Plague Lord's True Body

In a separate courtyard of the Imperial Academy.

The two were talking as they walked toward the Plague Lord's residence.

They talked about their cultivation practices, both of them very eager, because it concerned their upcoming advancement.

However, Plague Lord is different from Li Qi. He is not allocated housing in Chang'an because his movements need to be strictly controlled. After all, even if he doesn't want to, some traces he leaves behind can pose a huge threat to ordinary people.

After all, he was a seventh-rank official, which was a very powerful existence for ordinary people. Although he didn't seem like much in the Tang Kingdom, that was because this was the Immortal Realm.

The Immortal Realm... also has mortals, which is why the Plague Lord's true form was restricted by the Imperial Academy.

Yes, theoretically speaking, none of these are the original entity.

The two of them are now heading towards the true form of the Plague Lord. Only in that place can Li Qi truly begin to address the Plague Lord's physical problems.

"Li, is this boundary you mentioned the source of my power? Why can't I see it? How can this be measured?" The Plague Lord asked Li Qi as he walked.

"This method can only be understood intuitively and cannot be explained in words. I risked my life to inject the Five Aggregates Demonic Blood into the Five Elements to obtain this method of observing and calculating boundaries. Without Divine Ability like the Heavenly Eye, it would be very difficult to do this," Li Qi said.

"Indeed... if it's too simple, it would be abnormal." The Plague Lord nodded, somewhat helplessly.

Li Qi looked at the Plague Lord, and to be honest, he was somewhat surprised.

The Plague Lord is really... too normal.

As a viral aggregate, he was a bit too friendly, ordinary, and even cautiously restraining his abilities to prevent the endless spread of the plague.

However, it's clear that he's been very troubled by this.

Li Qi had already learned about the specific situation of the Plague Lord during their previous exchanges.

A fist-sized piece of flesh and blood can gather hundreds of billions of viruses. Such a large quantity is impossible to control at will, and he himself cannot control the countless powers that are scattered. Therefore, he can only lock his main body in a corner of the Imperial Academy and seal it with an array to prevent endless disasters.

And the solution to this... just so happens to be Li Qi.

By simply defining the boundaries between groups and individuals, and then manipulating a large group as a single unit, the amount of manipulation required can be greatly reduced, and the body can be manipulated more effectively.

But the problem is, it's difficult...

This large group must be positioned precisely within the boundary between the individual and the group in order to complete the manipulation. So how do we find this boundary?

Exhaustive search?

With the number of viruses easily reaching trillions, how can we possibly enumerate them all?

If it's just a difference in quantity, then adding or subtracting a little is still acceptable, and it won't be long before we find a range that we can barely control.

However, density, arrangement, and even individual strength are also important criteria for judgment.

Two people can be considered as partners and judged as a whole, but if two people are thousands of miles apart, then they can only be considered as two individuals.

However, if two people are extremely strong, reaching the fifth or sixth rank, even a distance of ten thousand miles is within their grasp, and they can still be regarded as a single entity.

Given all these factors, exhaustive search is an almost impossible task. It involves nearly an infinite number of arrangements, which can only be optimized through algorithms, but cannot be forcibly exhaustively searched using excessive computing power.

The Plague Lord has achieved some results, otherwise he would not be able to control his current power. However, these achievements cannot support his 'perfect' control of the power, and some will still leak out.

Li Qi, on the other hand, has a perfect method. He can use algorithms to calculate where this subtle boundary is. Even if the Plague Lord's manipulation power is insufficient and he cannot do it, at least he has a direction to strive for and can gradually gather his power.

In exchange, Li Qi requested that the Plague Lord share his thoughts on 'self' with Li Qi, so that both parties would get what they wanted.

Facing the friendly Plague Lord, Li Qi said, "To show my sincerity, I will first adjust your original form. If it works, you can then tell me your opinion."

"Actually, there's nothing to hide. Even if Li hadn't helped me with this and had just asked me directly, I wouldn't have concealed it. It's not a big deal," Plague Lord said.

"However, I can't explain it clearly here right now. You'll need to see my true form before you can understand my thoughts. Otherwise, I'm not good with words and it will be difficult for me to express myself."

"It's alright, it's just a few steps," Li Qi said with a smile.

As they spoke, the two arrived at a room in the Imperial Academy.

Li Qi immediately realized that this house... was the entrance to a hidden paradise.

The Plague Lord's true form requires a grotto-heaven to house it? That's quite impressive.

The two walked side by side into the cave, and the scene before them suddenly changed. Before Li Qi's eyes appeared... an endless sea.

All around was an endless sea, with not a single inch of land in sight. However, Li Qi could fly, so he hovered in the sky, looking around and observing the situation.

This is... a planet?

Li Qi visually estimated the arc in the distance. Although it was all sea, as long as he could see far enough, he could calculate the arc, then deduce the area of the circle, and finally obtain the diameter of the circle, which was also the diameter of the planet, and estimate the size of this cave.

A simple calculation shows that this planet's diameter is approximately seven thousand miles, about the size of the moon.

So... how deep is this sea beneath our feet?

Li Qi reached out, pinched out a wisp of golden energy, and probed downwards.

The golden energy was incredibly fast, far exceeding the speed of sound, yet it couldn't reach the bottom for a moment!

"This sea is about two thousand miles deep. Apart from a rocky core, this cave is just this water," the Plague Lord explained beside him.

Li Qi nodded, indicating that he understood.

Well... there's plenty of water here.

It is already hundreds or thousands of times larger than the oceans on Earth.

"So, your true form?" Li Qi asked.

"This sea below is my true form," the Plague Lord said.

Subsequently, Li Qi witnessed the Plague Lord's body suddenly disintegrate again.

He 'died' once again.

The countless viruses that made up the body dispersed and then fell into the sea.

Immediately afterward, Li Qi understood what he meant.

The sea began to stir.

The endless seawater began to surge!

The torrential rain fell without warning, and unbelievable giant waves began to surge, far exceeding what was known as 'mad dog waves'.

Each wave was as high as Mount Everest, and there were tens of thousands of such waves, constantly swirling around Li Qi!

Amidst these signs, Li Qi vaguely noticed a faint fluorescent glow within the giant waves.

Immediately, this point of fluorescence began to proliferate.

The entire ocean began to glow.

A breathtakingly beautiful sight that you can't take your eyes off it.

The sky's light stretches endlessly above and below, like Cold Jade poured into a clear ice pot.

The vast expanse of clear water is as smooth as if it had been washed, and the light shines through the purple ripples, soothing the heart.

Li Qi's eyesight was so poor that he could only see light in the water, like a dream, but True Knowledge Dao Charm he had the ability to see subtle things, and he could clearly see the light source.

It's a small aquatic insect.

An endless stream of tiny insects.

These tiny insects are all different and vary in shape. The larger ones eat the smaller ones, the smaller ones eat the even smaller ones, and the even smaller ones are responsible for photosynthesis. Countless planktonic insects form a food web.

Some even photosynthesize together, forming an underwater forest resembling a coral reef.

As the giant waves surged, Li Qi could also see that there were no fish or any other similar life forms in the entire ocean, not even seaweed.

Everything happened within these glowing insects.

Moreover, these insects are completely different themselves. They produce and devour each other, forming a complete food chain with producers, consumers, and decomposers.

This is not a cluster, but a much more complex, interdependent, and coexisting ecosystem!

However, they were all small, just planktonic organisms.

But these planktonic organisms share a common 'will'. These countless planktonic organisms and countless 'viruses' of different forms together constitute the existence of the 'Plague Lord'.

Without even needing an explanation, Li Qi immediately understood what the Plague Lord was all about.

No wonder... He said he was bad at expressing himself and found it hard to describe the scene, hoping that Li Qi could come into his body and see for himself.

I see.

This situation is indeed difficult to describe in ordinary words.

So magnificent...

An entire ecosystem, larger than the entire Earth.

There are algae-like viruses that float in shallow sea areas and can photosynthesize, thus taking on the role of producers.

There are viruses that live on the seabed and continental shelf, relying on silt and sea snow debris for survival.

There are copepods that can hunt and prey on other viruses, acting as predators.

And in the deep sea, there float viruses that are content with their lot.

There are even deeper and more terrifying ocean depths than the deep sea, where 'viruses' with cultivation levels and grades have mutated and evolved from the various energies emitted by planets in what can be described as a life-threatening environment.

The ocean on this planet is a full two thousand miles deep. In the darkest part of the seabed, in the absolute darkness where even sunlight cannot penetrate, the 'little insects' there have generally begun to cultivate. They have begun to take advantage of the environment, struggle and be selected in the cruel environment, and then transform with the help of Spiritual Qi to become 'spirit beasts' of a certain grade.

However, the virus is still too small. Even if it becomes a spirit beast, it cannot possess true intelligence; it can only be said to have basic instincts.

Thus... the 'Plague Lord' came into being.

Li Qi had already guessed what had happened in the Seventh Rank World, the hometown of the Plague Lord.

That hometown is probably divided into two parts: the mainland and the sea.

Life on the mainland, after a long struggle, was ultimately devoured by 'plankton,' or rather, viruses, from the ocean.

The collective will of these planktonic organisms, namely the Plague Lord, was noticed by the world and was eventually transferred to Chang'an as a whole, becoming students of the Imperial Academy.

Why was Li Qi so certain that these planktonic organisms were viruses?

Because now he could also feel a kind of erosion, the instinct from the Plague Lord, the power that he could not control and that was escaping, was oppressing Li Qi's body, trying to infect him, and turning his flesh and blood into nutrients for these planktonic organisms.

Although with his seventh-rank cultivation, the Plague Lord couldn't shake him in the slightest.

But Li Qi was still amazed.

But amidst his surprise, he also noticed what exactly was going on with the Plague Lord's 'self'.

There was no need for explanation. For a smart man like Li Qi, witnessing it firsthand was more effective than a thousand words.

The Plague Lord... has absolutely no so-called 'mindset' to speak of.

What Li Qi considered to be an extremely important 'spiritual entity' for judging himself was merely a tool for maintaining thought to the Plague Lord. He didn't care about any 'spiritual entity' at all, and naturally didn't need to maintain self-identity.

"Classmate, as you can see, the 'self' that you value so much doesn't seem to be that important after all..." The seawater suddenly trembled, and a voice came from within it.

Instead of using a condensed body, the Plague Lord directly used the ocean as a medium to emit his voice.

Li Qi felt intense fear.

Because, in his information flow, he saw countless 'Plague Lord'!

Tens of thousands? No, no, no, far more than that number!

The countless, uncountable minds of the "Plague Lord" are "spiritual entities" that can only be seen in the flow of information.

These minds, each one like Li Qi's Demonic Energy Clone, possess the same intellect and memories; each of them is Plague Lord.

These 'Plague Lord' are devouring and killing each other without any psychological pressure, killing other 'Plague Lord', and then new 'Plague Lord' are constantly being born in this sea, each one the same.

Just like... life itself.

That's life itself.

It is a cycle of constant change, death and birth, like a reincarnation.

Although these Plague Lords are very weak, even weaker than an ordinary person, and might not even be able to defeat a rhinoceros beetle, they do indeed exist.

No wonder the Plague Lord doesn't care about death and regeneration, because he does similar things every moment.

Each Plague Lord is an individual, but they are also a collective; all the Plague Lord together constitute the true Plague Lord.

Such extraordinary abilities suggest that even though the Plague Lord is only a seventh-rank being, he could probably rely on this physical form to contend with a sixth-rank being.

Simply put, its large size and thick health bar mean it has a greater margin for error and can exert more power.

The entire ecosystem of this planet is the body of the Plague Lord, no wonder people in Chang'an praise the Plague Lord as a rare species.

This is... another perspective?

Another interpretation of 'who I am', another answer.

It doesn't care about self-identity, or rather... the overall self-identity is not something like the mind, but a continuation from this nature.

To be honest, this is even... quite in line with the ideas of Shaman Path.

So... what is the 'self' that the Plague Lord cares about?

Li Qi looked down at the sea.

You can ask.