Portal:Investiture of the Gods/Chapter 52

This chapter is titled "Fall of the Legendary Hero". As the Yin Yang Mirror's white side was effectively placed before Wen Zhong's eyes, in a single moment of time he realized that the enemy's weapon attempted to drown away his consciousness. Naturally immune to such magic trickery with the power of genjutsu that he wields within his very own palm, the Grand Old Master nonetheless had little choice but to flee as Pure Essence began to shine the red side in his face—which he knew to be certain death than anything else. Realizing that the only choice he had left was to head through the Yellow Flower Mountain to reach the Green Dragon Pass as opposed to personally heading to Morning Song while abandoning his comrades, Wen Zhong and his soldiers traveled for half a day before seeing a young celestial surrounded by flags and banners that represented the Western Foothills. As this celestial declared himself being none other than Nezha, with intentions to ensure that the enemy is blocked off from any source of assistance, Wen Zhong, who was already furious at the obnoxious opposition prior, began to fume with even greater hatred and resolve to destroy all that stood before him as supreme head of the Shang Dynasty. Nezha, who began to battle with Wen Zhong and every other general of Shang single-handedly, managed to strike down both Ji Li—one of two disciples under Grand Old Master—and that of Deng Zhong, which shattered the morale of the oppositionary forces, forcing Wen Zhong to break through and travel along an additional path towards the Yellow Flower Mountain. As the Grand Old Master camped for the night while realizing that 20,000 of his original 30,000 had supposedly defected to the enemy due to not being present, he was comforted by Xin Huan, who suggested that they both return to Morning Song and gather forces to avenge their suffered humiliation another day. Continuing along the pathway to the Yellow Flower Mountain, and upon their arrival, Huang Tianhua stepped forward to prevent the Grand Old Master and his remaining soldiers from heading any further by order of Prime Minister Jiang Ziya. Annoyed by this fourth blockade with his hair standing on end and his teeth grinded with rage, Wen Zhong sent the young warrior fleeing in fear of his wrath. Unfortunately however, Tianhua seized the moment to not only kill Yu Qing—the secondary disciple of Wen Zhong—with his Fire Dragon Javelin, but to additionally wound Xin Huan with one of his Heart Penetrating Nails through the leftern wing. Grand Old Master, who was confused and utterly disstressed, ordered his soldiers to rest upon a bleak mountain upon the arrival of dawn, where he sat by himself, devising his next plan of evasion less another army appears before his midst. As everyone within the camp of Shang had slept throughout the end of dusk and into night, Wen Zhong became startled at a sudden hearing of cannon fire, and, to his unparalleled rage, he noticed Jiang Ziya and Ji Fa drinking happily upon the mountain top while at the same time mocking him from below with great laughter. Charging upon them angrily, an intense bolt of lightning shook the sky, and to the Grand Old Master's perplexed amazement, not a single soldier nor that of Jiang Ziya or King Wu could be seen anymore—even when using the power of his divine third eye. Considering what kind of genjutsu user is behind such trickery, and how he wields power exceeding his own in such an art, a large army suddenly surrounded the foot of the mountain below and charged at Wen Zhong immediately following. Falling upon them with exceeded resolve, every soldier disappeared with an additional blinding bolt of lightning; Wen Zhong, in his state of perplexity, prepared to perform divination in order to understand what was truly happening. As Jiang Ziya and King Wu suddenly appeared before the mountaintop, openly mocking the Grand Old Master for losing all honor and dignity in such a humiliating scene, Wen Zhong, who began to perform divination immediately following, was suddenly interuppted by the swift thrust of a monster's hammer through the darkness. Letting out a cry of great dismay while managing to effectively dodge the blow, Wen Zhong's dragon received the hit from below the Grand Old Master, killing it instantly. Tumbling to the ground and fleeing atop a dust cloud in startled fear, Xin Huan roared from the shadows of the mountainside and parried each blow from the pursuing beast—which in this case happened to be Thunderquaker.

Protecting Wen Zhong with all the strength he possessed even if it costed him is very own life, Xin Huan remembered this creature had attacked him previously during a moment of his master's retreat, and knowing that he must prove himself to the Grand Old Master as a warrior of the greater good, Xin Huan nearly killed Thunderquaker with his twin hammers; but at the same, Yang Bliss's Sky Barking Hound bit into the flesh of Xin Huan, effectively opening a chance for Thunderquaker to deal a brutal blow to the opposition's head, killing him instantly. As Wen Zhong returned to his camp feeling intense distress over Heaven's intentions of forsaking the Shang Dynasty despite the many loyal feats that he has performed in the name of the late King Da Yi, he gazed forth at the fallen body of Xin Huan upon his return, and fell to the ground and wept profusely at the many great warriors that gave their lives for the sake of his name—especially that of Xin, who had seemed to him as being his very own guardian. Gathering the remnants of his soldiers, who had been protected by golden walls throughout the former night—as Wen Zhong knew that the situation would be far too risky to allow any more potential casualties on his side—Wen Zhong marched along secondary pathways through the Yellow Flower Mountain until he arrived before a village, where he and his soldiers were graciously served many meals by a certain old man upon their welcoming. Receiving this old man's name as Li Ji, so that he could record such a name in order to reciprocate such kindness sometime into the future, Wen Zhong and his men continued along the direction of the Green Dragon Pass until being confronted by a certain woodcutter along the way. As soldiers under the Grand Old Master had asked this certain man the closest route to the Green Dragon, they returned to tell Wen Zhong that the southwest is the fastest route to such a destination. Knowing that the Dragon Extinction Peak lays to the southwest, and he will more than likely suffer even greater detriment—possibly his own life—if he arrives in such a region, Wen Zhong wished to prove to Heaven that he shall conqueor all that stands in his way for the longevity of the Shang Dynasty, and thus pressed forward with intense resolve. Arriving before the peak shortly, and seeing a man of Taoist appearance—namely in this case being Master of the Clouds—who declared that he shall take the Grand Old Master's life as destined, Wen Zhong began to burst into great laughter, knowing that nothing can stand in the way of his magical prowess and great resolve to uphold the greater good. Pressing forward upon Master of the Clouds with staff firmly gripped in his hands, eight skyscraper pillars of divine fire suddenly sprang out from the ground, completely hemming in Wen Zhong from all sides. These pillars, being thirty-feet in height and ten feet in circumference, suddenly emitted countless great fire dragons which soared about throughout the air upon the signal of Master of the Cloud's thunderbolt. Laughing with great confidence at such a meager ability, fire charms appeared all around Grand Old Master's body as he vanished in a beam of white light to escape the enormous barrier previously trapped within. This barrier, which was unfortunately made of the hardest diamond, was impenetrable, and only resulted in Wen Zhong ramming his own head into the walls of such a barrier, hitting him with such intense force that he fell to the ground dead. As the soul of the unfortunate Wen Zhong flew before King Zhou back at Morning Song, who in return was in an exceedingly drowsy state at the time due to heavy drinking, the Grand Old Master informed the king to employ virtuous qualities as repentance for his vile manner towards the people, considering that he himself lives no longer, and assuredly cannot perform any more feats for the sake of the Shang Dynasty. As Wen Zhong's soul disappeared within the wind, King Zhou awoke that night with a start, and upon informing Daji of his meeting with Wen Zhong, which he remembered more subconsciously than anything else, the latter suggested that such was nothing more than a dream of his worries, and should thus be forgotten about completely. Meanwhile back at the Western Foothills, Jiang Ziya was delighted to hear of the success on the part of his specific generals, and the death of Wen Zhong; but at this same moment in time, Shen Gongbao had seen the fall of the Grand Old Master with his own eyes, and began to search for powerful immortals as an attempt to wipe out the foul Jiang Ziya no matter what. As Shen approached a certain mountain by the name of "Squeezing Dragon", he happened upon a small man around four-feet in overall height who was running around the mountainside in great joy. Upon inspection that this certain man is a disciple under that of Krakucchanda, but has only studied the Way for 100 years, Shen Gongbao seized such knowledge by offering the lad a chance to wear a great dragon robe and be remembered among the people as a hero if he were to follow his advice. This disciple, who was known as "Earth Traveler Sun", was naturally not fond of his master and more on the side of being carefree; and as Shen had informed Sun that he shall recommend him a post under Deng Jiugong, Commander of Sanshan Pass, and learned that the former had the ability to travel underground at will, he suggested that the Celestial Binding Ropes--which were prized as Krakucchanda's ultimate weapons--should be stolen. Doing as he was told, Shen Gongbao led Earth Traveler Sun towards the location of Deng Jiugong at once.

封神演義/卷052