Listening to the dialogue between the masters of Lingyin Temple and the Silver Bottle Maiden, Ji Xiang realized that he wasn't the only one fishing. The Silver Bottle Maiden was killing demons on Phoenix Mountain, and the power he had transmitted was likely too strong, causing the other party to panic.
"Letting her go to Yulong Daoist Academy is clearly a trap. It's just that the masters of Lingyin Temple are highly respected. Although she seems suspicious, she can't pinpoint the problem."
"Is this master a puppet?"
Ji Xiang could clearly sense a wisp of demonic energy hidden within Master Jingxian. It was concealed beneath the Buddhist light. As for the true identity of this demonic energy, or rather, its manipulator, it would require the Silver Bottle Maiden, the bait, to investigate.
However, this eminent monk of Lingyin Temple was already at the Arhat level, approximately the Third Fruit. This was already extremely powerful in the mortal world. His cultivation had reached the peak of Spirit Refinement, and he was definitely a high-ranking figure within Lingyin Temple. Such a powerful individual had demonic energy enter his body without his knowledge.
Ji Xiang subtly manipulated his techniques, making the Zhenwu statue appear slightly more divine, merely showcasing the Buddhist nature within the Samadhi Fire Wheel. The individuals conversing were immediately drawn to the Zhenwu statue. The monk in white eagerly told Master Jingxian that the Buddhist power that had attracted him the previous day was similar.
Master Jingxian stroked his beard and smiled at the Silver Bottle Maiden, "Hmm, pure Buddhist power! Benefactor Yue, you see, my disciple wasn't lying. Your temple's Zhenwu statue indeed contains the might of my Buddha."
"This... indeed."
The Silver Bottle Maiden was also surprised. The Zhenwu statue suddenly displayed divine power, but it wasn't the divine might accumulated from the worship of countless people. Instead, it manifested Buddhist power.
However, the Silver Bottle Maiden still said, "Although this statue does possess Buddhist power, it is still something within my temple. Others have no right to take it."
"You are correct. It should be fine for this old monk to touch it and observe, shouldn't it?"
"Rest assured, we will not take the divine power from this statue."
Master Jingxian lowered his stance. The Silver Bottle Maiden thought that this old monk had a decent reputation in the vicinity and unlikely to engage in outright theft. Thus, she nodded in agreement:
"Your words are comforting, unlike your disciple."
After obtaining the Silver Bottle Maiden's consent, Master Jingxian touched the Zhenwu statue. He floated up and placed his palm on the statue's forehead.
Ji Xiang, using the Buddhist nature of the Samadhi Fire Wheel to envelop himself and chanting the Peacock King Mantra, naturally displayed the authentic power of the Buddhist Mingwang. Upon sensing this power, Master Jingxian was overjoyed, his beard seeming to float towards the heavens.
Seizing this opportunity, Ji Xiang also sent a wisp of the Peacock King Mantra's power into Master Jingxian's body!
The Buddhist might was vast, and the power of the Mingwang surged through his entire body. Master Jingxian's arm immediately went numb from the shock. He quickly withdrew his hand, and in that instant, Ji Xiang, using the Buddhist nature of the Samadhi Fire Wheel, touched that wisp of demonic energy!
The Buddhist nature was fierce, causing the demonic energy to become agitated and attempt to assimilate this wisp of power. However, this Buddhist nature from the Samadhi Fire Wheel was incredibly powerful. Seizing this opportunity, the Zhenwu statue suddenly emitted a puff of white smoke. Master Jingxian hurriedly withdrew his hand, and the wisp of demonic energy that was drawn out was also captured by the Tongtian Mingyan and fed to the blank divine tablet on the spot!
The inner scene divine tablet immediately displayed text:
[Pursuit Demonic Energy: Ferocious demonic energy refined using the blood of the Pursuit Demon God as material. The Pursuit Demon is a great demon god in Buddhist legends who once tested Zen with Venerable Ananda and Mahakashyapa. His face is like a pipa, with four eyes and two mouths, radiating light from his entire face, and he sings "Pursuit! Pursuit!" in his mouth, wielding a fire wheel and emitting electric light.]
[When meditating or entering samadhi for cultivation, this demonic energy will gradually invade the body, slowly assimilating the meditating person into the Pursuit Demon God. There can only be sixty-three Pursuit Demon Gods in the mortal world, a number that disrupts Buddhism.]
[Legend has it that Sakyamuni told Venerable Ananda that there are sixty-three such demons. When the past Buddha Kanakamuni was preaching, a bhikshu failed in his attempt to attain the Sudhāna fruit. Later, his heart strayed, and he turned to the evil path, being ostracized by the monks. Filled with anger, upon his death, he made a great vow to become a ghost demon, transforming into sixty-three paths of resentful energy, thus disturbing the fourfold assembly to this day. Anyone entangled by this demon god will fall into Avici Hell and never be reborn!]
[When sixty-three Pursuit Demon Gods appear, they will collectively descend upon a sect with a prosperous lineage. The sect's unique lineage will be completely severed, and the severed lineage will become part of the Pursuit Demon Gods.]
[Using the Huiji Vajra Seal, handing this Pursuit Demonic Energy to the Great Peacock Mingwang can help him further escape Avici Hell!]
[Refining the Pursuit Demonic Energy into the Chandala Finger will add the ability to cause the Dao heart to regress!]
[If refined, the connection between the Peacock Great Mingwang and this finger will be weakened.]
This was a technique for cultivating a demonic cultivator. The core of this technique was the sixty-three paths of Pursuit Demonic Energy. Ji Xiang suddenly understood why the demonic energy in the body of the Buddhist master went unnoticed. It wasn't that he didn't notice, but rather that this demonic energy was actually merging with him.
In other words, some of Master Jingxian's actions were already being influenced by this demonic energy.
Ji Xiang looked out from the Zhenwu statue and then at Master Jingxian. The latter was in a state of confusion, as if he had forgotten something. The Silver Bottle Maiden reminded him:
"Master, why are you silent for so long after touching the statue?"
Master Jingxian gradually recovered from his confusion. He glanced at the Zhenwu statue, but felt a throbbing pain in his mind, as if someone was reciting a malicious curse. He chanted Amitabha several times before he felt somewhat better.
"The statue's divine power, this humble monk feels he has gained some insight, but ultimately, he is dull and does not know what changes have occurred within himself."
The Silver Bottle Maiden touched the Zhenwu statue with the power of incense and felt that the divine power was still present. She didn't care what insights Master Jingxian had gained and immediately said:
"Didn't Master want to take me to Yulong Daoist Academy? I would like to meet the expert who was following me."
Master Jingxian seemed to have remembered this matter at this point. His demonic energy had already been cleared from his body, and he felt exceptionally clear-headed. He even used a foresight technique at this moment.
Buddhism did not have fortune-telling, but it had foresight. Arhats were said to be able to know their situation five hundred lifetimes in the future, but this required some basis for correlation. Moreover, the results of foresight could be altered, and one could not clearly know the detailed events of the future.
However, it was enough to judge the fortune or misfortune of his journey.
"Huh?"
Master Jingxian suddenly broke out in a sweat on his forehead. The foresight into the future revealed a deep demonic aura, beyond which nothing could be seen. Only the Silver Bottle Maiden's presence within that demonic aura appeared exceptionally strange and eerie.
He looked deeply at the Silver Bottle Maiden and suddenly said, "Before going to Yulong Daoist Academy this time, my companions and I must first return to Lingyin Temple!"
If he alone could not foresee future events, then the four great masters of Lingyin Temple would foresee them together and then go to Yulong Daoist Academy. After all, the person wrapped in fire who suddenly appeared at Lingyin Temple that night was very suspicious in itself.
...
At the same time, another fisherman, the white-clothed figure, sat at the highest point of the Phoenix Mountain imperial palace ruins. He suddenly felt a wisp of demonic energy disappear, which surprised him greatly.
When did the Silver Bottle Maiden gain such ability to eliminate the demonic energy he had set?
"Interesting. The demonic energy within the body of the Lingyin Temple master has actually been removed. It seems that even a small temple can have great demonic winds. It appears this girl has truly obtained some miraculous inheritance, otherwise her abilities wouldn't have advanced so rapidly."
"However, in this Qiantang region, most cultivators have demonic energy within them. Once I activate it, causing them to lose their minds, it will be a grand spectacle of ten thousand demons arriving. Removing the demonic energy from one Lingyin Temple master is no big deal."
"Merely a Spirit Refinement stage. However, I originally wanted to invite you to Yulong Daoist Academy to sit for twenty years and temper your temperament, but you didn't give me this opportunity."
...
The white-clothed figure and Ji Xiang were fishing for each other. In another distant land, Shangqing Daozi and the ghost immortal, who had been out of contact with Ji Xiang for a long time, were captured by a transcendent immortal who far surpassed their strength.
"Cough cough..."
The divine consciousness of this transcendent immortal had only recently begun to recover. For a period before, he had acted purely on instinct.
The ghost immortal did not know who the person before him was, but Shangqing Daozi could infer some of it:
"Are you awake today?"
The transcendent immortal lowered his gaze and looked at Shangqing Daozi, "Someone from the Shangqing Sect... right."
Seeing that communication was finally possible, Shangqing Daozi breathed a sigh of relief, "You... are you the immortal in the Profound Heaven Coffin?"
"Should I call you Ancestor?"
Seeing no reaction from the other party, Shangqing Daozi asked again, "Senior, forgive my presumption... Senior, are you perhaps Sima Jizhu?!"
The Profound Heaven Stone Coffin and the Changshan Bronze Cabinet were both items left behind by Sima Jizhu during the Qin and Han dynasties, so Shangqing Daozi was somewhat awestruck, as the person before him was likely another ancient immortal from the Qin and Han dynasties.
The ghost immortal, on the other hand, looked bewildered. He was merely an ordinary scholar before his death. After his death, he was in a daze for decades. It was only through remote transmission from the Longevity Palace that he gained the identity and strength of a ghost immortal. He had no idea who Sima Jizhu was.
However, the immortal shook his head and smiled slightly:
"I don't know."
"I've forgotten who I am."
The immortal slowly raised his head and looked at the overcast sky. His gaze seemed to penetrate the layers of dark clouds, passing through the external appearance of the mountains and rivers to see the prosperous immortal path within the inner mountains and rivers:
"But... I can sense the aura of an old friend. Why do I say he is my friend? Because I do not feel hostility from this aura, but rather a sense of nostalgia."
"He is very close to this world, too close..."
"This world is divided into four regions, and there is also a cultivator from Yuqing Heaven wandering within the four regions..."
Shangqing Daozi was stunned. He didn't expect this nameless immortal to also know about Yuqing Heaven!
"Yuqing Heaven cultivator..."
The nameless immortal grinned:
"Although I don't remember who I am, I still remember how to use my techniques."
"Yuqing Heaven cultivator, colluding with evil entities, must be killed! And your Shangqing Sect is the inheritance left by that Yuqing cultivator!"