In the dead of night, when all was silent, Ji Fan, serving as the Great Mage of the West Pole Sect in Central Earth, would teach the followers by day and dine with the local officials by night.

After fulfilling his social obligations, he returned to his residence.

His grand hall was splendidly decorated, and every night the candles illuminated it as brightly as day.

There were usually maids to tend to him, but today they were nowhere to be seen, not coming to greet him or help him wash up and change clothes immediately.

Ji Fan felt somewhat displeased. After entering the house, he first went to offer incense to his Guardian Divine Demon.

In the West Pole Sect, each person cultivates their own Lifebound Divine and also a Guardian Divine Demon, ultimately combining with the most powerful Creator God as a trinity. By merging into one, they could lend strength to one another, such that even a follower who had never cultivated could unleash formidable power if they remained true and persevered.

While holding the incense, he reported his day's deeds, both good and bad, to his Guardian Divine Demon for judgment.

After finishing his narration and placing the incense into the golden incense burner, he turned to rest on his bed, only to find that there was already someone sitting on his broad bed.

His whole body shuddered with fright. Ever since he had entered the sect and started his cultivation, he had never experienced such a sensation, since normally, no one could approach him so silently and undetected—for instance, at this moment, he could clearly sense every corner of the sect and what everyone was doing.

But this suddenly appearing person was silent as the dead, almost like a wooden log, and Ji Fan wondered how many years he had been there!

He gasped in shock, "Who are you?"

It was naturally Shi Feiyang, who had restrained and moved all the serving maid cultivators elsewhere, now waiting here for Ji Fan.

Ji Fan asked, but Shi Feiyang didn't respond. Stretching out his hand, he cast out beams of blue, red, yellow, white, and black light, akin to a colorful giant hand reaching out to grab Ji Fan. Ji Fan bellowed angrily, deploying his Flying Sword to defend.

His set of twelve swords circled around him, their tips pointing outward to scatter the colorful light.

However, Shi Feiyang's Five Elements True Qi was not so easily dispersed. Sitting on the bed, Shi Feiyang made a grasping motion with his right hand, forcibly contracting the Five Elements Essence Qi towards him, compressing it to within two feet of Ji Fan, causing Ji Fan's face to be bathed in vibrant colors.

Sensing the danger, Ji Fan quickly bit his tongue and spat Essence Blood, activating the twelve Flying Swords to connect end to end, forming a Sword Circle and forcibly expanding the light circle. With his left hand, he gestured to summon his Guardian Divine Demon.

This Guardian Divine Demon, normally stationed in the room and allowed entry to only two designated maids besides Ji Fan himself, indicated that Shi Feiyang must have subdued it to comfortably sit there so composedly.

Ji Fan continuously made gestures to activate his Guardian Divine Demon, but there was no response. Realizing this, his heart was struck with horror, and he looked towards the figure on the bed with eyes filled with fear.

Even his master, Zongdonar, wouldn't possess such mana!

His master could, of course, subdue his Guardian Divine Demon, but only because his Guardian Divine was a manifestation of his master's. To think that this young man in green seated on the bed, an outsider, could subdue his guardian was simply inconceivable!

Frantically, he pulled out a Magical Treasure, preparing to cast it. Shi Feiyang grasped with his hand, causing Ji Fan's Sword Circle to burst apart under the pressure of the colorful light circle, shattering and scattering everywhere.

Green, red, black, and yellow beams of light firmly imprisoned his body, while a beam of white light, condensed from gold-type Essence Qi, lightly slid across his neck, decapitating him cleanly at the shoulders!

Ji Fan's head was severed from his neck, spraying blood, which his Lifebound Divine Demon used to attempt an escape through the roof to seek his master at West Pole Mountain.

Shi Feiyang had already set an ambush with a Nine Child Mother Sky Demon. A magnificent and benevolent figure stooped down, spread its arms, and like a mother cradling a baby, wrapped its Demon Claws around his Lifebound Divine Demon.

Struggling fiercely, Ji Fan was powerless against the Mother of All Demons. Numerous Demon Lights shot through his body between the Demon Claws, skewering him on many iron spikes, then began spinning, completing three thousand six hundred rotations in a flash. His Lifebound Divine Demon shrunk to the height of a foot, now resembling a child, no longer capable of escape or transformation.

The Mother Demon, carrying him, crossed back through the roof into the room and dropped him before Shi Feiyang.

Ji Fan's entire repertoire of spells was restricted, his one-foot-tall form fell to the ground, realizing there was no escape, he resignedly asked, "Who exactly are you?"

"I am the Great Ming National Master, Yuan Yang True Master, Shi Feiyang." exclaimed Shi Feiyang, seemingly perplexed. "You had people maliciously spread rumors and crafted so many stories about me, yet you don't even know what I look like? Didn't your people say that you had already beheaded me in the Forbidden City with a Flying Sword? Now I'm here to see for myself how you went about beheading me. Show me once again how you did it."

Ji Fan was greatly startled; his followers and officials had told him that, though this National Master possessed some magical skills, they were trivial at best. He had appeared once during the Wanli Dynasty, then disappeared, only to re-emerge selling rare foreign products in Central Earth, essentially just a money-making warlock from Jianghu.

Having met several cultivators in Central Earth, none of whom matched him, Ji Fan inevitably grew arrogant, believing this National Master would be no different. He had never imagined the situation would be so terrifying...

He hurriedly explained, "Those were the actions of my sect's followers; many things were beyond my knowledge..."

"It doesn't matter whether you knew or not," Shi Feiyang replied curtly, "What matters is that it was done by people of your West Pole Sect. Since I can't go to West Pole Mountain to settle the score with your six elders, I'll have to hold you responsible instead."

With that, Shi Feiyang flicked his finger.

Ji Fan turned around and saw his blood-drenched head, suspended by a white mist and flying towards him. It stared at him with blood-soaked eyes, frightening him.

Shi Feiyang asked, "At this point, do you want to die or live?"

Ji Fan asked with a trembling voice, "Am I dead or alive right now?"

He considered if Shi Feiyang deemed his current state as dead, then he had already died and wouldn't die again. But if Shi Feiyang considered him alive, his soul might still disperse.

Understanding his question, Shi Feiyang said, "Right now, you are neither dead nor alive. If you wish to live, I can reattach your head, press your Primordial Spirit back into your body and revive you. You'll only suffer some loss of Essence Blood Primordial Qi and with a few months of recuperation, you could fully recover.

If you want to die, I will completely kill you, take your Primordial Spirit back to the Mingyu Immortal Market, and sell it at a fixed price. Many cultivators proficient in the Demon Path, especially Sword Immortals, will be keen. Whether they use you to craft a Divine Demon or incorporate you into a Flying Sword Magical Treasure depends on your fate."

Ji Fan hadn't expected a chance at revival and quickly said, "I want to live! I really want to live!"

Shi Feiyang said, "If you want to live, you'll have to work for me from now on."

Ji Fan agreed eagerly, hoping to was resurrect.

"First, instruct your followers to destroy all those books slandering me and rewrite them about how the State Preceptor subdued the Great Mage from the West."

Ji Fan found it difficult, "Our West Pole Sect worships the supreme Heavenly God, Creator of mankind and mother of everything, we cannot be defeated…"

"Stop babbling! From now on, your god is not to be called Heavenly God, nor shall you speak of the origin of heaven and earth or the mother of all things, and stop applying our Immortal matters directly to yourselves. As for whether you can be defeated… I can demonstrate to everyone by chopping off the heads of you and your twelve brothers and hanging them on the city gates, three on each side."

Ji Fan dared not oppose and had to agree.

"The second thing, that Xie Shan is my arch-enemy."

Ji Fan startled, "The Evil God worshiped by the Xie Wang Sect?"

Shi Feiyang nodded with a smile, "Exactly, that Evil God, haha, they are very evil. Once when a demon wanted to kill children to extract their Life Souls for making Magical Treasures, I went to save them. Xie Shan's daughters desperately tried to stop me, letting many children be killed."

Ji Fan hatefully said, "We would never do anything like killing children to make Magical Treasures."

"Well, regardless, the reason I've left you alive and allowed your West Pole Sect to remain in Central Earth, is to have you deal with them."

Ji Fan said, "Once I'm reborn and recovered, I'll lead the elite of our sect to annihilate Xie Shan."

"Hold on! Hold on!" Shi Feiyang swiftly dismissed his idea, knowing Xie Shan's Mana could easily defeat Ji Fan and his ilk. Now, Xie's family adheres to Buddhist precepts, not wantonly slaughtering, but subduing them would still be effortless.

"Don't directly duel with them, you can't beat him. His Dao Level was already high, and now with his Buddhist cultivation and the vast support of Incense Fire Wish Power, he's nearly as powerful as me. Unless you go back to the West Pole Mountain and summon your six elders, sending anyone of your current level would simply be sending them to their deaths."

Ji Fan hearing of Xie Shan's family's prowess, grew frightened.

Shi Feiyang frowned, "You're so useless, I might as well kill you and your junior brothers and sell your Primordial Spirits for money."

"Don't! Please don't! I'll do whatever you say," Ji Fan quickly pleaded.

Shi Feiyang said, "In the past, Xie Shan primarily cultivated in tranquility and inaction. Originally, he could have returned to Buddhism… When Buddhism first spread to Central Earth during the Han Dynasty, it hadn't the vast collection of Mahayana Sutras present in later generations; even Dharma arrived during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. His cultivation was of the lesser vehicle of liberation, not the Bodhi Path.

Being of lesser vehicle nature, he constantly pursued personal tranquility and liberation, rarely bonding with sentient beings. Upon returning to Buddhism, seeing the frosty heart moon and the green lotus atop the pond, he might suddenly attain enlightenment and comprehend suchness. Still, ultimately he remained within the tranquility aspect, lacking the grand compassion to sustain the Great Vows and Great Actions he's now undertaken."

He instructed Ji Fan, "Don't destroy his temples; that would only lessen his burden. Instead, make his following even larger."

Ji Fan gaped, "How can I…"

"You should not say that your god is the Heavenly God or anything like that, just say your god is a Buddha, the Tathagata, and your sect, superior to both lesser and greater vehicles, should be called the Giant Vehicle. Coming to Central Earth, you will spread the Giant Vehicle Buddhism. Your West Pole Mountain will be the Sumeru Mountain, your six ancestors, the Six Ancient Buddhas before Shakyamuni…"

Ji Fan understood his strategy. Initially in Central Earth posing as a monk from the West Sea, all terminology was adapted and translated under the Three Sects. Over time as their influence grew, they started to craft a distinctive identity. He was experienced in such tasks.

Shi Feiyang outlined the broader direction, "Currently, your West Pole Sect's level is inadequate, and both Buddhist and Daoist sects could easily crush you, so you must keep borrowing their shells. After accomplishing these tasks, align with Xie Shan's faction. Focus on expanding your followers without distinguishing between you and him, letting followers believe in both. Make it so that he has you within him, and you have him within you. Then he won't be able to kill you, only convert you. Can you manage all this?"

Ji Fan, fearing to say otherwise, could only nod, "Rest assured, State Preceptor, I will accomplish it all."

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