Chapter 945: The hunt begins, encircling Li Qi

Demon of Death and Heaven Demon were 'conversing' in the Universe.

Around them, the death of all things and the 'changes' that sentient beings relied upon were ceasing.

Most civilizations vanished in an instant, as if they had never existed, with only a few scattered surviving worlds living uncivilized lives in absolute isolation.

Then, the civilizations in these surviving worlds also began to decline; they either self-destructed in the boundless darkness or slowly faded among the stars.

In the entire Universe, there was nothing but endless darkness and scattered dust.

The entire Universe was empty, a silence that would normally take billions of years to achieve was rapidly filling the Universe, and soon, things gradually cooled down. In this part of the Universe they were currently in, the last remaining 'changes' were also exhausted, and at first glance, there was nothing left in the Universe.

"Shall we cause a big ruckus?" In such silence, Demon of Death suddenly smiled.

It wasn't an exaggerated smile, but a subtle one.

Compared to her previous deadpan expression, the young woman's sudden smile was chilling yet surprisingly captivating.

Heaven Demon also smiled.

Look.

Isn't this good? How beautiful.

However, after just a brief smile, Heaven Demon sighed: "Ah, staying with you is truly uncomfortable."

"I'm not very comfortable either, let's disperse," Demon of Death said.

"Alright." Heaven Demon let go.

Demon of Death instantly vanished from her spot.

Almost simultaneously, the 'changes' around them reappeared, and Heaven Demon's body began to twist.

The Universe became mutable again, a change of transformations.

The changes of the Four Seasons and Yin and Yang, the changes of Zhen, Qiu, Dui, and Tai, the changes of Li, Dong, Kan, and Ben, Tai Yi transforms into Ben and mutually changes, the image of change, the image of transformation, infinite and endless, without beginning or end, these are the countless changes observed in the world.

Responding to myriad changes, ending and beginning again, the cycle of the Four Seasons and Five Elements, one trigram transforms into sixty-four, accumulating to four thousand ninety-six, multiplying in this way, like the sands of the Ganges, Asankhya, Nayuta, inconceivable, immeasurable numbers.

The vitality of the Universe suddenly became abundant.

Life began to develop.

All things revived, and the possibilities of the Universe increased again.

If 'death' is the loss of all change, then Heaven Demon is the greatest source of 'vitality'.

Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations is known for change.

Arbitrarily changing the forms of the world, taking joy from the pleasures transformed by others to achieve her own joy, hence called 'He Transforms Freely'.

Demon of Death wants to eliminate all change and all vitality, so her greatest Dao contention opponent is none other than Heaven Demon before her.

Although both are 'Demons', absolute self-centered subjective wills, in this aspect they are completely opposite sides.

This might also be a manifestation of 'Yin and Yang'.

Watching Demon of Death leave, Heaven Demon played with her fingernails.

Behind her, countless Nascent Heavenly Demons were born, then departed with 'miscellaneous thoughts'.

In the time Heaven Demon played with her fingernails, trillions of various thoughts had already surged forth in her mind. These thoughts almost immediately transformed into Nascent Heavenly Demons, then rushed in all directions of the Universe to fulfill Heaven Demon's tiny miscellaneous thoughts that she herself no longer remembered.

But the next moment, the surroundings became 'tranquil'.

The countless thoughts in Heaven Demon's mind began to dissipate.

The birth of Nascent Heavenly Demons stagnated.

Heaven Demon's 'thoughts' also stagnated.

Nirmanarati Heaven descended here.

Infinitude of Space, Infinitude of Consciousness, Nothingness, Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception.

Silence is subtle, having seen thoughts enter the realm of Nothingness. The mind arises from the realm of Nothingness, from the state of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception, transcending and entering true liberation. This is called transcending all realms of Nothingness.

Feeling, Perception, Volition, and Consciousness are also like this, meaning they are emptiness. All things return to nothingness, untainted by a speck of dust.

All thoughts stagnated here.

Non-discriminating wisdom, the four constantly observe emptiness and tranquility, inside and out are the same, neither coming nor going, neither entering nor exiting, which is the Tathagata.

At this moment, the Four Greats, the five aggregates, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, and greed, anger, ignorance, good, evil, enmity, kinship, whether Mortal or Saint, and even all phenomena, all become 'empty'.

Originally empty and tranquil, neither born nor destroyed, equal and non-dual, nothing from the beginning, ultimately silent and extinguished, emptiness, non-action, non-desire, non-form, thus true liberation.

Therefore, in this place, all desires will stagnate, all thoughts will be extinguished. Even Heaven Demon's vast desires and chaotic thoughts gradually dissipated here.

If a Mortal were to stay in this place, they would probably immediately lose their self and all ability to think.

Here, the five aggregates do not exist, making it impossible to perceive the outside world.

The Four Greats do not exist; matter itself has also disappeared.

Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, and greed, anger, ignorance, good, evil, enmity, kinship all do not exist; no mental activity can arise here, and even consciousness cannot be activated.

Therefore, non-action, non-desire, non-form.

Truly, absolute 'emptiness'.

This is called 'True Emptiness'.

This is the true Nirmanarati Heaven, the place that can suppress Heaven Demon, and also the abode of the Buddhas, considered the highest existence even among the Heavens.

Heaven Demon's thoughts gradually slowed down.

"Oh dear... this is really, Tathagata, you—"

This sentence popped into her mind.

Then, it completely stagnated, unable to raise any more thoughts.

This place has been sealed by Nirmanarati Heaven, everything stagnates.

Heaven Demon once again fell into the Seal. It is unknown when she will be able to emerge next time.

But it probably won't be long, because as long as a wisp of her consciousness escapes, she can go to any time and any place. So, as long as Heaven Demon escapes once, the Universe will be filled with Heaven Demon, her traces everywhere. She can appear simultaneously in many places a thousand years ago and a thousand years later, or even across greater spans.

Therefore, to the outside world, Heaven Demon appears as if she has never been sealed.

As long as she escapes once, she can complete all matters, then go back into confinement, waiting for the next time she comes out. There is no such thing as 'delay'.

Anyway, all events are options laid out before her.

Heaven Demon was sealed again, and the Universe seemed to usher in a brief period of peace; at least, until everything was rewound and reset, Heaven Demon would not come out to cause trouble again.

All existences above First Grade could get a period of respite.

Therefore—

At this instant, the Human Dao began to act.

The Human Dao had waited for this opportunity for so long, precisely for the moment when 'Heaven Demon is sealed'.

When Heaven Demon was present, making a move against Li Qi was a very risky matter. Who knew what madness this lunatic would pull? If a First Grade intervened at that time, the variables would increase greatly.

However, if they waited until Heaven Demon was sealed, then the Human Dao's action would be logical.

After all... the news from the Buddhist sect had also been mostly communicated.

At this moment, Li Qi suddenly felt something was amiss, and he immediately stood up.

"Here we go." A voice sounded in Li Qi's ear.

It was Wu Lie.

"My side has already begun." At this moment, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice also sent a message to Li Qi.

Li Qi was somewhat astonished.

But he immediately replied: "I understand..."

He originally wanted to add some honorifics, but after thinking about it carefully, nothing seemed quite appropriate.

"Just call me Father-in-law," the voice said.

"Okay, Father-in-law," Li Qi said, following the other party's suggestion.

That's right, the source of this voice was Yang Zhenqian, whose true form was the Sun-Moon True Lead Cauldron.

Although his Dao path was severed, he was still a Second Grade, and at this moment, he clearly joined Li Qi's defense battle.

In addition, there were many other people.

For example... Crown Prince Changqin.

The other Second Grade and First Grade individuals, those who had been summoned by Shamansan to prepare, all began to act at this moment.

After taking a deep breath and calming himself, Li Qi also gently extended his hand.

Time to start the war.

Li Qi already understood the reason. The First Grade minds began to exchange information rapidly, sharing intelligence. Within a time incomprehensible to Mortals, they had already fully exchanged information.

The next instant, battle erupted.

————————

Regarding Li Qi's background, there were actually many 'nodes'.

For example, Li Qi, who had just woken up from the river while towing a boat, rescued from the water by Sixth Uncle.

At this moment, Li Qi had just opened his eyes, seeing the world for the first time.

Sixth Uncle next to him patted his face and said, "Young lad, what's wrong? Did you fall into the river from the boat?"

"Ah, Sixth Uncle—" Li Qi suddenly called out with a smile.

"Hmm? You recognize me, lad?" The old man named Sixth Uncle looked at Li Qi in confusion. He hadn't heard of it? Did he have such a great reputation?

"I recognize you, stay away." Li Qi gently pushed Sixth Uncle away.

In the sky above Li River, a sword shadow had already appeared.

Sixth Uncle only felt a sudden stuffiness in his chest.

Immediately after, his whole body's blood instantly boiled, like the sun falling into the water, refined by a Great Fire.

That sword shadow in the sky was like a vast Great Sun!

Countless flames erupted, and the entire Li River boiled because of it!

Li Qi clapped his hands lightly, and instantly, sweet dew fell from the sky, and everything around that was about to be incinerated settled down.

The next moment, the sword shadow struck down. Li Qi performed a spell, and an endless stream of magical power shot out from his hand, like a net, vast and mighty, forming a long river of spells, just as he had done against Canghai Jun before.

Trillions of spells condensed into a three-thousand-li long great river, rushing towards the sword shadow in the sky like a long Dragon.

The sword shadow twirled, then slashed downwards.

The blade and the long river of spells collided, crisscrossing, threads entwining, striking out countless red stardust, like a grinding stone sharpening a sword, dazzling beyond words.

In an instant, the entire Baiyue could observe this moment of Great Power's direct combat—

But... this was just a microcosm.

At the same time...

When Li Qi was being chased by Tang Nation soldiers, Chang'an drew a green sunken bow, and a fierce cold wind arose. Beasts were startled and rushed into dense trees, and wild geese rose in fright, avoiding the water islands.

Li Qi looked in the direction of Chang'an, sacrificing the Baiyue mountains to face the arrow light in the sky.

When Li Qi had just arrived at Qingwu City, unusual phenomena surged in the sky: feathers flew across the Heavenly River, shattered stars remained, thunder whips and lightning raged, disturbing the cosmic light.

Time around him stopped. Li Qi sighed. Although the battle in Great Deer Kingdom was still ongoing, the one here had to proceed simultaneously.

Moreover... the butterfly effect from Great Deer Kingdom was also affecting the current battle, because of the situation there, the state of Qingwu City here was also different.

Tsk, troublesome. Li Qi knew he had to correct these 'changes', otherwise, it would affect Shen Shuibi's past, and consequently cause problems with her memories and existence.

Although she possessed First Grade substantiality and theoretically was not afraid of reversal, she couldn't withstand the opponent directly killing her current self...

Therefore, Li Qi had to maintain these times, to ensure that the 'error' would not be too great.

This kind of game was his task in Qingwu City.

Having dispelled the opponent's spell, Li Qi thought this way, and the cosmic light began to flow again. He looked at Jin Buhuan, who was walking leisurely towards him.

This time, Jin Buhuan seemed to have met some 'capable person' and was coming for him.

Then, when Li Qi first went to the outer domain.

While still in the outer domain, unusual gravity appeared all around. Every fine particle of dust was attracted together by gravity, and the collisions during this period caused sky-high sparks. Finally, every fine particle of dust gathered to form a large mass.

Was that a... stone giant?

The immense external pressure of this thing was transmitted inward, heating the interior, emitting light, and even causing a series of explosions. Then, the giant, tens of light-years long, had its fist collapse into a Guixu.

Then it punched towards Li Qi.

If that hit, he would be swallowed by the event horizon, and it would take some effort to get out.

But at this moment, a First Grade Great Shaman appeared here and blocked the Guixu.

That giant seemed to have experienced an eternity; these large masses gradually cooled down, and even inside the Guixu, it was the same. That Guixu seemed to have passed many years in an instant, its mass exhausted by radiation, melting away.

With just a gentle touch, the giant was destroyed.

"I'll take this node," he said to Li Qi, turning back.

Li Qi nodded, his consciousness withdrawing from his current body.

Next, the node arrived at the time when Li Qi had just been observing the battle in Holy Flame World.

In Holy Flame World, the Human Dao army had long been eyeing it menacingly. Ga Ga and the entire world had been transformed into a base. The Human Dao had turned this place into a war fortress, with a First Grade stationed there.

Li Qi clicked his tongue.

"Tsk..."

However, at this moment, the Shaman's world group Formation also appeared here.

"This side is quite crucial, two of us have come." At this moment, two Great Shamanes appeared here.

"Good. It seems Human Dao only sent one. Do they intend to give up here?"

"I don't know."

In Chang'an, when Heaven Demon intervened—

No, what happened here changed, because this time, Heaven Demon did not come to Chang'an.

So, without Heaven Demon in Chang'an, this was the Human Dao's main base.

Li Qi frowned.