The Spiritual Attainment of Minghe

In the imperial court of Zhaoge City, the nine-tailed fox charmed King Zhou on the one hand and enhanced her cultivation on the other side. Indulged in her actions, she forgot about meeting up with the Pipa Spirit, who had been waiting for news from her in the Xuanyuan tomb for a long time. Worries emerged from the Pipa Spirit after waiting for so long. She shapeshifted into a human and headed toward Zhaoge City.

The Human Tribe reigned Untainted Land, which had many martial artists. The Pipa Spirit was a small evil spirit; this caused her not to dare to ride the clouds to head toward Zhaoge. Thanks to the Pure Aura of Fate from Goddess Nvywa, she could walk among the human cultivators, as long as she did not use devil skills before them, they would not be able to figure out her origin. However, she was exhausted from traveling.

Along the way to Zhaoge, the Pipa Spirit asked around about the nine-tailed fox. After getting to know that empress Su Daji had caused a huge uproar in the imperial court, she guessed that Su Daji must be the incarnation of her sister, the nine-tailed fox. She planned to go to her sister for shelter. She had not reached the Way of Celestial Immortality yet, but if the luck of the Human Tribe were on her side and she could use resources from the Human Tribe’s dynasty, her cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds. Meanwhile, she could become an immortal quicker.

Unfortunately, luck was not on her side. When she arrived at Zhaoge, she was shocked by its grandness. After seeing a divination stall, she went inside to have some fun. Sadly the fortuneteller was Jiang Ziya. At first sight, he did not notice anything peculiar about the Pipa Spirit; she was covered by the Pure Aura of Fate after all.

The Pipa Spirit required Jiang Ziya to look at her palm. Although she had a human form because of the Pure Aura of Fate, her palm was different. Jiang Ziya saw an inkling appear which caused him to grab the Pipa Spirit’s Distal Pulse, Middle Pulse Position, and Proximal Pulse suddenly and sealed her Dantian, making her impossible to escape.

To an outsider, Jiang Ziya grasped the hand of a beautiful woman. Naturally, this caused an uproar among the passers-by. Bi Gan, Assistant to Counselor-in-chief passed by and reported this matter to King Zhou. King Zhou then ordered Jiang Ziya to kill the evil spirit behind the newly-built Star-picking Tower.

Accompanying King Zhou, the nine-tailed fox saw her sister captured and started to worry. However, she could not plead for her in public. She could only witness how her sister was showing her original body due to the scorning of the True Concentration Fire, released by Jian Ziya. Luckily, the Pipa Spirit could save herself by relying on the Pure Aura of Fate which she attained from Goddess Nvywa. Later, the nine-tailed fox begged King Zhou to give her the jade pipa (the original body of the Pipa Spirit) as a collection.

Jiang Ziya was dubbed as Junior Minister because he killed the devil spirit, and took the post of Imperial Astronomer. The nine-tailed fox disliked Jiang Ziya for his actions and yearned to avenge the Pipa Spirit. She placed the Pipa Spirit under the roof of the Star-picking Tower to absorb rays of sun and moonlight. The Pipa Spirit also drank a bowl of human blood every day to restore her strength and wait for the day of her rebirth.

It was a pity Jiang Ziya’s reign as an officer didn’t last long. The nine-tailed fox wanted to make his life a living hell to avenge the Pipa Spirit. This caused Jiang Ziya to suffer daily, and in the end, he had to abandon his position and headed home. He told his wife that he had offended King Zhou and had to flee. His wife was astonished hearing this.

While Jiang Ziya was preparing their luggage, his wife (Lady Ma), took out an old sachet from her waist and opened it. Inside the sachet was a piece of silk cloth, it read: "Leave Zhaoge with your husband, and you’ll live in prosperity." After pondering for a long time, she decided to leave Zhaoge together with her husband. Shortly after they had left Zhaoge, a bunch of soldiers arrived at their home, but nothing was found.

During their escape, Lady Ma had nothing to complain about. After all, Jiang Ziya was a being who had reached the Way of Celestial Immortality, this meant he could take care of Lady Ma. This caused her not to regret making the decision to leave with him. The words in the sachet were given by the immortal. Until now her life was lived by the words of that immortal, that’s what she had to believe.

King Zhou was a brutal king and had no principle of truth and righteousness. People of the Shang Dynasty fleed to other vassal territories one after another. Xiqi accepted most of those refugees. After acquiring knowledge about this, Jiang Ziya thought Xiqi must be an enlightened sovereign. Therefore, he hurried to Xiqi together with Lady Ma. The border station of the Shang Dynasty, however, did not let them go. Jiang Ziya used the Underground-walking Technique to cross the border of the Shang Dynasty together with Lady Ma and hundreds of refugees. They reached the boundary of Xiqi rapidly.

After their arrival in Xiqi, Jiang Ziya asked around and heard that Shen Gongbao, the one he felt familiar with at first sight when they formally acknowledged teachers, was an officer of Xiqi. Shen Gongbao had a good reputation and gained the trust of both the local people and the other officers. If Jiang Ziya were alone, he could have lived in a remote and rustic place, but it didn’t work since he now took his spouse with him to an unfamiliar place. He could not let his wife live in poor conditions. Since he had not seen Shen Gongbao for decades, he went to him for shelter.

Besides, Shen Gongbao was quite skillful. Even though he did not know how to manage the state affairs, he was proficient in all kinds of magic: divination, making clouds and rain, as well as slaying monsters. This caused the trust Bo Yikao had in him to increase. In only one or two years, Shen Gongbao had become an Imperial Master. He was a wise individual that did not interfere with administration and was only responsible for resolving trouble within Xiqi, that’s why he was both loved and esteemed by the people of Xiqi.

The untainted land was extremely broad. Although the Human Tribe occupied half of the territory, the land was unmeasurable. As one of the four vassals of Shang Dynasty, Ji Chang, Marquis of the West, possessed a big chunk of land. Though the land of the Marquis was called Xiqi, it was because its capital city was named like that. However, the land Xiqi contained many cities.

Shen Gongbao could not take care of the entirety of Xiqi by himself. Therefore, he invited disciples of his master and his friends. Plenty of them mastered magic skills or had magic treasures with them. Bo Yikao felt delighted by the sight of Shen Gongbao gathering so many talents and promoted his friends to become his officers.

Jiang Ziya went to the Imperial Master Mansion together with Lady Ma. Taking a glance at the imposing building, Lady Ma asked worriedly, "Do you really want to enter the mansion? Shen Gongbao has become an Imperial Master by now and gained a high status, you have only known each other for several days, how can he pay attention to you?"

Jiang Ziya laughed and replied, "Your view is too narrow. When we met each other at that time, we felt familiar with each other, if not for the gust of wind we might have been brothers of the same master. Now I’m here to seek shelter, he will definitely meet with me. Brother Shen is broad-minded. If you don’t believe me, let me have a try."

Jiang Ziya went to the Imperial Master Mansion and was pulled aside by the guards. One of the guards asked him, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Jiang Ziya saluted and replied, "Please report to your Imperial Master that his old friend Jiang Ziya and his wife have come to visit him." The guards heard that this man was an old friend of Imperial Master, they dared not neglect this matter and reported to Shen Gongbao at once.

Shen Gongbaon was in the garden, and he had nothing to do, so he divined the secrets of heaven under the pavilion. Suddenly he was surprised. A bewildered expression showed on his face. He said, "Huh? An old friend has visited me, who is it?" At this time, a guard came here and reported venerably, "Imperial Master, a man called Jiang Ziya is waiting outside the door. He said that he’s your old friend."

Shen Gongbao was overjoyed when he heard the name of his old friend. They had met on the way to acknowledge their masters. Though one was a monster and the other was a human being, Jiang Ziya did not disdain and detest Shen Gongbao. They felt familiar with each other when they met and talked happily. It was a pity that they got split up by a gust of wind. At first, Shen Gongbao was worried about Jiang Ziya. Later on, he heard that Jiang Ziya had become the disciple of Honoured Lord of the Origin and rested assured everything was fine.

Since then, Shen Gongbao pursued Dao wholeheartedly. Although he had the opportunity to go out, he knew that he’d better not bother Jiang Ziya, for they belonged to two different sects and Jiang Ziya stayed in Mount Kunlun all the time. Forty years had passed, he was definitely delighted when he knew that his old friend had come here to pay him a visit. He instantly stood up and went to welcome Jiang Ziya in person.

Jiang Ziya looked calm and comfortable in front of the huge gate, but a worried look could be seen from Lady Ma. At this time, hearty laughter could be heard inside the gate. "Haha, I divined today and figured out that an old friend has come here to visit me, but I had no idea that it was Brother Jiang! Please forgive me. I should have welcomed you earlier." Shen Gongbao went out hurriedly. He was laughing while speaking.