CHAPTER 86: CHAPTER 86: THE GREAT GOD NEZHA AT THE THREE ALTARS SEA CONFERENCE [REQUEST FOR VOTES]_1

Mighty Miracle God flew into a rage, for Sha Chen had rejected him once again.

It was unforgivable.

"How dare you! Do you have the right to refuse?"

Mighty Miracle God bellowed, "Open the Formation quickly, lest I force my way in and flay you."

Sha Chen had a headache and said, "General, there really is no one here. Please go back."

Mighty Miracle God was furious and decided to stop mincing words with Sha Chen. He issued the order to have his subordinates destroy the Formation.

But no matter how hard his subordinates fought, they could not make the Formation budge in the slightest.

Out of anger, Mighty Miracle God took matters into his own hands. However, even his personal involvement wasn’t much better. It was equally useless.

As Mighty Miracle God struck and roared in anger, Sha Chen hid within the Formation without coming out, disobeying orders, which was a severe blow to his pride. Now, unable to break the Formation, it was an even greater loss of face.

In the end, his hands weakened and his sinews exhausted, he was unable to do anything about it. So, he had to stop, drop a few face-saving lines, and return to report the failure.

「Within the Formation.」

Lady Di Yong asked, "Master, will he come again?"

Sha Chen answered, "I hope he doesn’t."

Lady Di Yong then asked, "What if he does come?"

Sha Chen replied, "Then he can’t blame me for not being polite."

Lady Di Yong’s eyes flashed with admiration. "A master is truly a master, so mighty and domineering. What do you mean by not being polite?"

Sha Chen said, "Isn’t it impolite enough not to go out?"

Lady Di Yong was stunned for a moment.

Such caution.

Sure enough, not long after Mighty Miracle God left, he descended again. But this time, it wasn’t him leading the way; it was the Marshal of the Central Altar, Nezha!

Nezha descended personally, parted the Flowing Sand River, and arrived before the Formation.

At this moment, he was majestic and exuded an imposing aura. He appeared as a youth, wielding the Flame-Tipped Spear, riding upon the Wind Fire Wheels, his gaze piercing, and his divine aura swirling.

Lady Di Yong was immediately filled with terror. Over the years, she had been relentlessly pursued by Li Jing and his sons. She harbored a deep-seated fear of the Li Family father and sons.

Sha Chen even gave her a meaningful glance.

By now, in Lady Di Yong’s heart, he was probably the most respected one.

Actually, based on his understanding of the Journey to the West, he felt that the Li Family was definitely the most opportunistic and manipulative family in the Three Realms. The eldest son became a disciple of Tathagata, the second son took Guanyin as his master, and the third son was the beloved disciple of the Chan Sect Golden Immortal, Immortal Taiyi. Even Li Jing himself was a disciple of the True Man of the Great Mishap and also recognized Taoist Ran Deng as his teacher. Their daughter, Fairy Yunlou, was still single, but the Li Family was probably waiting to marry her off to a suitable match at a good price. In short, the Li Family was first-rate in their scheming and opportunistic dealings. They were also very active in the Journey to the West; it’s impossible that they were just fulfilling mundane tasks like capturing demons. Lady Di Yong was just prey to the Li Family; they could have captured her anytime, but they always deliberately lagged behind. It was to instill absolute fear in Lady Di Yong, making her feel there was no escape from their grasp. Then, at last, they would capture her and send her to Lingjiu Mountain to be punished by Buddha. But if the Li Family father and sons asked, Buddha certainly wouldn’t care about the life or death of such a small demon and would leave her fate to the Li Family’s discretion. Once released by Li Jing, Lady Di Yong would surely be overcome with gratitude and bow her head in servitude. In the original work, Lady Di Yong’s absolute fear begot absolute obedience and worship; she descended to the mortal realm as a demon and recognized Li Jing as her adoptive father and his sons as her adoptive elder brothers. She even set up a memorial tablet for them and offered sacrifices day and night. Would Li Jing and his sons be unaware of this? They knew, because they wanted her to partake in the calamities of the Journey to the West, become entangled in karma, and then take her away afterwards to enjoy the fruits of victory. In the original work, the Li Family succeeded. However, this time, Sha Chen intervened halfway through and saved Lady Di Yong. The Li family searched for a long time but couldn’t find her; naturally, they were furious. Flowing Sand River was the Li Family’s prime suspect location, so naturally, Nezha had to come personally. If given the choice, Sha Chen wouldn’t want to start a conflict with the Li Family; he didn’t even want to start conflicts with anyone. But the person was already saved, the reward had been received, and Lady Di Yong brought resources and had become an important figure in his plans. He couldn’t just hand her over so easily.

Nezha was outside challenging them, and Lady Di Yong was somewhat scared. She truly worried that Sha Chen wouldn’t be able to withstand the pressure and would hand her over, which would be the end of her. Having clandestinely consumed Buddhism’s offerings and being pursued by Li Jing and his sons with no way to escape to heaven or earth, she was terrified. Kneeling on the ground, she pleaded with Sha Chen not to hand her over.

Seeing how fearful she was, Sha Chen became even more determined. If he could protect Lady Di Yong, he would gain her eternal loyalty. Such an enforcer and resource gatherer was someone he couldn’t possibly give up.

Sha Chen manifested a phantom and said, "General Nezha, what brings you to seek me out?"

The Mighty Miracle God, upon seeing Sha Chen appear, was immediately enraged and wanted to act, but Nezha gave him a stern look, and he quieted down right away.

Nezha was also sizing up Sha Chen, nodding to himself in acknowledgment while also filled with confusion. Recently, he had often heard Sha Chen’s name. It was mentioned everywhere, from overseas to the heavens.

"General for Folding the Curtain, long time no see. I hope you are well," Nezha said, not haughty but rather polite.

Sha Chen clasped his fists and replied, "Thanks to the great deity’s concern, I practice self-reflection thrice a day."

Nezha continued, "Several years ago, I was pursuing a demoness who passed through here and disappeared for a while. Later, when I resumed the chase, I discovered that demoness was, to put it mildly, a woman of ill repute, and after that, she vanished without a trace. To be precise, her true form vanished within the Flowing Sand River, or at the very least, the part of the river she was traversing when she disappeared."

Nezha stared into Sha Chen’s eyes and said, "General for Folding the Curtain, you understand what I mean, don’t you?"

Sha Chen nodded and replied, "I understand."

Then Nezha nodded, waiting for Sha Chen to open the Formation so they could enter and search.

Sha Chen continued, "If I find that demoness, I will surely hand her over to the General for punishment."

Having spoken, he looked at Nezha.

Nezha’s face stiffened and gradually darkened.

"General for Folding the Curtain, what I mean is, that demoness went missing in your domain. To clear any suspicion, you should let us into your cave dwelling to investigate," said Nezha, trying to contain the fury within him as he spoke firmly.

The system announced: "Nezha, a Lucky Person, is requesting to enter your dwelling. You have the following choices:"

"Option one: Agree to Nezha’s request and receive the Magical Tool [Universal Net]. The Universal Net is a Magical Tool belonging to Nezha, capable of stirring the sea and possessing powerful binding force."

"Option two: Refuse Nezha’s request and receive the Divine Power [Three Flavors of Real Fire]. Samadhi True Fire is one of the Innate True Fires, containing immense burning power and limitless strength. With Great Accomplishment in Cultivation, it can burn the heavens and boil the seas."

Without hesitation, Sha Chen chose to refuse.

He couldn’t possibly let these hostile people into the Formation; that would be putting his own life at risk.

Sha Chen said awkwardly, "General, the demoness truly isn’t here. If I see her later, I’ll help you kill her, alright?"

"No need. We want to capture her alive and make her suffer punishment," Nezha replied. "Furthermore, whether the demoness is here or not isn’t for you to decide; it’s for us, after we’ve seen it for ourselves. Open the Formation, General. I don’t wish to ask a third time!"

The atmosphere instantly grew tense.

The celestial soldiers and generals were all bracing themselves for action, ready to strike at Nezha’s command.

Sha Chen was troubled. He really didn’t want any trouble, but that brat Nezha was too stubborn. It seemed he wouldn’t let the matter rest unless he was allowed in.