Chapter 159 The Method of Casting Swords

In the dark, something was watching him. Ji Xiang was not entirely unaware of it, but he couldn't sense the other party's presence from any direction in the heavens and earth. Not in the Dharma realm, not in the sky, not on the earth, not in the mountains and rivers. The flow of Qi was not disturbed, nor were there any wandering souls or wild ghosts. The Yin and Yang energies flowed smoothly without any deviation.

"A spirit-summoning technique?"

This kind of surveillance reminded Ji Xiang of the spirit-summoning大法 (dafa, great method) from the past. It was a pair of bizarre eyes, and the feeling of being stared at was almost identical to that moment.

The source of the spirit-summoning technique seemed about to surface. Which one of the Five Ancestors and Three Kings possessed this kind of magic?

"And can the Five Ancestors and Three Kings really be spoken of in the same breath?"

Now, when encountering such things, he would subconsciously eliminate the three Song Emperors. It wasn't that they weren't powerful, but rather that the so-called Five Ancestors behind them were even more powerful, and almost none of them had truly revealed even a sliver of their true form in the visible world. Even when interfering in the human realm multiple times, or dealing with his Yuan Emperor, they could only rely on proxies or reanimated corpses to act, and the affected phenomena were ultimately limited.

Unable to find the source of the spying power, Ji Xiang gave up the search. The mountains and rivers here had been completely changed, and the terrain had undergone tremendous transformations. Ji Xiang had no intention of reorganizing this land, because the time for 法天象地 (Fa Tian Xiang Di, Law of Heaven and Earth) was approaching, and he had to reserve some of his magic power. If he exhausted it all, it would be difficult to protect himself if he encountered danger.

"Shrink!"

With a word of power, the giant body that towered into the clouds returned to its original state. Many wounds appeared on his body, but most of what flowed out was no longer blood, but the heaven-born marrow of the world. Its crystal-clear flow meant that the degree of solar refinement had deepened, approaching the immortal realm at an extremely fast pace.

With a thought, the five divine positions of the Five Sacred Mountains True Gods appeared in his palm. Ji Xiang also arranged five swords and initiated a supreme thought.

Ji Xiang hid in the Sea of Bitterness world, isolating all prying eyes.

Then, the Three Teachings' true meaning began to operate!

Instantly, a large number of scriptures and books began to fall from the heavens and earth. As they appeared, they hung in the sky and then burned fiercely, turning into ashes one after another.

One book, ten books, a hundred books.

In just a few moments, the hundreds of scriptures of the White Lotus Sect had all vanished, completely depleting all the inventory that Ji Xiang had seized from the White Lotus Sect. And the portion of Buddhist scriptures scavenged from Honnō-ji Temple, and all the rest, were also sacrificed at this time.

The Shangqing scriptures began to burn.

Ji Xiang selectively sacrificed the Shangqing scriptures. Each disappearance of a Shangqing subtle method made Ji Xiang's heart ache. After sacrificing ten books, Ji Xiang stopped this wasteful behavior, because the level of the "method" he wanted to create this time seemed extremely high.

"Are the requirements so harsh? So many scriptures have been sacrificed; this is already more than the Emergency Relief Formula."

Ji Xiang sighed softly, regretting that Korea had been devastated, otherwise, going there would allow him to find some folk cults rampant, and a visit to two or three dens would yield a lot of "recyclable files."

"I want to use the Five Divine Swords as a carrier, and integrate the divine positions of the Five Sacred Mountains True Gods into it, to create the Five Sacred Mountains Divine Swords. It seems that this idea will not succeed so easily. I still have to find more White Lotus Sect dens and borrow more religious texts."

Moreover, it was even more regrettable that there was no Sixth Sacred Mountain; otherwise, he could upgrade the Zhuanlun Cannon as well. If he could create an immortal artifact, then the power... should be quite good.

But it wasn't without any gain. The Three Teachings' true meaning operated, the black talisman erupted with brilliance, and a large amount of earthly tribulation was hurled at Ji Xiang. This earthly tribulation was extremely large, at least twice as large as the earthly tribulation brought about by the Emergency Relief Formula back then. And following closely behind, appearing in this vast mountain and river, was a piece of brilliant immortal light, accompanied by raging heavenly fire. The immortal scripture fell, making the four directions glow extraordinarily, without shadows!

A Fourth-Class Immortal Scripture, Lower Grade!

But although it was called an immortal scripture, it was actually a method for forging divine artifacts, and it was the "Upper Scroll."

"Only half a part? No, maybe a third..."

Upper Scroll, Middle Scroll, Lower Scroll. Or is it just divided into upper and lower parts?

Just the Upper Scroll alone had the level of a Fourth-Class Immortal Scripture, Lower Grade. If it was a complete artifact-forging technique, it could probably approach the level of a Third-Class Immortal Scripture. Reaching the Third-Class would be extraordinary.

Back in the True Spirit Ranking Chart, Ji Xiang had once caught a glimpse of Louguan Taoism's ancient scripture, because of its particularity, it was barely ranked as Fourth-Class. This meant that this method of forging divine artifacts, in terms of its level, was comparable to Louguan Taoism's ancient scripture.

"To integrate the positions of heavenly gods to forge divine artifacts, should this kind of divine artifact be stronger than ordinary divine artifacts?"

Ji Xiang thought so, believing that this should be the reason. Therefore, the artifact-forging method he created with the power of the Three Teachings' true meaning should be more valuable than ordinary methods of forging divine artifacts.

Opening the classic, immortal light lingered endlessly, suppressed by Ji Xiang's hand. The first sentence of the preface was enough to daunt ordinary cultivators.

[To forge five swords, it is necessary to use the Five Divine Swords and the divine positions of the Five Sacred Mountains Lords as the foundation. All instruments of immortals, gods, Buddhas, and demons, as well as vibrating instruments, spiritual instruments, and treasure instruments, are to be fused with the divine positions, in the hope of re-forging divine weapons. It is then necessary to use the stone of Kunlun as its anvil, taking the essence of pure mountain and river vitality; to use the water of the East Sea as its quenching agent, taking the vastness of the ocean; to use the blood of妖 (yao, demon) immortals as its spirit, taking the Qi and power of all spirits; to use the fire of祝融 (Zhurong) as its forge, taking the fierceness of earth fire; to use雷祖 (Lei Zu, Thunder Ancestor)'s 如意 (ruyi, scepter) as its hammer, taking the sharpness of heavenly thunder.]

[If one wants to forge the Five Sacred Mountains Divine Swords, then it is also necessary to take the essence of the peaks of the Five Sacred Mountains, in order to fuse the divine positions of the Five Sacred Mountains.]

Mountains and rivers, oceans, sentient beings, earth fire and heavenly thunder.

Even Ji Xiang was stunned for a moment, speechless for a long time before he recovered, shaking his head repeatedly and clicking his tongue in wonder.

No wonder such a huge earthly tribulation was added to his body; this was the reason.

"This is just a hint at the beginning, which means that if one wants to forge a new divine weapon fused with a divine position, these five types of conditions must be met."

"The water of the East Sea is easy to obtain, with a vast ocean to draw from. Although the stone of Kunlun is far away, it is not difficult to obtain, but it is unknown whether there are still ancient洞天福地 (dongtian fudi, blessed lands) in Mount Kunlun, setting up illusions to prevent outsiders from spying."

"But the last three items, the blood of妖 immortals, where in the world are there妖 immortals? Even if there are, how can they be easily killed? Without any grievances, taking people's essence blood, I, Ji Xiang, am not such an unreasonable person."

"There is no good reason for this, the attack would be unjustified, and killing would not be righteous."

"The fire of Zhurong... Lingxiao Lady?"

Speaking of the fire of Zhurong, Ji Xiang remembered that Lingxiao Lady had once stolen Zhurong's divine power, and even obtained the Taiyin劫火 (jiehuo, Calamity Fire). According to what the Prince of Lu had revealed, it seemed that the place where the Taiyin Calamity Fire appeared was near Kunlun.

Therefore, to obtain the fire of Zhurong, one must first find Zhurong's divine position. Not all divine positions exist in Fuli; the divine positions that have been led to the lower realm naturally do not exist in Fuli.

Zhurong was not in Fuli, which meant that it was somewhere in the human realm.

"Lingxiao Lady was last chased by the Yue family's daughter, and then there was no news of her. If I want to know where she is, I still need to return to Qiantang Town once. If Yue Yinping returns, I can get some information from her."

"The heavenly palace behind this fellow seems to have been changed as well... I wonder if the Jinglun Heavenly Palace still protects her?"

Lingxiao Lady's backing was the Jinglun Heavenly Palace of the New Celestial Masters Sect, but she failed to protect the Prince of Lu, and she fled on her own. Although she was a proxy, she did not complete the task given by the heavenly palace. Her failure to burn down the Forbidden City last time, and her failure to play a significant role by the Prince of Lu's side, two major failures, I am afraid that the immortals in the Reverse World will have to carefully consider her.

And the last one... Lei Zu's ruyi.

This is not something that can be easily borrowed!

"The Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning Who Responds to Heaven and Evolves Thunder! The ruyi bone flower held in his hand is a thunder hammer, and it is also the supreme divine artifact of the Thunder Department. Whoever can receive the position of Lei Zu can wield this thunder hammer. Compared to the previous ones, this last one is the most difficult."

In Fuli, the location of the Thunder Department's Thunder City is no lower than the Demon City where the Demon Kings reside. His entry into the Demon City put him on a level playing field with the Green Heaven Demon King and other Demon Kings, but he still couldn't reach the front. The Green Heaven Demon King and other five Great Demon Kings were far inferior to the Northern Emperor Eliminating Demons Great King, and the Northern Emperor Eliminating Demons Great King was not as good as Lei Zu.

With his current strength, he could only choose to give up for the time being.

At least he had to become an immortal before he could carry out the forging of the Five Sacred Mountains Divine Swords, and in the more than one hundred days before he ascended to immortality, he had to gather all the other conditions except for Lei Zu's hammer.

.........

In the royal capital of Korea, the Korean officials had already begun to panic because of the sudden disappearance of the monarch, without any trace. This made them panic. After requesting assistance from the nearby Ming army to search, they still did not receive a definite response.

Some people speculated privately that the Ming army had abducted the Korean king, but this conjecture was untenable. After all, if they wanted to hold the king hostage, it didn't seem like a good choice to capture the Korean king, because it was useless.

The Ming Dynasty's garrison had received the request from the Wanli Emperor, and had also forcibly obtained the permission of the Korean monarch to garrison troops on Korean soil. There was no reason to abduct the Korean monarch at this sensitive juncture. Doing so would only deepen the contradictions between the two countries, without any benefit.

Now that Japan had just been defeated, and the Ming Dynasty was not withdrawing its troops, Korea felt that they had driven away the wolves, only to enter the tiger's den.

At the same time, a large number of meat pieces appeared in the Korean city. These meat pieces could emit cries. Most of them did not have human shapes, but some had turned into humans, appearing on the streets. The people, who were already frightened, naturally suffered another shock. In continuous shouts, the humanoid meat pieces often made strange, high-pitched noises, and shouted some strange words!

"The one who destroys the country shall be king!"

The one who destroys the country shall be king? This was not a nursery rhyme, nor a prophecy, but a very direct language spoken from the mouths of these monsters. Even ordinary people could understand it. And the officials in Korea, as well as those princes who had survived the war, all looked excited when they heard this sentence.

The monarch had been missing for several days, and the country was in chaos. According to the system of succession by the crown prince, Prince Gwanghae should inherit the throne, but before that, there was also the eldest son, Prince Imhae. Because he was captured by the Japanese army when the Korean War began, which was in the twentieth year of Wanli's reign, and because he himself acted arrogantly and domineeringly, he was deposed from the position of crown prince.

Now that the monarch was missing, the dispute between the new crown prince and the deposed crown prince arose again. The officials were drawn into this vortex of struggle, and after several days, it turned into a military conflict. The royal capital, which had just been stable for a short time, fell into the flames of war once again. Refugees fled the royal capital for other places, and officials were dragged by soldiers in disheveled clothes to vent their anger. Dozens of those who were tied around the neck with ropes and dragged to death by horses died. For a time, signs of the country's demise were fully revealed!

And the deposed crown prince, Prince Imhae, began to sing in the royal capital, extremely happily!

The one who destroys the country shall be king!

"I am the monarch, I am the new monarch of Korea! Those who do not obey me will be dragged to death!"

Prince Imhae felt that the prophecies of these meat monsters had come true. However, Prince Gwanghae's power was greater than that of his deposed crown prince. He quickly began to attack the royal capital as a savior, and summoned the Korean army from Gaeseong and nearby areas. Moreover, because he himself was the new crown prince, he had stayed in Korea to preside over the overall situation when the Korean monarch ran away to the Ming Dynasty, so the Ming Dynasty was also relatively familiar with him.

Now that the monarch was missing, if they were to support someone, they would inevitably have to support the orthodox one. Therefore, at the request of Prince Gwanghae, the Ming army also sent troops from nearby cities to attack the royal capital.

In just a few moments, the royal capital had been breached. This farce ended with brothers killing each other, the elder brother being stabbed to death by his younger brother.

Prince Gwanghae ascended the throne, and the other brothers were also "sincerely convinced." His power was great, and his prestige was high. No one among the brothers could fight with him. After seeing off the Ming Dynasty's reinforcements, Prince Gwanghae came to the ancestral shrine of the royal capital to conduct a sacrificial offering.

But to the surprise of most people, Prince Gwanghae came to the ancestral shrine and flew into a rage, overturning all the ancestral tablets on the ground and smashing them to pieces with an iron hammer!

Destroying the ancestral shrine and abandoning the ancestors, this kind of thing greatly horrified the Korean officials. Just as they were discussing what to do next, a young man appeared outside the ancestral shrines.

His appearance was seven parts similar to the Korean monarch, as if he had been rejuvenated!

The officials were surprised, and at this time, Prince Gwanghae walked out of the temple, and then bowed to the young man, calling him Father King!

The young man did not say a word, but just nodded to Prince Gwanghae, and then disappeared. The officials were in an uproar, and Prince Gwanghae pointed to the sky and the earth, telling the officials that his father had gone to cultivate with the Celestial Dynasty's True Immortal, and that his foundation was unparalleled in the world, so he was valued and given the elixir of rejuvenation.

And the reason why he smashed the ancestral tablets of the past dynasties was also because of his father's instructions. Now that the world had been restored, his father had attained the Dao and ascended to immortality. In the future, all these ancestral tablets would be re-made and enshrined in other temples, and the ancestral shrine would also be moved away from here, because it had been looted by the Japanese, and it was difficult to guarantee that there would be no aftereffects of the national fortune being taken away.

His words were reasonable and well-founded, making it difficult to refute.

Of course, some old officials suspected this statement in their hearts, because in the past, local Korean Hwarangdo (Flower Knights) cultivators had also looked at the Korean king's foundation and found that his talent was only mediocre, and there was no need for him to cultivate. His qualifications were ordinary and not special, so how could he be "unparalleled in the world"?

But since it was the Celestial Dynasty's Immortal who said it, maybe the cultivator who had come to assess the king's bones in the past had poor eyesight.

The officials discussed this, but there was no way to stop Prince Gwanghae's "forced reform." As for Prince Gwanghae, he looked at the place where the young man had disappeared, and muttered in a low voice:

"The one who destroys the country shall be king, whose country is being destroyed? The one being destroyed is his own country, this Yi (Lee) clan's Korea, not the Korea of the Korean people."

"Thank you, Immortal, for bestowing this position upon me. I will certainly not repeat the mistakes of my father!"

Prince Gwanghae only wanted to be king, he wanted to be his own king, the king of this Yi clan's thousand miles of mountains and rivers. His father actually made a deal with such a bizarre thing. He was too afraid that he would take his position, so he made him the crown prince, but he didn't dare to let go of the power in his hands. In the end, it became like that, and wasn't it also because his own inner demons were at work?

Now that it was time to choose sides, in terms of conditions, could those pieces of meat in the Gyeongling Palace compare to a living True Immortal?