The Song court, it seemed, had burned through countless sacrificial edicts. Ji Xiang, having eaten his fill and drunk his fill, found his divine spirit phantom almost as substantial as his physical body. However, a significant amount of incense smoke, guided by those three divine lights, was still being drawn downwards, and then gradually disappeared.
Clearly, the Song court had achieved its objective, and there was no longer any need to burn sacrificial edicts.
These burnt sacrificial edicts also contained pure prayers and wishes. Ji Xiang, by forcefully scavenging them, had naturally greatly strengthened his own wishes.
"My cultivation at the Ascension Realm can now be utilized... What I currently lack are wishes, a complete spirit and form, and my physical body is far too fragile. In general, Yuan Miao Da Sheng's words were not wrong."
"Possessing Ascension Realm cultivation but pretending to be a powerful figure, I can still manage to fight against Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators. If I were to truly face genuine Ascended beings like Old Zhang or Old Lin, I would undoubtedly lose."
After accepting all the remaining incense smoke with a smile, he released the Jade Emperor's divine tablet and continued discussing the placement of the Jade Emperor's divine position with Old Zhang.
Old Zhang had previously attempted a summoning and had retrieved a special statue of the Jade Emperor from the Supreme Pavilion. The current plan was to guide the Jade Emperor's divine position into this statue and then seal it.
Was such a thing even possible?
Ji Xiang couldn't help but feel perplexed, but Old Zhang informed him that it wasn't particularly difficult, especially since the current Jade Emperor was merely an empty shell.
"Those three divine lights that occupied the nest have already fled. The Jade Emperor's power has been divided into four. While it may sound disrespectful to say so, the power that the Jade Emperor's divine tablet can now bestow upon a summoner is not much."
"Since ancient times, dynasties have summoned divine positions and placed them within the palace to operate. This is a profound Great Dao..."
"When bestowing official divine positions upon the nation, a proper investiture ceremony is performed. If the conditions are met, newly promoted official deities will receive the power of national prestige. This national prestige will then transform into divine power, bestowing legitimacy upon their positions. Powerful divine positions, after being bestowed, will also gradually feed back into national prestige, making it even stronger. This is the cycle of the Great Dao."
"Above the Forbidden City, Dou Mu's position was summoned and hung at the Heavenly Gate, showering down myriad starlight to protect the Forbidden City. This is the same as what I am doing now, and the methods and principles are also the same."
Old Zhang explained, and Ji Xiang understood.
Indeed, Dou Mu's position hung above the Forbidden City, unsummoned, appearing like an automatic defense system. However, its drawback was also obvious: if the national prestige failed, it would not react. Dou Mu would not attack any official deity recognized by the national prestige.
This was quite problematic.
"Now, a part of the heavens is missing. The great world pierced by the Tai Yin Tribulation Fire will take time to mend. Although I have repaired the formations in the Da Gao Xuan Hall, that only prevented the Song court from invading the Yang world."
"Therefore, I plan to summon the Jade Emperor's divine position into that special statue and then use the power of this statue to mend the damaged national prestige."
Old Zhang told Ji Xiang his plan: to use the Jade Emperor to mend the heavens.
The operation was extremely unrestrained, but it was indeed a very effective method. In any case, the Jade Emperor's divine position was only an empty shell. After mending the heavens, the title of "Heavenly Grandfather" would also become literal.
However, this also brought up another matter: it required Emperor Wanli to grant a formal title. After all, during the Song dynasty, the faith in Haotian Shangdi and the faith in the Jade Emperor were merged, becoming a bundled package deal.
Later, during the Ming dynasty, the Ming court specifically separated the divine names of the Jade Emperor and Haotian, changing the title to "Haotian Shangdi." There was no official sacrifice to the Jade Emperor. Of course, there were still many folk sacrifices to the Jade Emperor, and people consistently believed that Haotian and the Jade Emperor were the same person.
"It seems that such a crude division cannot be maintained now."
Old Zhang chuckled: "During the Tang dynasty, people clearly distinguished between the worship of the Heavenly Lord. Haotian was Haotian, and the Jade Emperor was merely a True Lord of the Heavens at that time. Moreover, folk worship of Tian Gong and Tian Weng existed, especially the position of Tian Weng, which even mortals could attain."
"However, summoning requires a certain amount of time, and the Jade Emperor's divine position might resist, as not everyone is qualified to summon the Jade Emperor's position."
Old Zhang said this, and Ji Xiang pondered for a moment and nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.
The summoning of divine positions requires finding positions with a higher degree of compatibility. When he passed the Qing Tian Demon Trial and sought to summon divine positions, many deities favored him and responded positively. However, many powerful deities dismissed his calls with disdain.
Now, the Jade Emperor's position clearly disdained Old Zhang.
Even though Ji Xiang and Old Zhang had just helped it escape capture, the divine tablet had no intelligence. All its actions and reactions were in accordance with the rules of the Great Dao, or were reactions based on the wishes of those from the lower realm.
If it said no, it meant no, and there would be no compromise. After all, the Jade Emperor's position was the "Heavenly Grandfather" recognized by all people, unlike the Tang dynasty's Tian Weng. The Jade Emperor possessed greater majesty, higher divinity, a grander rank, and a more arrogant demeanor.
But Ji Xiang remembered the incident where the blank divine tablet forcefully seized a position. That event was coincidental; after he reached the limit of summoning, the blank divine tablet helped him to summon a higher position beyond his rank, which was perhaps not replicable.
However, if the Jade Emperor's divine position still had a rank within the Ming court...
Ji Xiang couldn't help but murmur to himself:
"Indeed, that's the case. But if I were to forcibly seize it, perhaps it wouldn't be too difficult."
"Although the Ming court does not sacrifice to the Jade Emperor, the Jade Emperor still has ranks, right?"
Old Zhang heard him clearly and nodded: "Of course. The Ming court does not sacrifice to the Jade Emperor, but the Jade Emperor is still one of the Supreme Gods of the heavens, a righteous deity. In our Daoist sect, many magical incantations and talismans also invoke the Jade Emperor's honorific title."
"Is Senior Brother going to perform a wondrous technique?"
Ji Xiang shook his head: "It's not exactly a wondrous technique. You should protect your divine position and do not let your guard down."
"I will try, for now."
Ji Xiang's divine spirit phantom could now utilize Ascension Realm cultivation. Incense smoke overflowed within his divine consciousness, and the blank divine tablet could also reflect the Jade Emperor's divine position. Thus, his divine consciousness began the summoning.
Simultaneously, the Jade Emperor resisted.
Therefore, the three divine positions on Ji Xiang's person issued a summons, but the White-Faced Zhenwu was not among them.
This was because White-Faced Zhenwu was not a divine position, but merely a powerful spirit and form, and thus could not participate in this summoning.
However, the divine positions of the Four Heavenly Kings of the North Pole were still a considerable distance from the Jade Emperor.
As Zhao Xuanlang said, the Four Kings were the chief generals of the Jade Emperor's court. In this world, only an emperor summons his subjects; where would a subject dare to summon an emperor!
However! Ji Xiang's divine consciousness, using divine power, transformed into the appearance of Marshal Tian Peng.
At the same time, he seized the Jade Emperor's divine tablet, carrying the Jade Emperor's divine position, and departed from the depths of Fu Li. He utilized Marshal Tian Peng's divine abilities to forcefully open the Heavenly Gate!
Old Zhang was astonished: "Marshal Tian Peng?"
He had forcefully opened the Fu Li Heavenly Gate. Was this the ability of the Marshal Tian Peng divine position?
But this might still not be enough!
Old Zhang mused to himself that Ji Xiang's actions were too violent. To forcibly seize the Jade Emperor's divine position, even if the Jade Emperor was just an empty shell, it couldn't be taken to the lower realm with such brute force. Without a proper summoning, the divine position would instantly return to the depths of Fu Li through the Heavenly Gate. Even the Ming court's unique wondrous method for summoning divine positions couldn't open the Heavenly Gate so violently...
Seeing that Ji Xiang had no intention of turning back, Old Zhang decided to lend a hand. But at this very moment...!
Rumble—!
The Heavenly Gate opened wide, and a surging, powerful white smoke poured in from the gate!
Ji Xiang's physical body burst forth from the Tong Tian Ming Yan, and with a thunderous roar, its qi wave penetrated three thousand zhang into the high heavens!
This was!
"Divine Seizure!"