Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

As the master and his apprentice walked along the road, they saw decaying houses, withered trees, and people working with pale faces and thin bodies. Even the way they worked was dull and numb, and there was an air of desolation in everything. Suddenly, a bell rang, and a couple who were grinding the mill listlessly saw their eyes light up slightly. They went back to their room, got a bag full of patches, and hurried to the place where the bell rang.

The bell rang many times, and people started rushing over with their bags. Although they walked fast, they were all staggering, like zombies smelling meat. Wen Jiao touched Ji Zun's forehead with her finger, and then she shook herself. The two of them also changed into Jiadi's clothes, each holding a bag, and mixed into the team.

On the earthen platform in the east of the city, a man was dressed much more neatly than the common people, and he seemed to be a yamen runner. There were four other people dressed in the same way, escorting a large cart behind him, and taking something from it. The man in the lead shouted, "People of Heitoujiadi, it is the auspicious day when the benevolent King Genggong will give us food. Everyone line up, everyone will have a share!"

The people staggered and slowly lined up. Wen Jiao noticed that most of them looked numb, and even the few with lively expressions all lowered their heads. The old woman in front of her was like this. When the food was poured into her rag bag, she said in a vague voice very quickly: "Brahma bless my king." After that, she turned around and walked away holding the bag.

Wen Jiao winked at Ji Zun behind her, and Ji Zun understood and followed quietly. Although the old woman looked old, her clothes were spotless. She walked with her back straight, obviously a clean and resolute person, and with a kind face, she must have a good heart. Ji Zun had an idea in a flash, and when he arrived at the door of the old woman's house, he fell to the ground with a cry of "Ouch" before she could put the key into the door lock, and cried with tears in his eyes: "Old grandma, I can't get up, can you help me?"

The old woman quickly put down her pocket, squatted down and helped her up: "Where did you fall?"

Ji Zun said: "My right leg hurts so much, hiss, it must be bleeding!"

The old woman looked around and saw no one to help. She sighed and said, "Poor child, come in. I'll find some cloth to wrap you up."

Half an hour later, Wen Jiao waited for Ji Zun to return under the earthen platform after the crowd had dispersed. She whispered, "I pretended to be a refugee from another village who came to make a living. The mother took pity on me and treated me to a meal. According to her, the sun has not risen in the entire Jiadi Kingdom for nine years. Not only the sun, but also the moon and stars are gone. All the crops have withered and the people have no harvest. Fortunately, the king has grown food with some magic and distributes rations every half a month. But it can only barely ensure that we will not starve to death. As for having enough food and needing medicine when sick, there is no way. The roads to other countries have been cut off by some unknown divine power. It is impossible to buy food and medicine from outside or escape to other countries."

She wiped the tears that had oozed out of her eyes. "Although the mother looks old, she is actually only forty years old. Her son is a famous warrior here. Three years ago, he vowed to find a way out for the villagers. He jumped into the border river and tried to swim to the other side despite everyone's obstruction. A wave broke..." Her voice was heavy, "and he disappeared without a trace."

Wen Jiao was silent, her eyes moved down to the open mouth of the cloth bag in her hand. It was filled with the rations she had just received, which were rough, prickly, and mixed with dirt and stones. In the Tang Dynasty, even the poorest family who had to eat bran would not look at such a small bag of rough food. And this was actually the rations for the people of Jiadi for half a month.

What on earth could cause a country to not see the sun, moon, and stars for nine years? When the disabled man prayed, he said, "The corpse of the evil queen will destroy our sun and moon." Could it be related to Queen Akahime? But how did she do it?

Did the corpse gas after death turn into haze, smoking away the sun, moon and stars? This resentment is probably beyond the reach of even the drought demon, right?

Or does she have some mysterious means to instruct the star gods corresponding to the sun, moon and stars not to shine on Jiadi? If this is the case, then this woman is really very prestigious and her identity must be extraordinary.

Wen Jiao decided to ask. She first asked the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable, who then asked the Sun True Lord Xihe, and the conclusion she got was not what she had guessed - in the past nine years, Xihe and the Moon True Lord Wangshu had been passing over the sky of Jiadi Kingdom with the sun and the moon every day!

No, asking only one person may not be reliable. Wen Jiao made a prompt decision and asked Wukong to ask the Sunlight Bodhisattva of Buddhism. Soon, the voice of Sun Wukong came from the Thousand Miles Sound Transmission: "Master, I am back from the Pure Lapis Lazuli World. The Sunlight Bodhisattva said that the sun rises and the moon sets in Jiadi, and it has been normal since the creation of the land."

Wen Jiao was solemn. A Taoist sun god might be evasive, but if even the Buddhist sun god Bodhisattva said so, it could only prove one thing - there was no problem with the movement of the sun, moon and stars in the sky above Jiadi.

"How could this be!" After Wen Jiao cut off the sound transmission note, Ji Zun finally couldn't help but speak out, pointing at the dark sky, "If everything is normal every day, then where is the sun during the day? It should be late at night now, where is the moon? Where are the stars? There is no light at all, how can this be normal!" She hugged her head with both hands, thinking hard, and suddenly thought of something and looked up at the sky.

Wen Jiao also looked up at the sky. It was pitch black without a trace of light. At first glance, it looked like an endless pot lid, trying to stew all the creatures below into one pot.

She murmured, "It seems that's where the problem lies."

As we all know, light needs a medium to propagate. Since there is no problem with the light source, the only problem is naturally the medium.

As soon as she thought of this, a cloud appeared under Wen Jiao's feet, dragging her up to the sky. In just a few breaths, she reached the clouds of the ninth heaven. A bad intuition suddenly struck her mind, and she subconsciously stopped and reached out to touch the top of her head. It felt cold, soft and tough, like a piece of cold and delicate silk.

Wen Jiao sank down, took out a night pearl and waved it above her head.

The pearlescent light reflected a scarlet color.

With a thought, Qingyun dragged her away and flew away. The scarlet color stayed above her, as if there was no end in sight.

Wen Jiao realized something and continued to fly outward. When she was about to fly to the border of Jiadi Country, the scarlet color really broke.

Countless moonlight projected down from outside the scarlet edge, surrounded by starlight, like a huge and magnificent rushing silver waterfall.