Chapter 1 The Changes

No one knew about the changes within the True Spirit Ranking Chart. Ji Xiang and the Donghua Celestial Maiden rode their immortal light, touring the heavens, chasing the sun and moon, and arrived near the land of Shu.

High mountains stretched endlessly, and rivers and valleys crisscrossed. However, after passing through these mountains that formed the barriers of heaven and earth, the true Land of Abundance revealed itself before their eyes.

The immortal light descended, but Ji Xiang's expression was not good.

In the distance, the clouds were turbid, like a thick gray fog.

"That is..."

Ji Xiang frowned, with a bad premonition in his heart. Previously, the imperial court had conscripted a large number of minor gods and pacified demons, promising them the Great Mandate of Divinity, letting them replace mortal soldiers to go to Shu to fight the enemy, and telling them that if there was danger, they could retreat in time, without having to be attached to fighting.

Bo Prefecture is located between the lands of Sichuan, Guizhou and Hunan, far from civilization, with deep mountains and dangerous terrain. It has a radius of two thousand *li*, and is the largest of the southwestern tribes, with brave people and wealth. This rebellion invaded the land of Shu, but all the way here, they did not see the rebel army of Bo Prefecture....

Moreover, they did not even see the army composed of demons and minor gods.

"How can there be no inhabitants? Looking down from the sky, even in places where the Bo Prefecture army rampaged and was then repelled, even beasts are rare."

"Previously, Celestial Master Zhang also said that his incarnation in Shu met a group of evil cultivators, who seemed to be from a branch of the ancient Five Pecks of Rice Method, but now, not to mention cultivators... there isn't even a ghost."

No one could mean they had run away, retreated, or died. After all, with the ravages of war, the people were displaced, perhaps hiding in some mountain gully, or being taken away by the army.

The absence of beasts could mean they had been killed and eaten. When the army was extremely hungry, they could eat bark, grass roots, and even people, let alone some wild game.

But... why were there no ghosts?

"Not good. If the Bo Prefecture army still exists, but has caused this kind of change, then the situation is already..."

Had the giant stele he saw in his future vision already appeared?

Had all the living beings here been transformed into ghost soldiers and ghost gods?

"You say, there is a talisman here that can turn living people into ghost soldiers and ghost gods? And it is unconditional?"

"From Yuqing cultivators? Claiming to be the Upper Heaven?"

The Donghua Celestial Maiden listened with some incomprehension, and after careful questioning, her expression changed drastically.

Combining the demon celestial master's so-called "Qingqiang Sacrifice" and "huge evil object," as well as the "Qingcheng Witch-Ghost Path," "Zhang Xiu's Ghost Book," "Wawu Mountain Bewitchment," and the news that "a certain demon immortal was locked within," what kind of enormous change had occurred in the depths of Shu?

Moreover, Upper Heaven was not a title that could be easily claimed, and there were many implied meanings. If someone else had said it, it could be considered that the other party was arrogant and self-proclaimed.

However, coming from Ji Xiang's mouth, then this....

"There is no mistake. Heavenly Demons cannot defy the will of the Upper Heaven. This Upper Heaven is the 'Upper Heaven' in the heavenly echo that we cultivators hope to obtain. It is higher than the level of immortals, and even the Heavenly Heart cannot reach it. It may also be the source of the Heavenly Dao itself, the supreme figure ruling the entire world."

"Only Yuqing cultivators can represent the Upper Heaven. I tried to reverse the future I saw, but was stopped by the Upper Heaven, which means that what I saw will definitely happen."

Ji Xiang pondered, while also vigilantly staring at the thick gray fog in the distance, as vast as the sky.

He had not acted according to the situation he saw in the future vision. Could it be that the future would still inevitably happen? But hasn't it already changed?

That's not right....

Yuqing cultivators are stronger than ordinary Heavenly Heart realm cultivators. Heavenly Heart can reverse cause and effect, and modify historical traces in the years, while Yuqing cultivators can even themselves go back to history, achieving the ancient method passed down to the present. Among the strong ones, such as Ancient Mister in the future, and the Primordial Sovereign in the past, can choose to be at any moment in the past, future, or even the present.

If the stele sealed a Yuqing cultivator.... who could it be? Or rather, was the stele a "ritual" performed for a certain Yuqing cultivator?

"Wait, let me take a look."

"Spiritual Observation Platform, open."

The Donghua Celestial Maiden's eyes bloomed with a halo of sunlight, and a magical power spread in her eyes. This was different from the various heavenly eye techniques used in the present world.

Most of the spells of the Han Dynasty came from the ancient Zhou Dynasty before Qin. The *Rites of Zhou* says that there was an official called the Diviner of Auspices, who was in charge of the ten glows method. That is, the ancient art of observing the sky, which can use ten categories of the air of the sky to judge the distant omens, auspiciousness, disasters, and calamities.

Among the ten glows, in the last category, there are five types of small auras, which are for observing the things happening on the ground.

"The appearance of green aura is a sign of a great famine, red aura is a disaster of war and slaughter, white aura is the appearance of a large number of dead people like mountains, black aura is the occurrence of terrifying and fearful phenomena, and yellow aura is the occurrence of labor and construction."

"As for the meaning represented by more aura colors, it is difficult to say in a word now."

The Donghua Celestial Maiden looked out. The gray fog was thick, already as huge as a celestial cover, but it was just a disguise of the true aura. She knew at a glance what the gray fog outside was.

The aura of dead ashes, the aura of a defeated army. Such a huge gray aura shrouded Shu, meaning that the army had already been defeated, but she didn't know if it was the imperial court that was defeated or Bo Prefecture, so she had to continue to see the situation inside.

The halo of the Spiritual Platform turned like the radiance of the sun, opening up a clear light in the deep and dark world. Under the gray fog, the aura and clouds wriggled, like the heads of dead people hanging in the sky, some presenting a terrifying scene of prostrate corpses in the heavens; the rays presented a cyan-white color like solidified fat slowly dripping, with a remnant rainbow hanging in the sky, broken in the middle, presenting a morbid white color.

Deep clouds in the sky cracked open a giant mouth, and on the ground one could see the mountains in the fog collapsing and shifting their positions.

"This is the aura of a great battle, with a large number of people dying here. The sky splitting is due to insufficient *yang* energy, and the earth shaking is due to excess *yin* energy. This is a strange sight that happened in the Han Dynasty."

"All white rainbows are the source of various disasters, the foundation of popular unrest. All-encompassing fog is the aura of all evils, it is *yin* energy offending *yang* energy."

Continuing to look deeper, the color turned deep black, and she could no longer see clearly. This meant that something terrifying had happened.

But then, in the darkness before the Donghua Celestial Maiden's eyes, a face suddenly emerged. The face was very close to her and extremely large, it was the face of a laughing ghost god.

The Donghua Celestial Maiden's consciousness, the last trace of thought, felt that her consciousness would stop at this moment.

But then, this darkness actually receded rapidly! The ghost face was absorbing the Donghua Celestial Maiden's immortal essence, but was suddenly interrupted at this moment!

It was a solemn shout:

"Thunder!"

*Boom!* The sound of thunder resounded throughout the minds of all living beings, the sound was the tremor of the heavens. In the human body, it is courage, in the heavens it is majesty and wrath, and in the spirit it is clarity.

The Northern Profound Heaven Thunder Path!

After that, it was a second angry roar, causing the ghost face to gather its features and become twisted and distorted!

"Kill!"

The divine battle is in the mysterious, its array of *yin* and *yang*!

*Yin* and *yang* interact, and then burst into thunder!

Profound Primordial Thunder Sound.

Heavenly Killing Shout!

The receding consciousness awakened at this moment, the Donghua Celestial Maiden's face was pale, and half of her immortal essence had been absorbed in an instant. Her face was pale, and there had never been a moment since she became an immortal that had frightened her so much. If the thunderous killing sound had been a moment later, she would have been completely occupied by the ghost god and become food!

"You saw something ominous."

Although Ji Xiang did not see the ghost face, the blank divine tablet suddenly worked at that moment, so he was able to know about the abnormality that occurred to the Donghua Celestial Maiden at that moment.