The position of the Jade Emperor also had a rank within the Ming Dynasty!
Although not officially worshipped, he was indeed one of the supreme deities! Therefore, without the ability to actively use an empty divine tablet, the Tongtian Mingyan was a "highly unconventional" and powerful method to seize the Jade Emperor's divine position.
After all, it was the smoke and fire from Emperor Wanli's tribulation. As long as it was a divine position ranked within the Ming Dynasty, it should be able to be detained!
Rumble! White smoke enveloped the Jade Emperor's divine position. At this moment, Ji Xiang's spiritual projection also returned from Fuli, and he loudly called out to Old Zhang:
"Junior Brother, quickly return your spiritual consciousness to your body!"
Old Zhang was dumbfounded by Ji Xiang's actions. Hearing Ji Xiang's call, he snapped back to reality and hurriedly turned his wishes, returning to his body from Fuli. By the time Old Zhang opened his eyes, Ji Xiang had already woken up, and within the damaged statue, the Jade Emperor's divine tablet slowly emerged from the Taixu!
"How, how did you do that!"
Old Zhang's face was filled with disbelief, and his gaze towards Ji Xiang was filled with confusion and shock.
The Great Fuli Land was not in the heavens in the ordinary sense.
It was not in the underworld, nor was it in the mountains and rivers. The Great Fuli Land was located in a special and grand place, which the Daoist sect called Taixu and the Buddhist sect called Pure Land; they both meant the same thing.
"This is a little trick of mine. I didn't expect it to work."
Ji Xiang pressed down on the Jade Emperor statue. At this moment, the Jade Emperor statue shook violently!
"My Tongtian Mingyan is not a conventional summoning. Junior Brother, I can only control it for a moment!"
Old Zhang also saw the violent shaking of the Jade Emperor statue. The divine tablet was rapidly recovering its power. Once its power was restored, it would escape into the Taixu and return to the Great Fuli Land!
It was captured, but it couldn't be subdued. It was equally useless. This was even with the Jade Emperor having lost most of his divine power!
Ji Xiang also felt the Jade Emperor's divine tablet rapidly recovering its power, thinking to himself, "As expected of the supreme deities of all heavens. After only a few breaths, just saying two sentences, the divine tablet has already recovered its power!"
Old Zhang also came to his senses, not daring to waste more time. He immediately performed a wondrous method, chanting sentences and passages that seemed to be offerings to the gods, gradually forming an article. After hearing these articles, the Jade Emperor's divine position gradually stabilized.
These articles were Qingci.
Qingci were talismans written by Daoists to report to the Heavenly Court or summon divine generals. They were usually written with a vermilion brush on green vine paper. They were similar to the memorial texts used by Yuan Miaodasheng and the Song Dynasty court when sacrificing to the gods.
However, for a master of Old Zhang's level, the effect of chanting directly was far superior to the careful writing of an ordinary person.
This was something meant for immortals and gods to see, and the drafts were usually mysterious and divine.
Ji Xiang saw that the Jade Emperor's divine position had stabilized, and then he heard the Qingci chanted by Old Zhang, which seemed to contain some reverence and praise. He couldn't help but look a little strange.
This Jade Emperor also liked to hear flattery. Old Zhang had easily fooled him with a few sentences.
After chanting the Qingci, Old Zhang stabilized the Jade Emperor's state and then stated, "Within a day, we must invite His Majesty to undergo the formal enfeoffment ceremony, bestowing upon it the function of mending the heavens. Only then will the Jade Emperor's divine position not return to Fuli."
The subsequent operations needed to be completed by Emperor Wanli.
First, a stele had to be erected to praise the merits of this deity, regardless of whether it had any merits. Then, an audience ceremony (worship) would be held. After this worship, the divine position of the deity would be fixed. Next was the enfeoffment ceremony, which involved many tedious details. Once the entire enfeoffment ceremony was completed, this deity would obtain its new functions from the national prestige.
Afterward, it would be time to complete its work.
Ji Xiang heard this and felt that this set of procedures sounded familiar; it was the Investiture of the Gods.
The Investiture of the Gods written by Xu Zhonglin was actually a simplified version of this process. This was the formal enfeoffment ceremony of the Ming Dynasty.
At this moment, the two stood at the straight building outside the Meridian Gate. From within the Forbidden City, a eunuch came out and saw the two at the main entrance. He was very happy and greeted them. He then conveyed Emperor Wanli's orders to Old Zhang.
At the next court session, a major inspection of the many officials would be conducted.
Upon learning that Emperor Wanli had once again been harassed by some unknown "monster" late at night, even Old Zhang was unhappy this time.
Once or twice was acceptable, but every night? Did they not have time during the day?
This was disrespecting him and his senior brother, two ascended masters!
At the same time, Old Zhang took the opportunity to submit a request to Ji Xiang to stay.
"Shuntian City has just experienced great chaos. Within the mountains and rivers, there are many ascended masters like Yuan Miaodasheng, who are coveting the mountains and rivers. In the shadows of the Ming Dynasty, there are still the lingering souls of previous dynasties..."
"I hope, Senior Brother, that you can stay with me in Shuntian and help us maintain order."
Ji Xiang hesitated upon hearing this and said, "To be honest, I was waiting for you. Now that you are in Shuntian, I can leave here."
"Where is Senior Brother going after leaving here? Back to Wudang? I invited Senior Brother before to come to Longhu first. We can often discuss the Dao and mutually improve each other, deepening our understanding of the Great Dao."
Old Zhang strongly urged him to stay, saying that the situation was like this, so it would be best to stay a few more days until the national prestige was replenished before leaving.
Ji Xiang thought about it. He had asked Old Zhang to ascend to heaven to fight the Jade Emperor, and Old Zhang had gone without hesitation, risking his life. If he were to leave now, it would be too unkind.
Not considering Emperor Wanli's face... no, Emperor Wanli didn't have much face.
In any case, for Old Zhang's friendship, he had to help.
Thanks for the invitation. I'm in the Great Ming, within the Forbidden City. I've been resurrected for two days, and there are too many strange occurrences involving gods and ghosts. I'm going to lie low.
"I also accepted a junior disciple on behalf of our sect before..."
"It's fine. I'll help Senior Brother. With my Yang Shen avatar, I'll directly send that child to Wudang Mountain!"
Although Old Zhang was also covetous of the child with immortal bones that Ji Xiang had accepted, Ji Xiang had made the first move, so it was not good to forcibly take a disciple. However, if he could lure Ji Xiang to Longhu Mountain, it would be more profitable than taking a child.
"There aren't many good seedlings in the mountains and rivers. Now that there are ascended masters, the world we exist in will become better and better."
Old Zhang looked into the distance. The east was already bright, and a fiery red sun was slowly rising!
It was both rosy and bright, white and radiant, illuminating the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers. In his ears, he could hear Old Zhang's happy voice:
"How high is the Great Dao, the sun and moon rise with the Dao!"
"Heavenly decree descends, reaching ten thousand zhang!"
.........
At this time, to the northeast of Shuntian Prefecture, a convoy of tribute vehicles was about to enter the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture.
The leader was neither fat nor thin, with a strong physique, a straight and large nose, an iron-like and long face, and small eyes. His hair was left long, divided into three strands and braided into a queue. He had a mustache on his upper lip, spoke with a loud voice, and his words were clear and concise. When he walked, he habitually held his head high, indicating that his status and identity were not low.
He spoke to another burly man beside him, who had a large belly, a fair and clean square face:
"Shurhaci, last night I had a dream. In the dream, a divine person came to me and asked if I was willing to receive this land of sun, moon, mountains, and rivers."
"Dreams cannot be made up casually. Did you agree?"
The tall, strong man Shurhaci grinned and did not take it seriously. The Jurchen leader at the head also looked at the rising sun in the east.
"The Great Ming... a world of bright sun and moon."
"As I am now, facing this world, I can only lower my head and dare not look up. When I unify the Jurchen tribes, I will dare to raise my head and have the ability to face this beautiful land."