The Emperor Wanli pondered, "What if they are feigning allegiance? Is that not a possibility? Moreover, Tokugawa Ieyasu claims to be an insider, and his words suggest he wishes to borrow our nation's strength. I fear that if we accept, we might fall into his trap, only to lend him troops and resources later, ultimately benefiting him."
"Furthermore, I learned from the battle reports from the Korean front that Tokugawa Ieyasu fought to the death in Ulsan Castle, only retreating after being severely wounded. Such a person, upon returning to his own country, would not be punished by the Japanese Kanpaku, but perhaps even be reused. What reason would he have to be an informant for our nation?"
"Regarding the Kobayakawa family, I have heard the name Kobayakawa Hideaki, but it is merely a stigma of betrayal. Perhaps the Kobayakawa family has come here precisely to act as insiders in our country, to wash away their shame in Japan."
The three Grand Secretaries exchanged glances, their opinions differing from Emperor Wanli's. When discussing matters, it was customary for more than four people to be involved, so a fifth person was needed to make the decision. All four turned their faces towards the Celestial Master Zhang, who, after a moment of thought, said:
"This matter of Tokugawa Ieyasu acting as an informant might have something to do with my senior brother."
"Oh? His name did not appear in the battle reports of Ulsan. It seems he was in a decisive battle with another Japanese Buddhist nun... The report stated that someone named 'Yaobikuni' was killed. I am not familiar with this person," Emperor Wanli asked with a hint of confusion.
"Precisely because he did not appear, there is a connection," Celestial Master Zhang stroked his beard and smiled. "As for Yaobikuni, I do know of her. She is also a legendary Buddhist nun in Japan, likely with very high cultivation, but it seems my senior brother killed her quite easily."
"Since that is the case, let us use a divine message talisman to inquire. I fear we might not be able to find him."
Emperor Wanli furrowed his brow. With divine message talismans, communication had become incredibly convenient. This also indirectly highlighted the danger of such items; a single talisman could transmit messages across vast distances without any communication medium.
However, there were also drawbacks. Like now, they couldn't find Ji Xiang because he didn't have a divine message talisman. They could only notify those around him. But Korea was vast, with dozens of Ming army strongholds. Where would Ji Xiang appear, and whom should they contact? No one knew.
"He should be findable. The recall order you issued earlier has been transmitted to various parts of Korea, and those cultivators should have already received it. They will be setting off to return soon, and my grandson should be with him..."
Celestial Master Zhang indicated that his grandson and Ji Xiang were likely together. The previous order had been passed along, and his grandson should have started looking for Ji Xiang. If Ji Xiang returned directly without informing anyone, he would likely pass through Shuntian, so they wouldn't be unable to find him.
Emperor Wanli instructed Tian Yi to make contact and then turned to Matteo Ricci:
"Bishop Matteo, this time, the matter of receiving the Kobayakawa family and others led by Father Adam Schall von Bell, this reception duty will fall to you."
Emperor Wanli thought for a moment and decided to agree to allow this group to enter Ming territory, but they would need to be guarded by soldiers for a short period. As for Father Adam Schall von Bell, Matteo Ricci would handle the handover. Once he returned, he could be directly confined to the church in Dongyue Temple and not go anywhere else.
Of course, Emperor Wanli's words were "stay at the Catholic church and await rewards."
But who knew when that waiting would end!
Meanwhile, Tian Yi had already completed communication with Korea using the divine message talisman. He then whispered to Emperor Wanli. After listening, Emperor Wanli's face lit up, and he nodded repeatedly, indicating he understood. He then said:
"Go, summon Feng Menglong, Liu Mengyin, and Zhang Yaofang to an audience."
Tian Yi departed, and Matteo Ricci also left in a hurry after receiving his orders. As he exited, someone was already waiting at the door to accompany him. Shortly thereafter, two scholars and an envoy arrived at the Grand Secretariat. They first paid their respects to Emperor Wanli, after which Emperor Wanli spoke:
"The Korean campaign has concluded. I intend to bestow titles upon a group of fallen generals as new deities. I want the three of you to write biographies, or books of divine legends, for these individuals. The faster, the better. Once completed, send them to the printing press for mass printing and distribution in Shuntian and nearby major cities, and dispatch them to various post stations for distribution among the populace."
"As for the specific details, once the matters here are concluded, I will elaborate on my requirements. All of you should go back and prepare yourselves. Begin by conceiving some ideas in your minds."
The three accepted their orders, though their thoughts differed.
Zhang Yaofang's thoughts were the simplest. He felt that after being brought to Shuntian by that little immortal who said he was looking for pen pals, one of them turned out to be the reigning emperor. This startled him greatly, but to become an imperial scribe by his side in one fell swoop seemed like a good path.
He couldn't pass the imperial examinations, so going through the back door was incredibly satisfying!
However, for a long time, he had no work of his own. Liu Mengyin acted as the emperor's ghostwriter, and Feng Menglong spent his days in the scripture hall. Only he was idle, either grinding ink or amusing himself with the other two, appearing like a useless follower. This time, he finally had an opportunity to showcase his talents. Although it was collaborative writing, he was still working for the emperor, and being one of the designated individuals was enough to bring him honor.
If he could slip in some personal thoughts while writing, and gain favor, wouldn't he soar to the heavens?
Zhang Yaofang was thinking about how to do a good job for the emperor and pave his own path to officialdom, aspiring to rise above the ordinary. At this moment, his already faint aura of righteousness diminished further.
Celestial Master Zhang noticed this.
After the three left, Emperor Wanli smiled at Celestial Master Zhang, "Beiji Zhenren has indeed been contacted. Not only did he win over Tokugawa Ieyasu, but he also revealed that Mori Terumoto and Kuroda Nagamasa harbor rebellious intentions. However, the three of them are unaware of each other. Tokugawa is alone, while the latter two form a faction. This is also good; if there were only one insider, we might be led by the nose in the future."
"Not only that, but there is also a divine art in Changbai Mountain that can fabricate deities...!"
Emperor Wanli took several deep breaths. "Of course, the conditions are rather harsh. I am preparing to experiment with this method first... Teaching the three to write books is merely to cultivate righteous energy, combine it with the wishes of the populace and incense, to complete one step of fabricating deities."
"This ability, and the power of 'The Collection of the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit,' seem to be similar? Or perhaps even superior?"
After listening, Celestial Master Zhang was first astonished that such a technique existed.
"There is such a method in the world... fabricating deities? This is not something that can be easily achieved. Changbai Mountain has no country, how can deities be fabricated?"
Emperor Wanli decided to keep it a secret for now. Celestial Master Zhang did not press further but instead gave his conclusion on the superiority between 'The Collection of the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit' and this deity fabrication technique. He chuckled and shook his head:
"Your Majesty is mistaken. The power of 'The Collection of the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit' is even greater than this method of fabricating deities!"
"Regardless of how many steps are involved in fabricating deities, the fact that it requires the wishes of the populace makes it by no means easy. Although deities are powerful, 'The Collection of the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit' can continuously create demons with mere chaotic wishes. This means that as long as the human heart exists, the demons in the book will be immortal."
"And our current understanding of the abilities of 'The Collection of the Golden Crow and Jade Rabbit' is merely based on intelligence gathered from the battlefield. How could something that Japan guards so fiercely be on the same level as the magic from Changbai Mountain, especially when even my senior brother has not obtained this divine book?"
"After all, that is a divine art from the Tang Dynasty."
Emperor Wanli nodded thoughtfully and then asked:
"What do you think of the three individuals just now?"
"I see something unusual in your expression."
Celestial Master Zhang shook his head again. "Zhang Yaofang is solely focused on seeking fame and fortune, and his righteous energy has gradually weakened, becoming like that of the three Grand Secretaries."
Upon hearing this, the three Grand Secretaries showed expressions of shame. However, they were also unclear about the method of generating righteous energy and could only shake their heads and sigh in confusion, "Does reading the words of the sages not produce righteous energy?"
"That is not the case. Decades ago, Tang Shunzhi and Wang Yangming also read the words of the sages and possessed righteous energy. It can only be said that the three Grand Secretaries have not read them sufficiently. They have only kept them in their eyes, not in their hearts."
Celestial Master Zhang smiled playfully and then commented:
"As for the other two, Feng Menglong and Liu Mengyin, although they readily agreed to Your Majesty's request, their righteous energy has not dissipated and remains rich. This indirectly reflects their thoughts and their respective levels of Confucian attainment."
"Liu Mengyin is an official from Korea. Although he is currently by the side of the Ming Emperor, the shadow cast by the incident with Elder Lei Xuan years ago is still quite heavy on him. Therefore, his remaining in the Forbidden City is more for the sake of stability, not for any empty fame."
"And Feng Menglong is even more different from Liu Mengyin... This fellow has experienced more. He is extremely interested in matters of gods and ghosts, and rather indifferent to official positions. He has found his own path in Confucianism. He will undoubtedly achieve great things in the future."
"Therefore, it is not that reading the words of the sages cannot lead to understanding or righteous energy. It is simply that you have not found your own Confucian path, and the word 'righteous' is likely not just two simple words in a book that can be obtained by simply looking at them."
Emperor Wanli also shook his head at this point. "Let's wait and see the results of their book writing endeavors."
..........
In Korea, upon receiving the summons, the various great cultivators embarked on their journey back to the capital. However, Ji Xiang, having matters to attend to, once again became separated from the main group.
The current situation in Korea was overseen by the Demon God Da Huang Luo. In case of any trouble, they could communicate through sacrifices, with himself as the divine lord. He also possessed fragments of the Dharma Realm, allowing him to sense Da Huang Luo's whereabouts, establishing a strong connection in the unseen.
Ji Xiang descended from the clouds and wandered the lands of Liaodong. After about two days, his expression became extremely strange.
"What is going on? Not only the White Lotus Society, but even some folk religions are gone?"
Liaodong was a harsh and cold land with a small population. The White Lotus Society targeted places with large populations for proselytization. Naturally, those places either had food or money. Liaodong had neither money nor food, so the White Lotus Society's influence here was not significant. However, there were also some folk religions, which were few and far between. But now, these religions had vanished.
It was as if they had evaporated into thin air.
Ji Xiang arrived at a dilapidated temple. The temple gate still bore the four characters "Golden Cicada Great Religion," and a strong scent of White Lotus wafted out. However, the temple had been abandoned for a long time, and everything was gone.
With a wave of his hand, a strong gust of wind arose, and piles of headless skeletons rolled out from beneath the crumbling walls.
He took the heads but not the bodies. Considering that the White Lotus Society was not an army but merely a powerful evil cult, whoever could eliminate them and take their followers' heads must have been an even more sinister cult. It seemed that the shamans of the Tatar steppes had a custom of using human heads as ritual objects.
However, the heads of the White Lotus Society's followers... With the cultivation level of these common soldiers, would taking their heads add a few enchantments?
"Mountain gods and earth gods, come out and show yourselves."
Ji Xiang used his divine ability to summon spirits. White smoke entered the ground, and within a short while, a thin, emaciated weasel was captured. Ji Xiang was momentarily stunned:
"Oh? Master Weasel?"
The yellow weasel looked up, its face filled with bewilderment. It bowed to Ji Xiang, stating that it was not a master, as that would be too high a compliment.
Temple of the Earth Gods also belonged to folk deities. Only earth gods in specific locations were considered celestial deities, much like City Gods. The City God of Shuntian Prefecture had been bestowed the title of celestial deity, unlike the City Gods of local counties.
The weasel told Ji Xiang that the people in this area had been killed for over a year. The Golden Cicada Cult had a significant presence here back then, with a cicada demon with five hundred years of cultivation supporting them. However, that cicada demon was later killed by a疯疯癫癫 (fēngfēngdiāndiān - crazy and erratic) person accompanied by a child with a numb expression. The one who acted was not the crazy person, but the child.
"They came from Changbai Mountain. The name of the crazy person is unknown, but I only heard him call the child 'Shen Kui'."
"There was also a major event in Changbai Mountain before. It is said that the Commander of Jianzhou Guard was killed, and then the city he guarded was breached by someone, who also killed many of his descendants. That crazy person looked like him."
The weasel, as the Earth God, revealed everything it knew and described the person's appearance vividly. Ji Xiang listened, his brows furrowing deeper. He had indeed never heard the name Shen Kui.
Could it be an immortal descending from the inner realms? Was it sent from a heavenly palace? What was its purpose?
It couldn't be just to kill the White Lotus Society, could it?
In response to Ji Xiang's questions, the weasel shook its head. "No, that Shen Kui only killed them, he did not decapitate them."
"Their heads were taken by a monk from outside Liaodong three months later, when they were close to rotting. His attire looked like that of a Tatar."
The weasel spoke matter-of-factly, and Ji Xiang was surprised. "You recognize them quite clearly."
"Naturally. Those who can make a living outside Shanhaiguan, let alone humans, even gods need to have some discernment. Those from Changbai Mountain are of our own kind; they dare not act against me and will detour. It's even more so for people from within the pass; they won't cause trouble here. But the Tatars are different. They tear down temples on sight and smash the heads of idols. You say they are all shamans, but the Changbai Mountain shamans are different from the Tatars!"