The Wuming Karma Fire that Lord Huo spoke of, if handled correctly, could perform a heavenly swap, even replacing the national authority on the bodies of the Celestial Bureaucracy and Netherworld Officials with Karma Fire, then coercing them to acknowledge her as their master, among other more miraculous effects. But this Tongtian Bright Smoke was merely a precursor to the flame's ignition, not yet fully ablaze, and thus possessed only the power to restrain deities... Of course, Ji Xiang was unaware of these things.

Ji Xiang only knew that the source of this deity-restraining power was the soul of the Wanli Emperor.

Within the Daoist sects, there was also a saying of using smoke to reach the heavens, inviting down divine generals and proclaiming to the various heavens.

Bright Smoke plus national authority, a stomp of the foot would summon mountain gods from all directions and land spirits from every field, while rendering the positions of the失效 (shixiao) celestial beings and gods useless, which was far more useful.

Securing divine positions was naturally to make oneself stronger. Imagine, if the Fire God couldn't set fires, the Water God couldn't move water, the Thunder God couldn't strike lightning, their entire magical power rendered useless, directly banned, then what would be left?

That would be nothing more than martial arts. Ji Xiang pondered... later, he would carry a musket, and after the magic ban, he would just shoot them in the face.

That's what he called fun. And the emperor's secondhand smoke, a great crowd control, truly awesome!

Ji Xiang shook hands vigorously with the emperor, but then saw the distant corpse hill. The Wanli Emperor turned back, finally remembering, and said to Ji Xiang, "Among those corpses, there are also those evil gods, what were they called..."

"Reporting to Your Majesty, those evil gods are, in fact, fire sprites named Alian. This humble Daoist will go and subdue them."

Under the heavy rain and wind, the Alians hid in the corpses of palace maids and eunuchs, avoiding the suppression of national authority, Doumu, and the elements. Ji Xiang walked to the corpse hill:

"Alians, why don't you reveal yourselves?"

Ji Xiang first gave a verbal warning, but the Alians naturally dared not come out. Ji Xiang exhaled a breath of white air, raised his palm, and chanted a spell:

"Gan yu bi du, zhen shi luo ling. Ba xian bing yue shang di wang ling. Tai xuan luo jing, qi shen chong ting..."

As soon as the Curse of Employing Myriad Spirits was uttered, the corpses began to writhe and shake. The Alians inside screamed, forcibly "invited" out of the corpses!

"You won't come out? I'll see who can stay hidden."

Ji Xiang's voice terrified the Alians. In the heavy rain and wind, the little fire sprites lined up and kowtowed repeatedly.

Although his magical power was greatly depleted now, the strength of the Alians had also been weakened to the lowest limit. Rather, even if they were at their peak, as long as someone took an arrow, dipped it in blood, and knew the phrase "Shoot my Alian head", even ordinary people outside the Forbidden City could kill them.

They were originally fire sprites that appeared in villages during the Tang Dynasty, and had been shot to death by the local elders with bows and arrows.

These fire sprites thought that hiding in the corpses of palace maids and eunuchs would allow them to escape the national authority.

"Daoist Priest!"

At this time, near the Xizi Gate, two Jinyiwei (embroidered-uniform guard) petty officers also appeared, crossbow arrows aimed at the little fire sprite. Seeing the Wanli Emperor in the distance, they quickly came over to salute.

"What are you doing?"

The Wanli Emperor saw the two Jinyiwei petty officers aiming their crossbow arrows at the fire sprite and felt strange. He quickly summoned one of them, Shi Xiang, who was not holding a crossbow, and said respectfully:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is the method taught by the Daoist Priest. You only need to dip your blood on an arrow, shoot it with a bow or crossbow, and shout 'Shoot my Alian head' at the same time, and the fire sprite will be shot to death."

The Wanli Emperor was greatly surprised: "There is such a method! Interesting, let me try it!"

Tian Yi on the side immediately dissuaded him, saying that his imperial body was precious, and it was not easy to escape death, so why shed blood? The Wanli Emperor said that he was just too frustrated and wanted to vent his anger, but under much persuasion, he could only give up, while feeling very dissatisfied.

"I can't even win against the Grand Secretariat in a power struggle, and now I'm stopped from killing a monster!"

"Your Majesty is joking. Ordinary monsters are immediately震死 (zhen si) (killed by suppression) when they touch even a little bit of national authority. These monsters are benefiting from the light of the gods, and were personally sealed by you. Furthermore, they are hiding within the seven souls of human beings, so they are rampant in the Forbidden City... If Your Majesty wants to kill demons, just take a trip to the Northern Suppressing Office, there is no need to hurt your body by killing a small demon here."

Ji Xiang also came over at this time to persuade the Wanli Emperor, while a pile of fire sprites followed behind him. The Wanli Emperor saw the pile of fire sprites, nodded, and his attitude softened:

"Since that's what the Daoist Priest said, I won't do anything here. I'll go to the Northern Suppressing Office later. These monsters will all be judged and punished."

The fire sprites heard the announcement that they were going to be killed, but they did not dare to escape, and were very scared, having been briefly subdued by Ji Xiang's driving-god spell.

The Wanli Emperor told Luo Sigong and Tian Yi about the rewards, adding points for their loyalty in protecting the emperor, and at the same time told Luo Sigong to quickly notify the Northern Suppressing Office, and to @平安大明 (Peaceful Great Ming), ordering them to come and deal with things immediately!

..........

Heavy rain poured down!

The fire in the Forbidden City was effectively contained at this time. Outside the Front Three Halls, heavy rain extinguished the great fire in the Three Halls, and the Grand Secretariat elders and the guards who participated in the firefighting cheered.

The fires in the 后三宫 (hou san gong) (Back Three Palaces) also began to be extinguished.

A certain prince lay in the corner of a collapsed palace wall, covered in dust. The big fireball that Song Zhongzheng spat out when he died hit the palace where he was hiding, and now the heavy rain was drenching him like a drowned rat!

Zhu Changluo was so angry that his head was smoking. He had just woken up and didn't know what had happened. He just felt particularly unlucky!

"What the hell is going on tonight!"

Walking out from the rubble, as soon as he reached the door, the howling wind and rain obscured the sky, and he could no longer see any signs of the fire. Zhu Changluo was shocked, and a bad feeling rose in his heart.

He staggered along, exiting West First Long Street, and was about to go to West Second Long Street when he suddenly kicked a corpse!

Zhu Changluo looked down and was immediately startled!

The great red robe, the esteemed Fire God Song Zhongzheng!

The previous esteemed figure had become a charred corpse, revealing the mortal form he had possessed. He was wearing a great red robe, and his head was split open like a watermelon from the middle, having been beaten to death on West First Long Street.

Zhu Changluo was terrified.

He was completely confused, but he also knew that tonight's assassination attempt was probably... going to fail.

One of the Three Fire Gods had been beaten to death, clearly done with a blunt weapon such as a hammer, and with great force! This kind of power was definitely not that of an ordinary mage...

"Could it be... could it be that Real Person Zhang has come!"

This was the most terrible result. Combined with the fact that Lord Huo had not appeared to receive him, Zhu Changluo suddenly felt like the sky was falling.

If Real Person Zhang entered the Forbidden City, all was lost!

The heavy rain drenched him like a drowned rat.

A continuous sound of footsteps was already coming from afar!

It was armored soldiers! It was the Grand Secretariat elders, the great eunuchs of the Directorate of Imperial Horses, the Palace Guard, the fork-knife soldiers, the brave warriors, the standard-bearers!

These people waited for Zhu Changluo to enter for a while, and then took advantage of the wind and rain to come in, so as not to be misunderstood by the emperor. Of course, the fire was really too big at the beginning, and they couldn't get in either.

Zhu Changluo braved the wind and rain, holding his head, his whole spirit somewhat collapsing.

Success in assassination meant becoming the master of the world.

Failure in assassination... then tomorrow, the Northern Suppressing Office would bring an imperial warrant to Jingyang Palace, and then everyone would meet in the诏狱 (zhaoyu) (imperial prison)!

Zhu Changluo hurried towards West Second Long Street. He wanted to know what was happening now, but he didn't see Lord Huo. Instead, he saw the charred corpses of Brocade Clothed Child and Qian Guang.

All three Fire Gods were dead?

Where had the Alians gone?

He ran through West First Long Street, and just as he turned a corner, he ran head-on into Ji Xiang and the Wanli Emperor's party who were returning.

Father and son met, and both were stunned for a moment. The Wanli Emperor subconsciously wanted to scold him, expressing how dare this prince enter the West Six Palaces, but Zhu Changluo immediately prostrated himself on the ground, "crying" loudly:

"This son was late in rescuing the Emperor, please forgive me, Father!"

Zhu Changluo reacted quickly, immediately lying on the ground and calling him "Father."

A feeling of horror arose in his heart, just like the raging wind and rain that was ravaging the world at this moment!