The Emei Sect had consistently failed to uncover the person who had infiltrated the Immortal Mansion; despite many rounds of thorough investigations, they came up empty-handed.

Shi Feiyang's Earth Evil Transformation was indeed incredibly subtle; after undergoing six rounds of overt and covert observation and tests, he didn't leave the slightest trace.

He had made ample preparations in advance, and not only did he avoid detection, but he also gained even more trust from the older generation and respect from the younger.

Primarily because he conducted himself with humility and integrity, he barely spoke when the elders discussed matters, and whenever he did open his mouth, he spoke pertinently and to the point. Additionally, his progress with the Nine Heavens Mysterious Scripture and the Shaqing Secret Manual was notably swift.

When the younger generation made mistakes, he would criticise them seriously, pointing out their flaws directly and praising their strengths generously.

He had also obtained the spell for the activation and deactivation of multiple arrays in the Immortal Mansion, allowing him to enter many places that were previously off-limits.

However, he was aware that Qi Shuming had significantly increased in Daoist power, and he realized that his scheme was not foolproof; it was inevitable that it would be exposed over time, so he needed to divert his attention with other matters.

Shi Feiyang took advantage of an opening of the cave gate to contact Deng Yin using the Heavenly Treasure Mirror.

Originally, the eastern gate was opened for a very short time for Lady Miao Yi and Master Can Xia to lead Li Yingqiong, Yi Jing, and the junior disciple of Dragon Slayer, Lai Gu, to the Illusion Wave Pool on an errand.

Shi Feiyang knew that their outing ostensibly aimed to retrieve more treasures and herbs from the Illusion Wave Pool, but in reality, it was to reach out to Li Yingqiong's father, Li Ning, to find the Bai Mei Zen Master and request him to use the Sandalwood Buddha Light to retrospectively illuminate and determine where the Blood Shadow was or whose body it resided in.

He was uncertain if Bai Mei Zen Master could detect his true nature, so he decided to accelerate his pace, preparing to enter Spiritual Jade Peak for the second time.

So, he seized the moment when the array opened and closed to send out a Divine Thought.

Normally, projecting Divine Thought from Emei Mountain over the vast distance to West Kunlun would surely alert the experts with the surge of power when casting.

But Shi Feiyang had the Heavenly Treasure Mirror, and through the power of this Treasure, he sent out a sliver of Divine Thought unnoticed. In the next moment, he appeared outside West Kunlun in his own form, looking like a lone soul, drifting to the front of Seven Evil Palace. The disciples of Red Corpse God Monarch and Deng Yin, upon seeing him, thought something had happened and hurriedly went in to notify their three masters.

Upon hearing the description from his disciples, Deng Yin initially felt delighted, thinking now he could act without restraint, as if a shadow had lifted from his heart. He was actually quite dissatisfied with Shi Feiyang, knowing that Shi Feiyang had been using him against Buddhism, and despite his own considerable contributions, Shi Feiyang was not his friend but rather a shackle.

But this thought was fleeting. He then considered that with Shi Feiyang's high Dao level and possession of the Xuanyuan Two Treasures and the Heavenly Demon Nine Swords, someone powerful must have been the cause of his reduction to a mere soul. Had he been defeated, and had his Treasures now fallen into the hands of others?

There must be someone with immense strength in the world to have done this, surely it was those thieving monks and nuns from Buddhism, ganging up and scheming; having taken Shi Feiyang's Treasures, the next target would be himself!

He hurried out from his meditation chamber, his heart pounding even higher, feeling somewhat terrified.

Because he couldn't sense Shi Feiyang's presence!

With his abilities, he could remotely perceive things millions of miles away, seeing falling flower petals as if they were patterns on his palm. Logically, even if the shielding spells in the Underground Palace severely weakened his perceptive abilities, he should have been aware of someone right outside the palace gates, but there was nothing!

When the chamber door opened and the shielding spell dissipated, he still couldn't sense Shi Feiyang.

Had that sliver of soul already dispersed?!

With Shi Feiyang alive, he could share the burden of combating the powerful experts from the Orthodox Sects of both Buddhism and Daoism. With Shi Feiyang's death, his own end was also looming!

Transforming into a Blood Shadow, Deng Yin moved at his fastest speed to the palace gates and, seeing Shi Feiyang's faint shadow hanging there, he breathed a sigh of relief.

But he quickly realized something was wrong: "Why have you only come with this 'Conscious-Born Body'? Where is your true form? Have you already met with misfortune?"

He recognized that this was Shi Feiyang's "Conscious-Born Body," an exceptionally faint bit of Divine Thought that had materialized, barely even amounting to a breath.

Deng Yin could do something similar; he could manifest many Blood Shadows, each capable of overtaking bodies and seizing souls. Without such a technique, he wouldn't have been able to fight Zen Master Bing Weimo Zhu Hong that day in Qiao Mountain Sacred Tomb; he couldn't have burrowed into the Zen Master's body, forcing the latter to cut off a finger to expel him from his body.

If this was Shi Feiyang's residual soul, even just a strand, he could perhaps find a way to help Shi Feiyang reconstruct his Soul and be reborn as a human again. But if it was a Conscious-Born Body, that was troublesome, as this was just a fragment of thought; even if it could be sealed within an object to be preserved, it would still be useless…

Shi Feiyang said, "You don't need to worry about where my true self is, I came here to discuss something with you."

Deng Yin was still wondering, his consciousness body was clearly right here, why couldn't he sense it? Concentrating closely, he saw a faint golden light enveloping the consciousness body.

Seeing him lose focus, Shi Feiyang concentrated his spiritual power a bit more and sent the information directly into Deng Yin's brain, "I'm asking you, the Emei Sect has now closed their doors and become reclusive, what do you plan to do?"

Knowing the other party was just a shred of consciousness, merely responsible for conveying messages and already cut off from the actual Shi Feiyang, Deng Yin replied with his divine thought, "Big Brother, what do you think I should do?"

Shi Feiyang told him, "The current situation in the world has changed. You can have Zen Master Xiao Yue go to Emei Mountain to found a school and establish the Emei Sect. Recruit many from the martial arts world of Jianghu, select the outstanding among them to impart the Immortal Law, and build many palaces and pavilions. Qi Shuming and his people are hiding within the bowels of the mountain. You can set up another Emei Sect on the surface of the mountain. If they do not come out for a long time, in the long run, you will be recognized as the true Emei Sect, the rightful inheritors of the Emei Dao, and they will become the imposters."

The idea that Deng Yin was pondering on how to force Qi Shuming and his group out suddenly became clear, and he was suddenly enlightened, "Brilliant! What a clever strategy! My brother is truly wise…"

The method proposed by Shi Feiyang originated from Zhuge Liang's "Memorial on the Occasion of the Second Northern Expedition": The Han traitors cannot coexist, the empire's business cannot rest in peace.

Why did Zhuge Liang insist on continually launching Northern Expeditions? Because without these expeditions, capturing more territories, and obtaining more population, Cao Wei would become the legitimate Han dynasty. Then, even if they claimed to be the rightful Han lineage, they would be seen as a separatist regime.

He instructed Deng Yin to have Zen Master Xiao Yue establish a Daoist ground on Emei Mountain, openly receive disciples under the name of the Emei Sect. In as short as ten years or as long as thirty years, everyone under heaven would acknowledge them as the true Emei Sect. By then, Qi Shuming and his group would be deemed imposters, and at most, they might pass as an "Esoteric Sect" or "Hidden Immortals."

When the time came, with Zen Master Xiao Yue's Emei Sect having a multitude of disciples, could Qi Shuming and his people truly annihilate them all?

In the past, Deng Yin's way of thinking was to guard at Emei Mountain and kill any disciple he saw. But with the land of Shu filled with Sword Immortals, especially those from the Orthodox Sect gathered, and Great Snow Mountain housing many high-ranking Buddhist monks and divine nuns, if they were to beset him, he could only escape in disgrace.

However, now Shi Feiyang came to him with this proposal, and Deng Yin calculated that the Heavenly Number has changed, with the pattern shifting, making the rise and fall of both sides even more evident.

Whether it was feasible or not, it was worth a try.

Deng Yin called Zen Master Xiao Yue and told him about this, asking him to establish a teaching on Emei Mountain.

Zen Master Xiao Yue obeyed the order, left West Kunlun with two disciples—one named Bing Weimo Zhu Hong and the other named Arm-Through-Ape Lu Qing. The three of them, all dressed as monks.

Upon their arrival at Emei Mountain, after performing several miracles, they began to beg alms everywhere. They soon collected a million taels of silver, and with it, they began constructing temples and palaces on Emei Mountain.

Originally known as Dust Eliminator, he shaved his head and shifted his focus from Dao to Buddhism when he became Zen Master Xiao Yue. He delved into many Buddhist martial arts, later becoming a disciple of Grandmaster Ha Ha, who was also clad in monk's attire and possessed many Buddhist cultivation techniques, imparting not a few to him.

His foundational martial arts was the Great Vajra Fist, personally passed down by Dharma Ancestor, from which he further developed the more formidable Dragon Subduing Eight Palm.

Both the fist and palm techniques were universally powerful; ordinary members of the martial arts world could wield them as formidable martial arts. With mana, they had other supernatural applications.

Zen Master Xiao Yue, originally a Sword Immortal from Shu, was very familiar with everything here. He quickly accepted five disciples, all from wealthy households in Chengdu and surrounding areas, some of which were the progeny of officials and others from wealthy merchant families—and all came from prestigious clans.

The Emei Sect he propagated was divided into Buddhist and Daoist branches. He gave the Buddhist branch's first disciple the Dharma name Golden Light, and the Daoist branch's first disciple the Daoist name Pine Pattern...

Zen Master Xiao Yue brazenly came to Emei Mountain to establish his Emei Sect, which greatly irritated and alarmed Qi Shuming and the others. While they continually retreated and defended, Blood Demon became more aggressive, striking at their heartland!

Many felt they couldn't tolerate this, especially the younger generation, who were eager to come out and engage in a decisive battle to the death with the Blood Demon and the Red Corpse.

Logically, what they should do right now was to immediately take action and drive Zen Master Xiao Yue away.

But now they didn't dare to go out, and even staying within the mountain was done with the utmost caution. The Gua Xiang revealed that the infiltrating Blood Shadow was still lurking in the Immortal Mansion, yet to be found.

Qi Shuming held a meeting with the Elders, and they ultimately decided to continue staying inside the mountain, allowing Zen Master Xiao Yue to freely accept disciples outside, rapidly developing the Emei Sect into a martial arts sect on par with the Shaolin, Mount Hua, and others in Jianghu...

Primarily because Zen Master Xiao Yue had demonstrated "miracles," people in Jianghu knew there were Sword Immortals on Emei Mountain. For many years, people had ascended the mountain searching for immortals and seeking discipleship, but they could never find one.

Now that a Sword Immortal openly took disciples, a significant number of martial artists rushed to join Emei Mountain. To show their sincerity, many even worshipped with every step, kowtowing their way up the mountain.

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