So Beautiful

From Li Qi's perspective, a full 40,000 years had passed.

Forty millennia have passed, and he sits alone, desolate in the same spot, constantly exploring possibilities.

Failure, failure, yet another failure.

Endless failures.

However, unexpectedly, Li Qi's spirit was not defeated or pressured by this loneliness and failure.

He has a kind of... happiness?

Enjoying it.

Failure is not terrible, or rather, success or failure is not that important. What is important is that in such a busy life, there is finally a period of time that allows Li Qi to sit down and reflect on his thoughts, learning, and observations.

Li Qi has always been a very diligent person. From the day he began his cultivation, he read books non-stop, using various methods to read, and then went to other places to broaden his horizons.

All of these things were piled up in Li Qi's mind, like building materials stacked up like a mountain.

But Li Qi's life was too short; he lived too little time and encountered too many things, so he didn't have enough free time to organize these building materials.

He had considered taking some time to go into seclusion, but time in the real world was too precious. The Human-Shaman War was still going to last for many years. Even now, the rabbit was engaged in a life-or-death struggle with Human Path, deeply mired in the battlefield with no end in sight.

All of this required Li Qi to do. He couldn't possibly abandon everything to go into seclusion and organize things. His original plan was to wait until the Human-Shaman War was over before taking things slowly.

But now, he has a lot more time out of nowhere.

Here, Li Qi doesn't need to worry about the many troubles outside. He will be the same as when he goes in and when he comes out. All the expenses will be borne by Zhu Fengdan.

He finally had enough free time to personally move, compare, design, and draw up a blueprint for a magnificent building, using all the materials he had accumulated through his cultivation. Then, he painstakingly built everything into the structure.

This process requires no worry about external matters or unnecessary considerations; all that matters is self-improvement, nothing more.

Although this may have some side effects, such as... it is basically like building a car behind closed doors, and whether it is good or not depends entirely on oneself. Another way to say it is that it cannot accept outside help.

If a mistake is made, it would be a major disaster, severing the Dao Path. Even if the mistake is minor, once the building is completed, any attempt to correct it would require tearing it down and starting over. In that case, only the Zisha pottery could be reborn.

In the past, Li Qi would have been extremely cautious and timid, and would never have done anything so risky.

But now that things have come to this...

Well, how should I put it?

This must be the spirit that Teacher Zhu was talking about.

Just like the Demon Prince's absolute confidence in himself, he firmly believed that he could not possibly lose. This confidence was unreasonable, as everyone knows that there are always people more capable than oneself.

But if it doesn't make sense, so be it. That's what I did. There's always someone better than me, but that person hasn't appeared yet. I hope he'll come eventually.

This spirit prompted Li Qi to make this decision.

His knowledge is sufficient, his accumulation is complete, and given time, a fourth-rank official position is within his grasp. He cannot be wrong, nor is it possible for him to be wrong.

Even if he fails, it doesn't matter. Sometimes, even if he succeeds, Li Qi will take the initiative to start over.

What he wanted was not success, but to find Dao Lineage that aligned with his own Dao heart.

First of all, regardless of whether matter or consciousness is primary, the world must exist objectively; it is not a subjective thing where "flowers with eyes closed are still, and flowers with eyes open are blooming."

However, we must also acknowledge the influence of subjective consciousness on the objective world.

Then comes the interpretation of the world... about the nature of the world, for example... is matter composed of particles? Gas? Or strings? And how is it composed? In what form does it exist without flaws and paradoxes?

These are all problems that urgently need to be solved.

These answers don't necessarily have to fit the real world, but they must be logically consistent, self-contained, self-organizing, and able to explain many phenomena.

This composition directly determines all the power a cultivator will possess later in life.

From this moment on, the cultivator will determine his own limits. The Great Dao he constructs will directly become all his power. He will no longer rely on the original Great Dao of the universe, but on his own Great Dao. All his power will come from it.

It's incredibly difficult for one person to interpret an entire world.

But that's what the fourth rank is supposed to do, even if the fourth rank doesn't need to be completely perfect.

The complete perfection of first-order logic is something that cannot be described at all, and Li Qi cannot think of how to proceed with it for the time being.

But even this is enough.

He doesn't need to achieve that level of perfection. For Li Qi at his current level, that's impossible. Completely resolving the completeness of first-order logic would mean resolving the barber paradox, which is too far off.

All he had to do was describe his Theory of Everything.

Another five millennia have passed.

Li Qi was so engrossed in his own creation that he completely forgot about everything else.

Because these things are so wonderful, and the things he created are so appropriate. He set up a whole set of physical constants, such as the true speed of light in a vacuum and the charge of an electron.

Fine structure constant, orbital quantum, the rest mass of basic air, gravity caused by mass, how gravity affects spacetime, how singularities operate, and so on.

These constants are like the 'basic settings' in a game; these settings make up the world and give rise to many more things.

However, if you don't consider things carefully enough, a bunch of settings piled up together will create 'bugs'. These bugs will become your weaknesses, and may even directly cause the game to crash, which means... the Dao Path is cut off, or even an implosion.

Self-consistent, logically self-consistent, and at the same time, it is sufficient to explain the entire reality, and can explain all physical phenomena, chemical phenomena, all kinds of things, Divine Ability, and the principles of technology with the same theory, and there can be no paradoxes between them, let alone arbitrary patches.

Patching is possible, but if a patch is applied that includes something like the cosmological constant, future repairs will likely be daunting, and in the end, people might have no choice but to start all over again.

As the saying goes, a small difference can lead to a huge error. If any of these self-consistent constants had an extra 1 added after a million decimal places, it might cause the collapse of the entire universe.

At the fifth rank, there's no need to worry about these things, because the Dao Path of the fifth rank is essentially supported by the real world. You are using the already quite perfect laws of the real world to maintain your own operation. If you make a mistake, so be it; you can correct it later, just like the path explored by countless mortals.

However, if a fourth-rank being wants to break free from the influence of the real universe, it must also break free from the support of the real universe.

Just like parents and children.

When a child makes a mistake, their parents can support them and help them resolve the consequences. If the theory is wrong, so be it; the real world won't change because of the theory. These solid principles support you and give you a chance to start over.

But now that you've grown up and reached the fourth rank... you'll have to bear the consequences of your mistakes yourself.

If you are wrong, no real-world principle will help you. You have already detached yourself from reality. Now... everything depends on yourself. The 'parallel world' you have constructed will really undergo drastic changes because of this theory, and you will have to swallow the bitter pill of its eventual collapse.

Li Qi took a deep breath.

To construct one's own Dao Path is to prove that the universe has more than one possibility, that one's own path is also part of the universe, and that it may even give birth to a brand new universe.

This is his view, so he doesn't need to get hung up on primacy; he sets primacy as the real universe.

Keep it up!

The 52,000th year, a full fifty-two millennia have passed.

Zhu Fengdan, standing outside, had already begun to frown.

This has taken far too long, abnormally long. He didn't take this long back then. Under normal circumstances, such a promotion would take no more than ten thousand years, because it's a matter of course.

Everything was prepared, and the ideas were carefully crafted beforehand, so that we could finally give it a try.

Without sufficient experience and experience, no one will attempt a promotion; after all, failure means being reborn.

So even though forty thousand years had passed in the extraordinary cosmic light, he never urged him on.

But 52,000 years... that's far too long, long enough for Li Qi to fail.

Something happened inside?

However, he couldn't investigate further, because when his senses entered the area, it would interfere with Li Qi's perception. The child was extremely perceptive and could detect any disturbance.

Zhu Fengdan maintained an extremely high level of cosmic light distortion, roughly reaching a ratio of one to ten thousand, so it has only been five years now.

However, for both Zhu Fengdan and Li Qi, 52,000 years had passed, and Zhu Fengdan could clearly sense the passage of time on Li Qi's side.

This is actually a considerable burden. He is now experiencing two different time and space at the same time. The different Cosmic Time flow rate in the two stages have created a great contradiction. The friction between the speed difference in time and space can destroy the mind of mortals.

Zhu Fengdan needs to overcome this resistance in order to continue Li Qi's acceleration.

Fortunately, he's holding on.

But he didn't know if Li Qi could hold on.

Another millennium has passed.

Zhu Fengdan's expression was serious; he was about to break it open to take a look.

It's been far too long. Could Li Qi have failed? In this situation, it's easy for his Dao heart to collapse due to excessive failures.

When you try and fail no matter what you do, your Dao heart is easily tempted to think, "Could it be that I'm wrong?"

Once you have this idea, it will be very difficult for your subsequent attempts to succeed.

Ordinary people call this a 'disturbed mind,' but it is also very common for spiritual practitioners.

Dao heart wavers and one no longer believes in one's own Dao, then all cultivation will become restless, and everything you do will become more difficult.

Just as Zhu Fengdan was worrying so much, another thousand years passed.

He was about to force it open.

Li Qi's condition is already seriously abnormal. If this continues, his disciple might really lose his Dao Path Daoist path.

With that in mind, Zhu Fengdan no longer hesitated and decisively terminated the special cosmic light.

The time-dilated sphere gradually disappeared, and the distorted light returned to normal.

Zhu Fengdan felt a harmonious and natural aura emanating from her.

The surrounding 'real world' was naturally repelled, and around Li Qi, a 'parallel world' was peaceful, quiet, and slowly operating.

The primacy, causal chains, various physical constants, phenomena, and the Dao Path built upon 'logic' clearly and unambiguously arrange all things.

The Tao tells matter how to move.

The Tao tells us how space and time are curved.

The way tells chemistry how to react.

The Tao tells everything in this world how it should be.

What is Qi, and why does it have these properties? Because the Dao tells Qi that it should be this way, so it is this way.

Why is the speed of light 299,792,458 m/s? Because it is determined by the Tao, it is determined by 'speed', and here is an infinite speed.

Li Qi realized the true nature of the 'Fast Universe'.

In reality, the so-called 'Fast Universe' is actually another way, a new interpretation of the universe, and this interpretation can also give rise to the 'real universe'.

Drawing upon his past knowledge and experiences, along with his own reflections, Li Qi has already created his own world and his own path.

He has reached the fourth rank.

Although he has not yet reached the level of "freedom and eternity" of the third rank, he has already begun to break free from the shackles of reality. His Dao has not yet reached the point of "equal to reality", but it is already higher than these lower-level substances that exist in reality.

Zhu Fengdan clearly saw Li Qi's current state.

Li Qi had already succeeded, but he seemed to be still immersed in this state of enlightenment, as if he was weaving his own path for the future.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Fengdan stepped forward without hesitation and kicked Li Qi to the ground.

Li Qi suddenly woke up!

"Teacher... what are you doing?!" Li Qi was annoyed. He was still immersed in the feeling of building the world. This stage with ample time for self-reflection was really too rare.

In his short life, Li Qi never had the chance to contemplate like this.

However, Zhu Fengdan gently beckoned, and Li Qi Zhu Fengdan grabbed directly, his head held in her hand.

He pressed Li Qi's head down and said, "Kid, you're still far from 'reality.' Detached from reality and just building your own world is courting death. What makes you think your 'Dao' can compare to the real world?!"

"Be honest, you've only taken the first step. From now on, you've embarked on your own path. No one knows what the future holds except for yourself, but confidence is key, not arrogance."

Zhu Fengdan's sudden reminder snapped Li Qi out of his reverie.

"...Thank you, teacher." He took a deep breath, bringing his thoughts back from his own world to the real world.

At that moment, Li Qi suddenly froze.

After isolating themselves in distorted spacetime and constructing their own world...

To come out and experience the real world again.

What a nice view.

This world is so beautiful.

It's so much better than mine.