Legend Management Bureau Chapter 375

[ … words ]

“B-But your wounds!” Du Yu stammered, his voice trembling. “If you don’t treat them right now, you’ll die!”

Nezha offered a bitter smile. “God of Trends, don’t waste your breath. I am already dying.”

“Huh?”

Nezha extended his hand, gazing at the roaring flames consuming it. “My master once warned me never to practice the True Samadhi Fire, but I refused to listen. Because I am an incarnation of lotus roots, my body is made of pure wood. While this allows me to generate the most powerful True Samadhi Fire, once I am burned by it, my entire body will ignite and burn without end.”

Du Yu listened in stunned silence, a look of utter helplessness washing over his face.

“My internal organs are currently ablaze,” Nezha continued. “There is no way to extinguish it. Like a candle that cannot be blown out, I will eventually burn to ashes.”

“H-How can this be?!” Du Yu exclaimed anxiously. “Isn’t there still Taishang Laozun? He can also control the True Samadhi Fire! Maybe he could save you!”

“God of Trends, you have taught me many things, so allow me to boldly correct you before I die… It is Taishang Laojun, not Taishang Laozun.” Nezha gripped the Fire-Tipped Spear in his hands, pointing it toward the monk ahead. “Leave. Even if I turn to ashes, I will drag him down to the grave with me.”

“B-But…” Du Yu’s lips trembled. He had already lost so many important people in this war. Was he truly unable to save Nezha now too?

Du Yu wanted to say more, but he knew that it would be entirely futile.

Nezha’s entire body was glowing red, the raging inferno roaring within him. The fact that he could stand there with a stoic expression was already a miracle in itself. Just as he had predicted, it would not be long before he was reduced to a pile of ashes.

“It’s him, it’s him, it’s him…” Nezha’s lips moved faintly as he softly sang a nursery rhyme. “Our friend, little Nezha.”

Du Yu had once told Nezha that whenever he faced an unbeatable opponent, he should sing this song, for it would grant him miraculous strength.

In this desperate situation, Nezha had nothing else to rely on. Only this melody, which had accompanied him for thousands of years, could bring him a final sliver of courage.

The monk standing before him possessed the ability to absorb an opponent’s flames and make them his own. Now that he had absorbed Nezha’s True Samadhi Fire, he was far too dangerous for anyone else to handle. Nezha had to settle this debt himself.

“Going to the sky, he’s higher than the heavens. Plunging into the sea, he’s vaster than the ocean…”

The childish lyrics drifted on the scorching air, echoing continuously across the surroundings.

Frowning and unable to bear listening any longer, Du Yu slowly turned his back. “Nezha, do you know?” he murmured to himself. “I lied to you. That song won’t actually give you anything.”

As Du Yu walked away, Nezha’s entire body transformed into a massive, blazing lotus. Carrying an earth-shattering momentum, he charged fiercely toward the monk.

“But rest assured, I absolutely will not let you die in vain. Those bastards will pay the price they deserve.”

…

“So… what exactly is going on?” Shuten Doji demanded, clutching Maudgalyayana’s severed head in his grasp as he gazed distantly into the sky above.

For a while now, the Immortal Beings of China had been acting incredibly strange.

Shockingly, they had begun breaking out into small-scale internecine strife.

Ibaraki Doji and Ootengu landed behind him, also raising their heads to look.

Ten thousand Yokai stood in orderly formation all around them.

“It seems to be some kind of mind-bewitching spell,” Ootengu noted. “That massive Buddha in the center must be provoking the evil hidden within everyone’s hearts.”

Shuten Doji quietly pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Taking a deep drag, he asked,

“Bankotubo, are you saying that the Great Buddha in the middle is currently bewitching their minds?”

“That is what I have heard,” Ootengu Bankotubo replied with a nod.

“Nonsense.” Shuten turned to look back at the Armed Yokai Alliance he had brought with him. “If it’s truly as you say, we have exactly ten thousand Yokai standing right here. Why hasn’t a single one of us been bewitched?”

Even though the Immortal Beings in the sky were locked in localized internecine strife, the Yokai had remained completely normal this whole time. Didn’t that seem a bit too bizarre?

“I don’t understand it either,” Bankotubo said, shaking his head. “Could it be that because Yokai are inherently evil beings, there is no extra evil left inside us to be provoked?”

It was quite ironic when one thought about it. In the midst of this bitter battlefield, the most clear-headed individuals present were a legion of ten thousand murderous Yokai.

Clenching the cigarette between his teeth, Shuten Doji suddenly burst into laughter. “Doesn’t that make things absolutely perfect? Our Armed Yokai Alliance has now become the key to this entire battle.”

“Shuten, what are you planning to do?”

“If we are immune to that Great Buddha’s spell, then that makes us his natural enemy.” Shuten Doji tossed his cigarette butt onto the ground. “Pass down the order to everyone! Ignore those fools slaughtering each other. Everyone, charge toward the Great Buddha with me!”

Upon hearing his words, Ootengu and Ibaraki Doji spun around without a moment of hesitation, striding right into the ranks of the Yokai.

Word spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred.

The Yokai camp raised countless black flags. The emblems on them were perfectly uniform, all bearing the words Armed Yokai written in bold, flamboyant Chinese calligraphy.

“Mount up! Move out!”

At Shuten Doji’s command, ten thousand Yokai revved their motorcycles and roared off, waving their dark banners high.

Just at that moment.

A seemingly harmless young girl slowly appeared at the edge of the battlefield. Astonishingly, she was followed by a large group of vicious-looking individuals.

“Boss, it’s exactly as you said.” A man wearing a mink coat, sunglasses, and a thick gold chain strolled over. He lit a cigarette for the young girl and said, “Something major really has gone down in the Underworld.”

“I told you so,” the girl muttered, taking a drag of her cigarette. “Not a single soul came to buy Miss Meng’s Tea today. That has literally never happened before.”

Just then, a eunuch-like figure approached. His face was deathly pale and completely devoid of color, and his entire body radiated a sinister, wicked aura. Speaking in a slow, androgynous voice, he said, “Master, it appears everyone in the Underworld has evacuated, yet no one bothered to notify us.”

The girl offered an indifferent smile. “Li Lianying, isn’t that perfectly normal? The place where we live is a world hidden from the light. Many people don’t even know we exist.”

“In that case, Master, is there even any need for us to help them?” the eunuch asked.

“We aren’t helping the Underworld; we are helping ourselves,” the girl replied. “We’re showing ourselves this time to fight for a home where we can survive. If the Underworld gets conquered by these bizarre invaders, I’m afraid there will be no more Inner Yellow Springs.”