On the Ship

Li Qi stayed on the ship for a full seven days.

During this period, Old Ma even bred a child once, and Li Qi didn't even know who the other party was; it seemed to be a wild seahorse.

Seahorse! Female!

What about reproductive isolation?

Well... I can't ask for too much...

In addition, Li Qi spends at least eight Chen a day teaching.

The Dao Rule Reader is an extremely complex and precise thing, and it cannot be taught in a day or two. Just trying to block the interference of the five aggregates is incredibly difficult.

Fortunately... the Reason Way were more profound than Li Qi had imagined.

They actually found a way to temporarily shield the Five Aggregates, and it was safer than the Five Aggregates Demonic Blood, so they didn't have to risk their lives to remove the influence of the Five Aggregates.

That is the Buddhist aura emanating from that Buddhist master.

Li Qi had never met that master, but they had been thinking about how to suppress the five aggregates for the past two days. On the third day, Wang Dun suddenly left, but when he returned in the afternoon, he brought back a wisp of Buddhist energy.

That Master Jing Mo was actually a Buddha Child. He possessed the Amitabha Buddha's energy, and he generously lent it to Wang Dun to help them study the state of liberation from the five aggregates.

This Buddhist energy can bring people into a state similar to 'enlightenment'. This mysterious state does not consume Buddhist energy, but it can make people temporarily forget the five aggregates.

This state is called... meditation, or Zen meditation.

Li Qi was greatly shocked by this.

So this is what meditation is like.

It should be noted that although Li Qi often went into seclusion, he had never entered that mysterious state where his cultivation level would increase simply by opening or closing his eyes.

He always thought this state was nonsense, but Buddhist meditation can really achieve this.

As long as you earnestly accept the guidance of that wisp of Buddhist energy, it will guide your true spirit, disregard the five aggregates, and immerse you in a complete spiritual experience.

It was a wonderful experience, and it was neither painful nor dangerous.

Li Qi almost died after he shielded the Five Elements. The reason was that the Five Aggregates Demonic Blood was too violent, directly shielding the Five Elements and forcing Li Qi to face the terrifying flow of information from the outside world.

Therefore, Li Qi had to confront this terrifying and complex world with his fragile spirit and mind. He had to build a buffer structure in order to continue observing the world, and with his willpower and mind, he forcibly wrote a temporary operating system to replace the five aggregates in a void to take over his body. Only in this way did he regain his mind.

But in the face of this wisp of Buddhist energy, it seems that all of this is blocked out. The state of meditation is neither pleasant nor painful. One can clearly perceive one's own mental state and obtain many aspects of 'pure spirit'.

It's quite strange. In the past, when Li Qi went into seclusion, he would actually find a place to lock himself up, similar to closing the door to visitors, no longer talking to people, and focusing all his time on his research.

But this kind of seclusion is more in line with Li Qi's previous understanding of seclusion, the kind where one's cultivation level rises rapidly as soon as one closes their eyes.

Indeed, after thoroughly experiencing their own mental state, they generally gained some understanding of 'pure spirit' and, with Li Qi's help, began to construct a formula that could describe pure logic.

This formula was the precursor to the Dao Rule Reader.

Using this formula, the ethereal flow of information from the outside world can be transformed into comprehensible abstract features, which in turn correspond to concrete features in reality. Thus, the Dao Rule Reader is initially formed.

After that, the next step was to establish the underlying protocol for the common language.

Everyone's formulas are different, each built upon their own understanding, making communication between them impossible.

Therefore, another language is needed as a medium, that is, to communicate verbally in the material world, and everyone agrees on the same formula for construction and unifies these formulas into the same one.

In this way, everyone's Dao Rule Reader can communicate through a common language and thus confirm the existence of each other's minds.

It was a rather... wonderful experience.

Once one truly understands the abstract essence of the world, it's not hard to understand why Lingdao believes the material world is meaningless.

When pure spirit and logic can refer to all material entities and can express all the properties of the material world, then whether the material world exists or not becomes irrelevant.

Every one of us, and indeed all beings in the myriad realms, is essentially spirit. Our memories and consciousness are all spiritual. No one would say, "If I change my body, I will no longer be myself."

People's self-awareness is always based on the mind. If there is only the body, then it is a vegetable. I doubt anyone would think that a body that can only breathe is 'alive' and has rational thoughts.

No one would feel that they are no longer themselves after leaving their body. Even if they leave their body, the spiritual self is still themselves.

This is also an important standard for spiritual self-judgment.

The question of "who I am" is very simple for the spiritual path. Everything material can be replaced, but only the spirit can represent itself. The spirit is an absolute abstract expression and possesses unique properties.

The Ship of Theseus is meaningless because its abstract nature makes it impossible for it to be replaced.

For example, a classic abstract concept: numbers.

Every number is unique.

Admittedly, other combinations of numbers can represent other numbers, such as 1+1 equals 2, but 1 is always 1 and 2 is always 2, and nothing will change.

This is absolutely unique; there can't be two 1s. In the infinite number of numbers, each one is unique.

For the self, perhaps other things can behave like the self, I am 2, but 1+1 can be the same as 2 in nature, but can never become 2.

Based on these consensuses, the Dao Rule Reader was finally formed.

This is definitely very different from the spiritual path, perhaps even a huge gap, since they are professionals and have probably developed a complete system.

But for the people of Reason Way and Li Qi, this thing can directly read abstract information streams and transform them into information that they and others can understand, which is enough.

For Li Qi, this would greatly enhance his ability to read True Knowledge Dao Charm.

For those who follow the Reason Way, this perspective can help them reconcile with other Dao Path and examine their own Law Treasure from a different angle.

After a week of learning and debugging, the Dao Rule Reader is finally working, at least temporarily.

But Li Qi and the others did not sit idle.

Soon, the roles of teacher and student were reversed.

Li Qi began to study the Reason Way, not the methods of cultivation, but rather their philosophy, their understanding of Law Treasure, and some special Technique Method.

This is an agreement reached by both parties; it is an exchange of knowledge.

However, before the course could even begin, it had to be temporarily suspended for a day.

No way.

The ship was about to set sail, and everyone from Reason Way, including Wang Dun, was going to help start the treasure ship and do some simple checks and repairs. So they agreed to hold the lesson the next day.

When the time comes, it will be Li Qi's turn to learn about the Reason Way. However, during this free time, Li Qi can stroll around the ship or visit the ship's library.

It's been over fifty days since I left Chang'an, and I'm finally about to set off for Shenyang.

Once they reach the deep ocean, Li Qi's ideas can be implemented and put into practice, and he can also help the Sea Cooking Pot gather ingredients.

The ingredients needed for Sea Cooking Pot are not available in East Isle.

What we're doing on East Isle is just a small-scale operation. The real treasures of the East China Sea are in the deep ocean, in the stormy seas and the endless seabed.

Moreover, the true dragon would be there too. Li Qi was certain that his arrival would alert the true dragon, and... perhaps it had already alerted it now. That Flood Dragon might even be one of the true dragon's people.

After all, apart from the real dragon and the water trail, Li Qi didn't think anything else could impress a fifth-rank Flood Dragon, which was a fifth-rank dragon.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, a fifth-rank official in the world would generally not encounter any life-threatening danger, because it is forbidden for those above the fifth rank to engage in open combat; this is the rule.

The exception is when the Emperor himself takes action, since the rules were decided by those few people and they have the final say.

Um...

Therefore, Li Qi deduced that the Flood Dragon Tianhong Jun was actually acting under the orders of the True Dragon.

However, it's just right.

That's the purpose of coming here. We're finally on the right track. I hope we can make contact with the real dragon soon and end this trial as soon as possible.

But that's something for the deep sea. Now that we have a rare day of leisure, let's spend a Chen or two exploring the ship, and then spend the rest of the time reading and preparing for the next lesson.

I'm really looking forward to Reason Way's book collection.

Thinking this, Li Qi stretched. He had been cooped up in his room at the academy for the past few days and hadn't had a proper look at the ship yet.

At this moment, the ship had already set sail and was some distance away from East Isle, but it hadn't fully accelerated yet, so Wang Dun and the others still needed to take charge of this matter.

Li Qi stood on the deck, holding onto the railing with both hands, gazing at the sea.

East Isle has completely disappeared. It's far away, with nothing around it except the boundless sea and the howling sea breeze.

The ship was like a deserted island, drifting alone on the sea, hurtling headlong into an unknown direction.

Although the ship hasn't accelerated yet, it's already faster than Old Ma's speed. At this rate, it will only take two to three days to reach the deep ocean.

After all, it was Fifth Rank Treasure Ship, something that not everyone could possess. If he hadn't gotten in touch with Reason Way, Li Qi would probably have only been able to rent a Seventh Rank Treasure Ship and slowly make his way in.

There were other people on the ship, about four or five thousand in total, only half of whom were from the Reason Way. It seemed that they all had quotas and could bring friends aboard.

However, Li Qi found it strange. He had heard the name of Master Jing Mo many times, but he had never met this Master Jing Mo in person. He was quite interested in him, but for some reason, he had never been able to meet him.

However, since everyone was on the ship, they would run into each other sooner or later, so Li Qi wasn't in a hurry.

This ship is only a few miles long and has such a small area that unless the other party is deliberately avoiding it, it's impossible not to run into it.

Sitting on the deck, Li Qi took a deep breath of the sea air, which had a strong salty and fishy smell.

The sea is vast and majestic, its shimmering waves reflecting the Xihe and the afterglow of sunset.

That's right, it has both Xihe and sunset. Because the sea has no obstructions and the sky is a flat continent, you can clearly see the different radiances of the sunlight in the East China Sea, the land of sunrise.

Deep within the Gale Layer lies a beautiful rainbow, its countless colors like a dazzling kaleidoscope adorning the sky. If your eyesight is good enough, you can see the gale-force winds within the Gale Layer, like countless giant ribbons, dancing gracefully and creating long rainbows in the sky.

The surroundings were calm and undisturbed. Li Qi had seen all sorts of strange life forms when he was in the shallow sea, but now there was nothing.

The reason is not hard to understand. After all, this is Fifth Rank Treasure Ship. This ship alone can suppress all sea monsters and make all ordinary beasts tremble with fear, losing all will to resist.

Just as Li Qi was admiring all of this, suddenly an old man called out from the side, "Young man, judging from your appearance, is this your first time here?"

"Yes, this is my first time in such a deep place. After all, it's the open ocean. I didn't dare to go before because my cultivation level was too low," Li Qi said with a smile.

"Not bad, at least you have some self-awareness. I've seen plenty of brats who think they can just run into the deep ocean after reaching the ninth rank, saying it's a challenge for the brave, that only the brave can overcome the storms. What a bunch of fools... they're just asking for death. By the way, could you lend me a hand? Help me set up this platform." The old man said with a smile, pointing to a row of parts in front of him.

"This is... Diaoyutai?" Li Qi looked at the pile of parts and immediately recognized their purpose by their shape, the array formation on them, and the iconic extension rod.

"That's right, how can you come to the deep sea without fishing? A man can't be ignorant of fishing. Come on, help me set up a platform. Looking at your steady young man, you're definitely good fishing material. I'll teach you!" the old man said with a smile, and then tossed out another platform.

Uh... did you prepare one for yourself too?

Well, since I have some free time today, I might as well go fishing.

Since the other party provided the bait and equipment, it was only natural for them to fish on the ship.

Thinking this, Li Qi stepped forward. True Knowledge Dao Charm quickly scanned the parts, identified the function of each part, and then assembled the platform in no time.

However, Li Qi was somewhat taken aback.

This platform is actually of a high grade, a Seventh Rank Magic Treasure. This old man, at first glance, only looks like an eighth-grade one, but he's quite wealthy.

"As expected of Reason Way's ship, they've got some skills. They set up the platform much faster. Set up yours too. A steady young man needs to go fishing to temper his temperament," the old man urged.

Li Qi nodded slightly. With the experience from last time, he was even more skillful this time, finishing the assembly in half the time.

However, after it was installed—

Suddenly, he felt that time around him had slowed down.

Illusion?