Chapter 800: Psychological warfare

Inside that palace in Baiyue.

The palace floated in the sky, with a small mountain beneath it. The entire palace was arranged in a picturesque manner, like a landscape painting. However, a glance downwards would reveal an unexpectedly desolate and awe-inspiring entrance.

But, if one were accustomed to it, they might instead feel a serene tranquility, like that of a hermit's retreat.

Of course, that's provided you're not affected by Li Qi's fourth-rank pressure; otherwise, you wouldn't feel tranquility, but rather understand why the area below is 'desolate'.

Nothing dares to linger here, so it is naturally desolate.

Li Qi and Shen Shuibi were inside, looking out.

Originally, they weren't looking out, but after Li Qi agreed to reveal his plan to Shen Shuibi, she stood up from his embrace and pushed him to the platform outside.

From here, one could see very, very far.

It was nearly noon, and soft sunlight passed through the northern horizon. The mountains, like shattered glass, reflected these rays in all directions, each peak shimmering with blue and white halos.

These halos were the runes of the surrounding Formation.

Further away, one could see the earth sinking into the cold horizon. This shouldn't normally happen, as the world is one large continent, with no horizon to speak of. If your eyesight is good enough, you can see hills millions of miles away.

But it was different here.

A certain purple, indescribable shield slightly distorted everything.

The light emitted by this purple shield made Li Qi squint slightly. If he didn't, he would burn his eyes like a Mortal staring directly at the sun.

Even so, it took him a while to adjust to the scene before him.

Li Qi gazed intently at the boundless heavens and earth and the vast distance, feeling somewhat excited by their grandeur, but he was already accustomed to it.

That shield was a 'rule' established by Human Dao. Within this protective barrier, the heavenly punishment of the world could not descend.

This was the power of the Human Dao Grand Preceptor.

Li Qi, pushed by Shen Shuibi, drew closer and closer to the cold, clear clouds. He gently closed his eyes, enjoying the moment wholeheartedly.

But before he could enjoy it for a few seconds, he felt a gaze.

The rabbit stared intently at him, its eyes displeased, with a puffed-up feeling.

Li Qi gave a wry smile, waved his hand, and said, "Alright, I said I'd tell you, so I definitely won't hide it. I just thought it wasn't necessary before."

"Then tell me, now that decades have passed, what exactly have you been doing?" Shen Shuibi stood behind Li Qi, her fingers pressing on his temples.

This position, if rubbed, could relax him, but if pressed hard, could also poke his dog's head in.

"Isn't this building up Baiyue? Haven't you seen it? Decades have passed, and Baiyue's war potential has increased greatly." Li Qi pointed downwards.

"What's the use of improving these?" Shen Shuibi didn't understand.

She truly didn't understand. In her opinion, the outcome of war rested entirely in the hands of high-rank Cultivators. Although these past few decades had seen a large number of ninth-rank and eighth-rank individuals, there were few seventh-rank, at most tens of thousands.

Such power had no impact on the overall war. Any country lord could easily wipe them all out.

To truly bring forth power in Baiyue that could influence the war, a few decades were far from enough; at least ten thousand years would be needed.

Could the war zone drag on for ten thousand years?

Impossible.

"Yu'er, tell me, what's the use of a Mortal battlefield?" Li Qi asked.

Shen Shuibi answered meticulously, "Sometimes even a single straw is useful. Ninth-rank armies can encircle and kill eighth-rank, and eighth-rank armies can also encircle and kill seventh-rank. If the Mortal battlefield gains an advantage, we gain an advantage. High-rank Cultivators rarely make mistakes, and it's easy for stalemates to occur for a long time. In such a situation, the low-rank battlefield is more likely to gain an advantage, thereby affecting the balance of high-rank combat power."

This answer was basically identical to what one would find in a textbook.

High-rank Cultivators, when their strengths are comparable, will generally defend rigorously, and it's rare for one side to be quickly defeated by the other. Both sides' strengths are at that level, and they generally won't make mistakes.

At such times, the outcomes of low-rank Cultivators become very significant, because they are more prone to making mistakes and more likely to determine a victor. Even if their strengths are equal, variables can easily arise due to on-the-spot performance.

Changes below would naturally lead to support from above, thus linking the entire battlefield and ultimately overturning the war situation.

The defeat of a ninth-rank battlefield would lead to losses for the eighth-rank, the losses of the eighth-rank would cause an imbalance in seventh-rank power, and after the seventh-rank imbalance, it might allow the sixth-rank to find opportunities.

Layer by layer, slowly grinding down, although one or two times wouldn't matter much, if the ninth-rank battlefield lost ten thousand times, it might allow a sixth-rank to be seized by an opposing sixth-rank, creating a disparity.

This is the significance of the existence of lower-level battlefields, and this strategic significance can even be said to be indispensable.

You can't just discard it because you find it troublesome.

Otherwise, if a fifth-rank confronts an opposing fifth-rank who brings a large group of sixth-rank to gang up on you, along with military Qi and Formations, what will you do? Wouldn't you also need to bring your own subordinates?

When the sixth-rank arrive, can't these sixth-rank also bring seventh-rank subordinates to deal with the opposing sixth-rank?

When the seventh-rank subordinates arrive, and the opposing seventh-rank brings eighth-rank subordinates, don't you also need to bring them?

In this back and forth, lower-level battlefields naturally arise and can, following this logic, influence the battle of the fifth-rank all the way up.

Although the impact is very subtle, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of ninth-rank are irrelevant, if the data continues to expand, for example, if the ninth-rank battlefield keeps losing, then the eighth-rank will also keep losing, eventually losing up to the fifth-rank.

"Right, if that's the case, then with high-rank battlefields currently unable to be easily committed, what's the problem with investing resources in the lower levels?" Li Qi retorted.

"It's too slow to show results, and that's not the most urgent matter." Shen Shuibi stated her reasons.

"Isn't it?" Li Qi retorted.

But at this moment, Shen Shuibi curled her index fingers, her knuckles turning drill-like, and began to poke Li Qi's temples, saying angrily, "If you keep being so mysterious, I'll divide the bedroom into two!"

Li Qi was truly too infuriating. Do all Shaman like this?

Thinking about it, it seemed to be true. Most of the Shaman Shen Shuibi had met liked to be mysterious, especially fond of speaking in a cryptic manner, as if speaking honestly would kill them.

Could it be that cultivating Shaman Dao cultivation method made them all like this?

May all riddle-makers die!

Li Qi's head ached from the drilling, and he quickly begged for mercy: "Wait, wait, wait, haven't I made it clear! The center of the battlefield now isn't the front line, but inside Baiyue!"

This sentence made Shen Shuibi pause.

"Has Human Dao entered?" She immediately grasped his meaning and asked.

Li Qi rubbed his face and said, "They entered long ago. Can you stop them? The other side isn't ignorant of methods to conceal heavenly secrets. Now my deduction abilities are severely restricted. Besides, Baiyue's development is so rapid now; it must be Human Dao's methods that are pushing it so fast."

Shen Shuibi heard this, said nothing, but began to calculate with her fingers.

The phantom of a Bagua plate flickered around her, and a large amount of data poured into her mind, then output as conclusions.

Shen Shuibi's mind was single-minded; she wasn't good at handling many things at once, but when she focused intently on one task, her efficiency was astonishingly high.

Previously, she had never cared about the progress of Baiyue below; her focus had always been on Li Qi and the front line. But now that she began to seriously consider Baiyue's affairs, she quickly reached a conclusion.

Human Dao had not only arrived but had also deeply infiltrated.

This infiltration wasn't because many Human Dao people had come, but because Human Dao's infectiousness was too strong.

It was like a true osmotic reaction, where a high water molecule region (i.e., low concentration solution) permeates a low water molecule region (i.e., high concentration solution) until water molecules on both sides reach dynamic equilibrium.

Human Dao was the high-concentration solution. Human Dao possessed abundant ideologies, brilliant civilization, and technological prowess, while Baiyue had nothing.

Therefore, Human Dao merely revealed a small hand, and Baiyue, like a sponge absorbing water, greedily devoured Human Dao's ideologies and technologies.

Because Human Dao's technology was far stronger than Shaman Dao and Demon Dao, in terms of infiltration... Baiyue also seemed more inclined to accept Human Dao's technology and ideology.

Shen Shuibi immediately frowned: "In that case, Baiyue's fall is only natural. Why aren't you anxious? Do you have a backup plan?"

Li Qi nodded: "Just let things take their natural course. Human Dao thinks they have victory in their grasp, so let them have victory in their grasp. First, let's develop Baiyue, and then we'll talk about other things."

"So you did it on purpose, intentionally not restricting Human Dao's development, even intentionally letting them in. Human Dao also knows you did it on purpose. Now... it's turned from a hot war to a cold war, and the war has moved from the front line to people's hearts." Shen Shuibi judged.

"That's pretty much it. Anything more would be hard to say. In short, the battlefield has now moved here, and here is also a 'Dao struggle', perhaps even more intense and pure than other Dao struggles." When Li Qi said 'here', he placed his hand on Shen Shuibi's chest.

Where the heart is, there the Dao struggle lies.

This was a battle of hearts.

The war was not happening at the front line, but in the heart of every person.

The Baiyue people, having accepted many ideologies, as long as they ignited the fire of thought, they would engage in a struggle between heaven and man. These Dao paths would constantly battle within their hearts, and ultimately, they would choose one to achieve victory.

Yes, it wasn't the Dao path that achieved victory, but the living beings who chose the Dao path.

Finally, Baiyue would move in the direction chosen by its people.

Very reasonable, only...

Just like Human Dao.

Li Qi also very confidently believed that Baiyue would choose Shaman Dao.

No other reason, Shaman Dao was indeed superior to Human Dao. He had no doubt about this.

To be honest, if they didn't even have this much confidence, their Dao Heart would have been riddled with holes long ago.

If they didn't even have confidence in their own path, and felt they couldn't do it right from the start, then they wouldn't have reached the fourth-rank.

But it was precisely this attitude that fostered the most interesting state.

They all thought they would win, but only one side could truly win...

Who could win?

This thought surfaced in Shen Shuibi's mind.

She couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

But the next moment, she suddenly retreated two steps, crying out, "You shameless thing!"

Li Qi was about to say something—

But before he could argue, his wheelchair was lifted by a surge of Qi and thrown directly off the platform.

The terrain here was very high, at least three to five miles down.

Fortunately, his body was robust.

Leaving that aside, Baiyue at this time was already vastly different from before.

Great Deer Kingdom, Li Prefecture.

It was completely different from sixty years ago.

The first visible difference was the urban construction.

City gates, watchtowers, palace walls, corner towers, moats, main roads, stone bridges, covered walkways, stretching one after another. Not only did they retain their previous characteristics, but their scale had expanded many times over, and some ancient systems were deliberately restored, such as the 'Left Ancestral Temple, Right Altar of the Land' layout, to complement the 'Front Court, Rear Market' arrangement.

Clearly, the principles of Shaman Dao still existed here.

The expansion of the city, of course, would involve new sites. The main basis for the development of these new sites was naturally the Li River, with its natural lakes and marshes and excellent water sources. As an excellent waterway for grain transportation, Li Prefecture was an indispensable transit point for shipping, and now it had naturally become an important gathering center.

The entire Li Prefecture city's expansion wasn't about getting bigger, but longer, extending along the Li River. With the Li River there, water transport was convenient, and there was no worry about circulation.

Entering the new city gate along the Li River, one could immediately see a grand archway and a large stone bridge, serving as a prelude to the city, but this was only the beginning.

Beyond this point, from the grand archway to the inner city gate, walking from stone bridge to more stone bridges, one could see the entire city, rising and falling, falling and rising again, surrounded by tall buildings, with sunlight shining on the glazed tile roofs, sparkling with beautiful light.

Layer upon layer of undulating peaks and ridges led all the way to the Li River dock. At the four corners of the inner and outer cities and on each city gate, stood a dozen or so protruding points for sanitation, which were observation posts.

These observation posts on the city gates served the arrow towers and corner towers further away. This was to enhance the overall safety of the city, as strictly speaking, this was a war zone.

But despite that, the designers seemed to still understand aesthetics. These arrow towers and corner towers actually enhanced the city's spatial rhythm, undulation, and sense of height.

These buildings, created for civilian and military purposes, although irregularly laid out, and the resulting prominent points, as well as the scattered temples, altars, and gardens, combined with straight streets and orderly deployment, were still very beautiful.

The entire city was divided into fifty wards.

Walking among them, gazing at the gray plaster walls and wrought-iron railings, the cold gleam reflecting off the water, and the light from the Spiritual Artifacts all around, made passersby dizzy.

Although thousands of backward buildings from sixty years ago had long turned to dust, the city's surroundings had undergone tremendous changes, and the riverbanks had been eroded by time, losing their original appearance, the shadow of history lingered in the streets and alleys of Li Prefecture.

Moreover, not a single Boat Towmen could be seen here; all the boats had already been converted to be driven by magic.