Chapter 138

In the primordial era, the Yellow Emperor and Flame Emperor, ancestors of Huaxia, met the nine tribes of the northern witch clan on the battlefield of Zhuolu. These nine tribes are the Nine Li tribes recorded in later histories. That era was also when the witch clan was at its most tyrannical and most prosperous.

At that time, the leader of the Nine Li tribes was the witch clan's Chiyou. Legend says Chiyou had eighty-one brothers, with beast bodies and human speech, copper heads and iron foreheads, eating sand and stones, and they crafted spears, swords, halberds, and giant crossbows, shaking the world. The Yellow Emperor and Flame Emperor fought Chiyou in nine battles, and in all nine battles they were on the losing side.

Afterward, Chiyou again sent his witchcraft underlings to cast a spell, creating a heavy fog that lasted three days and three nights, so the soldiers could not see the sky or sun, could not discern the directions of mountains and rivers, and trapped the Yellow Emperor at the foot of Mount Tai. Seeing that his troops could not fight, the Yellow Emperor could only lead his forces to retreat to the base of Mount Tai, where at night he lay awake in worry, unable to eat or sleep.

At that moment, the Holy Mother of the Western Numinous learned of the predicament of the Yellow Emperor and Flame Emperor, and she dispatched her disciple, the Nine Heavens Maiden, to Zhuolu to bestow upon the Yellow Emperor the techniques of "Great One's Escape Jia Six Ren Pace Dipper, the mechanism of the Yin Fu, and the five talismans and five victories of the Numinous Treasure," hoping thereby to defeat Chiyou.

After several days, the Nine Heavens Maiden, obeying the command of the Holy Mother of the Western Numinous, rode a vermilion phoenix, commanded a spirit dragon, wore robes of nine-colored hues, and went to Zhuolu to assist the Yellow Emperor.

However, just as she was heading toward Mount Tai, a vast mist suddenly rose on the horizon; within the mist, twelve towering shadows could be faintly seen, blocking the Nine Heavens Maiden's path.

The first shadow resembled a yellow sack, red as cinnabar fire, with six legs and four wings, featureless like a hundun.

The second shadow was green like jade bamboo, with a bird's body and a human face, standing upon two dragons.

The third shadow had a human face and a tiger's body, covered in golden scales, with wings growing from its shoulders, a snake pierced through its left ear, and stood upon two dragons.

The fourth shadow had a python's head on a human body, clad in black scales, stepping on a black dragon, and its hands entwined with a green python.

The fifth shadow had a human head on a human body, clothed in red scales, with a fire snake pierced through its ear, and stood upon a fire dragon.

……The twelve illusory shadows stood together, towering to the heavens, as if equal to heaven and earth, their might looming over the world.

This formation is the Nine Li witch clan's eternal divine formation, the Twelve Heavens Gods and Fiends Formation; it relies on the twelve witch banners left by the twelve ancestral witches, using twelve witch warriors as its substance to remake the bodies of the twelve ancestral witches.

The twelve ancestral witches were transformed from Pangu's bloodline, venerating neither heaven nor earth nor the Dao. Although the Twelve Heavens Gods and Fiends Formation merely remakes the illusory shadows of the twelve ancestral witches, their might is far beyond what ordinary people can imagine. Hence, when this formation is unleashed, heaven and earth change color, and wind and clouds tremble.

But just as the Nine Heavens Maiden was trapped, the Great Yin, Heavenly Yin, Earthly Yin, Mysterious Yin… a total of nine utmost yin stars suddenly appeared on the horizon, encircling her. The Nine Heavens Maiden, in her predicament, tempered her body with the power of the nine yin stars, achieving a profound physique and breaking out of the formation. Thereafter, there was no more Nine Heavens Maiden; instead, a deity who had attained fruition appeared—the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden.

Saying this, Murong Jiaja paused, glanced at us, and continued slowly: "Now you finally know what relationship the Nine Yin Twelve Yin Gods Formation and the Heavens Formation have, right?"

I, Pangzi, and Yuan Qiu acted in unison; after nodding, we then simultaneously shook our heads.

Next, the three of us, feeling bewildered, asked Murong Jiaja three questions, each different in form.

"Why can the Nine Heavens Maiden borrow the power of the nine yin stars to attain fruition? Is the simultaneous appearance of the nine yin stars really that awesome? Why don't I become an immortal and ascend when I set up my formation?" This was Pangzi's question.

"Clang, clang, clang clang clang……" This was Little Fat's question…… Regarding his question, it can be completely ignored.

"I'm curious—what was the final outcome of the Battle of Zhuolu? With the help of the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden, did the Yellow Emperor win? How did he win, and did the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden ever marry? If so, who did she marry?" Yuan Qiu gulped, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looked curiously at Murong Jiaja, and awaited the continuation.

In response to Yuan Qiu, Pangzi and I gave him a look of utter contempt!

If the Yellow Emperor had lost, where would the descendants of Yan and Huang come from? This uncultured fellow probably spent his study time back then chasing after girls.

That was the conclusion Pangzi and I instantly reached about Yuan Qiu.

I shook my head and said to Murong Jiaja, "I only want to know what connection the story you're telling has with Pangzi's Nine Yin Formation. Are you trying to reenact the battle of the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden? Even if it could be reproduced, there's no way a second Nine Heavens Profound Maiden would come running in…"

As I said that, I suddenly stopped. A flash of light went through my mind—I felt as if I had grasped something, but I didn't know what it was.

Murong Jiaja nodded lightly and spoke softly: "The Nine Heavens Maiden could achieve a profound physique through the tempering of the nine yin stars because her constitution is a rare utmost yang body, appearing only once in ten thousand years, and her destiny is also a pure yang fate."

Seeing our blank expressions, Murong Jiaja explained slowly: "The term "profound" (xuan) means the harmonious interaction of yin and yang; solitary yang does not give birth, solitary yin does not grow. If one cannot comprehend yin and yang, one cannot reach the profound. The Nine Heavens Profound Maiden could not attain fruition because her constitution is excessively yang, preventing her from accessing the gate of myriad wonders."

"I understand now—at this moment, the nine great yin stars appear together, harmonizing with the Nine Heavens Maiden's utmost yang body; yin and yang work in concert, so she can thereby properly attain a profound physique." Pangzi slapped his thigh, fiercely proud of his own cleverness.

Afterward, Pangzi scratched his forehead, looking bewildered at Murong Jiaja: "Even if what you say is all true, what does this have to do with this matter?"

Murong Jiaja shook her head and said in an ethereal tone: "Whether the legend is true or false, I cannot trace its source. However, at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, there indeed appeared a Nine Heavens Maiden."

Looking at us, Murong Jiaja said word by word, firmly: "Moreover, it was a man-made Nine Heavens Maiden."

"A man-made Nine Heavens Profound Maiden… Miss Murong, you're not joking, are you? The Nine Heavens Profound Maiden can be artificially created? That's the Yellow Emperor's teacher, a deity we Daoist Sect worship!" Pangzi exclaimed, his face shocked.

I, however, was not greatly surprised, for Jiaja's words had once again come close to my speculation.

Murong Jiaja sighed, her eyes gazing into the dark starry sky, as if sinking into a long recollection.

"The Eastern Han was an era when heroes rose, yet also an age of demonic chaos. When the Great Virtuous Teacher Zhang Jiao exhausted his last breath of vital energy to sever the fortune of the Han dynasty, the Han's heaven was destined to change."

"Apart from Yuan Shao, Sun Bofu, Liu Bei… and the other major warlords rising side by side, countless heretical sects sprang up across the land, causing turmoil. One such sect was called the Nine Heavens Divine Sect, whose deity they worshiped is said to be the reincarnation of the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden—the Nine Heavens God."

"However, the so-called Nine Heavens God is not a reincarnation of the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden, nor even a proper deity; it is an evil god fabricated by the sect leader, Chu Yu, to serve as a pretext for controlling people."

The truth was drawing ever nearer, and I hurriedly asked Murong Jiaja: "Man-made—do you know how he was created?"

Murong Jiaja only shook her head and replied with two words: "I don't know."

Just as I felt disappointment rising, Murong Jiaja spoke another sentence.

"But I can be certain that Chu Yu's formation for creating the Nine Heavens God was derived from studying the battle in which the twelve ancestral witches trapped the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden. He draws the breath of the nine yin stars into the formation, and with the aid of the twelve heavenly banners, traps that yin energy within the formation, using the formation as a crucible. When the star guardians retreat into obscurity, he activates the formation to sacrifice and refine a pure yang body, hoping thereby to produce a divine spirit like the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden."

Everyone gasped repeatedly, and for a long time none of us could come to our senses.

People say modern society is full of perverts, with mad scientists running everywhere—some would not hesitate to use human bodies for biochemical experiments, and there are those whose brains are addled by delusions of ruling the earth. Yet who says perversity exists only today? Ancient times had just as many. If Chu Yu were to come to the present, he would surely shake hands with those brain‑mad scientific deviates, tears streaming down his face as he howls to the heavens, having found a kindred spirit in this life and dying without regret.

Then, there was no afterwards. Because those delusional world‑ruling perverts will eventually be wiped out. Whether in past dynasties, the present, or in fictional history, villains… well, they certainly come to no good end!

"Heh heh, it's just some evil god, right? I, the little master, am an expert at slaying evil gods—ten or eight of them are no problem." Pangzi bared his teeth in a big laugh, slamming his chest with a thud‑thud.

But the next moment, Pangzi's face instantly fell at a sentence from Murong Jiaja, and beads of cold sweat the size of beans poured down his forehead.

"To slay the Nine Heavens God, the Daoist Orthodox Sect's high masters, numbering thirty‑one in total before and after, all fell victim to poison. The casualties among the folk practitioners were uncountable, and in the end he subdued them with the might of mountains and rivers."

As soon as Murong Jiaja finished speaking, Pangzi was drenched in sweat, shaking his head like a rattle drum as he denied: "I didn't say anything just now, I didn't say anything."

At that moment, I was amused by Pangzi's appearance, and I also casually asked Murong Jiaja a question.

"By the way, Jiaja, who is that person you mentioned? What's the name of the expert who crushed the Nine Heavens God?"

I swear, I only asked that after laughing, as an afterthought.

Who would have thought that my offhand question would instantly cause Murong Jiaja to furrow her brow.

"He… where is he, who is he…?" Murong Jiaja's expression first became bewildered, then she unexpectedly pressed her forehead, sinking into extreme pain.