Taiyi Dao Fruit

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Riding the wind with his dog at his side, Jiang Li flew into Yuxu Temple.

Xiao Tian led the way, using "Ten Thousand Miles Tracking" to follow Yin Tulong's Qi Mechanism, deftly navigating through the shifting defensive array.

Before long, Jiang Li arrived with Xiao Tian in front of Yuqing Hall.

At that moment, the doors of Yuqing Hall were wide open. Inside, two Daoists were sitting cross-legged in meditation, both faces showing signs of weariness and barely concealed anger.

Yin Tulong was holding a bell cover, refining some evil Qi with True Fire inside it, apparently having successfully captured a clone of the Heluo God. However, there was no joy in his expression. Instead, his face was drawn tight, as dark and cold as if it were covered with frost.

Daoist Guang Cheng, the temple master of Yuxu Temple, seemed to be just staring at the divine statues at the end of the great hall, silent and still.

Jiang Li turned his gaze there as well and noticed that out of the thirteen divine statues, only six retained their Qi and immortal light, down from eight before—meaning two Divine Fruits had been taken.

And one statue was missing its wooden whip.

Clearly, someone had stolen the Divine Fruit.

Moreover, Shen Hou, who was supposed to be guarding Yuxu Temple, was nowhere to be seen. The identity of the thief was almost self-evident.

Jiang Li paused at the entrance of the hall, not wishing to meddle in the affairs of someone else's Sect, waiting outside instead.

Shortly thereafter, Yin Tulong gave a cold snort, "I'll go chase him down."

Flames shot from the hall, carrying the small Daoist figure, who soared past the Temple's formations in a thunderous rush.

Soon after, Daoist Guangming along with another Daoist emerged from the hall, nodding their greetings to Jiang Li before leaving, dejected, without further words.

Only Daoist Master Guang Cheng remained in Yuqing Hall.

This was when Jiang Li stepped inside.

"The traitor Shen Hou has betrayed Yuxu Temple; I never thought he would be from the Jiang family," Guang Cheng said solemnly, gazing at the row of divine statues: "He took the God-beating Whip, which is specifically designed to counter Divine Attribute Dao Fruit, especially those within the Heavenly Court system. All the County Magistrates and Prefectural Governors under Great Zhou are Earth Deities."

'Indeed, it was the God-beating Whip,' Jiang Li affirmed, looking at the statue missing its whip, confirming his earlier guess.

This statue was indeed the divine statue of Jiang Ziya.

Although Jiang Ziya didn't perform well in the Battle of Gods, his status in the human Dao was extremely high, hailed as the "Ancestor of Military Strategists" and a "Deep Pool of Military Wisdom." He was a War God who had been worshiped for generations, and he had been graced with numerous honorary titles.

Jiang Ziya's Divine Fruit would not be of low grade, akin to the likes of the Confucianism Great Sage, figures whose strength may be lacking, but whose Dao Fruit grade is high.

With the God-beating Whip and the Dao Fruit of Jiang Ziya, even if no one could assimilate the Dao Fruit for ascension, they would still be able to severely constrain Divine Attribute Dao Fruit, particularly since the current official system of Great Zhou is largely composed of divine beings.

Perhaps, from the beginning, the Jiang family was aiming for the God-beating Whip and the Divine Fruit of Jiang Ziya, and besieging Jiang Li was secondary.

'Perhaps they also plan to use this to establish a new system, replacing the old official framework of Great Zhou—so their schemes are quite profound. But...'

Jiang Li looked at the back of Daoist Guang Cheng and softly said, "It seems Shen Hou had warned you, Daoist Master Guang Cheng. He said, if the Jiang family indeed chooses the Buddha Country, that alone would prove there are members of the Jiang family among the Buddha Country's upper echelons."

"At that time, Fellow Daoist, if I recall correctly, you were outside Yuxu Temple," Guang Cheng responded, not immediately answering but recalling the situation at the time.

Jiang Li had just endured the Thunder and Fire Tribulations and, due to the Wind Stabilizing Pearl, couldn't draw upon the Heavenly Tribulation; he was healing atop the snowy peak.

Also, when Guang Cheng was talking to Shen Hou, there was no one else around.

"It's just that I have keen eyesight, plus a little understanding of lip reading," Jiang Li said with a smile, "just a simple trick."

With a realm as high as Daoist Master Guang Cheng's, it should be impossible for anyone to eavesdrop or approach stealthily if they were using spells. However, if it were merely a case of having excellent vision, that would be different.

Without the slightest Qi Mechanism and without any fluctuation of Divine Thought, relying purely on unrefined eyesight, one only needed to be slightly careful, paying attention only to the shape of the lips and not the person, ensuring not to be detected by the eyes' gaze, that's enough.

The best method of eavesdropping can be just that crude and simple, devoid of technical skill, relying solely on sight.

"Moreover, the Sword Qi I provided you, Master, should have also revealed some clues," Jiang Li continued, "To thoroughly understand the creation and destruction of life, one needs not only wisdom but also an insight into Essence Qi, even to the extent of having a complete mastery over Ten Thousand Qi. And in today's world, the most likely entity to achieve this would be my Jiang family's 'Qi Tomb.'"

Daoist Guang Cheng fell into a brief silence, then nodded, "Indeed. When I faced off against Manjusri back then, I was unable to capture his Sword Qi, and he was holding back at that time, so I couldn't discern any clues. Not until Fellow Daoist provided me with that Sword Qi did I understand the truth."

This was precisely why Manjusri wasn't surprised by his own exposure.

Before arriving here, he had already accepted that Daoist Master Guang Cheng would be aware of his identity.

Manjusri was a member of the Jiang family.

"Manjusri of the Buddha Country has been famous for over a hundred years. Back when the Buddha Country was spreading the Buddhist Law a hundred years ago, he was already third grade. Nobody suspected his connection to the Jiang family," said Guang Cheng with a sigh.

"But without Manjusri's cooperation, it would not have been so easy for the Jiang family to integrate into the Buddha Country. Present members of the overseas main family would also not so easily trust and ally with the Buddha Country," Jiang Li commented as if this was no surprise to him.