Chapter 521

The metallic staircase beneath his feet wasn't long, and the battle armor stepping on it produced a crisp sound.

Soon, Tang Luo stood on a vast circular platform above a flowing underground dark river.

The entire underground space resembled an inverted sea bowl.

But it wasn't particularly dark inside.

The lights overhead and on the ground dispelled the darkness.

The circular platform wasn't particularly "spacious."

Various machines occupied it, some filled with futuristic technology, appearing exquisitely crafted with no visible seams.

Others were steampunk-style, bulky and heavy, full of power, with white smoke puffing from the gaps, making a "hissing" sound.

The two types formed a perfect unity on the platform, very harmonious.

The various machines only left a path for Tang Luo to pass through.

Tang Luo didn't actively clear a path; he walked slowly and soon reached the platform's center.

There was a relatively small open space there.

A sound of mechanical turning rang out.

The "open space" in front opened, and a two-meter-diameter black sphere rose from underground.

Tang Luo didn't look at the black sphere but at his right hand, fingers spread, where a golden brick appeared.

After slight refinement, the golden brick, easier to use, trembled slightly.

Having glanced at the golden brick, Tang Luo then looked at the black sphere.

At this moment, the black sphere opened like a lotus, revealing half a person inside.

Indeed, it was half a person.

Inside the black sphere was a pool of clear spring water forming a water ball, with half a person at its core.

Black hair floated gently in the water, lips red, teeth white, a delicate seven or eight-year-old face, exquisite as if a perfect doll not of this world.

From the waist down, it disappeared, a slanted, waist-level severed wound.

The wound was pure white, with no organs or flesh, like exposed skin, resembling white jade.

A red sash covered the body.

"Who are you?" the half-bodied child stared at Tang Luo, "Why do you have my magic treasure?"

The voice was clear and melodious, the tone bright like the appearance, but without emotional fluctuation.

Though the question was directed at Tang Luo, his gaze fell seventy percent on Tang Luo's shoulder where the Heavenly Hound sat.

"How did you end up like this?"

Tang Luo threw the golden brick forward, took a step forward, and directly "walked" out of the battle armor, leaving it in place, "Not even knowing who came, you dare open the door, aren't you afraid of being robbed, Old Li."

This half-bodied child was none other than the mighty and illustrious Great General, the Three Altars Sea Assembly Great God, the Third Prince Nezha!

"It's you!" Nezha's voice fluctuated as he caught the golden brick Tang Luo threw, "Also, don't call me Old Li."

It felt like calling Li Jing again.

This father-son pair has always had a bad relationship.

Tang Luo said: "The great upheaval in the Mountain-Sea Realm, everything shattered, you were injured then? Very severe, even I couldn't 'recognize' you."

"Indeed, the Mountain-Sea Realm no longer exists?" Nezha frowned, "You weren't injured?"

"At first, it was similar to you." Tang Luo said, "Now I'm much better."

"This is—Yang Jian's elder brother's Heavenly Hound, did you see Yang Jian elder brother?" Nezha asked, looking at the Heavenly Hound.

"The dog is worse off than you, a remnant soul reincarnated." Tang Luo said, "As for Yang Jian..."

The Heavenly Hound ran to beside the clear water black lotus, circled once, looking at Nezha with a hint of confusion and nostalgia.

Tang Luo paused, took out the Baolian Deng and the umbrella transformed from Yang Chan: "You might not believe me saying this, but this umbrella is Yang Chan."

"???"

Nezha looked full of doubt.

Yang Chan, an umbrella? What the hell.

"Come, give me a chair, there's a lot to say." Tang Luo said, noticing a black thing resembling an optical fiber wire inserted into Nezha's back of the head, connected to the black lotus beneath him.

The black lotus also had holes, the clear water wrapping his whole body formally gushing out from the holes.

From cultivation grandmaster to black-tech grandmaster?

"... No chair." Nezha said.

However, a sound came from beside, a half-meter-diameter circular bulge appeared, barely enough to sit on.

Tang Luo sat down, the Heavenly Hound jumped onto his leg, lay down gazing at Nezha, and let out a soft whine.

Nezha's expressionless face showed a hint of a smile: "Why did the Mountain-Sea Realm suddenly shatter?"

The question asked was very core.

"I don't know." Tang Luo said, "Some people I met also don't know. Only Di Zang seemed to sense something, also vague and unclear, not detailed, it seems we won't get an answer unless we find people like Tathagata or the Three Purities."

Along the way, over a dozen missions, I encountered some old acquaintances.

They could confirm the Mountain-Sea Realm had shattered, which was already the limit.

Speaking of which, the Nezha before me understands the current situation far less than Tang Luo.

Tang Luo after all walked through so many worlds.

Nezha, he has been here since the Mountain-Sea Realm shattered and he was severely wounded.

Forced to be a tech otaku.

"What I'm about to say, don't be afraid, heartbroken." Before beginning, Tang Luo gave Nezha a preventive shot.

"You think I'll be afraid?" Nezha showed the face of a brat's stink.

He is the dignified Third Prince, a ruthless man who tore out dragon tendons with bare hands and carved flesh from bone to return them to his parents — would he feel fear or sorrow?

Nodding, omitting the part about the God-Demon Game, Tang Luo merely said he had found a special method that allowed him to randomly enter one small world after another formed from fragmentation, followed by encounters with some old acquaintances.

Nezha listened very seriously, his brows furrowing from time to time, and interrupted Tang Luo's words: "For real or fake?"

"You're not tricking me, are you?"

"Good thing that wasn't Big Brother Yang."

"Tch, that old stubborn fool died, huh... I'm not sad in the slightest."

Words to that effect.

This Third Prince is a professional — I fundamentally wouldn't be afraid...

"What about you? What's the deal with this world?" Tang Luo asked after finishing his own experience.

"The Mountains and Seas Realm shattered, I was heavily injured and fell unconscious." Nezha said, "I only woke up not long ago, and my injuries had not recovered in the slightest when this world experienced a heavenly calamity upheaval; the original civilization nearly vanished, and I was injured on top of injury, becoming my current appearance."

"A second shattering?"

"Unclear. It was a sudden, unexpected change that struck without giving anyone reaction time, just like the shattering of the Mountains and Seas Realm." Nezha said.

Another heavenly calamity? Or a "man-made disaster"?

"This thing." Tang Luo fished out a small black stone — the obsidian extracted from a Speedster — "How did it appear?"

"I discovered this object after the heavenly calamity. But I suspect that before this, this world already had this kind of spirit stone; before the calamity, the heaven-and-earth Qi was already extremely thin." Nezha said.

After the Mountains and Seas Realm shattered, heaven-and-earth Qi was extremely thin; small worlds with none at all were not few in number.

One should say they still accounted for the vast majority — judging by extrapolation from current samples.

"This thing is toxic." Tang Luo said.

"Yeah, otherwise..." Nezha shook his head helplessly.

Otherwise, how would he have ended up in his current state?

"From vegetable to robot — you've had it rough." Tang Luo said.

The corners of Nezha's mouth twitched twice.

He has a lotus body, spirit and soul as one; calling him a "vegetable" isn't an exaggeration.

Now heavily injured to this extent, unable to reshape his lotus body, he can only temporarily reside on this black lotus, switching from the former "cultivation path" to a "technology path" to ensure nothing is lost.

After all, he's a god; once he sets his mind to it, the speed of development is still extremely fast.

But Nezha is ultimately a heavily injured body — even moving is a difficulty.

Therefore Nezha had no choice but to cast barely usable spells into some people's dreams, selecting a few agents for himself.

The Divine Grace was gradually established against this background.

Nezha himself only wanted to recover in another way; he had no thoughts of vying for hegemony over the wasteland.

His relationship with the Divine Grace is also quite "distant," more like a transaction.

He had no intention of controlling this gradually growing, increasingly powerful organization; the other side's covert probing was ignored by him.

Busy, why would I have time to manage such trifles?

Letting Tang Luo in this time wasn't because he recognized Tang Luo's aura, but because he faintly sensed the existence of his old magic treasure, the Gold Brick.

When the Mountains and Seas Realm shattered, Nezha couldn't possibly have brought all his magic treasures with him; a body's worth of magic treasures had long since vanished without a trace.

Only a few remained, including the Huntian Ling on his body.

"The god-Buddha behind the Divine Grace is you." Tang Luo continued, "Then what about the god-Buddhas behind the other powers? Who are they?"

"Behind the Yellow Robe Association should be people of the Heavenly Court; the Great Sun Temple are Buddhist..." Nezha paused, looking at Tang Luo.

"What?" Tang Luo asked.

"Nothing." He shook his head. Could he tell Tang Luo: the Great Sun Temple's style is so violent that at first I thought you created it?

"The Red Lotus Association is hidden deeper; I'm also not too sure what power is behind them in the end."

Nezha is not one who plugs his ears to the world outside, but he truly is single-mindedly focused only on recovery.

It can be confirmed that those major powers in the wasteland do indeed have god-level experts supporting them from behind; as for specifically who, he isn't clear.

Contacting unknown powerhouses while heavily injured isn't exactly correct behavior.

Nezha hides here, doesn't actively seek others, and others also find it very hard to locate him.

Those other "gods and Buddhas" probably aren't in great shape either, likewise choosing to hide and cultivate their own agents and forces.

Tang Luo came knocking directly, and brought Nezha's magic treasure; he sensed it and decided to meet.

Nezha himself was also prepared for battle.

If it were an enemy, he'd treat it as a combat test; ultimately he still has to "contend for a view of the world," impossible to keep hiding like this forever.

Fortunately the visitor was a guest, not inviting a wolf into the house, and there was a vicious battle.

This result was satisfactory to Nezha; it's just that the various pieces of news Tang Luo brought were extremely bad, making it impossible to feel happy at all.

Whether it was the Yang family's upheaval, or his own family's upheaval.

The heavens full of gods and Buddhas of the Mountains and Seas Realm — not to say they've utterly vanished like smoke, but they're not far off.

Even a great power like Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha fell to demonic cultivation and died... wait, why does it feel like those who didn't die later all died at the hands of the person before my eyes?

Nezha's gaze toward Tang Luo became strange.

You're a star of calamity, innately carrying a death attribute!

From the Journey to the West onward, it's been a road of corpse mountains and blood seas all the way; turns out even after the Mountains and Seas Realm shattered it's still like this?

Where you walk, death follows.

"Quite a lot of people died." Nezha said dryly.

"Yeah." Tang Luo deeply agreed.

"No self-awareness at all..." Nezha thought to himself, unable to hold back: "Don't you feel that ever since meeting you, those people's endings haven't been too good? They were all beaten to death by you."

Oh?

Tang Luo thought for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "That's because they want to attack me, so I can't not defend myself properly, can I?"

Righteous and confident, could this be my fault, Tang Luo?

People hit me, I hit back; if I can't win and get beaten to death, isn't that normal?

Many times, Tang Luo also really wanted to sit down and have a proper talk, to reason.

If others won't listen, then I can only resort to physics.

After doing it many times, it's better to just start with physics.

Nezha felt a toothache—so reasonable, basically impossible to refute.

Think about it carefully: after the Shanhai Realm shattered, everyone barely survived, and we're all physically and mentally traumatized, making it easy to become irrational and come up with outdated thoughts like "He's low on blood, I can counter-kill and win," leading to extreme actions.

It's very easy to understand—just imagine the apocalypse descending, order collapsing.

Actually, it's just one principle.

"So now, what do you plan to do?" Nezha asked.

"First, let me help you recover—I still have some merit." Tang Luo said, and the Merit Jade Lotus appeared.

Pouring warm radiance, Nezha's broken mouth began to grow, recovering somewhat.

"Indeed, it's heavy." A few minutes later, Tang Luo said, putting away the Merit Jade Lotus.

Treating such a minor injury almost completely drained the merit power in the Merit Jade Lotus.

"Much better." Nezha didn't say anything sentimental either.

Although the two's friendship isn't as die-hard as Yang Jian and Tang Luo's fans, it's not bad either.

Mainly, everyone here is capable of fighting, and we've had experiences of fighting side by side.

"Since the gold brick was found by you, it belongs to you." Nezha threw the gold brick back to Tang Luo.

"Let Bajie smelt it into the Xuan Transformation later." Tang Luo put away the gold brick, "How's your condition? Can you move?"

"Move?" Nezha said, "You mean leaving this place?"

"Yes."

"Not entirely impossible." Nezha said, "You want to..."

"Help me lure the others out." Tang Luo said with a smile, "They probably aren't as well-hidden as you, but they're still lurking behind the scenes, stirring up trouble. I'm afraid if I show up directly, these guys will all run away."

"... You treated me just to use me as bait?" Nezha widened his eyes.

"Don't you think your current appearance is quite suitable?" Tang Luo said.

Nezha looked down at his half-body, and it was indeed reasonable, impossible to refute.

"Come, come, let's discuss how to let you 'legally appear,' 'legally show weakness,' 'legally lure people to cook lotus root soup'."

"Wait, I haven't agreed to you yet!" Nezha said.

"I thought our friendship didn't need saying things like 'Okay, I agree'—that kind of nonsense." Tang Luo was very confident, "And you wouldn't refuse, would you?"

"If I refuse, you'll just drag me out and throw me into the thief's old lair, right?" Nezha pointed at Tang Luo and said, "You'd absolutely do that!"

Tang Xuanzang, I understand you!

"How could it be? That's too direct—I'll take a roundabout way."

"Just taking a roundabout way..." Nezha weakly waved his hand.

I used to be a lawless little brat, later also a second-generation god, the type who walks sideways.

No one can bully me; Sun Wukong can only be considered half a monkey, until I met Tang Xuanzang.

That self-proclaimed literary giant, who made Elder Brother Yang Jian so angry he had expressions, chased him for 108,000 miles—a demon monk.