105: Chapter 104 The Show Ends (First Update, 3k words)

This strike also caused Ranger Xuanyuan, who was just about to draw his sword, to sheath his longsword and pick up his wine gourd once again.

Above the torn clouds was a huge crimson crack,

and beneath that crack was a figure very familiar to Sun Po.

The same Fire-tipped Spear, Lotus Armor, Universe Ring, and Fire-tipped Wheels.

But the coldness in those eyes and the extremely formidable fluctuations of divine power indicated that,

although they looked identical, he and the Demon Pill Nezha on the ground were definitely not the same entity.

Standing beside him were two other people, precisely Li Yuan and Huo Wuji, who had been watching the show above Tianhe Budu earlier.

His expression was neither joyful nor sorrowful, and there was no killing intent in his eyes, only the apathy and coldness of looking down upon all living beings, resembling a temple idol.

Sun Po had just seen this figure not long ago, and this temperament could not possibly be mistaken.

It was precisely the Nezha from the parallel line who had shattered Sun Po's armor with a single simple strike,

and also the Nezha who had given the water virtue stone of wuzhiqi to Sun Po.

Suddenly, a furious roar that shook the nine heavens came from the ground:

"Lingzhu!!"

The demon pill was hysterical, desperately trying to break free from the Fire-tipped Spear that firmly nailed him down, but he was completely unable to move.

His aura and the flames surrounding his body were constantly weakening, and fiery tears dripped from his eyes, his presence growing weaker and weaker.

Eventually, his flames extinguished, turning into a dim crimson bead with no further sound or movement.

The Demon Pill Nezha, who could contend with Wuzhiqi, was actually instantly killed with a single strike!!

Only then did Sun Po realize that the Spirit Pearl Nezha up in the sky had probably held back his strength when he struck him earlier.

The expression of the Nezha known as the Spirit Pearl still did not change in the slightest,

only a trace of indescribable, complex emotion flashing through his eyes.

Suddenly, a familiar, cold voice sounded in Sun Po's ear:

"Sun Po, I hope you and I can meet again."

Without waiting for Sun Po to respond, the Fire-tipped Spear flew back into the hand of the Spirit Pearl Nezha.

The Spirit Pearl Nezha in the sky, along with Li Yuan and Huo Wuji, returned to the crack and turned to leave.

By the long river of time, beneath the endless stars.

Li Yuan and Huo Wuji followed behind the Spirit Pearl Nezha, who suddenly spoke:

"My business is done. What else do the two of you want?"

Li Yuan, however, straightened his disheveled clothes, stepped forward, and asked:

"Great God Nezha? May I ask about the divine position of the Great Deity of the Three Altars of the Sea-Assembly?"

Nezha said coldly, "No comment."

Though rebuffed, Li Yuan's expression remained unchanged as he continued to ask:

"Old Ancestor Shaohao, he—"

Nezha remained silent, and the atmosphere instantly stiffened for a moment.

Li Yuan still wanted to brazenly pester him further, but suddenly felt a chill.

Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw Huo Wuji removing the wristwatch on his right hand once again.

Li Yuan hastily took two sensible steps back and said, "This junior still has to return to guard the extraterritorial secret realm. Farewell!"

With that, he waved his hand to slash open a golden crack and hurriedly squeezed inside.

The long river fell into silence once again.

After a moment, Huo Wuji's muffled voice sounded:

"Why leave both the divine position and the True Fire to that strand of split soul?"

Nezha looked into the distant starry river and actually let out a sigh:

"It is not a split soul; it is the very last trace of demonic nature I have left in this world, and also where my humanity lies.

Entrusting the divine position and True Fire to it is precisely in the hope that it can live out a different kind of Great Deity of the Three Altars of the Sea-Assembly on my behalf."

Huo Wuji lowered his head in silence. After a long while, he asked, "Without a divine position or True Fire, what will you do in the Endless Battlefield?"

Nezha smiled. "The Endless Battlefield has no beginning and no end. Do you truly believe any deity can escape the Endless Battlefield?"

Huo Wuji asked in surprise, "Then you now—?"

Just as he finished asking, as if suddenly thinking of something, his expression changed drastically.

The Spirit Pearl Nezha's expression remained calm, then he smiled frankly and said:

"It does not matter. This moment was bound to come sooner or later. The Endless Battlefield is the destiny of deities like us.

For me, a mere projection, to be able to preserve the true nature of my original self in this world is already the utmost fortune granted by the heavens."

Huo Wuji fell silent. With a solemn expression, he bowed respectfully toward Nezha's direction.

When he straightened his posture, he found that the banks of the starry river were already completely empty.

In Jinyang City, Sun Po and Ranger Xuanyuan looked at the scarred and devastated Jinyang City in silence.

"Kid, if you ever get the chance to come to the extraterritorial Time Rift, remember to mention the name of Ranger Xuanyuan."

With that, he casually slashed open a rift, snapped his fingers, and dove right in.

As the sound of the snap faded, the entire Jinyang City was also freed from the state of time stoppage.

Everything retreated like rewinding tape; the huge divine corpse of the dragon decomposed and turned into towering waterspouts across the sky, pouring back into the canal waters once again.

A golden rain began to fall across the entire S Province.

Countless points of light scattered from the void.

Li Tiance's shattered Xuanwu Gate domain was reforged once more, brilliant with golden light.

Those who had already died—the drug peddlers, Qianniu Guards, students, and citizens—appeared once again beneath this golden rain of light, exactly as they were before the incident occurred.

The broken walls and ruins of Jinyang City, the crimson residual fire, and the lingering cyan divine light all recovered to their original states within this golden rain.

Even all the Mutated Deep Ones had recovered their human forms.

Liu Jianren, Xu Xiu, and the others acted as if nothing had happened, still chatting away and polishing their precious swords over there.

Only Sun Po noticed the graceful figure faintly standing in the clouds wearing an official uniform; it was she who had cast down this golden rain.

That uniform was likewise different from the official uniforms Sun Po usually saw, but before he could see the specific details clearly, the figure vanished.

"The authorities are truly unfathomable."

The more he understood this world, the more Sun Po sensed how terrifying the authorities were.

But as Yang Xinyue had said earlier, it seemed most people believed that

the highest apparent combat strength of the authorities was still only the orange-tier Heavenly General? And that they could only suppress the aristocratic families through sheer numbers?

Sun Po wouldn't believe a single word of that now.

Whether it was Ranger Xuanyuan, that middle-aged man with a flat-top haircut,

or the mysterious woman who had just cast the golden rain in the clouds, they were all dressed in official uniforms.

Although slightly different from the ordinary official uniforms Sun Po had seen, their identities as belonging to the authorities could still be confirmed without a doubt.

Although none of them displayed their cards, judging by the methods they exhibited and the auras they radiated, every single one of them was an extremely terrifying powerhouse.

Suddenly, Sun Po thought to himself that this was bad, and hurriedly checked his Tianhe Budu.

Seeing the Double-Pupil Warrior sleeping soundly within the water mansion, he finally breathed a sigh of relief:

"Fortunately, this Double-Pupil wasn't erased along with me by the timeline; otherwise, wouldn't awakening my true name become a problem?"

Sun Po was pondering what to do next when Li Tiance's voice came from behind:

"Brother Sun, shall we have a chat at Prince Qins Mansion?"

Sun Po was a bit curious and asked:

"Brother Tiance still remembers what happened earlier?"

Li Tiance lowered his voice slightly:

"Such events are not happening for the first time. Although I don't know the details,

I also have ways to find out the general situation.

Military God Li is also here, just in time to hand the demon pill over to Brother Sun according to the agreement." A moment later, everyone gathered at Prince Qins Mansion.

Prince Qins Mansion also existed within an independent secret realm, but apart from the pavilions and towers,

the most eye-catching feature was a huge martial arts arena.

This layout reminded Sun Po of Yang Xinyue's home—of course, a super high-end version.

Li Tiance immediately proposed that they might as well finish the provincial tournament finals right here.

Sun Po had almost forgotten about this matter. Clearly not much time had passed,

yet he inexplicably had a feeling of immense vicissitudes over ages.

Especially having just fought battles at the divine level,

holding the provincial Gaokao tournament right now felt truly incongruous.

Especially since the three people who entered the finals were Sun Po, Li Tiance, and Liu Jianren.

As soon as Li Tiance finished his proposal, he directly stated:

"Brother Sun and I have sparred in private before, and my skills are inferior to his. Therefore, I admit defeat."

Sun Po was dumbfounded upon hearing this. So Li Tiance took the initiative to propose this just to rush forward and concede defeat?

Although Sun Po already knew that due to the format of the national tournament, the provincial tournament rankings only determined the team captain candidates,

and for Li Tiance, Gaokao scores were not important at all, so naturally there was no need to care about any rankings.

Although Sun Po felt this was a bit like behind-the-scenes manipulation, when he thought of Wuzhiqi, he stopped agonizing over it.

As for Liu Jianren, he directly abstained:

"Having already entered the national tournament, I am more than satisfied.

Besides, I definitely can't beat the second young master of the Li family,

nor can I beat Brother Po, so there is no need to waste time.

But Second Young Master Li, when are we going to eat?

Never mind the secret realm core for now, you've got to treat us all to a hearty meal, right?"

Everyone burst into laughter. The thick-skinned Liu Jianren managed to dilute the shadow of Bai Yu's death a little.

That's right, the timeline of these few people was still at the node right after emerging from the abyss, shortly after Bai Yu's death.

Moreover, from their perspective, the fish-ization disease had inexplicably cured itself,

and the wicked dragon had already died by the time they returned to Puyang City. Soon, the feast commenced.

As the most inclusive of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans, the Li family served an endless variety of exotic foods at the banquet.

Looking at the various translucent objects cut into small pieces on his plate, Liu Jianren asked:

"Is this some kind of jelly?"

In front of everyone's plate was also a serving of translucent dishes wrapped in steamed eggs.

Looking at each other in dismay, no one dared to pick up their chopsticks, obviously having never seen such a thing before.

Li Tiance introduced it instead: "This item is a specialty from a secret realm in the Bald Eagle Federation, called a slime.

Through our research, the Li family discovered that when wrapped in eggs and steamed, this item becomes extremely delicious,

and it helps increase spirituality. Everyone can give it a try."

With that, he took the lead and ate a bite. Seeing this, the others half-doubtfully followed suit and picked up their chopsticks.

A chill ran through Sun Po's heart; the wealthy really eat anything.

He also tried taking a bite, and to his surprise, the taste was exceptionally good.

A refreshing texture accompanied the aroma of the steamed egg, and after entering his stomach, he could indeed feel refreshed, with his spirituality experiencing a slight increase.

Everyone else also felt this change and quickly devoured this appetizer.

Next came stir-fried earth dragon heart, cold shark-person platter, charcoal-grilled ash griffin, and so on.

During the banquet, there were also various exotic dancing girls performing, such as succubi, elves, catgirls, and countless others.

Some of these were monsters domesticated by the Li family, while others were cards created specifically for people's amusement.

After a single banquet, Sun Po's eyes were truly opened. However, as he looked at the crimson bead handed to him by Li Jing during the banquet, his mind was long past focusing on enjoyment.