Chapter 14 The Question of Giving

To give or not to give, that is the question.

To die or not to die, that requires no consideration.

Lord Huang was unwilling, but now neither rules nor force were on his side. He occupied neither the moral high ground nor the intellectual one, and his martial power was far inferior. In this situation, the fact that the other party was willing to reason with him was already a display of leniency.

"High Saint... since you wish to see, then... see, have a look!"

He could not think of anything else to say, and could only obediently shake a breeze from his sleeve. Within that breeze was a dazzling light, a divinity that had never been officially recognized by the Ming Dynasty appearing in this earthly realm.

"Is it a native god from Jianzhou?"

Xingkeli God, in the Jianzhou Jurchen's tribal mythology, this deity could welcome and guide the sun's rays, the rat star god who eternally greets the sun.

Ji Xiang looked at Lord Huang. This divinity was quite special. First, it was clear that this divinity had not been conferred by the Ming Dynasty, lacking the power of the Ming Dynasty's prestige. Instead, it had the prestige of Joseon, but it was very weak, due to the previous plundering of national fortune.

At the same time, the incense it received felt no different from the officially recognized gods in the temples. The power of incense emanating from this divinity could be described as extremely pure, certainly not filled with impurities like the White Lotus sect's sacrifices or those wild, lewd shrines.

Of course, some branches of the White Lotus sect didn't secretly set up altars but disguised themselves as Fajiao to build temples, impersonating folk gods, which could achieve similar effects. This was because some folk gods didn't necessarily require imperial recognition; even if the court eventually conferred a title, it was merely a formality of recognition.

But the third point....

This was a "heavenly god"!

If a folk god wanted to ascend to the status of a heavenly god, it had to be conferred by the imperial court, which would also cause the current dynasty to lose a portion of its national fortune. It was a matter of sharing fate with the nation; the god's worship would be as enduring as the nation. After sharing a portion of the national fortune, this god would also have to protect the country until the dynasty's demise, initiating the cycle of the next dynasty.

This divinity had not been conferred by the Ming court, but relied on plundering Joseon's national fortune to promote itself. Theoretically, this was also impossible, since Joseon had not conferred a title upon this heavenly god of unknown origin. They were not even aware of what the demon cultivators of Changbai Mountain were doing here.

"Whether it's a great dynasty, a vassal state, or an overseas country, no god can become a heavenly god without experiencing the blessing of a nation. Religions were born before the contemporary dynasty, but in the era of their birth, there were also their own contemporary dynasties."

"And Jianzhou was merely a subordinate garrison of the Ming Dynasty, its Jurchen tribes' beliefs dependent on the Ming. Before official recognition, you were not even as good as Joseon. It's impossible to create a heavenly god out of thin air through mere worship!"

"Yet now, you show me a miracle, an existence that can become a heavenly god without the blessing of a nation. This means that you can rely on the faith of the people, without needing national fortune to connect heaven and man, and can directly create heavenly gods without limit!"

"Lord Huang, this is an act of rebellion. If the Shuntian Prefecture knows, I'm afraid they will uproot Changbai Mountain. Destroy your nest, exterminate your kind. This is courting death!"

Lord Huang's face was pale: "Creating gods ourselves is merely to cope with the calamity twenty years hence."

"Oh, I didn't expect you also knew about the events of twenty years from now?"

Ji Xiang: "In that case, is this related to Li Shanhe and you....."

"No, no, no! It's my lineage of Chuma Xian (spirit mediums), with ancient cultivators who can foretell and know that there will be a great disaster in the world twenty years from now!"

Lord Huang hurriedly denied, but Ji Xiang didn't care: "Whether you admit it or not, I'll assume you have connections with Li Shanhe."

"What? How can this be...." Lord Huang exclaimed unwillingly.

"Whether you have connections is something you know in your own heart. Did you think Nurhaci said nothing when he was killed?"

"It was you!"

Lord Huang momentarily forgot this and became tense. In an instant, a chill spread from the depths of his body outwards, and then Lord Huang responded with a grim expression: "So it is Dao Lord in person!"

Of course they knew about the newly appointed Dao Lord of the Ming court. This Dao Lord was one of the two Immortals Who Protect the Nation, a powerful being who provided support on the Joseon battlefield. Now Lord Huang had no way to deny it, having been caught red-handed by the Heavenly Official.

He smiled bitterly: "With Dao Lord here, a true immortal before me, I will speak, I will tell everything."

"It's just, why didn't High Saint reveal his identity from the beginning?"

Ji Xiang's expression remained calm, and he answered simply: "I'm just telling you that I can pressure you with power if I want to, and I can also do it without. I grasp both reason and fists. Does my identity matter?

"If it matters, then it means you have a guilty conscience."

Lord Huang twitched the corner of his mouth. He noticed that Ji Xiang's qi blockade on him had weakened. The other party had actively loosened control to allow him to confess carefully, so he didn't dare to hide anything further:

"It was the request of the Kaitian Hongsheng Emperor.... but we have not colluded with the Tartars. What I said before, about coping with the great disaster twenty years from now, was the truth..... Does High Saint not believe this old man?"

Ji Xiang just stared at him, with a half-smile that was full of mockery.

It seemed to say, truth or falsehood, clear words or nonsense, it's all up to you to say.

"If it's about rebellion, establishing a new king, we did have such thoughts in the past. However, the problem arose two years ago."

Lord Huang covered his forehead: "High Saint was only conferred as a National Immortal two years ago. Since you killed Nurhaci, High Saint should also know that Jianzhou lost its leader, and some people around began to stir, gradually causing trouble."

Ji Xiang: "Although Šurhaci did not receive the title of Dragon-Tiger General, he is also the new commander of Jianzhou. Who would dare disobey? Just go and suppress them. Isn't that what you've always done?"

"I believe that with the example before him, Šurhaci will not think of those extra things for the time being, and expanding his military force in the name of suppressing the disobedient is courting death."

Lord Huang: "No, it's not just those tribes."

"It's, 'some people'."

Meeting Ji Xiang's searching gaze, Lord Huang's old eyes seemed to reveal many bad memories.

"The Kaitian Hongsheng Emperor does have connections with Li Shanhe, but I only know some vague details. Great Lord Hu and Old Woman Bai know more clearly about this matter. The only thing I can tell High Saint is the name of that heavenly palace."

"But if I say it, I will be noticed by the heavenly palace.... I beg High Saint to protect me."

Ji Xiang snapped his fingers: "Easy to say."

Then, the entire environment of heaven and earth underwent a tremendous change!

The mountains and rivers disappeared, and a vast bitter sea appeared. Everyone was suspended above the sea, surrounded by floating blood-colored mist, which surged like clouds and formed the soil of the sky.

The younger generation of the Chuma Xian family saw a flash before their eyes, and when they regained their senses, their faces changed completely, having been transported to another world!

Lord Huang was also stunned by this move, and Ji Xiang's voice came to his ears:

"This is my bitter sea, my world."

"Above and below, no one can hear what you say, not even the Heavenly Will."

Ji Xiang's guarantee, and the demonstration of this great divine power, were all displays of strength, aimed at reassuring Lord Huang, and also a different kind of warning.

Sure enough, Lord Huang's speech sped up a lot, and his expression changed from surprise to fear:

"The name of the heavenly palace is... Tongbai."

Tongbai Heavenly Palace?

Tongbai....

Tongbai Mountain? No.

The second Tongbai....

It's the Tongbai Palace of Tiantai Mountain!

Ji Xiang was first stunned, then his expression changed!

The ancestral home of the Southern Lineage of Taoism!

And Lord Huang, while speaking, was surveying this world. Feeling that no one was indeed spying on him, the kind of curse-like feeling that had been applied in the past and was difficult to resolve disappeared without a trace here.

He couldn't help but marvel secretly.

Thus, he couldn't help but think that the human immortals who could stand in the human world, in the surface mountains and rivers, and challenge the many flying immortals and the Heavenly Will of the hidden mountains and rivers, indeed possessed some extraordinary abilities.

In today's human world, to become an immortal here is a remarkable thing, and one must have their own unique methods.

"Although the Kaitian Hongsheng Emperor has a heavenly palace as his backing, there are still heavenly palaces that have set their sights on this Changbai Mountain of ours and taken action. The person who took action is named Zhou Sheng, and is the agent of the Changsheng (Longevity) Heavenly Palace."

"And we used to be affiliated with the Changsheng Heavenly Palace, but we have been estranged for a long time...."

"And counting the time, it was not long after High Saint killed Nurhaci that Zhou Sheng appeared in the Jianzhou area, broke through the garrison, and kidnapped many of Nurhaci's sons. Of course, we knew why...."

"The dragon qi is endless. Every time the era is about to go wrong, the Mandate of Heaven will be transferred, and the so-called dragon qi will be born in some strange places. The holders of these dragon qis all have the potential to compete for the next era, to open a dynasty, and to be the master of the world."

"The master of the world is not a single person, and the dragon qi is not in one person's body. Although some dragon qi is strong and some is weak, whoever laughs last is the master of the world."

Ji Xiang listened and nodded slowly.

"Although it's not a more ethereal name like Zixu, Taiqing, or Lihen, I didn't expect it to be a great heavenly palace. This is definitely a great heavenly palace. No wonder you look down on the Changsheng Heavenly Palace. I remember the Changsheng Heavenly Palace is just a small heavenly palace."

Ji Xiang's words greatly surprised Lord Huang.

So, the matter of the Changsheng Heavenly Palace is also heard of in the surface mountains and rivers?

"I've heard a little bit. Who is the palace master? Do you know?"

The situation in the surface mountains and rivers is different from that in the hidden mountains and rivers. Shangqing was also forcibly controlled by its fellow sect in the hidden mountains and rivers. Of course, the situation of Tongbai Palace is not quite the same. Although it is one of the ancestral homes of the Southern Lineage, it was only a small Taoist temple until the Five Dynasties period.

It is not the mountain that suppressed the water monkeys in the legends, but the palace in Tiantai Mountain. Although there is also a small Tongbai here, its popularity cannot be compared with the water monkeys who were beaten by Dayu.

In the early Five Dynasties period, it was upgraded from a small temple to a large palace.

This is a force from the Five Dynasties period!

It is a force that has never appeared in the surface mountains and rivers!

So far, the sleepers are all Han immortals, the struggle arose in the Wei and Jin dynasties, the earth-shaking events were caused by the Jin and Song dynasties, and the Tang dynasty was annihilated. The Five Dynasties is the period closest to the Tang dynasty, and the emergence of this era's strength is of unclear significance!

The things that the Tongbai Heavenly Palace wants to do must be big things, and I don't know which immortal is the current palace master.

Theoretically, ancient immortals from any era may appear.

"I don't know who the palace master of the Tongbai Heavenly Palace is. I only know that the immortals of the heavenly palace once tried to descend in the depths of Changbai Mountain, and I don't know if he has actually come to this human world."

Lord Huang shook his head, indicating that this was beyond his knowledge.

"Is that so.... Alright, you continue to speak."

Ji Xiang stopped asking and signaled Lord Huang not to stop, but to continue with what he said before, and continue to confess.

"...Alright."

Nurhaci himself did possess dragon qi, in other words, he was the favored one of the next era. And his son was originally going to rely on him to rebel, so that he could ascend to the throne of the Qing dynasty. And the next emperor of the Qing... no, the original "Later Jin", the first emperor of the later Qing dynasty, was Huang Taiji.

"So, one of his sons has particularly strong dragon qi, meaning that he has a high chance of sitting on the throne of the next dynasty, so this person named Zhou Sheng came to your place and took this child away?"

"Yes."

Lord Huang acknowledged the fact and continued to explain: "Originally, creating heavenly gods out of thin air was to assist Nurhaci, but now that he has been killed and his sons have been looted away, the Mandate of Heaven has also changed. The national fortune of the Ming dynasty has begun to rise, and all of this has come inexplicably. Then we learned about the great disaster twenty years from now. This was revealed to us by the heavenly palace, telling us that the creation of heavenly gods must not stop, and the faster the better."

"Because, heavenly gods can serve as carriers for the immortals of the hidden mountains and rivers to actively descend!"

Lord Huang said a new method of the hidden mountains and rivers, causing Ji Xiang's eyes to widen slightly.

"The heavenly gods of the human world can establish contact with the cultivators of the hidden mountains and rivers? Using the existence of gods to achieve the crossing of the two realms?"

"Yes, this method is called 'descent to the mortal world' by them!" Lord Huang nodded: "Gods and immortals live in the heavenly court. Descending to the mortal world is like the gods in folk tales, who are bound by heavenly rules. Only those who have made mistakes are demoted to the mortal world, and their cultivation will regress and they will lose their immortal status. But there are also those who descend to the mortal world according to the will of heaven. This is the descent of gods and immortals, and by using the power of heavenly gods, they can even be reincarnated into the bodies of living people. Thus, this child can grow rapidly in the wind, speak in three days, run in five days, and fly around the sky in ten days. This is the descent of immortals, also known as 'the descent of stars'!"

Lord Huang's tone was slightly fearful.

In the eyes of mortals, the descent of gods and immortals is a good thing, but in the eyes of people like them, it is a great disaster!

"Hahaha, interesting, too interesting! Although it is also a method that I have never seen before, it is quite familiar in novels... No, maybe the authors of those novels are themselves people from the hidden mountains and rivers!"

Speaking of which, in this Ming dynasty full of gods, ghosts, demons, and immortals, Wu Cheng'en and Xu Zhonglin, who were clearly popular authors, were nowhere to be found. Even if Journey to the West was written too early in the Jiajing period, Investiture of the Gods was revised during the Wanli period, and was a work of the same era as Compendium of Materia Medica!

At this time, Ji Xiang was not surprised at all, but laughed wildly!

The world is much more lively than it appears on the surface! In the future, the deeds of mortals manifesting holiness will become more and more common!

"Descent to the mortal world, eh? There are overseas people who create gods from birth, wanting to forge the immortal myth of an ascension god kingdom; there are people in the heavenly realm who create gods from birth, wanting to perform the drama of heavenly gods descending to the mortal world; there are gods in the underworld who want to create ghost gods from birth, in order to return to the yang world and rule the world again!"

"Some want to come down, some want to go up, and some want to devour the world!"

"Do you really think we are all dead?"

After laughing, Ji Xiang cursed loudly. This surface world seems to have a great disaster only twenty years from now, but the disaster has never been far away. What is the point of talking about twenty years!

When the Daoist methods manifest, and the true realm of the Heavenly Dao descends, there will be bloody storms and suffering, and even the immortals and gods themselves will be unable to protect themselves. Then it will really be a real-life version of Investiture of the Gods, and everyone will be Tongtian Jiaozhu, wanting to overturn the chessboard and re-refine earth, water, fire, and wind!

"This information is not bad, but next, I need you to tell me more important things, and I think you should know."

Ji Xiang raised a finger:

"Hand over the method of creating heavenly gods."