Could they talk this out properly?
Of course not.
The Nezha standing here now was neither the lawless Spirit Pearl of legend nor the young "demon king" who had acted entirely as she pleased, daring to slaughter dragons and gods on nothing more than a whim.
Now, she was merely the Heavenly General who guarded the gates of the Heaven Realm—a war automaton of the immortal path created by Taiyi Zhenren to protect the immortal path.
Her sole duty was to protect Penglai and the gateway leading to the Heaven Realm, allowing no outsider to pass.
Nothing else mattered.
The only way to make her listen to Rovi was for him to prove that he, too, had been acknowledged by the Heaven Realm connected to the Penglai she guarded.
But she refused to let him enter Penglai to verify it.
So Rovi had no choice but to bind her and hang her up.
"Mm... Put me down."
Bound by the tentacles of chaos, Nezha struggled slightly. Her arms and legs were spread apart, the tendrils coiling around her full thighs and pinning her firmly in place. Her legs kicked and twisted, making the split hem of her robes ripple like waves. Her rounded hips tensed and lifted, but no matter how hard she struggled, all her strength seemed to be swallowed without producing any effect.
Chaos was indescribable—a manifestation of the universe's dark side, unfathomably deep.
How could Nezha's strength possibly prevail against it?
Rovi's expression remained unchanged. Yu Mei-ren looked at the tentacles of chaos, and whatever came to mind made her face inexplicably flush.
"Shameless..." she muttered.
Rovi had no idea what she was imagining, but the fact that her mind had gone there arguably made her the shameless one.
Nezha herself, however, showed no embarrassment whatsoever.
"Put me down. Unless I die, I will not let you pass."
"That is why I told you—you have neither the standing nor the power to stop me from entering." Rovi sighed. "Heavenly General Nezha."
"I do, and I must." Nezha's expression was serious. "I know I cannot defeat you, but this is my duty."
"Then what about now?"
The moment Rovi spoke, Nezha's eyes flew wide.
She turned toward Penglai behind her.
The mist in the air rapidly thinned and vanished as though it were being devoured. The scenery of the Three Immortal Isles was laid bare before them.
Fangzhang was covered in steep, jagged peaks, while Yingzhou was lush with dense vegetation.
Penglai blazed with boundless rosy light, revealing its majestic mountains. Though it stood amid the vast sea, from a distance, it appeared to float among the clouds.
The Three Immortal Isles formed a triangle around Penglai. Layer upon layer of wind and waves crashed against their shores, throwing pale surges into the air.
Nezha stared in shock.
The mist surrounding the Three Immortal Isles had always served as their protection.
Those who had not received the Heaven Realm's acknowledgment could not pass through it. In the past, only the immortals who lived here had been able to cross it freely.
And throughout history, the only ones capable of dispersing it outright had been the rulers of the Heaven Realm.
The Four Emperors of the Directions.
And...
The central Heavenly Emperor.
"I told you. I am the Heavenly Emperor."
Rovi slowly withdrew the tentacles of chaos and lowered Nezha.
Her legs swayed as she descended, her hips shifting before her black-booted feet landed once more upon the hovering Wind-Fire Wheels.
She still held the Fire-Tip Spear, but all hostility had vanished.
"You truly are an Emperor of the Heaven Realm?" Nezha asked, looking at Rovi.
Rovi nodded. "I told you I was."
"Wait. If any of the Five Emperors of the Directions can pass, why didn't that happen for me?"
Yu Mei-ren had finally realized the problem.
Rovi answered as though it were obvious.
"Because you immediately blew yourself up."
Yu Mei-ren fell silent, unable to argue.
She had already racked her brains to come up with the idea of deceiving Nezha by using her identity, which was impressive enough for her. But she truly had not considered that the identity itself might directly earn the immortal islands' acknowledgment.
"May I enter now?" Rovi asked.
"Yes. Of course."
Nezha nodded, her reddish-brown hair, parted to either side, swaying with the motion.
The Heavenly General guarding the Heavenly Gate seemed faintly excited. Yet because she was a war automaton of the immortal path, her voice still carried no emotional inflection whatsoever.
"After the Battle of the Investiture of the Gods, I was appointed to guard the Heavenly Gate. Eight hundred years have passed since it last opened."
The eight centuries spanning the two Zhou dynasties and the Spring and Autumn period were precisely when the ancient Sages and ancestral gods had departed one after another.
They had left.
Naturally, no one remained who could open the gates of the Heaven Realm.
Even Nezha, the Heavenly General charged with guarding the Heavenly Gate, could only stand watch outside. She was unable to enter.
"There is no hurry," Rovi said.
He stepped forward slowly, his gaze sweeping across Yingzhou, Fangzhang, and Penglai.
From the outside, the Three Immortal Isles did not seem especially large. But Rovi knew they concealed inner spaces—miniature worlds akin to grotto-heavens and blessed lands, or Reality Marbles.
The Three Immortal Isles beyond the seas contained ten continents within them.
Each continent was an enormous floating island.
In antiquity, the Three Immortal Isles had been borne across the vast East Sea by three colossal dragon-turtles. Without such immense space, they could never have housed the countless immortals drawn to live there, let alone one of the primordial immortal Sages, Lingbao Tianzun of the Three Pure Ones.
But no matter how vast they were, nothing could escape Rovi's notice now.
He flicked his sleeve and extended a hand.
Yu Mei-ren narrowed her vermilion eyes. Nezha also paused.
At the same time, both of them felt it...
All three immortal islands seemed to tremble inexplicably.
Then, from the enormous islands ahead, beam after beam of light shot into the sky.
Nezha's delicate face filled with astonishment. Even her cold, mechanical voice rose and fell.
"The Golden Flood-Dragon Scissors, Treasure-Falling Coin, Sea-Calming Pearls, Five-Fire Seven-Plume Fan, Heaven-Turning Seal, Yin-Yang Mirror..."
The objects appearing within those pillars of light were all treasures left behind by the immortals and gods who had once lived upon the islands.
Every one of them was familiar to Nezha—a famed weapon or Noble Phantasm that had displayed devastating power during the Battle of the Investiture of the Gods.
The immortals and gods had all departed, yet they had not taken these treasures with them. Instead, they had left them behind for later generations.
Or rather...
The countless immortal grottoes upon the islands had always been a treasury prepared for whichever Heavenly Emperor next opened the Three Immortal Isles.
It's a shame there are no Four Swords of Immortal Slaying, Taiji Diagram, or Pangu Banner...
Even so, what was here was more than enough for Rovi.
He was not insatiably greedy.
But neither would he hesitate to take what lay before him.
There were no Noble Phantasms of the same rank or scale as those missing treasures, but their sheer quantity still made for an excellent collection.
Goldie showed off his treasury to me before. Next time, I'll let him see my "Treasury of Heaven and Earth"!
As the thought crossed his mind, the Core of Chaos manifested once more.
The indescribable "Heaven" cast down an enormous shadow. Countless tentacles extended from it, splitting into thousands as they slowly seized the innumerable treasures floating above the islands.
CLINK, CLATTER...
A cacophony rang out.
Rovi looked at the Core of Chaos, each of its countless "hands" holding an immortal treasure—a Divine Spirit-class Noble Phantasm or something even greater.
He imagined revealing its chaotic form in battle, only for waves of ethereal immortal qi to emerge the moment he activated the Noble Phantasms. The sheer clash of styles was so twisted and dissonant that he could not help laughing.
If nothing else, that sight alone would be a form of psychological torture for any normal existence.
Even now, Nezha was staring in dumbfounded silence.
Yu Mei-ren merely brushed back her long black hair, entirely accustomed to it. By this point, nothing Rovi did could surprise her anymore.
Indeed...
"Normally, everyone present would get a share. But you already have more than enough treasures. Even with three heads and six arms, you couldn't use any more, so I won't give you any."
As he spoke, Rovi's gaze swept over Nezha.
Heavenly General Nezha naturally raised no objection. She merely nodded.
These immortal treasures and Noble Phantasms of Divine Spirit rank or higher would unquestionably be priceless anywhere else. But as Taiyi Zhenren's disciple, Nezha already possessed more than enough treasures of her own. She also understood better than most that taking on too many would only leave her unable to master any of them.
Even if the "Emperor" before her offered her one, she would refuse.
"I don't need any either. I wouldn't use them..."
Yu Mei-ren noticed Rovi looking at her and gave a small snort.
"You should use them," Rovi said.
"Hm?"
Yu Mei-ren did not immediately understand what he meant.
"I'm telling you not to blow yourself up anymore. It is rather embarrassing."
Rovi's serious expression made Yu Mei-ren grind her teeth.
"If you are trying to mock me—"
"To stop you from blowing yourself up again, I think you should be allowed to use anything in my collection from now on."
"How about we consider it shared property?"
"What do you mean?"
Yu Mei-ren still did not understand. But a second later, something seemed to occur to her, and her face abruptly flushed.
"Wh-What nonsense are you talking about!?"
"Don't think you can win me over with something like... shared property..."
"There is no need to thank me. I am doing this for your own good. After all, you are my little immortal attendant."
Yu Mei-ren bared her teeth again.
A young woman pretending to be angry really was rather cute.
The current Yu Mei-ren had replaced the White Emperor and become a planetary Elemental known as the Queen Mother of the West. In a sense, she was a manifestation of the White Tiger of the West.
But to Rovi, a tiger was no different from a cat.
And teasing a tiger was no different from teasing a cat.
So he merely smiled and looked away.
Beside them, Nezha tilted her head as she watched their exchange.
After being reborn in a lotus body, this Heavenly General had shed her demonic nature, but had also lost some of her humanity. She found their interaction rather difficult to understand.
The blush on Yu Mei-ren's face, however, had yet to fade.
Shared property...
According to the "marital bonds" established by Nüwa, that was something only a married couple would have.
This man...
The more Yu Mei-ren thought about it, the redder her face became.
Rovi flicked his sleeve.
He had some idea what Yu Mei-ren might be thinking. But after resolving to stop seeking death above all else, he had become somewhat more uninhibited himself.
Of course, if anything truly happened, he would not refuse to take responsibility.
He did not even fear death.
What else was there for him to fear?
"Next, we should go to the Heaven Realm."
He turned to Nezha.
Nezha nodded. "I will guide you..."
"No need."
Rovi refused her.
"We have already arrived."
Already... arrived?
Nezha froze.
Yu Mei-ren, having finally calmed her inexplicably agitated heart, also looked over.
They had already reached the Heaven Realm?
Nezha had personally set foot there and knew its scenery. Even Yu Mei-ren, who had never entered it and had only seen it from afar, could not understand what Rovi meant.
This was clearly not the Heaven Realm.
These were merely the Three Immortal Isles of the East Sea.
This place...
"This is naturally not the Heaven Realm. But what lies ahead is not the Heaven Realm I seek either. It is not the new Heaven Realm I intend to reach."
"Because..."
"Only the human heart is Heaven. True Heaven must stand upon the human heart."
His voice echoed again and again between heaven and earth.
Taiyi, suspended in the air, extended its endless tentacles once more. Indescribable mist born of chaos surged into being, instantly enveloping the Three Immortal Isles beyond the seas.
It wrapped around them completely.
Then it began pulling them upward.
Along with every landscape upon the islands.
Along with the Heaven Realm connected to them...
"I did not come here to enter some Heaven Realm."
"I came to merge the Heaven Realm of old into the Foundation, transforming it into a new Heaven Realm rooted in human thought!"
The vast waters of the East Sea shook.
The Three Immortal Isles rose into the air and slowly contracted toward a point of starlight on the horizon.
The glow of sunset remained unchanged.
Nezha abruptly came back to herself and discovered that she was standing within a vast space.
The so-called Foundation was rooted in thought and borne by shattered grotto-heavens.
Now, another layer had been added to it.
A Heaven Realm.
Beyond the "Mystery" founded upon thought, there was now another layer—a new "Age of Gods," born from Human Order and likewise rooted in thought.
The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors appeared one after another.
They had already returned before, but after Great Qin unified all under heaven and Human Order flourished ever more strongly, those who could manifest only as divided aspects of divinity had withdrawn into the Foundation.
Because the Foundation could carry only Mystery and thought, they had been forced to become pure Concepts, gazing down upon the Divine Land from within.
But now, with the expansion of the new Heaven Realm, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, along with the many ancient Sages and ancestral gods, finally had a place to stand.
Resplendent golden palaces formed in an instant.
The gathered immortals filled the air with ethereal immortal qi.
"I am the Heavenly Emperor."
Rovi seated himself upon the high throne of the great hall.
"Heavenly General Nezha, are you willing to become the Great Deity of the Three Altars and the Sea Assembly and guard the Three Realms?"
Nezha stared blankly, astonishment mingling with delight.
The Age of Gods had vanished.
Her senior and junior fellow disciples, her master, and her martial uncles had all disappeared.
She had believed she would guard the Heavenly Gate forever, until her body finally failed and she died.
But now...
It seemed she had returned to the height of the Age of Gods.
She would no longer be alone.
She would no longer have to wait for herself to fade away.
How could she refuse?
How could she possibly refuse?
"Nezha accepts the Great Heavenly Venerable's command!"
Nezha bowed deeply.
"My thanks to the Great Heavenly Venerable—and to the Heavenly Empress."
Yu Mei-ren sat beside Rovi, wearing the same expression Nezha had shown at first...
Utter confusion.
Even Rovi froze.
Then he saw a strangely sly smile appear on Nezha's otherwise emotionless face.
She blinked, as though saying...
No need to thank me.
---
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