Chapter 809: Reform the sacrifice

The Grand Ritual was forcibly activated, and the occupied Grand Ritual nodes pierced through the entire Baiyue!

Moreover, those cities and people infiltrated by Baiyue, such as Xiao Chan's Self-Salvation Society, all actively responded to this Grand Ritual at this very moment.

Everything Li Qi had done, with the help of the Two Clans of Chong and Li, completely transformed into a boost for humanity!

As the Grand Ritual began, the entire Baiyue lit up in that instant!

Beams of light erupted from the earth, shooting straight into the sky, columns of light supporting the heavens, seemingly trying to pierce the firmament and nail the earth in place. These light columns were all 'Grand Ritual Nodes'.

However, these Grand Ritual Nodes had two colors.

One was gold, like the brilliant and righteous Dao of humanity.

The other was red, emitting an aura of gradually rising flames; this was what Li Qi had arranged.

Both types of light columns shimmered with an indescribable brilliance, as if one could grasp them with bare hands, illuminating everything.

Shining beams of light rose, and twilight enveloped the sky. The sky and earth were splashed with a glorious golden-yellow hue, while the sky further away shimmered with a deep blue. Above that, even more dazzling lights flickered, and clouds surged in the firmament. Waves reflected the rosy glow, like a golden-red ribbon emitting a captivating radiance.

This scene was like the setting sun suddenly falling into the waves, its golden afterglow frolicking and leaping among the clouds.

The firmament hung low, and the sky and earth embraced, connected by the light columns, thus dividing Baiyue into two halves.

"They're here," Li Qi's main body stood up, took out Shen Shuibi's medicine, and swallowed it in one gulp.

There were over four hundred pills in total, each formulated for different Qi, and they also had a synergistic effect when taken together, which was very ingenious.

It was just a bit hard to swallow. Over four hundred pills, almost a pound, and he had to swallow them all at once, otherwise the synergistic effect would be diminished.

Li Qi couldn't swallow it all in one go and choked.

Shen Shuibi quickly offered him tea.

Li Qi took a sip and finally managed to swallow it.

Then, the next moment—

Within the Grand Ritual, another power burst forth!

This power began to erode the power of humanity.

It wasn't that Li Qi had no way to activate the Grand Ritual; in fact, if he wanted to reclaim that node, he could have done so long ago.

It wasn't that simple for humanity to snatch it away like this.

"Cough, cough, well, I'll be going then. Also, can you make it more concentrated next time?" Li Qi looked at Shen Shuibi with a hint of helplessness.

The rabbit lowered her head slightly and said, "When you return, I'll make it into a liquid for you to drink directly."

"Good," Li Qi smiled.

Then, the medicine quickly took effect, and his Nascent Soul began to be liberated, no longer needing to bear so much pressure, and his combat power was naturally partially unsealed.

Should he be able to keep up with the opponent?

Never mind, whether he could keep up or not, he had to go.

"How much longer until night?" Li Qi asked Shen Shuibi.

After nightfall, the emperor fluid paste would descend, and at that time, Li Qi's injuries would recover. Aside from not having his inner body spirits, he would be in an undamaged state.

"There are still two and a half hours until nightfall," Shen Shuibi calculated the celestial phenomena, then tilted her head: "Can't you figure it out? Why ask me?"

"Haha, it's more atmospheric this way!" Li Qi laughed heartily, then took a step forward.

He also rushed out with it.

At this instant, the spirits of the two Fourth Rank experts touched again.

Measured in picoseconds, their rapidly converging spirits began a simple exchange.

"Captain Qiu Zhi, you don't look so good," Li Qi's relaxed tone conveyed the message.

"My foundation is still much weaker than Young Master's, but it doesn't matter, we can still win," Qiu Zhi laughed.

"Whether humanity wins or not, you are certainly going to die. Burning your foundation like this now, there's no saving you," Li Qi reminded him.

"Winning is enough. If I die, I die. Besides... it's not necessarily a death sentence, is it? What if?" Qiu Zhi replied.

Li Qi shook his head: "Humanity, ah, truly... Don't you have anyone you care about? To die for the so-called great cause, don't you consider their feelings?"

"They understand me," Qiu Zhi replied.

"Then I truly congratulate you. However... my wife doesn't understand me, so I have to try my best to return alive, otherwise she'll complain about me. I'm most afraid of women complaining," Li Qi sighed, then gently raised his hand.

Qiu Zhi's Dharma Idol behind him also unfurled.

In an instant, within the earth, the two colored light columns began to churn!

The two forces, like two great Dragons, began to writhe on the ground.

The giant energy Dragon, shining with bright red light, seemed to have the mysteries of the Universe flowing within its body. One didn't even need extra senses; just by opening one's eyes, one could see the seemingly all-encompassing aura and the extremely blurred shapes within the giant energy Dragon.

The dancing light columns seemed to display a certain power; its existence could be clearly felt by all living beings. It rushed into the hearts of all beings in such a glorious and violent form!

"It looks like a burst water pipe, don't you think?" Li Qi said to Qiu Zhi.

Even though the two sides had already begun a fierce confrontation, he still casually described the scene to the other party.

Those twisting light columns were like burst water pipes, with water gushing out, dragging the pipes and twisting wildly like snakes.

"It does look very similar," Qiu Zhi replied.

As the two chatted, their spells also collided, the sky trembled, and all things were enveloped in a destructive shadow.

During these sixty years, many things about humanity had been promoted in Baiyue, and the Human-Shaman War had become commonplace. The residents of Baiyue had long since grown accustomed to these things.

Some even thought the front lines were far from them and had no worries, completely indifferent.

However, at this moment, they realized that not a single word spoken in the official schools run by Li Qi was false.

It wasn't that the front line was in Baiyue, but that Baiyue itself was the front line.

Mortals looked at the sky in fear and confusion.

Everything in the sky was like an aurora.

Giant Dragons spanning tens of thousands of miles tumbled in the air, gold and red gnawing at each other.

Like the beginning of Chaos, the gold and red separated, gathering in the sky to form extremely dense masses. They were so clearly displayed now, so clear that they seemed to have detached from reality, finding that the original real world had become blurry and strange like a dream.

The air was completely still, as if all the wind had blown away and ceased.

Because the flow of the atmosphere had been suppressed by this immense pressure, everyone felt a sense of suffocation, making it hard to breathe.

If one were to metaphorically describe the scene at this moment, then the sky was like a huge white curtain, an unpainted canvas. The closer to the zenith, the paler it became. As for other places, they turned lead-gray, dull like tin, reflecting a chilling, lifeless glare.

It wasn't that the sky became dull; in fact, the sky was still beautiful. It was just that in contrast to the two splendid Great Dragons, it appeared so dim, becoming the absolute background on the canvas.

The Great Dragons continued to collide, and ripples began to undulate in the firmament. The constantly changing ripples played in the zenith, and some seemingly light rings of waves spread out, like breaths on a mirror.

But in reality, each ring was enough to easily level all things within a million miles, shattering everything into dust.

The sky, like a flashing water surface, was covered by a vaguely composed large net, its patterns self-assembling and self-destructing, fleeting and instantly gone without a trace.

The golden-red light shone everywhere, an endless dusk or an endless dawn, no one could tell. The sun no longer indicated time; it was forced to stay there by the two Great Dragons, a sight that could only be described as 'Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl'.

The sun, this great and noble existence that dominated these luminous things, was now easily toyed with by the two Great Dragons.

The war in the sky was so intense, so splendid, yet underground, everything was a scene of deathly stillness, a scene of a dead or never-created world. The light from the sky emitted no heat; everything remained motionless, as if forever frozen under the gaze of those Great Dragons.

Everyone used all their strength and life to deeply inhale the air into their chests.

They were awestruck by this magnificent scene, unable to breathe, enveloped by powerlessness to the point of painful despair, like a person's death rattle or a stone dropped into an abyss, revealing its helplessness.

However, there were still places where battles raged.

At the front line, hundreds of Baiyue Kingdom Lords poured out, and Sixth and Seventh Rank experts also charged out.

Because humanity had arrived.

Dozens of Generals of Zhennan Commandery, along with the human army, poured out.

The entire Song Kingdom was instantly submerged by armies and Divine Abilities.

The battle began, and almost instantly, the high-ranking powerhouses were already locked in combat, flesh and blood intertwined.

The cold light from Spiritual Artifacts was chilling, casting an eerie cold wind in all directions.

The horn sounded, and orders were given, urging the soldiers below to charge forward.

Martial arts, spells, Divine Abilities, various Spiritual Artifacts, and mechanisms were all activated.

The wind howled, horns blared, arrows twanged, and Divine Abilities danced chaotically.

People died every second, and reinforcements from the rear quickly filled the gaps. Corpses piled up like mountains, blood flowed like rivers, and the roars of battle echoed on the front line.

Various spies and hidden agents began their sabotage behind enemy lines; they were not on the front line, but in the rear.

Fires broke out all over Baiyue as spies began to burn down Baiyue's strongholds.

Both sides had gone berserk, their corpses embracing each other. They had not forgiven each other, but used their lives to tear off the last piece of flesh.

After sixty years of cold war, hot war erupted again.

And all of this was for the Grand Ritual at this moment.

However, Li Qi was somewhat solemn; he hadn't expected that the foundation of his Grand Ritual had already been completely seen through by the opponent.

"Is it the Two Clans of Chong and Li? Did they see through it?" Li Qi secretly guessed.

He had kept it hidden from the beginning, not even telling Shen Shuibi, because this Grand Ritual was not a mountain-water Grand Ritual at all!

Everyone, including the Baiyue Kingdom Lords, believed that this Grand Ritual was essentially to gather all the power of Baiyue to resist humanity.

But in reality, it was not like that at all.

This Grand Ritual was a sacrifice to the 'Ancient Holy Emperor'.

The ritual used was the 'Ge' ritual.

Ge, means change. It refers to usurpation, where water and fire alternate in power, just as a king who receives the mandate of heaven changes the calendar and clothes, hence it is called Ge.

Civilization leads to great success with righteousness; when change is appropriate, regret disappears.

Heaven and Earth change, and the four seasons are formed.

Tang and Wu revolutionized, following Heaven and responding to man. The 'Sequence of Hexagrams' says: 'Nothing is better than the Ding for changing things, so it is followed by the Ding.'

What ritual vessel was used for the Legacy of the Primordial Sage Emperor's succession?

Undoubtedly, their symbol of Legacy was the 'Ding'!

The so-called 'Nine Dings' were the symbols of the Primordial Sage Emperor's authority. Authority is a tool for measuring weight, and the heaviest tool is the 'Ding', so the authority of the Ding is the heaviest, making it the most important ritual vessel.

Ge, to remove the old. Ding, to take the new to remove the old, then it is appropriate to establish laws and create tools to govern the new. Ding, is the vessel that harmonizes and creates new things. Therefore, it is taken as an image.

Ding, is an image. The hexagram has the use of wood and fire. The inner trigrams are Qian and Dui. Qian is metal, Dui is marsh, marsh contains metal and water, cooked with wood and fire, it is the image of a Ding cooking food. Ding cooks food to nourish people, just as a wise ruler promotes righteousness to teach the world, hence it is called Ding.

Li Qi would use the entire Baiyue as a 'Ding' to enact 'Ge'!

The movement forms two Kan trigrams, Kan is the ear, and Ge is in Qian, hence "Ding ears change."

The sixty years of cold war were all part of the ritual!

This was a Grand Ritual carried out by hundreds of billions of people for sixty whole years.

Then, through this Grand Ritual, Li Qi would use his own body to bear the Holy Emperor Relic, to be worthy of the Relic's capacity, and completely incorporate the Tai Gu Relic into his Inner World!

This was Li Qi's plan.

Humanity was merely a part of this Grand Ritual, another sacrifice for Li Qi to prove the legitimacy of his 'Ge'.

However, Li Qi clearly did not anticipate that the Two Clans of Chong and Li had seen through his move and responded accordingly.

Their response was to turn his scheme against him.

They did not change anything about the Grand Ritual; in fact, they actively instigated the cold war, helping Li Qi quickly complete most of this Grand Ritual within sixty years.

But—

They cleverly reversed the target of the Grand Ritual.

Couldn't Shaman Dao also be the target of 'Ge'?

As long as humanity proved its superiority and gained the recognition of all participants in this Grand Ritual, then correspondingly, the one to contain the Holy Emperor Relic would naturally become humanity.

However, since things had already come to this, there was no need to hide anything.

The Grand Ritual was activated by the will of both sides, and at the same time, below the Great Deer Kingdom, the earth was overturned.

The Holy Emperor Relic, the cave where Zhu Fengdan was previously, was lifted up!

Tens of thousands of miles of soil were consequently overturned, and the Relic buried deep underground appeared.

At the same time—the power of Zhu Fengdan appeared.

On the other side, the power of a Third Rank stranger to Li Qi also began to appear.

The Grand General of the Southern Command of humanity also made his move.

In just an instant, the battle immediately reached its most intense stage.