Chapter 636: The price

In this mysterious Immortal Abode, inside Li Qi’s small room, a voice echoed from deep within Li Qi’s Heart-Nature.

Who was it?

It was no one.

It was Li Qi himself.

It was his ‘Heart-Nature stirring with a thought,’ his ‘wild thoughts.’

In other words, it was his distracting thoughts, his… Heart Demon.

His wife and daughter were Li Qi’s Heart Demon.

Even though Ordained Invoker had made a promise, Li Qi knew she would certainly fulfill it, and Shen Shuibi would definitely be recalled from the front lines.

But… would being recalled from the front lines make her safe?

Not necessarily.

Was Karma that easy to deal with?

This worry, this fear, began to take root in Li Qi’s Dao Heart, then asked the question, “Are you truly at ease?”

Yes, was Li Qi truly at ease?

Given Li Qi’s deep-thinking, overthinking personality, it would be a miracle if he could truly set his mind at ease.

It’s just… what could be done?

The only thing he could do was to ask Ordained Invoker to withdraw them, mother and daughter, from the front lines.

Li Qi tried to persuade himself that even if he went out, he couldn’t do anything; after all, the power of Shaman Dao was far stronger than his alone, and his going out would be useless.

Shen Shuibi wasn’t a pushover either… Oh, it seemed she was a vegetarian, but she was by no means a kind person, and not so easily harmed.

However, even if it was useless, even if he knew the rabbit was formidable, he still wanted to watch them with his own eyes to set his mind at ease…

Because Ordained Invoker had clearly stated that 342 years later, something happened to them, and he had to contact the Demonic Dao, paying an unknown price to save them.

It was possible for something to happen to them; in fact… something had already happened to them.

At this thought, Li Qi felt restless.

The Human-Shaman War, and also the Human-Dragon War.

The Dragon and Shaman Dao simultaneously went to war with the Human Race, and the Demonic Dao was also involved, the matter related to the Sun-Moon Orbit, and the Mount Luofu lineage had fully joined the battle…

In such a complex situation, could nothing truly go wrong?

Li Qi knew he was overly cautious and suspicious, so he always deliberated his actions, preferring to have backup plans for everything; this personality had its good and bad sides.

The good side was that he was cautious in his actions, always having contingencies, which allowed him to navigate various dangerous situations.

The downside was like now, overthinking, restless, killing in his dreams.

And so—

The next instant, Li Qi suddenly felt a stir in the demonic thoughts within his Heart-Nature.

“Ah, long time no see, Li Qi~” A sweet and charming voice came from Li Qi’s ear.

Li Qi instantly broke out in a cold sweat, his clothes soaked through, and without any hesitation, he immediately stood up and ran towards the outside of this Immortal Abode!

At Fifth-Rank speed, in the blink of an eye, he could instantly reach a crowd of people!

There were Shaman Gods stationed here, no fear, no fear!

However, as he ran, he suddenly felt his body… slowing down.

No, it wasn’t that his body slowed down, but his thought speed accelerated; even a Fifth-Rank body became extremely slow under such thought speed.

His perceived time had slowed down by at least a hundred thousand times, so much so that he felt several seconds had passed, yet he still hadn’t gotten up from his chair.

But besides that, there was no other anomaly.

Only that sweet, charming, and somewhat alluring voice continued, “Don’t rush, I can help you re-establish contact with the outside world, I’m here to help you.”

“See, no one else can give you a view of the outside world, but I can; if you go find the Shaman God now, you’ll be abandoning the only channel to communicate with the outside world.”

That charming voice echoed in his ears.

It was well known that the most potent aspect of a Heavenly Demon… which was the ‘Heart Demon,’ was not about brainwashing or altering cognition.

Such things could be modified, compensated, and cured, and it wasn’t difficult; Buddhism had deep experience in guarding against and suppressing demonic thoughts.

Just like what Grand Shaman Yun Fang did back then.

Li Qi had once seen Yun Fang keep his Disciple as a demonic thoughts, deeply hidden in his Heart-Nature. (See Chapter 225)

The demonic thoughts was in Yun Fang’s Heart-Nature; he could easily pinch it out with a flick of his hand.

But… he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Demonic Qi was easy to block, demonic thoughts easy to dispel, but could the things one truly cared about in their Heart-Nature, those truly persistent things, be so easily let go? Could they be forgotten just to eliminate a demonic thoughts?

If one could truly harden their Heart-Nature and pinch it out… then it wouldn’t count as a Heart Demon.

Unbeknownst to him, what the Eighth-Rank Li Qi could only vaguely understand in the past, he was now truly experiencing.

After his thoughts accelerated, in just an instant, Li Qi stopped.

“You can let me contact the outside? Even interfere?” Li Qi asked the demonic thoughts in his Heart-Nature.

The mass of demonic thoughts began to surge, then expand, and spoke: “Of course… You know, I can do anything; I am even more Divinely Able than your Shaman Gods.”

“Is that so?” Li Qi retorted.

Then, he suddenly quickened his pace, striding out!

In just an instant, he directly burst through the door, rushing towards the crowd!

Such abnormal behavior almost immediately drew attention.

Ordained Invoker’s Clone descended.

Then it immediately dissipated, so fast that even Li Qi, with his accelerated thoughts, almost couldn’t see clearly.

But he knew it was enough.

Because almost simultaneously, a great but gentle will descended upon Li Qi’s body.

The demonic thoughts in Li Qi’s Heart-Nature immediately lost that ‘living蠕动’ and became a normal, ordinary demonic thoughts that everyone would have.

Li Qi’s vision blurred, and the next instant, he appeared in a dark space he had never been to before.

This dark space was somewhat similar to Outer Void, but here… it seemed, the speed of light was, infinite?

It was truly infinite; although Li Qi’s vision was dark, he could instantly see the entire extent of this space through the light he himself emitted.

This space was incredibly vast, perhaps even more expansive than the Void Realm Li Qi knew, but it wasn’t infinitely large, so… under infinite light speed, he could clearly see everything in this space, to the extent that this space even continuously wrapped around itself, and Li Qi could even see the light on his body turning red.

That was redshift, a phenomenon where light’s wavelength lengthens and frequency decreases after traveling a long distance.

Infinite light speed brought infinite redshift; very quickly, the light turned into infrared light, exceeding Li Qi’s observation limit, only detectable through True Knowledge Dao Resonance, and invisible to the naked eye.

He was still in a state of confusion, but in the darkness, other lights suddenly lit up.

Swish, swish, swish, swish—

Accompanied by a light sound, Li Qi saw indescribable… unspeakable Dharma bodies appearing around him.

These were not Dharma aspects.

The essence of a Dharma aspect was the sum total of all your cultivated techniques, your Dao path, your Divine Ability, and so on; it was the manifestation of your power.

Whereas a Dharma body was similar to a divine Dharma body, it was a Clone, generally used for descending elsewhere.

These Dharma bodies were incredibly majestic; any one of them had a height far exceeding a galaxy, with the Milky Way floating around them like dust, and… it was clear that they had even intentionally controlled their size, as they were rapidly shrinking.

Soon, they shrunk to human size, surrounding Li Qi.

Li Qi trembled.

He didn’t know who these people were, but he recognized one of them as the Ordained Invoker Clone who had received him earlier.

So, these in front of him… were all Second-Rank?

One, two, three, four…

Li Qi counted.

Seventeen.

Seventeen Second-Ranks, all surrounding Li Qi.

He had never seen such a grand display in his life.

Even though he was accustomed to directly conversing with Third-Ranks, being watched to this extent still made Li Qi somewhat nervous.

But he knew why, and he knew he deserved this treatment.

The Heavenly Demon had descended again.

Fortunately, Li Qi distinguished between what was important.

He knew Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei might be in danger, but he knew even more… getting involved with a Heavenly Demon would only lead to greater danger.

One must know that in the future Ordained Invoker had seen…

He had caused such immense damage only after colluding with the Demonic Dao.

So, conversing with a Heavenly Demon was, in itself, colluding with the Demonic Dao.

Li Qi was worried, he had his own obsessions and concerns, but that didn’t mean he had lost his mind.

Those who consorted with Heavenly Demons would ultimately only prove their foolishness, just like Demonic Clone Li Qi of old.

Among all the myriad realms, who dared to say they could outwit a Heavenly Demon?

Even the Buddhas, who constantly contended with Heavenly Demons, never let down their guard, not daring to be even slightly negligent.

Li Qi thought about these things, his body not stopping, immediately standing up and bowing to his surroundings: “Greetings, Seniors…”

But the Second-Ranks did not speak, merely glanced at Li Qi, communicated in a way Li Qi couldn’t understand, and then dispersed.

Then, a point of light, like a firefly in the darkness, appeared before Li Qi.

“Li Qi, you did well this time; if you had agreed to him, this place would probably have grown eyes,” the firefly said.

“This junior greets the Shaman God…” Li Qi knew this firefly, and immediately understood what the Immortal Abode outside was.

He understood everything.

The Immortal Abode outside was the Shaman God’s Inner World!

At this moment, this place must be the deep layer of the Shaman God’s Inner World, where the Second-Ranks gathered to process all external information, constantly guiding the battlefield in a direction they deemed correct.

“My name is Xian,” the Shaman God introduced himself to Li Qi.

Li Qi immediately bowed his head.

He had heard of this Shaman God’s deeds.

Diviner were skilled in divination, and the ‘Shi’ method of divination was invented by Xian.

In the beginning, during the ancient wilderness period of the Human Race, the ancient sages, to plan time and establish rules and systems, invented the ‘Rhythm of Laws’ that the Human Race’s Legalists and Confucians still used today, confirming celestial timing and planning calendars through musical instruments like the Yellow Bell.

Among them, it was recorded: Xi created the zither and se, Wa created the sheng and huang, Xian created the drum, and Ling Lun created the rhythms.

This was the Old Ancestor of the Diviner.

He was not only skilled in calculation, having once established the rhythms and planned calendars to set the path for the ancient Human Race, but also one of the inventors of divination methods…

This was an Old Ancestor-level figure of Shaman Dao, the actual creator of the Diviner lineage among the Zhu, Bu, and Zong three lineages!

The ‘Shi’ in divination was his masterpiece!

“Senior Shamansan…” Li Qi said, but he was extremely nervous, almost not knowing how to speak.

Before such an existence, his proudly rapid thought speed had ceased.

“To still be able to control yourself after a demonic thoughts appears, you have done better than many, even if their cultivation is higher than yours,” Shamansan said.

“They just haven’t encountered a Heavenly Demon yet; if they encounter it a couple more times, they’ll naturally be like me,” Li Qi quickly replied.

“Haha… encountering it a couple more times, it’s not that simple,” Shamansan let out a benevolent laugh.

Even a Shaman God wouldn’t want to have too much contact with a Heavenly Demon.

“But no matter what, you have rendered a great service this time, you did very well; I will now remove the Heavenly Demon’s influence from you,” the firefly-like point of light moved.

Li Qi didn’t move.

He could feel the demonic thoughts that had spontaneously surged in his Heart-Nature beginning to retract.

But… it didn’t disappear.

Shamansan then slowly said, “Your Dao path… is too much and too mixed, genuinely strange; I won’t concern myself with the Demonic Dao part, you figure out how to resolve that yourself, however, if these Demonic Dao cultivations continue to exist, your demonic thoughtss cannot be eradicated, not even by me; if forcibly removed, it will alter your Dao path, and I presume you wouldn’t want to see that happen, would you?”

Li Qi understood.

The Shaman God wasn’t unable to do it, it’s just that if he did, it would mean his Dao Orthodoxy would be completely altered, and he himself would become another person, as the Demonic Dao was also a part of him.

The Shaman God wouldn’t do that, so he nodded: “Thank you, Shaman God, this is enough.”

“This is not enough; the Heavenly Demon’s attention on you is truly too strange; I have placed a weight on you, and now… your Karma line should not be shaken, it’s just… there is a price,” Shamansan’s voice was emotionless, not even asking if Li Qi was willing to pay this price.

“What is this weight… Oh, what’s the price?” Li Qi asked.

“From now on, no one will be able to shake your Karma line, no one can control your fate, no one can erase your existence, no one can sway your thoughts; you will possess ‘reality’ as you understand it, everything in the world will no longer be able to easily tamper with you, and you will have practically persistent thoughts; unless someone can kill me, your reality will always be with me, this can prevent the Heavenly Demon from continuing to open its eyes on you,” Shamansan said.

Li Qi’s heart skipped a beat.

Shamansan continued, “But, this will be very painful.”

“Very painful? Why?”

“When you possess reality, everything in the world will no longer be ‘real’ to you; you will have the same perspective as a Third-Rank, but your cultivation will only be Fifth-Rank, and this will be… very uncomfortable.”

“Extremely uncomfortable, it will be a huge test for your Heart-Nature.”