Chapter 686: Carry with you

In Li Qi's previous conjectures, all the myriad worlds in the Universe were like infinite monkey typewriters for the Great Powers.

Infinite regressions, infinite worlds—their essence was all to find that one future within infinite time, a future leading to the ultimate Dao.

Even proving that the ultimate Dao doesn't exist is acceptable; even proving himself wrong is fine.

All of this was merely to reveal a possibility.

Therefore, Li Qi faced the same dilemma as a First Grade.

Infinite Reincarnation; everything had already been explored, and nothing in front of him could be changed anymore. He simply didn't know what to do or how to do it.

So, he could only continue the Reincarnation, hoping for others, hoping for a tiny possibility, even if that possibility was almost zero.

At this moment, Li Qi felt exactly like those First Grades.

Li Qi opened his eyes.

If Rabbit or Little rabbit were by his side at this moment, they would discover… Li Qi's eyes were filled with Death Qi.

Seventh Grade cultivators theoretically had already achieved longevity. Although some Seventh Grades outside the domain hadn't achieved it, in any case, the Seventh Grades of the world had certainly achieved longevity. Their cultivation methods were designed that way, able to help cultivators escape the shackles of time's passage.

But in reality, the average lifespan of a Seventh Grade cultivator was not long, usually only a few thousand years, with occasional long-lived ones reaching over ten thousand years.

The reason was also simple: either they were killed by others, or their Dao Heart couldn't sustain them. Living became a torment for them. Many times, these Seventh Grades would voluntarily abandon their cultivation and choose death due to the aging of their mindset.

It was also like the Second Grade world born on the demon star that he had once heard about; their overly fast lives meant that their lives before the Fourth Grade were only fleeting, and even at Seventh Grade, they could only live for a few days.

Li Qi was now facing this situation, even though he was a Fifth Grade.

However, once he thought of the predicament of the First Grade…

The moment Li Qi had this thought, a sense of relief suddenly arose in his heart, and his chaotic thoughts seemed to calm down considerably.

If even the First Grades were like this, he felt he had nothing to complain about.

After all, the Reincarnation that the First Grades endured was much more agonizing than his.

Sometimes, this mindset is very useful.

If one were to endure suffering alone, it would probably be very difficult to persevere.

But as soon as one thinks that others are suffering with them, and their suffering is much greater than their own, then upon closer thought, it seems bearable.

Moreover, this proved one thing: this kind of pain is actually bearable, and more than one person is enduring it.

It was just that he hadn't found a way to bear it, or rather, he wasn't strong enough.

Cultivation was out of the question in this regression.

But… spirit was possible.

Li Qi knew that the sanity he temporarily recovered due to this thought probably wouldn't last long. If he continued to regress, his spirit wouldn't be able to bear this torment.

After more than a billion cycles, even a Fifth Grade was already nearing their limit.

So, he suddenly became ruthless, and a crazy idea popped into his head!

The Immortal Heaven wanted him to 'harmonize with the Dao,' didn't it?!

Alright then, he would harmonize with the Dao.

Even if Li Qi knew there was a chance he might not be able to get out.

The kind where even regression couldn't bring him back.

One must know that the Immortal Heaven itself was not affected by regression, so if Li Qi were assimilated after harmonizing with the Dao, there would be no saving him.

To extract Li Qi from the body of a First Grade, even if the Shaman God came, it probably wouldn't be able to do it.

True death would absolutely leave no chance.

However, the sanity Li Qi temporarily recovered due to the First Grade's predicament accurately identified a possible opportunity—

First, it was known that the Immortal Heaven was not truly perfect, because Haotian had already created a world more perfect than the Immortal Heaven. Even if this came at the cost of Haotian's own weariness, the world Haotian controlled was far more perfect than the Immortal Heaven, even forming a 'myriad heavens' structure.

This was much stronger than the Immortal Heaven.

Compared to the Immortal Heaven, Haotian was clearly grander and more magnificent.

Therefore, if he couldn't find a flaw by using the Immortal Heaven to reflect Haotian at this moment, it certainly wasn't Haotian's problem, but Li Qi's problem.

The reason he couldn't find the other party's flaw was purely because he didn't understand both sides enough.

So, how to understand?

Simple.

By harmonizing with the Dao of the Immortal Heaven, he would naturally understand the Immortal Heaven. This was far more useful than comprehending it hundreds of millions of times. As long as Li Qi still had the ability to escape, he would naturally understand the 'perfection' of the Immortal Heaven.

Then, through Yao Ji, he would understand Haotian, and then compare the differences between the two.

With this thought, he acted immediately. Li Qi voluntarily abandoned all defenses and, with a determination to die, chose to harmonize with the Dao.

The Immortal Heaven did not refuse him at all; he easily merged into the Immortal Heaven.

This feeling… how to describe it?

Indescribable.

Li Qi had his own world; the Heavenly Dao of his Inner World was completely under his control, so he could fully comprehend the feeling of controlling the world.

However, the Immortal Heaven… was completely different from that feeling.

At this moment, Li Qi suddenly became muddled.

His consciousness began to fade.

His ability to think gradually vanished, his perception blurred, as if… he was half-asleep and half-awake.

In this state of being half-asleep and half-awake, he seemed to acquire certain special qualities.

For example, when a person is half-asleep and half-awake, having lost consciousness, they still breathe and scratch an itch. These are actually 'instincts.'

Now, Li Qi had acquired some instincts.

A cruel and indifferent instinct.

Heaven has always been so just and selfless, so impartial and ruthless, cruel and extreme, yet maintaining that subtle balance.

Yes, selflessness, this is the nature of all Heavenly Dao.

But…

The Immortal Heaven seemed a little different.

In his muddled state, Li Qi murmured, seeming to feel that something was amiss.

The selfless Heavenly Dao looked down upon all things equally, with a just attitude, without bias. Haotian, as a naturally born First Grade, was naturally the same.

Whether towards Mortals, other deities, or even himself, Haotian's attitude was one of equal treatment, truly indifferent, yet at the same time, truly caring.

No love, no favoritism.

It was under this attitude that Mortals were able to slowly grow, and even when they eventually became stronger than Haotian, Haotian had no complaints or dissatisfaction. He still faced everything in the myriad things with this attitude, still maintaining this broken Universe as he was when he first came into being.

Speaking of which, Haotian was like a robot.

But in reality, Li Qi knew that Heavenly Gods possessed emotions.

It was just that Haotian truly achieved a state of no love and no hate.

That was an incredibly vast mind.

Haotian was like the endless Void Realm, easily containing all things in his heart, and all things were equal in his heart.

Li Qi was still muddled, having lost even his conscious awareness. This 'selflessness' began to be engraved into his instincts; he would naturally align with the Heavenly Dao, just like breathing.

Li Qi had already known this, because everything he was experiencing now had been experienced by predecessors.

After all, Li Qi was a learning fanatic. The most he had done since he began cultivating was reading, learning, and thinking.

This was why he knew these things. After all, Li Qi was far from blazing a new path; he was still walking on the old paths of his predecessors.

Walking on an old path meant there was experience to refer to.

For ordinary people, learning is like archaeology.

Newtonian mechanics learned in junior high school were things from three hundred years ago.

Trigonometric functions were things from fifteen hundred years ago.

Now, what Li Qi was experiencing was also something experienced by people from who knew how many years ago.

Yes, harmonizing with the Dao was something that had been experienced in the world many years ago. At that time, many cultivators also took 'harmonizing with the Dao' as their ultimate goal, voluntarily becoming a part of the Heavenly Dao.

There was once a saying about the 'Utmost Person' of the Human Dao: 'Utmost Person is selfless,' meaning just like Li Qi, forgetting oneself and becoming a part of the Dao.

A Utmost Person is selfless, with no self in their heart, thus able to be close to the Dao, existing as something that completely conforms to the Dao.

Of course, facts proved that while this idea wasn't entirely wrong, it… didn't meet the ultimate needs of Dao seekers.

What Dao seekers wanted was to understand the Dao, not to become the Dao, because they had their own Dao.

Blindly pursuing and merging into the Great Dao meant such people were merely blind followers of the Dao, not Dao seekers; there was a huge difference.

Therefore, the Dao seekers of the world gradually abandoned this foolish practice.

But this kind of thing still circulated.

Just like the 'Utmost Person is selfless' mentioned earlier.

Utmost Person is the title for a Human Dao Three Rank.

Coincidentally, within Li Qi's body, a Dao Principle of a Utmost Person was precisely gestating and reviving. (See Chapter 487 for details)

The Three Rank head Zhu Fengdan had given him earlier—in order to defeat the Demonic Prince, Li Qi chose to drink poison to quench his thirst, forcibly breaking through to Sixth Grade via the Dao Principle on the head. This left a huge hidden danger for Li Qi, directly leading to the possibility of the other party Rebirth within his body, becoming a major obstacle in his Three Rank Breakthrough.

However, everything has Yin and Yang, good and bad; things always have two sides.

Now, Li Qi utilized this bad thing.

After all, he was killed by Zhu Fengdan, his own Great Dao shattered, with only a tiny bit of scattered remnants left in Li Qi's body.

Even with these fragments, he could still revive. The immortality of a Three Rank completely depended on the existence of their own Dao Principle; it was just temporarily dormant now.

Now that Li Qi had harmonized with the Dao, could he continue to play dead?

Yes, a Utmost Person is selfless.

Was this Human Dao Military School of Thought Third Rank Supreme Being not the most typical 'Utmost Person is selfless'?

As Li Qi's process of harmonizing with the Dao unfolded.

These Three Rank Dao Resonance in Li Qi's body suddenly began to stir.

The surrounding world suddenly twisted.

A naturally existing world has no laws; laws are made by humans to regulate human behavior, allowing a group to also possess a 'Dao.'

Yes, there are great differences between individuals, and the 'Dao' between individuals will naturally also be very different. Therefore, if Dao seekers are left unrestrained, they will naturally disperse, and ultimately there will be Dao disputes between people. The result is likely to be like the Dao of Heaven’s Evolution or the Dao Orthodoxy, where everyone scatters and fights their own battles, each doing their own thing.

Therefore, in the Dao Orthodoxy of humanity, which emphasizes collective strength, the Military School of Thought was born.

The Military School of Thought was to unite various Dao Orthodoxy and combine their strengths.

Yes, various Dao Orthodoxy!

Confucianism, Mohism, Military School of Thought, Yin and Yang School, Agriculturalists, and even the Two Clans of Chong and Li among the Shaman, the fragmented Dao of Reason, the Manifested Daoist Faction of Dao Orthodoxy, a part of True Dragons, and so on and so forth. These factions and their views on the world were not consistent. If left to develop freely, the entire Human Dao might disintegrate, turning into a bunch of second-rate Dao Orthodoxy similar to the Martial Dao and Dao of Reason.

The power that could truly gather so many strange forces together was law.

The reason the Human Dao could be established and gather the strength of the masses was by relying on rules.

The Human Dao's claim to be a 'nation' also stemmed from this.

If a nation has no law, the people do not know what to do; if it has no measure, affairs have no order.

If there is law but it is not upright, if there is measure but it is not straight, then governance is biased, and biased governance leads to national chaos. Therefore, it is said: Uphold the law and straighten the measure, execute without mercy for crimes, and be trustworthy in killing; then the people will fear and be awed, and when martial might is clear, orders will not need to be repeated.

The so-called 'law' refers to patterns that can be emulated and followed.

Even in the classification of Dao, Law, and Art, Law is included.

The Military School of Thought is named after 'Law,' taking this meaning.

Law is the position of Heaven and Earth, symbolizing the movement of the four seasons, by which the world is governed.

The movement of the four seasons has cold and heat; the Sage emulates it, hence there are civil and martial affairs.

The positions of Heaven and Earth have front and back, left and right; the Sage emulates them to establish governance.

Spring grows on the left, autumn kills on the right, summer lengthens in front, winter stores in back. Matters of growth are civil, matters of storage are martial. Therefore, civil affairs are on the left, martial affairs are on the right; the Sage emulates them to carry out laws and decrees, and to manage affairs.

The Sage said: The ruler must have clear laws and righteousness.

Li Qi's righteousness, within his 'justice and righteousness,' referred to what was in line with the common people and the principles of the entire world. (See Chapter 128)

It was precisely because of this that Li Qi could smoothly accept the Human Dao, because he did not initially reject the idea of clear laws and righteousness, and considered it reasonable.

The so-called law arises from righteousness, and righteousness arises from the masses, suiting the human heart; this is the key to governance. Law does not come from heaven, nor does it emerge from the earth; it originates in the human world, and by oneself, one becomes righteous.

And all of these views actually constituted Li Qi's Inner World, because Li Qi's Sixth Grade Dao Foundation was directly formed by borrowing the views of this Military School of Thought Third Rank Supreme Being.

Now, this part of the Dao Foundation had come alive.

Li Qi was muddled, unaware of what was happening, but his Inner World naturally began to move.

The aura of a Three Rank permeated.

This Military School of Thought Utmost Person, during the process of harmonizing with the Dao, had the nourishment of a First Grade Heavenly Dao. He finally absorbed enough power to reconstruct his Dao Principle and fully revive!

Li Qi was like a placenta that had been anesthetized; from within his body, a magnificent Dharma Idol descended to this place!

Yao Ji looked back in astonishment—

Huh? This Mortal, carried a Three Rank with him?