Chapter 848: The Actions of the Demon Lords

Li Qi quickly processed this data, then had Jing Wuzhen bring out even more accumulated data.

For him, processing such things was practically instinctive; he was constantly processing and organizing countless pieces of information from True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

It was like a human maintaining balance; for a robot to maintain balance, or even run and jump, was actually quite difficult, requiring very sophisticated algorithms, advanced chips, and dozens of foot sensors to detect the stress on its feet.

The various pieces of information transmitted by dozens of sensors, if listed in a table, would be quite cumbersome and complex data, potentially generating hundreds of thousands of characters in just one hour.

However, human skin contains millions of sensory receptors that collect information from the external environment and transmit these impulses to the central nervous system. The data from these millions of receptors are processed cleanly and efficiently by the cerebellum, allowing humans to easily maintain balance and manipulate thousands of muscles to perform various actions.

The data from millions of sensory receptors can be easily processed by the human body, yet humans cannot understand the mere dozens of sensors in a robot.

This is due to the gap in the ability to understand data.

But in front of Li Qi, there was no such gap.

All data was treated equally; he could easily process all data. True Knowledge could reduce all 'data' to its most basic units, compile them using a single language, and then process them effortlessly.

Of course, Li Qi's brainpower also played a significant role; at the very least, his brain was truly more effective than Jing Wuzhen's.

In addition to this paperwork, Li Qi also rearranged the entire rescue measures, established a series of management methods, oversight measures, and deployed informants, among other things.

Informants were actually not very useful to Li Qi; he only needed to deduce once to know what these people were doing. However, for the people below, the fact that 'someone is watching them' could significantly increase work efficiency.

Various measures were implemented one by one, leaving Jing Wuzhen, who was not skilled in this area, stunned.

She couldn't help but ask, "Li Qi, do you... often do this kind of thing?"

"Not often, just a bit of experience. I've done civilization transformations in many worlds before, and I also run a merchant association in the outer domain. You could say I have some insights," Li Qi replied.

"An outer domain merchant association, huh... So, you're doing the same things as these Demonic Dao cultivators?" Jing Wuzhen asked with some curiosity.

"How could it be the same? My merchant association does not disturb native civilizations, and for civilizations that have already ventured into the outer domain, encountering me is their good fortune. I conduct business fairly," Li Qi said.

"But if you conduct business fairly, where do your profits come from? To be able to support a Fourth-Grade merchant association, you must be quite profitable. Can you achieve that by doing business fairly?" Jing Wuzhen frowned.

Fair business was not the nature of these outer domain merchant associations; in fact, their exorbitant profits were quite astonishing.

"Fairness means that the gains are commensurate with the effort. My merchant association provides safety, the travel costs of world-class giant ships, rapid turnover of various goods, and trustworthy guarantees. These are things they absolutely cannot achieve on their own."

Li Qi said casually while processing documents, "Just taking guarantees as an example, it's almost impossible for two outer domain civilizations to exchange goods. In the vast environment of the outer domain, trusting others could very well lead to the risk of civilizational extinction. The risks and costs of mutual adaptation are immeasurable."

This was indeed true, and Jing Wuzhen could understand this point.

Between outer domain civilizations, it wasn't quite a dark forest, but establishing trust between two unfamiliar civilizations certainly required a long period of adaptation, and this adaptation might even manifest in the form of war.

This was unavoidable; the cost of 'trusting' each other was too great. You simply didn't know if the civilization across from you intended to destroy you and completely plunder all your heritage.

One must be wary of others.

However, with a merchant association, it was different.

As intermediaries, merchant associations were widely trusted. With a merchant association, communication costs could be greatly reduced, various damages caused by adaptation could be eliminated, and it might even prevent a civilization from suffering devastating blows.

And for the damages avoided, the merchant association took a portion, which saved both parties a large amount of resources, and they themselves also profited handsomely.

As for other things, such as safe routes for world-class giant ships and platforms for fair trade, they all saved a large amount of resources that would otherwise be wasted on adaptation and searching.

And these wasted resources were Li Qi's 'profits.' Even with significant 'commissions,' the cost for all civilized worlds was still greatly reduced, and it was safer, without the worry of being deceived.

"So, in that case, you're actually doing good deeds? You're clearly interfering with the normal operation of the outer domain. According to Shaman Dao, this should be considered interfering with natural, right?" Jing Wuzhen expressed her approval of Li Qi's statement, but at the same time, she also had some doubts.

Li Qi's impression on her was that of a typical cold and neutral person.

Such people had no concept of good or evil, and aside from matters concerning themselves, they held a double standard towards everything else. If it concerned them, they would act; if not, they would simply say, "It's none of my business."

To be honest, Jing Wuzhen truly disliked people like Li Qi, who acted high and mighty, detached, watching the rise and fall and suffering of all beings without being moved.

But when the matter fell upon his head, he became anxious and started to deal with it, completely losing that 'neutral' composure he had before.

And now, Li Qi, who had just been saying he was indifferent to all matters unrelated to himself, suddenly claimed that he was actually a mediator in the outer domain, resolving civilizational disputes, and contributing to creating a harmonious Universe…

It was completely different from how he presented himself.

"natural is a state, not a specific form. As for my actions..." Li Qi stopped his paperwork, "I really want to make this world better, but to change it from its essence, not its form."

"And, is what I consider 'good' truly good? I'm not sure."

"Just like my plan, if the Demonic Dao doesn't change, this city won't change due to the current actions. However... you also have a point. I'm still very immature," Li Qi sighed.

He was still far from being able to easily resolve all contradictions.

However, no one is born mature, so he would continue to hone himself. Fourth-Grade sounded strong, but it was still very early.

---

Li Qi and Jing Wuzhen were doing some 'symptomatic but not fundamental' things.

Meanwhile, the Demonic Lords at the top were now gathered together.

There were actually not many high-level Demonic Dao cultivators in the world, because the Demonic Dao's main base was not in the world. They only left some Fourth-Grades in the world to serve as 'strongholds' and protect their foothold in the world.

Therefore, these Fourth-Grade Demonic Lords were the highest level of the entire City of Dreams, and they usually enjoyed all the demonic thoughtss that brewed here.

Now everyone was gathered here, about ten Fourth-Grades, and counting the three who had escaped back earlier, that meant City of Dreams actually had eleven Fourth-Grades.

This number was actually quite substantial.

The three Demonic Lords repelled by Li Qi and Jing Wuzhen were transmitting certain information, which was their 'battle situation' with Li Qi.

For the past decade or so, they had been doing this: ten Demonic Lords connected their minds, sharing all intelligence about Li Qi.

For the Demonic Dao, this practice was very rare. Although they could indeed achieve 'mental fusion,' where ten people became one, sharing all cultivation and Divine Ability, this came at the cost of abandoning their self-awareness.

For the Demonic Dao, this was equivalent to abandoning all defenses and completely exposing their Dao foundation, which was very risky.

However... facing Li Qi's arrival, the ten Demonic Lords still unhesitatingly chose to unite.

This was the Demonic Dao's stronghold in the 'world,' and its richness was quite considerable for Fourth-Grades. It was also their lair; if City of Dreams were lost, it would be absolutely impossible to find such a place again.

The ten people united, all their wisdom, thinking organs, intelligence, and knowledge connected, and it had been over ten years.

At this moment, this connection finally ended.

The ten people tacitly exited this state simultaneously, then sat in a circle.

Calling it a circle wasn't quite right, because this wasn't a 'space' in the usual sense. In fact, there was no 'matter' here. To be precise, this was a world of spirit.

This place only had 'intentions,' no direction whatsoever. This was a zero-dimensional world. If one had to say, this was actually a 'hallucination.'

Spirit and soul filled this place, with no material existence. Pure demonic thoughtss could roam here.

It was difficult to understand what kind of existence this place was. Here... a perfect 'circle' could exist, and an infinitely long 'straight line' could also exist, but there was no 'space,' nor did dimensions exist.

Thoughts, emotions, personalities, and will were the main contents here. This was a manifestation of the mental activities of higher intelligences.

Personality, perception, emotion, thought, memory, behavior, and individuality—these inner mental phenomena were the main theme here.

It was very safe here. Normally, only the Spirit Dao and the Demonic Dao would appear in this purely spiritual world. Occasionally, some travelers of the spiritual world would appear in such places, but they were generally small snacks for the Demonic Dao.

Mortals from the outer domain, through certain fortuitous encounters or cultivation methods, rituals, and the like, would infiltrate this spiritual world, wanting to accomplish certain things, such as visiting some non-hostile Spirit Dao cultivators to seek answers, and then being eaten by wandering Demonic Dao cultivators, directly turning into lunatics or vegetative states. This was a common occurrence here.

For Mortals, this was a thrilling adventure in a dream, as terrifying as infiltrating a dreamland. But for the Demonic Dao... they were the natives here, predatory beasts wandering in thoughts and spirits, constantly sniffing out the tender spirits that strayed into this dark ocean.

However, for Fourth-Grade Demonic Lords, they were the behemoths entrenched here, hidden shadows that could shake countless worlds with a flick of a finger, so they wouldn't spend their days filtering out small insects.

They came here only to guard against Li Qi's divination.

Yes, hidden shadows that could shake countless worlds with a flick of a finger, yet they cautiously hid themselves, fearing being caught by Li Qi.

"All deductions are complete."

"All intelligence has been summarized."

"Our wisdom has reached its limit."

The ten Demonic Lords spoke in unison, ten thoughts intertwined: "Then, there are only these two plans left to defeat Li Qi, right?"

"With our strength, there are only these two paths we can take, and the success rates are not high, and both will involve Li Shiwei, and Li Shiwei is under the protection of the Demonic Prince."

"What should we do?"

The thoughts of the ten intertwined, various ideas transmitting like electric currents. Finally, they decided on a plan.

"As long as we get the Demonic Prince's approval, this plan will have the highest success rate, with almost a sixty percent chance of winning against Li Qi, which can be considered an advantage."

"Then, let's act."

The thoughts of the ten were emitted simultaneously, and the ten spirits immediately separated, instantly leaving this place and disappearing into different locations.

One of the Demonic Lords, from the Heaven Demonic lineage, crossed an infinite distance and appeared almost instantly on the Demonic Prince's flying boat.

On the flying boat, the Demonic Prince was still undergoing his special training, and beside him, Li Shiwei was also performing her daily cultivation.

This Heaven Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord did not conceal his arrival, so at the very moment he descended, the Demonic Prince had already stopped what he was doing and looked at him.

The Demonic Prince's mask remained unchanged, but one could seemingly discern his expression from the unchanging mask.

One could feel that he was somewhat puzzled, and also somewhat displeased.

"Forgive my sudden intrusion, Your Highness." Despite being a Fourth-Grade Demonic Lord, he chose to sincerely bow before the Fifth-Grade Demonic Prince, and there seemed to be no element of coercion.

It was evident that the Heaven Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord before him truly respected the Demonic Prince.

For the Demonic Dao, this was an extremely rare situation. Not to mention the huge difference between Fourth-Grade and Fifth-Grade, just the Demonic Dao itself was lawless.

Such respect from a high-grade to a low-grade, and a Demonic Dao member at that, was simply inconceivable.

However, the Demonic Prince seemed accustomed to this respect.

Li Shiwei also looked over, but she said nothing, instead shrinking her body to make her presence even smaller.

"Coming to me without prior notification... I can tell it's an urgent matter. Speak, what is it?" The Demonic Prince turned his head to look at the Heaven Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord.

"It's about Li Qi," the Heaven Demonic Heavenly Demon Lord said.