Chapter 153: The Roc Emerges from Seclusion, the Azure Bull Descends to the Mortal Realm

Time passed swiftly. Summer gave way to autumn; the cold cicadas chirped, and the willows withered. Once again, the green mountains grew white heads, which were then succeeded by the melting of ice and water.

Before one knew it, another year and more had slipped by.

The mortal realm was changing, and the heavens were changing too.

Within the Tushau Palace, the Green Bull, beaming with joy, grasped a Three-Return Fire Pill and hurried toward the realm of Azure Peace and Long-lasting Joy.

The opportunity to descend to the mortal world had finally arrived.

At first, he ran quite swiftly, but the closer he drew to the realm of Azure Peace and Long-lasting Joy, the steadier and slower his pace became.

Before long, he arrived at the Palace of the Lion. First, he offered a kindly smile to the lion attendant, then exchanged a few random remarks with the Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint, and finally strode away loftily.

Yet just as he was striding away loftily, a fire-red pill dropped silently from his sleeve.

Seeing this, the lion attendant hurried in the direction the Green Bull had taken, picked it up, and prepared to call out to the Green Bull to return the item.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in his ear:

"Foolish boy! This is the Three-Return Fire Pill. It can draw from the abyss to fill the peaks and greatly enhance your cultivation. Eating it will bring immense benefits to your power, and since it was dropped here in our realm of Azure Peace and Long-lasting Joy, it belongs to us."

The lion attendant looked toward the Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint, recognizing his voice, and said with hesitation, "Is this right?"

"What could possibly be wrong with it? The Green Bull and I are sworn brothers, and since he dropped it himself, what does it matter if you eat it? Besides, this item is of great benefit to you. As the saying goes, if Heaven bestows a gift and you do not take it, you will instead incur its blame."

The words of the Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint carried a seductive temptation that made the lion attendant's heart flutter.

At that very moment, footsteps sounded. The Green Bull returned, looking puzzled as he said, "Strange, where is the Three-Return Fire Pill I was carrying? Lion, have you seen it?"

A jolt ran through the lion attendant's heart. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint say, "How could there be any pill in my Lion Palace? You must have remembered wrongly."

The Green Bull stood pondering in place and said, "Never mind, never mind. It is only a pill after all. Though it is exceedingly precious, if someone has picked it up and eaten it, it will at least not waste Jinjiao's toil in refining it."

With that, he strode away loftily once more.

Hearing this, the lion attendant was overjoyed, completely failing to notice the subtle glance the Green Bull cast at the Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint before leaving.

Without further hesitation, he immediately popped the fire pill into his mouth. It melted upon contact, and the medicinal potency took effect instantly, plunging his mind into a heavy, drowsy haze.

"Down~ down~ down~"

The smug voice of the Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint drifted over. The lion attendant barely managed to turn his head toward him and said feebly, "You~ you schem—"

Before he could finish his sentence, with a thud, the lion attendant collapsed to the ground and fell into a deep, endless slumber.

The Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint laughed heartily. This lion attendant fell for the same trick every single time, yet it was never quite the same.

"Green Bull, look at how cautious you were. Stop hiding; we're ready to set off."

The Green Bull emerged with a smile on his face. The mere thought of being able to descend to the lower realm and eat oranges made his mouth water.

***

The two then headed toward the East Heavenly Gate, preparing to descend to the mortal world from there.

Only, what they did not know was that at the South Heavenly Gate, two divine generals were also departing together to descend to the mortal realm.

***

In the Western Niuhe Continent, within a certain demon mountain, a cave entrance opened wide. Monstrous, heaven-soaring malevolence roared outward as a fiend stepped forth. With a golden-winged roc's head and leopard eyes shining like stars, he looked like a primordial demon born of nature, terrifying to behold.

At that moment, on both sides of the cave entrance, hundreds of subordinate chiefs knelt in welcome.

"We congratulate the Great King on emerging from seclusion, your cultivation having reached yet another height."

As he spoke, a Blood Eagle let out a sharp cry, and the lesser demons on either side led forward thousands of mortals and hundreds of horned dragons.

"These have all been prepared for the Great King."

A trace of greed flashed in the Golden-Winged Great Roc's eyes. Opening his golden beak, he actually swallowed all thousands of humans and hundreds of dragons into his belly in one go.

The fiend even chewed them over. Immediately, from his nose, a bloody stench resembling a sea of blood billowed out.

Yet he was still unsatisfied, saying, "Why are there so few?" A wave of fierce, murderous intent washed over them.

The Blood Eagle trembled as it said:

"Reporting to the Great King, the number of dragons could originally have been greater, but who would have expected that a Daoist saw the two brothers, Golden Feather and Golden Dove, capturing dragons, and rudely interfered? Disregarding the Great King's mighty name, he killed them."

A fierce and vicious aura instantly surged into the Golden-Winged Great Roc's eyes: "Very good, very good! It seems I have been in seclusion for too long, making this Western Niuhe Continent forget my mighty name!"

"Do you know where that Daoist is? Let us use his flesh and blood to celebrate my emergence from seclusion and revive my mighty name."

As he spoke, the gathered demons seemed to see a scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and involuntarily pressed their heads to the ground.

The Blood Eagle repeatedly said:

"In the Qin Dao Kingdom, within the Hidden Mist Mountain, our brothers have been observing from ten thousand li away in recent years. We discovered that the Daoist dwells in this mountain, and he seems to have close ties with a divine-path True Lord within the kingdom."

"A Heavenly Court True Lord?"

"Yes and no. We have investigated; this True Lord is called the True Lord of Merciful Salvation, who has appeared within the past hundred years. Because he exterminates demons in this Qin Dao Kingdom, the people of the country bestowed this title upon him."

The Golden-Winged Great Roc arrogance declared, "What of it? He is merely a tiny god of the mortal world. Little ones, where is his home? Point the direction!

This Great King cannot wait to devour this Daoist!"

The demons answered in unison: "Yes!"

One by one, they soared into the azure clouds, blotting out the sun like a scene of utter disaster, bringing terror to the mortal realm.

Meanwhile, within the Hidden Mist Mountain, Cao Kong and Cao Xiang stood firmly at the foot of the mountain. Today was the day the Nine-Spirit Primeval Saint and the Green Bull descended to the mortal realm, so they specially waited here for them.

Suddenly, two boy immortals appeared, their faces beaming with joy. They were none of other than Qingfeng and Mingyue.

***

Qingfeng and Mingyue possessed the ability to shrink the earth into an inch under their feet. Within moments, they arrived before Cao Kong and offered a greeting, saying:

"Senior Brother, it has been several decades since we parted. We have not seen you for a long time and have missed you dearly."

Cao Kong smiled and said, "How could I not feel the same?"

Cao Xiang chimed in from the side, "Me too."

As they conversed, a sudden roar echoed through the heavens. Looking up, the ten thousand li of azure clouds had cleared away entirely, as if some extraordinary living being had arrived.

Then came an arrogant, unbridled laugh: "Daoist! It was you who killed my subordinates, was it? Ha—come, use your flesh and blood to pay the debt!"

Cao Kong, his brother, and even Qingfeng and Mingyue suddenly felt a chill run through their entire bodies, as if they were being targeted by an indescribable, ferocious bird of prey.

Seeing the sky enveloped by a shadow, a Golden-Winged Great Roc radiating vicious intent stared coldly down at them from the blue firmament, with the gaze one would reserve for prey.

Then it opened its mouth and inhaled. A powerful suction force swept toward them, intent on devouring Cao Kong and the others on the spot, unwilling to waste even the slightest breath on words.

Cao Kong frowned, the Daoist breath within him surging and the essence of the Dao manifesting. It was precisely the lesser divine power "Returning the Wind and Reversing the Fire," which countered the suction force and caused the mountain to remain completely unshaken.

Even the Golden-Winged Great Roc was momentarily stunned. Although he had only acted casually, he had not expected to be blocked.

Cao Kong also raised his gaze to look up, a slight ripple stirring in his heart. With such momentum, he certainly could not defeat this creature in his current state.

Therefore, he prepared to speak to buy time.

Before he could utter a word, Qingfeng and Mingyue by his side spoke up first:

"And here we thought who it might be! It turns out to be nothing more than a featherless beast! You thieving bird, you actually dare to circle in the sky and flap your wings trying to imitate a phoenix. Aren't you afraid of being beaten to death?"

The Golden-Winged Great Roc was arrogant and proud; naturally, he would brook no disrespect from others. Immediately flying into a rage, he prepared to unleash his divine power once more.

"Two wet-behind-the-ears Daoist boys, how dare you spout nonsense! Watch me devour you both!"

"Ha! What is there not to dare? Our master is Patriarch Zhenyuan, the Ancestor of Earth Immortals. If you have the guts, go ahead and eat the two of us!"

At these words, the Golden-Winged Great Roc was instantly filled with doubt and hesitation. Their backing was this solid?

Yet he had always been arrogant: "Hmph, mere Daoist boys! If your master were here, speaking to me like this would be one thing."

Right at that moment, two glorious and majestic figures descended from the sky. One was Ma Lingyao, and the other was Nezha.

"Yo! It is quite lively here. How is there a featherless beast? No, not a featherless beast—this should be my achievement."