Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

She took a step forward, as light as a feather, but a gust of fresh wind expanded outward from the light goose yellow silk shoes, blowing the precious flowers on the skirt to dance gracefully.

Wen Jiao looked at the immortal Ganpo in front of her and said with a smile: "May I ask, immortal Ganpo, since you are of a peaceful nature and do not seek fame and fortune, you naturally will not covet Indra's throne. Of course, with your cultivation, even if you want fame and fortune and want to get your hands on Indra's throne, it is a foolish dream. Although I don't know who the immortal Zhongyou you are talking about is, I think he is many times stronger than you. What is the purpose of Indra sending the celestial maiden in the palace to seduce you?"

Seeing that the wind wall was approaching as she asked the question, Ganpo Immortal shook his staff, and with a "hum" sound, an invisible force also spread out, trying to force Wen Jiao's attack back. Unexpectedly, when the two forces collided, the wind wall turned softly, swallowing Ganpo Immortal's counterattack force silently and without leaving any trace.

The face of the dry mother fairy changed. When she saw Wen Jiao take another step closer, she heard her ask warmly, "Is it because you are old?"

As soon as the question was asked, the crisp wind surrounded the Gampo Immortal, and the rumbling of thunder suddenly turned into dark rain clouds so dark that one could not see one's hand in front of one's face.

The immortal Ganpo had no time to wonder how a woman could have such high magical power. In the blink of an eye, the steaming water vapor had already filled his mouth and nose. If he did not fight back, his lungs would be blown apart by the water. He tapped the ground with his staff again, chanted the word "Om", and blazing fire burst out from under his feet in the shape of a lotus flower spinning. Countless fire snakes crashed into the cloud, and the water vapor instantly steamed. The high-temperature water vapor was slowly squeezed towards him by the cloud barrier, burning his cheeks red.

"Why don't you take a shower?" she continued to ask, and every word she uttered echoed with a thunder in the clouds.

The Ganpo Immortal, who had nowhere to escape from the rain cloud, was in great pain. The fire lotus he summoned certainly contained the most powerful power, which could dissolve the energy of water. But the rain cloud seemed endless, and the fire lotus could not gain the upper hand. He had to do his best to maintain it. If he relaxed a little, the cloud would take advantage of the opportunity and use his lungs to make soup again.

What was even more terrible was that in the suffocating black cloud, many giant pythons transformed from lightning were winding around him, circling him. From above his head, around him, and under his feet, the hissing sound was like a venomous snake spitting out its tongue, and it was like tiny hairs trembling in the slight electric current.

The beard and hair of Ganpo Immortal had been burned into messy curls by the electric current. He knew that it would be disadvantageous for him to continue the battle for a long time, so he held the cane horizontally with his numb hands, chanting incessantly, and a curtain of light rose from the cane and extended outwards in an instant, like a giant sword, instantly cutting through the clouds, thunder and lightning that trapped him.

He was delighted, and quickly shrank his neck and stepped out. In front of him, the trees were lush, the birds were singing, and the flowers were fragrant. It was still the quiet and elegant forest. The scenery that he had seen so well in the past, now put into his eyes, made him feel like he had been reborn. The immortal Ganpo greedily took a breath of the sweet and moist air, and then he had time to defend himself: "I bathe in the river water every day!"

Wen Jiao still stood there, and the green leaf that had just been trapped by the two people's fighting finally fell gently on her shoulder. She picked it up with two fingers, still chatting casually: "Then... I hope you will die in two years, so that I can inherit your quiet forest?"

"The Jingxiu Forest was born naturally from heaven and earth. I chose to live in it. It is not mine, so where does the inheritance come from?" There was a burnt smell on the beard and hair of the Ganpo Immortal. He wiped it with his hand and quickly restored it to its original state. Hearing this, he said unhappily.

After the fight just now, he could finally admit that this fairy from the Southern Continent was indeed very powerful and qualified to discuss some profound issues with him.

What are the men in Jambu Continent doing? How come they keep a woman so aggressive? Is there no one to control her?

Wen Jiao obviously didn't want to discuss the mysteries of the world with him, but instead pointed directly to trivial household matters: "Since this is not your forest, then when your daughter Shakuntala wanted to come back after marrying her husband, why didn't your disciples allow her and her son to live near the quiet forest?"

She cast her eyes towards the face of Ganpo Immortal. Wherever her sight reached, lightning flashed, and the other party's beard and hair were rekindled. "The words should not be followed by the actions. It can be seen that although the immortal's words are indifferent, his actions are very domineering."

The sage Gandhara quickly put out the fire: "Do you know Shakuntala and Bharata? Why are you burning me? All my actions are in accordance with the Dharma..."

"Justice?" Wen Jiao's eyes fixed, and the fire burned even more vigorously. "Being impartial is justice, and clarifying right and wrong is law. As a father, you failed to protect a weak girl from bullying, allowing her to be violated by Doushantuo; you failed to speak up for her, causing her and her son to be trapped among the people for six years with unclear identities; and then you colluded with the immoral king. Doushantuo abandoned her, and you also abandoned her. You claim to be noble, but in fact you are just birds of a feather!

"Are you righteous? Bullying weak girls and young children, is this righteous? Are your words and actions worthy of the Dharma? You just want to abandon your daughter and grandson, why do you have to gild yourself in the name of the Dharma? Your actions are so absurd and ridiculous, yet you still call them the Dharma. Then what is the difference between your Dharma and the magic of heretics?"

In just a few sentences, the old immortal's eyebrows, eyelashes, beard and hair had been burned off, and his entire head looked like a charred baked potato thrown into the ashes.

All his counterattacks were engulfed by the raging fire. He was so burned that he finally jumped up and said, "I have a million faults, but at least I raised Shakuntala and Bharata until he was six years old. I am just an adoptive father, I have done enough. Why should I be grouped with Shakuntala's biological parents and Dusyanta, who actually abandoned their children? I, I don't accept it!"

His voice even sounded a little aggrieved. "You, you are capable, why don't you burn them? Why do you set fire to me?"

That's because Doushantuo has his own retribution and it's not my turn to intervene.

Wen Jiao grabbed her hand and collected the lightning from the Gānpo Immortal, thinking: "What the old immortal means is that you know who Shakuntala's biological parents are?"

Seeing that the fire had finally stopped, Ganpo Immortal hurriedly chanted a series of spells. Seeing his hair grow back again, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Hey, what did you ask me?"

Wen Jiao was very patient: "Old Immortal, don't you think I have wronged you? Then tell me the names of Shakuntala's biological parents. Maybe I will burn them too."

The Ganpo Immortal then remembered what he had said in a hurry and regretted it immediately: "Let's not do it. Although the fairy likes to play pranks, you and I don't have any deep hatred, so how could I tempt you to seek death..."

"Speak!" Wen Jiao said sternly.

The legs of the Gampo Hermit went limp and he fell to the ground.