Chapter 256 (1/2)
With the Bull Demon King’s completely unruffled appearance, not a single hint of anxiety could be spied on his expression.
Sure, something like anxiety would no longer show up on a face of a creature about to become a god, but still, such an attitude was more than enough to cause nervousness to bloom within the Jade Emperor’s heart.
“It can’t be…Prince Nezha?” the Jade Emperor thought.
The Jade Emperor shook his head.
Such a thing could never happen.
Just what kind of existence was Prince Nezha?
He was a top-ranked god who fought against Yogoes for what must have been like an eternity, which earned him the nickname “the god of battles” in the process.
Someone like him losing to not the Great Sage Heaven’s Equal but a mere human? Even if that human was powerful?
“Unless this means the return of the progenitor of the Sage Arts…”
A human whose name wasn’t even recorded.
Also, without the progenitor of the Sage Arts, who taught both the Great Sage Heaven’s Equal and the Great Sage who Pacifies Heaven and chose to give up on his position as a god to descend back to the mortal realm, such an event would have never occurred.
Nezha, along with Erlang Shen, was like a star that symbolized the Heavenly World. If someone like him was defeated by a human, then the planned battle against the Great Sage Heaven’s Equal would run into a massive issue later.
Gulp—
It certainly had been a long time since the Jade Emperor had to gulp in nervousness.
And as he began thinking that the brief blip in time felt like an agonizing eternity, one of the two men who fell underground—Su-hyeun and Nezha—crawled out from the gaping hole.
Grab—
Fuu-wuu—
A human was climbing out by barely managing to hook his arm over the edge.
Su-hyeun, completely breathless, plopped straight down on the ground after reaching the surface. “Man, I thought I was going to die for real…”
He didn’t have any strength left in his body.
He still had some magical energy left, but all of his tension had abandoned him by now, and the exhaustion was washing over him like a tidal wave.
The reality wasn’t too far off either. He had to deal with the penalty for a while when his use of the “Immortality” skill had ended.
“No, this…What kind of nonsense is this…?”
The Jade Emperor’s previously narrowed eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Su-hyeun reappeared after defeating Nezha.
Prince Nezha had fallen. At the hands of a human, no less.
“That’s a relief,” said the Bull Demon King with a grin and lightly clapped his hands.
CLAP—!
Jiiii-iiiing—
That single clap caused a massive ripple to spread within the battlefield. The ear-splitting noise prompted Sun Wukong to stop swinging his Ruyi Jingu Bang at Erlang Shen and froze in his spot.
“Big brother?”
It was the same for Erlang Shen on the opposite side as he was about to wield his lengthy blade.
As a general of the Heavenly World’s army, he had no obligation to heed the Bull Demon King’s orders, but he simply couldn’t make another move after sensing the scary aura contained in the hand clap just then.
“Why don’t we call it a day? My front yard has become too messy, you see.”
The Bull Demon King’s voice was soft, but it was still clear enough for everyone in the Heavenly World’s army that blanketed the sky to hear.
After making his suggestion, he affably chuckled. He seemed to be deeply entertained by something as he scanned the state of his so-called front yard.
Rather unsurprisingly, his words caused the flames of rage to explode in the Jade Emperor’s heart. “You want to end it here?!”
Grit—
His teeth gritted loudly.
Prince Nezha was dead, yet only the opening curtains of the war had been pulled back.
“Is that something you should say in this situation?!”
Su-hyeun looked as if he couldn’t continue fighting anymore, so much so that if the Jade Emperor sent out one or two Heavenly World’s gods after him, he should easily be killed off.
That was only possible because of Nezha’s sacrifice.
The Jade Emperor thought that the human must be finished right at that moment. If they were to stop there, then Nezha’s sacrifice would have been for naught.
“Oh, in that case…”
When the Jade Emperor bared his fangs, the Bull Demon King finally began unleashing his hidden aura for the first time as well.
Crack, spliiiit—
Gu-gugugugu—
The world began rumbling. The ground below buckled, and the surrounding atmosphere quivered unsteadily as if the whole world was in a panic.
The Jade Emperor felt the entire world quivered through his skin. Just the simple act of unleashing some aura was already that much.
The Bull Demon King wasn’t angry. He was simply sending a warning message.
“Do you wish to fight some more?”
A warning that he would participate in the battle next.
Gulp—
The Jade Emperor had forgotten about it momentarily out of rage.
The Bull Demon King. He was an existence who must not enter the battle. The one directing this battlefield was not the Jade Emperor but the absolute being about to step into godhood.
“If you wish to continue on, then I won’t stop you. No, wait. I guess there’s no need for me to stop you in the first place. Well, then…”
“W—wait.”
The Jade Emperor quickly waved his hands about.
No matter how upset he was, he should definitely avoid fighting against the Bull Demon King in that place.
A long time ago, the Bull Demon King used to behave exactly like a raging bull—the kind that did not stop no matter what once it started rampaging around.
Even if his emotions had gotten faint, it was still hard to tell whether or not that nature of his had disappeared as well.
However, if that side to him still remained, then, never mind the Heavenly World’s army present, he would even go as far as to utterly devastate the entire Heavenly World and then some.
“I get it. W—we shall withdraw.”
“A wise decision.”
The Bull Demon King soon began smiling affably again after raising his aura as if he would start murdering everyone.
The world that was writhing viciously abruptly calmed down just then as if it was all a lie. It was so abrupt that the world up until a second ago felt like a mirage.
The Jade Emperor managed to pry open his own unwilling lips. “We shall return to the base.”
That announcement caused Erlang Shen who was fighting against Sun Wukong to open his mouth first. “But!”
“Erlang Shen!”
Despite the considerable distance between them, they could hear each other clearly, which meant they could sense their emotions as well.
“Did you not hear my order to retreat?”
A heavy amount of rage was laced in the Jade Emperor’s voice.
And so…
“Understood.”
Erlang Shen’s voice was filled with several emotions, including ruefulness, rage, and even sorrow.
Shu-wuwuwu—
The Heavenly World’s gods began rising up into the sky one by one. In the meantime, Erlang Shen descended below the ground and retrieved Prince Nezha’s corpse.
If it was in the past, Sun Wukong wouldn’t have just watched the gods retreat like this. However, this situation wasn’t the handiwork of the Jade Emperor but the Bull Demon King.
Even if the Jade Emperor ordered the retreat, this was actually the will of the Bull Demon King, so Sun Wukong had not much of a choice but to watch the gods run away.
“Big bro, is that for real?”
However, Sun Wukong was preoccupied with something else at the moment.
And that would be Nezha’s corpse currently slung over Erlang Shen’s back.
Sun Wukong had fought the longest against Nezha, so he would recognize that face anywhere and do it better than anyone alive. And since he even possessed the Fiery Golden Eyes, he could definitely confirm that Nezha was not breathing anymore.