Zhang Yu watched Daoist Zhi Ji withdraw, then sent word to the divine attendant on duty in the Guardian of Rectitude Palace, ordering him to summon Jiao Yao in from outside. "Fellow Daoist Jiao, I must trouble you with one more matter."
Jiao Yao said, "If the Tingzhi has a matter, feel free to give your orders."
Zhang Yu said, "Fellow Daoist Jiao, please keep watch over this man below. Should he attempt to flee or make any extreme move, you may act as you see fit and find a way to take him down."
Jiao Yao inwardly sighed in resignation. He knew he could not escape this trouble after all. Still, Daoist Zhi Ji would not take much effort to handle, in his view. He said, "Leave it to Jiao." Having received his instructions, he turned and left the hall.
At that moment, a wisp of azure qi drifted from Zhang Yu's body. Upon touching the ground, Daoist Qing Shuo emerged from within it. Standing in the hall, he said gravely, "Zhi Ji's method appears to strip and kill deities, yet those deities reside within human bodies. This is oppression piled upon oppression. Whether god or man, all are treated as dogs and swine fit for the butcher's knife.
"Moreover, this method requires none of the arduous tempering of Dao techniques that ordinary cultivators must endure. It is an evil path. Once it spreads, its poison may know no end. Divine Xia was right to prohibit it back then."
Zhang Yu nodded. This method seemed only to target certain Faith Gods, leaving others untouched. But where did such deities come from? Did they not rely upon human worship?
Yet those who sought this method would never seek to guide or soothe the people. On the contrary, the stronger the