Dining Hall Encounter

Time is up?

Li Qi didn't react for a moment.

But he immediately realized—

That's true.

Judging by the time, the Green Mountain God should be arriving in the Sacred Flame Realm around that time.

There is a difference in the cosmic light between the two sides, and the flow of time is different. More than half a year has passed on my side, while more than a year has passed on their side. Even without the Fast Universe, those kings should have arrived by now.

"Indeed, I'm about to go on vacation too. According to the original plan, I will bring some students from the Imperial Academy, as well as another fifth-rank official, to help. We shouldn't be afraid. At that time, we might not even need to fight. Everyone can just come forward and make peace." Li Qi said to the rabbit.

"It's good that you have plans, but you can come earlier. I'm just worried that the passages around here might be blocked, and it might take longer to get here. Although I've already set up a large array around here using the World Barrier, it should be fine for the next two or three years, but it's still better to come sooner," the rabbit said.

Li Qi naturally agreed.

The two then discussed some serious matters, including the specific arrangements for the Sacred Flame Realm, the current world situation, and what Li Qi was currently doing, his progress in cultivation, and so on.

Although they tacitly avoided discussing Li Qi's disappearance over the past two weeks, there was still a lot to talk about.

About half Chen later, the main business was finally brought to a close.

Both of them are people who can distinguish between what's important and what's not, so they don't get bogged down in irrelevant conversations.

But this also creates a problem—

That is, the conversation, which was supposed to be relaxed and stress-free, came to an end, and the scene fell into an awkward silence.

Well...

Neither of them knew how to begin.

Logically, they should be talking about everyday things now, but they aren't carefree people. What happened to Li Qi can't be ignored, and they can't skip over that to talk about what they ate tonight.

Trying to talk about everyday things now would only make both of us uncomfortable, and would feel like we're deceiving ourselves.

But we can't actually talk about that matter, because Li Qi has already said we can't say it.

Shen Shuibi, who was familiar with high-level experts, naturally knew that this was something that truly could not be said.

Li Qi is likely involved in a power struggle between first and second-rank officials. The mere existence of this matter has already made Shen Shuibi extremely anxious, leaving her with even less inclination to discuss those trivial matters.

After all, smart people don't need to say many things. If Li Qi were to ask now, "Are you doing well over there?", it would only make things more awkward.

Don't the two of them know whether it's good or bad? Rabbit is a dignified fifth-rank, and her mere existence in Sixth-Rank World would bring enormous pressure to the world. Who else could make her life miserable?

So the two of them were stuck in an awkward situation.

They couldn't say what they wanted to say, so they could only stare at each other blankly.

However, Li Qi finally broke the awkward silence.

"On my end, nothing major has happened. The conflicts have been mostly resolved. However, I contacted a fifth-rank Flower Goddess. With her mediation and promotion, the Holy Flame and the Witchcraft Silkworm should have no trouble finding a market."

"Look, in just over two years, we've already earned enough to build a Sixth-Rank World. If we continue down this path, earning enough to build a fifth-grade world in two or three hundred years shouldn't be a problem."

"Money is something that will definitely grow exponentially. Once we scale up and the snowball starts rolling, even if we don't talk about paying off debts, at least we can make life better for the people of Mount Luofu, so they don't have to borrow money to heal their wounds," Li Qi said.

Seeing that Li Qi was approaching the issue from this angle, Shen Shuibi nodded. "Yes, if it develops, that's certainly a viable approach, but we still need to be vigilant. If we don't have the strength, it's like a child carrying gold through a busy street, which can easily cause a lot of trouble."

This is, after all, a world where individual power is paramount; if someone really wants to take action, there's nothing you can do.

Besides, the high-level cultivators that Li Qi is currently in contact with are all good people, or at the very least, they have their own principles. But that's because he is in contact with the Dao Lineage, and these Dao Lineage themselves are a guarantee.

But in all the myriad realms, there are countless Dao Lineage that disregard personal morality; if you walk the dark path too often, you're bound to encounter a ghost.

Therefore, Li Qi continued, "I've also considered this. We have a teacher backing us up, so without saying too much, we should be able to suppress the last Fourth-Rank World. We'll stop then and use these resources to rebuild the power of Mount Luofu. Doesn't Granny Mei still have a fourth-grade world? There are still several hundred people left, plus spirit beasts, there are definitely several thousand, which should be enough to support a mountain gate."

After all, Mount Luofu was once a powerful force with a second-rank leader. As one of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens of Daoism, it had a top-rank second-rank leader in charge, as well as several third-rank leaders, including Lady Luofu. It had a profound foundation.

Even if it were cleaved by the Human Emperor Sword, it would still be a giant. If it could weather this period and allow the people of Mount Luofu to get involved and restore the normal operation of the mountain gate, then Li Qi wouldn't need to worry about it anymore.

This was Li Qi's idea.

How could Li Qi possibly earn money to pay off his debts? Just the expenses of treating Lady Luofu, a third-rank official, and the money for a spiritual peak and hundreds of grotto-heavens on Wushen Mountain, would probably take Li Qi ten thousand years to earn.

Therefore, Li Qi's plan is to pave the way for them and, incidentally, have Mount Luofu overcome its current difficulties.

Once they get through this period, the remaining people of Mount Luofu will be able to recover and continue expanding along this path. Even if they can't pay off their debts, they can at least maintain the mountain's invincibility.

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too. So when Yang Ning came last time, I told her about this and asked her to go back and inform Granny Mei and the others that we might have to develop our business outside the region in the future," Rabbit said.

Upon hearing this, Li Qi finally remembered.

When I met Yang Ning at Wushen Mountain, she said she was going to the Sacred Flame Realm. Judging from this, she has already arrived and returned after finishing her business.

"Has Yang Ning already gone back?" Li Qi asked.

"She went back. I was thinking that the two of us alone can't make it. We've already paved a way with your help, but we still have to walk the rest ourselves," the rabbit said.

While saying these things, Shen Shuibi was also observing the situation on Li Qi's side.

Li Qi was still the same, but... he was a bit paler than before.

Speaking of which, the affairs of the Sacred Flame Realm were all thanks to his help... Shen Shuibi herself certainly couldn't have imagined it; she had no concept of it at all.

From the implementation of the plan to the determination of the goals and the subsequent arrangements, Li Qi basically handled everything. Rabbit was only responsible for providing the labor, since she really didn't understand these things.

The target was identified through Li Qi's friend, the fortune teller, Zhong Minglou.

The measures taken against the Sacred Flame Realm were also decided by him.

"What do you mean by 'borrowing my power'? According to you, I also survived by borrowing your power. We are one now, so how can you make such a distinction?" Li Qi corrected the rabbit after hearing its words.

After listening, the rabbit thought for a moment.

Then she nodded and said, "That's true... Let's finish what we're doing first. When exactly are you coming here?"

"At the latest, this month," Li Qi said.

"That's good. Also... although I can't say right now, I do know more secrets than you do. If you really encounter something important that you can't figure out, you should still talk to me about it." After considering it for a moment, the rabbit still said these words.

Li Qi remained silent for a while after hearing this.

Some things, just by knowing them, will inevitably lead to involvement and consequences.

"You said it yourself, we are one, so why can't we say it?" the rabbit said again.

Having said all that, Li Qi stopped being coy. "Okay, if there's anything I can't resolve, I won't hide it from you."

"Okay." The rabbit didn't say anything more, but simply stretched out its hand. "Then I'll wait for you here."

"I will get there as soon as possible," Li Qi replied earnestly.

The two said nothing more and each turned off their communication.

I've said pretty much everything I needed to say.

Li Qi lay in bed, pondering how to handle the situation.

Well, since we've already agreed, if we really encounter something we can't handle, we should still tell her.

As for bearing the consequences...

The rabbit himself said that the two of them were originally one, so what else is there for him to be coy about?

I should hurry up and practice. I've just learned so much recently, I need to put it into practice as soon as possible.

Li Qi got up, sat cross-legged, and began to examine the microcosm of the human body.

The transformation after advancing to the seventh rank is not yet complete, and now there are changes brought about by the concept of limits. All of these need to be put into practice in order to be transformed into actual combat power, and also to verify whether what I have comprehended is actually useful.

Four days isn't enough time to make many changes, but it's good for a localized experiment.

Li Qi wasted not a single minute of the time that followed, devoting almost all of it to improving the human body's inner world.

However, this is not a task that can be completed in three or four days. It may take decades to completely reconstruct the microcosm of the human body. Therefore, Li Qi focused most of his work on a small part of the task.

First, we need to calculate the boundary between the virtual and the real within the microcosm of the human body.

This wasn't difficult at all; Li Qi quickly found this delicate boundary, but... this boundary was ridiculously large.

The calculated limit, which aims to transform the ethereal energy into a physical form... even if Li Qi were drained dry, he couldn't create a single small stone.

Therefore, we can temporarily set aside the idea of turning the abstract into the concrete and focus on building up our foundation first.

Therefore, based on various boundaries, the meridians, blood vessels, and various convergence points of Qi in the body are divided, making them distinct and no longer interfering with each other, so as to achieve perfect operation.

Although current control cannot achieve true perfection, this may reduce a lot of 'compensation'.

For example, when lifting heavy objects, the muscles can't hold on, so the ligaments and joints compensate to help the person hold on, but this causes a lot of wear and tear.

Temporarily eliminating this connection allows you to focus on exercising the specific muscle group you want to target during your workout.

At the same time, when necessary, removing these planned boundaries and making compensation a holistic behavior can enable the body to withstand greater pressure.

Having determined the direction of this recuperation, Li Qi immediately began his secluded cultivation.

Adjust the circulation of various types of Qi, and arrange the energy operation mechanism in the body in a more Daoist way.

Modify muscles and bones to correspond with the inner microcosm of the human body...

Lay a solid foundation step by step to prepare for future changes.

Li Qi has been doing this for the past few days.

However, he also used his free time, such as during meals, to think about other things.

That is... the 'boundary' between spiritual entities and material entities.

I still don't quite understand the question of 'who I am,' but I can delve deeper into it now, unlike before when I was completely lost.

In the midst of a tangled mess, a thread finally emerged, and he took some time to untangle it, hoping to gain some unexpected insights.

These past few days, he's still been eating at the Imperial Academy.

There's no way around it; I've made an appointment with Sea Cooking Pot, and I have to write a message for him every time.

At first, Li Qi thought that simply writing these things might not be meaningful, but now he knows.

Often, when it comes to spiritual practice, a problem arises that leaves one feeling completely confused.

When Li Qi first came into contact with the Zhu's Path, he saw that there were no so-called 'barriers' on it, so he thought that cultivation would be smooth sailing and without any bottlenecks.

But it seems that what hinders cultivation is not some kind of barrier, some strange setting of breaking through meridians or condensing something, but rather intelligence.

If you can figure it out, then there are no bottlenecks.

If you can't figure it out, then you'll encounter bottlenecks everywhere.

On the third day at noon, Li Qi went to the Imperial Academy for lunch as usual.

As always, he was completely absorbed in thought as he walked, constantly deducing the boundaries between spiritual and material entities, which made him appear somewhat absent-minded.

I collected my meal, chatted casually with Sea Cooking Pot for a couple of minutes, and then started eating.

While eating, I fell into deep thought, since this was the cafeteria.

The Imperial Academy's dining hall was essentially a hidden paradise; Li Qi simply took his food to a tree stump and ate outdoors.

However, as he ate, he suddenly felt that he couldn't chew it properly.

Hmm? Brother Guo's cooking skills are pretty good, so how come he can't chew it?

He regained some of his senses, looked up, and found himself surrounded by four or five people.

I only know two of them.

His classmate, Li Lieqi.

There was also a miscellaneous cultivator named Yu Zao whom I had met before. I first met him once, and I heard that he was one of Shen Shuibi's doctors.

There were three men left standing there, all looking blankly at each other, with the same expression.

Li Lieqi stood with the men, while Yu Zao squatted in front of him, dumbfounded.

"Um... classmates? Why are you all standing here?" Li Qi asked in surprise.

"Hey classmate, why don't you take a look at what you're chewing?" Yu Zao pointed at Li Qi's hand.

Li Qi looked down and discovered that he was actually chewing on an iron bar, which had been chewed out of shape.

Under the biting force of a seventh-grade weapon, ordinary iron would indeed find it difficult to withstand.

I was so engrossed in thinking that I didn't even notice the dish in my hand had been switched.

"Hey classmate, what are you thinking about?" Yu Zao crossed her arms. "I heard from them that you're notoriously ignoring people, but I didn't believe it. I didn't expect you to not even see us when we were right in front of you."