Chapter 92- With Nuwa's Help, Yang Jian Wiped Out All Seven Demons From M...

Before the spiritual threats really take center stage, Zhang Ziya has one last human general to eliminate. Wu Wenhua. Right. And the sources detail this guy's total annihilation. And it wasn't a duel. No, not at all. It was a strategic masterclass. Absolutely. A classic demonstration of Zhang Ziya's cunning. He and King Wu, they don't fight Wu Wenhua head-on. They execute this perfect lure. Drawing him right into a meticulously prepared trap in the mountains. And the genius of it is in the preparation of the escape routes. Or the lack of them. This is where the engineers come in. You've got to give credit to Wu Ji and Nangong Xu here. Immediately after Ziya and King Wu pass through this valley, they use wood and massive stones to just completely seal the path behind them. So Wu Wenhua charges in, realizes he's chasing a ghost, and when he tries to turn back... The road's gone. It's just gone. He's in a funnel with no exit. And this wasn't just a simple barricade. This was the setup for the most destructive fire trap you can imagine. The scale of the assault is just... It's terrifying. The descriptions list all this sophisticated military hardware. Fire bows, rockets. Fire cannons. All aimed at this trapped army. Plus massive, massive quantities of dry firewood. The text here is so visceral. It says the fire was so intense the whole area was experiencing earth collapsing, mountains shaking. And the sheer heat, it says, generated lightning and thunder to go along with the flames. It was so hot it literally turned the green trees in the valley blood red. In moments. It speaks to the finality of it. The source really emphasizes that even if Wu Wenhua had, like, copper walls and iron ramparts, there was just no surviving this. And this general, who is this towering figure, a hero who walks on land. Instantly reduced to ashes. The poem at the end even calls the fire a dragon in a gust of wind. So the message is clear. When Zhu commits to conventional military strategy, they are devastatingly effective. But that victory, as decisive as it is, it only serves to validate Xia's assessment. That the real opposition lives outside the scope of human strategy. Exactly. The human threat is gone. But the leader of the supernatural threats, Yuan Hong, the skillful and refined white ape from May Mountain, he's still there. And he's understandably pretty upset that his human ally just got, you know, scorched. Yeah. And almost immediately, deception is back on the table. Help arrives for Yuan Hong. In the form of a figure named Zhu Zhezhen. But he doesn't show up in armor. No, he arrives as a Tuotuan ascetic, a monk claiming he's just a local from May Mountain who wants to assist the Shang cause. But what's really telling is the reaction of the other Shang generals, right? Yin Popeye and Lei Kai. They are not fooled for a second. They see the pattern, like, this is just another monster. Like Chang Hao and Wu Long. So the theme is already set. It's all about recognizing the true identity behind this. This cultivated human facade. And Zhu Zhezhen really leans into the monstrous look. He's not trying to be handsome or convincing. Not at all. He's got a black face, ridiculously long lips, big ears, these fierce eyes. And this cold aura that the text says immerses people's skin. He's physically intimidating. And he uses that to deliver a political ultimatum. He just immediately launches this verbal attack, calls the Zhu forces disloyal usurpers, demands they surrender. Or he'll crush them into 10,000 pieces. It's pure bluster, but it's backed by a very non-human power source. And that bluster draws out a crucial figure, Yuzhong, the deputy general for the southern murky. Ah, poor Yuzhong. He really serves as the perfect litmus test for this new stage of the war. He really does. The key detail about him is that he did not believe in magic. He's the ultimate traditionalist. He relies on mortal skill, courage, his weapon. That's it. He represents the pinnacle of conventional heroism. So is he failing just because he doesn't believe, or is this a narrative warning from the source? Like a clear line being drawn between mortal skill and genuine cultivation power. I think it's a narrative certainty. Once these monsters are on the field, mortal skill is irrelevant. His belief system is his fatal flaw. So the fight itself, it's short. Less than 20 moves. Then Zhu Zizhen turns and runs and deploys the monster's key defensive ability. Which is that cultivated speed. Yuzhong gives chase, but the monster is suddenly surrounded by this yin wind and cold fog. And he becomes impossibly fast, faster than any horse could ever be. And that speed is what allows for the decisive move. The horrific decisive move, Zhu Zizhen stops, turns around, exhales this puff of black smoke and reveals his true nature. A pig monster. And the description is just horrifying. He bites off half of Yuzhong. Half of him. Half of him. Just gone. Falls dead instantly. It's this immediate visceral proof that mortal strength is now completely insufficient. You can't beat that with a spear and a horse. Not a chance. So this defeat confirms for Zhang Ziya what they're up against. They need a specialist. They need someone who can fight magic with greater magic. And that, of course, brings us to Yang Jin. The solution. He is the solution. He's disciplined, powerful, and strategic. His first move isn't to draw a sword. No, it's to deploy the demon-reflecting treasure mirror. The Zhaoyou Baojin. He confirms the creature is exactly what they suspected. A massive, cultivated, big pig. So he confronts the monster, and after a brief fight, the pig monster retreats again, just like he did with Yuzhong. But Yang Jin doesn't chase him conventionally. No. Instead, he executes a strategy that is so shocking, it forces you to rethink the very definition of a battle. He deliberately allows himself to be consumed. He lets himself get eaten. The sources are crystal clear. The pig monster ate Yang Jin whole. Just imagine the scene. Ziya and the generals are watching their specialist seemingly vanish, swallowed by the enemy. They're forced to retreat. Meanwhile, Yuan Hong and his new ally are celebrating what they think is a massive victory. The psychological blow must have been immense. And just a quick side note here that really reinforces this theme of deception around this time. We also meet Yang Jin. Right, who's a sheep or goat spirit. And he's also using the borrowed surname Yang to hide his nature. It just shows this whole mountain crew operates under this cloak of sophisticated disguise. It confirms that everyone is hiding their true form, waiting for the right moment to strike. But while Yuan Hong is celebrating, the real action is just beginning. In probably the most claustrophobic battlefield imaginable. Inside Zhu Ziyan's stomach. And suddenly the pig monster hears this voice booming from inside his own guts, demanding, do you know who I am? This is the core strategic moment. It is the ultimate infiltration. And Yang Jin reveals his lineage from inside the monster. And that isn't just a name. For a creature like Zhu Ziyan, that lineage represents a level of celestial authority and power that just, it completely outstrips his own cultivation. He doesn't just threaten, he acts. He says he's going to mess with your guts. And the source specifies he squeezes the monster's liver and intestines. The phrase is so powerful, he grasped his vital organs. And the pig monster's response is just pure agony. He's screaming, it hurts so much, have mercy. And in that moment of weakness, he reveals the high stakes of his whole existence. He pleads, and he specifically mentions the immense effort it took to even get a human form. Absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, sucking the essence of the sun and moon. That detail is so critical. This wasn't a casual transformation for him. This monster spent centuries, maybe millennia, painstakingly gathering cosmic energy. Just for a temporary human shell. A shell that is now being threatened from the inside out by a power he can't possibly fight. So Yang Jin's strategy makes perfect sense. He knew an external physical attack wouldn't work. So by allowing himself to be consumed, he neutralized the pig monster's greatest strength and turned the monster's own internal biology into his greatest weakness. He took the fight to the spiritual core. And the terms of surrender just show that total dominance. He doesn't ask for retreat or treasure. Nope. Two things. Revert to your true form and kneel before the zoo camp. Humiliation is a strategic tool. And the monster complies instantly. He transforms from this menacing ascetic back into a gigantic swaying pig and is forced to walk out and kneel at the enemy's gate. And this is where we get that moment of, uh, almost bizarre comic relief. It's great. It's around four in the morning, Nanganshi is on patrol and he sees this colossal pig kneeling there and he just, he mistakes it for a common farm animal. I mean, who wouldn't? It's priceless. Yeah. But then Yang Jin, still inside, has to clarify. He's basically shouting from the pig's stomach. Can you imagine Nanganshi's face? So Ziya and the generals rush out to see this. The spectacle. A giant pig kneeling in an absolute supplication. And Yang Jian, still running the operation from inside, urges Ziya to execute the monster immediately. He says creatures like this will always be a future threat. The execution is swift. Nanganshi, the same guy who helped build the fire trap, cuts off the pig's head. And here's the dramatic finale. Yang Jian emerges safely from the resulting blood light. This common visual for when a powerful spiritual entity is destroyed. And restores his true form, much to the awe of all the generals. And the pig's head gets displayed as a warning. Yuan Hong wants to keep fighting. He sees the losses as temporary, but he knows morale is just shot. And to, as the source material says, cover the ears and eyes of the crowd, he brings in a new ally. This is Dai Lai, the dog spirit. But he has him pretend to be just some local guy from Meishan looking for a job. It's a total front. He's trying to project strength when there's none left. It's completely transparent, and it's doomed from the start. This desperation sends the next challenger out, Yang Xian, the sheep spirit. And he's not fighting for victory, he's fighting to avenge their reputation. And the text gives us a great picture of him. White face, long beard. But the real giveaway is the two actual horns growing right out of his head. Yeah, he's not exactly subtle about his origins. He comes charging out, looking for a fight, and he gets one with Yang Jian. So Yang Jian steps up. How does he approach this? Very methodically. He fights for a bit, and then he immediately pulls out the demon-illuminating mirror. The Xiao Jian. Right. And this is so key. He's not using it as a weapon, he's just using it for intel. To confirm, okay, you are definitely a sheep spirit. Knowing that is crucial for his next move. So they fight for a while, 20 or 30 rounds, the text says. And Yang Jian realizes he's outmatched, he tries to run for it. But not before using his big special move. He blasts this huge waves of pure white light from his mouth. It completely covers Yang Jian and his horse. The idea is to blind him, disorient him, while he transforms into his true sheep form to attack. That white light, that's his thousand years of Taoist cultivation, right? That's his ultimate power. That's it. But Yang Jian's counter is, well, it's instant. And it's brilliant. He doesn't try to block it or dodge it, he just responds with a very specific transformation. He becomes the white-faced, striped, ferocious tiger. Exactly. And this is where the cosmic rules just take over. The text says it plainly. The tiger is the creature that naturally conquers the sheep spirit. So it's not about being bigger or stronger. No, not at all. It's Yang Jian literally enforcing the laws of nature. And because of that, Yang Jian, the sheep spirit, is just instantly defeated, cut in two. His thousand years of power meant nothing against his natural predator. A kind of instant natural karma. Yang Jian is basically showing them that the universe itself is now a weapon for the Zhu army. That pattern is set. And it carries right into the next fight. Okay, so who's next? It's Dai Lei. The dog spirit. The one who's just pretending to be a local guy. Ah, the job seeker. Yeah. And the records describe him with a pointed mouth, big ears, and he's covered in this weird demon light. A poem in the text actually calls him the Shenou, the divine hound, and says he's the leader of the seven monsters. So he's the big boss. But he doesn't face Yang Jian at first, right? No. He goes up against Ni Zha. And Ni Zha, who's always by the book, just demands his name for the Book of Merit. He's basically just getting the paperwork ready for his victory. He's expecting an easy win. A routine fight. Yeah. But Dai Lei is anything but routine. He doesn't really do melee. He has this insane magical ranged attack. He spits out a giant red bead the size of a bowl. And this bead is powerful. So powerful that Ni Zha, I mean this Ni Zha, the guy who flies on wind fire wheels, is forced to retreat. Wait, really? If Ni Zha's backing off, that thing must be absolutely devastating. It is. This is a huge step up from the sheep spirit's white light. The stakes are much higher now. And that's when Yang Jian has to step in. Okay, so Dai Lei tries the same attack on him. How does Yang Jian counter something like that? Can he transform into something that blocks magic? That's the brilliant part. He seems to realize that a physical transformation won't work here. A magical projectile like that would probably just hit him anyway, right? So he pivots. He doesn't transform himself at all. Instead, he calls out his companion. He unleashes the howling celestial hound. His dog. His divine dog, the Xiu Qian Quan. And the sources say the celestial hound, because it's an immortal creature, just completely ignores the bead's magic. It doesn't even try to block it. It just flies right past it. Flies right past the monster's ultimate weapon and just bites him. It seizes Dai Lei, the dog spirit, and holds him completely still. Oh, the irony. The divine dog spirit, leader of the monsters, taken down by a celestial dog bite. Crushing irony. It's no longer about nature's rules. Now it's about divine quality, just trumping demonic power. Once he's caught, it's over. Yang Jian finishes him. Wow. So Yuan Hong has now lost two of his most powerful monsters in, what, a matter of hours? He must be losing his mind. He's got to be in total despair. But the threats just keep getting worse, and the next one to arrive is terrifying. Jin Da Sheng, the bull spirit. And this one is just a physical monster, right? The text says he's 16 feet tall, double horns, carrying a huge three-pointed knife. Yeah, he is pure, unstoppable force. And the hero sent to fight him isn't Yang Jian. It's Zheng Lun, the general supervisor of the five armies. Now, we need to pause on Zheng Lun, because he's not just another warrior. No, absolutely not. This is so important. Zheng Lun was a logistical genius. His great merit, his contribution to the cause, was making sure the entire Zhu army was fed and supplied. He was the administrative backbone of the whole war effort. So losing him isn't just losing a soldier. It's a massive strategic and morale blow. A huge blow. So they fight, and Jin Da Sheng quickly shows he has a weapon that's even more deadly than the red bead. This is the famous Niu Huang. The Niu Huang. He spits out a refined ox skull stone, also the size of a bull. But the sources say it flies like fire and lightning. It's just pure, unstoppable velocity. And it's designed to be too fast to react to. And it is. Zheng Lun is hit instantly. The impact is just devastating. It shatters his face, knocks him from his beast, and the bull spirit moves in and cuts him in two. That's just brutal. And the text really emphasizes the loss, doesn't it? Zheng Ziya is heartbroken. He's weeping openly. He knows he just lost one of his most valuable, meritorious generals. It's a genuine crisis. The bull spirit's weapon is a new level of threat that their old tricks can't handle. Which means Yang Jian has to step up again, this time for revenge. Right. He's furious. He challenges Jin Da Sheng, and they have this epic duel, both with three-pointed knives, for over 30 rounds. It's a desperate, difficult fight. But the gallstone is still the problem. It's the ultimate trump card. Jin Da Sheng, feeling confident, spits out the ox gallstone again. And Yang Jian, having seen what it did to Zheng Lun, knows he can't block it. He can't transform his way out of it. So what does he do? He does the only thing he can. He transforms into a pure beam of golden light and just flees. He runs south as fast as he can, with the bull spirit chasing right after him. So even Yang Jian is on the ropes. Completely. He's trying to get some distance, figure out a plan. He checks his mirror, confirms it's a water buffalo. And that's when the universe itself just steps in. The whole environment changes. This is the big Darius Ex Machina moment. You get the fragrant wind, the five-colored, auspicious clouds. Yellow banners appearing from nowhere. And riding a blue phoenix, the goddess Nuwa descends. And this isn't just any god. This is Nuwa, the goddess who created humanity. Yes. She's not here by accident. She tells Yang Jian she has come to help because the Shang Dynasty's time is up. The Zhu is destined to win. She is here to personally enforce the mandate of heaven. So she's not here to fight. She's here to end the debate. Exactly. She just commands her attendant to use a magical artifact, And what happens? It's over in seconds. Zhen Dasheng is still charging. He attacks the attendant, but the rope is inescapable. These yellow turbans strong men appear, pierce the bull's nose with the rope, beat him with a copper hammer and with a clap of thunder. He's just a water buffalo. All his thousands of years of cultivation just gone. Instantly erased. He is captured. Yang Jian thanks Nuwa and she tells him to take the bull back to camp and even promises to help him capture Yuan Hong later. It is a stunning display of the power hierarchy. Ziya is, well, he's worried. He's stalled. His reinforcements from the Eastern Marquis haven't shown up yet. And the enemy leader, Yuan Hong, is still out there blocking his path. A very capable threat. This urgency, you know, it forces Ziya to make a move. It really sets the board. But okay, before they can even think about targeting Yuan Hong, there's some cleanup to do, right? They have to deal with a lingering threat. Cleanup, yeah. This is actually a huge turning point for morale. Yang Jian, who's basically Ziya's top supernatural warrior, he comes back from a quest. Okay. And he reports something really surprising. The bull monster, the Nuwa Gwai, he wasn't actually captured by anyone in their army. Oh. So who got him? The supreme goddess herself, Nuwa Nian Yang. That immediately tells everyone, from Ziya down to the lowest foot soldier, that this is happening on a cosmic level now. Wow. And what's fascinating is Ziya's next move. It's so political. He knows morale is everything, so he doesn't just, you know, get rid of the monster quietly. No, it's a piece of psychological theater. It's brilliant. He orders a very public, very formal execution of the bull monster. And he does it in front of all the allied feudal lords, the Zuhou. Exactly. For anyone new to this, the Zuhou are all the regional princes and nobles allied with the new dynasty. So this is a message for the leadership. The execution itself is done by Nangong Shi, and then the head is put on a flagpole for everyone to see. What was the army's reaction? The sources say it was just electric. The 800,000 troops there at the Mengjin River just let out this one single deafening cheer. You can just imagine the confidence boost. A massive one. They're seeing this enemy's supposedly unbeatable power literally broken right in front of them. Okay, so six of the seven monsters are gone. Yang Jing confirms it. Yuan Hong is now totally isolated, pinned down. But he's still dangerous, even alone. What's his plan? Yuan Hong, he consults with his generals, Yin Poba and Lei Kai, and he makes a fatal miscalculation. Which is? He looks at his massive army and basically sees them as incompetent. He thinks they're all quantity, no quality. That sounds like a classic strategic mistake, underestimating your opponent's mind just because you think you have more raw power. Precisely. So because he's thinking in terms of a conventional war, he falls back on a standard military play. He sends an urgent petition back to the capital, Choj begging the sun of heaven for reinforcements. He's trying to buy time. And that's the last thing Z is going to give him. This is where Z's genius really shines. He sees that request for help as the absolute peak moment of weakness. And he orders a surprise attack. A massive night assault. But wait, the timing is specific, right? The second watch, the Er Gang Shi Fen, that's, what, between 9 and 11 p.m.? Isn't that incredibly risky in the dark? You could have friendly fire, total chaos. That's a great question. And I think the timing is the key to the whole strategy. This isn't about precise need formations. It's about pure shock and awe. Ah. Hitting them at the second watch when they're resting but not deep asleep, it just maximizes the terror. It guarantees they're caught completely off guard. The risk to his own army is worth the reward of the enemy just crumbling. And the sources say they did crumble. It wasn't a small skirmish. It was a devastating multi-front raid. Absolute destruction, yeah. And it was organized so surgically. You have the Southern Marquis hitting the front, the Northern Marquis hitting the left flank. And Li Jing, Wei Hu, and Lei Zhenzi hitting the right. There was no escape. None. No chance to organize any kind of defense. The descriptions in the text are just brutal. Corpses cover the green fields. Blood fills the ditches. But while all this is happening on the flanks, the real mission is still the center, right? Getting to Yuan Hong himself? Yes. As the army collapses, Yang Ji and Ne Zha make a beeline straight for the central camp. And this is where the tone shifts completely. We go from military strategy to pure myth. Exactly. The atmosphere is described as sorrowful clouds floating, tragic mist scattering. This is the main event. The showdown. Yuan Hong grabs his iron rod, and he confronts Yang Ji. And he reveals his true nature, which is what? Some kind of powerful ape or monkey spirit. Yeah. Yang Ji immediately calls him a Meishan monkey head. But here's the real kicker, the mythological core of the problem. Yuan Hong uses a power called the Eight-Nine Skill, the Ba Jiu Gong Fu. The Eight-Nine Skill. While Yang Ji is famous for his 72 transformations, the Eight-Nine Skill is its perfect counter. Think of it as a mythological mirror. It gives Yuan Hong the exact same mastery over transformation. So they're perfectly matched. That's a great way to put it. So when Yang Ji taunts him, threatening to skin and draw the tendons, it's not just trash talk. He's trying to break that mental balance. But it just makes Yuan Hong angrier. It just enrages him. He wants revenge for his brothers. And that anger kicks off this incredible duel of transformation. The sequence is just wild. They turn into everything imaginable. Animals, objects, elements. They exhaust every single skill they have. The sources say, But because of that Eight-Nine Skill, neither of them can get any advantage at all. It's a complete stalemate. A stalemate of pure power. So what does that mean for the story? Yang Jian, the ultimate transformer, is completely neutralized. It raises the stakes. It tells you that Yuan Hong isn't just some monster. He operates on the same divine level as Yang Jian. Personal skill alone cannot win this fight. Something else has to break the tie. And Yuan Hong tries to be that something else. He switches from power to strategy. He realizes his camp is lost, so he flees toward his lair, Meishan. It's a classic trick. He's trying to lure Yang Jian into his home turf. A confined space where local knowledge might give him an edge. And Yang Jian takes the bait. He pursues him using the Earth Escape, the Two-Dun. Right. Burrowing through the ground to keep up. This chase gives us that brilliant psychological moment. Yuan Hong vanishes and turns into a strange rock on the side of the road. He's trying to hide in plain sight. But this is what makes Yang Jian superior. It's not just about changing form. It's about perception. He uses his divine light, his Shen Guang, and sees through the disguise instantly. And his next move is genius. He doesn't just smash the rock. No, he's smarter than that. He transforms into a stonemason with a hammer and a drill and just sort of walks up to it like he's about to start quarrying. It's such a great threat. It's not a physical attack. It's a message. It says, I see you, and I am prepared to dismantle you piece by piece. And Yuan Hong gets the message. He abandons the disguise and turns into a clear breeze to get away. An intangible form. He knows he's been found out completely. It's just exhausting trying to keep up. Eventually, Yang Jian gets to Meishan itself. The sources describe it as beautiful, ancient trees, winding paths, but also ominous. There's this wind, this Sasayin thing. And that danger shows up right away. He's ambushed, not by Yuan Hong, but by hundreds of little monkeys Saohao'er the sticks. It's a horde, a terrible environment for a one-on-one duel. Right. And Yang Jian is smart. He realizes fighting a mob on their home turf is just a waste of energy. It's a tactical mistake. So he pulls back, uses a golden light to retreat from the mountain. And that retreat is the turning point of the whole fight. It's the moment that proves Yuan Hong, with his skills and his strategy, is an even match for Yang Jian. Which is why the moment he retreats, the entire atmosphere changes again. Celestial music starts playing, auspicious clouds roll in. And the goddess Nüwen Yanyang, she arrives. It's clear she's here to break this deadlock. And she says something that just validates everything we've seen. She acknowledges Yang Jian's power, but then she delivers the final verdict. She looks at him and says, and this line is so important, you cannot subdue this monster. Wow. That's it. It's a cosmic ruling. No amount of skill is going to win this. You need a better tool. A superior external asset is required. And that's what she gives him. The treasure. The map of rivers, mountains, and the nation. The Shan Hei Shi Qi 2. The Shan Hei Shi Qi 2. What exactly is it? It's not just a map, right? No, no. It's basically divine technology. It's a pocket universe. When you unroll this scroll, it creates a perfect, self-contained, illusionary world. It doesn't just trap the body, it traps the mind. So the plan to use it is all about strategy, not force. Exactly. First, he hangs the map on a big tree. Then he goes back to Mishan, challenges Yuan Hong, and then immediately pretends to run away. Playing right into Yuan Hong's ego. Oh, perfectly. Yuan Hong thinks he's finally won, that he's got Yang Jian on the run. So he pursues him down the mountain, blinded by rage and revenge. And he chases him right onto a high mountain, which isn't a mountain at all, it's the map. It's the entrance to the map's world. And the capture is instant. He's caught. Ru Yu Quan Tao. This being who can turn into anything, wind or stone, is suddenly trapped in a reality he can't escape, because his mind can't tell the difference.