Chapter 927: Meeting the priest again

During the period of guarding the Alliance Altar, the enemy Li Qi had to face was surprisingly someone he knew.

It was the Imperial Academy’s Chancellor of Chang'an Imperial Academy.

The middle-aged man who had shown Li Qi half the kindness of a teacher.

Therefore, Li Qi did not make the first move, but waited for a moment, then took the initiative to speak, saying, "Ah, Imperial Academy’s Chancellor, I never thought we would one day cross swords."

"I should be the one who's surprised. The little brat from back then can actually achieve this level now. You truly are… I don't know what to say. I never thought I'd personally see a student stand with me," the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy said with emotion.

This was truly unexpected. The Chancellor of the Imperial Academy had sent off batch after batch of Imperial Academy students. Among those who willingly fell behind, the lowest could reach the seventh rank. As long as their performance was stable and normal, most could cultivate to the fifth rank, and a small number could reach the fourth rank.

But the third rank, during his tenure, he really hadn't seen a single one.

Li Qi, this Young Master of Shaman God Mountain, was actually the first third-rank student he had nurtured. It truly was a matter of Destiny.

"Ah, she wants to say a few words. You talk to her," without waiting for Li Qi to speak, the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy said, handing over the Spiritual Artifact in his hand.

His Spiritual Artifact was a Ruler.

This Ruler had once suppressed the entire Imperial Academy, keeping all students strictly in line.

However, when Li Qi brought out teaching tools, preparing to smash the desks to research the 'Theory of Boundaries' and cause trouble, the Ruler did not intervene to stop him. (See Chapter 376 for details)

At that time, Li Qi thought he had done it perfectly, and no one should have noticed. But now that he thinks about it, in the eyes of a fourth-rank cultivator, there were probably no secrets whatsoever regarding anything that happened on campus.

At that time, the other party watched him complete the entire process, then helped him clean up the mess, and finally only came out to lightly punish him. Li Qi had always remembered this favor.

Even when they were on opposing sides of the Dao conflict, the other party did not hold it against him, treating him almost identically to other Imperial Academy students. His ability to advance was inseparable from the other party's guidance.

Therefore, when the Ruler appeared, Li Qi did not make a move. Instead, he differentiated a Dharma Body, manifesting before the other party from an unknown distance.

As the Dharma Body appeared, Li Qi turned his head to look around.

The Ruler and the Imperial Academy’s Chancellor were both present here.

The Ruler had already manifested her human form, still the same as before.

She looked young, fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed in a simple white robe, as pure as a peony. Her temperament was clean, her figure tall and slender, her face beautiful and serene, her expression serious, and her eyes cold.

However, now, when her eyes met Li Qi's, a trace of wavering appeared.

She quickly shook her head, casting the wavering out of her mind, then looked at Li Qi and said, "Long time no see. Truly… an inch of wood becoming a tower."

What was once merely an inch of wood at her feet had now become a towering building with beams and pillars.

"Thanks to Sir Ruler for not being ruthless enough to eradicate me back then, so I could become good Materials," Li Qi cupped his hands in thanks.

It was precisely because of the other party's integrity, as rigid as a Ruler, that Li Qi was able to study and grow normally in the Imperial Academy, instead of being targeted everywhere.

"However, after today, our friendship will come to an end," the Ruler said.

"This is a good thing. Sir Ruler and I ultimately walk different Daos. However, I have learned a lot from Sir Ruler. After our parting today, in my Disciples, one will still be able to see the shadow of Sir Ruler's righteous conduct," Li Qi said.

A faint smile finally appeared on the Ruler's rigid face, then she turned and gave the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy a look.

The Imperial Academy’s Chancellor looked at Li Qi, then took the Ruler's true form in his hand and said, "Then, let's end the pleasantries here. Great Shaman Li Qi, I'm going to make my move."

"Please allow me to make the first move," Li Qi immediately said.

In a third-rank battle, the one who makes the first move will be at a slight disadvantage. This could be considered Li Qi's final farewell.

"Good," the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy did not stand on ceremony.

Li Qi's Dharma Body dissipated, returning to his main body.

The third-rank battle resumed.

The possibilities of the Universe began to split here, and the deductions between the classified possibilities of various Universes began. They countered each other through deduction, a strange battle beyond human comprehension.

However, Li Qi and the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy's methods of deduction were somewhat similar, which was normal. Many of Li Qi's methods of deduction and calculation were actually taught to him by the other party, and Li Qi then gradually improved them himself in later days.

Reality split open a long, deep fissure, a Domain that reason could neither touch nor avoid.

The spacetime correction plan began to spread.

Currently, there were over 13 billion activated spells capable of interfering with spacetime.

They bombarded the past and future in ways far beyond Mortal comprehension, destroying the enemy's foundation of existence and the reality they relied upon.

In this continuous, constantly writhing spacetime map, several real entities existed, and the information spreading from them indicated the progress of the information deduction between the two.

Destroying location A will form a stable structure of type B.

Preventing event C will, through a butterfly effect, destroy the foundation of existence of event D.

Creating event F will create new possibilities, disrupting the opponent's influence on event A.

And so on.

The constantly reverberating possibilities shook precariously, probabilities stretched in all directions, dispersed, and then re-aggregated. The discontinuity of rational numbers made all this possible.

Possible vibrations transmitted through Karma created new events everywhere, and these events continuously interconnected, forming a new network to achieve an overall compromise.

For Mortals, this was the process of a difficult-to-understand spacetime network transforming into another even more difficult-to-understand spacetime network.

Some methods of destroying networks are widely known, such as 'Righteousness', which can split the Universe like a hot knife through butter.

Brute force is always effective.

Even Li Qi was hard-pressed to deal with such bombardment, only able to start from what he could manage, one by one.

Spiritual Artifact, this kind of thing, is really quite useful.

He had clearly thought that a fourth-rank Spiritual Artifact would not be effective in a third-rank battle, but now it seemed Li Qi had been mistaken.

If a Spiritual Artifact is very well-suited to its owner, then even a fourth-rank Spiritual Artifact can exert powerful effects. The Spiritual Artifact itself is like a plug-in, filling the owner's own flaws and loopholes.

The destruction of key nodes had taken effect, and Li Qi was calculating the expected damage. In the event network that reformed after destruction, new nodes were born, carrying new possibilities.

Destroying nodes, producing new nodes, this seemingly meaningless battle continued.

Fifteen past nodes were reduced.

Now, there were negative five hundred remaining. To raise the possibility above 0, five hundred possibility nodes needed to be compensated.

From where should they be compensated?

Ah, six hundred years ago, the other party had a flaw there. Six hundred years ago, in Chang'an, there was a key node related to whether the other party would take office.

Let's start from there.

The battle continued.

It was difficult for outsiders to judge whether the plan was advancing or retreating.

The work of correcting history was very tedious.

However, Li Qi's Dao Heart was firm, so even if he had to constantly face the same things, no matter how many times it repeated, he would not get tired or feel unhappy.

The expected decrease in efficiency would increase exponentially with the number of repetitions.

A bit troublesome.

Then, let's start from there—

Thus, Li Qi's power chased the other party's power, returning to the Chang'an of the past.

In the night of Chang'an, the Ruler stood before Li Qi.

This was when Li Qi had just messed up a bunch of grotto-heavens and found a way to resurrect the Crocodile Dragon.

The Ruler was looking at Li Qi, saying to him, "Also, remember to apologize to the teacher who taught you. You betrayed his trust."

"That is natural," Li Qi, who was only at the seventh rank at that time, immediately replied.

The Ruler seemed to have finished speaking.

Seeing that the Ruler had said almost enough, Li Qi finally asked, "Sir, what about the compensation…?"

"No need. The Imperial Academy is not so poor as to ask students for money over such matters. It's just… you've damaged so many facilities, have you learned anything?" The Ruler's expression softened as she asked Li Qi.

"I have learned. Very valuable knowledge that I always needed," Li Qi said, lowering his head.

"That's good," the Ruler nodded, then disappeared from the spot.

It should have been like this—

But as the Ruler was about to leave, Li Qi suddenly spoke, calling out to her.

Because the Li Qi of the past and the Li Qi of the present were actually one.

History changed at this moment.

Li Qi spoke, saying, "Sir Ruler."

The Ruler reappeared, looking at Li Qi in confusion.

Just as Li Qi said this, the Imperial Academy’s Chancellor's third-rank power had already broken through, preparing to stop Li Qi.

But Li Qi had already prepared for this when he adopted this tactic.

In the past, across many timelines in the future, Li Qi had already laid out interception methods. This was a wall of possibilities Li Qi had set up at the cost of injury. Before breaking through this wall, the other party's power could not penetrate into this spacetime.

The Ruler looked at Li Qi in confusion.

"Today, I must bid farewell to Sir," Li Qi said.

"Are you leaving Chang'an?"

"I have long since left Chang'an. Now, I thank Sir Ruler once more." Li Qi bowed, then gently took a step forward.

The Ruler's true form trembled, her pupils contracting: "This—you are only seventh-rank… No, this is third-rank?!"

Realizing this, she gave up resistance and looked at Li Qi, shaking her head, and conceded, "It seems I do have some achievements in teaching after all…"

"I am unworthy of Sir."

"Each follows their own Dao, why be ashamed? However, it's not that simple."

With that, the Ruler's true form shattered.

Along with it, the Ruler's true form in the future also shattered.

The wall of possibilities was shattered, and the third-rank power spread over, intending to go deeper into the past, attempting to stop Li Qi before he made his move and resurrect the Ruler.

If no one stopped him, this would be very simple.

However… 'If no one stopped him'.

Clearly, Li Qi would not let him succeed.

All the previous key nodes dissipated at this moment.

Now, only one key node remained: the node where 'Li Qi killed the Ruler'.

And at this node, there was no Ruler to help the other party.

Li Qi only needed to defend this one node.

"You did this at the cost of injury. Can an injured you stop me?" the Imperial Academy’s Chancellor sent a message, his tone implying anger, and at the same time, he launched a fierce attack.

"Whether I can stop you depends on my performance. I will not disappoint the two sirs," Li Qi said his last words, then poured all his focus into defense.

Previously, Li Qi was at a disadvantage because of the cooperation between the Ruler and the Imperial Academy’s Chancellor.

But now, there was no Ruler.

Moreover, it should be known that Li Qi's Dao, which gave up the ability to rewind, gained him an extremely stable reality that was very difficult to change.

Specifically, Li Qi could not rewind the entire world. He could only interfere with events he 'personally' experienced. That is to say, he could only 'see' and 'touch' time where he existed.

His own self had become one. For most of the time Li Qi experienced, he could rewind his consciousness back to that period and perform some operations there.

However, he could not rewind others, nor could he reset the entire world, because the world was real, and Li Qi firmly believed this. He merely merged his past and present, allowing his past self, with third-rank power, to interfere with the past. This was not the kind of world-resetting rewind.

This cost was not small, so the stability gained was also quite outstanding. It basically meant that Li Qi, in any state, was fully prepared. No matter what period of Li Qi was targeted, he could not be 'caught off guard'.

Except for the Earth period.

For some reason, Li Qi himself could not rewind to his Earth period self. Others could forget about it even more.

It was as if a wall blocked the past. Li Qi's third-rank consciousness could only start from the moment his plane crashed and he opened his eyes to arrive in this world, as if his life was born at that moment.

This must be another secret, but he didn't know it for now. Li Qi temporarily put it aside, since he couldn't figure it out anyway. He would keep it in mind and think about it later when he had time.

But all in all, Li Qi's defense was extremely solid, so solid that it was impossible for the Imperial Academy’s Chancellor to break through on his own.

To resurrect the Ruler, he needed to defeat Li Qi.

To defeat Li Qi, he needed to resurrect the Ruler.

Possibilities converged here.

A 'buttoned' Reincarnation loop, a dead knot, was thus formed.

The battle stalemated.

Li Qi would not actively attack, because by only defending, he would surely win.

Therefore, he had already won.

The battle lasted for a very long time, although in reality, time had not advanced at all.

In the eyes of Mortals, nothing had happened yet.

Only at the moment the third-rank cultivators decided the victor would the timeline advance, and the next event unfold.

Unless the third-rank cultivators gave up interfering with spacetime and decided to compete with Divine Abilities in the real world, but that was very rare.