seemed as if the entire Universe had quieted down, countless worlds flickered, and all the suns were covered in black spots at this moment.

A Second Grade had fallen.

The Great Power of Shaman Dao, who first attempted to assimilate the Dao opportunity and sought to advance to First Grade, died at this moment.

Just as it was said at the beginning.

When the Dao opportunity appeared, Shaman Dao would have Second Grade cultivators pre-selected and lined up.

One by one.

If the previous one died, the next one would take their place, until someone succeeded.

If everyone died without success, then it would be a complete and utter defeat, with many, many Second Grade cultivators dying, an unknown amount of combat power lost, and ultimately nothing gained.

And Humanity's goal was to reach the location of the Sun-Moon True Lead Cauldron directly before Shaman Dao successfully gave birth to a new First Grade, to seize back the Dao opportunity, or to disrupt the advancement of Shaman Dao's Second Grade cultivators.

All wars were for this matter.

During this period, all sacrifices, all joys and sorrows, everything, was only for this goal.

Humanity was the attacking side; Shaman Dao was the defending side.

However, at specific war zones, the responsibilities differed.

The vanguard battle was merely a game of rock-paper-scissors before the real war began, just to decide who went first.

Now, Li Qi had already secured the first move.

Li Qi exhaled a long breath.

The war had just begun.

The vanguard battle, which caused billions of casualties and the fall of countless worlds, was merely a small cherry in the appetizer; the full course of the Manchu Han Imperial Feast had yet to be touched.

Li Qi gradually recovered from the might of the fallen Second Grade; his first action was to accept the message from the 'Alliance.'

It was from an unknown person, with a higher position than Zhu Fengdan.

He requested Li Qi to immediately leave the war zone and go to the rear; the vanguard battle had ended, and he didn't need to worry about the subsequent wars.

This made Li Qi somewhat puzzled and a little apprehensive.

But after glancing at the Demonic Prince, Li Qi decided it was better to leave this place sooner.

So, Li Qi said, "Then, farewell, friend… I just hope you don't bring Heavenly Demons next time…"

Hearing Li Qi call him 'friend,' the Demonic Prince's voice carried a hint of a smile; even without seeing the face beneath the mask, one knew he was in a good mood.

But his reply was, "I can't say for sure about that. You'd better take your niece back first; Humanity is about to sweep through."

Li Qi said no more, turned, and quickly left the place, taking Li Shiwei, who had not yet broken free from the spell.

And the Demonic Prince watched him leave.

Only after Li Qi's figure completely disappeared did the Demonic Prince fly up, slowly coming to Liu Junyi's jade pendant.

Liu Junyi's Physical Body had been destroyed by Li Qi; his consciousness was currently within this jade pendant, being scoured by the massive information after the collapse of The Axis of All Realms.

"I still wanted to challenge you… the famous Gentleman, but… what a pity, you didn't lose in a fight, but lost to the collapse of The Axis of All Realms. That's really, a bit embarrassing," the Demonic Prince shook his head and sighed.

But, at this moment, that jade pendant suddenly lit up.

"Just like this… you still can't kill me… neither of you, even together," Liu Junyi's painful voice came, and the surrounding energy began to converge, forming a human shape.

Liu Junyi did not lose to Li Qi; he only lost due to the Demonic Prince's sneak attack.

Even as strong as Liu Junyi, he couldn't deal with Li Qi and the Demonic Prince together, which is why he failed and was scoured by the information torrent of The Axis of All Realms.

But… after all, he was Liu Junyi.

The information torrent of The Axis of All Realms couldn't take his life; he even had enough strength to condense a Dharma Body, and it seemed he wasn't planning to surrender.

"Don't persist. I know that even now, I can't capture you alive, but your death wouldn't benefit me either, so I'm not here to fight you. Even if we were to fight, it would have to wait until you're at your peak," the Demonic Prince shook his head.

"Then… what does the Demonic Dao want to do?" Liu Junyi used energy to condense a barely usable body, standing with difficulty, staring at the Demonic Prince.

"Nothing special," the Demonic Prince looked at Liu Junyi and handed him a challenge letter.

"I have finally waited for a Gentleman Fifth Grade. I challenge you to a duel; when you have recovered to your peak, I will come to challenge you. I hope you are prepared."

With that, the Demonic Prince put down the challenge letter and turned to leave.

Leaving only Liu Junyi behind.

He was stunned for a moment, then immediately rushed to the base station's location.

He had to quickly repair the base station, rebuild the command System, and command the army to retreat!

The battle had been lost, but it was not a crime of war; if it weren't for the Demonic Prince's intervention, he would definitely have been able to hold out for a day, easily repelling Shaman Dao, then stabilizing his cultivation, and then slowly planning.

Unfortunately, the Demonic Prince's sneak attack destroyed The Axis of All Realms, directly leading to Liu Junyi's defeat, and the front-line command System was bound to collapse.

Therefore, quickly rebuild; if fewer people can die, then fewer people will die!

----------

This war, which lasted for more than half a year, finally ended with Shaman Dao's victory.

No one expected it to be won in just over half a year!

Originally, everyone thought that even a few decades would be considered short.

Even Li Qi felt that after a dozen years, when Liu Junyi reached Fifth Grade, the battle should end, and the winner would be decided then, because Liu Junyi might become incredibly strong after reaching Fifth Grade.

At the beginning of the battle, everyone thought this way; Li Qi himself felt that his own advancement to Fifth Grade was too slow. His Fifth Grade was truly a 'slow grind,' although the path was already laid out, he still had to walk it, relying entirely on slow grinding, and a thousand years or so was a very normal thing.

After all, the path Li Qi chose for himself was to be a Invoker, to become a connection point of Karma, and manipulating Karma required extremely high cultivation, which needed a lot of accumulation.

However, he himself didn't expect his own Fifth Grade to come even faster than Liu Junyi's.

White Chen Fox King Bodhisattva provided him with that jade bead, allowing him to borrow cultivation from his past and future selves, tripling his cultivation, enabling him to Break through the required Bottleneck, bypassing the slow grinding stage, and directly becoming a Fifth Grade.

Because of this, Li Qi was able to Break through earlier than Liu Junyi, charging directly forward, forcing Liu Junyi to lose the initiative and be helpless, only able to desperately fight for a Breakthrough.

Fortunately, he really did Break through, which also exceeded Li Qi's expectations and almost allowed him to turn the tables.

It was thanks to the Demonic Prince's sudden appearance that everything was finally settled.

Without The Axis of All Realms's command and coordination, Humanity would no longer be a unified entity, and a disorganized mess could not defeat Shaman Dao, which possessed a complete command System.

All in all, everyone was happy except for Humanity.

Humanity quickly repaired The Axis of All Realms, and with an organizational System, they quickly retreated, leaving the war fortress to Shaman Dao.

There was no need; they only needed to take Gansong City.

Then, the war fortress became the spoils of war for those worlds.

The worlds that participated in the war and were fortunate enough to survive would receive generous rewards.

The war fortress from Humanity, its technology, its spells, and even the war fortress itself, were treasures that these worlds would normally never be able to access.

For these civilizations, the Human Fortress was truly a 'Top-Tier Technology,' which could allow many civilizations to make great strides, whether the future was good or bad, this was progress.

But Li Qi would not see these things, because he had just returned, handed Li Shiwei over to Shen Shuibi, and then immediately rushed to the rear war zone, a place much further back than the vanguard war zone.

Li Qi's war zone command position was directly revoked; someone else would take his place.

Even Zhu Fengdan had no right to interfere with this matter; this was a direct summons from a Second Grade Ordained Invoker!

He received an extremely serious order, yes, an order.

Ordained Invoker ordered Li Qi to immediately drop everything and rush over; all war zones must fully cooperate, sparing no expense, even if it meant shattering Star-Mansion Array, to send Li Qi back alone.

This made Li Qi somewhat apprehensive.

This… why was this?