"Indeed, my grand villa, my fully furnished residence, all gone."
Looking at the scene before him, Li Qi couldn't help but sigh.
Before his eyes, fragments of rocks were piled up. Vaguely, he could see that among the piled fragments, there were still intact pieces, bearing signs of human craftsmanship.
This was his former grand villa.
Beside it, a cave was also completely collapsed. Where the cave roof should have been, it had transformed into a low cliff. Below the cliff, earth was piled up, mixed with stone dust, also bearing traces of man-made cuboid stones.
This was Li Qi's former fully furnished residence.
His gaze shifted again, looking to the side of the two buildings, surrounded by now rotted gray-white wood, was the former chicken coop.
Further ahead, where he had cultivated farmland to grow vegetables in his memory, was now completely covered by grass.
After several hundred years, the macroscopic environment had not changed much.
But from the perspective of a living being, there had been such a significant change.
He had only been back for a few hundred years.
Li Qi sighed. He didn't even dare to imagine what would happen if he had continued to cultivate in seclusion within the Heavenly Dao Space.
Would this Earth Void Realm become completely unrecognizable to him?
Although, due to Li Qi's infinite lifespan, he would not, like the previous Plane Lord, harvest the entire world.
But if one day, all the people and things familiar to Li Qi completely disappeared into history and turned to dust.
What would the Earth Void Realm mean to him then?
Simply a plane under his command?
At this moment, Li Qi seemed to understand something.
Cultivation did not make people emotionally indifferent. But as one's cultivation realm improved and lifespan grew, cultivators experienced repeated baptisms of time.
It was that long stretch of time that would eventually make people emotionally indifferent.
Li Qi made a small conjecture.
If he did not have the immortal buff granted by the system.
And was merely an ordinary Plane Lord.
After using his Plane Lord authority to extend his lifespan and outlive all those he knew.
When there was nothing left in the world to linger for, would he also, due to his approaching end of lifespan, resort to dark arts, harvesting the vital essence of cultivators to prolong his life?
Even if he did not take that path, if he spent more time in the Heavenly Dao Space and completely lost social contact with his old friends, would his emotions gradually fade?
Thinking of this, Li Qi shook his head and quickly cast these thoughts aside.
This was merely a hypothesis, and he did not need to dwell on it.
However, emotional indifference was an inevitable consequence of living longer. But this did not mean he had to truly walk the path of emotionlessness.
"Occasionally interacting with the mortal world doesn't seem bad. It could be a leisurely embellishment on my future cultivation path."
Li Qi murmured to himself.
"Eh, young man, how did you get here? There are many wild beasts in these mountains, it's not safe. I advise you to descend the mountain as soon as possible."
Suddenly, from behind Li Qi, a middle-aged man dressed as a hunter walked towards him, offering a kind reminder.
Turning his head, he met the gaze of the hunter, who wore a honest smile.
As if noticing Li Qi staring at the ruined grand villa and fully furnished residence, the hunter chuckled.
"Young man, what are you looking at? They say this was where a great cultivator lived hundreds of years ago. I heard from my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather that his grandfather's grandfather's father's sister's cousin's uncle's brother's second uncle's son was fortunate enough to tend to the fields for that great cultivator for a while. I don't know if it's true. But even now, this residence has become ruins. I wonder what happened to that great cultivator."
"Is that so? Uncle, are you from the village near this mountain?"
"Yes, young man."
Upon hearing this, Li Qi smiled.
"So that's how it is. I was just passing by and took a casual look."
After a brief chat with the hunter, who then entered deeper into the mountains to continue hunting, Li Qi did not stay any longer.
He glanced once more at the two piles of ruins and walked towards the direction of the mountain foot.
It was still some distance from the nearby village, but it did not seem too remote.
After that day.
At the foot of the mountain, not far from the village, a small wooden house was built.
A young man lived there alone.
Occasionally, the hunter whom he had met in the mountains would come to greet him.
Sometimes, after a good hunt, he would share some game meat with Li Qi.
Standing in front of his small wooden house, Li Qi stretched, and unconsciously closed his eyes to take a deep breath.
The quality of spiritual energy here was fundamentally incomparable to that in the Heavenly Dao Space.
But here, compared to the Heavenly Dao Space where he was alone,
Li Qi felt an unconscious sense of ease.
This was the lifestyle he had once pursued.
After working hard for several hundred years, he was experiencing it again.
If possible, Li Qi would even be willing to slow down his cultivation speed slightly, just to live a long and peaceful life like this.
"I hope no trouble comes from the outside world. Otherwise, if it disturbs my leisure, I'll let you taste the iron fist of the enraged Li."
Li Qi smiled faintly.
In this way, time flew by like a white steed passing a crack, and ten years elapsed.
...
Meanwhile, while Li Qi was living a leisurely life.
The war in the Yin Zong District had already continued for more than ten years.
After more than ten years of war, it seemed that the anger of the Plane Lords in the Yin Zong District had not subsided much.
The Plane Lords of the Yin Zong District, with the great support of a Tribulation Stage expert behind them, acted with impunity.
They were not afraid of any strongest cultivators from neutral regions stepping out, standing on the highest moral ground, and "saying a few fair words" to persuade people to be magnanimous and show mercy.
Even if someone did, their fate would be to be crushed by Yin Chuan.
And because of Yin Chuan's Tribulation Stage cultivation, these Plane Lords of the small worlds within the Yin Zong District had never felt so exhilarated.
Even when their Yin Zong District was strong, there were still regions no weaker than theirs that caused them trouble.
But now.
With so many strongest cultivators either dead or fled, not a single other region dared to interfere, allowing the Plane Lords of the small worlds in their Yin Zong District to enjoy the spoils all to themselves.
And today, Yin Chuan, who was overseeing the ongoing conquest and harvesting, suddenly appeared among the Plane Lords of the Yin Zong small worlds.
"Lord Yin Chuan, is there something you need us for this time?"
A Plane Lord of the Yin Zong District at the eighth level of Hedao stepped forward and quickly asked.
Yin Chuan's voice slowly resounded.
"The conquest of these past ten years can pause for now."
"Ah? Lord Yin Chuan, are you planning to stop and accept their surrender?"
Upon hearing this, the Hedao eighth-level Plane Lord asked.
To this, Yin Chuan shook his head.
"There are still so many regions left to harvest. How can I let them off so easily? It's just that I have only recently broken through to the Tribulation Stage, and my cultivation is somewhat unstable."
"I plan to go to the Void Black Market these days to find someone to refine a pill to stabilize my realm."