Portal:Investiture of the Gods/Chapter 51

This chapter is titled "The Final Resolve of Grand Old Master Wen Zhong". When Lao Tzu and Heavenly Primogenitor entered the Yellow River Trap as previously intended, Jade Firmament suddenly lashed forth the Golden Dragon Scissors upon Lao Tzu, who was awaiting such a surprise attack from the beginning. As the duel dragons came towards Lao Tzu at the brink of cutting him into two halves horizontally, Lao Tzu simply lifted forth one of his sleeves, sending the scissors back in their original state within his very hands. Obtaining Green Firmament's Universe Muddling Dipper just as easily, Lao ordered his genie to take both weapons before the Jade Emptiness Palace, to the obvious rage of the three sisters. High Firmament, who was determined to defeat the great Lao Tzu in magical renown in order to prove to all celestials that she is deserving of Jiang Ziya's reputation and title amongst the land, lunged forth at the grand master with sword posed. To High Firmament's unparalleled ill-fortune, however, another yellow-scarved genie under Lao Tzu suddenly rushed forth, beat her with its fists, and then toppled the entire Unicorn Cliff upon her body. Jade Firmament, who became enraged beyond imagination at the death of her sister, High Firmament, lunged forth at Lao Tzu only to have her skull smashed by Heavenly Primogenitor's jade sceptor. As Green Firmament now realized the great unjust ways of the Chan Taoists, she ground her teeth in rage while lashing her blade at the two celestials; but alas, it was too late: Primogenitor awakened his magical casket only to trap Green Firmament within, dissolving her flesh in mere moments upon entry. Following such a brutal end to the three sisters, Lao Tzu awakened all celestials present with an immediate teal of thunder, and then guided them back to the reed pavilion at once. Teaching each disciple present back at the pavilion how to travel on golden beams of light at will, less any such unfortunate incident reaccurs in the future as like in the past, the two grand masters took their leave from the pavilion, but ordered Immortal of South Pole to stay and assist until Jiang Ziya has successfully done away with the Red Sand Trap. As Celestial Lotus and Pretty Cloud had meanwhile entered the Yellow River Trap's remnants only to find High Firmament and Jade Firmament dead, to their great horror and rage, they both reported such an incident to Grand Old Master, who, being greatly distressed in return, ordered a royal messenger to be sent to Morning Song for reinforcements while another messenger is sent to Sanshan Pass's Deng Jiugong with intentions for the latter to assist him at the Western Foothills. With Immortal of the South Pole's appearance before the remaining Red Sand Trap the following morning, Master Zhang charged forth with cutless in hand, fully determined to make up for the loss of so many fellow warriors on the side of Shang. Being effectively reinforced by White Crane Lad upon entering the opposition's trap, Zhang Shao ascended his platform and sprayed volleys of red sand across the entire perimeter, which was easily negated by the Five Fire and Seven Fowl Fan of South Pole. Using the jade scepter to knock celestial master from his platform, Immortal of the South Pole ended Zhang Shao's life with a single stroke of his sword, and then unconvered the three captives who he had been told were present for some time. Nezha and Thunderquaker, who awoke immediately following a sudden bolt of lightning, realized shortly that King Wu was nothing more than a lifeless body that has not been decayed due to the magical charms that protected him from any such resolution. Burning Lamp, who revived the fallen king with elixer pills and water after receiving his body at the reed pavilion, declared that the prior incident with King Wu was of neccesity, and Heaven has now experienced the self-sacrificial ways that the king possesses -- a factor that will assuredly assist them in the future. Now knowing that all ten traps have essentially been destroyed, Burning Lamp declared that all immortals should return to their respective mountains for the time being while Grand Completion and Pure Essence are to guard the five passes and the two neighboring border passes as to ensure no further assistance can come to the Grand Old Master from such means. As Burning Lamp took his additional leave shortly following, with Merciful Navigation being the only remaining superiorman, Jiang Ziya ordered his soldiers and generals to thoroughly prepare for a descisive battle against Grand Old Master the following day. Wen Zhong, who was meanwhile exceedingly depressed over the lack of reinforcements from either that of the capital or Commander Deng Jiugong, held a conference with Pretty Cloud and Celestial Lotus only to obtain word of Jiang Ziya's intentions by an enemy messenger. Approaching the rebel commander on the battlefield the following morning, completely resolved to sacrifice his very own life to do away with Jiang Ziya, Wu Ji, under the immediate order of the prime minister, decapitated the remaining master Zhao Jiang before Wen Zhong's very own eyes as a showing of their defiance. Not allowing his anger to be controlled in any manner, Wen Zhong, combined with Pretty Cloud, Celestial Lotus, and his four personal generals--Deng, Xin, Zhang, and Tao--each lashed forward and clashed their weapons furiosly against their respective opponents.

As Celestial Lotus had her sack of wind calmed to nothing by the Wind Conquering Pearl of Merciful Navigation shortly following the start of the battle, Jiang Ziya seized such a chance to brutally smash Lotus's head in with his Staff of Beating Gods. Pretty Cloud, who became horrified and fuming with rage at the sight of her close friend die before her very own eyes so suddenly, was stabbed from the back multiple times by the fire lance of Nezha, putting an additionally unfortunate end to her life. Yellow Flying Tiger, who was greatly encouraged by the heightened morale of the Zhou forces, pierced the heart of Zhang Jie with his duel Dragon-Phoenix blades. Realizing that three of his generals had just recently lost their lives, and it would be evidentially pointless to continue the fight with heightened morale clearly present on the opposite side, Wen Zhong ordered a full-scale retreat in his great distress. As Merciful Navigation returned to his respective mountain that afternoon, Jiang Ziya gave set orders to the majority of his generals, with intentions to not only assault the Shang camp in a raid, but to additionally attempt to draw many into surrender. Wen Zhong, who obviously knew that the prime minister would more than likely attempt such a feat, ordered his generals to protect set regions in especial caution of such a potential happening. As the raid began that night, with Jiang Ziya and other such generals breaking into the Shang forces's camp gates, Wen Zhong personally lunged forward atop his dragon to smight the enemy with exceeded valiance and magical prowess. Being unexpectedly struck once more due the unparalleled speed of Jiang Ziya's Staff of Beating Gods, Wen Zhong, and the majority of the Shang forces, clearly realized that they were simply struggling against an inevitable defeat -- especially after seeing fierce flames and smoke soar above their food supplies and other parts of the camp. As the forces of Shang began to flee as a resolution, around half of the remaining soldiers surrendered to the Western Foothills while another majority fled back to their respective homes in fear of any form of death. Grand Old Master, who knew he had little authority over such an incident, considering the circumstances at hand, fled in the direction of Mount Western Foothills with Deng and Xin protecting their commander's life even if it costed their own. With the eventual retreat of Jiang Ziya's forces in great victory, Wen Zhong camped upon the foot of Mount Western Foothills, became informed of the reported death of Tao Rong within the former conflict, and suggested his forces--currently numbering 30,000--to march through Good Dream Pass to obtain a level of assistance from neigboring generals. As the Grand Old Master continued on his way through Mount Peach Blossom, he suddenly caught sight of a man of Taoist appearance, who he resembled to be one of the superiormen who assisted the rebel commander in breaking his ten traps. Announcing his name to be "Grand Completion", and his desire to stop the Grand Old Master from obtaining any additional assistance from neighboring passes, Wen Zhong knew that such a simpleton could not be reconciled with, and thus lashed his golden staff at the former with far greater renown. After being in contact with the Heaven Overturning Stamp, Wen Zhong's advance was halted by its great power, and realizing that great casualties could be further suffered by such an opponent of celestial attributes, he ordered his forces to head to the west for now. Heading in the direction of Mount Yan for several nights upon days, Pure Essence appeared before their pathway as they approached Mount Taihua, to the great disgust of Wen Zhong. Recognizing Pure Essence as being the man that was causing Master Yao an extreme amount of trouble far into the past, and combined with his current obstinace of not letting them reach neighboring passes, Wen Zhong vowed to destroy such an opposition not only for revenge, but for the sake of his reputation and great pride in the name of Shang. Charging forth with smoke spouting from his third eye, Pure Essence was obviously overwhelmed beyond imagination -- and thus unleashed his Yin Yang Mirror upon the Grand Old Master following a few rounds of battle.

封神演義/卷051