Chapter 533: Various Parties' Schemes

"Sigh..."

Watching faces constantly appear, then vanish, and the flesh masses gradually decompose on their own, leaving not a scrap of residue behind, Nezha let out a sigh.

He and Li Jing did not get along, and he also bore the moniker "bratty kid."

But when it came down to it, his personality could not be called eccentric; on the contrary, he was even more cold and stern than Erlang Shen.

Nezha got along alright with some of his colleagues in the Heavenly Court.

Now, watching these "people" die one by one, he also felt a few degrees of sorrow in his heart.

Of course, given another chance, Nezha would still act without the slightest hesitation; those who needed killing still had to be killed.

He was not the soft-hearted sort; those "colleagues and old acquaintances" were no longer their original selves — they had already converged into the new Yellow-Robed King.

Moreover, the Yellow-Robed King's idea was something Nezha absolutely could not accept.

If it were just a fight to the death, fine; but the Yellow-Robed King wanted to seize Nezha's lotus-body — do you know what that means?

It means Nezha might not be killed outright; the greater possibility was that he would become a "member" of the Yellow-Robed King, forming a part of him.

At that time, retaining his consciousness yet unable to control himself, endlessly sinking into depravity.

That kind of taste — better to just die, clean and quick.

Nezha absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen to himself.

"Let's go, let's go." Unwilling to stay in this freezing "palace" any longer, Nezha left first.

The Golden-Armored Heavenly Soldiers outside were naturally also motionless, like hardware that had lost its software drive.

The three flew into the sky; Tang Luo flicked a finger, and a pale-gold semi-transparent flame fell onto the Heavenly Court. Before long, a roaring blaze had burned the entire Heavenly Court.

The flames leaped; there did not seem to be any scene of decay.

On the contrary, it was resplendent with gold and jade, incomparably dazzling.

"Your flame is seriously wicked," Nezha said.

"This is a flame of kindness and compassion," Tang Luo said.

Nezha looked at the fiercely burning Heavenly Court, then at Tang Luo, wearing an expression of "where do you get the nerve to say that."

"Look — in the flames, the entire Heavenly Court has been strengthened, achieving a great sublimation," Tang Luo said with a straight face.

"And then? After a while longer?"

"Naturally it vanishes into smoke and clouds."

"Then what kindness and compassion — my ass!" Nezha said.

"All men must die; some just need a little help," Tang Luo said. "To end one's life amid dazzling splendor, rather than muddle-headed and wasting time — this poor monk grants them the right to choose. Is that not kindness and compassion?"

"Whatever you say." Nezha almost forgot — this guy was a monk.

Although he didn't understand a thing about Buddhist scriptures, when necessary he could still open his mouth and spout a mouthful of nonsense.

"You say you've had contact with the Red Lotus Society?" Nezha looked at Ao Yulie and asked.

On the way here they had chatted about the Red Lotus Society; as a shadow on the Wasteland, the Red Lotus Society was profoundly mysterious.

"Right." Ao Yulie's complexion was slightly unpleasant. "No good deed goes unpunished!"

"Hm?" Tang Luo was a bit curious.

"I've been doing chivalrous deeds and good works all along," Ao Yulie said. "I saved a person."

"A woman?" Nezha asked.

"Right." Ao Yulie nodded. "Cherishing fragrance and jade is the duty of our kind."

"And then?" The bratty kid had no interest in women.

"Then, unexpectedly that woman was a member of the Red Lotus Society, with no low status — a research personnel." Ao Yulie said.

"Why would a research personnel of no low status be saved by you?" Nezha's eyeballs rolled.

Ao Yulie shrugged: "How would I know? In short, I just saved her — a coincidence."

"... Aren't you afraid it's a trap?" Nezha looked speechlessly at this guy blinded by lust.

Ao Yulie wore a face full of confidence: "Not afraid. I have Master."

You've got a Master, so you're awesome!

Nezha's mouth corners twitched twice: "Next — you infiltrated the enemy's interior as a live-in son-in-law, found the Red Lotus Society's lair, and found out what they're up to?"

"Not that simple," Ao Yulie said. "First, that woman was a married woman; I, Ao Yulie, am a principled man — I don't do that sort of thing."

"Unexpectedly I didn't do it! Yet some bastard pinned it on me!"

Ao Yulie was very angry. As a suave and dashing dragon, he still had his bottom line — for instance, deliberately cuckolding someone; the so-called 'do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.'

The ending of the Nine-Headed Insect back then was truly miserable; Ao Yulie recalled it and didn't feel much schadenfreude, instead feeling "damn, that really hurts."

Therefore Ao Yulie had always strictly observed this principle.

He firmly refused that woman's offer of herself for protection; the righteous Ao Yulie had no need for it.

But Ao Yulie did indeed want to use this woman to deeply understand the Red Lotus Society, this mysterious "Wasteland Shadow."

Under such circumstances, Ao Yulie encountered the woman's husband.

Thus, the following situation arose:

I suspect you cuckolded me but I can't say it outright, and I still have to welcome you with a smiling face because you saved my wife.

Behind the smiling face I secretly observed and basically confirmed you probably didn't cuckold me, but people inside the organization gossiped, making me very unhappy, so I decided to let you go die.

Of course I can't kill you openly because that would show my head is green as grass, so I still have to appear magnanimous on the surface while secretly letting you go die.

Only this way can this Schrödinger's green hat slowly disappear with time.

Very convoluted.

To sum up: Ao Yulie must die.

Ao Yulie did not deliberately display any supernatural might; he looked merely like a decent-looking, fairly capable person on the Wasteland, and moreover, a "mule."

For the important members of the Red Lotus Society, such a character was not qualified to make them feel irritated; the influence he caused upon them had to be repaid with his life.

"So you killed him?" Nezha asked after hearing Ao Yulie's words.

"No."

Ao Yulie said, "The Red Lotus Society seems to have been plotting something recently; that person invited me to participate together, planning to catch a rabbit while mowing the grass."

"Red Lotus Society..." Nezha looked at Tang Luo, "Go take a look?"

"Of course." Tang Luo said.

The Heavenly Court matter was already resolved; next up were the Red Lotus Society and Ananda Kasyapa.

These people also needed to be met; as for what would happen after meeting, it still depended on the other party's choice.

If they all turned out like the Yellow-Robed King, Tang Luo naturally would not show mercy — moreover, there actually wasn't any friendship to speak of.

If it was a situation similar to Nezha's, everyone could still sit down and chat.

"What does the Red Lotus Society plan to do?" Tang Luo asked.

"The specifics aren't too clear; it seems they want to go intercept and capture someone." Ao Yulie said.

"Oh?"

Tang Luo suddenly thought of the "Journey to the West Quartet" currently being guided by the Great Sun Temple.

It was very obvious that all three major powers were clearly aware of the existence of gods and demons walking the earth, including the Divine Grace, which had also more or less sensed that mysterious outsiders would appear on the Wasteland.

Only Nezha, hearing nothing outside the window and single-mindedly building robots, knew nothing of this.

It seemed the Red Lotus Society, like the Great Sun Temple, had also set their sights on the Journey to the West Quartet.

Just like if aliens appeared in the real world one day, every major country would definitely capture and control them — same principle.

Including the Great Sun Temple's operation to capture Nezha, that was also carried out because they treated Nezha as an "outsider."

As they spoke, the floating Heavenly Court had already turned into a wisp of curling smoke, merging into one with the surrounding clouds and mist.

The vicinity was also filled with thick strands of Heaven and Earth Qi.

This Heaven and Earth Qi was transformed from the obsidian stored by the Heavenly Court; Nezha used Divine Grace to collect obsidian and some materials, and the Heavenly Court was naturally no exception.

The resources they possessed were far more than Nezha's by a huge margin.

This could be seen from these few floating cities and the massive mecha.

However, even the heavily injured Nezha did not go absorb the thick Heaven and Earth Qi nearby; on the contrary, he deliberately pushed it away.

Striving to let this Heaven and Earth Qi dissipate on its own.

This Heaven and Earth Qi was toxic; if it were his peak period, Nezha actually wouldn't mind.

But now... better to politely decline and stay away; it would really kill people.

Most of the obsidian he collected wasn't for his own absorption, but used as a "power source."

Whether it was the "Invincible War God" or the current "Wheelchair Black Lotus," their power source was obsidian, unrelated to Nezha himself.

Nezha was merely a pure pilot, just like piloting a Gundam; that kind of situation with EVA-type "robots" where damage feeds back to the pilot would not occur.

Because it might be related to the predetermined Journey to the West Quartet, Tang Luo and the others contacted Zhu Bajie again.

Combined with Ao Yulie's information, it was basically confirmed that this operation was a "contest of magic" between the Red Lotus Society and the Great Sun Temple.

To vie for the "ownership" of the Journey to the West Quartet.

If the conflict escalated and there was no result, it would very likely draw out the people behind the two to decide the outcome.

Wilderness.

A convoy raced wildly, kicking up large amounts of dust.

At the very front of the convoy were four people, riding extremely rare motorcycles; their exaggerated biker gang style perfectly matched the wildness of the Wasteland wilderness.

This time Fu Yuan Wukong and the others drove in high spirits, wearing sunglasses to block the howling wind; their hair and the flags behind the vehicles all fluttered.

Not only that, they had also changed into a set of lightweight armor.

Made of special materials, its defensive power was comparable to the God's Hand Battle Armor, but it lacked the God's Hand's offensive attributes; it was purely defensive equipment.

For Fu Yuan Wukong and them, it was already a considerably good thing.

Too bad it wasn't equipment, nor a prop, and couldn't be stored and brought back.

Otherwise, they could have just given up on this mission directly — such a harvest was truly already enough.

Now Fu Yuan Wukong and the others had already gotten on the right track of the mission, seeking the "True Scripture," letting the Wasteland people rise again.

Those few cars behind them were their underlings following along.

Their target was the stars — no, it was to obtain the True Scripture!

Riding a Benz on the wilderness easily stirred heroic ambitions; the high-spirited Fu Yuan Wukong and them did not know that they had already been targeted by various forces from all sides.

"Are these the people?"

At an ambush spot, Ao Yulie, dressed as a wilderness traveler, watched Fu Yuan Wukong and them through binoculars, asking a question he already knew the answer to.

"Yes, please keep watch on them here, Mr. Ao; if any slip through the net, they'll be left to you to handle."

There was no one beside him; a voice came from the headphones he wore.

The task the other party hoped Ao Yulie would complete was to catch those lucky fish that slipped through the encirclement net.

At least on the surface.

"Good." Ao Yulie smiled, "Then I'll wait for slip-through-the-net fish to appear."

The other side fell silent for a moment, emitting a barely perceptible cold laugh.

Normal people definitely couldn't hear it, but Ao Yulie keenly caught it and also let out a laugh.

"What is Mr. Ao laughing at?"

"Laughing at someone being too stupid." Ao Yulie's words were pointed.