Ghost God
In the dim light, heavy footsteps sounded, and a fierce-looking monk emerged.
The high monk's human skin robe reached the ground, and on his back, a fierce and ferocious black deity emerged, its large, copper-bell-sized eyes scanning the crowd. Those whose eyes were swept over turned pale and couldn't help but take a step or two back.
One of the giants, who was a full ten feet tall and whose divine light shone the brightest among them, hid directly behind the crowd.
Seeing this, Jingtu grinned, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth. "Who do we have here? It's the city's strongman. What, after being beaten up by the Buddha, you've lost your previous swagger in seeking trouble with the city's four great priests?"
The town's strongman's face turned pale and then red, and finally he simply lowered his head and remained silent.
After making a joking remark, Jingtu faced the Thunder Official directly. His fierce face and the mask with blue faces and fangs reflected each other, and under the light of the lightning, it was difficult to tell who was the demon and who was the god.
"He Chang, I think I vaguely remember you. You were one of those old devils from the underworld who were trying so hard to get close to them, weren't you?"
"Yes, I was watching from the sidelines when you were being chased like a dog," He Chang said coldly.
"What, aren't you acting like a dog right now? And you're acting like a dog for some unknown entity, whether it's a god or a demon."
Jingtu plopped down, pulled out a wine jar, broke the clay seal, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp, the wine dripping down his rugged jaw.
He wiped his mouth and burst into laughter, the sound echoing across the empty square in front of the Thunder God's Shrine, making the copper bells on the eaves hum.
"Don't worry, you can say whatever you want. The Buddha isn't here to cause trouble this time; he's here to watch the show."
He Chang's face immediately contorted into a ferocious expression. He was sitting so brazenly at the main entrance of the ancestral hall, blocking most of the way, claiming he was there to watch a show—who would believe him?
In his eyes, which were streaked with black hair, wisps of lightning began to emerge from the depths of his pupils, while the terrifying pressure of lightning around him began to gather on the great monk.
Thunder Official possesses the most powerful divine authority among the four divine authorities in this Demon-Subduing City.
Because this is the Thunder Commandery Domain, a standard Thunder Domain!
Here, Thunder Official is practically a master.
The next moment, He Chang suddenly closed his eyes.
The area around Thunder God's Shrine suddenly went dark.
It wasn't just an ordinary nightfall, but a deeper, more complete darkness; as if all light had been grasped, crushed, and swallowed by an invisible hand.
The darkness advanced inch by inch, like a rising tide, engulfing the Jingtu.
Jingtu's expression turned serious, a rare occurrence. He sat auspiciously, one hand hanging down, the other holding a flower.
The next moment, when the light completely disappeared, Jingtu's physical body also vanished.
However, the figure outlined by a beam of Buddhist light remained swaying within the thick darkness.
The light was not strong, like a candle flickering in the wind, so faint that it seemed it might be extinguished at any moment; but it swayed there, sometimes bright, sometimes dim, yet it could never be digested or swallowed by the darkness.
After a full ten breaths, He Chang's face turned pale, and he took three steps back.
As the darkness dissipated, Jingtu's physical body reappeared. He grinned, about to say something, when his human skin robe hissed and emitted white smoke.
The senior monk immediately flew into a rage and began to curse.
"Damn it, a bunch of beasts! My clothes were just ruined by a male fox, and I finally managed to mend them, and now this fox-spirit practitioner has torn them up again. I'm a monk, not a clothes-mending master."
"The accumulation of all causes and conditions must be subtle, the wondrous appearance is solemn and majestic; every needlestroke is substantial, every thread is connected without emptiness. Master, you are attached to appearances."
Upon hearing this, Jingtu's expression turned solemn, and he clasped his hands together in prayer.
He Chang suddenly turned his head and saw three figures standing opposite the square incense burner in front of the door.
One of the figures had already lit an incense stick and spoke without turning his head.
"Upholding precepts, accumulating merit, purifying karma, and purifying body, speech, and mind—this is the path of the Sangha in the Form Realm."
"Observing through emptiness, calming the mind, and clarifying the mind, thus subduing the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance, this is the method of the Emptiness Realm. Since one attains enlightenment through the Emptiness Realm, why then wear the robes of the Form Realm?"
Upon hearing this, Jingtu's face shone even brighter with Buddhist light. He clasped his hands together, and the Devil Blood Kasaya fell off automatically. The next moment, a new human skin appeared on the surface of his skin.
"Thank you for your teachings, fellow practitioner," Jingtu said with a compassionate expression.
Zhen'ezi smiled, unconcerned. Rogue Person Yunxiu, on the other hand, looked at the big monk with a puzzled expression.
Just a few days ago, this great monk had devoured the Demon Prison-Subduing Wisdom King using the Hungry Ghost Path realm; he was a standard monk of the Form Realm, but how did he become a monk of the Emptiness Realm after only a few days?
It's important to understand that while monks from the Form Realm and those from the Emptiness Realm may appear to be monks, they represent two completely different systems of spiritual practice.
Monks of the Form Realm follow the path of strictly upholding all precepts and extensively practicing generosity.
The monks of the Emptiness Realm, on the other hand, cultivate meditation, attain enlightenment, and remain unattached to material things and unperturbed by illusions.
It's quite simple to distinguish between the two.
Those who practice in temples are all monks of the Form Realm.
Those who practice in temples are all monks of the Emptiness Realm.
As for those masters who practice both Buddhism and Daoism on the orthodox path, their Buddhahood is that of the Emptiness Realm.
As for the Five Temples of Buddhism, since you've already "held five temples," it goes without saying what kind of path you're practicing.
This Jingtu Master Jingtu clearly changed his ways to become a "monk of the Emptiness Realm," but old habits die hard. As a result, Zhen'ezi saw through his mistake and broke his attachment to the "physical body."
So the great monk once again suppressed his greed, anger, and ignorance, and when he addressed the monk as "fellow Daoist," it was absolutely from the bottom of his heart.
However, for Zhen'ezi, these were just trivial matters mentioned casually.
His attention never truly wavered; it remained firmly fixed on the opposite direction—the Thunder God's Shrine, its gates tightly shut and shrouded in lightning.
He did not rush forward, but slowly took out an incense stick from his sleeve, raised his hand, and gently placed it in the incense burner in front of the shrine.
The smoke from cigarettes rose gently, swaying slightly in the night breeze.
He took two steps back, and then did something that surprised everyone present.
He slowly bowed and solemnly worshipped the closed ancestral hall.
Just as he bent over, "Boom!!!"
The tightly closed gates of the Thunder God's Shrine suddenly swung open to both sides! A strong wind, carrying intense lightning and the scent of incense, rushed out, causing the robes of everyone present to flutter wildly.
Inside the door, a brand-new statue was revealed.
Or rather, the fifth "incarnation statue" of the Thunder God.
Compared to the previous Thunder God, this one did not change much; it still had that majestic and imposing face, with the unique chilling and just nature of thunder in its eyes.
The only difference is that the statues are gilded, and gold symbolizes the power to subdue demons.
A smile finally appeared on Zhen'ezi's face.
He was a direct descendant of a major sect, so naturally he wasn't as unsophisticated as Rogue Cultivator from a side sect.
If someone were to switch to cultivating to become Ghost Immortal and actually believe they are Ghost Immortal, they would be laughed at if such words were heard by members of the Seven Sects.
Ghost Immortal are a rank or position within the divine realm; they are the Dao they merge with during the Void Refinement to Merge with the Dao and uniting with the Dao.
He cultivated the Three Flavors of Ghosts and Gods with the body of Yin Spirit; to be precise, he should be called Ghost God!
Do you worship gods?
Two distinct beams of divine light rose simultaneously from two different directions.
One of them came from the brand-new, gilded statue inside the Thunder God's Shrine.
Golden divine light burst forth from the statue as if it were a tangible substance, carrying a majestic and inviolable majesty, as if the laws of heaven themselves had been embodied in human form.
Wherever the golden light touched, the air became heavy and solemn, and even the weeds sprouting from the cracks in the ground straightened, withered, and turned to ashes in an instant.
On the other hand, there was a light from Zhen'ezi himself, a light that was completely opposite to the golden divine light. It was cold and deep, like the dark, cold light that had settled at the bottom of an ancient pool. It did not have the flamboyant and intense golden light, but it had a more lingering and profound penetrating power, as if it could seep into the bone marrow and the soul.
Where the golden light shone, the eerie light melted and dissipated like snow splashed with boiling water. But where the eerie light penetrated, the golden light seemed to be tinged with a layer of gray, losing its purity.
At the boundary between the two, the air twists into a blurry ripple, within which light refracts, breaks, and recombines, creating a chaotic scene that is difficult to see with the naked eye.
The ground began to crack silently under the combined impact of the two forces.
The cracks spread outwards from the threshold of the ancestral hall and the foot of the Zhen'ezi, eventually intersecting and colliding in the middle, producing a series of fine cracking sounds.
The pebbles floated up between the two divine lights, only to be crushed into dust in the next moment.
Outside the city, Bai Ningjie was nowhere to be seen, and the Law Treasure in Master Yun Shuo's hand, the Primordial Innate Eight Trigrams Diagram, had also disappeared.
But on the ground, a gigantic Bagua diagram covering thousands of miles appeared, shimmering with divine light, and the Demon-Subduing City was located at the Zhen position of this Bagua.
Master Yun Shuo's expression was solemn as he chanted a Daoist incantation.
"The primordial Qi of Taiji, innately manifested. Azure thunder in the Zhen Palace shakes the eight seas. Wood Qi descends, returning to the Gen Mountain Court. The thunder's power subsides, transforming into mountain spirits. Yang earth is sealed, all movement is calmed. Zhen returns to earth, Gen's gate is closed. The Eight Trigrams of Fuxi follow my command. Thunder vanishes, mountains appear, evil spirits have no place to arise—"
As the words were spoken, the entire super Bagua diagram began to slowly rotate, and the location of the Demon-Subduing City shifted from the Zhen position to the Gen position. In an instant, the earth's energy rose, and the thunder energy dissipated.
The entire Demon-Subduing City began to tremble.
The thunderclouds in the sky even seemed to be dissipating.
--
"Thunder roars, wood sinks; earth transforms, suppressing a thousand forests; the innate decree seals evil hearts; thunder returns to the mountain earth, instantly gathering spirits!"
The changes at the Thunder God's Shrine within the city are even more astonishing.
At the entrance, one after another, the statues of the Evil God began to explode on the spot, with copper pieces and rubble flying everywhere, smashing against the surrounding walls with loud bangs. The surrounding remnants of the divine dynasty "all fled in panic, scattering like wolves and pigs, covering their heads and running away like rats."
The divine power within the entire Thunder God's Shrine experienced violent fluctuations.
And this is the moment Zhen'ezi has been waiting for!
His figure vanished instantly, and at the same time, a ghost appeared before the Thunder God Ghost God statue, striking the Golden Body statue with a palm.
The statue shattered into pieces instantly, and at the same time, a pale-faced man staggered out from within.
"Long time no see, Brother Zhang!" The Ghost God laughed heartily.
The person who appeared here was none other than Zhang Zhixian of the Heavenly Edict Manor, who had been missing for many days.
"Fellow Daoist, what is this—" Zhang Zhixian looked at the other party with some confusion.
The Ghost God's form was blurry, its outline somewhere between reality and illusion, its face shrouded in a dark halo. But it was precisely because of this that it could traverse between the light and the shadows, doing what humans could not.
"I am the Zhen'ezi has shed his skin."
The Ghost God grabbed the other person, and the two disappeared in an instant. At the same time, the entire Thunder God's Shrine collapsed.
This is also the first Thunder God's Shrine to collapse in the Demon-Subduing City.
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