Chapter 663: The immortal world and the mortal world

At the city gate, Li Qi looked at the huge plaque on the city gate.

It was named 'Bailu'.

Bailu City, that name is quite interesting.

Because this name is actually a very auspicious saying, and it uses the common language of the world, it is clear that this First Grade world has been influenced by the world.

It is precisely because of this influence that this world, after developing, chose extreme xenophobia, because the world is not some kind of benevolent entity, especially the Dao of Heaven’s Evolution and Dao Sect that this world came into contact with.

Neither of these are good people in the usual sense.

However, although the characters used were from the world, the pronunciation and language were different. Li Qi walked amidst the crowds at the city gate, observing the nearby characters and the pronunciation of others.

As a Fifth Grade, just by observing like this, walking around once, he had already learned the language of this world, basically eighty-nine times out of ten.

After all, if the characters were the same, then pronunciation was not an issue at all, just like learning a dialect.

Having learned the language, Li Qi began to pay attention to the people.

All around was outside the city, but the guards were equally strict. Li Qi could see guards everywhere, and also many Cultivators, dressed and styled no different from those in the world.

These Cultivators, some were unranked, some were Ninth Grade, but their foundations were very solid, indicating that they were not rogue cultivators.

Or rather, even if they were rogue cultivators, their cultivation methods were complete, not fragmented pieces they had put together themselves.

Some were walking, while others led Spirit Beasts. These beasts also seemed to be wild beasts cultivating according to the Dao of Heaven’s Evolution, but their sentience had not yet awakened, so they could only be driven by others; they were just powerful wild beasts.

It seemed there were no demons.

Moreover, as True Knowledge Dao Resonance swept over, Li Qi discovered that the bodies of the people here were different from those in the world.

Indeed, although humanoid races have special advantages in cultivation, those in each place are different, even in a First Grade world.

This difference, coupled with the world's disparities and the varying cultivation methods, led to an unexpected change in the Dao Sect cultivation methods from the world when applied here.

For example, after the Golden Core stage, Dao Sect Cultivators only improve the purity of their Dao Heart and cultivation. As the saying goes, cultivate the Dao first, then the heart; magical power and such are secondary. If your Dao Heart is stable, your magical power will naturally be strong.

And the Golden Core, whether Inner Core or Outer Core, is essentially for stabilizing the Inner World. Either through the Outer Core method, using external force to achieve 'leak-free,' or by refining oneself to be like a Golden Core. In this way, by no longer easily exchanging matter with the outside world, one can achieve a leak-free body, thereby extending life and even attaining immortality.

But it's different here. The Golden Core here not only doesn't actively cut itself off from the outside world, but even actively absorbs Qi from the outside, greedily extracting Spiritual Qi from the outside.

After extraction, it then utilizes the 'leak-free' nature of the Golden Core to store it all, without a single bit leaking out.

In this world, every Cultivator is a black hole that only consumes and never expels, only extracting from heaven and earth without any return, even more extreme than the Human Dao.

Li Qi was somewhat unaccustomed to this.

If it were Shaman Dao, the human body's small heaven and earth is an open System, emphasizing constant interaction with the outside world, with ins and outs, blurring the natural boundaries between the inside and outside of the body. Thus, it can achieve operations like integrating with nature, and can also achieve longevity through such interactions.

But here, it's an even more extreme one-way absorption than the Dao Sect, relying on extracting from the world to forcefully increase magical power.

How to put it…

One can only say that a First Grade world indeed has a deep foundation. Even with so many people 'sucking blood,' it can still maintain its First Grade Rank. Even in the mortal realm, the Spiritual Qi of mountains and rivers is at a considerable level.

However, here are only unranked and Ninth Grade people, so Li Qi has temporarily not been able to see those strong individuals of Eighth Grade or close to Seventh Grade. He doesn't know what the high-end combat power of the mortal realm is like.

But judging from those Ninth Grade individuals, the combat power of this world is actually quite strong, because these Golden Cores that only absorb and do not release, their combat power is generally much stronger than that of ordinary Ninth Grade.

Not just a little stronger, but much stronger.

Of course, this is only calculated based on the depth of cultivation and magical power, and does not include factors like Divine Abilities and spell arts.

Aside from that, the ecology here, including the appearance of the market, is actually not much different from most humanoid cities in the Myriad Worlds; they are all distribution centers for resources, except that Li Qi doesn't quite understand the resources sold here.

Although he didn't understand, with a sweep of True Knowledge Dao Resonance, the material properties of these resources for sale were mostly clear in his mind.

For these Ninth Grade and unranked Cultivators, their experts, with years of accumulation, might not see as accurately as Li Qi could with a single glance.

Transactions here were mostly bartering, but Li Qi found that if the value was unequal in bartering, they would take out a high-purity Qi crystal, similar to the Qi beads of the world, as a supplementary means.

Li Qi didn't know what this thing was called, but it was produced by naturally occurring mineral veins in this First Grade world.

It truly lives up to its name as a First Grade world; even in such a remote place, a large amount of Qi crystals can naturally form, in quantities vast enough to create mineral veins, and their purity is such that they can be directly absorbed for cultivation.

Moreover, Li Qi noticed that when they traded, they were all very wary of each other.

To be precise, even though a city had already formed, everyone in this world maintained a wildness similar to that of a primitive society.

They were bristling with thorns, wary of everything around them, afraid that someone would plot against them.

Generally speaking, Cultivators living in civilized societies gradually lose this wildness and become civilized and friendly, because civilization and friendliness are more conducive to cooperation. Cultivators who are bristling with thorns find it very difficult to adapt to such a life; they either force themselves to adapt and learn 'love, friendship, kindness' and other such 'friendship magic,' or they leave civilization and continue to wander alone.

The simplest point is that people in civilization do not worry about being stabbed to death while sleeping.

But people who maintain their wildness worry every moment they sleep that they might not wake up.

By observing such differences, Li Qi could clearly draw a conclusion: this world was indeed very dangerous, competition was extremely fierce, it was a complete life-and-death fighting arena.

Even when forced to cooperate, they still maintained mutual vigilance, not easily exposing their weaknesses or origins to outsiders.

How to put it…

This attitude might improve individual strength, but for the civilization as a whole, it would cause extremely severe internal friction.

Can Immortal Heaven truly become a First Grade world through this method?

Li Qi couldn't help but wonder.

This method cultivates only solitary wild beasts, not a civilization skilled in cooperation.

After observing carefully for a while using his own methods, and familiarizing himself with some basic rules here, Li Qi exited his state of integrating with nature. He then strolled through the market outside the city like an ordinary person, perking up his ears and beginning to listen to what the people around him were saying.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but after Li Qi appeared, just as he began to listen, a robbery suddenly occurred right beside him.

Right next to Li Qi, at most three zhang away, a Cultivator with a street stall was momentarily inattentive. The Restriction placed on his stall was suddenly broken, and three people suddenly acted, using three different Divine Abilities, grabbing the items from the stall and running.

“What a nimble Divine Ability.” Li Qi raised his eyebrows. These three broke the Restriction, snatched the items, and withdrew, all in one fluid motion, with practiced coordination, and their Divine Ability was also very skilled.

Though they were Ninth Grade, the speed of their Divine Ability, under the suppression of the Heavenly Dao, actually reached the speed of an Eighth Grade Baiyue Cultivator from the world. According to Li Qi's estimation, these three could rush thirty li in just a blink of an eye.

When Li Qi was Ninth Grade, he couldn't run that fast.

“Interesting.” Li Qi slightly turned his body, wanting to make way for the three.

He had no intention of interfering with these matters, as they were all local affairs.

However, one of the three petty thieves, as he passed Li Qi, actually reached out, trying to grab the Mustard Seed Bag at Li Qi's waist.

This amused Li Qi.

Kid, you're really out of luck.

Thirty li in a blink of an eye, such movements were like slow motion in front of Li Qi; Li Qi was a Fifth Grade, after all.

So, Li Qi reached out, directly grabbed the person, lightly lifted him up, then pressed him to the ground, using a spell to forcibly bind his hands behind his back, and then pressed down with his knee.

All of this was completed in a flash of lightning, so fast that even at a speed of thirty li in a blink of an eye, nothing could be seen clearly.

The petty thief only felt a blur before his eyes. His companions had already fled, while he himself was pinned to the ground.

What happened?

This thought flashed through his mind.

But in just an instant, he realized what had happened.

He was caught, he had run into a master.

A feeling of wanting to cry without tears immediately filled his heart, but he was clearly an experienced hand, and immediately said to Li Qi: “Senior, everything is yours! Spare my life!”

“I don't lack that much. I just want to see how they plan to deal with it,” Li Qi replied.

Then, Li Qi's attention was on the surrounding guards.

There was a robbery here, and these guards all looked decent, even forming a Formation, though it wasn't a military Formation, he didn't expect them to have anything so high-grade.

So, how would these people react?

Li Qi observed for a moment, and the answer was, they didn't react.

These soldiers completely ignored the matter. At the same time, Li Qi discovered that other places were also not peaceful; theft and robbery were not at all unusual here.

It was just that some succeeded, some failed.

Those who succeeded fled, some of those who failed also barely managed to run, but still a portion were caught.

Just like the one Li Qi currently had under control.

At this moment, the stall owner had already taken advantage of the opportunity to pack up his scattered items and then came to Li Qi's side.

“Senior.” The shop owner appeared extremely respectful, because Li Qi had already demonstrated his combat power earlier.

Clearly, in this world, combat power was an extremely important criterion for judgment.

It was different in the world; there, research-oriented talents were far more important than pure combat power.

In fact, most Young Masters of Shaman God Mountain were not skilled in combat, like Li Qi.

Of course, after these years of serving as the Executioner during the Human-Shaman War, and under the study of countless battle reports from the Demonic Prince, Li Qi's combat power had now advanced by leaps and bounds; he was no longer the weakling he once was.

“Hmm, how do you plan to deal with him?” Li Qi glanced at the shop owner and asked.

When the shop owner heard Li Qi ask this, a hint of fear appeared in his eyes, and he immediately said: “Such a petty thief should naturally be executed, and everything on his person shall be entirely at Senior's disposal.”

“Senior! Spare my life! I still have a Treasure Trove in a hidden place. If I can live, I am willing to offer it all!”

“Alright, then I'll handle it.” Li Qi nodded, stripped the petty thief of the items he had just stolen from the shop owner, and threw them to the shop owner.

The items were incomplete, as the other two fleeing petty thieves also had some, but it was more or less like this. Li Qi also had no interest in helping others track down suspicious cases.

“As for you, stand up.” Li Qi stood up, gesturing for the petty thief to rise.

He quickly stood up, secretly delighted.

Clearly, this big shot wasn't planning to kill him.

The shop owner next to him showed no change in expression, but a hint of disappointment appeared in his eyes, though he dared not show it, remaining respectful.

Li Qi ignored him, simply saying to the petty thief: “What's your name?”

“I… I am Ju Ye,” the petty thief named Ju Ye immediately said.

“Lead the way. You should have a place to stay. Let's find a place to sit and talk,” Li Qi instructed him.

The other party immediately nodded, like a chick pecking at rice.

And so, it was truly that simple, that easily, a person who had committed a robbery in the street, under the watchful eyes of the guards, left the area.

These guards were not looking at Ju Ye, the thief, but at Li Qi.

It seemed that robbing ten thousand times was not as important as a 'strong person'.

Li Qi nodded slightly, having more or less understood the operational logic of the mortal realm in Immortal Heaven.

Ju Ye respectfully led the way, taking Li Qi through the urban area, walking about fifty li, and entering an inn.

It should be considered an inn, at any rate, it was a lodging establishment outside the city, six hundred zhang tall, with people coming and going.

Ju Ye pulled out a piece of paper, on which a contract was written in calligraphy imbued with divine will. Li Qi noticed that it was a housing rental agreement. They had rented here for a month, paying one Ninth Grade Spirit Beast skull and thirty-five Spirit Stones.

Hey, is that thing really called a Spirit Stone?

Li Qi couldn't help but complain inwardly.

After presenting the contract, Li Qi and Ju Ye were able to smoothly enter the large building and sit down in room 560 of the Earth character section.

The room was elegantly decorated, with a style reminiscent of the world, but there were still some curious items that Li Qi found intriguing, likely specialties of this world.

Moreover, safety was highly prioritized here, with numerous protective Formations.

It was also due to the world's style, perhaps.

Ju Ye nervously closed the door, then knelt on one knee: “Senior… what are your needs, please tell me clearly.”

“I want you to be my guide,” Li Qi said. “After all, you were forced into robbing, weren't you?”

Upon hearing this, Ju Ye suddenly looked up.

How did this person know?

Can he read minds? (End of this chapter)