"Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King." As if by magic, the Jade Emperor uttered a soft call, and Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing appeared out of thin air at this place.
Upon Li Jing's appearance, he immediately bowed respectfully to the Jade Emperor: "Your Majesty, what brings you to my court?"
The Jade Emperor said in a heavy voice, "Li Jing, are you aware that some of the immortals and gods in Heaven have been infected by demonic energy?"
Upon hearing this, Li Jing was immediately shocked. He glanced at Fang Xiu out of the corner of his eye and immediately guessed: Could it be that the successor of Nuwa came for this matter?
"Your Majesty, I was unaware of this. I patrolled the Heavenly Realm daily with the Demon-Revealing Mirror and found no demonic energy intrusion. This is my dereliction of duty, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me!" Li Jing knelt on one knee, his face full of shame.
The Jade Emperor scrutinized Li Jing's expression: "My dear minister, please rise. This matter is not your fault. The demonic infection this time was very subtle. Even I had difficulty detecting it. If it weren't for Fang Xiu, the successor of Nuwa, coming to inform me, I would still be kept in the dark."
Li Jing thought to himself, "Indeed, only something this important could alarm the successor of Nuwa."
He looked at Fang Xiu and asked politely, "If you dare to claim to be a descendant of Nuwa, who are those who have been infected by demonic energy?"
Fang Xiu said directly, "Currently, we only know about the Old Man of the Moon. He was injured by Sun Wukong, and his divine body is no longer perfect, which caused the demonic energy to leak out unexpectedly. I discovered it. I called you here today to test you and see if you have been infected by the demonic energy."
Li Jing straightened up slightly, and without the slightest hesitation, he flipped his right hand, and a dark gold short dagger appeared out of thin air in his hand. He then picked up the dagger and slashed it at his left palm.
Whoosh!
A dark red wound appeared, and divine light surged from the wound, vast and boundless.
Fang Xiu looked closely and carefully sensed it, only to find that there was no demonic energy at all.
He is extremely sensitive to demonic energy. As long as the body of a deity is no longer an obstacle, no demonic energy can escape his notice.
"How is it?" the Jade Emperor asked calmly. Although he did not seem to make any move, everyone knew that if Fang Xiu's answer was not ideal, Li Jing would be struck by lightning immediately.
Li Jing remained calm, seemingly confident and without the slightest panic.
Fang Xiu nodded: "He's fine."
"Very good, my dear minister, you have passed the test. I can now entrust you with important responsibilities with peace of mind."
Then, the Jade Emperor explained his plan to send Li Jing to capture Sun Wukong, and Li Jing immediately accepted the order.
After that, the Jade Emperor directly summoned several celestial beings, including the Great Emperor of the North Pole Purple Star, the Great Emperor of the South Pole Longevity Palace, the Great Emperor of Fengdu, and so on...
Many of them may not be well-known in later generations, but within the Heavenly Court, they would definitely be considered to hold high positions and great power.
What surprised Fang Xiu the most was that one of them held no official position.
This man possessed an outstanding presence, a solemn expression, and was tall and imposing. He wore silver armor, held a three-pointed double-edged spear, and had a striking vertical pupil on his forehead.
Upon seeing this person's appearance, Fang Xiu knew who he was without any introduction.
Erlang Shen, the Divine Lord of Guanjiang Estuary!
A being in mythology who could fight Sun Wukong to a draw.
After summoning several top immortals and gods, the Jade Emperor stated his purpose directly. Subsequently, each of the immortals and gods testified that they had not been invaded by demonic energy.
This outcome was not unexpected for Fang Xiu. At this time, it was the early stage of the invasion from the other shore. Compared with the Three Realms, the other shore was weak. If the other shore had infected many top immortals and gods in the early stage, the Heavenly Court would not have needed to fight.
"From this, it seems that among the top immortals and gods, only the Queen Mother of the West has been infected," Fang Xiu's calm voice rang out.
After he finished speaking, he frowned slightly, vaguely feeling that he had forgotten something important.
"The Queen Mother of the West is supreme and holy, and has lived in Kunlun Mountain for a long time without ever going out. Even we have not been infected. How then was the Queen Mother of the West infected?" The Great Emperor of the North Pole asked the question that had been on his mind.
However, there is no answer to this question for the time being.
"Perhaps, only after the true face of the Queen Mother of the West is fully revealed can we find the answer." The Jade Emperor's voice was heavy, as if the matter of the Queen Mother of the West being infected weighed heavily on his mind.
"Everyone, proceed according to the plan of Nuwa's successor. Now, all of you, withdraw and do not arouse suspicion." With this order from the Jade Emperor, all the gods took their leave.
In this scenario of havoc in Heaven, apart from Erlang Shen, the others don't need to participate, but that doesn't mean they have nothing to do.
What they need to do is go back and screen their own disciples, find those infected, and keep a close eye on the movements of the Queen Mother of the West.
It can be said that after this meeting, the entire Heavenly Court became turbulent, and the contest between the immortals and the demons officially began.
After leading everyone away, Fang Xiu suddenly asked, "It seems that the Heavenly Court doesn't entirely categorize strength based on official rank."
The Jade Emperor chuckled and said, “I almost forgot that you are from the future, so you are not aware of this. Are you wondering why other top immortals and gods hold high positions and rule over regions, such as Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, who is a first-rank righteous god and commands 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals, while Yang Jian, who has no official position, can also be among the top immortals and gods?”
Fang Xiu nodded. He was indeed puzzled by the Heavenly Court's division of power, as official rank could not fully encompass strength.
The Jade Emperor explained: "Because the path of gods is divided into two paths. One is to become a god through faith, by collecting the faith of all people, establishing a divine kingdom outward, and becoming a god through the power of faith. The other is to become a god through strength, by gathering all the great power within oneself, opening up the world inward, and becoming a god through one's own power."
Fang Xiu's heart stirred. To establish a divine kingdom outward and to create a world inward? He absorbed the Xia Kingdom's faith and transformed it into a divine kingdom, which was the path of becoming a god through faith. The Taotie Divine Kingdom, on the other hand, was located inside the Taotie's belly, so it should be creating a world inward.
He had been pondering a question for a while: how could a demon god like Taotie, who only knew how to eat, go through such a complex path of faith to become a god? It turned out that he became a god through strength.
"You were chosen because your talent is top-notch, but you chose the path of becoming a god through faith. This shows that the power of the Heavenly Dao has weakened in later generations, the cultivation environment has deteriorated to an extreme degree, and there are no more people in the world who can become gods through force."
Fang Xiu nodded. After listening to the Jade Emperor's words, he understood why Yama and others, and even all the gods, became gods through faith. It was because the cultivation environment in later generations was not as good as in ancient times, so they could only become gods through faith. Becoming a god through faith required fewer resources, and they could use the power of the people to complete the transformation from human to god.
"Is becoming a god through force stronger than becoming a god through faith?" he asked.
The Jade Emperor shook his head slightly: "There is no distinction between strong and weak in the Dao. All the Great Daos lead to the same goal, but in terms of combat strength alone, those who prove their Dao through force are naturally superior at the same level."
After becoming a god, the two paths are divided into the path of the righteous god and the path of the heavenly god. The righteous god is the one who believes in becoming a god and receives a title from the heavenly court. His true name is recorded by the heavenly way, and every move he makes is blessed by the will of heaven, acting on behalf of heaven.
The gods, on the other hand, comprehend the Way of Heaven, inscribe the will of Heaven upon themselves, and regard themselves as Heaven.
People like Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, are righteous gods, holding the highest rank.
Characters like Sun Wukong and Yang Jian are celestial beings. Although they lack official ranks and titles, their strength is no less than that of a first-rank deity, and may even be greater.
(To be continued tomorrow)
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