There is a saying: a head of copper and a forehead of iron.

It means, literally, a head of copper and a forehead of iron.

In short, it means an exceedingly hard skull.

Chiyou1, who swept across the northern lands in ancient times.

Or it was used for the Stone Monkey, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

But Yi-gang had never imagined even the Crown Prince Nezha would be like that.

He had struck Dam Hyun with the flat of his sword out of worry, but it was a blow that would have caved in a normal person’s skull.

Indeed, such a sound was heard.

Yet Nezha merely lowered his head and seemed hardly fazed.

Nezha lifted his face, red with rage, and met something unexpected.

It was a mirror.

In the hand mirror held by Yi-gang, the Dam Hyun he had possessed was reflected.

For a moment Nezha’s eyes widened as he looked at Yi-gang, who awkwardly took the hand mirror back.

This time Yi-gang looked at his own face in the mirror.

Reflected there was Yi-gang’s own embarrassed expression.

“So this isn’t it, then.”

It was the very mirror the Immortal Divine Sword had given him.

It was supposed to reveal something in a dangerous situation, but wasn’t Crown Prince Nezha’s intrusion qualified as dangerous?

But even Yu Jeong-shin couldn’t find anything with it, so it might truly be an ordinary object.

Nezha became furious.

“How dare you strike my head!”

He snapped his foot up at Yi-gang’s face.

His leg extended forward with a whip-like motion, like a soft-bodied creature.

Yi-gang turned his head to avoid the kick.

The kick was so swift the gust nearly split his cheek.

The tip of Nezha’s foot glowed a deep blue.

No human movement could be like that. The foot bent as if jointless and struck Yi-gang hard.

Smack!

He blocked with the side of his sword, but the force sent Yi-gang rolling across the floor.

“Helping Junior Uncle Yi-gang!”

When Son Hee-il shouted loudly, the disciples on guard rushed in.

The three third-generation disciples who always accompanied him scattered sword energy toward Nezha.

“Stand down!”

The command wasn’t from Nezha but from Yi-gang.

Son Hee-il was startled by the urgent shout.

Jun Myung and Yu Su-rin stepped back at Yi-gang’s words, but Son Hee-il couldn’t.

That was because Nezha lunged at Son Hee-il instead of Yi-gang.

Son Hee-il was also a transcendent swordsman.

As the great senior brother of the third-generation disciples, his martial skill clearly surpassed Dam Hyun.

Clenching his teeth, Son Hee-il swung his sword at the approaching Nezha.

He thought he had to cut through at least a shoulder to stop the chaos.

Copper head, iron forehead. The parts hardened like metal weren’t limited to his head.

He sliced Nezha’s garment, but sparks flew off the body instead.

Nezha didn’t even care, as if it were the most natural outcome.

His hand closed, aiming to grab Son Hee-il’s throat.

He intended to snap the neck in an instant.

Son Hee-il felt killing intent aimed at him from the familiar eyes of Dam Hyun.

What occupied that body was certainly not his Junior Uncle.

A heavenly god who, precisely because he was not human, could become unimaginably cruel to humans.

The Crown Prince Nezha, born playing with a flood dragon, and who had eventually killed and been killed by his own father…

“Hee-il!”

It was Yi-gang who saved Son Hee-il.

Yi-gang slipped between Son Hee-il and Nezha, shoved the disciple aside, and had his left wrist grabbed by Nezha instead.

A smile formed on Nezha’s lips.

“Got you, you insect!”

He had descended to the lower plane to touch the star-like Yi-gang, but Nezha’s mind was now filled only with rage.

He thought only of killing this vermin before his nose.

Crack!

A faint ripping sound came from Yi-gang’s gripped left wrist, as if tightened by an iron band.

His left hand swelling purple, Yi-gang gritted his teeth and boldly released Shooting Star Fang.

Then he used a palm strike to confront Nezha.

Thud, smack!

As with those born a heavenly god, Nezha’s use of his hands and feet wasn’t flashy.

Nezha was flustered by Yi-gang’s grappling technique that controlled the direction of force freely.

All he could do was refuse to let go of Yi-gang’s left wrist.

Thwang—

The back of Yi-gang’s hand slammed into Nezha’s temple.

It felt like the skull rattled from the impact.

Furthermore, the swords Yi-gang released from his hands moved as if alive.

The projectiles flashed and slashed, pierced, and battered Nezha’s body.

Although his clothes weren’t torn, the blows were not without effect.

Nezha felt irritated.

And at the same time, fear crept in.

Even in this short moment, the presence of Taihao Fuxi was growing stronger.

Taihao Fuxi detested Nezha intensely.

If discovered here, he might be captured and devoured outright.

“Good! Junior Uncle Yi-gang is winning!”

The disciples who had been barred from intervening by Yi-gang shouted in excitement.

To their eyes, Yi-gang seemed to be overpowering Nezha.

But Yi-gang’s actual expression was not good.

“My attacks aren’t effective.”

He intended to subdue and end it, within limits that wouldn’t endanger his senior brother whom the body belonged to.

But ordinary attacks of that sort didn’t work at all.

“You’re really hurrying my end!”

Nezha decided to draw out his true power.

His weapons were not only brute strength and toughness. Treasures that had accompanied his body since birth surrounded him.

A blood-red silk sash appeared in the air.

The fluttering red silk was one of Nezha’s six treasures.

A frantic transmitted voice came from Do Seon, who had been participating in the ritual.

-Red Armillary Sash, that’s Nezha. Yi-gang! Cut him!

Yi-gang dislocated the joint in his wrist to free himself from Nezha.

He grabbed his dangling left hand and forcibly set it back into place.

As if concealing his swollen wrist, he seized Shooting Star Fang again with both hands.

He had to decide the outcome.

But the problem that had plagued Yi-gang up to now still stood before him.

‘He’s not someone I can afford to hold back against.’

No ordinary attack could deal significant damage to the Crown Prince Nezha.

But the issue was that he occupied the body of Yi-gang’s senior brother, Dam Hyun.

There was a risk he might, by his own hand, take Dam Hyun’s life.

Hesitation crept into Yi-gang’s hand.

Something pale shot out above Nezha’s head.

It bore Dam Hyun’s form.

「What are you waiting for, you brat! Stab!」

Dam Hyun shouted as if asking what he was hesitating for.

Yi-gang’s gaze fixed on Dam Hyun’s soul fragment.

Only Yi-gang could see that and hear Dam Hyun’s voice.

「I’ve set up preparations too. Stab! His belly!」

‘You might die.’

Dam Hyun’s Soul fragment slipped back into his body.

Surely he had prepared some countermeasure.

And indeed, that was the case.

Nezha’s movement to summon the treasure, Red Armillary Sash, paused.

A single scream.

His abdomen split wide open.

Blue sparks leapt in Yi-gang’s eyes.

Sword energy surged from Shooting Star Fang and immediately compressed.

Instead of burning through flesh, it pushes its cutting power and razor-sharp aura to the absolute limit.

The Heavenly Thunder Command coursed through his body, producing extreme speed.

What unfurled from his hand was the Baek Family’s Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique.

Sixth Form.

Absolute Thrust.

hat perfect single thrust pierced the abdomen of Nezha—no, of Dam Hyun’s body.

Avoiding the organs so as not to be fatally injurious.

Squelch!

Yi-gang’s sword pierced skin hardened to the strength of eternal cold iron.

Yi-gang did not miss the single chance he had been given.

Supreme Ultimate Technique, Thunder Lord’s Descent.

He contained that vast lightning barrage into a single strike.

Nezha’s hair stood on end.

Lightning surged.

Thunder energy inherently carries a purifying power.

The possessing spirit controlling Dam Hyun’s body began to waver.

Nezha’s consciousness retreated, and for an instant Dam Hyun regained control.

He ignored the belly wound and pressed on various points of his body.

It was a high level acupoint technique, a sealing method.

He sealed his vital points himself to render himself immobile.

Nezha immediately gathered his wits and drew his consciousness back out of Dam Hyun, but…

The outcome was already decided.

“Ugh, what is this!”

He couldn’t move his body.

It wasn’t just because Yi-gang had a blade in his belly.

“Let go, release me!”

Fear leaked from the impotent Nezha’s voice.

Nezha gave up on everything and tried to flee.

「You came in as you pleased, but…」

Dam Hyun did not allow it.

「Not when you leave.」

“Let go!”

The space above the altar warped.

At last, the offerings Yu Jeong-shin and the Azure Forest disciples had prepared were all presented.

Yu Jeong-shin, having bought a momentary opening, finally turned his head to Yi-gang.

“Force an oath out of him, Yi-gang!”

Yi-gang looked back at his master.

Yu Jeong-shin shouted once more.

“Extract a pact! Use it!”

Yi-gang immediately understood what he meant.

The one occupying Dam Hyun’s body was the dangerous heavenly god Zhang Sanfeng had warned about, the Crown Prince Nezha.

Zhang Sanfeng had warned he was dangerous and advised avoiding him rather than confronting him.

But being dangerous also meant he was powerful.

“Crown Prince Nezha.”

Yi-gang stared straight into Nezha’s eyes.

The heavenly god’s pupils swirled like a galaxy and made one dizzy, but Yi-gang met them unflinchingly.

“You threatened my senior brother’s life and harmed my body.”

“…You bastard.”

“It seems you want to run away from Taihao Fuxi.”

Nezha could not deny it.

“I’ll let you go. So swear an oath.”

Yi-gang said it as an order.

From the lofty heavenly god’s perspective, it was utterly absurd.

A human dared to claim he would release him and demanded an oath.

But it was Nezha who was cornered now.

“Never again harm me, the Azure Forest disciples, or those around me.”

“Speak the oath.”

People break promises as casually as they eat, but these heavenly gods cannot so readily.

An oath must be kept. Otherwise, the proper price will be paid.

It was the moment Yi-gang pondered his next demand.

「Name my demands.」

Dam Hyun recited the conditions as if he’d been waiting.

Yi-gang relayed them verbatim.

“Lend Dam Hyun your power. And lend us the Red Armillary Sash as well.”

“Refuse and die here.”

The bewildered look on Nezha’s face twisted like a demon.

Dam Hyun’s demands were by no means trivial.

But he had no choice but to accept.

“One year, I’ll lend them for one year.”

One year.

Short as it was, that was fine.

If the Evil Cult wasn’t stopped within a year, the mortal world would be doomed.

Yi-gang accepted.

“Thus the pact is sealed.”

Nezha confirmed the pact.

Yi-gang pulled the sword he had plunged into Nezha’s belly out.

Then Nezha’s expression turned calm.

“Let’s meet again.”

With those words, the possession ended.

Nezha vanished in an instant.

It happened just before Taihao Fuxi appeared.

Crackle.

In a moment, the surrounding atmosphere transformed.

A line was drawn in the air and split open like an eyelid.

What emerged was a huge pupil.

Not a human eye, but a snake’s pupil.

A vertically slit pupil.

The eye swept across the hall.

The Azure Forest disciples trembled at the overwhelming presence.

Taihao Fuxi glanced at the prostrate Dam Hyun, then fixed his gaze on Yi-gang.

Yi-gang felt as if those eyes pierced through him.

Finally Fuxi withdrew his gaze.

The eye vanished, and a robe fell to into that spot.

It was a robe bearing an Eight Trigrams diagram.”

Yu Jeong-shin promptly picked it up.

“Done. Dam Hyun! Hyun!”

He immediately checked on the lying Dam Hyun.

Although Yi-gang had avoided the vital points as much as possible, the stab wound was no ordinary injury.

“Ughhh!”

Dam Hyun groaned in pain and gestured to Yi-gang.

“Give me that for a bit.”

“Here it is. Did you plan to demand this from the start?”

“Yeah, though I never thought he’d actually hand it over.”

Dam Hyun received the Red Armillary Sash from Yi-gang.

Despite the hole in his belly, Dam Hyun chuckled.

“I’ll show you. What you just obtained.”

Though he seemed near death, his voice carried a strange confidence.

1. Tl/N: a mythological being that appears in Chinese mythology. 
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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep