Chapter 870: Monkey and grandson of monkeys (Happy New Year's Eve)

"What kind of name should I give it?" Li Qi stroked his chin. "This is truly hard to say. A name is a matter of great importance, and it's probably not easy to decide."

"That's why I'm asking you, my Monkey brother, to help me. You are far more knowledgeable than I am." The demonic monkey laughed heartily, directly throwing this heavy burden onto Li Qi, seemingly trusting him completely.

Li Qi felt a wry smile at this trust.

On one hand, it reinforced his stereotype of the demonic monkey's pure innocence; on the other hand, it made Li Qi unconsciously wary.

One must always be on guard against others, after all, this is the Desire Realm. Even for self-preservation, one should remain vigilant.

However, it wasn't actually that tense.

For the current Li Qi, he had deeply realized his own power. In reality, trying to plot against him… was quite difficult.

Li Qi was confident that as long as something was aimed at him, he would definitely notice it.

It was a very mystical 'flash of inspiration' or 'divination by pinching fingers'.

Any action you took behind his back that involved him, Li Qi would immediately know, completely disregarding distance and time. Li Qi could now, at any time and anywhere, sense his own business association, and also some worlds that believed in him…

That's right, they believed in Li Qi, even though Li Qi himself had never preached. However, given that his fame had already spread far and wide, and his reputation was quite significant, there was a faint feeling of 'the Zhu Fengdan of yesteryear'. Therefore, many worlds, whether by chance or actively, began to worship Li Qi.

This should stem from Li Qi's nature as 'half Heavenly God, half Di Qi (Earthly Qi)', right?

The current Li Qi had completely severed ties with the Human Race. Apart from still having a human body, he was basically a God, similar to Yao Ji.

During his Breakthrough, he absorbed Li Shiwei's Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance, used the Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance to kill himself, and then immediately Rebirth through the 'Dao Field' he established, suppressing the gravity of Reincarnation, and finally transcending beyond life and death.

In this process, Li Qi could clearly feel that he had received some help… otherwise, achieving the body of a Heavenly God would not be so easy.

However, the corresponding gains were also great. A God's body, primarily Shaman Dao, mixed with the cultivation of other Dao Orthodoxy, gave Li Qi the ability to perceive everything related to himself.

To deal with the current Li Qi, one could no longer use secret plotting. Even if you merely 'thought about it', Li Qi would immediately know, unless it was veiled by secret arts.

He was the 'origin point of cause' for himself, just like a spider perched on a large web. This web stretched out, and every node on the web was a 'point of effect'. He could clearly perceive all vibrations on the web.

Thanks to this ability, Li Qi was much more relaxed now. At least he didn't have to be constantly on edge. Presumably, Zhu Fengdan also had this ability, otherwise he wouldn't be so carefree.

As for what you said… what if a Great Power used a great Divine Ability to directly obscure Li Qi, rendering his ability ineffective and making him fall into a trap…

Then, one could only say that if such a Great Power, like a Heavenly Demon, were to make a move, Li Qi couldn't defend himself no matter what he did. He might as well lie down and wait for death.

So, after some thought, Li Qi said, "That's certainly possible, but not now."

"Not now?" The demonic monkey was puzzled.

"Yes, giving a name is no small matter. I need to plan it carefully. But before that, I'm afraid I can't stay here long," Li Qi said with a smile.

"Can't stay long? Why? Do you have something to do?" the demonic monkey asked.

"Yes, I didn't come to the Desire Realm for tourism. I want to investigate some things related to myself, and also to find a place to Seal this wisp of Dao Resonance." Li Qi displayed the Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance.

"I've already delayed here for a while, so I have to set off, Monkey brother. I'll slowly consider and deliberate on the naming, but before that, I need to go handle my affairs first," Li Qi said.

Seeing that Li Qi indeed had something to do, the demonic monkey could only stammer, "Then you must keep it in mind. I can't leave here, and I can't help you with anything…"

But he immediately raised his voice and said, "However… I seem to have seen your item somewhere. It should be able to provide some clues!"

"Seen it?" Li Qi raised an eyebrow, once again displaying the Demon of Death’s Dao Resonance, and said, "Are you sure? Monkey brother, if you've really seen it, then you've helped me a great deal."

"That can help? Then wait, I'll go look for it now!" The demonic monkey, hearing that he could help, was immediately overjoyed. Then, with a flash, he entered the base of the golden mountain.

He was rummaging inside, and one could see lights constantly flashing.

Li Qi waited outside and did not try to scan it with True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

Although True Knowledge Dao Resonance was powerful, just like Li Qi himself, Li Qi could sense others' prying into him. Similarly, others could sense Li Qi's prying into them.

Everyone was essentially a third-rank, and they could feel it.

Prying was, after all, an undesirable behavior. In situations where he didn't want to provoke hostility, Li Qi wouldn't casually scan people with True Knowledge.

However, while Li Qi was waiting, a flying boat suddenly Transmigration through the Void Realm and arrived before Li Qi.

The design of the flying boat was very interesting; it looked like a mountain, completely without any protective measures or attack equipment. If it appeared in Outer Void, it would probably become a living target.

That was something researched by those 'monkey descendants'.

The demonic monkey's aura gave birth to worlds, and the worlds themselves gave birth to these monkey civilizations. Their civilizational development, in turn, nourished the demonic monkey, making him understand many principles.

Now, the demonic monkey had hidden in the mountain to search, so these monkey descendants hurriedly piloted their ship to Li Qi's side.

Li Qi was too lazy to exchange pleasantries, merely sweeping out a circle of information flow.

For these monkey descendants, whose highest cultivation was merely fifth-rank, this circle of information flow was enough for them to understand everything.

If viewed from their perspective, it was as if when they arrived before Li Qi and first saw him, it was like 'a glance through eternity'.

Just by looking, they understood the cause and effect, understood why Li Qi had come, knew that Li Qi wanted their 'self-introduction', and also their relationship with their 'Creator God'.

"Just speak directly if you have anything to say," Li Qi said.

These monkey descendants immediately bowed to Li Qi in their own way, and then one of them, who seemed to be the leader, approached and presented a book to Li Qi in his own language.

Li Qi scanned it with True Knowledge, and all the information was instantly in his mind.

Then, he was somewhat astonished.

This was… a history of civilization.

It recorded that after the world was born and the monkey descendants sprang from stones, the demonic monkey was not as he was now.

At that time, the demonic monkey was extremely violent and bloodthirsty, and… very innocent.

Yes, very innocent.

He was very bored, so he created other living beings, letting them contend with each other, and at the same time, he wanted to find some fun for himself. He also set up many 'mechanisms', similar to 'games', for them to utilize these mechanisms.

Demonic Army, Chosen Ones, racial hatred, hybridization, and so on and so forth.

Thus, in order to please this innocent creator, the world began a chaotic war.

This continued until the monkeys, after long periods of war, finally moved towards unified peace.

The period of peace lasted for a very, very long time, until the demonic monkey threw a tantrum because he was too bored…

In a unified world, the strength and wisdom of the ruling class made it impossible for other forces to fight them, and the demonic monkey had no show to watch. So, he forcibly brought down a heavenly punishment, conjuring nearly infinite Demonic Army. All the monkey descendants in all worlds were slaughtered, with only a few surviving.

It turned out that the demonic monkey did not want world peace. What it wanted to see was war. Once these worlds were unified, the demonic monkey would Reboot the game.

It was as if he created worlds for entertainment, like a sandbox game, and he himself was the game player.

As the creator, everything in these worlds belonged to him. He had no good or evil to speak of; he just wanted to watch a show, entertain himself, and find something to do for himself in the endless years of emptiness.

After that, the world experienced prolonged torment.

This was originally a world created for his need for entertainment. All the System settings and natural disaster arrangements were all for the demonic monkey to hope they would kill and torment each other, and he would watch from above for fun.

This period was a tragic history for civilization.

Countless torments, all sorts of tragedies, partings of life and death—all of this created a silent, sorrowful civilization.

To be honest, as a current third-rank, Li Qi could understand why the demonic monkey did this. After all, the entire world was like a single-player game to him. If one put themselves in the shoes of a player of games like Stellaris or Hearts of Iron, one would feel… the demonic monkey's taste was only average on forums.

If a player is very idle, they might play a bunch of games, read a bunch of novels and comics. After finishing the mainstream happy ones, they might want to read tragedies.

After finishing tragedies, they might lose interest in relatively bland story plots and perhaps start pursuing some more intense stories, like Dead Space, Infinite Rape, or Saya no Uta.

Coincidentally…

The demonic monkey fully possessed the ability to realize these plots.

But later, some 'heroes' rushed to the demonic monkey's presence. They had fully understood what kind of God their God truly was. They rushed beyond the Void Realm, personally facing the third-rank essence of their 'God'.

This almost completely destroyed their minds, but a portion of these heroes still successfully met the 'demonic monkey'.

They did not presumptuously attack the God, because it was a meaningless act. The demonic monkey could easily destroy them all and then continue his journey of intense tastes.

However, the heroes seemed to have been prepared. Under the guidance of one of the wise men, they invited the demonic monkey to come down personally and experience civilization itself, to play and to enjoy.

For countless years before, the demonic monkey had only watched live streams. This time, he finally came down to play an RPG game himself.

Only after that did the demonic monkey gradually feel suffering itself, gradually growing from a brutal mischievous child into a 'God' with whom one could communicate.

In the hundreds of thousands of years that followed, these worlds still had many, many stories, but they lacked a 'God' who deliberately manipulated malice.

Li Qi watched this entire series of civilizations unfold.

How should I put it…

There was a sense of incongruity.

So, the demonic monkey was like this originally? Then, the demonic monkey's disposition was indeed clearly visible.

"You are the first existence capable of conversing equally with 'it'. You must also be a 'Lord of Creation', I presume. I hope that after witnessing all of this, you can… make our Lord of Creation even better," said the leading monkey king.

Li Qi actually didn't understand their language, but by simply reading the information flow, he could easily master any language in the entire Universe. The essence of language was the exchange of information, and the things it referred to were abstract. For Li Qi, there was no difficulty at all.

"I can't guarantee 'better', but your civilization's history is very useful. I can't take it for nothing, so I'll give this to you. It happens to be suitable for this area." As Li Qi spoke, a long sword suddenly appeared in his hand, pulled from thin air.

It was created out of nothing, and it was imbued with the nature of the Desire Realm.

"This sword can transform emotions into power. The more intense the emotion, the stronger the wielder becomes. In the Desire Realm, it can unleash its maximum combat power, but there is an upper limit, roughly… around fourth-rank," Li Qi said.

This sword was temporarily created by Li Qi. He was not a refiner, so it was actually very crude.

This was not even a 'Spiritual Artifact' at all, but a pure 'Divine Ability'. It was Li Qi who performed a Divine Ability and then solidified it into the form of a sword.

"This is a Demonic Path sword that can change with your will. Use it carefully. Moreover, I am giving you this sword with my own selfish motives. Whether you use it or not is up to you," Li Qi said.

Indeed, there were selfish motives, and Li Qi stated them directly.

This sword was his hidden chess piece, so to speak.

Learning from other third-ranks during his own growth, Li Qi also began to employ this method of laying groundwork everywhere.

However, this sword was indeed very powerful, especially in the Desire Realm.

It could harness emotions and grow stronger with the intensity of those emotions, reaching a maximum power that could surpass the Observable Universe, meaning it could Break Through the speed of light, unleash infinitely vast energy, and directly reach the fourth-rank level. Furthermore, it had no requirements for the user; even a ninth-rank could theoretically wield this level of power.

Of course, in reality, it was almost impossible. A ninth-rank's capacity could not bear such intense emotions.

To unleash sufficiently intense emotions also required sufficient mental endurance, otherwise, it would not be emotion but direct collapse into madness.

"This… can we accept it?" Although they didn't know what 'fourth-rank' meant, Li Qi conveyed the information directly, and they could directly understand its meaning.

Fourth-rank power clearly surpassed the limits of their civilization.

"I've already given it to you. How you handle it is your business," Li Qi said with a smile.

As he spoke, the demonic monkey seemed to have found something and was already rushing towards Li Qi.

(I, who am still updating on Lunar New Year's Eve, truly don't know how to describe myself.)