Legend Management Bureau Chapter 106

[ … words ]

“Don’t misunderstand,” the Queen Mother of the West said. “It’s not that I’m showing you any special favor. This matter concerns the face of our Hua Xia, so I will do my best to accommodate you. Do you have any other requests?”

“Uh…” Du Yu pondered for a moment before replying. “I wonder if Your Majesty has anyone skilled in construction under your command? Ideally, someone who could build a new Legend Management Bureau within seven days…”

The Queen Mother of the West thought for a brief moment, a troubled look crossing her face. “I don’t have anyone capable of building the Legend Management Bureau in seven days. If the people under my command took action, it would probably be finished in a couple of hours… Let me think about who could possibly take a full seven days to complete it…”

“Holy crap?!” Du Yu was taken aback. “It can be finished in a couple of hours?! That’s even better!”

“Oh?” The Queen Mother of the West raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Guards, summon the two sons of Kua’e immediately. Have them descend to the Underworld to rebuild the Legend Management Bureau.”

“The two sons of Kua’e?” Du Yu had never heard the name before. “Who are they?”

“I previously ordered them to descend to the mortal realm and move two mountains,” the Queen Mother of the West said coldly. “It was for some legend or another. That task took them eight hours, and I taught them a harsh lesson for it. I believe they will work a bit faster this time.”

“Could they be the two mountain-moving deities from the legend of the Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains…?”

“I suppose so.” The Queen Mother of the West nodded. “I cannot remember clearly.”

“Were my words not clear enough?” The Queen Mother of the West looked visibly annoyed. “What part of ‘go immediately to rebuild the Legend Management Bureau’ do they not understand?”

The fairy nodded with a terrified expression and hurriedly relayed the message.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, the two sons of Kua’e have arrived in the Underworld and will immediately begin construction using earth-element magic.”

“Send them another message. Tell them that if a new building is not finished by the time the Operator returns to the Underworld, I will serve them a strike of the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Du Yu froze, then hastily intervened. “Ah? There’s no need, no need to rush them like that. It’s completely fine even if they finish it tomorrow…”

“When I say a couple of hours, I mean a couple of hours.” The Queen Mother of the West shot Du Yu a sharp glare.

“Uh, right, right, whatever you say, boss…” Du Yu had finally gained a thorough understanding of the Queen Mother’s temper.

“Will that be sufficient?” the Queen Mother of the West asked. “Are you ready to show those four a thing or two?”

“There shouldn’t be any major issues,” Du Yu nodded.

“No major issues?” She bristled with sudden anger. “What I want is not ‘no major issues,’ but an absolute guarantee that you will make them suffer. If you dare make a mistake, I don’t care if you’re a mere mortal or some kind of freak, I will definitely reward you with a bolt of the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning.”

“Ah?” Du Yu felt like he had just kicked a very dangerous hornet’s nest. This Queen Mother of the West was an existence feared by all the Great Golden Immortals! “Boss, while I also really want to teach those arrogant peers of mine a lesson, I can only do my best. I wouldn’t dare claim absolute certainty. After all, I’m just a mortal, while they are all minor deities.”

“No matter. For these next seven days, the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man will be on standby to follow orders,” she said coldly. “Although you are not an immortal, you can command the gods. I am temporarily granting you this authority.”

After saying this, the Queen Mother of the West turned to face the crowd. “I believe everyone has seen it. Tiny, insignificant countries actually dare to come to our Heavenly Court and act aggressively. You all know my temper. In thousands of years, I have never once suffered such a humiliating insult, actually having a few juniors trample over my head. But as the leader of the immortal realm, I cannot simply slap them into paste. Therefore, while this incident may appear to be a ‘competition between Operators from different countries,’ it is actually a ‘competition of strength between the immortal realms of each nation.’ I have only one demand: all immortals across the Three Realms must unite and fully cooperate with our Operator to complete this ‘friendly exchange.’ If anyone dares to ruin this, they will all be rewarded with the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning. Have I made myself clear?”

The assembled immortals immediately stood at attention, shouting in unison, “Crystal clear!”

The Queen Mother of the West then snapped her head back toward Du Yu. “Including you. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal clear!” Du Yu stood at attention as well.

“Good. Go take action.” With a flick of her sleeves, the Queen Mother of the West flew off. She always carried an undeniable aura that rendered anyone too intimidated to speak a single word.

The originally bustling Miniature Peach Banquet hadn’t even reached its midpoint, but under the Queen Mother’s words, it instantly disbanded. Numerous immortals hurriedly took to the skies, scattering to attend to their respective duties.

Meanwhile, Du Yu, who couldn’t fly, found himself in a rather awkward situation. It wasn’t until the plaza was entirely deserted that he finally snapped back to reality.

“You all left, but what about me? Holy shit…”

Du Yu looked around the completely empty Jade Pool, unable to even figure out which direction was which.

He currently had no teleportation talismans, didn’t know how to fly, and definitely didn’t know the way. Stepping on the wrong patch of these seemingly endless clouds might send him plummeting down to the mortal realm to be smashed to pieces.

While Du Yu was hesitating, he saw a figure flying toward him from a distance.

He recognized the celestial maiden in the sky as Chang’e, so he hurriedly waved his hand and shouted out to her.

“Lady Heng’e! I’m over here!”

“Brother Pang Meng!” Fairy Chang’e revealed a hint of surprise. “Why are you still here?”

Fairy Chang’e gently landed and said to Du Yu, “Thank goodness I came back to take a look. I heard the Miniature Peach Banquet was over and was just about to head back.”

“Good grief, I wanted to leave too, but first, I don’t know the way, and second, I can’t fly. I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.” Du Yu sighed. “If you hadn’t come back, I’d probably still be sitting here at the Jade Pool seven days from now, quietly waiting for the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning…”

“Haha, you’re always so amusing.” Fairy Chang’e covered her mouth as she giggled. “Come on, where do you need to go? I’ll take you.”

“I need to go back to the Underworld… No, wait, I need to find Nezha,” Du Yu said. “Although we aren’t exactly close, he told me to pay him a visit, so it’s best I go take a look.”

“To find Nezha? Then… to Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing’s residence?” Chang’e asked.

“I don’t think so… It was something like the Rainbow Heavenly King Palace.” Du Yu couldn’t quite remember.

“Oh, oh, I know,” Chang’e said. “You’re going to Nezha’s store. He opened a ‘streetwear boutique’ on the Heavenly King Palace Commercial Street over on Rainbow Avenue.”

“Holy crap?” Du Yu frowned. “A streetwear boutique?! Suddenly, I don’t really want to go…”

“Haha!” Chang’e chuckled. “So… you aren’t going? Are you heading back to the Underworld?”

Du Yu wore a conflicted expression. Given Nezha’s cultivation level, if he didn’t go, that guy would probably hunt him down sooner or later anyway.

“Forget it, I’ll still go. I didn’t visit streetwear boutiques much while I was alive, so I might as well broaden my horizons after death.”

Chang’e nodded. She gently grabbed Du Yu’s wrist and took off, slowly flying into the distance.

The two passed through a massive expanse of mist-shrouded clouds before finally arriving at the legendary Rainbow Avenue’s Heavenly King Palace Commercial Street. This place was quite similar to the Underworld’s Sansheng Stone Pedestrian Street. The entire avenue was a mishmash of architectural styles from various dynasties, and people dressed in all sorts of bizarre clothing strolled freely among them.

Seeing this, Du Yu blanked for a second before asking, “Lady Heng’e, if the Underworld’s Sansheng Stone Pedestrian Street was built by the many souls who haven’t reincarnated after death, what’s the deal with this Heavenly King Palace Pedestrian Street?”

“Brother Pang Meng, do you know the mortal saying, ‘When a man attains the Dao, even his poultry and dogs ascend to heaven’?”

“Yeah, I know it. But what does that have to do with this pedestrian street?”

“This Heavenly King Palace Pedestrian Street is composed of the family members of immortals. When a cultivator ascends, the massive fluctuation of spiritual energy is enough to cause all nearby living creatures to ascend to the Heavenly Court alongside them. These people lack the cultivation to be granted godhood, but they are undeniably members of the Heavenly Court. Over time, they gradually formed this market that resembles the mortal realm. After several major renovations, the Jade Emperor officially bestowed upon it the name Heavenly King Palace Commercial Street.”

“It’s actually like that?” Du Yu had never considered this possibility. “So this is where the families of the immortals reside…”

“We’re here.”

Chang’e brought Du Yu down for a gentle landing. Right in front of them was an incredibly avant-garde signboard that read “Immortal Trend.” Through the front, they could faintly see colorful clothing styles inside. It really did feel exactly like a trendy streetwear boutique.

“Brother Pang Meng, I can’t really deal with Nezha, so I’ll be leaving first. Take these teleportation talismans.” Chang’e pulled a few slips of talisman paper from her robes and handed them to Du Yu. “There are almost no mortals in Heaven, so absolutely no one sells teleportation talismans here. These are the very last ones I have.”

Du Yu accepted them with both hands, thanked Fairy Chang’e, and greeted the white rabbit before pushing the door open and entering the store.

The moment he stepped inside, Du Yu heard the song “Young Hero Little Nezha” playing on a continuous loop. However, the musical style had been heavily remixed, sounding like a high-energy dance track.

Looking up, he noticed a giant portrait carved into a gray cement wall using luminescent materials. The portrait depicted a masked man with a writing brush floating beside him. Beneath the brush, four words were written in bold, flourishing calligraphy: “God of Streetwear.”

“Whoa.”

Du Yu surveyed the boutique and discovered that besides clothing, they also sold various blind box figurines. The blind boxes all featured the same character—the masked man holding a writing brush. The masked figure was posed in various dynamic actions, and buyers wouldn’t know which version they’d get until they opened it. The rarest one was crafted with exquisite technique, making the masked man and the writing brush float completely independent of each other, standing on opposite sides. It was named “Splitting Up.”

‘Sigh… The consequences of what happened in the legend are still echoing to this day…’ Du Yu thought. ‘I just hope nobody finds out I was the one who did that…’

Du Yu felt a bit puzzled. Nezha had said earlier that he was coming back to prepare, but why wasn’t there a single soul in sight? Was he preparing some kind of surprise?

Du Yu wandered around the store and eventually found a staircase built entirely of stone. As he slowly walked upstairs, he heard the sound of an argument drifting down from the upper floor.