Chapter 181 The Way of Fighting
A tide of beasts appeared in the Immortal World, and most of the cultivators who went there in search of opportunities chose to leave temporarily.

Many monks were also able to retreat through the entrance and exit controlled by the Qi Shi Mansion.

With the arrival of these outsiders, the originally quiet Qi Shi Mansion became lively.

Many places outside the Qi Shi Mansion have become gathering places for cultivators, waiting to enter the Immortal Mansion world again after the beast tide ends.

After Li Zhi left Duan De, he did not practice in seclusion, but wandered around.

After more than two months of continuous fighting in the Immortal World, even machines would get tired.

Although Li Zhi's body did not show much signs of fatigue, his mind felt very tired.

It seems that this lifestyle of continuous fighting is not suitable for him.

Moreover, the combat experience he had accumulated in these two months was already rich enough.

The potential that can be tapped through fighting has basically reached a limit.

Even though Li Zhi spent two months fighting non-stop for the sake of practice, and even behaved like a battle maniac at one point, he actually didn't really like fighting and wasn't good at it.

He is not the kind of person who is born for fighting and becomes stronger with more fighting.

But it is undeniable that the great Dao foundation he forged provided him with an extraordinary fighting talent.

Li Zhi only continued fighting for two months before he refined his various combat skills and stabilized his strength within the Eight Forbidden Realm.

However, his inner fatigue made him lose all interest in fighting for a short period of time.

Then Li Zhi strolled around while thinking about how to avoid fighting.

At the same time, he was also thinking about whether the fighting method could be simplified.

That kind of time-consuming and laborious battle was quite different from the style of battle he had imagined.

In Li Zhi's mind, it is best not to fight with the opponent for more than three moves.

If three moves can't solve the problem, then three hundred or three thousand moves may still not be able to solve the essence of the problem.

In Li Zhi's opinion, in a battle that requires thousands of moves or lasts for a long time before the winner is determined, the winning side cannot be considered as having defeated the other side, but rather as having exhausted the opponent.

What is the point of this battle?
Is fighting just to kill?

If it is a battle for the great Dao, then any battle that lasts more than three moves without a clear winner means that one's own Dao level cannot crush the opponent, and one's own strength still has obvious shortcomings.

The Book of Military Affairs says: "The method of using troops is to surround them if they are ten times your number, attack them if they are five times your number, divide them if they are twice your number, fight them if they are your enemy, flee if they are fewer than you, and avoid them if they are inferior to you."

Li Zhi felt that the principles in the "Book of Military Affairs" were also applicable to spiritual practice, especially in combat, where they made a lot of sense.

"Surround them if you have ten of them" is the best way to fight, ensuring that your own strength is ten times that of the enemy.

It is just like the "皆" secret, one of the Nine Secrets. After mastering it, a cultivator can instantly burst out with ten times the combat power. In Li Zhi's view, it is the most superior way of fighting. It can exert a combat power ten times of one's basic strength, and can destroy any opponent of the same realm.

"Attack at five points" is second to none in terms of combat.

You can only amplify your own strength to five times the combat power. When facing an opponent of the same level, you need to fight with full concentration, otherwise it will be difficult to determine the outcome.

After all, there are a large number of geniuses who possess the strength of the five forbidden levels. Almost all cultivators who are able to cultivate to the highest level of power were geniuses when they were young, and all of them possessed the strength of the four or five forbidden levels to some extent.

As for "double the strength, divide it", it goes without saying. If you only have the combat power to double your basic strength, it is best not to fight the opponent head-on, but to find ways to weaken the opponent and attack the opponent's weak points, so as to have a chance to defeat the opponent.

If this is all the strength you have, you will need more skills to make up for the lack of hard power.

If your own strength and combat power are weaker than that of the opponent, you should avoid this kind of battle if possible.

With this understanding, Li Zhi felt as if he suddenly had a clearer idea about the battle.

Pursue entering the forbidden realm of the gods, ensure that the eight forbidden realms are maintained, and avoid falling into the five forbidden realms.

Therefore, when facing an opponent with equal basic strength, if you do not have the ability to exert more than five times the combat power, it is best not to think about killing the opponent outright.

As for fighting against opponents of higher levels, it should be avoided if possible. Fighting against opponents of higher levels is essentially bullying the weak. If you are at the same level, there is no need to fight at all. If you fight against opponents of higher levels for a long time, it is very likely to create a false and powerful Tao heart.

When one day you need to face a strong person of the same talent level, perhaps the combat habits and combat skills accumulated from fighting against a higher level person will suddenly seem pale and powerless.

On the path of cultivation, the higher the realm, the less likely it is to fight against opponents of higher levels.

Because people who lack talent cannot reach the later stage of the great road.

Fighting across levels, seemingly a victory of the weak over the strong, is thrilling and shocking.

In fact, in Li Zhi's opinion, it is just people with higher talents bullying those with lower talents, and it does not provide much practical help to their own cultivation.

At least in Li Zhi's opinion, the help is extremely limited.

Because before you reach the end of the road, there will always be monks with higher realms than you ahead. Do you have to fight against opponents of higher levels every time?

This is unrealistic.

Facing an enemy with a higher realm, Li Zhi felt that the truly reliable approach was not to think about how to defeat the strong with the weak, but to consider how to quickly narrow the realm gap between himself and the opponent.

Catch up with the other party on the time scale.

Because everyone's foundation and talents are different, the upper limit is also different.

If you can stably exert ten times the combat power in every realm.

Li Zhi believed that the man was naturally invincible, and there would never be a possibility that he would be defeated by a cultivator of a lower realm.

If you can burst out ten times the combat power but still cannot defeat your opponent, it only means that there is a problem with your own foundation, and you need to focus on checking for deficiencies and fill in the gaps.

Therefore, fighting is never the goal, but a means to gain ten times the combat power.

At the same time, fighting is also a means of discovering the shortcomings of one's own basic strength.

But fighting is not the only means.

If the various attributes of a cultivator, such as the body, the soul, the Tao, the will, etc., can all stably display ten times the explosive power, then this cultivator does not need to prove his strength through fighting, it will be difficult for him not to be strong.

From this point of view, how terrifying is the emperor who was able to create the secret of the word "all".

Perhaps the Emperor had already reached a perfect state of cultivation at that time, which gave him the strength and courage to create the vast heaven.

Whether it is Taoism, magic power, physical body, or soul, the Emperor has probably reached an incredible level. Even the immortal bloodline that the Immortal Emperor is proud of is probably not worth mentioning in front of the Emperor.

The Emperor's Cauldron of the Source of All Things was broken when the Heavenly Palace collapsed. At that time, it was already a real immortal weapon. This is enough to show how high the Emperor's Taoism was when he founded the Heavenly Palace.

Therefore, there is no necessary connection between whether a cultivator is powerful or not and whether he likes to fight.

And if you want to gain powerful strength, you don't necessarily need to become a battle maniac.

Duan De has never been a battle maniac, but his strength is unquestionable. There are very few cultivators in the world who can compare with him.

Thinking of this, Li Zhi felt that his path to cultivation had suddenly opened up.

Fighting, fighting non-stop, fighting until the whole world is your enemy, that is the path to enlightenment that Ye Fan, the destined protagonist, must take, but it is not the path to enlightenment that Li Zhi must take.

Imitation can sometimes smooth out your own edges and corners, making you smoother.

Just like a smooth stone ball can never be used as the cornerstone of a tall building, instead, the angular stone is the real cornerstone.

The Tao is invisible, formless, selfless, and without matter. On the path of cultivation, you must never imitate others or force yourself to do things you are not good at or don't like.

After understanding these principles, Li Zhi suddenly felt a lot more relaxed.

The feeling of fatigue accumulated in my heart disappeared in an instant.

Why bother imitating others and becoming a feared fighting maniac?

According to my understanding, is it really impossible to tap the potential within the human body?

After practicing Taoism, one’s thinking cannot be limited, otherwise one will go astray and even get half the result with twice the effort.

After the mental fatigue disappeared, the smile on Li Zhi's face took on a hint of laziness, the luster in his eyes suddenly softened, and even the lines of his entire body seemed to become rounder, giving a sense that he was about to gain weight.

It was as if he had degenerated from a martial arts master into a mortal who had no martial arts skills, and everything about him looked loose and sloppy.

No wonder Duan De always appears in front of the world as a fat Taoist priest.

In the past, Li Zhi found it strange that Duan De, whose strength was unfathomable and there were only a few people in the world who could match him, did not care about his image.

It turns out that they just chose different paths.

Duan De has been reincarnated for several lifetimes, but he has never thought of pacifying the forbidden zone of life. Even the underworld he founded is used as a forbidden zone of life by later generations.

However, those supreme beings who lived in the underworld showed extreme fear when they actually faced Duan De.

This kind of deterrent power to the Supreme of the Forbidden Zone is no less than that of the Emperor of the human race.

This is the charm of "Tao".

Because he didn't need to fight to the end like ordinary cultivators to prove his Dao and become an emperor, he didn't deliberately maintain a body shape that was conducive to fighting. A cultivator, in the final analysis, still spoke with "Dao".

The body is the Tao, the soul is the Tao, the law is the Tao, and everything in the world is the Tao.

Only the great way you cultivate is strong, and it is truly strong.

If the Dao is strong, the combat effectiveness will definitely not be bad.

The change in mentality made Li Zhi look at everything in the world with appreciation.

No longer troubled by the so-called "Eight Forbidden Realms" or "God Forbidden Realm", no longer troubled by whether you can fight across levels, no longer troubled by whether you can surpass others.

My mentality suddenly became clear.

Looking at those geniuses who were hurrying around in the Qishi Mansion, Li Zhi no longer felt that sense of urgency.

Just after Li Zhi's mentality changed, the golden dragon in the Dragon Transformation Secret Realm quietly grew nine inches longer without anyone noticing, reaching a length of nine feet, nine feet and nine inches.

But Li Zhi was completely unaware of this.

Li Zhi, feeling relaxed, walked out of Qi Shi Mansion and came to a fairy cliff not far from Qi Shi Mansion.

Every time the Qi Shi Mansion was opened, many cultivators would come to Xianya to trade items. Over time, that Xianya evolved into a free trading market.

The Immortal Cliff is a thousand feet high, with steep walls, as if it was a cliff cut out by a sword of a powerful being. Mortals cannot climb up at all. There is no grass growing on the Immortal Cliff, but the space on the cliff is very spacious.

At this time, forces from all sides have built attics here, including the Baoque that sells weapons, the Yulou that sells elixirs, and some people just set up stalls to sell all kinds of elixirs and ancient treasures.

When Li Zhi arrived at Xianya, there were already many cultivators shopping here.

After just walking around a small area of ​​the free market, Li Zhi discovered several powerful people setting up stalls.

Li Zhi was so impressed by what he saw that he wanted to set up a street stall on the Fairy Cliff.

After walking around the Immortal Cliff, Li Zhi found an interesting old blind man. In front of him was a torn straw mat with a few black broken stones on it. On the surface, it looked like a stall selling source stones.

In fact, he was a map dealer.

When Li Zhi came to his stall, he was mysteriously selling the treasure map of the Immortal Burial World to a young monk.

The young monk seemed to be tempted by the old blind man's trick and asked, "How much is this picture?"

The old blind man said with a painful look on his face: "In order to get this treasure map, I spent a huge price. Since you are sincere in buying it, I will reluctantly give it to you for 10,000 kilograms of source."

The young man hesitated and said, "Ten thousand kilograms of source? That's a bit expensive."

Upon hearing this, the old blind man immediately spread out the map, pointed at the content on the map, and said: "Look at this stone forest on the map, it is the place where the saint transformed into Tao. Look at this cliff, there is an ancient sword formula engraved on it, and the cave here is the cave where the saint once lived. Look at this immortal burial ground, it is the absolute core of the immortal world, there must be relics of the emperor in it, maybe all the ultimate weapons and ancient scriptures of the emperor. You can get this treasure map for 10,000 jin of source, you will definitely not lose out. I dare to guarantee after-sales service. If the various places of opportunity in the immortal world are not consistent with the markings on this treasure map, you can bring the map to me to refund the money afterwards."

The young man gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, give me one."

Then, the old blind man said to the young man with a kind face: "My friend is a man who can do great things. He understands the importance of investment. In this world, there is no reward without hard work. Today, you spent 10,000 catties of energy. I guarantee that you can find treasures worth more than 100,000 catties of energy in the Immortal Mansion World."

After the young man paid the old blind man 10,000 kilograms of source, he left satisfied.

Seeing that Li Zhi seemed interested in the map he had just sold, the old blind man said to Li Zhi, "My friend, do you want to buy a map as well?"

Li Zhi walked over curiously and asked, "Old man, how much do you sell this map for?"

The old blind man greeted enthusiastically: "One for ten thousand kilograms of pure source."

"It's too expensive. Can you make it cheaper? How about 100 kilograms?" Li Zhi said.

"One hundred kilograms of source? Are you kidding me, little Taoist?" The old blind man blew his beard and glared.

Li Zhi suddenly lifted a corner of the straw mat on the ground and said, "There are no less than a thousand treasure maps under your straw mat. The treasure maps that should have been a unique business have been sold by you as prints. You asked for 10,000 catties of source. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"

The old blind man quickly stretched out his hand to hold down the straw mat and said, "One hundred kilograms is too little, not even enough to cover the cost of production. You can think of it as making it old without spending any money."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Ninety Jin Yuan, you should sell it at a low profit before anyone starts selling it off. Otherwise, these treasure maps you copied with great effort will be a waste of money. I saw several powerful people from the Great Xia Dynasty staying near Xianya. If they knew that you were selling their secret maps, you would have a hard time staying in Xianya."

The old blind man looked Li Zhi up and down and said, "Little Taoist priest, ninety kilograms of source is fine, but you must buy at least one hundred treasure maps. Otherwise, I won't sell it to you."

Li Zhi said, "How about I buy one to check the goods first? I can't just buy the goods without checking them out."

The old blind man directly pulled out a treasure map from under the straw mat and handed it to Li Zhi, saying, "Here you go."

After Li Zhi took the treasure map, he flipped through it and quickly asked, "Why is there only a topographic map of the Immortal Residence World on your map? Where is the topographic map of the Immortal Burial World? This is not a partial map, is it? I am not someone who can be fooled."

The old blind man's eyes suddenly turned white, staring at Li Zhi and asked, "You actually look down on this treasure map? You should know that this is a secret map that only the Immortal Dynasty has."

Li Zhi said with a little disappointment: "The treasure map of the Immortal Mansion World is useless. The places with treasures have long been plundered. What I want is the map of the small world of Immortal Burial in the Immortal Mansion World. That is where the real treasure is."

The old blind man kept calculating in his sleeve with his left hand, but his face remained calm. He asked, "Young Taoist priest, it's still hard to say whether the immortal burial world you mentioned exists or not, so how could a map be circulated?"

Li Zhi said: "Since you don't have the map I want, I'll take my leave."

After saying that, Li Zhi turned and left the old blind man's stall.

The old blind man shouted to Li Zhi anxiously, "Young Taoist priest, please stay."

After hearing this, Li Zhi no longer dared to stay on the Immortal Cliff for a moment, but walked faster instead.

"Who is this little Taoist priest?" the old blind man muttered when he saw Li Zhi disappear under the fairy cliff.

But soon, he revealed a hint of a smile and whispered to himself: "It seems that this little Taoist priest is a real knowledgeable person. Maybe we will see him again soon."

After leaving Xianya, Li Zhi did not return to Qishi Mansion, but went directly to Ye Fan's territory, wanting to see whether this lord was competent or not.

Unfortunately, after arriving in Lucheng, he did not meet Ye Fan, but instead met many disciples of the Qishi Mansion who went to visit Ye Fan.

After asking, Li Zhi found out that Yan Yunluan came to cause trouble for Ye Fan yesterday and planned to teach Ye Fan a lesson with thunder.

However, he was taught a lesson by Ye Fan through thunder and was seriously injured.

Li Zhi couldn't help but sigh that Yan Yunluan was truly a typical genius, possessing all the common problems that geniuses have.

After leaving Lucheng, Li Zhi went to a nearby village to look for the ancient locust tree forest.

We soon found the ancient locust tree forest where the ancient emperors had stayed.

I leaned against the ancient locust tree and listened for a while, but didn't hear any sound.

I sensed those ancient locust trees, but I didn’t sense any spatial force.

It seems that the void passage connecting to the fairy world has disappeared.

With some disappointment, Li Zhi returned to Qishi Mansion.

Go directly to the old master’s tavern.

Taking out a copy of the Immortal Palace treasure map, Li Zhi asked the old palace master: "Senior, do you know who drew this treasure map of the Immortal Palace world?"

After seeing the map in Li Zhi's hand, the old mansion owner just nodded and said, "The picture is good."

Li Zhi was not told who originally created this picture.

Li Zhi stopped asking who drew the picture and asked, "Senior, how many years has the Immortal Mansion World existed? Is there any pattern in the time of opening?"

The old mansion master said: "There is almost no pattern. As for how long it has existed, no one knows. I am afraid that except for the ancient emperor, no one knows the truth hidden in the Immortal Mansion world."

Li Zhi was slightly surprised and asked, "Do you also think that there is a mysterious truth hidden in the Immortal World?"

The old mansion master said with some surprise: "You also realized this?"

Li Zhi said: "I only discovered the clues after walking around the Immortal Mansion World for a long time. The Immortal Mansion World does not seem to be as sacred as it appears. Even the Immortal Burial Ground is not enough to explain the various rumors."

The old mansion master suddenly warned Li Zhi with a serious face, "Don't try to explore the secrets behind the Immortal Mansion World. That is not something you can explore now. Unless one day you can prove your Dao and become an emperor, never put your curiosity into practice."

Li Zhi was slightly stunned. He did not expect the old mansion master to react so strongly. At the same time, he also understood what the old mansion master meant. This was for the sake of his life. He nodded and said, "Please give me more reminders, seniors. I will remember it."

Afterwards, the old mansion master seemed to notice the changes in Li Zhi and said, "It seems that you have gained a lot from your two months of training in the Immortal Mansion World."

Li Zhi said: "It's a small gain, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."

The old mansion master said: "When you have time, you can go to the Sutra Library to read some of the cultivation notes of the ancient sages. Perhaps it will help you to enter the immortal stage."

After the two chatted for a while, Li Zhi left the tavern and went directly to the Sutra Library of Qi Shi Mansion.

The collection of books in Qishi Mansion is extremely rich, and the records of various strange stories are even higher than those in Yaochi Sutra Library.

Li Zhi focused on looking for some books that recorded special terrain or relics.

Just as he was reading, the beast tide in the Immortal World finally calmed down.

Li Zhi also received the message from Duan De.

(End of this chapter)