Chapter 15 The Northern Prison

Ji Xiang was visiting the Northern Garrison's prison for the first time. Generally speaking, it was much the same as he had imagined. Looking at the little fox beside him, its face was already pale with fright. Everywhere were instruments of torture and a heavy smell of blood.

However, the power of the nation was also very vast here, so no yin spirits or little ghosts could be born in this environment.

"If you don't study hard, next time this cell will be vacated for you."

"Ying, ying, ying."

The little fox endured its fear and followed behind Ji Xiang. The prisoners in the cells became agitated when they saw the Wanli Emperor.

But the people from the Northern Garrison glared at them, and they immediately fearfully withdrew their hands, staring at the Wanli Emperor's movements with hopeful eyes. They wanted to survive and escape from the prison.

"Your Majesty, I am here! Is Your Majesty here to see me?"

In one large cell, a disheveled old man grabbed the bars of the prison, excited to see the Wanli Emperor. The Wanli Emperor did indeed stop in front of this cell.

"Minister Shi, you have suffered."

The words were concerned, but the tone was not very emotional. The Wanli Emperor stared at the old man and made two ambiguous grunts.

This disheveled, ragged old man was none other than Shi Xing, the former Minister of War. Because the envoy falsely reported the results of negotiations with Japan, the Second Korean War started again. Shi Xing, as the person in charge of this incident, was dismissed and imprisoned to await death!

The old man was overjoyed to receive the Wanli Emperor's response, feeling that he could finally get out. But the Wanli Emperor changed the subject:

"But I'm not here to see you today. I'm here to find the person who framed you."

"Shen, Shen Weijing?"

Minister Shi was taken aback, and the Wanli Emperor held up his hand, "Don't worry, after I see Shen Weijing, if I get any useful information, I will release you."

"Because this matter may no longer be something you can bear, nor should you bear."

After greeting Minister Shi, the Wanli Emperor passed by Liu Mengyin's cell. At this time, the red-robed official from the Northern Garrison came over to explain the situation.

Ji Xiang followed the whole process and also discovered that the further inside the Northern Garrison's detention area, the more extraordinary the prisoners were.

"There are no little ghosts here, but there are demons."

This was normal. Demons also had flesh and blood bodies and were not ghostly beings. They were born and raised by Heaven and Earth, absorbing the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth to cultivate into human form. As long as they were within the territory of the Great Ming, they were under the jurisdiction of the Great Ming.

Moreover, there were familiar faces among the demons. Those A-Lian who were still alive were all imprisoned here. When they saw Ji Xiang appear, they ignored everything and knelt at the door of the cell, constantly kowtowing.

"Great Immortal, we were wrong! Great Immortal, please let us go!"

The A-Lian were small children, and their voices were the same. The appearance of so many children really startled the little fox, and its face became even paler. It muttered in fear, "The, the Northern Garrison really imprisons children...!"

"So, so pitiful..."

"Pitiful? They have killed many people."

Ji Xiang was not trying to scare the little fox, but clearly told it that these fire demons could enter people's seven orifices and replace their seven spirits, controlling the behavior of their bodies.

The little fox became even more nervous. At this moment, an A-Lian reached out and grabbed the little fox's trouser leg. The little fox was so frightened that it turned around and waved its horsetail whisk wildly, "Let go, let go, let go!"

The A-Lian's hand was smashed, but it could not dissipate into fire energy. This was the suppressing effect of the Northern Garrison's prison. Demons without a fixed shape would also be forced to condense into a physical form.

At this time, the Wanli Emperor had already found Shen Weijing.

For safety reasons, the Wanli Emperor did not have the people from the Northern Garrison bring Old Shen out for questioning, but went in himself.

If he was kept in the cell, the cell could suppress the cultivation of people and demons. But if he was taken out for questioning, it would be hard to say whether those talismans would still be effective. So, going in person seemed like entering a tiger's den, but in fact, it was not dangerous at all.

"Shen Weijing, do you still recognize me?"

"I recognize you, I recognize you! Long live Your Majesty, long live the Great Ming!"

Old Shen's voice came from inside the cell.

Ji Xiang was also seeing one of the Great Ming era's "Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix" for the first time.

However, this Mr. Sleeping Dragon was imprisoned, while Mr. Young Phoenix, Konishi Yukinaga, was spared by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Both were equally terrible, but they had different fates.

His hair was disheveled, and his feet were dirty, but his Daoist cultivation was indeed not weak.

"The ninth realm, Five Qi Towards the Origin. In the Ming court, he can be considered a first-class cultivator."

Now, the overall cultivation level of the Ming court was declining, not as good as during the Jiajing Emperor's reign. Nascent Soul experts were already the best of the best. The decline of Earthly Mountain Rivers made cultivation difficult, which was normal. There were too many trivial matters in the court. Using divine positions to gain power was the norm. If one neglected self-cultivation, even if one could connect to a powerful divine position, one would not be able to exert its original power.

The civil officials scolded this Old Shen as a scoundrel, which was related to his personal style.

As the old saying goes, a great man's sloppiness is unconventional, while a common man's sloppiness is the mark of a scoundrel.

"No need for ten thousand years. I have just heard everything you said. Originally, I came to you about the Korean matter, but now, there are more topics to discuss."

The Wanli Emperor described the strange things on the Korean battlefield.

Shen Weijing used his hand to push aside the hair blocking his face, "Those divine and ghostly things are definitely not native Japanese divine and ghostly monsters. Judging from the state of many Onmyoji holding books, they should be printed copies of the *Golden Crow Jade Rabbit Collection*."

"However, only the original manuscript can truly bear thoughts. Printed copies theoretically do not have this power. The appearance of gods and ghosts must first use thoughts to shape their forms and spirits. Without forms and spirits, it is like a house without a foundation, or a soul without a body."

Ji Xiang nodded secretly as he listened from behind.

It was like the talismans from a printing factory, which could only be used in various rituals and not for subduing demons.

Moreover, thoughts were not easy to control, especially with things like books. Without a sufficient number of people reading them, it was impossible to generate great power. From the emergence of the Jade Emperor's position, one could get a glimpse of the whole picture. In other words, the lower limit was at least "ten thousand people's thoughts."

Moreover, printed books could not condense thoughts because they themselves did not have the original Dao, the "author's thoughts."

Simply put, things produced by an industrial assembly line had no soul.

"In other words, the problem is not with the books, but with the printed publications. Why do they have the ability to summon gods and ghosts...? These things should be put in the trash, not held by those people..."

The Wanli Emperor pondered.

Should he really write a book to counteract them?