Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
"What? You say you never received the souls of Yang Tianyou, Yang Jiao, Yang Jian, or Yang Chan?"
In the Jade Pool Sacred Realm, the Jade Emperor's eyes widened in disbelief as he listened to the report from the Yama King of the Underworld.
"Tiannu! Fetch me the Great Golden Crow and Marshal Tianpeng! Do those two dare to secretly release those mongrels?"
If the Yama King had not received their souls, it meant they were not dead. The Jade Emperor suspected that his sister Yaoji's plight had softened their hearts, leading them to fake the executions.
"Tianpeng is hard to read, but the Great Golden Crow would never betray you," the Queen Mother added, attempting to smooth things over. "There must be another reason."
The Jade Emperor nodded, conceding the point. After all, there were a hundred thousand soldiers present; it was unlikely they all conspired to disobey a direct imperial edict.
When the two commanders arrived, they swore they had carried out the sentence. "Your Majesty, the Divine Coroner verified the deaths!" Tianpeng pleaded, feigning grievance while surreptitiously glancing at the Golden Crow. Internally, he was baffled. He knew he had saved the two younger children, but why hadn't the souls of the father and eldest son reached the Underworld either?
"I pierced the hearts of Yang Tianyou and Yang Jiao myself," the Great Golden Crow added, frowning. "They were lifeless when we departed."
"Then explain why their souls are missing!" the Jade Emperor barked.
The Queen Mother intervened again. "A day in heaven is a year on earth. Yaoji spent twenty years among mortals; perhaps she befriended a powerful cultivator who saved them after the army left?"
The Jade Emperor considered this. It was plausible. While the Heavens ruled in name, the Three Sects held the true power, and many hidden immortals roamed the world. "Great Golden Crow, Tianpeng—return to Guanjiang Estuary. Find out what happened. If anyone is harboring them, bring them to Heaven for judgment!"
Tianpeng tried to dodge the assignment, citing duties at the Heavenly River, but the Jade Emperor's voice turned icy. "If you do not go, I shall sentence you to dereliction of duty and demote you to the mortal realm... as a pig."
Terrified, Tianpeng immediately agreed.
Meanwhile, on the Three Immortal Islands, George had officially taken the Yang siblings as his disciples.
Yang Jian, aided by the Celestial Eye granted to him by his mother, progressed the fastest, reaching the Heaven Immortal realm within days. Yang Jiao and Yang Chan were not far behind, their talents nurtured by the rich spiritual energy George gathered via complex arrays.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye. One day, the siblings attempted to sneak off the island to rescue their mother from Mount Tao. However, they didn't get far before a figure blocked their path.
"Second Junior, Third Junior, Little Sister... where do you think you're going while Master is in seclusion?"
It was Sun Wukong, George's first disciple, casually munching on a large peach.
"Eldest Brother, we... we just wanted to see our old home," Yang Jian lied with a grin.
Wukong chuckled, seeing right through them. "Mount Tao is in the opposite direction. Don't bother lying; I know you're going to save your mother."
"We can't wait any longer," Yang Jian admitted, his expression turning solemn. They had learned much in three years—meeting the Three Fairies, Shen Gongbao, and even Nezha. They realized that reaching Saint-hood could take eons, and they didn't want to drag their Master into a war with the Heavens. They planned to do it alone.
Wukong stared at them for a long moment before laughing loudly. "I've heard the Jade Pool has an orchard of Flat Peaches. I've been dying for a taste!"
The siblings were moved to tears. They knew Wukong was choosing to stand with them. Together, the four set off for Mount Tao.
Inside his grotto, George—who was only pretending to be in seclusion—opened his eyes. "Go on then, cause a scene. Any later and the opportunity will pass."
He knew the Three Pure Ones would soon finish the Investiture List. He had to strike now. George produced a quill, concentrating his "Visionary" pathway authority to write the unfolding story:
Nezha and Ao Bing 'coincidentally' meet the siblings and join their quest. At Mount Tao, the group finds they cannot break the chains of Heavenly Law. They are confronted by the Great Golden Crow and Tianpeng, but retreat to avoid exposing Nezha's identity.
They seek counsel at the Golden Light Cave. There, the Lotus Lantern—a primordial treasure of Goddess Nüwa—recognizes Yang Chan as its master. Following a lead to find the Dragon Ball of the Three-Headed Dragon, Yang Jian defeats the beast, turning it into his signature weapon: the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Lance.
With a newly forged 'Mountain-Splitting Axe' for Yang Jiao, the group finally stands their ground. They capture the Great Golden Crow and Tianpeng as hostages and march upon the Thirty-Third Heaven.
The Jade Emperor, enraged, refuses to negotiate. He orders the army to ignore the hostages. Yang Jian executes the Great Golden Crow in fury. The six rebels charge through the Southern Heaven Gate. Following George's 'hidden' instructions, they loot the Heavens as they fight—devouring every Flat Peach in the orchard and swallowing Lao Tzu's Golden Elixirs to fuel their combat.
As George wrote, he suddenly stopped. A white-haired elder riding a green ox appeared in the sky above the Three Immortal Islands.
"Hard to fool, as expected," George muttered.
The elder was the avatar of the Grand Pure One—the Great Supreme Elder, Lao Tzu. While the main body was in seclusion, this avatar noticed the ripples in the Great Dao.
Lao Tzu looked down at the islands, puzzled. He had noticed strange deviations before, like the incident at Kunlun, but this was different. Yang Jian, who was destined to support the Zhou Dynasty, was now a rebel. And the monkey, who shouldn't have appeared for another millennium, was already leading the charge.
"The Three Immortal Islands... the home of the Three Fairies," Lao Tzu mused. "Is this a scheme by Tongtian?" He doubted it; Tongtian was too straightforward for such intricate plotting. If it were Yuanshi, he wouldn't be surprised, but Tongtian? Something was very wrong.
(End of Chapter)