Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 134 The True Lord Angrily Slays the Nine-Tailed Fox; His Divine Might Subdues the Demonic Au

Although this old woman was a disciple of the Jie Sect, she had been practicing shamanism for thousands of years, and she was a heretical black shaman.

Shamanistic traditions originated in prehistoric times and are found throughout the world. The most prominent shamanistic practices are found in the Volga River basin, areas inhabited by Finno-Saxon peoples, and Eastern and Western Siberia. The Jurchen people, ancestors of the Manchus, also practiced shamanism until the 11th century.

The theoretical foundation of shamanism is animism, which is somewhat similar to the Jie Sect. Until various foreign religions were introduced, shamanism almost monopolized the ancient altars of various ethnic groups in northern my country. Even in later generations, the Kunning Palace, the temple where the imperial family worshipped shamanism and held ceremonies, was found in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Moreover, the later belief in immortals in Northeast China also originated from shamanism.

After learning the evil cultivation methods of shamanism in Northeast China, this nine-tailed fox spirit secretly absorbed the national destiny and dragon energy of the Liao Dynasty. Although the Liao Dynasty established by Yelü Abaoji was of foreign origin, it was still a dynasty with dragon energy.

Now, this old fox is absorbing the dragon energy of the Liao Kingdom, which is gradually declining. It is also tainted by the dragon energy of the newly rising Jin Kingdom, which can be described as extremely insidious!

At this moment, the old woman and Erlang Shen were like enemies meeting again, and they were extremely hostile. She immediately reverted to her original nine-tailed form, which caused the cold wind to howl on the top of Taihang Mountain, and the nine-tailed demon immortal revealed her true form.

But look at this wicked beast:

Its body is like a snow-capped mountain covered in black armor, and its tail is like a crimson python hanging from the sky.

Its eyes shoot forth emerald phosphorescence that burns grass and trees; its mouth spews forth black demonic energy that corrodes diamond.

A thousand years of cultivation gathers Yin spirits, ten thousand years of resentment condenses into poisonous frost.

Having once consumed the true dragon's aura of the Liao emperor, they now intend to ruin the Han nation!

The old fox revealed its true form, a hill resembling a large fox, with nine tails that were all gray and yellowish-brown, except for one tail that was its true life tail, a fiery red. The old fox wanted to show off its power, so the nine tails behind it shook together, stirring up a chill in the air.

Li Hanxiao felt the Taihang Mountains tremble violently. The corpses that had died in the Taihang Mountains at some unknown time actually obeyed his summons and turned into hundreds of zombies. Although they had rotted down to just skeletons, and even the skeletons were incomplete, they still rushed out from the depths of the earth, cheering and shouting as if to help.

At this moment, the half of the sky where the old fox was located was covered by dark clouds, and the sun and moon were obscured. Only the fox's eyes, like ghostly fires, illuminated the hundred miles of mountains and rivers in a bleak green.

Erlang Shen stood atop a cloud, his three-pointed, double-edged sword clanging like a dragon's roar. His third eye, gleaming with golden light, pierced through the onrushing black mist of corpses: "You wretched creature! You fed on dragon energy and refined your soul; today you deserve to perish, body and soul!"

"Yang Jian, go and meet these wronged souls!"

The old fox smiled sinisterly and commanded the zombies to attack. Before Erlang Shen could give the order, the six brothers of Meishan shouted, "Men, follow us and kill them!"

The six brothers of Meishan—Kang Anyu, Zhang Boshi, Li Huanzhang, and Yao Gonglin, the four Grand Marshals, and Guo Shen and Zhijian, the two Generals—led 1,200 grass-headed gods and other deities to attack. Those zombies were just wronged souls temporarily driven by that old fox, and they were no match for these skilled hunters who had been hunting for thousands of years. They were immediately defeated and scattered.

These six brothers from Meishan also belong to the ranks of the grass-root gods. They have some cultivation, but they may not have attained enlightenment. They have not been officially appointed as gods by the Heavenly Court, so they also waged battles amidst gloomy winds and dense fog.

However, when a righteous person uses evil magic, the evil magic becomes righteous. At this moment, even though some of the 1,200 grass-root gods were demons who were persuaded by Erlang Shen in the past, they can uphold righteousness and ward off evil, which is naturally a great good.

The old fox, unable to defeat the grass god, let out a long howl and slapped the mountain with its left front paw three times, producing the sound of a leather drum. It turned out that it was summoning spirits and generals!

But what could be seen was that where the claw landed, the earth cracked and the mountains stretched far away, and a bloody river gushed forth.

The vengeful spirits rose from the ground, turning into skeletons that opened their mouths to devour!

The old man summoned countless vengeful spirits again, inhaled them all, and refined them into a breath of putrid poison, which he then spewed directly at the gods.

The True Lord sneered, his three-pointed dagger drawing a circle in the air, from which the Big Dipper leaped forth, its brilliance shining brightly, surrounding the poisonous gas. The poisonous gas burned upon contact with the light, and the old fox's spell was once again a pointless attack.

The old fox was furious when he saw that all his moves were being countered, so he had no choice but to use his true skills!

"Behold, this old woman's Ten Thousand Souls Banner!"

The fox demon spat out a mouthful of blood, which congealed into a crimson banner that appeared before her. As it unfolded, the banner revealed distorted human faces, as if a million wronged souls were emerging from the underworld. Typically, it depicted weeping boys and wailing girls, their resentment rising higher than the Bridge of Helplessness!

This is its natal artifact, accumulated over many years by devouring various wronged souls and vengeful spirits. It can collect souls and release them for use at the appropriate time.

At this moment, it manipulated the object, releasing countless wronged souls that transformed into chains to entangle the True Lord. It also summoned the souls of twelve Liao-Jin great shamans, all of whom were powerful shamans in the Liao-Jin region in the past, and were all taken by it after their deaths.

These twelve people, each holding a leather drum and a bone flute, played divine melodies, each displaying their unique abilities to summon various birds and beasts from the mountains to assist them.

One of the abilities of shamans is to invoke spirits and communicate with all things. In later generations, this has taken the form of "shamanic spirits," but the underlying principles are the same.

The True Lord's Heavenly Eye suddenly shone brightly. As the golden light passed by, he saw this situation and couldn't help but say, "A mere trick!" The blade light was like a reversed Milky Way, shattering the chains that had gathered the wronged souls.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the old fox spat out his inner core, which contained the remnant dragon energy of Emperor Taizu of Liao, Yelü Abaoji. Yelü Abaoji was originally a black dragon who had attained enlightenment in the Heilongjiang River. He was reincarnated as Emperor Taizu of Liao and had a destiny bestowed upon him. The old fox seized the dynasty's fate and dragon energy and used it for his own purposes. At this moment, he spat out his power, which transformed into a black dragon and went straight for the True Emperor's throat.

With a wave of his hand, the True Lord summoned the Iron-Beaked Divine Eagle and shouted, "Capture it!"

A divine eagle with an iron beak, under the command of the True Lord, flew in from the eastern horizon. This divine eagle, like the Howling Celestial Dog, is a divine beast under the True Lord's command. It once helped the True Lord explore the sea and slay dragons. As a bird, it is the best at restraining dragons!

The iron-beaked divine eagle was already floating in the air, its wings drooping. As soon as it saw the black mist transform into a black dragon, it hurriedly flew down, its two claws grabbing the skin and flesh of the dragon's neck, its beak gripping the dragon's horn. With both claws exerting force, it pressed the black dragon down the hillside. With its iron beak and sharp claws, it cut the black dragon into several pieces, thus releasing Yelü Abaoji's soul and restoring its freedom!

After killing the black dragon, the fox demon, seeing the situation was not good, inserted its nine tails into the earth's veins and opened its blood-red maw to pounce on Erlang Shen Zhenjun. It was truly as if: mountains turned into sharp teeth, rivers into tongues, forests into hair, and stones into scales, and hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers became the demon's mouth, wanting to swallow the Zhenjun whole!

As the giant mouth closed, the True Lord suddenly shrank to the size of a mustard seed and escaped through the gap in the fangs.

He threw the three-pointed dagger with a backhand, and the dagger grew longer in the wind, instantly transforming into a giant blade ten thousand feet long, which impaled the nine-tailed fox spirit on the mountain. The fox spirit was in great pain and cut off one of its tails to create a substitute, while its true body disappeared into the clouds, waiting for an opportunity to strike in the sky.

The fight had reached a point of life and death. The True Lord shouted, "Disciple, see clearly, this is the method of our Jade Void Palace!"

After Erlang Shen Zhenjun finished speaking, he transformed himself and used a wonderful technique. Instantly, his figure rose from the ground. Erlang Shen Zhenjun's hair and beard bristled, his third eye between his eyebrows suddenly opened, a golden rainbow shot straight into the sky, auspicious clouds surged beneath his feet like boiling water, his bones exploded like thunder, and every inch of his muscles burst forth with brilliant divine light.

In the blink of an eye, the Dharma image grew by a thousand feet, the crown seemed to touch the Milky Way and the Weak Water, the battle boots seemed to tread on the earth's veins, and the three-pointed double-edged sword stood tall and upright. Where the blade passed, the clouds in the sky were split in two! The Dharma image of Erlang Zhenjun instantly grew to more than ten thousand feet tall, no less than the majestic Taihang Mountains, and the three-pointed double-edged sword in his hand was like a giant pillar supporting the sky.

The True Lord's Dharma Image lowered his brows and looked down, truly: his eyes were like the sun and moon shining side by side, his left eye was as fiery as molten gold, illuminating the wailing of hundreds of ghosts in the Nine Netherworlds and Yellow Springs; his right eye was colder than black ice, freezing the thousand-foot waves of the East Sea. His Dharma Image swelled to the point of reaching the sky, his head reaching the heavens and his feet treading the abyss. His eyes shone like the sun and moon shining side by side, his breath changed the color of the wind and clouds, his three-pointed sword transformed into Mount Buzhou, his Howling Celestial Dog transformed into a beast that devoured the sky, his every move shattered the Milky Way, and his breath became thunder that shook the nine provinces!

Beside him, the Celestial Hound also grew to the size of a small hill, no less than that of the Nine-Tailed Old Fox. The Celestial Hound, originally a white-haired slender hound, was also majestic and awe-inspiring, truly resembling a white elephant and possessing the power of an owl. For thousands of years, it had assisted the True Lord in hunting and charging, slaying demons and eliminating evil, remaining loyal and devoted. Its entire body was covered in silver hairs, each hair like a spear, and its roar shattered the demon clouds.

Back in the day, it had bitten Zhao Gongming, the "True Lord of the Golden Dragon Ruyi Zhengyi Dragon Tiger Mysterious Altar," Bixiao Fairy, the "True Goddess of the Response and Worldly Immortal," Xin Huan, the "General of the Thunder Department," Deng Chanyu, the "Star of the Six Harmonies," Bi Huan, the "Star of the Ten Evils," Yu Hua, the "Star of the Water Mansion," Lü Yue, the "Great Emperor of Plague and Plague," and even Yu Yixian, the former incarnation of the Golden-Winged Roc, Sun Wukong, the "Great Sage Equal to Heaven," and the Nine-Headed Insect, the Prince Consort of the Jade Pool. It was no less formidable than other heavenly generals.

"The laws of heaven and earth..."

After witnessing the scene firsthand, Li Hanxiao immediately recognized the name of this supernatural power!

"Law the Heavens and the Earth" is the name of the supernatural power used by Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen in "Journey to the West". Using this supernatural power will allow the caster to transform into the heavens and the earth, imitating the scale of the heavens and the earth, becoming as tall as the heavens and as wide as the earth, and imitating the form of Pangu when he created the world. It is a skill that can be as tall as the heavens and the earth, and belongs to the category of great supernatural powers.

In mythology, after Pangu's death, his head transformed into Mount Tai, and his eyes into the sun and moon. Throughout the entire book, only Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen possessed the ability to manifest the power of "Heaven and Earth." Sun Wukong used this power only three times: once to intimidate the seventy-two demon kings of the Water Curtain Cave on Flower Fruit Mountain; once during his havoc in Heaven, when he fought alongside Erlang Shen; and a third time when he confronted the Bull Demon King, who revealed his true form. It can be said that this power was a life-saving technique, rarely used lightly.

The Law of Heaven and Earth is not one of the Seventy-Two Transformations. It is a rare supernatural power in "Journey to the West" that can be used. The Seventy-Two Transformations can only transform a person into someone a thousand feet tall, while the Law of Heaven and Earth can transform a person into someone ten thousand feet tall.

But then the image of Erlang Shenzhenjun instantly transformed into a towering figure, and the third eye on his forehead shone brightly, directly shattering the black mist spewed out by the nine-tailed fox fairy.

With a flash of divine light, Erlang Shenzhenjun's divine eyes could see through the six realms of reincarnation, distinguish between reality and illusion, and comprehend the good and evil of the three realms. This caused his enemies, demons, and monsters to immediately reveal their true forms, suffer physical and spiritual decay, and have their souls scattered.

Seeing that her magic was useless, the nine-tailed fox fairy had no time to escape when she suddenly saw the True Lord raise his sword to the sky. The Big Dipper pattern on the sword lit up one by one. When the star of the Heavenly Pivot shone, the three-pointed double-edged divine sword in the hand of the True Lord Erlang Manifestation came down like a mountain!

The nine-tailed fox spirit immediately conjured clouds and mist to protect itself, but how could it withstand the divine blade of the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Sword? It was swept away by the True Lord's Three-Pointed Double-Edged Sword, just like the King of Qin sweeping across the six kingdoms and wielding his sword to sever the floating clouds. With one slash, the nine-tailed fox spirit's protective clouds and mist dissipated completely, like snow meeting the sun.

Where is the Celestial Hound?

With a soft shout, the True Lord sent his divine dog, which transformed into a silver light and hurtled straight into the clouds.

But then the divine dog's fangs were like swords and its claws like hooks. It tore through the dark clouds to reveal its demonic presence. With a pounce and a bite, the mountains and rivers trembled, and fox fur fell, staining the land red with blood!

The old fox was forced to reveal itself in mid-air, and opened its mouth to spew out its natal demonic fire.

This fire is extraordinary; it is the old fox's natal fox fire. It is made by taking the Yin Fire of the Earth's Lungs as its root, using the Heavenly Tribulation Thunder as its catalyst, refining it with the number of countless wronged souls, and burning away the golden bodies of Arhats. It is truly a demonic fire that gods and demons cannot avoid!

The True Lord neither dodged nor yielded; golden light shot out from his third eye on his forehead, colliding with the demonic fire in mid-air. In an instant, the golden fire intertwined and the dome shattered, yin and yang were reversed and the universe was turned upside down, the Yellow River overflowed and the Taihang Mountains collapsed, and stars fell like rain!

"Yang Jian has made great progress over the years!"

The Nine-Tailed Fox Fairy said it was hard to say. Erlang Shen's supernatural powers were no longer comparable to those of the Investiture of the Gods war. He was much more courageous and advanced, and she was no match for him at all!

This is quite normal. Erlang Shen has been slaying demons and monsters in the Three Realms over the years, and has undergone countless battles and trials, which have improved his supernatural powers and cultivation. On the other hand, this Nine-Tailed Fox Fairy was injured and escaped from the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation. It is already difficult enough that she has recovered to the Nine-Tailed Fox Fairy. Defeating Qingyuan Miaodao Zhenjun is even more difficult!

Its natal demonic fire failed to harm Erlang Shen, which was its last resort. Moreover, having lost one of its tails, it was even less likely to be a match for Erlang Shen!

Seeing that things were going badly, the nine-tailed fox spirit was about to flee when the True Lord shouted, "Stop!" The three-pointed double-edged sword transformed into a giant pillar supporting the sky, pinning the fox spirit to the cliff's seven-inch mark.

"Please spare me, True Lord! Please spare me, True Lord! For my master's sake, spare my life!"

The nine-tailed fox spirit cried out and begged for mercy. This nine-tailed fox spirit was also a disciple of the Tongtian Sect Master back then, and its seniority in the Xuanmen was even higher than that of Erlang Shen.

"Fine! For your master's sake!"

As soon as Erlang Shen released his three-pointed double-edged sword, the nine-tailed fox spirit pounced and aimed straight for Erlang Shen's third eye.

"Ow!"

Upon seeing this, the celestial hound howled like thunder and pounced like lightning, colliding with the nine-tailed fox spirit first, knocking it down onto the mountaintop. Then, it bared its fangs and bit down, severing three of the nine-tailed fox spirit's tails!

"what!"

The nine-tailed fox spirit lost three tails and then transformed into a blood escape. It was likely that its cultivation was greatly damaged. Without a hundred years of recuperation, it would be difficult to fully recover. However, the True Lord did not pursue it. He swept his divine light across the battlefield and saw that the corpse demon turned to ashes when it encountered the light, the black mist turned into sweet rain when it saw the light, and the wronged souls returned to the underworld after being bathed in the light. The original illusion vanished into thin air.

"I kowtow to thank my master for saving me!"

Li Hanxiao forced himself to bow to Zhenjun, and the Liangshan heroes behind him also wanted to bow, but Zhenjun stopped them.