Inside the Silver Bottle Maiden’s temple, within the statue of Zhenwu, Ji Xiang was refining the Finger of Chandala. The chasing demonic energy was unhesitatingly absorbed by Ji Xiang into the black finger. This way, if he encountered a formidable opponent, by activating this finger, a mere touch would not only cause the opponent to temporarily drop a realm but also cause their Dao heart to regress.
If the Dao heart regressed and was not stopped in time, the next step would be the shattering of the Dao heart. For those whose Dao heart regressed, their cultivation and temperament would greatly decline, and even their accumulated merits would decrease. In severe cases, they could even descend from immortal to mortal.
In the Daoist sect, such immortals had a special designation—a banished immortal!
“In myths, when immortals committed mistakes and were banished to the mortal realm, they became banished immortals. Such immortals are precisely caused by the regression of their Dao hearts.”
“Dao heart regression would cause immortals to be tainted by worldly desires. Thus, they would fall to the dust, no longer possessing the means to return to heaven. They could only wander amidst the mortal world, eventually losing themselves to the vast mortal realm, losing their immortal form and spirit, and becoming ordinary beings among all living things.”
The fusion of the black finger and the demonic energy was successful, and the refining was complete. Fire and electricity coiled around the fingertip; this was the power of the Chasing Demon God, though it only manifested for a fleeting moment before vanishing.
Ji Xiang still did not trust the Peacock Great Bright King. The description of the blank divine tablet offered a choice for the disposal of this demonic energy. If it were handed over to the Great Bright King, it would help him escape from Avici Hell further. However, if it were refined into this severed finger, the connection between the Great Bright King and the severed finger would be reduced.
“I want a useful magical artifact, not to release a malevolent ghost or demon into the world. The Great Bright King claims to have fallen into hell, but how could a protector of Buddhism be so easily cast down?”
“Perhaps this Great Bright King’s divine position was seized from someone else.”
With the Art of Spirit Control as a precedent, possessing higher-level divine abilities and spells to seize divine positions was very normal. Did Emperor Jiajing not seize the divine position of the Supreme Old Lord?
Such a grand divine position, to be able to seize it so easily, required considerable skill.
Moreover, strictly speaking, he himself possessed the skill to seize divine positions, though this skill was merely a passive ability of the blank divine tablet.
The skill of seizing divine positions was an advanced ability, but by no means unique.
As expected, after Ji Xiang finished refining the black finger, the aura of the Peacock Great Bright King emanating from it had indeed lessened considerably. He currently had no need to activate the Huiji Vajra Hell Seal, so the Peacock Great Bright King could not contact him proactively.
Having accomplished this important task, the next step was to restore the temple’s incense offerings. Currently, the magistrate of Qiantang County had stationed bailiffs at the entrance, and normal worshipers dared not enter, which greatly affected the recovery speed of Ji Xiang’s divine form.
“I need a massive amount of incense, how can you people make this temple so desolate?”
Looking at the Silver Bottle Maiden again, this young lady seemed perplexed by Master Jingxian’s solitary departure and was diligently trying to recall something.
Although Ji Xiang was also puzzled by the old monk’s sudden departure, he could vaguely sense that the old monk had likely used some divination method to foresee potential problems on this trip, which was why he had hurried home.
If there were no problems on this trip, he would have normally brought the Silver Bottle Maiden along. Since he went back, it meant there must be problems. Therefore, two methods would be used: either bring a weapon, or gather more people.
As the saying goes, more people mean greater confidence. Even if you had a hundred thousand杂兵 behind you, you would feel significantly stronger than an expert of the flying ascent realm, and this was the confidence brought by a sea of people.
The Silver Bottle Maiden furrowed her delicate brows: “Who is the founder of the Jade Dragon Daoist Academy? I have been here for two hundred years, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him.”
“On my way to Phoenix Mountain, he witnessed my abilities and then informed Lingyin Temple. Why did he inform Lingyin Temple?”
“Could this be a trap? But if it’s a trap, bringing me and the master from Lingyin Temple into his trap together, is he looking down on me, or looking down on the Buddhist master?”
As the daughter of Yue Fei, she had wielded weapons since childhood and possessed a special intuition for danger. Furthermore, her residual soul had wandered for over three hundred years, and she had been a deity for two hundred years. This Silver Bottle Maiden Temple was established during the Yuan Dynasty. Although she was confined to the temple and could not travel too far, she had encountered all sorts of people in Qiantang County over the past two hundred years, and deceitful dealings were common.
However, this matter, which seemed simple, was in fact exceptionally strange, with many inexplicable points. For instance, why did the founder of the Jade Dragon Daoist Academy go to Lingyin Temple first? The masters of Lingyin Temple did not seem to know him either.
Since they were not friends, why inform them immediately?
Could it be that there was some formidable demon beneath the imperial palace of Phoenix Mountain?
The Silver Bottle Maiden frowned: “If you’re talking about a formidable demon, it would be the one I’m dealing with, but she shouldn’t be worthy of such great attention from Lingyin Temple and the Jade Dragon Daoist Academy…”
“It seems I still need to go to Phoenix Mountain. That place must hold a secret I haven’t discovered!”
“But next time I go, I must be prepared.”
The Silver Bottle Maiden was quite concerned about her near-death experience on Phoenix Mountain, so she couldn’t help but glance at the statue of Zhenwu. The power the statue of Zhenwu lent her at that time, was it Buddhist power? No, that power was clearly the Great Zhenwu Curse.
It was the absolutely pure Daoist power to subdue demons.
However, she did not harbor any doubts about the statue of Zhenwu, as it had helped her at a critical moment, which was enough to determine the “faction” of the statue of Zhenwu.
“After decades of nurturing the statue with incense, I have finally earned the personal visit of the Great Emperor’s divine consciousness. I will borrow this power from you!”
After speaking, she did not return to the statue to cultivate but walked to the temple entrance and commanded the bailiffs standing guard:
“Heavenly fire will burn this temple. You should all go back now, to avoid any trouble.”
The bailiffs were somewhat bewildered and filled with apprehension: “What are you saying? Your temple has never caught fire in decades. Are you going to burn your own temple? But why?”
“To subdue demons and eliminate evil.”
The Silver Bottle Maiden waved her hand and used her magic power to drive away the bailiffs. Their bodies immediately became uncontrollable and they ran off on their own. This was a basic application of divine power, commonly known as “ghost possession.”
Deities could simulate the behavior of ghosts and use their divine power to control mortal bodies to act. Therefore, driving away a few ordinary people was not an issue at all. If they were cultivators, this divine power technique would have no effect.
“To increase my strength in a short period, the best way is to receive a powerful divine position!”
The Silver Bottle Maiden looked up at the vast sky, or perhaps the Great Fuli Land. Even though she was a minor folk deity, after abandoning her divine position and returning to the state of a wandering soul, she could still receive new divine positions!
However, deities had resistance to heavenly tribulations and celestial fires. The merits they obtained could also help them cultivate divine power and even eliminate calamities.
But a wandering soul was a complete yin entity. If she did this, it would be equivalent to abandoning all the merits she had gained after becoming a deity. As a yin entity, she would have to contend with the purely yang, supremely powerful celestial fire of heavenly tribulations!
Ji Xiang was also surprised: “Although undergoing tribulations is a life-and-death test, fire tribulations and lightning tribulations normally do not appear. Actively receiving them, while simpler than passively entering a tribulation, is something a yin entity cannot withstand such immense yang energy refinement.”
“However, if she can pass it, she will truly shed her mortal deity form and ascend to become one of the thirty-six Heavenly Gods.”
Being a folk deity ultimately had its limits. Folk deities existed based on the incense or wishes of the populace. The more believers they had, the stronger they became, and their divine positions were closely linked to them. One could even say they were divine positions with consciousness, the “deity” itself.
Therefore, folk deities had abundant incense offerings, while heavenly deities had scattered offerings. This was partly because there were many heavenly deities, and partly because they rarely manifested themselves.
In this land, only deities who frequently appeared would be worshipped by the people. The deities from the pre-Qin era were no longer believed in by anyone.
Ji Xiang recalled some situations within the Great Fuli Land in the past. Although the pre-Qin deities still retained powerful divine abilities, their incense offerings were almost non-existent. Since there was no incense to collect, Ji Xiang rarely frequented their places.
“Should I be a giant in terms of incense, or a pauper in terms of faith? I think the people of all dynasties have already made their choices…”
Ji Xiang couldn’t help but inwardly complain.
It was not easy to be a person, nor was it easy to be a deity. For folk deities to expand their influence, they inevitably had to engage in struggles for incense with other deities.
At this moment, the Silver Bottle Maiden was muttering to herself. Although she had no heartbeat, as she was a deity formed from a residual soul without a physical body, her mind still felt tension and fear.
It was false not to be afraid.
“Although we folk deities have weak foundations, our potential is immense…”
The development space for folk deities was still vast. Conversely, for the deities of the thirty heavens, if no one received them, it meant they could not manifest in the mortal realm, thus their incense offerings would continue to dwindle. The very cause of this vicious cycle was that the ancient deities were too powerful, and later cultivators found it difficult to meet their reception standards…
Moreover, not everyone considered having a divine position to be a good thing. With the imperial court monopolizing most divine positions, it was extremely difficult to receive a divine position that was both satisfactory and powerful.
The Silver Bottle Maiden murmured, and Ji Xiang began to understand some of the situation.
No wonder the deities of the imperial court were weak, and there were no particularly powerful deities appearing outside. Even if there were, they were either experts sent by the Inner Mountain and River faction, or “hidden masters” who hid among the populace and dared not reveal themselves.
“I remember that Emperor Wanli mentioned this matter, that the imperial court had secret methods to receive divine positions into the bodies of mortals, thus eliminating the need for cultivation, and mortals could immediately become divine generals…”
“So, in general, it is the imperial court itself that cannot receive powerful deities, but it also has secret methods to prevent others from receiving them. It’s like saying, ‘If I don’t go to hell, who will?’ But if I go to hell, I must drag everyone down with me…”
“Damn it, so this is how the decline of Dharma came about… but there are always some players who cheat. If you forbid it, you forbid it, but I’m going to defy the imperial court…”
Ji Xiang could understand this behavior but did not particularly approve of it, as he himself was a cultivator…
“Speaking of which, when I received the divine positions of the various deities, although I didn’t feel any significant pressure at first, later, with my cultivation of the flying ascent realm, I felt pressure and difficulty at the twelfth rank of the Heavenly positions, and couldn’t even enter the top ten. Perhaps this is also the influence of the imperial court’s secret methods…”
“Those mortals in the Northern Commandery have divine positions of the thirteenth and fourteenth ranks of the Heavenly divisions, while I, a possessor of the flying ascent cultivation, am still a cultivator, and can only take the twelfth rank of the Heavenly divisions. It seems there is indeed a problem, this is the issue.”
Ji Xiang clapped his hands, suddenly enlightened.
No wonder he had been so weak back then.
It turned out the imperial court was behind it.
For folk deities, the more they were tainted by the mortal world, the more closely they were connected to it. Relying on the incense and wishes contributed by believers over hundreds or thousands of years, they could completely contend with the divine positions in the heavens, as they themselves could continuously cultivate.
Thus, in the later stages, even if the imperial court had high-level divine generals, the divine power that mortals could exert was limited. If they were to attack these folk deities, the result would be “I haven’t even exerted my strength, and you’ve already fallen.” Heavenly deities would be counter-killed by mortal folk deities.
“The imperial court itself started to decline, and for the sake of its rule, it must also make everyone decline with it…”
“But as long as they cannot completely prevent reception, powerful divine forces will still descend from the Great Fuli Land… In the path of cultivation, what is most abundant is genius!”
Looking at the blazing flames in the sky, and the fires starting to ignite within the Silver Bottle Maiden’s temple, these flames would not actually burn down the buildings. At least, at this moment, the flames had not been fully released from the Great Fuli.
“She is not in the flying ascent realm, so she cannot enter Fuli to receive them like I can. The reception for mortals is very dangerous. If they cannot withstand the divine power, these illusions manifested in the Great Fuli will become reality.”
“If her reception fails, her temple will turn into a sea of fire… Huh? Wait a minute, receiving a divine position from the fire deity lineage in a place where the incense of Emperor Zhenwu is flourishing?”
Emperor Zhenwu had the function of repelling fire. It was only after Lord Fire managed to move the statue of Zhenwu in the Longde Hall to a warehouse that he could recklessly set fires in the Forbidden City.
Ji Xiang nodded.
Very good, your fire prevention awareness is indeed very thorough.
Just because you think so highly of me, I, Ji Xiang, will help you receive the divine position today! Receive it with confidence, all the familiar faces are in the heavens!
“You are also a significant combat force. If you can receive a powerful divine position, my fishing trip will have more certainty, and you can also become Lord Fire’s replacement.”
“That vengeful woman cannot be a folk fire deity!”
The aura of incense wrapped around Ji Xiang, causing the yellow radiance outside the statue of Zhenwu to rise and white smoke to swirl.