"I am a reasonable person. Apologize to my child."
Ji Xiang lifted the little fox. The fox dragon blinked, not daring to disobey in the slightest, and its voice boomed, "Young Master! This humble demon spoke carelessly and hurt Young Master's heart!"
He was a straightforward great demon, showing no concern for his pride. He knelt when he should, and even kowtowed to Ji Xiang!
In fact, once a Ascended expert appeared, these Primordial Spirit experts would be willing to lick their boots, let alone kneel!
The little fox's face turned pale, and it nodded stiffly, not daring to say a word. Ji Xiang tossed him aside and sighed. At this moment, Old Shen in the prison, his eyes lit up like light bulbs!
"Ascended, Ascended expert! Are you Ascended?!"
Ji Xiang turned his head, "Doesn't it look like it?"
Old Shen desperately wanted to say where he looked like an Ascended expert, so young, but then he thought to himself, who knew what an Ascended expert looked like? Where did Biao Shanhe find an Ascended?
If they wanted to look like anything, it wasn't for him, an ugly wretch, to comment!
Old Shen quickly tidied his hair, styling it. He now wished he could leap out of the prison and lick Ji Xiang's face to beg for apprenticeship.
This was a living Ascended!
After the Yuan Dynasty, where else could Biao Shanhe find Ascended experts!
Of course, excluding Zhang Sanfeng, whose whereabouts were unknown.
Seeing the state of the great demon and Old Shen, Emperor Wanli was a little bewildered and couldn't help but laugh, "It's just an Ascended expert, why are they so excited? I have one at home too."
Look at these unsophisticated things!
It was only he, the Emperor, who had seen great scenes, remained calm in the face of danger, and let his teammates carry him throughout, that was true strength.
Ji Xiang no longer intimidated him, "State your question."
"I am curious, you are the son of the old Fox Dragon of the Great Tang, your name is recorded in ancient texts, and you were once a Primordial Spirit realm dragon. In your opinion, I am merely a Golden Core, a level below you. What matter do you have that requires you to question me from a higher position?"
The Fox Dragon respectfully replied, "This question was asked by Emperor Zhengde back then, and I had also asked Emperor Jiajing this question many times. But that old emperor merely told me to recite a scripture frequently, saying it could save me from my sins. I could ask questions about all other scriptures, but Emperor Jiajing would never answer Emperor Zhengde's question."
"Today, I see the Immortal... At the Golden Core realm, you are the strongest I have seen since Emperor Jiajing. The Ming Dynasty's national fortune is declining like a river, and the divine generals here are also increasingly worn out. Thirty years ago, there were only three Primordial Spirits left, and twenty years ago, not a single Primordial Spirit could be seen."
"Moreover, most of the Ming Dynasty's divine generals gained their cultivation from their divine positions. They could only exert powerful strength by relying on the prosperity of the national fortune. They themselves were merely mortals with no understanding of cultivation. I cannot get answers here."
The Fox Dragon recounted the events of the past.
...
Back then, he was apprehended by divine generals, yet he refused to repent, cursing the injustice. Why did the black dragon escape without pursuit, and why did they come to arrest him?
Emperor Zhengde asked, did this matter start with the black dragon or the white dragon?
The answer was, it was the white dragon.
He asked, were these three hundred households killed by the black dragon or the white dragon?
The answer was, both black and white were involved.
He asked, if the white dragon had not been greedy, and the black dragon had cultivated peacefully, would this disaster have occurred?
The white dragon no longer answered.
Emperor Zhengde then posed a question:
...
"What a pity. Do you know that your sin is not killing people?"
Fox Dragon: "I only know that I killed people, harmed the populace, and destroyed farmland. Besides that, is it also a sin for me to strive to become a dragon?"
The cultivators in the world fought over trivial gains, and those in the imperial court schemed against each other and waged wars. Were their actions not the same as his?
If so, what great sin did he have?
Was it because he was not born human!
He looked at Ji Xiang, hoping Ji Xiang could give him an answer, or at least some feedback or guidance.
However, Ji Xiang, almost without thinking, after listening, laughed three times and said only one sentence:
"There is no greater misfortune than discontent; there is no greater sin than desire."
The Fox Dragon was struck as if by a thunderclap, and after a long silence, he let out a sigh!
The Fox Dragon almost beat his head to the ground, "I am foolish! I have not shed my beastly nature, yet I dared to aspire to become a dragon."
"So it was doomed to failure! Dragons are inherently illusory beings. I gained a semblance of a dragon and became arrogant and violent, harming and killing, thus I could never transform into a divine dragon. My path ends here."
Ji Xiang shook his head, "It's never too late to mend your ways!"
"However, reciting scriptures and doing one good deed a day can indeed cleanse sins. But for every person you killed, you must repay with ten good deeds... So, what scripture did Emperor Jiajing have you recite?"
Emperor Zhengde's question was a very straightforward inquiry about cultivation. Ji Xiang also knew that Emperor Zhengde must have cultivated, but he had no heirs, and Emperor Jiajing was not Emperor Zhengde's son, but a prince from a collateral line.
That brass Zhengde coin, placed in the Imperial Treasury, could destroy all demonic energy in the world. Although it was completely destroyed, it was enough to reveal some clues from that coin.
Emperor Jiajing's actions, however, were what interested Ji Xiang.
Eating elixirs, reciting scriptures, and not answering questions – was it because if the questions were answered, the Fox Dragon's wishes would dissipate?
It must be related to wishes!
Lei Xuan's Yang Shen avatar opened a shop in Shuntian Prefecture, collecting the wishes of the common people from all directions and refining them into his own body to form great elixirs...
Emperor Jiajing seemed to be nurturing a powerful physical body? He had also said that he had conducted some experiments to find ways to break through bottlenecks. He had a great wish that the common people could not bear, so he borrowed a wish from himself.
However, the wish he gave had a contingency for destruction.
Just as the Fox Dragon was about to say something, his flesh and blood suddenly contorted, and streams of dragon essence blood sprayed out. He suddenly bled from all seven orifices and fell to the ground with a bang, clutching his head and wailing.
This sudden turn of events made Emperor Wanli, who was in the distance, grip his sword tightly.
The people from the Northern Commandery Guard were on alert in the distance. Ji Xiang's internal divine tablet reflected the Fox Dragon's current state:
[Fox Dragon (Jiajing's Disciple): This fox, born of the righteous energy of the West, is white and does not associate with others, nor does it approach others. The fox resided under Mount Lishan for over a thousand years, and later coincidentally mated with a female dragon. Heaven knew of this and thus decreed it to be a dragon, much like a mortal becoming a sage in the human world!]
[Cultivation: Primordial Spirit Realm (Magic Power Lost).]
[Because of reciting scriptures for thirty-six years, its wishes have continuously supplied Emperor Jiajing, becoming one of the human great medicines for the Nine Revolutions Immortal Elixir!]
[Emperor Jiajing can transmit messages to Biao Shanhe through those who recite scriptures!]
[By reciting "Ling Yao Fei Yang, Yang Nie Xiao Wang; Tian Ci Kai She, Wu Bian Shi Fang!" and simultaneously circulating one's magic power, one can remove the Heaven and Earth Root planted by Emperor Jiajing. This scripture is Emperor Jiajing's unique method for breaking curses and can resolve all wish-based divine spells; simultaneously reciting "Wang Wo Wu Si Wang Bu Sheng," the wishes will be destroyed within the great medicine, becoming waste medicine.]
As Ji Xiang implemented the plan, the Fox Dragon's consciousness gradually cleared, but terror appeared in his eyes:
"It's Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing, he's not dead, isn't that person your emperor! He's speaking in my mind!"
"Yes, I know. What did he say?"
Ji Xiang glanced at Emperor Wanli, who was also somewhat bewildered.
The Fox Dragon spat out a mouthful of pus-like blood and exhaled violently:
"He, told me to bring two sentences to you, and to that emperor, respectively."