Phew, that’s better.

Nezha suddenly thought.

Then, immediately, a slightly regretful feeling came.

He thought he’d taught that arrogant human a lesson, but the human’s consciousness would have flown away before that.

If so, he wouldn’t have heard it. Should he have introduced himself before stealing his body?

Having stolen Dam Hyun’s body, Nezha lifted the body.

Then he frowned.

“A weak, sick body.”

In truth, Dam Hyun’s body lagged behind other peak masters’ bodies.

Dam Hyun’s nature of using any means neglected even his own body.

Previously, traces of having carried out the Hundred Refined Great Technique still remained on that body.

Nezha hesitated for a moment.

There were many influences that led him to descend to the Lower Realm and seize a human body.

Dam Hyun’s weakened resistance from tearing and patching his own corporeal soul was one thing, but Nezha also accepted sacrifices.

He consumed a degree of causality great enough to erase several earth immortals to seize Dam Hyun’s body.

There was only one reason.

‘That shining one. If I could get that guy’s body, I could roam the Lower Realm freely like that monkey.’

The Heavenly Realm watched over human and earthly affairs.

Even Nezha’s father, the Pagoda Bearing Heavenly King, sided with the Evil Cult to overturn the Lower Realm.

But Nezha himself had no interest in such things.

He was the son of the Pagoda Bearing Heavenly King but was born a high-ranked heavenly god incomparable to his father.

Being a god, he had no concern for Lower Realm affairs and lived according to his own desires.

In some ways he resembled Dam Hyun, so Nezha dealt with the immediate annoyance.

“Om – Narakubara.”

As he chanted the strange mantra, Dam Hyun’s body began to writhe.

The slightly curved spine straightened and color returned to the previously pale face.

When Nezha snapped his fingers, a black liquid splattered from the fingertip.

A foul smell spread everywhere.

It burned and expelled the turbid qi that had been inside Dam Hyun’s body.

At last Nezha wore a satisfied expression.

He used his own power to slightly repair Dam Hyun’s body. Of course, this was not for the human’s sake, but for his own convenience.

Anyway, once the forced manifestation ended this guy would die.

Nezha walked outside.

At the same time, he rifled through the stolen human’s memories.

Deception and disguise. One of Nezha’s specialties. Pretending to be the human whose body he stole was easy.

He was in the process of swiftly stealing those memories.

「You damn thieving bastard!!」

Dam Hyun’s shout echoed in his head.

Nezha jumped and clutched his head.

“Y-you bastard…!”

「Return my body while I’m speaking nicely, you brat.」

Nezha couldn’t hide his astonishment.

He had forcibly stolen the body.

Of course, the mere human’s ego should have flown away. After all, he was the Crown Prince Nezha.

That should have been the case. However,

Dam Hyun’s ego still remained.

‘How is it still there?’

「You boar-faced bastard. Did you think I had no defenses?」

Nezha did not know Dam Hyun.

But Dam Hyun had raised his guard against wicked heavenly gods to the utmost.

He had always been a suspicious man, so he wouldn’t have been without countermeasures.

Anger flared up in Nezha.

‘Stop the useless resistance! You filth.’

「If you go out, I’m going to kill you.」

‘Crazy bastard!’

A heavenly god like him shouldn’t fear a mere human.

To Nezha, humans were insignificant creatures.

It was no different from a human treating a mouse.

But that mouse neither feared the person nor stopped squeaking.

「Wood-Fire-Water-Metal-Earth!」

As Dam Hyun recited the spell in his head, Nezha’s head snapped aside.

A heavy headache was felt.

The mouse didn’t just squeak, it even bit his toe.

‘Get lost!’

Nezha risked harm once more and released his presence.

Then Dam Hyun’s ego fled into the subconscious.

He wanted to chase and annihilate it to the end, but he couldn’t. Prolonging the manifestation would only harm Nezha.

Nezha forced his expression steady and walked out.

The third-generation disciple waiting outside greeted him.

“Junior Uncle Dam Hyun?”

“Are you already done?”

“Roughly done. What about Master?”

Having pilfered Dam Hyun’s memories, Nezha acted nonchalantly before the third-generation disciple.

“He has begun the ritual.”

“Let’s go take a look.”

“Uh, is that allowed?”

A flush of excitement appeared on the third-generation disciple’s face.

He wanted to observe the ritual but couldn’t because he had been guarding for Dam Hyun.

Nezha nodded.

“Yes, but what kind of ritual was it again?”

At Nezha’s question, the third-generation disciple wore a puzzled expression.

His look seemed to ask why Nezha was asking him.

“Junior Uncle doesn’t even know? Aren’t you supposed to know?”

“Not exactly… let’s just go and see first.”

Nezha equivocated like that.

It was a natural act that didn’t feel awkward.

Although Nezha had quickly stolen Dam Hyun’s memories, Dam Hyun’s ego had interfered, so he couldn’t see everything.

He knew Yu Jeong-shin and the Azure Forest disciples were performing a ritual, but not whom they intended to offer it to.

‘Arrogant humans.’

However, he learned an important piece of information.

That star-like shining human was Dam Hyun’s junior.

He was probably at the ritual site.

Nezha went with the third disciple to where the Azure Forest followers had gathered.

There, an altar had been prepared.

The lead ritual Taoist Flower Disciple and the Honor Flower Disciples stood in arranged positions.

Yu Jeong-shin stood at the central altar.

On that altar were scripture texts transcribed onto strange yellow paper infused with spiritual power.

Those served as the offering.

‘What an inefficient act.’

It’s been about four years since offering rituals began in earnest in the Lower Realm.

Heavenly gods and immortals freely received sacrifices from humans on earth.

Nezha, who had never borrowed power from humans, didn’t accept offerings but knew what the best offering was.

It was a living person.

Whether given under coercion or by one’s own will.

A person’s life and soul fragment were the most precious offerings.

The Azure Forest disciples’ offerings were the kind that required great effort to prepare.

In terms of value, it was akin to dozens of people taking their own lives as an offering.

‘To whom are they offering?’

He hadn’t cared much, but seeing the Azure Forest disciples’ resolute faces made him slightly curious.

With such an offering, who were they trying to appeal to and what did they hope to gain?

Before finding Baek Yi-gang, Nezha took a little interest in the ritual’s proceedings.

His eyes scanned around the altar.

Eight people sat cross-legged arranged to the eight directions.

It formed the shape of the Eight Trigrams.

A chill of unease ran down Nezha’s spine.

Eight Trigrams, the Eight Trigrams was one of the Taoist study’s origins. It wasn’t odd for such a ritual to use it, but….

At that moment, someone approached Nezha.

When Nezha turned, Yi-gang was there.

The one he’d been looking for walked in on his own feet.

“I didn’t expect you’d come. Have you given up?”

Yi-gang asked.

Nezha answered without hesitation.

Since his speciality was deception and mockery.

“I haven’t given up. But isn’t this an important ritual Master prepared? As a disciple, I’m here to observe.”

Yi-gang’s expression twisted oddly.

Nezha didn’t know why.

“Did you eat something bad?”

When Yi-gang said that, Nezha sensed something was wrong.

It seemed the problem was that he hadn’t properly read Dam Hyun’s memories.

To avoid suspicion, it was better to fluster the other person instead.

“Hey, what’s with your manner of speaking to your senior brother?”

Yi-gang stared at Nezha for a moment, then nodded.

“I see, my apologies.”

Then, without more words, he looked at Yu Jeong-shin.

Nezha secretly felt relieved. His judgment had been correct.

Yu Jeong-shin began the ritual.

He recited mantras and scriptures.

“…Therefore, we humans pray to the God of the Grand One who brightens the Eastern Heaven.”

Nezha’s expression stiffened.

He had realized whom the humans were praying to.

“Grant us a Eight Trigram diagram that can strike thunder and wind and connect mountain selections and channels.”

‘Could it be these guys…’

The target was certain.

“Oh Taihao Fuxi.”

Nezha’s hair stood on end.

The strange yellow papers on the altar began to burn with a blue light.

It meant Taihao Fuxi was accepting that offering.

If Taihao Fuxi recognized Crown Prince Nezha, a disastrous event would surely occur.

He would never leave Nezha alone.

‘I must not get caught by that snake of a greater god!’

The inventor of the Eight Trigrams would not fail to recognize Nezha.

Nezha decided to execute his plan immediately.

He would abduct Yi-gang and seize his body and soul fragment.

It was the moment Nezha turned his head to look at Yi-gang.

For some reason, Yi-gang was already looking at Nezha.

“…Yes, Yi-gang.”

With glassy eyes, Yi-gang seemed to pierce through Nezha’s very soul.

“Is this a situation requiring physical therapy?”

“It means, has a wicked demon occupied the body.”

Nezha was silent for a long moment.

Then he asked, curious.

“How did you know? My act should have been perfect.”

Yi-gang snorted and sneered.

Nezha decided to seize the foolish human who dared mock a god.

“Alright, then.”

Even if he dwelled in a human body, it wasn’t particularly difficult.

Red Armillary Sash, Qiankun Circle, Nine-Dragon Holy Fire Cover, Wind-Fire Wheel.

Even without many of Nezha’s treasure tokens, Nezha was strong.

He could split the flow of time and slip his body into that gap.

In other words, he could raise the arm he had been hanging and seize Yi-gang’s neck.

At a speed even top masters would struggle to perceive, Nezha grabbed Yi-gang’s neck.

But that was as far as it went.

Nezha’s body froze in that state.

「I told you.」

Dam Hyun, who had hidden, surfaced again over the consciousness.

「I won’t leave you be.」

Dam Hyun had set up a ‘defense.’

The talismanic diagram drawn on the body earlier emitted light.

The light pierced the clothes and made it seem as if the whole body shone.

Yi-gang shouted loudly at the frozen Nezha.

“Senior Brother, snap out of it!”

At the same time, he slapped Nezha’s cheek.

Nezha was flung and rolled several times on the ground.

The commotion drew surrounding gazes.

But Yu Jeong-shin and the Taoists conducting the ritual didn’t avert their eyes for a moment—they couldn’t stop the ritual.

「Yi-gang-!」

Nezha shattered part of the talisman that bound his body.

As Nezha forced himself up, Yi-gang’s knee drove into his face this time.

His face snapped back and blood spurted from his nose.

Even though it was a strike filled with internal energy, it ended at that because the possessed one was Nezha.

In an instant, Nezha counterattacked.

His hand tried to snatch Yi-gang’s ankle but only brushed empty air.

Yi-gang evaded again and kicked Nezha’s temple.

It was a dull thud. Nezha raised his arm and blocked Yi-gang’s foot.

At this rate, Taihao Fuxi would soon appear….

Nezha made a decision.

He resolved to leave this place for now.

Being humiliated by humans mattered little.

The air was growing heavier and settling.

Unusual spiritual power swirled all around.

“Taihao Fuxi!”

The ritual would complete and Taihao Fuxi would soon appear.

He had to flee before the deity could seize him.

“Just wait and see you bastards!”

Nezha tried to leave Dam Hyun’s body.

But something absurd happened.

「Where do you think you’re going, you brat!」

Dam Hyun grabbed Nezha’s soul fragment.

It was a mad act that didn’t care for his own life.

As Nezha flinched in disbelief, Yi-gang slammed down on the crown of his head.

“Gurg!”

Making a strange sound, Nezha’s head drooped deeply.

‘Let go, let go!’

「You’re not going anywhere!」

Crown Prince Nezha felt an extreme sense of crisis.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep