Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

It turns out that the mysterious woman who killed General Simba was her!

What does it mean that there are wolves in front and tigers behind, and vultures in the sky staring at you and gnawing at your eyes?

The White Tent King roared, his whole body covered in cold sweat, and decided to fight to the death with all his strength, at least to destroy Gesar first, and then deal with this mysterious woman!

Feeling that the White Tent King's fighting style had changed from wrestling to a life-and-death struggle, Gesar was not to be outdone, his whole body burst into golden light, and he quickly turned back into human form. However, his body was still huge, and he was exactly the same size as the White Tent King. He decisively rammed into the chin of the White Tent King, who had missed the opportunity because his horns disappeared.

The White Tent King was hit so hard that his eyes went dark and he kept seeing stars. He was a veteran of many battles and remained calm in the face of danger. He immediately locked his arms around Gesar's neck and was about to strangle him. Gesar reacted quickly. Before he could lock him, he squeezed his forearm in and forced it outwards. At the same time, he kneed the White Tent King hard between his legs.

The two ten-foot-tall giants fought desperately, and every blow shook the earth. The soldiers of the Hall Kingdom had already rushed over, but no one dared to come forward to help the White Tent King. They could only surround the two people who were no different from gods and demons from a distance, with awe and fear in their eyes.

Seeing that the two were fighting hard and it was hard to tell who was better, Wen Jiao hid her body and flew into the palace of King Hole. She caught a maid who was dressed in relatively gorgeous clothes and asked, "Where is the Han concubine of your White Tent King buried?"

The maid was sorting out the human hearts and intestines for offering to the gods, when she was suddenly lifted to the roof by an invisible force. Her heart almost jumped out of her throat, and she subconsciously called for help. When they looked at each other, her eyes were firmly attracted by Wen Jiao's eyes, and she said foolishly: "The king originally wanted to bury Empress Liu in the sky, but Empress Liu said that it was not the way the Han people liked to die. If the king still has a little love for her, he should burn her body. Keep the ashes, and if there is a chance in the future, let the little prince take her ashes back to her hometown - a place called Fangzhou for burial."

She lowered her head, her thick black eyelashes slightly wet: "But, a few days ago, the little prince was also killed by the Ling countryman who deserved to be pierced by thousands of arrows."

The little prince seemed to have foreseen his own fate before he went to the war. There was a look of sadness on his young face, pretending to be calm. He begged his father that if he was unfortunate, he should be cremated as well and his ashes should be combined with his mother's so that he could continue to protect his mother after death.

Such ominous last words would certainly make other fathers think twice. Unfortunately, the White Tent King was so lustful that he ignored everything in order to snatch the beauty. He also despised the strength of the Ling Kingdom and ruined his beloved son.

A faint sigh lingered on Wen Jiao's lips. She asked the maid, "Where are the ashes of the Han concubine and her son now?"

"It's on the shrine in the king's bedroom." said the maid.

The White Tent King's bedroom was rough and ferocious, decorated with animal skins, tusks and heads everywhere, but one of the rooms was decorated quite elegantly, with a wooden bed, bamboo curtains, and exquisite white agate utensils. In front of a clay statue, there was an agate urn, which was, of course, the urn of Concubine Liu and her son.

Even though her mind was captured by Wen Jiao, when she entered this room, the maid's voice still subconsciously sank: "This is the room where Madam Liu lived before she died."

Wen Jiao's eyes swept slowly over all the furnishings. At first glance, everything looked very much like something from the Tang Dynasty. But upon closer inspection, she discovered that they were very crude, as if the craftsmen who made these things were trying their best to imitate something, but due to their limited craftsmanship, they could only imitate the shape in vain and ultimately could not capture the spirit.

The maid introduced herself spontaneously: "That year, the king went to the grassland on the other side of the snow mountain to hunt, and met a familiar demon king. He followed him to the cave to drink. The demon king called out his wives to toast, one of whom was Lady Liu. Lady Liu's face was as soft as a white agate polished to the smoothness of a pebble. The king fell in love with her at first sight and asked the demon king for her. The demon king was reluctant to part with Lady Liu, and the two started fighting. The king killed the demon king and snatched Lady Liu back."

Concubine Liu had a delicate, gentle and sad beauty that was very different from that of the women of the plateau. Not only that, she was also very considerate, like a pool of clear water, and could easily fill any obstacle. She seemed to have no personality, and she could show what her husband needed appropriately. The White Tent King was such a domineering and rude man, and other concubines had been beaten by his fists many times, but she was able to serve him calmly.

The White Tent King had never doted on a woman so much before. He piled up a mountain of gold, silver and jewels in front of her and was even willing to share his life with her. But Concubine Liu's eyes were always filled with sadness like mist and rain, and she often looked into the east in a trance.

She tried her best to restore her life to what it should be like. Wooden furniture, bamboo curtains, and porcelain - a kind of delicate vessel that she described as thin, smooth and white like a beauty's skin. The craftsmen of Hall Country could barely make the first two according to her drawings, but they were unable to do anything about the last one, and could only use white agate instead.

Fortunately, the thing that Hall Country lacks the least is agate.

These agate "porcelains" were brought to her like treasures. She smiled, but her expression was still ambiguous, and she couldn't tell whether she was sad or happy.

The White Tent King didn't know what she was thinking, and the maids didn't know either. Before she gave birth to the little prince, she just knelt in front of the clay statue she made and was lost in thought. After she had the little prince, she only told her thoughts to her only blood relative.

The maid said, "After Lady Liu passed away, the king was very sad. In fact, the ministers found many beauties from the Kingdom of Hor for him. In my opinion, many of them were more beautiful than Lady Liu. But the king just didn't like them. He said that these beauties were beautiful, but they had bad tempers and asked for a beating after just three words. Moreover, the expressions between their eyebrows and eyes were far inferior to those of Lady Liu. He sent bird messengers to other countries to find beauties. Among them, the crow messenger came back and reported that the Queen Zhumu of Lingguo was not only beautiful, but also had the same expression as Lady Liu. The king was very happy and quickly sent General Simba to snatch her away."

Similar expressions? Wen Jiao hesitated for a moment, then understood. Yes, Gesar had not returned for a long time, and Zhumu missed his lover, so she was naturally full of sorrow.

It turned out that the expression in the eyes and eyebrows of the Han concubine and Jiacha's aunt was one of longing.

Wen Jiao's eyes fell on the clay statue and trembled slightly.

The workmanship of the statue was not lifelike at all. One could only roughly make out that it was wearing long clothes, had loose hair, was holding a sword, and had a snake and a turtle under its feet.

Fangzhou is close to Mount Wudang, and many of its people worship the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Lord. So, is this Concubine Liu also a believer of the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Lord?

On this isolated plateau, how did this woman, who left her hometown and smoothed over all her temper to please her "husbands" in exchange for survival, pray to the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable every day and endure so many years?

"I'm late." Wen Jiao said softly, "Let's go, I'll take you home."