Red Snake discovered that spies had slipped in and immediately rushed to the right courtyard to catch the Monsters.
They were a One-Horned White Tapir and a Golden-Eyed Blue Owl. He chained them up and interrogated them about why they had come.
The two lesser Monsters refused to confess, no matter what. Red Snake stripped every hair and feather from their bodies, tore off their nails, and burned their limbs with fire, torturing them to death. Finally, he hung their half-charred corpses from the ceremonial archway in the right courtyard as a warning.
When Shi Feiyang learned of this afterward, he praised Red Snake for his vigilance, then rebuked him. "No one is a sage capable of discerning the changes in every mote of dust in the universe. Numerology can always go wrong. You cannot decide whether they live or die solely from a Hexagram and abuse the power in your hands! But this is also my fault. With the great tribulation approaching, I failed to establish laws to guide your conduct. Until then, should anything like this happen again, seal them away first. Once I have weathered this tribulation, I will issue laws and tell you what to do."
Red Snake meekly accepted the order. Though he felt somewhat wronged, he had at least received a little praise and recognition. He returned to discuss it with Black Tortoise, and thereafter became even more meticulous in his daily screening for spies.
The closer the winter solstice drew, the quieter Heaven Beyond Divine Mountain became. Even the Monsters that ordinarily loved stirring up wind and waves in the sea lay low. Every living creature sensed the approaching storm and acted cautiously, not daring to make any rash move.
At last, the winter solstice arrived again. At midnight, the bright sunlight overhead