For later generations, the name Matteo Ricci is certainly familiar, even famous.
This made Ji Xiang glance at the bearded priest in Confucian robes a few more times, feeling curious:
"I've heard of you... and I've read your translation of 'Elements of Geometry.'"
"Wh- You've actually read 'Elements of Geometry'!"
Matteo Ricci was greatly surprised. The translation of 'Elements of Geometry' had only completed its first volume not long ago. Three years had passed, and how could someone so far away in Shuntian have read the first volume?
Ji Xiang smiled slightly and said to Matteo Ricci, "Have you ever heard of a Taoist art that allows one to hear the nine heavens and see ten thousand li?"
Matteo Ricci shook his head in bewilderment. Ji Xiang's smile, in his eyes, seemed unfathomable.
Ji Xiang muttered to himself.
Hearing the nine heavens, seeing ten thousand li, you know? Yes, my cultivation has nothing to do with this ability.
However, it doesn't now, but it will eventually.
"By the way, what was that just now...!"
"Now is not the time to greet."
Matteo Ricci was somewhat dazed, about to ask what had just happened, but was interrupted by Ji Xiang.
His beard twitched, and he thought that this Eastern Celestial Master looked far too young.
Ji Xiang then began to recite scriptures.
Mysterious sounds vibrated in all directions, reaching the sky, the earth, entering houses, and piercing through alleys!
"What is sought has arrived."
"What is summoned is before!"
Points of light appeared in the void. Ji Xiang felt a scattered presence nearby. He turned and saw it was in the East Peak Temple. He strode towards it. The surrounding Imperial Guards saw Ji Xiang and dared not stop him.
"May I ask why Lord Ji has come here...?"
"There is a monster causing trouble in the hall."
The Imperial Guards were startled and all stated that they had not been negligent and were definitely guarding the temple diligently!
"Sir, you jest. Let alone strange people or monsters, not even a bird can enter! During these days, absolutely no one has entered! There are still Imperial Guard brothers patrolling and guarding the temple. Most of the statues have been smashed, leaving only two or three, but their heads and chests have also been knocked off!"
Ji Xiang smiled, "If the thing that went in was not human, how would you have seen it?"
"This!"
The Imperial Guards were speechless, but still didn't believe it. They watched Ji Xiang enter. Seeing that Matteo Ricci also wanted to follow, they immediately moved to stop him. This made Matteo Ricci chuckle twice, and he could only wait outside.
At the same time, he muttered, why wouldn't they let him in when he also had magical abilities?
The Imperial Guards chuckled, "Only those who can swim drown. Although you know some magic, how can you compare to him?"
Matteo Ricci quickly said, "I am just a priest of the Society of Jesus, and I truly cannot compare to your Celestial Master. I have nothing to say about this, and what you say is reasonable."
Upon hearing this, the Imperial Guards explained, "Celestial Master? That person is not a Celestial Master, he is a Grand Master newly appointed by His Majesty."
"However, in terms of status, it is similar to a Celestial Master. Call him whatever you like."
Matteo Ricci's spirits were lifted. He thought that when he first arrived in Shuntian, he heard that there were two great masters in Shuntian. It turned out that the person he met was not the Celestial Master, but another one. No wonder he was so young. It seemed he was a favored minister of the court!
He must get to know him well. Whether he could establish a solid church presence in Shuntian would be decided during this time. It was a pity that he had not brought much money with him, which was an embarrassment...
Matteo Ricci was already considering whether he could apply to the Great Ming court to acquire this abandoned land for himself... After all, if your local things can't suppress it, why not try the saying that foreign monks chant scriptures better?
Believe a little, no money for now.
On the other hand.
Ji Xiang entered the temple and walked through to the back hall. Walls shattered, and the roof beams above collapsed, smashing onto Ji Xiang. With a bang, they were reduced to powder, while Ji Xiang's physical body remained unharmed.
Ignoring the numerous obstructions, he reached the back hall. Suddenly, a tremor erupted from within. A dark shadow was seen fleeing, spotted by the Imperial Guards who shouted loudly and tried to stop it with divine power firearms, but were unable to hit it.
Ji Xiang reached out to the west and clenched his fist!
With the great divine ability of the Ascension Realm, these scattered forms had no way to resist. Now that Ji Xiang had strengthened his physical body, he would no longer suffer severe injuries when shattering the void. After compressing and refining his vital energy, he gradually became more adept at using high-level divine abilities.
The shadow was forcibly struck down by the power of the void, smashing to pieces on the ground and turning to dust!
Ji Xiang's sudden action greatly surprised the Imperial Guards!
"Lord Ji! What is this thing...?"
"No need to explain. You continue to guard this place and do not let anything else in."
Ji Xiang sensed a wisp of the Great Ming's national prestige appearing at the location where the shadow was destroyed. This national prestige belonged to a "righteous god of the nation."
"This is the residual power bestowed by the spirit enfeoffed by Emperor Wanli, and it also contains the power of national prestige left from the periods of Emperor Yingzong and Emperor Shizong when the East Peak Temple was renovated..."
Ji Xiang unceremoniously accepted this small residual national prestige. For the Great Ming national prestige he already possessed, it only strengthened it slightly, not by much.
"Nurhaci came to the East Peak Temple to pick up trash?"
"Did he ask me, this scavenging ancestor?"
Ji Xiang raised an eyebrow. What was this? Stealing business?
Although I scavenge in the heavenly realm and you scavenge in the human realm, your things are my things, and my things are still my things. Therefore, you are stealing my business.
If you disagree, come and hit me?
In this day and age, even the job of scavenging is becoming competitive.
"This is the first one..."
Ji Xiang continued to recite scriptures. In this vast city of Shuntian, countless scattered doppelgangers had become Ji Xiang's targets.
It was a pity that his physical strength was insufficient to unleash divine abilities above the Pure Yang realm. Otherwise, with eighty thousand avatars filling the nine heavens and ten earths, where would the opponent be able to escape?
"Nurhaci, stealing national prestige, confusing living beings, wickedly cultivating evil arts...!"
————
In the southeastern area of Shuntian City, Nurhaci, who had transformed into a woman, was now weak and powerless all over, as if cursed. This made him extremely panicked.
He was a Dragon Tiger General of the second rank, with the Great Ming's national prestige upon him. Within Shuntian, he should not have been cursed!
At the same time, the sensation of his doppelgangers being continuously killed was also fed back to Nurhaci's true form.
"It's truly strange. This transformation technique in the Empty Constant Dharma can clearly avoid calamities and escape from difficult situations, but why can that young Taoist accurately find my scattered doppelgangers and kill them?"
"An- another one died, the forty-seventh. What is going on! Could it be that the Taoist possesses a superior method for breaking calamities, so my intermediate-level escape technique is nowhere to hide from him?"
"Shuntian truly has hidden dragons and crouching tigers! No wonder the people from the mountains told me to be humble and cautious in everything when approaching Shuntian!"
"I must hurry and leave Shuntian before all ninety-nine doppelgangers are killed!"
Nurhaci was truly alarmed now. Although the Heavenly Master Zhang was powerful, he could not see through the intermediate-level calamity-avoiding methods because there was no counter or corresponding superior method. However, Ji Xiang seemed to possess a superior calamity-breaking method. Nurhaci had already realized that Ji Xiang might not know who he was, but he knew he was not an ordinary living person, which was why he kept pursuing him!
In this situation, if he were caught and his disguise removed, he would surely be sent to the Western Market for execution!
As his thoughts turned, two more doppelgangers died.
Woman, water, fire, dog, sheep, birds, dark clouds and evil beasts, earth and stones, shadows... these scattered doppelgangers were being killed one by one by Ji Xiang!
He also gradually began to hear strange sounds, like some scriptures calling and summoning him, which made Nurhaci feel afraid.
This kind of operation did not seem like something a righteous practitioner would know! This kind of summoning and calling spell seemed like an evil art from folk religious sects!
And Nurhaci suddenly encountered a predicament.
He saw a person on the street ahead, but outside the alleyway on the left, there was also the same person!
It was Heavenly Master Zhang!
"What, what is going on, a ghost hitting the wall?"
Nurhaci thought he was seeing things. He tried several different passages, but no matter where he was, he could see Old Zhang, which made him feel mentally disoriented!
The east and south city areas were impassable. The north city was closed, and no one was allowed to enter through the gate there. Therefore, he could only go to the west city!
Although it was not auspicious, as the Western Market for executions was there, it felt like going to his death...
However, not long after he walked, he suddenly noticed that the gazes of the surrounding pedestrians were looking at him as if he were a ghost.
"What's wrong, is there something on my face?"
Nurhaci was still speaking in a high-pitched, feminine voice. It was only then that he felt something was wrong. The surrounding pedestrians' expressions immediately changed, as if they had just eaten a mouthful of feces.
"Jurchen, he, he transformed from a woman to a man on the street!"
"What kind of trick is this, or Western magic?"
People were very surprised. Although disgusted, the change that had just occurred was truly astonishing. A beautiful woman was walking down the street and suddenly transformed into a Jurchen strongman with a queue hairstyle!
Nurhaci touched his queue, then touched his beard, his face changing greatly!
How could the magic suddenly be lifted! When he tried to circulate his mana again, he found that his mana was no longer smooth, and his body was becoming weaker and weaker. The summoning sounds in his ears were like demonic sounds, lingering and entering his ears!
As Nurhaci was about to get up and leave again, he suddenly heard Ji Xiang's footsteps from behind.
And that stern shout!
Ji Xiang walked from the east city to the south city, arriving at the central street that divided the three cities of east, south, and west. With each step, his landing was like thunder, and his retraction was like the condensation of light in the sea. His voice was vast and clear, proclaiming to all directions!
"Nurhaci, you stole national prestige, confused living beings, and wickedly cultivated evil arts..."
"According to the heavenly laws."
"Those sentient beings who slander the righteous law and turn from the righteous to the evil shall have their fortunes extinguished for five generations... after their bodies perish, they shall be sent to Fengdu, never to be reborn!"