Chapter 890: Looking for someone

The difference between the Desire Realm and the Reality Universe is that, apart from tourists, there are no existences above Fourth-Rank in the Desire Realm that are not of the Demonic Dao.

In other words, the Reality Universe is protected by these existences.

Li Qi actually knew that in the Reality Universe, the Heavenly God has always been doing this; it had been mentioned many times before about things like 'Heavenly God protecting the world.' (There are too many to specify which chapter.)

Li Qi, of course, knew that the Heavenly Gods and Di Qi (Earthly Qi) maintained the world; he had heard it in many places.

But it was only when he truly reached Third-Rank and began to fight that he realized for the first time how incredible the Heavenly God's accomplishments were.

This Universe, this Reality, has been able to sustain itself, to become a continuous history, and it can even be said that the Heavenly God single-handedly maintained it.

Haotian regarded all living beings as 'equal,' and under his nurturing, even illusory seeds blossomed into real flowers.

When living beings and all things lacked substantiality, they were like Li Qi's battle with that Spirit Dao at this moment, able to be arbitrarily fabricated and distorted, destroyed one second and reborn the next, altered by various rules without their own awareness.

But the Heavenly Gods tirelessly maintained the state of Reality for such illusory things, meticulously treating the continued existence of living beings as an important matter, thereby forming a 'history' that could be traced.

Otherwise, this Universe would have fallen into chaos long ago.

After all, even a Third-Rank battle could easily affect such a vast area, let alone the intensity of the current Human-Shaman War.

If not for the Heavenly God's protection, the current Desire Realm is an example; the Demonic Overlords are too lazy to act, busy with their own affairs. After all, the Heavenly Demon, Demon of the Five Aggregates, and Demon of Affliction have already personally moved, clearly indicating a major action, so they completely ignored Li Qi's actions against the Desire Realm.

It doesn't matter; they are just a bunch of things below Fourth-Rank. What if Li Qi destroys them?

If Haotian and the Heavenly God gently treated everything in the world, maintaining the continuation of this Mortal realm, then the Demonic Dao simply didn't care about these things.

It doesn't matter. If Li Qi wants to destroy it, then destroy it. Normally, someone might come to stop him.

But at this critical juncture, the Demonic Dao is extremely busy, so let Li Qi mess with the Desire Realm as he pleases. Even if he destroys the Desire Realm... can't it just be rebuilt later?

Furthermore.

Can Li Qi destroy the Desire Realm?

This is probably something many Demonic Dao practitioners would find amusing. The Desire Realm is definitely not as simple as it appears. Even if Li Qi destroys the Desire Realm's Universe and eradicates all civilizations, his actions would be akin to deleting a save file.

But the game still exists; deleting the save file will not cause any damage to the Desire Realm's main body. You can just play it again then.

It's possible you won't even need to play it again, because there might be multiple save file backups, and even many different versions.

And... even if Li Qi deletes the game, the computer still exists.

If we use an analogy, is the Desire Realm's main body a save file? Or is it the game?

It's highly likely to be neither. The Desire Realm's main body is very likely a computer, and Li Qi simply cannot reach that level.

Not to mention, the engineer who built this computer is still alive...

The Heavenly Demon.

The Desire Realm was created by the Heavenly Demon.

Thinking about it this way, there are quite a few layers to this 'box within a box' concept.

To the beings of the Desire Realm, they are like NPCs in a game. Although they exist, they can indeed be arbitrarily altered. For example, Li Qi's recent battle distorted Reality thousands of times.

And Li Qi, by modifying the save file, has reached the level of the game itself. In other words... he is a Third-Rank.

But this Desire Realm computer likely has more than one game, a Second-Rank existence.

So, the Heavenly Demon who built the computer and wrote the game...

Forget it, let's not think about those things.

Li Qi held his reverence for the Heavenly Gods and his fear of the Heavenly Demon within his heart.

He still had to face the enemy.

Li Qi continued to concentrate, dissecting the special environment constructed by his opponent and correcting his thoughts.

In this process, he also gradually perceived the battle characteristics of the Spirit Dao.

It's very strange. Logically, the Spirit Dao, like the Demon, believes that the Real World is illusory, that the world itself is spiritual, and is composed of things guided by thought.

However, in actual combat, he found that the Spirit Dao's influence on the Real World was even greater than Li Qi's.

The Spirit Dao believes that the world is 'ideas,' and ideas then give birth to all 'phenomena.'

Just as there must first be a perfect 'circle,' this abstract idea existing, and then there are physical spheres and prototypes in Reality. It is with the 'idea' that there is 'matter' imitating the idea.

All natural and historical phenomena, including an individual's mental state, the structure of society and nature, and even the various fundamental Laws that constitute the world, are the externalization of 'ideas,' or can be understood as the external manifestation of the spirit's process of seeking self-understanding, and gradually manifested through historical processes.

This historical process does not refer to cultural or civilizational history, but rather to time itself: that is, matter in motion produces time, time is used to describe matter in motion, and then it can be seen that matter in motion is for the purpose of 'approaching ideas,' that is, using historical time to verify the unity of matter and spirit.

Many things have their own properties and are divided into different categories. Clearly, from the perspective of the unity of all things, understanding the existence of ideas is very convenient.

The Spirit Dao first believes that all things are self-generated; absolute nothingness cannot produce anything, so when things first arise, they are self-generated. Since they are self-generated, then things must have a substance.

And this substance and idea can be understood by 'me,' which means I can also become the carrier of an idea. Then, according to the nature of an idea, it is in other things, that is, in itself.

Thus, the world begins to become the object of every individual. This act is a similarly eternal, similarly timeless beginning for each one, both his own beginning and the beginning of the world. Everyone seems to begin anew in an eternal way, and at the same time, his entire past, present, and future are set as the objects of his appearance.

Therefore, under this set of logic, it both proves the reality of 'self' and 'external world,' and also indicates the unity of one's subjective consciousness and external matter, just not yet reaching the 'absolute' level.

In this way, the Spirit Dao, in a way different from the Demonic Dao's cognition, achieved the assimilation of this world with subjective consciousness, by relying on its own internal contradictions for self-activity, thereby transcending itself, without needing to posit an independent 'other' or 'ultimate substance' to create the world. It only needs to use the opposition between inside and outside to be a unity that contains differences within itself, thereby dismantling the last barrier between thought and existence, finally achieving the unity of spirit and matter.

"The Spirit Dao's cognition is really interesting, but if that's the case, we won't be able to determine a winner anytime soon." Li Qi thought this, the opponent's cognition was quite complete and did not have a flaw that could be easily found in a short time.

However, it was enough.

As he spoke, one second had already passed.

One second, for a Third-Rank battle, was already quite long.

Long enough for Mortals to notice that 'the world is changing.'

Some exceptionally gifted and extremely sensitive Mortals had already become aware of the terrifying changes in the world. They were horrified by this; some had their Dao Heart shattered, while others experienced an Epiphany as a result.

But no matter what benefits the Mortals gained, Li Qi's battle with his opponent was still not over.

It's just that... one second was already enough time to react.

In the next instant, all changes ceased.

The seemingly endless offense and defense came to a halt at this moment.

Lou Neifa made his move; he came to support Li Qi.

The Nine Cauldrons vibrated, a white rainbow pierced the sky, the heavens changed on their own, the hook star shone brightly, all worlds trembled, the Great White devoured the Pleiades, the Jupiter harmed the tail of the bird, the Qi of the vertical kept the tail first, disaster Qi hung down from the sky, venomous Dragons were boiled to their limit, killing and blood sacrifices, heaven and earth descended, raising eyes that covered the sky, establishing theories that caused pestles to float, all were omens of destruction.

But these were just appearances.

The branches move when the wind comes, but the branches cannot cause the wind; it is when the wind comes that the branches move.

So, thunder startles pheasants, the awakening of hibernating creatures brings out snakes, cranes cry at midnight, and roosters crow at dawn; these are merely things responding to Heaven.

These things merely sensed the impending 'destruction,' and thus produced these 'omens.'

The moment the omen appeared, that Third-Rank Spirit Dao immediately retreated, directly leaving the Desire Realm and vanishing without a trace.

Lou Neifa appeared before Li Qi, still in his monstrous state, and said, "Ah, didn't catch him."

"Couldn't catch him." Li Qi shook his head, "The opponent is still in good shape, and he's very restrained."

In a Third-Rank battle, it's quite difficult to capture or completely kill the opponent. It basically only happens in melees or encirclements. Only an intensity like the raging Human-Shaman War leads to large-scale Third-Rank casualties.

Li Qi often heard about Third-Rank casualties in Chang'an before, even with a frequency of once every few years. However, those were official positions; the people died, but the positions remained, so there was actually no loss.

The deceased were like Li Qi's previous Physical Body, completely irrelevant. Although it was a true death for the office holder, it had no impact on the 'position.' (See Chapter 313 for details.)

They could afford to die. This could be considered a unique advantage of the Human Dao, of course, referring to official positions, not the fierce men who cultivated to Third-Rank through their own strength.

"But why would the Spirit Dao come to stop me? Is it because of your relationship?" Li Qi looked at Lou Neifa in front of him.

"Hmm, it's probably because you're leading the Desire Realm to destruction. It's quite normal for a Spirit Dao member to be unable to stand by and watch, isn't it?" Lou Neifa said.

"What does the Desire Realm have to do with the Spirit Dao?" Li Qi frowned.

"You'd probably have to ask the Spirit Dao about that, but it doesn't look like a choice made by the Spirit Dao. It should be this Third-Rank's personal decision, right? If you're worried, go ask him." Lou Neifa said.

"Then, I'll be leaving first. With this lesson, no one should interfere with you anymore. Please continue, Li Qi, and we will assist from the side."

Li Qi, however, glanced at Lou Neifa and said, "Are you still so happy even if you can't destroy the true Desire Realm?"

"Destruction is always good, and... how do you know this isn't destroying the true Desire Realm?" Lou Neifa retorted.

"It's obvious, isn't it? We've only destroyed the physical aspect of the Desire Realm, but we haven't affected the essence that gives rise to everything behind it." Li Qi replied.

"Essence? Is there really an essence?" Lou Neifa casually replied.

"Indeed... Is there really an essence? But that question is not for now; let's continue with our task." Li Qi said.

He didn't dwell on this topic, because discussing it would involve another Dao dispute, the 'Dispute of Being and Non-Being,' which essentially asks: Does Reality have an essence?

Behind all phenomena, is there an 'absolute essence'?

Or do all phenomena themselves have their own essence? Is there no 'behind'?

Li Qi had no intention of getting involved in this debate, so there was no need to discuss it. If he were to get involved, he would have to fight both the Human-Shaman War and the Dispute of Being and Non-Being, which would exhaust him to death.

Putting aside this dispute, Li Qi watched Lou Neifa leave.

The arrival of this Third-Rank Demon of Death forced the opponent to retreat and also gave Li Qi a more intuitive understanding of Third-Rank combat.

The common understanding of 'combat power' no longer applies at Third-Rank. Just like Li Qi's recent fight, Li Qi's combat power had actually been a leader among all ranks since Seventh-Rank.

Even if he couldn't defeat the Little Heavenly Master Demonic Prince or the like, he had no problem dealing with ordinary wildlings. He had always been a relatively powerful type, thanks to his excellent insights, the power of True Knowledge Dao Resonance, his accumulated knowledge, and the Legacy of various powerful spells from Shaman God Mountain.

This was truly powerful. Many of Shaman God Mountain's spells were personally invented by the Shaman God, absolutely having absurdly broad applicability and power, completely crushing compared to the self-created moves of many 'Foreign Geniuses.'

However, all of this ceased to exist upon reaching Third-Rank.

Combat power, this thing, simply cannot be categorized that way at Third-Rank.

None of this matters. At Third-Rank, even cultivation itself seems so pale. Rather than combat, it's more like problem-solving.

In this state... compatibility is probably very important.

Whether or not a Dao Path counters another might even account for the majority of the outcome, because without obvious counters or righteous gang-ups, it's unlikely to determine a winner in a heated battle.

No wonder Third-Rank wars are conducted in 'war zones,' because direct fighting makes it difficult to achieve results...

As soon as he thought of this, Li Qi suddenly remembered his teacher, Zhu Fengdan, and Great Shaman Mi Xin.

Wait, he seemed to have fought three times in front of Li Qi, and had killed three peers...

How did he do it?

I need to ask him.

Right now! (End of this chapter)