Chapter 682: Upper and lower levels

Within Li Qi's Inner World, a bamboo sea, two great rivers, and twenty divine mountains formed everything they saw.

As for the outside world, Li Qi truly set up a flowing feast, allowing others to partake freely.

This flowing feast stretched for ninety li, with all the tableware being Spiritual Artifacts that could automatically change, clean, and serve dishes, each forming an illusion array for everyone to use.

The food and wine within were inexhaustible; aside from not being able to take them away, simply eating could satisfy every mouth in the entire city.

Miners, Mortals, and various commoners in the city swarmed in.

But these were minor matters, just a small favor from Li Qi.

He had no way to save these people, but a full meal was something he could easily provide.

Li Qi's true gaze was still fixed on those who had received invitations.

"Everyone, the banquet has begun, please be seated." Li Qi gently extended his hand, and a row of short tables immediately appeared before everyone.

On the short tables, the main course was rice called Cloud Grain.

Cloud Grain, nurtured by fire and nourished by rain and dew, is large, sweet, and smooth, with a clear and fragrant aroma, warm in nature, non-toxic, and yellow in color, making it excellent for nourishing the spleen and stomach, hence the name Cloud Grain.

Its yellow color signifies that it has received the proper Qi of metal. The essence of autumn takes both grain and fire; grain is the head of all plants, and fire has the power to form metal, and metal in turn forms wood, thus creating such fine rice.

This was fine rice cultivated by Martial Artists; Martial Artists place the utmost importance on food, and Li Qi had some collectibles in his Inner World.

He couldn't help it; he loved to eat.

In the world, Martial Artists also had other breeding methods; it is said that treasures like Dragon Tooth Rice, consumed by Martial Artists, were cultivated by them to refine Qi and blood, and their consumption could replenish the entire body.

But Li Qi didn't have those; he wasn't that rich yet.

After the main course, there were other dishes.

Among them were six main dishes, a hundred delicacies, a hundred sauces, eight treasures, vegetable dishes, and various soups, all meticulously arranged on the table, offering both land and water ingredients, with refined and clean food that truly opened one's eyes.

To be honest, many of the dishes here were things they had never seen before.

But just by looking at the pure Qi contained within them, one knew that these were absolutely good things.

"Everyone, please be seated," Li Qi said with a smile.

The others, as if receiving some command, took their seats, no longer gazing at the divine mountains from before; although their breathing was heavy, they still maintained basic restraint.

They couldn't help but be restrained; this Senior before them was truly terrifyingly strong.

"Eat, what are you waiting for?" Li Qi sat at the head of the table and smiled at everyone.

To be honest, the people below, including Ling Xiao and the Water Mausoleum City Lord, were all afraid that Li Qi would suddenly make a move halfway through their meal and say, "Wow, you actually ate it?!"

But since Li Qi himself had already started eating, the others didn't dare to hesitate, and the banquet began in this atmosphere of shock, fear, and awkwardness.

Everyone started eating, and at first, the atmosphere was very stiff; no one dared to say much, but someone seemed to want to show off, so they deliberately spoke loudly to liven things up.

Li Qi also responded kindly to the person.

This eased the atmosphere somewhat; everyone was a shrewd person and realized that in such an occasion, they must try their best to leave a good impression on Li Qi.

Thus, what followed was a display akin to a peacock fanning its tail.

These people very likely used all the emotional intelligence they had in their lives to subtly probe Li Qi.

Some were simply fawning, others were flattering, some were aloof, or showing off their talents, and so on.

They all wanted to gain something from Li Qi.

Some wanted to borrow Li Qi's power, some wanted guidance, some wanted to use him to kill others, and some even wanted to become Li Qi's disciple.

Such were the various and differing desires.

Li Qi himself felt as if he had come to a bird park. A cacophony of birds, chirping incessantly, all sorts of demands, all sorts of direct statements, subtle probings, some high in emotional intelligence, some low, but all sorts of things continued to clamor in his ears.

To be honest, it was quite annoying.

Among these people, there were indeed capable ones, and indeed tragic ones, and even some who were both.

For example, there was one person who had Ascended from the Lower Realm, starting as a laborer, and through his perseverance, he had advanced to Rank Six; during the previous seven-day melee, he had used cunning and his own strength to snatch an invitation. This person had a resolute and decisive character, and his actions were clean and efficient; he was indeed a talent.

He immediately made a direct request to Li Qi, hoping to become Li Qi's disciple.

But Li Qi merely smiled, noncommittally.

There were also pure clowns; there was a rather beautiful woman, who probably received the invitation from her father, showing off her knowledge, flaunting her Spiritual Artifacts and beauty, wanting Li Qi to look at her more, and even using enchantment arts.

However, Li Qi still just smiled.

He conversed gently with everyone, regardless of their motives, their level, or their character.

He treated everyone equally.

Thus, a day passed.

The banquet was halfway through, but for these people, a day was still quite short, as they were all long-lived beings, accustomed to prolonged activities.

At this point, Li Qi coughed twice.

The others, no matter what they were doing, immediately looked up, stopped talking, and turned their attention to Li Qi.

"Everyone, I see that you all have many matters. Although I have too many Clones to help each of you individually, you can look over there…" Li Qi pointed to the divine mountain.

"Whatever guidance you need, whatever treasures you desire, whatever power you wish to borrow, it's all there. There's no need to rush; everyone gets a share, feel free to take as much as you like," Li Qi said with a flourish of his sleeve, extremely gracefully.

"Is Your Excellency serious?"

"Is Senior's statement true?"

"All of it can be taken freely? Could it be…"

Amidst their shock, some bolder individuals immediately raised questions.

But Li Qi laughed heartily: "Do I look like someone who breaks his word? After this, I won't interfere with what you do; otherwise, wouldn't I, as the host, seem petty?"

After speaking, Li Qi flicked his hand, and his body suddenly vanished.

In this rich land, pure Qi, twenty divine mountains, a bamboo sea, two great rivers, and a group of upper-class people who had requests for Li Qi.

And Li Qi had come to the flowing feast outside.

The upper-class people were within his Inner World.

The lower-class people, on the other hand, were at the flowing feast outside.

And he was simultaneously observing both sides.

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Within the bamboo sea, someone finally dared to make a move.

It was the ambitious man whom Li Qi thought had great potential, who had Ascended from the Lower Realm and, through sheer effort, had snatched an invitation.

He rushed towards the divine mountain, where Dao Resonance resounded, and it seemed… this Dao Resonance was very compatible with his cultivation method. Although he didn't know what Dao Resonance was, he knew that if he could comprehend it and grasp its mysteries, it would greatly benefit his cultivation.

Everyone watched him.

He ascended the mountain without any hindrance or trials.

He easily reached the summit and came into contact with the Dao Resonance.

Then… he began to comprehend, and at the same time, the aura around him began to intensely increase.

Yes, facing the Rank Five Dao Resonance, he had an Epiphany, and then Broke Through.

These great figures of the upper class went mad at this moment.

They rushed out at an extremely fast speed, some heading to the bamboo forest, some to the divine mountains, and some to the two great rivers.

These people had no competitive relationship.

Just as Li Qi said, everyone had a share, just take what you want.

Here, they could take all the things as they pleased, take them casually, it didn't matter; Li Qi was not a petty person, and they had no reason to fight over anything, as the resources here were absolutely abundant for everyone.

Li Qi believed this because he had scanned and predicted it with True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

Even if everyone took more than ten thousand times their actual needed resources, there would be no problem; the reserves were absolutely sufficient, and everyone's desires could be satisfied.

Li Qi quietly watched their performance.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the lower-class people outside had an endless flowing feast.

The rules of the flowing feast were simple: Li Qi had said that no one was allowed to take food away.

But in reality, there would be no problem if you took it away; Li Qi had not set up any security measures at all. Let alone taking food, if you were capable enough, you could even steal the plates.

Hundreds of thousands of people had already gathered around the flowing feast, and the thirty li area was packed to the brim, with everyone trying to gorge themselves as much as possible.

On one side, there was new wealth bestowed by Li Qi upon those who already had everything.

On the other side, there were vast amounts of delicious food, rarely encountered by the hungry and distressed.

Poverty and wealth, strength and weakness, people from two different strata faced almost the same situation.

Then, Li Qi saw that the great figures began to fight amongst themselves.

Taking freely, everyone having something, effectively meant no one had anything special.

If everyone had it, then no gap could be created.

So, conflicts began to arise among them.

Small skirmishes resulted in the deaths of a few servants.

Everyone stopped, fearing that Li Qi would appear and blame them for drawing blood.

But Li Qi didn't care at all; he was currently watching outside.

Outside, there had also been bloodshed.

Someone tried to take a plate and carry food away, and then someone shouted, "There's a thief! Beware, the host might stop us from eating!"

So, that person was surrounded by others and beaten to death.

Very brutal, very savage, but… also very civilized?

He didn't know how to describe it.

They killed a person by execution to prevent the act of theft from causing 'the host to stop them from eating'.

To maintain the status quo of the flowing feast, they, with a high degree of self-awareness, actively and uniformly maintained the existing order so that they could eat their fill.

And inside, those upper-class people were now fighting.

Since Li Qi didn't interfere with their fighting, they seemed to have figured out the implication.

For them, this was an opportunity.

The weak had a chance to kill the strong here.

For example, the man who had just Ascended from the Lower Realm and risen from a laborer, after his Epiphany, he had already killed four of his former enemies.

Here, the gap between the strong and the weak was narrowed, and at the same time, they had a large amount of resources, all of which could be taken away.

Even though everyone could take things, each person made a decision: "Kill everyone else and let my faction monopolize all the resources here."

Thus, cooperation, division, re-cooperation, backstabbing, secret alliances, sneak attacks, ambushes, Breakthroughs, massacres.

In just one day, Li Qi personally witnessed these three thousand people reenact a good show.

In a treasure land where resources were sufficient for everyone to share, they still fought, not for anything else, but merely to surpass others.

Li Qi realized something.

This was the 'Dao of Heaven’s Evolution'.

Heavenly Evolution doesn't care about the total amount of resources, nor does it care about the existing way of life.

The Dao of Heaven’s Evolution, which is what the True Dragons pursue, cares about their own status.

This is the "food chain," this is pure natural competition. If you are higher than me, then everything I have is actually yours. No matter how much I possess, it's all illusory, because it will eventually belong to you.

Therefore, one must be higher, one must be stronger.

Indeed, Teacher Zhu's original evaluation was extremely accurate.

Immortal Heaven is the combination of the Dao of Heaven’s Evolution and the Dao Sect; they want to achieve the ultimate goal of the Dao Sect through the means of the Dao of Heaven’s Evolution.

There's just one point worth discussing, and that is… is it the same for the high-ranking officials of Immortal Heaven?

It's hard to say.

If Immortal Heaven truly wanted to achieve ultimate freedom, then they shouldn't be confined to this world; they should have ample reason to explore the outside world.

Looking at the combat power of Immortal Heaven, it is actually quite explosive; whether it's Rank Nine or Rank Five, Li Qi could feel that this First Grade world was simply terrifying.

Although the civilization Rank was slightly lower, that was because the Innate conditions of Immortal Heaven were simply too good.

A naturally occurring First Grade world, just look at the Immortal Stones underfoot; countless people worked day and night to excavate them for hundreds of millions of years, and they are still inexhaustible and abundant even now.

In Li Qi's eyes, the cultivators of Immortal Heaven were a group of powerful, intelligent, and immortal beasts, still in a primitive slave system, like raging primitive people using +15 enchanted legendary Divine Artifact stone spears.

One cannot say they are backward; one can only say they are very much in the style of… the Great Wilderness.

However, under such circumstances, Li Qi still saw that the lower-class people quickly stabilized the order; perhaps it was the result of long-term control, as they showed great adaptability to order and very high obedience.

This was also a kind of blind obedience; they were still striving for their animalistic physiological activities, but it was still much better than Chaos.

At this moment, Li Qi waved his hand.

Ling Xiao appeared behind Li Qi.

Just now, only Ling Xiao did not join the battle; on the contrary, watching such competition, she chose to sit down and start painting.

In the past, when she painted, she always faced Li Qi, observing him carefully, wanting to capture every detail of him.

But just now, she, alone, without seeing Li Qi, painted a picture.

The painting was divided into two halves; the main subject on the left was the fighting upper-class people.

The main subject on the right was the scrambling lower-class people.

Above these two halves was a blurry shadow of Chaos, with an unclear face and vague figure.

The appearance and expression of this shadow were unclear, only its eyes were very distinct.

The gaze was indifferent, watching everything below. (End of Chapter)