The Fire Lord and Prince Liejie, having recovered their breath at the Temple of the Fire Lord, proceeded to the site where the Taiyin Tribulation Fire had occurred. Although the fire descended during the Southern Dynasties period, with the capitals of the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties all being Ying Tian, the location differed from that provided by the old immortals of the Jinglun Heavenly Palace.
Specifically, the traces of the tribulation fire appeared in the late Liu Song Dynasty but were not confirmed. It truly manifested during the transition between the Qi and Liang Dynasties.
The key figure here was Emperor Wu of Liang.
"Four hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasties, how many pavilions in the mist and rain." The Taiyin Tribulation Fire was inextricably linked to Buddhism, yet even Buddhist teachings could not control this true Taiyin fire. This flame originated from the "destruction" phase of the four kalpas of "formation, dwelling, destruction, and emptiness." When this kalpa began, the world would experience great conflagrations and widespread warfare, causing all beings below Arhat to perish.
The old immortals of the Jinglun Heavenly Palace informed the Fire Lord that the four hundred and eighty temples were a suppression measure ordered by Emperor Wu of Liang after the Heavenly Heart of Buddhism discovered the Taiyin Tribulation Fire. Of course, Emperor Wu of Liang was a devout Buddhist, and when the Great Buddha Lord instructed him to build temples, he was naturally overjoyed.
Build, build them grandly!
"Emperor Wu of Liang once served as the Governor of Yong Province... West of Yong Province, the Black Water flows, bisecting Kunlun. The Taiyin Tribulation Fire originated from Yong Province. According to the immortals of the Jinglun Heavenly Palace, this fire fell into Emperor Wu of Liang's hands, later assisting him in destroying the Southern Qi, and then integrating the classics of the Three Teachings, unifying them into a single source..."
"I have heard of this," Prince Liejie shook his head. "He claimed that Laozi and Confucius were merely disciples of Shakyamuni, and that the nature of gods and spirits also stemmed from Buddhist principles. This is truly laughable."
Emperor Wu of Liang had many titles: Master of Shenanigans, Contractor of Shoddy Engineering, and Fanatic of Buddhism.
Of course, these many deeds also imbued him with a strong mythical aura.
The two prepared to leave the Temple of the Fire Lord. The Fire Lord looked at the divine seat of the Fire Lord, his form flickered, transforming into the appearance of Ling Xiao Nu, and descended into the statue of the Fire Lord.
"Now that we have no one to rely on, it is best to disguise ourselves as true gods when doing anything."
"I was once enfeliefed by an emperor of the Great Ming, but it was later revoked. However, I also had the help of Prince Lu. Before Emperor Wanli discovered Prince Lu's failed rebellion, the enfeoffment of feudal lords was still effective."
"Take some of the national prestige from the statues of true gods, devour the incense offerings of true gods. The divine seat of Ling Xiao Nu possesses special power. As long as they are both fire gods, she can usurp their position and replace their worship."
The Fire Lord consumed all the power within the statue and shared a portion with Prince Liejie. Then, she imprinted her own image onto the statue of the Fire Lord. In this way, in the future, when this statue was worshipped, the incense offerings and all wishes would be directed to Ling Xiao Nu.
If Ling Xiao Nu's divine seat were in the Heavenly division, she could manifest miracles out of thin air. Even across vast distances, she could collect incense offerings and wishes from temples everywhere. Following the voices of the people's worship, she could imprint and replicate her image onto any statue of the Fire Lord, rather than having to replace each statue one by one, which was far too inefficient.
The form of the Fire Goddess twisted the statue of the Fire Lord.
The Fire Lord prepared everything, on the verge of success.
"Who's there!"
A clear, angry shout echoed from the void, rising from the voices of the people's worship. It was like light appearing in darkness, like thunder rumbling in a cloudy sky. The Fire Lord's aura was shaken by this voice, and the form of the goddess, which was about to be imprinted, abruptly stopped!
A surge of fierce anger erupted from the statue of the Fire Lord. A powerful force pierced through the void, striking the Fire Lord. She was sent flying out of the statue of the Fire Lord, smashing through the temple's main gate!
This Temple of the Fire Lord near Ying Tian Prefecture was prosperous with incense offerings. The sudden appearance of someone flying out of the temple terrified many worshippers!
The illusionary magic lost its effect. Prince Liejie was greatly startled, and the panicked populace scattered! The statue of the Fire Lord leaped down from the altar. The Fire Lord was filled with terror:
"Ji Xiang! You've arrived!"
"Who?! Ji Xiang?"
A woman's voice emanated from the mouth of the Fire Lord. After a brief pause, she seemed to understand and let out a cold laugh,
"So the thief the Great Emperor warned me about is you!"
"Pu Zhao Bodhisattva!"
The Fire Lord's eyes were filled with fear. The statue moving to attack was definitely caused by Ji Xiang's divine abilities!
The image of the Fire Lord changed. Yue Yinping's hand conjured a spear of azure flames, which she hurled forward with immense force!
The Fire Lord produced Ling Xiao Nu's fire crow magic, and Prince Liejie also produced a halberd. However, the divine power of both was repelled the moment it touched the divine power of the Fire Lord. Sensing the immense power of the divine seat, the Fire Lord turned pale with shock.
"This is not the power of a mortal god, but the power of a true Heavenly God!"
How could someone channel the divine seats of the Heavenly division, thirteen and above?
Without hesitation, she activated her fire遁 (fire escape) to flee. However, Yue Yinping also possessed fire遁. Unbeknownst to her intentions, her true body in Qiantang County also activated fire遁!
"Let's see where you can escape!"
The two flames vanished, and silence returned to the world.
...
The Heavenly Gate closed, followed by a strong summons.
Ji Xiang had intended to search the legacy of the White Lotus Society among the Thirty-Six Guards. However, the surging national prestige within him compelled him to first investigate the place from which the summons originated.
And that place was not far away.
Ying Tian Prefecture, the Southern Forbidden City.
Since Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Shun Tian, the gates of this Forbidden City had never been opened. The imperial prestige left behind by Emperor Hongwu, Emperor Jianwen, and Emperor Yongle still permeated this ancient palace.
The true Forbidden City in the north was a replica of this Forbidden City.
Countless princes, marquises, generals, and ministers had died within the Southern Forbidden City. The national prestige here was surging. Without the suppression of millions of commoners' wishes, this ancient, masterless imperial palace finally shed its heavy shackles.
The guardian divine seat of the Southern Forbidden City, the Emperor of Ziwei Yandu, had granted Ji Xiang permission to enter the Southern Forbidden City.
This left Ji Xiang in a state of bewildered suspicion.
"What is this meant to achieve? The divine seat guarding the imperial palace has granted entry permission to an outsider like me. This imperial palace is a place that even Prince Lu, the capital of all feudal lords, could not enter."
Within the deep palace gates, it seemed as though secrets hidden during the Hongwu and Jianwen eras lay dormant. But if there were secrets, why would they be placed in the public Ying Tian Prefecture instead of being taken to Shun Tian?
The call he felt at this moment was likely related to national prestige.
Ji Xiang deduced that the national prestige he possessed was initially stripped from the fire god Song Wuji, and later reinforced by Emperor Wanli's personal enfeoffment. An emperor's enfeoffment was not easily obtained. The Fire Lord had exhausted all means to obtain the special divine seat of Ling Xiao Nu, and then usurped the Temple of the Fire Lord, thereby indirectly obtaining Emperor Wanli's enfeoffment, which allowed her to enter the Forbidden City, a forbidden land that even demons and ghosts could not enter.
There were not many deities who could usurp positions. Ling Xiao Nu's divine seat was very special; without it, others could not replicate this operation.
Heavy national prestige permeated this ancient palace. Even Prince Lu did not dare to reside here. Yet, at this moment, not a single living person could be seen in this vast Southern Forbidden City.
There were no eunuchs sweeping, no palace maids responsible for cleaning and maintenance. There was nothing here, except for the ancient and solemn buildings, and...
Hum—!
Upon entering the first great hall, the Huagai Hall, the surrounding scenery suddenly transformed. It was then that Ji Xiang understood the permission granted by the Emperor of Ziwei Yandu and why the national prestige of the Great Ming was so restless. The source of the summons lay here.
"Prince Lu had also peered into this place before, but he found nothing. It wasn't that the national prestige he possessed wasn't strong enough, but that the Emperor of Ziwei Yandu had not granted him such permission."
"The divine seat is not meant to protect the imperial palace."
"That is merely an illusion."
"Its true purpose is to hide something within the imperial palace, within the national prestige."
The scenery around the Huagai Hall had changed. Blazing fires illuminated the shadow of an emperor. The emperor had no face, standing amidst a sea of fire, like a homeless wandering soul, but not a true soul, merely an illusion imprinted by the Dharma Realm.
Indeed, the Southern Forbidden City, with its three great halls connected as one. Although the Jinshen Hall had been destroyed by heavenly lightning during Emperor Zhengde's reign, the existence of the halls was merely a symbol; the loss of one hall was of no consequence.
The three great halls were merely the gateway to the "Dharma Realm"!
The sky was vermilion, and the other eight directions were purple.
"Forbidden... Dharma Realm!"
A Dharma Realm never before heard of opened its doors to Ji Xiang. Within this vast expanse of flames, not only the illusion of Emperor Jianwen dying in the flames was reflected, but also the illusions of subsequent Ming emperors who had not resided in Ying Tian Prefecture were manifested in this hazy purple Dharma Realm.
Forbidden Vermilion Heaven!
Vast wishes of the populace converged here, forming pillars that reached the heavens, rising like a forest, pushing the vermilion sky higher and higher.
However, within this, pillars also continuously collapsed and shattered, and streaks of national prestige dissipated, vanishing without a trace, as if flowing out of this Dharma Realm.
Ji Xiang stopped here, unable to proceed further. The illusions of other emperors he could see were extremely distant, even incredibly faint. Only the black shadow of Emperor Jianwen, located in the western flames, could be seen clearly by him.
Emperor Jianwen's black shadow raised his hand, and the scattered national prestige surged towards Ji Xiang, preventing it from disappearing entirely.
"It's not me."
"It's the thing within me!"
Ji Xiang's gaze shifted, and he took out the Treasure Gathering Basin.
As expected, the vast national prestige, escaping from the collapsing pillars, poured into the Treasure Gathering Basin like a sea of smoke!
"The national prestige is being lost, symbolizing the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's destiny and the decline of the Mandate of Heaven. All that I see is merely the surface of this Dharma Realm, an illusion reflected. What I witness is but a tip of the iceberg of this Dharma Realm, or perhaps I haven't truly entered it at all."
Ji Xiang's body erupted with sky-piercing vermilion smoke, but he could only obtain national prestige. He could not touch Emperor Jianwen, nor could he touch those pillars of wishes.
Looking again at the continuously rising pillars of wishes, Ji Xiang looked closely... He saw that above the Vermilion Heaven, there was a significant, vast void.
The pillars of wishes seemed to be surging towards that void. They propped up fragments of the vermilion sky, as if to fill that highest, missing spot.
"All the divine seats in the world... are supplying one person. Forbidden Vermilion Heaven, unable to be freed..."
"Divine seats are formed by wishes."
"But this sky, since its creation, has never been fully completed..."
A terrifying event occurred. Emperor Jianwen's black shadow spoke, addressing Ji Xiang from the illusory reflection. This startled Ji Xiang, who asked with uncertainty:
"Jianwen?"
The black shadow shook its head: "Form is an external manifestation. Just as form and spirit can be stolen, they can also be lost. If one's past form and spirit are gone, no one can find them again."
"The sun and moon also have eclipses. There are descendants of Hongwu who learned of the existence of the Forbidden Vermilion Heaven and wished to fill this missing part..."
"Perhaps, from the very beginning, this Dharma Realm should not have been born... We failed, we took the wrong path..."
The black shadow seemed not to be a living person, nor a ghost or deity. It mechanically repeated words of failure, only responding to some of Ji Xiang's questions, more like an indelible wish left by a predecessor.
"We created... a cage for ourselves."
"Dharma Realm... accumulating, soaring to the heavens... yet... trapping the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers."
"And the person we anticipated, who could touch the Heavenly Dao... did not appear..."
"Yuan Dharma has a flaw. It melts everything externally, encompassing all, yet it bursts its own divine realm."
"Ming Dharma has a flaw. It learned from Yuan Dharma's lessons, melting everything internally, accepting all, yet it shattered itself... The spiritual energy between heaven and earth also plummeted as a result..."
"Severing the dragon veins of the mountains and rivers, only to achieve this result in the end..."
"Heavenly Heart Realm, Jade Purity evil beings... difficult to contend with... Without touching the Heavenly Dao, one can only wrap residual power, self-sealing..."
"Treasure Gathering Basin, with the divine artifact of Hongwu... the scattered national prestige will have a destination, preventing it from flowing into other Dharma Realms and increasing their power..."
Ji Xiang found it interesting and attempted to engage:
"It seems the birth of this Forbidden Dharma Realm has something to do with the hidden affairs of the previous Yuan Dynasty? Although it seems to have revealed the problem of the depletion of surface spiritual energy, I'm not too interested."
"However, there is one point, I wonder if you can answer it?"
"What does it mean to touch the Heavenly Dao? Emperor Hongwu?"
The black shadow swayed, flickering in the flames:
"Not him."
...
Shun Tian Prefecture, within the Forbidden City.
The national prestige underwent a violent tremor. The divine seat of Dou Mu Yuan Jun emitted a radiant light, discerning all that had transpired in the Southern Ying Tian Prefecture. Now, the wishes of millions of commoners returned, and Emperor Wanli in the Forbidden City suddenly felt unwell.
He couldn't pinpoint what was wrong, just a feeling of tightness in his chest.
Zhang Tianshi, standing before the Meridian Gate, suddenly saw a fleeting black shadow. His eyes, like divine illumination, could perceive all directions, but he could no longer find the fleeting shadow.