Journey to the West: Starting with the Hunting of the Three Demons of Twin Fork Ridge

Upon seeing this, Tiger Power Immortal was greatly alarmed. He jumped to his feet and shouted, "Who are you? How dare you impersonate the Patriarch Laozi and mock us?!"

Lu Li and Yang Li also stood up, each drawing their weapons and glaring angrily.

Li Fa remained calm and unhurried, leaping down from the altar, standing with his hands behind his back, and said with a smile, "I am Yu Chanzi, a mere wandering Taoist. Today, I am impersonating Laozi not to mock him, but to test him."

Tiger Power Immortal roared, "Testing us? What makes you think you can test us?"

Li Fa said, "Fellow Daoists, please don't be hasty. What I said earlier about your greed for royal power is not untrue. Think about it, you have spent twenty years in Chechi Kingdom praying for rain to save the people, and your merits are immeasurable. So why do you insist on destroying Buddhism and temples and forcing those monks to do hard labor?"

Those who cultivate the Tao should take compassion as their foundation and skillful means as their path. Your veneration of Taoism and suppression of Buddhism is already a form of prejudice; now you bow down and beg for the Tao upon seeing a false Laozi, yet glare angrily at ordinary Taoist priests—is this not like Lord Ye who professed to love dragons but was terrified of them?

Upon hearing this, the three demons looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

Li Fa continued, "I have come here not to be your enemy. It is because you have rendered meritorious service to the people, but due to a momentary lapse in judgment, you have fallen into prejudice. If you do not awaken soon, I fear you will find it difficult to attain enlightenment. Therefore, I have come to enlighten you."

Tiger Power Immortal sneered, "Enlightenment? You, a mere rogue Taoist, dare to enlighten us? The three of us have cultivated for hundreds of years, able to summon wind and rain, and turn beans into soldiers. How could you possibly sway us with a few words?"

Li Fa said, "In my opinion, your skills cannot be considered supernatural powers, nor are they of the true lineage. At best, they are merely unorthodox and heretical practices."

Upon hearing this, the Great Immortal Yang Li angrily retorted, "You scoundrel, how can you be so ignorant? How dare you accuse us of using unorthodox methods? What skills do you even possess?!"

Li Fa said, "My skills are extraordinary, listen to me:"

Nature is inherently empty, destiny is inherently mysterious; Kan and Li unite in the fire.

Mercury must be extracted from lead to attain life; enlightenment comes from meditation.

The Five Elements vanished without a trace, but the flying sword chilled to the bone when it arrived.

Its form is ever-changing, yet its body remains indestructible and steadfast.

Five thunderbolts in the palm startle a thousand demons; spilled water in a bowl can hold a hundred rivers.

The Seven Star Whip stirs the stars, the Five Elements Spear deflects the sun and moon.

The two elements sever the path between life and death; before the eight trigrams furnace, one begs for the elixir.

I met with Taiyi Tianzun and paid homage to the immortals at the Underworld Emperor's place.

I have also passed before Laozi's hall and learned about karma under Ksitigarbha's seat.

All the volumes of alchemical texts are footnotes; the true meaning lies in the Dharma realm of the mind.

When form and spirit are in harmony, nothing else exists; even a mortal body can become a Great Immortal.

The three demons were secretly alarmed upon hearing this, but they were also cultivators who had cultivated for a long time, so how could they be intimidated by a few words? The Tiger Power Immortal said, "You scoundrel, stop talking nonsense. Since you have the ability, do you dare to have a duel with us?"

Li Fa said, "Fine, let's gamble. Who wants to go first? Or all of you at once?"

Tiger Power Immortal was furious upon hearing this and cursed, "You ungrateful wretch! You underestimate us! I am enough on my own!"

Having said that, he turned to move forward.

But the Great Immortal Yang Li stopped him, saying, "Brother, wait a moment. I'll do whatever it takes. Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Let me gamble with him first. If I lose, then you two brothers can fight."

Upon hearing this, Tiger Power Immortal nodded and said, "Alright, we'll do as you say, my worthy brother."

The Great Immortal Yang Li stepped forward and stood in front of Li Fa, saying, "Jade Toad, no matter how much you talk, you're the one who deceived us first. If you want us to be convinced, you must first get past me."

Li Fa asked, "Tell me, how do we compete?"

Upon hearing this, the Great Immortal Yang Li thought to himself, "My greatest skill is bathing in boiling oil. If I were to compete with him in this, and if Jade Toad is not up to par, wouldn't I really blow him up to death? Wouldn't that leave me with a bad reputation for harming my fellow practitioners? It would be better to compete in something simpler."

Having made up his mind, Immortal Yangli said, "How about this? Since you say your physical body is strong, let's have a contest of physical strength, shall we?"

As soon as Yang Li Daxian uttered these words, Li Fa knew what he was up to. He smiled slightly and said, "A contest of physical strength? Very well. How shall we proceed?"

The Great Immortal Yang Li said, "You and I will each lie on the ground, with a stone slab pressing against our chests. Then we will smash the stone slab with a large hammer. Whoever remains unharmed after the stone slab shatters wins. What do you say?"

Li Fa nodded and said, "Okay."

The two then arrived at the open space outside the hall. The young Taoist priests had already brought over two bluestone slabs, each about an inch thick, and also two large iron hammers.

The Great Immortal Yang Li lay down first and ordered the young Taoist priest to press the stone slab against his chest.

That stone slab weighed at least two or three hundred pounds, and it didn't budge when pressed down.

The Great Immortal Yang Li gathered his inner energy, held it in his chest, and then shouted, "Smash!"

Upon hearing this, a young Taoist priest swung his iron hammer and struck the stone slab.

With a loud "boom," the stone slab shattered into pieces. The Great Immortal Yang Li stood up, dusted off his clothes, and appeared completely unharmed.

The Taoist priests cheered in unison.

The Great Immortal Yangli said smugly, "Jade Toad, it's your turn."

Li Fa didn't say much and calmly lay down.

The stone slab pressed down on his chest, and without even taking a breath, he simply said, "Smash it."

The young Taoist priest swung his hammer and smashed it; the stone slab shattered with a single blow.

Li Fa rolled over and stood up, dusted himself off, and laughed, "That was really satisfying. What other tricks do you have up your sleeve? Show them all!"

Seeing that he could easily break stones, the Great Immortal Yang Li felt somewhat uneasy and said, "This is just an appetizer. Do you dare to climb the mountain of knives?"

Li Fa asked, "A mountain of knives? What's a mountain of knives?"

Upon hearing this, the Great Immortal Yangli shouted, "Bring up the mountain of knives!"

Then two young Taoist priests carried over a ladder, but the ladder's rungs were made of steel blades, with the blades facing upwards, gleaming coldly.

The Great Immortal Yang Li plucked a lock of hair, placed it on the blade, and gently blew on it. The hair was severed in two by the wind, proving that it was indeed extremely sharp.

Then he looked at Li Fa and said, "Yu Chanzi, can you see this? This is the Mountain of Knives."

Li Fa laughed and said, "What mountain of knives? I thought it was a real mountain peak, but it turns out it's just a ladder. It can only be called a ladder of knives, not a mountain of knives."

The Great Immortal Yang Li said, "Forget about the mountain of knives or the ladder of knives. These stepping beams are all made of steel blades, capable of cutting through a hair with a single blow and slicing through iron like mud! Even I would need to use my profound skills to protect myself if I stepped on them. For an ordinary person, one step would break their foot. Do you still dare to challenge me?"

Li Fa said, "You go first."

Upon hearing this, the Great Immortal Yang Li thought to himself, "Good advice is useless to this damned devil. Let him suffer a bit. If he's not up to it, at most he'll lose a leg, but I won't take his life."

Unable to think it through, he said, "Come on then, and take a good look."

So he took off his shoes and socks, activated his inner energy, and stepped barefoot onto the ladder of knives.

He held onto the two side beams as he climbed the ladder.

Sure enough, he walked steadily, stepping on the blade as if it were flat ground, climbing to the top step by step, and then climbing down in the same way. His feet were only red from being pressed against the blade, but there was no bleeding.

The Great Immortal Yangli asked, "Well? Jade Toad, do you dare to come?"

Li Fa laughed and said, "A mere trick, yet you dare to show off your meager skills before an expert?"

So he took off his shoes and socks, and stepped barefoot onto the ladder of knives. Without even holding onto the ladder beams, he climbed the ladder as if it were an ordinary staircase. He reached the top in a few steps, flipped over, and jumped down, landing steadily.

There wasn't even a white mark on the soles of their feet, let alone red.