Bad News

Forty-six days.

Forty-six days have passed.

Li Qi traversed every inch of Guangyang.

Since then, he has been burying himself in sorting out and refining all the procedures for constructing a grand ceremony.

This is an extremely difficult thing.

His hair was a mess, and his eyes were bloodshot, but they still looked bright and alert. He looked a little tired, but he was still quick and his reactions were not affected.

He buried himself in countless files, meticulously refining everything that needed to be done for this ritual.

Offering sacrifices to Heaven with burning firewood, offering sacrifices to Earth with burial offerings, offering sacrifices to the seasonal calf, offering sacrifices to the altars for cold and heat, offering sacrifices to the palace for the sun, offering sacrifices to the moon at night, offering sacrifices to the stars in the netherworld, offering sacrifices to the rain for drought and flood, offering sacrifices to the four altars for the four seasons, and offering sacrifices to all the gods under Heaven.

This is called a sacrifice.

Those who benefit the people with their laws are worshipped; those who serve diligently to the death are worshipped; those who stabilize the country with their labor are worshipped; those who can ward off great disasters are worshipped; those who can defend against great calamities are worshipped; and the heavens, earth, the four directions, mountains, and rivers are worshipped in due season.

This is called a sacrifice.

Distinguishing these differences and then arranging different sizes according to specific circumstances, a grand ceremony requires piecing together countless individual small ceremonies and rituals, and all parties must coordinate according to certain standards to jointly complete the ceremony, which is quite complicated.

When Li Qi was in Lizhou City, the annual River Opening ceremony was actually a routine sacrificial ritual.

The entire city, hundreds of thousands of people, were mobilized, each with their own duties. There were specific plans for what each person and each gang would do, and when they would do it.

Even what to eat that day was dictated by custom.

In this way, the River Opening ceremony could be carried out to such an extent that both the Spirit of the Lishui River and the Prefect of Li Prefecture would benefit greatly, and the people below, such as boatmen like Li Qi, could also share in the benefits and receive rewards and meat.

It's like a festival like the Ghost Festival, where the whole world holds ceremonies on that day, and everyone burns paper money, worships ancestors, and offers sacrifices.

Such grand sacrifices, involving countless people simultaneously, are incredibly complex. Even the rituals vary from place to place depending on the region and country, but these differences are precisely what the entire grand sacrifice requires.

Just thinking about it makes it clear that mobilizing everyone in the world to do one thing simultaneously, with each person having a different role, and then solidifying all of that...

I don't know how it spread to the whole world... anyway, it just became a 'custom'.

What Li Qi is going to do now is the same thing, only on a smaller scale.

The promotion of the Ghost Festival at Wushen Mountain extends to the entire world.

Li Qi, on the other hand, was to plan everything that tens of millions of people in Guangyang would do in a single day.

On that day, everyone must follow his instructions, perform various rituals, produce different effects, and create different atmospheres.

All these energies will be directed by Li Qi to converge at the main altar in the center, where subtle reactions will occur between the different energies, ultimately achieving the result he desires.

Just by hearing about it, you can tell how complicated it is, and the amount of calculation required is countless.

What kind of ritual will produce what kind of atmosphere?

The generated gas, what other gases combine with it, what reactions occur, and what are the effects of these reactions?

This chain reaction, which spreads infinitely, has hundreds of millions of nodes, each with different effects, and will then link with other nodes.

It's really difficult to be completely thorough just by reading books; you have to try things out little by little on a small scale.

While organizing this knowledge, Li Qi made arrangements step by step according to the actual situation in Guangyang, even down to a specific village or a specific street in the county town.

Actually, it shouldn't have been this meticulous; being too meticulous would only make mistakes. But Li Qi had to be lenient in his assessment of the enemy, so he started with meticulousness to determine the effect, and then gradually made modifications to increase the margin for error.

This increased his workload by more than ten times, but it effectively reduced the risks.

But the consequence of this was that he had to hurry.

More than forty days have passed.

If this design work is delayed for a year, the number of people who starve to death will be far more than 100,000.

Moreover, once the design is completed, it still needs to be implemented, which will take even longer.

We must hurry, very quickly, because once everyone is dead, everything that happened before will be a joke.

So apart from necessary meals and rest, Li Qi devoted almost all his time to this.

Just as Li Qi was working diligently, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Mr. Li... it's time for lunch." A maid came in carrying some broth and meat patties.

These things were far too simple for lunch and were not at all befitting Li Qi's status.

However, this was Li Qi's special request. If every meal were to be prepared according to the normal standards, then the time required for eating would be too long.

Meat patties, meat broth, and some vegetables—a meal can be finished in just a few bites, very efficient.

"Oh, thank you." Li Qi looked up from his endless reading and smiled as he accepted the food.

Li Qi has been working here for over a month.

However, during this long period of time, Li Qi spent all his time reading materials he had gathered from various sources, except for meals.

These materials include not only the book "Zhu", but also some documents and ancient books that he asked his senior, Le Ya, to collect, including some secret materials inside Wushen Mountain, including some sacrificial points, arrangement methods and various experiences written by the Great Shaman himself.

This is the advantage of having a powerful force.

These books alone, even just a few words from them, would be enough to cause a bloodbath if they were released outside.

Li Qi could casually look through and even pick and choose from such precious items.

The materials were far more numerous than he had imagined, probably a hundred or two hundred million words, and every word was precious and extremely refined. Each one had to be carefully savored to understand it, and could not be read at a glance.

Some even come with pictures and videos, and some are even holographic illusions that play out the situation directly in your mind for a real-life demonstration, which is very advanced.

But that would be a waste of even more time.

He needs to find the key part as soon as possible; this cannot be delayed.

So, just like now, Li Qi spent all his time reading these materials without sleep, except when he was eating, not daring to miss a single word.

Even while eating, he would watch TV.

I casually tore the meat patty apart, swallowed it whole along with the soup, and finished it all in a little over a minute. That was my meal.

The maid beside him looked at Li Qi with some concern. "Mr. Li... you're pushing yourself too hard. Why don't you rest for a bit?"

"No need to worry, you may go now," Li Qi shook his head and replied casually.

"Yes." The maid dared not say anything more and left the room.

Outside the room, Shen Shuibi was sitting at a stone table in the courtyard.

Seeing the maid come out, she turned her head and asked, "The same answer as before?"

"It's the same, sir... I'm afraid you'll still have to persuade him yourself," the maid replied fearfully.

"No need to persuade me, what's the point of persuading me?" Shen Shuibi tilted her head. "You can go now, you don't need to come back, I can handle things here."

"Yes." The maid nodded, then retreated in a state of fear and trepidation.

It would be best if we didn't have to come here.

I heard that Young Master Li was someone who was going to do great things. Every time I was by his side, I felt a sense of pressure. Every time he spoke, my heart would pound.

She was nervous. If she didn't come again, although she felt a little disappointed, she would also feel much more relaxed.

However... I've heard from many people that this Mr. Li is a saint-like person, so he wouldn't be beaten to death for making a mistake.

I heard he's so busy now because of the whole of Guangyang.

But she was somewhat skeptical.

The entire Guangyang... is so vast, what can a mere one person possibly accomplish?

The maidservant withdrew, filled with questions.

Meanwhile, Shen Shuibi tidied herself up and went inside.

Li Qi frowned, not even looking up. "Is there something you need? If it's not urgent, it's best not to come in except for two meals a day."

However, it was not the maid's voice that answered Li Qi, but Shen Shuibi's.

"It's me," she said.

"Ah?" Li Qi stopped what he was doing and looked up at Shen Shuibi: "Ah, Miss Shen, what brings you here?"

Shen Shuibi walked over to Li Qi, pulled up a stool, sat down next to him, and picked up a book. "Let me help you."

Li Qi chuckled and shook his head, "You wouldn't..."

"So you have to teach me, I learn very quickly," Shen Shuibi replied matter-of-factly, then opened the book.

Li Qi immediately realized that Shen Shuibi was serious.

He immediately said, "This is a secret of Wushen Mountain; these books are all—"

However, before he could finish speaking, Shen Shuibi had already pointed a finger at his forehead.

Suddenly, a divine will appeared in his mind, but he didn't have time to read the contents and could only recognize the five words on the cover.

The Polaris Golden Core Method

This is... the fundamental Dharma of Mount Luofu?!

I've said that before.

The celestial pole is the center of the heavens, which remains unmoved throughout eternity. All the stars revolve around it, and each rotation is called a "cycle of the heavens".

Mount Luofu uses the celestial pole as a metaphor for the golden elixir, and the self is the center of the universe, with all things revolving around it.

It emphasizes self-cultivation to the point of being unmoved by appearances and having a calm mind. This is the essence of self-cultivation, where one is tempered as the "extreme" of all things.

This--

While Li Qi was still in shock, Shen Shuibi spoke up:

"This is the fundamental method of Mount Luofu. In that case, Great Shaman and diviners should have nothing to say."

Upon hearing this, Li Qi was speechless, unsure of what to say.

He had nothing more to say.

Shen Shuibi ignored all that and instead opened the book and began to study it.

Even if she started learning from scratch, she felt that she would definitely be faster than Li Qi.

Li Qi took a deep breath.

Since Shen Shuibi has already gone this far, there's no need to say anything more. Let's speed things up.

In the study late at night, only the sounds of the two reading and studying could be heard.

Occasionally, Shen Shuibi's voice could be heard asking questions.

"What use is sacrificial offering?"

"Sacrifice is added to the offering."

"Oh."

Time passed by, bit by bit.

Another month has passed.

During their time together, Li Qi truly realized just how... intelligent Shen Shuibi was.

Her ability in this area is simply unbelievable.

Everything is easy to understand and master.

Learning by analogy is easy; in most cases, one can gain in-depth knowledge simply by reading books; and among hundreds of thousands of choices, one can 'guess' the correct answer purely by guessing and deduction.

Li Qi couldn't even remember how many scenarios she predicted had occurred. She predicted many wrong things purely through numerology, helping Li Qi avoid countless detours.

Everything is so peaceful here.

Twenty more days have passed.

However, things are a bit more complicated in Le Ya's case.

This fifth-rank Shaman who came from Wushen Mountain was tasked with protecting the Daoist priest of Bo Yue.

Of course, because he had wronged Li Qi, he made a promise to Li Qi to help him complete this grand sacrifice.

He originally thought this shouldn't be a problem. His job was to get this promising young master to focus on completing his work, a grand ceremony that could be considered the pinnacle among the ninth-rank officials.

This score would probably get you a perfect score at Wushen Mountain.

He provided whatever help or information the young master needed.

Le Ya was confident in his abilities, believing he could easily protect his opponent and ensure the completion of this grand ritual.

He can ensure that no external factors can interfere with his arrival here.

If anyone dares to interfere with the grand ceremony at this moment, such as the Swallowing Heaven Demon Nest or a national war, he will rip their head off as a warning to others.

Given his abilities, it's not difficult.

The Sky Swallowing Demon Lord's strength is no less than his, but if the other party were of sound mind, he would not come here at this time.

As for the so-called 'kings' of the Baiyue, they were nothing but clay chickens and earthen dogs.

The problem is that all of this is based on 'normal circumstances'.

The current situation is somewhat difficult.

That Shen Shuibi from Mount Luofu... actually handed over the Polaris Golden Core Method.

What's this?

Headache.

Wushen Mountain wouldn't stoop so low as to ask a young master to give up his private property; that would be too beneath him.

It's like a child earning two hundred yuan in pocket money outside; any parent with a shred of decency wouldn't ask their child for that two hundred yuan.

Even if the Polaris Golden Core Method is a method to activate the Sun Moon True Lead Cauldron, it doesn't matter.

The Sun Moon True Lead Cauldron is a second-grade Law Treasure in the hands of Lady Luofu, but the Shaman are only treacherous in their actions; they are still upright in their personal conduct and would not take advantage of someone's misfortune to forcibly seize it.

In short, whether it's the young master's or Lady Luofu's private property, Wushen Mountain will definitely not be touched.

The problem is... that might not be the case in the Tang Kingdom.

The Sun Moon True Lead Cauldron contains a secret, the exact nature of which Le Ya does not know. He only knows that it is the fundamental reason for the destruction of Mount Luofu and the reason why the Tang Kingdom was determined to destroy Mount Luofu.

Now that the Polaris Golden Core Method has been leaked, Wushen Mountain has a way to activate the Sun Moon True Lead Cauldron.

Without a doubt, given the capabilities of the Tang Kingdom's Bureau of Astronomy, they must have already discovered this matter through cause and effect.

If this had happened within the mountain gate, everything would have been fine. At most, it would have meant a complete breakdown in relations. Could it have led to a fight all the way to Wushen Mountain?

But now, it's happening in Baiyue...

Le Ya covered his face in pain.

He has already reported it to the mountain gate.

What happens next is no longer up to him.

As for the young master's grand ceremony...

Let fate decide.