Chapter 774: Ruler

Stepping into the ship, Li Qi looked down from the middle deck.

This ship was essentially a floating skyscraper, over thirty zhang high, with vermilion pavilions and green towers, appearing and disappearing, its upper houses arrayed like fish scales, hundreds of banners half-hidden in the sky, like colorful clouds in the eastern sky when halfway through, resembling a tower that plucks stars from the mist and a mountain of trees, containing many shops, riverside taverns, and tea stalls by the bridge, completely a comprehensive shopping mall.

Many locals from Chang'an were relaxing, shopping, and spending money here.

Li Qi and Qiu Zhi bought two cups of tea, a new type of tea from outside this domain, not produced in this world. It was said to come from ice leaves grown in some spiritual core, without bitterness, but rather a bit sour and sweet.

The Human Dao did not reject these specialties from outside the domain; on the contrary, a large number of specialties favored by the Human Dao were sent over every day, which made many of the Human Dao's products change with each passing day.

Li Qi watched Qiu Zhi pay, only using copper coins, and remarked with some emotion, "The price is really cheap. Specialties sent from hundreds of millions of light-years away can be enjoyed by Tang Nation people for just a few copper coins. This money probably isn't even enough for the shipping cost, right?"

Qiu Zhi replied, "If only this one item were shipped, it naturally wouldn't be enough, but when combined with other items, it works. The value of specialties from myriad worlds is always different. As the center of the world and the capital of myriad realms, everything must be available here."

Li Qi, however, shook his head, "If the capital of myriad realms must have everything... then what's the point of other places?"

"I know, the Shaman Dao's view is that if you want to eat something, you go to that place, but that's not very convenient, is it? It's about making things convenient for people," Qiu Zhi said calmly, sipping his tea.

To make things convenient for people, therefore, specialties from myriad worlds must be gathered.

Humans must be the center of everything; everything must revolve around 'humans.'

Li Qi was very uncomfortable with this attitude, although according to the Human Dao's classification, Li Qi was also a true 'human.'

In the Human Dao's eyes, 'humans' actually only referred to 'Dao seekers.' These 'humans' were truly noble, wise, rational, capable of division of labor, coordination, and working together for the ultimate goal.

And these noble humans, possessing these qualities, were inherently capable of understanding and transforming the world.

Creatures other than these were tools, raw Materials, resources, or 'mines' that could move.

"I still can't quite accept that this world doesn't belong only to humans," Li Qi said, looking outside.

Qiu Zhi, however, was blunt: "The hypocrisy of the Shaman. You are also humans, enjoying all the privileges and conveniences created by humans, and then you start saying the world doesn't belong only to humans."

"Our definitions are different. We indeed live amidst everything created by our own hands, but they also live amidst everything created by their hands. The exquisite Shaman Dao created by Shaman God Mountain and the crude implements they created, though there are differences in quality, there is no distinction in superiority. They are merely things done for their own purposes. A human's life is always so noble, like fire, tiring oneself and also burning others," Li Qi said.

"If one fails to discard the instincts of a beast and only pursues leisure and comfort, then what is cultivation for? Humans ought to become torches, illuminating this Mortal World," Qiu Zhi replied.

"Did you illuminate the Mortal World? Or did you use the Mortal World as fuel to light yourselves?" Li Qi retorted.

Qiu Zhi took a sip of tea and said, "There is no difference. If this world only had stones, beasts, and plants, wouldn't that be too tragic? Such a mundane Mortal World can only be illuminated by the light of humans. Just as a lotus emerges from mud unstained, so too are humans."

This was the Human Dao's viewpoint.

In this void and chaotic Universe, thought was the only light; the Universe originally had no meaning, all meaning was self-bestowed by humans. The Universe itself was merely a mass of matter, some energy, some fluctuations. If there were no thought and humans to give it meaning, then everything in this Universe would be nothing but void. The essence of beasts was merely some Qi compounds, no different from stones. What truly distinguished beasts from stones was their thought.

Thought separated humans from other things in this world.

With thought, humans could give meaning to this world; humans were the purpose of this world's existence.

Li Qi did not refute, because the two of them merely spoke this way, but in reality, they both knew that it was impossible to convince the other.

Li Qi said nothing more. He stood up and walked to the window of the ship.

Pushing open the window, the long river stretched out before them. Below, the water rippled, the reeds rustled, and a gentle breeze brought coolness. Other boats were also present, with music and graceful dances, and various performances occasionally flitted past the window, a scene not easily found even in the soft Mortal World.

If one didn't consider the Human Dao's view of the world, then the Human Dao was still very beautiful. Li Qi actually greatly admired their self-discipline and various constraints on themselves.

After all, the Human Dao was not hypocritical; as harsh as they were on 'resources,' they were just as harsh on themselves. Even a First Grade of the Human Dao constantly restrained himself to conform to the public's rules.

In comparison, Li Qi seemed too casual.

However... so be it.

After finishing their tea, Li Qi and Qiu Zhi walked all the way to the top floor of the painted boat. Here there were many eateries, and many shops were open, with various artisans showcasing their culinary skills.

Li Qi felt a sudden urge to eat lamb, so he found a lamb restaurant, sat down, and ordered his meal.

Although he said he wanted to eat lamb, it was more about watching than eating.

After all, the restaurants on top of this ship usually had a few tricks up their sleeves, not comparable to ordinary small shops. For example, here, the lamb was cut and eaten fresh, and the lamb used as raw Materials were all graded, from Eighth Grade to Ninth Grade, clearly force-fed in Human Dao farms.

Qiu Zhi paid, and also watched the performance with Li Qi.

It was called a performance, but it was just in the market. For a Fourth Grade, it was nothing special.

The meat-cutting master was meticulous in his work, taking out a large knife. It was a cleaver, but very thick, more like a palm-sized iron plate than a knife. Li Qi began to order meat, starting with chuck, cucumber strips, three-pronged, and large fatty slices.

As Li Qi ordered one, the master would take out the corresponding piece of meat. The meat was not frozen, but soft to the touch. Meat with this texture could not be cut well without skill.

But the master moved quickly, cutting it thinly, demonstrating his knife skills near the counter. A piece of meat was taken out, covered with a cloth, one hand pressing the meat and the other cutting. The knife work was swift and precise, as thin as a cicada's wing.

Here, one could either grill or hotpot the meat. Li Qi chose grilling, so a stove was placed in front of him, with a perforated iron plate on top. After the master finished cutting at the counter, the meat slices would fly directly onto the plate next to Li Qi's iron plate and pile up. Li Qi would call out, and the corresponding meat would fly over. At the same time, other people in the shop were also calling out. The master cut for dozens of tables alone, yet he didn't seem to struggle, showing his excellent knife skills. If used for killing, he would also be a good hand.

However, the Human Dao had no use for that.

On the stove, the meat was grilled not with charcoal or wood, nor with Spiritual Artifact or Qi energy, but with specially processed, smoke-free spiritual pine wood. This gave it a unique aroma, so the grilled meat needed little seasoning, just a pinch of salt and pepper, or even no salt and pepper at all, to purely savor the freshness of the meat without any fishy smell.

Li Qi ate the meat directly, without anything else. Qiu Zhi, next to him, was different; his way of eating was more refined than Li Qi's. He also ordered some scallions.

These were large scallions, their white parts as thick as sugarcane, diagonally sliced by the master's excellent knife work, then vertically cut into threads like Dragon whiskers. They were tender and sweet, mixed into the grilled meat, and a basket of flatbreads was also called for.

These were sesame flatbreads, extremely light and thin, essentially just two thin layers of crust on top and bottom, both sides covered with sesame seeds. When opened, a burst of hot steam would emerge. Grilled meat, mixed with seasoning and scallion threads, was stuffed into the middle, and then eaten. The grease and flatbread mixed, plus the scallion threads to cut the richness, created a unique flavor.

The two no longer discussed serious matters or cultivation, but rather some interesting anecdotes they had witnessed in Chang'an. Li Qi spoke of some interesting tidbits from his time studying at the Imperial Academy. This topic somewhat interested Qiu Zhi, as he had never studied at the Imperial Academy.

The admission threshold for the Imperial Academy was too high, so Qiu Zhi could not get in when he was young. He grew up gradually in later years during wars outside the domain.

However, perhaps he was a late bloomer, for now, he was already more formidable than most Imperial Academy students.

After finishing the lamb, they went to eat fish.

Since this place was on the water, and it was the Grand Canal of Chang'an, aquatic products were naturally exquisite, and there were many fish restaurants around.

The common way of eating around here was stewed fish, presumably the local taste along the Grand Canal, not necessarily Chang'an's taste, as Chang'an was tens of thousands of li in circumference with too many regions, so it was probably a specialty of this particular section.

Li Qi observed that they all stewed fish in clay pots, seemingly without any special tricks.

Li Qi ordered a pot, which was quickly delivered. Upon tasting it, it was indeed delicious, but it had no reproducibility, because although the technique was good, the taste relied entirely on the fresh fish from this local Grand Canal. No elaborate preparation was needed; simply boiling it in plain water made it delicious. The fish were all freshly caught. There was a group of fishing enthusiasts on the boat, fishing by the river and the boat, not for money, but purely for interest.

Li Qi knew at a glance, because the bait these people used was more expensive than the fish. But if someone caught a large fish, some would take it home to eat themselves, while others would sell it to the fish restaurants on the spot, allowing diners to enjoy the deliciousness.

No wonder it was simple; it tasted good this way, so why bother with more processing? After all, these were fish from the Chang'an Grand Canal. To put it grandly, these were fish from the ancient capital of the Immortal Realm's divine dynasty. It would be a ghost if they didn't taste good.

However, Li Qi still wanted to try something with a chef's distinctive touch, so he ordered another portion of fish slices.

This time, a master personally cooked it. The selection of Materials was still very precise; not only were live local fresh fish used, but unlike stewed fish, not all parts could be used.

Only the largest few fish had to be used, taking advantage of their thick flesh, otherwise, if they were too small, it would be difficult to proceed. The large fish were cut open, and only the most exquisite part of the middle section was used.

Because the fish chosen were large, even when cut open, they appeared as a very large piece.

The knife work was also meticulous. The fish slices were cut to an appropriate thickness, scaled and skinned, and during the cutting, all the fish bones had already been removed without leaving any trace.

However, because the fish was large, the bones were also large, so this step was not very difficult.

Afterward, they were coated in egg white, fried in warm oil until golden and crispy, and thickened with good lotus root starch instead of cornstarch, probably because lotus root starch appeared transparent. Then, a sweet and sour sauce was made, and a spoonful of hot oil was added while hot to give it a glossy finish, poured over the fried fish slices. It looked like ice, and was named 'Rock Sugar Fish,' but in fact, it tasted sweet and sour. Li Qi initially thought it looked good and wanted to take a bite, but found the sweetness unappealing.

But Qiu Zhi ate it well, so he must like sweet and sour flavors. It was just that Li Qi, as a man of the mountains, whose mountain delicacies were mostly savory, couldn't get used to such a sweet taste.

But when the fish dish was served, just looking at it was enough; it was indeed made like crystal.

After finishing the fish and lamb, they strolled around casually and had some snacks. What impressed Li Qi was a bowl of osmanthus-boiled chestnuts. The osmanthus was fragrant, and the chestnuts were soft and sticky. Although Li Qi didn't like sweets, he ate it quite happily.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was evening.

In the evening, as the sun set, the lights within the ship lit up.

Bright lanterns hung, fragrant oils burned, fire trees glowed brilliantly, silver flowers bloomed exuberantly, scattering myriad sparse stars, and cooling the bright moon in the sky. The light spread through the night sky, exceptionally beautiful.

Li Qi stood on the ship's deck, watched for a while, and said, "Let's go. We'll visit the Imperial Academy cafeteria. I haven't seen Brother Guo in a long time either."

"Alright," Qiu Zhi didn't refuse, just continued to follow Li Qi.

On the ground, the two could move freely without affecting others, so as they spoke, they simply disappeared and then arrived at the Imperial Academy.

At night, most of the students had left the Imperial Academy, so it looked very deserted.

The main gate was open. Previously, Li Qi couldn't see them, but now he could clearly see the Imperial Academy's door gods diligently guarding inside.

However, besides the door gods, Li Qi also saw a young girl standing at the entrance.

Her figure was slender, her movements rigid, and she appeared underage, yet she exuded an incredible sense of oppression.

Seeing this young girl, Li Qi immediately walked up, waved, and said, "Ruler Sir!"

This was the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy's Spiritual Artifact, that Ruler. In the past, when Li Qi sought the theory of boundaries, he blew up the Imperial Academy, and when the Underworld came looking, it was this Ruler who stopped the people from the Underworld, and afterward, he didn't even hold Li Qi accountable. (For details, see Chapter 376)

The young girl glanced at him, somewhat surprised, "Li Qi?"

Li Qi scurried over, "Ruler Sir, I didn't expect to see you here."

"I should be saying that. You should be in a standoff right now, yet you came here... Oh, Qiu Zhi, good, I thought you came secretly." The Ruler looked at Li Qi, sized him up, and understood the reason.

Li Qi smiled and said, "Now that I am an enemy of the Human Dao, Ruler Sir won't blame me and prevent me from entering the school gate, will he?"

The Ruler, however, shook his head, "The day you first arrived, I already knew this would happen. Why would I prevent you from entering? Go on." (End of this chapter)