Myriad Paths

In the square of Zhanhumen, Li Qi smiled and said, "You seem to have gained something."

"Thank you for your advice, sir. I seem to understand what you mean."

Li Qi nodded slightly: "You should have a purpose in doing things. Cultivation is just a means. In order to achieve this purpose, you should have your own set of criteria for judging the world, so that you can know what is good and bad."

"I will think about it." Juye bowed and expressed his gratitude.

He understood what Li Qi meant.

To judge good and bad, the first thing to have is a standard. Without a standard, all things are the same, and there is no distinction between good and bad.

And this standard is the standard for people to view the world, that is, the embodiment of Tao in people.

This standard does not necessarily fit the external objective world, so it needs to be honed. Either you smooth the external world and change the whole world, or the external world smooths you and changes your standard.

But no matter what, you must first establish your own standard. With a standard, you have the qualifications to examine the world.

Yes, people without standards are not qualified to examine the world, because in your opinion, the world is the same, good and evil, strong and weak are all natural, and in the end you can only be influenced by the world, let the world become your only standard, and go with the flow.

However, if you want to establish your own set of standards, you need a lot of practical experience, thinking, and observation.

Juye is still too young and has experienced too little. It is difficult for him to establish his own standards, that is, he has no "Tao" of his own. His standards are instilled by the outside world, and he doesn't even understand where these standards come from.

Let's take the simplest example-

The outside world tells you that money is important.

Everyone tells you that money is important. Your actual experience also proves that money is important. The concepts instilled by others and specific events in the outside society all show that money is important.

That is, you also think money is important.

So, why do you think money is important?

Perhaps some people say that money can buy social resources, food, housing, and even the loyalty of others, and then the idea of ​​"money is omnipotent" is generated.

So, is money really omnipotent?

Don't think this is a simple question, because in the primitive world, or when there was a disaster, when social rules collapsed, was money still useful?

This is not to deny the role of money, but people should think about where the "usefulness" of money comes from? Why is money useful? Why can a piece of paper play so many roles?

In the end, after discussion, learning, and comparison of historical and modern systems, we can get a conclusion.

That is: money is a kind of power to allocate social resources under the current social system. Under the current social system, holding coins means holding the power to allocate the entire social resources. This power can be used to exchange for materials, means of production, and labor, and the source of this power is the "consensus of the whole society". It is the whole society that has jointly endowed the exchange ability of "money".

Therefore, money is useful, which is based on the current social rules. If you change the social rules, it may not be useful.

So, the essence of "money" you know now may not be correct, but at least it is a conclusion.

So, if you know the essence of money, you can better use money or subvert money.

Instead of holding such an empty and superficial view that "money can buy things, so money is useful".

It's like you only know how to use magic, but don't know how to approach the "Tao" through magic.

Yes, under this logic, "money" is magic, and the operating logic of the entire society is the "Tao" of society, and also the Tao of civilization.

It is the "Tao" that developed magic. If you master the Tao, you can better master money.

Under this view, you don't know how money works. If others cover your money with their own Tao, your money will be useless. No matter how much money you accumulate, it will be useless. It's like human nature changes the time of the sky, and the magic of countless civilizations that have practiced for a lifetime will collapse directly.

People who just believe in phenomena, regard magic as truth, and regard "Tao" as something illusory lack cognitive ability, because they only rely on experience and instinct to understand the world, rashly believe in life experience, rely on common sense in daily life, and lack comprehensive learning and rigorous deduction.

If the world is a game, then the ignorant study the gameplay, the optimal solution to a certain gameplay, and how to improve the value, but the Taoists study the game code or even the underlying language.

Explore the ‘Tao’, don’t spend too much energy on the ‘technique’.

When you have a certain understanding of the ‘Tao’, the ‘technique’ will naturally be proficient, even more proficient than those who have studied the technique for a lifetime.

This is what Li Qi wants to tell Ju Ye.

This is what Tianxia wants to tell all civilizations in the universe.

The Tao that Li Qi wants to pass on in Xiantian is this ‘Tao’. This is not a specific thinking idea, but a whole set of cognition and thinking methods.

Through this method, the conclusions drawn are likely to be completely opposite, but it does not prevent this set of cognitive thinking methods from continuing to work.

The conclusion that Li Qi came to through this method is that the world exists objectively, just like money exists objectively, but the world in my eyes and the world in your eyes may have some differences in expression.

This is the answer that Li Qi thinks, Li Qi thinks so, but he may not be right.

For spiritual Taoists, they believe that the world is the world, and the definition of human beings will not change the world itself. What they want to find is the 'noumenon of the world', that is, the foundation of everything, and then use this foundation to interpret everything in the world. possibility.

For the devil, their cognition is the real world, and the world itself is shaped by their subjective will. When the eyes are open, the flowers will bloom, and when the eyes are closed, the flowers will be silent.

For Li Dao, the foundation of the world cannot be traced. The limited world of phenomena can only be interpreted subjectively. The true nature is unknowable to us and cannot be described by logic, so we only need to pay attention to the phenomena and summarize. Phenomenon, from the phenomenon, the blind man feels the elephant, and finds out a little bit of the "Tao".

For Taoists, they recognize the ultimate existence of Tao and believe that the ultimate existence of Tao exists in all things. The material itself carries the Tao, and the Tao is the embodiment of the laws of matter. As long as it is paired with 'De', it can go in and out. In the Tao, you gain true freedom.

This is also the so-called "what governs all things, is Tao; what connects heaven and earth, is virtue." ’

These are the answers they got through thinking and practice. Therefore, when you explore why the world exists, when you want to understand the essence of the world, and understand what 'Tao' is, you must first understand , for the external world, human practice is the essence.

Therefore, there is a saying that "the Tao is within it". Through "the Tao is within it", we then come to the conclusion that "the Tao is outside it".

Although the various orthodox traditions are contradictory to each other, they give people directions and ways to think. This is fundamentally different from being confused and making blind guesses, or simply following the crowd.

Perhaps the views and conclusions of various traditions may be wrong, but the thinking itself is not wrong.

Looking at Ju Ye who was lost in thought again, Li Qi felt that enough had been said.

So, he waved his hand and left a trace of book. This is an introductory practice method for Taoism. It systematically explains how to condense the inner elixir, how to recognize the existence of 'Tao', etc.

In this way, Juye will have his own support after all those powers are exhausted.

As for these so-called ‘bad guys’ in front of us…

Juye should handle it by himself. Li Qi was very curious. After Juye's external cultivation is exhausted, how will he deal with so many existences?

I'm afraid I can only practice the Taoist skills I left behind, right?

This is cognition and practice.

Of course, it doesn't matter if the other party doesn't practice, Li Qi just does it casually.

After doing this, Li Qi left the place and dispelled the formation directly.

The mountain god outside looked at Li Qi who came out and quickly lowered his head.

Li Qi returned the salute and said, "I'm sorry to trouble the mountain god. Now that the matter is over, please go back."

After saying this, Li Qi disappeared.

After that, Li Qi began to walk in the mortal world.

This journey lasted more than five hundred years.

He met many cities like Bailu City, which seemed to be an example. Later, he faced one of the city lords directly and found that the other party had mastered a practice method similar to the evil method of humanity, that is, gathering the power of people to do something for him. For personal use.

But this is just a similarity, not a humane method. There is also a very clear development process of Xiantian Kung Fu, so it is obviously developed by Xiantian himself.

It's quite advanced. Xiantian actually mastered this method on his own. Although it is very crude, it is normal for things in the mortal world to be crude. The difference should be big after ascension.

Everywhere he goes, he will find someone like Juye, who is smart, has a good heart, can think, is in a bad situation, and has enough pressure and motivation to do things.

Find such a person, then guide the other person, preach, clear up doubts, and then leave.

And so on.

Occasionally, Li Qi would stop and feel the customs and customs of Immortal Heaven, just like the gods coming to the mortal world to experience life, taste the food from various places and see the scenery.

But he never takes action and disappears directly when encountering conflicts, just like a ghost wandering in the mortal world.

More than five hundred years have passed by in a blink of an eye, and everything has happened so quickly.

Mortal life is like a mayfly, living and dying, drifting with the tide, they live a lifetime, but in fact they only live for three days.

When you are young, when you are strong, when you are old.

These three days repeated themselves, filling their pale and empty lives.

Just like the mortal world in Immortal Heaven.

In the mortal world of immortality, there are endless disputes, and everyone is just working hard to ascend. How are these mortals similar to this situation?

According to Li Qi's speculation, the mortal world in Immortal Heaven may have a history of no less than tens of billions of years.

As a first-class world, a history of tens of billions of years is not unusual.

But for tens of billions of years, the immortal world and the mortal world have been wandering in this barbaric era. Once everyone makes a breakthrough, they will be immediately sent to the real world...

This situation is exactly the same as that of ordinary people.

This is not tens of billions of years of history, this is the same day, the same thing repeated for tens of billions of years.

A history that has stagnated has also resulted in a civilization that has stagnated.

Was this situation intentional by the high-ranking people in Immortal Heaven?

Li Qi didn't know, but he felt that with his current strength, he might be able to make some waves in this stagnant water.

Of course, Li Qi was not planning to do anything big, as that would bring trouble to himself.

If one has a weak virtue but a high position, a small knowledge but a big plan, a small strength but a heavy responsibility, then it will be like a tripod breaking its legs and overturning a duke's crown. It is a handsome person and disaster will surely come later.

If you are not virtuous but hold a high position, if you are weak in wisdom but want to plan big things, if you are weak in power but take on heavy responsibilities, you will only bring disaster and ultimately harm others and yourself.

No matter how much you are capable of doing, don't force yourself.

The mortal world of Immortal Heaven is very big. Li Qi has only been wandering within a radius of tens of billions of miles until now. I don’t know if it is one trillionth of the mortal world of Immortal Heaven. After all, this place is based on light. The area is calculated in years.

However, following Li Qi's actions, in this area of ​​the immortal world... a sect, the "Zhen Dao Sect", has become famous in hundreds of years.

Li Qi learned about it and found that this was a newly established sect by the group of people he preached to.

Zhendao Sect has extraordinary unity. Under the huge pressure from the outside world, they still develop rapidly.

Nothing else but the unity brought about by Zhudao’s characteristics.

In the world of immortals and mortals, the side that resents the development of the Zhendao Sect has a large number of people that crushes the Zhendao Sect. However, the disciples of the Zhendao Sect can wake up to each other and carry out actions to coordinate tactics and strategies. On the other hand, although the other side has a large number of people, they are not united. , so it is completely unable to stop Zhendao Sect.

However, in Li Qi's view, there are also Daoist disputes within the Zhendao Sect. After all, different thinking will naturally lead to differences in the Dao, and Daoist strife will naturally arise. However, after all, the external pressure is too strong, and a sect has too many things to contend with. , so the delay is done secretly, and I don’t dare to be too obvious.

However, everything depends on comparison. On the side of Xiantian, it cannot be called holding back, it is directly cutting off the hindrance. Whoever is responsible for fighting against the Zhendao Sect is equal to being attacked from both sides. Being surrounded by his own allies and the Zhendao Sect at the same time, naturally he cannot resist and can only Defeated steadily.

As the Zhendao Sect became more and more powerful, over the past five hundred years, they had finally become a super power in the area. Their reputation had surpassed that of cities like Bailu City, and there were faint signs of annexing more than a dozen such large cities.

This kind of momentum made Li Qi very interested more than five hundred years later.

He wanted to come and see what the seeds he had sown had grown into now.

After traveling for a few days, Li Qi went to the mountain gate of Zhendao Sect.

Zhendao Sect's mountain gate is also surrounded by numerous prosperous areas, mainly at the foot of the mountain. Because of the gathering of admirers, a large city has been formed.

However, Li Qi discovered that there were unexpectedly many people coming.

This was not normal, so he scanned his shallow thoughts and discovered something.

The founder of Zhen Dao Sect is about to ascend.