Chapter 780: Delay

On the battlefield.

Li Qi, due to his Di Qi (Earthly Qi) lineage, was forced to dodge Qiu Zhi’s flames, even though these flames were meaningless on Boundless Outer Domain battlefield…

Because they were too slow. A mere few hundred miles per second spread rate would only reach someone in Boundless Outer Domain battlefield in the next lifetime, and they didn’t have such a great effect on anyone except Invoker of the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) lineage.

It could be said that this gray flame was a tactic specifically developed for this battlefield, specifically targeting Li Qi. It wouldn't be effective outside; this was a deliberate targeting by the Human Dao.

But there was no need to care about that. As long as it was useful now, that was all that mattered.

Looking at the other side.

The inner body spirits, tens of thousands of miles tall, were as large as some planets in Boundless Outer Domain. They carried a cylindrical continent, four thousand five hundred miles in diameter and ten thousand miles deep, on their shoulders. This posture was like a god holding up the sky.

However, under the destructive power of a Fourth-Rank, this was actually incredibly fragile. With a single strike of Qiu Zhi’s long halberd, he directly struck this inner body spirits, causing it to stumble and fall, kneeling on the ground.

But Qiu Zhi was very surprised.

What was going on?

His attack should have had far more power than this. Although they had concentrated their strength to prevent their attacks from spreading too far, this 'not too far' actually meant a destructive range of tens of thousands of miles, and the energy was extremely condensed.

Under normal circumstances, the range of a Fourth-Rank battle is measured in light-years. Yet, now, without holding back, their destructive range was compressed to this extent, the level of condensation was unimaginable.

But even so, the inner body spirits were not instantly killed.

What happened?

The next instant, Qiu Zhi’s body was suddenly struck hard. The speed was so fast that he rubbed against the air, generating a large amount of light and heat! He was thus transformed into a meteor, flying several thousand miles before he managed to stabilize himself!

Qiu Zhi looked around, observing, trying to find a clue.

Regardless of the level of battle, intelligence and lineage are extremely important. And now, Li Qi’s lineage was clear to him, but when they truly started fighting, he found that he couldn't discern what method Li Qi was using.

What was going on? What attacked him just now?

Before figuring it out, Qiu Zhi didn't dare to act rashly. So, he chose not to continue attacking or expanding, but instead began to focus on his surroundings, analyzing Li Qi's situation, and continuing to maintain the death of the earth.

Evidently, the inner body spirits also couldn't resist this move. So, although that last strike didn't destroy the inner body spirits, if the flames continued to burn, the inner body spirits would naturally be destroyed in less than ten seconds.

At that time, Li Qi would have to make a move, and he would have to be able to counter it.

After much thought, Qiu Zhi made up his mind and began to execute his plan.

As for Li Qi—

He let out a long breath.

He had stalled him.

The opponent would need at least another ten seconds to discern his methods, and the inner body spirits could also hold on for about ten seconds. So, these precious ten-plus seconds were enough for him to do something else.

For example… sacrifice.

The Shaman's specialty.

He separated another inner body spirits, cutting off the connection.

The loss of two inner body spirits severely damaged his Inner World. Li Qi had never suffered such a severe permanent injury from his cultivation until now. This could even halt his cultivation progress for hundreds of millions of years.

But there was no choice. He couldn't personally touch that gray flame.

Another inner body spirits separated. This time, it didn't enlarge but remained the same size as Li Qi, beginning to set up the ritual.

The ritual was incredibly fast.

Qiu Zhi also noticed this. His perception wasn't weak, just not as good as Li Qi's. He immediately realized Li Qi was setting up a ritual.

A ritual? Sacrificing to what?

Observe the opponent's details, then analyze.

Analyze… He couldn't.

He didn’t recognize it, he didn’t understand… Or rather, Li Qi understood it better than him.

The food offerings were placed on the central altar, facing north from the west, using two hundred and sixteen mats. The music played was “Qing Yang,” “Zhu Ming,” and so on. This kind of sacrifice should have been accompanied by dried meat, sauces, and calves, but Li Qi replaced them all with fragrant herbs…

What were these rituals sacrificing? Perhaps it was a smoke screen, a means to attract his attention, because Li Qi hadn't used very powerful means to hide his actions. He could see that of the two inner body spirits he had severed, one was presiding over the sacrifice, and the other was intercepting him.

Fake? A feint?

Just as he hesitated, that invisible attack came again.

There was no trace, no sign whatsoever, and he couldn't tell who had launched it. He didn't even react before Qiu Zhi was hit, but it landed squarely on Qiu Zhi's body.

He was once again sent flying several thousand miles, but these attacks were relatively weak. He didn't suffer much damage, only being knocked back a few thousand miles.

A distance of several thousand miles was no different from standing still for a Fourth-Rank's combat power, but… where did this attack come from?

This made him even more uncertain.

But with the uncertainty, the next moment, more attacks came.

Actually, he didn't perceive the 'assault' action, but he was clearly being hit, many times, as if an invisible person was constantly punching him.

These attacks were all very weak and caused no effective damage, but they were impossible to guard against.

However, this made Qiu Zhi even more cautious. He wasn't worried about powerful attacks, because once the Shaman's objective was exposed, it would no longer be frightening.

The most terrifying thing about a Shaman is their unpredictable Divine Ability. You never know when you'll be hit, just like now.

This forced Qiu Zhi to multitask. He began to steady his mind and pay attention to the situation on all three sides.

This situation lasted for eight seconds.

Eight seconds later, the inner body spirits could no longer hold on. That inner body spirits was scorched by the gray flames, its body already blackened, and it was about to be dragged into death.

“That side should be fine now,” Qiu Zhi thought.

Those inexplicable attacks were also getting weaker and weaker, no longer able to push him.

In fact, these attacks were so weak they felt like caresses…

Something was caressing him.

Thinking of this, coupled with the slight relaxation brought by the impending demise of the inner body spirits, he finally saw what was hitting him.

They were two beautiful women.

Around the beautiful women, fragrant clouds billowed, red skirts and blue shawls, and fragrant breezes wafted.

What was previously invisible, he now saw.

He saw two peerless beauties, rarely seen in the world, floating in the air. One had an exceptionally elegant appearance and fragrant breath from her cherry lips, while the other's face held a smile, a beauty hard to find in any era. They both stepped forward, their soft hands continuously caressing Qiu Zhi.

The attacks also slowly transformed from caresses into something else. They hooked shoulders and crossed legs, offering various parts of their bodies without shame, their breath like orchids and their scent like cinnamon.

Qiu Zhi glanced at them, then suddenly clasped his hands together, each hand caressing the head of one of the beautiful women!

The two beautiful women’s skulls collided with a bang, like two glass jars filled with blood.

Blood splattered, bone fragments scattered everywhere, and red and white matter flew through the air, staining him.

“I was wondering where those attacks came from. It turns out to be demonic thoughts,” Qiu Zhi breathed a sigh of relief.

Is that all? And I thought it was something else.

He closed his eyes and began to clear his thoughts.

It was well known that Li Qi was connected to the Heavenly Demon, so it was expected for him to use Heavenly Demon methods now.

But when he spent a few moments clearing his thoughts and then opened his eyes again, he found that… the surrounding world had changed.

Before his eyes was no longer the land of Baiyue and the previous battlefield.

At this moment, he was floating in Boundless Outer Domain.

Within Boundless Outer Domain, countless Demonic Overlords were staring intently at him.

“A Heavenly Demon illusion? It feels so real,” Qiu Zhi said, beginning to summon his Dharma Idol.

But he found that his Dharma Idol had lost contact with him.

Not only his Dharma Idol, but even the cultivation within his body was disappearing.

Now he knew he had completely fallen into a Heavenly Demon illusion.

He had previously thought he had eliminated the demonic thoughts, but in reality, he hadn't. The inexplicable attacks he had just been hit by were also part of the illusion.

Interesting.

However, an illusion is still just an illusion. Even if a Heavenly Demon’s illusion can cause actual effects, it is still just an illusion.

It sounds strange, but it is indeed true that the illusions created by Heavenly Demon will genuinely produce real effects, but they will not overwrite reality.

His mind immediately conjured the previous battlefield, precisely locating his last position and all the surrounding terrain and features, reconstructing the real-world battlefield.

Since that’s the case, then I’ll clear both levels.

He would cut through both the illusionary world and the real world.

Facing the real world through deduction, and then directly confronting the illusion before him—this was Qiu Zhi’s strategy.

Meanwhile, in reality, Li Qi frowned slightly.

Damn it, he's got something.

Even after being blinded by the illusion, Qiu Zhi still made perfect responses in the real world. Li Qi’s inner body spirits' attacks were all dodged, and the inner body spirits even suffered severe damage again, unable to hold on any longer.

Li Qi was certain that the opponent couldn't perceive the outside world, because this wasn't just a simple Heavenly Demon illusion; it was a dual Divine Ability combining the Demon of the Five Aggregates and the Heavenly Demon. Only this way could a formidable person like Qiu Zhi be suppressed.

But even though he was blinded by the illusion, he completely killed the inner body spirits purely by calculation and instinct.

With the death of the inner body spirits, the gray continent began to fall.

Once it hit the ground, the flames would continue to spread, the death of the earth spirits would continue to increase, and the gray flames would eventually grow to a point where Li Qi could no longer avoid them.

But Li Qi didn’t care about that. To be honest, he couldn’t.

Maintaining the demonic thoughts also required magical power. To bewitch Qiu Zhi, Li Qi expended a considerable amount of energy, and he also had to preside over a sacrifice, so he was powerless to deal with the huge continent crashing towards the ground.

A massive collision of heaven and earth!

A massive rock, four thousand five hundred miles in diameter, ten thousand miles high, and with a volume of hundreds of millions of cubic kilometers, slammed into the ground.

As is well known, kinetic energy equals mass times velocity squared divided by two.

A mass of approximately twenty quadrillion tons crashed into the earth.

A devastating earthquake instantly destroyed everything!

But such a scene was merely a small matter for Fourth-Ranks. Their battles could easily tear apart star rivers, unleashing a hundred billion times more destructive power. Now, it was merely concentrated power, so they were not at all intimidated by such a scene.

However… for the lower-ranked cultivators of Baiyue and the Southern Border of the Human Dao, it was not like that at all.

Even in the entire Void Beyond, direct clashes between Fourth-Ranks were extremely rare.

Just in those dozens of seconds before, everyone saw it: first, the gray flames, destroying everything and bringing death to the natural world, flew across the land at hundreds of miles per second.

After that, a huge ring divided the earth.

As the earth was severed, the surrounding space was also distorted, preventing the outside world from approaching. This move was very frightening, because space is actually indivisible, but through extreme distortion, it can be made to approximate division. In this situation, it is generally called an 'event horizon,' which is the limit of distortion, and in Boundless Outer Domain, it can only be seen on the Return to Ruin.

But at this moment, it was displayed in Li Qi's hands.

However, this distortion was actually easily broken by Qiu Zhi, which further astonished the onlookers.

Immediately following was the even more spectacular descent of the inner body spirits. That rock giant lifted the earth scorched by the gray flames. Even though it was destroyed itself, it remained as magnificent as a giant god supporting the sky.

However, what happened later, they somewhat didn’t understand.

They couldn't see the past after it was chosen to be erased, so they didn't know that the giant god was directly pierced. They could only see both sides in a daze, as if they didn't know what to do.

But in reality, every minute and every second was spent calculating. With the Fourth-Rank’s picosecond-level thinking ability, in a mode of rapid thought and full power, dozens of seconds felt like a thousand years to them.

One second equals one billion picoseconds. If one picosecond of perceived time is roughly equal to one second, then one second for them is thirty-one years.

Dozens of seconds, that would be nearly a thousand years.

Therefore, generally speaking, Fourth-Rank battles appear to Mortals to end in an instant, sometimes even without knowing that a battle had occurred.

Li Qi, when he was a Fifth-Rank, once commanded a battle in a war zone. He had witnessed a Fourth-Rank make a move, but in an instant, the two Fourth-Ranks had already disappeared. He didn't know the outcome of the battle, only that his war zone was no longer subject to Fourth-Rank interference.

Time is like this for Fourth-Ranks: a thousand years in an instant, and an instant in a thousand years. For them, it's merely a thought. Even Karma cannot bind them, let alone time.

It’s conceivable how low the intensity of the battle was under such circumstances. A large amount of time was invested in deduction. They were engaged in a mental game every minute and every second to ensure that their actions would not have negative consequences.

After all, this is the world, and they still had to be careful to avoid causing major trouble.

Everyone around Baiyue who had the ability to observe the battlefield watched nervously what would happen next.

However, all these people then saw… a Dharma Idol rise.

That was Li Qi’s Dharma Idol, only it had visible flaws, which were the signs of missing inner body spirits.

Li Qi’s Dharma Idol spoke, addressing Qiu Zhi and also the onlookers, saying: “The shamelessness of the Human Dao has made me unbearable. Seeing you all, I know that in this world, some people can squeeze others’ living space to the point where they cannot generate any thoughts, making all their dreams and stories vanish, turning them into beasts, and then using the spatial resources they stole to incubate their own thoughts, give birth to their own dreams and stories, and use these to prove that they are nobler than other beings.”

“This is the Human Dao, but it doesn’t matter…”

As Li Qi spoke, the secret sacrifice he had been performing—

Completed. (End of chapter)