Spirit Court, Jixian Institute.

Located on the right side of the Spirit Court’s palace complex, the Jixian Institute is thought by many to be a department of religious governance built with extravagant splendor.

But in reality, it is just a simple long strip of small houses.

A total of more than ten small rooms, connected in a line, no taller than five meters, no wider than six meters, form the highest religious adjudication institution in the entire Great Spirit.

At this moment, the weather is gradually becoming cold, snowflakes flutter to the ground, covering the top of the Jixian Institute with a thick white layer.

There is no heating in the Jixian Institute, but just the body heat from the few people present can make it warm as spring.

There are only three people inside the entire Jixian Institute now.

Completely different from the previous scale of dozens of people.

"So I say, what use were those useless people staying here before? They were of no great use, only taking up space. It’s small here as it is."

Yue Dewen sat on the chair representing the Daoist sect, stroking the smooth redwood table surface.

"Look now, much more comfortable."

"At this point, everyone can see your plan and guess it. But relying solely on our five families is not enough." Daoist Qingyi lowered his eyes, half-open and half-closed, looking almost ready to sleep.

"Black Ten and Sky Lock are not willing to accompany you in madness, they are just forced to join now." Yuan Shi twisted his plump body, speaking with an insidious tone.

"You wouldn’t think that beating people up would make them submit, would you?"

"I never intended that, but... when the time comes, some things shouldn’t be simply let go, so I thought I’d give it a try..." Yue Dewen said with a sly smile.

Knock knock knock.

Suddenly a guard gently knocked on the door from outside.

"There is correspondence from the Great Dao Teaching. Please have Sect Leader Yue review it."

"Bring it in then." Yue Dewen said lazily.

Soon, a thin slit appeared in the door, and someone slipped a red letter through it.

Yue Dewen waved his hand lightly, releasing a stream of air that accurately lifted the letter and floated it into his hand.

He tore open the letter, quickly scanning through it.

Immediately, his expression changed slightly, and his earlier smile gradually vanished.

"It seems, some people still don’t believe in evil." He crushed the paper with one hand.

"Is it about your precious disciple? Not to criticize, but your disciple is still too much of a troublemaker. Isn’t it? Even managed to uncover the so-called secret restraining the worship of god." Yuan Shi’s eyes flickered as he continued speaking with a mocking tone.

"I also received the news here. The major hidden secret left by the sect now seems likely to be true." Daoist Qingyi chimed in, singing in harmony.

"Even if it’s true, it can’t possibly be held by my disciple!" Yue Dewen said resolutely.

He looked up at the two of them.

"You two, you can eat recklessly, but you can’t speak recklessly."

"What? You still want to fight me?" Yuan Shi laughed sharply. "The compassionate Buddha, I’m just temporarily unwilling to create trouble with you! Truly, if we start fighting, haha..."

"You two, you don’t have the demeanor of a sect leader at all." Daoist Qingyi said calmly.

His gaze fell on Yue Dewen.

"If it really is your disciple, what will you do?"

Holding the secret that restrains the worship of god, this matter can be big or small.

There have been precedents before, but in terms of severity, it was less than this time.

This time, the successive phenomenon of worship deaths is not the previous futile repetitive killing method, but a special new method.

Yue Dewen pondered for a moment.

"Whether true or not, the final result can only be ’not true’."

Daoist Qingyi raised his eyebrows and said no more.

Instead, Yuan Shi beside him laughed sharply again.

"Old Yue, you’ve been too clever, plotting everything, yet unable to handle your disciple’s side. Arranging Grandmasters as bodyguards, having a Grandmaster ready to support, but still couldn’t withstand your disciple’s antics."

"If it were me, I would’ve long wanted to kill such a disciple. Always stirring up trouble, too many issues." He said sharply.

The three present had all gone through that cruel era, so they were quite unimpressed with things like ’the secret restraining worship’.

Such news, in their long centuries of life, had happened countless times.

Even they themselves had used such means to frame opponents before.

Too familiar with such routines.

Yue Dewen glanced at the two old rivals.

His goal from the beginning was to ascend to the position of the state religion.

But this position had always been secretly controlled by the anti-Spirit Flying Church.

Spirit Flying Church, Flying Spirit Sect, many refer to it differently, but as long as it contains the words Spirit and Flying, it invariably points to the Unique God Teaching devoted to Spirit Flying Heaven.

It is also the massive backing force behind the entire Spirit Court.

The Divine Generals, the core military power of the great nobles, the backing force, all belong to the Spirit Flying Church.

Many generals in the army who worship the gods also worship Spirit Flying Heaven.

Essentially, this path is extremely difficult.

But Yue Dewen now has gained great momentum, rallying all forces dissatisfied with the Spirit Flying Church.

Why would many sects, after being suppressed, still willingly join the alliance with him?

It’s because the oppression from the Spirit Flying Church was more widespread and lasted longer.

"This matter, should be those miscellaneous sects unwilling to join us causing trouble earlier. But, their willingness to eternally be subdued, just defies the trend." Yue Dewen said easily.

"The Secret Doctrine re-recorded, pushed them to risk everything, going crazy in the end. They were utilized by others." He saw everything clearly.

The path of the Great Dao Teaching, the Eastern Sect wanted to take it back then but failed. But that was because the Imperial Tutor’s faction was too weak, only strong himself, even with covert cooperation from the Emperor back then, it was of no use, unfortunately...

But now it’s different...

"Through the hand of the Righteous Alliance, we’ve secretly replaced and resolved many of the Spirit Flying Church’s foundations. Now, it’s time for the largest few noble families."

Among the great nobles, who’s the largest?

Of course, it’s the Six Kings.

King Zhending is resolved.

The following five kings are representatives among the great nobles.

Therefore....

"So, you’ve secretly sent people to orchestrate cooperation with the Righteous Alliance’s Rebellious Times Association to cause trouble everywhere? Well played," Daoist Qingyi chuckled a few times.

Yue Dewen returned with a smile.

"Isn’t this achieving multiple goals in one move? Not only did it weaken the Righteous Alliance’s power and stabilize the court’s rule, but it also served my purpose. Additionally, it helps in eradicating the hidden forces of the Residual God Sect."

Daoist Qingyi was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed. He quickly took a token from his waist.

This token had over ten different colored lines.

At this moment, one of the lines was slowly losing its color.

"Something happened to the special envoy team!" he said seriously.

Now that the Taiji Palace had closed its doors, there were not many experts left. Every loss was significant.

Yet now... something like this could still happen!

"Even with Zhou Yan leading the special envoy team, something went wrong? Could it be the Jade Void Palace?" Yuan Shi asked in surprise.

Although he sent Yuan Chang over, the internal strife in the True Buddha Temple was intense, with different factions competing. Even if something happened, there were plenty of replacements, so he wasn’t concerned.

This relates to the system of absorbing martial strength.

In contrast, Yue Dewen frowned deeply.

The special envoy team was assembled to investigate the true situation of Zhang Ying, a team of top experts.

With Grandmaster Zhou Yan leading, now that there’s an incident with the special envoy team, Zhou Yan might have....

In that case, what exactly is happening with Zhang Ying there?

Thinking of this, he couldn’t sit still.

He immediately stood up, took a step, and swiftly left the Jixian Institute.

This was originally a time for the three to exchange opinions.

But he couldn’t worry about others.

If the future development of the Great Dao Teaching is his ambition,

then the existence of Zhang Ying is his foundation for the future.

As he strives to break through, with Zhang Ying’s existence, he can be completely unburdened.

And now, the incident with the special envoy team has given him a bad premonition.

*

*

*

Zhang Rongfang sat cross-legged in a quiet room.

It’s been three days since Zhou Yan was killed.

In three days, the news must have spread; even the side of Yue Shi in the Great Capital might already know.

Originally, he didn’t intend to expose himself.

But unfortunately... To reach Grandmaster in martial arts, one must accumulate an invincible spirit, a self-strengthening spirit.

Emperor Jiang showed him through actions how strong the peak of martial arts can be.

Thus, he decided to address his weaknesses.

Break through to Grandmaster!

Now he has dispersed all the people from the Rebel Sect. The next step is to abandon the fixed base at Agarwood Mansion and switch to other scattered and hidden points.

He himself has also moved to a hidden retreat in the mountains, far from the city.

Official positions, at this level, hold little significance for him.

By not worshipping the Divine, he won’t be influenced or controlled by the gods and would not care about followers or missionary armies.

From beginning to end, his pursuit of purpose has only been one thing.

That is, inner peace.

And now.

"It’s no good..." Opening his eyes, Zhang Rongfang sighed slightly.

"Yue Shi has treated me well; I cannot repay him, and my heart is uneasy."

The attribute points accumulated over the past few days have reached eleven again.

But when added to martial arts, it still feels a bit lacking.

"Your mental willpower is already strong enough, but it still lacks a bit of cohesion." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Sitting opposite him in the quiet room was another person.

The person was dressed in a white dress, petite and exquisite, with a proud curve on her chest. Although her face was cute, it exuded a surprising chill.

It was none other than Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang.

The night they left Qingchuan Prefecture, Emperor Jiang brought him here, to this secluded mountain estate.

He met Celestial Maiden Tong Zhang, who had been living here all along.

In addition to this, there was another person who came here with them.

"All conditions of Essence Qi and Spirit are met. But your spirit is a bit scattered, which relates to different people’s pursuit of cohesion," she continued.

At the entrance of the quiet room, Ran Xinyue approached slowly, her long hair reaching her waist. Her body carried a faint warmth and fragrance, obviously having just finished bathing.

She wore a green dress. Despite having a flat chest, her hip and leg curves were prominent, and the white silk enveloping her legs complemented the color of her dress, making her skin appear even fairer.

Entering the quiet room, she slowly knelt beside Zhang Rongfang and Tong Zhang, lifting her head and puffing out her chest.

"Buddhism says, this is the unfinished entanglement with the secular world."

"Daoism says, this is the undisciplined heart and monkey mind."

"Since what you seek is cohesion, which is inner peace,

then only by resolving all troubling matters can you truly concentrate your mind," Ran Xinyue replied.

"May I ask how you did it back then?" Zhang Rongfang asked.

"I’m different... Back then, I set up an arena with rules: only experts of similar age and gender, without using weapons, could step into the ring. After battling for a hundred days, I successfully forged a spirit of self-reliance and stepped into Grandmaster," Ran Xinyue said, slightly proud.

Of course, she wouldn’t mention that the place she set up the arena was in a small locale.

And she didn’t even advertise it; just put up a sign on the stage.

After a hundred days, she truly realized the gap between herself and the Martial Artists in the small town.