As Bai Yuchan, one of the Southern Five Patriarchs of Taoism, said, one of Taoism's predecessors was shamanism. The Five Pecks of Rice School, one of the earliest forms of Taoism, was originally called the "Rice Shamans." Tracing back to the source, many ancient Taoist arts evolved from the shamanistic practices of earlier times.

Ji Xiang had no clue about these eight characters, nor did he know how to begin cultivating them. However, hermits have their own clever plans, and how much more so do immortals?

First, he stared intently for a while.

The air was utterly silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Ji Xiang discovered that even though he was staring at this ancient book, the blank divine tablet didn't show any text to simply mark it; it wasn't even activating.

This made Ji Xiang feel slightly surprised.

Was this scripture actually just an ordinary one, less useful than even the White Lotus Sect's texts? Or had the existence level of this scripture reached a point where even the blank divine tablet couldn't reflect it?

Did such immortal scriptures exist?

He didn't quite believe it. After all, he remembered that the blank divine tablet had once recorded scriptures that others had just finished writing, meaning that no matter what kind of scripture it was, even if he couldn't understand its cultivation method, it wouldn't fail to reflect its name.

Ji Xiang didn't act for a long time. The Lou Mountain Sect cultivators watching from the side didn't dare to disturb him. Although they were confused, they simply felt that this ancient scripture was so profound and unpredictable that even an immortal had to observe it for so long.

Of course, some people also thought, could this actually be an ordinary book? The immortal thought it was an immortal scripture, so he looked at it for a long time but couldn't figure it out...

The cultivators speculated and harbored different thoughts, but none dared to speak at this time. After all, deep down, they still hoped that this ancient scripture passed down from ancient times could give them a little surprise.

The Lou Mountain Sect couldn't cultivate this scripture and couldn't find a way to start. If it could be deciphered by an immortal, it would broaden their horizons. At least they would know that it wasn't their own brains that had problems, but rather that their cultivation was insufficient, or that the method was wrong, or some other reason.

Buzz—

A ray of light suddenly emerged. The cultivators all looked over and saw a heavenly book with words on it.

The Bright Light Heavenly Book was originally blank, but because it had recorded a large number of immortal scriptures last time, this heavenly book now had words. The Bright Light Heavenly Book itself was like a bamboo scroll. The words of the immortal scriptures would disappear after being written in, but they still existed deep within the heavenly book, ready to be called upon when needed.

Originally, when he first obtained the heavenly book, he could only write spells and divine abilities within the Five Elements, because the parts of Heaven, Earth, and Water were missing, causing the heavenly book to be incomplete and unable to write the four major categories of methods: "Birth, Death, Fortune, and Misfortune." However, because he often used the White Lotus Sect's classics for sacrifices to replenish the heavenly book's attributes, it was able to bear some later immortal scriptures.

The Bright Light Heavenly Book appeared in his hand, and white smoke also emerged from Ji Xiang's hand. The Sky-Piercing Bright Smoke wrapped the Taoist-Shaman book, completely peeling off the image of those eight characters from the scripture.

If he didn't know how to cultivate it...

Then he would first peel off the image of the characters with the Sky-Piercing Bright Smoke, copy it onto the Bright Light Heavenly Book, and then use the Primordial Void Soaring Mystery Qi to activate it, so he could reversely understand the function of this incantation.

Buzz—

Another wave of fluctuations occurred. Those eight large characters were reflected on the heavenly book. Ji Xiang started to write, drawing out the Primordial Void Soaring Mystery Qi.

Following the image of those eight characters, green smoke rose, and light and fire suddenly burned.

At the same time, the Lou Mountain Sect cultivators were surprised, not only because of the green smoke and flames appearing on the heavenly book, but also because the image of the eight large characters on their scripture had disappeared, leaving only the outlines of some of the strokes!

This ancient treasure scripture was indestructible by water or fire, impervious to swords or blades, and unaffected by thunder. The characters remained as new as ever after thousands of years, as if there was still the smell of ink. But now, it was disappearing before their very eyes.

Thus, the cultivators concentrated, held their breaths, and waited with anticipation, full of hope, staring unblinkingly at what was about to happen.

They only saw light and shadows flickering. On Ji Xiang's left, a figure appeared, wearing a crown reaching to the sky, dressed in divine light and feathered clothing, wearing a seal with five dragons coiled around it, and holding a dragon-snake sword;

On Ji Xiang's right, a figure appeared, wearing a straw raincoat, dressed in a deep robe, wearing straw sandals, with disheveled hair, and holding a dragon-snake staff.

"This!"

The moment these two figures appeared, the cultivators instinctively felt danger, their hearts trembled, and they retreated one after another. Ji Xiang also retreated, looking at the two people on his left and right, seeing them move at the same time.

The sword and staff intertwined, like dragons and snakes biting each other.

"Kill!"

From the void, a loud shout came, and everyone's hearts trembled violently. Life and death alternated, and the blood and souls of their whole bodies disappeared for a moment. That huge feeling of tearing and transformation almost shattered all the cultivators present!

"Purifying Heart Divine Mantra, suppress!"

Ji Xiang immediately cast the immortal-level Eight Great Divine Mantras. Immortal fluctuations fell, protecting these mortal cultivators, but the killing sound of that loud shout still lingered in his heart and could not dissipate, constantly echoing and growing louder!

Without hesitation, Ji Xiang did not use any mind-stabilizing incantations. At the moment when the echo of that killing sound reached its peak, Ji Xiang raised his hand and struck his own forehead!

"Imperial Heaven's Retribution!"

Boom! That endless shouting stopped abruptly. In an instant, the world became clear, the spiritual platform was clean, and all the lingering killing sounds disappeared completely!

Afterwards, incense smoke spurted from Ji Xiang's ears and nostrils. Imperial Heaven's Retribution interrupted this strange shouting, also making the operation of incense in his body stagnate and block, including his mind being emptied at this moment. Although it was only for an instant, in this instant, Ji Xiang saw extraordinary things.

Whether it was the person who looked like a Taoist god, or the person who looked like a Qin-Han shaman, they echoed each other and made the same movements. The killing produced at this moment did not come from spells or divine abilities.

Ji Xiang saw the Great Floating Li Earth (Da Fu Li Tu).

However, in this Great Floating Li Earth, there were none of the divine tablets that he recognized, but countless forms and spirits that existed in ancient times, in the era of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties.

They gathered and transformed like clouds and mist, and the ultimate source of all the clouds and mist came from the higher sky.

The blank divine tablet suddenly reacted, and in Ji Xiang's eyes, words manifested in this instant, and years and time were frozen at this moment.

There is no concept of years in the world of consciousness.

An instant can also be thousands of years. In other words, the repeated birth and death of thousands of lifetimes is just a moment.

Hundreds of dragons and thousands of snakes, hissing and shouting.

In the sky, stars shifted and constellations changed.

[Heaven's Will Divine Power: Divine battles in the Xuan, arranging Yin and Yang.]

[Requires both the Body of the Sun and the Body of the Moon.]

[Draws a line of killing intent between Yin and Yang. Whoever encounters the killing intent dies, this is Heavenly Slaughter!]

[Heaven's will is often invisible, and Heaven's will is often unseen.]

[Ancient shamans prayed for blessings and disasters, sensing Heaven's will. Different Heaven's wills bring different auspiciousness and disasters to the world, meaning that the will of Heaven will cause such things to happen in the human world. The human world and Heaven's will echo each other. Comprehending this Heaven's will and guiding it will cause the phenomena that Heaven's will expects to happen in the world.]

[When Taoists cultivate, the strong merge with Heaven's will and are called the Heart of Heaven.]