Chapter 784: Civil strife

Shen Shuibi had known for a long time that Li Qi was an outsider.

However, she didn't mind, after all, being an outsider wasn't a crime just because he wasn't born in the Nine Lands Under Heaven.

She stood there, looking around.

To her left was the playground, where several young boys were chasing and playing.

The sky was a deep blue, not entirely clear, still a bit hazy with what seemed to be industrial smoke, but it didn't obscure the view.

Large clouds piled up on the horizon, outlining the vast expanse of the school's outskirts, and the wind blew from far away, free of dust, rustling the leaves, mingled with the distant sounds of ball games from the playground.

A comfortable tranquility.

This was Li Qi's 'state of mind,' the most comfortable place in his memories.

In other words, in this state, Li Qi felt the most relaxed and at ease; every cultivator had such a memory, for example, Shen Shuibi's scene was inside her former Immortal Cave on Mount Luofu.

These were their safest places, usually their hometowns from childhood, as attachment to one's birthplace was a natural instinct.

However, there were also some who had no good memories of their hometowns; their state of mind would be other places they liked.

And if one lacked such a safe state of mind, that person was often suspicious, irritable, insecure, and full of vigilance towards the outside world.

In other words, this was the 'root,' the dwelling place of the true spirit; with this, no matter where one was, much anxiety would be lessened.

"This is a… peaceful world," Shen Shuibi sighed.

Most worlds outside the Nine Lands Under Heaven… were not peaceful.

So, it was truly wonderful that Li Qi could live in a tranquil world.

In this state of mind, Shen Shuibi found a nearby chair and sat down.

Sitting on the chair, warm sunlight shone down.

Soon, another person sat down next to Shen Shuibi.

"Awake?" Shen Shuibi turned her head to look at the person who had sat down.

It was none other than Li Qi.

And he was… a strangely dressed Li Qi.

Shen Shuibi was now wearing a long, elegant, ancient-style light blue dress, but the only place that seemed less elegant was that her hairpin had been removed, and her hair was now unbound.

Unbound hair was very unseemly; apart from in one's boudoir, perhaps only certain fame-seeking fanatics or immodest people would do so. For Shen Shuibi, who was always conservatively dressed, her unbound hair could only exist in the former situation.

Li Qi, on the other hand, had a buzz cut and was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, which looked a bit odd paired with the ancient-style Shen Shuibi.

"No, but I'm about to wake up," Li Qi said, "It's truly marvelous; even though there was no treatment, just your arrival, and I'm about to wake up."

"When you're immersed in your own world, it's easy not to wake up. After I came here, I made it clear that this place is fake, so of course, you're about to wake up," Shen Shuibi smiled, "What, you don't want to wake up?"

"It's not that I don't want to… it's just, a bit nostalgic. I thought I had forgotten this place, but I didn't expect that after falling into a coma, my state of mind would still be here." Li Qi looked at his hand, then pulled out a phone.

He tapped the screen, and a familiar screensaver appeared.

"You look so ugly now, like a monk. I've seen those monks who half-returned to secular life, their hairstyles are just like yours. Oh, by the way, what is this?" The rabbit tilted her head and leaned over, resting on Li Qi, looking at his phone screensaver.

"This thing is similar to a human-dao terminal, but its performance and versatility are far worse," Li Qi weighed the phone, then touched his head.

How to put it, a buzz cut really wasn't good; he was already used to tying his long hair, and it had to be said, it was very flowing.

"Then who is she?" Shen Shuibi pointed at the person on the screensaver.

"Oh… this is a star, similar to the Lingxiao Flower Goddess in Chang'an, a profession that displays beauty and talent to gain more admirers," Li Qi explained.

"So… you like her too?" The rabbit looked at Li Qi.

"Cough cough, that was all in my younger days, I hadn't even come to the Nine Lands Under Heaven then." Li Qi coughed twice and turned off the screensaver.

Anyway, this was his state of mind, and the phone was actually his memory. He knew very well what was inside, he just took it out for nostalgia.

"Let's explain after you wake up," the rabbit said, her figure gradually fading.

Time was almost up; she had to leave, otherwise, as Li Qi woke up, this place would gradually disappear, and she wouldn't be able to leave.

She didn't tell Li Qi how difficult things had been for her earlier; there was no need. As long as he could wake up, that was the best outcome.

And Li Qi also got up from there.

He let out a long sigh of relief; thankfully, Shen Shuibi was well-traveled and didn't find this world strange. After all, there were too many such worlds outside the Nine Lands Under Heaven, nothing unusual about it.

Even the myths were like this, because… the stories of the Nine Lands Under Heaven themselves were widely spread. Stories about the Nine Lands Under Heaven, the First Gods, and the Primordial Era were circulated in many worlds.

"Then, it's time to wake up." Li Qi stood up, and the surrounding memory world disintegrated.

He was a little reluctant but didn't hesitate.

The world in his memories was indeed beautiful, but he didn't need to escape reality. The real world was a beauty that needed to be protected even more; his wife and daughter were outside, and the Human-Shaman War was an inescapable responsibility.

Only cowards would hide in the depths of their memories, seeking a sliver of security, but Li Qi's Dao Heart was enough for him to face all difficulties with equanimity.

Thinking this, Li Qi opened his eyes—

"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!" As soon as he opened his eyes, he was about to say something eloquent, but instantly felt intense pain and weakness袭, and his lungs were filled with miscellaneous Qi, choking him into a fit of coughs.

His head ached unbearably, his whole body was in excruciating pain, and the organ failure caused by the death of his inner body spirits left him at a loss. His Physical Body was almost completely withered, his Inner World was in chaos, and his cultivation was almost completely dispersed.

"Cough cough… In this state, it would be very difficult to fight someone." Li Qi struggled to support himself and sit up, then activated his Nascent Soul to take over all the work of the other inner body spirits.

Apart from the most useless function of summoning them to fight, the main ability of the inner body spirits was to regulate the Inner World. As the manifestation of Li Qi's Dao, they could automatically help Li Qi balance his Inner World to a normal state.

Just like a healthy person, the pH of their blood, blood sugar, blood lipids, uric acid, and other indicators are all normal, not affecting the body, and you don't need to worry about them; you don't need to pay attention to your body, everything will regulate itself. You sweat when it's hot, shiver and produce heat when it's cold; everything happens naturally.

But now that the inner body spirits were gone, Li Qi's vast and heavy Inner World became a burden, and the energy required to maintain this terrible system was astonishing.

Why do some people self-destruct due to excessive cultivation?

It's because they can't support so much cultivation, can't support the existence of such a high-level ordered low-entropy system, thus leading to chaos and direct explosion.

The difference between a hydrogen bomb and a nuclear power plant lies in the word 'controllable.' Controllable nuclear fusion and simple nuclear fusion are vastly different; if you can't control it, it's a hydrogen bomb; if you can, it's infinite energy.

And now Li Qi was in the same situation; his Inner World was very powerful, but the more powerful it was, the more it needed to be organized.

With the inner body spirits gone, only the Nascent Soul could handle these…

All the pressure of regulation fell upon the Nascent Soul…

This gave Li Qi a headache.

In this state, it was already very good if his Nascent Soul could maintain 'being alive'; fighting was unlikely.

However, after seeing Li Qi wake up, Shen Shuibi handed him a pillow and placed it behind his back, allowing him to sit more comfortably on the bed.

Immediately, the rabbit said, "Your situation is very troublesome now. Your cultivation is in chaos, and your Inner World is almost unusable, relying solely on your Nascent Soul for support. My acupuncture can only temporarily relieve you, and I'm afraid you won't be able to fight for a short time."

"I can tell. I was prepared, but there's no need to worry; Qiu Zhi should also be unable to move," Li Qi smiled and said.

However, Shen Shuibi looked at the awakened Li Qi with some concern and said, "We still need to make some preparations. Wait a moment."

With that, she took out a Pill Furnace again and began Alchemy.

Li Qi watched her work and then looked at the Medicinal Pill ingredients, immediately understanding.

As mentioned before, when organs are not failing, blood pH, blood sugar, blood lipids, uric acid, and other indicators are normal and do not fluctuate randomly.

But now Li Qi's inner body spirits had dissipated, and his organs were failing, so he could only rely on his Nascent Soul to barely maintain them. For an ordinary person, this would be like manually controlling heart rate and hormone secretion.

This would greatly consume his thinking ability, causing various organ dysfunctions and Inner World紊乱 with even slight movement, leading to a loss of combat capability.

However… if hormones were controlled by medicine, it would be different.

If you take hypoglycemic medicine beforehand, you can ignore your blood sugar for a short period because the medicine is helping you control it.

What Shen Shuibi was currently refining was a Medicinal Pill for each uncontrolled Qi in Li Qi's body.

After about four hours, she began to dispense the medicine.

She took out a small jade bottle and filled it with approximately four hundred different Medicinal Pills, each with a different effect, capable of suppressing a specific condition within Li Qi's body, and also able to work together to enhance the medicinal effect.

Just this set of targeted dispensing and synergistic drug action already demonstrated Shen Shuibi's profound pharmacological knowledge, truly a Pill Master who could sell one Medicinal Pill for the price of a sixth-grade world.

Then, she filled another bottle, making a total of two bottles.

She placed the two bottles of medicine in Li Qi's hand and said, "One bottle at a time, remember to eat it all in one go, then use silver needles to seal the four major acupoints: Brain Door, Wind Mansion, Hidden Gate, and Heavenly Cauldron. This should regulate your body, temporarily suppress the chaos, and allow you to temporarily recover one or two tenths of your combat power."

"I don't have enough Medicinal Pill ingredients here, so I only refined two bottles. Use them sparingly; at least don't let those Kingdom Lords retaliate."

Shen Shuibi said this, clearly not trusting those Baiyue Kingdom Lords.

"Okay, I understand." Li Qi nodded, put the two bottles of medicine into his bag, and then struggled to stand up.

Shen Shuibi supported him, and they walked out of the palace and into the clouds.

Shen Shuibi's thoughts stirred slightly, and the clouds solidified.

This was the art of 'Cloud Soaring,' considered one of the more basic Daoist spells, with two forms: one that made clouds walkable, and another that made the body light enough to be carried by the wind.

The former was being used now.

Walking on the clouds, white clouds drifted, and below was an endless forest. Within the forest, the monsters had already changed generations.

The timid ones had already moved their entire families and fled.

Those who remained were hoping that the magnificent palace before them would bring a great Opportunity.

Li Qi merely glanced at them without paying much attention, then said directly, "Let's go. We'll go to the front line to take a look."

Shen Shuibi nodded, and the two of them accelerated with a whoosh.

Just as Li Qi had said before.

When you can see the imperial palace, it doesn't mean you are any closer to the emperor.

The monsters below, even if they moved closer, their distance from Li Qi had not changed at all.

Li Qi and Shen Shuibi accelerated, and in a short while, they arrived at the front line.

Only… something was a little off.

Li Qi frowned: "No… this shouldn't be the front line."

Shen Shuibi nodded: "Something is a little off. The front line should be Song Kingdom, but… where is Song Kingdom?"

When this question was asked, the two looked at each other.

Could it be… that it fell? How much time has passed?

Before them lay a silent land, with no traces of spells, but also no signs of life. All the trees and plants, though seemingly alive, had long since lost their vitality.

Similarly, within the various mountain and water veins, there was not a single living creature—no fish, no shrimp, no birds or beasts, not even bacteria or mushrooms grew.

"This… looks like all the Earth Spirits have died," Li Qi observed, making his judgment.

After the Earth Spirits die, everything above them dies as well. This move had already been used against Li Qi, but… if it appeared here…

Could it be that Qiu Zhi's injuries weren't that severe?

No way!?

As Li Qi was surprised, Shen Shuibi quickly conjured a series of spells and cast them forward, only to see countless light points transform into information streams, instantly reaching the minds of many Kingdom Lords.

A vast communication network was immediately established with Shen Shuibi as its core.

At this moment, a cacophony of voices erupted, like a bustling market, with a crowd of people jostling and talking to themselves.

However, although Li Qi was injured, his mind was still clear, and he could clearly distinguish the voice of each Kingdom Lord.

They were shifting blame, accusing each other, hoping that Li Qi would severely punish the other party.

This made Li Qi take a deep breath.

He never expected that these Kingdom Lords would still be fighting among themselves at such a critical moment.

Following the self-incriminating words of these people, Li Qi leaned forward.

Shen Shuibi frowned slightly at the sight, drew out silver needles, and with a few swift motions, calmed his agitated state of mind.

At this time, Li Qi also deduced the reason behind it.

"Lingxiao Flower Goddess…" Li Qi uttered four words.