Chapter 899: Meeting Haotian

What should I say?

True Knowledge Dao Resonance spread out, instantly seizing information spanning billions of light-years.

The Universe completely changed.

History also completely changed.

The past ‘world’ and ‘world groups’ that Li Qi was familiar with had already vanished.

In this Universe, from the moment of the Big Bang until now, all of history, tens of billions of years, has passed, and everything has experienced so, so many things.

Everything was so natural; this Universe was born this way.

History was so profound, so seamless.

It was still the familiar ‘Nine Lands Under Heaven’.

And some First Grade worlds, like the Jisu Realm, where the light-micro birds still existed.

But, besides that, this Universe had a completely different history.

Empress Luofu once told Li Qi: “The reason this world is the way it is, is because the True Immortals want the world to be this way.”

Li Qi once again gained a new sense of reality regarding this statement.

This was a… new history.

Merely the clash of the First Grades led to all of this.

The First Grade wanted to create the future they desired, and all things had to assist, whether willingly or not.

Now it seemed no one was paying attention to Li Qi, because the sudden actions of the First Grades directly led to something much bigger happening.

Innumerable possibilities were sealed off, but at the same time, innumerable possibilities reopened.

Time was still moving forward, but everything had been completely transformed.

Except for the Nine Lands Under Heaven, and everything protected by existences above the Third Grade, everything else was restarted.

Moreover, Li Qi felt an unparalleled ‘Death Intent’.

This was Death Qi far exceeding the decline of the Desire Realm…

And, in this brand new Universe, Li Qi clearly noticed that Jin Qi (Metal Energy) had five types.

Yes, Jin Qi (Metal Energy) had five types.

The five metals, by their very nature, were like this.

But in the original world, Jin Qi (Metal Energy) only had four types, because ‘silver’ was plundered by the Human Race, and all silver became the private property of the Human Race.

But now it was not like this.

Because… the official from the Ministry of Revenue in the Human Race, had he died?

So, the Universe that was previously formed in that special way would also change accordingly?

If death is essentially a transformation, where old structures are replaced by new ones.

Then, if old laws no longer hold, what are the new modes of operation in the Domain previously constrained by them?

Was this the result of the First Grades’ battle?

Li Qi floated in place, momentarily speechless, unsure how to describe everything that had just happened.

So much information, though it didn’t exceed Li Qi’s processing capacity, still left him somewhat bewildered.

“Little brother, why are you still standing here? Have you lost your mind?” At this moment, a sharp voice suddenly spoke.

It was indeed sharp, sounding as if someone was speaking with a pinched throat.

Li Qi immediately came to his senses, then bowed towards the direction of the voice: “Greetings, Great Sage—”

Before him was a small monkey, only about one meter forty tall, with a hairy face and a thunder god’s mouth, completely devoid of majesty, scratching his ears and cheeks, leaping up and down.

“Little brother, why are you so formal? We’ve sworn an oath of brotherhood, you wouldn’t think I’d go back on my word, would you? Besides, I managed to escape from the Demonic Overlord’s suppression largely thanks to you.” The demon monkey walked up and patted Li Qi’s shoulder, with such force that Li Qi’s Physical Body felt pain.

“Great Sage, do you still remember those things?” Li Qi asked in surprise.

“You wouldn’t think Monkey Mind isn’t me, would you? Not just Monkey Mind, but Demon, Buddha, God, and Dao, are all me!” The Sun Wukong in front of him said, patting his chest.

“However, these are troubled times, and it’s not convenient for me to speak much with you. Just remember that you have me as a brother. I’ll go ahead, and we’ll talk in detail later!” Sun Wukong came and went like the wind; Li Qi hadn’t even reacted, still in a state of bewilderment, when he somersaulted away.

Only Li Qi was left standing in place.

He was still stunned.

My goodness!

What was going on here?

Wait, let’s sort things out first.

He already had a premonition that he was here to unseal, and this unsealing was essentially using the Heavenly Demon’s leniency towards him, or rather… the Heavenly Demon’s grand plan.

Clearly, Li Qi had extremely high authority and tolerance with the Heavenly Demon; the Heavenly Demon simply would not interfere with many of his actions, all for the Heavenly Demon’s grand scheme.

Without affecting the grand scheme, he could use this to perform many operations.

For example… unsealing Sun Wukong.

Then, what was the reason for that subsequent strike?

Why did Amitabha strike? What did the Demon of the Five Aggregates want to do?

What was the battle between Taiyi and Haotian for?

Why did the Demon Dao strike? Was it because of Sun Wukong? Sun Wukong should be a demon, right?

The Human-Shaman War was easy to understand, and did the Yellow Dragon’s strike mean that the True Dragons were already going to full-scale war?

Too many things piled up.

“Sigh, let’s talk about it when I get back.” Li Qi shook his head.

Fortunately, Fourth Grades possess incomplete substantiality and can already self-sustain, so there shouldn’t be too many strange things. Moreover, he was a Third Grade, and things related to him, that is, his ‘past’, were actually protected by his own existence.

The history of a Third Grade is undeniable, and the existence of a Third Grade is stable, so even if history is tampered with, it is basically impossible as long as the Third Grade himself is not dead or does not agree.

Just as Li Qi was about to leave, suddenly, the surrounding scenery changed.

He received an invitation.

“This is… Hao—Tian?” Li Qi immediately realized who was summoning him.

Almost without hesitation, Li Qi chose to accept.

Thus, his figure disappeared.

Then, he appeared in the ‘Heavenly Court’.

Colorful clouds, each exquisitely beautiful, within every inch, music sounded, and there were images of Dao.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze entered the room, and above it, thousands of landscapes swayed, swallows and sparrows danced, looking down, one could not distinguish truth from illusion.

Nine-colored light filled the hall, all called divine light.

Li Qi stood among them, then beheld the great existence before him.

Haotian.

The chief of all emperors, the true ‘Heavenly Emperor’, the leader of all Heavenly Gods, and also the First Gods, the initial, unique “one” in Dao giving birth to one.

Moreover, his appearance was completely that of a Human Race, only his face was not very clear.

Li Qi couldn’t even see it clearly, which showed it was truly impossible to see.

But it was quite normal, including his appearance, which was also a matter of course.

It wasn’t that he was Human Race, but that the Human Race resembled him.

This was why resembling humanoid creatures could gain cultivation bonuses and even evolutionary advantages.

The human body’s superiority was precisely because it was close to Haotian, thus gaining an advantage.

“Li Qi.” Haotian spoke.

His voice was very ordinary, not particularly special, but Li Qi also knew that the other party could make it as mystical as he wanted, but there was no need for that.

Moreover, the one in front of him should not be Haotian’s true body, but merely some facets he created to meet Li Qi.

The true Haotian was definitely not like this.

The evidence was… Li Qi could not read any information from the other party; for a Third Grade or higher, which is an information entity, this was very abnormal. Clearly, this was just a Dharma Body below the Fourth Grade.

“Heavenly Emperor.” Li Qi bowed, but did not kneel.

Normally, it was natural for a Third Grade to kneel before a First Grade; the difference between them was too great, and the etiquette should be grander.

However, this was a rule: Invoker did not need to kneel to Heavenly Gods, even the Heavenly Emperor. This had been the case for a very, very long time, since the ancient era.

If Invoker were to kneel to the Heavenly Emperor, then where would the fairness between humans and gods, championed by Invoker, lie? Therefore, Invoker could not kneel.

“No need for formalities.” Haotian said.

The other party’s benevolent attitude even made Li Qi feel a chill down his spine. Li Qi did not look up, only saying: “Heavenly Emperor, why have you summoned me?”

“The Demon of Death has revived, because of you.” Haotian said.

Li Qi sighed deeply, saying nothing.

Haotian continued: “The shattering of the Desire Realm brought many results. One of them was that the countless beings lost in the Desire Realm could return to heaven and earth. So Amitabha went to guide them, leading the beings tormented by desire to the Buddha Kingdom, allowing them to regain Reincarnation.”

“This drew the Demon of the Five Aggregates to contend, and although the Heavenly Demon did not strike, the Buddhist Sect still maintained the highest level of vigilance. However, this also led to Sun Wukong’s unsealing without interference.”

“He is the Second Grade ‘Victorious Fighting Buddha’, or rather, the ‘Great Sage Equal to Heaven’ among the Heavenly Court and demons, involving many things, and even having Karma with the Human Race, Buddha, Demon, and Dao four Dao Orthodoxys. His breaking of the seal even triggered the Yellow Dragon to strike, ultimately drawing in Taiyi.”

“I stopped Taiyi and prevented all this turmoil, but the intensity of the Human-Shaman War has risen again. The Star Official Lineage finally gave up maintaining the existing order.”

“The result is that this collision caused the Star Officials to no longer maintain the existence of the world groups and the starry sky. The conflict between Taiyi and the Yellow Dragon was too great, and the Shaman God seized the opportunity to kill the Human Race’s privately hoarded Silver Dao, returning it to heaven and earth, causing damage to the Ministry of Revenue.”

“All history was rewritten, and the Universe re-evolved nineteen times, from the Underworld to the Desire Realm without exception, causing death and the sealing of possibilities, ultimately catalyzing the Demon of Death’s new potential.”

“The Demon of Death revived, and Dipamkara Buddha, at the last moment, in the ‘past’, stopped the Demon of Death. Their battle will probably continue for a long time, so the Demon of Death is temporarily nowhere to be found, but since he is alive, it’s not that simple to make him go back.”

“All of this is because of the Heavenly Demon’s indulgence towards you. You have become the breaking point of everything; the balance of the First Grades was broken by the Heavenly Demon’s endless tolerance towards you.”

Haotian softly recounted these terrifying events.

Third Grades fell in batches, and all space-time in Universes below Fourth Grade was reshaped nineteen times.

Actually, the reasons were all very simple.

The First Grades had their own subtle balance, a balance brought about by countless gambits.

And Li Qi’s arrival caused the Heavenly Demon to go mad several times, and retreat several times, ultimately causing a subtle shift in the balance.

Normally, the Heavenly Demon would never allow Sun Wukong to be unsealed, but now, in order not to interfere with Li Qi, he even made such a concession.

And the first step of Sun Wukong’s unsealing was to shatter the Desire Realm, igniting a great war.

These things sounded like mere casual remarks from Haotian.

But… Li Qi knew that in the space-time and events he couldn’t perceive, the First Grades had probably completed a thorough confrontation and a complete reshuffle.

Perhaps some Second Grades and Third Grades also participated in the war; after all, they could indeed serve as combat power and were not completely useless. The fallen Third Grades and Great Powers whose possibilities were reduced to zero were solid proof.

The most affected was probably the Human Race, fighting both sides simultaneously, which directly led to one of the ‘five metals’ they had taken returning to heaven and earth.

Seeing Li Qi still silent and not replying, Haotian continued: “Although I don’t know what’s going on, you are currently the gap in the balance. I hope you can restrain yourself in the future, otherwise… this Universe won’t just have this little change.”

When he said this, Li Qi understood.

‘This little change’ was very clear.

The reason there were only these changes this time was that Haotian suppressed the matter, but it still caused this level of change.

And if Taiyi was allowed to act, or even more First Grades were drawn into the fray, or even existences of the level of Human Emperor, Heavenly Demon, Buddha, and Shamansan also joined this First Grade free-for-all…

The Universe might even downgrade; everyone might become two-dimensional.

This was absolutely no joke; the energy level of the Universe truly could be regulated. If it continued to spontaneously undergo greater symmetry breaking, with several more vacuum decays at the beginning of the Universe, then everyone becoming two-dimensional, or even more terrifyingly, all becoming one-dimensional worms, was not impossible.

Haotian probably couldn’t accept such a thing happening.

For him, maintaining the stability of this Universe was very important, which was also why he stopped Taiyi. Perhaps he also stopped other First Grades.

For example, between the Human Race and the Shamanes, Shamansan actually didn’t move.

“Okay, I understand.” Li Qi cupped his hands and said.

“That’s good. Oh, and please, take care of Yao Ji.” Haotian said, waving his hand.

Then, Li Qi saw Yao Ji, who was already a Fifth Grade, suddenly walk out from behind Haotian.

Just now, Li Qi hadn’t even noticed her.

Standing behind Haotian, could she block perception?

Or… had Yao Ji just appeared?

“Heavenly Emperor, I am to take care of her?” Li Qi frowned slightly.

“Yes, your side is safe, safer than my place, and… this can be your way of repaying me. Also, she can help you, and you also have a daughter, right?” Haotian said.

To be honest, Li Qi even suspected that this Haotian was fake.

Shouldn’t Haotian be vast and boundless, deep and reserved?

Why would he show such a demeanor?

But that power was unmistakable.

Was he considering himself? Using this convenient posture to speak.

And what was the deeper meaning of sending Yao Ji to him to take care of?

However, although Li Qi was full of doubts, he did not refuse, but nodded: “I understand, please entrust her to me.”