Chapter 934: The Secret of Yao Ji

Li Qi felt very happy about his meeting with La Qi.

The young Shaman had grown up very well; he had his own views on the world and used them to measure the world itself, practicing and understanding through his own actions.

This was quite good.

To judge whether something is good or bad, the first thing one must have is a standard; without a standard, all things are the same, and there is no distinction between good and bad.

To judge whether something is good or bad, establishing a standard is inevitable, and the Dao must be implemented and executed; if not, then this standard is empty talk.

And this standard is one's own way of looking at the world, which is the so-called 'Dao of oneself'.

Conscious beings will consciously establish this standard, and then execute it; they will absorb surrounding experiences, combine them with their own thoughts, and ultimately perfect their understanding of various phenomena in this world.

For example, 'Is light a wave or a particle?' or 'In a group, is it wrong to violate discipline but achieve a good result?' These questions are manifestations of the world's phenomena.

Is it a wave? Is it a particle? Or is it wave-particle duality?

Is it wrong? Is it right? Is the result more important, or is discipline more important?

These are all part of the standard; everyone's standards are not exactly the same, and some people even have double standards, but it must be known that behind all double standards, there is an implicit, single standard.

If one does not consciously establish this standard, then one can only accept the so-called 'experience' from the outside world.

Accepting external experiences without thinking, absorbing, or integrating them will easily allow the ways of the world to become your sole standard, leading you to drift with the current and become a 'person without a Dao'.

They have no Dao of their own, only the world's discipline imposed upon them.

Admittedly, when one is young and inexperienced, many self-righteous opinions and conclusions may be wrong, but thinking itself is not wrong.

People have their own directions and methods of thinking, which is fundamentally different from blindly guessing without caring about anything, or simply drifting with the current.

Therefore, Li Qi did not interfere too much; he had already protected the other party, so whatever La Qi encountered, he would let him bump into it himself; he would always hit something.

He was still young, relaxed, and happy, with youthful vitality overflowing from him; he had no worries, only as a little bit of realistic pressure approached, he seemed to feel that he should do something, but he didn't know what he should really do, yet it didn't seem like he was in a great hurry, so he leisurely enjoyed his life.

Isn't this good? There's no need to be beaten every day like Li Qi, constantly having to guard against the Demonic Dao and humanity.

Before leaving, Li Qi lectured his daughter and disciple once.

Anomalies appeared: celestial flowers fell like rain, and golden lotuses sprang from the earth.

Listening to his Master's lecture, La Qi felt a strange sensation in his heart.

He could feel that something within him, his most fundamental spirit… was urging him to continue pursuing certain things.

His will firmed, he must not retreat, because destiny favored him, granting him this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; this thought overcame all the cowardice in La Qi's heart.

He knew that he could not only explore the deepest parts of the Universe, but also had the opportunity to discover what role life and mind played among the stars.

Currently, La Qi was thirsty for knowledge; besides his desire to explore the Universe, he primarily yearned to understand the meaning of existence for all things, or rather, the meaning of all sentient beings in the Universe.

This Universe is not only filled with celestial bodies composed of material dust or those underdeveloped organisms; this Universe also contains layers where prosperous wisdom flourishes.

La Qi thought so.

And Li Qi sent them off.

Immediately after, Li Qi took Yao Ji back to Mystic Radiance Mountain.

Inside the Immortal Cave on Mystic Radiance Mountain, it was currently empty.

Yang Ning and Shen Shuibi, the two sisters, had gone out to play; Li Qi knew their location, but there was no need to pry. If he had to manage their travels as sisters, that would be too meddlesome, and Li Qi was not such a heavy-handed man.

Naturally, there were no outsiders at home; Li Qi and Shen Shuibi both liked peace and quiet, so usually only family and friends would enter the Immortal Cave.

However, the several-thousand-mile radius outside Mystic Radiance Mountain was a scene of prosperity; it was said that Niu Huang had already reached the sixth rank recently, which was truly cause for celebration.

And because of Li Qi, the status of the Immortal Cave here also rose; it was said that there were temples dedicated to Li Qi below, but they worshipped the wrong person, and both the revered name and the idol were messed up, so Li Qi didn't receive any incense offerings or anything.

But even if he had received them, they would have been extinguished; Li Qi had no intention of becoming a god.

Although he was indeed half Heavenly God and half Di Qi (Earthly Qi) now, that was merely a characteristic of his Physical Body.

True deities were quite exhausting.

Moreover, he was now about to speak personally with a deity.

After bringing Yao Ji back to Mystic Radiance Mountain, Li Qi looked at this proud Heavenly God, the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor.

Yao Ji was still the same; she appeared flawless and beautiful, with natural laws flowing around her. Her expression was not cold, but rather quite ordinary, showing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and her emotions were quite rich.

It was just that… her attitude towards Mortals was more indifferent; she had no empathy for ordinary things and would not believe that what happened to them would affect her in any way.

But at this moment, Li Qi was considered her kin, so she blinked her beautiful large eyes, waiting for Li Qi to speak.

So, Li Qi took the initiative to speak: “To use your words, Yao Ji, you… are a Reincarnation, right?”

“Ah, didn’t I say that? I remember saying it, didn’t I?” Yao Ji recalled the past.

She should not have concealed this matter.

The Heavenly Emperor’s daughter was only Fifth Rank not because of anything else, but because she had undergone Reincarnation.

She was the kind of person Li Qi had always admired: a brave individual who, for the sake of advancing further on the Dao, could abandon substantiality, relinquish all past constraints, and start anew.

Although Yao Ji was not what one would call a good person, everyone is complex; the coldness and lack of empathy she showed towards Mortals and insects did not mean that Yao Ji had no merits of her own.

“Indeed, you did say so, but… at the time, I didn’t think in that direction. I thought you were just an ordinary Reincarnation, and never imagined your previous life could reach that height,” Li Qi said.

“Yes, it’s indeed hard to imagine the power of a Third Rank before truly experiencing it, but it doesn’t matter anyway. So, why exactly did you call me here?” Yao Ji looked at Li Qi with confusion.

Did he go to such lengths to call her just to confirm if she had a past life?

“Haha, just a mention. The main reason I called you is for another matter, Yao Ji. The Heavenly Emperor had you follow me. I previously thought it was for me to protect you, but now it seems it’s not protection, but rather surveillance,” Li Qi said, changing the topic to the main point.

Yao Ji nodded: “I thought so too. After all, the Heavenly Emperor doesn’t quite trust me. Taiyi and Huanglong have a Dao dispute over the position of the Universe’s center.”

Upon hearing this, a vein pulsed on Li Qi’s forehead.

Yes…

He had witnessed it himself last time: Huanglong made a move, attracting Taiyi, and ultimately, Haotian intervened to stop the two from fighting.

Thinking about it now, it was indeed so.

Taiyi is the center of the Four Symbols and the Lord of the Star Officials, existing as the ‘Emperor Star Ziwei’ and located at the very center of the entire sky.

And Huanglong is the ‘Fifth Symbol’, the ‘Chief of the Four Spirits’, the center of the four directions, positioned in the center, holding the rope to control the four directions.

Huanglong is the source of all things, capable of changing with the variations of space and time; his head rests on the stars Xing and Zhang, his tail hangs on Liu and Bi, his body reflects the Three Terraces, and he presides over the four seasons, the central peak, the central land, water, and creatures without scales.

Their statuses inherently overlapped, so a Dao dispute was only natural.

So, was the struggle between Huanglong and Taiyi over the ‘Emperor Star’ and the ‘Four Symbols’ suppressed by Haotian?

“Then, is Huanglong a god?” Li Qi suddenly asked Yao Ji.

“Of course he is. Huanglong is a pure Di Qi (Earthly Qi). However, he’s similar to Changqin; although he’s a god, he didn’t join the divine path. Instead, he facilitated the birth of the True Dragon race,” Yao Ji said.

Facilitated the birth of the True Dragon race?

This made Li Qi frown.

He had never heard of this.

“Xuanyuan Seventeen Stars, to the north of the Seven Stars, the god of the Yellow Emperor, the body of the Yellow Dragon, the star of Xuanyuan is also the Yellow Dragon; the two fish have the image of Xuanyuan, hence the name Xuanyuan,” Yao Ji said.

Upon hearing this, Li Qi immediately reached out and pressed his temples, rubbing them twice vigorously.

Emperor Xuanyuan, one of the Emperors, also known as the Yellow Emperor, once conquered many ancient civilizations and then brought them under his rule.

Then, after unifying the various tribes, he combined the characteristics of the tribes to create the image of the ‘Dragon’, which is why the Dragon looks like a mixture of many creatures, possessing the characteristics of many species.

As the saying goes: “It can be huge, it can be minute; it can be hidden, it can be visible; it can be short, it can be long; it appears and disappears suddenly.”

So, is the Dragon a race created by Emperor Xuanyuan? And did Emperor Xuanyuan therefore possess a Dragon body? Did he become the True Dragon who created all True Dragons?

“Wait, wasn’t Emperor Xuanyuan on the human side?” Li Qi looked at Yao Ji in front of him and immediately asked again.

“I don’t know about that. I haven’t fully awakened yet, and the confusion from being in the womb hasn’t completely broken. I’m only Fifth Rank right now,” Yao Ji said, pointing to her head indifferently.

Li Qi was silent for a while.

He needed some time to think, some time to deduce, some time to review past events.

During his silence, immense magical power swept through Li Qi’s past timelines, simultaneously spreading to Karma, connecting with the many things Li Qi had seen before, seemingly trying to trace something.

For a period of time, Yao Ji did not appear nervous at all.

Seeing Li Qi fall silent, she stood up on her own and began rummaging through the Immortal Cave.

She was very familiar with the place, having been there many times, and Li Qi had no plans to redecorate, so the positions of various furniture hadn't changed.

So, one could see her familiarly open a cabinet, take out Li Qi’s tea, then run to the spiritual spring outside for water, and brew tea for herself.

Then she rummaged through cabinets and drawers, found snacks for herself, located the rabbit’s Medicinal Pill gourd, and poured out half of its contents to eat like candies.

Finally, she found a stone, lay on it, drank tea, savored Medicinal Pills, and freely and leisurely waited for Li Qi to regain consciousness.

If the true meaning of the Dao school was freedom, then Li Qi felt that Yao Ji had probably mastered its essence.

She really treated this place as her own home.

However… for Yao Ji herself, perhaps the entire Universe was her home. These things should inherently belong to her. This Universe was shaped by Haotian and the Heavenly Gods, so she naturally possessed dominion over all things.

Li Qi disagreed with this; he did not believe that all living beings should submit to the Heavenly Gods. However, regarding the matter of eating snacks, Li Qi didn't bother her. They were all cheap things, so let her eat them.

However, among the Medicinal Pills refined by the rabbit, there were quite a few Fourth Rank ones. She was only Fifth Rank. If she liked to eat them, then let her eat them. If she died from it, so be it. Haotian could go to the underworld to retrieve her; he wouldn't go.

Li Qi thought for about a quarter of an hour; during this time, Yao Ji entertained herself. She even created a small miniature heaven and earth next to her, one that wasn't ranked.

However, it was still three thousand miles in length and width, appearing like a crystal scenic globe in her hands. The continent within was square, with its four corners pulled by four sky-reaching chains, suspended in the firmament, and below the square continent was half a sphere filled with water.

This technique was actually quite astonishing.

Most Fifth Ranks could easily destroy such a world, but creating such a miniature heaven and earth casually required skill.

This was like origami; tearing origami is something anyone can do, destruction is very simple.

But folding beautiful paper flowers is not something everyone can do; this is also a professional skill, just like carving radishes, it has nothing to do with the size of your magical power, or your level of strength and muscle, but it does require a certain level of professional skill and accumulated knowledge.

Some Fifth Ranks could make a living from this craft, precisely customizing and operating complete and standardized worlds, which was once a good business.

Unfortunately, this business has now become extinct.

The concept of 'World' completely disappeared in this reopening of the Universe; only a few beings were able to continue creating worlds.

Now, Yao Ji could customize such a world purely because, as a Heavenly God, she possessed this inherent talent and authority.

Mortals no longer had the opportunity to witness the birthplace of life called 'World'.

In the current Universe, life is nurtured by 'planets' and many similar 'celestial bodies'.

The rules had changed, and all things could only obey, except for those Third Rank and above who formed the foundation of reality, and certain individual Heavenly Gods who had room to maneuver.

And Li Qi, at this moment, had also finished his thoughts.

He looked at Yao Ji and said: “Is that so… Then, Haotian handing you over to me is very likely for me to watch over you, since you and Haotian have a conflict, and Haotian can’t spare the time to watch you now.”

“Yao Ji, you haven’t, perhaps, fallen into the Demonic Dao, have you?”