Daily Intelligence: From Water Snake to Jinghe Dragon King

Just as I was writing this, the sun, moon, and stars appeared in the sky above, along with countless laws of heaven. Within these laws, the Eye of Insight appeared, and strange phenomena unfolded for a long time before calming down.

Liu Qing, who was in the clouds above the Tang army, was overjoyed. Yu Yu, the Taoist priest on Jin'ao Island, was overjoyed. However, the Buddha Tathagata in Leiyin Temple and the Jade Emperor of the Ninth Heaven had gloomy expressions.

Although it was expected, when the Intercepting Sect's journey to the East officially began and was responded to by the Heavenly Dao, how could he not be in a good mood?

But now that things have already happened, regret and remorse are useless. All we can do is try our best to hinder the Jie Sect's eastward journey and prevent it from succeeding.

On this day, Li Shimin led the Tang army to the Twelve Linked Cities between Chang'an and Tongguan.

These twelve interconnected cities were the only way from Chang'an to Tongguan. The Sui Dynasty army was stationed in the twelve rammed earth fortresses.

To reach Tongguan, these twelve linked cities must be captured.

At Li Shimin's command, the vanguard general Sun Wukong accepted the order and went to challenge the enemy.

The Twelve Linked Cities form a straight line running east to west. Sun Wukong challenged the first city, and immediately, the city gate opened, and a Sui general emerged from within.

This Sui general fought alone, without any soldiers accompanying him. He was clad in magical armor and wielded a top-grade magical weapon, the Nine-Ringed Blade. He was burly and his aura was powerful yet ferocious, clearly a wild demon from the mountains who had joined the Sui Dynasty.

"Hey, where did this hairy-faced, thunder-mouthed Taoist come from, daring to cause trouble in my First City?"

Sun Wukong didn't answer, but immediately leaped forward and smashed down with his staff from above.

The staff in Sun Wukong's hand was transformed from the iron of the East Sea's Sea-Stabilizing Needle, and is called the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Cudgel). It weighs 13,500 jin (approximately 6,250 kg) and was forged by the ancient emperor Yu the Great when he controlled the floods. It is a top-grade spiritual treasure acquired later.

Now that Sun Wukong has regained the power he had when he wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, his cultivation has reached the Undying Realm. With the Golden Cudgel in his hand, his combat strength is second only to Liu Qing.

Faced with a powerful mountain demon who had joined the Sui Dynasty and was preparing to emulate the Shang and Zhou dynasties' conferment of gods in order to gain merit, obtain divine office, and achieve immortality, Sun Wukong didn't even bother to ask any questions and directly struck him with his golden cudgel.

The golden cudgel, carrying terrifying pressure, crashed down like a collapsing pillar of heaven. The Sui general of the First City's pupils shrank drastically, and he roared as he used all his demonic power to block it with his magical weapon, the Nine-Ringed Blade.

But it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; with a muffled thud, the Sui general was reduced to a pile of mud.

"I'll credit General Sun Wukong for this achievement! Brothers, follow me into the city!"

The great demon general of Sui was killed by Sun Wukong with a single blow. The Sui Dynasty soldiers guarding the city knelt down and surrendered. Li Shimin kowtowed to the demon king Sa Zilu and led his army into the first city.

With a thought, Liu Qing opened the portal to the Lesser Thousand Worlds and swallowed the corpse of the great demon general Sui who had been killed by Sun Wukong, along with his demon soul and his grotto-heaven, into the Lesser Thousand Worlds.

This minor world originated from the Mouth-Bag Cave Heaven, which in turn came from the Mouth-Bag Talent. Therefore, after Liu Qing's Mouth-Bag Talent reached its peak, his ability to devour and refine merged with the power of the current minor world.

Once the minor world is opened, its physical body, soul, and even the Dharma realm can be swallowed up and used as nourishment for the minor world.

As for the various collections within the Dharma Realm, Liu Qing took them out separately and placed them aside.

As the acting leader of the Jie Sect and the mastermind behind the Journey to the East plan, Liu Qing's status has changed. He no longer needs to fight enemies himself, as he naturally has Jie Sect henchmen like Sun Wukong to act on his behalf.

However, in terms of reaping the rewards, you still need to do it yourself.

After a brief rest, Li Shimin ordered the three vanguard generals, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing, as well as the two fierce generals, Li Xuanba and Luo Shixin, to lead their men to conquer the other cities of the Twelve Linked Cities one by one.

Meanwhile, Li Jing, who led 10,000 river demon soldiers, circled around to the back of the twelfth city, blocking the retreat route of the Sui army stationed there, preparing to wipe out all twelve cities in one fell swoop.

Seeing that Sun Wukong had set a precedent, Zhu Bajie also wanted to make a contribution. In front of the second city, he flashed to the city wall, holding a nine-toothed rake, and shouted curses.

“You fools in Wuna City, hurry up and come to die, and add a merit to Grandpa Pigsy’s merit book.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a demon saint of the Three Flowers Realm leaped down from the top of the second city's city wall. He was the city's garrison commander.

Now that Zhu Bajie is at the Divine Realm and possesses the magical Nine-Toothed Rake, his opponent is merely a Three-Flower Realm Demon Saint, how could he be a match for Zhu Bajie?

In just a few rounds, the demon saint was killed by Pigsy with a rake. It turned out to be a tiger spirit, and coincidentally, this tiger spirit was the Tiger Vanguard under the command of the Yellow Wind Monster in Yellow Wind Ridge.

Seeing Liu Qing's prowess in killing the Yellow Wind Monster and Lingji Bodhisattva, it was terrified and fled to the Southern Continent, joining the Sui Dynasty army and becoming a garrison commander of the Twelve Linked Cities. Unexpectedly, it seemed to have lost its mind today, disregarding the difference in strength between itself and Zhu Bajie, and jumped off the city wall to fight, only to be killed by a rake.

He used to be very clever, always knowing to run away when things went wrong, but now he's acting like a fool, getting angry and fighting back after being provoked by Pigsy.

Liu Qing guessed that these unusual behaviors were probably due to the influence of the change of dynasties in the human world and the calamity brought by the Eastern Journey, which made him mentally confused and thus he suffered the calamity.

At this time, the human world is in turmoil. Coinciding with the journey to the east, the calamity of human slaughter has connected with the calamities of earth and heaven. The aura of slaughter is exceptionally strong. Ordinary demon kings, demon saints, and even great saints will be affected and make irrational decisions.

Unless some powerful beings at the Three Flowers Realm or above can withstand the influence of the Three Tribulations Qi.

After Zhu Bajie performed a meritorious service, Sha Wujing followed suit and forcefully climbed the city wall of the third city, killing a grass-root god who was guarding the city.

Subsequently, Li Xuanba and Luo Shixin also made contributions by killing generals. Four of the twelve cities were captured in a short period of time. In addition, news came from Li Jing's side that the river demons and water soldiers had blocked the retreat route of the twelve cities. Therefore, Li Shimin ordered the entire army to attack.

One night later, the Tang army captured the twelve cities, and all twelve generals were killed. The powerful demons with cultivation became nourishment for Liu Qing's minor world.

Li Shimin gained territory, while the pilgrim team, in accordance with the will of Heaven, overcame the first tribulation of their journey to the East and the tribulation of the Twelve Linked Cities.

After capturing the Twelve Linked Cities, the surrendered Sui soldiers were disorganized and incorporated into the Tang army. The main force of the Tang army expanded from 20,000 to 30,000. After a short rest of more than ten hours, they marched towards Tongguan at midnight the next day.

Tongguan was the first formidable pass that the Tang army encountered when marching eastward from Chang'an to contend for control of the Central Plains.

Tongguan at this time was not the Tongguan that we see in later generations. The Tongguan that we see in later generations was built during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Tongguan at this time originated from the old site of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was expanded and repaired in the seventh year of the Daye era of the Sui Dynasty. It was used by Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty to imprison the nobles of Guanzhong.

The city walls on the east, west, and north sides were constructed of rammed earth, with a height of about five zhang (approximately 10 meters). The south and southeast walls were built along the mountain slopes, connecting the three peaks of the nearby Qinling Mountains: Qilin Mountain, Fenghuang Mountain, and Xiang Mountain.

The city wall features numerous military structures such as crenellations, parapets, and stilted buildings, and is guarded by 10,000 elite Sui Dynasty soldiers, clad in armor and armed with long spears and strong bows, ready for battle.

At this time, Yang Lin, the Sui Dynasty general in charge of guarding Tongguan, had been replaced by Wen Zhong.

Although Wen Zhong was only a third-generation disciple in the Jie Sect, he was the Grand Tutor of the Shang Dynasty and was proficient in military affairs. Therefore, many of the celestial beings from the Jie Sect who came to Tongguan City this time were willing to obey Wen Zhong's orders. Thus, Wen Zhong occupied the body of the Tongguan garrison commander and was responsible for leading the mortals, great demons, mountain gods and land gods who were loyal to the Sui Dynasty, and the Jie Sect celestial beings from the lower realm.

Li Shimin's army advanced and set up camp ten miles outside Tongguan. Liu Qing sat on a cloud and looked down. He saw several divine rays rising from within Tongguan. These divine rays were different from the incense smoke of the mountain gods and the land gods. Instead, they were filled with the golden light of heavenly merit.

Liu Qing knew that these were celestial gods, distinct from local deities such as mountain gods and earth gods.

Only the gods of the Heavenly Court, who are responsible for maintaining the stability of the Heavenly Dao, possess some Heavenly Dao merit, and that is what Liu Qing wants.

Liu Qing has now broken through to the Three Flowers Realm. His Human Flower and Earth Flower are in the process of being nurtured, but he is only lacking the Heavenly Flower to be nurtured by the merits of the Heavenly Dao. When that happens, he will be able to gather the three flowers at the top and achieve perfection in one fell swoop.

The Jade Emperor originally intended to force the gods from the Jie Sect to descend to the mortal realm, causing the Jie Sect to kill each other, which was a malicious act.

Little did he know that Liu Qing was just waiting for him to do this.

He possesses extraordinary treasures and abilities, enabling him to forcibly seize the divine soul imprint from the Investiture of the Gods and bestow upon them a separate divine position.

This is a perfect opportunity to rescue the Jiejiao gods who are trapped in the Investiture of the Gods.

Furthermore, the Heavenly Dao merits carried by these Jiejiao Heavenly Gods naturally belonged to Liu Qing when he rescued them.

This method of rescuing the Heavenly Gods of the Jie Sect and stripping them of their Heavenly Merits was inspired by Liu Qing when he conferred titles upon Shen Gongbao.

At that time, after rescuing Shen Gongbao from the Investiture of the Gods, Liu Qing gained a trace of Heavenly Dao Merit. However, this trace of Heavenly Dao Merit was too little, and it was not even 1 point on the panel, so it was not displayed.

But Liu Qing remembered this method. Later, as his human and earthly merits increased, Liu Qing planned to use this method to try and gain heavenly merits.

Shen Gongbao was appointed by Jiang Ziya as the Water Divider General to guard the eye of the East Sea. However, he harbored resentment for thousands of years and was not willing to do his duty to suppress the eye. Therefore, he had very little merit in the eyes of Heaven.

However, Wen Zhong and other gods in the Heavenly Court are different. For thousands of years after the Investiture of the Gods, they have worked diligently in the Three Realms and have accumulated a great deal of Heavenly Merit.

There were so many that even after Liu Qing developed smallpox, there were probably still some left over.

Looking down at Tongguan Pass, Liu Qing's eyes flashed with joy, but he did not rush down to rescue Wen Zhong and the others from the Investiture of the Gods and then strip them of their Heavenly Merits.

We still need to go through the motions, after all, Tongguan is one of the difficult passes set by Heaven for the journey to the east.

One must not only ensure a smooth journey to the East, but also accumulate merit through the Heavenly Way and improve one's own cultivation; neither should be taken lightly.

The next day, Li Shimin led his army and arrayed them under the walls of Tongguan.

Sun Wukong, the vanguard general, immediately leaped out of the battle formation and arrived at the gate of Tongguan City, shouting: "Unfortunately, the Sui generals within the pass are here. I am a wandering Taoist priest on my journey to the east to retrieve the scriptures. Influenced by the Tongtian Sect Master, I wish to go to Jin'ao Island to obtain the scriptures. Please open the city gate and let my master and disciples leave—"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Sun Wukong changed his tune again: "Hey, Sui generals inside the pass, listen up! I, Sun Wukong, am the vanguard general of the Tang army. Quickly surrender outside the city, or I will storm into the city and kill you all!"

The two forms of challenge combined the Tang army's struggle for control of the Central Plains with their journey to the East to obtain Buddhist scriptures.

On the top of Tongguan City Wall, Wen Zhong opened his third eye between his eyebrows and looked up at the clouds. He saw Liu Qing nodding to him, so he immediately nodded in agreement.

Immediately, Wen Zhong looked around and said, "Soldiers, which one is willing to go out of the city and capture that demon monkey for me?"

Upon hearing this, the great demons who had come to surrender from the city walls, as well as the mountain gods and local deities who were pro-Sui, all fell silent.

The celestial beings who came from the Jie Sect had already received instructions, so naturally they would not fight with Sun Wukong.

When Wen Zhong saw that no one answered the order, he thought to himself that these guys probably hadn't been completely blinded by the three killing calamities yet. Seeing that Sun Wukong's cultivation was profound and he had reached the Immortal Realm, they were afraid and dared not fight.

Wen Zhong, however, was not worried. He was already familiar with this situation during the Investiture of the Gods. He immediately said, "I never thought that my subordinates would be so afraid of a mere monkey demon. Well then, since they dare not fight, let's raise the white flag of truce."

The practice of using the truce sign originated in the Shang and Zhou dynasties and ended in the Spring and Autumn period. By the time of the Sui dynasty, the truce sign had long been buried in the dust of history. In the eyes of the great demons and gods of the Sui dynasty, Wen Zhong's move was clearly an insult to them.

Instantly, an unnamed rage surged to their heads. The great demons and gods, whose minds were already somewhat confused due to the influence of the three calamities of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, immediately lost their temper.

"Does the General underestimate us so much?"

"It's nothing but a mere demon monkey! I, Gaoli Guibo, will bring you that demon monkey's head for the Marshal!"

A Sui general jumped out; he was possessed by the spirit of Gaoli Guibo, who had been affected by the three calamities of death early on. He was also provoked by Wen Zhong and wanted to take orders to fight Sun Wukong.

Wen Zhong sneered inwardly: "In that case, I'll trouble the general to go and capture the demon monkey!"

The Sui general, who was possessed by the ghost in the pole, shook the iron spear in his hand, which emitted a chilling ghostly aura, and jumped down from the top of Tongguan City, heading straight for Sun Wukong.

"You demon monkey, where do you think you're going? Take a spear from me, Ghost Uncle!"

Then it was seen that the Sui general had already changed his appearance. Under the eerie ghostly aura, he revealed a blue-faced, fanged, ten-foot-tall Dharma form, holding a ghostly iron-handled long spear, and thrust it towards Sun Wukong's chest.

Sun Wukong sneered: "Ghost Lord Gaoli? Back when I, Old Sun, was living a carefree life on Flower Fruit Mountain, I had a powerful ghost king under my command. Was that related to you?"

“That is my nephew.”

"Alright, since you're an old friend and relative, I, Old Sun, will leave you with a whole corpse."

Having said that, Sun Wukong swung his golden cudgel and struck, instantly knocking away the long spear of the Ghost Lord in the gaoli. He was greatly surprised and exclaimed, "You demon monkey, what great strength you have!"

Sun Wukong leaped over and arrived nearby, then struck the ghost in the pole to death with a single blow.

The divided soul that the Ghost Lord of Gaoli possessed hurriedly fled. It had only escaped a short distance from Tongguan when it saw a portal flash in front of it. When it opened its eyes again, it had already been suppressed by Liu Qing and placed in the underground of the Lesser Thousand World.

"Ghost Lord Gaoli, it is indeed an opportunity to suppress him underground and use your ghostly energy to open the underworld of this minor world. You can get a glimpse of Yin and Yang and it will help improve the minor world."

"It's a pity that there's only one ghost in the pole, his cultivation is too low, and he doesn't have much ghostly energy. It would be too difficult for him to manifest in the underworld."

Liu Qing felt a little regretful, but then he saw Shen Gongbao in the Tang army camp below and immediately laughed.

If there's not enough ghostly energy, then find a few more ghosts. Doesn't Uncle Ghost in this village have a nephew, the Mighty Ghost King?

Send Shen Gongbao to summon it. (End of Chapter)