Chapter 700: Family feast

Two months later, in the Void Realm, at Chang Xi’s location.

The battle zone Bo Yue was responsible for was a subordinate zone controlled by the Third-Rank Chang Xi, and the place where Chang Xi was located was the extraterrestrial wonder, Chang Xi’s location.

This area was considered the command center.

At this moment, Li Qi, along with Shen Shuibi and Li Shiwei, finally returned to Chang Xi’s location.

The main reason was that Empress Luofu had summoned him.

In the past two months, Li Qi finally had a family reunion, bringing his wife and daughter back to Bo Yue’s place.

Seeing the Fourth-Rank Li Qi, Bo Yue was quite struck.

Moreover, this news quickly spread through the ‘Alliance’, as a newly promoted Fourth-Rank could become a key force in many battle zones.

However, before that, Empress Luofu issued a summons first.

That’s right, after learning that Li Qi had Broken Through to the Fourth-Rank, she decisively came to Chang Xi’s location, hoping Li Qi could come and meet her there.

Li Qi pondered for a moment, and could roughly guess what his mother-in-law wanted to do, so he went to where Great Shaman Yun Fang was, picked up Li Shiwei who was Cultivating there, and then traveled with Shen Shuibi to Chang Xi’s location.

Now, they had arrived.

Walking through the palaces of Chang Xi’s location, Li Qi and Shen Shuibi were chatting and laughing. Little rabbit was the same as before; she hadn’t shown any reaction when Li Qi’s Cultivation was low, nor did she have any different feelings now that his Cultivation surpassed hers.

That’s just how Little rabbit was; as long as Li Qi was still Li Qi, his Cultivation was just an additional detail.

However, compared to the loving couple, the Little rabbit (Nickname) who came along seemed out of place.

Li Shiwei followed behind, her eyelids twitching slightly, watching her parents whisper to each other, feeling as if she couldn’t quite fit in…

She always had a feeling that this home no longer had room for her.

“Father…” Li Shiwei followed Li Qi, looking at his back, and suddenly called out.

“What is it?” Li Qi turned around, looking at his daughter.

Over the years, Li Shiwei had made considerable progress on her own.

Although she hadn’t reached the Sixth-Rank yet, she had advanced a good distance on the path to the Seventh-Rank. Of course, she still had room to grow, but it was already very good.

In terms of raising children, Li Qi seemed to have inherited some traits from his teacher; he also didn’t like to arrange Li Shiwei’s future, preferring to let the child explore and encounter things on her own.

“Will Auntie also be there?” Li Shiwei asked.

This question from the Little rabbit (Nickname) made Li Qi chuckle, and then he replied, “Of course. Your grandma is there, so how could Auntie be absent? Speaking of which, you haven’t seen her for a long time.”

Hearing Li Qi’s words, the Little rabbit (Nickname) also became happy.

Although at home she was still like an extra, and her parents were true love while she was just a bonus, the Little rabbit (Nickname) still loved being with her aunt.

Yang Ning’s personality suited her, and she had taken care of her since she was young. It was just that after the Human-Shaman War began, she hadn’t seen Aunt Yang Ning much. This time, she could finally see her again.

And… she could also meet the legendary grandma.

The Third-Rank Great Power, Empress Luofu—this was someone she had only ever heard of, never seen.

She was told she had met her, but she had just been born then, so she had no memory at all.

She was still too young. To them, her life was just a fleeting moment, wasn’t it? Only someone like her father could establish a long-term connection with them.

Li Shiwei thought about these things.

However, what she didn’t know was that Li Qi had actually only met Empress Luofu a few times. After all, it was a time of trouble, and everyone had things to be busy with. If they wanted to spend time together, they could do so later.

But now that he was Fourth-Rank, Empress Luofu seemed to feel it was time to meet.

The family walked for a while, and soon, Li Qi and the others arrived at a side hall in the central area of Chang Xi’s location.

Here, Li Qi could see the remaining high-ranking members of Mount Luofu: Empress Luofu, Granny Mei, Yang Ning, and some other Fifth-Ranks, including recently promoted newcomers, all sitting there.

And Empress Luofu was talking to Chang Xi.

However, once Li Qi’s family arrived, the two of them stopped talking and looked at Li Qi.

Li Qi immediately stopped and bowed respectfully.

But as he bowed, he saw Yang Ning stand up, and Li Shiwei also rushed over.

Shen Shuibi glanced at Li Qi, then smiled and walked forward, not bound by any etiquette. Although she didn’t run like Li Shiwei, she quickened her pace.

Only Li Qi meticulously completed his respectful bow to his elders, and then walked up.

At this moment, Li Qi heard the people around him laughing, some heartily, others just smiling, but it seemed they had been discussing something earlier, and Li Qi had just joined the conversation.

“You’ve come at just the right time. We were just talking about you all,” Empress Luofu said to Li Qi with a smile.

Li Qi stood straight and greeted respectfully, “Lord Chang Xi, Niangniang.”

Then he responded, “May I ask what you were discussing? Is there anything about me worth talking about?”

At this point, Chang Xi said, “Just now, Luofu and I were betting. I said that once you arrived, you would definitely bow first, while Luofu said that since you are all family, you wouldn’t be so formal.”

After speaking, she said no more, only smiling at Li Qi, seemingly wanting to know how he would react.

Hearing this, Li Qi was slightly embarrassed, but merely cupped his hands and said, “How could I be impolite when meeting elders?”

Empress Luofu, however, said, “Then, does Shi Wei always bow to you?”

“That’s naturally not necessary. Etiquette is for self-restraint, not for restraining others,” Li Qi immediately replied.

He indeed didn’t care much about Li Shiwei’s usual demeanor. Although the Little rabbit (Nickname) was very lively most of the time and didn’t pay much attention to etiquette, Li Qi had never blamed her for it.

However, upon hearing this, Empress Luofu sighed deeply: “Those words sound like a Confucian scholar, not a Shaman. Alas… Zhu Fengdan wanted you to study at the Tang Nation Imperial Academy. If I had been awake then, I would definitely have stopped him.”

Li Qi broke out in a cold sweat, not daring to reply further, and simply found a place to sit down in the side hall.

Shen Shuibi, however, didn’t pay attention to those things. Instead, she sat next to Empress Luofu and joined the conversation between Empress Luofu and Chang Xi, appearing quite unrestrained.

The banquet hadn’t started yet, so everyone was basically finding their own seats, some entertaining themselves, others talking amongst themselves. Li Qi recognized most of the people there, but after he sat down, he merely pricked up his ears, listening to the conversation between Yang Ning and Li Shiwei not far away.

Over there—

“Phew… Auntie, I really don’t know how to describe what I’ve encountered in these few hundred years.” Upon seeing Yang Ning, Li Shiwei’s chatterbox immediately opened. Compared to her restrained demeanor when with Li Qi, she seemed much more relaxed.

Yang Ning was currently in a calm state, her hair black. In fact, looking at her like this, she and Shen Shuibi still had many similarities.

However, when her emotions fluctuated, her hair would turn golden-red, and the difference would be very significant then.

It was said that Little rabbit also had this ability; when her emotions fluctuated greatly, her hair would turn from black to silver-white, but Li Qi had never seen it.

After all, though it was said that a cornered rabbit bites, he had never seen Shen Shuibi in a hurry; she had always been so calm.

“You, these few hundred years? What could you encounter? Nothing more than Cultivating, Cultivating, and more Cultivating. At most, you’d go out to see the world, and you wouldn’t get very far. I don’t believe Li Qi would let you out,” Yang Ning said lazily while cracking melon seeds, watching her little niece gesticulate as she recounted her story.

“No, Auntie, I’ve experienced a lot in these few hundred years. Have you been to the Buddhist Kingdom?” Li Shiwei seemed a little unconvinced.

“Yes, I have. What about it?” Yang Ning replied casually.

Unlike the homebody Little rabbit, Yang Ning couldn’t stay idle in one place. Her footsteps could be found in many places across the world and the Void Realm.

“I went to the Buddhist Heavens, and I was even invited by the Demonic Prince to travel through Heaven of Others’ Emanations!” Li Shiwei said to Yang Ning as if trying to prove something.

Yang Ning had long known about Li Shiwei’s experience with the Demonic Prince, and she also knew that it was precisely because Li Shiwei had connected with the Demonic Prince that the Demonic Dao chose to participate in the war, and the Demonic Prince’s intervention helped achieve victory in the vanguard battle.

Actually, many people knew about this, and Li Shiwei also gained a bit of fame through the Demonic Prince’s reputation and the victory in the Human-Shaman War’s vanguard battle.

But as for the specifics of that experience, very few people truly knew, including Li Qi, because Li Qi never actively sought information about Li Shiwei.

When a child wants to talk, they will talk on their own.

Besides, Li Qi wasn’t very keen on understanding things about Heaven of Others’ Emanations… The more he knew, the more his head hurt.

Yang Ning clearly didn’t have this concern. She immediately asked curiously, “By the way, speaking of that, what kind of person is the Demonic Prince? He took you to Heaven of Others’ Emanations, he didn’t do anything bad, did he?”

“Auntie, what are you thinking? He’s Father’s friend; I should call him Uncle,” Li Shiwei said with a subtle expression. “But… although he’s very violent when fighting, in reality, he seems quite… effeminate, like a woman.”

“The Demonic Prince, like a woman?” Yang Ning raised an eyebrow. “How did you figure that out?”

Li Shiwei recalled and said, “His tone of voice, his figure, and so on… Auntie, don’t you think the Demonic Prince is particularly short? My father isn’t very tall to begin with, but he’s even shorter than my father, about my height. He gives off the feeling of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old child.”

“If you said that to his face, we probably wouldn’t see you now,” Yang Ning laughed.

“No, I told him that to his face. He just smiled. Like I said, his personality is very effeminate and shy, not as terrifying as the rumors say,” Li Shiwei said.

Rumors outside claimed that the Demonic Prince delighted in slaughter, challenging opponents merely to satisfy his bloodlust, and like all those on the Demonic Dao, he was extremely self-centered, caring nothing for external evaluations or opinions.

However, in Li Shiwei’s view, it wasn’t like that at all.

“Let me tell you, it was like this at the time—” Li Shiwei began to describe the Demonic Prince’s situation then.

Li Shiwei’s encounter with the Demonic Prince was mainly due to her joining in on some excitement.

At that time, Li Qi was worried about potential issues with the Demonic Dao, so he chose to send Li Shiwei to the Western Paradise Buddhist Kingdom. There, Li Shiwei also had her own adventures and experiences.

In the Buddhist Kingdom, the widely publicized battle between Sariputra and the Demonic Prince attracted Li Shiwei to spectate as a bystander.

That battle was truly… breathtaking.

Sariputra, as the Buddha’s disciple known for his wisdom, ultimately chose to accept the battle with the Demonic Prince, thus attracting many people to the Buddhist Heavens to watch.

Li Shiwei also saw the Demonic Prince for the first time then, and their initial meeting was indeed as the outside world described.

A full obsidian mask covering his face, completely obscuring it, leaning on a black bamboo staff, wearing a tightly fitting black robe with golden thread sewn篆符, a black tiger jade pendant at his waist, and a large cloak draped behind him, his Aura was imposing and extremely oppressive.

Although he entered limping with a staff, and despite his short stature, just this attire, combined with his reputation, was enough to awe everyone present.

“Wait, this sounds like… could the Demonic Prince wear a mask and that outfit to scare people because he’s too effeminate and too short?” Yang Ning suddenly interrupted Li Shiwei’s narration at this point.

Li Shiwei paused for a moment, then suddenly clapped her hands, realizing, “Auntie, what you said seems to make some sense! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Then continue. Maybe you’ll find something else,” Yang Ning also became interested. She was very curious about how her niece interacted with the Demonic Prince.

On the other side, Li Qi closed his eyes, picked up his teacup, seemingly resting, but his True Knowledge Dao Resonance was fully open, listening carefully to every word Li Shiwei spoke, even observing her shallow thoughts.

Li Shiwei wasn’t this talkative when she was with him.

If Li Qi didn’t know he kept himself pure, he would have thought the Little rabbit (Nickname) was Yang Ning’s daughter.

Li Qi calmly sipped his tea, while over there, Li Shiwei had already begun her next narration.

After the Demonic Prince entered, he did not, as everyone expected, immediately fight Sariputra without hesitation.

On the contrary, he very politely said, “I have heard that Sariputra is renowned for his wisdom. I am unwilling to take advantage of you in terms of martial prowess. I humbly ask Sariputra to debate scriptures with me. After the debate, we can then have a martial contest. If I lose one round, then I consider myself to have lost entirely.”

When the Demonic Prince said this, everyone present was shocked.

One must know that the Demonic Prince had forged an Overlord Dao Foundation.

This required absolute self-confidence to establish. Every victory would make the Overlord Dao Foundation more and more solid, but correspondingly, every ‘failure’ would leave an irreparable crack in the Overlord Dao Foundation.

Losing to Sariputra once would make it difficult for the Demonic Prince to ever lift his head again.

This was too arrogant.