The Eastern Royal Court's encampment. The disappearance of tens of thousands of troops without return, coupled with the continuous rumble of thunder from afar, began to sow unease among the other tribal leaders within the Eastern Royal Court.
"If the Great Khan had the upper hand, why would there be incessant thunder from beyond the heavens?"
Buddhism was not adept at employing thunderous techniques, and even less so were the Tantric monks. If their own people held the advantage, the sky should have been filled with Buddhist light and auspicious signs. Indeed, there had been a brief moment of falling celestial flowers and emerging golden lotuses, but it had vanished as quickly as it appeared.
A sense of dread gradually permeated the Eastern Royal Court. Some proposed a withdrawal, which was immediately met with opposition from certain Bu Yan supporters, who accused the proposer of audacious attempts to seize power in the Great Khan's absence.
As the two factions argued, a mighty gale suddenly swept across the sky, tearing through the continuous tents of the entire Eastern Royal Court and even uprooting the Cangshan mountains!
The heavens shook and the earth trembled, mountains collapsed and chasms opened! A Taoist in black descended from the sky. Upon seeing Ji Xiang's appearance, the tribal leaders' first reaction was not anger, but a profound shock.
Their sabers were drawn, but not to be wielded against the Taoist in black. Instead, they lowered their blades, attempting to flee. However, the national destiny that bound them was too weak; the legacy of the Yuan Dynasty had been depleted by this generation.
Ji Xiang did not even deign to look at them directly, announcing instead:
"Your Great Khan has been killed by me, his soul scattered to the winds. Your National Preceptor has also turned to ashes and cannot be resurrected. Those ten thousand men have all been fed into the gates of hell. Now I come here, with no intention of causing further bloodshed."
"I merely wish to take one soul from each of your three souls."
Ji Xiang's voice was devoid of emotion, yet it caused the already tense faces of the leaders to contort in fear.
To seize souls and exert control. With a single sentence, these leaders understood the malevolent deeds the Taoist in black intended to commit.
Such practices had existed since antiquity and were not exclusive to any single sect. In essence, the manipulation of souls was an ancient shamanic art, with shamanism utilizing it far more than the orthodox teachings of the Three Religions, or even demonic entities.
Furthermore, taking only one of the three souls would not affect a person's normal actions. The heavenly and earthly souls often resided outside the body, while only the life soul remained within.
"I shall take your earthly souls, severing your karma."
If the earthly soul were taken, one's perception of karma would be severed. Future destinies would be controlled by the holder of the earthly soul, who would become the source of cause, while oneself would become the predetermined effect, meaning one's "fate would not be one's own."
The leaders exchanged glances.
Ji Xiang raised three fingers.
"Three..."
With a clatter!
Before the word "two" could be uttered, someone had already dropped their saber and prostrated themselves on the ground, their faces ashen with terror.
They had no choice but to be afraid.
Ji Xiang's descent, which caused the heavens to shake and the earth to tremble, was precisely to intimidate these people, to avoid unnecessary trouble and procedures. If they were not even intimidated by such a display, they would be killed outright.
Those who knew no fear would surely become great troubles in the future. This was not the time to nurture a tiger, nor was it necessary to do so any longer.
"Is the Daoist here to seek justice for the Liaodong General? To defeat us not through battlefield combat, but by overwhelming us with powerful sorcery? Daoist, this action of yours lacks honor."
*Bang!*
Ji Xiang flicked a finger, and the leader who spoke exploded into a mist of blood on the spot!
"You have no right to speak. Does anyone else wish to make a statement?"
The other leaders immediately lowered their heads, their bodies stiff with fear, cold sweat soaking their clothes and dripping in large drops from their foreheads. Their hearts were in their throats, their entire mental states on the verge of collapse.
Death in war was not terrifying. Although it was not the Yuan Dynasty era, the combat power of the Eastern Royal Court was not insignificant. They often honed their skills through raids, making their combat effectiveness more reliable than that of the Ming army.
However, to be crushed like insects, to be humiliated so casually, it was at this moment they first understood the feeling of being "slaughtered."
Ji Xiang surveyed the group and asked, "Where is 'Chao Hua,' the leader of the Chao Hua tribe?"
One of the leaders quickly stepped forward and shouted:
"I am the leader of the Wuqiyete tribe, Chao Hua."
"The Wuqiyete tribe..."
Ji Xiang did not react at first. After about two breaths, he finally remembered the name of the tribe.
His tone immediately changed.
"Wuqiyete... So, it's the former Duoyan Three Guards!"
Chao Hua's face contorted violently, turning deathly pale in an instant. Before he could say anything, he exploded into a mist of blood, his soul scattered to the winds!
One of the leaders, mustering some courage, lowered his head and shouted:
"The invasion of Liaodong was all the work of the Chao Hua tribe. We did not participate in this raid!"
"Chao Hua has five great camps in the Eastern Royal Court. When he wanted to act, no one could control him except the Great Khan. This matter has nothing to do with us!"
His entire body was rigid, his eyes fixed on the ground, sweat dripping. This leader then realized he had not exploded, and the leaders prostrating beside him looked up at him with astonishment.
However, the relief of surviving had not yet surfaced when he immediately felt his mind go blank, as if something had been extracted. He momentarily forgot what he was about to say, and even the feeling of relief was severed.
Their earthly souls had been extracted, and their connection to the karma of the world had become one-sidedly controlled by Ji Xiang. Subsequently, Ji Xiang left the tent, flew into the sky, and took out the Northern Yuan Seal from his sleeve.
He pressed it towards the heavens!
The wind and clouds shifted abruptly, and the national destiny of the Eastern Royal Court began to converge towards the seal. Since the Tatars generally did not worship their ancestors, only heaven and nature, there were no physical facilities like ancestral temples to carry national destiny. Thus, only symbolic treasures of royal authority like seals could be used to condense national destiny.
As for seizing a nation's national destiny, Ji Xiang learned that it involved occupying the opponent's most important ancestral temple. Japan did this after occupying Korea's main ancestral temple. As for how to devour and transfer it…
Ji Xiang's method was quite direct!
Tongtian Mingyan emerged from his body, and this smoke directly consumed the Northern Yuan Jade Seal, which had gathered a large amount of national destiny!
National destiny that could not be touched, once it had a physical form, even without knowing the specific method of seizure, could be forcibly "snatched" and "digested" with Tongtian Mingyan and a blank divine tablet! Of course, the drawback was that this portion of national destiny would not go to the Ming Dynasty, but could only be used by himself!
*Boom!*
Ten thousand thunders roared in unison, and demonic energy surged throughout the universe!
The sky turned black, and rolling dark clouds surged from all directions like a torrent. The vast national destiny radiated from Ji Xiang's body across the entire land!
"National destiny is also a manifestation of the original power bestowed by the Heavenly Dao upon the world's dynasties. It also contains a small portion of the Heavenly Dao's primordial power. The Northern Yuan has been destroyed, and the Tatar national destiny is now weak. The God of War who governs a nation's highest warfare can only empower up to the fourteenth realm of the mortal world, not even reaching the peak of the mortal realm. Moreover, the northern and southern deserts do not obey the dispatch of the Eastern Royal Court. The Tatars have weakened to such an extent that they are now within my control."
He was merely controlling the national destiny of the weakest, already fallen, and not even complete nation, the Eastern Royal Court.
Of course, under normal circumstances, this was a vast power that no single person could bear, not even an immortal!
However, for Ji Xiang, this was perhaps not the case!
The Sea of Suffering world suddenly unfolded!
The unbearable national destiny was dispersed into the Sea of Suffering world. This world, receiving the fortunes of the Eastern Royal Court, immediately began to transform towards a higher level.
The power of a nation was added to his person, further accumulating under the prestige of the Ming Dynasty.
Ji Xiang's eyes gleamed like raging torches: "By possessing a nation, I will no longer have to worry about my power declining or being suppressed by others, even when I am outside the sphere of influence of the Ming Dynasty."
Fighting with the power of an entire nation at his side, with national destiny and prestige both augmenting a single person, it could be said that such an existence was unparalleled in this era. No nation would bestow its vital national destiny upon a single individual; it would be akin to gambling the nation's future on him.
Except for Japan, as in this state, it was very similar to Xu Fu's pseudo-immortal state, relying on the power of a nation to arm himself and reach the supreme realm of transcendence!
"Xu Fu, with the power of a nation added to him, became a pseudo-immortal in the mortal world, possessing magical power equivalent to a flying immortal. With the power of a nation, under such augmentation, I might be able to kill a flying immortal!"
The confrontation with Xu Fu seemed like a mutually destructive situation, but a pseudo-immortal, with the backing of a nation, could return to full strength in seven days. At that time, he had not won. Although Xu Fu had escaped using遁术 (escape techniques) in the end, it was not because he had won. His consumption was greater than Xu Fu's, and there was also the factor of spell restraint.
Temporary advantage could only influence the outcome of a battle, but it was difficult to draw a definitive conclusion about the final result. Many factors influenced the final outcome.
However, "steady kill" had a different meaning.
No matter what means you employed, except for escape techniques which were uncontrollable, all other methods could be resolved one by one! Even if they could not be resolved, he could use his own more powerful magical abilities to "cover" them!
*Boom!* The national destiny of the Eastern Royal Court vanished as the Northern Yuan Jade Seal was devoured, and with it, a great power in the void also disappeared. The tribal leaders suddenly felt that the power of the gods that had protected them for so long was gone.
Fear and panic instantly seized their hearts, but no matter how they tried to communicate, they could no longer sense the protection of the Eternal Heaven!
The anomaly occurring here was not confined to the Eastern Royal Court's encampment.
It also occurred throughout the entire territory of the Eastern Royal Court!
The magical powers of the shamanic sorcerers plummeted. Unable to communicate with the Eternal Heaven, the divine power held by the divine positions on their bodies was greatly reduced. Since this "nation" was no longer their "nation," these "gods" naturally ceased to be their "gods"!
The nation collapsed, the gods severed their connections. On the borders of the Eastern Royal Court, small-scale conflicts were occurring with the tribes of the northern deserts. Intertribal warfare was common, and the tribes of the Eastern Royal Court, having suddenly lost all their magical powers and with their national destiny collapsing, no longer protected by national prestige, saw countless warriors torn apart by the divine power of the northern shamans and warriors, turning into pools of blood and flesh, trampled into the green sea of the grasslands.
And these changes naturally drew the attention of the northern desert tribes.
They were filled with surprise and uncertainty. The people of the Eastern Royal Court had lost the protection of their national prestige. Since the grassland tribes shared the Eternal Heaven, they, the northern desert people, could still sense the blessings of the Eternal Heaven. However, the sudden disappearance and collapse of the blessings on the other side was as inconceivable as the sudden demise of their nation.
However, if a nation perished, its national destiny would be transferred to the nation that had destroyed it.
"Who destroyed the Eastern Royal Court? The Khalkha tribe is so powerful. Bu Yan just obtained the Northern Yuan Seal and is commanding us with the authority of a legitimate Khan. How could it be destroyed just like that?"
The leaders of the northern desert tribes felt a deep sense of unease.
The only forces capable of striking the Eastern Royal Court were the Jianzhou Guard and the Ming Dynasty mainland. If the Jianzhou Guard had destroyed the Eastern Royal Court, although it did not represent the intentions of the Ming court, it would indicate that the Jianzhou Guard's strength had expanded to the point where it could contend with the remnants of the Tatars, posing a significant threat.
And if the Ming Dynasty mainland had destroyed the Eastern Royal Court, it would mean that the Mongol tribes in the two major regions of Mobei and Monan would also face the consequence of conquest!
"Didn't the Ming Dynasty just finish its campaign in Korea! The seven-year war consumed immeasurable troops and resources. Where did they get so much money and grain to launch a war of annihilation against us?!"
"Shall we send people to the depths of the Eastern Royal Court to investigate? They have lost the blessing of the Eternal Heaven. It would be as easy as breaking through their defenses, penetrating their hinterland, and retreating safely."
"Whether this national destiny is obtained by the Jianzhou Guard or the Ming Dynasty mainland, it is a terrifying prospect. We must investigate thoroughly."
The northern desert Mongols dispatched scouts to the Eastern Royal Court for investigation. Several tribes made this decision.
Meanwhile, Ji Xiang, who had caused the complete collapse of the Eastern Royal Court, had thoroughly turned this place into a wasteland. Facing the terrified leaders, whose earthly souls had been extracted, he said:
"If you do not wish to die at the hands of your fellow草原 (grassland) compatriots in the upcoming war, then you know what you must do. However, the choice I offer you leaves no room for consideration."
"This time, there will be no such thing as the Duoyan Three Guards."
There would be no more tributary guards like the Duoyan Three Guards. Even the reforms of the Jianzhou Guard were imminent, but these were matters for the court to concern itself with. Ji Xiang appeared here solely from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty as a nation, not from the perspective of the "court."
However, having consumed the national destiny of the Eastern Royal Court, he naturally had to let the court have some "soup." The soldiers of the Eastern Royal Court were accustomed to raiding and constant warfare, while the Ming border armies had long been out of practice. The seven-year war had depleted many elites, leaving the border defenses empty. It was time to supplement them with fresh blood. Even if these people were not treated as soldiers, they could serve as sparring partners or instructors.
The leaders of the Eastern Royal Court understood Ji Xiang's words. They scrambled, preparing to head south immediately, as staying would mean quickly being invaded by the northern and southern deserts. Furthermore, with their earthly souls already extracted by Ji Xiang, their future destinies, even if they wished to resist, would unknowingly lead them down the path designated by Ji Xiang.
If they did not go now, they would be entangled by greater karma later, which would force them southward. Many of the esoteric sects had spells targeting the soul, and most of these people believed in esoteric Buddhism, making them acutely aware of karma.
Ji Xiang manipulated the earthly souls, condensing them into an earthly soul bead.
If cultivating the Heavenly Heart of the Great Luo Dao could reverse cause and effect, then manipulating others' earthly souls to influence their destinies could be considered a manual "Great Luo Divine Ability." However, it could only influence mortals; it was impossible to influence those with profound cultivation, as their three souls had long been unified and could not be easily seized.