Chapter 96: The Second War of Huaguo Mountain (4)

  Lei Hao's dragon-slaying war knife and Nezha's fire-tipped spear clashed heavily under the gaze of everyone.

  At that moment, a burst of thunder shook the earth, and waves of magical energy shot out in all directions, causing the mountains near Flower Fruit Mountain and the Eastern Sea to tremble violently. A deafening explosion echoed through the air, followed by the collapse of the nearby mountains and the rise of massive waves on the Eastern Sea. The sky was filled with white foam as the earth was submerged in a vast ocean, except for Flower Fruit Mountain, which remained unscathed thanks to Sun Wukong's Golden Hoop Staff.

  At this time, the group of demons on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits and the heavenly soldiers in mid-air did not have the heart to glance at those mountains that were still collapsing. They all held their breath and stared intently at Lei Hao and Nezha in the sky, as if the center of the world was on Lei Hao and Nezha's bodies.

  One demon and one immortal, both moved so fast that no one could see clearly, only Sun Wukong vaguely saw that at the moment of contact between the two sides, Lei Hao's knife aura fiercely split Nezha's gun momentum, and then seemed to split onto Nezha's body.

  When the halo of law and power disappeared, Lei Hao and Nezha stood back to back with their weapons upside down, dozens of feet apart, both silent.

  After a long while, Nezha coughed out a mouthful of heart's blood and said faintly: "The Great Sage is indeed worthy of the name of Wan Jun. In this battle, it was I who lost."

  Lei Hao's expression changed, and a hint of regret flashed in his eyes. He said slowly: "The Third Prince knew he couldn't beat me from the start, so why did he still insist on exchanging this last move with me?"

  Nezha coughed up a big mouthful of blood again, and with a loving gaze, he lowered his head to look at the dim and lightless fire-tipped spear. He said softly: "I am Nezha, the heavenly war general, I can die in battle, how can I retreat even one step?" As soon as the words fell, the fire-tipped spear was silently broken into two sections.

  Lei Hao let out a soft sigh and said, "Since the Third Prince died in Huaguo Mountain, I will bury him here. This mountain with its clear waters and lush vegetation should be to his liking."

  Nezha slowly turned his head, his eyes sweeping over the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits before he lightly smiled and said: "The Mountain of Flowers and Fruits is indeed good, but there are many monsters on the mountain, it's a bit noisy. So I'll have to trouble Great Sage Chen Tangguan to take me to be buried beside my mother's grave, Nezha was endlessly grateful."

  Lei Hao didn't care whether Nezha could see him or not, he just nodded lightly and didn't say a word.

  Nezha faced Lei Hao, clearly not seeing him, but he still smiled, a smile that was incredibly pure and innocent, just like his childish face. Then, with this smile, he gently closed his eyes, like a bird with broken wings, drifting and falling from the sky.

  The gust of wind in the air blew Nezha's body floating everywhere, like a withered leaf.

  Lei Hao stretched out his hand, and a violent surge of magic burst forth from his palm, gently wrapping Nezha's body back to his side. Then he raised his head expressionlessly, gazed at the Heavenly Court military camp for a moment, before turning around and flying back to Mount Huaguo.

  The heavenly army camp was quiet at this time, they all stared blankly at the back of Leihao and Nezha leaving together, none of them reacted for a moment.

  In the vast center of the Three Realms, in the Heavenly Court that dominates the Three Realms, although there are countless heavenly soldiers and generals, both overtly and covertly, they are led by the Second Master God Yang Jian and the Third Lotus Sea Great God Nezha. Due to the tense relationship between the Second Master God Yang Jian and the Jade Emperor, he is known as "listening but not proclaiming". He established his mansion in the Jiangkou of the Earth Realm, so in the Heavenly Court, Nezha is undoubtedly the god of war.

  After the war of sealing gods that swept across the three realms thousands of years ago, all the senior masters either died or were captured, and the few who escaped hid themselves away, not daring to show their faces. So for these thousands of years, whenever Nezha took action, he almost always won every battle, which also elevated the status of the Heavenly King of the Pagoda, making him the number one person in the heavenly military!

  Who would have thought that the war god-like Nezha actually died in battle during a normal attack on Mount Huaguo! This information is too explosive, it's simply earth-shattering!

  "Three... three Taizi, war, war, war dead?" Tianwang asked in shock and stuttered.

  But no one responded to him.

  After one breath, Li Jing's eyes rolled back and he suddenly fainted.

  At this time, many gods had just awakened from their dreams and hurriedly came forward to support Li Jing. A warm and gentle stream of energy simultaneously flowed into Li Jing's body, calming the turbulent blood and energy within him, and Li Jing slowly regained consciousness.

  Li Jing woke up and looked around in a daze, as if searching for the thin figure that had been at odds with him for thousands of years and never gave him any face, but he failed to find it after several searches.

  Li Jing seemed to have accepted the reality of Nezha's death in battle at this time, and a big old man who didn't know how many years he had lived wailed loudly: "My son, my son, it was all Father's fault, it was Father who harmed you."

  A multitude of heavenly generals will be busy with a wave of comfort.

  This was followed by a sudden movement in the neat and tidy heavenly army camp, where hundreds of people walked out of the military formation, tears streaming down their faces, and knelt down in front of Li Jing, kowtowing heavily before speaking sorrowfully: "Since the Third Prince is gone, it's only natural that we cannot be without a master to serve. We wish to follow the Third Prince and leave, please let the Heavenly King grieve and change his ways. As for the Third Prince's last wish to capture the demon monkey, we will entrust it to the Heavenly King." With that, hundreds of heavenly soldiers simultaneously drew out their short swords from their waists, with resolute faces and all their might, stabbed themselves in the abdomen and fell to the ground dead.

  Li Jing gazed at the corpses of the heavenly soldiers scattered all over the ground, and for a moment, he was also overcome with emotion, his eyes brimming with tears. In just a few breaths' time, Li Jing, the majestic and awe-inspiring Tathagata Heaven King who had always been full of vigor and vitality, suddenly seemed to have aged several decades.

  He struggled to his feet, gazing at the tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers and generals with blood-red eyes. Suddenly, he shouted loudly: "Withdraw the camp, retreat the troops, return to Heaven!" After saying this sentence, Li Jing was like being drained of his last breath, no longer having the majestic spirit of the former Heavenly Marshal who descended to subdue demons, but rather like an old general in his declining years.

  All the heavenly soldiers and generals were stunned, then they all fell silent, lowered their heads, and loosened their grip on the quiet weapons in their hands, as if they had lost their souls.

  Sun Wukong on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits looked at Leihao supporting Nezha's returning figure, also stunned.

  Just as Lei Hao lightly landed on the mountain stronghold, Sun Wukong finally came to his senses.

  "Go, go, go, one side, I'll chat with your family head for a bit." Sun Wukong stepped forward and drove the excited Lei Wei brothers and all the little demon kings to the side. Grabbing Lei Hao, he said: "Niu Tou, why did you really kill him?"

  Lei Hao heard this and helplessly glanced at Sun Wukong, saying: "Do you think under Nezha's one spear, I can still control how much power? In that situation, I also have no choice but to go all out, otherwise it won't be Nezha who dies, it'll be me."

  Sun Wukong heard this and his gaze lingered on Nezha's calm face for a breath before he slowly said, "Among the gods in Heaven, you're the only one I look up to. I originally wanted to be friends with you, but didn't expect you..."

  Lei Hao was also helpless in his heart. Originally, he had been fighting with Nezha for so long and admired Nezha's exquisite martial arts skills. Originally, when he said earlier that he would bury Nezha on Mount Huaguo, it was to remind Nezha not to use his full strength. Unexpectedly, Nezha really did go all out...

  "Don't regret it, prepare for the heavenly court's revenge." Half a moment later, Lei Hao finally spoke up.

  Sun Wukong nodded and didn't say anything.

  At this time, the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother were still in the Yaochi Pool, hosting a grand peach banquet to entertain the various great immortals who had come to attend.

  Although it's not the legendary peaches, the Jade Emperor's dishes are by no means inferior after ruling the three realms for millions of years.

  "I also invite all the immortals to share this cup with me." The Jade Emperor smiled and raised the wine jug made of the most precious night pearl from the East Sea, saying to all the great immortals present.

  All the immortals stood up, respectfully facing the Jade Emperor and said: "Wishing Your Majesty ten thousand years of longevity." After finishing speaking, they raised their sleeves with a flourish and drank down the jade nectar.

  Then in the Jade Pool, a wonderful melody emerged, and Chang'e, the most beautiful fairy in heaven, danced in the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, with a peaceful and breathtaking scenery.

  Just then, the Qianliyan guarding the South Heavenly Gate rushed into the Yaochi, knelt heavily on both knees and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I have a battle report to present."

  The Jade Emperor's face flashed with displeasure as he lightly slapped the imperial case, saying in a low tone of anger: "Can't you see that I'm hosting a banquet for all the immortals? What battle report must be said now? Disturbing everyone's festive mood. If you can't come up with something important to report, I will surely punish you severely."

  Qianliyan was immediately frightened, with cold sweat dripping from his face, and he couldn't stop scolding himself for being reckless. However, he didn't dare to hesitate and opened his mouth to say: "I report to Your Majesty, just now Li Tianwang led the heavenly soldiers and generals under him back, saying that they were defeated in attacking Huaguo Mountain, and even Nezha, the third prince of the Three Altars and Sea Assembly, was killed by a cow demon named Wanjun Dasheng."

  The Jade Emperor's face flashed with a hint of gloom, he heavily threw the wine jug in his hand onto the imperial case and roared: "Is what you reported true?"

  Qianliyan said with a heavy tone: "How dare Weidust cheat Your Majesty?"

  At this time, Yaochi's outer minister sang loudly: "Nanhai Putuo Luojia Mountain, save suffering and difficulties, great compassion and great kindness, Namo Guanshiyin Bodhisattva arrives."

  The Jade Emperor's face was gloomy, and he said in a deep voice: "Welcome."