Chapter 829: Appearance of the magic city

Among these, the Human Dao was particularly intense.

The division between the natural world and the human world, and the distinction between the self-contained world and the human world, are separated by humans. A person can be kind to nature, can feed his dog, and treat it as his son.

But, at the same time, he can also eat dog meat.

The attitude towards non-human things is determined by the individual human.

You are not human; humans can be good to you, or they can be bad to you.

Humans can live in harmony with dogs, but humans can also eat dog meat.

The key distinction here is not the attitude towards humans, but the power of classification. Shaman Dao stripped away this right, refusing to acknowledge that 'humans' have the power to divide the natural world from the human world.

As a result, the Human Dao was even more unwilling to accept Shaman Dao, which is why their relationship is so hostile.

But no matter what, it can actually be seen that Shaman Dao has a good relationship with all parties except the Human Dao. They can all find something acceptable in Shaman, but Shaman Dao also prohibits this 'acceptable' from becoming the 'only acceptable'.

Therefore, Shaman Dao has a clear distinction from other Dao Orthodoxy.

The Demonic Prince deeply understood these things.

In fact, the Demonic Prince had insights into all Dao Orthodoxy, and it was precisely because of this that he walked out of the palace and towards Li Shiwei.

"Although it's said that you fell into the Demonic Dao due to obsession and your Dao Heart was corrupted, you still think of Shaman Dao in your heart, and your aesthetic is exactly the same as Shaman Dao's," the Demonic Prince walked over.

His speed was very slow; after all, he was lame and had to lean on a crutch. It would take him about ten minutes to walk these few hundred meters if he didn't use Divine Ability.

Hearing the Demonic Prince's words, Li Shiwei scoffed, "Heh... Uncle Mo, I have never practiced Shaman Dao. Even when I was at home, the cultivation method I started with was from Mount Luofu."

"Does the cultivation method you practice have anything to do with which Dao Orthodoxy you belong to? You are still practicing the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method now, but you grew up on Shaman God Mountain. What you saw, what you accepted, and what you recognized in your heart, are all that set of beliefs," the Demonic Prince said.

"Therefore, your experience will hinder your perception. You have seen too much of Shaman Dao. You should go and seriously look at more worlds, more Dao Orthodoxy, and experience the Nine Lands Under Heaven. Only when you understand enough and comprehend enough will you be able to truly make a choice and find your own Dao path," the Demonic Prince walked behind Li Shiwei.

"Oh... Uncle Mo means that the reason I find this place disgusting now is because I haven't seen enough and don't understand the Demonic Dao enough?" Li Shiwei also stood up and looked at the Demonic Prince.

The Demonic Prince was relatively short among men, being lame, so the two could look at each other at eye level.

The Demonic Prince looked into Li Shiwei's eyes and said, "You don't need to understand the Demonic Dao; you just need to understand your own heart. What you believe to be true is right. There has never been 'Demon' in this world; it's just people's resistance to the parts of their inner selves they are unwilling to accept."

"When people first realize their preferences, due to their past experiences and education, they will resist this point and be unwilling to admit that this is their true self."

"And you are too young; you don't know what your true self is. So, go to various places and search; maybe you'll find it. Since you're here now, go and see if there's anything you like in the city you look down upon." The Demonic Prince extended his crutch and tapped it on the ground, indicating the lower city.

"...Interesting. Since it's Uncle Mo's recommended method, I'll give it a try." Li Shiwei nodded, choosing to accept.

She didn't hesitate, directly cutting through the gaps between the levels and falling down.

Below, which was the second floor after the top floor, was where only high-ranking individuals could reside.

Li Shiwei free-fell downwards.

Below was a rather magnificent world. Those who lived here were basically at the Fifth and Sixth Rank levels. They had fought their way up from the lower worlds to reach this place.

Upon arriving here, they became superior beings. Below, in who knows how many layers, countless people were still struggling to survive in the mud, while they lived in a sun-drenched, orderly world.

Of course...

Orderly did not mean safe.

Li Shiwei, of course, knew that the various dramas unfolding here were far richer than they appeared on the surface.

Hidden beneath the magnificent stage were enormous sins, but they all happened secretly within high walls and deep courtyards guarded by iron gates. Beneath the polite facade lay unfathomable conspiracies, and various complex secret relationships unknown to outsiders were constantly developing, like tangled balls of thread.

The people here considered large-scale business, not petty, incompetent acts like street robbery and murder.

Compared to true criminals, this kind of life-on-the-edge business could only be considered child's play.

It was just that she had no interest in such so-called 'conspiracies'. Although she and Li Qi had not communicated about it, both showed considerable aversion to it.

Li Shiwei ignored the gazes cast her way.

She continued to rush downwards, preparing to go straight to the very bottom.

— — — — — — — — — —

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"Ah... So this is the South, the Demonic Dao's 'Land of Freedom' and 'City of Dreams'." Li Qi looked up at the southernmost part of the world.

He had heard of this place long ago, as it was the Demonic Dao's base in the world.

Of course, while it was called a base, the Demonic Dao actually didn't have any high-level combat power stationed here; it was merely a designated area according to custom.

Of course, this place was actually very important; it was a 'symbol', the Demonic Dao's 'legitimacy' in the world. Keeping it might not be very useful, but not keeping it would definitely lead to big problems.

The reason he came here was that Chongnian, the Grand Diviner, had shown him a clear path: he could meet Li Shiwei at the bottom of the Demonic Dao's hot sand.

However, the Grand Diviner was unwilling to say more about other matters.

He also didn't know what the situation would be like after meeting Li Shiwei.

In fact, the Grand Diviner even suggested that he didn't need to go so early and should rest, as Li Qi's inner body spirits were all gone, and his current state was far from his 'complete form'.

However, Li Qi politely declined the Grand Diviner's suggestion. To fully recover all his inner body spirits would take an indefinite amount of time. This was a permanent injury, and recovery was not that simple. Even though the emperor fluid paste had repaired his body and Inner World, it had not restored his inner body spirits.

However, with his Inner World intact, his combat power was probably about half.

However, after being injured, it would rapidly decline, because without the inner body spirits to maintain the Inner World's stability, he would fall into a state of getting weaker the more he fought.

But it didn't matter anymore.

In the world, Fourth Rank battles were forbidden, so Li Qi was not worried about getting into a fight with others because of this.

Li Qi carefully surveyed his surroundings, True Knowledge Dao Resonance sweeping around to gather information.

If possible, Li Qi really wanted to scan the entire Demonic Dao land, but unfortunately, he couldn't.

In the outer domain, he could easily scan objects several light-years away, but in the world, the Heavenly Dao's suppressive force was too strong. It was already remarkable if he could cover an area the size of dozens of Earths.

And the size of dozens of Earths, in terms of the world's surface area, was truly tiny, tiny, like a pinhole on a world map.

Not to mention, besides the area, the bigger problem was actually the local Fourth Rank cultivators.

One must know that there were a considerable number of Fourth Rank Demonic Dao cultivators in this area. Unauthorized probing would likely attract a lot of unnecessary attention or even conflict. Although there wouldn't be a fight in the world, if the other party really wanted to trip him up, it wouldn't be a good thing.

Politeness never hurt anyone, right? Li Shiwei was still here, so giving the Demonic Dao some Face was also for his own convenience.

Li Qi reined in his perception, observing only with his eyes.

As the southernmost region, the temperature here was quite high, and Yang Qi was abundant. It didn't have the gloomy atmosphere one would expect of 'Demon' at all; instead, it was exceptionally sunny.

However, there was a gigantic building here.

It truly was... gigantic.

Its footprint was at least ten to twenty thousand Earths, making it a truly super-sized building, almost comparable to the workload of a Dyson sphere.

Correspondingly, the lives within it were basically like those civilizations living in a Dyson sphere, with all life contained within ecological capsules inside the Dyson sphere.

Coupled with the terrifying population density of this area, such a life was, of course, extremely crowded. However, thanks to the infinite energy of the artificial sun and the widespread use of grotto-heavens and miniature heaven and earth, it was generally still barely acceptable, not to the point of actually crushing people to death here.

Li Qi, blending with natural, walked into this massive building.

The building had no doors leading to the outside world. All paths went from top to bottom. To get out, one had to break through the walls, which was something only a Sixth Rank could accomplish.

Therefore, to leave this place, you either needed to be at least a Sixth Rank cultivator, or you needed a backer of at least Sixth Rank willing to act on your behalf.

However, for Li Qi, none of this was a problem. He directly passed through the substance itself; the walls were no obstacle to him.

Passing through this area, he arrived at the upper levels.

This super-large, Dyson sphere-like building was not just on the ground. In fact, most of the building was buried underground. The dozens of floors built on the ground, which could see sunlight, were the 'upper levels', places of absolute superiority.

Upon arriving at this place, Li Qi directly dispersed his Physical Body.

His body became ethereal, transforming into a state of 'Qi', passing through the gaps in matter, caught by the Earth's geomagnetism, and falling towards the ground.

This fall was hundreds of miles deep.

That's right, hundreds of miles deep, divided into many layers, with a stellar-level footprint – this was the extent of this 'City of Dreams'.

Moreover, the population density here could reach one person per square meter per floor.

Li Qi could hardly imagine what so many people piled together would look like. To be honest, even though he was a Fourth Rank with extraordinary deduction abilities, it was difficult to imagine what it would be like below in such a situation.

However, he still had to come.

Li Qi fell all the way to the bottom layer, and then his body began to reassemble, subtly hiding himself among the crowd by blending with natural.

It really was... a crowd.

Li Qi found it hard to describe what this place was like; it seemed to be some kind of 'hibernation pod'.

Li Qi had originally wanted to say 'dormitory', but 'dormitory' really couldn't accurately describe the state here.

Everyone was squeezed in, lying down, so their shoulders, arms, and feet would touch if they moved their Faces even slightly.

It was like a chicken farm, where all the chickens were inside the pens, restrained and unable to move.

The people here were like chickens.

Moreover, they were sleeping stacked up, layer after layer. Each layer had only one 'bed', and on this 'bed' lay thousands of people. Then, only thirty centimeters above that bed was another bed, looking like a steamer for buns, layer upon layer, and the people were the buns inside.

However, the ones here were all humanoid races.

It was very dark here; there was no light for Li Qi to see, but this did not interfere with Li Qi's perception. He had many ways to replace the function of his eyes, so he could distinguish things.

In the darkness, Li Qi did not hear groans or curses. On the contrary, it was very quiet here. Everyone was sound asleep. Judging from the situation here, they were almost sleeping on a bus packed like sardines, unable to turn over or move. Most of them also had injuries, with festering wounds, or where some creature had bitten or branded them, pink liquid was seeping out. Blood flowed from whip marks, and pus oozed from many places.

But they were still sleeping soundly.

This was not normal.

Li Qi swept around with True Knowledge.

"Medicine?" He immediately noticed that everyone here had a certain dosage of medicine in their bodies.

Li Qi took a deep breath.

The air here was very fresh. Logically, such a crowded place should have been a hot, terrifying, and almost suffocating stench-filled prison, but the ventilation System here was very well done. Fresh air was sent here, allowing everyone to breathe peacefully.

Li Qi noticed that the air coming from this 'cage' was fresh and suitable for humanoid creatures.

And there were other cages next to it, each containing various kinds of life, different races, different lives, all confined in this 'chicken farm'.

In the cages of other races, those lives also had corresponding life support Systems, and the air or medicine within them met their needs.

Although it was crowded here, it was not fatal, and because everyone was hypnotized by the drugs, no one even felt uncomfortable.

'A collective dormitory, perhaps...' Li Qi guessed.

Thinking this, he walked out of the cage.

It was unimaginably crowded here, but there were people moving outside.

Li Qi disassembled his body into Qi, passing through the gaps, and came outside.

Indeed, his guess was correct.

This was a building similar to a 'box', with words written on the outside: "Cheap Dormitory."

There was a fee next to it: one Qian per night to sleep here.

It's double monthly votes at the end of the month, right? Everyone who's saved them up can cast them now.