We have heard how Wang Ze accused Li Yugeng of disrespect and slander over his blunt advice, tied him to the tail of a rocket and fired him out of the city. But strange as Fate would have it that missile came down right square in the middle of the moat, neither overflying nor undershooting the mark. Some of the government soldiers there preparing to attack the city saw the rocket soaring over the wall with a man on and ran to investigate, immediately pulling him up onto the bank with their hooked grappling poles. He was still alive and so they quickly untied his bindings and brought him to the front of Viceroy Wen's tent.

"What sort of fellow are you and what's your name, and why were you ejected from the city like that?" asked the old commander.

"Viceroy!" reported Li Yugeng earnestly, "Your humble subject is a Beizhou musician by the name of Li Yugeng. I ignored the rules and tried once to pursuade Wang Ze to yield to you, Viceroy. He became furious and had me shot out of town on the tail of a rocket in the hope of grinding me up into meatsauce, but thank Heaven I didn't die and have been brought to you!"

"If you are a musician, how was it that you were advising Wang Ze?" asked Wen.

"Wang Ze had his two front teeth knocked out and his lip split by the fist of a certain Ma Sui," explained Li. "He couldn't recite charms and he summoned me to cheer him up. I acted on an impulse and encouraged him to give in and obey your excellency. I told him that within a day or two we were bound to be taken, but rather than even try to understand he accused me."

Viceroy Wen was as pleased as could be with what he had just heard. "You may be a musician," he answered, "but you sure understood his dilemma!" He then ordered his aides to wine and dine him.

Viceroy Wen had a few questions for Li Yugeng after he'd finished eating. "As you are a musician who must have lived in Beizhou for a long time, don't you surely know something of its strengths and weaknesses?" he began.

"Your excellency!" replied Li Yugeng. "Since Wang Ze had his lip busted open he hasn't been able to utter his charms. He's already completely useless. The former Teacher of the Realm Bonze Dan, Prime Minister Zhang Ying and Field Marshall Pu Ji all played their parts until they saw how inhumane Wang Ze was, and then they left one after another. There is only a general named Zuo Chu remaining who is expert in sorcery. And there is also Wang Ze's wife Hu Yong'r who can also use sorcery to work magic. Hu Yong's mother is called Holy Auntie and she is even more powerful. Wang Ze depends on these few sorcerers for everything and most of his other men are not versed in Dao. Now that the government army has blocked their sorcery charms and broken their magic they've lost one battle after another and they're all facing the end. Holy Auntie has gone off to Mt Tianzhu to get some 'Divine Sword' but I just think she's using that as a reason for getting out of there."

"How many troops has he still got in the city?" asked Wen.

"He depends on the spirits of bean men and papercut horses and a few troops, even in the beginning never more than ten thousand or so. After losing so many men over and over they now have to dip into the citzenry to fill their empty ranks, and so now they're all rabble troops with no battle experience. Their treasury has always been short of funds too. It was all taken by the conjury of Zuo Chu and others to be wasted by them, so funds are always short."

Viceroy Wen listened intently. "How many people are there in town?" he then asked. "Tell me about the streets and neighbourhoods, waterways and government offices. Where are they situated and what can you remember about them?"

One by one Li Yugeng answered his questions completely.

"Heaven has sent this man to reveal these facts about the city and enable me to destroy Wang Ze..." Suddenly the Viceroy was interrupted by the sound of an army leader approaching his tent.

"Viceroy, Sir!" reported the man. "I'm here to see you about how I can take Wang Ze alive!"

General Wen was delighted to see him coming forth. "It's really a complete fullfilment of the Many Eyed Spirit's prophecy that I would encounter 'three Suis' and then conquer Beizhou!" he proclaimed.

The man's name, after all. was Li Sui! At first Zhuge Suizhi had brought them his skills to block sorcery and wipe out an entire rebel army. Then Ma Sui had split open Wang Ze's lip with one blow of a fist; unable to chant he could no longer perform conjury. And now Viceroy Wen had met Li Sui, amking a perfect "three Suis"! He was overjoyed at this development.

"What sort of a plan to capture to capture Wang Ze have you got?" asked Viceroy Wen.

"I'd like to take five hundred engineering troops with picks and shovels. We've just heard Li Yugeng describe the conditions in the falling city, its streets and neighbourhoods, leadership, troop strength, and the town itself with its principal features, their locations and dimensions and so on. Let's have him draw us a careful map with the dimensions and a constant scale shown clearly on it. The I would need only take those five hundred engineers and dig a tunnel from north of the wall, enter Beizhou through it and come up right in front of Wang Ze's tent and take him and his inner cult of sorcerers alive. Then we would open the city gate from inside to admit the main armies in triumph. Is there any reason why it can't be done?"

Viceroy Wen was again delighted and gave Li Yugeng and Li Sui each a new suit of clothes in appreciation. He then waited nervously in front of his tent for the refurbished Li Yugeng to reappear before ordering him to carefully denote the locations and dimensions of the pricipal features of the city and the distances between them. Next he took the data and drawings and had his surveyors produce a precise map which he supplied to Li Sui as requested. The commander carefully calculated its distances, features and surface areas and reported back to Viceroy Wen.

"It's going to be tedious and slow work," he stated, "so don't expect anything spectacular right away. And I hope that your excellency communicates frequently with the men so that their morale remains high and they are eager to give their all. And I'd also like Li Yugeng to act as our eyes and ears."

"If your careful diligence results in the capture of Wang Ze and the recovery of the city, that will be no small accomplishment of yours to report to the imperial court!" beamed the old Viceroy. He then summoned five hundred earthworks troops with their shovels and picks and placed them under Li Sui's command, but just as General Li was about to stand and leave Zhuge Suizhi suddenly came forth.

"You excellency!" he began earnestly. "If Li Sui goes ahead and tunnels into the city I'm afraid I'm afraid he won't be able to capture Wang Ze."

"How can you be so sure, master?" asked Wen.

"The ones closest to Wang Ze over there in Beizhou are still sorcerers, and when they learn somehow of General Li's diggings they'll get their magic up and running. It's unlikely that he'd be able to take Wang Ze and he himself might be harmed instead!"

"If that's the case," replied Wen, "when will we ever be able to wipe out the rebels?"

"There's no need for your excellency to despair!" said Zhuge. "I'll just go along with them and rectify evil with good, the bent and false with the straight and true, and block their ability to perform conjury. Then they'll all be easily captured!"

"If you can go, master, it will be a great boost to the effort!" said Viceroy Wen.

After saying his farewells and leaving the tent Zhuge Suizhi went right to Queen Xuan Nyu of Ninth Heaven, informed her of everything and begged for her blessings and help in this undertaking, for better or worse, to capture Wang Ze. Now, the Mystery Queen already knew that Wang Ze's number was up and she told Zhuge to go without any worry. just then in another place Li Sui took gave the command for five hundred pumper troops to tank up with the mixed pig and sheep blood fouled with such things as horse urine and garlic. He looked at the map together with Li Yugeng and they decided that the shallow area of the moat north of the wall was the only suitable place to tunnel under. All the calculations thus made they waved their hands, along with Zhuge Suizhi, as the signal for for the diggers to break ground for the tunnel into Beizhou, and here is a poem:

Now let's take up another thread of the story. Holy Auntie arrived at the lake atop Mt Tianzhu and recovered the Divine Sword from its stone case in the shallows. Now, Queen Xuan Nyu of Ninth Heaven followed it all with her long distance eyes and knew everything at once, and so she changed herself into her form as the maiden Chu Nyu and suddenly materialised before the old sorceress.

"Pardon me, granny, but may I have a word with you?" she asked.

"I'm here on government business and I don't have time to chat!" snapped Holy Auntie.

"And just what sort of 'government business' might you have?" enquired Chu Nyu.

"My children are in sudden danger and I want to go and rescue them, that's all!"

"What's the problem and how do you wish to rescue them from it?"

This old woman knows a bit of Daoist craft..."

"The practice of Dao is what I most love the most. Please tell me about it!" said the girl.

"Which school do you like best, young lady?"

"I favour the Laws of the Thirty-Six Transformations of of the Solar Winds of Heaven," replied the maiden. I know a bit of the basics but I'm far from well versed in it!"

Holy Auntie was terrified, realising that the girl's knowledge could beat her own. "My own practice," she answered, "is based on the properties of the Seventy-Two Transformations of Cold, Wet Earth."

"Craft based on those laws is evil heterodoxy and there's no benefit in learning it!" stated the maiden. "By the way, what kind of sword are you carrying?"

"A Divine Sword!" answered Holy Auntie. Here is a poem:

How well can that sword of yours cry out and leap about?" asked Chu Nyu. "Let me have a look, I beg you!"

Holy Auntie lifted a hand over the sheath and patted it three times, and all of a sudden there was heard a shriek as loud as the wail of a banshee and fierce as a the roar of an angry demon. And just as it cried it also leapt six feet up into the air, to return an instant later to its sheath.

"I too have got my own Holy Sword and I'll bring it out to show you!" said Chu Nyu. She then took a small lead pellet from her sleeve and twirled it twice in her palm, summoning up a frosty white sword twelve feet up in the air radiating beams of brilliance in all four directions to touch down as rainbows before all leaping back into her palm, once again just a little lump of lead.

"This sword of mine can fly a thousand li to behead someone and then return on its own!" proclaimed Chu Nyu. And what's more it can be stretched or folded and is capable of infinite transformations. It sure beats yours, doesn't it Grandma?"

"If I had that sword," thought Holy Auntie darkly, "how much easier it would be to behead Viceroy Wen!" And so she spoke up.

"I'll trade you my Divine Sword for your Holy Sword," she offered, "though I don't know if you'd seriously consider it..."

"Your wishes are my every command!" replied Chu Nyu, who received that spirit knife only only to find that when she uttered its charm and touched its holy brilliance it would neither shriek nor leap.

"The Divine Sword's power is harmed and the trade is off!" said Chu Nyu.

"Hey, what's going on here!" said Holy Auntie, taking back her sword and stroking the blade over and over, entirely without moving it to action. "The Divine Sword yields to perfection," she said. "It saw the superiority of that sword of yours and was shamed into hiding itself." Holy Auntie then followed up on her bad intentions and cast away her own sword, insisting on walking off with Chu Nyu's Holy Sword pellet.

"If you want to trade then let's trade!" shouted Chu Nyu. "But wait, because there's one little secret formula I have to show you!"

Holy Auntie didn't believe her. "I'll see about that myself!" she thought, twirling the little pellet and tossing it up into the air. At this point another pellet appeared in Chu Nyu's palm. The one that Holy Auntie had just thrown came down trailing a rainbow and bounced off of the ground, right up to join the other in Chu Nyu's palm faster than the old sorceress could see. They were female and male pellets; she had kept the female and given Holy Auntie the male. Holy Auntie realised that it was now missing and searched for it on the ground. She couldn't find it anywhere and when she looked up again Chu Nyu herself had disappeared!

Holy Auntie didn't get the Divine Sword after all and had now lost the Holy Sword as well; she had truly drawn a blank. Rising up to sit on a towering cloud she gazed around in the hope of spotting Chu Nyu, but instead she saw a white-haired old man sitting on a mountaintop rolling two little metal balls in his hand. Holy Auntie came down before the mountain and approached him.

"Old man!" she said. "What are you playing with in that palm of yours?"

"Just the Holy Swords," he replied, and here is a poem:

"They're obviously just a pair of little pellets," said Holy Auntie. "How do you employ them?"

"Watch this old timer put them through their paces for you!" said the man. He then twirled and tossed them up and in a moment they began slithering and dancing like golden snakes, left and right, encircling Holy Auntie and following her every move while cutting into her very bones with a blast of bitingly cold wind and blasting her ears with the sound of myriad swords and knives clashing together, frightening her into the deepest of caution. She then summoned up a charm for escaping from soldiers, uttered it and was directly lifted up to stand in the Constellation of the God of Literature in Heaven.

Seeing that he had not been able to harm the woman the old hermit recovered the swords. "My teacher Queen Xuan Nyu of Ninth Heaven!" he quietly called, and he then saw her standing as Chu Nyu right in front of him. Now as soon as she saw this Holy Auntie was furious. She put herself through a transformation, changing into a holy manifestation of the Puxian Bodhisattva riding upon a white elephant, coming down from the sky to trample Chu Nyu to death. But the maiden took hold the Palace of Heaven's Bright Treasure Mirror of Sorcery out of its embroidered sack and used it to beam forth a ray of light. A harmless papercutting of an elephant then came fluttering down from the sky.

Holy Auntie fell to earth unharmed, covering her head with her sleeves and closing her eyes tightly as she cried for mercy. Now, the original soul of everything in the universe is fixed in the memory of the Eye Spirit, and though you transform yourself countless times your true self never changes there. And as the Mirror of Heaven reflects back into the Eye Spirit's two pupils, Chu Nyu learnt how the fox spirit became a celestial fox after years of cultivation and all about her getting the stolen charms. Watching the maiden look at her past as if on a tapestry from Heaven's loom, Holy Auntie feared the worst and closed her eyes, holding up her wrists for binding.

Queen Xuan Nyu put away the mirror and notified Yuan Gong to escort Holy Auntie up to the Palace of Heaven so that he could clear his guilt of having leaked the charms. The ape went through the gate of Heaven, kowtowed before its high majestic hall and had just begun reporting when eighteen thousand celestial foxes poured out of the palace, kowtowing and offering to take responsibility for Holy Auntie's offenses. Hearing their howling for mercy on her behalf she finally opened her eyes, only to see the Jade Emperor before her. When she'd finally caught her breath she began to plead desperately.

The Jade Emperor then handed down his verdict, sparing Holy Auntie's life but ordering her held in Heaven's jail until the day when the sorcerer family would be conquered and Xuan Nyu would return triumphant. The assembled foxes then dispersed and Yuan Gong followed Queen Xuan Nyu back out of Heaven's gate.

Let's get back to another thread of the story. By this time Viceroy Wen had been surrounding Beizhou for over three months. At first Zuo Chu had raised funds for feed and provisions by robbing the countryside through sorcery, but now Queen Xuan Nyu had thrown her cosmic net over the town. Neither sorcerers nor their devious magic could get through it. She had also ordered all the statues of dieties and of course the city god to accept neither prayers nor commands from the sorcerers. Horesefeed was gone and the common folk were on the grimmest of rations; needless to say they suffered horribly. Zuo Chu and Hu Yong'r relied on their conjury and knew no shortages, continuing to enjoy life while waiting for Holy Auntie's return with the Divine Sword and to see the outcome it would bring. By this time she was in prison in Heaven, but not knowing this they silently waited for her.

Now let's rejoin Li Sui and Zhuge Suizhi commanding those five hundred troops with picks and shovels. After a while they had reached a position just left of the royal palace. Li Sui ordered the men to dig on through to the surface, and that they quickly did.

"Where are we?" they asked as Li Yugeng poked his head up for a look round.

"In the rear hall of the palace!" he replied. It was about the middle of the fourth watch, nearly six o'clock in the morning, and with Li Yugeng leading the way they all gave a great loud war whoop and advanced, breaking right into Wang Ze's sickroom.

Now, earlier that night Wang's teeth had ached unbearably as he lay on his bed. When he closed his his eyes he saw only Zhao Wuxia leading a hundred thousand angry spirits forward to claim his life. Unable to sleep and terrified, he asked for a few candles and commanded some concubines to cuddle him like living pillows. Still ill at ease, he forbade them from speaking; it was as if they were silently holding onto a living corpse. Suddenly the chamber was full of war cries and soldiers bursting in, frightening the concubines who quickly scattered leaving Wang Ze lying alone on the bed. Because his lip had been busted open and two front teeth knocked out he couldn't recite even those two saving charms he knew for forbidding people and hiding himself which were totally useless.

Li Sui came to the fore and told the men to tie him down with rope, spread-eagled on his back. They then broke into Hu Yong's chamber in the harem, only to see a wall of water with no way in. Zhuge Suizhi swung his bell pole and chanted a charm for the blocking of evil spirits, and in a flash the water was gone. Suddenly Li Sui heard a sound beneath the ball of his foot. Lifting it for a look he saw that it was a silver hairpin piercing the sole. It too was one of Hu Yong's curses. Anyway, Hu Yong'r and her Prince Wang Jun were frolicking in bed in the midst of a steamy sexual embrace and when the soldiers broke into her chamber she became disoriented, quickly pulling a scant garment over her nakedness and just remaining in bed. The soldiers hurriedly took aim and shot that mixture of pig and sheep blood fouled with horse urine and garlic all over them where they lay. Zhuge Suizhi also uttered a charm and with no course of action left Hu Yong'r and Wang Jun were quickly tied up.

Li Sui placed Wang Ze, Hu Yong'r and Wang Jun under guard in a sea of swords. His soldiers then set the palace afire. Now, due to Zhu Ge Suizhi's practice of his Daoist skills the people outside had no idea at all of what had happened. Wu Wahng became aware of the fire and thinking it accidental he led some of his men into the palace to put it out, only to encounter Li Yugeng and be pointed out to Li Sui. Wu and his confidants and guards were all tied up on the spot. Whether or not they were versed in sorcery they were all doused at the outset with that antidote of fouled sheep and pig blood, horse urine and garlic.

Viceroy Wen's grand army was outside the city preparing to render assistance when they saw smoke rising from inside the walls and knew that the tunnelling troops had attacked; they all raised their swords and advanced. The engineering troops who had remained in the tunnel also came forth. The government forces rounded up the rebels who had been holding the city and opened Beizhou's wall, lowering the drawbridge. Viceroy Wen quickly entered the city and proceeded directly to the royal palace, where he halted and ordered his men to put out the fire. Li Sui then came forth escorting Wang Ze, Hu Yong'r and the others under guard. Viceroy Wen ordered them taken to the old fort on a prisoners' transport wagon, to be held along with the previously captured rebel Ren Qian. He directed the vanguard leader Sun Fu to transport and guard them.

At that point Zhuge Suizhi led a detachment of troops to surround the rebel generals' compound in the hope of capturing Zuo Chu.

"Over here!" shouted a soldier just as they broke into the main hall, and they clearly spotted Quezi standing by a wall. Then in the twinkling of an eye he walked right on through it! They smashed down the wall but there wasn't a trace of him to be seen, and as they searched the premises a messenger from Adjutant Wang Xin's army arrived.

"Zuo Chu has been seen entering a family's rice husking room!" he relayed. "Master Zhuge's help is urgently needed to ferret him out!"

Now, Zuo Chu had made up his mind to flee but he couldn't escape that cosmic net that had been secretly thrown over the town. He wandered into that husking room and had already been spotted. Zhuge Suizhi led the men in a sudden dash over to that home husking room and entered. Wang Xin had already arrived and posted soldiers as guards all around while rushing in to try and take him.

"What's going on in my home to warrant all this commotion?" asked the frightened head of the household.

"The sorcerer Zuo Chu has run into your house!" shouted the troops. "Just hand him over as quickly as possible and you won't get dragged into it!"

"Honest, General!" pleaded the resident. "Nobody has come in or is hiding in my house!" Wang Xin directed the troops to search the place carefully, and when he looked in the husking room Zhuge Suizhi pointed out a pestle.

"Is this one of your family's possesions?" he asked the headman.

"We don't leave pestles lying around like that!" answered the man.

"Why, this really is Zuo Chu!" exclaimed Zhuge Suizhi. "Those are his spirit eyes at the top! Nobody can see them except for me. Quick, get the antidote and soak him!"

Before his words were even out of his mouth, however, that pestle had disappeared and search as they did there wasn't a trace of it to be found. Then suddenly from the blue sky above they heard rolling thunder and crashing as if a mighty mountain had collapsed and earth itself had split open. The soldiers all gasped in awe, and when Adjutant Wang went to look he found a male fox with one crippled hind leg lying on the ground, stricken dead. Zuo Chu had changed himself into that pestle hoping to deceive the soldiers and Zhuge as well. He reckoned he could hide himself for the time being and then take on the form of Zhuge Suizhi and kill Viceroy Wen, but his original form had been seen at once by Queen Xuan in the Treasure Mirror of Heaven. She blocked his change and ordered the Board of Thunder to shock him dead, in fulfillment of the pledge on the White Ape God's walls. After so many years living a charmed life as a crippled sorcerer poor Zuo Chu ends up one morning as a lifeless fox without a soul. Really, those who can use the limitless powers of the universe have a hard time avoiding the eternal fires of hell, and that's all there is to it.

Zhuge Suizhi knew at once that the dead fox had been Zuo Chu and recognized the work of Queen Xuan Nyu's divine power, and he was unsurpassably happy. He ordered the soldiers to carry the body in front of the palace gate, and Viceroy Wen and his generals all inspected it.

"If you hadn't rectified their evil by means of righteousness," said the Viceroy, "how could we have ever conquered the sorcerers' cult?"

"This all came about," whispered Zhuge Suizhi in the Viceroy's ear, "because the imperial court on earth acted righteously, purging the treacherous officials and returning good and wise men to office. That moved the Court of Heaven above to provide the help and blessings of Queen Xuan Nyu of Ninth Heaven. It was not my work."

Just as they were speaking a messenger arrived from vanguard commander Sun Fu, informing them that the criminal sorceress Hu Yong'r had moments before also been struck dead by a thunderbolt. It was becoming increasingly clear that the words of that pledge about not harming the people and warning of the unavoidable punishment from Heaven had by no means been empty. Upon hearing that the two devil chiefs were dead Viceroy Wen felt relieved at last. He quickly posted signs to calm the townspeople, proclaiming that all non-sorcerer Beizhou soldiers giving their full cooperation would not face any criminal consequences. The beautiful wives taken from among the people by Wang Ze and Zuo Chu were returned to their original husbands where such were still present, or released to the care of their parents. As for the once wealthy families that had been robbed of everything, they were given the confiscated provisions of the rebel army as an immediate measure to alleviate poverty and hunger among the people. The entire city heartily rejoiced.

Viceroy Wen provided the wine and a victory celebration in the grand hall with rear commander Ming Hao present in a place of honor. The three armies were ordered to set up camp outside the city where rewards and entertainment were provided for the troops. He then memorialized the imperial court, relating in detail the conquest of the sorcerers, the freeing of the city and the legal treatment of the entire district yet to be mandated by the Emperor. Zhuge Suizhi topped the list of individuals who had distinguished themselves by their accomplishments.

"I am just a holy man," he objected, "so what use is fame to me? Save the credit for your deserving generals and men and just let me ride my old horse back to Sweetwater Springs Temple to fulfill the trust of my disciples."

And so presented with a gold medal he could not refuse he took his leave of all the generals and rode out of town with his two monks. Viceroy Wen secretly sent a man to follow them and find out their eventual destination.

Now, at just this moment the original Zhuge Suizhi returned to the monastery after his fifteen years' pilgrimage. The monks all thought that the abbot was returning from his conquest, but Zhuge knew nothing at all about the Viceroy when they asked him. None of them knew quite what to think. Later that day, however, they saw three monks far off in the distance, arriving on horseback. In the saddle was none other than a totally identical Zhuge Suizhi, and of course the monks were all shocked.

"There's no need for us to waste our breath trying to decide," they said among themselves. "Let's just put them together and let them reveal the truth to us by their own contradictory arguments!"

The newly arriving abbot dismounted and strode toward the worship hall where he was met by the other.

"What sort of a demon are you, impersonating me like that?" shouted the original Zhuge upon seeing his double. He was ready to attack the imposter, restrained only by the monks at his side cooling him down. As they looked on the newcomer quickly waved his hands and apologized.

"Oh old Bodhi," he began, "you needn't scold me. I understand how serious this is, and I will explain everything!" He then took a brush and inkstone and upon a study table wrote out the following Zen riddle:

He then penned these four lines:

When finished writing he cast aside the brush, sat with his legs crossed, closed his eyes on the world and passed away. By the time the monks realized what had happened he had already changed back to his original appearance. They saw only thick brows and a high nose, a wide mouth and high cheekbones, obviously Bonze Dan's face. How surprised they were to see that the visitor had been a holy monk after all! Now, those spies of Viceroy Wen's had seen the whole thing and rushed back to report it to him. The Viceroy was shocked, and together with Deputy Cao Wei and Adjutant Wang Xin he rode over to Sweetwater Springs Temple, followed by some troops.

"Viceroy Wen is here!" heard the monks just as they were discussing the laying in. Overwhelmed with surprise even the old abbot himself came forth to receive him, all of them kowtowing at the sight of Imperial Viceroy Wen Yanbo. Wen was still gripped by doubt. "Masters!" he pleaded, "What is this all about?"

"That former guest in our temple who accompanied you in battle, Viceroy, was not our abbot but rather Bonze Dan in disguise!" they answered. "He died sitting in the lotus position and then changed back to his original self."

Viceroy Wen finally believed it. The monks led him into the worship hall where the Viceroy saw his face in death, looking every bit as austere and stern as when he was alive. The Viceroy turned to Deputy Cao.

"Minister Bao warned me that this monk was powerful and told me to be on my guard for him, but now that he's helped us to achieve success we can see what a true immortal he is!" said Wen. The monks handed the two Zen riddles over to the Viceroy, who sighed and wept upon reading them. He then prayed and offered joss with his generals. With worship finished he ordered that a first rate artisan be summoned to properly coat the body with lacquer and create an idol with its own niche for people to sacrifice to. He also gave the monks a thousand ounces of silver from army funds for repair and maintenance of the incense burner. And to this very day Bonze Dan's body rests in the Sweetwater Springs Temple, serving above the Temple God and known as Bodhisattva Dan or the "Egghead Saint", worshipped unceasingly. Later folks left this poem there on a temple wall:

Viceroy Wen wrote and submitted another memorial of praise to the court on behalf of Queen Xuan Nyu of Ninth Heaven and the soul of Bonze Dan. The imperial censor passed it on to his majesty, and a broad smile came across Emperor Renzong's dragon face when he read it. He issue the following edict to Beizhou:

When Viceroy Wen and his officials received the edict they began carrying out its commands one by one. Wang Ze, Ren Qian, Wu Wang and the others, eyes filled with tears, just looked at each other in silence that fatal day. The people of Beizhou crowded and jostled closely for a look at the condemned men, some cursing abusively and others lamenting. It was like this:

The executioners came forth to do their awful task at exactly forty-five minutes past noon. They escorted Wang Ze and the others to a crossroads, read the proclamation of his crimes and carried out the sentence of the slow death by slicing, properly and according to law. Poor Wang Ze had been in rebellion for five years and six months before receiving the ultimate penalty this day, thus ending the line of the wealthy Wang Dahu's family. And that five years in power had fulfilled the prophecies of the five characters for "Blessing" tattooed on his back, his childhood name "Fifth Blessing" and his having been fifth born. The presiding officials sat inside of a reed enclosure and watched as the executioners carried out the punishments. Suddenly they saw someone coming forth from the forest of onlookers carrying an old woman. They were clasping their hands and pleading as they advanced, then kowtowing before the bar of justice and presenting eight ingots of silver while wailing and crying. It turned out that they was none other than Guan Yi and his old mother, there on behalf of their kinswoman Zhao Wuxia. She was the one who had hanged herself rather than be dishonored by Wang Ze's predation upon her. The mother had fled to Kaifeng, but having heard of Wang Ze's capture and the imperial edict mandating his disposition in Beizhou both mother and son returned to their hometown. This silver had been Wang Ze's foul money and they begged the officials to take it for public use, in exchange for a few pieces of Wang Ze's flesh in honor of their dead wife and daughter-in-law. Now, the presiding judges didn't dare decide on this and reported the request to Viceroy Wen, who ordered the executioners to present Wang Ze's heart and liver to the mother and son, with the money being returned to them for the building of a memorial hall to the loyal wife. He also granted Guan Yi a masters degree in local area studies. He was to subsequently distinguish himself in his scholarly work and never remarry. The saying that "a virtuous husband follows his wife out the gate" comes from this episode.

On that same day Viceroy Wen sent the heads of the executed rebels to the capital for their eventual disposition. The then had his officials directly engage in soothing the local people and troops. After fitting out a proper site for worship to Queen Xuan Nyu he offered a sacrifice to the Many Eyed Spirit, directing his men to join him in offering prayers and incense. Then Wen Yanbo spent seven days and nights in the temple exorcising spirits and ghosts, praying to Lord Buddha for the salvation of his lost troops and officers and as well as driving away the vengeful ghosts remaining in Beizhou. This finished, he selected a date for his return to the capital. Indeed...to tinkling of stirrups all were chatting busily, with all the people singing happy songs of victory! All the while the army had followed strictest rules so as never to cause harm to the people. When folks learnt that Viceroy Wen in his eighth decade of life had conquered sorcery and suppressed the rebellion, a great achievement, they all wished to come forth so as not to miss the opportunity of seeing Wen Yanbo's face. Afraid to cause harm to the people by stampedes or crushes he rode his horse in plain sight rather than ride in a palanquin daily. All hailed him warmly.

"In the beginning the Grand Duke Lyu Shang at eighty years of age met King Wen and helped him crush the last king of Shang, and then the house of Zhou ruled supreme. And now due to the right ways of our Emperor, Wen Yanbo with his beautiful spirit has come forth to restore order to the world. What a great deed on behalf of us common folk!"

To make a long story short, a few days later they were all in Kaifeng meeting with the Emperor Renzong who lauded and rewarded their accomplishments. Wen Yanbo was appointed prime minister and dubbed the Duke of Lu. Bao Zheng was sought as his assistant and duly appointed as chief secretary. Cao Wei was promoted to office as privy councilor, and the others from Wang Xin on down were all placed in official posts. Li Yugeng was made a territorial governor and Liu Yanwei was appointed superintendent of Hebei. Now, before long Di Qing had subdued the Yongzhou revolt of Nong Zhigao and sent messengers announcing victory. Fan Zongyan was on his way to crushing the Xixia when Zhao Yuanhao, fearful of losing all, surrendered and agreed to pay yearly tribute. It was like this...If the emperor is righteous people live in peace and joy, and peace prevails on earth for every nation to enjoy. And that's all there is to it.

Now, after Queen Xuan Nyu of Ninth Heaven had extirpated the sorcerers' revolt she got together with Yuan Gong and they jointly memorialized the Jade Emperor. The Ruler of the Universe then erased the White Ape God's previous guilt with his great victory and restored his title of Lord of White Cloud Cave, and he was once again placed in charge of the secret writings in the Cultural Affairs Ministry of Heaven.

Bonze Dan had already been reborn as a bodhisattva, and no more than that need be said. Now, although all those celestial foxes had pleaded for Holy Auntie her crimes were not to be taken lightly by the Jade Emperor, and he placed her down in White Cloud Cave as eternal guardian of its writings. Although she had lost her son and daughter she was glad to be leaving the dungeon of Heaven at long last, and she was delighted at being cast down to such a fine place.

"I'm going to mind Heaven's books," she realized, "even the Thirty-Six Transformations of Heaven's Solar Winds. They are all so important and consequential!" But after her arrival the small mountain collapsed with a roar from under the fog-making jade incense burner, which was then taken away to Heaven. The debris from the mountain sealed the cave entrance and to this day it has never again been visited by mankind. This was done out of the Jade Emperor's desire to prevent future tragedies.

Because Emperor Renzong's holy brightness served goodness he was able to restore order with wisdom and kindness. Heaven granted him a long rule and abundant blessings. Forty-three years did his reign continue until an inexplicable event arose and he was unwilling to appoint an heir. His ministers submitted a flood of memorials without persuading him. Then suddenly one day he summoned Hanlin Academician Wang Gui and together they wrote a prescript establishing a regency.

That very evening he went to have a bath in the Hall of Blessed Peace, and as he sat and removed his slippers he lost strength and died. His lifespan was over exactly as predicted Fairy music of mid Heaven could suddenly be heard throughout the halls of the palace, and there floated the fragrance of other-worldly incense. He had indeed gone to take the place of his ancestor, the great fairy Barefoot. A poem says: