Manipulation and Game

Who could this person be?

Who knows?

At this very moment, Li Qi remained seated in the grotto-heaven arranged by the Lingchou Realm, calmly and remotely controlling everything.

For the past few years, he has been issuing commands through his Spirit Way golden body. As for his real body, he seems to be a true cultivation fanatic, cultivating continuously without stopping. This has led the guards outside to begin to wonder if Li Qi is really a lazy bum, holding the envoy's token but not doing anything?

If you really don't want to do anything, then why not stay in the world and cultivate yourself?

However, the people outside were still very dutiful. Even if Li Qi did nothing, they still kept a close watch on Li Qi and observed his every move.

Of course, Li Qi was watching them, but they just didn't know it.

Whether it's the Chamber of Commerce or other worlds around us, Li Qi has thoroughly understood them and made corresponding arrangements. Even the divination of the Lord of Lingchou Realm has his shadow behind it.

This is the 'Heaven's Will' he imitated.

It looks like it's working well.

Li Qi sat there, pondering what he had been doing recently.

"The matter of the Witchcraft Silkworm has been covered up and is still being tested. The warning from the Fu Cao Yi Realm has also been conveyed. Now we are just waiting for the change in the mindset within the Lingchou Realm."

"We can withdraw from the Chamber of Commerce now, and the Witchcraft Silkworm is firmly established. However... we don't know what the Human Path side is up to. They probably won't sit idly by. They might even provide them with a real Law Treasure production line. After all, once this thing is implemented, expansion is almost inevitable..."

Li Qi pondered in his heart, the only thing he didn't know yet was what the specific methods of Human Path were.

However, things should be taken slowly now. He has already reminded the Fu Cao Yi Realm to keep their more volatile world out of the way.

However, at this moment, over at Li Qi's golden statue—

His golden statue sat atop a World-Class Giant Ship belonging to the Chamber of Commerce, constantly reviewing a vast amount of intelligence.

If you want to act as the Heaven's Will, you need to know enough information to accurately find the thread in a mess, and then gently pull it, and you will see the puppets dancing.

However, the puppet itself was unaware that it was actually moved by pulling on a string.

This is the truth behind Li Qi's manipulation of everything.

However, at this moment, his communication Technique Method flickered, as if he had received a message.

Li Qi stopped what he was doing and glanced at the message.

Then, he frowned. "What? The Fu Cao Yi Realm is preparing to begin war mobilization? They have definite information that Human Path has provided the Lingchou Realm with a complete production line for Law Treasure? Who gave you this information?"

The Fu Cao Yi Realm informed Li Qi of their plans. They had definite information and learned about the Human Path realm's information: the Lingchou Realm had obtained the complete Law Treasure production line, and it was delivered to them voluntarily by the Human Path.

The Fu Cao Yi Realm was extremely nervous because of this news. With the production line of Law Treasure, expansion was inevitable. They simply did not believe that the Lingchou Realm could tolerate it, so they had already begun war preparations. They were just waiting for news from Li Qi or for the Lord of Lingchou Realm to launch an attack so they could retaliate.

Li Qi wasn't surprised by this reaction; what truly made him frown was—

Where did this news come from?

If the news is true, then how can Human Path be so careless? How could a fifth-rank world obtain such accurate information? Was that Human Path envoy a bit too sloppy?

If the news is false, then who forged it? And who benefits from doing so?

If the Lingchou Realm is attacked, what methods can these worlds use to quickly enhance their war potential in the face of an impending war, given their existing resources?

Li Qi began to consider the cards the Lingchou Realm held in its hands.

Two fifth-rank officials, one hundred and forty-six sixth-rank officials, and seventh-rank officials are not considered.

There are 3,400 guardian worlds with the capability of War Fortress, and it seems that this number has been deliberately maintained, perhaps related to a large-scale formation...

Nine hundred large legions, each possessing the power to annihilate Seventh Rank World on its own. If these legions were to unite into a large army, they could flatten an ordinary Sixth-Rank World.

Hmm... so-so. Because the Dao Path is uncertain, its potential for war is limited, so it can basically only go into commerce.

This information was all that Li Qi had explored over the years, and it could be basically confirmed to be true. He might know more about the Lingchou Realm than a high-ranking member of the Lingchou Realm.

In fact, both Shaman Path and Human Path have methods to enhance war potential.

The Shaman Path goes without saying. It involves accumulating the Heaven and Earth Great Source in peacetime, which can be used in critical moments. The Mountain and Water Grand Formation is a classic example of this idea. They can draw on the power of the surrounding heaven and earth and temporarily release it to enhance their war potential.

As for Human Path... that can no longer be called war potential. Human Path's war power is blatantly obvious, never stopping, and continuous plundering has become the basic principle of Human Path.

Now, the Lingchou Realm has almost no war potential to be exploited... If war really breaks out, the Lingchou Realm must come up with a new solution.

The fastest way is... to use that real Law Treasure production line. This thing can quickly convert resources into strength. With no expense spared in the raw material input, it can replace all the equipment of the nine million-strong army in ten days at most.

So, was this information deliberately released by Human Path Affairs?! Is it meant to provoke the Lingchou Realm?

After realizing this possibility, Li Qi immediately wrote a message to the Fu Cao Yi Realm, asking them to hold back and not rush into action.

Then, he might have to test the waters with that Human Dao envoy.

Two chess players, hidden behind the scenes, remotely control and manipulate the actions of two fifth-rank worlds and tens of thousands of worlds attached to them.

The world is treated as a chess piece, deployed on a chessboard called the World Group, where black and white pieces clash and fight.

Unfortunately, the chess pieces also have their own thoughts, and endless variables fill the chessboard, which may lead to the complete collapse of the game at any time, leading to an unknowable outcome.

Variables, everything is a variable.

"A dead end." The Human Dao envoy smiled as he placed the last piece.

The black and white stones were intertwined on the board, but the white stones had the black stones by the throat, completely depriving the black stones of their ability to resist.

"Envoy Pang's chess skills are exceptional; I am no match for him." The subordinate bowed, sincerely praising his superior's chess prowess.

"Playing chess is just a game, nothing to boast about. Alright, the break is almost over, time to get down to business." The Human Path, known as Envoy Pang, smiled and waved to signal the people around him to continue working.

He saw a team of about twenty people around him, each with their own tasks, processing different information, combining it, and finally handing it over to Envoy Pang for final analysis.

Unlike Li Qi, who faced a vast amount of intelligence alone, this Envoy Pang did not fight alone. Instead, he fully utilized the characteristics of Human Path, worked together, and everyone seemed to get along quite well. At least during breaks, they could play chess and have fun together instead of having stern faces.

However, despite their leisure time, these people are all capable of getting things done. As soon as their break ended, they immediately began working and processing this massive amount of information.

Extracting the useful parts from a large amount of trivial information is actually quite difficult.

The reason Li Qi was able to achieve this at the sixth rank was because True Knowledge Dao Charm. Before he entered the ranks, he was bombarded with massive amounts of information every day, which was how he developed his skills.

However, for ordinary cultivators, not to mention the life-or-death issues after brainwashing, it would be difficult to find so much information. True Knowledge Dao Charm was constantly dissecting the world around her and inputting the information into Li Qi indiscriminately. Whether Li Qi could handle it was not within True Knowledge Dao Charm's consideration.

With so much information, it's difficult to process it using ordinary senses; one must rely on Technique Method, which would require physically implanting external devices into one's brain. I doubt anyone but a madman would do that.

Therefore, it's not so simple to impersonate 'Heaven's Will' when you're only at the sixth rank.

But from Human Path perspective, since individual computing power is insufficient, then we should simply increase the quantity.

Thus, this elite team of Human Path managed to keep up with Li Qi's intellectual capacity through this team composition.

Massive amounts of information were sent in by spies from the outside, which were then absorbed by the team. They summarized and analyzed the true situation, and finally handed it over to the messenger to compare tens of thousands of different solutions in order to choose the best decision.

Meanwhile, Envoy Pang, the team's brain, fell into deep thought.

As expected, Fu Cao Yi Realm began its preparations for war, but halfway through, they suddenly retreated, ceasing their offensive efforts and adopting a defensive posture, shrinking back.

Did the other party notice? In other words, although he was cultivating in the cave and pretending to be indifferent to everything, he actually still had ways to interfere with the outside world.

This is a good thing.

I'm not afraid of the other party making a move, I'm just afraid that he'll just sit there and play around, then who knows what might happen.

The other side's attempt to stop the war is simply to buy time and prevent the Lingchou Realm from siding with Human Path. If war breaks out, the Lingchou Realm will inevitably and unavoidably use its Law Treasure weapon production line. Once it does, it will open Pandora's box, leaving no turning back. It can only accelerate its progress and eventually become an outer defensive line of Human Path in this world.

So... can you just drag out a war if you want to?

You used the influence of Shaman Path to hold back the Fu Cao Yi Realm, but... can you hold back the Lingchou Realm?

With that in mind, an order was issued.

In the distant world cluster, World-Class Giant Ship sailing in the outer void are delivering goods. These are cargo ships from the Lingchou Realm, transporting goods to a transit zone.

Next month, a group of pirates from beyond the borders will hijack a total of seventeen World-Class Giant Ship and plunder all the cargo on board.

The Lingchou Realm will be in default, and the production capacity of the Witchcraft Silkworm will be far from enough to fill the gap. They must expand their production capacity.

However, there is still one issue that needs to be considered.

Where did this Witchcraft Silkworm come from?

This thing is the latest product from Chang'an. The core technology is controlled by Liu Shenzhi, the second son of a high-ranking official. His family has a long and distinguished history, so there is no possibility of him betraying the government.

Was it a technology leaked accidentally? Impossible. If something like this were leaked, the cause and effect could be traced back to the person responsible.

So how did this thing end up in their hands?

Let's trace back along this line.

If Liu Shenzhi unknowingly leaked the information... or even deliberately leaked it, then the problem would be huge.

The Human Dao envoy surnamed Pang and Li Qi, though unaware of each other's existence, were the subjects of a silent battle that began in this world.

Both overt and covert schemes emerged.

Assassinations and robberies occurred frequently.

Forced mergers and acquisitions continue to emerge.

The exchange of benefits is happening all the time.

The struggle may seem to have no bottom line, but both sides adhere to their true bottom line, which is the 'Tao' (the Way).

Guided by the Dao, the people of the world, whether they were aware, confused, unwilling, or fanatical, have all entered into this competition, regardless of their thoughts.

Countless subordinates obey orders from above, often without even knowing the source of those orders. They simply work diligently like worker ants, contributing to the dark struggle that engulfs the entire world.

Good things, bad things, big things, small things, in their constant tug-of-war, pull the world itself into a vortex of struggle.

Every day, even though they may not know anything about it, everyone is unconsciously making their own choices. Some support their bosses to increase production, some participate in protests against destructive mining practices, some remain indifferent, and some simply give up and shut up.

But regardless of the circumstances, every action they take is, in effect, a vote, a vote for the 'world's ideology'.

Even though the Human-Shaman War hasn't started yet, the preliminary preparations alone have already drawn everyone in the world group to take sides. Whether you want to take sides or not, even saying "I won't get involved" is actually taking sides.

It's just that they implicitly side with the winner.

Some particularly perceptive individuals have already sensed the impending conflict and have thus actively drawn themselves into it.

As the highest-ranking figure in the Lingchou Realm, the Lord of Lingchou Realm felt... fear.

She discovered that the situation was starting to slip out of her control; to put it bluntly... her subordinates were becoming somewhat disobedient.

The people under his command, those local sixth-rank cultivators in the Lingchou Realm, all have their own families and their own foundations. Some are from Lineage, some from sects, and some are from organizations composed of brothers and friends.

When these organizations fall into chaos and begin attacking each other due to ideological struggles, these people will no longer listen to the Lord of Lingchou Realm; they will only act according to their own stance.

The Lord of Lingchou Realm could only sense that the two were outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant.

She slumped weakly into the chair.

The Lingchou Realm is sliding into the abyss of war.

It's either an external war or a civil war.