Upon receiving the report from the divine general under Li Jing’s command, the Jade Emperor flew into a rage.
Within the Medicine King’s residence, Giant Spirit God had just been awakened by the Medical Immortal and hadn’t even managed to ask what had happened when a squad of Heavenly Soldiers arrived to proclaim the imperial edict, binding him hand and foot and escorting him to the golden hall.
Giant Spirit God was utterly bewildered.
Wait—he, a model deity of the new era who had been consecutively selected for three thousand years as “Heavenly Court Model Worker” and “Three Realms Moral Paragon”—what crime could he possibly have committed?
“Presumptuous Giant Spirit God! You attempted to assassinate King Li! What say you to this charge?!”
“Your subject did no such thing! Your subject is innocent, Your Majesty!!”
Him, assassinating King Li? Where did that even come from?
With his hands bound, Giant Spirit God inwardly compared himself to Dou E. In his mind, a tragic drama was already unfolding—the Jade Emperor, deceived by slander, wronging a loyal minister, causing the loyal minister to suffer physical and mental trauma and fall gravely ill, ultimately drowning in regret, unable to sleep at night, weeping endlessly.
“No?” The Jade Emperor snorted coldly. “Everyone witnessed it with their own eyes—King Li was knocked unconscious by the stench of your breath. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“…………”
“During perfectly good military drills, you first knocked yourself out, then knocked King Li out as well, and you still dare claim you’re innocent.” The Jade Emperor paced on the dais, growing angrier the more he thought about it. He pointed at him. “Tell me—are you guilty or not!”
Giant Spirit God raised his eyes, stole a glance at the Jade Emperor, then lowered his head in guilt, his voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. “Your subject… is guilty.”
“Hahahahahaha!”
The assembled deities, including Taibai Jinxing, burst into laughter.
A Divine Official started the teasing. “Third Prince, might we ask how the Heavenly King fares at present?”
Nezha said, “Still unconscious.”
That official laughed. “Giant Spirit God’s mouth packs quite the punch—comparable to a divine artifact!”
Giant Spirit God’s cheeks burned with heat. He was already mortified beyond words, wishing only to flee from everyone’s sight. He kowtowed in apology. “Your subject swears—I will brush my teeth three times a day and never eat durian or stinky tofu again! I beg Your Majesty for leniency!”
The Jade Emperor’s expression was one of utter disgust.
Today he had been hosting the Buddhas of the West. He had wanted to use Li Jing and Nezha’s personal drilling of the Heavenly Soldiers to showcase the Heavenly Court’s military might to Spirit Mountain. But before they’d even reached the Southern Heavenly Gate, Giant Spirit God had single-handedly taken down King Li along with himself.
Those Western founding shareholders had laughed harder than Maitreya Buddha himself. What an utter loss of face.
“Transmit the edict: Giant Spirit God is unsanitary, and his foul breath has seriously threatened the safety of his colleagues. He is fined five thousand Merit, and his qualification for this year’s ‘Moral Paragon’ selection is revoked, as a warning to others.”
Giant Spirit God’s head snapped up as if struck by lightning.
Revoked qualification for “Moral Paragon”…
Revoked “Moral Paragon”…
Revoked…
Sixty Heavenly Soldiers carried the hollow-eyed Giant Spirit God, who had lost all his dreams, out of Lingxiao Baodian.
Outside Cloud Tower Palace.
Nezha walked ahead. “Speak. Why did you trespass on the training grounds?”
Shen Fuxing: “I got lost…”
Nezha turned back to look at her.
Shen Fuxing wore an innocent expression of having erred, her tongue quickly pivoting. “I was looking for someone.”
“Looking for who?”
“My grandfather. He’s in the Heavenly Court too—came up in the same batch as me.”
“Was your grandfather a cultivator in life?” If so, Shen Fuxing’s monstrous strength would make some sense.
Shen Fuxing shook her head. “He was a farmer.”
“A farmer?” Nezha raised an eyebrow slightly, the red at the corner of his eye vivid as flame.
As far as he knew, unless one had achieved great mastery in cultivation before death, or made tremendous contributions to the human race, Yama would not summon the elderly to the heavens.
“Boss, could you help me check if there’s a Heavenly Soldier named my grandpa? His name is Shen Yuanling.” Shen Fuxing softened her voice, her apricot-shaped eyes quietly studying Nezha’s expression, her gaze filled with undisguised hope, her tone pleading.
“…”
Nezha’s gaze swept over the barely healed knife scars on Shen Fuxing’s wrist. As cold and indifferent as ever, he turned and walked away. “No time.”
Shen Fuxing stood in place, silently watching Nezha’s retreating figure, her face devoid of any expression. She squeezed her fingers, a shadow of gloom flickering in the depths of her pitch-black eyes.
So annoying. She wanted to fight.
Small world, indeed. Shen Fuxing went to the banks of the Heavenly River to clear her mind, only to run into an emo Giant Spirit God crouching by the roadside, tossing pebbles into the water.
Because of the training ground incident, the big guy had been forced to wear a mask larger than her bedsheet. The injustice of it all.
Shen Fuxing could almost see the cold rain slapping wildly against his face. She thought to herself—she wanted to fight, not to be beaten to death.
That irritability was diluted somewhat by the sudden sense of danger, especially when she spotted the two massive, razor-sharp battle axes on Giant Spirit God’s back. Shen Fuxing instantly reached a state of calm, and before he could notice her, she made a swift getaway.
But when misfortune strikes, even drinking cold water gets stuck in your teeth.
By the Heavenly River, quite a few free-roaming celestial horses were grazing on the shore. As Shen Fuxing passed before a white horse, its glossy black eyes followed her.
Think it fell in love with her at first sight? Not at all. The white horse clamped its teeth down on the little bun atop her head.
A blood-curdling scream rang out across the Heavenly River.