In "Journey to the West," the classification of beings in the three realms is mentioned multiple times. Generally speaking, these are the five immortals, five insects, and four monkeys. At this time, the power of the Buddhist sect was strong, and Buddha had achieved his enlightenment, which was not within the scope of beings in the three realms.
Specifically speaking, these are the five immortals of "Heaven, Earth, Humanity, Immortals, and Ghosts," and the five "scale-covered, fur-covered, feather-covered, claw-covered, and segmented" beings.
The last "Kun" in the five insects is the usual meaning of insects.
The "luo" insect is also known as the naked insect, which, literally translated, means without hair covering. It includes creatures like frogs and earthworms, and even humans are within this category.
The "lín" insects refer to all animals with scales, including fish, lizards, and the dragon race.
The "máo" insects are all four-legged animals covered in hair, such as bears, tigers, wolves, and the qilin.
The "yǔ" insects refer to all birds that fly, and the phoenix is included in this classification.
Isn't it awesome? At this time, the Daoist way had descended to the point where they were being casually evaluated and summarized by the Buddhist sect. The five insects were of little worth, and you're already a bug, what more can you want?
Worrying about causing too much animosity, the Buddhist sect then issued a supplementary explanation. They said that among the five insects, the insect class is led by the spiritual turtle, the feathered insects are headed by the phoenix, the furry insects are revered as the qilin, the scaled insects are ruled by the jiaolong, and the luò insects are regarded as spiritual beings because of their connection to humans. Humans are considered both the peak of the luò insects and the peak of all creatures, hence they are known as the "sages of all creatures."
Even with this supplementary explanation, the Buddhist sect's classification can still be considered quite arrogant, full of paternalism, positioned high and pointing the land like a king, dividing the ten classes of life in the three realms, including dragons and phoenixes, and even including humans in the "luò" class.
During the Three Emperors and Five Leaders period, if you ask a pharmacist, Kumbajya, or Maitreya, would they dare to make such a classification? Xiaoyan's sword would kill him!
That is to say, due to the years of internal conflict among the human race, leading to a decline in theirauspiciousness, figures like Tang Taizong were even scared in the underworld. It was only then that the Buddhist sect included humans among them and gave them a critique.
Nowadays, it is still the Shang and Zhou period. The Western Teaching is unable to spread widely, and the five-beings, scales, hair, feathers, and beasts classification has always been limited to a very small range within the Eastern Teaching.
Yunzhong Jun is the guy who has some degree of authority in this small range. He calls out "insects" and "insects" every day, turning the nine-headed bird into a nine-headed insect.
At this moment, Deng ChanYu's Longbo fishing rod, seemingly slow yet actually swift, hooked the leftmost head of the nine-headed insect. The hook was extremely sharp, piercing through the insect's lower jaw in one go. The creature had tremendous strength; its body, several zhang long, struggled fiercely. The closer heads twisted and coiled like snake heads, trying to bite through the fishing line.
Deng ChanYu's Longbo fishing rod is capable of catching even large-sized divine turtles, although it is not a magical artifact, the material it is made of is enough to be durable.
The sharp fangs, like barbs, scratched the fishing line, emitting a grating sound.
The nine-headed insect bit twice but couldn't break through the line. As Deng ChanYu's expression remained calm, he slowly reeled in the line, his body being pulled involuntarily into a pitch-black spatial passage. He didn't know what awaited him inside, and he didn't want to go in, nor did he dare to gamble.
The nine-headed creature's resentment surged, and the three heads on the left side of its body all opened their mouths simultaneously, creating a terrifying ripping sound. Blood and flesh sprayed as it forcefully bit off the head that was hooked by the fishing line.
The head, about the size of a small house, along with a small portion of the neck, crashed to the ground with a loud thud. The eyes on the severed head still glowed with malevolence, as if it wanted to swallow Deng ChanYu and Su Su whole.
"Very cruel!" Su Su was greatly shocked. Although there are nine heads, it seems that losing one is not a big deal. However, the act of cleanly biting off its own neck was still terrifying. If it can be so cruel to itself, how much more so to enemies?
The Wiccan also have tough people, such as Xingtian. However, Xingtian was decapitated by Huangdi. He didn't say that he cut off his own head, which is terrifying to listen to.
Unlike the blood-winged black mosquitoes, six-winged gold cicadas, and other venomous insects, the nine-headed insect is much larger in size, with decent innate abilities. However, he has been training for too short a time. In total, up to now, he has only barely managed to cultivate for a thousand years.
All those who have developed consciousness and rid themselves of their slant bones usually have a few hundred years of practice. Referencing the nine-tailed fox spirit is enough to know that a thousand years of cultivation is still too low in terms of quality.
The nine-headed creature had just escaped control, and he spread his wings to fly high into the sky. The blood and flesh on his neck continued to move, quickly stopping the bleeding and forming a swelling. With time, it was likely that another head could grow back.
Deng ChanYu sneered coldly and reeled in the fishing rod again. In the face of the spatial path, how far you run makes no difference.
"Stop it!" Amidst the nine-headed insect's shock and anger, Yunzhong Jun, whom the insect relied on as its leg, finally spoke up.
Yunzhong Jun's right hand moved, and a large ancient seal appeared in his palm. Then he grabbed the seal with his other hand and pressed it down heavily.
Deng ChanYu felt as if the Yunmeng Lake in his consciousness range had instantly become calm. Not a single breeze stirred within the vast expanse of the lake, and the clouds and mist seemed to be on pause, floating quietly in mid-air.
Her fishing hook and the subtly opened space passage all stopped in that instant. If it were not for her own ability to move, she would have thought it was some kind of time-stopping spell.
"Very impressive!" She shook her wrist, trying to pull the hook back, but an ordinary action at other times was now incredibly slow. The hook and line seemed to have an endless weight, making it impossible to pull. She had to continuously increase her force.
Yunzhong Jun's expression remained calm. At that moment, his body seemed unchanged, but within his heart's communication, the creature appeared to have gathered all the power of Yunmeng Lake into himself, like a giant whose height could not be measured.
This situation, Deng ChanYu had also experienced with the Moonlight Immortal. It was a kind of divine authority within a small range, allowing Yunzhong Jun to mobilize all the powers of mountains and rivers and land formations within that range.
The creature is not a cultivator of the Xuanmen Sect, but he has lived long enough and has enough qualifications. From a rough glance, he can be considered comparable to a Taiyi Jinshen in combat power. With the addition of the enhancement from Yunmeng Lake, the fish hook twists and deforms, the fishing line is straightened, and the fishing rod makes an indescribable groaning sound during their struggle.
"This is just a mad dog!" Deng ChanYu didn't understand the creature's thinking at all. The trickery of the previous Jiusheshen was so amateurish that even three-year-old humans wouldn't fall for it. How could you be indignant like this? Is Nine-Headed Insect your father or mother? Why are you so protective of it?
"Divine Lord, we are friends of Yunhua Immortal. We just arrived at Yunmeng Lake today. Is there some misunderstanding here? Is it that Nine-Headed Insect is trying to cause division and alienation?"
Deng ChanYu guessed that Yunhuaxia was a pseudonym for Yunxiao, who had come to practice water-based spiritual light. She detected the malevolent intentions of the nine-headed creature and chased after it to solve the problem, without planning to engage in a fierce battle with Yunzhong Jun beforehand.
Does Yunzhong Jun's existence have anything to do with her? This kind of matter involving former subjects should be someone else's concern, right?
