Carrying Along

In Li Qi's previous conjecture, all the heavens and myriad worlds of the universe were infinite monkey typewriters of powerful beings.

Infinite retracing, infinite worlds, are all essentially about finding that future within infinite time, a future that leads to the ultimate Tao.

Even proving that the ultimate Tao does not exist is acceptable, even proving oneself to be wrong is acceptable.

All of this is simply to reveal a possibility.

Therefore, Li Qi is facing the same predicament as Yi Pin.

An endless cycle, everything has been explored, nothing can be changed, there is no way to know what to do or how to do it.

Therefore, we can only continue in this cycle, pinning our hopes on others, on a tiny possibility, even if that possibility is almost zero.

At this moment, Li Qi felt that he was exactly the same as those first-class officials.

Li Qi opened his eyes.

If rabbits or little rabbits were nearby at this moment, they would notice... that Li Qi's eyes were filled with death.

Seventh-rank cultivators have theoretically achieved immortality. Although some seventh-rank cultivators outside the realm have not achieved this, all seventh-rank cultivators in the world have certainly achieved immortality. Their cultivation Cultivation Method are designed to help cultivators break free from the constraints of the passage of time.

In reality, the average lifespan of a seventh-grade cultivator is not long, generally only a few thousand years, with a few occasionally living to over ten thousand years.

The reason is simple: either they are beaten to death, or their Dao heart cannot withstand it. Living would become a torment for them. Many times, these seventh-rank cultivators would actively dissipate their power and choose death due to the aging of their mentality.

It's like the Second Rank World that I once heard about, born on Demon Star. Their lifespan is so fast that they only live a short time before reaching the fourth grade, and even at the seventh grade, they can only live for a few days.

This is the situation Li Qi is facing now, even though he is a fifth-rank official.

However, after he considered Yi Pin's predicament...

The moment Li Qi had this thought, he suddenly felt a sense of relief, and his chaotic thoughts seemed to calm down considerably.

Even those at the highest level are like this, so he seemed to have nothing more to say.

After all, the cycle of reincarnation that Yi Pin experienced was far more painful than his.

Sometimes, this mindset can be very useful.

If you are the only one suffering, it is probably difficult for you to persevere.

But as long as you think about how there are other people suffering alongside you, and that their suffering is much greater than yours, then after careful consideration, it seems you can still bear it.

Moreover, this proves that this kind of pain is actually bearable, and that more than one person is suffering from it.

It's just that I haven't found a way to cope, or rather, I'm not strong enough.

Don't even think about cultivating your skills during this kind of regression.

But... the spirit can hold up.

Li Qi knew that the brief restoration of his rationality caused by these thoughts would probably not last long. If he continued to regress, his mind would not be able to withstand the torment.

Even a fifth-grade cultivator is nearing its limit after more than a billion cycles.

Suddenly, he became determined, and a crazy idea popped into his head!

Didn't the immortals want him to 'merge with the Dao'?!

Alright then, let's align ourselves with the Dao.

Even though Li Qi knew there was a possibility he wouldn't be able to get out.

Even if you go back in time, you can't go back.

It should be noted that the Immortal Heaven itself is not affected by the reversal, so if Li Qi is assimilated after merging with the Dao, then there is no hope for him.

Even if the God of Witches came, they probably couldn't pull Li Qi out of a first-grade body.

There is absolutely no chance of true death.

However, Li Qi's brief regain of his composure due to his predicament as a first-rank official allowed him to accurately identify a potential opportunity—

First, it is known that the Celestial Realm is not truly perfect, because Haotian has created a world that is more perfect than the Celestial Realm, even if it comes at the cost of Haotian's own decline. The world that Haotian controls is far more perfect than the Celestial Realm, and has even formed a structure called 'All Heavens'.

This is far superior to the Celestial Realm.

Compared to the Celestial Realm, the Heavenly Realm is clearly much taller and more magnificent.

Therefore, at this moment, if the Celestial Realm reflects the Heavenly Realm and no flaws can be found, it is definitely not the Heavenly Realm's problem, but Li Qi's problem.

The reason he couldn't find the other party's weakness was simply because he didn't understand both sides well enough.

So, how do we understand this?

Simple.

By merging with the Immortal Heaven, one will naturally understand the Immortal Heaven, which is far more useful than comprehending it hundreds of millions of times. As long as Li Qi still has the ability to break free, he will naturally understand the 'perfection' of the Immortal Heaven.

Then, through Yao Ji, we can learn about Hao Tian and compare the differences between the two.

With this thought in mind, Li Qi acted immediately, abandoning all his defenses and choosing to merge with the Dao with a determination to die.

Xiantian did not reject him at all, and he easily merged into Xiantian.

This feeling... how should I put it?

Indescribable.

Li Qi has his own world, and the Heavenly Dao of his own inner world is completely under his control, so he can fully understand the feeling of controlling the world.

However, the feeling of being in the Celestial Realm is completely different from this.

At this moment, Li Qi suddenly became dazed and confused.

He began to lose his mind.

The ability to think gradually disappears, and perception becomes blurred, as if... half-awake and half-asleep.

In his half-dreaming, half-awake state, he seemed to possess certain special qualities.

For example, when a person is half-asleep and unconscious, they will still breathe and scratch themselves; these are actually 'instincts'.

Now, Li Qi has developed some more instincts.

A cruel and indifferent instinct

Heaven has always been so fair and impartial, so ruthless and unbiased towards any side, cruel and extreme, yet maintaining that delicate balance.

Yes, selflessness—this is the nature of all things in the Heavenly Dao.

But...

The Celestial Realm seems Great One.

In a daze, Li Qi muttered to himself, as if he felt that something was wrong.

The selfless Way of Heavenly Dao looks down upon all things equally, with a just and impartial attitude, and Haotian, being born with the highest rank, is naturally the same.

Whether it's mortals, other gods, or even himself, Haotian treats everyone the same—truly indifferent, yet genuinely caring.

Love nothing, have no particular preference.

It was with this attitude that mortals were able to grow slowly. Even when they eventually became stronger than Haotian, Haotian had no complaints or dissatisfaction. He continued to face everything with this attitude, maintaining this broken universe just as he had at the beginning.

In that sense, Haotian is like a robot.

But in reality, Li Qi knew that gods possessed emotions.

However, Haotian truly achieved a state of being without love or hatred.

That is a very broad mind.

Haotian was like an endless void, easily encompassing all things in his heart, and all things were equal in his heart.

Li Qi remained in a daze, having lost even his own consciousness. This 'selflessness' began to be etched into his instincts, and he would naturally align himself with the Heavenly Dao, just as he did with breathing.

Li Qi already knew this, because the things he was encountering now were things that had been experienced by those who came before him.

After all, Li Qi was a study fanatic; the things he did most since he began cultivating were reading, studying, and thinking.

This is why he knows these things; after all, Li Qi has not yet found a new path, and he is still walking on the old path of his predecessors.

Following the old path means there is experience to draw upon.

For ordinary people, learning is like archaeology.

The Newtonian mechanics I learned in junior high school is from three hundred years ago.

Trigonometric functions are a concept from 1,500 years ago.

What Li Qi is experiencing now is something that people from countless years ago went through.

Yes, the concept of "merging with the Dao" is something that happened many years ago. At that time, many cultivators took "merging with the Dao" as their ultimate goal and voluntarily became part of the Heavenly Dao.

The concept of Human Path "Perfected Person" in the past was described as "the Perfected Person has no self," which means that, like Li Qi, one forgets oneself and becomes part of the Dao.

The Perfected Person is selfless, having no self in their heart, and thus can get close to the Dao, existing as something that completely conforms to the Dao.

Of course, as it turns out, while this idea wasn't entirely wrong, it... didn't meet the ultimate needs of those Dao Pursuer.

Those Dao Pursuer want to understand the Way, not to become the Way, because they have their own Way.

Blindly pursuing and assimilating into the Great Way makes one merely a follower of the Way, not Dao Pursuer —a significant difference.

Therefore, those Dao Pursuer in the world gradually abandoned this foolish practice.

But these stories have still been passed down.

For example, as mentioned earlier, "the Perfected Person has no self."

"Perfected Person" is a title for the three grades of Human Path.

As luck would have it, within Li Qi's body, the Dao principles of a Perfected Person were being conceived and revived. (See Chapter 487 for details)

When Zhu Fengdan gave him the third-grade head, Li Qi chose to drink poison to quench his thirst in order to defeat the Demon Prince. He forcibly broke through to the sixth grade through the Dao principles on the head, which left a huge hidden danger for Li Qi. This directly led to the possibility that Li Qi could be reborn in the Demon Prince's body, becoming a huge obstacle in his breakthrough from the third grade.

However, everything has its yin and yang, its good and its bad; there are always two sides to everything.

Now, Li Qi has taken advantage of this bad thing.

After all, he was killed by Zhu Fengdan, and his own Dao was shattered, leaving only a few scattered remnants in Li Qi's body.

He can still be resurrected from these fragments. The immortality of a third-grade cultivator depends entirely on his own Dao principles; he is only currently in a state of temporary slumber.

Now, Li Qi asked, can he continue to lie in a corpse?

Yes, the Perfected Person is selfless.

Is this current Third Grade Perfected Person of Human Path Legalist School the most typical example of "Perfected Person without Self"?

As Li Qi's Daoist practice unfolds.

These third-grade Daoist essences within Li Qi's body suddenly began to activate.

The world around them suddenly distorted.

In the naturally existing world, there are no laws. Laws are created by humans to regulate human behavior and enable groups to possess the "Tao".

Yes, there are great differences between individuals, and naturally, there will be great differences in their 'Dao' (the Way). Therefore, without constraints, those Dao Pursuer will naturally disperse, and eventually, there will be Dao-related conflicts between people. The result is likely to be like the Way of Evolution or the Daoist sects, where everyone is scattered and fighting their own battles, each doing their own thing.

Therefore, Legalist School arose from the Dao Lineage of Human Path that emphasizes the power of the group.

The Legalist School aimed to unite various Dao Lineage and pool their strengths.

Yes, all sorts of different Dao Lineage!

Confucianism, Mohism, the Military School, the Chong and Li Clans of Yin-Yang School, the School of Agriculture, even the Chongli and Li clans among the Shaman, the split of the Daoist school of Reason Way, the Manifest World Faction of Daoism, a group of true dragons, and so on. These schools of thought do not share the same view of the world. If they are allowed to develop freely, it is very likely that the entire Human Path will fall apart and become a bunch of second-rate Dao Lineage like martial arts and Reason Way.

The true force that brings so many strange and unusual forces together is the law.

Human Path is able to be established and to gather the strength of the masses because of the rules it follows.

Human Path calls itself a nation for this very reason.

If a country has no laws, the people will not know what to do; if there are no standards, things will be disorderly.

If the laws are not upright and the standards are not straight, then the government will be corrupt, and if the government is corrupt, the country will be in chaos. Therefore, it is said, "Upright laws and straight standards, no one will be spared from death, killing must be carried out with conviction, and the people will be filled with fear and dread. Once the military might is clear, the orders will not be carried out again."

The so-called 'law' is a set of rules that can be imitated and followed.

Even in the classification of Tao, Dharma, and Technique, Dharma is included.

The Legalist School named their school after law, and that is the meaning behind it.

The law is the position of Heaven and Earth, and it is like the movement of the four seasons, used to govern the world.

The four seasons follow their course, with cold and heat, and the sages followed this pattern, hence the existence of both civil and military arts.

The positions of Heaven and Earth are front and back, left and right. Sages follow these principles to establish order.

Spring brings life on the left, autumn brings death on the right, summer brings growth in front, and winter brings storage in the back. The matter of growth is civil, and the matter of storage is military. Therefore, civil affairs are on the left and military affairs are on the right. Sages follow this principle to enforce laws and regulations and to govern affairs.

As the sage said: A ruler must have clear laws and righteous principles.

Li Qi's righteousness and justice, particularly the righteousness, refers to principles that align with the common people and the entire world. (See Chapter 128)

It is precisely because of this that Li Qi was able to accept Human Path smoothly, because he did not reject the idea of clear law and justice from the beginning, and believed that it was reasonable.

The law is born from righteousness, and righteousness is born from the people. It is in accordance with people's hearts, and this is the key to governance. The law does not come from the world or from the earth, but originates from the human world and comes from one's own self-correction.

All of these views actually constitute Li Qi's inner world, because Li Qi's sixth-grade Dao foundation was directly borrowed from the views of this third-grade Legalist School Perfected Person.

Now, this part of the foundation has come to life.

Li Qi was in a daze, unaware of what had happened, but his inner world naturally began to stir.

The aura of a third-rank official permeated the air.

This Perfected Person of Legalist School, during the process of merging with the Dao, received offerings from a first-rank Heavenly Dao. He finally absorbed enough power to reconstruct the Dao principles and be completely reborn!

Li Qi was like a placenta that had been anesthetized; from his body, a magnificent Dharma image descended to this place!

Yao Ji looked behind her in astonishment—

Huh? This mortal carries a third-rank item on him?