A sword pierced through Qian Guang's neck!
Immediately, his fiery energy surged, only to be extinguished by the You Sheng Incantation. Qian Guang shrieked in agony, and Ji Xiang dug out more mud from the San Qing Bell, giving him a thorough mud facial.
"No... mmmph, woo!"
With his mouth stuffed with mud, Qian Guang struggled a few times. His fiery energy finally depleted. He could no longer hold on and collapsed onto the ground, completely still. The fiery energy on his body escaped in all directions, and the honored Zhen Shen vanished without a trace, leaving behind only an aged, charred corpse.
After killing Qian Guang, Ji Xiang quickly began looting. From Qian Guang, he obtained a good item.
Well... it couldn't exactly be called good. Ji Xiang didn't know how to describe his haul this time. It was the bowl-sized hollow on Qian Guang's back. As the aged, charred corpse fell, a dark, black earthenware pot was dislodged.
Within the Inner Scene Divine Tablet, the text displayed was:
[Evil Pot: The Evil Pot is full.]
[The Stove God possesses two pots, one for good and one for evil. Qian Guang's good pot was shattered during the Tianbao era, leaving only the evil pot. Left behind in the thirteenth year of the Tang Dynasty's Tianbao era, it can imprison and refine impure, malevolent things. Within a day, they transform into a black bean.]
[Eating the black bean brings misfortune.]
[The Evil Pot can only refine one bean per day. If it is filled, it will bring a fatal calamity to the holder, this is heavenly punishment.]
The fire beans within the Evil Pot were gone, leaving only a You Sheng Incantation lying inside the earthenware pot. Clearly, those fire beans had all been destroyed by the You Sheng Incantation.
"Thank you for the compliment, I am the Great Ming's ultimate troublemaker!"
Ji Xiang muttered a few words and carried the earthenware pot. He then went to find Song Zhongzheng. That fellow wasn't lying far away either. Ji Xiang quickly went to rummage through his belongings. The legacies left behind by these two ancient True Gods were more substantial than Song Wuji's.
However, their incense offerings were not as numerous as Song Wuji's. Qian Guang had been drained by Ji Xiang himself, so he had no incense offerings left.
Song Zhongzheng only had two thousand portions of incense. As for Chi Zhi Tong Zi, he only had eight hundred portions.
The two thousand eight hundred portions of incense flowed into Ji Xiang's main body, and he immediately felt invigorated, as if he had been injected with chicken blood. The flow of incense energy circulated through his physical body, and his strength also increased slightly.
When rummaging through Song Zhongzheng, with just a touch, aside from the national prestige incense, a ball of fire was quickly absorbed into his body!
The Inner Scene Divine Tablet once again displayed text!
[Fire God Essence (Fragment): Essence of Heaven, belonging to the divine. ]
[The residual Fire God Essence of Song Zhongzheng, the messenger of Mars! It can greatly enhance the power of one's divine fire!]
[After refining the Fire God Essence, one will not fear mortal fire.]
Ji Xiang circulated a bit of his spiritual power, and the Fire God Essence had already merged into his body. As expected, the human fire energy in various parts of his body became much more vigorous. Song Zhongzheng's divine essence could help cultivators better consolidate each realm!
This was, after all, a remnant of a True God, and Ji Xiang's main body was precisely a god of incense!
What a coincidence, wasn't it? I'll take your essence.
Ji Xiang was quite pleased now.
Cultivation required a solid foundation in every realm. A strong foundation would lead to greater strength later on! This was why some people with weak bodies could not cultivate; it was because the fire energy within their bodies was insufficient, leading to an excess of Yin and a deficiency of Yang. Forcing them to consume great tonics would instead cause these people to die prematurely or suddenly collapse, for this very reason.
Insufficient fire energy, forcibly taking great tonics, would cause great harm and no benefit to the body.
Before cultivating, one must strengthen their body, starting from the smallest exercises to temper the physical body, to reciting scriptures to strengthen their inner spirit, reaching a state of excellent essence, energy, and spirit. Only then can one attempt "fire coercion of metal element."
Around them, the great fires raged. After quickly looting the bodies, Ji Xiang wasted no more time.
If he delayed any longer, Emperor Wanli would likely be finished.
Ji Xiang stood before the wall of fire in the burning scene. The flames brought forth rolling heatwaves, illuminating the entire street with brightness!
Before the great fire, Ji Xiang first saw the Ju Kou Ghost. Using the jade hairpin of Concubine Dowager Shang to ignite the fire, it then began to chant. The jade hairpin was immediately enveloped by spiritual power, and faintly, the phantom of a fierce-faced god-king appeared!
Then, using this jade hairpin as the ignition, the jade hairpin actually flew up and headed towards the Ju Kou Ghost!
Seeing this, Ji Xiang's spirit was greatly lifted. At this moment, he slowly raised his magic sword!
Summoning the wind and rain, commanding thunder and lightning!
...
In the burning scene, at the end of West Second Street, Emperor Wanli and his entourage had no more room to move.
The fire behind them surged forward, and the palaces on both sides turned to ashes. The raging flames concealed the surrounding corpses in the light. The overwhelming heatwaves had already become unbearable for Consort Zheng and Empress Wang.
The flames in front also closed in, and Emperor Wanli could only rage ineffectively amidst the great fire.
The dignified Emperor of the Great Ming was about to die in a fire!
"If this were a natural fire, then so be it if I died. But to die at the hands of these fiends, and within my own palace, how can I be reconciled!"
Emperor Wanli's fury ignited from within him. The most powerful national prestige of the Great Ming began to burn.
Emperor Wanli's imperial status deterred many gods and ghosts from approaching. However, the fires set by these gods and ghosts would gradually kill Emperor Wanli.
This was the "Emperor's Fury."
And the two young children, amidst the flames, watched Emperor Wanli's angry expression and softly chanted:
"The Emperor's fury, joy not for unjoyful matters, anger not for unangry things."
The two young children were very happy.
Emperor Wanli was about to be provoked to the point of losing his reason.
It was already the third quarter of the midnight hour. Lord Fire should be arriving soon.
But why hadn't the Three Fire Gods arrived yet?
"Why haven't the Three Fire Gods arrived? The Emperor is about to die."
"Mr. Song hasn't come either! We won't get to see this beautiful scene."
The two young children conversed with each other. Emperor Wanli, hearing their childlike voices, yet speaking words that sounded like murder played as a game, immediately shouted:
"I wrongly enfeoffed evil gods, allowing you things to take advantage! You dare to steal the name of the Fire God and usurp the divine position!"
Emperor Wanli stood in place, large amounts of white smoke rising from his body. He looked at Lord Fire, then turned to see the two young children.
At this moment, the two young children said:
"We were enfeoffed by you. You followed the proper rituals, so how can we be called evil gods! Shouting at us here, refuting our divine bodies, is also useless."
Emperor Wanli stared at them deeply and said:
"You impersonate divine positions, have killed countless people, and burned my palaces! Do you know the enormity of your sins!"
"Besieging the Emperor is rebellion; burning palaces is high treason; killing people in the palace is unrighteous; attacking the Emperor is great disrespect; attacking from below to above is unrighteousness!"
Emperor Wanli rebuked them a few times, but the two young children merely laughed heartily.
These two children pointed at the Emperor and exclaimed, "The Emperor is anxious, the Emperor is anxious!"
Being anxious is useless!
The red-clothed child said, "We have committed five evils, so what?"
"Today you are still the greatest Emperor in the world, but tomorrow you will not be. Your ten evils are also useless now."
"We are True Gods. If you say we are evil gods today, then so be it. Tomorrow we will still be True Gods."
Emperor Wanli beat his chest in anger. At this moment, the ring of fire was getting closer and closer to him, and he could no longer hold on.
The two young children smiled.
But at this very moment, a ball of fire flew from the south, soaring over the burning scene, visible to everyone!
It directly pierced into the massive Ju Kou Ghost God!
The jade hairpin, ignited, flew towards it. The ghost god cried out in surprise, its massive body rumbled as if in anger.
Suddenly, a majestic voice like a thunderclap was heard between heaven and earth!
"All sentient beings have their innate gods, following their actions."
"Yama King is here!"