Ji Xiang took the full brunt of the attack, enduring a wave of poison. He was already prepared to chant the sutras to resurrect himself, but he didn't expect the mantra given by the Great Bright King to actually withstand the tribulation of poison.

If this method hadn't worked, Ji Xiang would have had to try the True Meaning of the Three Teachings. If it really came to that, he wouldn't hesitate to abandon all the spells of the Shangqing School.

"This is a method to escape tribulation, to briefly forget all worries, empty the mind, and enter a state of enlightenment. This thing will see you as dead, so after the tribulation launches one attack, it will no longer pursue."

"Because I'm 'dead,' the tribulation disappears."

Ji Xiang adjusted his state. Although he didn't know what the Spiritual Communication Technique was, he just needed to know that it was related to Yuan Huang. As the first and currently most powerful Yuqing Heaven cultivator he knew, it was reasonable that his methods wouldn't allow Ji Xiang to gain any advantage.

Then, he looked at the next emerging text!

[Spiritual Communication Great Art: A heretical technique! Humans are the spirit of all things, only the dead can use it!]

[The Spiritual Communication Technique comes from pre-Qin apocrypha and is earlier than the Three Teachings. Broadly, it has four types of transformations: first, resonance between heaven and man; second, ominous portents of disaster; third, auspicious blessings; fourth, apotheosis of emperors.]

[Dead objects communicate like humans, dead humans communicate like gods. Their spirits are unconstrained, formless, and unaffected by any spells. The communicator offers sacrifices to the god they worshipped in life, producing a "Great Calamity Phenomenon." All living beings within the range of the spiritual communication will be targeted by this technique, relentlessly pursued until the target dies.]

[The essence of the calamity phenomenon is a line of apocryphal prophecy, only those targeted by the Spiritual Communication Technique will see this phenomenon.]

[Source of the spell: Magician (██████████████)!]

[Prophecy: Marquis of Sinister Yang.]

This thing had no substance, it was a calamity phenomenon summoned by words. It had no form or matter, no method or appearance. Unlike the methods of the Three Teachings, it was an ancient curse predating the Three Teachings.

"Sinister Yang, 'sinister' means evil, 'yang' means sun. When ascenders ascend, their Yang Spirit soars, shocking heaven and earth. But I am not a virtuous person, I am an extraterrestrial demon, so it's an evil Yang energy?"

"Marquis... what is this, is it referring to a noble rank?"

"So, this spell looks similar to the Seven Arrows Book with Nailhead."

Ji Xiang tried to explain it, but something felt off. This was because the right to interpret the prophecy belonged to the person casting it. An outsider's interpretation was like a blind man touching an elephant, grabbing the nose and thinking it was a stick, grabbing the ear and thinking it was a dustpan. It was impossible to get the full and correct answer.

Now that the Great Manifestation Radiance Dharma Lord was completely dead, if he wanted to know the truth of this prophecy, he could only ask Yuan Huang.

Even the strange phenomenon that appeared, why was it a pair of eyes... and behind the words "magician" there were still blacked-out words, preventing Ji Xiang from seeing the true source of the spell.

"Having passed the tribulation, the worldly karma on my body has been eliminated. I should rest for a while now."

Ji Xiang rode the clouds. He didn't know where he had landed, and having just devoured his own physical form and spirit, he currently existed in the world in the image of the White-Faced Zhenwu.

If a passerby were to come here, they might think that the real Zhenwu Great Emperor had manifested. Although the Zhenwu form that Ji Xiang possessed was a young Zhenwu without a beard, this didn't prevent others from bowing down to him.

He could even collect some incense.

“I spent so much effort to piece together my physical form and spirit, but now it's all been for naught. I've returned to my original state. Well, there's nothing I can do about it. It seems that for a while, I'll have to manifest in the form of a divine being."

"Hmm, activating the White-Faced Zhenwu form requires 30% of my primordial energy. Maintaining it for a long time will consume my incense energy. I need to find a temple to absorb some incense. After I rest for a while, I'll restore my original form."

The Shangqing School's mountain stronghold was in Yanling. Dingjia City was located south of Shangqing, very far south.

The Lower Maoshan sect gathered in the southeast, from Yanling, to Kuaiji, Danyang, and then to the southern Eight Min, Quanzhou, the South Sea, Guangxin, all bore traces of Lower Maoshan activity. The seventy-two factions were just the main sects, and there were many folk religions derived from the seventy-two factions. They could be said to have many believers and a vast influence, although their strength wasn't great.

"Even in another world without the manifestation of ghosts and gods, many people believe in various religions, let alone in this world where ghosts and gods exist. People in different places believe in different gods and ghosts. This is a normal state, and cultivators with powerful strength are objects of reliance for mortals."

"This means that the farther away from the Forbidden City, the more there are demon gods and ghosts harming the people, as well as various Dharma sects that exorcise demons and eliminate evil, or even the White Lotus Sect and others that are inherently evil."

Ji Xiang looked to the south. He couldn't go south anymore. He couldn't find his way, and the Ghost Immortal and the Shangqing Daoist had completely disappeared.

The Reflecting Art seemed to restore everything to its original state. According to this conclusion, the Shangqing Daoist should return to the Nine Heavens Palace of Shangqing Maoshan to lie in a corpse-like state, and the Ghost Immortal should return to the mass grave outside Dingjia City.

But when Ji Xiang left Dingjia City before, he didn't see any trace of the Ghost Immortal.

He disappeared.

If his guess about the Reflecting Art's ability was correct, then the only one who could be wrong was the Ghost Immortal.

Or rather, he ran away.

The Shangqing Daoist was a "good thing." Having him around was like carrying a treasure that could lead to enlightenment at any time. But the Ghost Immortal... Ji Xiang was now beginning to worry. If this guy developed a desire to live, he might kill and plunder to strengthen his Ghost Immortal power, taking souls to cultivate.

And to the south, countless Dharma sects stood, ghosts and gods gathered, the heavens were high and the emperor was far away, and there were no powerful cultivators active in that area. A Yellow Court Realm Ghost Immortal like him could be considered a king on the mountain there.

"Although he previously acted like he didn't fear life or death, that was because he was in front of me. People all have a desire to live, and ghosts are no exception. It is precisely because they have no hope of life that they turn into ghosts to seek revenge. But he obtained the Ghost Immortal power given by the Song court, such a powerful force, with the hope of immortality."

"After being separated from me, if he were to do evil, the earth immortals in this world really wouldn't be able to do anything to him, and might even have their immortal souls taken away by him."

"If he really chooses to do evil, then I have released a great demon. If I don't care, then I would be breaking my own oath. The Shangqing Daoist is indeed a good treasure, but now, the Ghost Immortal is more important."

"At the time, I was thinking of using his existence to follow the trail and find the whereabouts of the Myriad Longevity Immortal Palace, so I didn't kill him. But now I've caused trouble. This trip, I didn't get to the Vermillion Fire Palace, the Biyou Palace is hidden in the Dharma Realm, and I didn't get back the Green Duckweed Sword."

"I only killed two weaklings and seized the power of two immortal artifacts. I am truly ashamed."

"Deeply reflect on myself, I will definitely not make mistakes next time."

Ji Xiang conducted a self-examination, and looked up to see a place in the distance with rich incense energy, so he immediately went there.