Crossroads

The fighting lasted for six days.

Almost all the seventh-ranked warriors in the world perished in this battle of destiny.

Li Qi did not interfere, because there was no need to.

All of this was meant to happen. When faced with choices that determine the fate of the world, fighting is inevitable and part of the natural order, just like two powerful predators fighting over their prey.

Regardless of their choices, the world will become more prosperous.

Yes, although most of the seventh-ranked individuals will die because of their own choices, the world itself will only benefit from whichever outcome they choose, and their deaths will be worthwhile.

Hmm... Li Qi sometimes wonders, when these people are fighting with their lives on the line, do they ever think about this?

Did they know that, regardless of the outcome of their battle, it was actually a good result?

Or will they persist in their struggle and uphold their choices even if the world becomes worse?

After all, such a choice is essentially a struggle over the Dao.

To determine the future fate of the world with one's own will, to transform the world into what one desires, and to die without regret—this is the most typical example of the struggle of the Dao.

But... do those who fight really know that their decisions are right? What makes them so certain that they are right?

Perhaps all that's left to rely on is one's own Dao heart?

Just like everything Li Qi did.

He didn't know if what he was doing was right or wrong, but Dao heart guided him, even if it was wrong, should he just not do it? If he didn't do it, how would he know he was wrong?

If you don't even have the courage to say you're right before the results are in, you might as well go home and grow sweet potatoes instead of practicing Daoism.

Cultivation is about practicing first, and then putting it into practice. The "practice" part is very important.

Right?

Witnessing a group of people fighting for their own principles, Li Qi suddenly heard a voice behind him.

He was a man with a blank expression. If Li Shiwei were here, she would probably exclaim in surprise, "Boss!"

That's right, this is the middle-level member of the Chamber of Commerce, a seventh-rank official.

His home world is right here.

"I've met you, Shaman..." He bowed to Li Qi.

Li Qi nodded slightly. "No need for formalities. You've come here, too, to contend for the future of this world, haven't you?"

"I have left this place, and I have brought back a future destined for advancement for the world. That is enough. My karma with this world has been settled. I no longer belong here and will not fight for anything," the expressionless captain said.

"Then what are you doing here?" Li Qi asked gently.

"I have a question for Shaman," the expressionless captain said, bowing and gesturing with his head down.

"Say it without hesitation. After all, we're face to face now. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Li Qi readily agreed to the request.

In fact, Li Qi is a very easy person to talk to, provided that you can actually talk to him.

The expressionless captain watched the ongoing, incredibly brutal battle.

It was truly a tragic battle. More than twenty seventh-rank soldiers had already died in the battle. The land was scorched for miles, and the scene was devastated. But they were still displaying their Divine Ability. Humans and beasts were tearing each other apart. Small hills were leveled and forests were burned.

"Can I interpret their deaths as... being caused by Shaman?" the expressionless captain asked.

Li Qi raised an eyebrow.

This is an interesting question.

So he replied, "I'm partly the reason behind this. They chose their own path, but I caused it, so you can attribute it to me, but not entirely."

Yes, Li Qi did not interfere with their choices, but Li Qi was like a Great Things; he merely passed by, and their paths changed.

Of course, they could choose for themselves, after all, they were the ones who walked their own paths. But all paths were actually just footprints left by Li Qi as he passed by. Their choices hadn't changed, but the outcome had been truly altered by Li Qi.

Therefore, Li Qi said that he could take the blame himself.

"Is that so... In other words, Shaman clearly changed their choices. It was Shaman's arrival that led to their fighting. Shaman is clearly the cause of all this. Why can he still calmly claim that he did not interfere with their choices? You clearly interfered with all their choices. Shaman, you distorted the future of this world and forced them to kill each other. Shaman... shouldn't you bear the consequences?"

The expressionless captain asked Li Qi indifferently.

"Your point of view is very interesting. However, I did not interfere with their choices. Perhaps I changed their path, but you should know that in this world, there is no path that cannot be changed. This applies to them, and it applies to me as well."

Li Qi paused here, then looked up at the sky.

Upon hearing this, the cold-faced captain froze on the spot, seemingly greatly inspired by Li Qi, and was momentarily stunned.

What Li Qi said... seems to make sense.

Indeed, for life, there are always different paths before them, and the choice of which path to take is life's own decision.

This choice is what is known as the 'crossroads of life'.

Li Qi brought them to a new crossroads, which in turn led to a change in their choices.

But...

Without Li Qi, would there be no crossroads?

No, that's not how it works.

Regardless of whether Li Qi comes or not, there will always be a crossroads, and many choices await them.

Even if Li Qi doesn't come, there's still the crossroads that already existed. But who brought this crossroads here?

Such a crossroads is not unique to them; Li Qi himself also faces one.

Their every move influences the choices of others, and the choices of others, in turn, influence the choices of even more people.

Just like a pebble being thrown into a calm body of water, when the first pebble falls, every drop of water becomes a pebble in the other waters.

When water droplets collide with each other, countless changes occur, and these countless changes give rise to countless choices.

In this world, every moment, other people are influencing other people. Crossroads always exist, so what matters is the choice itself, not the crossroads.

Even if there isn't a crossroads now, there will always be another one.

Even Li Qi was the same; he made countless choices, but how many of them were ordained by Heaven's Will? He probably didn't even know himself.

However, it doesn't matter who arranged it. It doesn't matter at all. Even if no one arranged it, new crossroads will arise by fortuitous opportunity.

All a person can do is see the path ahead clearly and then step out onto it.

That's all.

Seeing the stoic captain lost in thought, Li Qi continued, "This is cause and effect, understand? One move affects the whole situation, like a huge net. Once you're in it, you can't escape. So instead of getting caught up in these things, it's better to think about how to choose."

"How difficult it is to transcend the web of cause and effect," he sighed.

The captain remained silent for a moment, then bowed, took his leave, and departed from his original world.

His journey was outside the region, and he didn't want to stay here any longer.

Ultimately, the last of the beasts cultivating the Way of Evolution died at the seventh rank.

The being known as the Divine Emperor survived to the end. Covered in blood and with his divine form shattered, he lay sprawled on the ground, murmuring, "I choose... the new world."

"As you wish." Li Qi nodded, then turned and left.

Li Shiwei's matter has been resolved. Her Dao heart has been stabilized, and building her Dao foundation is only a matter of time. Let her handle it herself.

Sigh, the child's problem is solved.

But... Old Ma...

Li Qi shook his head.

Decades have passed, yet Old Ma has made no progress whatsoever. Young Ma has fathered countless children, but has yet to break through to the seventh rank, while Old Ma himself feels no sense of urgency whatsoever.

That's why I said that...

The choice is the most important thing.

Thinking about all this, Li Qi's figure gradually dissipated. This Seventh Rank World would be handed over to Mount Luofu, and he would become a member of the Chamber of Commerce. The various Technique Method that Li Shiwei brought them would allow them to quickly enter a period of technological explosion.

But Li Qi didn't need to worry about these minor matters.

He returned to his cave abode and sat down in front of Shen Shuibi.

The rabbit was dozing off, but its senses were still engaged.

When Li Qi sat down, she opened her eyes and asked, "Is it resolved? How is Shiwei?"

"Well... how should I put it? It's alright. After this, reaching the seventh rank should be no problem," Li Qi said.

Shen Shuibi breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good."

Then she stood up and said, "Then I can go into seclusion without worry during this time. I was worried that there would be bad news when I came out of seclusion, but now things are peaceful."

Li Qi frowned. "You still want to refine the Five Elements Inverted Dragon Tiger Heavenly Golden Core?"

This is a Golden Core Method, described in a poem. "The five elements are reversed, the dragon emerges from the fire. The five elements do not flow in harmony, the tiger is born in the water. The yang dragon originates from the Li palace, the yin tiger is born from the Kan position. When the two meet, it is the origin of the Tao, and when the five directions are exhausted, the name of the elixir is obtained."

The Five Elements Inverted Dragon Tiger Heavenly Golden Core is one of the five grades of golden elixirs in Inner Elixir Method.

Shen Shuibi is now at the fifth level of Outer Elixir cultivation, but she is not confident enough to face a major battle. However, she does not want to sit and wait for death, so she took a risky approach and came up with this method.

Inner Elixir Method is a method that focuses on cultivating one's nature and life force, using oneself as a furnace to refine the microcosm within the human body into a unified whole, which is called the Golden Elixir.

Outer Elixir alchemy involves refining a genuine 'golden elixir' with external assistance and then consuming it, using external cultivation to replace the cultivation of life force. It differs from Inner Elixir Method only in the method, and there is no superiority or inferiority between them.

Some Daoist cultivators don't even cultivate the Golden Core, but that's a completely different approach.

Shen Shuibi, on the other hand, was preparing to completely return to her previous Inner Elixir Method, since her personal microcosm had been restored under the infusion of a massive amount of Imperial Flowing Sap.

In this way, although the body can only have one golden core at a time, and wasting so much effort is of no use to the growth of cultivation, the previous Outer Elixir can be freed up and refined into Law Treasure.

A fifth-grade Outer Elixir —that thing is truly valuable.

However, Shen Shuibi did not intend to Law Treasure Law Treasure weapons, as they would be of little use in crucial moments.

She planned to refine this Outer Elixir into Five Elements Inverted Dragon Tiger Heavenly Golden Core, the main purpose of which was for self-destruction.

The Great Elixir Direct Guide states: The Five Elements are reversed, the Dragon and Tiger intertwine, Heaven and Earth rise and fall, the Sun and Moon come and go, opening and closing, advancing and retreating, existing and dying. The Book of Changes says: Only the sage knows how to advance and retreat, existing and dying.

This is what this thing is used for.

Throwing it out at a crucial moment is tantamount to Shen Shuibi exposing herself, which can be considered as keeping a Trump Card for herself.

However, severing the Outer Elixir and then condensing the inner core is still a technical task, and it is not so simple for Shen Shuibi. She needs to calm her mind and carefully examine the situation before she can do it. Otherwise, it is easy to take out the Outer Elixir but fail to condense the inner core, resulting in the dissipation of her cultivation and a regression to the unranked level.

It's already difficult to rebuild once; trying again might completely sever the Dao Path.

Therefore, she was restless and worried when her daughter was outside, so she did not take this action for the time being. She was afraid that if she received bad news or a message from Li Shiwei halfway through, what would she do?

Should we exhaust our cultivation or simply stand by and do nothing?

Therefore, Shen Shuibi never dared to go into seclusion, for fear that something might happen to her daughter.

Now that Li Qi has brought news that Li Shiwei has settled down, she feels relieved and has decided to do this.

Li Qi, however, sighed and then said, "Is it really necessary to make such a preparation? We could ask our teacher for one or two life-protecting magical Law Treasure..."

Shen Shuibi smiled and shook her head, "If Great Shaman would give it to you, he would have done so long ago. This matter at the front was originally for your Dao heart, so there's no way it's like this. However, there is one thing you can pay attention to. Yang Ning brought a message that the Your Highness will wake up in five years. Wushen Mountain has already agreed to awaken the Your Highness first, and then awaken the Sect Leader when the war begins."

"Lady Luofu is about to wake up..." Li Qi was stunned; this disappearance was indeed surprising.

"Get ready, Yang Ning will probably tell you about this later, and then... you'll definitely have to pay your respects to the Your Highness, right?" Shen Shuibi asked.

"That's natural, that's how it should be. I understand. This is... our first meeting, I suppose," Li Qi said.

He hesitated slightly when he said 'the first time'.

Because, for him, this wasn't the first time.

Li Qi had seen the Lady Luofu created by the Heavenly Demon in the Desire Realm, and that Lady Luofu was killed by the Heavenly Demon.

In fact, that Lady Luofu was 'real,' or rather, exactly the same as the real one, with no difference whatsoever.

But this Lady Luofu should be seeing him for the first time.

Hmm... this is a bit tricky.

After watching Shen Shuibi enter her cave abode for seclusion, Li Qi walked cave abode.

He stretched, his bones cracking and popping.

I've been living in the world for decades now, and I don't need to worry about my children anymore.

Once you reach the seventh rank, you don't need to worry about those trivial matters. Principal Seventh Rank unless you provoke someone you can't afford to offend.

Immediately, Lady Luofu awoke and went to see this elder.

Then... let's go abroad and prepare in advance.

It's not just the Chamber of Commerce, but other, more powerful worlds, searching for powerful extraterrestrial beings.

(I had a tooth pulled these past few days, and the headache was so bad I was dizzy, so please ignore the chapter number error.)