Chapter 41: With Mo Brothers Gone, Wenzhong Has to Fight Xiqi Himself

It kicks off with a new challenger stepping up, Huang Tianhua. That's Huang Feihu's son, the martial success king's kid. Right. And the text makes a big deal of his entrance. He's on a jade kirin, golden crown, these two huge silver hammers. With eight ridges, the description is so specific. Yeah, he looks the part of the epic hero. And they tell you right away, spoiler alert, he's going to end up as Bingling Gong on the big list, the feng shen bang. So, high stakes from the start. His first fight is against Mouli King. They charge, clash. The source says, gundui chui, spear versus hammer. Sounds intense. But it's quick. Less than 20 rounds. Yeah, because, you know, regular fighting, it barely matters here. It's all about the magic items. Ah, right. Mouli King pulls out his special weapon. His baiwu jingang zuo, the white five vajra bracelet, or ring. Not really a weapon you swing, more like a magical artifact. Exactly. It shoots this streak of light, hits Huan Tianwa in the back. Knocks his crown off. And kills him. Just like that. Instantly dead. Wow. Okay. So much for the grand debut. That's brutal. Yeah. His allies rush in to grab the body. And that brings Nezha into it. On his windfire wheels. Yeah. Ready for some magical combat. So Mouli King tries to use the jingang zuo again, this powerful artifact. But Nezha's got his own gear, right? The qian kun quan? The cosmic ring. And here's a key detail, the kind this epic loves. Okay. Nezha's ring is gold. Mouli King's bracelet is jade. Ah, a material hierarchy. Yep. And the result, jinda yu dade fensui, gold hits jade. And shatters it. Smashes it to bits. Total destruction of their best treasure. That really sets the tone, doesn't it? Your best magic item might just be useless against someone else's. Absolutely. You can imagine the Mou brothers just, like, seeing red. But Nezha, having done the job, he gets out of there. Retreats back to Shichi. Smart move. So the jade artifact is gone. But then we find out death isn't so permanent either in this story. Right. Huang Fei Yu is devastated. His son arrives. And before he even gets a night's rest. He's killed. Just awful for the father. But then, intervention. Fate steps in. A Taoist boy shows up. Sent by the moral true monarch, Dizhen Jin from Purple Sun Cave. And his job is just retrieve the body. Retrieve Huang Tianhua's corpse. For round two, essentially. Okay, this is where it gets weird, isn't it? The resurrection part. Oh, it's bizarre. And kinda harsh. Before reviving him, the true monarch lays into Huang Tianhua. Criticizes him. For what? Calls him a good beast who sinned by eating meat and forgetting his roots. Whoa. Eating meat. Like breaking a Taoist vow. Or maybe forgetting his spiritual path for worldly stuff. It seems like that. A sort of spiritual neglect. He needs this divine correction. This reality check before getting power. Serious tough love from the immortal master. You want this power. Remember where it comes from. Exactly. It reinforces that his victory isn't just his own doing, it's granted. But the way he revives him. Medicinal pill dissolved in water. Standard enough. But to give it to him. He has to open his mouth. He pries his mouth open. With a sword. With a sword. Okay, that's aggressive first aid. But it works. It works. He's back. And then the true monarch gives him the weapon he needs. Yeah. The game changer. Showing this was the plan all along. What is it? Zhan Xin Ding. The heart-drilling nail. That's nasty. It's described very precisely. Seven inches, five fen long. Releases this brilliant light like a flame. And it's specifically meant to subdue the four great demon kings. So not a general weapon. A custom-built counter for these guys. Precisely. The true monarch knows the threat is magical. So he provides a magical solution. A tool of destiny, really. Okay, so Huang Tianhua is back. He's armed with his destiny nail. Now what? He doesn't waste time. Uses Tu Dan, the earth-burrowing technique. Zips right back to Xi Qi. Straight back into the fight. Challenges the brothers again. And this time, it's not really a fight. It's like targeted elimination. How does it go down? It's terrifyingly fast. He pretends to retreat. Mo Li King chases him. Huang Tianhua fires the Zhan Xin Ding from his hand. Hits Mo Li King square in the chest. Pierces right through. First one down. Well, not even a duel. Just zap. Just zap. Then Mo Li Hong charges out, furious, trying to avenge his brother. Gets hit immediately by the same nail. It seems to return, or he refires it instantly. Second one down. Okay, this nail is efficient. Then Mo Li Hai rushes out, probably not thinking straight. And gets nailed, too. Yep. And the text specifically says, this was Tian Shu, heaven's will. Bing Ling Gong, Huang Tianhua, was destined to beat them this way. No escape. Three down. Just Mo Li Shu left. What's his plan? He's panicking. He reaches for his own magic weapon, his creature, the Hua Hu Diao. The flowery fox ferret. It's kept in a leopard skin bag, right? That's the one. He thinks maybe this can turn things around. Here's the twist, right? The espionage part. This is where it gets really clever. There was a spy planted earlier. Yang Jian, the shapeshifter. He had transformed himself into the ferret. He was in the bag the whole time. No way. So Mo Li Shu reaches in for his magic pet. And Yang Jian, still as the ferret, bites his hand, clean off, just leaves the bone. Oh my god. Agony, shock. He's completely distracted, defenseless. And in that moment- Zan Jin Ding strikes again. Hits him, kills him. The fourth and final general. Annihilated by a combination of infiltration and this specific magic weapon. Unbelievable. So Yang Jian reveals himself. Yeah, tells Huang Tian, well, basically, see, we did it. Fulfilled the prophecy. They go back to Jiang Ziya. Who's obviously thrilled. And then orders their heads cut off and put on the city walls. Grim. But effective psychological warfare, I guess. Does the text pause on that? Or is it just, yep, standard practice for the good guys? It's presented as just desserts, pretty much. Part of the mandate of heaven shifting. The Zhou forces are doing heaven's work, so the brutality is, well, justified in that context. Shows the defeat is final. Okay. So the news of this, total wipeout. Gets back to the capital. Right. Back to Wen Taixi, who's still trying to run things. How does he take it? He loses it. Absolutely consumed by rage. Slams the table. And he has that third eye. Yes. And the source gives this amazing visual. His third eye, in the middle of his forehead, snaps open and shoots out like two feet of white light. Whoa. That's not just regular anger. That's cosmic level fury. Exactly. He's a powerful figure pushed to his absolute limit by this failure. So this is it. This is the moment. This is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Yeah. He decides, okay, this defeat is too big. Governance can wait. I have to go myself. He thinks only he can turn this around. Only he can defeat the enemy. He gets full authority from King Zhu the Yellow Banner, the White Axe. Carte blanche, basically. Ready to go. Mounts his horse. Oh, that's ink, Kieran. His special mount. And just as he gets on, the Kieran screams, bucks wildly, and throws him right off. Thrown off his own magical beast. That's not subtle. That's about as blatant an omen as you can get. A literal fall before you even start the campaign. Does anyone point this out? Oh, yeah. An official, Wang Bian, steps up immediately. Says, sir, this is Buxiang. It's a terrible sign. Maybe you reconsider. But when Tai Chi, I'll use his loyalty again. It blinds him. He, the great commander, just ignores this huge supernatural warning from his own mystical creature. What's his excuse? He dismisses it. Says the Kieran is just a Jingu Buning Shushan. Basically, ah, he's just stiff, out of practice, hasn't fought lately. Wow. Talk about denial. He ignores the warning. Tells him to fire the departure cannons, gets back on the Kieran, and rides out. So the general, known for his single point of loyalty, Danzin, rides off, having just been personally warned by fate itself. He seals his destiny right there. The Kieran knew. But his duty to Shang wouldn't let him listen. He had the warning, but his commitment. It was too strong. Made it impossible for him to turn back, even with destiny screaming at him. When Tai Chi gets to Miyagi County, he talks with General Zongkui. And Zongkui advises him, hey, take the route via King Long Pass. It's shorter, like 200 lights shorter than the usual path. Right. And 200 long. No, this one's 60 miles. It sounds significant. Well, yeah. When you're moving 300,000 men, 60 miles feels like a huge saving. It's an offer you'd think you can't ignore. And you really have to picture the spectacle of this army on the move. It wasn't just, you know, a random mob of soldiers. No, at all. The source paints this picture of absolute, overwhelming military might. Professionalism. Yeah. It's almost poetic, the description. The banners alone. Flying dragon. Flying phoenix. Flying tiger. Flying leopard. They're just filling the sky, signifying the state's power. And the weaponry. Oh, yeah. The details are incredible. Taiya and Kunwu swords. These legendary blades. Yeah. Gold-plated spears. Massive mountain-opening axes. It's the full, terrifying force the Qing dynasty mobilized. They were also technologically advanced for the time. They had guizima, these fast horses for relaying messages. Crucial for intel. Right. For communication over distance. And lianzupao, connected artillery. Specifically designed to guard against surprise attacks, raids, that sort of thing. They were ready for war on a grand, conventional scale. But that word, conventional, it's about to just shatter, isn't it? Completely. Almost immediately after they pass Qinglong Pass, this perfect, massive, well-oiled machine just hits a wall. Literally, almost. The path becomes incredibly difficult. Narrow. Like, only one or two riders can go side by side. Exactly. And the real cost of that shortcut hits Wen Taixi right then and there. Yeah, you can feel the regret. Absolutely. Wen Taixi, despite all his experience, immediately regrets the choice. His whole 300,000-strong operation, built for open fields, is now just stuck. Paralyzed by the geography. He actually curses the shortcut. Right. Lamenting he should have stuck to the five standard passes. Yeah. Realizing this detour is actually wasting precious time. Chengtu, the text calls it. Wasted journey. So the cost of that shortcut wasn't just time, it was strategic paralysis. Yeah. Total gridlock. Precisely. If the road won't fit the army, well, he needs something else. He needs specific surgical power that can bypass this logistical nightmare. And that necessity, that need, leads him straight to Yellow Flower Mountain, Huangguoshan. He has to halt the army. But it's not just the logistics. The mountain itself, it radiates power. It's huge, rugged, hard to get into or out of. A place of difficult natural power. Yeah. And the source uses these seasonal descriptions to really emphasize its strange intensity. Spring is fire and smoke with red peaches. Autumn is golden brocade with yellow flowers, red leaves. It's beautiful, but forbidding. So when Tai Chi takes his ink kulen, that's his mythical mount, right? His magical kulen, yes. He rides it up the mountain looking for a solution. And he finds this flat strategic spot, recognizes it instantly as a potential battlefield. But there's this interesting little moment. He actually muses about how perfect this spot would be for, like, retirement, quiet contemplation. Reading the Huangting scripture specifically. The Huangting scripture, that's significant, isn't it? Very. It's a core Taoist text. Internal alchemy, meditation. That thought shows he's already shifting gears. He's ready to pivot instantly from imperial general to, well, powerful Taoist master himself. And he needs to, because that's exactly when he spots the first general, Deng Zong, leading a fierce formation, the Long Snake Array. And Deng Zong's appearance, it's meant to be terrifying. Dark blue face, fiery cinnabar hair, tusks sticking out, gold armor, wielding one of those mountain opening axes. When Tai Chi sees him and is instantly impressed, the goal shifts right then. It's not about crushing this guy anymore. No, it's recruitment. Which is a high-risk strategy, surely. Oh, absolutely. He's got 300,000 soldiers down below who could probably level the mountain if ordered, but he knows conventional force won't work here. Not if he wants to capture the unique talent he needs to face Jiki's own Taoist masters. So he goes for a direct personal encounter. Puts himself on the line. It's a huge gamble, really. Risking his own safety for a recruitment drive. And he pulls off this elaborate trick, pretends to flee east. Draws him in. Then, bam, deploys a specific technique, the Jin Dan, gold escape. Right. He doesn't just, like, teleport away. He uses his golden whip, this powerful artifact, to manifest a solid gold wall. Trapping Ding Zong inside. Instantly. It's clean, non-lethal, high-precision capture. He's secured the asset without damaging it. That's the Taoist efficiency right there. Okay, meanwhile, back at the bandit camp. Yeah, chaos. The other chieftains get this confused report. A scout runs back saying some red-robed Taoist, which is how they see Wen Taishi. Right, they don't know who he really is yet. Lured their leader into a yellow mist and he just vanished. Poof, gone. Naturally, the next two chieftains, Zheng Tianjun and Tao Tianjun, they ride up furious, demanding answers. Where's our brother? And Wen Taishi, instead of calming things down, he actually escalates it. He lies. Claims he killed the blue-faced man, Deng Zhong, with his whip. He's controlling the situation through misdirection and, well, sheer power display. And here we see his mastery. He needs to deal with two angry, powerful individuals at the same time. And he does. He flees again, this time south, but uses two different escape techniques simultaneously. Okay, break that down. So for Zheng Tianjun, he uses the Shui Dun, the water escape. Basically conjures a huge sea out of nowhere that engulfs and traps him. Wow. At the same time, for Tao Tianjun, he uses the Mu Dun, the wood escape. Traps him inside this dense, inescapable forest that just springs into existence. That's incredible multitasking with cosmic forces. It's a profound demonstration, really. Shows his power isn't just his rank as Grand Tutor. It's his personal mastery of the Wu Dun, the five escapes. Earth, metal, water, wood, fire. And he's using them offensively here. Not just for escape, but as these precise tools for non-lethal capture. For recruitment, essentially. Exactly. He's just taken three fiercely loathful, super-powered generals off the board in minutes. No siege, no bloodshed. Like you said, extremely high risk. Definitely. Because now these captured generals, they're probably filled with rage towards the guy who just tricked and imprisoned them. Their loyalty to each other is their strength. But that same loyalty could make them turn on Wen Taixi later. It's a fragile situation. Yeah. And the challenge isn't even over yet, is it? Not quite. The fourth chieftain, Xinhuan, arrives. He was out gathering supplies. He hears his three brothers were, quote, killed. And he is described as a truly strange hero. Tiger head crown, red face, tusks again. But crucially, he has wings. Twin fleshy wings under his ribs. Shuang Ruiqi, he can fly. Fly? Like, actually fly? Yes. Flies sounding like thunder, the text says. And he comes charging in with a hammer and drill, ready for revenge. Okay, flying changes everything. It absolutely does. Wen Taixi realizes immediately, as usual, five escapes, the Wudun. They won't work on Xinhuan. Why not? Because Xinhuan can just fly out of the localized elemental traps. The gold wall, the water, the forest. They're ground-based. The air gives him freedom. So Wen Taixi has to adapt. Again, on the fly, you could say. Yeah. And his adaptation this time is, well, it's brutal. And spectacular. He basically throws away the scalpel and picks up a cosmic sledgehammer. What does he do? He points his whip at the side of the mountain and commands his spiritual soldiers, the Yellow Turban Warriors, the Huangjun Lixi, to lift a massive chunk of the mountain rock and just pin Xinhuan down by the waist. He moves the mountain. He literally deploys cosmology as a weapon to subdue one guy. Forget warfare. This is like an instant localized natural disaster aimed at a single person. And the contrast, like you said, with the 300,000 troops just sitting down below. It's deafening, isn't it? The source sums it up beautifully. Moving mountains is done with a smile. Just like that. Casual cosmic power. Okay. So Xinhuan is pinned. Terrified, I imagine. Hopelessly outmatched. He immediately begs for mercy. He recognizes Wen Taixi's heavenly majesty. Realizes this isn't just some wandering Taoist. This is the Grand Tutor. And this is the moment, right? The political conversion engineered through sheer terror. Pretty much. Wen Taixi offers him the deal right there. Pardon? Recruitment into the army for the Xiqi campaign. And the promise of reward. The blessing of a waist jade. A high official post if they succeed. And Xinhuan takes it. Instantly. He gets it. The power dynamic has completely shifted. He knows which side to be on now. But then it pivots again. To loyalty. Brotherhood. Yes, this is crucial. Xinhuan, now technically a recruited Shang official, immediately kneels. And he begs Wen Taixi not just to spare, but to resurrect his three brothers. Because he still thinks they're dead. Right. He says, you know, even though they have different surnames, they're like hand and foot in affection. Inseparable. And Wen Taixi agrees. He does. He's clearly impressed by this fierce loyalty. In fact, that loyalty is probably why he wants them. That kind of brotherhood translates directly into battlefield cohesion and ferocity. Okay, so the recruitment is sealed by loyalty. And then finalized by more magic. More magic. Wen Taixi releases the other three with a thunderous command. And it's precise. The specific confinements just vanish. The gold wall holding Deng gone. The sea holding Zhang vanishes. The forest holding Tao disappears. The message is clear. Wen Taixi gives. Wen Taixi takes away. He controls their reality. Exactly. Power demonstrated. And here is the amazing cliffhanger. This unstable moment. The three generals reappear, unharmed. Yeah. They see Xinhuan, their fourth brother, standing respectfully next to the red-robed Taoist. They have no idea what just happened. None. Deng Zhang, still furious from being trapped, probably thinking Xinhuan was captured too. Yeah. He immediately orders them all to attack. Capture the demon Taoist. He's completely unaware that the demon Taoist is now their commanding officer, and that they've all just been drafted into the imperial army. The sheer volatility of this alliance is just right there, in your face. It's immediate. Wen Taixi just recruited four generals using basically fear, magic, and bribery. They haven't been properly debriefed. They haven't processed it. They're literally still trying to kill their new boss. This whole recruitment was efficient, maybe, but politically, it feels like a ticking time bomb. Totally.