Chapter 862: I became stronger

There are ten Demonic Lords in City of Dreams.

For this scale, the combat power Li Qi had prepared was more than enough.

Ten Demonic Lords, he and Sariputra, working together, could send them all away; not a single one would survive.

However, Demonic Lords are not dead, so it's impossible for them to fight head-on.

Currently, the Demonic Lords are using their wisdom and despicable methods to tie up other combat forces.

The situation of rampant Demonic Qi created by four Demonic Lords is countering Maudgalyāyana's Divine Ability, and Maudgalyāyana is currently wrestling with them below.

But destruction is ultimately easier than construction; Maudgalyāyana is stronger than them, but he can only maintain a stalemate.

And in order not to let the Patrolling Envoys interfere with Li Qi, or harm the Mortals below, Jing Wuzhen chose to fight one against three, which is much more dangerous.

The Patrolling Envoys are not to be underestimated; even fighting one is risky, fighting three... one can only say she is trying her best to hold them back, holding them for one minute is one minute.

The remaining six Demonic Lords began to engage Sariputra, preventing him from supporting Maudgalyāyana or Jing Wuzhen.

As for Li Qi...

Because of True Knowledge, Li Qi's mind was already flooded with demonic thoughtss.

This was the clever arrangement of the Demonic Lords.

It was previously said that wisdom is like a million in wealth; this million in wealth can be used by anyone, for hundreds of thousands of years, and after everyone has used it and become wealthy, it still retains its million, not a single cent less.

If wisdom is like this, then are demonic thoughtss not the same?

They 'conjured' a portion of demonic thoughts out of thin air and imposed it on Li Qi.

Looking at it this way, it's hard to say whether the 'Demon of the Five Aggregates' at that time was truly a Demon of the Five Aggregates.

Moreover, there's another issue: even if Li Qi truly followed what they did and accepted the demonic thoughtss, these demonic thoughtss could actually be controlled by Li Qi; given a little time, he could completely deal with them.

This is not much trouble.

Because, just like wisdom, to double wisdom, a second person needs to 'comprehend wisdom'; only when a second person comprehends it will wisdom double.

demonic thoughtss are also like this; to double these demonic thoughtss, a second person also needs to 'understand demonic thoughtss'; whether it's wisdom or demonic thoughtss, they must be rooted in a strong subjective consciousness.

However, Li Qi happened to be able to; through the scan of True Knowledge Dao Resonance, Li Qi easily understood these demonic thoughtss, thereby doubling them and stepping into the Demonic Lords' trap.

But... with just this kind of trick, it's still unlikely to completely collapse Li Qi's side.

Therefore, they needed to go a step further, to make Li Qi's demonic thoughtss surge forth, so that Li Qi would no longer be understanding demonic thoughtss, but 'producing demonic thoughtss'; only then could it become the final straw to tip the balance of the battle.

To achieve this, they needed a decisive blow.

In the original arrangement of these Demonic Lords, this decisive blow was 'Li Shiwei'.

At this moment, as Li Qi was entangled by demonic thoughtss, in the world of his mind, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Now, with demonic thoughtss entwined, it's truly difficult to use Divine Abilities, even in the world of the mind, not the real world.

But he still saw her; Li Shiwei was walking towards him.

Moreover, her Demonic Qi was profound.

Witnessing all things, inauspicious Realms, behind her encircled two suns and two moons, within which were halos, signs, ornaments, jades, comets, eruptions, flights, flows, burdens, ears, rainbows, and mist, all sorts of evil manifestations.

"Two suns and two moons, a variant of the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method? That's truly impressive; when I was First Grade, I never thought of modifying cultivation methods," Li Qi said, looking at his approaching daughter, sighing.

All these beings share the same perception of inauspiciousness.

Arising from a shared karma, from miasma and evil.

All are without beginning, born from deluded perceptions.

"Should I use Buddha-Dharma at a time like this? Unfortunately, neither my wisdom nor my Divine Abilities are sufficient," Li Qi couldn't help but lament.

According to Buddha-Dharma, one who can subdue all external Dao Orthodoxy is called a Great Power.

One who can eradicate the deep seeds and habits of delusion in sentient beings is called a Great Force.

One who can bestow sentient beings with wisdom and merit is called Great Compassion.

One who can alleviate the suffering of sentient beings from both segmented and transformational cycles of birth and death is called Great Pity.

This is the origin of names like Great Hero Hall, Great Force Vajra, and Great Compassion and Pity.

And these four—

Li Qi couldn't achieve a single one.

Sariputra achieved Great Compassion, Maudgalyāyana achieved Great Force; Li Qi's cultivation in Buddha-Dharma was still far inferior to theirs.

Therefore, facing the Demonic Qi and demonic thoughtss on Li Shiwei, he was helpless.

Li Shiwei herself was irrelevant; the key was that those Demonic Qi clearly possessed substantiality.

In other words, the current Li Shiwei was piloting a Fourth Grade Gundam.

How should one put it...

He didn't know if she was placed inside the Gundam or if she was piloting it, because it was clear that Li Shiwei completely lacked the ability to pilot a Fourth Grade Gundam, and the Demonic Dao also lacked the ability to create such a Gundam.

Li Qi observed Li Shiwei in front of him, constantly deducing, calculating, and comparing the specific situation in his mind.

The Dao Orthodoxy most adept at creating over-grade Gundams is undoubtedly the Human Dao Orthodoxy. With the nature of 'the strength of the masses', Human Dao Orthodoxy can forge 'official positions'. The entire official position system is very complex, and Li Qi hasn't fully understood it, but the basic nature is that holding an official position directly grants all Divine Abilities, spells, and corresponding abilities related to that official position.

Being in a position means fulfilling its duties. This is to ensure that no matter who takes office, they can fulfill the responsibilities brought by the official position, and taking office itself only requires a Heart-Nature assessment.

When Human Dao Orthodoxy's official positions lack substantiality, they can at most cross two grades, meaning a Seventh Grade can at most be conferred as a Fifth Grade. With substantiality, reaching Fourth Grade and above, they can only cross one grade; a Fourth Grade can become a Third Grade official position.

The official positions themselves are lodged within the Human Dao Orthodoxy court. The 'conferment' ceremony can lend power to officials through the Human Dao Orthodoxy's connections, while the burden is borne by 'The Axis of All Realms' and the 'Dragon Veins'.

Even with Human Dao Orthodoxy's exquisite arrangements and deployments, it can only cross one grade.

Moreover, this kind of cross-grade is strictly built upon the entire Human Dao Orthodoxy system. Li Qi did not cultivate Human Dao Orthodoxy, and when he was conferred as 'King Yue', he was directly pressed to the ground by immense pressure, unable to move.

Human Dao Orthodoxy cultivators, from the beginning of their cultivation, are aware of the advantages and pressures brought by 'the masses'. Their cultivation process is a training process to resist this pressure, which is why Human Dao Orthodoxy's official positions can be used so smoothly.

Now, the Demonic Dao has neither this systematic Gundam manufacturing capability nor a method to enable Li Shiwei to directly learn to bear such immense pressure.

So, what is supporting Li Shiwei's current Fourth Grade?

Li Qi didn't immediately understand, but he had a good trait of being good at asking questions, so he directly said: "Power... you already possess it now, but is this truly your power?"

Li Shiwei didn't speak, but continued to walk towards Li Qi.

"Oh... lost consciousness? No, not lost consciousness, but doesn't want to talk to me," Li Qi sighed. True Knowledge swept through, and after analysis, he understood the situation.

It was Dao Resonance.

Li Shiwei had obtained an incredibly powerful Dao Resonance, truly the 'incredibly powerful' kind. It was that wisp of Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance she had before. How did it become like this?

She seemed to have completely mastered the Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance, and it was precisely by using this as a 'key' that she managed to control this Fourth Grade Gundam.

But Li Qi found it hard to distinguish whether she had mastered the Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance, or if the Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance had mastered her.

Or, to take a step back, at the very least... the two had already merged into one.

The power of the Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance had embedded itself into Li Shiwei's power, directly elevating her status!

It was hard to imagine, what kind of method was this?

The Dao Resonance was no longer Li Shiwei's 'accessory', but a part of her, and she had consequently obtained a small portion of the Demon of Death status.

It was like cutting off a hand and replacing it with a Demon God's hand, directly allowing an ordinary swordsman to command ghosts and gods.

The Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance was essentially a fragment of the Demon of Death Dao. Li Shiwei directly obtained a fragmented status from this First Grade being by fusing with this wisp of fragment.

Of course, it was only an extremely tiny portion.

But it was enough to grant her incomplete substantiality, allowing her to self-sustain and break through limitations, even using this status to forcefully suppress so many demonic thoughtss, compelling them to obey her.

The Demonic Dao... arranged it quite well.

"Don't want to talk to me? Or do you want to attack me? Do you want to prove your ability, prove that you don't need protection anymore, prove that you are already independent in this dark Universe?"

Li Qi looked at his daughter in front of him. The deep killing intent emanating from her made him feel helpless, chilled, and angry.

The power from the Demon of Death had merged with her; this killing intent was her own choice.

Especially... her immature understanding of this Universe made Li Qi particularly helpless.

Li Shiwei must have realized the dangers of this Universe, right?

She might even believe that this Universe is a dark forest, the kind of zero-sum game where if you show your head, you get shot dead.

After all, she had more contact with Human Dao Orthodoxy and Shaman Dao.

But... is humanity truly the measure of all things? Does Human Dao Orthodoxy truly want to conquer the Universe? Do they truly want to understand the Universe? No, in Li Qi's view, Human Dao Orthodoxy merely wants to push its 'national borders' to the ends of the Universe.

It's like in many works, many so-called 'conquests of the Universe' are essentially just attempts to transform all planets in the Universe into Earth.

They don't want to explore the unknown; they just want to eliminate the 'natural world' and 'the unknown', leaving only the 'human world' and 'the known'.

They don't want to explore unknown worlds; they just want to expand the known world forever.

In this situation, seeing a zero-sum game is only natural. So, that's why she wanted power, wanted to help Li Qi, wanted to protect those important beings she could protect.

But her efforts had always failed.

She did not possess such ability.

However, this Universe is not like that.

Li Qi really wanted to tell her that according to the holographic principle or the anthropic principle, how the Universe is, so too is life. This is also the origin of 'human body as a small heaven and earth'.

The unity of Heaven and Man is not because the Universe and humans are similar, but because... only such a Universe can give birth to such humans.

The reason why the human body fits the Heaven and Earth is because it is inherently so; you should be able to explore a tiny bit of the truth of this Universe from your own body.

And not to dwell on everything you see, to infer the entire Universe with your own cognition.

However, to achieve this, you need to possess wisdom, and even Li Qi can't see it too clearly.

Those who can truly grasp this point are probably Third Grade or even Second Grade?

They are existences beyond time—

If one can transcend time, how the history of this Universe unfolds depends only on the present.

They all have the ability to make the final intervention at the end of the river of time, thereby determining everything in the Universe. The way to conduct 'Dao conflicts' is to contend for the right to modify history. The victor can modify the entire Universe's history, from the initial Big Bang to heat death, into a form they prefer. The Human-Shaman War in the external world is merely a superficial part of this war; with Li Shiwei's ability, she can only see this superficial aspect.

Their war cannot be described by the kind of interstellar war Li Shiwei is currently experiencing. For these First Grade beings, from the moment of the Big Bang, across all timelines, all dimensions, all spaces, and all locations, the Great Powers are engaged in battle.

And this kind of battle is not a simple exchange of blows, or Divine Ability duels, but a more gentle, more subtle battle, like a grassland and a desert eroding and coexisting with each other. One could even say that it is precisely because of their battles that this current Universe was formed.

So, how could one possibly summarize this Universe in a single form?

But these things, he couldn't tell Li Shiwei.

If he told her directly, the 'evidence' of suddenly realizing the true world could very likely completely destroy her Dao Heart, or even cause her to fall completely into the Demonic Dao.

When this world can be easily reshaped, how can one ensure their own stability?

Li Qi was utterly shocked by this fact back then, and it took him years of confinement at the Shaman God's place to recover, and he even suffered from mental illness and was delirious for quite some time due to constant backtracking.

In fact, for a very long time after that, he had not completely shaken off the impact of that shock. Li Qi appeared particularly 'indifferent' when he was in the Advancement Alliance and in the Immortal Heaven. This was his attitude towards the nihilistic nature of things.

It wasn't until a few years ago, after thoroughly conversing with a Fourth Grade Heavenly Demon, comprehending the sequence of time, and realizing that 'information is true,' that he truly re-examined this world and re-established what constitutes 'reality' and 'illusion.'

Reality is not established by 'substantiality'; reality is reality. Everything that has happened is real, because that information is undeniable.

Therefore, Li Qi could continue to resist the Demonic Dao.

But if Li Shiwei knew all this, she would probably go mad; even a young Celestial Master couldn't withstand such a shock.

Knowing it but unable to tell Li Shiwei in front of him, Li Qi could only smile bitterly.

Watching Li Shiwei walk up to him.

The young woman looked up and said, "Father... I've become stronger." (End of Chapter)