He took a fiery-red statue from his Wish-Fulfilling Pouch—or, more precisely, a divine statue carved from volcanic rock.
Unlike the Central Yellow Pole Yellow-Horned Immortal, who had been jointly recommended by the Spirit Refining cultivators of the Four Commanderies after the True Lord Banquet and canonized by the Imperial Court as an Orthodox God.
This was an unrecognized god.
Li Zizai had only heard his master mention him.
But now that he had made a promise, and they truly needed more help, he could no longer afford to worry about such things.
He immediately set up an incense altar, laid out offerings, and began inviting the god. Besides the usual fruit, there was a cup of strong liquor, peaches representing summer, vividly colored flame flowers, and a brazier blazing with fire.
Kneeling and bowing his head to the ground, he chanted:
"Above, guide the spiritual transformations of the Great Clarity's Mysterious Origin; below, harmonize the tempering of the three energies. Let all things endure forever, and turn Heaven's essence southward.
I am Li Zizai, disciple of True Lord Xuanming of the Truth-Seeking Abbey. I respectfully invite the Southern Fire Spirit Elder Divine Lord to manifest his divinity."
As his words fell, the statue shone with three-colored divine light.
The flames in the brazier instantly surged.
Three-colored fiery energies swirled as Kindling Fire, Earthfire, and Thunderfire gathered into a deity. He wore a crimson-essence jade crown and a flowing robe of cinnabar feathers imbued with three energies, stood upon a cinnabar dragon, and held a fire-origin lamp.
It was none other than the Southern Red Emperor's Divine Path Dharma Body.
He ranked alongside the Yellow-Horned Immortal among the Five Directional Elders.
Though his later birth and insufficient accumulation meant his might did not yet match that of the previous three gods,