Chapter 997: Language

Because he had been rained on, he wanted to hold an umbrella for others—this was Li Qi's idea.

The demonic disturbances he and Shen Shuibi suffered were probably among the most severe in this world, but due to various Opportunities and their own efforts, they finally reached a point where they could catch their breath.

Yet for more people, even if they faced weaker Demonic Overlords, their specific circumstances made them harder to deal with, ultimately leading to tragic ends.

That's right, this was Li Qi's goal—

What Li Qi wanted to do was not to eradicate demons, but to pull all living beings out of the hands of the Demonic Dao.

This answer greatly surprised Shen Shuibi.

“Then... what about now?” Shen Shuibi looked at Li Qi in astonishment.

Yes, if according to the answer Li Qi gave her, then Li Qi had almost achieved his goal by now, so what were all the subsequent actions for?

No, the answer was already clear; Li Qi was just creating a diversion.

As long as he maintained the posture of demon eradication, and as long as the Demonic Dao continued to contend with Li Qi, all the time gained in between would be peaceful days for all living beings.

This was what Li Qi needed to do at this stage, and he had already quietly completed it.

He used demon eradication as a pretense to buy a period of peace; as long as Qi Palace still existed, as long as Li Qi's stance on demon eradication did not wane, and as long as the Demonic Dao was willing to contend with him in this manner, Li Qi could even drag it on forever.

“There's more than one Qi Palace?” Shen Shuibi asked, based on her guess about Li Qi.

Li Qi smiled and said, “Of course not just one. If this Qi Palace collapses, I can conjure a second one at any time, so don't worry.”

“That's good.” Shen Shuibi breathed a sigh of relief.

Since he wasn't stubbornly pursuing a direct confrontation with the Demonic Dao, basic safety could be guaranteed, and Li Qi should still have the ability to protect himself.

As for Li Qi having kept things from her before, she didn't feel anything about it.

This was quite normal, even more so for Great Powers.

“You are very real”—such words might be a compliment to Mortals, but unfortunately, in the eyes of Great Powers, “real” is not a virtue; it is merely an adverb of degree.

When times are peaceful, sincerity can move people with your true heart, but when you do certain things unknowingly, reality can become the greatest harm, truly hurting deeply then.

Keeping some things to oneself, being a bit of a riddle, is better for everyone.

One could even say that Li Qi explaining all this to Shen Shuibi here was a risk.

So the rabbit placed her finger on her temple, pulled out this thought, and crushed it between her fingers: “I'll forget this part. You be careful in your actions. I'll go first so as not to cause you trouble.”

After speaking, she left.

Li Qi took a sip of the tea the rabbit brought him.

He had indeed not lied to Shen Shuibi; the current situation was precisely what Li Qi had created to buy time, but... what is empty is real, and what is real is empty.

If the Demonic Dao truly thought he was merely doing this, he wouldn't mind immediately changing his plan and truly putting demon eradication on the agenda.

No matter how things changed, he was already prepared.

Either way, he wouldn't lose; this was a confrontation between Great Powers.

There was just one problem.

For the Demonic Dao... Li Qi still had a true weakness.

That was... desire.

As long as there was any form of desire in one's heart, any expectation for a certain future state, the heart could not be at peace.

Any desire would bring suffering; generally speaking, life was full of desires, and even with just one desire, it would be accompanied by endless pain and misfortune.

Desire was the sole source of suffering. It plunged life into darkness; it made one feel frustrated and tormented.

Freeing the mind from the shackles of desire was not easy; even acknowledging that such desire needed attention was not a simple matter. When one discovered desire in their heart, that was the best moment for the Demonic Dao to intervene, and choosing to delay the problem was tantamount to helping it take root and sprout.

Therefore, what Li Qi needed to do now was to prevent any discovered problems from taking root.

The specific method was to utilize Li Qi's own Chaos; as long as there were enough problems and thoughts, nothing could take root, and no single thought could occupy his primary mind in Li Qi's current state.

The current Li Qi was very confident.

Because, so-called leaders were actually visionaries who didn't quite understand fear, having no concept of their own chances of failure; if one couldn't do this, one couldn't be a leader.

Being timid and hesitant, thinking only of failure and not of victory, one could only become an advisor, not a leader.

The greatest advantage of a leader was the ability to paint a picture of victory for everyone, making even the most pessimistic advisor feel that their victory was hopeful; even if the advisor's reason concluded there was only a dead end, the leader could make people believe in themselves, rather than in the advisor.

As long as enough people believed in the leader, the chances of victory would truly increase.

This was the power of “language.”

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For Li Qi, language possessed such power.

And for the Demonic Dao, it was actually the same.

Language truly possessed power; words and speech were not merely simple reminders, they recreated the past in reality and gave us shocking, concentrated imagination, rather than ordinary memories.

One could even say that culture and civilization themselves were products of this 'concentrated imagination'.

History required written records, technology required written Legacy, and civilization itself was the product of the combination of technology and culture; when a civilization's writing was destroyed, that civilization was essentially destroyed.

Each new language provided a new positioning for thinking, expressing thoughts, and articulating emotions, thereby creating unique discourse symbols, ultimately becoming something unique.

Just as bamboo slips gave birth to one culture, newspapers to another, televisions to one, mobile live streaming to a new culture, and short videos differed from long videos.

Although they seemed to speak one language, the difference in medium also represented a difference in information.

From painting to hieroglyphs, from letters to television, each new medium gave birth to a new language, and a new language, in turn, gave birth to a new culture.

Under the new linguistic system, people's words were not only heard but also seen—this was no small matter, although many people did not realize it.

However, it was clear that the form of language created a new concept of knowledge, a new understanding of intelligence, audience, and the interpretation of the world.

Expressing and recording one's views through language was not the end of these views, but their beginning.

Written language allowed thoughts to easily undergo continuous and rigorous scrutiny from others. The written form solidified language, giving birth to grammar, logic, rhetoric, and a whole set of technologies that developed from them—all of which required people to have language in front of them to understand its meaning, find its errors, and grasp its revelations.

For ordinary people, such individuals might not see anything magical about writing, but imagine how peculiar and magical writing would appear to a people who only possessed oral language?

Such a conversation seemed to have no specific object, yet also seemed to address everyone.

What was stranger than the silence when problems were committed to text? What was more profound than confiding in an invisible reader, and correcting oneself knowing that an anonymous reader might object or misunderstand?

Similarly, for someone who had only seen written records, the expressive form of language known as 'video' possessed even greater impact, thus leading to the emergence of cinematic language.

And through this power, demonic thoughts itself could spread.

Through language, text, or video, information was disseminated, and information was a clear and specific description of this world; what spread through information was a part of others' inner selves.

Including the symbols that enabled conversation.

One person's thoughts infected others, like a metaphor, a subtle but powerful suggestion, yet enough to define the real world.

Whether we were through speech—

Or through printed words—

Or television, cameras, cameras—

In short, when you experienced this world through such things from others' inner selves, these spreading thoughts were, in the hearts of all beings, classifying, sorting, constructing, enlarging, shrinking, and coloring this world, and proving the reason for all existence.

There was an obvious example that could make people understand: for instance, numbers did not exist in people's minds, nor did intelligence have quantity or volume, unless we believed 'it exists'.

So why should we believe it exists?

This was because we possessed the tools of thought, a set of tools that helped us understand the outside world.

For example, the language of the natural world is mathematics; actually, saying this is just a metaphor, because the natural world itself doesn't speak, so it can't have a language. Our bodies and brains don't speak either. Our conversations about the natural world and ourselves are conducted using any “language” we find convenient.

And this language could be described as 'mathematics'.

You see, mathematics existed within the organs of thought; outside the organs of thought, outside the 'self', there was no mathematics.

Concepts, numbers, logic, all things that describe external objects, all thoughts, existed only within the organs of thought.

The natural world, wisdom, knowledge, and thoughts that we perceived were not their original forms, but their manifestations in language.

Language was the medium through which things other than the self could spread.

Or one could use another adjective to describe what was happening at this moment...

Memes.

Memes were spreading.

demonic thoughts spread along with the memes, little by little permeating everything in the mundane world.

Haha, Li Qi thought he had eradicated City of Dreams, but City of Dreams merely existed in this world in a different form.

Incubators could brew demonic thoughts; City of Dreams was just a more convenient incubator, not that there were no other incubators in this world.

For example... the construction initiated by Qi Palace.

The construction of Qi Palace was in full swing.

Mu Yu, the native Third Rank of Qi Palace, was responsible for this matter. In fact, such things were very simple for a Third Rank; if it weren't necessary to maintain the existence of Qi Palace, he alone could construct all these things.

It was merely billions of galaxies, something that could be done with a casual wave of the hand.

Unfortunately, this was like a ritual; what was important was not the ritual itself, but its symbolic meaning. The people of Qi Palace themselves were part of a Grand Ritual, a symbol created to resist the Second Rank Demonic Dao, so not only could he not do it on their behalf, but he also had to carefully maintain the existence of Qi Palace.

At this very moment, Mu Yu was focused on these matters.

As a Third Rank, his growth experience was as legendary as other Third Ranks.

Originating from City of Dreams, tormented by the Demonic Dao his entire life, but ultimately emerging on his own, he felt he possessed extraordinary abilities and tried to join the Human Dao.

He succeeded; he was recognized by the Human Dao, became a part of the Human Dao, and with the help of the Human Dao's resources, he became a Fifth Rank.

After that, his goal was to become an Imperial Grand Martial Master, but after joining the training camp, he quickly realized that this goal was beyond his own capabilities.

The people around him were all monsters, each with talent on the level of one in a trillion.

Insufficient strength made him suffer greatly during this process, eventually leading to demonic thoughts invading his mind, his Dao Heart collapsing, and him refusing the Human Dao's rescue and psychological assistance, abandoning his identity as a 'human'.

Thus, he turned to pursue his own Martial Dao path; however, he did not waste his time during this period in the Human Dao.

The martial arts he learned within the Human Dao were extraordinary, and thanks to the excellent cultivation environment and the Human Dao's resources, he learned many things in his spare time, all of which greatly benefited him.

Later, he joined Qi Palace, all because of his experiences with the Demonic Dao when he was young. On this path, Mu Yu was not alone; thousands of others were also seeking answers to similar problems. They were all volunteers, most not as outstanding as Mu Yu, but they all had similar experiences.

However, even with Mu Yu's excellence, he now encountered an enormous problem.

That was, during the construction process, many people developed paranoid conditions.

Including Mu Yu, he found himself losing his sanity, his anxiety growing more severe; he had almost forgotten what it felt like to have a good night's sleep.

Therefore, he knew almost immediately that this was the Demonic Dao's counterattack.

He had no evidence, but he didn't need any.

So, he immediately began to contact Li Qi.

However, at that very moment, a thought popped into his head.

“Senior Li Qi... does he truly want to eradicate demons?”

This should not have been doubted; Li Qi's demon eradication actions had no questionable points whatsoever.

But... it always felt a bit mysterious.