Commander Wolf was charging at a gallop, his attention fixed entirely on Fang Wushang.
Suddenly, he heard the whistle of an arrow flying straight for his face. It gave him a terrible fright. He jerked his head back. The arrow grazed the tip of his nose, missing his face by a hair's breadth, scaring him half to death.
By the time he straightened up again, Fang Wushang was already upon him, lance raised. Thud! A thrust struck Commander Wolf square in the chest.
His heavy armor stopped the point from penetrating, preventing direct injury, but the force of the blow knocked him clean off his horse.
He hit the ground with a thump, tumbling several times before scrambling back to his feet.
The moment he rose, he saw Cheng Xu standing before him.
Commander Wolf: "Shi—"
He only had time for that one syllable before Cheng Xu grabbed his neck. A sickening crack echoed. His neck snapped. Almost simultaneously, Fang Wushang's lance followed through. Thud! This time, it found a gap between the armor plates and plunged into Commander Wolf's body.
Cheng Xu clapped his hands and jumped back. "Damn it, you almost got me!"
Fang Wushang:"I had it under control."
After that brief exchange, they immediately split up to handle their own tasks.
Cheng Xu went back to barking orders at the militia. Fang Wushang wheeled his horse to circle the rebels again.
With Commander Wolf dead, the rebel army's will to fight evaporated.
The remaining junior commanders began considering retreat.
But the Chengcheng side's morale soared. Fang Wushang's hundred soldiers charged forward with renewed ferocity. (A hallmark of troops trained by a cynical veteran: lion-hearted against weakness, mouse-hearted against strength.) The sight of their fleeing enemy made them brave beyond measure.
Behind them, Liang Shixian's retainers, yamen runners, local militia, and even the refugees, all emboldened, flung open the city gates and poured out with furious battle cries.
The momentum of this charge was overwhelming.
The rebels saw it and knew they couldn't withstand it.
No orders were needed. With a collective shriek, they turned and fled.
This time, however, Li Daoxuan couldn't let them escape.
He had let Li Ying's troops go before because they were still technically "government troops." Though they also had habits of extorting the wealthy and looting commoners, they at least knew some restraint, avoiding indiscriminate slaughter of civilians to avoid censure by civil officials.
But these men were "rebels." They had forgotten all about "restraint." Having burned and looted their way from Guyuan, they had become more vicious than bandits.
Li Daoxuan couldn't let this group scatter into the countryside.
He thought, It's about time!
After all the groundwork laid in the county seat, all the hints dropped, most people in the county should know the name "Daoist Mystic Tianzun" by now. If not now, when?
Click. He put on the "Infinity Gauntlet," flipped the switch. Several "Infinity Stones" lit up, making his right hand glow with multi-colored light...
He looked down into the box. "Yiye, announce loudly that I am about to act."
Gao Yiye's spirits lifted. She shouted to the faithful around her, "The Tianzun is about to act, to punish the wicked and reward the virtuous!"
The faithful, overjoyed, immediately roared, "THE TIANZUN IS ABOUT TO ACT!"
By now, there were hundreds of believers. Their combined shout, spoken as one, echoed for li, heard by nearly everyone on the walls, below them, and across the battlefield.
"THE TIANZUN IS ABOUT TO ACT!"
On the city wall, Liang Shixian went, "Huh? What are the Li Family people doing?"
His Shaoxing advisor shook his head."I don't understand."
Liang Shixian felt a twinge of irritation."We're in the middle of a battle! A serious moment! Playing the mystic charlatan now is inappropriate, isn't it? A perfectly respectable family shouldn't act like those White Lotus demon cultists..."
(Ming Context:) The White Lotus Society was a millenarian Buddhist sect that periodically sparked rebellions against the dynasty. Accusing someone of being a "White Lotus demon cultist" was a serious charge of heresy and sedition.
He hadn't even finished his sentence when the clouds above parted. A giant golden hand, radiating brilliant multi-colored light, pushed through the mist and descended from the heavens.
Liang Shixian: "!!!"
Shaoxing Advisor:"!!!"
Everyone on the walls and below:"!!!"
The giant golden hand shimmered with multi-colored light—the legendary "Celestial Hues" spoken of in the tales...
The faithful who had witnessed the Tianzun's miracles before screamed hoarsely, "See! The Tianzun's hand... I told you! I saw the Tianzun reveal himself in the woods outside the city, and you refused to believe me! Haha! Do you believe now?"
The giant hand plummeted downward!
BOOOOOOM!
It struck the ground terrifyingly close in front of the fleeing rebels.
The earth shook. The remaining several hundred rebels, fleeing for their lives, suddenly saw a giant hand block their path. After the deafening crash, the hand lifted, leaving behind a colossal palm print in the earth, at least forty meters wide and long.
That single act utterly broke them.
They weren't from Chengcheng County. They hadn't read The Tale of the Daoist Mystic Tianzun Vanquishing Demons. They had no psychological preparation whatsoever. Their first thought upon seeing such a giant hand wasn't "a deity," but "a monster." If they weren't scared into cardiac arrest on the spot, they were certainly scared shitless—quite literally.
Several hundred rebels' legs turned to jelly. They collapsed, slumped, sat, or knelt—a sprawling mass of strange postures. Many soiled themselves on the spot.
Li Daoxuan slowly withdrew his hand and ordered, "Arrest them all. Confiscate their weapons. Send them for reform through labor!"
Gao Yiye loudly relayed the divine decree. The faithful cheered and charged toward the paralyzed rebels.
At that moment, an eerie atmosphere settled over Chengcheng County.
The believers who already trusted in the Daoist Mystic Tianzun's existence, some having seen his miracles firsthand, were undoubtedly the happiest group. The situation where no one would believe them no matter how much they argued was instantly reversed.
The entire county saw the Tianzun reveal himself with their own eyes! How dare you not believe now? Hahaha!
Those who usually didn't believe were now profoundly shocked. Their feelings mirrored Bai Yuan's when he first arrived at Gao Village, witnessed the Tianzun's miracle, and watched people kneel around him one by one.
After a few seconds, they cast aside their reservations and joined the faithful in roaring, "PRAISE THE TIANZUN! PRAISE THE TIANZUN!"
"I saw the Tianzun with my own eyes!"
"Tianzun,forgive me! I was a fool, my heart clouded, daring to doubt your existence! I was wrong! From now on, I am a devoted follower of the Daoist Mystic Tianzun!"
(Ming Context:) The vivid folk saying "ate lard that clouded my heart" expressed that one's judgment had been impaired by greed, stupidity, or shortsightedness.
Amidst this tsunami of adulation...
Chengcheng Magistrate Liang Shixian stood with his mouth agape, staring at the sky, unable to speak for a long, long time.
"The Li Family's household deity... is... a real god?"