Chapter 753: Contention for the Divine Position

"Audacious!"

"How dare you attack the Jade Emperor Temple!"

Hearing Shi Xuanming's words, the several elders were all full of anger.

As for Li Yan, he knew nothing about this Earth Immortal who had suddenly appeared.

This matter was not strange either.

The Divine Land is vast, and talented people emerge one after another. Not everyone is willing to dominate the world and show their faces, especially in the Mystic Sect, where the style of seclusion is even stronger.

In the mountains, rivers, and great marshes, one doesn't know how many experts are hidden.

Some are thinking about cultivation, but they cannot take that critical step, and they are unwilling to fall into the Netherworld, so they choose to join the great sects of the Mystic Sect, and their identities are also hidden.

Just like in Wudang and Qingcheng, Li Yan had some sensing, but due to friendship, the agreement between the Living Yin Messenger and the Mystic Sect, he pretended not to see.

And with the transformation of human affairs, inevitably more Earth Immortals will be eager to move.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed Li Yan's mind.

He remembered that when he first entered the capital, he discovered someone secretly intercepting and killing Living Yin Messengers, but later they disappeared and never appeared again.

He originally thought it was related to the "Pan Tao Assembly," but now it seems they were likely two independent cases that just happened to overlap.

And the purpose of intercepting the Living Yin Messengers was to remove the shackles of these Earth Immortals!

At that time, one doesn't know how many ambitious people will emerge.

The name "Zhao Changsheng" also surfaced in his mind again.

Li Yan had a premonition that this matter must be related to him!

While he was thinking, the opposite side had already made a move.

That "Shi Xuanming" saw that words were useless, so he stopped talking nonsense. His left hand pinched the magic formula, and his right hand's withered pine dragon-coiling staff slammed into the ground. In an instant, a gale blew, and black mist surged.

The surrounding scene became blurred again.

In the gloom, there seemed to be the howling of strange beasts.

Subsequently, the ground became cold, frost spread, and streaks of faint green light rose, gathering and twisting in the air, first turning into various wild beasts, then turning into human shapes, and pouncing directly at the crowd outside the Jade Emperor Temple.

Mountain spirits, or rather, mountain gods!

Li Yan took one look and guessed what these things were.

Some wild beasts or animals full of spirituality often attach themselves to soil, wood, and mountain rocks after death. Past commoners were affected and had illusions, so they offered incense and tied red ropes to pray for peace.

After a long time, they became a mountain god.

In many places nowadays, there are almost legends that some big tree or stone is very spiritual.

This is a mountain spirit.

To speak of it, there is no harm.

People with good intentions pray for blessings, and they usually drive away lonely ghosts and evil spirits, guarding one side.

It's a bit like a simplified version of the deity statue in the temple, arising from the human heart.

But these ones now are clearly controlled by this "Shi Xuanming."

"Form the array!"

Although the seven elders including Shoumingzi were surprised, they were not chaotic and immediately formed the Big Dipper Seven Mystic Array.

They held various magic artifacts and recited mantras. The surging fog and the roaring mountain spirits within were actually blocked five meters away, unable to approach.

"Shi Xuanming!"

Shoumingzi's beard and hair bristled, and he shouted sternly: "You are also a person protected by the Dharma lineage. How dare you draw upon the Yin Sha of the earth veins, disturb the sacred mountain, and commit such rebellious acts?!"

In the thick fog, Shi Xuanming's figure was looming.

His mocking cold laughter sounded, "Shoumingzi, stop your chatter here. Taishan was originally a place for our kind to practice. You sects have occupied it for many years, controlling the luck; have you ever thought of sharing it with fellow loose cultivators?"

Before the voice fell, the withered pine dragon-coiling staff in his hand slammed into the ground.

"Boom!"

The entire Jade Emperor Temple square and even the ground further away seemed to shake violently.

Streaks of condensed ink-like earth energy, emitting bone-chilling cold, sprayed out from the cracks like the tentacles of living things. With sharp shrieks, they rolled up the surrounding broken rocks and, under the traction of some force, condensed into several earth-stone puppets a zhang high.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Their footsteps were heavy, their bodies surrounded by eerie baleful aura, and they rushed toward the Jade Emperor Temple.

Good fellow, mountain puppets!

Even Li Yan was taken aback.

This thing should be a kind of puppet technique combined with earth escape technique, similar to scattering beans into soldiers, but this was the first time Li Yan had seen someone use it so cleverly.

Not only must one have deep Daoist cultivation, but one must also be a Earth Master.

Daring to attack the Jade Emperor Temple, you truly have some skills.

Li Yan realized: "This is not human power, but the anger of the mountain's injury."

"Careful!"

An elder in a black robe saw that the situation was bad, stepped on the Gang steps, quickly pinched the magic formula with his left hand, and the electric light flickered in his right palm, slamming fiercely toward an earth puppet rushing over.

With a loud bang, the earth puppet collapsed into rubble and fell to the ground.

This palm thunder was perfect, and he was wearing a black robe, so he was mostly a person from the Taishan Thunder Academy.

Although one strike was effective, this elder was old and weak, his physical functions had long since slipped, and he retreated repeatedly due to the impact of the earth puppet, spraying a blood arrow from his mouth, and shouted loudly to the crowd: "Disciples, be careful! This villain is our Taishan Earth Immortal Shi Xuanming!"

"He studies the Earth Master method, is good at earth escape, and is even more proficient in 'examining ghosts and summoning gods.' This villain swore an oath in his early years to guard the Taishan earth veins in exchange for a mountain god position in the future! Now this madman is actually blinded by greed and wants to take advantage of the situation to steal the authority of the Taishan Prefect!"

This old Daoist was also furious and directly exposed Shi Xuanming's roots.

Once these words were spoken, the many disciples present couldn't help but gasp.

It turned out this person was a Taishan Earth Immortal; no wonder his methods were so strange. I'm afraid that in terms of familiarity with Taishan's earth veins, their local sects couldn't compare to this person.

But what caught the crowd's attention even more was another sentence.

Stealing the authority of the Taishan Prefect!

Who is the Taishan Prefect?

In recent years, there was a story in folk novels "Investiture of the Gods" saying that Huang Feihu was the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak.

In fact, this is not the case.

Taishan has been regarded as the connection channel between the Netherworld and the human world since ancient times. The "Filial Piety Classic Aid to the Contract" of the Eastern Han Dynasty records the Taishan Prefect, rumored to rotate every five hundred years. During the Qin, Han, Wei, and Jin dynasties, it was the Taishan Lord Qin Yi and the Jinhong Clan; during the Tang Dynasty, it was Cui Ziyu.

Even after Buddhism and Daoism were introduced, it still occupied a place in the Netherworld belief.

This is an important divine position in the Mystic Sect; how could an Earth Immortal covet it?

However...

The other party actually did this!

Thinking of the many strange movements on Taishan recently...

Could it be that it is time for the Prefect to rotate again?

But such a thing, can it still be snatched?

Many disciples were confused in their hearts, but they couldn't care about thinking too much.

They surrounded the elders, formed an array to resist, and firmly guarded the Jade Emperor Temple.

After all, they were all elite disciples of the Mystic Sect, throwing out various thunder methods or talismans to drive away evil, plus those disciples with hidden energy who were proficient in martial arts working together, accompanied by the sound of clattering, one earth puppet after another was defeated.

Soon, the stone steps leading to the Jade Emperor Temple were covered in rubble.

And below, Shi Xuanming not only wasn't angry upon hearing this but laughed wildly, "Hahaha! Well said, Elder Wang!"

"But why don't you say what you so-called famous orthodox sects are?!"

"The Prefect position is vacant, and the old things of your several sects have been gathering here privately, arguing day and night for seven days, isn't it also trying to take advantage of the earth energy mutation and human transformation, trying to join hands to lower the prayer text to Heaven, Earth, and Gods, and forcibly press this 'Taishan Prefect' divine position onto the ancestor of one of your sects?!"

"Black pig or crow, don't laugh at each other!"

"Bastard! Guarding Taishan and communicating with Heaven and Earth is the duty of the Mystic Sect orthodoxy; how can you, a demon, distort it!"

Shoumingzi was furious, pinched the magic formula, the whisk in his hand rotated, and the rolling innate Gang Sha Qi actually roared from the Jade Emperor Temple, gathered at the whisk, and swept toward the place where Shi Xuanming's voice came from.

This strike, one doesn't know what kind of secret art it was. ===== CHAPTER 754 =====