Master and Disciple Converse

On the flying boat, Li Qi was having tea with Zhu Fengdan.

That Little Heavenly Master, he really held back. The rock tea he just tasted was good, but compared to this, the difference is enormous.

Li Qi even felt that his cultivation level had improved, and at the same time, a pure Daoist aura began to spread within his body.

This aroma is not aggressive and is dissipating, so it doesn't seem likely to last long; perhaps it has returned to the interior of the tea tree.

However, the process of dissipating also made Li Qi feel a special sense of pressure.

This feeling of pressure wasn't uncomfortable; it felt like... like... a massage?

Yes, it was a massage, a gentle and soothing pressure, and then relaxation. The internal turmoil within Li Qi's body seemed to have calmed down considerably.

"Is this... what the Daoist school considers the 'ultimate Dao'?" After finishing the cup of tea, Li Qi felt that the Daoist struggle within his body had eased considerably, and all the Dao Lineage seemed to have calmed down.

"Hmm, the lingering charm of the Great Dao, quite impressive, isn't it? It uses tea leaves to simulate the ultimate existence of the Dao. Although it has some shortcomings, it's still quite remarkable as an experience and a taste test," Zhu Fengdan said to Li Qi with a smile.

"Teacher, you suddenly came to see me. Is it because of Ranked Shaman's mission?" Li Qi didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.

Instead of exchanging pleasantries with Zhu Fengdan, let's get straight to the point and ask about the mission.

"Yes, that's it. I need to tell you in advance that after you go in, it will take you about a hundred years to come out. Of course, this refers to a hundred years in the outside world," Zhu Fengdan said.

As he spoke, he laid out a pile of dishes, all of them high-grade delicacies. "Don't just talk, eat first, and talk while you eat."

Li Qi didn't stand on ceremony. With a flick of his hands, chopsticks materialized from his inner world. He picked up a slice of raw Kunpeng fish, put it in his mouth, and savored it while digesting its precious essence. He then said, "One hundred years outside means that time inside is even longer. Is it some kind of special cosmic light?"

"Well, it can't be considered a special cosmic light, but it's probably around one to ten thousand times stronger?" Zhu Fengdan calculated.

Li Qi coughed up a mouthful of phlegm.

"How much?!" he shouted, staring wide-eyed at the teacher, his face full of disbelief.

Are you kidding me? A ratio of one to ten thousand?! That means he'll have to stay inside for a million years?!

Will he survive if he comes out like this? He'll die, won't he?

"Hey, hey, hey, this is the very tip of the Kunpeng's belly, it's very expensive." Zhu Fengdan looked at the fish slices that Li Qi spat out with heartache, as if she wanted to pick them up and eat them, but she was too embarrassed to do so, and was hesitating and struggling.

Li Qi ignored all that and immediately said, "Teacher, you want me to stay inside for a million years? Are you serious? I'm only a little over a thousand years old. Even if you include the time travel, I'm not even nine thousand years old. Are you kidding me? If that's the case, I probably won't be able to complete this mission. It's not that I'm giving up, it's just that this is too outrageous."

Zhu Fengdan said, "Don't worry, I'm estimating based on the worst-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, you'll be out in a hundred years."

"No, even if I only stay for ten thousand years, I still can't stand it!" Li Qi couldn't help but complain.

"Don't worry, you'll only remember the one time you succeeded, so it won't be too painful," Zhu Fengdan explained.

"Hey, teacher, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to just say that you've altered my memory?" Li Qi glanced at the table.

"Is this really for your own good? Can you tolerate repeating it hundreds of millions of times? It's better to delete it. Just treat it as a dream, and have an impression. If you insist on remembering it, aren't you just making yourself unhappy?" Zhu Fengdan said with a smile.

"I can't accept that. Memories are part of one's self-existence," Li Qi retorted.

"Do you remember anything before you were three years old? Weren't you yourself before you were three?" Zhu Fengdan said casually, then picked up a piece of spiritual mushroom with his chopsticks. It was full of vitality and the mist of the mountains and marshes made his chopsticks sprout.

Then, he shrugged easily. "Okay, don't be in such a hurry. Memory is something that comes and goes. I wouldn't dare say I can remember everything that happened. After so many years, I'm bound to forget some things. Why hold on to it so tightly? It's meaningless."

But Li Qi was surprisingly adamant about this. He shook his head, put down his chopsticks, placed his hands on his knees, straightened his body, and said, "No, the memories must be preserved. Doing missions is fine, but erasing memories... I can't accept that."

"Whatever makes you happy, but if you want to retain your memories, you'll have to do this too, and it will be very painful." Zhu Fengdan's tone became slightly serious. "You can't refuse. I, your master, paid a great price to get you to take this mission. If you back out, I'll tie you up and bring you there."

Li Qi understood this perfectly. Zhu Fengdan's personal arrival and the orders from the 'Alliance' made him realize that this matter was definitely not simple.

And making one's own choice is like having surgery without anesthesia.

But he really couldn't accept having his memories erased, mainly because it had taken too long.

Memories before the age of three can be attributed to the fact that one is too young to remember much, but this means that all memories from the past million years have been erased. If Li Qi can really come out of there, wouldn't that mean... 99% of his memories up to this point have been deleted?

If 99% of a person's memory were erased, what would happen then?

Therefore, Li Qi could not accept it.

Zhu Fengdan also clearly saw Li Qi's thoughts.

So he shook his head, not caring at all. "Fine, you choose for yourself, I won't interfere. If you want to keep your memories, then keep them. Don't come crying to me later asking me to seal your memories."

"That's good, thank you, teacher." Li Qi nodded. In fact, he knew that Zhu Fengdan would most likely not refuse him.

Zhu Fengdan never liked making arrangements for others.

Thinking this, Li Qi suddenly remembered something. "Teacher... by the way, can I ask you something?"

"You've already asked the question." Zhu Fengdan looked at Li Qi and pursed her lips.

That little rascal, he's revealing his true feelings on purpose.

At this moment, Li Qi was pondering the matter of Zhu Fengdan's cultivation level.

"Alright, since you're going to do something important anyway, it's no big deal to talk to you now. Ask me anything, I'll answer you while I'm still at the table. Once we're done eating and the table is cleared, I won't keep you company any longer," Zhu Fengdan said, then tapped the ends of her chopsticks on the table to align them before starting to pick up food.

Li Qi didn't stand on ceremony and immediately said, "Then, teacher, can you tell me the highest level of cultivation you've ever reached?"

"I stepped into the second rank in one step, and then I dismantled my foundation, which is why I am like this now," Zhu Fengdan said casually.

"Why did you demolish the roadbed? Did you take the wrong path?" Li Qi asked again.

His questions were simple and direct, clearly indicating that he wanted to analyze Zhu Fengdan's specific situation and then guess what was really going on behind the scenes.

"I didn't go to the wrong place, I just don't like it." Zhu Fengdan said calmly, as if she were chatting casually.

Li Qi didn't use any special tone, just like a family member asking someone at the dinner table where they went to work, "Hmm... arranged by Heaven's Will? Not happy?"

This guess made Zhu Fengdan raise an eyebrow.

Because Li Qi didn't know about this, how did he guess it from somewhere?

"How did you guess?" he asked curiously, without denying it.

"Hmm... a feeling? It's just a feeling. Nothing can stop you, unless you find out you were deceived before?" Li Qi said.

"Hahaha, as expected of my apprentice, you're really smart. Sometimes your cleverness can be quite infuriating, but it's not entirely without merit." Zhu Fengdan laughed heartily, seemingly very pleased.

"Is that true? You were really arranged by your grandmaster... I think it was your grandmaster?" Li Qi immediately pressed for an answer.

"Pretty much, anyway, it's all for my own good. But, like I just said, I don't like it, so I haven't given you a quiet environment. What, you're not mad at me, are you?" Zhu Fengdan said with a smile.

"How could that be?" Li Qi chuckled and shook his head. "I might have had some complaints before, but now that things have come to this, what is there to be confused about? It's just that I've been unlucky."

There's nothing to resent; what Zhu Fengdan did was what he wanted to do as well.

Zhu Fengdan never used his ability to manipulate cause and effect, instead of being guided step by step, allowing him to grow freely. It seems that he has fundamentally abandoned one of the classic characteristics of a third-rank official.

A normal Rank 3 person possesses the ability to manipulate cause and effect and control 'probability', but Zhu Fengdan has never demonstrated this ability. Now that Li Qi is standing in front of her, he can clearly perceive this.

At this moment, Li Qi possesses some of the characteristics of a third-rank official. He can even sense the threads of cause and effect and manipulate them to a degree that is close to the will of Heaven's Will. He used this move to defeat Liu Junyi in the vanguard battle.

However, there was no reaction from the causal threads on Zhu Fengdan's body, and she couldn't even sense that unshakable 'heaviness'.

It's as if... this person doesn't exist.

If a person has no cause and effect, then naturally they do not exist, but Zhu Fengdan is different.

Was this intentional, or... a price to pay?

"You're really unlucky. Not many people are as unlucky as you. But you could also say it's a blessing in disguise," Zhu Fengdan replied casually.

Having found the answer he wanted, Li Qi then moved on to another topic. "So... next question, teacher, where did you send me this time, and what was the mission?"

"It's very simple, it's something a Shaman should do: communicate and exchange ideas with others," Zhu Fengdan said.

"What do you mean? Then why were you chosen? And why does this kind of thing take a million years?" Li Qi frowned.

"It's very simple. There's a problem with the place you're going to. The place you're going to is a First Rank World." Zhu Fengdan explained, "Even in the entire outer realm, there aren't many First Rank World. Even for me, it's not a place that's easy to leave."

Li Qi took a deep breath, then picked up a piece of bamboo shoot with his chopsticks and chewed it quickly, trying to distract himself.

But the snow bamboo shoots were crisp and tender. After chewing them a couple of times, they turned into a rich Spiritual Qi that spread in his mouth and couldn't be dispersed at all. He could only close his eyes and meditate for a while.

Zhu Fengdan ignored him and just ate her food.

After a while, Li Qi finally calmed down and didn't lose his composure. He continued, "What kind of First Rank World is it? Is it very dangerous? Why didn't you ask Great Shaman to go? Why did you ask someone like me?"

Zhu Fengdan her hand, and a light screen unfolded, displaying the appearance of that world in three dimensions in the form of pictures. "That world, they call themselves the Immortal Heaven, so we call it the Immortal Heavenly Realm. If you go there, remember not to include the word 'realm' in your name. They don't like this term and think we are useless Outer Dao. We are quite closed off and only have some simple contact with the Daoist sect, but they still think the Daoist sect has gone astray."

"For this reason, most beings of the third rank or above are not very popular there. Although they do not like to wander outside the realm and spend most of their time cultivating in their own world, it is still First Rank World... which is very, very large and enough for them to survive."

Li Qi carefully looked at the light screen, listening to Zhu Fengdan speak while reading the information on it.

The information is stored in the form of Literary Qi within the light screen, so the amount of information is large and the explanations are very detailed.

Immortal Heaven, a world where the Way of Evolution and the carefree life of the Daoist sect coexist.

Unlike the vibrant life beyond the realm and the orderly world, the world that calls itself the Immortal Heaven is a rather brutal world. The cultivators in it live at the bottom and have no concept of 'Dao' at all. They cultivate not to pursue Dao, but to survive.

Yes, they survive, because they all live in extremely terrifying competition, just like animals, where only the fittest survive and the strong survive.

In the Celestial Realm, the world itself is divided into three levels.

At the very bottom level, known as the mortal realm, all cultivators are below the seventh rank. It is also the most brutal and fiercely competitive place. The social structure here is mainly composed of "gangs" called "sects". These sects do not gather together like the rest of the world, with any shared vision or common goals. They gather together purely because their survival rate is higher if they stick together.

All the sects in the world, such as the Righteous Sword Palace that Li Qi knew, shared the same vision and agreed-upon way of doing things. They came together for this goal.

But the Immortal Realm is different. Their sects are just a group of people gathered together, and there are even various infighting, power struggles, and open and covert battles within them. Therefore, the sects often collapse and then reorganize, with a very fast turnover rate.

To reiterate, this is more like a gang than a sect, and a lower-class one at that. Even gangs have rules and regulations, but these gangs don't even have those. Everything is based on free competition. Humans are like wild animals; cultivation is just a means to gain sharper claws and fangs to survive.

But once they reach the seventh rank, they will undergo a transformation.

It is called 'Guiding Ascension'.