Chapter 362: 【155】God and Buddha form, three births in one body_3
The expression on Jiang Tianzhen’s face was complex as he looked at Li Qionghao, and memories of past events inevitably resurfaced in his mind.
If not for the appearance of this old man, he would have long buried these matters in his memory.
Back then, the Li family rebelled, and Li Qionghao led the three Huajin Grandmasters of the Li family to Jiang Tianzhen’s residence, planning to behead him.
But unexpectedly, at that time, Jiang Tianzhen had already achieved the stage of Qi and Blood Condensing Pill, capable of releasing the White Lotus Thirty-Six Qi Swords.
Li Qionghao and the three masters he brought were no match for Jiang Tianzhen at all.
Thinking of the Li family people fighting the Jiang family outside, and once they failed, Jiang Tianzhen would stabilize the overall situation afterward.
The situation would undoubtedly collapse entirely, and the Li family couldn’t stir up any trouble. At that time, the entire Li family might even face devastation, with none of the bloodlines surviving.
Li Qionghao chose to repent and knelt before Jiang Tianzhen, willing to hand over the unique skill "Formless Heaven" received by the Li family ancestors, in exchange for Jiang Tianzhen’s forgiveness.
To ensure that the Li family bloodline could be preserved and not end up entirely killed.
Jiang Tianzhen rarely agreed to that deal.
For no other reason than "Formless Heaven" was a coveted skill for generations of the Jiang family.
Even when the Outer Canon of the Yellow Emperor was acquired by the White Lotus Society, successive White Lotus Saint Emperors have all longed to grasp the contents of "Formless Heaven."
This was because the "Formless Heaven" of the Li family ancestors originated from the Ming Sect, that is, Persia’s Manichaeism.
Around the year 200 AD, a preacher named ’Mani’ appeared in Babylon in the West.
This Mani was merely an ordinary member of the royal family, but one day he dreamt that he was in heaven.
And he saw his true self in heaven, thus Mani became unstoppable, believing himself to be an incarnation of God, setting off to ancient India to preach.
Yet Mani’s teachings were not acknowledged by the locals; instead, Mani fused the worldviews and doctrines of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism into one.
Creating what was an extremely distinctive ’Manichaeism.’
Due to its uniqueness, this religion faced suppression and even massacres by many sects.
During the Ming Dynasty, the Hongwu Great Emperor ordered the ’eradication’ of Manichaeism, also known then as the Ming Sect.
After the Ming Sect was destroyed, the Hongwu Great Emperor proposed writing an unparalleled classic of history and scripture.
This is how Zhu Di’s Yongle Encyclopedia came to be.
The decisions made by the Hongwu Great Emperor were comparatively trivial next to those of the Western Roman Great Emperor.
The Roman Empire directly issued a decree that any Manichaean followers daring to preach to common people would be beaten to death in public.
It could be said that back then, the rulers of countries across the Eurasian continent all feared this mysterious ’Manichaeism.’
Only because, after Mani’s death, his twelve children gave rise to the ’Twelve Families of the Prophet.’
Manichaeism urgently needed a new prophet as excellent as Prophet Mani to lead them forward.
At this time, Manichaeism split into two factions, the Celestial Destiny Sect and the Conservative Sect.
The Celestial Destiny Sect believed that after Mani’s death, his soul would one day descend upon the world again.
And when that time came, it would surely descend upon any one of the followers within Manichaeism.
That follower would demonstrate exceptional qualities, thus inheriting the title of the new prophet.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives believed that Mani would only descend in future upon his direct descendants, meaning the new prophet would be born within the Twelve Families.
Among the Conservatives, there was an excellent Manichaean named ’Hassan Sabah.’
This person was remarkably gifted, becoming a scholar in various fields of knowledge at a young age, thus attracting tens of thousands of followers while preaching far and wide.
The Celestial Destiny Sect felt threatened by Hassan and thus ordered his assassination.
Having received advance warning, Hassan hid and gradually grew stronger through preaching, becoming an unignorable force in Central and Western Europe.
Because of this, nearby nations’ kings took notice and led their armies to unite and besiege Hassan.
In the era of cold weapons, numbers determined victory, making it impossible to fight against larger forces in European terrain.
When everyone thought that Hassan would be annihilated, he secretly founded an assassin organization.
Called the ’Assassin Sect.’
The Assassin Sect trained numerous young assassins under the age of 20, all possessing the top-tier courage, constitution, and agility among humans.
Hassan ordered these assassins to kill the kings of armies besieging him.
What seemed impossible was achieved by the Assassin Sect with a very high success rate, with surrounding nations’ kings repeatedly dying at the hands of Assassin Sect members.
Over time, Hassan became a mysterious and terrifying figure.
Many believed Hassan to be Mani’s reincarnated soul, the new prophet of this world.
But why could Hassan’s Assassin Sect train so many otherworldly young assassins?
Later scholars proposed two conjectural theories.
One is that it is said during Hassan’s escape when pursued by the Celestial Destiny Sect, he inadvertently acquired a miraculous treasure on his journey.
This object, whether smashed or set aflame, remains immune to destruction.