First Audience with the Shamanic God

Nuo Ritual is a ceremony to expel diseases, regulate the Qi of the Four Seasons, and harmonize Yin and Yang and Feng Shui. As the saying goes, "Nuo rituals are performed in all four seasons, with the nine gates being opened and the spring breeze blowing to frighten and drive away the evil spirits of plague."

To expel the plague demon, one must erect a peachwood figure, reed rope, stag beetle, tiger, umbrella, banner, and lamps, etc., wear a crown and mask, wear a bear fur coat, hold a spear, and make the sound "Nuo, Nuo" to drive away the demon.

Nuo Ritual are large-scale sacrifices, usually requiring thousands of people to carry out. In certain seasons, they can even reach the level of "grand sacrifices," requiring hundreds of thousands or even millions of people to participate.

But why is there Nuo Ritual in front of this giant?

"Seniors, why... is there Nuo Ritual here? And what exactly are these creatures performing the Nuo ritual? They don't seem like ghosts, but they're not gods either, nor are they witches. They're such strange things." Li Qi finally couldn't help but ask.

Upon hearing Li Qi's question, the two Wu Yu exchanged glances, seemingly exchanging a few words.

Then, the two of them confirmed some things and said to Li Qi, "Young master, you are mistaken. This is not Nuo, but Yang."

(Note: "shang" means "" means killing men by force. It is said that it is difficult to spread the word to drive away the epidemic and drive away ghosts who have died by force.)

Li Qi's expression immediately darkened.

He understood.

The Shang Ritual is similar to the Nuo Ritual, but its nature is completely different.

Yang is the name of a powerful ghost.

Nuo Ritual are rituals performed regularly to drive away common evil spirits and plagues.

The Shang Ritual is a ritual to expel powerful ghosts. It is a ritual performed only when encountering a particularly troublesome ghost that has died violently. It is more complex and more dangerous.

So, considering what these two Wu Yu said earlier... the Witch God is currently in a somewhat precarious situation.

Is this the situation?

What kind of 'ghost' could influence the state of a witch god?

Li Qi felt a chill run down his spine, but could only sigh.

There's nothing he can do; he can't interfere.

The gap is too big; all we can do is pray for the Witch God.

Seemingly noticing Li Qi's dejection, one of the Wu Yu finally spoke up.

She said, "Young master, there is no need to worry. This matter is not about making enemies or anything else, but simply the choice of the Great Earth Shamanic God."

Upon hearing this, Li Qi looked up and asked, "The choice of the Great Earth Shamanic God? What do you mean by that?"

He didn't know who the Great Earth Shamanic God was, but he guessed it was the same god he was going to meet this time.

Wu Yu continued to explain, "Buddhism and Daoism forge hell, and the divine path creates reincarnation. While bringing all the heavens back to the rule of reincarnation, it also brings many drawbacks, such as the appearance of 'ghosts'."

"Reincarnation is flawed. During the month, when the sun travels through the Pleiades, trillions of ghosts gather underground, and the Yin Qi spreads between heaven and earth. The accumulated corpses in the Great Mausoleum, once the energy dissipates, will cause fierce ghosts to emerge."

"If left unchecked, the Yin Qi will move to the right and operate naturally. It will encounter the two stars of Life and Death in the north of the Void, the two stars of Prosperity in the north of Life and Death, the two stars of Danger in the north of Prosperity, and the two stars of Center in the north of Danger. The energy will pass through the Void and Danger, and the energy of the four stars of Void and Danger will become a great calamity. At that time, all the heavens will be out of balance of Yin and Yang, and the gates of hell will be wide open."

"The Great Earth Shamanic God could not bear to see this scene, so he used the Wushen Mountain as a hub, shouldered the cycle of reincarnation, lifted up the Yin Qi of reincarnation with one hand, and used his own Shang Ritual to dissipate it."

"The ghosts and strange beasts that are two or three miles long are all formed from the Yin Qi. Just passing by them requires bearing a huge amount of pressure. That's why you wear the Zhaotai Armor, young master, to prevent the Yin Qi entering your body and contaminating your inner world."

Listening to Wu Yu say these things, Li Qi looked again at the giant that supported the base of Wushen Mountain.

So, is this giant the Great Earth Shamanic God?

Li Qi scrutinized his body.

He was a bit big, but overall he was a capable-looking man, around forty or fifty years old, without a beard but with long hair.

His hair swayed in the breeze of countless energy streams, occasionally brushing against his muscles.

His body was quite strong, but not overly powerful; his muscles were well-proportioned, exuding a sense of power, and... a certain rhythm that was hard to describe.

His presence seemed to be changing the world around him.

While observing the Witch God, Li Qi was led by the two Wu Yu and walked forward for about three hundred miles. At this distance, the body of the Great Earth Shamanic God almost blocked all sight.

You can't see the whole picture of his body at all.

Imagine, a giant over a thousand miles tall, standing upright, could cross a strait with a single outstretched hand, and lying on the ground could flatten an entire province.

With an ordinary mortal body, it would be impossible to perceive his full appearance simply by getting close.

What can be seen more clearly now is the boundless horde of ghosts.

From a distance, all you could see were groups of ghosts all around.

But only upon closer inspection can one realize just how terrifying the numbers are.

It covers an area of thousands of miles around, numbering in the tens of thousands.

The Yin Qi was rampant, lingering day and night, and all sorts of ghosts and monsters, ugly and unspeakable.

These ghosts, black in color and fat in shape, resembled both humans and beasts. Each of them exuded a huge amount of Yin Qi, wore masks, and were all thousands of meters tall, dancing a strange dance in the boundless darkness.

This scene is unsettling no matter how you look at it.

Li Qi also saw a giant ghost that suddenly lost its strength while jumping, collapsed with a thud, and then the Yin Qi dissipated, and a surge of energy rushed out, as if it wanted to devour the heavens and the earth.

But soon, this malevolent Yin Qi completely dissipated, dispersed by the immense pressure surrounding them.

Li Qi estimated that it might take many, many years for the substance to slowly diffuse to the ground and then be neutralized little by little, without having a significant impact.

This "many, many years" is from his current perspective as an immortal being.

It will probably take... hundreds of thousands of years?

They moved forward a little further.

At Li Qi's pace, he probably walked about twenty li.

Upon arriving at this point, the two Wu Yu finally stopped. "We have arrived. Young master, please go alone. Just walk in the direction of the Great Earth Shamanic God, and when you are close enough, the God will descend upon you."

"Thank you both for showing us the way," Li Qi said, expressing his gratitude. "Without further ado, I'll be setting off now."

The Wu Yu said, "After you finish talking, please come back here. We will wait here and take you to the ground when you return."

Li Qi nodded, indicating that he understood.

Then he set off, heading in the direction of the giant.

We rushed along, but the further we went, the less we could see.

Under the giant's enormous body, all the scenery disappeared, and nothing could be seen except the giant.

It's like when a person stands on Earth, no matter how they look, they can only see the scenery of Earth.

When something is too big, you can't see anything outside of it.

Upon seeing the body of the witch god concealed, Li Qi, a genius, suddenly understood something.

No wonder, no wonder they had to go out and gain experience.

Perhaps this is the reason for going out to gain experience.

When what protects you is too powerful, it can actually obscure your vision, making it impossible for you to see anything clearly.

We must go out and explore; only by going out can we see more.

The more you see, the more you understand.

Only then can we go far.

Wushen Mountain is like this giant.

If you stay in the mountains, all you'll see is this giant.

You can't see any of the vast world outside.

Li Qi's remarkable ability to make connections led him to this point by associating the giant's body with this.

However, just as he was thinking, a voice suddenly rang in his mind.

The voice said, "Just by looking at my body, you were able to comprehend the principles on your own. You truly deserve to be called a genius who has reached the seventh rank in less than four years of cultivation."

Upon hearing this voice, Li Qi immediately stopped and bowed deeply to the giant.

"This humble one, Li Qi, pays his respects to the God of Sorcery!"

The Witch God is the pinnacle of the Shaman Path. The three main branches of the Shaman Path, as well as thousands of other branches large and small, all have their own names before the second rank, such as Pray person, Shaman, Wu Yu, and Ancestor.

However, after the time of the Witch God, all the titles would converge on one point, and there would be no more distinction; they would all be called the Witch God.

This unique nature has led to various interpretations circulating outside the community. Sometimes they are described as being of the highest rank, sometimes as something ethereal and unreal, and sometimes as surpassing even the highest rank. There is no definitive answer.

In short, compared to a confirmed first-rank official, the existence of the sorcerer god seems more like a legend.

Of course, as the founder of Wushen Mountain, Li Qi knew that Wushen did indeed exist, and that it was of the first rank, at the pinnacle of the current cultivation system's Ninth Rank Classification Method.

The Ninth Rank Classification Method divides each grade based on a qualitative change, with the difference between each grade being so great that it's like ascending to heaven.

Indeed, this is the case. Theoretically, in a world without ranks, if you want to improve your rank, you have to 'ascend' to a new ninth-rank world that can accommodate you and support your cultivation.

However, even Li Qi didn't know exactly how many witch gods there were.

This was the first Great Earth Shamanic God he had ever seen.

Shouldering the burden of reincarnation, supporting the Wushen Mountain, to resolve the afflictions and negative Yin Qi within the cycle of reincarnation for all beings.

What a gentle sorceress she is!

Faced with the sudden sound, Li Qi finished his greeting and stood up.

Then he saw a white light appear before him.

The white light stood out starkly against the surrounding darkness, but Li Qi recognized it immediately upon seeing it – it was the will of the Witch God.

The Great Earth Shamanic God's will had just landed when it suddenly transformed into human form and naturally uttered a voice. "Young Master Li Qi, we finally meet. It's truly not easy for you to come all this way."

Upon hearing this, Li Qi immediately lowered his head. "Why does the Witch God say such a thing?"

What does the boss mean by that? He hasn't been ignoring orders or proclamations, has he? Didn't he come as soon as he was called?

Saying it's not easy to see me doesn't sound like a nice thing to say.

And what does "finally arrived" mean?

I've only been with Wushen Mountain for less than four years. For Wushen, is the word 'finally' even appropriate?

Li Qi was filled with doubt and some fear.

However, the witch god's attitude should be good.

After all, he even took the initiative to transform into human form, probably so that I could relax a bit when talking to him.

The Great Earth Shamanic God heard the fear in Li Qi's words, so he explained, "That's not what I meant. I just mean that if we want you to come, we have to persuade the other gods, which is no easy task."

Li Qi relaxed a little after hearing this.

So that's how it is.

"What does the sorcerer have to tell me when he summoned me here?" Li Qi asked immediately.

The Great Earth Shamanic God smiled and said in a gentle tone, "I just want to see what the most famous young master of this generation is like. Your reputation has already spread among the great shamans."

"The fastest cultivator in several eras, he reached the first rank in a year and directly jumped to the seventh rank in three years. He was coveted by the Heavenly Demons, had close ties with Mount Luofu, happened to know the Polaris Golden Core Method, and possessed the Great Dao Opportunity... He carried the karma of the Dragon Spirit on his back, cultivated five Great Daos at the same time, and his human body was a microcosm, yet it remained undisturbed."

"To be honest, with your background, would it be offensive to say that I'm just curious and want to meet you?"

Li Qi didn't know what to say, so he immediately cupped his hands and said, "Of course not. If the God of Witchcraft wants to know the details, Li Qi will tell you everything he knows."

He didn't know what to say, he just wanted to sweat.

In his own subjective opinion, these things were nothing, but now that they were being said to him, he realized that they seemed a bit outrageous.

The Great Earth Shamanic God said, "I may know the details better than you do, but some things can only be known by seeing them with your own eyes. However, when I saw you, I already knew."

Li Qi nodded and said nothing more.

There's no point in saying anything in front of the sorcerer god; it's better to just let him achieve his goal honestly, since there's nothing we can do about it anyway.

Thus, an eerie silence fell between the Great Earth Shamanic God and Li Qi.

The Great Earth Shamanic God simply watched Li Qi quietly.

Although Li Qi felt nothing, he knew that the Witch God was using his own methods to thoroughly examine every cell in Li Qi's body.

This is what he meant by 'seeing it with his own eyes'.

What Li Qi himself knows, or what he doesn't know, the Witch God will know.

The silence lasted for about five minutes.

Li Qi suddenly felt that the demonic energy that he couldn't expel from his body was being drawn by a powerful yet gentle force.

Previously, in the face of the Heavenly Demon, Li Qi had no choice but to use these demonic energies in order to reconstruct the microcosm of his human body.

This also resulted in a significant portion of his cultivation being composed of demonic energy.

However, now, all of this demonic energy has been driven away.

Most importantly, it has no side effects.

Normally, extracting the energy that constructs the microcosm of the human body in this way would directly lead to its collapse, resulting in the loss of all cultivation and death.

However, for every wisp of demonic energy drawn away, a perfectly balanced wisp of natural energy would replenish it.

These natural energies are extremely pure, including water energy, Fire Qi, divine energy, and so on. They completely replaced the original demonic energy without producing any side effects.

This is an extremely precise surgery. If I had to describe it, it would be like examining all the cells in your body with the naked eye, then opening the nucleus of each cell one by one, extracting DNA fragments from the nucleus, picking out the mutated ones, and then replacing them with healthy ones.

In reality, it will only be more difficult, because these demonic energies are left behind by the Heavenly Demon, and every wisp of them must be directly confronted by the Heavenly Demon!

Li Qi is currently undergoing such surgery.

The Great Earth Shamanic God seems to be trying to completely eradicate all the demonic influences within him!