Visit

Stepping onto the Li River, Li Qi chartered an entire ferry.

Of course, it wasn't him who chartered the boats; it was the Prefect of Li Prefecture chartered them for him. However, most of the boats on the river were pretty much the same, so Li Qi didn't pay much attention to it.

The ferry dispatched its best and most skilled boatmen, almost all of whom were of the ninth rank, drawing on all the best hands from the entire fleet.

Even the mastermind behind this Boat Gangs, a Boat Gangs leader hidden in the dark world of Li Prefecture, personally came to steer the ship for Li Qi.

This gang leader possessed a cultivation level of eight, and he remembered every single whirlpool on the Li River clearly.

Clearly, only the Prefect of Li Prefecture has enough information to find these people. If Li Qi were to search for them himself, he would probably have to just charter a ship at random.

This is why Li Qi sought help from the local powerful figures.

After Li Qi boarded the ship, the Boat Gangs leader treated Li Qi with utmost respect, almost to the point of kowtowing.

However, as the controller of the dark world, he probably wouldn't kneel down.

Li Qi wasn't surprised by his attitude.

Because Li Qi also knew that he had definitely stirred up a huge storm in Lizhou City, and Li Qi could easily find out about the problem of that quarry through his information flow vision and True Knowledge Dao Charm.

For the Prefect of Li Prefecture, this was a matter of life and death, and he would definitely investigate it thoroughly. It is likely that a major purge has already begun in Lizhou City.

The Thousand Mechanisms Sect... is probably doomed.

What was insignificant to Li Qi had already caused a huge uproar in Li Prefecture, and tens of thousands of people would die because of it.

The actions of important figures can cause countless changes, just as a single sunspot eruption on the sun can directly destroy all communications on Earth.

Of course, none of this mattered to Li Qi, because he had no intention of changing the 'world' of Baiyue. He was just a passerby who came to visit his old brothers and prepared a gift for them.

With the boatmen's chants, the treasure ship, which was of the Higher Vehicle grade of the ninth rank, started and carried Li Qi toward the East Sea.

One night passed.

When Li Qi woke up the next day, he had already left the city and arrived at an open river area.

Although the Li River is not a famous river in the world, it is still a long river. At this moment, the river is several miles wide, and the boats are floating on it like small boats.

There were many other ships around, but they were all far away from Li Qi's ship, as if they were deliberately kept at a distance.

The reason is simple: Li Qi's ship is quite impressive, and it's also a Ninth Rank Magic Treasure.

Ships can certainly be crafted into Law Treasure, and the materials and money required are dozens of times greater than those for ordinary Law Treasure, making them a typical luxury item.

For cultivators who can Upper Heavens, the earth, and the sea on their own, the significance of such a ship lies only in saving physical strength and possessing some special power. However, the ship in front of us obviously has no special power to speak of. If we are just traveling on the river, it is simply a luxury item, just to show off our status and wealth. Apart from being relatively sturdy and shiny, it has no other special features.

Li Qi chose this type of ship not because he wanted to show off.

For Li Qi, using such a treasure ship was essential, because the place he was going to was the deep sea, where ocean currents, sea monsters, wind and waves, and even the pressure of heaven and earth itself were all a heavy burden, and only a treasure ship could bear such a heavy responsibility.

However, this made him stand out from the crowd in the Li River, an inland river, so everyone kept their distance from him to avoid competing with him for the river channel.

Sitting at the bow of the boat, Li Qi looked at the wide and deep Li River and began to ponder the purpose he had prepared from the beginning.

He came here to visit the Spirit of the Lishui River. As the god of mountains and rivers who had established a connection with him from the very beginning, Li Qi was prepared to express his gratitude.

"Captain," Li Qi called from the bow of the boat.

A lean old man immediately stepped forward and respectfully bowed to Li Qi: "What are your orders, sir?"

"We'll stop for a while on the way, for a day. I'd like to go to the Qinghua Palace to offer incense and pay my respects to the Spirit of the Lishui River," Li Qi said.

Upon hearing this, the Boat Gangs captain immediately became solemn.

The old man stood up straight with a solemn expression. "Are you serious, sir?"

"What? Why not?" Li Qi asked.

"Sir, you are an important person passing by, so you probably don't know our taboos... We Boat Gangs make our living on the Li River. If the God of the Li River is displeased, we might not be able to survive." The hunched boat captain wiped his sweat and said this to Li Qi.

"Oh, so you're afraid I'll offend him and then just leave, leaving you to face his wrath?" Li Qi chuckled. "Don't worry, I also have a connection with the Spirit of the Lishui River. He's been kind to me, so why would I argue with him?"

"The God of the Li River has done you a favor?" the old man asked in surprise.

"That's right. If it weren't for him, I might have died. I've always relied on him to have food to eat and get through the most difficult years. I've come here today to repay this favor and catch up with him," Li Qi said with a smile.

"Reminiscing? You still have a past with him?" The boatman was even more puzzled.

"How can a life-saving grace not be considered old? Alright, you've asked enough questions. Just tell me directly how to visit Qinghua Palace without being impolite. After all, I'm an outsider and don't know the rules. It wouldn't be good if I spoiled the host's mood before even arriving." Li Qi said to the boatman.

The boat captain still seemed to feel something was amiss, and offered another word of advice. "The Spirit of the Lishui River is one of the most revered mountain and water Orthodox God in the Great Deer Kingdom. He has quite a grand presence, and you, sir, are of a high status as well. I'm afraid you won't be able to accept those complicated rules... It would be very difficult for you to learn them."

"Since we've come to see our benefactor, what's wrong with following a few rules? Besides, I've done plenty of sacrifices and worship, so I'm pretty clear about what's taboo and what the meaning of each action is. I won't get confused," Li Qi said, showing no intention of backing down.

Seeing Li Qi's stubbornness, the boatman didn't dare to say anything more to object. He simply bowed and indicated that he understood and would make the arrangements.

Before long, he had arranged the itinerary and handed it over to Li Qi for review.

Nothing special.

If you travel another four thousand li, you will reach the fork in the Li River. To the north is Song Kingdom, and to the south is Xia Canghai.

At the center of this fork in the road is the Li River Temple, the temple of the Spirit of the Lishui River. Anyone traveling along the Li River route must come here to offer incense, hoping that the God of the Li River will bless them with a smooth journey.

That temple, worshipped by people from all directions, has developed into a large city and is quite famous in the Great Deer Kingdom.

Li Qi agreed to the trip, and then he received a booklet containing key points about visiting the Spirit of the Lishui River.

In addition, the boat captain came over to explain to him in detail, "Sir, as written in this book, if you want to visit the God of the Li River, you have to do all the things mentioned here and present three kinds of gifts. However, the gifts are extremely precious and you also need to be sincere... It's really not easy."

"My sincerity is beyond doubt. As for the three gifts, just tell me," Li Qi said.

He was quite understanding.

As one of the most prominent water gods in the Great Deer Kingdom, the Spirit of the Lishui River controls the river's water transport and geographically connects the Baiyue with the South China Sea. He is extremely powerful in the area. As long as he occupies this treasure land, his advancement to the sixth rank is just around the corner. After a thousand years or so of advancement, he will be considered a top local tyrant in the Baiyue region.

Such a water god must be visited by people every day. If no threshold is set up, people will definitely hold sacrifices to summon the god every day, which will be annoying to death.

Therefore, Li Qi was not angry, but instead prepared to carefully prepare gifts to visit the God of Lishui. He genuinely wanted to express his gratitude to the Spirit of the Lishui River.

Whether it was the initial River Opening ceremony, the water vapor used to cultivate the Carp Flowing Intent, or the effort to lift the Curse, although the sacrifices were all performed earnestly at the time, the Spirit of the Lishui River responded to them all.

Faced with Li Qi's answer, the boatman naturally dared not continue to persuade him.

We've already given the advice we needed to; the rest is the boss's own business. If problems arise, it's not his fault.

"Then I'll say it... I hope that after hearing this, sir, you won't fall out with the God of the Li River." The boat captain said with a wry smile, "Firstly, we need to prepare a Sacrificial Ritual, and it must be grand."

"Of course, I'm familiar with the Sacrificial Ritual," Li Qi nodded.

The Sacrificial Ritual were his job; he was very familiar with them and had no worries at all.

"This is no small matter... How could an ordinary person possibly have the means to hold such a ceremony? But those taboos and symbols can be a real headache. I'm afraid we'd have to hire a professional Shaman, which would be quite an expense," the boat captain warned.

Li Qi then smiled and said, "I have my own way of dealing with that. Tell me about something else."

The boat captain nodded and continued, "As long as you have your own decision, that's fine. The second thing is that we need a water-based spiritual object. It can't be a man-made magic Law Treasure; it must be a naturally formed spiritual object. As for its grade... it must be at least at the Spirit Intent Realm."

"So that's it? That's simple. Anything else?" Li Qi shook his head. That's it? Nothing special.

The Spirit Intent Realm is actually just an eighth-grade Law Treasure weapon, nothing special. It's just described in a mysterious way in this context.

It's just that there are too many people practicing martial arts in the Great Deer Kingdom, and the eighth-rank martial arts can condense the Martial Way Divine Intent, so it got this name. After all, here, seven out of ten eighth-rank martial arts practitioners are martial arts practitioners.

In fact, it's not just in the Great Deer Kingdom that many people practice martial arts; throughout the entire world, and even beyond, martial arts is the most common Dao Path. The reason is simple: martial arts is the easiest to develop and the easiest to learn.

No need for any mysterious research or inexplicable thinking; as long as you start exercising, you've embarked on the Dao Path of martial arts.

Exercising the body and using one's most primitive weapons to protect or destroy—this is the original True Intention of martial arts. It is simple, clear, and easy to understand, which is why almost all races and all worlds have unanimously developed their own martial arts.

For those less powerful worlds, martial arts is their only option, since they are not yet capable of forming a new Dao Lineage; martial arts is the only path to practice.

Generally speaking, the more backward a place is, the more prosperous its martial arts become, but this is not always the case. There are quite a few people who have entered the Second Rank World purely through martial arts.

Such beings, with their martial spirit suppressing all heavens, are no less than anyone else. After all, martial arts are easy to learn, but climbing to the top is the same as other Dao Paths, or even more difficult.

The path of a martial artist is so difficult that even Li Qi finds it arduous, let alone others.

"It's not that I doubt you, sir, but... treasures born of divine will are not things that can be obtained casually. If our ship is delayed on the road for too long, the South China Sea won't wait for us..." the captain reminded Li Qi.

"Isn't it just natural water vapor? What's so difficult about that? I'll go get it right away." Upon hearing this, Li Qi stood up.

The naturally occurring water energy, like the naturally occurring gold energy in Green Mountain, is the kind of treasure that is born with a grade and possesses special power. Li Qi had come into contact with it when he was at the ninth rank.

It was considered a treasure back then.

Now...

Everywhere you look, there are them.

Li Qi then pulled a semi-transparent piece of paper from thin air with two fingers and threw it into the water. An unbelievable force burst forth, causing ripples to spread across the water's surface, rolling outwards in concentric circles and creating layers of waves.

However, just when everyone thought that some fierce power was about to erupt, the ripples disappeared.

Suddenly, a hand emerged from the water.

That hand was made entirely of water. I didn't sense any supernatural power or Technique Method, but it just stretched out like that.

The hand clenched into a fist, stretched out, and even soaked the clothes of many sailors, scaring them into fleeing.

Then, bypassing the elderly Boat Gangs, it reached out to Li Qi.

Li Qi caught it, nodded, and said, "Thank you."

The hand didn't respond; it simply vanished abruptly, falling to the ground with a thud, leaving a water stain. Upon closer inspection, it was just ordinary water.

The others were stunned, but they didn't know what kind of tactic this was.

Only Li Qi himself knew what it was.

Nothing special, it was just summoning the local water spirit.

What he just threw into the water was an imperial edict, issued in his name to command the local water spirits.

This is similar to how powerful beings can summon the Lord of the Land by simply stepping on the ground; both are methods of commanding deities.

According to Shaman, all things in heaven and earth have spirits, which are the original 'Innate Spirits'. The two words 'spirit' are inherently connected, and it was only later, with the development of the divine path, that the concept of becoming a god came into existence.

Although the Li River already had a divine position and occupied the position of spirit, the water spirit of the Li River still existed. Li Qi wrote a blessing and ordered the local water spirit to find a wisp of natural water vapor for him.

He had done this before. When he was being chased by the soldiers of the Song Kingdom, he used this trick to borrow mountain energy from the mountain spirit, but he never returned it.

Of course, he couldn't just take it for free now, so this time he traded his own cultivation for this wisp of eighth-grade innate water energy.

Thus, right before everyone's eyes, the Li River itself delivered the treasure to Li Qi.