The sudden appearance of Ji Xiang gave Nurhaci an immense sense of danger!

Although the two had never met, Nurhaci, who had spent many years on the battlefield and in the deep mountains, fighting enemies and beasts, had developed a keen sense of danger that told him that the young man before him, despite his appearance, was in fact a lurking beast.

Moreover, he was coming for him.

While alarmed, Nurhaci was also somewhat puzzled. The transformation technique he had learned was essentially a method to escape disaster and avoid calamity. Generally speaking, it should not be detected by people or various mystical eyes.

As he pondered this, his mind raced for a moment, and his hand movements slowed down. The Beidi Tianpeng Ruler in Ji Xiang's hand gradually lowered from an upright position, its tip pointing directly at Nurhaci.

"I asked you a question, why aren't you answering?"

At this moment, Ji Xiang raised the horsetail whisk in his right hand, and a vermilion aura swept before Old Wang's eyes!

Whoosh! The evil aura was extinguished, and the bewitching illusion was shattered instantly!

Old Wang woke up as if from a dream, falling to the ground with a groan. He felt weak all over, dizzy, and lightheaded. Matteo Ricci, startled, helped Old Wang up, but also felt worried and fearful, questioning Ji Xiang, "Why did you hit him!"

"I didn't hit him, I was saving him. Take a good look, what is this flower basket seller in front of you!"

Ji Xiang didn't turn his head. As he spoke, his left wrist snapped!

The moment the Beidi Tianpeng Ruler fell, Nurhaci's female form suddenly disintegrated into a puddle of water, avoiding the ruler's pointing. The water splashed on the ground, frightening the surrounding people into shouts. Immediately afterward, Ji Xiang smashed the Tianpeng Ruler into the ground, and the puddle of water instantly transformed into flames. This scene widened Matteo Ricci's eyes in astonishment!

"Oh, I see. So this is the so-called intermediate profound method for escaping disaster and avoiding calamity, somewhat like the Seventy-Two Transformations."

Ji Xiang observed the scene.

Transforming into a woman, transforming into water, transforming into fire—three consecutive transformations in an instant, but so what.

Ji Xiang discarded the Beidi Tianpeng Ruler and clenched his palm fiercely at the flames!

The void trembled, water and fire shattered, form and spirit separated, disintegrating inch by inch!

With a loud bang, the fleeing flames disappeared without a trace, crushed into nothingness. The surrounding fire had vanished, but the light remained, leaving the surrounding people both frightened and amazed!

"Huh? No true body, only a pool of blood?"

Water and fire shattered on the street, and a shockwave erupted in the air, but no true body fell to the ground. Only a pool of blood remained where the water and fire had died.

This made Ji Xiang frown. He thought that shattering the void and grasping the air should not turn a living person into a pool of blood. The true body should definitely remain. Ji Xiang even wanted to take this opportunity for a "slip of the hand."

I, a grandmaster of the esteemed royal Daoist sect, maintaining the peace in Shuntian City, accidentally killing a Jurchen chieftain who was committing evil and using evil magic—isn't that reasonable?

It's too reasonable!

At this moment, the Inner Vision Divine Tablet provided a description of the situation:

[The opponent has used the Kongchang Incantation to begin evading calamity!]

[Dispersed Form Avatar (Blood Conduit): When a person dies, it is called dispersed form; using the form and spirit of the deceased, transforming into the corresponding form to escape the descent of disaster.]

[The opponent has concealed their true name!]

[The opponent possesses national prestige, and it is impossible to use national prestige to force them to reveal their form!]

[Chant "What is sought arrives suddenly, what is summoned is already before, swiftly satisfying the heart, gazing eyes instantly attain. Ten thousand kinds of things, follow the words of the heart." This text comes from the *Great Emperor Lord Nine Yin Sutra* and can undo dispersed form transformation methods below the "intermediate grade," hindering those who evade calamity and causing them to enter calamity!]

[Casting Ascended Realm cultivation (up to the Golden Core Realm), continuously reciting the incantation, the sound will gradually spread and diffuse throughout Shuntian City. The operation of spells will become unsmooth for dispersed form avatars (including the original body) who hear these words, and they will gradually weaken. After a quarter of an hour, they will reveal their form!]

[When chanting the scripture, the location of the calamity evader's form and shadow will be "marked" for the chanter!]

Ji Xiang didn't need to guess these descriptions. He was just surprised that Nurhaci knew these advanced transformation methods.

But even the most powerful techniques for escaping disaster and avoiding calamity will have corresponding countermeasures. Sometimes the method is a spell, and sometimes the method might be sticking a monkey's tail on certain large-eyed temples.

Calamity? Ji Xiang chuckled!

He himself was his calamity!

However, wandering around as a woman was indeed a good way to hide. Who would have thought that the woman selling flower baskets on the street would be the dignified Jianzhou Wei commander, a second-rank Dragon Tiger General of the Great Ming!

Of course, there was no use in hiding. This was another never-before-heard method, probably created by some immoral expert in Lishanhe, specifically to disgust those who use transformation techniques to escape calamity!

His eyes scanned around, and suddenly he saw a woman appear. The Inner Vision Divine Tablet once again gave a name!

Buzz!

Without a second thought, Ji Xiang formed a divine sword within his consciousness and cast the second divine power of the Ascended Realm. After about thirty breaths, the woman hid in the crowd, but it was useless. She had been locked onto the first moment Ji Xiang saw her!

The divine sword appeared, and a thousand *li* seemed like an instant. Traveling through the void, its passage was seemingly unhindered. In an instant, it appeared at the woman's brow, piercing and killing her!

Bang! The woman on the street was killed, blood flowing from her brow. As she fell, her body disintegrated, becoming a cloud of aura, and finally only a pool of blood remained on the ground.

Immediately, screams rang out. "Murder! Murder!"

But upon closer inspection, there was no corpse on the ground, only a pool of rotten blood!

So the shouts turned into, "Killing ghosts! Killing ghosts... Good riddance!"

"Oh, that's interesting. So-called dispersed form method—this isn't an avatar, but a form and spirit separated from the blood as the main body?"

"It's somewhat like Zhang Tianshi's Dividing Form Scattering Shadow, but using blood as the main body, equivalent to a medicinal primer, is clearly not a righteous method, but a forcibly stripped form and spirit."

"Escaping disaster and avoiding calamity—so that's what it means, using form and spirit to die in place, preventing the calamity from finding the true body...!"

"This is interesting. Such a big Shuntian Prefecture, let's play hide-and-seek."

Ji Xiang chuckled. Behind him, Matteo Ricci was shouting something about "ghosts," "evil spirits be gone," and "almighty Lord protect me!"

And he really did have some ability. Ji Xiang turned his head and saw a soft halo of light floating in Matteo Ricci's hand, helping the exhausted Old Wang recover his strength.

A holy order priest?

In this era of early exchanges between East and West, the appearance of a Western cleric wearing Confucian robes was actually quite normal.

Well, speaking of which, a Lamaist shaman from the Wudang派 office in the Roman Curia would also be quite normal.

At this moment, Matteo Ricci looked up at Ji Xiang and came forward to greet him with surprise:

"Hello, hello! You seem very powerful! Could it be that you are the Celestial Master they speak of!"

"Pleased to meet you! I am Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary from the West!"