Chapter 154 The Great Plan

Inside the Silver Vase Maiden Temple, within the statue of True Martial, Ji Xiang was refining the Chandala Finger. He unhesitatingly refined the Demon Qi of Zhui Ti into the black finger. This way, if he encountered a formidable opponent, wielding this finger, a mere touch would not only cause the opponent to momentarily fall a realm, but also cause their Dao Heart to regress.

If the Dao Heart regresses and is not stopped in time, the next step is the shattering of the Dao Heart. Anyone whose Dao Heart regresses will suffer a great loss in their cultivation and temperament, and even the good deeds they have obtained will decrease. In severe cases, they can even regress from an immortal back to the mortal realm.

In the Daoist sect, there is a special term for such immortals: Fallen Immortals!

"In myths and legends, immortals who commit mistakes are demoted to the mortal realm. These are Fallen Immortals, and such immortals are caused by the regression of the Dao Heart."

"The regression of the Dao Heart will cause immortals to become contaminated with worldly thoughts, so they will fall into the dust, and no longer possess the means to return to Heaven, only to wander around in the mortal world, eventually losing themselves in the myriad red dusts, losing the form and spirit of immortals, and becoming ordinary living beings in the world."

The fusion of the black finger and the demon qi was successful, and the refinement ended. Fire and electricity coiled around the fingertip. This was the power of the Demon God Zhui Ti, but it only manifested for a moment, a fleeting flash.

Ji Xiang still did not trust the Peacock Mingwang. In the description of the blank divine tablet, there was a choice of two ways to deal with this demon qi. If he gave it to the Mingwang, it could help him further escape from the Avici Hell, but if he refined it into this severed finger, the connection between the Mingwang and the severed finger would be reduced.

"I want to get a useful magic weapon, not to release a vicious ghost demon into the world. The Mingwang claims to have fallen into hell, but how can a Dharma Protector of Buddhism be easily knocked down?"

"This Mingwang's divine position may have been snatched from someone else."

With the art of driving gods as a precedent, possessing higher-level divine powers and spells to seize the divine positions of others is a normal thing. Didn't the Jiajing Emperor also seize the divine position of the Supreme Lord Lao?

Such a large divine position, being able to be snatched away means one has the ability.

Moreover, strictly speaking, he also possessed the skill to steal divine positions, but this skill was only a passive skill belonging to the blank divine tablet.

The skill to seize divine positions is a high-level ability, but it is by no means unique.

As expected, after Ji Xiang finished refining the black finger, the aura of the Peacock Mingwang that he felt from it was indeed much less. And he currently had no need to activate the mark of the Vajrakilaya Hell, so the Peacock Mingwang could not actively contact him.

Having completed this important matter, the next step was to restore the temple's incense offerings. Now the Qiantang County Magistrate had sent yamen runners to stand guard at the door, and normal pilgrims did not dare to enter, which greatly affected Ji Xiang's speed of restoring his form and spirit.

"The incense I need is enormous, how can I let you make this temple so deserted?"

Looking again at the Silver Vase Maiden, this lady seemed to be puzzled by the departure of Master Jingxian alone, and was still working hard to recall the situation.

Although Ji Xiang was also puzzled by the old monk's sudden departure, he could roughly feel that the old monk probably used some method of divination, and calculated that some problems would arise on this trip, so he hurried home.

If there were no problems on this trip, he should have taken the Silver Vase Maiden there normally, so since he went back, there must be problems, so he had to use two methods, either bring weapons, or shake some more people to go.

As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers. Even if there are hundreds of thousands of miscellaneous soldiers standing behind you, you will feel that you are much stronger than the other party's flying-level master. This is the confidence brought by the sea of people.

The Silver Vase Maiden frowned slightly: "Who is the founder of the Jade Dragon Daoist Academy? I have been here for two hundred years, and it seems that I have never really seen him."

"On the way to Phoenix Mountain, he saw my abilities, and then told Lingyin Temple. Why did he tell Lingyin Temple?"

"Could this be a trap? But if this is a trap, taking me and the masters of Lingyin Temple together into his trap, is he looking down on me, or is he looking down on the Buddhist masters?"

As Yue Fei's daughter, she had been wielding swords and spears since she was a child, and had a special intuition for danger. Moreover, her remnant soul had been wandering for more than three hundred years, and she had been a god for two hundred years. This Silver Vase Maiden Temple was established in the Yuan Dynasty. Although she was trapped in the temple and could not leave too far, she had encountered all kinds of people in Qiantang County for more than two hundred years, and deceitful things often happened.

However, this matter looks simple, but in fact it is unusually strange, and there are many incomprehensible places, such as why the founder of the Jade Dragon Daoist Academy went to Lingyin Temple first? The masters of Lingyin Temple did not seem to know him.

Since they are not friends, why did he notify them immediately?

Could it be that there are some terrifying demons under the Phoenix Mountain Palace?

The Silver Vase Maiden frowned: "If there are terrifying demons, it is the one I am going to deal with, but she should not be worthy of such attention from Lingyin Temple and the Jade Dragon Daoist Academy..."

"It seems that I have to go to Phoenix Mountain again. There must be a secret in that place that I haven't discovered!"

"But next time I go, I have to be prepared."

The Silver Vase Maiden was quite concerned about the fact that she almost died on Phoenix Mountain, so she could not help but look at the True Martial statue. The power that the True Martial statue lent her at that time was Buddhist power? No, that power was clearly the True Martial Great Mantra.

It was the absolutely pure Daoist power of subduing demons.

But she did not have any doubts about the True Martial statue, after all, the fact that it could help her at a critical moment was enough to determine the "camp" of the True Martial statue.

"After nurturing the statue with incense for decades, I have finally obtained the personal arrival of the Great Emperor's divine thoughts. I will borrow your power!"

After she finished speaking, she did not return to the statue to cultivate, but walked outside the temple gate, and ordered the yamen runners on duty:

"There will be heavenly fire burning the temple here, you should all go back first, lest there be problems."

Those yamen runners were a little puzzled and frightened: "What are you talking about? Your temple has never caught fire in decades. Are you going to burn your own temple? But why?"

"Subduing demons and eliminating evil."

The Silver Vase Maiden waved her hand and used her magic power to drive away the yamen runners. The bodies of the yamen runners suddenly lost control and ran away on their own. This is a basic use of divine power, commonly known as "ghost possession."

Gods can simulate the behavior of ghosts and use magic power to control the bodies of mortals to act, so there is no problem in driving away a few ordinary people. If it is a cultivator, this technique of divine power will not work at all.

"To improve one's strength in a short period of time, the best way is to receive a powerful divine position!"

The Silver Vase Maiden looked at the vast sky, or the Dafuli Land. Even if she was a minor folk god, after abandoning her divine position and returning to the state of a wandering soul, she could still receive a new divine position!

However, gods have resistance to lightning tribulations and heavenly fire, including the good deeds they have obtained, which can help cultivate divine power, and even eliminate disasters.

But wandering souls are completely yin creatures. If she did this, it would be equivalent to giving up all the good deeds she had obtained after becoming a god, and using the body of a yin creature to contend with the pure yang, supreme and upright lightning tribulations and heavenly fire!

Ji Xiang was also surprised: "Although passing through tribulations is such a life-and-death test, fire tribulations and lightning tribulations generally do not appear. Actively receiving them, although it will be simpler than passively entering tribulations, the yin creature itself cannot withstand such a vast purification of yang energy."

"However, if one can get through it, then one will truly shed the body of a folk god and ascend to become one of the thirty-six Heavenly Gods."

Being a folk god ultimately has its limits. Folk gods exist by relying on the incense offerings or vows of the people. The more believers they have, the stronger they are, and the divine position is closely connected with them. It can even be said that they themselves are the conscious divine position, the "god" itself.

Therefore, the incense of folk gods is prosperous, while the incense of heavenly gods is sparse, firstly because there are many heavenly gods, and secondly because they rarely manifest.

In this land, only gods who appear frequently are believed by the people. Those gods of the pre-Qin era have long since been abandoned.

Ji Xiang recalled some situations in Dafuli Land. Although the pre-Qin gods still retained powerful divine power, their incense was almost non-existent. Since there was no incense to pick up, Ji Xiang basically did not go to their place.

"Is it to be a giant in incense, or a poor beggar in faith? I think the people of all dynasties have made their choice..."

Ji Xiang could not help but mutter secretly.

It is not easy to be a human being, and it is not easy to be a god. To expand their power, folk gods inevitably have disputes with other gods about incense offerings.

At this time, the Silver Vase Maiden was talking to herself. Although she did not have a heartbeat, after all, she was a remnant soul becoming a god and did not have a physical body, her thoughts were still full of tension and fear.

It would be a lie to say she was not afraid.

"Although our folk gods have weak foundations, we have great potential..."

The development space of folk gods is still very large. On the contrary, if the gods of the Thirty Heavens are not received by anyone, it means that they cannot manifest in the mortal world, so their incense will become less and less. And what causes this vicious cycle is that those ancient gods are too powerful, and later cultivators find it difficult to reach their receiving standards...

Moreover, not everyone thinks that having a divine position is a good thing. In the situation where the imperial court monopolizes most of the divine positions, it is very difficult to receive a divine position that is both pleasing and powerful.

The Silver Vase Maiden murmured to herself, and Ji Xiang also understood some of the situation.

No wonder the gods of the imperial court are weak, and there are not many strong gods appearing outside. Even if there are, they are masters sent by the Lishan School, or "reclusive experts" hiding among the people and not daring to show their faces.

"I remember that the Wanli Emperor seemed to have said something about this. The imperial court has secret methods to receive divine positions into the bodies of mortals, so there is no need to cultivate, and mortals can immediately become divine generals..."

"So, in general, it is that the imperial court itself cannot receive powerful gods, but it also has secret methods to prevent others from receiving them. As the saying goes, 'If I don't go to hell, who will?' And if I go to hell, I must drag everyone down with me..."

"Damn, so this is how the end of the Dharma is produced... But there are always some plug-in players in this world. If you don't allow it, then so be it? I will just go against the imperial court..."

Ji Xiang could understand this behavior, but he did not particularly agree with it, after all, he was also a cultivator...

"Speaking of which, when I received the positions of the gods, although I didn't feel obvious pressure at the beginning, later, with my flying-level immortal cultivation, I actually felt pressure and difficulty in the twelfth celestial position, and I couldn't even get into the top ten. Maybe this is also the influence of the imperial court's secret methods..."

"Those mortals in the Northern Garrison Fusi all have the thirteenth or fourteenth divine positions of the Heavenly Department, and I, the dignified owner of a flying-level Daoist cultivation, am still a cultivator, and can only take the twelfth level of the Heavenly Department. It seems that there is indeed a problem. So this is the problem."

Ji Xiang clapped his hands in sudden realization.

No wonder he was so weak back then.

It turned out that the imperial court was causing trouble.

For folk gods, the more they are contaminated with the mortal world, the closer they are to the mortal world. Relying on the incense offerings and vows contributed by believers for thousands of years, they can completely compete with the divine positions in the sky, because they themselves can continue to cultivate.

So in the later stages, even if the imperial court has high-level divine generals, the divine power that mortals themselves can exert is limited. If they come to crusade against these folk gods, the result will be "I haven't even exerted my strength, and you have fallen down." The heavenly gods will be counter-killed by the mortal folk gods.

"The imperial court itself is starting to fall apart, and for the needs of its own rule, it must also have everyone accompany me to fall apart..."

"But as long as receiving cannot be completely prevented, powerful divine power will still descend from Dafuli Land... On the road of cultivation, what is never lacking is genius!"

Looking at the flames rolling in the sky, and the lights in the Silver Vase Maiden Temple beginning to burn, these flames will not really burn down the buildings, at least in the current situation, the flames have not been completely released from Dafuli.

"She is not at the flying level, so she cannot enter Fulidi to receive like me. The receiving of mortals is very dangerous. If they cannot bear the divine power, these illusions manifested in Dafuli will become real."

"If she fails to receive, her temple will turn into a sea of fire... Wait a minute, receiving a fire god system divine position in a place where the incense of the True Martial Great Emperor is at its peak?"

The True Martial Great Emperor has the duty of warding off fire. Back then, the Fire Lord found a way to move the True Martial statue in the Longde Palace to the warehouse before he could unscrupulously set fire in the Forbidden City.

Ji Xiang nodded.

Very good, your fire prevention awareness is indeed very well in place.

Just because you think so highly of me, I, Ji Xiang, will help you receive the divine position today! Receive with confidence, everyone in the sky is my old acquaintance!

"You are also a huge fighting force. If you can receive a powerful divine position, I will have more confidence in this fishing trip, and you can also become a substitute for the Fire Lord."

"That murderous wronged woman cannot be the folk god of fire!"

Ji Xiang's body was surrounded by incense, making the yellow flowers rise lightly outside the True Martial statue, and white smoke lingered around it.