Chapter 223

"Master, did Houtu Niangniang give you any trouble?" Sun Wukong stepped forward to ask.

"No, she's actually quite nice." Tang An showed off her ring. "You know, if the God of Wealth had this thing back then, he never would have ended up on that Investiture of the Gods list."

"The Houtu Divine Ring?" Yang Jian was surprised. "Houtu Niangniang even gave you this?"

Tang An shrugged. "Maybe I'm just charming."

Nezha was thinking seriously about Tang An's words. Could it be that the many magic treasures she had obtained were all because she was charming?

Then her charm must be too great!

"I wonder if the Destined One's request has been fulfilled?" the Yama King asked respectfully.

"It's temporarily fulfilled for now. When I come back next time, I'll definitely get it fully settled."

Actually, Tang An hadn't expected this trip to be so rewarding and to solve the current problem so easily.

Was Houtu Niangniang intentionally befriending her because of this incident, hoping for something in the future?

Or was Houtu Niangniang like her, wanting to oppose the Heavenly Dao and change some things?

Well, those weren't problems she could figure out right now.

Since she couldn't figure them out, she would just wait until later.

"Master, can we go back now?" Sun Wukong saw that Tang An's state had recovered.

"Go back?" Tang An looked at the Underworld's gloomy decor. "Since we're already here, leaving just like this doesn't seem right, does it?"

"Hmm?" The Yama King didn't understand what this meant at first.

But her three disciples understood immediately what Tang An was about to do.

Yes, she was going to exercise her personal 'charm' again.

"Hey? What's that?" Tang An pointed to a stone stele standing next to the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk.

The Yama King was inexperienced and didn't know the miserable state of the Heavenly Court and Lingshan. He answered honestly, "That is the Three Lives Stone, which records the past and present lives of ghosts, as well as their causality."

Tang An nodded in sudden realization. "In other words, when many immortals reincarnate to undergo tribulations, their dark history is all on this?"

Her smile began to take on a distinctly villainous 'hehehe' look.

The Yama King felt something was wrong and swallowed hard.

"Does the Destined One want to see the reincarnations of the immortals?"

That was not something to be seen; once the secrets of the gods when they were mortals were exposed, how embarrassing would that be?

"See?" Tang An smiled even more wickedly. "Watching is boring; I prefer to drag them here to watch it with me."

As she spoke, Tang An looked at Sun Wukong. "Wukong, you're responsible for holding down Old Yama."

"Yang Jian, Nezha, you two act as the reserve team."

"I'll try it myself first; if I can't get it down, you guys come in." Tang An spat into her palms, rubbed them together, and then took Maitreya Buddha's wolf-tooth club out of her Universe Bag.

In a certain void.

Observing Tang An spitting and rubbing her hands, the Qingping Sword suddenly erupted with a roar.

Was it exploding, or protesting? Perhaps only it and its master knew.

"She is weak; why are you bickering with her?"

The Qingping Sword didn't speak, only roared incessantly!!!

"Fine, I won't let her spit next time."

The Qingping Sword didn't speak, only roared even more fiercely!

That momentum seemed to say: "There's a next time? You want there to be a next time?"

Inside the Underworld.

"Achoo!"

Tang An suddenly felt cold all over and sneezed.

Was it because she had maintained her soul state for too long and caught a cold from the yin-cold energy?

Forget it, never mind; moving around and sweating would fix it.

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

"Eighty!"

The wolf-tooth club smashed into the Three Lives Stone one blow after another, making the Yama King's heart tighten; he nearly had a heart attack.

No, was she a living bandit?

Just a moment ago she was high-spirited and profound, and now she was just robbing the place?

And robbing it right in front of him, the Yama King!

"Great Sage! Great Sage!"

"That's the Three Lives Stone! That, that..."

Sun Wukong said with a grin, "It's just a Three Lives Stone. Master is finally in a better mood, Old Yama, just give it to her."

"Ah?"

No, is that how logic works?

Yang Jian wore a smile, but his eyes were full of pressure. "The treasury of Lingshan and the treasury of the Heavenly Court have both been patronized by Master."

"If we don't patronize your Underworld, wouldn't that be showing favoritism?"

Yama King:???

Is that how 'showing favoritism' is used?

Wait a minute...

Patronized the treasuries of Lingshan and the Heavenly Court?

The Yama King pursed his lips and seemed to fall silent all at once. The Three Lives Stone and such suddenly didn't seem so important.

After all, if someone else said that, he might not believe it. But given their style, dismantling the Heavenly Court and Lingshan didn't seem out of character for them.

The Heavenly Court and Lingshan, the Jade Emperor and Rulai hadn't escaped. So him losing a Three Lives Stone in the Underworld seemed like the loss had been minimized, right?

"Whew~" Tang An wiped her sweat, then realized she had no sweat.

"Forget it, I can't pry it loose, you guys do it."

Nezha was about to move, but Yang Jian stopped him.

"Third Brother, your Samadhi True Fire is too overbearing; it's not suitable for removing the Three Lives Stone."

Yang Jian swapped the fan in his hand for the Kaishan Axe and, after speaking, slashed at the Three Lives Stone.

The Yama King's mouth was so wide an egg could fit in it. Using the Kaishan Axe to slash the Three Lives Stone?

For a moment, he couldn't tell if it was the Three Lives Stone's blessing or its curse.

"Master."

The Three Lives Stone turned into a small purple-black stone in Yang Jian's hand, which he then handed to Tang An.

"Hehehe~" Tang An took the Three Lives Stone and squinted to peek at the inside.

"By the way, Yama King, do you have any other treasures here?"

Sun Wukong manually helped the Yama King close his jaw. "Old Yama, hurry up and speak, Master is asking you a question."

The Yama King's throat bobbed; he looked at the Six Paths Disk, feeling small and helpless.

But there was no indication from within the Six Paths Disk, so Houtu Niangniang was tacitly agreeing?

"Then how about... you pick?" The Yama King gave up resisting.

"Fine." Tang An didn't stand on ceremony at all.

Just as she was about to leave with the Yama King, she suddenly saw the Six Paths Disk light up.

The souls of Bai Susu and the young Daoist had both entered the Human Path and gone to reincarnate.

To put Tang An at ease, Houtu Niangniang even specifically displayed their Life Ledgers. It was exactly the kind of life they had wished for—roaming the world, plain yet wonderful.

Tang An thanked Houtu Niangniang, her smile much more relaxed.

An hour later, Qijue Mountain.

Tang An returned fully loaded, and her soul re-entered her body.

"Whew... I'm alive again."

When Tang An woke up, there was no one left. Those mortals had been scared away down the mountain by Jiuyue, who had been left behind.

"Are you uncomfortable?" Nezha asked Tang An.

Tang An shook her head. "Nothing feels wrong."

"On the contrary, when I was in the Six Paths Disk, I felt a trace of familiarity."

"Only a trace, gone in an instant."

"It's as if... I had been there before."

"Have I met Houtu Niangniang before?"