Reunion Beyond the Realms

Looking at Li Qi in front of her, Zhang You suddenly felt a mix of emotions.

Li Shiwei was her good friend, and she knew that Li Shiwei's family was actually very powerful. After all, they were able to go out with a bunch of Law Treasure and talismans when they were at the ninth rank. She had also mentioned that her family had Sixth-Rank Grotto-Heaven.

She had a life of constant displacement since childhood, and eventually found a well-paying job on her own. She worked diligently, hoping to improve her life.

Therefore, unlike Li Shiwei, who could easily resign to pursue her Dao Path, she preferred to waste her time on World-Class Giant Ship, just for the sake of 'stability'.

All of this was because she had a restless grandfather.

And now, that restless grandfather actually knows the young master of Wushen Mountain in front of him, and it seems that they have a good relationship.

If the parents had a good relationship, then... why is there such a big difference between the younger generation?

Why was it that she, who had a life of constant wandering since childhood, was the one who, while Li Shiwei, had lived a life of luxury, was the one who was able to see Li Qi appear before her in the end...?

"I didn't know before, but when I was divulging matters concerning the Lingchou Realm, about twenty years ago, I learned about your origins. That's why you came to the Lingchou Realm twenty years ago, and why you are here now," Li Qi said.

"Your grandfather...you may not like him very much, but he did have the air of a chivalrous knight and a dashing spirit back then. If he had been a little luckier, breaking through to the seventh rank wouldn't have been difficult. But life is unpredictable, and I never expected this to happen." Li Qi shook his head and sighed.

Then he continued, "However, he's my good friend. He owes you, and while I can't repay it for him, I can—"

Just then, Zhang You suddenly spoke, interrupting him.

Zhang You said, "Young master, please don't do this... I beg you to allow me to resign from my position and leave the Chamber of Commerce."

Upon hearing this, Li Qi frowned slightly and said, "I have not given you any extra preferential treatment, nor have I ever taken special care of you. Your current status is something you earned yourself."

"I hope you will forgive me, young master." Zhang You lowered his head.

"Alright." Li Qi didn't insist on keeping him. "Then go and complete the formalities as usual. Everything you need is there."

"Thank you, young master." Zhang You bowed, then turned and left without lingering.

Looking at Zhang You's retreating figure, Li Qi sighed.

Everyone has their own ambitions. She probably doesn't want to have anything to do with Zhang Lan. Now that I'm offering 'compensation' because of Zhang Lan, it's probably not compensation to her, but more like... humiliation?

Li Qi didn't think so, but she definitely did.

She could even be said to resent her grandfather, Zhang Lan, and that she acted because of Zhang Lan...

It must be hard for her to accept, right?

That's fine, everyone has their own choices.

Li Qi put the matter out of his mind. He let the young people decide their own affairs, and let Li Shiwei worry about it herself. In any case, he wouldn't hold any grudges, and he would welcome her back if she wanted to.

That's settled then. After all, friendship is something Li Shiwei has to do herself.

No longer concerned with the affairs of the young people, Li Qi sat down and began to finish his own work.

The next task is to incorporate as many of the surrounding world groups as possible into a single formation, the kind of formation that the Sky Swallowing Demon Lord had secretly learned.

Subdue all the nearby world groups and make them set up formations on their own initiative. Integrate these formations with the local Heavenly Dao to make them a whole. In this way, a position can be set up in advance, so that when conflicts occur in the future, it can take advantage of the terrain and gain a certain advantage.

This process could take a long time, and it was not something Li Qi could complete on his own, so he wrote a letter and sent it home.

Now that we've laid a solid foundation here, it's time to bring Shen Shuibi over so we can familiarize ourselves with the battlefield and make preparations in advance.

After writing the letter, Li Qi began to make preparations on his own.

Then, about a month later...

Li Qi is currently in the Fu Cao Yi Realm, which is quite remarkable. It is a breath of fresh air among the many worlds filled with intrigue and power struggles.

A local sixth-rank official from the Fu Cao Yi Realm reported to Li Qi, "Envoy, these are all the worlds. They are all ready. When Human Path arrives, they can all be activated to ensure that the worlds will not be plundered."

"Very good." Li Qi nodded, then looked at the other person.

The other party was a simple, moss-covered, and somewhat rotten-looking eerie wooden frame. The pieces of wood were barely arranged to form a human shape, and the head was a wooden block covered with mushrooms and moss.

This is not his true form, but rather his physical body at this moment.

The beings that Fu Cao Yi Realm are all spiritual beings. They are born with the ability to attach themselves to other things, whether it is an inanimate object, a plant or an animal, or even a sentient being.

Moreover, this is not 'possession' but 'symbiosis', which will not cause any harm. It can even greatly enhance the cultivation and strength of the possessed person, achieving a result greater than the sum of its parts.

They can fully understand the thoughts and feelings of those they depend on, so the creatures in the Fu Cao Yi Realm possess almost absolute 'empathy'.

True empathy prevents almost all conflicts from occurring.

The sheep understands the wolf's hunger, so it doesn't resent the wolf for eating its family.

The wolf understood the pain of being torn apart by the sheep's flesh, so it stopped hunting sheep.

With the help of this power, people are no longer alone, everyone's inner world is revealed, and everyone puts down all the hatred they had before, because they understand the "enemy's predicament" and the "thoughts" of those who had fought with them before.

When you truly "understand" others, instead of misinterpreting them from your own perspective, you'll find that everything is understandable and perfectly logical. You won't blame them because everyone can "understand" each other, everyone has their own difficulties, and everyone can discuss things together.

This is almost comparable to the 'chaos' of the divine path, just like the conversation between Li Qi and the gods.

Under this power, even in the primitive era, the Fu Cao Yi Realm never experienced any internal strife. Instead, everyone worked together to overcome difficulties and eventually broke through the world barrier.

It was at this moment that they finally witnessed the struggle between the Dao.

It turns out that some conflicts are irreconcilable; they are conflicts that force both sides to fight to the death, even if they understand each other, appreciate each other, and cherish one another.

Li Qi was preparing to assign the next target when a figure appeared, swaying as it approached.

Moonlight shone down, her flowing sleeves and light gauze swayed, and Shen Shuibi gracefully fell.

The rabbit has arrived.

"Greetings, True Person." The sixth-rank official from the Fu Cao Yi Realm bowed with the highest honors, then discreetly withdrew.

Shen Shuibi nodded slightly to him as a greeting.

Li Qi smiled and said, "Well, then I'll leave this matter to you for now."

After the person Fu Cao Yi Realm left, only Li Qi and Shen Shuibi remained around.

Now that we're an old married couple, we're not experiencing the seven-year itch anymore, but we've also lost the passion we once had. We simply walk closer to each other, naturally holding hands and chatting.

Li Qi said in a relaxed manner, "You've finally arrived. Several worlds that once leaned towards Human Path are now tough nuts to crack. There are four or five fifth-rank beings who have joined forces to form a large formation. I don't really want to use heavy troops, since the casualties might be quite significant."

"So you called me here? I thought you called me for something else." Shen Shuibi was slightly dissatisfied. Why did it seem like she was the one who came to do chores?

"Of course not, it's just that it's easier for you to handle the cleanup. Besides, once this is done, the resistance forces of these world groups will have completely dissipated. We only need to review the rest and leave it to them to do themselves. Then we can wait here for the war to begin, which will be a good time," Li Qi explained.

Hearing his tone, Shen Shuibi was somewhat surprised. "You seem much more at ease? You don't seem anxious at all."

"What's the use of anxiety? It's better to face it calmly. What does life and death matter? As long as you don't go against the principles in your heart, that's enough." Li Qi smiled. After these decades, he hadn't been without progress.

After understanding the application of the Chaos Qi, he felt a deeper connection to the phrase "go with the flow".

Upon hearing this, the rabbit was delighted. It stood on tiptoe, patted Li Qi's head, and praised him, "You look much more composed now. If you had had this mindset back then, you wouldn't have been reprimanded by Great Shaman."

"If he had this mindset from the beginning, he should have been criticizing me in other ways." Li Qi laughed and, taking advantage of Shen Shuibi's tiptoeing, grabbed her, put his arm around her waist, and leaped into the air.

Although Shen Shuibi was somewhat surprised, she did not resist. Instead, she let the other party carry her out of the world barrier and rush all the way to the outer realm.

"There are still many people in the world who can sense this, although they certainly wouldn't dare to look here. But it's still awkward for them, so they come to the outer realms for convenience," Li Qi said, holding Shen Shuibi.

Upon hearing this, the rabbit remained silent, simply leaning against him and feeling his body.

She could really feel it; she was examining Li Qi's body.

Natural and harmonious, the body seems to have a well of chaos inside, from which countless Chaos Qi are created from Creation from Nothing, and then these Chaos Qi begin to differentiate and decay into other types of energy.

Then, these energies naturally followed the 'Dao' of his inner world, arranging and assembling themselves to form a completely harmonious inner world without any artificiality.

Great progress!

Shen Shuibi knew the drawbacks of Li Qi's inner world before, which was that it relied on his own powerful computing power to forcefully approach the concept of 'perfection', which was full of craftsmanship, but she couldn't say anything about it at that time.

The spirit of craftsmanship is something you may not realize until one day you have an epiphany and it's gone.

But once you realize this and desperately try to get rid of it, then you'll probably have to work hard. At that point, the 'Cognitive Obstruction' will manifest and could potentially drive you crazy.

However, Li Qi is still Li Qi after all. He's only been in the outer realms for a short time, and he's already like this.

Hmm... I can brag about it to Yang Ning when I get back~.

The two traveled through the outer realms, their Ghost Chariot unfolding to shield them from the outside world, finally allowing them to have a private chat that they hadn't had in over twenty years.

The conversation went on for a while, and the Ghost Chariot was heading towards Li Qi's destination.

In other words, those world groups that are still putting up a stubborn resistance.

At this moment, a standoff is underway.

Because Li Qi did not want to cause too many casualties, he did not launch a war, but simply had several local fifth-rank officials surround these worlds.

However, it was only an encirclement; the other side also had several fifth-rank beings guarding these worlds, refusing to join Li Qi's large-scale World Cluster Formation.

Three officials of the fifth rank held opposing views, and at this moment they were gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

Three Rank 5 beings, who should have been great beings who roamed the myriad realms, could only huddle together and stick together for warmth amidst the infighting in the Nine Lands of the World.

"Damn it! Being trapped here like this is just waiting to die! We might as well charge out and take their lives!" a fifth-rank martial artist shouted angrily.

He was a renowned and powerful figure in this world, known as Bin Kuang. He was once a disciple of a general in the Ministry of the Tang Kingdom, but was later expelled from the sect. However, for some reason, he always stood on the side of Human Path.

At this moment, a strange behemoth said, "Trade your life? If you charge out, how many can you trade? I'm afraid you won't be able to trade even one, and you'll just die there in vain. Right now, relying on my great formation, we can still deter them to some extent. If you really charge out, can you handle it?"

This strange behemoth, named Shadow Moon Cold Teeth, lurks in a dead zone outside the realm, and is the 'nightmare' there.

The World Dead Zone is a dead zone formed when the World Barrier naturally breaks down after the world dies, and the matter inside dissipates and condenses. There are some valuable things in it, but most of them are similar to meteorite belts. Some cultivators will go there in groups to explore, search for treasures, and may even find things like the Heart of the World. However, they may also encounter dangers. It is a typical treasure hunting place.

Shadow Moon Cold Teeth is a monstrous Demon Beast lurking in the dead zone of the world, often hunting adventurers. Its legend is widely spread among independent cultivators.

I don't know why, but despite being a Demon Beast, it stood firmly on the side of Human Path, even at the risk of being strangled, it refused to leave.

"There's no need to argue. We're all in this together now. We should figure out how to deal with the Fifth Rank from Wushen Mountain. How can we cope with a surprise attack from a single member of the orthodox lineage?" another Fifth Rank replied.

This man, named Wang Wu, is the only Human Path cultivator here. He once went to Chang'an to study and practices the Yin-Yang School of the Hundred Arts of Human Path.

Three fifth-rank individuals, if they could join forces in this world, would practically dominate a region. Yet here they are, barely clinging to life.

At this moment, Bin Kuang clenched his fist. "How should we deal with this? No matter what orthodoxy he has, he can't possibly be a match for us even if he fights three against one!"

(There are double monthly votes at the beginning of the month, so please vote! It'll be a waste if you don't.)