The Great Might Divine Charm was of a very high level. If the one who received the charm was not more than three realms higher than the caster, they would surely die!
When Ji Xiang obtained the Golden Striker and confronted Lord Huo, he saw the strategy to break Lord Huo's realm and immediately thought of this combat method.
You have your Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, and I have my immortal body.
Dismantle the incense and offerings of the masses, feign death and lie low, then form the hand seals. At this time, the opponent's vigilance is at its weakest, making them susceptible to a surprise attack.
With his nine realms reduced to seven, the Golden Striker struck thrice, reducing the seven realms to six! Since Ji Xiang had written the Great Might Divine Charm when he was at the third realm, theoretically, it could only kill those at the sixth realm and below.
As Ji Xiang retracted the Golden Striker, he once again shook it to prevent Lord Huo from finding a way to break the Great Might Divine Charm!
He infused another layer of vital energy!
At this point, his vital energy was already depleted by fifty percent. Coupled with the physical and vital energy consumed in the battle with Lord Huo, Ji Xiang was now extremely weak.
Success or failure depended on this move. This time, the Golden Striker was not used to strike, but to amplify the spell!
"Move the Gods!"
Ji Xiang chanted the spell. "Moving the Gods" was originally a ritualistic act. Now, by shaking the Golden Striker, he doubled the spell's power. The Great Might Divine Charm's power doubled. Lord Huo, who had been grasping the Great Might Divine Charm with one hand and was about to tear through the flesh, found that the Great Might Divine Charm would not give her such an opportunity!
A scorching hot current instantly filled Lord Huo's entire body.
She didn't even have time to utter a word before she heard Ji Xiang's voice:
"Fellow Daoist, please proceed on your way... Ten thousand deaths and a thousand lives, without respite day or night!"
Ji Xiang's eyes blazed as he channeled the spell, and the Great Might Divine Charm glowed brilliantly. Lord Huo felt heaven and earth flatten, her body shatter, and all her senses vanish.
She was stunned by the vast heavenly sound of the Great Might Divine Charm, and simultaneously, within her body, her flesh, blood, and soul were disintegrating.
A thunderous roar erupted from within her body, which she could no longer hear. Her entire body paused for a few breaths before a violent force spread outwards from the center of the yellow charm, and her physical body disintegrated. Blood, flesh, bones, tendons, and organs separated and exploded from largest to smallest, turning into countless fragments.
This beautiful physical body had exploded on the spot!
This was what the heavenly laws referred to as the "punishment of dismemberment"!
Her physical body and soul were separated and both destroyed. Although it did not reach complete annihilation of both form and spirit, it was sufficient.
The smoke and dust dispersed, and the light extinguished. The torrential rain finally overwhelmed the sky-burning inferno.
On Xier Chang Street in the Forbidden City, a wind began to blow from south to north.
The rain soaked the bluestone slabs, seeping into the ruined palaces. The little eunuchs hid among the corpses of the palace maids and eunuchs, trembling. The heavy rain extinguished the flames, revealing the true appearance of the mountain of corpses.
Ji Xiang's body was panting violently. The true form of the Incense God had not controlled the state of his physical body. At this moment, he should release the pressure.
Fighting a half-Earth Immortal was too stressful. Although he was not deterred by anything within the Forbidden City and did not have to worry about fear or suppression when fighting enemies of higher realms, repeatedly activating the Golden Striker had already consumed forty percent of his vital energy.
The other expenditures were even more considerable, making him extremely tired.
But Ji Xiang did not let down his guard. He still held the Golden Striker and stared at the rotten flesh and shattered remains left by Lord Huo for a long time. Even Emperor Wanli and the others stood in the rain, not daring to make a move.
No one could guarantee that Lord Huo would not suddenly rise from the grave like Ji Xiang.
Thus, they all stared at each other, looking at the pool of rotten flesh and blood on the ground. After about fifteen minutes, they finally confirmed that Lord Huo had been blown to death by the Great Might Divine Charm.
Ji Xiang's mind was also extremely fatigued, and his physical body was even more so. If it weren't for the separation of the Incense God's true form and his physical body's system, Ji Xiang would have collapsed to the ground and fainted from exhaustion.
Carrying the Golden Striker, Ji Xiang went to collect the spoils.
His palm fumbled around the ground, smearing himself with the blood and rotten flesh of a beauty, but no prompt appeared.
"Wrong... wrong, where is the Taiyin Tribulation Fire?"
Ji Xiang sensed something was wrong and quickly looked around, but nothing seemed to have happened.
A strange thing occurred. In the strategy he had just obtained, the Taiyin Tribulation Fire was supposed to be suppressed by the morning bell, but it did not state that the sound of the morning bell could eliminate the Taiyin Tribulation Fire.
Furthermore, the Three Pure Ones Bell was crushed by Lord Huo with just one strike. The Taiyin Tribulation Fire should not have disappeared; instead, it should have become a trophy, like when he killed Song Wuji, and been found by him.
Ji Xiang searched the ground for a long time. Emperor Wanli and the others finally came over. Seeing Ji Xiang looking down, Emperor Wanli said, "What are you looking for? I'll help you find it."
Ji Xiang then looked up and bowed to Emperor Wanli. Emperor Wanli, having survived the ordeal, walked up and patted Ji Xiang's shoulder repeatedly, praising him as a formidable young man and predicting the great prosperity of Wudang.
He then asked, "Is this Lord Huo truly dead?"
Ji Xiang pondered for a moment and said to Emperor Wanli, "She should be dead, but this humble Taoist's magical powers are weak, so I cannot be certain, and I have my doubts."
Emperor Wanli let out a sigh and said to Ji Xiang, "You shall stay with me these few days. I am also uneasy. But do not worry, in a couple of days, True Master Zhang from Longhu Mountain will arrive in the capital for an audience. I will have him come here to take a look then. With him here, I will be more at ease."
"You have rendered a great service. What reward do you desire? As long as it is within my capabilities, I shall grant it to you."
Emperor Wanli said this, but his personal treasury was not very substantial, which everyone knew. In the late Ming Dynasty, the emperor's personal treasury was often quite empty. Wanli was relatively better off. Although he had not yet sent out eunuchs to collect taxes, thanks to the reforms of Zhang Juzheng in the previous ten years, the country had somewhat revived. Therefore, despite considerable extravagance over the years, he was a recluse, so he had managed to leave behind some assets.
Emperor Wanli stated, "Young Ji, regarding this reward, building a palace for your Wudang Mountain would cost too much, and the cabinet would likely not approve it. My wallet also cannot afford it. However, in my personal capacity, applying for a large house within Beijing's Second Ring Road for you, along with dozens of servants, is no problem at all."
The First Ring Road was not habitable, as Ji Xiang was not royalty. The Second Ring Road was already quite good.
To show his closeness, Emperor Wanli took Ji Xiang's hand, even though he was covered in black ash, looking as if he had just emerged from a coal mine.
Ji Xiang feigned being overwhelmed with favor. Of course, the primary reason Ji Xiang tightly grasped Emperor Wanli's large hand was not solely due to the substantial reward Emperor Wanli was about to give him.
The moment the emperor and the Taoist's hands touched.
The blank divine tablet in his inner landscape began to display text again.
Although Lingxiao Nu had strangely not dropped any legacy, Emperor Wanli provided an unexpected surprise: second-hand smoke...
Ji Xiang's eyes flashed with brilliant divine light:
[Tongtian Mingyan: I do not fear death, what can the gods do to me?]
[Emperor Wanli's three souls were just burned by rage and quickly extinguished. The large amount of white smoke emanating from his body was originally a precursor to the burning of ignorant karma. It is said that the white smoke released by the burning rage can reach three thousand zhang high into the sky.]
[Where the Mingyan reaches, the heavenly karma will be invalidated for a moment, and the human karma will be invalidated for a day, as if the wrath of heaven has descended, and it also possesses the power of "summoning spirits!"]