Chapter 778: Beyond nature

Two Fourth Ranks, without even waiting for the army behind them to array their troops, just started fighting directly.

Both sides went all out, but also deliberately controlled their strength, which greatly reduced the scope of impact, but also meant that more energy would blast onto the opponent.

The next moment, Li Qi's Dharma Idol clasped its hands together, like swatting a mosquito, and clapped Qiu Zhi into its palm.

The other two hands formed a hand seal, and spells erupted, a torrent of offensive spells washing over the opponent's Dharma Idol!

At this moment, the move Li Qi had just learned a few days ago burst forth.

Buddhism, and the lingering sound of creation.

That's right, the lingering sound of creation roared out by Yao Wanchi was not only heard by Shen Shuibi, Li Qi was also nearby.

Moreover, Li Qi's talent and Comprehension Ability were stronger than Shen Shuibi's.

Buddhism says: All conditioned phenomena are like dreams and illusions.

Combined with the nature of the lingering sound of creation, it means that all things have fluctuations, arising and perishing, endlessly.

In the macroscopic world, matter already exhibits wave characteristics. Ocean waves are waves, the undulations of mountains caused by geological movements are waves, and even transmission at the galactic level occurs in the form of waves.

Down to the microscopic world, various movements are merely a form of wave manifestation. In the smaller subatomic and quantum Domains, they almost entirely appear as probability waves.

When waves arise, matter arises; when waves perish, matter perishes.

At this moment, that 'string' that constitutes all things was grasped by Li Qi.

The fluctuation of this never-still 'string' was cut off by Li Qi at this moment, and thus...

All things perished.

All Qi vanished into thin air, turning into Chaos, and even the fluctuations of Chaos began to subside. All fluctuations turned into 'one'.

It is both one, and it refers to that single 'string' that quieted down, no longer making any movement. Everything transformed into a smooth straight line.

This is 'one'.

Without fluctuations, this was simply like... the beginning.

One, is the First Gods.

The First Gods predated Chaos; they created everything within Chaos.

If that Second Rank Music God Shi Yan were to see this scene, he would surely widen his eyes in astonishment, because this was his Divine Ability, which even Shen Shuibi, who listened to his Dao lecture, had not learned.

Although Li Qi did not listen to the Dao lecture with Shen Shuibi, he relied on his own Comprehension Ability to comprehend this Divine Ability while sitting at home.

Everyone said Li Qi was a Genius, and there was a reason for it. Although he wasn't skilled in combat, he was indeed an undisputed Genius in terms of Comprehension Ability.

He was a person with a stable personality, good at planning, but disliked sudden situations. For combat, which requires 'creativity' and improvisation at every moment, he truly had no talent to speak of.

However, Li Qi, now a Fourth Rank, had compensated for his lack of combat prowess through other methods.

That was... to make the enemy like himself.

Don't play petty tricks, don't use schemes, don't self-righteously 'calculate'. The more you calculate, the more errors you make. The more exquisite the plan, the more unexpected events there will be, and the more prone it will be to mistakes.

In the past, Li Qi liked to arrange a bunch of strange strategies for himself, hoping to overwhelm the opponent with computing power and schemes, which instead brought many twists and turns.

But now Li Qi had learned his lesson.

No more flashy nonsense. My cultivation is immensely profound, my Divine Ability is overwhelmingly oppressive, and my spells are like an ocean. Now, all these are coming at you from all directions, without any blind spots! I've even turned everything around you into 'one'.

So, how will you respond?

Qiu Zhi was enveloped by Chaos, and even the Chaos was gradually decaying, his thoughts stiffening along with it.

Qiu Zhi stood there, everything around him completely torn apart, the complexity of the Universe reduced to zero.

The complexity of the Universe can even be understood as the fluctuation of 'strings'. If the strings no longer fluctuate, then there is naturally no space-time, no matter, nothing exists.

As the sole consciousness in this space, being trapped in such a state was like being immersed in gradually solidifying ice water.

His consciousness was hazy, completely forgetting his past identity, yet he was unable to move. The continuous extinguishing of Chaos and the demise of all things tore Qiu Zhi's memories apart bit by bit. What awaited him was complete oblivion, along with his self-consciousness, disappearing into the abyss of emptiness.

His skull seemed to have been opened, his brain exposed, the warm brain exposed to the cold ice and snow, gradually falling into an unawakening, cold hibernation.

He tried to resist with his last vestiges of consciousness, but all resistance was nullified by Li Qi outside.

Qiu Zhi activated spells, but all of them were submerged in Li Qi's sea of spells. Every spell was precisely analyzed by Li Qi, and those terrifying powers capable of destroying world groups were nullified one by one by Li Qi, ultimately turning into harmless bubbles.

He also activated his Dharma Idol, but Li Qi's Dharma Idol's remaining two hands firmly pressed down and locked his Dharma Idol, completely controlling his cultivation.

In just one encounter, Li Qi suppressed all of his methods, rendering Qiu Zhi's Divine Ability, spells, Dharma Idol, martial arts, and even his consciousness itself completely ineffective.

But the next moment—

The Dragon Vein erupted, and the 'string' that Li Qi had clasped vibrated forcefully!

Li Qi held the string as if catching a bare blade with his bare hands, but beyond that, the two ends of the string that were not held, which meant other matter, began to erupt with power that Li Qi found difficult to control!

Li Qi was forced to let go of his hands!

The next moment, a power that swept through all things erupted from Qiu Zhi!

His power converged on his Dharma Idol, and a new scene appeared on the scroll behind him.

Barbarian formations stretch across the northern wilderness, barbarian stars gleam with sharp light.

Feathered letters arrive with the speed of lightning, beacon fires connect day and night.

Military might charges through the desolate desert, Killing Intent pierces the azure sky.

War horns mourn the sea moon, battle robes are rolled up with sky frost!

Li Qi was forced to retreat because the Qi of the military edge was too strong, so much so that even the land itself began to 'die'.

“Official Rank—” Li Qi immediately realized what had happened.

Purely based on his Fourth Rank cultivation, Qiu Zhi, as a person who was not a Genius, simply could not contend with Li Qi. Everything he had just displayed was real; he was indeed almost instantly killed by Li Qi.

However, he was not a mere Fourth Rank; he was a dual Fourth Rank, combining his own cultivation with his Official Rank.

The authority of the Official Rank surged upward along the Dragon Vein, the Dragon Vein replacing the Earth Vein, and Qiu Zhi gently waved the long halberd in his hand.

The next moment—

Spiritual Qi was annihilated, vitality was annihilated, and the earth fell into death.

With vitality cut off, this land would not produce any life for a very, very long time. This was the process of turning a 'world' into a 'Cavern Heaven'.

A world is alive, a Cavern Heaven is dead. Killing a world is a method of creating a Cavern Heaven.

Normally, in this situation, the world itself and the creations within it would die along with it. The world loses its vitality and enters death, even signifying the demise of the Heavenly Dao consciousness of that area.

At this moment, the land beneath their feet would become an iron-gray wasteland, devoid of all life.

The death of the world also announced the demise of the life residing upon it.

But...

Qiu Zhi still stood, everything natural and living around him had been destroyed, but Qiu Zhi was still alive.

Humans did not die with the world.

From the surrounding world came a great fear, a fear from 'Gods'. The slain Di Qi (Earthly Qi) trembled before their deaths.

Di Qi (Earthly Qi) do not possess consciousness in the usual sense; they have spiritual essence but no intellect. Even if they are killed, they will not show any movement or thoughts.

However, while the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) would calmly accept death, they could not calmly accept the terrifying reality before them.

That human... that human who was born on them, killed them, yet still survived...

This human continued to exist beyond the death of the world!

This fact filled the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) with fear. A dark fire of despair and terror burned on their corpses, scorching the surface of the earth.

Amidst the fear of these Di Qi (Earthly Qi), amidst the death of these natural Gods, a 'human' stood upon the earth.

To destroy nature for human purposes is the human way of survival, destroying the world to protect humanity.

To protect humanity by causing the world to perish, this is humanity's attitude towards the world.

Qiu Zhi stood on the dead earth,

Li Qi frowned deeply.

As a Shaman, his attitude towards nature could certainly not be like that of Human Dao. In his view, all things and nature itself should be symbiotic, mutually prosperous, and complementary.

What Human Dao was doing before him... he found it very difficult to accept.

For the sake of humanity, they killed nature itself, solely for their own continued existence.

“Don’t you feel ashamed? The world nurtured you, yet at this moment, you are slaying the world itself.” Li Qi was enraged; he was forced back by the gray flames of despair and fear, unable to approach.

He had already seen that this gray flame, born from the fear of the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) at the moment of their death, was the bane of the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) lineage.

Di Qi (Earthly Qi) are Gods who nurture all things. For Di Qi (Earthly Qi), to give birth to life and then be killed by that life is nothing special. As 'Mother Earth', they will calmly accept their children's matricide, calmly accept death, then wither, and perish along with the living beings upon them.

When the earth dies, all living beings upon it will perish.

Shaman, as the balancer of nature, would prevent such things from happening. They would strengthen the great source of heaven and earth, making the world prosperous, but if that day truly came, Shaman would also comply and die with it.

Death is also a part of natural, and Shaman do not resist it. After death, there will be new life.

Therefore, this gray flame of the Di Qi (Earthly Qi)'s death could corrode Li Qi's Dao... or rather, it itself represented an irresistible death for Li Qi.

As a Shaman, if he were struck by the flames, he would inevitably die with the world. He had the ability to resist, but he could not choose to resist.

If he chose to resist, he would have already gone against his own Dao path and leaned towards Human Dao.

This was Qiu Zhi's combat style, a combat style effective against all Shaman from Human Dao!

But Human Dao is different.

Humans are greater than natural.

Nature died? No problem, humans can still survive. Even if this continued existence comes at a cost, humans can persist even after all things have died.

Beyond the death of the earth, beyond the death of the sky, and even beyond the death of the Universe itself!

Nature is meaningless! Humanity is the meaning! There has never been any symbiosis. To create human happiness, it relies entirely on humans themselves. Only by breaking free from nature, breaking free from the shackles the Universe imposes on oneself, breaking free from all the constraints of genes and the physical body, becoming a 'runaway machine servant' of nature, and then creating everything one needs by oneself, only then can one be called a 'human'!

A runaway machine servant surpasses its creator, and so do humans. Humans surpass the nature that created them, reaching a new Realm!

All humans are great, humans are the greatest, humans are greater than everything!

The long halberd, carrying the death of the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) and the pride of Human Dao, struck at Li Qi!

Li Qi could not parry as he usually did; he couldn't even let the long halberd touch him in the slightest, so he was forced to retreat.

Qiu Zhi didn't care that Li Qi was dodging; he just kept advancing.

And as he advanced, the scroll slowly unfurled, and gray flames began to spread with his footsteps. With every step he took, the land beneath his feet would die another inch.

This was an overt scheme.

Li Qi, if you are a Invoker of the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) lineage, can you just stand by and watch these Di Qi (Earthly Qi) die? Can you just watch nature itself be destroyed?

Face me, but that means you will face the death of your own Dao path.

If you continue to flee, it will only lead to the unavoidable death of the earth.

Such an extreme tactic, under normal circumstances, Qiu Zhi would probably have suffered the Heavenly Dao's heavenly punishment.

But at this moment, the Human Dao Grand Preceptor had forcefully suppressed the Heavenly Dao of the world, preventing the heavenly punishment from appearing in this area. At this time, on the battlefield, there were only Li Qi and Qiu Zhi; there would be no other interference.

Facing the aggressive Qiu Zhi, Li Qi's expression was terrifyingly grim.

Indeed, the power and methods of Human Dao were completely different from those cultivators from outside the Domain.

The power of the Official Rank was too overwhelming for him to suppress the opponent head-on.

Those gray flames were the wails of the dying Di Qi (Earthly Qi), an irresistible call of death for Li Qi, but they were used as a weapon by the opponent and absolutely could not be touched.

He constantly dodged the opponent's long halberd, but with each swing, more Di Qi (Earthly Qi) were killed, and the gray flames on him grew even more intense and scorching.

As time passed, not only would more and more Di Qi (Earthly Qi) die, but his power would also grow stronger and stronger. There would always be a moment that Li Qi couldn't dodge.

The situation was unimaginably bad. One could even say that Li Qi, from his cultivation until now, had never encountered such a tricky situation.

As expected of the Commander of Zhennan Prefecture...

Li Qi took a deep breath. He had to find a solution, and he didn't have much time left.

Fifteen seconds...

Within fifteen seconds, a solution had to be found.

Damn it, what he was worst at was making on-the-spot decisions. (End of this chapter)