"Zuo Shang, it's actually you! You're still alive."
Li Qi never dreamed he would see Zuo Shang at the Human Race Great Wall.
Although when he left the inner circle, King Jing'an, Jing Qian'an, had specifically asked Li Qi to look after Zuo Shang if he ever met him.
But the time outside the circle was immense.
Even setting aside the demon territories, the areas where humans resided were unimaginably vast.
Li Qi even had a guess.
That Zuo Shang might have been killed by numerous demons and monsters shortly after leaving the inner circle.
After all, setting aside someone with an overpowered cheat like himself, who, upon reaching the Golden Core stage, had killed the chieftain of the Sky Centipede clan.
The probability of an ordinary ninth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator like Zuo Shang being casually killed by the numerous demons and monsters was indeed high.
Facing this, Zuo Shang could only offer a bitter smile.
"Fellow Daoist Li, it has been over a hundred years since we last met, hasn't it? I nearly died at the hands of those powerful demons and monsters when I left the inner circle. To have survived and reached the Human Race Great Wall is indeed a stroke of luck."
When Zuo Shang first left the inner circle, he hadn't directly encountered any demons.
He knew the outside was extremely dangerous, so he had been extremely cautious from the start.
But eventually, he made a mistake. He was pursued by several powerful demons and monsters and was severely injured. Fortunately, Zuo Shang's luck held out, and he managed to escape to the vicinity of the Human Race Great Wall, where he was rescued by several Golden Core stage human cultivators.
After being rescued, Zuo Shang, having been the Director of the Demon Hunting Division within the inner circle, harbored an intense animosity towards demons and monsters. He had been fighting continuously within the Human Race Great Wall ever since.
His current strength had reached the peak of the Golden Core stage, and it was estimated that with a stroke of luck, he could successfully enter the Nascent Soul stage within fifty years.
It was just a pity that the Golden Core cultivators who had saved Zuo Shang all died in a battle decades ago.
Upon hearing about Zuo Shang's century of experiences, Li Qi sighed and patted his shoulder.
"Jing Qian'an that kid had asked me to look after you if I met you. If you ever run into any trouble, you can come to me."
Mentioning Jing Qian'an, Zuo Shang's somewhat aged eyes couldn't help but flicker, revealing a hint of excitement.
"Your Majesty, is he well..."
To this, Li Qi rolled his eyes.
"How many years has it been? Even a Body Tempering cultivator would have long since turned to bone. However, when I left, I did see Jing Qian'an again. At that time, he could still live for another ten years or so, which is quite a long life for an ordinary person."
Hearing this, Zuo Shang's expression darkened slightly, but it quickly eased.
Indeed, for an ordinary person, a lifespan of eighty or ninety years was considered very long.
Then, Zuo Shang inquired about the state of the Great Jing kingdom when Li Qi had left.
Upon learning that the common people were at peace and the Great Jing remained prosperous, Zuo Shang finally let out a deep breath, feeling relieved.
More than half a year later, all the relocation and transportation work was almost completed.
Many human cultivators returned to the Human Race Great Wall.
And outside the new Human Race Great Wall, in the battleground of the Three Realms, there now stood a colossal stone sculpture. The sculpture depicted fourteen people with distinct appearances, vividly rendered, with even the deepest expressions in their eyes perfectly replicated.
The overall mood was one of tragic solemnity.
Some cultivators stood silently at the foot of the sculpture, unable to help but feel a profound sense of grief and indignation.
This was because these fourteen people were precisely those who had fought and bled in the battle.
The person at the very front of the sculpture was Li Qi himself.
History would not forget them.
All cultivators who came to the Human Race Great Wall in the future would remember them upon seeing this sculpture.
Without these fourteen individuals sacrificing their lives, there would have been no peace for humanity over the past century, nor the recovery of the thirty thousand miles of lost territory.
Li Qi had seen the sculpture from afar once before.
As for Li Qi himself, he quietly departed from the Human Race Great Wall one day.
He returned to the mountain where he had been in seclusion.
"Holy shit."
As if remembering something, Li Qi suddenly smacked his head. Back then, Dian Qi had dismantled his magnificent mountain villa to wake him from his seclusion. And in his haste to leave, with so many things to deal with after arriving at the Human Race Great Wall, he had forgotten about it.
"Damn it, I have to find an opportunity to drag that old rascal Dian Qi over again to build me a new mountain villa."
However, when Li Qi returned to the deep mountains where he had been in seclusion for decades, he was stunned.
His mountain villa, which should have been in ruins, was now even more magnificent and grand.
Even the cleared land beside his villa was several times larger than when he had left.
The few chickens and ducks that were there before had become dozens.
Beside them, in the pigsty, several plump, spotted pigs were sleeping in a corner.
"Holy crap, I never raised pigs. Who did this?"
Just then, a middle-aged man, wiping sweat from his brow, carrying a bucket of feed, walked up from the foot of the mountain.
He saw Li Qi standing in front of the grand villa and was momentarily stunned. He then took out a portrait from his embrace and excitedly stepped forward, saying.
"You're back, my lord."
"Hold on, hold on, who are you calling 'my lord'? I don't have a grandson like you."
The middle-aged man, realizing he had gotten carried away, explained the whole story.
Essentially, about half a year ago, a stern-looking man who claimed to be a great general had given him a large sum of money and instructed him to feed the livestock and irrigate the fields here daily until Li Qi returned, telling Li Qi that the damaged villa had been rebuilt for him.
The middle-aged man roughly described the person's appearance, and Li Qi confirmed it was Dian Qi.
Now that Li Qi had returned, the middle-aged man's task was complete, and he happily descended the mountain.
Li Qi chuckled. Dian Qi was actually quite thoughtful. He had initially intended to cause some trouble for Dian Qi, but now, that thought was dismissed.
Returning to the grand villa and examining its walls and floors, Li Qi was even more astonished. This magnificent villa was not built in a short period through spiritual energy alone.
The grand villa, inside and out, bore all the marks of pure handmade craftsmanship.
As a long-time customer who had his house built by Dian Qi twice, Li Qi immediately recognized the craftsmanship of his skilled dark-skinned laborer, Master Dian Qi.
Meanwhile, in the capital of Great Wei, at the Dian residence.
An old woman was looking at Dian Qi, who had just returned not long ago, with some concern.
"My husband, really, it's just a house in the mountains, why did you have to build it yourself?"
And building it himself was one thing, but why didn't he even use spiritual energy? He moved and crafted every brick solely with his physical strength.