Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

For a moment, the winner was determined to leave, and the loser refused to let go. The two were in a stalemate, when suddenly a tornado containing water vapor roared in from the bottom of the ground. When the wind subsided, the figures of Zhu Fangsi and the Dragon King of Hanshui appeared. Zhu Fangsi pulled the Dragon King of Hanshui to kneel down, and said with shame on his face: "Emperor, the Dragon King of Hanshui and the Dragon Queen come to apologize... Little girl, why are you here?"

When he said the latter sentence, he looked up and saw Wen Jiao standing beside him, and he was surprised.

Wen Jiao was even more shocked than she was: "What emperor? Where did the emperor come from? Of course I'm here. I just came out to stroll around after having tea. I saw two Taoist priests playing chess under a tree on the street, so I stopped and watched for a while."

Zhu Fangsi frowned and shouted sternly, "Open your eyes and see where you are in the world now!"

Her voice carried a pure Yin power rather than a cold one, which made Wen Jiao's eyes ache. She rubbed her eyes subconsciously, and after putting down her hands, she was stunned. She saw that she was not surrounded by ordinary streets, short trees and green grass, but in a very magnificent palace. The palace was so vast that she could not see where the gate and the four walls were. She could only see the black jade pillars from afar, piercing the sky from the shining ground of Jinhua.

Wen Jiao couldn't help but look up along the giant pillar, and saw auspicious clouds swirling around, submerging the dome, and she didn't know where the end of the black jade pillar was. There was also a giant snake coiled on the pillar, and its dark scales as black as midnight opened and closed slightly as if breathing, filled with a ferocious and suffocating majesty.

Her eyes widened and her breathing stopped for a moment due to the power of the giant snake. Then she realized something and looked quickly in the direction of the two Taoists.

Where are the ordinary Taoist priests?

The old Taoist in white was a fairy with white hair and beard like crane feathers, and he looked like a child. The whisk in his hand was spotless and clean. The golden lotus crown on his head had a strange fragrance, which was made of real flowers. The fairy smiled at her. Although he looked like a fairy and had a Taoist spirit, his expression was very pleasant. Not only was he not intimidating, but he was very approachable.

Compared with his gentle and gentle appearance, the immortal transformed by the black-robed Taoist priest had a majestic aura like a towering mountain or a deep abyss. He had loose black hair, a black robe as black as ink, and a golden armor as bright as the sun in the sky. He stepped on a snake with one foot and a turtle with the other. The turtle and snake were both lying on the ground, as if in submission.

The sword is hanging from his waist. Even though it has not been unsheathed, the awe-inspiring sword intent still emanates from it, like mercury pouring on the ground, densely covering all around.

At that moment, even though she didn't know much about him before, a series of titles still flashed through Wen Jiao's mind, and she blurted out one of them: "The Great Heavenly Venerable who cultivates the truth and realizes the Tao, the North Pole Mysterious Heavenly God, the Great Heavenly Venerable who slays demons!"

This deity was none other than the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Lord. He also had another more widely known name, the Great Emperor Zhenwu of the North Pole.

In "Journey to the West", it is obvious that the further west you go, the more monsters there are. However, Tang Monk, who was born in the Tang Dynasty where no monsters had ever appeared, insisted on going west to obtain Buddhist scriptures. This seemingly absurd setting, together with the plot of "Why did Sun Wukong fight with Wang Lingguan who was on duty outside the Lingxiao Palace in a draw, and why the Monkey King turned out to be a fake", became two major unsolved mysteries in the book.

In fact, all the incongruities stem from one point, that is, the author Wu Chengen did not think there was anything wrong with his setting when he was creating it. But times have changed, and many legends that were common sense to people in the Ming Dynasty have become quite unfamiliar and obscure knowledge to modern readers.

For example, Wang Lingguan was one of the guardian gods worshipped by Taoism in the Ming Dynasty, and was known as the leader of the five hundred spiritual officials. He was known as "the three eyes can see the world, and the whip can wake up the world". However, Sun Wukong, who was well-known in later generations, was not well-known at that time. As Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West" could fight with this great priest to a draw, it was not a downgrade, but an improvement. This plot is actually the favoritism of the great god Wu Chengen for the protagonist he wrote.

For example, the answer to the mystery of the absence of demons in the Tang Dynasty is actually hidden in the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Lord who only appears in the book. This god, who was originally revered by the Ming Dynasty royal family, has a spell that reads: "All demons will be cut off, and all ghosts will be cooked. Officials of the plague will bow their heads and obey. Ghosts will be destroyed, and evil spirits will be destroyed."

To put it in more detail, it is said that many, many years ago, Yuanshi Tianzun was preaching in Bajing Tiangong, but the demons in the lower world were very disrespectful, and their evil spirits polluted the South Heaven Gate. Yuanshi Tianzun was furious and ordered Dangmo Tianzun, who was then General Taixuan, to come down to earth and subdue him. Who knew that Dangmo Tianzun's work efficiency was so high that he wiped out all the demons and monsters in the lower world.

The arrogant Six-Sky Demon King was beaten back to his turtle and snake form and stepped under his feet, becoming the eternal stepping stone of the Zhenwu statue - yes, these two were the turtle and snake generals who played the ring-tossing game with Monkey King and the Green Bull Monster.

Since then, there has been no trace of demons and monsters in the Southern Continent. If there are dead souls, they have been taken away by the underworld long ago, and they will not become evil spirits. If there are spirits that have cultivated with the essence of the sun and the moon, they are either hiding in the mountains and under the water to cultivate, or they have sneaked out of the country early and gone to another continent to occupy a cave and dominate, and they cannot cause any trouble in the East.

From this, we can see that the peace of the Southern Continent for generations is all due to the efforts of the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable. If a great man were to evaluate the famous battle of the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable, he would definitely say: "This battle brought peace for thousands of years."

The Great Emperor Zhenwu, also known as the Heavenly Lord Subduing Demons, has twenty-one precious titles, one of which is the Heavenly Lord Subduing Demons who cultivates the Tao and attains enlightenment through the North Pole Mysterious Heavenly God.

"There are 21 titles for the Emperor, but this girl chose this one as a compliment. Interesting, interesting." The white-robed immortal smiled, and as he spoke, his eyes rolled, as if he had realized something, and stroked his white beard, "Little girl, I gave you half a pot of fragrant tea, and it's not in vain. Unfortunately, I came here in a hurry and didn't bring any elixir. I just picked a fire date from the garden of Hou Tu Niangniang when I passed by her palace on a cloud. Take it and have a taste."

The fire date is called a date, but in fact it is a ball of bright red flame in the shape of a date, which glows brightly when held in the palm of your hand. Compared with the brilliance of the wish-fulfilling pearl, if the fire date is a bright pearl, then the wish-fulfilling pearl is simply a fish eye. In Journey to the West, the barefoot immortal once gave the fire date and pear as a thank-you gift to Tathagata, which shows that this thing is also a fairy fruit that can be shown off in the eyes of the immortals.

A pot of tea cost twenty cents in total, and half of it was exchanged for a top-grade fairy fruit. Who would dare to believe this?

Wen Jiao held the dates tremblingly, not knowing whether to put them away for worship or eat them. Suddenly, someone whispered, "Girl, eat them quickly while they are fresh and the medicinal power is strong." She subconsciously looked in the direction of the voice and saw the Hanshui Dragon King lying on the ground motionless, but his face was slightly tilted towards her and his lips were moving slightly. It turned out that the Hanshui Dragon King, who was kneeling on the ground next to her, had seen her hesitation and reminded her.

Zhu Fangsi knelt upright, and pinched him with one hand, hiding behind his sleeve. The Dragon King of Hanshui shuddered, and quickly turned his face back to normal.