Commonality

In the blink of an eye, seventeen years have passed.

Over the past seventeen years, Li Shiwei and Zhang You have traveled through thirteen worlds with this giant ship, each with its own story and epic tale.

However, in the endless outer realms, all epics are commonplace, and all stories are commonplace.

When the scale extends to the realm of endless beyond, nothing special becomes special, and all sacrifices cease to be sacrifices. Countless worlds and countless civilizations, their lights flickering and fading, are largely ignored by everyone except themselves.

However, Li Shiwei gradually rose to fame and began to be known as a 'hero' on the ship.

There's no other reason than that she demonstrated, in every world, the qualities of... how should I put it, those of a righteous hero?

From the beginning of the Sea Hunting Realm, she seemed to have become fascinated with heroic things?

She no longer limited herself to fighting Savage Beast, but also did things to uphold justice on the ship. After one incident after another, she seemed to truly enforce the law impartially, using her status and strength to do many things on the ship.

Thus, in one world after another, she consistently upheld this identity and style.

Thirteen worlds, fifteen years— Li Shiwei's reputation has spread to many worlds and civilizations.

The former captain, whom Li Shiwei always called "leader," became a new guard on the giant ship. Li Shiwei inherited his position and became the new captain, responsible for one-fifth of the ship's security.

Her status and prestige rose higher and higher, but...

His cultivation level remained stuck at the peak of the eighth rank, showing no signs of improvement.

Only one path opened up for her: to use worship and reverence as the foundation of her faith, to use the methods of the divine way to solidify her faith and attain immortality, and to become a wild god.

However, she could not possibly take this path. Li Shiwei, who was born on Wushen Mountain, knew very well that this kind of faith-based godhood was unstable and an extremely inferior method in the divine path.

It was another ordinary day. Li Shiwei was on vacation today, while Zhang You was still at work.

Li Shiwei sat in her chair. Now she no longer needed to live in a double dormitory. As the team leader, she had her own independent area, which was even a cave abode, providing all sorts of conveniences for cultivation.

Such areas are rare on this giant ship; they're practically a privilege reserved for the captain.

Li Shiwei sat in her chair.

She looks much more mature now; she's no longer the cute little girl she used to be.

However, the little brat does possess cultivation and is the son of the moon essence, with extraordinary bloodline. Even without cultivation, he can live for hundreds of years, so he still looks very young, at most twenty years old.

"Boss, you've still decided not to pursue the path of divinity?" Stone had hardly changed; he was still the same, except that his cultivation had improved significantly, reaching the peak of the eighth rank.

For a stone, a thousand years is but a blink of an eye. For a spirit transformed from a precious jade, a dozen years is no different from yesterday. Theoretically speaking, a stone is born immortal.

After all, its foundation is a sixth-grade jade, it just hasn't developed its true power yet. As long as it slowly develops its potential, reaching the sixth grade is almost a certainty.

"I definitely won't follow the path of the gods. I cut it off back then. But... I'm a little confused. Why am I still not at the seventh rank?" Li Shiwei looked at her hand, somewhat puzzled.

"It's normal. You're only in your early thirties, still very young. Reaching the peak of the eighth rank is already quite impressive," Shi Tou comforted him, since the seventh rank is extremely difficult to achieve.

Immortality.

To attain immortality—what an incredible achievement that must be! It's certainly not something that can be done so simply.

Li Qi initially attained immortality by having the Heavenly Demon take him back to the edge of the universe, where he could personally hear the magnificent echoes of the universe's creation and witness the opening of infinite space and time. Every second, the universe was growing, and new worlds were being generated, seemingly endless.

Li Shiwei didn't have that fortuitous opportunity, so naturally she could only rely on herself to figure it out slowly.

"Well, it's probably hard to find any useful fortuitous opportunity on this ship. You've done quite a lot in the past ten years, boss. Shouldn't your curiosity be satisfied? Why don't we go home and find Shaman?"

"Although the world is not large, it is a place where great talents gather. Returning to the world will provide you with many insights," Shi Tou suggested to Li Shiwei.

"No need. I came out as an eighth-rank official, and I'll still be an eighth-rank official when I return. How can I face my father? Besides, I'm already making progress towards seventh rank. Let's wait until I succeed." Li Shiwei shook her head. "If I'm still not successful by forty, then I can go back. My father is already a sixth-rank official, and my mother is even a fifth-rank official. More than ten years is nothing to them. It's a small matter. If I'm still like this at forty, it's not too late to go back." Li Shiwei sighed.

Stone didn't seem to notice anything, and continued to remind him, "If you want to find fortuitous opportunity of grade seven or higher, you should go to worlds of grade six or higher. However, it seems that our shipping route is mostly around Seventh Rank World. There are no Sixth-Rank World; those are the missions of other ships. By the way... Boss, this ship is about to enter a cyclical route. The cycle that happens once every twenty years is almost here. After the next world ends, the next one will be back to the Sacred Flame Realm, and then the Sea Hunting Realm. Knowing your personality, you probably won't bother going this time, right?"

"Circular route... Ah, the next one will be a loop." Li Shiwei suddenly realized this.

Initially, this ship would go to the Sea Hunting Realm once every twenty years to collect goods.

In other words, the route of this giant ship is to circle around a specific area, collect everything, and then return to the Sacred Flame Realm, the gathering place, to unload all the collected items, replace the crew, and then go through the same route again.

In other words, it's unlikely that you'll see any new scenery while staying on this ship.

Li Shiwei wholeheartedly agreed, "Indeed, we should consider this. I'll go find the leader now. He's in the management of this ship now, so he should be able to approve my resignation. I've been here long enough and have some savings. We should still try to make our own way in the world."

She was still the same decisive person she always was; she did what she said she would do, and since it was her vacation, she went straight there.

We set off immediately and continued without stopping.

Many people greeted her on the street, calling out things like "Captain Li!" Everyone was saying hello to her.

After all, thanks to Li Shiwei, many troublesome issues on the ship were resolved, and the merchants traveling with the ship also received relative fairness because of Li Shiwei, thus earning her high prestige.

Li Shiwei casually greeted these people, but without delay, she quickly arrived at the office of the former stoic team leader.

Knock, knock, knock. A gentle knock on the door.

"Please come in." It was still that indifferent voice; the leader hadn't changed at all.

He was a seventh-rank official, over two thousand years old; a few decades was far from enough to change her.

However, changing Li Shiwei is enough.

Li Shiwei pushed open the door and went in, looking at the former captain, now the management of the giant ship. "Boss, I need to talk to you about something."

"It's really a bit strange. When did you learn to knock on the door? The last time you came to see me... was it five years ago? The door was kicked open back then." The former captain still had that expressionless look, but there was a hint of emotion in his expression.

It must have been an illusion; his tone and expression remained unchanged, but the content of his speech sounded somewhat sarcastic.

Li Shiwei didn't care about the teasing and said, "I've been knocking on doors since birth, it's just a matter of whether I want to or not. Boss, after this mission is over, shouldn't we return to the Sacred Flame Realm? The voyage needs to be completed."

"Yes, it's going to be a cycle. Oh, I understand what you mean. You don't want to cycle anymore? Then I can apply for a different ship for you, a new route, and this time there will be a different world." The captain seemed to see right through Li Shiwei's thoughts.

Clearly, he knew that Li Shiwei would never repeat this route.

"No need. I want to resign. I've learned enough about the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce. Moreover, I've recently discovered some commonalities and I'm planning to delve deeper into this area to see if I can use it to forge my own Seventh-Rank Dao Foundation," Li Shiwei said, waving her hand.

"Commonality? Oh? What commonality? Tell me?" the captain asked expressionlessly.

To be honest, this kind of communication was quite awkward. The captain could clearly say things with emotion, but his tone and expression never changed, and even his eyes were always like a stagnant pool, which made people feel creepy and very uncomfortable.

"That is to say, I have now... observed more than a dozen worlds, and come into contact with thousands of civilizations on the ship, some of which even developed on the ship." Li Shiwei carefully considered her words before beginning to explain.

Yes, many civilizations are unique to ships.

These colossal ships, two thousand miles long and capable of self-sufficiency in the endless void, can be considered small worlds in themselves. Some races even thrive and multiply within these ships, forming a civilization completely dependent on the ship and not entering any other world.

These races naturally became valuable helpers and assistants to the merchant guild. Many of the odd jobs on the ship were done by these races, and they did them better and more skillfully than others. All the merchant guild had to do was let them live there.

For mortal races, these ships that wander between worlds, with a twenty-year cycle and an expected lifespan of tens of thousands of cycles, are more terrifying than those worlds themselves.

This is Li Shiwei's gain. As she has seen more and more of the world, Li Shiwei has become more and more knowledgeable about these civilizations and races. She has developed her own understanding and insights into the history, customs, temperament, cultivation methods, and unique Dao Lineage of thousands of races and civilizations.

Then, she discovered some commonalities among them.

Some commonalities that are followed by all civilizations and all races.

Whether it's aquatic creatures in the sea, mineral life on land, plant civilization, ship civilization, or the various aspects of the formation of humanoid races, there are tens of thousands of races. They seem to have different life characteristics, different traditions and customs, and different paths of cultivation.

However, amidst all these differences, Li Shiwei noticed that they all seemed to be subtly following the same thing.

However, she couldn't see it very clearly yet.

Her intuition told her that this might be the key to her seventh-grade fortuitous opportunity.

Therefore, she resigned at this time, intending to wander abroad on her own, seeking commonalities among different civilizations.

This also aligns perfectly with the Dao Lineage of Daoism she practices.

Li Shiwei is a Daoist practitioner, and the first assumption of Daoism is that there exists a 'supreme and unsurpassed Great Dao', and all things are the evolution of this Great Dao, and everything is a derivative of this Great Dao.

The so-called "Taiji gives rise to Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang give rise to the Four Symbols, the Four Symbols give rise to the Four Symbols Trigrams", or "Tao gives rise to One, One gives rise to Two, Two gives rise to Three, Three gives rise to all things", and even "Nameless, the beginning of Heaven and Earth", all these arguments come from this.

As a Daoist practitioner, Li Shiwei has no problem laying the Seventh-Rank Dao Foundation practice by finding commonalities.

She herself felt that this was a very good direction, so she was prepared to work towards it.

Therefore, she needs to see more, explore more of the world, and study more civilizations in her lifetime, rather than just being on a ship and coming into contact with these existing civilizations.

The captain advised, "You're on the Chamber of Commerce's ship. If you switch to another ship, you'll see many different sights. There's no need to rush to resign. Jobs in the Chamber of Commerce are hard to find and difficult to get in. You're already a mid-level manager, so you should know how much more powerful you are than an ordinary eighth-rank official, and how many worlds have to obey your orders."

"I suggest you don't resign. With this position, it will be much easier for you to collect epics and information about the progress of civilizations. Sometimes, all you need is an order, and they will willingly hand over their history to you. If you resign, you'll be all alone, and it will be very, very difficult to collect these things."

But Li Shiwei shook her head. "No, if I do that, I won't be able to distinguish what the commonalities are. Even if I find the commonalities of these worlds, can I tell whether these 'commonalities' are brought by the Chamber of Commerce or exist naturally?"

The captain was speechless for a moment.

That's definitely true.

When these things are done within the Chamber of Commerce, these worlds naturally gain a new commonality: 'they are all related to the Chamber of Commerce.'

It is difficult to determine the origin of this commonality, so it is necessary to eliminate variables, explore the world that has never had any connection with the Chamber of Commerce, and eliminate all possible influencing factors in order to determine the final commonality.

If it is found, then there should be a reason for Li Shiwei's Seventh-Rank Dao Foundation.

The captain then said, "Indeed, you're right. Well... since you're about to leave, I'll give you a gift. I know of a Seventh Rank World that no merchant guild has ever set foot in before, which might be of help to you."

Li Shiwei looked up and said happily, "This world group has such a good thing? I was already preparing to go to another world group, and it has to be a leader. Okay, then I'll accept this favor!"