Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

Wukong's cultivation was so high that he was naturally intelligent. He could understand the meaning of the words with just a glance. Wen Erjiao had been dreaming for thirty days and had learned all the knowledge in the dream. She also recognized the content of the inscription.

The stone tablet was inscribed with the language of Manzagang: "The tower that subdues demons and monsters, the body of the demon-suppressing maiden Ha Xiang, turns jealousy, hatred, and arrogance into peace, and blesses Manzagang with eternal immortality. Manzagang's 13th king Gunduoleba personally established it."

The three characters "Jiang Mo Town" were so eroded that they were difficult to recognize. Only the character "Yao" was crystal clear, and it was ominous even in the hazy moonlight.

Wukong on the side suddenly laughed so hard that he scratched his ears and cheeks: "How funny, how funny, I, Sun Wukong, in order to seek immortality, climbed mountains and crossed rivers, crossed oceans, and suffered countless hardships before I found the true method and cultivated to become immortal. This kid just conquered a female demon, and he wants to make his country prosperous forever. Greedy, greedy, greedy, really greedy. Now this tower made of dead things is still there, I wonder where his immortal country is?"

Wen Jiao looked at the land under the demon tower, feeling the pull from somewhere, and sighed, "Even the heaven and earth cannot last forever, let alone a country? Compared to a country ruled by a sentient being, this stone tower made of ruthless stone can withstand the erosion of time better. In my dream, I am the witch under this tower."

Wukong's laughter stopped, he scratched the back of his head, his face turned red, he was too embarrassed to laugh anymore: "The karma that Master-nanny is talking about is the female demon under the tower?"

"That's right." Wen Jiao said, swinging her sword and splitting the nine-story stone tower. The piled stones had long been eroded by the years and the extreme cold, but they were supported by the witch's resentment under the tower, so they did not collapse. After being cut by her sword, it was immediately split in half like tofu, revealing the black skeleton under the tower.

The skeleton was covered with deformed gold and gemstone jewelry, and it was obviously a woman. A bronze sword was stuck in the chest, and it must have killed her.

"She's a female Yaksha who has practiced a bit." Wukong recognized the identity of the corpse at a glance.

Wen Jiao walked towards the skeleton and grasped the sword.

Countless memories rushed into her mind along the hilt of the sword.

The young couple had different political views and were fed up with each other. The husband hated the queen's cruelty and brutality, while the queen laughed at him for being cowardly and incompetent.

The husband married another woman, a beautiful and kind-hearted incarnation of a dakini. The queen gradually lost favor, her power was reduced, and she became resentful.

When her husband was away on a tour, the queen took the opportunity to force him to abdicate, and the dakini flew away. When her husband returned, he was poisoned by the queen and became stupid, so she took the opportunity to usurp the throne.

Many years later, the queen learned that their two children were now in the Kingdom of Majing, and that their son had even become the king of Majing. In anger, she led her troops to attack Majing, but was defeated. She was shot by an arrow by the young king and her life was killed by a sword.

The young king built a nine-story stone tower, suppressed her body under the tower, wrote the inscription himself, and prayed to the heaven.

……

Wen Jiao pulled out the sword and called out, "Ha Xiang."

A wisp of green smoke rose from the originally dead black skeleton and condensed into a human figure, blurry, like an overexposed film.

A ray of clear light shot out from Wen Jiao's sleeve. It turned out to be the Tianfang treasure mirror that she had refined by using the iron claws of the Xie Xie ghost and a page from the Book of Life and Death. It sensed the breath of the resentful soul and flew out automatically.

The Tianfang Treasure Mirror was turned over and over in a very slow and relaxed rhythm, three feet in front of the figure. After one circle, two circles, and three circles, the mirror stopped.

The figure finally became clear. She was tall, charming, with a black mole on her face, and she wore a colorful bead necklace and a bone flute on her chest.

It turns out that the real Demon Queen Ha Xiang has this kind of appearance. Wen Jiao looked at her face and thought to herself.

"You killed many people without leaving any mercy, so it was only right that you were killed in the backlash. Now, the people who killed you and the capital of Manzagang no longer exist. What resentment do you have that makes you reluctant to enter the cycle of reincarnation?" Wen Jiao asked.

Ha Xiang's eyes were dull and she answered blankly, "Resentment? I don't have any resentment, I just don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" Wen Jiao asked.

"Jealousy, hatred, arrogance..." Ha Xiang said woodenly.

Wen Jiao was puzzled and continued to ask, but Ha Xiang seemed to hear nothing and just kept repeating these three words.

"This female demon has been suppressed for too long, her soul has been damaged, and she has long been dumbfounded. She can't even speak clearly." Wukong, a senior labor reform inmate with rich experience in suppression, said.

Wen Jiao understood, lowered her head and thought for a moment, then asked Wukong: "Sun Dasheng, if there is a person who loves to eat human hearts, forces the emperor to usurp the throne, and starts border conflicts, and is eventually defeated and killed, how would you evaluate this person?"

Sun Wukong realized something, looked at the incense in the air, and spoke in a sharp voice, with the power to anchor the world: "Brutal, vicious, cunning, and causing chaos in the country."

As he spoke, Wen Jiao used the bronze sword in her hand to carve the corresponding words on the stone tablet.

Yes, no matter which era we use to judge, Ha Xiang is definitely not a good person. He is greedy and violent without any benevolence, mediocre in politics but exploits the people, has many plans but is not smart enough, relies on bravery and is aggressive, so he rises and falls because of this.

If we were to list her crimes, they would be too numerous to list. But no matter what, jealousy should not be the first crime. Such a reckoning seems to tell people: "She cannibalized people, she usurped the throne, she rooted out the enemy and never gave up, she fought wars without regard for the country's strength, but these are not important. You must remember that the most important thing is that as a woman, how dare she be jealous because her husband took a second wife?"

Wen Jiao asked herself, if it were her, she would be unable to swallow the fact that she was labeled as a tyrant during her lifetime.

As a victim of "calm suicide", she has a deep understanding of this.

The world is big, but not being jealous is the biggest thing. When this judgment coincides with Ha Xiang's life, it will inevitably produce a puzzling and weird sense of absurdity. The deep thoughts of the young king who carved this monument still make Wen Jiao laugh after so many years.

On the day the tower was completed, I guess every family in Manzagang would follow the husband's lead and there would no longer be any women capable of serving as kings or ministers.

After all, aren't they all confined to the backyard to play the role of a virtuous wife and beautiful concubines?

But now, the heritage of the ancient Manzagang Kingdom has long been lost.

The bronze sword carved on the rough stone tablet, and each time it carved, several sparks flew out. Amid the harsh sound, Ha Xiang's figure gradually faded away. When Wen Jiao finished carving, she looked deeply at the verdict on the stone tablet, sighed leisurely, and suddenly realized: "So this is what I am like."

After she finished speaking, her figure was blown away by the vast mountain wind. Only the last bit of phosphorescent light disappeared into Wen Jiao's Tianfang Treasure Mirror.

At the same time, the bones on the ground turned into a handful of black ashes.

In the center of the ashes, a bone-white piccolo was lying there. The cold wind from the snowy mountains blew through the sound holes of the piccolo, and the ethereal sound of the flute rose up, floating and flickering, seeming to be far away and near.