Chapter 869: The real monkey

At the bottom of a golden mountain in the Void Realm of the Desire Realm.

Li Qi had originally thought that when he came to the Desire Realm, he would encounter bizarre spirits and strange turbulences, being buffeted in the great sea of desire, facing the observation and scrutiny of many Third Realm Demonic Dao cultivators, and perhaps even getting into a fight or two.

After all, he came to the Desire Realm to sever his many ties with the Demonic Dao, so that he could safely advance to the Third Realm without being constrained by the Demonic Dao later on.

He had anticipated all sorts of situations, such as the current one, where no one paid him any mind, leaving him stranded in the Desire Realm.

But what he hadn't expected was to encounter a peculiar demonic monkey.

To be honest, Li Qi truly felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

Sun Wukong—this name was incredibly familiar to Li Qi; compared to unfamiliar names like Mount Yao, Sun Wukong was truly a household name.

However, just like everything else in his memory, it was completely similar yet different; it looked like it, but upon closer inspection, it seemed not to be.

For example, the demonic monkey before him gave him an incredibly strong sense of déjà vu, and even this ‘golden mountain’ looked exactly like a staff...

But it was itself a type of Seal, and it didn't look like the Five Fingers Mountain. Moreover, this was the Desire Realm, not the real world. Everything here was formed from desire; whether spiritual or material, everything was merely a manifestation of desire, including this boundless Void Realm. The reason there was a boundless Void Realm was because the creatures of the outside world believed that ‘there should be a Void Realm beyond their domain’.

In Li Qi’s understanding, this place was the collective imagination of all living beings.

Although this imagination sometimes went awry.

Imagination, in fact, requires training; the saying ‘having a well-thought-out plan’ actually refers to being able to imagine a complete bamboo stalk.

This is actually quite difficult. When you imagine something, what likely emerges is a kind of ‘impression’, a ‘feeling’, rather than a detailed image. In reality, if you truly try to imagine it in detail, you’ll find it completely unrecognizable.

A simple game can illustrate this point: imagine a ‘future wife’.

Your first feeling will be a realistic ‘impression’, and then you start adding details to this ‘future wife’.

What color are her eyes? What shape are her eyelashes? What hairstyle? What clothing? What personality? What are her verbal tics? Where does she work? What is her education level? What are her hobbies? What does she like to eat? What does she like about you?

As you fill in these details one by one, by the time you finish, you'll find a vast difference from your initial impression. And if your initial ‘fuzzy impression’ were to materialize, it would actually be a completely unrecognizable, blurry mosaic.

In Li Qi's estimation, the Desire Realm was this dangerous sea composed of such ‘mosaics’.

But now, upon closer inspection, the nature of the Desire Realm was stable, not much different from an ordinary world, and the demonic monkey before him was incredibly lifelike. Although filled with Demonic Qi, he didn't seem to be a figment of imagination.

This left him quite puzzled.

“Hmm? Why are you spacing out? You still haven’t said why you came here. I was born here and have never seen any visitors. I can’t leave either. Now that I finally have a guest, why is he a fool?” The monkey ran out from the bottom of the mountain and circled Li Qi.

Li Qi only then snapped out of his thoughts, so he shook his head and said, “I was just thinking about some things, Monkey brother. You said you were born here and don’t even know your own name. So, all your current knowledge is derived from your own deductions? And your cultivation method too?”

The monkey then said, “Yes, that’s right, all of it. I’m also curious about my current situation. In the years after I was born, I thought all things in the world were like me. But later, when I reached my current Realm, I created worlds and observed their operation, bringing forth civilizations from nothingness. Only then did I gradually learn these things. You are the first outsider I’ve ever seen. Why don’t you tell me about the outside world, how about it?”

He looked very curious and was eagerly anticipating Li Qi telling him more, which was also the reason he had appeared proactively.

In fact, Li Qi was just as curious as he was.

A wondrous being with the essence of a Third Realm, a demonic monkey full of Demonic Qi, born here, having never seen anything from the outside world, yet relying on Fourth Realm wisdom to create things from the Void Realm, creating worlds and civilizations, and then observing his own creations and civilizations, thus pulling himself up by his bootstraps, going from knowing nothing to his current state.

It was very wondrous.

But it was truly so. The saying ‘Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things’ was precisely this.

As a being naturally possessing the essence of the Third Realm, this demonic monkey was born in the boundless Void Realm where there was nothing at all. If it were a Mortal, he probably wouldn't even be able to develop self-awareness.

However, as a great entity with substantiality, worthy of being the ‘First Cause’, he directly took himself as the starting point, forcefully created one, created a ‘world of nothingness’, and then, in all the surrounding worlds, over a long period of time, and with the Dao itself, evolution began.

In absolute nothingness, there existed the Dao, which meant the existence of ‘rules’ themselves. So, based on the rules themselves, coupled with the Third Realm being’s ability to ‘create something from nothing’, life began to evolve here, and eventually civilization appeared.

That is, although the intelligent life in those surrounding worlds, in Li Qi’s view, were all monkeys, and highly homogenized, for a basic civilization, it was already complex enough.

Thus, the demonic monkey produced civilization, civilization fed back to the demonic monkey, and the demonic monkey used this to advance further. Step by step, he pulled himself up by his bootstraps, hard-earnedly cultivating himself to the Fourth Realm through his own strength.

Although his essence was Third Realm, his cultivation and essence were two different matters.

It was simply unbelievable. Could it really be like this?

Could the wisdom born under this model truly reach this level?

“Hey, I asked you to talk about the outside world, why are you spacing out again?” The demonic monkey grumbled at Li Qi, dissatisfied.

“Oh, I was observing the surrounding worlds. Sorry, my bad. Well then, I’ll tell you. Please listen.” Li Qi said with a smile, then began to expound the Dao.

He spoke with the sound of the Dao, and scenes of what he described began to emerge around him.

The Dao sound had an extremely high information density, capable of conveying more things, and the surrounding phenomena continuously displayed scenes of the outside world.

Li Qi continuously presented the realities of the outside world to the demonic monkey before him.

The demonic monkey’s eyes were glued to the sight.

As if his eyes weren't enough, and his ears weren't good enough, he suddenly grew three heads, a total of six eyes and six ears, each extending in a different direction, controlling all six directions.

Seeing this, Li Qi also increased the information density, beginning to narrate the history of civilization and even many major events from beyond the domain at an even faster pace.

In this way, six eyes and six ears were no longer enough.

He scratched his ears and cheeks in frustration, then pulled off a few monkey hairs. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he suddenly blew on the monkey hairs, transforming them into thousands of Clones. Each Clone looked in a different direction, and thus, a massive amount of information was absorbed into his mind.

How should I put it? Li Qi felt a strong urge to complain, but after thinking about it, he decided against it.

This Divine Ability... this display of power, could it really be what I think it is? But it also seems off. In short, it has a feeling of being similar yet not quite the same.

But Li Qi did not stop expounding the Dao; he continued for about a month.

During this month, Li Qi recounted an epic about life beyond the domain.

A journey through thorns and frost, where literature ensured they wouldn't grieve alone, turning into grain, sighing at this era. Even the tragedies of scattered records and burnt academies were recorded, with imperial maps and imperial books as the main theme. Even the Primordial Sage Emperors, whose literature began from the time of Fuxi and Yan, and whose deeds lasted until now, the five cycles of Karma within them, were all contained, sorted, and narrated by Li Qi's vast knowledge base.

Collecting similarities and differences, highlighting all peculiarities, adhering to ancient writings, and compiling various miscellanies, thus gathering and recording them. The language was excessively extravagant, the meaning profound and remote, the reasoning traced back to ancient times, often involving books of auspicious signs, extensively collecting tales of immortals and gods, describing myriad things, truly unique and vast.

Various civilizations and world clusters, like different cells in biology, form the Universe as a living entity, constantly dividing, generating, aging, and perishing, endlessly cycling. “Existence,” “demise,” “speed,” “eternity”—at such a vast timescale, the meaning of these words is no longer their “original meaning.”

Even though all of this was actually just Li Qi’s ‘knowledge’, which he reproduced based on his currently known knowledge, the future might not be like this, and the Universe might not necessarily be like this. The Universe still has infinite things for various civilizations to discover, but all of this was already shocking enough.

The demonic monkey even cried at the very end.

For a being with a practical cultivation of Fourth Realm and an essence of Third Realm, this was truly somewhat peculiar, but upon closer thought, his living environment couldn't have allowed him to develop much cunning. He was indeed shocked and moved.

So, he cried loudly, freely releasing the emotions that had overwhelmed him after being shocked and moved by all of this. With his tears, the surrounding world also trembled.

In the painting Li Qi described, the demonic monkey saw a fact that both moved him and left him feeling desolate.

Every life is but a fleeting spark in the Void Realm.

For the long sweep of history, even immortals are just a fleeting glimmer of light. What can they leave behind? Even powerful beings like the Primordial Sage Emperors, didn't most of them die during the ancient period?

They briefly illuminated the boundless Void Realm; perhaps there was still residual warmth in the air, but ultimately, it would cool down.

“Since everything must die, why must it be born?” The demonic monkey actually asked this question.

Li Qi heard this question and laughed, “Birth just happens to be born; it has no meaning. Meaning is what you and I are doing right now.”

“Then… is there a difference between the Desire Realm we are in and the outside world?” The demonic monkey, now possessing basic common knowledge of the outside world, asked again.

“I don’t know either. My purpose in coming here this time was actually to find that answer.” Li Qi said with a smile.

“If you find it, can you tell me?!” The demonic monkey immediately moved closer to Li Qi.

However, having acquired basic common sense, he immediately realized his behavior was slightly inappropriate, but he didn't back down. Instead, as if to cover up, he blurted out, “I’ll give you a reward!”

“No need for rewards, I’ll tell you.” Li Qi said with a smile, waving his hand.

This attitude greatly pleased the demonic monkey, and he became even more excited: “You’re truly a good fellow! How about we become sworn brothers? From now on, we’ll be devoted to each other, just like in the stories!”

Looking at the other party’s excited face, Li Qi felt… if he refused here, this unruly monkey might turn hostile on the spot, directly turning from a brother into an enemy.

But… did he truly understand what ‘sworn brothers’ meant?

Li Qi was a little doubtful.

So, Li Qi suddenly put on a stern face: “Monkey brother, do you truly know what ‘sworn brothers’ represents?”

Li Qi’s sudden change from a smile to a stern expression left the demonic monkey somewhat flustered, but upon hearing Li Qi’s words, he immediately burst into laughter: “Isn’t it just sharing life and death, fortune and misfortune? What’s so difficult about that?”

“Promises are very weighty. This kind of Karma, Monkey brother, cannot be spoken lightly,” Li Qi said. “If you are serious, I naturally welcome it. If it’s a joke, then let’s not mention this matter again.”

These words angered the demonic monkey: “Does Li Qi take me for a child’s play? Though I have no name, I am a man of integrity, and I will not let you despise me! Let’s make a bet—”

“No need for that, Monkey brother. If you are sincere, I will accept this brotherhood.” Seeing the other party’s agitated look, Li Qi, for some reason, perhaps still influenced by the name Sun Wukong, actually agreed.

Seeing this, the demonic monkey’s anger turned to joy, and he pulled Li Qi, insisting on becoming sworn brothers for it to count.

Perhaps due to his life experiences, this demonic monkey had a straightforward personality, with obvious joys and angers. However, the current Li Qi was not so easily trusting of others.

Outwardly straightforward does not necessarily mean genuinely straightforward.

However, he felt that this demonic monkey was truly simple-minded and naive, and coupled with the fact that his demeanor was so similar to Sun Wukong, Li Qi seemed to feel that there was nothing wrong with this... Moreover, his sixth sense constantly urged him to do so.

A Shaman’s sixth sense is very metaphysical, and Li Qi usually trusts it.

Thus, the two indeed became sworn brothers here, and what surprised Li Qi even more was that during the blood oath of brotherhood, the demonic monkey actually revealed his true form openly and generously.

Li Qi could clearly see that when the blood oath was taken, the true form the other party revealed was ‘demonic thoughts’.

And it was pure demonic thoughts.

However, as mentioned before, demonic thoughts is not entirely malicious.

Just like the current Desire Realm, demonic thoughts is a phenomenon of wondrous emptiness, simultaneously empty and existent, true and false, almost in a superposition state, and cannot be divided into good and evil.

demonic thoughts cannot be dualistic, after all, within the Desire Realm, mind and matter are one. The Karma of the consciousnesses of billions of living beings forms a common collective Karma, including all living beings, and even celestials and worlds, etc., a world woven from their collective dreams.

demonic thoughts can also be very pure and very kind.

The demonic monkey before him seemed to be just like that.

After becoming sworn brothers, the demonic monkey was overjoyed and insisted on pulling Li Qi to talk endlessly.

As he talked, he seemed to remember something and suddenly clapped his hands: “Brother, what name do you think would be good for me?”