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This chapter examines the cultural history of Canonization of the Gods, beginning with its authorship, publication history, and narrative content. It then resituates the category of vernacular literature within an environment where it relates to the rituals and communities that produced it. It considers how the various antecedent versions of Canonization's skeletal plot from archaic history (“King Wu's Conquest of [King] Zhòu”) are directly related to a particular ritual for the consecration of inimical gods as territorial guardians. These gods and their armies of demon soldiers are installed by local ritualists to defend the space inhabited by local communities, a space most commonly conceived as the Five Quarters. The chapter also discusses a Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) version entitled Plain Tale of King Wu's Conquest of King Zhòu, along with several of the (newly added) main protagonists in the story that it argues are Daoist martial divinities.

This chapter examines demonic warfare during the Yuan dynasty by focusing on Daoist exorcistic, martial rituals and how they relate to the formation of communal networks. It shows that martial methods such as Thunder Ritual involve martial divinities in order to produce a clearly circumscribed hierarchy of divinities rather than attempt to annihilate demonic spirits. Focusing on south and southeast China during the Yuan dynasty, the chapter explores how Thunder Rituals produce a threefold effect: the unruly spirits of various localities are widely incorporated as demon soldiers into the liturgical structure of Daoism; this structure runs from the lowest level of the local Earth God up via the City God to the Eastern Peak and then up to the Jade Emperor and the Dark Emperor; terrestrial spirits from various localities are subsequently made to form an army that includes the local militias of villages, cities, or even of whole regions. The chapter argues that territorial cults in late imperial China since thirteenth-century Jiangnan consciously harness the powers of larger social and religious networks.

This chapter examines the cultural sphere to which Canonization of the Gods belongs during the late Ming dynasty. It shows how the Ming vernacular novel offers a “relational framework” for explaining and emulating the hierarchical relationships of local spirits with higher gods. It also considers how local communities throughout Jiangnan defend their territory by appropriating the powers of martial gods from late Ming novels such as Canonization. The picture that emerges is one of a society that organizes itself on the basis of religious narratives of divine protection, with local militias assuming the status of demon soldiers in order to serve their martial gods. This chapter suggests that Canonization codifies the liturgical structure of late imperial Daoism and the martial gods of vernacular ritual as a well-structured army of divine warriors who belong to the authority of the Eastern Peak.

This chapter examines demonic warfare during the Ming dynasty by situating Daoist martial rituals within imperial politics. It considers how the liturgical structure of Daoism is implemented on an imperial scale by Daoist experts of Thunder Ritual who do so at the behest of the early Ming emperors such as Zhu Yuanzhang, who seeks to strengthen his martial forces by building the empire on a foundation of local, terrestrial spirits who can be enlisted as demon soldiers. The chapter looks at the Altar for Baleful Spirits (litan), an official institution subsumed under the City God that is designed to incorporate the unruly spirits who roam through the empire after the dynastic wars have ended. It argues that the formation of the pantheon that is deified at the end of Canonization of the Gods can be traced back to this period.