Chapter 776: Stop

“Brother Guo, I came this time to tell you why your food tastes different. I figured it out.”

Li Qi's words made the Peng Hai Cauldron's breathing quicken, and his Inner World trembled.

Although he was a Spiritual Artifact, his Inner World still experienced some kind of leakage at this moment, which directly led to the appearance of a strange phenomenon.

The surrounding strange phenomenon unfolded, which was the Peng Hai Cauldron's… ingredient storage?

Millet, broomcorn, rice, panicled millet, white millet, yellow millet, glutinous millet, early millet.

Six grains, six livestock, six clear broths, one hundred and twenty delicacies, eight rare ingredients, one hundred and twenty jars of sauce.

Six main dishes, one hundred delicacies, one hundred sauces, and eight treasures. Spring had more sour, summer more bitter, autumn more pungent, winter more salty. Additionally, there were appropriate foods: beef with millet, lamb with broomcorn, pork with rice, dog with panicled millet, goose with wheat, and fish with wild rice.

Head and tripe, kidneys, white intestines, quail, rabbit, fish, shrimp, chicken, duck, clams, crabs, mixed stew, fragrant herbs, crystal meat slices, fried liver, crabs, walnuts, maltose, beans, goose pears, pomegranates, hawthorns, quinces, glutinous rice cakes, dumplings, fermented black beans, burnt sour pork, pancakes, mixed vegetables, badger cubs, wild fox meat, lotus soup, fragrant sugar, various fried foods—

Countless delicacies, beyond description, formed a galaxy of food, with billions of dishes!

This was a galaxy of food, all the food… but, it was all for 'humans'.

The next moment, all these strange phenomena disappeared, swallowed back into the Peng Hai Cauldron's belly, because he had regained his senses and retracted all the leaked power.

This lapse made him a bit embarrassed, and he said, “My apologies, brother, it's just that I've been stuck for a while…”

Li Qi didn't mock him, because he knew that his answer might be the Peng Hai Cauldron's Dao opportunity!

Even if his answer was wrong, it would still help the other party eliminate a wrong answer, which was still quite valuable.

So, even though he was already a Fourth-Rank, the Peng Hai Cauldron was still a bit flustered by such an impact.

“I understand, Brother Guo. You've been preparing since I was a Seventh-Rank. I get it,” Li Qi nodded, indicating that it was nothing.

“Then… brother, what is your answer? Why does the same dish taste different when you eat it?” the Peng Hai Cauldron asked.

“Perhaps it's because I am an outsider to the Dao,” Li Qi said.

This answer greatly disappointed the Peng Hai Cauldron.

“If that's the only answer, then, brother, you truly are… I naturally know about taste differences caused by race, but my culinary skills are already sufficient to transcend races. You must have a deeper meaning, right?” the Peng Hai Cauldron shook his head.

However, he still left hope in his words, because he knew that Li Qi was also a Fourth-Rank, so he absolutely wouldn't talk nonsense. The other party's words must have a profound meaning.

“There's no deeper meaning. It's very simple. I am an outsider to the Dao, it's just that I'm a bit… too far out,” Li Qi said, placing his hand on the Peng Hai Cauldron.

In the past, a Heavenly Demon used a great Divine Ability, through the 'three lives ancient mirror', to instantly bring Li Qi to the edge of the Universe, allowing him to witness the magnificent sight of the Universe 'creating something from nothing'. This sight inspired Li Qi, allowing him to comprehend the true meaning of the Seventh-Rank, break free from his original restraints, and successfully advance.

And now, Li Qi was simulating that instant's Divine Ability.

After reaching the Fourth-Rank, he indeed had the资格 to bring people across the vast distances of the Universe.

If the speed of light is not altered, then the observable limit for ordinary civilizations is only a few tens of billions of light-years. This range is roughly called the 'Observable Universe'.

But if they can Transcendent Karma, they can Breakthrough the limitation of the speed of light and travel through the stars that are normally unobservable and uninfluenceable.

If not, they will be forever trapped within the 'observable' range, unable to affect the outside world.

A Fifth-Rank world, if it doesn't use the fast Universe System established by the world, will most likely never be able to Breakthrough. Only civilizations above the Fourth-Rank can undertake this kind of Transmigration.

And the Peng Hai Cauldron had never done such a thing.

After all, he was just a pot and had no interest in traveling to the edge of the Universe every day; that had nothing to do with his Dao.

But at this moment, at Li Qi's invitation, he went to the edge of the Universe.

What did the edge of the Universe have to do with culinary skills?

In Li Qi's view, culinary skill itself was merely a manifestation, just like how the same principle could be used to make fireworks or cannonballs.

The essence of culinary skill was actually 'transformation', just like chemistry, it was a process of processing raw Materials to turn them into another kind of Qi.

This transformation was not just limited to the pot; it also included what happened after eating and the changes within the body.

Li Qi once ate a delicacy in the East Sea called Swordfish. (Details in Chapter 449)

A Daoist Sword Immortal, accompanied by friends, crossed the sea. The Sword Qi he casually swung fell into the East Sea, transforming into fish, named Swordfish.

Swordfish are suitable for raw consumption, sliced into sashimi, eaten with dipping sauce. Once in the mouth, they transform back into Sword Qi, continuously piercing within the body. These Sword Qi contain the Sword Intent of that Sword Immortal, so people often taste them and may even comprehend a move or two from them.

The initial development of culinary art was to process indigestible food into digestible food, and poisonous substances into edible ones.

Konjac itself is poisonous, but after processing, it becomes a delicacy.

This act was actually a 'transformation', a conversion of matter into the desired type according to the Law of material operation.

After that, more techniques emerged. Some were to remove the toxicity of food, some were to enhance its flavor, some were to enrich nutrients, some were to change the texture. All these, in essence, involved a most basic ability: the transformation of material form.

Although this transformation was displayed through culinary means, its essence remained unchanged.

And this transformation, Li Qi had already comprehended when he sacrificed to Shen Tu Yu Lei in the Ghost Market.

However, transformation has its limits, and the Peng Hai Cauldron had already reached that limit; he could no longer make matter more powerful.

“Brother Guo, you probably didn't cultivate to Fourth-Rank yourself, did you?” At the end of the Universe, Li Qi asked the Peng Hai Cauldron.

“En, how did you know?” the Peng Hai Cauldron asked curiously.

“I can tell. You must have been a Fourth-Rank Spiritual Artifact yourself, and then developed sentience from it, right? That's why you didn't realize this, and it also led to your Fourth-Rank foundation being unstable, possibly even facing the danger of dropping in rank,” Li Qi said, pointing to the edge of the Universe.

Yes, even if a Spiritual Artifact Awakens and is thus naturally a Fourth-Rank, if your Dao cannot support it, you will drop in rank.

The Dao path is everything; all foundation comes from it. If you cannot maintain it, you will drop in rank.

Of course, dropping in rank is not only due to this reason, but if your cultivation does not match your Dao Heart, you will definitely drop.

This was the predicament facing the Peng Hai Cauldron.

Li Qi was going to help him solve this.

At this moment, Li Qi began to perform his Law.

Transformation? No, no, no. At Fourth-Rank, you shouldn't be transforming.

What the Peng Hai Cauldron needed to do was creation, the creation of new material properties.

Just like the current Universe.

Create the matter he needed, and then transform it. This way, the things he created would possess completely new properties.

This was what a Fourth-Rank should do.

The reason why others found his dishes unpalatable, while Li Qi found them delicious, was essentially because he wanted to create something that had never existed, and such a thing would inevitably be contrary to existing things, otherwise it wouldn't count as 'something that had never existed'.

And such things would naturally be contrary to other normally born people, so others would find them unpalatable.

Li Qi found them delicious because Li Qi came from an outside Dao, and he happened to be compatible with these dishes, which made him find them delicious.

It was like a robot chewing batteries; ordinary people would die chewing batteries, but robots are different. Li Qi was a robot from the outside.

Li Qi wanted to tell the other party this, guiding the Peng Hai Cauldron to observe the Universe, to watch the Universe's continuous expansion to this day.

Yes, after the initial explosion, the Universe is still constantly expanding outwards, continuously creating new space-time and matter, seemingly without end.

Observing such a scene would help the Peng Hai Cauldron understand what he should do.

However, at this moment—

Qiu Zhi followed up.

Qiu Zhi unhesitatingly interrupted Li Qi's performance of Law, and all the surrounding strange phenomena disappeared. They returned to the Imperial Academy's cafeteria, within the Peng Hai Cauldron's grotto-heaven.

This made the Peng Hai Cauldron's eyes widen, glaring at him angrily.

Li Qi also turned his head, frowning at Qiu Zhi, and said, “Why bother? Obstructing someone's Dao path is a great enmity of life and death.”

“Not obstructing, just wanting to ask in advance, Young Master, in what capacity are you speaking to Guo Peng Hai now?” Qiu Zhi reminded him.

There was once a matter where Li Qi owed humanity a favor, concerning Shen Shuibi.

When Shen Shuibi dropped in rank, humanity provided the emperor fluid paste to restore her body. Li Qi thus received humanity's favor and incurred Karma.

Li Qi, of course, remembered this, and even cared about it greatly, because he knew that humanity would demand repayment at some point.

However, if this favor were repaid to Guo Peng Hai, or to humanity, the difference would be significant.

“Humanity is being a bit stingy like this,” Li Qi scoffed, thinking of this. “Then let's just say I'm giving it to Brother Guo, what's the harm?”

But Qiu Zhi still shook his head and said, “It's not stinginess, but rather that everything must have rules. Guo Peng Hai, after all, holds an official position in the Imperial Academy. Although the position is not high, for what reason are you two making this transaction?”

These words made Li Qi glance at Guo Peng Hai.

This was something he hadn't expected.

Guo Peng Hai held a position. Bestowing favors without authorization could indeed cause problems. Shaman Dao naturally had no such restrictions, but this was humanity.

The Shaman on that side did not live within a specific society with sufficient binding social rules. The entire society controlled by the Shaman was in a natural state—

To be extreme, it could even be understood as a barbaric primitive society.

In this natural state, there were simply no universal moral Laws, such as not allowing casual killing, not allowing arbitrary robbery, repaying debts, helping each other, and so on… None of these rules existed.

In the area controlled by the Shaman, almost all life followed its own desires, developing according to its own interests and abilities, without any rules to restrain it.

However, in that case, because there are no rules to restrain people, out of necessity for survival and simply the evil of human nature, some… seemingly tragedies will occur, as selfish lives are not in the minority.

In this natural state without any rules, everyone, out of selfishness or other ideas, wants to seize as much benefit as possible for themselves, and wants everyone else to submit to them.

Then, as long as a portion of people are selfish, evil, and want to plunder others, this natural state will develop into a jungle society, where the state between lives is a 'war of all against all', a war where everyone is fighting against everyone else.

However, the Shaman did not think this was a bad thing. Shaman Dao believed that this was also part of the natural state, and it would not last forever, because they had already proven this point.

Game theories like the Prisoner's Dilemma have shown that if each person only directly pursues the maximization of their self-interest, it will not lead to the maximization of self-interest for everyone.

In other words, the direct pursuit of self-interest maximization will instead lead to a loss of interests for everyone.

Precisely because of this, after the initial absolute chaos, regularization will inevitably begin. Some simple rules, restraints, and morals will emerge at this point, eventually forming a delicate balance.

This is the world as perceived by the Shaman. This world will reach a state of perfection within this balance. Everything will naturally become a state acceptable to all living beings. This state is even beyond human intelligence to design.

After all… how many civilizations are qualified to design an ecosystem? Let alone the ecosystem of the entire Universe.

This must be the great power of natural, the perfect state that the Universe naturally tends towards, not a design that humanity presumptuously believes in.

Things designed by humans always have flaws.

Just like now.

“Your rules are unreasonable. They are merely rules, and you want to stop a person's Dao path? Is pursuing the Dao not the most fundamental need of 'humans'?” Li Qi looked at Qiu Zhi and said.

Qiu Zhi replied, “This is not obstructing the pursuit of the Dao. This is merely letting him make a choice. If he accepts it in his official capacity, he will inevitably bear the Karma between the Young Master and humanity. We will not stop him. But if he does not wish to bear this Karma, then he must bear it as a private individual, and in that case, his position will not be affected in any way.”

“Guo Peng Hai, after all, Young Master Li Qi's identity is sensitive, so this is also a rule. You must make a choice,” Qiu Zhi said calmly, looking at the Peng Hai Cauldron. (End of Chapter)