Today is the grand festival in Yangshi Confucian Temple, and a grand banquet is also being held in Xundu Academy. Between the pavilions and terraces, you can see powerful people radiating immortal light and supernatural powers walking among them, or they can be seen bathing in the light of merit and virtue, immune to all evil.
Thousands of students and sages in the academy were reciting aloud, some were playing the flute or the piano, and there were even female monks dancing and chanting the Book of Songs. The light from the incense and the scorching sun in the sky refracted a myriad of colors, making the Xundu Academy look like a fairy palace in heaven.
In the forest garden surrounded by spiritual energy, you can see auspicious beasts covered with divine patterns crawling on the ground, flowers are raining down from the sky, and there are groups of guests in the jade-built bridges and palaces.
Beautiful and graceful maids held jade tripods and copper cups and served spiritual food made from spiritual energy or incense on the table. An endless stream of spiritual springs and spiritual wine flowed down from the mountains and gathered in the wine pool. Along the way, one could see inscriptions of sages and long scrolls of paintings everywhere.
At the same time, people kept coming down on the wind and walking on the clouds, and were welcomed into the palace for a banquet.
Those who come are all gods from various directions. Above them are the gods of the underworld and the gods of various directions, and below them are those who have great merits and are waiting for reincarnation.
The gates of the three major places where saints practiced meditation, namely Chongsheng Temple, Yisheng Palace and Yisheng Peak, were also opened. Thousands of disciples and students knelt and bowed towards the saints' places, and their cheers shook the earth. Then they saw the doors of the saints' places of meditation slowly opening.
From afar, you can see three clouds of merit, fortune and luck that are like pillars supporting the sky, reaching up to the sky and connecting with the sun of incense in the sky. There are infinite changes and all kinds of scenes constantly emerging.
When gods and powerful beings stepped into it one by one, it was like walking into a spiritual realm.
Tall moon-trees are in full bloom on both sides. In the past, Xundu was planted with these trees. The fragrance of the moon-trees in front of the Xundu Academy has become a scene praised by many poetry students.
Every ghost and god who went to Xundu Academy was amazed. They were amazed at the grandeur of the Xundu Academy, and also at the power of the preaching jade slip, which was so powerful that no one could match it, not even ghosts and gods could defeat it.
On the main peak of Xundu Academy, there is a Temple of the Ancient Sage. Behind the temple is an incredible sacred tree that rises into the sky, with millions of branches hanging down. Each branch is covered with layers of flowers in a riot of colour.
The branches covered the sky, turning it into a colorful sea of flowers.
This was originally a moon locust tree planted by Feng Sheng himself. After being nurtured by the years and baptized by incense, the whole tree has become one with the incense.
It takes the preaching jade slip as its root and feeds on endless incense. Over the years, it has been infected by the literary spirit of thousands of sages in this underworld, and gradually turned into a spiritual root, which was called the Spring and Autumn Tree by Feng Sheng.
At this moment, under the tree, there was a long topaz desk on the white brick square. A young scholar in a black and red robe was seen sitting cross-legged in front of the desk, deep in thought while gazing at a long scroll, as if his thoughts were blocked by something.
The long scroll fell to the ground in a ball, along with the petals all over the ground. A large stack of jade slips was piled on the ground. Several young scholars stood respectfully on both sides. There were also a few desks on the right, as if they were sorting out what the teacher had written. Everyone was quiet and didn't dare to speak, as if they were afraid to interrupt the young teacher's train of thought. It was like two different worlds compared to the lively feast outside.
Chang De, the judge of the Soul-Catching Department, and Zhang Heming, the Heavenly Master under the Eastern Ghost Emperor, came together. The two boys standing guard at the door did not stop them and let them pass through the First Saint Temple and arrive at the back garden.
The two of them did not disturb Fang Xiu, but instead looked at the magnificent Spring and Autumn Tree. No matter who enters here, the first thing they will notice is this spiritual root, which is extremely beautiful and magical. Because of the influence of the power of incense, its entire body is as transparent as a spiritual jade.
Billions of branches hang down, densely entangled together, like a sea of clouds in the sky, bearing colorful flowers.
Fang Xiu put down his brush, looked at the two people, and said self-deprecatingly: "Although I am the master of this academy, I really don't have any literary talent. I am not good at writing articles, and I am not proficient in poetry. The only thing I can show off is my painting skills."
Chang De smiled and said, "Then you must give me a painting when you have time."
After saying this, Chang De looked at Fang Xiu's body, and saw that his body was emitting a faint light, just like the body of an immortal, merging with the light: "Is your body gathered by incense? Similar to the golden body of incense?"
Fang Xiu said: "This is the separation between Yin and Yang, no one can easily travel through it. If you want to enter or leave this underworld, you must pass through the Ghost Gate."
"But this preaching jade slip is my magic weapon. I can naturally connect with this trace of soul and spirit to condense a true body. However, I can only move within this preaching jade slip and cannot move around at will."
Fang Xiu looked at Zhang Heming. This old friend really entered Dongzhou in the Mountain and Sea Realm. He made plans to expel the high priest Xuanyuan, suppressed the old nobles of Pan Kingdom and a group of practitioners and forces related to Siqiong Mountain of Xuanyuan Kingdom, and sorted out the Shinto order of the human territory in Dongzhou. He condensed supreme merit and followed the luck of Emperor Changyue to enter the Shinto, and entered the underworld to become a righteous god. It can be said that his two hundred years of hard practice were worth it.
Zhang Heming looked up at the Spring and Autumn Tree and finally came to his senses: "What a great spiritual root it is! It suppresses destiny and lasts for eternity. It deserves the name of Spring and Autumn."
Fang Xiu looked at Zhang Heming. His broken arm had grown back, and his golden body was as solid as a physical body, no worse than those of Dharmakāya and Yuanshen. He couldn't help but sigh and said, "Congratulations to Zhang Tianshi for ascending to the position of a true god, although this congratulations comes a little late."
Zhang Heming shook his head: "How can it compare to your immortal life? I'm afraid I can only stay in this underworld from now on. Not to mention the real world, I can't even go in and out of the world of the living easily."
Fang Xiu asked, "You two came here together, what do you want to see me about?"
Zhang Heming asked, "Emperor Changyue is about to return to his throne. I am afraid that the mountain god of Mount Siqiong will cause trouble again, so I want to ask you one more question."
Fang Xiu: "Your Heavenly Master is well versed in destiny, so he naturally knew long ago that the God of Mount Siqiong would not succeed. When Emperor Changyue returns to his throne, I, Tang Li, the Fifth Saint of the Way of Literature, will also return with him. All the stars will support the moon, and all the gods will welcome us. Even if the God of Mount Siqiong has any plans, they will be useless in the current situation."
"Even if he wants to seize the throne of the emperor, it is impossible. He can only wait for the next time to change the world."
Zhang Heming himself knew that the mountain god of Mount Siqiong had no chance, but he was still a little hesitant because he was afraid of his once enormous power and reputation. After all, he was currently under the command of Emperor Changyue. If something went wrong when Emperor Changyue returned to the throne, he would also be implicated.
After listening to Fang Xiu's words, Zhang Heming nodded and said, "After I go back this time, I will make another deduction and set a date. I will personally lead the gods of the underworld to welcome the emperor back to the throne."
Chang De was concerned about another matter: "I heard that there was another big change in the mountains and seas. Several decades ago, the stars appeared in the daytime. Each star turned into a cave and star palace, a small world. How much do you know about Fengdu? Is this related to the ancient heaven? Is it related to the Shinto order?"
Having reached Changde's point, their concern is naturally to go further. The difficulty of obtaining the position of the Emperor of the Underworld has made them almost give up on making any plans, unless they plan to reincarnate and cultivate again, enter the world of the living again, plan for the next change of dynasties, and reincarnate to fight for the throne.
However, few people are willing to choose this path. Whether it is reincarnation or fighting for the dragon, they will encounter numerous crises, and the rest can only focus on the secrets of the heaven in the past.
The underworld has now unveiled its secrets to everyone little by little, but the secrets of the gods in the past are still hidden behind the curtains. Everyone who wants to follow the path of the gods will definitely pay attention to the secrets of the heavens in the past, which may contain the subsequent path to the gods.
Fang Xiu: "I don't know much about this matter, but there are gods and demons in the ruins of the Immortal Country in Nanzhou, which have transformed the Immortal Palace into a domain. Some people speculate that this may be related to the road ahead. No one knows more at the moment."
The three of them then sat down and discussed for a while, each gaining something, and then left.
And Fang Xiu looked up at the world of the living. At this moment, the Da Pan Dynasty in Dongzhou was also undergoing drastic changes. Just as they said, the emperor who founded the Da Pan Dynasty, Tianzi Dynasty, had also reached the end of his life and was about to return to his throne as Emperor Changyue.
The fifth saint chosen by Fang Xiu, Tang Li, is now entering his old age just like the emperor of that day. Even though he has immense power, as someone who has followed the path of righteous cultivation in the academy, it is impossible for him to live longer than two hundred years.
Many of the civil and military officials who ended the troubled times have either already died or are about to follow them into the underworld, completely announcing the end of an era.