Chapter 910: Invisible Opponent

In a Secret Realm like a crystal palace, Li Qi and Canghai Jun sat facing each other, discussing and exchanging information.

Actually, Li Qi could have directly plundered the other party's memories and deduced everything Canghai Jun had experienced, which would have eliminated the need for an exchange. Instead, he could have forcibly seized information with his Third Grade power.

However, that would have been too impolite for a True Dragon. If the deduction process touched upon Canghai Jun's elders, it might even lead to conflict with them. Therefore, it was better to simply exchange information with him.

Anyway, Li Qi had no such taboo as 'his grade is lower than mine, so we cannot speak'.

However, it is said that some Great Powers truly believe this, thinking that there is no need to converse with those of lower grades. After all, if the grade is too low, communication will be very difficult, and one must lower their own way of speaking for the other party to understand, which is very tiring.

Now, the two were exchanging intelligence about the Demonic Prince.

Li Qi told Canghai Jun all the information he had about the Demonic Prince, including how he won, his several encounters with the Demonic Prince, and the Four Demons Dao Resonance on the Demonic Prince's body.

The Demonic Prince's talent was truly excessive, so much so that the Four Demons seemed to have placed their bets on him.

Compared to Li Qi, he was actually not bad.

Li Qi received direct attention from Shamansan, Haotian, World Honored One Tathagata, and Heavenly Demon, these four First Grades.

The same was true for the Demonic Prince; the Four Demons all favored him, and their bets were probably not light.

After learning this, Canghai Jun sighed. He did not continue speaking but handed Li Qi a crystal of ice.

Li Qi took it, glanced at it, and absorbed the information within into his mind.

Inside, was it Little Overlord?

Shou Yu, Li Qi had seen him before, a super Genius of the martial Dao, and another holder of the Overlord Dao Foundation.

However, in the information contained within, Li Qi saw a recorded scene.

That should be... the Demonic Prince and Little Overlord's second battle, right?

Both of them were already Fourth Grade.

However, the Demonic Prince still appeared calm, but Shou Yu was covered in wounds.

Li Qi saw the wounded Shou Yu roaring in fury—

He shouted:

"Hate—!"

That voice was filled with unwillingness and anger, and his Overlord Dao Foundation completely shattered because of it.

To defeat him, Shou Yu spent all his time on cultivation with an unseen future.

He pushed away everything else.

He gave up everything.

Severing emotions, burning away thoughts, destroying everything.

Yet the Demonic Prince ignored all this, easily reaching a higher realm.

"Hate!!!"

Listening to Shou Yu's roar, the Demonic Prince merely curled his lips.

Then, he shook his head and said, "You still have so many irrelevant hobbies, you really are... lazy."

After that, there was an intense battle.

But surprisingly, in the end, Little Overlord neither lost nor died.

The Demonic Prince ran away halfway through the fight, and his Overlord Dao Foundation was not damaged because of it.

It was surprising.

"And there's more," Canghai Jun said. "This is when he fought me."

Saying that, he pushed another ice crystal over.

Li Qi looked again.

From start to finish, the Demonic Prince never looked Canghai Jun in the eye.

The Demonic Prince's opponent seemed like a wooden stake, not the formidable enemy Canghai Jun.

Whether at the beginning of the battle, when Canghai Jun made grand declarations, or when the actual fight began and both sides started their spell competitions.

Even, in the end, when the battle had evolved into close-quarters Physical Body combat... the Demonic Prince maintained the exact same attitude.

The information carved into the ice crystal was extensive, essentially like being there in person. Even the divine will and Aura were completely etched into it, not merely simple images.

So Li Qi could feel the Demonic Prince's indifference during the battle.

Canghai Jun, unlike his boast of being 'unbreakable', was severely injured instead.

The Demonic Prince's attacks were incredibly heavy; the scent of blood, the sound of metal grinding, and Dragon scales breaking kept coming.

In the silent Void Realm, these scenes were even more vivid.

The Demonic Prince's cloak was incredibly beautiful, a black heavier than night.

Just looking at it, one felt that this dark shadow would suck away everything of a person, including their mind.

Dignified.

Terrifying, dignified, but there was more to it than that; it seemed to conceal an even deeper abyss.

But Canghai Jun was not inferior; his fully unfurled Dragon body, interweaving blue, gold, and red, was extraordinarily brilliant, like a rainbow spreading through the Void Realm.

Canghai Jun's body contained even more.

Even though he was so heavily injured that he could barely move, he was still so beautiful and reliable.

Ultimately, relying on his powerful Physical Body, he exhausted all of the Demonic Prince's spells and then rapidly recovered, becoming immune to all attacks from the Demonic Prince.

It seemed to be a draw.

It's just... for the Demonic Prince, all of this seemed like talking to a brick wall. He didn't care about a draw or victory; it was irrelevant.

So, Canghai Jun said, "Did you see it, Great Shaman?"

"The Demonic Prince didn't even look at me standing in front of him; instead, he gazed blankly into the distant Void Realm. Honestly, since I began cultivating, it's the first time I've felt like I don't know who I'm fighting. It just feels like, regardless of winning or losing, neither of us, the combatants, will be happy or sad."

"This battle is meaningless; it simply doesn't exist."

"His opponent wasn't me, nor was it Little Overlord, so he didn't care about winning or losing at all. We were just passers-by."

From Canghai Jun's narration, Li Qi learned that ever since the Demonic Prince left last time, he had continued his journey of challenges, but this time it was different... the Demonic Prince chose another way of fighting.

He ignored his Overlord Dao Foundation and did not pursue victory, merely using Canghai Jun to test his moves. If a move didn't break through, he would switch to the next.

But correspondingly... Canghai Jun also couldn't harm the Demonic Prince.

As he spoke of this, Canghai Jun looked at Li Qi.

Clearly, Canghai Jun knew who the Demonic Prince was truly looking at.

In his battles with Little Overlord and Canghai Jun, the Demonic Prince never looked at them from beginning to end, nor did he care about them. Therefore, winning or losing was completely irrelevant; he didn't even consider it a battle.

"To be honest, it's quite infuriating. So, you have to tell me more, so I can enjoy it more when I get to slap him in the face later, right?" Canghai Jun said to Li Qi with a smile.

"Indeed, but the Demonic Prince's weaknesses are only what I just mentioned. It's impossible to take a shortcut to defeat him, but what I've told you today should be enough help," Li Qi said.

He was telling the truth.

If you want to defeat the Demonic Prince, it's best not to overthink it; just crush him with raw power.

Other than that, there's no other way. Facing an existence whose combat power is purely based on will, it's truly difficult to find his weakness. His only weakness is his 'heart', but coincidentally, his strongest aspect is also his heart.

"Your words are enough. So, Great Shaman, did you come here just to see the True Dragon's capabilities?" Canghai Jun asked.

"I've taken a Disciple, and your method is useful for him, so I came to learn."

"Understood. Then, farewell?" Canghai Jun said.

"Farewell." Li Qi nodded, then vanished from the spot.

Is that so... After talking with Canghai Jun, I gained more than just information about True Dragons.

Has the Demonic Prince completely given up on other opponents?

Just as Canghai Jun said, he completely ignored Little Overlord and Canghai Jun; even when fighting them, he didn't even look at them.

Even Canghai Jun felt, "Since I began cultivating, it's the first time I've felt like I don't know who I'm fighting," let alone anyone else.

The Demonic Dao is truly terrifying; if they say they ignore, they can truly achieve ignoring...

Moreover, Li Qi found it very difficult to genuinely refute.

Because, as long as I think, no matter what I think, 'I' am already inherently present.

From this perspective, no matter what Li Qi says, as long as he continues to think, he will inevitably enter the self-validation stage of the Demonic Dao, because he cannot bypass his own sensory System to reach external objects. All evidence Li Qi can provide can ultimately be forcibly categorized as 'perception'.

Everything Li Qi claimed as material, in the eyes of the Demonic Dao, was unproven perception. At this point, Li Qi could only realize that all the arguments he could present inevitably passed through his own perception; pure material entities seemed to cease to exist. This was the taste of what is called 'emptiness'.

What the Buddha called the sea of suffering, perhaps this is the sea of suffering he spoke of.

Only by crossing these illusory and empty seas of suffering can one touch the thing-in-itself beyond perception, residing on the other shore.

But those were irrelevant; he had already obtained what he wanted.

— — — — — — — — — —

Li Qi's main consciousness returned to Mystic Radiance Mountain, after which he closed his eyes to attend to his affairs.

The Fusion of Yang Ning and Shen Shuibi was nearing its end, probably about a thousand years away from completion?

So, before then...

Li Qi sat, perceiving and processing everything he had created and perceived, dealing with miscellaneous tasks.

Classifying information collected from the True Dragon's shell.

Gathering the Manifold Race and creating a closed world for them, so they wouldn't go extinct, and La Qi might be able to go back and visit them someday.

And also, comprehending the other spacetime created by Shen Shuibi and Yang Ning, which was another level of understanding of the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method.

A thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.

Li Qi also proceeded normally according to his schedule, completing everything.

After all the insights were integrated into his mind...

Li Qi suddenly felt a ripple.

Such a special ripple.

He sensed the essence of the ripple, and then, a Dharma body separated from his Physical Body and descended to the source of the ripple.

In just an instant, he already felt an existence equal to himself.

The source of the ripple, indeed, was as he had imagined.

This ripple was a 'unique dimension' widely distributed throughout spacetime, but only a Third Grade who had comprehended the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method could find it.

Upon arriving here—

"Li Qi greets Empress Luofu." Li Qi cupped his hands and bowed, paying respects to his mother-in-law with the etiquette of a child.

Empress Luofu accepted the bow calmly.

"I originally thought it would be the two of them who came first, but you... Li Qi, how terrifying you are. How long has it been since you became a Third Grade?" Empress Luofu's Dharma body asked Li Qi here.

"It's been... over a hundred thousand years, I suppose." Li Qi counted; it was roughly that long.

After becoming Third Grade, time truly flew by.

Unconsciously, over a hundred thousand years had passed, and it felt like hardly anything had moved; time just passed by while sitting in place.

"Over a hundred thousand years... comprehending the Third Grade profound mystery of the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method, you, oh, you... No wonder you've been caught up in so many events." Empress Luofu smiled wryly.

"There's no need to mention anything about talent, Niangniang can just consider it a given fact. However, why did you specifically send a Dharma body here? Is the front line very relaxed?" Li Qi asked.

"The front line is not relaxed. You'll probably have to join very soon. You just advanced, and originally, I intended to give you time to stabilize your cultivation, but it seems... it's no longer needed. Not only have you stabilized your cultivation, but you've also advanced further. Truly, I don't know what to say about you." Empress Luofu shook her head again, only sighing.

It was fortunate that this was Mount Luofu's son-in-law.

Otherwise, Mount Luofu might not have had a chance to rise again.

"Niangniang, don't worry about it. Everything has its own destiny. Mount Luofu is also helpless. Moreover, being able to advance further now also relies on the Celestial Pole Golden Elixir Method. In the end, my survival also owes a lot to Yu'er's help," Li Qi smiled, his tone softening.

Yes, Li Qi still remembered that in his youth, when he traveled, he was constantly beaten by strong men one or two grades higher than him, and at that time, it was all thanks to Shen Shuibi helping him fight back.

Moreover, at that time, Li Qi's knowledge was insufficient, and it was always Shen Shuibi who taught him all sorts of knowledge.

They weren't husband and wife then, but an older woman-younger man romance was probably like this. When Li Qi was young, it was always the rabbit teaching him how to deal with this world. In fact, when Li Qi reached Fourth and Fifth Grade, his fighting style was very much like hers, and even now, there's still a trace of that shadow.

Using a large amount of information and calculations to preemptively strike was Shen Shuibi's most common combat method.

Recalling it now, the relationship between the husband and wife was indeed unusually close. Although one was a Shaman and the other a Daoist, there seemed to be no incompatibility.

Seeing Li Qi's expression, Empress Luofu also smiled: "It's best that you two are deeply in love, but I'm not just here to reminisce this time. Since you have already reached this point, there's no longer any need to hide the secrets of Mount Luofu."

At this point, Empress Luofu's expression was still smiling, but her gaze became serious.

Li Qi immediately straightened his back and listened solemnly.

Clearly, this special dimension, originally planned, was prepared for the sisters Shen Shuibi and Yang Ning.

But Li Qi found this place before them, so this secret belonged to Li Qi.

"Please speak," Li Qi said.

"Then, first of all, what do you think this place is? This special dimension you are currently in," Empress Luofu asked.

Li Qi looked around.

The nature of the surrounding space was very peculiar. If he were to guess from this angle...

"This place should be 'Celestial Pole', right?"